Chapter Fifteen: The People in the Valley

Hearing the mother insect’s screech, Li Ruoyu sensed disaster looming. Without wasting a moment, he turned and fled along the path he had come, clearing the way with his divine chains of order. Every so often, he popped a precious elixir into his mouth, swallowing it as he sped away into the distance.

After racing through the yellow sands for a while, a sizzling sound began to rise behind him. Li Ruoyu hurriedly increased his speed, tossing an aged medicinal herb into his mouth and chewing it down. He knew without a doubt that the Fire-Eating Ants had picked up his faint trail and were now in hot pursuit. Without pause, Li Ruoyu kept fleeing further and further.

Two days passed like this, the sound of Fire-Eating Ants grinding against the sand behind him making his scalp tingle with terror. These creatures were far more tenacious than ordinary foes, and Li Ruoyu inwardly marveled at their persistence. Over those two sleepless days of relentless pursuit, he had depleted all his precious and aged medicines. If not for the troves of potent herbs left in the Sumeru Mustard Seed satchels of the Great Evil Sovereign and Child of the Devil’s Path, Li Ruoyu would never have survived such an ordeal.

Those satchels contained a wealth of herbs, of which the lowest grade was still considered an aged medicine. The Great Evil Sovereign and Child of the Devil’s Path had likely dismissed them as mere clutter, sealing them away in boxes, which was the only reason they survived to this day. Among these, Li Ruoyu even found several thousand-year-old medicinal kings.

The hunt was still ongoing, and Li Ruoyu had no choice but to continue his desperate flight.

Meanwhile, atop a valley, a gathering had formed: members of the Taiyi Sect, the Ancient Sect, the Corpse Sect from the Four Gates of Zhao, the royal family of Yan, the Demon Sect from the Forest of Immortal Beasts, and the Meng Family, renowned physicians from Ghost Demon Valley. In the valley below stood over a dozen great medicinal plants, accompanied by three ten-thousand-year-old medicinal kings.

More than thirty disciples of the Taiyi Sect had assembled here—a major force. At their head stood their outer sect senior brother: Dao Feiyan. Despite the masculine title, Dao Feiyan's name sounded more suited to a beautiful woman, and indeed, his bearing was unique—mysterious and unfathomable, as though a deep abyss. One glance was enough to sense his extraordinary nature. His long black hair flowed down his back, unable to conceal the sharp gleam of the sword slung behind him. Unlike the Eternal Nine Sects, the title of Outer Sect Senior Brother in Taiyi Sect was not easily earned; only those of the greatest strategy, cultivation, and talent could claim it.

The Ancient Sect’s group was comparatively smaller, numbering just over a dozen, mostly women. Leading them was Gu Fei’er, who stood quietly on one side of the valley, serene and steady. Her bright eyes, white skin, flowing hair, and delicate features marked her as a woman of peerless beauty.

The Corpse Sect from the Four Gates of Zhao had only five members, but each exuded supreme confidence, as if backed by some formidable power.

The Demon Sect of the Forest of Immortal Beasts came with seven, radiating a wild, primeval aura reminiscent of ancient great fiends. Though few, they stood apart, fearing none.

The Yan royal family’s contingent was led by the second prince, Yan Shangying, a man of high status, followed by nine attendants, all masters of the Dust-Refining Realm.

The Meng Family from Ghost Demon Valley was represented by a single person—Meng Ningsi. She stood tall and graceful, her features delicate and gentle, like a maiden awaiting marriage, her bearing both refined and elegant.

Ghost Demon Valley neighbored both the Fallen Devil Valley and Yan Kingdom. Though called a valley, its territory was vast, rivaling that of Yan. The Meng Family ruled this land as its undisputed sovereigns, famed for their unrivaled alchemy—a skill far superior to Li Ruoyu’s crude, brute-force consumption of herbs.

How all these parties came to gather here was unknown; perhaps fate and the lure of rare medicines had drawn them together and now pitted them against each other.

Elsewhere in the Fallen Devil Valley, another treasure ground sprawled. Here, the earth was strewn with corpses—remnants of golden-winged roc-like beasts and what seemed to be the ancient ferocious monster Zhen. Among the wreckage lay broken artifacts, ancient jade slips, and old tomes. This battlefield spanned a territory nearly half the size of Yan.

Within this desolate expanse roamed disciples of the Eternal Nine Sects, as well as those from Heaven’s Reliance Gate, Putuo Temple, and the Sword Sect. The other three sects of Zhao’s Four Gates—Three-Life Sect, Lifeless Gate, and Great Dream Sect—were also present. The Demon Sect and the Meng Family scoured the area for fortune as well.

Somehow, the chubby Wang Bo had ended up here too. The vastness of the place, combined with the fact that most had only just entered the Fallen Devil Valley, meant that few encounters had yet occurred. But once they did, conflict would surely follow.

Meanwhile, Li Ruoyu was still evading the pursuit of the Fire-Eating Ants. After another half day of desperate flight, he finally shook them off near a dense mountain forest. Before him stretched a chain of mountains, peaks rising one after another, the woods interspersed with the colossal skeletons of ancient beasts—a scene reminiscent of the White Bone Plains, another ancient battlefield from the god wars of ages past. At the foot of a mountain, Li Ruoyu discovered a broken monument, so worn by time that most of its inscriptions had faded.

He studied the two ancient characters carved upon it and discerned the word "Plain."

“Hmm? Plain.”

Looking at the endless peaks before him, Li Ruoyu was stunned. This place had once been a flat plain. Gazing at the massive skeletons strewn among the wooded mountains, he could only imagine the scale of the ancient battle that had raged here, a conflict so fierce it had shattered the landscape, raising mountains where there was once only open earth. From this fragment alone, Li Ruoyu could sense the sheer brutality of those primordial god wars.

But now was not the time to dwell on such things. Cautiously, he crept up the mountainside, searching for a hidden spot to recover his strength. Reaching a giant tree, its trunk so thick that three men could barely encircle it, he had an idea. Summoning the chains of order, he burrowed beneath the tree, hollowing out its base and fashioning a small hole in the trunk to observe his surroundings. Only then did Li Ruoyu begin to restore himself.

Half a day later, he had returned to his peak state, even the injuries to his hand from retrieving the Phoenix Marrow now fully healed.

Li Ruoyu took stock of his spoils from the Fallen Devil Valley: a five-foot square of Heaven-Cleaving Purple Gold—a rare divine material, ranked among the nine greatest sacred metals—a string of gray prayer beads, a golden-yellow bronze fragment of unknown use, the Phoenix Marrow, and over ten thousand Fire-Eating Ant eggs.

He gazed at the ant eggs, quite tempted. He remembered among the Great Evil Sovereign’s relics a manual called “Blood-Refining Evil Art,” a method for nurturing spirit insects. Li Ruoyu took out the manual and began to read. As he read, his expression shifted between light and dark.

This “Blood-Refining Evil Art” was indeed sinister, describing a cultivation method that used one’s own blood to incubate and nurture spirit insects. Its evil lay in the way it bound the insects—not mere control, but a symbiotic relationship. One must use their own blood to nurture the insect, treat it as a vessel, and even divide off a sliver of soul to achieve unity of mind and spirit—any harm to one would be shared by both. Moreover, the master must provide several times the resources needed for the insect’s growth to see real success.