Chapter 849: Mountain Mysterious Fish Fan Yuan

"This temple looks like a strange fish," Bi Linglong observed for a moment and couldn't help but remark. "But are there fish this big in the world?"

"There are, like giant whales," Zu An replied, gazing at the peculiar temple. He felt it was even larger than the biggest blue whale from his previous life.

"Hmm, could this be..." Mi Li's voice came, tinged with doubt.

Zu An quickly said, "Master Queen, why have you picked up the habit of speaking in riddles? What is it?"

Mi Li shook her head. "Let's go closer and see if it's what I suspect."

Zu An was about to ask further when a startled cry came from Bi Linglong. A hand, like that of a zombie, suddenly shot out from beside her foot and tightly gripped her ankle.

As a sixth-rank cultivator, Bi Linglong immediately severed the hand with her sword after her initial cry of surprise. But almost simultaneously, more hands emerged from the ground, grabbing her feet. The ground also became a muddy mess, like a swamp. Losing her balance, she was about to fall.

Fortunately, Zu An was quick. He steadied her with one hand, then with the other, cut off the arms around her feet, pulling her back several feet to solid ground.

"What was that just now?" Bi Linglong asked, looking back with lingering fear. The large area of land had turned into a muddy mire; it wasn't solid ground at all, but a swamp.

Countless arms stretched out from the swamp, clawing wildly at the air, as if to drag any passing living creature into the abyss.

Seeing this sight, her face paled further. Girls naturally harbored a fear of such ghostly things.

"I don't know, they look like some kind of undead creatures," Zu An said gravely.

Bi Linglong was about to speak when she suddenly frowned, bending over in pain and clutching her calf, cold sweat pouring down her face.

Zu An knelt beside her and gently lifted her skirt. On her smooth, fair calf, several charred handprints had appeared.

Bi Linglong was initially uncomfortable and embarrassed about a man lifting her skirt, but her expression changed when she saw the black handprints.

"These are formed from the resentment between heaven and earth. This resentment consumes living beings, and even a mere touch can cause immense harm to the body," Zu An repeated Mi Li's words.

"Ah, how do we get across there?" Bi Linglong's face was pale. This swamp was already extremely difficult to traverse, let alone with so many resentful spirits below?

She wasn't too worried about the marks on her body; the poisoning wasn't too deep, and she could bear it. The crucial point was that they couldn't move forward and had no way to retreat. If the emperor caught up, they would both face certain death.

However, she had no idea that Zhao Ruizhi and his group had already taken a different path and were currently encountering significant trouble.

They had seen the vast desert before them, but Zhao Ruizhi hadn't hesitated at all, leading his large force into it. Such a desert might be a death trap for ordinary people, but for cultivators like them, it was nothing.

However, as they delved deeper into the desert, trouble began.

Rustling sounds began to emerge, at first intermittently, which the group paid no mind to. But later, the sounds grew louder, many of them coming from beneath their feet.

He Li, already agitated by the strange flower within him, simply slammed his palm onto the ground upon seeing this.

The sounds immediately lessened. Some of Prince Qi's personal guards dug into the sand and found many black scorpions that had been shaken to death.

Everyone complimented He Li's powerful palm strike, but Zhao Ruizhi frowned slightly, his gaze fixed on the scorpions.

These scorpions were unlike any other in the world; they were three to four times larger than ordinary scorpions and entirely covered in an eerie, glossy black.

In that moment, the bodies of the black scorpions suddenly dissipated into wisps of black smoke.

Prince Qi's warriors were all stunned. What was happening?

"Be careful!" Zhao Ruizhi's expression suddenly changed. Louder rustling sounds were coming from all around, and the surrounding sand began to churn as if something were swimming beneath it.

Everyone from Prince Qi's retinue drew their weapons and prepared for battle. Clearly, they were all quite wary of this unknown danger.

Immediately after, sand began to spurt out from around them, quickly piling higher and higher to form small mounds like termite nests. Then, with a 'poof,' countless black scorpions emerged, swarming madly towards the group.

Prince Qi's warriors were greatly alarmed. They brandished their weapons defensively, unleashing various elemental abilities. Normally, their powers would be sufficient to deal with a swarm of scorpions, but these scorpions were too strange; they seemed immune to many elemental attacks. Moreover, they were endless, and soon, someone was stung, letting out an extremely shrill scream and writhing on the ground.

These were hand-picked elite warriors, death-sworn soldiers who wouldn't bat an eye at ordinary pain. For them to cry out so miserably, one could imagine how painful a sting from these black scorpions was.

Zhao Ruizhi snorted, and a golden light radiated outwards from him. Upon contact with the golden light, the black scorpions instantly turned into black smoke and vanished.

The countless black scorpions surrounding them were completely cleared in an instant.

He Li's eyes widened. He thought, "Each time, the Emperor's power exceeds my imagination. If I were a woman, I might have fallen in love with him. What's wrong with the Crown Princess? She actually ran off with some pretty boy."

Zhao Ruizhi said indifferently, "Treat his injuries and continue the journey."

His first instinct was to abandon the injured to avoid being burdened, but as a leader, he understood that if morale crumbled, leading these people would become meaningless.

Earlier, many had died during the experiments on the floating island, causing morale to waver. If it happened again, morale would surely collapse. Therefore, some conciliatory measures were necessary.

Hearing his words, He Li immediately snapped back to attention. As a ninth-rank master, he naturally carried some excellent medicinal salves, which he usually wouldn't dare use on others. But now that the Emperor had spoken, he could only grudgingly take out the medicine to treat the injured.

"Hmph, I take back what I just said. This stingy guy only knows how to exploit us. No wonder women run off with others."

The group continued deeper into the desert. The Emperor intervened several times to suppress the black scorpions, but more and more appeared, each seemingly stronger than the last, putting pressure even on him.

"These black scorpions are likely formed from resentful spirits, sustained by this realm. Unless this realm is destroyed, they can never be truly killed," Zhao Ruizhi frowned. However, his mood quickly brightened. "Hmph, if even I find this so troublesome, that brat Zu An will surely die if he faces a similar situation."

"Achoo!" On the other side, Zu An couldn't help but sneeze again. "Who's thinking about me now?"

"What's wrong? Are you sick?" Bi Linglong asked, concerned. Cultivators rarely fell ill once they reached a certain level, so illness usually indicated something serious.

"Nothing," Zu An shook his head, then reached out and gently touched her ankle. It felt smooth and delicate, truly befitting a Crown Princess who had lived a life of luxury for years.

Feeling the warmth of his palm, Bi Linglong's face flushed. Why was he touching her now? Should she refuse, or pretend not to notice...

As she hesitated, a warm current suddenly flowed over her ankle. The previous stinging pain vanished completely, and even the black handprints disappeared.

"How did you do that?" Bi Linglong asked, surprised and delighted, realizing her misunderstanding.

Zu An smiled and didn't answer. "Let's hurry and keep going."

With that, he helped her up and walked towards the swamp.

Bi Linglong's face turned pale with alarm. "Those resentful spirits..."

She froze before she could finish speaking. To her astonishment, the arms of the resentful spirits, which had been reaching out to grab them, suddenly retracted in terror, keeping a wide distance from the two.

Although it sounded strange, it was as if they had seen ghosts.

At the same time, with every step Zu An took, the soft swamp ground within several meters around his foot would freeze into a layer of white ice, as if he were walking on solid ground.

"This is the Snow Blossom Divine Sword, but I've never heard of it having the effect of dispelling resentful spirits?" Bi Linglong felt utterly bewildered.

Zu An wore a relaxed expression. Having entered secret realms numerous times, he was already well-versed in dealing with such undead creatures.

After cultivating the Primordial Chaos Scripture to the second layer, it could restrain all dark, evil, and undead entities. Now that he had reached the great perfection of the third layer, the resentful spirits beneath the swamp felt threatened and naturally retreated as far as possible.

Soon, the two crossed the swamp and arrived at the strange temple. The temple was extremely dilapidated; there was no plaque above the lintel, and even one of its doors was missing, while the other hung askew, covered in cobwebs, as if ready to collapse at any moment.

On both sides of the main entrance, two lines of characters were faintly carved. Mi Li read them aloud: "The mountain is dark, the fish are distant in the vastness; the sun is high, the mirage stands empty... Ah, it truly is him."