Having cultivated myself into an immortal, all I want to do is raise female disciples.

"No need to thank me. I just can't bear to see you eating with us like this, so distracted." The woman smiled faintly. "Go on, child, I'll be waiting for you to come back."

Zhang Ruoxue clenched her fists, looked at her family members, and secretly vowed that no matter what, she would not let anything happen to them!

A resolute look appeared on her face as she turned and stepped out of the wooden house.

Instead, he left behind a sentence—

"Father, Mother, I'm leaving now. You wait for me here."

Immediately, he exchanged a glance with Fan Luokui, and the two of them simultaneously activated their spiritual roots, disappearing from the three people's sight in a single step.

They knew this was their only clue.

The cultivator who suddenly appeared in Jingyuan Village must be related to this strange disaster!

And that cave might very well be hiding something!

"Ugh……"

Gazing in the direction the two had gone, Zhang Zhen and his wife both let out a long sigh.

The two then slowly returned to the room and sat down facing each other without prior arrangement.

Presumably because their daughter had left, the two elders looked somewhat absent-minded, even a little dazed, staring at the food on the table, but neither of them spoke.

Zhang Xiaohan scratched his head, recalling Fan Luokui's stunningly beautiful face, and sighed with some regret.

"It's such a pity..."

Judging from his wistful expression, he was probably lamenting his mortal status.

After all, she's a goddess, she wouldn't possibly be interested in a mortal like him.

------

Suspense novel, let's get started!

Just kidding~ This part of the story isn't very long, and I won't tell it all at once.

After all, Xiao Yuan'er and Ye Yuchan still have a story.

24. Kuroshio

Zhang Ruoxue remembered the cave on the north side of the village.

That faint, almost forgotten impression only existed in her childhood. She vaguely remembered that she was only eight or nine years old when she went out to find some fruit for her newborn brother, Zhang Xiaohan, and happened to stumble upon this strangely shaped and slightly eerie cave.

Seeing the dark cave that seemed to harbor strange monsters, the young Zhang Ruoxue dared not step into it and immediately ran away.

As time passed, the location of the cave gradually faded from Zhang Ruoxue's mind until today when she finally recalled it.

Jingyuan Village was not as vast as imagined. With their speed, the two of them quickly arrived at the cave where the immortals had once lived, as Zhang Ruoxue's family had mentioned.

Before the two could even step inside to search for clues, Zhang Ruoxue and Fan Luokui involuntarily frowned, their legs sank, and a chill ran down their spines.

To passersby, the cave may seem like nothing more than a dark and gloomy place. There was no eerie wind or demonic attack at the entrance; it was just an ordinary dark cave.

But Zhang Ruoxue and Fan Luokui thought otherwise!

As soon as they approached the cave entrance, the two could clearly sense an indescribable, oppressive atmosphere emanating from the seemingly bottomless darkness within the cave. It churned like sludge, incredibly murky, and the cultivators' uniquely keen senses allowed them to smell an unbearable stench.

And it is...

A stench mixed with the smell of blood and flesh.

The two exchanged a glance, clearly both having noticed the scent.

“Very similar.” Fan Luokui’s expression hardened slightly as she recalled her experience in the dense jungle. “It’s very similar to the aura I sensed back then…”

"I think so too."

Zhang Ruoxue glanced at the depths of the cave, where the pure darkness seemed like a vortex, threatening to pull the two of them in. She suppressed her displeasure and repression, trying her best to keep her tone steady.

"Could the source of that aura be here? The aura we sensed suddenly disappeared because it hid inside?"

Indeed, that is a possibility.

Perhaps the so-called deity did not leave, but instead implemented some kind of terrifying formation in Jingyuan Village, perhaps sacrificing the villagers' flesh and blood to the heavens, or perhaps something else entirely.

Upon noticing the presence of the two cultivators, Fan Luokui and Zhang Ruoxue, he quickly hid inside the cave and used some method to erase the aura of his own formation.

However, after pondering for a while, Fan Luokui shook her head, overturning Zhang Ruoxue's conclusion.

"No, it shouldn't be. Although it's similar, it's still somewhat different from the gloomy fluctuation that I sensed throughout the entire village earlier. If I had to say, it's more like... part of that aura."

"A part? Did that cultivator divide the formation into several parts and hide them in different places?"

"I don't know." Fan Luokui gripped the hilt of her knife and took a step forward. "If we want to find out, I think we have to go inside."

Go in... or...?

Zhang Ruoxue glanced at the cave again; the smell emanating from it was definitely unbearable for ordinary people.

However, just as Fan Luokui said, if they don't go in, they will never be able to unravel the mystery that entangles Jingyuan Village.

But his parents and younger brother are still waiting for him to come home!

At present, Zhang Ruoxue obviously has no other choice, or rather, she was determined to protect Jingyuan Village from the very beginning.

Without any sign of cowardice, despite the cave being part of Zhang Ruoxue's childhood trauma, her steps remained unwavering.

Everything was for Jingyuan Village, for that elderly couple, and for his beloved younger brother.

With this thought in mind, Zhang Ruoxue felt filled with determination.

——Whoosh whoosh~

The two stepped into the cave at the same time. The instant their forefeet touched the ground, a terrifying gust of wind swept through their hair, one cherry blossom and the other black. At the same time, they felt no less than a hundred strange gazes fixed on them.

Among them, one gaze was particularly sharp, and even thanks to that gaze, Zhang Ruoxue felt that her breathing was somewhat difficult.

There really is something fishy going on.

Although it was pitch black, cultivators' sensory abilities could be enhanced by spiritual energy at any time, so the darkness could not prevent them from seeing their surroundings clearly.

Fan Luokui slowly closed her eyes, and spiritual energy gushed out from her meridians like a spring.

The moment the cultivator's cultivation level of the Transcendent God stage was revealed, the hundreds of gazes couldn't help but wane a bit, and even that unique gaze changed from its original contempt and disdain to amusement.

Fan Luokui ignored all of this. She opened her eyes again, her pale golden pupils suddenly shining brightly, and the darkness in front of her was instantly driven out of her sight.

At the same time, Zhang Ruoxue also activated the spiritual root within her body, rapidly circulating the "Silent Moon" technique, thus breaking through the darkness.

"!!!"

At the same time, the two people who had dispelled the darkness in front of them were stunned, because the scene in front of them was too terrifying!

dark.

Yes, even after breaking through the darkness, all they saw was still darkness.

But it wasn't the darkness caused by dim light; it was a river, a wildly surging, raging black current that occasionally surged with crimson waves!

what is that?

*Gulp*—The two of them swallowed at the same time.

The rustling sound was like the surging of a river. This black current did not roar wildly, because as it moved forward, it produced a series of sharp sounds like steel rubbing against steel.

Was that really a river?

No—that's not it.

Those are insects.

There are hundreds, even tens of thousands of black insects!

The crimson waves are their bloodthirsty, scarlet eyes; the surging river is an illusion of them moving rapidly together.

Moreover, each insect is about the size of a palm, with a jet-black, glossy shell, several curved limbs growing from the sides of its narrow abdomen, and pairs of transparent wings speckled with red.

This is an insect swarm!

And where else could the swarm of insects be heading but towards Zhang Ruoxue and her companion?!

"They're coming towards us!"

Surprisingly, the first to react was not the battle-hardened Fan Luokui, but Zhang Ruoxue.

She clenched her fist quickly, channeling her spiritual energy into the arm armor artifact. The long bandage that had been binding her right arm to prevent outsiders from noticing the icy arm was instantly burned away by a scorching flame, turning into ashes that floated before Zhang Ruoxue's eyes.

She has already cultivated the "Silent Moon" technique to the second level, and her cultivation level has broken through to the Spirit Palace stage. Although she is still a short distance from the Xuanmen stage, Zhang Ruoxue does not care about these things. Taking one step at a time is the most important thing.

It's a pity that it's noon now, not night, otherwise, with the blessing of "Silent Moon," she might even be able to temporarily raise her cultivation to the Lesser Completion of the Spirit Platform stage.

Without any hesitation, Zhang Ruoxue made a fist with her left hand and slammed it down on her feet.

--boom!

A raging inferno swept across the entire area, and a fiery phantom appeared behind them. At the same time, a large, square, crimson shield stood motionless in front of the two, like an unmoving guardian, surrounded by swirling flames.

The swarm of insects seemed to completely disregard the fire shield, unleashing a massive black wave as countless insects charged toward it.

Hiss--

Countless flying insects were engulfed by the flames in the blink of an eye, turning into ashes and dust.

These insects are not highly cultivated, only at the minor completion stage of the Nascent Soul realm. Moreover, most insects are afraid of fire, so Zhang Ruoxue's fire shield should be no different from their natural enemy to them.

However, they still rushed forward desperately, as if they wanted to wear down Zhang Ruoxue's spiritual energy with their lives.

"Ugh, what a hassle!"

Zhang Ruoxue knew that simply defending was not an option. She glanced at her right hand, which emanated a chilling aura and was crystal clear like ice, and instantly clenched it into a fist.

A massive amount of spiritual energy condensed on her right arm armor. Zhang Ruoxue, no longer a one-armed girl, now possessed the ability to both attack and defend, thanks to the arm armor artifact.

She shouted, combining the power of her waist and arms, and slammed her right fist forward.

With a single punch, a powerful hurricane and scorching flames intertwined, forming a firestorm that roared and surged towards the swarm of insects like a long dragon.

The power of this attack was even more terrifying than imagined. The raging, fiery tornado rushed into the center of the insect swarm with unstoppable force, and then suddenly exploded. Boundless flames instantly engulfed half of the cave, burning most of the insect swarm to ashes.

So strong...

Even Zhang Ruoxue was taken aback.