Chương 393: Unusual formations

"Indeed. The destruction of the Teng clan is a huge matter to this city, after all, the Teng clan is the overlord of several cities around here. If the entire overlord got slaughtered without being able to resist then who around here wouldn't feel threatened? People would be too terrified to approach this city. That is among the reasons we're here, to stabilize the situation." Ren Ji explained.

"Even the guards fled?" Zhou Zheng muttered. The gates were left wide open with not a soul in sight.

"Idiot. Why don't you go help them guard it since you're so bothered?" Hua Zhi mocked, causing Zhou Zheng to almost flare up. But recalling that he wasn't a match for the former, he swallowed his anger and shut up.

"We should take a look at the clan itself." Chen Zhaofeng proposed. Ren Ji slowly led them through the empty city, and they couldn't help but notice how desolate it was. Houses were deserted and shops were left with goods still in them. It appeared like some people had fled the moment they heard the news without even bothering to properly pack their properties. The city was huge from the inside, with extremely wide streets and massive buildings.

That same size made it extremely eerie due to the unsettling emptiness. Every footstep seemed to echo through every corner as they walked. A faint uneasiness began to seep into their hearts as a feeling of being watched settled in their minds. They kept their guards up and avoided flying, instead opting to walk directly to the Teng clan in the inner city. The city was divided into two. The outer city was larger and was open for the public. That was the actual Teng City.

As for the inner city, it was significantly smaller and was the territory of the Teng clan itself. Walking on foot, it took them an hour to reach the gates that led to the inner city. The gates were similarly wide open.

"What a strong smell of blood…" Chen Zhaofeng muttered audibly. They could all smell it. As they stood before the gates, the faint wind carried along a profoundly dense smell of blood that lingered in their noses and caused them to feel nauseous.

"How many people have died for such a dense smell of blood to fill the air?" Long Feng gasped. The hundreds of Long clansmen killed by Zhang Mo was already the highest number of deaths Long Feng knew of. What would thousands look like?

"Let's go." Ren Ji took the lead and walked past the gates, stepping into the inner city. The smell of blood seemed to triple the moment they stepped past the gate. It was so dense that it formed a faint scarlet fog in the air. The five youths froze by the gates, unable to comprehend the scene before their eyes. Corpses! So many corpses scattered around that they couldn't even imagine.

There were at least a few hundreds of them, and each of them had died miserably, laying in pools of blood that pervaded the earth as far as their eyes could see. They flinched as they all realized that they were stepping in a pool of blood that coated their shoes scarlet. The scene looked like it was carved straight out of hell… they all turned pale and felt weak at heart just by looking around. Long Feng was no exception.

The smell of blood rushed into his head, causing his heart to beat faster as an uneasiness filled his heart. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

"Who… could have done this?" Zhou Zheng staggered backwards with a pale expression, having an intense urge to turn around and flee.

"We must go ahead." Ren Ji took a deep breath and spoke with a solemn expression. This was just the outer part of the clan with weak members. The core was still deeper in. He wasn't even able to keep the smile on his face due to the bloody scene.

"We don't know what dangers will lie ahead. Someone will need to scout ahead." Zhou Zheng instantly flinched at those words and took a step back. Who would want to walk ahead in this hellish place? There was no saying what dangers lay ahead. Long Feng's face tightening slightly before he relaxed, already expecting the next words.

"Long Feng, you should scout ahead for us first. We'll walk behind you. Everyone must contribute some effort to get their share of the rewards." Ren Ji glanced at Long Feng and stated earnestly with a hidden glint in his eyes. Long Feng stared at him calmly before stepping forward and walking past him without a word. Ren Ji's eyes narrowed slightly. He wished Long Feng would have dared to refuse his orders. Then, he would be able to punish him as he saw fit. It didn't work, but he didn't care.

The night was long, and he would eventually get the chance to claim the Dao heart and kill Long Feng. Zhou Zheng's face revealed a mocking expression as he watched Long Feng walk further into the blood fog that was impeding their sights.

"You should stay at least a few tens of meters ahead Long Feng! We'll be behind you to support you if anything goes wrong!" Ren Ji shouted. Long Feng snorted before walked further, proceeding with caution. The eerie silence was deeply disturbing, and the deeper he went, the more he sensed something.

"There's a faint murderous aura in the air…" he clenched his fists and continued walking, trying not to glance at the hundreds of corpses scattered around like flies. They had already walked past about a thousand corpses, and were beginning to enter the main clan. Long Feng slowed down and stared ahead with a serious expression, feeling the hairs on his body rising. The blood fog before him had become dense to an astonishing level, enough to completely block his gaze.

Moreover, from here, he could sense the aura in the air, and it made his blood flow out of control.

"This isn't murderous aura." He realized. This was something else, more ghastly and heart chilling.

"It seems to be… resentment?" In such a place filled with so many corpses, it wasn't strange for their resentments to condense and form an aura of resentment in the air. Some evil cultivators even sought for such places intentionally to absorb the aura of resentment. Even more evil cultivators would personally slaughter innocents just to breed this aura for their cultivation.

"Could this all be the handiwork of an evil cultivator?" He thought. If that was true, then that cultivator would certainly return to harvest the aura. It might even be possible that he was here already. Of course, the chances was slim.

"Why aren't you moving?" Ren Ji's voice sounded from behind as they closed the distance. Long Feng frowned and didn't explain, instead moving around to examine the surroundings. He was standing before the very core of the clan, where it's top members and elders resided, which would explain why there was a drastic change in the blood fog and the aura of resentment from here. They were all much stronger, hence the change after their deaths. He didn't proceed just yet, merely observing the surroundings.

"I can sense the remains of several destroyed formations. Most of them were destroyed with brute force, but…" he frowned and knelt down beside a random platform. A few corpses lay on the platform, their blood spilling on it and blocking it's surface. After hesitating slightly, Long Feng dispersed the blood to reveal the formation embedded on the platform.

"A few of them were unraveled instead of destroyed." He muttered. This formation here appeared to be part of a complex formation that protected the core of the clan. Yet it was in a completely perfect state. Instead of being destroyed, it looked like it was unraveled instead. But that still didn't explain this.

"It's possible for the enemy to unravel the formations, but there are two huge flaws to this idea." He calmly pondered.

"Firstly, a defensive formation that protects the entire core of the clan… it must be extremely powerful. Even a powerful soul master will struggle to unravel it. Unless it is an overwhelmingly powerful soul master, they should need several hours to unravel it. That timespan is more than enough for the Teng clan to call for help while hiding behind the formation."

Destroying a formation with brute force was much easier than unraveling it, as it would require a soul master who was at least on the same level as the person who set the formation. Moreover, they had already destroyed nearly all the formations behind with brute force. Why bother to unravel this one? Was it simply too powerful to be destroyed?

"The second flaw… is that the formation is too perfect. Even if it was unraveled, it's still against the normal order of the formation, which leave some damage. But this formation looks like it was simply… deactivated?" That didn't make any sense. Before he could think over it, Ren Ji and the others arrived behind him.

"Long Feng!" Ren Ji growled.

"Are you trying to disobey my orders?" Long Feng rose to his feet and glanced at him indifferently.

"There is a significant difference from here onwards. I thought the group leader would like to examine the surroundings first. After all, it's clues we're searching for right?" Ren Ji's expression softened as he nodded.

"You have a point." He already noticed the great difference in the atmosphere ahead. He was merely hoping to force Long Feng in so he would face whatever danger that lay behind the fog. It would be perfect if he died and Ren Ji could simply harvest the Dao heart from him.

"I noticed you were observing this platform. Did you notice anything?" His eyes moved to the platform as he tried to deduce anything. Long Feng shook his head.

"Unfortunately, there's nothing."

"Then why were you kneeling down before it?" Zhou Zheng asked with heavy suspicion.

"I am a soul cultivator. Naturally, a formation as equisite as this drew my attention to broaden my horizons." Long Feng replied with a straight face.

"You're a soul cultivator?" Chen Zhaofeng asked with some surprise. Long Feng didn't respond. Instead, he simply unleashed his soul power, causing them all to sense it. Upon realizing that it was even weaker than his cultivation, they all lost interest.

"Alright, let's observe the surroundings before we head deeper. Long Feng, since you're a soul cultivator, your perception is naturally higher. You will carefully examine the corpses for any clue while we guard you." Ren Ji decided with a smile while focusing his gaze on Long Feng.

"Alright." Long Feng turned around and released his soul power to it's maximum range, carefully observing everything within his range. Ren Ji's eyes narrowed once again as his lips curled up in a light smile.

"You're quite smart. Looks like you've realized that I call the shots here. Unfortunately, no matter how obedient you are, I'll still kill you." The humiliation he received back then from both Long Feng and Xiao Hu wasn't something he could simply forget.