Not many people knew the secret of the Cold Pool.

The Cold Pool existed even before the founding of the Medical Hall. After the Medical Hall staked out their territory, they expanded their domain to the back mountain and accidentally discovered a cave with the Cold Pool inside.

Just as the name suggests, the water temperature of the Cold Pool remains freezing all year round, even during the scorching summer heat, it never warms up.

Strangely, the water in the Cold Pool never freezes, and it seems to have a faint flow of fresh water entering it.

People from the Medical Hall had dived to the bottom of the Cold Pool to investigate, but they found nothing unusual.

But that wasn’t the key point.

The key point was that, for some reason, the Cold Pool seemed to nurture an abundant amount of spiritual energy. This spiritual energy appeared as a light blue hue, rolling and swirling on the water’s surface like the steam rising from boiling water, so thick that it almost solidified.

Whenever a cultivator approached the Cold Pool, they could feel the spiritual energy rushing into their body, flowing through their veins as if cleansing their soul and clearing their meridians.

Since then, the Cold Pool naturally became a sacred training ground for the elders of the Medical Hall.

One day, however, someone was cultivating near the Cold Pool and accidentally suffered a backlash from their inner demons, causing them to cough up a mouthful of fresh blood.

That blood fell right into the Cold Pool.

The person was terrified, thinking their sacred Cold Pool had been defiled by their blood, but to their surprise, the blood spread and dissolved in the water at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In just a moment, there was no trace of it left.

What followed was an explosive surge of spiritual energy that filled the entire cave in the blink of an eye, even spilling out of the cave continuously.

After that, the people of the Medical Hall discovered the hidden trait of the Cold Pool—it required blood to enhance its spiritual energy.

Experiments proved that both human blood and animal blood would work. The Cold Pool seemed to classify blood in levels and would return the equivalent amount of spiritual energy.

To gain more spiritual energy, the elders of the Medical Hall took turns offering their blood, but this method couldn’t go on forever. They had to find a better substitute.

Yet, no matter how many substitutes they found, none could compare.

Until someone tricked HuLü Yan into coming—

However, there was another secret about the Cold Pool, one only HuLü Yan knew.

The Cold Pool did not always have abundant spiritual energy. In the beginning, it might have been just an ordinary pond inside a cave. Then, a cultivator came to the cave and died there.

The cultivator’s corpse soaked in the pond, day after day, year after year.

Over time, the pond slowly developed its own sentience, devoured the cultivator’s corpse, and gradually expanded into the Cold Pool we see today.

Other than HuLü Yan, who was chained in the middle of the Cold Pool, even the elders of the Medical Hall who led the blood offerings had never set foot in the pond.

After all, the Cold Pool craved blood, and those cautious elders didn’t dare risk their lives to test it.

Thus, only HuLü Yan knew—at the bottom of the Cold Pool, in the center, lay a skeleton without flesh, and at its waist hung a heavy sword.

It was not the Cold Pool that craved blood, but that sword.

And it wasn’t the Cold Pool that emitted spiritual energy, but rather the sword’s spirit, trying to lure someone to discover its presence. Unfortunately, it attracted only a group of cautious old men.

But soaking in the Cold Pool was truly freezing.

And being cut fifty times a day was truly painful.

Each cut, one after another, felt as if it was slicing into HuLü Yan’s very soul, never able to heal.

In the darkness, he saw the Cold Pool that had trapped him for six months, still emitting its icy mist.

Thick iron chains, as thick as a baby’s wrist, gathered from all directions and tightly bound the thin figure in the center of the pond.

That person was covered in wounds.

Blood flowed down his face, soaking into his wet collar, dyeing the swirling water beneath his clothes a dark red.

That person seemed to be dead.

His arms, chained and suspended in mid-air, hung limply, and his body slowly sank toward the water. But with each inch it sank, the chains tightened even more.

The chains grew tighter and tighter, almost cutting that person into several pieces.

At that moment, the person suddenly lifted his head. His ghostly pale face had only two empty eye sockets.

His hoarse voice carried an overwhelming hatred: “Die! All of you, just die!”

His words seemed to echo through countless spaces, creating a massive sound wave that surged like a thunderstorm.

Then, everything went silent.

Upon listening more closely, there was only silence.

Snowflakes, as soft as goose feathers, fell onto HuLü Yan’s sharp nose. What was surprising was that the skin beneath the snowflakes turned even whiter than the snow at an alarming speed.

Soon, a face, both unfamiliar and familiar, appeared in Elder Miao’s and the others’ view.

“Miao Yin, have you even forgotten who I am?” HuLü Yan’s stiff lips pulled into a strange arc, his eyeless sockets pitch-black and eerie, yet directly facing Miao Yin.

It was as if he was staring deeply into Miao Yin’s soul.

The elixir had lost its effect, and HuLü Yan not only regained his original appearance but also became taller and thinner.

Although Miao Yin had briefly thought of HuLü Yan’s name earlier, when he actually saw HuLü Yan’s face, he was still thoroughly shocked: “Hu-HuLü Yan?!”

“What?!”

“HuLü Yan? He’s HuLü Yan!”

Hearing Miao Yin’s words, Ping Rong and the others, hiding behind him, were shaken to their core. They were so shocked that they almost couldn’t catch their breath.

That person was HuLü Yan?!

How could it be possible?

Did HuLü Yan not know that the Medical Hall was turning the world upside down searching for him? Yet here he was, foolishly delivering himself to their doorstep?

But before Ping Rong and the others could fully process this fact, they saw HuLü Yan’s face return to its usual calm expression. He tilted his head slightly towards Miao Yin and said, “Weren’t you looking for Ming De Yi?”

After the shock passed, an unprecedented rage surged within Miao Yin.

He couldn’t believe that in his lifetime, he had been fooled by a brat like HuLü Yan. Remembering HuLü Yan’s earlier arrogance and tricks, he was so angry that he almost ground his teeth to dust.

HuLü Yan!

Since you walked up here, don’t think you’ll walk back down!

Suppressing his fury, Miao Yin fixed his icy gaze on HuLü Yan. “Where is the Sect Master?”

“In your hand,” HuLü Yan said softly, his voice barely above a whisper, as if drawing Miao Yin’s attention downwards.

Following this, Miao Yin’s gaze fell on the Corpse Transformation Pearl he had been holding all along.

This Corpse Transformation Pearl was Ming De Yi’s life-bound magical artifact. Miao Yin hadn’t found the chance to put it away, and he didn’t dare place it casually into his storage pouch, so he had been holding onto it the entire time.

Although this was his first time touching Ming De Yi’s Corpse Transformation Pearl, it wasn’t his first time seeing it. He clearly remembered that Ming De Yi’s Corpse Transformation Pearl differed from Wei Sheng’s; Ming De Yi’s was a dark blue pearl with a gradient of colors inside, transitioning from light to dark, eerily beautiful, and its surface was covered in a thin mist.

But the Corpse Transformation Pearl in his hand was so dark it was almost black, with no visible gradient of colors inside, nor the mist on the surface.

If not for the fact that Miao Yin could sense Ming De Yi’s spiritual energy and aura from it, he wouldn’t have believed that this strange pearl was Ming De Yi’s Corpse Transformation Pearl.

But what did HuLü Yan mean?

The Sect Master was inside this Corpse Transformation Pearl?

Feeling like he was being toyed with, Miao Yin’s face turned a deep purple-red. His other hand clenched so tightly that his knuckles cracked, and he gritted his teeth. “I asked you, where is the Sect Master?”

“In your hand.” HuLü Yan repeated the same words, but this time, he added as if out of kindness, “Inside that pearl.”

Miao Yin’s lips twitched, pulling his withered skin into a grotesque expression. “Are you mocking me?”

HuLü Yan remained calm. “Look more closely.”

Hearing this, Miao Yin did lower his head to take a closer look, not because he believed HuLü Yan, but because he suddenly felt the weight of the Corpse Transformation Pearl increase.

Before he could figure out what was happening, he heard the panicked screams of Ping Rong and the others behind him.

“Elder Miao! Look at the pearl!”

“Oh heavens! What’s happening?!”

The surface of the Corpse Transformation Pearl was once again enveloped in mist, but this time it was a frightening black mist, flowing out of the pearl like water.

In an instant, the mist spread across the ground, turning into a solid black liquid that covered the thick layer of snow.

Miao Yin’s hand, which was holding the Corpse Transformation Pearl, was hit with a sharp pain. His body trembled, and he instinctively threw the pearl into the black liquid.

The next moment, Miao Yin, Ping Rong, and the others witnessed a scene they could never have imagined in their wildest nightmares—

Countless desiccated corpse puppets crawled out of the black liquid. Their cracked, bark-like hands were stained with congealed blood, and their long, black fingernails scraped against the snow with a scratching sound.

Corpse puppets!

These were the corpse puppets of the Sect Master and Wei Sheng!

Why were the Sect Master’s and Wei Sheng’s corpse puppets sealed inside the Sect Master’s Corpse Transformation Pearl? How could HuLü Yan summon them?

Ping Rong’s face turned ashen, and his body began trembling uncontrollably.

Before he could comprehend these two questions, his ankle was suddenly grabbed. Looking down, he saw a zombie puppet’s hand clutching his ankle, its long nails tearing through his pants and scratching his skin.

Blood quickly soaked through the white fabric of his pants.

For a brief moment, Ping Rong’s mind went blank, and then he screamed in terror, “Aaaah!”

The others were frightened out of their wits and tried to run, but they couldn’t escape the tide of corpse puppets crawling out of the black liquid. The corpse puppets swarmed over them, sinking their blood-streaked black teeth into their faces and necks.

Their screams of pain echoed one after another.

The scent of blood grew stronger in the air, gradually mingling with a faint mist of blood.

Miao Yin was so shocked by the sight that his limbs went numb. Although he was a cultivator of the Golden Core stage, his advanced age and lack of battle experience left him completely overwhelmed by the blood-soaked scene before him. His rationality shattered, and cold sweat drenched his back.

Then, he watched as HuLü Yan bent down and dragged a corpse out of the black water.

The corpse had been gnawed beyond recognition by the corpse puppets, with not a single intact part remaining.

The corpse’s face was turned toward Miao Yin.

Thus, Miao Yin easily recognized the corpse’s identity.

Ming De Yi…

It was Ming De Yi, the person they had been searching for days.

Ming De Yi was dead—dead beyond all hope of revival.

Miao Yin’s mind exploded.

He gritted his teeth and summoned his life-bound hammer from his storage pouch, ready to charge forward, but was held back by several corpse puppets.

He smashed one zombie puppet’s head with his hammer, then shattered another’s chest with a backhand swing, his eyes bloodshot and his face twisted with rage.

“HuLü Yan! You killed our Sect Master!” Miao Yin roared. “I’ll make you pay with your life!”

But before he could reach HuLü Yan, more corpse puppets swarmed him.

There were so many corpse puppets, like moths to a flame, and he smashed their heads one by one.

He was panting heavily, his body covered in the blood and filth splattered from the corpse puppetsa’ broken bodies.

But no matter how hard he fought, he couldn’t destroy them all.

These disgusting things kept increasing, like an unstoppable tide.

Amidst the blood-red haze clouding his vision, Miao Yin watched helplessly as HuLü Yan dragged Ming De Yi’s corpse into the cave.