Gou Zai Fei Men made up myths

Located in the southwest of the Qingyun Mountains, bordering the territory of the Xuan Yin Sect, the "Black Swamp" is a vast swamp area spanning thousands of miles.

This place is shrouded in a gray-black mist all year round, mixed with the smell of decay and a faint poisonous miasma. It is full of water and hidden swamps, breeding countless poisonous insects and miasma beasts, as well as various strange and unpredictable natural dangers.

Ordinary cultivators would never set foot here unless absolutely necessary. Only a few who practice poisonous arts or evil magic, or who are desperate fugitives or bandits being hunted, would consider this place a hiding place.

Some of the peripheral forces of the Xuan Yin Sect also clung to this dark land like leeches, drawing nourishment from it.

On this day, deep within the Black Swamp, near a desolate area known as the "Bone-Rotting Pool," the primordial energy of heaven and earth suddenly experienced a strange disturbance.

The Boiling Bone Pool is named for its pitch-black, bottomless water, which is said to possess strong corrosive properties and the power to sink souls.

Even a Foundation Establishment cultivator, if carelessly fallen into it, will have their flesh and blood melt away and their soul sink into the mud at the bottom of the pool within a short time.

The area around the pool was barren, with only jagged, grayish-white rocks resembling the skeletons of giant beasts, adding to the sense of death and unease.

The first to notice the anomaly were two Qingyun Alliance Shadow Guards who were lurking nearby and responsible for monitoring a secret stronghold of the Xuan Yin Sect.

They disguised themselves as rogue cultivators mining "Sinking Yin Stones," a unique yin-attribute mineral found on the edge of the "Rotting Bone Pool," and had been lurking in this place for more than half a month.

"Old Wu, did you feel it? The ground... the ground is moving?" The younger Shadow Guard, "Gui Jiu," lay behind a cold, giant rock and suddenly lowered his voice, his tone tinged with surprise.

He wore a specially made face mask to ward off miasma, revealing only a pair of sharp eyes, which were now fixed on the lifeless black pool of water hundreds of feet away.

His partner, whom he called "Old Wu," was an old cultivator with a weathered face and eyes as calm as a still pool, codenamed "Gui San." Upon hearing this, he immediately focused his senses and his expression changed slightly.

It's not that the ground is moving, but rather... the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in this area is converging and collapsing towards the center of the Bone-Corroding Pool at an extremely slow, yet undeniable, speed!

It was as if an invisible vortex was quietly forming there, devouring all the spiritual energy around it.

"Something's wrong!" Gui San, with his seasoned experience, instantly realized the seriousness of the problem. "The spiritual energy flow is abnormal; the concentration is rapidly decreasing! Notify 'Shadow,' the situation has changed; prepare to evacuate the observation point!"

Gui Jiu dared not delay and immediately took out a small talisman shaped like a black beetle from his robes, about to activate it. Suddenly—

"Buzz—!!!"

A deep, loud, and indescribable buzzing sound suddenly erupted from the center of the pool of decaying bones!

The sound did not travel through the air, but resounded directly into the depths of their souls, causing their blood to surge, their vision to go black, and their talismans to almost slip from their hands.

Then, they witnessed a sight they would never forget.

The seemingly unchanging, pitch-black surface of the Boiling Bone Pool suddenly dipped downwards at its center, forming a huge, bottomless whirlpool!

At the edge of the whirlpool, the water in the pool boiled and evaporated violently, turning into a thick, dark gray mist that shot into the sky!

At the same time, at the center of the vortex, an indescribable darkness, seemingly capable of sucking one's gaze in, rapidly expanded. It was not ordinary black, but the black of "nothingness," where space was torn apart and all things ceased to exist!

"Crackling sound—!!!"

It sounded like the piercing noise of shattering glass, emanating from the "darkness".

Immediately afterwards, a twisted crack, with ominous glints at its edges and a light like that of a shattered mirror, appeared out of thin air above the vortex!

The crack was only a foot long at first, but in the blink of an eye it spread and expanded wildly, like a living black thorn tearing through the gray sky!

Spatial rift! And a highly unstable spatial rift containing terrifying tearing power!

"Retreat! Retreat quickly!" Gui San was terrified and roared hoarsely. He grabbed Gui Jiu, who was still in a daze, and frantically retreated backward!

The two pushed their escape speed to the limit, even burning their life essence, just to get away from that terrifying rift.

Just as they had retreated a thousand feet away and were looking back in shock, an even more horrifying scene unfolded.

Deep within the ever-expanding and distorting spatial rift, there was not a void of chaos, but rather a glimpse of a scene!

That seems to be... the outline of a building? An ancient, mottled, massive stone structure, covered with moss and cracks that look as if it has endured endless years.

Even more chilling was an indescribable, desolate, ancient aura, seemingly capable of extinguishing all life, yet containing the Daoist principles of the cycle of all things and the alternation of life and death. Like a ferocious beast awakening after slumbering for millennia, accompanied by a rich and soul-shaking sense of "reincarnation," it surged forth from the depths of the crack, accompanied by chaotic spatial turbulence!

"boom--!!!"

Wherever its aura passed, the gray-white strange rocks around the Boiling Bone Pool, which were harder than gold and iron, turned into dust silently, like weathered sand sculptures!

The pitch-black pool water churned violently, as if it were being boiled! The poisonous miasma in the sky was instantly dispersed, but it re-condensed further away, becoming even denser and more violent!

The earth groaned, and from the crack in the ground, deep ravines spread outwards, swallowing everything in their path!

Even though Gui San and Gui Jiu were far apart, they were still swept by the aftershocks of this aura. They were immediately struck as if by a heavy blow, groaned, and blood spilled from their mouths and noses. Their souls were shaken, and countless illusions seemed to appear before their eyes: birth, aging, sickness and death, the withering and flourishing of plants, the birth and death of stars... A feeling of great terror and great annihilation gripped their hearts.

"What...what the hell is that?!" Gui Jiu's face was ashen, and his teeth were chattering. He had never felt such a terrifying, profound aura, as if he were facing the very laws of the universe!

Gui San wasn't much better off. Suppressing the excruciating pain and urge to vomit, he stared intently at the glimpse of an ancient palace peeking through the crack, his voice dry and hoarse:

"I...I don't know! But it's definitely not a benevolent place! Quick! Highest level alert! The Black Swamp's Corpse Pool is experiencing strange phenomena in the sky, space is tearing apart, there are...ancient ruins appearing! The aura...suggests being related to reincarnation! Report to the Alliance Leader immediately!!"

With trembling hands, he crushed the black beetle talisman to pieces! A barely perceptible fluctuation of soul power, yet containing a specific frequency, instantly pierced through the void and sped towards Qingyun Mountain!

Having done all this, Gui San looked at the terrifying crack again. The crack seemed to have expanded to a certain limit and temporarily stabilized, but its edges were still slightly distorted, shimmering with a dangerous light.

Deep within the crack, a corner of the ancient palace became clearer, revealing even a blurry, enormous totem that appeared to have been carved with a knife and axe. The design of that totem...

He had never seen it before, yet it instinctively filled him with boundless solemnity and...deathly silence.

"Reincarnation... Ancient ruins..." Gui San murmured to himself, his eyes filled with endless horror and bewilderment. He had a premonition that the world of the Southern Region was about to change.

This sudden change will completely disrupt all plans and arrangements.