Chapter 358: The Bloody Case Had a Culprit

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

It seemed that the mention of "Heavenly Doctor" from Li Fan's mouth completely agitated the monster, bent backward. It slammed its head against the ground repeatedly and forcefully, cracking the hard, desolate earth. At the same time, it continuously let out broken sobs, with blood and tears streaming down its face. Although the monster looked hideous, Li Fan felt an inexplicable sense of its misery in this scene.

"Could the massacre here truly be the Heavenly Doctor's doing?" An image of a kind and approachable old man, like a neighbor, instantly appeared in Li Fan's mind. On the surface, he seemed benevolent and smiling, yet his actual deeds were horrifying. A chill ran down Li Fan's spine. Recalling the sky-high wails of resentment that erupted from the Qin Hall members in the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace upon seeing the Heavenly Doctor's statue, it seemed certain that the destruction of the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace was also linked to the Heavenly Doctor.

"But where exactly is this place? And why did it become a spatial fragment, appearing within the white mist barrier?""Why did the Heavenly Doctor indiscriminately slaughter these cultivators?""And...?"Li Fan slowly calmed the shock in his heart, watching the monster, still incessantly kowtowing. It had managed to survive the Heavenly Doctor's deadly grasp and had lived alone in this labyrinthine area for so long. Li Fan's proud Grand Five Elements Annihilation Sword couldn't even scratch its hide. All signs pointed to its immense power. Yet now, it seemed like an ordinary person who had suffered a great injustice, kowtowing and crying for redress before Li Fan, like a righteous magistrate. Having served as an official for many years, Li Fan was certainly familiar with such a scene. Why was this happening? It couldn't possibly be because Li Fan was stronger than this monster. It was because...

"Did it mistake me for someone else?""Yes, that must be it. As for why this monster made a mistake..."In Li Fan's limited reincarnations, such a "mistake" had happened once before. To confirm his suspicion, his Golden Core circulated, and Li Fan individually summoned a wisp of Malevolent Star energy, condensing it into a sword. Indeed, sensing a slightly familiar aura, the monster became even more agitated. Its wails were incessant, as if it would pound a large hole into the ground.

"Heavenly Malevolence Sword, Old Man Yu Fu." Li Fan looked at the monster kneeling before him, a glint flashing in his eyes. "It pleads with me like this simply because it sensed the Malevolent Star technique within my Grand Five Elements Annihilation Sword and took me for the master of the Heavenly Malevolence Sword.""Even Old Man Yu Fu himself almost made the same mistake. This monster has been confined here for who knows how many years, its mind unclear, acting purely on instinct.""Mistaking me is normal."

"It seems, then, that Old Man Yu Fu might be a leader among the fallen cultivators in this labyrinth. When the Heavenly Doctor massacred everyone, a conflict with him must have occurred.""The Heavenly Malevolence Sword is incomplete, and Old Man Yu Fu became amnesiac and deranged, perhaps due to the Heavenly Doctor's doing."However, Li Fan soon felt something was amiss. If it truly was the Heavenly Doctor's work, having lived so long, his current power would surely be much greater than when the massacre occurred. It was impossible for him not to know of Old Man Yu Fu's existence. Why didn't he completely eradicate him, but instead allowed Old Man Yu Fu to survive in the world? Or was it truly as Li Fan had previously surmised, that Old Man Yu Fu had become a worrying entity that simply couldn't be eliminated?

"Heavenly Doctor..." Li Fan's eyes narrowed. He was not a magnanimous person. In the past, the Heavenly Doctor had used his "inspection, listening, questioning, and pulse-taking" techniques to discover the existence of Li Fan's true form. He had directly broken through the defense of the Heavenly Profound Mirror, intending to capture Li Fan alive. Li Fan had never forgotten the fear he felt in his heart at that time. It was just that the power gap between him and the Heavenly Doctor was currently too vast, so he had to keep his thoughts of revenge hidden deep within. Now, having discovered that Old Man Yu Fu and the Heavenly Doctor might be mortal enemies, Li Fan felt a stir of eagerness.

"In the next life, perhaps I can cause him some trouble.""If Old Man Yu Fu recovers the Heavenly Malevolence Sword and happens to confront the Heavenly Doctor precisely during the battle between the Heavenly Doctor and the Master..."Li Fan's eyes flickered. Combining his experiences from several lives, a rough plan instantly formed in his mind. With a cold sneer, he set the thought aside for now and looked back at the monster before him.

"The Black Death Talisman can only last one more day. Perhaps the hope of escaping lies with it."Withdrawing the Malevolent Star energy, Li Fan attempted to calm and communicate with it. He conveyed that he had been tricked and trapped there by the Heavenly Doctor, and was looking for an exit to seek revenge on him in the outside world. The monster, having lost its mind, took almost half a day to fully grasp Li Fan's meaning. It stopped kowtowing and became still, its head continuously rotating, seemingly in thought. Soon after, it suddenly began to rustle and crawl outwards. It kept turning its head back, motioning for Li Fan to follow.

The region near Ruin No. 12 was still filled with disorienting forces. Through his senses, Li Fan observed the backward-bent monster leading the way, appearing suddenly behind him, then abruptly flashing forward a distance, constantly changing its position erratically. Li Fan followed closely behind the monster, using it as a reference point, continuously adjusting his flying direction.

After a short half-day, the black light continuously swirling on the Black Death Talisman grew weaker and weaker, seeming ready to extinguish at any moment. Li Fan, following the monster, delved deeper and deeper, apparently reaching the center of this labyrinthine area. Inside a large circular pit, as if formed by a meteorite impact, stood numerous human figures. Like those Li Fan had seen before, they were all lifeless corpses. However, what was different was that these bodies no longer appeared so lifelike, retaining their appearance from when they were alive. Instead, they had all undergone eerie transformations. Some had petrified, turning into statues. Others had become jade, emitting a radiant, crystalline glow. Some even had cracked, undulating bark growing over their skin, like trees.

What sent the most shivers down Li Fan's spine was the manifestation of insect-like transformation. They looked normal at first glance, but upon closer inspection, their entire bodies had been hollowed out. They were merely composed of countless tiny black maggots. Even after many years, these maggots were still continuously wriggling. The closer one got to the center of the circular pit, the more pronounced the bizarre transformations became. There were no longer any standing corpses. Instead, they had transformed into an unidentifiable substance adhering to the ground.

Li Fan subtly sensed that the monster's forward speed had slowed down, as if something ahead caused it extreme fear. Its body was imperceptibly trembling. At a certain boundary, it stopped and refused to go any further. After calming it, Li Fan had no choice but to proceed alone. At the same time, his guard was raised to its highest, ready to activate "Revert to True" at any moment.

Contrary to his imagination, there was no terrifying monster in the center of the circular pit. Only a broken stone lay quietly. There seemed to have been some writing on the stone originally, but now it was too faint to be seen. However, Li Fan could still discern from the faint traces on the stone that it was the character for "chaos" or "disorder."