The raging wind howled. As soon as Lin Zheyu entered the demon god barrier, he felt a terrifying surge of Baleful Yin force sweeping toward him.

"What terrifying Baleful Yin force!" Lin Zheyu was somewhat startled.

The true origin within his body surged rapidly, forming a thin layer of true origin membrane beneath his skin. With a single thought from Lin Zheyu, the grayish true origin quickly changed color. In an instant, the eerie sensation vanished. The body's natural defensive barrier, combined with the protection of true origin, firmly kept the Baleful Yin force outside.

"This consumption of true origin is not great. Even without replenishing energy, staying here for a month would not be a problem," Lin Zheyu said to himself after sensing the rate of consumption.

It had to be said that the converted true origin played a huge role. The transformed true origin suppressed the Baleful Yin force far more effectively than the original grayish form.

"I can't see anything at all. I can only move by relying on my perception," Lin Zheyu muttered.

Within the demon god barrier, it was pitch black and impossible to see even one's own hand. With the interference of the extremely dense Baleful Yin force, Lin Zheyu could only perceive an area of roughly one hundred fifty meters around him. He fully circulated the Tortoise Breath True Technique, the Evernight Slumber Secret Art, and concealment techniques to hide his aura. Then he cautiously began exploring the surroundings.

Lin Zheyu had two goals for entering the demon god barrier. The first was to see the legendary space-time rift, if possible, and witness what the rift connecting to the yao Nests looked like. The second was to find something that could serve as a source of energy. Ideally, he hoped to encounter members of the Yao Heavenly Palace or the evil sect again.

The sound of wind whistling echoed beside his ears. Lin Zheyu moved slowly, using the cover of the forest as he headed toward areas where the Baleful Yin force was denser. These currents of Baleful Yin force spread outward from space-time nodes, and the source of the Baleful Yin force was precisely where those nodes were located. He proceeded cautiously for more than ten kilometers.

Suddenly, a loud buzzing sound rang beside his ears. Creatures, the size of washbasins, flew toward Lin Zheyu. They had four wings on their backs and sharp needle-like mouthparts, their bodies glowing with a black-red hue. They resembled giant mosquitoes. Their powerful wings vibrated rapidly, producing wave after wave of buzzing sounds.

"Yaos?" A trace of doubt appeared on Lin Zheyu's face.

Through his perception, these basin-sized mosquito-like creatures all contained the aura of demon essence within their bodies. Their auras were extremely powerful, comparable to Grandmaster realm experts. Moreover, they were creatures he had never seen before. Lin Zheyu could not help suspecting that these were the legendary yaos.

"One... Two... Thirty... Damn. More than a hundred of them!" Lin Zheyu widened his eyes.

He had originally planned to capture a few and study them to see what was special about the legendary yaos. But when he saw their numbers, he immediately gave up the idea. If he killed all these creatures, the disturbance would certainly be enormous and attract something far more powerful.

Puff.

Lin Zheyu tapped the ground lightly with the tip of his foot and remained hidden in the darkness, bypassing the swarm of yao mosquitoes as he continued deeper inside. After traveling more than twenty kilometers, he stopped beneath a strange tree. He extended his right hand, and an egg-sized sphere of fiery red energy appeared in his palm. Using the light emitted by the energy sphere, he clearly saw the tree's appearance.

More than a dozen purple fruits hung on the tree. Each fruit was the size of a human head and bore a horrifying face that seemed to be crying and laughing at the same time. The sight was extremely eerie. After seeing the tree clearly, Lin Zheyu quickly withdrew the energy sphere. The surroundings fell into darkness once again.

"What kind of fruit is this?" Lin Zheyu was somewhat surprised.

Along the way, he had seen many strange creatures and plants. The experience felt like wandering through a horror game from his previous life, filled with unsettling sights.

A flash of blade light cut through the air, and one of the fruits fell from the tree. The fallen fruit suddenly emitted a shrill and horrifying sound. Limbs extended from its body as it roared and rushed toward Lin Zheyu.

Slash.

The Purple Thunder Demon-Slaying Saber struck out, and the strange creature was instantly split into two by the blade light. Yet within his perception, the two halves still wriggled and moved toward each other. Countless threadlike filaments grew from the wounds. When the threads touched, they quickly fused, and the two halves began showing signs of recovery.

"Yao?" Lin Zheyu said softly.

Although the creature was only the size of a human head, the energy contained within its body was astonishing. The power it could unleash was at least at the Grandmaster realm. It matched the image Lin Zheyu had of yaos.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Lin Zheyu swung his long blade repeatedly, cutting it into more than thirty pieces. Yet even under these circumstances, he discovered that the creature still had not died. Strange threads continued to grow from the wounds, connecting the fragments.

"What incredible vitality," Lin Zheyu said in astonishment.

Yaos were indeed more terrifying than he had imagined. Such powerful vitality alone was already beyond what martial artists or immortal cultivators could match. After a brief moment of thought, he swung his blade again. This time, the Purple Thunder Demon-Slaying Saber was infused with powerful true origin. Purple-white arcs of lightning flickered over the fiery red true origin coating the blade.

Sizzle.

The blade swept through the air, and another strange fruit fell from the tree. Without hesitation, Lin Zheyu struck again at the fruit that had transformed into a grotesque creature. The sharp edge split the yao in two, and powerful true origin surged into its body through the blade, producing a sizzling sound. A thick stench and strange odor spread from the yao's body.

It works! However, the Thunder, Fire, and Pure Yang true intents contained within it are not strong enough. My true origin is still not sufficiently rigid and Yang. It can only suppress the yao's powerful regeneration, but cannot kill it outright.

The previous strike had only been a test, using very little true origin energy, roughly equal to the demon essence within the yao's body. Under such conditions, it could only suppress the creature's regenerative ability. The Baleful Yin force inside the demon god barrier was extremely dense. Once it wore down the true origin Lin Zheyu had injected, the yao would likely regenerate again.

Lin Zheyu continued drawing his blade and striking. One strange fruit after another fell from the tree and transformed into powerful yaos. Under Lin Zheyu's blade, these yaos were repeatedly cut down.

Slash!

Another yao was killed. Lin Zheyu looked at the yao that had completely lost all signs of life and gained a deeper understanding of yaos' regenerative ability.

"By expending roughly three times the amount of true origin compared to the demon essence within a yao, it can be destroyed," Lin Zheyu said to himself.

This was the conclusion he had reached through experiments on the yaos growing on the strange tree. Different yaos might vary somewhat, but the difference should not be too large.

A tree capable of nurturing so many yaos must be even more powerful. However, even though all the fruit yaos have been killed, this tree has not reacted at all. Strange...

Lin Zheyu looked at the motionless and bizarre tree, puzzled.

In his perception, the strange tree contained an extremely terrifying energy within its body, comparable to that of the immortal cultivator from the Directorate of Celestial Observation he had encountered earlier.

If I can't understand it, I'll just cut it down.

He had originally planned to see what kind of change the tree might undergo, but after waiting for several minutes, the strange tree remained completely still.

Whoosh.

The long blade swept through and sank into the trunk. Lin Zheyu felt as though he had struck flesh. With a wet sound, the entire tree split into two halves. From the cut burst a foul-smelling, viscous liquid containing dense Baleful Yin force.

Puff.

After being split in two, more than a dozen tentacles suddenly grew from the cut surfaces and stabbed into the soil.

Lin Zheyu looked at the strange tree, which had now become two separate trees, and was somewhat speechless. Yaos were different from demon puppets. Demon puppets had fatal weaknesses and could be killed by simply cutting off the head. Even if a yao was chopped into dozens of pieces, it seemed capable of regenerating as long as there was enough Baleful Yin force. To completely destroy this tree, he would have to expend a considerable amount of true origin to erase it entirely.

If every yao requires such a large amount of true origin to destroy completely, then how did those immortal cultivators manage to defeat them? Lin Zheyu frowned as he thought.

Only after experiencing it personally could one understand how monstrous the regenerative ability of yao truly was. With such terrifying regeneration, how had immortal cultivators driven them out of this world?

I refuse to believe it. If cutting it into ten pieces doesn't kill it, then I'll cut it into a hundred. If a hundred isn't enough, then a thousand. I refuse to believe the regenerative ability of yao is truly this monstrous.

Lin Zheyu's eyes narrowed, killing intent surging within them.

In an instant, more than a hundred terrifying blade lights burst forth in the darkness. The blade lights repeatedly struck the strange tree, cutting it into more than two hundred fragments. Continuous puffing sounds echoed as tentacles kept growing from the cut surfaces of the hundreds of fragments and burrowed into the soil.

"It still won't die?"

Seeing this scene, Lin Zheyu hardened his resolve and continued striking with his blade. He did not use true origin to erase the fragments. Instead, he wanted to test how many pieces the tree had to be cut into before it would be completely destroyed.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Several minutes later, Lin Zheyu looked at the fragments scattered across the ground and let out a sigh of relief.

"It's finally dead."

After being chopped into fragments the size of small fingernails, the tentacles that grew from the pieces lost their vitality shortly after burrowing into the soil.

The Baleful Yin force here is too dense. Outside this place, it probably wouldn't require going to such extremes. But in areas where the Baleful Yin force is even denser, even this might not be enough to kill it.

This strange tree was truly monstrous. Although it did not fight back, it could reproduce endlessly. The severed trunks could grow tentacles from their cut surfaces, burrow into the soil, and become new yao trees.