Venom

When Gu Qingfeng emerged from the treasury, he was momentarily stunned.

Because he saw a group of petrified people—not truly turned to stone, but each one dumbstruck, rooted to the spot in shock.

They were precisely those young prodigies who had just entered the Sunken Void Mountain.

These poor prodigies had finally mustered their courage to venture into Sunken Void Mountain, intending to make a fortune on the Stairway to Heaven, only to arrive and discover, damn it, the Stairway to Heaven was gone!?

Who did this! Who was it!!

Oh, it was Emperor Gu. Never mind then.

Gu Qingfeng paid no attention to the stunned crowd. Instead, he took the despairing Jiang Li by his side and walked outward.

As for why Jiang Li was in despair, it was mainly because after witnessing Gu Qingfeng's indestructibility and immortality—even the ancient artifact Stairway to Heaven couldn't harm him—Jiang Li began to doubt whether her master, Cloudflow Immortal King, could truly save her once they reached the outside world.

Was her fate to become a dual-cultivation furnace, used and discarded by him?

Life seemed bleak.

Seeing Gu Qingfeng approach, the crowd instinctively recoiled in fear, clearing a path for him.

Gu Qingfeng couldn't be bothered with them either. He was in a hurry to get to the ruins of the Soaring Immortal Sect, eager to see what treasures lay within and to uncover what exactly had happened in the ancient era that led to the destruction of such a powerful sect.

Such brutality, such ferocity, such an inhumane method—it was highly likely the work of family!

He was anxious!

Having finally come to the Upper Realm to search for family, after years of effort with little success, how could he not be in a hurry?

One hour later.

Gu Qingfeng arrived at the ruins of the Soaring Immortal Sect. Looking at the protective mountain formation, he took out the core disciple token. Sure enough, the formation allowed him entry.

However, Jiang Li wasn't so fortunate; she couldn't enter.

He had no intention of bringing her along anyway, so he simply ordered her to wait outside. Bound by his restrictions, Jiang Li had no chance of escape.

After entering, Gu Qingfeng hadn't walked far before he came upon a stretch of ruins. From their appearance, these were once palaces, pavilions, training grounds, and other structures.

A single glance revealed nothing but broken walls and rubble, ruins and debris everywhere.

Traces of battle were all over—countless marks of blades and swords, palm prints, fist imprints, with the ground pockmarked by huge craters and fissures.

The further in he went, the more devastating the signs of battle became. One could imagine what a tragic event had befallen the Soaring Immortal Sect in ancient times.

Yet, the most bizarre thing was this: while the interior of the Soaring Immortal Sect was a complete ruin, the protective mountain formation remained intact, even functioning perfectly to this day. From this, it could be inferred that this likely wasn't an attack by an external force breaching the mountain gates.

The problem came from within!

What kind of powerful and sinister existence could have caused the once-dominant Soaring Immortal Sect to be destroyed overnight in ancient times?

One must remember, the Soaring Immortal Sect of that era possessed beings even more powerful than Immortal Kings!

This made Gu Qingfeng even more eager.

He proceeded deeper. Suddenly, amidst a pile of ruins, he spotted a skeleton.

It was a skeleton, pitch-black all over.

He hurried forward to examine it and discovered it was actually the bones of an Immortal King!

Gu Qingfeng had been wondering earlier: after such a fierce battle, how could there be no corpses? Although everything fades under the great force of time, once one reaches the Golden Immortal realm and forges indestructible immortal bones, they aren't so easily erased.

After carefully studying the Immortal King bones, he immediately reached a conclusion.

"This is poison!"

The reason the Immortal King bones were black was because they were poisoned!

This poison possessed a powerful corrosive property, which was why the people of the Soaring Immortal Sect had left no remains behind.

As for why this skeleton hadn't been corroded, Gu Qingfeng surmised that this Immortal King must have cultivated the Dao through poison during his lifetime, becoming immune to all toxins, thus barely managing to be preserved.

"Could it be that the one who slaughtered the Soaring Immortal Sect was a master of poison? Such brutality, wiping out an entire sect, and using poison on top of that... if that's not family, I don't know what is!" Gu Qingfeng consoled himself.

As he spoke, a bold idea suddenly popped into his head: what if he licked it?

Wouldn't licking it tell him if it was family or not?

Although this poison could even kill an Immortal King, this Emperor is an indestructible, immortal being. What's there to fear?

No sooner said than done. Of course, Gu Qingfeng wasn't actually going to lick it. Instead, he took out the Heavenly Capital Sword, gently scraped off a bit of the black powder, and put it in his mouth.

Gag!

Ding!

Host attacked by Venom Fiend.

Heavenly Venom Power +10000+10000+10000+......

"It IS family!!"

Gu Qingfeng was instantly ecstatic, forgetting about his gag reflex, his eyes gleaming as he stared at the blackened Immortal King bones in his hand.

"Heavenly Venom Power?"

He carefully sensed the new power surging within him. After a moment, he concluded:

"This Heavenly Venom Power likely points directly to the source of the Poison Dao. It seems capable of mimicking all poisons in the world, essentially the ancestor of all toxins. It's just a pity there's so little of it now. Otherwise, it could probably poison even an Immortal King with ease."

Thinking of this, Gu Qingfeng grew even more excited.

He promptly used the Heavenly Venom Power to absorb all the toxicity from the Immortal King bones.

The bones then returned to their original jade-like color, even faintly shimmering with immortal radiance.

Thus, out of respect for the ancients, Gu Qingfeng laid them to rest in his spatial ring.

Then he quickened his pace, running deeper into the ruins.

One hour later, Gu Qingfeng looked at a particular ruin, his eyes suddenly lighting up. It wasn't because he saw family, but rather...

He saw a shattered plaque within the rubble, broken in half. On the remaining half were two faded ancient characters.

Treasure Vault.

"This must have been the Soaring Immortal Sect's Treasure Pavilion! Hehehe... double happiness has descended! This Emperor truly is the Child of Destiny!"

Gu Qingfeng excitedly rushed over, rolling up his sleeves and starting to dig.

He tossed aside rubble the size of small hills with a casual flick, and shattered rusted divine iron with a single punch.

After working for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, Gu Qingfeng, holding a few broken, rusted fragments of immortal weapons, began cursing.

These immortal weapon fragments had lost all their spiritual nature and were completely blackened, clearly corroded by the so-called Heavenly Venom.

Adhering to the principle of not wasting anything, Gu Qingfeng reluctantly absorbed the Heavenly Venom from them and continued onward.

Finally, he arrived at the ruins of an altar.

At the base of the altar was clearly the entrance to a cavern, with a stone staircase winding down into the depths below. The cave was pitch black inside, like a black hole devouring all light.

As Gu Qingfeng approached the cave entrance, he immediately felt a wave of Heavenly Venom aura rushing towards him. Wisps of venomous mist entered his mouth and nose, invigorating his spirit!