Years ago, Yu Ziqing abducted a bunch of demon plant saplings. In reality, even now, they have only just progressed from kindergarten to elementary school level.

Demon plants inherently grow very slowly, but on the upside, they have a remarkably long lifespan.

If the demon plants in Jinlan Mountain could grow normally, they could outlive the current generation within Jinlan Mountain.

As demon plants, as long as they survive the most vulnerable growing stage, living for millennia is hardly an issue.

Back then, Yu Ziqing hoped to reform the Bloodthirsty Devil Flower, but unfortunately, it couldn't be swayed, totally disregarding him, and not killing him was already a courtesy.

Later, it became clear that the Bloodthirsty Devil Flower was most likely a subordinate of the Undying Mandala.

No matter what, at least its integrity was quite admirable.

Without hassle or obstacles, Yu Ziqing moved along the Blood River, drifting downstream.

That seemingly gentle and never-drying flow, with no source and seemingly no end, harbors strange places when delved into.

As he moved downstream, everything around him started turning illusory, and eventually, everything vanished except the Blood River.

After an unknown time, illusory scenes emerged again, gradually forming a new space.

When the illusion became reality, Yu Ziqing first smelled the intense fire qi mixed with sulfur and various toxic gases.

To be honest, compared to concentrated filth mixed with toxins, this was much more nauseating. At least filth doesn't actually have any smell.

He lightly exhaled, releasing all the toxins he had inhaled, and after coming ashore, Yu Ziqing glanced around.

A desolate land.

It was like a volcanic range that had experienced a massive eruption; in the distance, lava flowing in rivers could be seen, slowly flowing.

Sometimes, strange bugs could be spotted, but other than that, nothing else was moving.

More importantly, the concentration of spiritual energy here was appallingly low, almost all the spiritual energy had been tainted by fire qi and toxins.

To cultivators, this was truly a desert.

An abyss and an abyss are indeed different.

The abyss rift valley in Dali, the layer entered, was at least teeming with life, with countless devils around, if not for the difficulty for demon plants to survive, their numbers wouldn't have been low.

But this layer, somewhat resembles an abyss from legend, with an extremely harsh environment.

As he moved forward, he could faintly sense traces of ominous aura.

If not for the Wig White Water Egg descending back then to personally resolve the crisis here, Yu Ziqing perhaps couldn't have easily made it across now.

The No.1 of that year went mad, fundamentally due to coming here with the Wig White Water Egg.

This place, the vast magma sea, originally the place where the Copper Clan, cursed by bloodline, was tormented to death.

The bloodline curse pervades this region, anyone passing through would be afflicted by it.

Yu Ziqing heard New Five talk about it but never visited.

He originally wanted to inquire about where the curse treasure formed from the bloodline curse taken away back then fell.

But New Five isn't the right person to actively ask, so the matter keeps being postponed.

Flying low, occasionally bubbles rose from the magma sea, releasing more toxic gas.

Passing what theoretically was the first obstacle, he encountered no danger, continuing forward, the magma sea gradually vanished, yet the fire qi grew more intense.

Scanning the horizon, black smoke was seen rolling, occasionally a thunderous sound echoed faintly, and soon, a burning red boulder with a long black smoke tail fell from the sky.

Massive mountains were ablaze, many places resembling red-hot irons.

As Yu Ziqing got closer, he saw devils resembling apes, red all over, walking in flames, heads burning with fire, emerging on a mountain top.

Yu Ziqing was momentarily stunned, as they looked like the Red Ape within him, though fundamentally not the same.

The Red Ape is based on wrath, its flames burn quietly like a meditating monk.

These Red Apes were extremely irritable, Yu Ziqing just glanced, and saw a burning boulder smashing onto one, sending it flying backwards.

In the distance, another Red Ape leapt between mountains, rushing forward, and the two Red Apes attacked each other.

Yu Ziqing quietly summoned energy, blending into the flames, forsaking the notion of pretending to be a Red Ape.

He was used to feigning kinship to avoid trouble.

But forgot that for some devils, kin often inflict the fiercest blows.

Might as well pretend to not exist.

As he continued forward, traces of remnants increased, some clearly left behind by human warriors.

The encountered Red Apes grew more frequent, but they coexisted peacefully without aggression.

Then, the little Red Ape within Yu Ziqing conveyed some information to him.

These Red Apes were communicating, possessing spiritual wisdom, and those two big fellows seen earlier were vying for the position of the new leader.

The previous leader was killed by a passerby earlier.

"Can we find a Red Ape to lead the way?"

"Worth a try."

Yu Ziqing summoned the essence of the Red Ape, disguising himself as a devil, and at the edge of their territory, he found a Red Ape about a meter high, presumably still juvenile.