Entering the cave, it wasn't dark at all. Sunlight streamed through the opening, illuminating the interior brightly. The leader furrowed his brow, his nose twitching slightly as he detected a foul stench.

A sense of foreboding crept in, but led by Old Pan, they continued inward. After about a dozen breaths, they reached their destination.

Everyone was stunned, staring in disbelief at the scene before them.

Corpses. The place was filled with a dense layer of monkey corpses. They were emaciated with dull skin, obviously dead for some time. Yet, strangely, no maggots had come to feed on them.

It was unnerving.

"Ghosts! There are ghosts!"

Old Pan exclaimed, his eyes darting around.

"Smack!"

One of the men slapped him on the head.

"Damn it, what are you yelling about?!" The scar-faced leader glared at Old Pan, his long blade pressed against the latter's neck.

"No... no, I wouldn't deceive you heroes! I don't know why these monkeys died!" Old Pan stammered, falling to the ground.

"These monkeys died from Qi Deviation!"

Suddenly, a faint voice entered their ears.

"Who's there?"

"Who's speaking?"

The men exchanged glances, quickly turning their gaze towards a darker area at the back.

Chen Yuan approached them calmly, his eyes glowing with an intense cyan light. He could see dense waves of negative Qi seeping out from the ground.

It was several times stronger than outside the cave!

His opportunity had finally arrived!

"Y-you... are you a man or a ghost?" Old Pan shrieked.

His shock was understandable. A figure with glowing green eyes suddenly appearing would lead anyone to think of ghosts, especially with the Black Wind Valley's reputation for demons and monsters.

Unlike Old Pan, the scar-faced leader remained relatively calm. He stared at Chen Yuan.

"Who are you? Why are you following us?"

"This is also my destination. It's hardly following you," Chen Yuan said coolly.

The scar-faced man's eyes flickered as he exchanged a look with his companions, signaling murderous intent. Regardless of who Chen Yuan was, they couldn't let him leave alive.

"I see... May I ask for this brother's esteemed name?"

The scar-faced man forced a smile, slowly approaching Chen Yuan, blade in hand. When he was about ten feet away, he stealthily gripped the hilt, shouting "Attack!" and bringing the blade down on Chen Yuan's head.

"Pfft."

A flash of light illuminated the cave.

The scar-faced man's head rolled across the ground like a ball, blood spraying several feet into the air, splattering the ground.

Before Chen Yuan, a mere Blood Refinement martial artist stood no chance. Killing him was like killing a chicken!

The remaining men were shocked, but their ferocity was ignited. They charged forward, blades raised.

But their fate was no different from the scar-faced man's. Their bodies were separated from their heads, which rolled on the ground!

In a short time, the men were all dead. The cave fell silent. Old Pan, who had witnessed the scene, gulped, his legs trembling uncontrollably.

A strange, urine-like odor began to permeate the air.

Chen Yuan frowned and walked expressionlessly to Old Pan, his cold eyes scrutinizing him.

"T-thank you, young hero, for saving my life!"

Old Pan scrambled to his knees, afraid to look up.

The man before him was a ruthless demon. The previous men had seemed powerful to him, but they couldn't even withstand a single move from this figure.

He couldn't imagine how strong this expert truly was.

All he knew was that he was no match for him.

"Who are they?"

The words were vague, but Old Pan understood perfectly. He quickly cried out, "These men are robbers! They covet my family's monkey wine and forced me to come to the Black Wind Valley. Please, young hero, save my family of seven!"

"Oh."

Chen Yuan nodded and continued, "Why do you sell fake wine?"

Old Pan choked on his words, realizing that the man had been following them for some time and had even heard about the fake wine. "Young hero, these robbers are simply trying to slander me and demand compensation! Old Pan here is a respected man in the city. I've been in business for so many years, how could I possibly sell fake wine?"

"They're... they're slandering me!"

Chen Yuan ignored him, placing his blade against Old Pan's neck. He said calmly, "The thing I hate most in this life is selling fake wine!"

"Young hero, listen to me..."

"Pfft!"

Blood splattered as Old Pan fell to the ground, his eyes wide.

Looking at his corpse, Chen Yuan snorted. In his previous life, he had drunk fake wine from a certain Pan and felt sick for days. He thought he was an old artist, but he was just a dog.

He treated him like family, but he was just being treated like a fool.

His blade showed no mercy, regardless of age!

He wouldn't allow the possibility of this place being exposed. The Yin Qi land was a treasure.

Treasures were for the virtuous, and he was virtuous.

After dealing with these unexpected intruders, Chen Yuan turned his attention to the monkey corpses within the cave. When he first entered, he immediately saw that the monkeys had all died from Yin Qi entering their bodies.

The Yin Qi within the cave was already leaking out.

It was an untouched virgin land, waiting to be claimed.

After investigating, Chen Yuan determined that all the Yin Qi within the cave was of the highest quality, extremely pure and free of impurities.

It had probably been nurtured for over two hundred years, turning this place of fierce bloodthirst into a treasure trove. If word got out, it would surely drive all the forces in Southern Mausoleum Prefecture mad.

This entire valley contained an extremely vast amount of negative Qi, its value beyond words...

Suppressing the joy in his heart, Chen Yuan cleared the corpses from the cave before arriving at a spot where the Yin Qi was erupting most strongly, known as the Eye of Negative Qi.

The majority of the valley's essence was concentrated here.

Sitting cross-legged, Chen Yuan took a deep breath and began to calm his mind, adjusting his body to its peak condition, preparing to condense the Qi!

Condensing the Qi was simple in theory. You only needed to convert one-third of the true Qi in your Dantian into negative Qi to break through.

But it was also very difficult.

If it were so easy, so many people wouldn't fail to break through.

Firstly, the process was dangerous. Combining the nether Yin Qi with the body would erode the mind. Once the negative Qi completely invaded the mind, it was very likely to lead to Qi Deviation.

True Qi would overflow.

And if the negative Qi ran rampant in the body, it would damage the meridians and internal organs.

Therefore, the internal organs must be tempered before breaking through...

Chen Yuan was well-prepared for this. He had been tempering his internal organs daily, and although the time was short, it was beyond the capabilities of ordinary people. Furthermore, Chen Yuan had also used spiritual Qi to temper his body when he refined the Phoenix Marrow Qi.

As for the mind, it only needed to be guarded carefully, and the probability of something going wrong was very low. Chen Yuan had already read through all of this in the archives.

Two hours later.

Chen Yuan slowly opened his eyes, his gaze full of solemnity. The state of his body had been adjusted to the peak. True Qi filled his Dantian, constantly circulating through the meridians.

Start the breakthrough!

Chen Yuan took off his clothes, revealing his muscular physique, each muscle clearly defined. His chest rose and fell, displaying a body full of vigor.

Gradually, a dark golden luster appeared on his chest, then spread rapidly across his body, like a drop of ink falling into a water tank.

In a short time, a light golden body appeared in the cave.

After that, Chen Yuan sensed the surrounding world's origin Qi and the extremely Yin blood Qi that was merging with it.

The Supreme Profound Sutra circulated, opening hundreds of acupoints throughout his body, connecting him with the outside world.

A subtle suction force emanated from the acupoints.

Within a ten-foot radius around Chen Yuan, the faint black negative Qi seemed to be drawn in, pouring into his body through his acupoints.

The moment he activated the process, the negative Qi within the cave seemed to surge, filling the entire cave in just a few breaths. Strands of negative Qi, like swimming dragons, constantly circulated around Chen Yuan.

Then, through the acupoints, it entered his body.

As soon as the negative Qi entered his body, Chen Yuan felt an extreme chill flowing through him, with the true Qi dissolving upon contact!

It was even more terrifying than Liu Changkong's negative Qi.

But Chen Yuan wasn't panicked. This time was different from before. Previously, it was refined negative Qi, but now it was unrefined negative Qi.

The Supreme Profound Sutra seemed to filter the negative Qi, allowing strands of it to enter the Dantian after circulating for a week.

After a half-hour standoff, the true Qi slowly began to merge with the negative Qi. Soon, a strand of dark black negative Qi successfully merged with the true Qi in the Dantian Qi vortex.

A strange feeling filled Chen Yuan's heart.

A slight smile tugged at his lips. He thought that this breakthrough was going very smoothly. Of course, this was the normal situation.

He had prepared himself very thoroughly. It would have been strange if something went wrong.

Now that the merging of the negative Qi had started well, all that was needed was to follow the steps to complete the breakthrough.

During the process of the negative Qi entering his body, it was also tempering his body.

A dark golden luster began to mix with a black hue on his skin. The Vajra Glazed Body seemed to be undergoing a strange transformation!

The practice of the Vajra Glazed Body was actually to cultivate the body to be as bright as glass, but Chen Yuan didn't dare to interrupt the process of negative Qi tempering the body.

He was afraid that something strange would happen.

In his opinion, it would be good to break through safely.

As for negative Qi tempering the body, it might even be a good thing!

Practicing...

Fifteen minutes,

Thirty minutes,

Forty-five minutes...

Suddenly, Chen Yuan's mind shook violently. Looking down, the Blood Fiend Blade on his left arm suddenly emitted a longing, wanting to devour the negative Qi.