Outside the Poisonous Insect Valley, Yee Youmeng and Luoo Long were already being stared down by Guo Qishan, Zhongg Li, the Independent Cultivator Captain, and their men.

They hadn’t expected Jiang Jichen to sacrifice himself to get the two of them out. But in the end, the result was the same.

They couldn’t escape their fate: to be slaughtered.

Wei Xiaohao and the others had gotten out earlier and were long gone.

The ten people who had fled earlier were also gone from the area outside the valley.

Just then, Blood Hand suddenly spoke up. "I remember Jiang Jichen was right behind me. Why did you all come out first?"

As his sinister voice rang out, the faces of Guo Qishan, Zhongg Li, the Independent Cultivator Captain, and the others changed drastically.

Blood Hand had previously forbidden any infighting before they escaped, but they had clearly defied him.

It was Guo Qishan who, thinking fast, spoke up. "Jiang Jichen and his companions are only at the Innate Sixth Layer. Among the thirty-odd attacks just now, theirs were bound to be the weakest. They made no real contribution and deserve the least credit, so naturally, they should have been the last ones out!"

"Besides, we didn’t actually make a move on them. If we had, how could these two have ever escaped the Poisonous Insect Valley? They’d already be dead in there!"

Zhongg Li chimed in, agreeing.

Blood Hand stared at them coldly, his eyes filled with scorn. "Are you sure Jiang Jichen and his two companions contributed the least?"

Hearing Blood Hand’s words, a flicker of doubt crossed their eyes. The Independent Cultivator Captain said, "With a Cultivation Realm like his, the attack he contributed was naturally useless!"

"That just goes to show your ignorance. How could trash like you possibly comprehend the mysteries of my Blood Circle Condensing Spirit Technique? Besides, without the three of them, our combined strike might not have even injured the Poison Beetle King, let alone knocked it back. You probably wouldn’t have even had the chance to escape!" Blood Hand retorted coldly.

"How is that possible?" Nearly everyone cried out in unison, utterly disbelieving Blood Hand’s words.

"The Secret Skill of my Blood Refining Alliance is Blood Circle Spirit Condensation," Blood Hand said faintly, looking at the group. "At my current Realm, I can elevate attacks from those below the Foundation Establishment Realm directly to the level of the Grandmaster Realm, while attacks from Foundation Establishment Cultivators remain unchanged! That is why the attacks from Jiang Jichen and his two followers were directly boosted to the Grandmaster Realm!"

"Even so, those are just Grandmaster Realm attacks. They couldn’t have done any real damage to the Poison Beetle King. It was the attacks from the Foundation Establishment Cultivators that were mainly responsible for driving it back!" a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage Cultivator from the Guo Family argued.

"A pity, then, that the attacks from you useless Foundation Establishment trash weren’t even as good as a single Sword Technique from Jiang Jichen, or that brilliant slash from that young boy. Heh, if they were at the Grandmaster Realm, killing all of you would be as easy as chopping vegetables!"

Blood Hand’s last statement stunned everyone present.

’How could that be possible? Did we hear him right?’

’Jiang Jichen, and that skinny little kid dragging the large machete... if they were at the Grandmaster Realm, they could slaughter us like we were vegetables!’

’Ridiculous!’

Guo Qishan, Zhongg Li, the Independent Cultivator Captain, and all the others refused to believe it. They were indignant, but facing Blood Hand, they didn’t dare voice their objections.

Blood Hand didn’t seem to care whether they believed him or not; he had merely stated a fact.

In truth, even he could hardly believe it at the time. ’That one Sword Technique and that single slash were so terrifying... even the combined attacks of everyone else weren’t as sharp or vicious as what those two produced.’

"I know you don’t believe me, but I’ll kill the next person who dares to say Jiang Jichen’s group was weak or contributed little," Blood Hand said, his tone dead serious. "As for those two, they’re under my protection now. I can’t be bothered to pursue what you did. But I have to warn you: if Jiang Jichen manages to walk out of the Poisonous Insect Valley alive, then congratulations. You’ve made an enemy you can’t afford to have. You’d better watch your backs from now on."

"Impossible. I saw the Poison Beetle King pin him to the ground with my own eyes. That was a death sentence. How could he possibly get out of there alive?" Guo Qishan, Zhongg Li, and the Independent Cultivator Captain clearly refused to believe it.

"Nothing in this world is absolute. Just wait and see," Blood Hand said faintly. For some reason, he had a feeling that a person like Jiang Jichen wouldn’t die so easily.

Besides, he could sense the calm and collected demeanor of both Yee Youmeng and Luoo Long.

’If Jiang Jichen were really dead, the two of them wouldn’t be acting this way.’

In the end, under Blood Hand’s protection, Guo Qishan and the others didn’t dare make another move against Yee Youmeng and Luoo Long.

BOOM!

Just then, a tremendous roar drew everyone’s attention. They saw an endless, multicolored toxic mist swirling like a tornado, converging on the Poisonous Insect Valley before continuously vanishing into it.

All the poisonous mist from every corner of the Peak Forest seemed to answer a summons, condensing and flowing toward the valley to be absorbed by some unknown presence within.

’What on earth was happening?’

The same question surfaced in everyone’s mind. They could only feel that deep within the Poisonous Insect Valley, a mysterious presence seemed to be devouring all the poisonous mist in the Peak Forest with an unstoppable, world-consuming force.

’Could it be? Is the Poisonous Mist Peak Forest returning to its legendary state, transforming into Spirit Peaks? Is it becoming a true paradise for cultivation?’

Many recalled the legends. They knew this place had once been a paradise for cultivation, but some mysterious cataclysm had transformed it into the Poisonous Mist Peak Forest.

But now, the skies were gradually clearing and the Spiritual Qi was beginning to return. It was clearly reverting to its former state.

But no one knew why.

Meanwhile, in the Earth Palace deep beneath the Poisonous Insect Valley, the Poison-Devouring Pearl Fragment in Jiang Jichen’s palm was spinning rapidly. An endless torrent of poisonous mist surged into the Earth Palace, only to be completely absorbed by the fragment.

It was like a bottomless black hole, capable of devouring any and all poison at an incredible speed.

Jiang Jichen’s entire body was enveloped in the endless poisonous gas. However, a faint green light radiated out from the Poison-Devouring Pearl Fragment in his palm, spreading to cover his entire body and isolating him from the myriad poisons.

Otherwise, even with his unique constitution and current Realm, he would never have been able to withstand such a massive volume of toxic mist.

Clearly, the entire Anomaly outside was being caused by this single Poison-Devouring Pearl Fragment in Jiang Jichen’s palm.

Before, the Poison-Devouring Pearl had been left undisturbed, so it was constantly releasing the poison stored within it. But once it was moved, it would automatically begin to reabsorb all the poison it had previously let out.

The most terrifying part was that the Poison-Devouring Pearl’s toxic gas could grow on its own. Over millions of years, the poisonous mist it had released into the Peak Forest had evolved to an incredibly frightening degree.

The Poison-Devouring Pearl wasn’t just reabsorbing its own toxic gas; it was absorbing every poisonous substance in the entire region!

Jiang Jichen watched with his own eyes as the mysterious power of the Poison-Devouring Pearl Fragment reduced the Poison Beetle King to a single drop of pale purple venom, which the fragment then absorbed.

Then there were the countless Poisonous Insects, toxic plants, and poisonous trees... all of them dissolved into a toxic mist that was absorbed by the Poison-Devouring Pearl.