System: Infinite Evolution into Qilin Bloodline

Chapter 606

"Many people have died here."

Liu Qi examined several skeletons:

"His bones were black; he died from poisoning."

But how could someone poisoned still manage to run so deep into the mountains…

"Something chased us in."

Zhang Hao squatted down and picked up a piece of skull.

On the top of the skull, there is a regular round hole with smooth edges, as if it had been pierced by some sharp weapon.

He handed the skull to Granny Lan.

The old woman squinted and stared for a long time, her expression gradually becoming serious:

"This wasn't hit by a sharp weapon."

It's...worm-eaten.

"insect?"

The fat man leaned closer:

What kind of insect can bore through a skull?

"Insect."

Grandma Lan put down the skull:

"And it's a very powerful 'Bone-Eating Gu'."

Those afflicted by the Gu poison will not die immediately. The Gu worms will slowly gnaw at the bone marrow, causing the person to run wildly in excruciating pain until they collapse from exhaustion.

Finally, the Gu worm broke free of its body…

She pointed to the scattered bones around her:

"These are all nests of Gu worms."

A chill ran down everyone's spine.

"The guardian of the Seventh Beacon Tower uses Gu?"

Zhang Hao asked.

"I'm afraid it's not a guardian."

Grandma Lan shook her head:

"It is the altar itself."

The consciousness of an ancient god resides in ancient artifacts associated with the altar. These artifacts may have been obtained by the locals and used to create... a kind of poison.

She looked towards the deep valley ahead:

"If that's the case, then the valley has probably become a nest for Gu worms."

As they continued forward, they encountered more and more bones, which almost covered the entire ground.

The air was thick with a sweet, fishy smell, and even those who were taking malaria-avoiding pills began to feel chest tightness and shortness of breath.

Finally, before sunset, they reached the entrance to the valley.

It was a gourd-shaped valley with a narrow entrance, allowing only three people to walk side by side.

The rock walls on both sides of the valley entrance are covered with densely packed patterns, not murals, but countless twisted insect-shaped symbols that make one's scalp tingle.

The valley was shrouded in mist, obscuring the view from its depths. But the needle on the geomancer was spinning wildly, pointing towards the valley.

Just as Zhang Hao was about to step in, Granny Lan stopped him.

"and many more."

The old woman scooped a handful of pale yellow powder from her bamboo basket and sprinkled it at the mouth of the valley.

The powder drifted in the air, and the moment it touched the mist, it made a "sizzling" burning sound, and countless fine, almost invisible threads appeared in the mist.

"Spider Silk Gu".

Granny Lan said in a deep voice:

"It is transparent as if it were nothing, extremely sticky, and poisonous."

Once you get it on your skin, you'll be swarmed by countless poisonous spiders.

She asked Lan Cai to take a small earthenware jar from the bamboo basket, and when she opened the jar, more than a dozen golden beetles flew out.

The beetle flapped its wings and flew toward the spider web, spraying a pale golden liquid from its mouthparts.

Spider silk dissolves upon contact with liquid, quickly clearing a passage.

"Golden Armor Barrier-Breaking Gu, specifically designed to deal with this kind of insidious poison."

Grandma Lan was the first to enter:

"Stay close to me and don't touch the rock walls on either side."

Everyone filed in.

The sight inside the valley made everyone gasp in astonishment.

In the center of the valley, a beacon tower indeed stood. It was not a common earthen or stone structure, but rather built with some kind of black wood. It was about three zhang high and had seven stories, with copper bells hanging from the eaves of each story.

But those bronze bells were badly rusted, and some were even broken.

The area surrounding the beacon tower was a "forest".

A forest composed of countless insect nests.

Insect nests of all sizes and shapes hang among the trees, pile up on the ground, and even attach to the surface of beacon towers.

Some resemble honeycomb, with thumb-sized black bees crawling in and out of the hexagonal holes;

Some resemble anthills, but their surfaces are covered in sticky mucus; others are simply a constantly wriggling, translucent gelatinous mass containing unhatched insect eggs.

The air was filled with high-frequency flapping of wings, crawling sounds, and a low, rustling sound, like countless mandibles rubbing together.

Directly below the beacon tower was a huge altar.

Unlike the black stone altar in Helan Mountain, this altar was built with bones, human skeletons.