Chapter 1342: Chaos Ensues

"Gathered too many Foundational Spirit Treasures?"

When faced with Li Luo's words, Lu Shuanglu, Zhang Cuicheng and the rest of the Golden Dragon Bank's experts revealed expressions of ridicule. If Li Luo wasn't someone from the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li, they'd even think that he was trying to reduce the number of competitors fighting for the Foundational Spirit Treasures.

Lu Shuanglu frowned as his words seemed quite outlandish. However, her mind pondered over the possibilities carefully before she asked, "Li Luo... are you saying that the Foundational Spirit Treasures have problems?"

Li Luo smiled and nodded his head. Lu Shuanglu had a sharp mind and definitely far surpassed Zhang Cuicheng. It was no wonder why she'd ended up leading the squad.

When he nodded his head, the Golden Dragon Bank's people felt that Li Luo was talking hogwash as some angrily rebuked. "Our Golden Dragon Bank has collected the Foundational Spirit Treasures from the World End's River Treasure Domain for more than a hundred years and i've never heard that there was something wrong with them."

Li Luo indifferently replied, "Well did such a disturbance happen in the past when you were gathering Foundational Spirit Treasures?"

These words which seemed to challenge them caused a few of them to feel incensed.

Lu Shuanglu's expression shifted slightly. She might not have had too many interactions with Li Luo but she knew that he was not someone who shot his mouth off on a rumor. More importantly, if he was truly looking to spout gibberish, wouldn't it destroy any goodwill between the two parties? Logically speaking, she began to believe Li Luo's words.

There were too many people that had been affected previously and none of them exhibited any signs prior to being corrupted. They had a few guesses of their own but no one had ever expected that the source were those treasures.

"Did your corrupted companions all have completely black eyes without any whites?"

Li Luo then casually continued with his line of questions, immediately causing the people from the Golden Dragon Bank to turn pale.

What had happened was as Li Luo had described.

All those who had been corrupted and lost their minds had eyes that were completely black.

"Now that I think about it, some of those who were corrupted had indeed handled the greatest numbers of Foundational Spirit Treasures." Lu Shuanglu continued.

Her expression changed. "If these treasures do have a hidden danger, considering that all of us here have been in contact with it in some way, doesn't that mean..."

The rest of them felt as though a bucket of cold water had been splashed upon them.

Li Luo glanced at them and nodded his head. "You've guessed correctly. You're all already corrupted, it just hasn't reached the state where you mind has been overtaken by it. However... it's just a matter of time."

His shocking words caused all of the people from the Golden Dragon Bank to feel cold sweat dripping off their bodies.

Lu Shuanglu forced a smile, "Li Luo, you shouldn't be scaring us like this. We're all just fine and none of us have discovered any trace of corruption within our body."

"This affliction is known as the Black Pupil Ghostly Curse. It will cause your pupils to continuously expand and when even the whites of your eyes have been covered and the pupils completely occupy your eye sockets, that is when your sanity will be eroded." Li Luo explained.

Lu Shuanglu and Zhang Cuicheng glanced at each other as their expressions turned solemn. The latter then asked. "How did you discover this?"

"One of our companions from the Dragon's Scale Guardians had also been cursed. We helped them purify any lingering corruption and some of this knowledge was gleaned from the process." Li Luo explained.

Lu Shuanglu immediately caught the most important point as she asked in surprise. "You said you're able to purge this venomous curse?" This corruption was incredibly insidious and even the fifth-grade Duke in her squad was unable to detect its progress. Meanwhile Li Luo at the Greater Heavenly Resonance stage was capable of purifying it?

"More specifically, it can only be done with Sister Qing'e's cooperation. Furthermore it only works when the corruption has not entrenched itself deeply as well." Li Luo replied.

Lu Shuanglu and the others inadvertently looked at Jiang Qing'e. The latter was silent but none could ignore her presence. The light resonant power that emanated from her caused one to unconsciously trust her.

"The Dragon's Scale Guardians were also affected but thanks to Li Luo and Dragon Fang Envoy Jiang, we were able to recover." Li Tingyue then piped up, lending credibility to Li Luo's words.

Lu Shuanglu's eyes lit up as she expectantly looked towards Li Luo. "Li Luo, can you help us remove the curse? This will be a favor that the Golden Dragon Bank will remember." "Brother Cuicheng stepped up to help me previously and so did Miss Lu. I will naturally do my best to return the favor." Li Luo smiled.

She heaved a sigh of relief. It was fortunate that she had established a good relationship with Li Luo.

"However, now is not the time. It looks like things are about to turn even more chaotic. The curse on these Foundational Spirit Treasures that we see now seem to be even more potent than the ones we encountered previously. You must not touch them by all means." Li Luo's gaze turned towards the Blood Lake's surroundings. Currently the situation had devolved into a messy brawl and as more Foundational Spirit Treasures shot out from the Blood Lake, more and more of them found their way into cultivator hands, exciting them.

That said, Li Luo could also feel that these Foundational Spirit Treasures gave him an ominous feeling. The feeling was several times stronger than what he had felt before.

What could they do? Could he actually prevent all of them from grabbing these treasures? Not only would no one believe him. Qin Zhenlin and Zhao Xiuyuan might even fan the flames and directly incite more experts to attack them.

To these individuals, blocking their path of advancement was like killing their parents. These objects were more attractive to Dukes than anything else in the world.

Li Luo and Jiang Qing'e glanced at each other and they could both see the solemnity in each other's eyes. They decided to give up on reminding the rest of the crowd. It was more important to keep themselves safe.

Over the next few minutes, Li Luo and the rest of the Golden Dragon Bank's squad had grouped together, not daring to seize the treasures shooting at them and to remain alert.

Their strange behavior had caught the attention of Zhao Xiuyuan, Qin Zhenlin and the rest. They felt it was baffling because this was a wondrous opportunity to obtain Foundational Spirit Treasures. Why would they not take any action?

"Guardian General, there is something abnormal about all this. It's simply been too easy to gather these Foundational Spirit Treasures. There is merit in caution!" Qin Yi's expression turned serious as she reminded.

Qin Zhenlin attentively nodded his head as his gaze flickered. "Let's not bother with these Foundational Spirit Treasures. We only have to focus on obtaining the high-grade ones in the middle of the lake. After that we will retreat!"

As his command sounded out, his figure explosively shot forward as four Duke Bergfrieds began to explode with mighty resonant power, causing all the numerous Foundational Spirit Treasures and beautiful faces of the women to scatter and dissipate.

At the same time, he stretched out with his hand, forming a thousand foot large manifestation of his palm, reaching out towards the blood corals.

As he was about to grab it, Zhao Xiuyuan similarly did the same and both of them managed to seize two each.

However at that very instant, the blood lake began to churn and a vortex appeared. All of the female faces condensed together, forming a thousand foot large face.

The face was sickly pale but it radiated a certain delicateness.

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

However as the massive face opened its mouth, a jarring screech that reminded one of a banshee was emitted, causing the void to ripple and distort.

Zhao Xiuyuan and Qin Zhenlin's energy palm manifestations were instantly shattered. The sound waves continued to propagate outwards.

On the Blood Lake's shore, the numerous experts who had grabbed Foundational Spirit Treasure's began to feel their face shifting.

If one looked carefully, they could see that the pupils in their eyes were rapidly expanding.

The whites of their eyes were quickly disappearing.

Argh!

One of them screamed out in agony as a black substance leaked from the sides of his eyes. Corruption surged out of his body like a tide.

This sudden change caused the situation to deteriorate into a panic. All of those cultivators who had been struggling for their lives for more Foundational Spirit Treasures were all completely taken aback.

Before some of them could react, their fellow companions suddenly rose up and charged at them, like feral beasts looking to kill.

In just a few moments, screams perforated the air.

The stench of blood quickly mingled with the smell of the lake.

Qin Zhenlin and Zhao Xiuyuan's expressions changed immensely. A similar situation had occurred within their own squads as some members lost control and their eyes had turned completely black. Corruption oozed out of every pore as they seemed to have transformed into Others, pouncing upon their previous compatriots.

In just a short span of time, numerous injuries piled up.

At this point they could barely care less about the Foundational Spirit Treasures in the middle of the lake. They hurriedly turned tail and began to suppress their corrupted companions.

This entire situation unfolded before Lu Shuanglu, Zhang Cuicheng and the rest of the Golden Dragon Bank. Cold sweat beaded on their foreheads.

Fear welled up in their hearts.

If they had not listened to Li Luo's previous reminder, that very same situation would have happened to them and they would have had to pay a heavy price.

Their sincere and thankful gazes were directed towards Li Luo.

Zhang Cuicheng in particular felt extremely vexed. He had yet to repay Lu Qing'er's favor so how had things changed and he too owed Li Luo one as well?