Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Nine: Two Celestial Corpses

Graveyards were scattered across the island known as the Burial Grounds.

At the center of the island stood a cluster of stone towers. In their midst lay another enormous graveyard, with three open caverns leading directly into its depths.

Shi Yan and Xia Xinyan followed the disciples of the Corpse God Cult and the Yin-Yang Grotto Heaven through one graveyard after another until they reached the center of the island.

Many of the Yin-Yang Grotto Heaven disciples had been assigned rooms in the surrounding stone towers. Some had been led by members of the Corpse God Cult to nearby graveyards to observe the cult’s important corpse-refining grounds.

Li Zhuang and Sui Yueru, the two protectors of the Yin-Yang Grotto Heaven, had entered one of the stone towers with the Corpse God Cult’s Status Realm warrior. They appeared to be discussing the matter of payment.

Li Wei stood among several disciples of the Corpse God Cult. All of them possessed cultivation in the Hundred Tribulations Realm. Together with two warriors of the Yin-Yang Grotto Heaven in the Status Realm, they stood nearby, coldly watching Shi Yan and Xia Xinyan.

For the moment, the two of them had been confined to a stone room inside one of the towers. The room had no windows, only a single stone door.

Several experts from the Yin-Yang Grotto Heaven and the Corpse God Cult stood guard outside, secretly keeping watch.

Several Corpse God Cult disciples had descended into the central graveyard, busying themselves with unknown tasks.

Some people carried strange stones out of the neighboring towers, along with all kinds of sinister, yin-infused wood and numerous jars containing poisonous insects.

The disciples of the Corpse God Cult seemed to be preparing materials for refining corpses.

Shi Yan and Xia Xinyan knew nothing of what was happening outside. They only knew that they had been temporarily imprisoned.

Inside the stone room, Shi Yan sat with a calm expression, his eyes filled with icy menace as he remained secretly on guard.

By some unknown method, Xia Xinyan had learned that three of the graveyards in the Burial Grounds concealed water corpses.

According to her, water corpses were extremely powerful once they entered the water. On land, however, they were very easy to destroy. As long as they were enveloped in flames, their bodies would quickly dissolve.

Unlike ten-thousand-year-old Corpse Kings, which understood how to wield the power of the Five Elements, water corpses were not immune to fire. They could not use water to extinguish flames, nor could they wield fire themselves.

Corpse Kings were the most unique and powerful of corpse slaves. Water corpses could only swim through water; they possessed no ability to manipulate currents and were exceedingly terrified of flames.

On the way there, Xia Xinyan had secretly pointed out the three graveyards concealing water corpses to Shi Yan.

He had committed their locations to memory and had been waiting for an opportunity. Once the chance arose, he would first eliminate the water corpses in those three graveyards. Only then would he dare enter the sea.

It was deep into the night.

From time to time, terrified screams rang out from the many graveyards across the Burial Grounds.

Many of the Yin-Yang Grotto Heaven disciples accompanying members of the Corpse God Cult to inspect the graveyards were visiting for the first time. In the silence of the night, confronted by sinister and terrifying corpse slaves, it was only natural that some would grow frightened and scream.

One shriek after another rang out from the graveyards in every direction. In the tranquil night, those hair-raising cries were frightening in themselves.

When one person screamed, it triggered a chain reaction. Upon hearing the cries from another graveyard, disciples of the Yin-Yang Grotto Heaven would panic and scream as well.

For a time, the island echoed with ghostly wails and wolfish howls.

Shi Yan’s expression remained cold as he listened to the screams nearby, brow furrowed. From the direction of the cries, he could judge where the Yin-Yang Grotto Heaven had stationed the most disciples.

His mind calculated ceaselessly, considering which direction would offer the easiest escape if he truly had to fight.

“Come out, you two.”

During the latter half of the night, Li Wei’s voice came from outside.

Shi Yan snorted inwardly. He and Xia Xinyan stepped out through the stone door, glanced at the Yin-Yang Grotto Heaven and Corpse God Cult disciples standing outside, and said indifferently, “Li Wei, what are you playing at?”

“The materials for refining living corpses are ready. We’re taking you there to have a look.”

Li Wei’s eyes were filled with poisonous malice. He seemed extremely excited as he spoke, rubbing his hands unconsciously as though he could hardly wait.

Shi Yan’s expression changed slightly, but his voice remained calm. “We have no interest in watching corpses being refined. If you’re interested, go by yourself.”

“That isn’t up to you,” Li Wei sneered. “You’re going whether you like it or not. Take them away!”

Two Yin-Yang Grotto Heaven warriors in the Status Realm moved to either side of Shi Yan. Five Corpse God Cult disciples in the Hundred Tribulations Realm also stepped forward, their eyes filled with sinister anticipation. They seemed eager to witness the upcoming refinement of living corpses.

Two Status Realm warriors, five Hundred Tribulations Realm disciples of the Corpse God Cult, and Li Wei himself.

This was already a formidable force. What was more, Li Zhuang and Sui Yueru, both in the Nirvana Realm, were in the surrounding towers.

The moment a fight broke out, Li Zhuang and Sui Yueru would certainly emerge from the towers. When that happened, Shi Yan and Xia Xinyan would have little chance of surviving.

After rapidly weighing the gains and losses, Shi Yan suddenly grinned. “It won’t hurt to take a look. Lead the way.”

The five Corpse God Cult disciples remained expressionless as they slowly walked toward a cavern in the center of the stone towers.

“Go in!” Li Wei shouted harshly from beside the two Status Realm warriors.

A chill filled Shi Yan’s heart. His gaze swept over Li Wei, and after taking a deep breath, he slowly followed them.

It was a vast underground mausoleum.

The mausoleum covered an immense area and contained numerous stone chambers. In the center of many of those chambers stood coffins of strange design. Numerous iron pipes extended from the stone walls and pierced the coffins.

Five or six iron pipes as thick as a man’s arm were inserted into each coffin, one end disappearing into the coffin and the other into the wall.

The pipes were filled with strange currents of death energy and corpse energy, carrying faint fluctuations of power. The coffins seemed to serve as hubs for the transmission of energy, drawing the strange energy flowing through the ravines above the graveyard and injecting it into the coffins through the pipes, thereby providing the corpse slaves with sufficient nourishment.

There were more than twenty stone chambers of various sizes in the underground mausoleum. Each chamber contained three or four coffins, and every coffin held a corpse slave.

At the very center of the mausoleum was the largest stone chamber. It was one or two times larger than the others, yet contained only two coffins.

Those two coffins were several times larger than ordinary ones and were covered with iron pipes. Energy composed of death energy and corpse energy flowed continuously through the pipes into them.

The moment Shi Yan descended, his expression changed abruptly after merely glancing at the two coffins.

There was not the slightest fluctuation from the other coffins. The corpse slaves within them seemed to possess no aura whatsoever.

Yet the two enormous coffins at the center emitted faint fluctuations. The corpse slaves within them were clearly not devoid of consciousness. It seemed they even retained the ability to think.

Celestial corpses!

Shi Yan was horrified. According to Xia Xinyan, a celestial corpse that had existed for more than a thousand years was even more powerful than it had been before death. It possessed a simple consciousness and an awakened instinct for battle. When fighting an opponent, it could even select suitable martial techniques, wielding the techniques it had mastered in life with greater skill than it had before death.

Generally speaking, any celestial corpse that had existed for a thousand years had certainly been a warrior in the Nirvana Realm before death.

Only the corpses of Nirvana Realm warriors were worth the enormous price the Corpse God Cult paid to transform them into celestial corpses.

Celestial corpses were extraordinarily precious. Only important figures within the Corpse God Cult had the right to possess them.

Every celestial corpse was recorded by the Corpse God Cult. Any important figure who wished to obtain one had to receive the cult master’s approval before becoming its master.

Two celestial corpses!

Shi Yan stared at the two coffins and cursed inwardly. He felt that escaping this calamity would be extraordinarily difficult.

“This is the place.”

The Corpse God Cult disciples brought Shi Yan and Xia Xinyan to the entrance of a stone chamber beside the two celestial corpses. An empty coffin stood in the center of the chamber. It seemed to be filled with all kinds of materials for corpse refinement. Twelve iron pipes were inserted into it, and an extraordinarily dense stream of corpse energy and death energy continually poured from the coffin, radiating a sinister and evil aura.

“Go in,” one of the Corpse God Cult disciples said coldly, frowning impatiently at Shi Yan and Xia Xinyan.

“Boom!”

Shi Yan suddenly crashed into Li Wei’s arms. The sound of shattering bones rang out.

Three Magnetic Extremity Fields surged into motion, trapping the two Status Realm warriors of the Yin-Yang Grotto Heaven. One of the fields dragged three Corpse God Cult disciples into its range.

Shi Yan had quietly released the three Magnetic Extremity Fields, formed from a mixture of yin energy and essence energy, and had prepared them the moment he entered the mausoleum.

He had originally intended to wait for a more suitable opportunity before striking. But now there was no way back. His opponents were about to refine them into living corpses. Left with no alternative, Shi Yan could only attack.

“Seeking death!”

The two remaining Corpse God Cult disciples changed expression. They suddenly drew bell-shaped weapons from their robes and gave them a gentle shake.

In two stone chambers some distance away, seven coffins were suddenly opened from within by their corpse slaves.

Seven pale corpse slaves abruptly sat up inside the coffins. They quickly climbed out and began advancing toward Shi Yan, their bodies shrouded in deathly stillness.

“Be careful!”

Xia Xinyan cried softly and opened her mouth, sending out a streak of rainbow light.

The rainbow light was a small sword, radiant with flowing brilliance. Like a shooting star, it shot toward the two Corpse God Cult disciples who had escaped the Magnetic Extremity Fields.

“You be careful too!”

Shi Yan’s expression turned vicious as he suddenly roared.

A violent, despairing, frenzied, bloodthirsty fiendish aura abruptly surged from his body.

In an instant, white mist coiled around him as he activated his negative power.

Amid the tearing pain in his meridians, the strength of Shi Yan’s body surged. His eyes contained endless fear and savagery, his expression twisted into something ferocious, yet his mind remained incomparably calm.

Strands of negative power poured into the three Magnetic Extremity Fields, doubling their might once more.

The three Corpse God Cult disciples in the Hundred Tribulations Realm suffered terribly within the fields. Blood streamed uncontrollably from their bodies.

The two Yin-Yang Grotto Heaven warriors in the Status Realm were trapped within the Magnetic Extremity Fields, where three different powers had merged together. Red and white light erupted from their bodies. The force of the fields could restrain them, but it could not injure their bodies.

“You wanted to refine me into a living corpse? Then I’ll turn you into a dead one right now!”

With his negative power activated, Shi Yan resembled a bloodthirsty savage beast. He suddenly charged at Li Wei, whose face was filled with terror.

“Bang!”

Li Wei was blasted into the air. Before he could even land, all life had already left him.

Shi Yan did not spare Li Wei’s corpse a glance. He abruptly turned and charged toward the two Corpse God Cult disciples fighting Xia Xinyan.

“Wuuu! Wuuu!”

One of the Corpse God Cult disciples looked terrified. He suddenly swallowed the bell in his hand, then let out a piercing howl.

“Crack, crack!”

The coffins containing the two celestial corpses suddenly emitted strange noises. A corner of the thick wooden lid on one of them shifted open.

Two waves of incomparably fierce corpse energy burst forth, coiling above the coffins like gray-white smoke that refused to disperse.

They were evil, sinister, and utterly bizarre.