The Underground Secret Chamber

There were three ways to break it. Qi Bei did not even need to think—of course, the third was the best.

However, what could he use to devour this entire Dark Soul Ward?

But he soon understood!

The answer was this mysterious black longsword. The emotions it transmitted into his mind carried longing, excitement, and pleading. It was hard to imagine that a sword could actually possess emotions resembling those of a human.

The black longsword slid from his sleeve, practically dragging Qi Bei toward the invisible Dark Soul Ward.

The instant the sword tip touched the Dark Soul Ward, Qi Bei's body trembled. The invisible ward suddenly became visible in his eyes.

The complicated magic lines, the mysterious magic runes, and the thirty souls with twisted faces all appeared clearly before him.

Suddenly, everything began shrinking without limit, and the whole thing was sucked into the black longsword.

Marquis Lanling's courtyard was empty, silent as a dead land.

Qi Bei reached Marquis Lanling's bedroom door, still sensing no movement at all. He gently pushed the door, and it actually opened.

Only a pink magic lamp remained lit in the bedroom. Marquis Lanling was nowhere inside.

"Tut, tut, now that's intense and positively decadent! What an extraordinary hobby." Qi Bei looked at the hoods, whips, and chains hanging from the canopy of the pink bed and clicked his tongue.

Marquis Lanling was not here, but there was definitely a secret hidden in this room. Otherwise, he would not have set up this Dark Soul Ward to protect it.

Qi Bei began carefully searching the room for clues. At that moment, his gaze fell upon the bookcase at the very back.

A piece of decorative jade was inlaid into the bookcase. Its surface was smooth and rounded, as though it had often been touched.

Qi Bei stepped forward, placed his large hand on the jade, and twisted hard.

The enormous bookcase immediately slid open. Qi Bei's eyes lit up, but the next moment, his expression turned to astonishment.

Inside the long concealed cabinet embedded in the bookcase, more than a dozen naked, muscular men stood in a row like puppets.

The black longsword in Qi Bei's hand reacted once again.

"Puppets. They were made from naked men whose souls had been extracted, refined using the Puppet Technique. Controlled by the caster, they became walking corpses. There was no way to break the technique—only complete destruction."

At that moment, Qi Bei noticed traces of rubbing along the edge of the concealed cabinet. Clearly, there was another secret behind it.

Qi Bei knocked on it and discovered that it was hollow behind. He pushed forward with all his strength, but it did not move!

After examining it inch by inch, Qi Bei discovered a magic mechanism beneath one puppet's feet. However, this sort of magic mechanism required a magic key to open.

By then, a powerful curiosity had already risen in Qi Bei's heart.

Since there was no magic key, he would use the most primitive method.

Qi Bei knew that the material used for this entrance was rather special, and it would probably be difficult to break through with battle qi. He directly pried up the floor tiles several meters away and began digging.

Battle qi condensed into a sharp cone, drilling like a bit as earth and stones flew everywhere.

Before long, Qi Bei's black longsword pierced through empty air. A cavity appeared ahead, and dim magic light faintly shone from within.

It worked!

Qi Bei's heart leaped with joy. He cautiously poked his head out and discovered that the cavity was actually a passageway. Steps had been carved into it, descending toward the unknown depths. Every so often, a dim magic lamp hung on the cave wall.

Qi Bei climbed inside and proceeded toward the depths, fully on guard.

After walking down nearly a thousand steps, Qi Bei's body suddenly stopped, and his pupils shrank to pinpoints.

At the end of the steps, hundreds and thousands of skulls had been strung together and hung in rows on both sides. Faint green light flickered in their eye sockets, sending shivers through the heart.

Moreover, Qi Bei discovered that judging from their shapes, these were clearly the skulls of children seven or eight years old.

Chill after chill rose from the depths of his heart, followed by a rage that shot into the heavens. Men had their ways, and Heaven had its laws—this was simply beyond all human depravity.

With a dark expression, Qi Bei walked down step by step.

After passing through the passage lined with strings of skulls, he saw a door ahead burning with ghastly white flames.

Flames were supposed to feel hot and warm, but these ghastly white flames were cold enough to freeze a person to the bone.

Qi Bei circulated the golden inner force in his dantian throughout his body, only then dispelling the cold that seemed capable of boring into his soul.

Should he go in or not?

Qi Bei stopped before the white-flame door and pondered for a while before deciding to enter. He had already come this far; retreating now would be pointless. Besides, he had forced his way inside, which was tantamount to alerting the enemy.

With inner force bolstering him, Qi Bei shot inside like lightning, the black longsword in his hand ready to launch both attacks and defenses.

As soon as he rushed in, Qi Bei froze for a moment. This was an underground secret chamber built of black crystal. Against the innermost wall, a frail old man, disheveled and with hair and beard completely white, was bound by chains of cold iron. The hooked chains pierced through his shoulder blades, wrists, and ankles.

"Who are you? Did that beast Cassif send you?" The old man's weak gaze swept over Qi Bei before he closed his eyes again and spoke hoarsely.

Cassif? That seemed to be Marquis Lanling's name.

Qi Bei did not answer him. Instead, he asked, "And who are you? Why did Marquis Lanling lock you up here?"

"Tell that beast who betrayed his master and ancestors that the thing was destroyed long ago. Tell him to stop wasting his efforts." The old man kept his eyes closed and did not look at Qi Bei again.

From those words, Qi Bei heard two possibilities. This old man might be Marquis Lanling's master, and Marquis Lanling wanted to obtain something from him.

"I am not one of Marquis Lanling's people. I am his enemy; I merely entered this place by accident..." Qi Bei said.

The old man did not utter a word. He only wore a mocking, disdainful smile at the corner of his mouth. Clearly, he did not believe Qi Bei in the slightest.

Qi Bei fell silent for a moment, then spoke again. "I am from the Nord Family."

At that, the old man opened his eyes. His gaze fell on Qi Bei's left hand, where he saw the clan ring unique to a direct descendant of the Nord Family on his middle finger.

"When you came in, was there a string of skulls hanging outside? Did green light shine from the eye sockets of those skulls?" the old man asked.

"That is correct." Qi Bei nodded.

"Leave at once! That evil fellow is recovering from his injuries, which is why you were able to enter so easily. Once he wakes, you will certainly die," the old man said urgently.

Someone else was guarding this place? Qi Bei froze.

"Cackle, cackle, cackle... Since you've come, do you think you can still leave? As it happens, this venerable one is short of souls and vital essence." At that moment, a cloud of black smoke surged up at the entrance to the secret chamber, and an old man as thin as a dried corpse appeared.

The old man's pupils glowed a sinister green. He held a black staff topped with a tiny skull, and his entire body radiated a deathly chill.

Qi Bei's heart lurched, and every hair on his body stood on end. Even breathing felt difficult. It was like an ant facing an elephant; if the other party wished, he could crush Qi Bei to death in the space of a few minutes.