The corpse looked rather strange.
Its body was about as large as a three-courtyard residence. It floated face-down on the lava, its back upward, bobbing as it slowly drifted toward them.
They were still several hundred zhang away when Gu Qingshan's eyes flickered. He suddenly said, "Why aren't there any people from the Evil Ghost Path? And what about those who wanted to work with them?"
The child glanced around. Sure enough, the group that had been at each other's throats earlier had vanished.
"Come out!" he barked.
A man glowing red all over flew out of the lava and knelt before the child. "Reporting to Your Excellency: not long after you left with your people, those men climbed onto the back of this Evil Ghost corpse and followed it into the Great Tomb."
The child asked, "Why are you the only one here? Are you saying none of them stayed behind?"
"Reporting to Your Excellency, not one."
"Hmph. The souls of those from the Evil Ghost Path didn't come from the Great Tomb, so once inside, the corresponding doomsdays wouldn't pursue them. But what about those others? They're like us. How dare they enter the Great Tomb directly?" the child demanded.
The man, his body covered in lava, bowed his head and reported,
"Your Excellency, several of the others you arranged to keep nearby appeared to serve you, but had actually joined their side. That's how they learned about the scales."
The child didn't get angry. He merely asked, "Did they find those purple scales too?"
The man trembled and replied in a quavering voice, "They took all fifteen scales you had hidden away, Your Excellency. I was alone and couldn't possibly stand against them, so I could only hide here and wait for you to return, so I