Corpse King

Deep within the Withered Bone Mountain Range lay an enormous canyon. The light was incomparably dim, black clouds and mist coiling and drifting among the mountains within the valley as the Yin wind howled in fury. Grayness filled the eye, white bones carpeted the ground, and grim skeletons had piled into bone hills of every size. Many of the bones trembled incessantly beneath the Yin wind, letting out mournful "woo-woo" sounds that made one's hair stand on end...

"Crack!"

No one knew how many ages these bones had been piled here. Stepping on them produced bursts of piercing cracking sounds.

Ji Tian looked irritably at the innocent Demonic Dragon. "This is the good place you mentioned? This desolate wasteland?"

Ji Tian's cultivation realm had now broken through to Refining Spirit Transforming Void, but without sufficient spiritual energy, his actual cultivation had remained at the Refining Qi Transforming Spirit realm. He needed to absorb enough spiritual energy. The Demonic Dragon had eagerly claimed that the cave where it once lived led to a bizarre and uncanny place, where there were massive fluctuations of Soul Power. However, its cultivation was insufficient, so it simply could not enter.

Through refining the Nine-Headed Monster Lion, Ji Tian also came to understand the cultivation stages that had long been unclear to him. There were three major levels in the world. There were cultivators, who cultivated spells and their true selves solely in pursuit of longevity, attaining Earth Immortals—in name immortals, but not truly so. There were immortal cultivators: one path transformed the flesh into a True Immortal and attained freedom; another transformed the soul into a god, cultivating the divine abilities of the Primordial Spirit, yet remained dependent on something and could not attain freedom. Then there were Dao cultivators, who pursued the Heavenly Dao, the boundless source and power.

Before ghost spirits achieved the immortal Dao, the Earth Immortal stage could be divided into several steps: Refining Essence Transforming Qi, Refining Qi Transforming Spirit, Refining Spirit Transforming Void, and Refining Void Entering Dao.

The Demonic Dragon sent out its Spiritual Sense, sounding thoroughly aggrieved as it whimpered, "Master, I remember this place being quite clean. There weren't so many dry bones."

The Demonic Dragon hurriedly spat its dragon flames at the dry bones. Black fire spread outward. At the same time, it used its bony tail against the white bones.

"Crack, crack..." Countless white bones floated into the air, then fell in every direction.

Ji Tian watched without giving it much thought. With a light wave of his hand, an enormous palm swept toward the bones filling the sky.

Many of the white bones instantly turned directly into Bone Powder.

The Demonic Dragon swiftly darted out and found the cave where it cultivated. The cave twisted and wound onward, most of it naturally formed, leading straight down to the bottom.

"Roar, roar..."

The Demonic Dragon rushed out of the cave at high speed, trembling as it said, "So many corpses! They're all torn to pieces—so terrifying!"

Ji Tian snapped, "You're a ghostly creature yourself, and you're afraid of corpses?"

The Demonic Dragon said helplessly, "There's a Corpse King inside. I destroyed those lesser corpse monsters and drew out the Corpse King."

The Corpse King slowly emerged from the cave, his hair hanging loose and disheveled. Waves of putrid stench emanated from him, yellow Corpse Water flowing over his body. He threw back his head and roared, making the surrounding mountains tremble.

The Corpse King stretched out a ghostly claw and attacked the Demonic Dragon. The Demonic Dragon swiftly dodged, and that force cleaved toward a mountain behind it, blasting rocks into the sky and sending dust to blanket the heavens. Amid rumbling thunder, the mountaintop collapsed outright.

I never expected something with a body to be this formidable. Perhaps I should seize a corpse for myself.

Then Ji Tian shot into the sky. Two blood-red beams burst from his hollow eyes, sweeping continuously over the surroundings. Yet his reactions were still sluggish, and his spiritual awareness had not fully awakened.

Seeing a Primordial Spirit ghost body floating before him, the Corpse King let out a shrill Ghost Howl.

"Why have you disturbed our rest?"

Ji Tian did not even spare him a glance. An illusory palm rose behind him and howled as it grabbed for the Corpse King.

The Corpse King charged left and right within the palm, yet could not escape, roaring viciously again and again.

"And you think you're worthy of questioning me?"

Ji Tian said blandly to the Demonic Dragon, "You couldn't even beat him. You're truly pathetic."

Lowering its head, the Demonic Dragon whimpered, "His Corpse Water can corrode my bones, so I was afraid."

Ji Tian angrily said, "Better to die standing than live kneeling. Do as you please."

The Corpse King's right arm suddenly transformed into a mass of Corpse Water and merged into the illusory palm. Wisps of Black Smoke continuously rose from the entire palm.

Ji Tian was startled. "It can corrode spiritual energy?" With a wave of his hand, a faint Blade of Space appeared out of thin air between heaven and earth, shaped like a throwing knife as it slashed toward the Corpse King's head.

"Crack!"

The Corpse King's head fell and rolled toward the cave.

Ji Tian sneered. "You still want to escape?" He struck a hand seal toward the Corpse King's head.

The head instantly split into pieces and turned into a puddle of Corpse Water.

At the same time, the body imprisoned by the palm transformed into Corpse Water and seeped deep into the earth.

Ji Tian looked at the patch of damp water stains on the ground and sighed toward the sky. "Luring the tiger from the mountain."

The cave was twisting and unfathomably deep. Gusts of cold Yin wind blew from within, strands of gray mist spilling out. Even from far away, one could still feel an oppressive pressure. Rotten white bones appeared on the ground from time to time.

At the deepest point, blood mist drifted about, wrapped in an invisible force.

Ji Tian said, "This is the formation that blocked you?"

Still shaken, the Demonic Dragon threw a fragment of bone into the blood mist. The bone was instantly devoured by the blood mist and turned into bloody water.

Ji Tian said, "This is a fusion of Blood Qi and Sha Qi, and it is highly corrosive. This formation is meant to prevent the Sha Qi from leaking away. It doesn't have much power."

The Demonic Dragon asked, "Then how should we break it?"

Ji Tian said, "Just be careful not to touch the blood mist. A trace of killing intent can break it."

A black longsword formed from killing intent appeared in Ji Tian's hand. He swung it at the blood mist before him.

The blood mist immediately transformed into a blood snake and lunged at Ji Tian.

"Sever!" Ji Tian swiftly unleashed nine sword strikes, shattering the blood snake into fragments that turned into wisps of smoke and dust.

At the bottom of the cave was an enormous Blood Pool. Spiritual energy filled it, forming blood bubbles one after another that rapidly burst, spraying blood-colored spiritual energy.

Above the Blood Pool hung a red stalactite, slowly dripping red blood water.

The Demonic Dragon said tremblingly, "This spiritual energy is too mixed. There's too much Blood Qi, Yin Energy, and Sha Qi."

Ji Tian said, "Yes. This Blood Pool is a natural Spirit Gathering Array. Borrowing the power of heaven and earth, it refines the Sha Qi and Yin Energy between heaven and earth into spiritual power. I don't know whether someone arranged it further, but I can sense the power of restrictions."

Ripples spread across the Blood Pool. The Corpse King Ji Tian had slain condensed a crimson corpse body and roared repeatedly.

"You destroyed the Yellow Springs Corpse Body I cultivated with such difficulty. Are you still determined to wipe me out completely?"

The Demonic Dragon bared its fangs at the Corpse King. "My master is here. Why haven't you paid your respects? Tell us all the secrets of your Blood Pool."

The Corpse King roared, "You want information about the Ancestor? Impossible."

Ji Tian said coldly, "Then I'll destroy you through soul refinement."

The Corpse King roared, "You're strong, but within this Blood Pool, what can you do to me?" Streams of blood mist rose from the pool, mixed with copious Yin Energy. The Yin Energy in the area immediately surged.

Ji Tian paid it no heed and took a step forward. He felt a bone-piercing chill rush toward him, like a northern wind sweeping snow against his body.

Ji Tian felt as though his entire body had fallen into an ice cave. Even his Primordial Spirit could barely function, as if it were being frozen solid.

The blood mist condensed into a Blood Dragon, which opened its jaws and devoured Ji Tian.

Ji Tian sensed the aura of a Dragon Soul. Perhaps it could raise the Demonic Dragon's cultivation a little.

Ji Tian roared, "Demonic Dragon, devour that Blood Dragon! Otherwise, you're not worthy of calling yourself a dragon!"

The Demonic Dragon hesitated. That was bloodwater capable of corroding bones—how was it supposed to withstand it?

Ji Tian was bitterly disappointed. The Demonic Dragon's fighting spirit had long been crushed by that wretched remnant soul; it knew only how to hide and tremble.

With a sigh, he sent a method of refining souls and a cultivation method for increasing cultivation into the Demonic Dragon's mind. If it failed to seize this chance, he would have no choice but to devour its soul.

The Demonic Dragon let out a great roar. It had cultivated a Primordial Spirit, after all, and possessed an innately formidable inheritance. It was only because the damned pool's restrictions had steadily ground away its fighting spirit that it had become timid and overly cautious at every turn.

Ji Tian's heart stirred. Dragons were proud creatures; otherwise, they would never have become overlords of the primordial wilderness. He hoped the Demonic Dragon could be reborn. Though he treated it as a mount, it should still be a powerful mount, not a coward that shrank back and tucked its head away.

This was an excellent opportunity for tempering itself.

He cast restrictions around himself, protecting himself from being tainted by the blood mist.

The Demonic Dragon's aura rose without cease. It felt the domineering might with which it had once shaken the primordial wilderness returning.

Its opponent was merely a Ghost controlled by another. How could it compare with itself, a Spirit Transformation cultivator?

The Demonic Dragon wrapped its Bone Body in Demonic Cloud, swung its tail, and charged at the clawing, fanged Blood Dragon. Its Dragon Tail carried the weight of a thousand catties, smashing heavily into the Blood Dragon's head.

The moment the Demonic Dragon touched the Blood Dragon, it felt the Demonic Cloud protecting its body rapidly melting away. Gritting its teeth, it still struck the Blood Dragon apart with tremendous force.

Bloodwater immediately fell like rain, pouring back into the Blood Pool.

The Demonic Dragon swallowed the Blood Dragon's soul in one gulp, then closed its eyes to refine it.

The Corpse King was furious, roaring as countless crimson creatures took shape within the Blood Pool. Every one of them had been a Savage Beast in the primordial wilderness while alive, carrying a violent, brutal air and a body full of slaughterous aura.

It was the slaughterous aura that had accumulated through endless killing over long years, sinking deep into their souls.

Ji Tian's heart stirred. He possessed only killing aura, not this kind of killing intent—he had the form but not the substance. This slaughterous aura should be of help to his Way of Slaughter.

Ji Tian opened his mouth and inhaled, swallowing all those blood shadows that had yet to fully take shape into his Primordial Spirit.

The Corpse King trembled with rage. "You... you demon!"

Ji Tian discovered that this killing intent pierced straight into his soul. Scene after scene appeared within his sea of consciousness.

A Savage Beast with Three Heads Six Arms held a corpse torn in half in its hands. Blood trickled from the corners of its mouth as it howled at the sky, only to be stomped into a pulp by an enormous foot. Its muddled soul was drawn into the sea of blood.

A griffin with four wings on its back was pierced straight through the chest by a pair of sharp claws, plummeting from the sky.

In the emerald-blue sea, a strange fish with twin wings on its back was swallowed in a single bite by a Giant Dragon.

All of them were steeped in the intent of slaughter. These killing intents directly influenced Ji Tian, allowing him to feel that killing intent amid different massacres and deaths.