Blood-Colored Stone Stele

The dense fog locked the mountain pass like a chain.

Yet Zhou Heng's gaze pierced through the mist, fixed straight on the depths of the valley, striding forward without hesitation.

After just over ten minutes, the scene ahead suddenly opened up, the fog vanished abruptly, and the clear starry sky reappeared.

Still mountains, still water, dark and deep.

"This is... the latter half of the valley!" Han Yulian's beautiful eyes sparkled. This was clearly not the exit—the terrain was different, and there was no sign of Lu Qing and the other.

Zhou Heng nodded, his heart filled with curiosity. What secret did this fog-locked mountain conceal?

Could there be a treasure? But why hadn't the Black Sword reacted at all!

Zhou Heng frowned. The situation in this valley was far from simple—how could it not hold some heavenly treasure?

Then keep moving forward. How could he be satisfied without reaching the end?

He started walking, and after only two steps, he heard Han Yulian's footsteps rise as well, falling into step beside him.

"What's that smell?" After another seven or eight minutes, Zhou Heng and the woman both caught a strange odor.

They exchanged a glance and continued forward. As the distance closed, the stench grew stronger, becoming unbearably foul.

"Corpse stench!" Han Yulian suddenly stopped, a strange light flickering in her beautiful eyes—not so much disgust or fear as excitement.

Why excitement?

Zhou Heng's mind churned, and he soon understood.

This valley was a man-eating demon's den that never spat out its bones. Countless people had died inside, and their bodies naturally couldn't escape. Those who died here carried things on them—some even extremely valuable!

Finding these corpses meant finding a treasure trove!

No wonder she insisted on following him. With Zhou Heng's "special ability," she had no fear of being trapped inside. But to think that far right after crawling back from death's door—he had to admit, this woman was deeply calculating!

Zhou Heng's heart tightened, and he quietly grew wary. Although she had to rely on him to get out for now, who knew what the future held? If they really found some so-called treasure and she grew greedy, she could kill everyone else and take it all, then just claim she'd encountered a Blood Refining Realm demon beast and barely escaped alone.

Hopefully, he was just overthinking it!

He thought this as he strode forward, driven by curiosity about what secret this valley truly hid.

After walking a while, the valley grew extremely narrow, like a winding goat trail with countless twists and turns. After nearly half an hour, the path suddenly opened up into a large platform.

And this was the valley's end.

Zhou Heng and Han Yulian appeared at the westernmost edge of the platform, facing a steep cliff. They had to turn around to see the whole platform. And when they did, they witnessed a horrifying sight.

In the center of the platform stood a blood-red stele, its surface covered in strange patterns—half writing, half drawings—about ten meters tall and two feet wide. Around the stele, corpses were arranged in neat circles, four layers in total.

The bodies closest to the stele had rotted down to white bones, while the outermost ring was relatively "fresh," with no bones yet visible.

Such a bizarre scene sent chills down both Zhou Heng's and Han Yulian's spines.

Dead bodies were nothing—what martial artist hadn't seen corpses? But who, when dying, would bother arranging themselves into a pattern? Was there still a living person in the valley, positioning these bodies like this?

If such a person existed, what was their purpose?

Zhou Heng paused only a moment before heading toward the stele. Perhaps... the answer lay on it.

The platform was only a hundred meters across. Zhou Heng soon reached the outermost ring of corpses. This corpse "formation" had four circles, containing over three hundred bodies in total. The sight was overwhelmingly striking, making one's skin crawl.

Zhou Heng held his breath and stepped toward the center.

Buzz!

At that moment, the blood-red stele suddenly trembled, releasing a crimson light wave that spread to every corner of the platform.

A powerful urge to give up surged in Zhou Heng's heart, a desire to simply die. But the black broken sword in his Dantian vibrated at just the right moment, and he snapped back to his senses, his mind filled with shock!

The outer fog had a mind-confusing effect, and this light wave was the same—but even more powerful! Before, he could rely on his own will to wake up, but this time, if not for the Black Broken Sword's intervention, he didn't know if he would have come to at all!

Speaking of waking up, Zhou Heng quickly swept his gaze around. He saw Han Yulian walking over like a zombie, her eyes dull and lifeless. She reached an empty spot in the outermost corpse ring, lay down stiffly, and didn't move a muscle!

Hiss!

Was this the secret of the corpses arranged in circles? Not that outsiders had moved them after death, but that their minds had been clouded, and they had walked here on their own!

So simple!

Zhou Heng walked to Han Yulian's side. The woman's eyes were wide open, but her pupils had no focus—dark and terrifying.

Had everyone who mistakenly entered this valley before simply lain here until death?

A fierce chill rose in Zhou Heng's heart. Who could accept such a death?

What kind of power could make someone die without any resistance?

"Sister Han! Sister Han!" Zhou Heng shouted loudly, but Han Yulian showed no reaction at all, as if she had lost her soul. If not for the Blood Refining Realm aura still emanating from her, she might as well have been dead.

So eerie—a single wave had rendered a Blood Refining Realm martial artist helpless, ready to die!

"Don't blame me later—this is all to save you," Zhou Heng muttered. Slap! He struck Han Yulian across the face.

No reaction.

Slap, slap, slap. Zhou Heng hit her seven or eight times, but still nothing. Han Yulian was like a living corpse, or rather, a mere shell of existence.

Zhou Heng exhausted his methods—hitting, slapping, pinching—none of them worked.

Clearly, conventional methods were useless.

Zhou Heng's mind stirred. He had only awakened because of the Black Broken Sword—at the very least, this treasure possessed the ability to resist that mysterious power. If he could summon it forth, could he use it to save Han Yulian?

The key was how to draw out the Black Sword's power to heal her.

He would give it a try. Man proposes, heaven disposes.

He focused his mind on communicating with the Black Sword in his Dantian, again and again. Hum—the strange treasure finally responded, releasing a supreme, unparalleled ripple.

This ripple traveled through Zhou Heng's hand, which held Han Yulian's, and passed into her body.

"Ah—" Han Yulian let out a startled cry, as if waking from a nightmare. Her upper body shot upright, her face pale as paper, but her seductive eyes finally regained their luster.

Zhou Heng breathed a sigh of relief. It had worked!

"I... I..." Han Yulian stared fixedly at Zhou Heng, then suddenly threw her arms around him. Her voice trembled. "I felt like I was locked in a cage. No matter how I struggled, I couldn't get out—until a beam of light shattered everything!"

This beautiful woman was fully mature. Being embraced by her like this, Zhou Heng felt two soft, plush mounds pressing against his chest, an indescribably pleasant sensation.

"It's all right!" Zhou Heng quickly pushed her away. Right now, this woman seemed less like someone seven or eight years his senior and more like a frightened little girl. He was not one to take advantage of others. He stood up straight, his gaze fixed on the Blood-Red Stele.

"Don't go any further!" Han Yulian hastily grabbed Zhou Heng, her hand trembling continuously.

She was truly terrified, no longer daring to covet the corpses on the ground. She had to get out alive!

"It's fine!" Zhou Heng shook his head, his eyes resolute as he looked ahead. Once he made up his mind, nothing could stop him.

The Black Broken Sword was enough to suppress the evil of the Blood-Red Stele!

He strode forward. Hum—the Blood-Red Stele once again emitted a light wave, surging outward in all directions.

But this time, not only was Zhou Heng completely unaffected, Han Yulian was the same. It was as if they had both gained immunity.

Hum! Hum! Hum!

One blood-colored wave after another surged forth like crashing breakers, but Zhou Heng and the woman were like the sturdiest dam, standing firm and unmoving.

Zhou Heng continued forward, passing through the first ring of corpses, then the second.

But just then, the Blood-Red Stele released another wave—except this time, it was not aimed at Zhou Heng and Han Yulian, but at the corpses on the ground.

An even more bizarre scene unfolded: those corpses actually began to rise, one by one!

Martial artists trained only to achieve ultimate strength, believing in neither gods nor ghosts!

But corpses that had long since turned to skeletons could stand up? This completely overturned Zhou Heng and Han Yulian's understanding!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In the eye sockets of every skeleton, green flames flickered, and a layer of red fur grew over their bodies, eerie to the extreme.

"This... what... what are these things!" Han Yulian's voice trembled. Anyone who saw this would have their hair stand on end.

Zhou Heng's hair stood on end too. The dead rising again—this was beyond his imagination!

"Urgh... urgh..." These corpses let out hoarse, rasping growls, the green flames in their eye sockets leaping wildly, making them even more terrifying.

Han Yulian was frozen with fear. This had nothing to do with cultivation level—it simply exceeded the limits of what she could endure!

The corpses slowly turned, surrounding Zhou Heng.

Two layers inside, two layers outside—they had him completely encircled, with no gap to escape!

Zhou Heng let out a long cry. The long sword at his waist slid from its sheath, and the sword intent of the Heaven-Soaring Nine Styles spread outward as he swung his blade repeatedly.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The long sword struck the skeletons' bones, sending up a shower of sparks. Several pieces of bone were severed, crumbling to dust—even the bones of Blood Refining Realm experts could not withstand the power of time, unless they had reached the Spirit Gathering Realm.

With a successful strike, Zhou Heng's confidence naturally soared. However, the sword intent of the Heaven-Soaring Nine Styles seemed to have no effect on these skeletons; their movements showed no sign of slowing.

That made sense—they were already dead, so how could they feel fear?

He activated the Flying Cloud Steps, soaring through the air. His feet tapped lightly on the heads of the skeletons as he passed, instantly breaking free of the dead's encirclement. Han Yulian's heart nearly leaped out of her chest.

These corpses moved very slowly, but Zhou Heng dared not let even one touch him, because he saw that they all retained long, jet-black fingernails!

Clearly, they were poisonous!