Nine-Foot Demon Shadow

Following the direction of Wang Xuance's pointing finger, Chen Linger saw the black mystical robe worn by the baleful corpse. Though many years had passed, the embroidered words on its chest could still be faintly made out.

"Mountainwood Sect disciple: Bai Hua!"

Most of the surrounding baleful corpses wore different clothing, largely confirming Wang Xuance's words: the owner of this cave residence had casually slaughtered them and left them behind.

"Brother Wang, these baleful corpses are extremely difficult to destroy. Aside from experts above the Martial Artist Realm who can use true qi to kill them, we can only rely on physical strength to snap their necks or pierce their abdomens!"

Chen Linger brushed back the hair at her forehead, her expression slightly unsteady. Seeing Wang Xuance beside her remain expressionless and composed, she gradually steadied herself as well.

"Do your best to hold back a few baleful corpses. Leave the killing to me!"

Before her words had faded, Wang Xuance stepped forward, his Fist Aura surging forth with explosive speed!

He closed in on a baleful corpse like a cannonball. As his arm swept across, the force of it carried the weight of a sledgehammer and struck the corpse's head.

Bang!

Its head exploded without the slightest effort. There was no red or white matter—only foul-smelling black fluid that assaulted the nose!

[True Martial Qi +40!]

Seeing this, Chen Linger swept her sleeve around her sword. Her lotus-white arm flicked, and her flexible sword slashed horizontally at a corpse!

Clang—

This keen blade that could cut iron like mud struck the baleful corpse's chest, and the rebounding force nearly made her lose her grip on the hilt once more. She immediately turned the blade and swept it upward at an angle.

Swish!

With one stroke, she split open the baleful corpse's robes, exposing its withered, decaying black skin.

At its heart was a wound the size of a bowl. Strands of black qi swirled within it, gathering into an irregular black mass that throbbed with a "thump, thump" like a beating heart!

"A perfect chance!"

Chen Linger's eyes closed and opened. Her pale pupils focused intently, seeing through its secrets at a glance. After thrusting one sword, she gathered strength and sent forth another!

Thousand Swords Folding Wind!

Driven by the power of qi and blood, the flexible sword rammed forward like a short spear, its force anything but ordinary.

The sword tip pierced it as easily as a paper-pasted window. The black mass in the baleful corpse's chest was instantly churned into fragments, releasing countless wisps of black qi.

Crack!

Without the black mass in its chest, the baleful corpse's body became like porcelain, covered in cracks before shattering into dust. A gust of wind blew it away into the air!

"Brother Wang, the baleful corpse's weak point is the chest! Strike its weak point!"

Hearing this, Wang Xuance twisted aside to evade a sweeping arm strike from a baleful corpse. His five fingers formed a claw as he thrust straight into its chest.

Pfft!

Even without using his full strength, his attack bored into its chest. With a shake of his immense strength, the corpse crumpled into pieces as though its spine had been pulled out.

[True Martial Qi +40!]

"Hm? Why does this aura..."

Wang Xuance sensed an abnormality in the black mass in his hand. When he opened his palm to look, it melted like frost under sudden warmth into faint black qi, dispersing into the air!

This aura was exactly the same as the frost-cold qi that pervaded the cold pool. If there was any difference, it lay only in their colors!

One white, one black!

"Hehehe, the boy is rather sharp. But what does it matter even if he noticed? That old ghost Ru's scheme is far too sinister..."

"The true danger of these corpse cores goes far beyond this!"

Phoenix Melody, Lingering Bell!

Chen Linger danced her sword to knock aside a corpse, then leaped forward and lifted her blade in a light upward flick, shattering a baleful corpse's chest. With a sweep of her sleeve, she struck the black mass within, breaking it apart.

Yet after merely being touched by a trace of it, her sleeve corroded over a large area in just a few breaths. Startled, the girl slashed off her sleeve with her sword and retreated in quick succession!

"Brother Wang, the black mass at the baleful corpses' weak points is corrosive. Do not let it touch your skin!"

Hearing this, Wang Xuance kicked out with his side leg, sending the baleful corpse flying backward several zhang like a cooked prawn!

He bent down and scooped up a fist-sized stone, then hurled it out in one smooth motion. The throw was mighty and heavy, booming like thunder and echoing endlessly through the empty cave residence!

The stones spun through the air like arrows packed with violent force. Any baleful corpse struck by one was blasted backward several zhang by the force it carried, its limbs shattered apart!

[True Martial Qi +40!]

[True Martial Qi +40!]

[True Martial Qi +140!]

[True Martial Qi +40!]

Seeing Wang Xuance's extraordinary strength, Chen Linger's beautiful eyes glittered repeatedly. Battle intent surged in her heart as her sword cleaved through several corpses with unparalleled ferocity!

The three worked in division of labor, coordinating seamlessly.

Yet none of them noticed wisps of scattered black qi slithering across the ground and drilling into the waterfall one after another!

Deep within the cold pool, a black stone coffin sealed by countless blue runes began to tremble as wisps of black qi poured into it. The runes upon it flickered, brightening and dimming...

"Huff..."

After using a sword strike to shred the chest of the final baleful corpse, Chen Linger could hold on no longer. She panted heavily and collapsed bonelessly to the ground.

The flexible sword in her hand fell to the ground with a clang, and she no longer had the strength to lift it.

The girl's martial cultivation had only reached the second Blood Gate. After repeatedly wielding her sword techniques, the strain on her qi and blood and the test of endurance upon the tendons and membranes within her body had already reached their limit!

Seeing this, Wang Xuance had just begun to relax when every hair on his body suddenly stood on end. A sharp aura stabbed straight toward the center of his back.

"Not good!"

Golden light trembled around his fists as his spine twisted to its limit, and he struck both fists behind him in the same motion.

Clang!!

An unimaginable clash of metal and stone exploded less than half a foot away!

Wang Xuance felt as though his fists had struck an immeasurably thick steel plate. The tremendous recoil crushed his chest shut, sending the qi and blood within him churning violently as he staggered back several steps!

Pfft!

He spat out a mouthful of blood. The tightness in the tall youth's chest eased, and his feet instantly slid backward on the rebounding force.

[True Martial Qi +80!]

[True Martial Qi +80!]

[True Martial Qi +80!]

[True Martial Qi +80!]

Although Wang Xuance had avoided the fatal strike and escaped with his life, the other two did not possess such strength.

Chen Linger's hysterical scream rang out beside his ears, tearing apart the cave residence's tranquil atmosphere.

Her entire right arm, shoulder included, had been severed. Blood-red marrow lay exposed to the air, blood pouring out in a horrifying sight.

Her once spotless white robes had long become filthy and tattered, scattered in fragments and revealing large swaths of snow-white skin.

She had at least preserved her life, but the white-browed old man some distance away had died on the spot.

His entire body had been split vertically in two. Red and white matter, wrapped around his organs and entrails, was strewn across the ground. Countless streams of blood qi rose up, and the choking stench of blood filled the entire cave residence!

Without the white-browed old man activating the formation, the previously suppressed earthly baleful qi erupted violently, rushing straight at the two of them!

"Cough, cough... Damn it!"

Wang Xuance's entire body was encased in solid ice, and his breath turned to frost. He could only desperately circulate his qi and blood to protect his heart meridian, lest the earthly baleful qi freeze it solid!

Yet the qi and blood in his chest now churned like rivers and seas, his arms numb and weak, less than one-tenth of his strength remaining. Even the qi and blood he circulated surged and waned unpredictably.

Since entering this world, he had never been in such a miserable state. Though his qi and blood roiled through his body, he could not mobilize even a trace of it!

The culprit behind this situation stood silently behind the white-browed old man's mangled remains.

It stood a full nine feet tall, its arms reaching its knees, its entire body black as ink. A pair of snow-white eyes revealed humanlike emotion. It held a pair of four-foot stone blades, crossed against each other, and radiated incomparably chilling qi from head to toe.

"A Fetal Breath Realm expert... How was this exploration? It was no different from walking to our deaths!"

Feeling the unique attribute of that aura, Wang Xuance could not help but give a bitter smile.

It was exactly the same as the aura from the black masses in the baleful corpses' chests, except the aura released by this black shadow was a hundred times stronger!

"Ha—ha—"

"Ha—ha—"

A strange demonic sound emerged from the black shadow's throat, shaking the entire cave residence as it stepped forward!

Yet to Wang Xuance, it was no different from a thunderclap exploding on level ground.

With no time to think, he forcibly drew up a breath from his heart pulse and shattered the ice armor covering his body!

His five fingers dug into the ground, violently lifting a section of stone wall before him as a shield. Then, with a tap of his foot, he used the last of his strength to scramble into the cave residence.

Chen Linger, already unconscious from blood loss, was bound by his claw-spear and dragged into the cave residence as well!

Whether they would live or die, whether fortune or calamity awaited them, none could say!

Once he had done all this, he turned back to look at where he had been standing. The nine-foot black shadow was already there with blades in hand, and the upturned earthen wall had scattered in every direction without a trace remaining!

Had he not exhausted every shred of his remaining strength, his corpse would have been in two pieces, dead beyond all doubt!