Undying Demon Corpse

"Thud!~"

"Crack~~!"

The grave mound with Su Bo's sword stuck in it suddenly shook violently. Dirt from the grave streamed away to both sides, and the tombstone cracked with a snap.

The ground trembled faintly, as though something was about to burrow out from beneath it.

"What is that?" Su Bo raised a brow. With a flash, he seized the sword embedded in the grave mound, then flashed away, intending to leave this eerie cemetery.

Something beneath the grave mound was clawing its way out.

Yet in his senses, there had not been the slightest trace of life within the grave mound.

Clearly, whatever was down there was not something to be trifled with. Before it came out, the best of the Thirty-Six Stratagems was to run.

Besides, this whole place was filled with graves and burial mounds.

If every grave spat out some damned ghostly thing, wouldn't there be far too many of them?

Only an idiot would stay...

Su Bo moved like the wind, vanishing into the shadows in an instant.

Boom... smack~!!

Whoosh...

As fast as Su Bo had rushed into the shadowy darkness, he was flung back even more violently, his body shooting straight out of the shadows.

He drove Wind-Treading Step to its limits, his blood and vitality erupting wildly.

His feet stamped the ground again and again, dragging a trench through the earth as he tried to halt his flying body, but it was all in vain.

Only when he crashed into the cracked tombstone did he finally stop, shattering the wooden tombstone completely.

"Ugh... pfft~" The moment Su Bo stopped, a mouthful of blood surged up and sprayed from his mouth.

"What the hell was that?"

"Clack... crack... clack-clack..." From the shadowy darkness, a skeleton wrapped in tattered strips of cloth slowly emerged, its eye sockets glowing with faint green light.

The skeleton gripped a greatsword polished from some unknown bone, blocking Su Bo's path of retreat.

It had been this thing that sent Su Bo flying back with a single slash. Had he not blocked it with his sword, that strike might have cleaved him in two.

The Greatsword Skeleton stepped out of the shadows and stood directly at the boundary between the burial grounds and the darkness.

"Clack~" The skeleton made a strange sound.

Trial: slay the Withered-Bone Demon Corpse!

Win, and obtain soul fire. Lose... die, and be buried here...

An invisible spiritual ripple entered Su Bo's mind.

Su Bo froze for a moment and instinctively turned to look at the grave mound behind him.

After the Greatsword Skeleton appeared, the grave mound stopped shaking, and so did the ground, as if whatever was inside had been cowed by it.

As the spiritual ripple spread, at the place where Su Bo's sword had pierced the grave mound—

A dark green bone claw suddenly thrust out of the mound. "Pfft~" Without a second thought, Su Bo flashed toward another direction.

However, when he neared the shadowy darkness, he stopped before the boundary.

The faint soul fire in the standing skeleton's eyes flickered slightly. Seeing that he had not left the burial grounds, it shifted its gaze away.

It continued staring at the grave mound... well, mainly at the bone claw sticking out of it.

"As expected..." Su Bo let out a breath of relief.

As long as he did not leave, accepted the trial, obeyed the Greatsword Skeleton's command, and killed the so-called Withered-Bone Demon Corpse, it would not attack him.

The so-called Withered-Bone Demon Corpse inside the grave mound finally crawled all the way out.

It was a corpse so shriveled it could not possibly have been more shriveled. Its flesh had not rotted away; instead, it clung to its bones, leaving it in the state of a skin-wrapped skeleton.

Vines—the same kind Su Bo had killed earlier—covered its entire body, secreting a nauseating dark green fluid.

"How disgusting..." Su Bo felt goosebumps rising all over his skin.

"But it can fight!"

Disgusting as this thing was—

He could not sense any life aura from it, but its strength was only so-so, comparable to the second level of body tempering. It was something one slash could kill.

A scorching aura slowly spread through this eerie place.

Sword light rose like a blazing sun!

"Hiss..."

"Fuck, what the hell is this thing?"

A strange cry rang out amid the burial grounds, followed by fierce sounds of clashing battle. Scarlet red and dark green constantly intertwined among the graves.

The two figures clashed violently, fighting without pause.

As they crossed paths once more, Su Bo gripped his sword with both hands and swept it across the desiccated corpse's neck with the force of tens of thousands of jin, severing its head and body in one stroke.

Then he thrust out several more slashes in succession, cutting the corpse into more than a dozen pieces.

Yet he could not feel the slightest bit pleased.

The instant the desiccated corpse's severed head and body fell to the ground, countless vines sprouted from the chunks. They swiftly connected the pieces and dragged the head back.

Then...

The corpse's head and body stitched themselves together once more. It rose and charged at Su Bo again.

This had already happened several times. No matter how many pieces he chopped the Withered-Bone Demon Corpse into, it rapidly recovered.

Even Luminous Sword Art—Solar Radiance and Blazing Sun could not harm it.

The thick layer of dark green secretion covering the Withered-Bone Demon Corpse could keep even flames from burning it.

"Fine. You can put a dozen pieces back together, but I refuse to believe you can still piece yourself back together after I chop you into chunks." Su Bo sneered and charged forward.

More than ten breaths later...

Su Bo stared speechlessly at the remains on the ground. "You really can piece yourself back together?"

He had chopped the entire Withered-Bone Demon Corpse into chunks the size of tofu cubes, yet it was completely unharmed. Countless vine-like fleshy buds sprouted out and stitched every fragment back together.

In the blink of an eye, it had returned to normal and charged at Su Bo once more.

After chopping the Withered-Bone Demon Corpse into several hundred pieces again, Su Bo flashed to a spot not far from the Greatsword Skeleton's side and snapped, "You want me to undergo a trial, then at least tell me the rules..."

Before he could finish speaking, Su Bo stepped out again. Countless sword lights spun forth, instantly cutting the Withered-Bone Demon Corpse into hundreds of pieces.

Su Bo returned to the Greatsword Skeleton's side. "How do I kill it?"

"If you don't tell me, I'll fucking kill you instead!"

The standing Greatsword Skeleton slowly turned its faint green soul fire and stared at Su Bo for a long time. The lower jaw of its pale skeleton clicked lightly.

"Crack..." Martial arts divine intent...

"Martial arts divine intent?" Su Bo perked up.

He had plenty of that. He had even cultivated it to a certain level.

Having gotten his answer, he flashed toward the Withered-Bone Demon Corpse charging at him, ready to chop this disgusting thing to pieces once and for all.

His sword...

Before it could strike, Su Bo froze.

Fuck, my martial arts divine intent doesn't seem to have anything to do with this sword, does it?

After slashing the Withered-Bone Demon Corpse into two, Su Bo stood still. He looked at his fist, then glanced at the fluid on the demon corpse's body.

Should he glare at it?

Wouldn't that be making a mountain out of a molehill?

Or was he supposed to punch the Withered-Bone Demon Corpse covered in that sticky dark green slime?

Eugh~!

He shuddered instinctively. It was fucking disgusting.

He could not accept that!

"Roar..." The Withered-Bone Demon Corpse recovered again and pounced at Su Bo.

"Then I'll beat you from a distance..."

Sword light spun, and the Withered-Bone Demon Corpse instantly burst into hundreds of fragments.

Bixi's divine form appeared behind Su Bo. A supreme fist intent that suppressed demons and evil fiends wrapped around vast, surging blood and vitality.

It poured into Su Bo's fists, forming a layer of crimson radiance over them.

His bursting blood energy was righteous and awe-inspiring. The fist intent that suppressed demons and evil fiends crashed over the Withered-Bone Demon Corpse's remains like wave after wave.

The chunks of the Withered-Bone Demon Corpse, sprouting vine-like fleshy buds, seemed to have been exposed beneath a true blazing sun.

Piece after piece of the remains fell to the ground and burst into flames. The vine-like fleshy buds burned away, while thin wisps of dark black smoke rose from the corpse fragments.

They slowly dissipated into the air.