Huo Shengnan glanced at Hu Xiaotian. "Perhaps the secret is right here," he said. He approached one of the desiccated corpses. It had been there for years, its skin stretched over bone and its eyes deeply sunken. It wore armor and gripped a Horse-Cleaving Saber, but had no helmet on its head. Its gray-white, curly hair hung more than two feet down over its shoulders, and it still held the pose of delivering a chopping blow.
Hu Xiaotian reached out and wrenched the Horse-Cleaving Saber from its hand. With a little effort, he successfully took the weapon, but pulled off the corpse's right arm along with it. He set the hilt on the ground, pinned the arm beneath his foot, and tore it away from the hilt.
Seeing him treat the corpse this way, Huo Shengnan warned him, "Mutilate someone's remains like that, and you might find their wronged spirit haunting you."
"What ghosts are there in this world?" Hu Xiaotian said with a laugh. Holding the Horse-Cleaving Saber, he slashed through the air. The blade hissed, and he inadvertently unleashed a wave of Blade Energy that struck a desiccated corpse opposite him, cleaving it in two. The energy continued onward, cutting through two more corpses before finally dissipating.
Huo Shengnan assumed he had done it deliberately. She frowned. "Don't forget what we came here to do. There's no need to take it out on the corpses."
Hu Xiaotian sighed inwardly. Do you really think I have so little decency? I can't control my internal power well enough to release and withdraw the Blade Energy at will.
They continued along the passage until it suddenly opened into a hall built entirely of stone. Various beasts and desiccated corpses stood along the surrounding walls. At the center of the hall, two