Because it lay close to the Heavenly Poison Swamp, the little village had been named Poison Swamp Village. But this once-peaceful settlement had now become a hell on earth. They had barely entered before the stench of rotting bodies hit them in the face. Mutilated corpses littered the village streets.
"These Corpse Demons eat humans. Anyone they scratch or bite will turn into a Corpse Demon, but these poor bastards didn't even have time to transform before their former kin ate them." Yun Dai covered his nose as he explained to Xiao Yan, surveying the severed limbs and shattered remains strewn across the ground.
"Looks like everyone in this village either became food or turned into a Corpse Demon." Xiao Yan sighed softly. There must have been at least several thousand villagers here, right? In other words, they were facing an army of at least a thousand Corpse Demons. He had never imagined that he would end up playing Resident Evil on the Dou Qi Continent in his lifetime.
Just as that thought crossed Xiao Yan's mind, eerie noises came from the surrounding houses. Corpse Demons emerged one after another, surrounding the two of them.
"Tch, we're surrounded. This could be troublesome." Yun Dai flicked a finger, and a silver longsword appeared in his hand. Gray Dou Qi then gathered around him, forming a Dou Qi Battle Robe.
Seeing Yun Dai's Dou Qi Battle Robe, Xiao Yan immediately confirmed that the man was probably a Dou Shi. He did not summon his own Dou Qi Armor, however, and merely drew the Xuan Heavy Ruler. He had no intention of revealing his strength to this stranger so soon. These Corpse Demons were not particularly strong anyway; displaying the strength of a Dou Zhe would be enough.
The Corpse Demons were not especially powerful overall. Even an ordinary Dou Zhe could defeat several at once. What made them troublesome was their inability to feel pain, along with the corpse poison they carried. Anyone splashed with their blood or scratched by them could become infected and transform into a Corpse Demon.
Fortunately, both Xiao Yan and Yun Dai knew how troublesome these Corpse Demons were, so they gave them no chance to get close. Working together, they soon wiped out every Corpse Demon around them. After casually cutting down the last one, Xiao Yan took out a white cloth and wiped all the poisonous blood from the Xuan Heavy Ruler before putting it away.
"Looks like we've been pretty lucky. These Corpse Demons must have thinned their own ranks quite a bit, or we wouldn't have had such an easy time." Yun Dai breathed a sigh of relief. "But they couldn't have appeared out of thin air. I think someone-or something-must be creating them in secret."
"Probably?" Xiao Yan murmured, sounding uncertain, but his thoughts turned to the netherworld poison flame. For some reason, he kept feeling that these Corpse Demons had something to do with it. It was even quite possible that the netherworld poison flame had created them.
Still, if the netherworld poison flame really was involved, its creations should not have been limited to something as weak as these Corpse Demons. With the power of heavenly flames, controlling even a Dou Wang-level being was hardly impossible.
Boom! Just as that thought arose in Xiao Yan's mind, the ground ahead suddenly collapsed. An enormous skeletal hand thrust out of the hole and grabbed viciously at the two of them.
Xiao Yan immediately used Burst Step to dodge the attack. Yun Dai naturally had a movement Dou Technique of his own, and the skeletal hand was not very fast, so they avoided it easily. At that very moment, however, Xiao Yan suddenly felt the light above him dim. Another enormous skeletal hand descended from the sky, clamping down directly over them.
That skeletal hand moved so quickly that even Burst Step could not possibly get him out of its way. Xiao Yan could no longer afford to conceal his strength. He immediately swung the Xuan Heavy Ruler and smashed it into the enormous hand, but the tremendous recoil from the blow sent him staggering backward instead. The hand remained completely unscathed, and its crushing force drove both of them underground.
The ground beneath Poison Swamp Village was actually hollow. Only after falling into it did they discover an entirely different world below, one that looked like a labyrinth.
"That skeleton was seriously strong..." Yun Dai climbed to his feet. After grumbling, he looked around and asked, "What is this place?"
"No idea." Xiao Yan shook his head. His brow furrowed slightly as he surveyed their surroundings. Ever since entering Poison Swamp Village, he had felt an inexplicable sense that something was wrong, and now that feeling was growing stronger and stronger. "Maybe this is where the netherworld poison flame is."
There were plenty of Corpse Demons in this underground passage too, and they were considerably stronger than those the pair had fought earlier. Eventually, even Xiao Yan and Yun Dai dared not engage them recklessly and could only use their respective movement Dou Techniques to sprint onward.
Their frantic dash did not last long, for a spacious hall soon appeared before Xiao Yan. At its center stood an ancient-looking altar, and at the very heart of the altar, a mass of green flame burned slowly.
"Is that a heavenly flame?" Yun Dai looked astonished at the sight of the green fire. "Could all of this have been caused by that heavenly flame?"
"So that's how it is." Gazing at the flame he had spent more than half a year searching for, Xiao Yan merely sighed softly. He turned toward Yun Dai beside him and said slowly, "You're not actually Yun Dai, are you?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Still going to keep pretending, Hun Dai'er?" Xiao Yan said coldly. "Do you really think I wouldn't recognize you?"
"Hahaha! As expected of the Demon Fury Sage. You spotted the flaw so quickly." Hun Dai'er gently peeled away her human-skin mask, revealing the face Xiao Yan loathed with every fiber of his being. "But so what if you've spotted it? This time, I won't repeat the mistake I made last time."
"You've imitated that line quite well." Xiao Yan shook his head. "Unfortunately, you're not her."
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Hun Dai'er froze for a moment. "Have you been scared witless?"
"I'm not the fool here. You are. You don't even know you're an illusion." Xiao Yan turned to look at the green flame and said slowly, "Of course, it's not just you. That flame, this Underground Palace, the Corpse Demons outside, and this village-they're all fake."
"None of these things ever truly existed. They all appeared based on what was in my mind. That's why there are zombies here, things that shouldn't exist on the Dou Qi Continent. And that's why, when I thought you were Hun Dai'er, you really became her."
"Much as I hate to admit it, this place is far more treacherous than I imagined. In that respect, your Chu Yun Empire can take a little pride in itself. This is the only place that has ever managed to poison me-and it did so without me even noticing."
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