"Flying Sword?!"
The gloomy man's pupils contracted. Though they were hundreds of meters apart, an intense sense of danger made every hair on his body stand on end.
He hurriedly pulled a Skull Bone Staff from his waist, its pale surface carved with rough blood-red patterns.
Yin Qi surged into the staff, and dozens of illusory, terrifying ghost-shadows intertwined and appeared.
With shrill cries, the ghost-shadows joined arms under the gloomy man's control, forming a Ghost-Shadow Shield above his head.
In the blink of an eye,
the moment the Ghost-Shadow Shield hastily took shape, the sword light streaked across the sky and struck the layers of ghost-shadows with pinpoint accuracy.
Faced with the Sword Qi unleashed by the sword light, the outer ghost-shadows were crushed to pieces before they could even wail.
He watched as the Ghost-Shadow Barrier, formed from layers of ghost-shadows using the Ghost-Driving Technique, was cut apart and scattered as easily as slicing through melons and vegetables.
The gloomy man's expression changed drastically. Yin Qi coiled around the bone staff in his hand, and he formed more than ten ghost-shadows to block the path before him once again.
Then he hurriedly took a sandalwood coffin, about the size of a pencil case, from his robe.
He bit his finger, using it as a brush and his blood as ink, and swiftly wrote and drew across the coffin lid.
"Use blood as the guide, drink blood and devour life-go!"
The gloomy man's face turned pale. A great amount of Yin Qi within him flowed into the coffin in his hands, and then he threw it down.
Under the sacrifice of blood and Yin Qi, the coffin, which had been only the size of a pencil case, rapidly grew and crashed heavily onto the ground with a dull thud.
Bang!
The coffin lid was suddenly thrown open. As bone-corroding mist spread, a Yin Corpse dressed in armor, its whole body withered and its fangs protruding, leapt out of the coffin.
Seeing the Yin Corpse appear, the tension in the gloomy man's face eased a little.
This sword light was powerful, but with this zombie, refined from the corpse of a Xiantian Martial Artist from the Lancang Kingdom, escaping should be no problem.
In an instant, just as the ghost-shadows were about to run out, the gloomy man barked at the Yin Corpse before him.
"Stop that Flying Sword."
Ha-
The Yin Corpse exhaled a breath of frigid air. Its stiff legs sprang more than ten meters, and its hands, tipped with sharp claws, struck straight at the sword light breaking through the ghost-shadows.
Clang...
As claws met sword light, an ear-splitting metallic ripping sound rang out.
After only a few moments of stalemate, both arms of the Yin Corpse, comparable to alloy, were severed cleanly.
The sword light merely paused for an instant before piercing through the Yin Corpse's chest and continuing its descent, to the gloomy man's horrified gaze.
"This sword light!"
"How is this possible!"
The gloomy man shouted in terror. He had spent more than ten years saving up enough to exchange for the corpse of a Xiantian Martial Artist from his sect.
After that, he used Mysterious Yin Corpse Wood, Kui Blood from a woman born in a Yin year, and the hearts' blood of more than twenty strong men. He placed them in a Far Suppression Yin Ground and nurtured them for nearly a year before obtaining this zombie.
Once the corpse had been refined, its toughness was enough to rival high-strength alloy.
With the Yin Qi bolstering the Yin Corpse, it was even more formidable.
Yet faced with this sword light, it had barely managed to impede it for a few moments.
"Run. I have to run!"
"There's actually a Sword Cultivator in the Late Qi Refining Realm in this Secret Realm!"
The gloomy man cried out inwardly. The instant the sword light descended, he slapped his chest with one hand.
A mouthful of dark-red blood mist gushed out. Before this filthy blood mist, the sword light, which had been sharp just moments ago, immediately dimmed.
Seeing that one mouthful was not enough, the gloomy man gritted his teeth and struck out twice more, forming a hand seal.
The three clouds of blood mist transformed into a Blood-Colored Skull that swallowed the sword light.
Seizing this opportunity, the gloomy man swept up the shrunken coffin and pointed a bloodied finger. The Yin Corpse, both arms severed, quickly came before him, lifted him up, and fled into the distance.
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A voice that sounded questioning yet carried a chill reached the gloomy man's ears.
The gloomy man shuddered all over. He did not even have the courage to look back; he simply burned his Essence Blood to bolster the Yin Corpse, making them flee this accursed place as quickly as possible.
"Stay here."
Bai Yi looked coldly at the gloomy man fleeing at top speed. The Heart-Questioning Sword let out a long hum, and its rampant Sword Qi crushed the Blood-Colored Skull.
Then the Sword Qi condensed, and the entire sword light became a streak of rainbow, catching up with the fleeing gloomy man.
One slash broke through the blood mist, the next cut through the ghost-shadows, and the third severed the zombie's head and legs.
Bang!
The gloomy man fell heavily to the ground from the zombie's back.
Having repeatedly overdrawn his Yin Qi to resist the sword light and expended his Essence Blood, the already gaunt gloomy man now looked like nothing but skin and bones, as though a breath could snap him.
"Don't kill me! I'll tell you everything!"
The gloomy man stared at the sword light before his throat and collapsed to the ground in terror. He had not yet reached Foundation Establishment, had not yet sought immortality, and did not want to die.
Bai Yi walked slowly up to the gloomy man.
He looked at the young figure before him, who concealed his face, yet whose gaze remained clear and whose movements and bearing still seemed youthful.
The gloomy man's pupils trembled, filled with horror, and his heart nearly went mad.
"Qi Refining Fifth Layer!"
"You're only at Qi Refining Fifth Layer! That's impossible!"
"How could a Sword Cultivator at Qi Refining Fifth Layer refine such sword light!"
Realizing Bai Yi's cultivation, the gloomy man growled in disbelief.
He was at Qi Refining Sixth Layer and had cultivated the Corpse-Blood Technique to the fourth layer. With a zombie refined from the corpse of a Xiantian Martial Artist, he had even killed one or two Dao Students of the same realm from Third-Rate Private Sects.
How could he be so thoroughly crushed by a Sword Cultivator only at Qi Refining Fifth Layer, with his zombie destroyed and himself forced into such a desperate state?
"I ask. You answer!"
Bai Yi swept him with a cold glance. The Heart-Questioning Sword sent out a streak of sword light and severed the gloomy man's right arm.
The sudden, stabbing pain made the gloomy man howl. Then, under Bai Yi's icy gaze, he forced himself not to make another sound.
"How did you enter the Blue Mountain Secret Realm?"
Bai Yi fixed his gaze on the gloomy man. To prevent heretical cultivators from causing trouble, every city Secret Realm checked the nature of a cultivator's spiritual energy.
Only then could one obtain a pass to enter a Secret Realm, and he had already passed that inspection before entering the Blue Mountain Secret Realm.
That was also why he had not killed the gloomy man with one sword just now.
"The Soul-Refining Sect refined a kind of Blood Pill using people's hearts and souls."
"Once you take this Blood Pill, it can remain in your body and, at the right time, change your information to that of the Blood Pill's owner."
"Why did you go to such lengths to enter the Blue Mountain Secret Realm?"
"This... Ah!"
The gloomy man hesitated only slightly before the sword light severed his right leg.
"We found a Foundation Establishment Realm demonic sect cultivator's cave abode on Huanggu Peak in the Secret Realm. We planned to sneak into the Secret Realm and look for an opportunity."
The gloomy man spoke with a twisted expression. A hatred that had sunk deep into his bones flickered briefly in his eyes.
This Sword Cultivator before him never intended to let him go.
But even if he had to die, he would drag this Sword Cultivator down with him.
"You all?"
Hearing that the Sword Cultivator before him had taken the bait, the gloomy man's hatred surged, but he wailed aloud.
"To get that cave abode, Yinshan Sect and Blood Demon Sect joined forces and sent more than a dozen people in."
"The leader was a Blood Demon Sect cultivator at Qi Refining, Seventh Layer."
"I've told you everything you wanted to know. Can you let me go?"
The gloomy man lifted his head and looked at Bai Yi with a pleading expression. Seeing Bai Yi's face as cold as ice, his expression instantly turned crazed and terrifying.