In a brief period of time, the Qingcang Empire had already sent a sufficient number of experts to suppress those restless martial artists. The empire’s army was also dispatched to exercise control over the terrain.
Because the other forces were separated by great distances and the opening location of the Great Tomb of the Human King was in Queying City, which was within the borders of the Qingcang Empire, it was the Qingcang Empire that took the initiative to occupy it. So it was to be expected that the empire would have a grasp on the entire situation.
No matter how unreconciled the other martial artists were, they still could only restrain themselves in the end, and wait for the Qingcang Empire’s impending decision — Naturally, even if the Qingcang Empire wanted to keep everything for itself, that was also impossible.
After the news had spread, countless martial artists from other regions had all rushed over. This included some large organizations that were even farther away. They all instructed the members of their nearest strongholds to go over and seize territory to get a share of the action inside. Numerous organizations were also continuously exerting pressure on the Qingcang Empire. In order to prevent matters from escalating, the Qingcang Empire could only carry out allocations. In addition, the order in which they would enter the Human King’s tomb was also swiftly decided.
Those who had some weight from the Qingcang Empire were younger generations of the He Clan. The ones who were sent by the forces of Qingyun Sect and Danyun City were either leaders of nearby strongholds or trusted aides of the City Lord’s Mansion. On top of that, after a round of negotiations, it resulted in as many Inner Sect disciples and Danyun City younger generations as possible.
Although the appearance of the Great Tomb Secret Realm was a huge stroke of luck, it wasn’t necessarily without huge dangers. People wanted to go in to explore and acquire opportunities, but there was also the possibility of losing one’s life inside.
Since it was like this, they needed to be especially diligent when making arrangements. For example, that first batch of people going in had to be considered carefully.
The current plan was that at least eighty percent of the batch were those restless martial artists — Letting them go first to act as cannon fodder would reduce the casualties of the Qingcang Empire and the couple of large organizations.
Of course, necessary sacrifices were unavoidable. Among the remaining twenty percent, one needed to select some rather powerful talents, which were allocated according to the power of their family or organization’s backing. With the cannon fodder in front, the probability of preserving their lives was even larger. As for those martial artists off the beaten-path, talents with the protection of an organization had a greater possibility of seizing an opportunity.
Some time would pass once this first batch entered. Then, the talented characters of each large organization would enter as the second batch. At that time, the cannon fodder in front should’ve already eliminated any unseen dangers. After numerous talents entered once more, they would rely on their own abilities to struggle against their counterparts.
One couldn’t help but say that the calculations of the numerous forces were quite sound.
Among ordinary martial artists, no one really didn’t know about the large organizations’ way of thinking. But despite knowing this, who forced them to go without backers and only rely on themselves? Rather than missing out on this chance altogether, it was better to fight for it first. Perhaps they would be exceptionally lucky and capture an opportunity?
What’s more, even if they were used as cannon fodder, not everyone would necessarily become cannon fodder. Those with some skill could use their fellow risk-takers as their own stepping stones.
Hence, people’s hearts were treacherous, and all kinds of schemes were abound. At this moment, it depended on the destiny and fortune of each individual — Of all the martial artists who came here, not one didn’t have great hopes and expectations, and not one wasn’t risking their life. They wanted to dauntlessly advance and let themselves become even stronger!
Once all the people of the first entering batch assembled, the people of the Qingcang Empire, Qingyun Sect, Danyun City, and other large organizations were given the command. Then, countless martial artists soared into the air and dashed straight into that Great Tomb.
It was as if a switch was suddenly turned on. The instant that they entered the Great Tomb, innumerable, pitch-black ghost corpses leaped out from those depressions and frantically charged at those martial artists!
After many martial artists came in, they only saw a vast passage, and didn’t immediately discover the existence of the ghost corpses. Thus, their vigilance was insufficient. In the moment that they euphorically desired to pass through the tomb path, they were ambushed by the ghost corpses, had chunks of flesh bitten off, or were simply mangled by the ghost corpses’ claws. This made them howl in agony. In a split second, they had sunk into extremely dangerous circumstances!
In practically a couple of breaths, at least thirty percent of the people had perished in the hands of the ghost corpses. It wasn’t that the strengths of these martial artists were no good — Indeed, most of them were Houtian martial artists, but there were also many Xiantian martial artists advancing forward with them — However, along both sides of that deep and long tomb path, while it was true that the ghost corpses in the depressions at the beginning were Houtian Realms, the further one went in, the higher the strengths of the ghost corpses. Upon reaching the latter half of the tomb path, the ghost corpses were all comparable to Xiantian martial artists. The pressure the corpses produced was naturally even stronger!
— This was precisely the result of Yin Gathering Talismans with different product grades. But these cannon fodder martial artists who rashly entered didn’t have the faintest idea.
And if they didn’t know, what could they do?
Under such terror, the number of deaths grew higher and higher.
What was even more frightening was that some talents discovered that those martial artists who were bitten to death by the ghost corpses and had fallen to the ground were swaggering back to their feet as time passed.
Although their strengths generally weren’t high, they were about sixty to seventy percent of what they were like when they were alive. This was still enough to injure others.
Moreover, this kind of sight was truly...too terrifying.
Throughout the entire tomb path, the ghost corpses went on a rampage. The number of martial artists who came in was too high, and this congested the tomb path. For many martial artists who definitely had chances to escape with their lives, this made it difficult to flee amid all this chaos.
Gradually, that lengthy tomb path transformed into an Asura field. The anguished wails were countless. The blood-curdling screams were countless. And the casualties...were also countless.
It didn’t take long for even more people to die.
The ghost corpses were eventually eradicated. But those who survived already numbered less than twenty percent.
Among the twenty percent, half were comprised of martial artists who had a bit of skill and didn’t belong to organizations, and the other half were talents who were backed by organizations. Their hearts were even more guarded as they cautiously and solemnly arrived at the end of the tomb path.
There were quite a few, perfectly straight tomb paths. And the survivors of each path were all like this.
But encountering such devastation just after setting foot in the Great Tomb still caused a dense haze to arise in the minds of all the lucky survivors.
Gongyi Tianheng’s expression suddenly showed a solemn look.
But right away, he let go of this matter.
After thinking about it, this was normal. After all, this was the Great Tomb of the Human King. When its master was alive, the Human King’s strength would’ve been incomparably powerful. How could it allow a person far weaker to wantonly spy around? Now, they had probably encountered some concealed method.
They simply had to be even more careful with their following operation.
Tianheng transmitted back.
Gu Zuo was promptly placated. He thought it over, and still transmitted: Big brother, although it didn’t work just now, it doesn’t mean that it won’t work later on. I’ll keep releasing my psychic power the whole time. Once I “see” something, I’ll promptly tell big brother.
Tianheng faintly nodded his head, expressing his acknowledgement.
Soon after, he opened his mouth to warn again: “Tianyang, Young Master Ling, Young Lady Ling. You guys need to be even more careful.”
Gu Zuo handed out a yin qi dispelling medicinal pill that he refined to each person. After watching them swallow it, his complexion looked better and he felt a bit more assured: “Everyone must be aware of your surroundings at all costs!”
When the other few people heard this, they all answered positively on the spot.
Dragon One was a secret guard. After taking the medicinal pill, he quietly appeared behind Tianyang — Actually, he understood very clearly that his biggest use right now wasn’t to protect the young master and Pharmacist Gu. Rather, he needed to reduce their worries over the backline as much as possible. He would protect these companions who had yet to enter Xiantian.
Gu Zuo followed behind Tianheng, and cautiously stepped around that corner.
In a split second, the dense, white fog rushed toward their faces. It emitted a faint, bloody stench, and also carried a vicious and evil wind. It got close in the blink of an eye!
Gu Zuo’s psychic power reflexively bubbled out. It transformed into a Silver Awl, and made a puffing sound as it traveled straight through the air. It struck something. Soon after, that thing released a sharp cry. There was a muffled noise as if the ground was slicked by something sticky.
Meanwhile, the others likewise sustained the attacks of those evil winds.
Clearly, something existed in the white fog!
Tianyang and the Ling Clan siblings swiftly dodged. Yet, their strengths were still somewhat deficient. Although they had evaded and wanted to take things a step further to retaliate, it was hard to find the positioning of the evil winds. Nevertheless, Dragon One, who followed right behind them, reacted quickly and protected them.
At the same time, those evil winds were attacked by Dragon One and weren’t truly able to injure Tianyang and the others.
Then, Tianheng’s power revealed its might once again.
After he lifted a hand, a ball of reddish-gold light shot out, immediately dispersing the white fog. And once the white fog was scattered, a terrifying scene within it was laid bare before everyone’s lines of sight!
This place was a large hall.
And in this large hall...
There was an enormous pool of blood!
Gu Zuo felt like throwing up a little bit.
In the blood pool, numerous corpses bobbed up and down. Each dead body was blood-red and completely hairless. The exteriors appeared to have been peeled of any skin, exposing the blood vessels and lumps of flesh to the outside. Also, runnels of sticky blood would drip down and integrate with that blood pool. However, it looked hideous to the point of revulsion.
What was even more shocking was what Dragon One was fighting at this moment. It was four blood-red corpses!
As it turned out, after they entered the white fog, each person had already been attacked by a blood-red corpse. When Gu Zuo was attacked, he had immediately used a Silver Awl to solve his problem. When Tianheng was attacked, that reddish-gold power had coincidentally erupted. The corpse was roasted by the attack’s power before it even got close! As for the remaining corpses, they were restricted by Dragon One. Only, because Tianyang and the others’ strengths weren’t enough, they were unable to join in. Thus, Dragon One was unable to solve this problem for a while.
The moment that the white fog dissipated, Tianyang and the Ling Clan siblings promptly swung their weapons, and fought together against the blood-red corpses. They were very cautious, and mostly utilized guerrilla warfare tactics. They were able to give Dragon One some help, and Dragon One took advantage of the situation to respond. He separated and crushed those few blood-red corpses, dispatching them one by one.
The blood-red corpses looked very ugly, and seemed to be instinctually violent. Fortunately, their strengths weren’t that high. They were peak Meridian Condensing to Xiantian stage one at most.
Dragon One was the strongest of the Tianlong Guards. Through the hastening of top grade medicinal pills, he was already a Xiantian stage two martial artist. In addition, due to his two sets of bone pearls, he could be considered extremely gifted. The stockpiled true qi and his body’s strength were both above that of ordinary martial artists of equivalent realms. When handling the blood-red corpses, it wasn’t that challenging.
Gu Zuo rubbed his own face.
Okay. In spite of the nausea, after reading that newly-obtained item book, he soon recognized what those blood-red corpses were after a few seconds of being shocked.
In fact, it closely fit the thing’s appearance...
Its scientific name was the “blood corpse”.
The blood corpse’s form was fully coincidental, and could be purely artificial.
There were two necessary conditions for its formation. The first was that one needed huge quantities of freshly-dead corpses. The second was that one needed a natural or acquired battle array to draw out the blood from these freshly-dead corpses, which would converge into an enormous blood pool. Afterwards, a corpse and its own homologous blood would be drawn to each other. Immersed in the blood pool, it would be nourished by the blood water and would absorb untold amounts of yin qi, becoming this type of disgusting blood corpse.
And the reason why Gu Zuo had a very clear understanding of the blood corpse was because the blood corpse was poisonous, too. Its uncovered tendons, muscles, and pieces of flesh, the surface of its whole body, seemed to flow endlessly with blood water. In fact, it was all blood poison. Moreover, the blood poison’s toxicity was very tyrannical. Once it infected someone, it would promptly seep into that person’s body and combine with that person’s blood. It would convert all the blood in that person’s body into more blood poison... From this, one would know what would happen to the unfortunate victim.
En, the entire body would rot and die.
Taking another glance at the blood corpse’s dreadful state and thinking about the blood poison’s awful consequences introduced by the item book, Gu Zuo couldn’t help trembling.
Luckily, the blood corpse’s blood poison could still be resolved. There were two methods. And the latter detoxification method just happened to be that Corpse Spring Flower.
Gu Zuo quickly told Tianheng and the others about what the blood corpses were.
Tianyang and the Ling Clan siblings were both incredibly disgusted. In a flash, they kept even more preparations in mind... Only the heavens knew what grotesque things they would encounter afterwards!
Of course, the blood corpses also had a weakness.
Gu Zuo swiftly opened his mouth: “Blood corpses fear heat. Using fire can dispatch them!”
Dragon One’s constitution was a composite of three attribute types: Metal, earth, and water. There was no fire attribute among them. As a result, the cultivation method he practiced naturally wasn’t of the fire attribute. And it seemed that there weren’t any clear restraining properties here.
On the contrary, Gongyi Tianyang’s constitution had fire and earth dual-attributes. His cultivation method was also related to these two sides, and the fire and earth attributes were relatively balanced. Unexpectedly, he could use the corresponding martial skills at this moment.
As for Ling Ziqi and Ling Ziwei, this brother and sister pair, the latter had the Moon Siren Body. The attributes and so on should’ve leaned towards water and wouldn’t be very useful. Meanwhile, the former had been born from a small aristocratic family and had never been tested. He had basically never cultivated any of those so-called attributes.
When all was said and done, the most useful among these four, apart from Dragon One who was quite strong, was just Tianyang.
After the Ling Clan siblings figured this out, their gazes dimmed.
With great difficulty, they had come to their ancestor’s “legacy” to try their luck. They didn’t expect that not only weren’t they useful, they had often dragged their teammates down...
But this wasn’t the most dispiriting thing. Because, in the next moment, that blood pool started to bubble. The innumerable blood corpses inside all leaped out. With stiffened postures, they encircled the group of six people!
Tianheng and Dragon One swiftly entered the fray.
Tianyang steeled himself.
As for Gu Zuo, he threw out a couple of bottles.
The Ling Clan siblings caught them and popped the bottle corks. A tremendous power of fire wafted out.
Gu Zuo hurriedly said: “Swallowing this medicinal pill can temporarily grant the power of a blazing inferno. Merely, it’ll only last for a joss of incense. If you can’t dispatch the blood corpses during this period of time, you two will enter a weakened state. And I’m afraid you’ll have to wait for another joss of incense to recover. During this period of recovery, you guys won’t have the strength to defend yourselves. It’ll be very dangerous. Young Master Ling, Young Lady Ling. You two should think it over before making a decision!”
Yet, without the slightest hesitation, the Ling Clan siblings both swallowed a pill.
They suddenly felt a surge of fire power rush through their hearts. Immediately following which, they displayed their martial skills like they were testing them out. Those martial skills were undoubtedly average and ordinary. But the martial skills were unlike how they were normally — When striking out, they carried a surge of fire power!
The brother and sister were overjoyed at once.
They swiftly readied themselves and shot towards those blood corpses.
No matter what, they couldn’t burden the others anymore!
Tianyang and Dragon One were back to back as they exterminated the blood corpses together.
Tianheng directly pulled Gu Zuo onto his back — Tianyang and the Ling Clan siblings didn’t feel that this was wrong. Because in their minds, pharmacists originally didn’t have any strength to protect themselves. Handing over the protection to Gongyi Tianheng, who was the strongest, couldn’t have been more suitable at this time.
But Gu Zuo didn’t think so.
He was only concealing his innate qualities as he climbed onto his dear big brother’s back. Soon after, he followed his big brother into battle. His fighting tools were naturally the Silver Awls that burst forth from between his eyebrows. Amid the endless blood corpses, Tianyang had a few moments to catch his breath, but didn’t notice anything. Even though he occasionally saw some dense after-images of silver lights, he only thought that those were methods used by Tianheng.
After Gu Zuo’s psychic power had increased once more, the might of the Silver Awls and Silver Needles had gotten even stronger. Whenever one was sent out, a blood corpse would inevitably have its head explode and would fall to the ground. It didn’t have any ability to resist.
However, Gu Zuo also warned that they couldn’t allow those blood corpses to be swept back into that blood pool. Otherwise, even if it was a blood corpse with an exploded head, it would quickly recover under the nourishment of the blood water and become their enemy again!
Tianheng was calm and composed. His palms launched reddish-gold rays of light in bright eruptions one after another. Everywhere the rays of light passed through, the blood corpses would all melt away. Before long, a wide stretch of open space was cleared up.
His target was very clear. It was that huge blood pool — Although Gu Zuo had given such a warning previously, he actually had a complete understanding that, regardless of whether Gu Zuo gave a warning or not, the blood pool was a section that couldn’t be bypassed if they wanted to get through this present crisis.
Tianheng’s speed was very fast. Before the effects of the medicinal pill’s joss of incense was reached, he had already appeared in front of the blood pool. Without the slightest hesitation, he released at least half of the power in his body!
At this moment, Tianheng’s body erupted with an extremely bright, reddish-gold radiance. It turned him into a large sun, which burst forth with incomparably intense heat!
At almost the exact same time, that burst of heat transformed into a raging torrent. Like a reddish-gold, giant dragon, it charged forwards, vengefully floated above the blood pool, and continuously pressed down.
In the wake of the deep penetration of the reddish-gold radiance, the blood water in that blood pool constantly boiled, evaporated, and disappeared. The blood pool kept drying up. After more than half of the blood water had vanished, the strengths of the blood corpses that besieged the others gradually weakened. The corpses were even easier to exterminate now.
Tianyang and the others naturally rejoiced, but Tianheng didn’t have any intentions of stopping.
Seeing that the power, which he previously spent half of his true qi for, was already close to running out, he immediately transferred another thirty percent over. It turned into sun-like heat, and proceeded towards the depths of the blood pool.
Finally, the blood water reached the bottom. The mud of the pool’s bottom was also gradually revealed... Correct, at the bottom of the blood pool, it wasn’t like the gravestones of the hall or other sections. Rather, it was a shoal of blood-red mud. It was like a mixture of blood and mud.
Gu Zuo’s mouth couldn’t help making a low cry: “Corpse Spring Flowers!”
On that tract of bloody mud, countless Corpse Spring Flowers were shockingly growing. Its shape was similar to a human skull, and its color and luster were no different from a deathly-pale white. Its appearance made one’s heart shiver, but such a strange thing was considered a holy object of detoxification!
Tianheng’s mood seemed pretty good: “Ah Zuo, are there any taboos when harvesting these Corpse Spring Flowers?”
Gu Zuo shook his head. After that, he remembered that since he was on his big brother’s back, his head shake wouldn’t have been seen. He switched to speaking: “There aren’t any taboos. It’s not poisonous, so harvesting it like other medicinal ingredients is fine. But this thing doesn’t show up easily. When plucking them, just take the flowers. Leave behind the roots.”
Tianheng faintly nodded his head: “Everything will be just as Ah Zuo says.”
On the other side, after going through a difficult battle, Dragon One and the others smoothly disposed of the blood corpses that surrounded them. At this moment, a joss of incense had just passed, and the Ling Clan siblings didn’t have the tiniest bit of strength. They were now weaker than ordinary people.
Tianyang came over in haste, and helped the Ling Clan siblings off to the side to lean against the wall.
Meanwhile, Dragon One swiftly arrived next to Tianheng, and waited for the other’s command.
Tianheng said: “Dragon One, go harvest the medicine.”
Dragon One responded in a respectful voice: “Yes, young master.”
During this time, Gu Zuo had also jumped down and led Tianheng, so that they all could pick the Corpse Spring Flowers.
Not long after, a total of eighty-nine Corpse Spring Flowers were harvested. All of the roots were also kept intact.
However, it was also at this time that the hall shook violently all of a sudden. Everyone felt as if the whole world was spinning.
T/N: Thanks for the corrections, Charysa.
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