6: Deep in the mine, the mantis and the yellow bird

The darkness before dawn was thick as ink, and the depths of the Demonic Beast Forest were deathly silent.

At the entrance of the Blackrock Mine, several bonfires emitting a dark red glow flickered eerily in the dense fog, like ghostly eyes.

Beside the bonfires, several stiff, twisted black figures stood silently, their cold, greasy evil Qi enveloping the entrance like a spiderweb.

A hundred feet away in the dense forest, Xiao Yan lay prone behind some ferns, his gaze, sharp as a hawk's, fixed on the mine.

Behind him, five elite Xiao Family guards held their breath, their eyes as keen as blades.

The leader was a burly, stern-faced middle-aged man with bulging temples—Xiao Shan, Guard Captain of the Xiao Family, whose strength had reached the Peak of a nine-star Dou Master and was a trusted confidant of the Family Head, Xiao Zhan.

His Dou Zhi Qi was condensed, faintly exuding a heavy, earthy yellow aura, clearly indicating he Cultivated an earth-attribute Cultivation Technique.

The heavy stench of blood and decay in the air was nauseating.

"Young Master, something isn't right," Guard Captain Xiao Shan whispered, his voice steady yet grave.

"The smell of blood has congealed and soured; it's definitely not fresh blood.

Those shadows by the bonfires… their aura is deathly silent and chilling, likely corpse puppets controlled by evil methods!"

Yao Lao's solemn voice echoed in Xiao Yan's mind: "Indeed! It's Corpse Control Art!

The source is deep within the mine, where Death Qi is as dense as an abyss, mixed with a trace of chaotic spatial fluctuation, originating from the same source as the bottom of Soul Severing Cliff!

The controller's strength is at least that of a Great Dou Master, and their methods are bizarre!"

Xiao Yan's pupils contracted slightly, a wisp of scorching Dou Zhi Qi quietly gathering in his palm.

"Corpse Control Art… no wonder there are no traces.

Uncle Xiao Shan, as planned, you and two others will feign an attack to draw attention, while I lead three others through the abandoned side tunnel!

The target isn't the corpse puppets, but the source of control!

Find the person, and retreat immediately!"

"Yes, Young Master!" Xiao Shan nodded heavily, a resolute glint in his eyes.

"Dare to harm my Xiao Family members, whether they are human or ghost, I will make them pay the price!"

He made a gesture, and two fierce-looking guards silently slipped out like leopards, using the dense fog and vegetation as cover to flank the left of the bonfires.

"Move!" Xiao Yan roared softly!

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two arrows wrapped in oilcloth and ignited tore through the fog, carrying sharp whistling sounds, accurately shooting towards two wooden watchtowers on the right side of the mine!

Boom! Boom!

Flames shot skyward!

The inferno instantly devoured the dry wood, dispelling some of the fog and illuminating the black figures by the bonfires clearly!

They weren't guards at all!

They were several corpses dressed in tattered miner's clothes, their limbs twisted and deformed, skin a deathly gray-purple-black, and empty eye sockets oozing viscous black liquid!

Startled by the sudden flames and loud noises, they stiffly turned their heads, emitting a grating "ka-ka" sound of bone friction, their empty eye sockets "looking" towards the burning watchtowers!

"Now! Go!" Xiao Yan roared, his figure shooting out like an arrow from a bowstring, bringing three guards (including a scout skilled in detection and two Dou Master initial-stage experts) as he lunged towards the entrance of an abandoned mine tunnel on the side of the mine, half-hidden by vines and rubble!

Guard Captain Xiao Shan, along with another Dou Master middle-stage guard, followed closely behind, responsible for covering the rear and providing support!

Inside the abandoned mine tunnel:

It was damp, cold, and a strong smell of rust mixed with a pungent stench of decay, the air so thick it was suffocating.

A small cluster of pale white flames on Xiao Yan's fingertip (a very faint projection of Bone Chilling Flame, used only for illumination, not daring to fully activate it) flickered eerily, emitting a cold light, barely illuminating the rock walls ahead, which were covered in slippery moss and water seepage marks.

The flickering firelight cast long, distorted shadows on the uneven walls, like lurking specters.

"Young Master, there's a fork in the road!" The scout guard, skilled in detection, pointed to three dark, cavernous passages ahead.

Xiao Yan stopped, the pale white flame on his fingertip flickering slightly.

He closed his eyes, and his powerful Soul perception spread out like an invisible tide along the three passages.

Left passage: completely silent, with only the monotonous sound of dripping water.

Middle passage: an extremely faint, almost inaudible… friction sound of metal chains dragging across the ground?

Deep in the right passage… a dense, almost tangible, bone-chilling Death Qi surged like a hidden ice river!

What made his heart clench even more was that this Death Qi was mixed with a familiar, chaotic spatial fluctuation!

"Right!" Xiao Yan suddenly opened his eyes, a cold light like lightning in them!

That spatial fluctuation instantly reminded him of the scene when the mysterious person at the bottom of Soul Severing Cliff disappeared!

"Be careful! The Death Qi ahead is extremely heavy; there might be an ambush!"

The four moved like shadows merging into the darkness, their auras suppressed to the extreme, silently and swiftly moving deeper into the right mine tunnel.

The further they went, the more pungent and suffocating the stench of decay became.

Large patches of dark brown, long-dried and congealed splattered bloodstains began to appear on the tunnel walls, along with some terrifying marks an inch deep, as if furiously clawed out by some sharp, hard object.

Shattered pickaxes, mining lamps, and… several stained cloth fragments, clearly marked with half a twisted, pitch-black handprint, were scattered on the ground!

"Hiss…" The scout guard gasped, pointing to the ground around the corner ahead, his voice trembling almost imperceptibly.

It was an arm, severed at the shoulder!

The flesh at the Cut was a bizarre purplish-black, the muscle fibers atrophied and necrotic, as if corroded by strong acid, or as if its Life Qi had been frozen by some chilling power!

The fingers of the severed arm were dug tightly into the gravel on the ground, all the fingernails broken, the knuckles twisted and deformed, as if enduring unimaginable pain before death!

What was even more unsettling was that on the purplish-black skin, there was a complete, twisted, ghost-like pitch-black handprint!

That handprint seemed to possess life, and under the cold light of the pale white flame, it emitted a faint, sinister Qi that made one's Soul feel uneasy!

"It's Xiao Mang! He… he was one of the team members who went missing yesterday…" Guard Captain Xiao Shan's voice was low and hoarse, filled with suppressed grief and burning rage, his earthy yellow Dou Zhi Qi fluctuating slightly, showing his inner turmoil.

Xiao Mang was a guard he had personally trained!

Just then!

"Ho… ho ho…"

A non-human, hoarse growl, like an old bellows being forcibly pulled, suddenly came from the deep darkness ahead!

Following that were heavy, dragging, lead-filled footsteps, accompanied by the "clatter… clatter…" of rusty metal chains scraping and dragging on the ground!

Judging by the density of the sound, the number… was definitely more than one!

"Be on guard! Prepare to fight!" Xiao Yan roared, the cluster of pale white flames on his fingertip suddenly brightening a few shades, its blazing white light like a sharp sword, suddenly piercing the darkness ahead!

Around the corner, five stiff and twisted figures swayed out!

They were also wearing tattered miner's clothes or the broken leather armor unique to Xiao Family guards, their limbs in an unnatural stiffness and twisted angles, their skin a lifeless deathly gray, covered in large patches of dark purple corpse spots.

From their empty eye sockets, viscous black liquid, like crude oil, continuously oozed and dripped.

Two of the corpses had their arms locked by thick, rusty iron chains, the other end of the chains dragging on the ground, making a grating sound as they moved.

The other three maintained their last fighting postures from life, tightly gripping broken pickaxes or blunted short knives!

Without exception, all of them clearly bore that twisted pitch-black handprint!

Five pairs of empty eye sockets, oozing black liquid, all simultaneously "stared" at Xiao Yan and the three others who had trespassed into their territory!

The dense, almost suffocating Death Qi and chilling evil Qi surged towards them like a cold tide!

The energy fluctuations emanating from these controlled corpse puppets had all reached the level of Dou Zhi Qi five or six segments!

Even more terrifying was that they felt no pain and were fearless of death!

"Kill! Smash their heads!" Xiao Yan's killing intent surged, without any hesitation!

He knew that facing such evil creatures, he had to strike a fatal blow and destroy their control core!

His figure instantly shot out, leaving only a faint afterimage in his original spot!

His right hand, fingers together like a sword, the pale white flame leaping on his fingertip, as if infused with life, instantly surged, transforming into a foot-long blazing white fire blade!

The edges of the fire blade pulsed with heart-palpitating high temperatures, distorting the air slightly wherever it passed, carrying the majestic righteousness to incinerate all evil in the world, directly piercing towards the brow of the foremost corpse puppet dragging chains!

Flame Splitting Tsunami Ruler! Hiss—!

The blazing white fire blade pierced the corpse puppet's hard skull without any obstruction, like a red-hot branding iron entering a block of frozen butter!

The pale white flame instantly erupted, making a "sizzling" sound of scorching, and the corpse puppet's head, along with a small portion of its shoulder, in the horrified gaze of everyone, rapidly incinerated and carbonized like a wax figure thrown into a raging fire, finally turning into a scattered plume of ashes!

The headless remains, emitting wisps of black smoke, swayed once and then crashed to the ground.

"Roar—!"

The other four Corpse Puppets seemed to be enraged by the destruction of their companion, letting out even more ferocious roars! Wielding weapons or rusted, heavy iron chains, they charged forward like mad beasts, bringing with them a foul, fishy stench! Although their movements were still stiff, the whistling wind from their swinging chains and the sparks of shattered rock they kicked up when hitting the rock wall all demonstrated the terrifying monstrous strength they possessed!

"Form a formation! Earth Rock Wall! Protect the Young Master!" Xiao Shan, Guard Captain, roared, taking a step forward. Earth-yellow Dou Zhi Qi instantly erupted, condensing into a half-human-high, thick rock barrier in front of him! At the same time, he and two other guards quickly formed a triangular defensive formation. Dou Zhi Qi lights flared, and a net of flashing blades and swords intertwined, directly confronting the charging Corpse Puppets!

Clang! Clang! Crack!

The sharp, piercing clang of metal, the dull thud of bones being crushed by immense force, and the inhuman roars of the Corpse Puppets erupted in the narrow mine shaft, shaking dust from the rock walls! The battle instantly escalated to a fever pitch! Xiao Yan moved like a ghost among the Corpse Puppets, each precise strike of his fiery white blade attempting to incinerate the Corpse Puppets' cores. But the Corpse Puppets had superior numbers and were fearless of death. Their iron chains had a huge swinging range, and the narrow mine shaft restricted movement, pushing Xiao Yan's side into perilous situations. One guard's saber was knocked flying from his hand by the monstrous strength of a pickaxe-wielding Corpse Puppet, his tiger's mouth splitting open! Another guard was grazed in the ribs by a sweeping iron chain, letting out a muffled groan, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth!

And above the heads of those engaged in fierce battle, in a recessed area of the mine shaft's dome, completely covered by a huge stalactite and thick shadows.

Lin Chen clung to the cold, slippery rock wall like the most perfect gecko. Shadow Erosion Dou Qi flowed like a living thing, enveloping his entire body, perfectly assimilating all his aura, body temperature, heartbeat, and even his sense of existence into a part of the rock and shadow. His cold gaze, like a high-flying vulture, penetrated the chaotic Dou Zhi Qi light, flying debris, and pervasive dust below, precisely capturing every wisp of energy essence that escaped.

His target was neither Xiao Yan nor the Corpse Puppets. Instead, it was—the purest Yin-cold Death Qi and the Origin of the evil Qi that controlled them, which burst forth from the cores of the Corpse Puppets when Xiao Yan's Bone Chilling Flame incinerated them!

Whenever a Corpse Puppet's head or heart was consumed by the pale white flames, a cluster of energy, large or small, mixed with dense grey-black Death Qi and a trace of dark red evil Origin, would burst open like a punctured abscess!

Now!

Lin Chen's mind stirred slightly! The pea-sized pitch-black Qi vortex in his Dantian rotated with an unprecedented frenzy, like a awakened gluttonous beast! Strands of Shadow Erosion Dou Qi, as fine as ox hair, almost completely transparent, and perfectly integrated with the surrounding shadows, shot out silently from his hidden shadowy lair like the most greedy bloodsucking insects!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

These Shadow Erosion threads pierced with incredible precision into the cores of those energy clusters that had just burst and had not yet completely dissipated or been reabsorbed by the power deep within the mine shaft!

Shadow Erosion · Soul Absorption!

Overbearing and unparalleled devouring power erupted instantly! The energy containing pure Death Qi and Origin evil Qi was frantically sucked and plundered by the Shadow Erosion threads, like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea! Through invisible energy channels, it continuously poured into Lin Chen's body!

Buzz—!

Lin Chen's body trembled imperceptibly. Torrents of icy, bone-chilling, yet incomparably pure energy, filled with death, resentment, and chaotic evil intent, surged into his Dantian like a bursting ice river! The Shadow Erosion Qi vortex let out a joyful hiss, rotating, devouring, and refining greedily! The volume of the vortex visibly expanded and solidified once more! The low roar it created while rotating was like the roar of a Vicious Beast! Surging power washed over his limbs and bones like a mighty tide! The Realm, which had just broken through to Dou Zhi Qi Seventh Stage last night by Fusion of three energies and was still somewhat unstable, was rapidly stabilizing and solidifying under the nourishment of this pure "necromantic nutrient." Even the invisible barrier to Dou Zhi Qi Eighth Stage began to loosen and tremble violently!

"Power... This is true power!" Two points of dark red blood light flickered and danced like ghost fire in Lin Chen's eyes as he felt the surging energy within his body. Below, Xiao Yan and the others fought to the death, like farmers dancing on the tip of a blade, while he sat back, easily harvesting the most essential "fruits"! This sense of control intoxicated him.

Just as his mind was immersed in the pleasure of his surging power, the black crystal core he kept close to his body in his embrace pulsed again! This time, it was no longer the malicious backlash, but a kind of... strong resonance and clear guidance!

The dark red Texture flowing deep within the crystal core became extraordinarily bright, even slightly hot, emitting a clear wave of consciousness, like an invisible arrow, firmly pointing in a certain direction deeper into the mine shaft! That was precisely the Origin of the dense Death Qi and spatial fluctuations!

At the same time, a clearer, more tempting fragment of a chaotic vision flooded Lin Chen's mind:

A colossal throne, twisted and piled from countless pale bones and pitch-black rocks, floated above a churning, writhing, viscous darkness. Upon the throne, a figure completely shrouded in dense, ominous black Qi appeared indistinctly, one withered, sharp-clawed hand pressed firmly on a pitch-black crystal emitting a faint, dark glow on the armrest of the throne. The shape, size, and the cold, ancient, utterly evil aura emanating from that crystal... were almost identical to the black crystal core in his embrace! And below the throne, piled up like a small mountain... fresh, still slowly dripping with viscous blood, broken human corpses!

"Source... core... fragment... return... to... position..." A cold, intermittent intention, like the grinding of rusty gears, echoed endlessly within the fragmented vision.

Lin Chen's heart leaped violently, almost bursting from his chest! source core fragment? Return to position? This black crystal core was actually a fragment of the Shadow Source Core of the altar at the bottom of Soul Severing Cliff?! The lair of that evil entity deep in the mine shaft also had a piece, or even... more?! And, the other party seemed to clearly sense the existence of his fragment, sending out a strong summons!

Below, the battle was nearing its end.

"Completely destroy them!" Xiao Yan's low roar, filled with anger, transformed his body into a blazing white stream of light. The pale white fiery blade in his hand flared to a length of ten feet, sweeping across with the terrifying might of incinerating all evil and purifying all wickedness!

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh—!

Where the scorching Bone Chilling Flame passed, the air twisted and wailed! The remaining three Corpse Puppets, before this heaven-and-earth strange fire that incinerated evil, were like ice and snow under the blazing sun, instantly cut in half at the waist! The cut ends were charred and carbonized, and even the pitch-black evil Origin was instantly incinerated! The remaining bodies fell to the ground, emitting thick black smoke, twitched a few times, and then completely turned to charcoal, no longer moving.

In the mine shaft, only the heavy breathing of everyone, the crackling of burning flames, and the suppressed groans of the injured remained. Charred limbs and broken arms of Corpse Puppets were scattered on the ground, and the air was filled with the pungent smell of burnt flesh mixed with a strong stench of decay.

Xiao Yan extinguished the flames on his fingertips, his face slightly pale. Continuously activating the Bone Chilling Flame (even if only a projection) consumed a great deal of his energy. He walked to Xiao Shan, Guard Captain's severed arm, squatted down, and carefully examined the complete pitch-black handprint, his face as gloomy as the sky before a storm.

"Young Master, look deeper!" A guard, enduring his pain, pointed to the even darker end of the mine shaft. A more pungent smell of decay faintly emanated from there, along with a dull, "thump... thump..." sound, like a giant heart slowly beating! Each sound seemed to strike at one's heart, bringing an invisible oppression.

Xiao Yan stood up, his gaze as sharp as a knife, piercing through the darkness ahead, firmly locking onto the direction from which the "heartbeat" came. "Chase! That thing... is in there!" His voice was cold, carrying an undeniable determination.

He led the guards, cautiously continuing deeper into the mine shaft. Xiao Shan, Guard Captain, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his eyes fiercely fixed on the depths of the darkness, following closely behind. And in the impenetrable shadows above their heads, Lin Chen, like a true ghost, silently slipped down, quietly trailing them. His gaze, passing over the tense backs of Xiao Yan and the others, was like a poisoned arrow, firmly fixed on the direction from which the "heartbeat" came in the depths of the darkness, a cold and greedy arc slowly forming at the corner of his mouth.

source core fragment... return to position? Summons?

Lin Chen's hand, through his clothes, pressed against the slightly warm black crystal core in his embrace.

"No..." he whispered silently, his figure completely merging into the darkness.

"It's my prey."

Moonlight? No, there was only eternal darkness here. Only the dull "thump-thump" sound, like the drumbeats of Hell, sounded the final countdown for the bloody hunt about to begin.