Chapter 393 - Undead

Xiao Chen raised his saber to block the Corpse King’s fearsome sword stroke, and he immediately felt as though a huge mountain was crashing down upon him. He was forced to retreat by this immensely powerful force and only managed to steady himself after retreating for about 30 meters. His heart sank as he realized that he Corpse King possessed more than a millennia’s worth of Malicious Grudges and had absorbed a great deal of blood and Rancorous Qi from the slain cultivators earlier on. He had no way of striking it.

On the other side, the Perfected Immortal Rising Void and Heavenly Eagle King had just earned a moment to catch their breath when the Corpse King came attacking again. In their haste, they could only dodge flurriedly, while the Corpse King charged directly into the crowd of cultivators. He could even fly and tunnel through the ground, creating a pool of corpses everywhere he went, while blood kept flowing toward his body.

The entire Ghost-wailing Hill was shaking, and black clouds rumbled around the valley the cultivators were in, sealing off their exit routes. The round moon high in the air turned increasingly cold, and the Corpse King moved with lightning speed, slaying cultivators with each stroke of his sword.

Xiaoyue was suspended in mid-air as her hands kept forming seals, her green robes fluttering in the wind. The Autumn Water Sword was already unsheathed, but it could not harm the 1000-year old Corpse King at all. Likewise, Yu Yifeng, Su Zimu and the others were engaged in intense battle, supernatural powers continually appearing from their hands. Yet, they were unable to slay the Corpse King.

Time ticked by, and there were countless numbers of casualties from both Light and Dark sides. Each slain cultivator was contributing to the Rancorous Qi in the valley, further aiding the Corpse King, who was held together by vengefulness. Gradually, everyone fell into a state of panic and hopelessness. Unless a cultivator of Apotheosis Realm or Grand Completion Realm arrived, they had no hope of killing the Corpse King at all.

Xiao Chen was panting loudly by now. He had depleted a great deal of True Energy, yet he Corpse King was still alive. What made him most uneasy was that the Leopard Cat Spirit had told him one night that Malicious Grudges borne for more than a millennia would turn into Heavy Grudges, and someone who was possessed by them could be resurrected by such vengefulness again and again.

There was the problem of the Corpse Refinery Sect as well. It could not have been unaware of the fact that there was such a terrifying 1000 year old Corpse King being held here. It now seemed like the sect had been responsible for releasing news of extraordinary treasure being kept at this spot to draw large numbers of cultivators over here. As for what their purpose actually was, Xiao Chen was not really sure for now.

“Kaboom!”

There as huge sound, and the entire valley seemed to be exploding soon. Under the Corpse King’s terrible attacks, huge pieces of land were splitting apart, and rocks from the mountains began to tumble down. If all of the huge peaks came crashing down on them, they would be buried alive, even if they managed to survive the Corpse King somehow.

“What should we do now, Young Master?” Su Lianyue asked, her brows furrowed. She had completely not expected to find such a hard to manage 1000 year old Corpse King here. A dead monarch who had harbored Heavy Grudges for so long was even harder to deal with than Millennium Walking Corpses.

“Rancorous Qi is extreme Yin Qi, and we should use fire against it,” Xiao Chen replied, his brows furrowing. “Seniors, think of a way to trap this Walking Corpse. The others, use Fire-Style magic spells against it!” he shouted to the Heavenly Eagle King and Rising Void who were not far away from him.

Upon hearing him, both Nirvana Realm experts did not reply but rose up into the skies. Naturally, Xiao Chen himself drifted over, and the three of them remained suspended in mid-air in this manner, just like when they were trying to seize the Divine Tree for themselves earlier on. Each of them directed a ray of Mystic Power toward the Corpse King, barely managing to tie it up.

Upon seeing this, the others began directing their Mystic Powers to the trio. Eventually, the Corpse King was trapped by them. The 2000 other survivors also went forward and either created magical formations or directed their True Energy onto someone else as they used their most fearsome Fire-Style magic spells against the Corpse King.

In an instant, flames leaped up into the sky, illuminating the entire mountain valley. The Corpse King grew increasingly unhinged after withstanding a few waves of strong Fire-Style attacks. “I can’t die! I can’t possibly die! Ah…” he screamed.

Xiao Chen and the other two experts were beginning to feel the toll on their bodies, as Blood Vigor surged within them. “Young friend, quick, take out that extraordinary treasure to suppress that demon again!” the Heavenly Eagle King said.

“It’s useless!” Xiao Chen replied. He did not know who had used the Fuxi Zither to suppress the Corpse King here, but now that the restrictive seal whom that person created had been broken, the zither would be unable to keep the Corpse King suppressed, even if it transformed back into the Divine Tree.

The Corpse King was starting to look as though he was about to break free from his bonds, and the 2000 survivors began increasing the intensity of their attacks. The Corpse King behaved as though he had turned insane within the flames. “I’m going to conquer all the feudal lands and unite the world! I can’t die! This world has belonged to me ever since I reigned supreme. Where is the Elixir for Immortality? I want it! …”

Everyone who was present could feel an extremely intense Malicious Grudge. It was his greatest grudge while he was still alive, and it remained with him even after a millennia had passed.

Eventually, the Corpse King lost the strength to fight back after the concentrated fire attacks of the 2000 cultivators. His voice grew increasingly softer, but his body was still enveloped in a swath of extremely thick Rancorous Qi that could not be dispersed.

“My lands…how could I hand the lands that I conquered myself to someone else…” the Corpse King said. He looked extremely indignant, but eventually his eyes shut and he collapsed to the ground heavily, stirring up a huge column of dust.

“Dea… dead?”

The surrounding turned quiet all of a sudden as everyone stared at the Corpse King lying on the ground. Even though he was no longer emanating any aura, no one dared to walk near his corpse.

Yu Yifeng sighed. “Since the beginning of time, emperors, kings, generals and important ministers all felt dissatisfied. If Rancorous Qi had gathered in one’s throat as one passed, one would turn into a zombie sustained by Rancorous Qi, deathly aura and calamities in Nature. One would then become an undead that would exist aside from the Six Paths of the three realms of Heaven, Earth and humans and no longer be able to be reincarnated. To be sustained by vengefulness, sigh…he should have cast aside his earthly desires.”

“Meow! MEOW! He died, just like that?” Zhiluan asked as it flew above Yu’s shoulder, a look of disbelief on his face.

Xiao Chen regulated his breathing. He did not know why, but there was still a bad feeling in his mind. Rancorous Qi surrounding the Corpse King was still extremely heavy, but there was a brief moment when he felt that it did not originate from the undead monarch. He could not tell where it came from, but he was extremely certain that the great amount of Rancorous Qi far exceeded the lifespan of the Corpse King. It seemed to have been gathered for a few millennia, and this made Xiao feel extremely uneasy.

“Young Master…” Su Lianyue said, suddenly tugging at his shirt sleeves. Xiao Chen regained his senses and lifted his head to see countless gazes turning in his direction. It was only then did he realize that they had seen him keeping the extraordinary treasure in his sash; the matter was still not over.

The Corpse King lying on the ground was no longer moving by now. The Light and Dark sides stood in two ranks as before and stood guard against each other. A look of craftiness flashed across the Heavenly Eagle King’s face as he gazed at Xiao Chen. “Young friend, everyone here got rid of the Corpse King together, about that extraordinary treasure…” he said with a laugh, before chuckling and continuing his sentence, “Of course, the Divine Eagle Sect will not put you in a spot, my young friend.”

The Perfected Immortal Rising Void, who was standing with the Orthodox Path disciples, waved his duster and said calmly, “I’m not coveting that so-called treasure too, but since it can suppress a demonic creature like that Walking Corpse, it cannot fall into the Devil Practitioners’ hands.”

As they voices faded away, plenty of people began to crowd toward Xiao Chen gradually. This was human nature – fighting alongside one another moments ago, but turning against their own allies for personal gain now.

Xiao Chen steadied himself. The black clouds surrounding the mountain valley had still not dissipated, and it was impossible for him to leave while being surrounded by so many people. “Wait a minute! The black clouds created by the Corpse King are still here, which means…”

“Rustle!”

A strange sound appeared out of nowhere. The Corpse King, who had been lying on the ground, stood up suddenly, and an immense force surged out, sending close to 100 cultivators who were nearby into the air.

“I…am Undead!” the Corpse King exclaimed, his eyes suddenly opening, a strange glint appearing in them. He looked fresh, and the wounds that he suffered earlier on were regenerating at a visible pace, as if he was completely unharmed.

“Alive! He’s alive again!” Everyone looked at each other in shock and turned pale from fright. No one had expected something like this to happen.

“All of you have invoked the wrath of Heaven and shall all be slain!” the Corpse King growled as he swung his long sword, beheading dozens of Core Forming Realm cultivators who were too slow to react.

The Heavenly Eagle King and Perfected Immortal Rising Void had also not expected something like this to be possible. The Corpse King was obviously dead just now, and had stopped breathing. Now, however, it was resurrected, and it exceeded their own knowledge.

“Meow! MEOW! I said that he wouldn’t die so easily before, didn’t I? A thousand year old Heavy Grudge cannot be killed!” Zhiluan squeaked as he flew onto Yu Yifeng’s shoulder.

Everyone who was standing far away looked at the strange cat who was hovering in mid-air with incredulous expressions on their faces. They did not know much about Rancorous Qi, and even Yu Yifeng looked shocked. “He’s sustained by Rancorous Qi and can transform it into extreme Yin Qi to resurrect himself, what exactly is going on…”

Xiao Chen felt dizzy all of a sudden. He felt an indescribable feeling as he watched the Corpse King come back to life…Su Lianyue looked somewhat doubtful as she looked at him and then the Corpse King.

The cultivators descended into a state of panic once more. Xiao Chen shook his head vigorously, “No! Impossible! Nothing is unkillable! All that talk about a 1000 year old Heavy Grudge are just mere lies!” He then summoned the Blood Lotus Demon Blade and slashed at the Corpse King with it. The blood-red energy ray from the saber was about 30 meters long, and it caused the surrounding space to vibrate violently.

“Clang!” A loud sound rang out as the Corpse King blocked Xiao Chen’s attack, wielding his own sword with both hands. By now, the power in Xiao Chen seemed to have amplified greatly, and human and undead faced off against each other with saber and sword in hand, sparks flying out from the clashes. The Corpse King looked into his eyes and said in a low tone, “Why do you keep trying to stop me?”

Xiao Chen furrowed his brow and looked back at his opponent. “Because you don’t belong in this world anymore!” he growled, before channeling his energy. More sparks flew, and the Corpse King was forced to retreat by a few steps.

The Corpse King growled, “Same to you! You can’t kill me, and I can’t kill you! Why do we have to fight against each other?” He then channeled his own power and forced Xiao Chen to take a few steps backward.

“I’m different from you! I have three souls and seven spirits, I’m different from a Walking Corpse like you sustained by Rancorous Qi alone!”

Xiao Chen seemed to be turning emotional. He channeled a great amount of True Energy in his body and there was a huge clang as they clashed again. Eventually, both were knocked back by each other’s great powers, and gusts of wind blew around them, causing huge columns of sand to billow and blind the others. The cultivators around them stared wide-eyed; what were those two talking about earlier on?

Wind kept blowing, and the crown worn by the Corpse King kept shaking. Xiao Chen’s clothes rustled, as his long hair fluttered. They pointed their weapons toward the ground and stood facing off against each other.

A few cultivators a distance away were dumbfounded. Earlier on, everyone had witnessed the might of the Corpse King. However, Xiao Chen could match up against it, and it was unexpected. On the other end, Xiaoyue stared silently, while Yu Yifeng and the others frowned. Zuoqiu Yang was cracking his knuckles…

Suddenly, the black clouds at the east started billowing outward, and a huge swath of black-clad figures emerged from within. They looked as pale as the deceased, and everyone turned white as a sheet as they lifted their heads to see who the newcomers were. “Corpse Refinery Sect!” yelled Perfected Immortal Rising Void and Heavenly Eagle King hoarsely in unison.