Chapter 813: Chapter 813
Li Xiaofei turned to look back. He saw Hu Tie of the Mythic Mercenary Group standing in the distance, his entire body trembling uncontrollably as if countless invisible threads were manipulating his every movement. Cracking sounds echoed as his bones shifted and twisted, and his limbs contorted like twisted rope. Blood began to gush from beneath his armor.
In the blink of an eye, his entire body was wrung dry like a soaked towel, every drop of blood forced out with terrifying efficiency. His desiccated and shattered corpse crashed down on the mountain of corpses, becoming yet another insignificant addition to its towering mass. The blood, meanwhile, flowed into the waterfall.
Everyone had expressions of shock and horror. They had been just a few steps away, yet they had no idea what had just happened. There hadn’t been the slightest fluctuation of energy in the air. It was as if Hu Tie had twisted himself to death.
“Evil spirits... it must be evil spirits,” Husi, the bearded warrior, muttered under his breath before raising his hand with a swift motion.
A large handful of silvery powder flew into space like glittering snow. It was Star Silver powder that had been refined and blessed by spellcasters. It was capable of harming most malevolent entities.
Wisps of green smoke began to rise from the empty air, and a faint scream seemed to echo through the space. Moments later, the surrounding temperature began to rise ever so slightly. The chilling wind faded, and the cold vanished. The evil spirit had retreated.
Li Xiaofei was utterly shocked. These so-called evil spirits looked just like ghosts. But they didn’t seem to be the same as the soul entities he had encountered in the Cemetery of the Ancestors.
“How is it?” Song Yu moved closer to Li Xiaofei and asked in a low voice.
Li Xiaofei shook his head faintly. He knew she was asking if Ishihara Masami had any reaction. But there had been no reaction.
The old Chancellor said, “The more dangerous a place is, the greater the opportunities it holds. Let’s search the area thoroughly. We might discover something else.” Follow current novels on novelFirｅ.net
Song Yu thought it over for a brief moment and agreed. Li Xiaofei signaled to the Black Emperor and the mute girl to stay close and not stray too far from him.
Members of the Mythic Mercenary Group, along with Chu Xiang, Xia Zi, and the others, also appeared intent on searching for something in this place. None of them seemed in a hurry to leave.
Li Xiaofei began ascending the ‘mountain path.’ As he climbed, he gradually felt a growing pressure. It was the residual energy left behind by a powerful cultivator at the moment of death. He toyed with the jade stone in his hand, ready to summon reinforcements at the first sign of danger.
At last, he reached the ‘mountaintop.’ But what he saw there once again left him stunned. Because standing atop the peak... was a person. A massive figure clad in ancient armor.
He stood towering over the miniature corpse mountain. He was at least a thousand meters tall. The armor covering his body was riddled with sword slashes and axe marks, scorched with frost and flame, every inch etched with scars of battle. He gripped a massive, damaged, dark red long-handled battle axe in his enormous hand. It was like he was refusing to let go even in death.
The axe handle was embedded deep within the mountain of corpses. Streams of blood spurted from the gaping wounds across the giant's body.
Nearly ninety percent of the blood waterfall cascading down the corpse mountain was coming from this colossal, god-like figure. He resembled a fallen general of an ancient imperial dynasty—dead, yet refusing to collapse.
What was even more terrifying was the oppressive aura radiating from the massive corpse. Even Li Xiaofei felt a tightening in his chest as his heart pounded wildly. He didn’t dare approach too closely.
“Is he dead or alive?” asked Chu Xiang, the fiery red-haired beauty, unable to hold back her curiosity.
Even a giant a thousand meters tall had only so much blood in his body. How could he continue bleeding for so long without drying up? But no one answered her.
Driven by curiosity, she stepped forward, wanting a closer look. Just then, Hua Dongcheng seemed to remember something critical. His expression changed dramatically as he grabbed his lover and shielded her with his body.
“The soul is gone, but the flesh remains undying. The will to fight still lingers... Ah Xiang, don’t get closer! If you awaken its battle intent, the body will attack and slaughter all living beings in its path.”
Chu Xiang stuck out her tongue and quickly backed off, no longer daring to approach. But at that moment, Xia Zi, the man in the violet-eyed mask, stepped forward with his followers, walking straight toward the giant.
“Are you insane?” Hua Dongcheng hissed in a low voice. “Do you want to awaken the living corpse and drag us all to our deaths?”
Before his words even faded, a single streak of violet light shot from Xia Zi’s hand. It didn’t appear aggressive. In fact, it was soft, almost gentle. Yet it seemed to stir some kind of change within the towering corpse.
Li Xiaofei immediately noticed the suffocating pressure from the giant’s body had eased considerably. As everyone watched, Xia Zi retrieved a jade bottle from his robe. He opened it, releasing a strange suction force that began to draw the blood still flowing from the massive corpse into the bottle.
This scene stirred something in everyone’s hearts. Indeed, the giant corpse had been dead for who knew how long, yet blood still flowed from its wounds like a waterfall. That alone was proof that, in life, he had been at least a cultivator of the Six Gods Realm or higher. His blood was undoubtedly a rare and powerful energy treasure.
The eyes of the Mythic Mercenary Group members lit up with greed. A man named Zhao Changhe immediately stepped forward and summoned a jade-green bottle, attempting to mimic Xia Zi’s method.
But just then, the giant corpse suddenly moved. The massive arm that had been hanging by its side rose abruptly, and grabbed Zhao Changhe in a single motion. In an instant, the once battle-hardened mercenary was crushed into a mist of blood and pulp.
Li Xiaofei instantly shielded the mute girl and Black Emperor, retreating swiftly to increase their distance. Everyone else reacted similarly, except Xia Zi. He continued to collect the giant’s blood with the jade bottle.
Strangely enough, the towering corpse didn’t attack him. Instead, it returned to its original stance, arms hanging by its sides, allowing Xia Zi to siphon blood without resistance.
This baffled the rest. Clearly, Xia Zi must have possessed some kind of secret technique or method that allowed him to safely extract blood from the giant corpse.
“Hey, brother,” Husi, the bearded warrior, couldn’t help but shout, “If you could control the corpse, why didn’t you save our man just now?”
Xia Zi didn’t even turn his head as he replied calmly, “He never asked for help.”
Husi was speechless. Li Xiaofei and the others couldn’t help but wipe away a bead of sweat. That was truly the gold standard of passing the buck. Zhao Changhe hadn’t even been given the chance to cry out for help.
“Good, very good.” Husi’s chest heaved with fury, but in the end, he said nothing more.
In just a few short hours, the Mythic Mercenary Group’s four-man team had already lost two members. It made them the only faction to suffer casualties so far. Their luck truly couldn’t have been worse.
Song Yu and the old Chancellor had also planned to collect some of the blood earlier, but now they shelved the thought. Instead, their gazes remained fixed on Xia Zi, watching him in silence for a long moment.
Time passed, and the blood flowing from the giant corpse began to thin. The thunderous roar of the blood waterfall atop the mountain of corpses gradually quieted... until it disappeared entirely.
Suddenly, the entire corpse mountain began to tremble violently. Corpses tumbled down from the heights. The once-stable gravitational field grew chaotic and unstable.
“This is bad! The corpse mountain is collapsing; something’s trying to break out from inside!” Hua Dongcheng shouted, his voice sharp with urgency, “Everyone, get out of here, now!”