Translator: CinderTL
"Lian Cang, Wen Liu, you can't escape. Just accept your fate!" Wu Yue sneered, his gaze icy.
Instead of attacking immediately, he retrieved an array disk and began reconfiguring the Corpse Fiend Formless Array, which Lian Cang and Wen Liu had breached.
The Corpse Fiend Formless Array served as the outermost layer of the formation, concealing the Nine Heavens Return to Origin Formation and the Nether Corpse Purgatory Formation arranged by Song Wen.
"Wu Yue, what trick are you playing?" Wen Liu, the black-robed female cultivator, demanded, her expression wary as she stared at him.
Before her, a flying sword pulsed with cold light, poised to strike.
Lian Cang mirrored her stance, the massive pearl above him surging with flames, ready to descend.
Despite the imminent threat of their combined assault, Wu Yue remained unfazed, calmly manipulating the array disk.
Six Corpse Puppets surrounded him, forming an impenetrable barrier in all directions.
Two of these puppets were the ones Song Wen had given him. Though not fully refined and unable to be controlled with perfect precision, they served well enough as decoys and meat shields.
"You two fools! Disturbing Senior Yang Yu's cultivation is a death wish!" Wu Yue roared with laughter.
"Senior?" Lian Cang and Wen Liu exchanged startled glances, their eyes betraying obvious panic.
By then, Wu Yue had successfully reconfigured the Corpse Fiend Formless Array. He commanded the Corpse Puppets beside him to attack the intruders.
Suddenly, the stone gate of Song Wen's cultivation cave burst open, and a crimson torrent surged forth.
Lian Cang and Wen Liu paled in terror, activating their mystic treasures to meet the crimson tide.
But they were no match for Song Wen. Their flying sword and the fiery pearl, hurled against the crimson torrent, failed to even ripple its surface. Instead, they were instantly absorbed, vanishing without a trace.
The crimson torrent coiled through the air, engulfing the pair in quick succession before they could even cry out.
The crimson torrent then receded into the cave, leaving Lian Cang and Wen Liu utterly vanished.
"Wu Yue, you've done well. Handle any future intruders the same way," Song Wen's voice echoed from within the cave.
Wu Yue bowed deeply, his expression fervent. "As Senior commands."
The deaths of Lian Cang and Wen Liu caused barely a ripple. Cultivators continued to flock to Corpse Soul Ravine, eager to seize any advantage.
Three months later, over a dozen nascent soul cultivators had entered the ravine, never to emerge. Those lurking in the shadows finally realized that Corpse Soul Ravine was beyond the reach of nascent soul cultivators.
The number of those daring to spy on the ravine dwindled sharply.
But this only piqued the curiosity of divine transformation stage cultivators.
One day, an elderly man radiating Ghost Qi appeared above Corpse Soul Ravine.
After observing the ravine below for a moment, he found his divine sense completely unable to penetrate its depths. He then extended his divine sense outward, scanning the surrounding area.
Suddenly, he teleported to a small mountain a thousand miles away.
"Come out! This old man has questions for you."
As his words echoed, a middle-aged female cultivator at the late golden core stage emerged from a cave entrance at the foot of the mountain.
"Greetings, Senior," she said, her voice trembling.
The old man asked, "Why are you hiding here? Do you think your late golden core cultivation is enough to challenge Corpse Soul Ravine?"
The female cultivator replied, "Senior, I came here with my master, Daoist Min Li. Half a month ago, my master and her two companions entered Corpse Soul Ravine and haven't emerged since. My master has been as kind to me as a mountain is tall. With her fate unknown, I dare not abandon her."
The old man nodded. "A truly respectful disciple. Since you're so concerned about your master's safety, I'll give you a chance to venture into Corpse Soul Ravine yourself."
The female cultivator looked utterly bewildered, completely failing to grasp the old man's meaning.
But her expression instantly shifted.
A surge of black Ghost Qi erupted from the old man, engulfing her in an instant.
The female cultivator felt an icy, bone-chilling aura pierce her marrow, freezing her spiritual power and rendering her as stiff as wood. She couldn't move, speak, or even twitch.
Then, the corpse qi swept her up, carrying her and the old man back above Corpse Soul Ravine.
A Soul Breaking Awl materialized before the old man.
The awl glowed with an intense black light, then shot toward the ravine's protective barrier.
The barrier shattered as easily as paper, crumbling into fragments.
The old man's divine sense instantly swept through the entire canyon.
Scattered across the valley floor were several buildings, within which resided some low-tier cultivators.
Startled by the shattering of the barrier, the cultivators looked up into the sky.
However, the old man detected no sign of Wu Yue among them.
Deep within the canyon lay a cultivation cave, clearly protected by a concealment formation that blocked the old man's divine sense from penetrating its depths.
With a wave of his hand, the Ghost Qi coiling around the female cultivator surged into the canyon.
The Ghost Qi carried the cultivator to the valley floor before abruptly dissipating.
The female cultivator gazed around in terror, afraid to make the slightest movement.
Suddenly, a fourth-tier peak Corpse Puppet lunged forward and tore her apart in a few swift strikes.
Seeing how easily the cultivator had died without yielding any useful information, the old man shook his head slightly.
The canyon appeared deceptively calm, yet it had repeatedly trapped and killed over a dozen nascent soul cultivators, leaving none alive. Wu Yue could never have accomplished this with just a single fourth-tier peak Corpse Puppet.
Deep within this shadowy canyon, even more formidable entities must be lurking.
The old man was eager to probe the canyon's depths, but he hesitated to risk himself. With no other living beings nearby, he struggled to devise a suitable plan.
After a moment's contemplation, a fourth-tier peak Ghost Emperor materialized before him.
It wasn't that he lacked the desire to command a more powerful ghost; the truth was, though a Divine Transformation Stage cultivator, he had only recently advanced to this realm and hadn't yet refined a fifth-tier ghost.
Enshrouded in surging Ghost Qi, the Ghost Emperor charged into the canyon.
However, before it could reach the canyon floor, another fourth-tier peak Corpse Puppet emerged, joining the first in a coordinated assault.
Outnumbered two to one, the Ghost Emperor quickly found itself on the defensive.
Seeing this, the old man moved to recall his ghost, but four more Corpse Puppets erupted from the shadows, all at the fourth-tier level.
The six Corpse Puppets, driven into a frenzy, tore the Ghost Emperor to shreds right before the old man's eyes.
(End of the Chapter)