The group cut through the air, a formation of streaks flying over the desolation below.
We had traveled roughly thirty miles when the horizon began to shift. The sky ahead, previously a dull, monotonous expanse, suddenly bruised into a chaotic patch of grey. It wasn't a storm cloud, nor was it fog. As I swept my Spiritual Consciousness forward—my mental radar expanding invisibly ahead of us—the grey mass resolved into thousands of individual, fluttering nightmares.
They were birds, each the size of a washbasin, their feathers matted and reeking of death.
"Corpse Crows!" The Green Wolf King's warning tore through the wind. "Defensive formations, now! Do not underestimate them—their aggression dwarfs the Corpse Bees we faced earlier."
The warning was superfluous. Before the last syllable had left his lips, the air around us shimmered as everyone triggered their defensive artifacts. I didn't hesitate. I summoned the Essence-Restoring Crimson Fire, wrapping it around myself in a tight, swirling sphere of protective flame.
The speed of the Corpse Crows was unnatural. One moment, they were a smudge on the horizon; a few breaths later, they were upon us, a screeching wall of feathers and rot.
They sensed the vitality in our blood. To creatures of the grave, the aura of living cultivators was like fresh meat thrown into a starving kennel. They shrieked with manic excitement, diving toward us like black arrows. As they descended, their beaks snapped open, launching dense volleys of Corpse Qi bombs.
Thousands of these projectiles, each the size of a human skull, whistled through the air. They were condensed balls of necrotic energy, aiming to smash us out of the sky.
We weren't about to die here. While our shields held the line, we unleashed our own arsenal.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The sky lit up. Our secret techniques collided with the barrage of necrotic bombs, detonating them in mid-air. The explosions were deafening, a cacophony that rattled the eardrums. But worse than the noise was the aftermath. As the Qi bombs burst, they released a fog of decay so potent it felt physical. For thousands of meters, the air turned thick with a stench that could make a statue gag.
The skirmish lasted fifteen minutes. It was a chaotic quarter-hour of fire, light, and screaming birds, but eventually, the last of the flock was incinerated or broken. We had survived the assault, but the atmosphere remained heavy.
"Jesus, the smell," Xie Jun gagged, frantically sniffing his sleeves. His face was twisted in disgust. "I had three layers of protective spiritual light active. Three! And that stench still seeped through. It's sticking to my skin."
"It is... pungent," the Barbaric Bull King rumbled. He was a man of few words, so for him to complain, the smell had to be truly atrocious.
I remained silent, feeling relatively untouched. My Crimson Fire wasn't just a shield; it was a furnace. Any wisp of Corpse Qi that dared approach me was instantly incinerated before it could cling to my clothes.
"The smell is a minor inconvenience," the Green Wolf King said, his expression grim as he scanned the horizon. "Did you notice the power scaling? Compare these Corpse Crows to the ones we fought a few days ago. The difference is stark."
"I felt it," Wei Rui chimed in. "My bloodline is sensitive to environmental shifts. From the moment we crossed the border into the Grey Desert, the density of the death energy has been climbing. The deeper we go, the stronger the monsters become."
"I fear the interior of the Corpse Cave will be a different beast entirely," the Green Wolf King muttered. He looked at us, his gaze sharpening. "Since we all recognize the danger, let's do a logistics check. Do you have enough pills? Specifically for Demon Power recovery and detoxification."
"Loaded," Xie Jun replied, patting his storage bag.
"I'm good," another added. "I have enough recovery meds to keep my energy topped off for ten days of continuous fighting."
"I'm sufficient as well," I said. "My supply isn't endless, but it's enough to clear the cave."
It was a prudent question. The Green Wolf King had warned me about this back in Red Rock City. The Corpse Cave wasn't a sprint; it was a marathon. Clearing it could take anywhere from five days to two weeks. In the world of cultivation, resource management was often the difference between ascension and a shallow grave.
When venturing into the wild, a cultivator's inventory is their lifeline. We carry two essential types of pills: those that knit flesh and bone, and those that replenish energy. In a place like this, you rarely find opponents you can one-shot. Battles become wars of attrition. It's not about who hits harder; it's about who runs out of gas first. Fighting a single opponent for three days and nights isn't a myth—it's a Tuesday.
I had my Crimson Fire to burn endless fuel and my Blue Jade Spiritual Body to regenerate from wounds, but I wasn't arrogant. I had stocked up on pills anyway. In this life, you can never have too many trump cards.
"We're close," the Green Wolf King announced, checking his bearings. "Another sixty miles and we reach the entrance. Steel yourselves."
He took the lead, accelerating. We fell into formation behind him.
The journey grew more oppressive with every mile. The Corpse Qi in the atmosphere thickened into a visible haze, and the frequency of attacks increased. We fought off three more waves of abominations, each pack more vicious than the last. And we were lucky—we were flying. I shuddered to think what was crawling on the ground below us.
Two hours later, the objective came into view.
A massive, grey-white mountain dominated the landscape. It was majestic in scale but horrifying in detail. The mountain was bald, devoid of trees or grass, looking like a giant, bleached skull rising from the desert floor. It radiated a visible aura of death, a grey fog that clung to its slopes.
"We're here," the Green Wolf King pointed to the base of the mountain. "Beneath that rock lies the cavern."
I followed his finger. At the foot of the mountain sat a gaping maw—a cave entrance so wide it looked like a wound in the earth. It was dark, gloomy, and exhaled rhythmic puffs of grey miasma.
We angled our flight paths downward, landing on the rocky plateau just outside the entrance.
Up close, the place was even more unsettling. The silence of the desert was broken by faint, shrill wails echoing from the darkness of the tunnel. It sounded like the wind whistling through a ribcage, or perhaps something far worse.
I frowned and extended my Spiritual Consciousness, trying to scout the tunnel ahead.
My mental probe shot forward, but after only a few hundred meters, it hit a wall. It wasn't a physical barrier, but pressure. The air inside was so thick with heavy, magical pollution that my senses were suffocated.
"My range is cut," I said, a hint of surprise in my voice. "The cave suppresses sensory probing?"
"It does," the Wolf King confirmed. "It's the density of the Qi. If you leave your consciousness extended for too long, the corruption can actually travel back up the link and damage your mind."
My frown deepened. For a cultivator, losing Spiritual Consciousness is like a pilot losing their radar in a storm. It dictates our reaction time. If I can't see an enemy until they are twenty feet away, the risk of a fatal ambush skyrockets.
Seeing my expression, the Green Wolf King walked over and clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Don't let it rattle you, Daoist Luo. We've scouted the perimeter before. The outer rim doesn't hold anything we can't handle. And frankly, your combat power exceeds the rest of us combined. You're the safest one here."
"Right," I nodded, forcing my muscles to relax.
He was likely right. Even my System had analyzed the threat level: aside from the deepest recesses of the cave, the danger to me was minimal. Even blind, I was dangerous. And I hadn't come this far to turn back because of a little fog.
The Green Wolf King turned to assess the group. He looked at Xie Jun and the others, noting the subtle sag in their shoulders.
"Listen up," he called out. "You've all traveled a long way from Red Rock City, and we've been skirmishing all morning. We're burning the candle at both ends. I suggest we take a break here. We don't step foot in that dark until everyone is back to peak condition."
"Agreed," Xie Jun sighed, dropping to the ground. "That flight took it out of me. My reserves are down to fifty percent."
"Same here."
The group scattered, finding clean patches of rock to sit on. They crossed their legs in the lotus position, pulling out Top-grade Spirit Stones. The stones glowed with a soft, pulsing light as the cultivators began to draw the pure energy out, cycling it through their meridians to replenish their cores.
I found a spot and sat down, mimicking their posture.
I didn't actually need to rest. My internal furnace kept my Demon Power topped off automatically. I was as fresh as I had been this morning. But standing around while they meditated would make me look like an anomaly—or worse, a threat. So, I closed my eyes and pretended to cycle my energy, blending in.
Thirty minutes later, the group rose. The fatigue was gone, replaced by the sharp, dangerous focus of veterans about to enter a dungeon.
The Green Wolf King flipped his wrist, utilizing his storage space, and a small porcelain bottle appeared. He popped the cork and shook out several round, white pills that gleamed like pearls.
"Detoxification Pills," he explained, handing them out. "The air inside is poison. Breathe it for too long without protection, and your blood will curdle. Also, everything in there bites, and everything that bites is venomous."
I took the pill he offered. It was cool to the touch. I tossed it back.
It dissolved instantly, sending a wave of icy clarity washing through my veins. It felt like a mental shield snapping into place. Suddenly, the rotting stench drifting from the cave mouth seemed less overwhelming, filtered out by the medicine.
"Good stuff," Xie Jun remarked, eyes widening. "Really clears the head."
"It should. I had to call in favors outside Silver Wyrm Island to get these," the Wolf King said. "But don't get cocky. These pills have limits. They handle ambient radiation and minor bites. If you get injected with high-grade toxin, you're on your own."
"We know the drill, Old Wolf. We value our lives," Xie Jun grinned, though his hand drifted to his weapon hilt.
"Good. No more delays." The Wolf King swept his arm toward the darkness. "Let's move."
He stepped into the shadow. We followed.
Crossing the threshold was like stepping into another world. The sunlight vanished, replaced by a suffocating gloom. The air was heavy, humid, and green. Bioluminescent moss and strange geological formations cast an eerie, emerald glow over everything. The suppression on my mind increased; I could feel the weight of the Corpse Qi pressing against my mental defenses.
The "cave" was more of a subterranean highway. The tunnel was massive, easily forty feet wide, carved through the rock like the throat of a god. Along the walls, evenly spaced Moonstones had been embedded—likely by previous explorers—casting harsh beams of white light that cut through the green fog.
We moved in a tight formation. Shields up, weapons drawn.
We hadn't gone far when the sound started.
Skitter. Click. Skitter.
It came from the darkness ahead—the sound of thousands of hard legs scrambling over stone.
"Contact front!" The Green Wolf King hissed. "Black-Armored Corpse Beetles!"
Out of the gloom, a black tide surged toward us. They were beetles the size of fists, their carapaces gleaming like wet obsidian. Their mandibles were oversized, serrated pincers that snapped hungrily.
"Fire at will!"
I didn't wait for the order. My wrist flicked, sending arcs of green blade-energy slicing into the mass. Around me, the others unleashed a storm of fire, lightning, and force.
Boom!
The tunnel shook. The front rank of the beetle swarm evaporated into green slime and shell fragments, but they were relentless. The swarm surged over their dead, rushing us. As they closed the distance, they reared up and spat.
Thousands of jets of black liquid arched through the air.
"Poison arrows!" The Wolf King roared. "Intercept them! That acid will eat right through your artifacts!"
The air shimmered with magic as we redirected our fire. My blade energy danced in the air, intercepting the black liquid mid-flight.
Hiss...
The acid burned against the stone floor where it landed, but none touched us. We pushed the offensive, grinding the swarm down with mechanical efficiency. It took fifteen minutes of continuous bombardment before the last beetle twitched and died.
The floor was carpeted in crunching shells and ichor.
"Every time," Xie Jun exhaled, wiping sweat from his brow. "I hate these things. How do they breed so fast? We kill them by the thousands, and the next time we come back, they're waiting at the door like a welcome committee."
"Nature of the beast," the Green Wolf King shrugged. "That was the appetizer. Next up should be the White-Haired Spiders. Stay in formation. We fight them together."
As the group reorganized, the Wolf King noticed me pacing around the battlefield, kicking at the piles of dead insects.
"Daoist Luo? What are you looking for?"
"Loot," I said, scanning the mess. "You said these things drop Corpse Beads."
The group chuckled. It wasn't mocking, just the amused look veterans give a rookie.
"Not these," the Wolf King grinned. "We're in the foyer. The beetles are trash mobs—too weak to condense energy cores. No beads here."
"Ah." I stopped kicking a beetle carcass, feeling a twinge of disappointment. "So, what drops them?"
"The Spiders might, but the drop rate is abysmal," he explained. "After the spiders, we hit the Corpse Scorpions. That's where the profit starts. The rule of the cave is simple: the deeper you go, the deadlier the monster. The deadlier the monster, the better the bead."
"Risk and reward," I muttered, nodding. "Alright then. Let's stop wasting time. I want to see these scorpions."