Devour

Chapter 364: Unsealing the Ancient Corpse

Passing through the narrow and dark corridor, what comes into view is a huge circular stone hall. The ancient and cold atmosphere is awe-inspiring.

The moonstone lantern in Cheng Bai's hand emitted a faint glow, illuminating the empty area. The group looked around. The underground stone hall was as dark as a tomb, paved with charred square bricks, but there was not a single decent piece of furniture.

"It seems there is nothing!" Ningxiang's disappointed voice echoed in the hall.

"It's not nothing. Do you see those two strange doors?" Bei Tingjun smiled and pointed to the opposite side. There were two tightly closed doors on the left and right.

They were completely different from ordinary doors, with strange humanoid shapes. At first glance, they looked like two giant skeletons embedded in them. A skull hung high above each lintel, its empty eye sockets staring straight at everyone.

Qian Buduo was pleasantly surprised and said, "Bone Gate? Great! I need my bone key to open it."

Cheng Bai looked at the door lock from afar and found that it matched the key he had obtained. He frowned slightly and said, "There are two keyholes for a pair of doors, but I only found one key. Did I forget it upstairs? That's not right..."

Li Tong said, "The 'Wu Can Mountain Historical Records' mentions that this is a door to life and a door to death. There is indeed only one key. Opening it correctly will completely end the endless formation, but opening it incorrectly will bring danger."

Qian Buduo walked at the end of the group. He took out the bone key and spread it in his palm. He couldn't suppress his joy and said, "I didn't expect it to be so important! What kind of precious treasure is hidden in the bone door? Perhaps it is the only one in the world!"

Zixuan looked down at the floor, her nose twitching slightly as she said warily, "Don't go over there. The smell is weird, there's something wrong with the tiles!"

Jinlian asked, "Are there any malicious traps on the ground?"

Beitingjun blinked and speculated, "I've seen this before. If you step on the wrong brick while walking rashly, it will trigger a death trap, and the person standing on it will most likely suffer a terrible death."

Wenjin sneered, "With our abilities, how could we be afraid of a small trap?"

Zhai Xufei chuckled and said, "Even if we act more cautiously and don't need to touch the ground, we can still cast a spell and fly over."

Cheng Bai advised, "Please don't be reckless. Let me summon a Xi Rat to test the depth first, so that I can have a better idea of the situation."

The Shengjin Tower hanging high above his head contained many monsters, so it was easy to find one to serve as cannon fodder.

Just as he was about to take action, Cheng Bai became aware of a sudden change in the rear and hurriedly shouted, "Master Qian, be careful!"

A sudden gust of wind blew through the corridor, and a ghostly figure passed by the end of the group. Qian Buduo, unable to react, bore the brunt of the gust. He stared at his empty hands, trembling in shock, and uttered a short, startled cry: "Key...key!"

When the others saw the approaching people, they thought they were going to attack them and they were all on high alert.

Unexpectedly, the man only picked on the weak and snatched the bone key from Qian Buduo's hand in the blink of an eye. He jumped into the air like a flying feather and rushed towards the door opposite the stone hall.

The attacker was identified as Li Fengrun who had collapsed on the top floor earlier.

Kua Eyang clenched his fists and was about to strike. Cheng Bai stopped them in time: "Wait! He can't get through!"

Jinlian wanted to stop him, but hesitated before taking action. She watched from the sidelines and said, "The Tumin Society is famous for its 'Soaring Sky Flying Feather' movement technique. Mastering it is rare."

Li Fengrun was floating in the air, his body was so light that it seemed to merge with the air, and his movements were smoother and faster than an arrow.

Cheng Bai smiled and said, "I didn't realize that Elder Li's Qinggong was even better than his internal skills. He saved us the trouble of using cannon fodder to explore the way."

Zhai Xufei said coldly, "If he opens the Death Gate, I will die too! I will definitely rush to open the Life Gate and escape. I will wait for the moment he opens the door, and then I will have no problem taking his life."

The instantaneous burst of power of a master in the Nirvana Realm is enough to catch up with the speed of light, and it is indeed difficult for weak cultivators to escape the calamity.

But before he could finish his words, the square bricks on the ground that Li Fengrun passed by flashed with a faint luster, and suddenly a series of swirling black waves rolled up, like poisonous snakes circling and rising into the sky.

Bei Tingjun's expression changed slightly as he suddenly realized, "Those traps are extraordinary. They're secretly engraved with water vortex formations! They're not easy to dodge even while flying in mid-air."

Li Tong reminded him, "The magic circle isn't driving ordinary water, otherwise how could it stop high-level cultivators from crossing over?"

Cheng Baidao: "The water source is highly poisonous!"

Li Fengrun was obviously mentally prepared. Faced with danger, he relied on his superb skills in lightness exercises and was able to change direction in mid-air. He was as if he had wings and moved flexibly, skillfully avoiding one vortex of poisonous water after another.

Li Tong identified it, "It's the 'core' of the eight ingredients in the Seven Flowers and One Core Paste. It's made from the juice squeezed from the roots of the Dragon Catcher Tree. While the toxicity isn't as strong as refined poison, the effects are much faster."

Cheng Bai shook his head and said, "Elder Li is in trouble!"

Li Fengrun moved rapidly in the air, his eyes suddenly filled with panic, and he cried out in a low voice: "Oh no! The water mist has made the air filled with poison, and it is absorbed into the body as soon as I spit it out! Why didn't I think of it..."

Li Fengrun's complexion darkened within a short period of time, his vital essence becoming chaotic, his magical power sluggish, and his movements becoming sluggish and clumsy. A vortex of poisonous water surged forward, and he was too slow to dodge, being sprayed directly by it.

The venom immediately festered wherever it hit him, leaving Li Fengrun in excruciating pain. He could no longer maintain his soaring, flying posture, and with a scream, he plummeted to the ground like a kite with a broken string. More swirling vortexes of poisonous water gushed out, completely submerging him. His desperate struggles and screams were futile.

Cheng Bai was far away on the other side, silently absorbing all the poisonous gas coming towards him with his gluttonous power, and then refining it into his own power through the poisonous rune, not allowing his teammates to be contaminated at all.

Seeing the tragic scene of someone writhing on the ground, his skin and flesh scorched, Cheng Bai sighed. "With Yili Fengrun's power, being in the poison pool is simply courting death. Why did he wake up so early and behave so inconsistently? Could it be that his Toad Skill was broken, allowing him to escape the control of the Death Tomb, or was he stimulated by some unexpected event?"

"Welcome, two ancestors!" Li Fengrun let out a hoarse and shrill cry, his face full of ferocity, and he raised his hand with all his strength to throw out the bone key.

With the last movement, Li Fengrun's whole body seemed to be drained of vitality, and he collapsed limply on the square bricks, gradually being corroded by the gushing black poisonous water into a mottled skeleton.

The bone key shot out like a meteor chasing the moon, accurately inserted into the keyhole of the left bone door, and triggered the mechanism with a clear "click" sound.

The skulls on the two bone doors swayed slightly, a cold light flashed in their eye sockets, and suddenly different colors of will-o'-the-wisp lit up. The two on the left were as red as blood, and the two on the right were as blue as the sea.

A series of difficult sounds echoed, and the human-shaped bone doors on both sides seemed to be awakened by long-sleeping giant beasts, and they slowly opened to both sides at the same time.

"One key for two doors?"

Cheng Bai was quite surprised and couldn't help but ask, "Is there a possibility that this key will actually give the same result no matter which door it opens? But since they've never been opened, even Li Fengrun can't know for sure whether it will be a blessing or a curse."

Li Tong deduced, "Li Fengrun must be aware of the general situation. The so-called 'ancestors' must be referring to the legacy left by the two founders of the Tumin Society."

The skeleton door opened wider and wider, and a chilling wind and a blazing hot wind swept out from the darkness behind the door. The cold wind froze the blood and qi, while the hot wind seemed to burn the flesh and blood.

Ningxiang was startled and subconsciously took a step back, saying in panic, "There's someone behind the door!"

Cheng Bai stood in front of her and said softly, "Don't worry. It's not like ordinary corpse puppets. It's so fierce and powerful."

Only then did everyone realize that the terrifying portals were actually two special coffins. Inside each was an ancient corpse sitting cross-legged, tightly wrapped in cloth strips covered with spells.

They stood upright, both about five feet tall. The left one was rusty red, while the right one was dark blue, creating a strange harmony within the eerie atmosphere.

Li Tong identified its origins: "This is definitely not a corpse puppet refined from the Tomb of the Dead, but a long-standing corpse demon! According to the 'Historical Records of Wucan Mountain,' the two ancestors Tu and Min attempted in their later years to combine the strengths of the Snow Jade Art and the Blood Sea Universal Salvation Technique to create a groundbreaking new martial art. Unfortunately, they failed at the last moment and both perished due to demonic possession."

Bei Tingjun stroked the corpse of the mirage dragon coiled around him, his face solemn as he said, "The corpse has become a demon. It possesses the ability to know everything, the power to darken the sky, and is nearly immortal. Its release requires the blood sacrifice of many lives, making it a highly ominous creature."