Chapter 811: Untitled
Zhang Yu knew that Ying Xintian used the corpses and True Spirits of ancestors as a form of concealment to store and hide Grotto-Heaven power.
Previously, whenever he found an ancestral corpse, he would absorb it into his Grotto-Heaven. Only after liberating the corpse could he obtain the Grotto-Heaven power Ying Xintian had left within it.
But now the corpse, which his senses had always detected as motionless in a corner of the labyrinth’s Office District, was moving at a high speed.
More alarmingly, Zhang Yu could feel a restless agitation constantly radiating from it.
“Could someone have discovered it?”
“Did someone else take the ancestral corpse?”
At this thought, Zhang Yu’s gaze sharpened. His body transformed into a gust of wind, rapidly closing in on the still-speeding corpse.
Along the way, Zhang Yu noticed an increasing number of Soul Cultivators and Cultivators appearing in the labyrinth.
From their fragmented conversations, he gathered that as the labyrinth’s spatial structure shifted, more exploration routes had been discovered, and previously inaccessible areas were now being found.
At this moment, a Corpse Retrieval Squad from the Netherworld Palace was undertaking the latest labyrinth exploration mission.
The cultivator leading the team was named Ming Jue, a Rank 2 Sect Staff of the Netherworld Palace with extensive experience exploring the labyrinth.
Unlike the Myriad Laws Sect, the forces stationed by the Netherworld Palace in the Former Days Graveyard had always maintained the mission of exploring the labyrinth, consistently keeping Corpse Retrieval Squads active to continuously retrieve corpse components from within.
As an experienced Corpse Retrieval Squad leader, Ming Jue believed the most valuable lesson from exploring the labyrinth was this: don’t explore.
“The old labyrinth was far too dangerous,” Ming Jue thought grimly. “In that chaotic space, your sense of direction was completely shattered. The path you saw and the route you actually took felt completely different in both direction and distance.”
“One wrong step could send the world spinning, and your surroundings would change completely.”
“Once lost, you might be trapped for months, years, or even a lifetime.”
“And then there were all sorts of bizarre, frenzied corpse components…”
Ming Jue recalled a time he had ventured too deep into the Office District and become lost for over half a year. He had been forced to fight corpse components daily, hunt them, and ultimately devour them to replenish his energy.
Every time he remembered that ordeal, a pang of anguish shot through his heart.
“Who could know the hardship behind each corpse? Perfectly good corpse components, impossible to bring out and sell, forced to eat them on the spot…”
Thinking of the money he had lost, Ming Jue felt a sharp pang of pain. In that moment, he felt he truly understood the suffering of the ancients who had resorted to cannibalism during the Great Desolation.
And so… after that corpse retrieval mission, Ming Jue never dared to venture deep into the labyrinth to collect corpses again.
On every subsequent mission, he would merely patrol the outermost edges of the labyrinth. He was like an impotent husband — barely inside before he was quickly out again, feeling nothing at all.
Logically, Ming Jue’s slacking should have resulted in abysmal performance reviews, inevitably affecting his annual evaluations.
But precisely because of his half-hearted efforts, while he didn’t secure much profit, he also avoided numerous losses for his entire squad. As a result, his overall performance was far from the worst.
“It’s true what they say: do more, make more mistakes; do less, make fewer mistakes; do nothing, make no mistakes.”
After that, Ming Jue became even more reluctant to venture deep into the labyrinth. This continued until the recent changes in the labyrinth prompted the Netherworld Sect to increase its investment in exploration.
At the same time, Ming Jue noticed that while the current labyrinth was still dangerous, it was a significant improvement over the past.
“At least the spatial distortions aren’t as severe anymore,” Ming Jue thought. “The chances of getting lost have decreased significantly.”
It was precisely for this reason that Ming Jue had ventured slightly deeper into the labyrinth this time.
A roaring sound echoed as a black torrent surged through the distorted space ahead of Ming Jue and his team.
Seeing this, Ming Jue immediately ordered everyone to halt. “It’s a Corpse Tide! Cease all cultivation breathing and enter a silent state!”
The Corpse Tide, as Ming Jue understood it, was a unique phenomenon within the Former Days Graveyard labyrinth.
Vast numbers of cultivating corpse components, driven by a deep-seated craving for cultivation breathing and spiritual energy, would instinctively rush toward areas with higher concentrations of spiritual energy.
As countless corpse components moved together, they formed a massive, surging torrent.
This torrent roamed the labyrinth, following the shifting flows of spiritual energy. Driven by a primal feeding instinct, it would devour any biomass it encountered along its path — be it other corpse components or explorers like themselves.
As the Corpse Tide swiftly passed and vanished before him, Ming Jue had just breathed a sigh of relief when he suddenly sensed something strange from the direction the tide had come from.
“That’s… the direction the Corpse Tide came from.”
The surrounding spiritual energy and Yin Qi rapidly diminished, as if a black hole were frantically devouring everything in the air.
Ming Jue instantly realized what was happening. “Something is frantically absorbing spiritual energy! The Corpse Tide must have sensed the shift in concentration and left, it was lured away by this thing.”
His mind immediately flashed to the Office District’s tool manual, which detailed the various tools from before the labyrinth appeared. Now, more and more of those tools had transformed into frenzied corpse components.
Just as Ming Jue was trying to identify what was absorbing the spiritual energy, a figure sped toward them from the direction the Corpse Tide had come from.
When he saw the figure, Ming Jue’s gaze narrowed. “That’s…”
The person had a ruddy complexion and smooth, firm skin — they looked completely alive.
But the next moment, when Ming Jue tried to search for their identity in the Spirit Realm, he found no information.
Instead, certain markings on the person’s attire allowed Ming Jue to confirm their origin.
“From the Myriad Laws Sect?” Ming Jue thought, slightly surprised. Just as he was about to investigate further, he noticed the Spirit Realm connection was lagging.
He clicked his tongue in annoyance and could only wait impatiently.
Ming Jue knew that within the labyrinth, the Spirit Realm connection was always unreliable. The deeper one went, the worse the lag became, sometimes even leading to a complete disconnection.
The next moment, as the Spirit Realm information refreshed again, Ming Jue stared at the data that appeared before him, his heart stirring slightly. “A Myriad Laws Sect cultivator who died in the Great Righteous-Demonic War… This is a corpse?”
After a moment of careful observation, Ming Jue confirmed that he couldn’t sense any life force from the figure. It also didn’t respond to the Spirit Realm messages he sent.
Instead, as the figure drew closer, he felt an increasingly dense wave of Corpse Qi.
“What potent Corpse Qi…”
As a Sect Staff member of the Netherworld Sect, Ming Jue had considerable knowledge of various corpses, corpse components, and flesh. He could immediately tell that this corpse was of exceptional quality.
Combined with its origin from the Great Righteous-Demonic War, the corpse’s value soared.
“Even just for its collection value, it must be worth at least tens of thousands of Immortal Coins.”
“And if Ying Xintian placed this corpse here, its value would be even higher.”
“This is my destined opportunity!”
The next instant, Ming Jue unleashed a Netherworld Sect daoist art, intending to suppress the corpse.
But the next instant, he saw the corpse dart away like a startled animal with a swoosh.
“Chase!”
But the corpse’s speed was incredibly fast, and the labyrinth’s chaotic space seemed to have no effect on it at all.
In contrast, Ming Jue and his companions had to advance cautiously, fearing they would get lost in the labyrinth. Their speed naturally slowed.
As they pressed forward, Ming Jue sensed more and more cultivators fixing their gazes on the corpse.
He couldn’t help but shout a warning: “We found this first! It’s already the property of the Netherworld Sect!”
Meanwhile, as Zhang Yu drew closer to the ancestor’s corpse, he suddenly noticed something. “This ancestor’s corpse… seems to be moving toward my position.”
“Is it actively approaching me?”
“Why would it suddenly do that?”
Immortal Slayer speculated, “Perhaps… it’s because of that Ying family member, Ying Aikun.”
Zhang Yu thought, “Ying Aikun?”
Immortal Slayer continued, “You’ve probably figured it out by now. Based on the events of the past few days, the changes in the labyrinth have likely attracted the attention of many people. And this Ying Aikun is probably here to compete for the inheritance left behind by Grandmaster.”
“But Grandmaster himself never trusted bloodline inheritance.”
“Although an Immortal’s bloodline does transmit power, it cannot transmit a person’s ideals or thoughts.”
Immortal Slayer sighed. “So, long ago, Grandmaster deliberately weakened the power of his own bloodline. He hoped his legacy would be passed down through ideals and thoughts, not merely through blood.”
Zhang Yu thought, “So the advancement of [Immortal Descendant] has nothing to do with their bloodline. Instead, they must constantly engage with Ying Xintian’s ideas.”
Immortal Slayer continued, “So… perhaps sensing the arrival of a bloodline descendant like Ying Aikun, the ancestor’s corpse became even more agitated. It wants to reach you faster to transfer the Grotto-Heaven power to you.”
Zhang Yu mused, “Ying Xintian didn’t want to pass the Grotto-Heaven power to his bloodline descendants. So, the arrival of one of them actually gave me a push?”
As Zhang Yu pondered, the gale he had transformed into finally reached the vicinity of the ancestor’s corpse.
But by now, several factions had already gathered around the corpse. All seemed to have their eyes on this high-quality body, ready to fight for it.
Ming Jue continuously broadcast a Spirit Realm message to the surroundings: “Everyone, this is an asset of our Netherworld Palace. Our sect’s representative is already on their way. Please refrain from acting to avoid unnecessary losses.”
Someone sneered, “You claim it just by seeing it? Isn’t the Netherworld Sect being a bit too tyrannical?”
Another person said, “If the Netherworld Sect wants it, fine. Buy it. Just divide the money among everyone present.”
Someone else shouted, “I’ll bid 300,000 Immortal Coins for this corpse!”
Hearing this, many cultivators immediately voiced their praise and support.
Instantly, another cultivator bid 400,000 Immortal Coins, gaining even more support.
Watching this unfold, Zhang Yu thought with annoyance, “Are they all just going to throw money at it? I don’t have that many Immortal Coins…”
But in the next moment, the Spirit Realm connection flickered and froze. Everyone present suddenly realized they had been cut off from the external Spirit Realm.
Zhang Yu’s mind stirred. “The connection’s down…”
“Should I just try to snatch it by force?”
“Would that violate Kunxu’s rules?”
Just as this thought crossed Zhang Yu’s mind, he saw a pair of massive hands, wreathed in roiling black clouds, suddenly lunge for the ancestor’s corpse.
That single strike was like igniting a powder keg. In Zhang Yu’s perception, at least a dozen people instantly attacked the ancestor’s corpse. Streaks of thunderlight, fiend energy, blood light, and sword qi erupted into the sky, colliding in a chaotic explosion.
Zhang Yu also noticed that every attacker had deliberately concealed their identity, making it impossible to tell who was trying to seize the corpse.
“These bastards…” Zhang Yu thought darkly. “One moment they’re haggling over prices, the next they’re all fighting.”
Immortal Slayer’s voice echoed in his mind: “This is Kunxu. Cultivators usually obey the law only because of the powerful regulatory forces. The cost of breaking the law is too high for them… it’s not worth it.”
“But once that oversight is gone, and the stakes are high enough, there’s nothing they won’t dare to do.”
Just then, a shout echoed through the air: “I am Ying Aikun, heir of the Supreme Truth Immortal Clan and a direct descendant of Ying Xintian! This corpse was preserved by my ancestors. If you don’t get lost now, don’t blame me for using my Homicide Permit to kill you legally!”
As Zhang Yu’s heart sank, thinking Ying Aikun had arrived, another voice roared, “Hmph, a Myriad Laws traitor dares to act so brazenly? I am Zhang Yu of the Myriad Laws Sect’s Ethereal Communications Department! If you don’t get lost, I’ll summon Dao Monarch Bu!”
Hearing this, Zhang Yu almost laughed in fury. “Damn it… Hiding your identity is one thing, but now you’re impersonating others?”
He instantly realized that both this “Zhang Yu” and the “Ying Aikun” who had just spoken were impostors.
“If the real Ying Aikun were here, he would have activated his Homicide Permit and attacked immediately. Why would he waste time with so much talk?”
Meanwhile, as the numerous cultivators fought to seize the ancestor’s corpse, the corpse itself dodged their attacks and continued to move closer to Zhang Yu.
Seizing the opportunity, Zhang Yu led the corpse toward an area where spatial distortions were particularly severe.
The next moment, before the others could catch up, he reached out from the raging winds, snatched the ancestor’s corpse, and pulled it into his Grotto-Heaven.
To the onlookers, it appeared as if a blurry figure had suddenly emerged from the storm and seized the corpse.
Watching this, the pursuing cultivators roared in unison.
“Stop!”
“My corpse! Give it back to me!”
“If you want the corpse, leave behind your Immortal Coins!”
In an instant, a barrage of Thunderfire, Gang Qi, flying swords, and magical artifacts converged on Zhang Yu’s position. The combined power of the cultivators gathered into a terrifying force, threatening to vaporize everything within the space. The very air seemed to solidify under the immense pressure.
Yet, even in this onslaught, Zhang Yu once again transformed into wind. Like a current of air, he dissipated into the heavens and earth amidst the colliding explosions of power.
“Where did he go?”
“Where is he?”
Zhang Yu sighed in relief. Thank goodness. With the transformative abilities of the Blood Tide Essence Qi Sacred Contemplation, ordinary attacks can’t harm me, let alone capture me.
Just as he was about to ride the air currents away from the scene, an overwhelmingly powerful pressure descended from the sky. The cultivators present felt their vital energy surge and their magic power fluctuate as an inexplicable panic gripped their hearts.
Zhang Yu’s heart sank. “A Void Refinement cultivator.”
Immortal Slayer urgently warned, “Dodge! It’s the power of a Dharma Law!”
The next moment, the entire space was completely sealed. Countless chains descended from the sky, binding all the cultivators present.
Before these indestructible, all-binding chains, all resistance seemed like a joke.
Whether it was surging Gang Qi, swift Thunderfire, or various magical artifacts and flying swords, everything was ensnared by the descending chains.
Even the cultivators themselves were coiled and bound one by one, tossed together like trussed crabs, utterly powerless to resist.
At the same time, Zhang Yu, who had transformed into a gust of wind and dissipated into the heavens and earth, suddenly felt an intense sensation of being locked onto.
With a deafening rattle, countless black iron chains rose from all directions, closing in on him.
Even the formless gale he had become could not penetrate the chains’ encirclement.
Simultaneously, a cold male voice echoed from high above: “Junior, surrender the opportunity at once!”
Not far away, Ming Jue thought to himself, “Minister Xie has arrived. With the minister’s strength and the Dharma Law, no one here can escape.”
But in the next instant, a sound of surprise came from the sky.
Minister Xie scanned the area below in surprise, thinking, “He’s gone?”
Meanwhile, inside Zhang Yu’s Grotto-Heaven, he let out a slight sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness that after upgrading Immortal Descendant to the 3rd-tier, living beings can enter, and I can hide in here myself.”
Zhang Yu’s clone had entered the Grotto-Heaven before, and he had later experimented with entering it himself. Now, facing the danger of a Void Refinement Cultivator, he had directly hidden within the Grotto-Heaven.
“But that Void Refinement Cultivator… I wonder if he’ll keep watch outside?”
Zhang Yu had no time to dwell on this. Ever since the Immortal’s corpse was brought into the Grotto-Heaven, waves of consciousness had been transmitted to him, and now they were eagerly pulling him into a dream composed of memories.
Temporarily safe, Zhang Yu stopped resisting and accepted the invitation. The light and darkness before him shifted, and the scene changed.
Before Zhang Yu, Immortal Slayer, and Fu Ji unfolded a vast battle spanning tens of thousands of miles.
In this war, countless cultivators joined the fray one after another. Collapsing mountains and overflowing rivers seemed to have become commonplace.
As the war’s intensity escalated, countless civilians were displaced and lived in constant peril. The death toll skyrocketed as the war’s aftershocks spread, grain production plummeted, plagues raged, and order collapsed.
This was the Great Righteous-Demonic War.
A young-looking cultivator gazed down at the massive city below, now nine-tenths empty, and at the countless mutilated corpses from a blood sacrifice. A bone-deep hatred flickered in his eyes.
His name was Jun Xuance, a True Inheritance Disciple of the Myriad Laws Sect. He was known for his fierce hatred of evil and considered it his duty to suppress the Demonic Path.
When the Great Righteous-Demonic War began, Jun Xuance had thrown himself onto the front lines, relentlessly hunting and killing demonic cultivators.
Every time he saw a town slaughtered by demonic cultivators, his hatred for the Demonic Path grew stronger.
This time, the killing intent and hatred in his heart were unprecedented.
“Qi Mengyun!”
Looking at the woman who had crippled his senior brother Ling Feng, Jun Xuance’s killing intent surged uncontrollably.
Jun Xuance pointed at the city below and said, “These people… did you kill them all?”
Qi Mengyun caressed her belly and replied casually, “They have shed the shackles of their mortal shells and are now one with me.”
Jun Xuance’s voice turned cold. “You ate them all?”
Qi Mengyun replied faintly, “It wasn’t eating. It was salvation.”
“If I hadn’t intervened, they would have died in the aftershocks of your war sooner or later.”
“I saved them, allowing them to share eternal life with me.”
“You lofty Myriad Laws Disciples, when have you ever truly cared for the common people?”
“Those you cannot save, I will…”
Jun Xuance didn’t wait to hear more. He unleashed a sword strike, roaring, “Die!”
As the two clashed, a thousand miles of mountains and rivers instantly turned to scorched earth. Seas, rivers, and lakes evaporated in the heat of their battle.
As the fight raged on, killing intent, fury, and conflict accumulated, mirroring the Righteous-Demonic War itself — drawing in more power and causing greater chaos.
“Senior Brother! I’m here to help!”
Another cultivator arrived, fighting alongside Jun Xuance, vowing to slay Qi Mengyun, the traitor of the Myriad Laws Sect.
At the same time, another demonic cultivator rushed over, saying, “Junior Sister, I’ll hold them off. You go save the people first.”
Qi Mengyun nodded slightly. The next moment, she opened her mouth and inhaled, transforming the villagers of a mountain village into hundreds of streaks of blood-red light and swallowing them in a single gulp.
Watching this scene, Jun Xuance’s eyes nearly split with rage, and the sword qi within him surged even more violently.
But as reinforcements arrived for both sides, Jun Xuance ultimately failed to slay her. He could only fight while retreating, eventually moving to another battlefield.
As the Great War raged on, one familiar figure after another vanished from Jun Xuance’s sight.
“Junior Brother Ye, Martial Uncle Wang, Junior Sister Chu, Senior Brother Ling Feng…”
One by one, disciples of the Myriad Laws Sect threw themselves into the war — to uphold the Righteous Path, to protect the common people, to resist the Demonic Path. In the end, they were consumed like firewood, vanishing between heaven and earth.
But Jun Xuance knew that neither they nor he would ever regret their choice.
“The Righteous and Demonic Paths cannot coexist…”
Whether it was the sect’s teachings, the actions of the Demonic Path itself, or the tangled web of grievances between the two sides — everything drove Jun Xuance to vow to purge the Demonic Path and slay every Demonic Cultivator in the world.
Time and again, he threw himself into desperate battles. Time and again, he watched his comrades fall. Time and again, he faced the threat of death. Yet none of it made Jun Xuance retreat even half a step.
Even if the Myriad Laws Sect were reduced to its last member, Jun Xuance would fight the Demonic Path to the very end.
But the demonic flames raged fiercely. Relying on their vast numbers and various rapid-growth cultivation arts, the ranks of demonic cultivators swelled at an astonishing pace, and their strength grew just as quickly. Soon, they gained the upper hand in the Great Righteous-Demonic War.
Although the numerous Righteous Path cultivators fought to the death to resist, they still couldn’t stop the battle lines from collapsing step by step.
Still, Jun Xuance refused to back down. Even if it meant fighting to his last breath, he would clash with the Demonic Path until the final moment.
However, when he saw mortals willingly flocking to the Demonic Sects, eagerly abandoning their mortal bodies and scrambling to enter the Heavenly Demon Banner, a sudden sense of helplessness washed over him.
“Why?”
“We fought to the death, sacrificing so many to protect the mortals.”
“And yet… they willingly choose the Demonic Path? Willingly join the Demonic Sects?”
Facing Jun Xuance’s confusion, Ying Xintian said, “Don’t blame them. Everything in this world is shaped by the strong; mortals have no choice. They are too weak, lacking the ability, energy, and time to grasp the world’s truths or gather enough information to make informed judgments.”
“All the choices mortals make are merely the result of being influenced and swept along by the Righteous and Demonic Paths.”
“More and more mortals are willing to join the Demonic Sects simply because we of the Righteous Path are still too weak. The fault lies with us for failing to defeat the Demonic Path and protect these mortals.”
Looking at Ying Xintian’s tall back, Jun Xuance sensed a trace of weariness within it.
“Senior Brother,” Jun Xuance said with unwavering resolve, “no matter the outcome, I will fight the Demonic Sects to the very last moment.”
But half a year later, when Ying Xintian appeared before him again, Jun Xuance demanded furiously, “Ying Xintian, what is the meaning of ‘Righteous Use of Demonic Arts’?”