Martial Peak

The more hidden the barrier was, the more Yang Kai affirmed his previous guess was correct.

After staring at this barrier for some time, Yang Kai’s expression suddenly changed and he waved his hand, summoning out the Origin King Grade Artifact Refining Furnace, tapping it with his finger, and lightning saying, “Go in and take a look around!”

With a light cry, the Firebird Artifact Spirit flew out of the Artifact Refining Furnace and plunged towards the barrier without the slightest hesitation. When the Artifact Spirit touched the barrier, the surrounding space shook for an instant before the Firebird disappeared entirely.

Yang Kai frowned for a moment, but after confirming that his connection with the Artifact Spirit still existed, he relaxed.

Standing on the spot, Yang Kai carefully reviewed the information passed back to him from the Artifact Spirit, his expression uncertain. Only after some time did he say, “It looks like we were right, this is definitely a Cave Heaven, and the World Energy aura inside is quite astonishing. It’s likely the place we are looking for.”

“Really?” Yang Yan was overjoyed.

“But… the Corpse Qi inside is also quite dense. It seems that more than one Corpse Soldier lives here,” Yang Kai said, solemnly dignified.

Yang Yan was dumbfounded and a look of hesitation appeared on her face. If there was only one Corpse Soldier, with Yang Kai’s strength, there would not be anything to fear, but if there were many of them, Yang Kai wouldn’t be able to handle them all on his own. This situation required some careful consideration.

It took a while for Yang Yan to finally say, “Since this is the site of the Ancient Yang Sect, it means that these Corpse Soldiers appeared after its destruction. It is very likely that many of them were disciples of the Ancient Yang Sect and only because of some coincidences they became like this after they died. In other words, the most powerful existence here would be a two-thousand-year-old Corpse General, equivalent to a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm at best.”

“A Second-Order Origin Returning Realm master,” Yang Kai murmured with a look of contemplation.

If this was the case, he didn’t need to worry. He didn’t have the strength necessary to fight such a powerful Corpse General, but escaping together with Yang Yan wouldn’t be a problem.

After a moment of contemplation, Yang Kai made a decision and gently nodded, “Then let’s go in.”

If the only thing he noticed inside this place was the thick Corpse Qi, Yang Kai would surely have turned around and left. Although he wasn’t afraid of a Thousand-Year Corpse General, avoiding an unnecessary fight would still be for the best. However, in addition to the thick Corpse Qi, the World Energy inside was also extremely rich, so clearly there were some good things hidden inside.

He and Yang Yan had come all this way, so with their goal now right in front of them, naturally they were unwilling to just give up.

Saying so, Yang Kai released his Saint Qi and wrapped himself and Yang Yan within it before leading her forward.

After stepping into past the Concealment Array, the world seemed to spin for a moment and the scene in front of them changed dramatically. Yang Kai and Yang Yan now found themselves inside a cave-like place that seemed to have a faint wailing sound echoing through the air, causing one to shudder unconsciously.

Along the cave walls, there were many green fluorescent stones, emitting a somewhat ghastly light.

Inside this cave though, the World Energy aura was incredibly rich, and Yang Kai could even smell a subtle medicinal fragrance. His heart trembled as he realized that he and Yang Yan had really found the right place, those two ancient map fragments had really led to the Secret Cave of the Ancient Yang Sect.

Although the light in this cave wasn’t very bright, with Yang Kai’s cultivation, as soon as he concentrated some Saint Qi into his eyes, he could still see everything in front of him perfectly. At the same time, he quietly released his Divine Sense to monitor their surroundings. Yang Kai soon found that this cave had traces of artifact excavation. It seemed that it was a naturally formed several thousand-metre deep cave that was later processed to make it more spacious.

In the deepest depths of this cave, there were also many channels extending in multiple directions, but where each of these channels lead, Yang Kai didn’t know. Yang Kai traced one of these tunnels with a thread of his Divine Sense for about thirty kilometres before his face suddenly changed, a look of horror filling his expression.

“What did you find?” Yang Yan asked softly.

“Shh!” Yang Kai quickly raised his finger to his lips as he quietly withdrew his thread of Divine Sense, whispering to Yang Yan a moment later, “Corpse Soldiers, lots of them.”

Yang Yan beautiful face paled.

Yang Kai quickly added, “But they seem to be in a state of hibernation. We should be fine as long as we’re careful not to disturb them.”

“How many are there?” Yang Yan asked nervously with a pale face.

“I’m not sure, I only probed one of the channels down below and found seven or eight Corpse Soldiers, but there were at least a hundred channels down there. If every channel is the same as the one I probed, then…”

“This place is probably a Corpse Cave!” Yang Yan seemed to remember something and declared.

“A Corpse Cave?” Yang Kai frowned.

“En, there rumours of some special places that are able to easily give rise to Corpse Soldiers, and if Corpse Soldiers slumber in such places, they can more easily merge their Soul and flesh body to obtain sentience. If this is really a Corpse Cave, it’s a very dangerous place.”

“I don’t know if this place is a Corpse Cave, but the Corpse Qi deeper inside is indeed quite rich and the chill in the air is also extremely potent. Those sleeping Corpse Soldiers were also absorbing the Yin Qi in the air from what I could see.”

“If that’s so, this is definitely a Corpse Cave,” Yang Yan was startled and quickly muttered, “With so many Corpse Soldiers here, it’s likely that only part of them were disciples of the Ancient Yang Sect while another part were cultivators that were later killed and entombed here. It seems we’ve come to quite a terrible place.”

“Since we’re already here, there’s no point in thinking too much about it,” Yang Kai grinned meaningfully, and with a quick thought, a streak of flame flew over from afar and soon dove into Yang Kai’s body, disappearing in the next instant. Obviously it was the Artifact Spirit he had released to scout the situation before.

Seeing this, Yang Yan clenched her teeth and once again activated her necklace artifact. This time though, the concealment halo of this necklace not only wrapped around her, but also around Yang Kai as well.

In an instant, both of their auras disappeared.

The two exchanged a glance and nodded before quietly moving forward.

Since the Corpse Soldiers down below were in a deep sleep, they weren’t a cause for concern. The only thing that made Yang Kai a little worried was the Saint King Grade Corpse Soldier he had wounded before that was still hidden somewhere. Yang Kai also didn’t dare to freely investigate this place, so he was unable to find this wounded Corpse Soldier immediately.

As the pair passed by some of the tunnel offshoots, they clearly noticed a burgeoning Corpse Qi as well as some non-negligible noises coming from the inside, but these noises were orderly and rhythmic so it was obvious that without some great external shock, the slumbering Corpse Soldiers wouldn’t awaken.

Whenever passing by these tunnels, Yang Yan couldn’t help moving closer to Yang Kai, as if she was subconsciously looking for some sense of security.

Fortunately, Yang Yan’s artifacts were all superb and the two had plenty of preparation, so no trace of their auras leaked out.

While the two of them were continuing their exploration though, deep inside the Corpse Cave three skinny Corpse Soldiers were sitting cross-legged on the ground, circulating some kind of strange Secret Art that allowed them to inhale the surrounding white gas and strengthen their bodies.

These three Corpse Soldiers all emitted auras equivalent to peak Third-Order Saint Kings.

In a flash, another Corpse Soldier suddenly entered this passageway looking extremely disheveled. One of his arms had been cut off at the elbow, making him appear quite miserable.

As soon as he appeared, he was noticed by the other three Corpse Soldiers who opened their eyes to look at him. In an instant, six ghostly green eyes flashed.

“Oh, Brother Nie, how did you become like this?” One of the Corpse Soldiers saw his companion’s broken arm and asked in surprise, “Did you encounter some kind of danger outside?”

The eyes of the wounded Corpse Soldier flashed with anger as he grits his teeth and said, “I truly encounter some danger, and in a moment of carelessness, my arm was cut off!”

“Such a thing actually happened!?” The Corpse Soldier who had spoken just now called out in surprised, “After so many years, did an Origin Realm cultivator enter Grand Burial Valley? Did you run into such a master?”

“It wasn’t an Origin Returning Realm master, it was just a Second-Order Saint King,” The wounded Corpse Soldier said, seemingly a little ashamed, “This Nie let his guard down and was unexpectedly injured heavily.”

“Haha, Brother Nie must be joking. If we were still humans, such an injury would be very difficult to heal, but in our current state, a cut off arm isn’t even worth worrying about. As long as you use a bit of time and circulate your Corpse Qi you should be able to re-attach it in short order.”

“I’m afraid that Brother Nie’s injury can’t be healed so simply,” Another Corpse Soldier with long hair said in an unexpectedly pleasant to the ear voice after seemingly noticing something. This Corpse Soldier actually turned out to be a woman, and although her figure was somewhat distorted now, it was conceivable that before she died she was quite a beauty.

“Why so?” The Corpse Soldier who spoke previously asked suspiciously.

“If I’m not mistaken, part of Brother Nie’s severed arm is missing, right?” The female Corpse Soldier’s eyes flashed.

Hearing what she said, the other two sitting Corpse Soldiers took a second look and discovered that this was indeed the case. The broken arm brought back by the wounded Corpse Soldier was indeed missing a segment, almost as if his arm had been cut twice by some kind of extremely sharp blade.

“Could a Second-Order Saint King really be so powerful? Brother Nie, did you underestimate your opponent?” The female Corpse Soldier said with some meaning of blame.

“It’s not that this Nie underestimated him, it’s just that the power he used was too strange. I’ve never encountered a technique like that before,” The wounded Corpse Soldier recalled that black blade-like attack and even though he was already a corpse, he couldn’t stop himself from shivering slightly. If he hadn’t reacted quickly enough, he would likely have died again. After his last death, he had been brought back by the Corpse Soldiers inside this Corpse Cave and had to cultivate for a hundred years before regaining his sentience; he then spent centuries to achieve his current strength. If he died again, he would forever disappear.

“What kind of power?” The other three Corpse Soldiers felt surprised and quickly asked.