MOF Chapter 21

Chapter 21: The Endless Cave Conceals a Corpse Pit, Azurefall is Unsheathed, All Evil Vanishes…

Xie Yiling and Nangong Ci turned around almost simultaneously. On the wall, there were hundreds of scratch marks, penetrating deep into the rock. Reflected in the mottled brown-red bloodstains, it was especially horrifying.

One after another, the claw marks covered almost the entire cave, and blood-soaked handprints connected and extended into the depths of the cave.

Such a bizarre scene left them speechless for a moment. A Si was so frightened by the bloodstains on the wall that he covered his eyes with his hands, daring to peek through his fingers only once or twice.

Xie Yiling stared at the marks in front of him and moved closer, “These handprints look almost identical, as if they were left by the same person.”

Nangong Ci’s voice sounded behind him, “Judging by the shape, it should be an adult male. The finger bones are slender and thin, and the knuckles are flat. This man is likely to be thin and not skilled with a sword.”

Xie Yiling took a few steps back and carefully examined the carvings on the wall. “Not only is there the ghostly sorcery you mentioned, Master, but also a map of the cave. However, it only shows the way in, not the way out.”

“Here,” Nangong Ci raised his hand and pointed to a spot on the wall, “There’s a furnace cauldron pattern, which should be where they refine the Yin Corpses.”

Xie Yiling said, “In that case, why don’t we follow the map and see what secrets lie within?”

Seeing Nangong Ci nod, he said to Gu Huanzhi and A Si behind him, “Let’s go, let’s go inside and take a look.”

A Si led Jiao Jiao, and the further they went, the more difficult it became to walk. Seeing this, Gu Huanzhi couldn’t help but say, “Immortal Lord Fufeng, this horse is really inconvenient. If something happens, I’m afraid we won’t be able to take care of it.”

A Si said directly, “What ‘take care of it, not take care of it’? Jiao Jiao doesn’t need it!”

After speaking, he turned around, patted the horse’s back, and gave the order, “Jiao Jiao, go back!”

In just an instant, billowing black smoke surged from the horse’s body. Jiao Jiao shook its head, and with a flick of its hooves, charged towards the stone wall.

There was no scene of a broken head and bleeding; instead, the horse’s body disappeared into the stone wall, and even the black smoke vanished.

Gu Huanzhi finally saw the clue and said in surprise, “This is a… Nether Beast?”

“Mm!” A Si nodded, very proud.

Xie Yiling couldn’t describe the feeling in his heart. He picked up Jiao Jiao, and he also picked up A Si. It seemed that after something happened to A Si, Jiao Jiao also didn’t have a good ending.

He restrained his gaze and continued to explore forward.

Along the way, white smoke gradually arose. Gu Huanzhi asked in confusion, “Why does the smoke get thicker the further we go?”

Nangong Ci glanced around, “This smoke doesn’t seem man-made; it should be due to the cave itself.”

Xie Yiling and Nangong Ci walked side by side at the front. Hearing this, he also said, “Although the smoke is naturally formed, the wind that drives it away is probably due to the unique structure of the cave.”

White smoke poured out from the cracks in the walls of the stone cave, and the road under their feet was covered with a thick layer.

Gu Huanzhi was a little strange to hear this, “Senior Brother Xie, where did you see that this cave has some unique structure?”

Xie Yiling didn’t know why, but since his rebirth, his vision and hearing had become particularly keen. He raised his hand and waved it, trying to disperse the smoke around his nose and mouth.

“There’s the sound of wind ahead,” he explained.

Sure enough, after walking for a quarter of an hour, the cave passage became more spacious.

At the entrance of the passage, there was a downward stone staircase, and the group walked to the center of the staircase.

Instantly, a vast expanse opened up before them.

Xie Yiling’s thin lips parted slightly in shock. The scene before him was difficult to take in all at once, and he needed to look from bottom to top, from left to right, to observe it one by one.

First appearing in their sight was a wooden suspension bridge fixed with two iron chains.

The suspension bridge extended forward, seemingly without end. Below the suspension bridge, a black mass was the closely arranged skulls, covering the ground like ants lined up in rows.

So, to be precise, where Xie Yiling and the others stood was the second level of this underground palace.

Xie Yiling raised his head and looked up, seeing the entire appearance of the vast underground palace.

This was a huge underground palace with a circular structure. Suspension bridges and floors were staggered in an orderly manner.

Counting upwards, there were nine floors, each no more than two meters high. And on the yellow mud walls of each floor were embedded closely adjacent Yin Corpses.

Digging a pit underground to build a palace was already incredible. Not to mention that this underground palace was like a honeycomb, hiding countless Yin Corpses.

This was clearly a huge, million-corpse pit.

If ordinary people accidentally entered this place, they would be destined to die without a burial place.

Xie Yiling was the first to step onto the suspension bridge, followed by Nangong Ci. Gu Huanzhi also lightened his movements and moved forward slowly.

After walking for a while, the scenes on both sides hardly changed, all of them were Yin Corpse groups in deep sleep.

The suspension bridge under their feet was not very stable, and Xie Yiling walked as carefully as possible, but the suspension bridge still swayed from time to time. It could be seen that the person who built it did not intend to use it as a passage.

Suddenly, Xie Yiling stopped. He heard breathing that did not belong to them.

“Master,” he said solemnly, telling Nangong Ci about this immediately, “There’s movement.”

Nangong Ci stopped in tacit agreement and silenced his breath in an instant. Xie Yiling listened carefully for a while, then suddenly raised his head and looked at the Yin Corpses on the wall in shock.

“It’s them,” Xie Yiling lowered his voice, “These Yin Corpses, they’re breathing.”

Gu Huanzhi listened for a long time but didn’t hear anything, but influenced by the strange atmosphere at this time, he also lowered his voice and asked, “Senior Brother Xie, why didn’t I hear anything?”

A Si wrinkled his nose and sniffed in the air, whispering in agreement, “Me neither.”

Xie Yiling heard the two of them say this and looked directly at Nangong Ci.

Noticing Xie Yiling’s gaze, Nangong Ci paused and finally shook his head.

Suddenly, a loud noise came from above, like a heavy mechanism being activated.

A beam of azure light sprinkled down from the top of the underground palace, covering everything inside.

Xie Yiling looked at the azure light on himself and the others, and the unease in his heart grew stronger. As if to confirm his worries, the originally soft azure light suddenly became sharp and dazzling, like a giant sword several meters long hanging above their heads, and a strong dark green light shot out from below.

Xie Yiling lowered his head and squinted to look, only to see a magic circle lit up on the ground, gradually expanding in all directions through the airtight Yin Corpse crowd.

Complex incantations became aggressive with the changes in the magic circle, and strings of talismans were printed on the wall, the azure light shining brightly, reflecting the withered faces of the Yin Corpses.

“The magic circle is moving, and the Yin Corpses will probably wake up,” Nangong Ci said coldly, “We have to get out of here quickly.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a zither sound came from afar.

Millions of Yin Corpses turned from slumber to awakening, their breathing as long and powerful as that of a giant beast.

“Damn it!” Xie Yiling shouted, “Run!”

As the Yin Corpses moved, the stench of decay swept over them, extremely foul.

Xie Yiling covered his nose and mouth, but found it was useless. “Has this thing been dead for hundreds of years? Why bother going to so much trouble to attack, just breathing on us would be enough to suffocate us.”

Gu Huanzhi frowned and said, “Immortal Lord Fufeng, what do we do now?”

Nangong Ci quickly pulled Xie Yiling towards himself, avoiding the withered hands on the suspension bridge that were about to grab Xie Yiling’s feet.

Even though he had made his movements as light as possible, pulling someone would inevitably cause them to lose their balance.

Gu Huanzhi didn’t get an answer and turned his head to look, just in time to see Xie Yiling stumble into Nangong Ci’s arms.

This was actually a very normal action, but Gu Huanzhi felt a little strange in his heart. He quickly turned his head back and suddenly met A Si’s bright eyes.

For a moment, he didn’t think about anything and blurted out, “Children aren’t allowed to watch.”

A Si blinked and said, “I didn’t see anything.”

“Thank you, Master,” Xie Yiling’s brain went blank for a few seconds. His ears were hot, and he pretended to stand firm naturally, dodging the Yin Corpses below. “Looking at it this way, this bridge shouldn’t be for people to walk on; we’ve taken the Yin Corpses’ path.”

Yin Corpses successively climbed onto the suspension bridge from the front and back, constantly approaching the group. Those Yin Corpses above flipped over the waist-high wooden railings and jumped down, most of them landing directly on the suspension bridge, stirring up a burst of swaying.

In this situation, it can be said that: tigers are chasing from the front, wolves are pursuing from behind, there is no way out above or below, and even with wings, it’s difficult to fly away.

Nangong Ci’s eyes turned cold, and he said, “Azurefall.”

The spirit sword worn at his waist heard the call and was unsheathed, and the faint white light, as pure and indifferent as the sword master, easily suppressed the evil azure light.

Azurefall was unsheathed, and all evil vanished.

Almost all of the millions of Yin Corpses here were low-level Yin Corpses. Some were even shattered into pieces by Azurefall’s abundant spiritual light, their bodies, originally supported by a surge of evil energy.

Gu Huanzhi also immediately drew his sword and fought with the Yin Corpses, not forgetting to use his empty hand to grab the clothes on the back of A Si’s neck, preventing him from being scratched by the Yin Corpses.

The spiritual energy of the immortal sect illuminated the originally gloomy underground palace, and also exposed the people hiding in the dark.

Gu Huanzhi’s attention was attracted by a black-clothed man on the second floor. He focused his gaze there, recognizing that it was actually Yan Zhan, whom he had been pursuing all along. He was both happy and anxious in his heart, and immediately said, “Yan Wuji, where do you think you’re going!”

Xie Yiling heard the sound and looked over, only seeing the fleeting figure of that person.

The next second, the formation on the wall suddenly rotated as a whole!

Xie Yiling felt a spinning sensation in front of him, and quickly concentrated to prevent himself from being affected by these strange formations.

Nangong Ci’s eyes swept across the crowd, and a sharp sword energy surged out like a wave.

“Tzzzz—”

Yin Corpses were constantly attacked by the spiritual energy of the precious sword, turning into a handful of black ashes and scattering on the ground.

Soon, most of the closely adjacent Yin Corpses on the first floor were removed, and there were finally larger gaps between the groups.

Xie Yiling was attracted by the ground that was exposed as a result. He tugged at a corner of Nangong Ci’s sleeve and said, “Master, look below!”

As the Yin Corpses dissipated, a gust of yin wind from nowhere in the underground palace blew away the ashes on the ground, revealing what was covered.

The ground of this underground palace was carved with lotuses, the lotuses were blooming red lotuses, and there were also karmic fires that looked like ghosts all around.

Nangong Ci followed the trajectory of the karmic fire, and the flames extended all the way into the deepest part of the underground palace.

“We’re going in there,” Nangong Ci calmly ordered, “They must have other hiding places.”

Xie Yiling also noticed this. The direction of the red lotuses on the ground was not random. He guessed, “The Yin Corpses outside should just be small fry. The real show is in the innermost part.”

Nangong Ci grabbed Xie Yiling’s wrist, flew and took him away from the ground, and with a tap of his toes on the edge of the suspension bridge, the two of them fell to the bottom together.

As soon as Xie Yiling stood firm, he was protected by Nangong Ci’s spiritual incantation.

He naturally understood the effect of this spiritual incantation and stayed obediently inside without moving around.

The surrounding Yin Corpses gathered around, and soon they were only a palm’s distance away from him, but they vanished the moment they touched the spiritual incantation.

White robes fluttered in the Yin Corpse crowd, and several spiritual lights flashed, instantly clearing a space around Nangong Ci.

He controlled his sword with spiritual energy, and Azurefall hung in the high air, turning into thousands of swords. When they were launched together, they were like shooting stars falling from the sky, piercing through Yin Corpses one by one.

Xie Yiling watched this scene, his eyes revealing a faint light reflected by Azurefall, refracting Nangong Ci’s figure.

The sound of Yin Corpses disappearing did not stop, and it was unknown how long it lasted. The underground palace, which was originally full of Yin Corpses, gradually became empty.

Nangong Ci looked at the remaining dozens of Yin Corpses, only to see that they were standing perfectly intact after being pierced through the body by Azurefall, and even stubbornly rushing towards them.

He held his sword indifferently, and seeing the Yin Corpses getting closer and closer, he suddenly stopped his movements just as they were about to touch him.

The zither sound, which had stopped at some point, sounded again at this moment.

The Yin Corpses suddenly turned around in the zither sound and began to retreat until they disappeared from their sight.

Xie Yiling was puzzled in his heart and dared not take it lightly. “Master, this zither sound is strange. Why did the Yin Corpses run away as soon as they heard it?”