Chapter 386 - In Trouble (2/2)
Xiao Chen could clearly feel the sudden invasion of the intense cold. It was the manifestation of potent malicious grudges, so cold that it pierced deep into one’s bones. They immediately stood up and looked around. That was when they saw a dozen or so Corpse Puppets that had appeared around them without their notice. All of them had copper for heads and iron for arms, looking like creatures of steel and flesh. Dark green will-o’-the-wisps hovered inside their eye sockets as they stared at them. They were a horrifying sight to behold.
“Hundred-year-old Corpse Puppets!”
“Run!”
Xiao Chen didn’t even stop to think before he sprang out of the underbrush. These Corpse Puppets, with malicious grudges accumulated over hundreds of years, couldn’t be compared to those Walking Corpses that wouldn’t decay. Both of them were still in the Nascent Soul Realm. It was impossible for them to handle so many hundred-year-old Corpse Puppets.
“Clang!”
The muffled sound was nonetheless ear-piercing at night. Three to five Corpse Puppets had blocked their escape in a split second. The will-o’-the-wisp inside their eye sockets flared and their bodies seemed to have become entirely steel. The clanking of their limbs also alarmed the people on the faraway altars.
“Intruders!”
The cry made the tens of people on the altar put down the things in their hands and rushed over to the part of the forest that Xiao Chen and Su Lianyue were in. The dozen or so torches were particularly eye-catching at night, illuminating their surroundings as they swiftly closed in. Su Lianyue was alarmed. “Young Master, what do we do now?”
She stuck close to Xiao Chen’s back. She had a myriad of ways to handle most people, but she couldn’t even think of a solution to counter these mindless Corpse Puppets. Even her offense was far inferior to Xiao Chen’s.
The people from the altar had them surrounded. They controlled the dozen or so hundred-year-old Corpse Puppets to start attacking Xiao Chen and Su Lianyue. In the distance, a mass of Corpse Puppets were rushing toward them. Even many corpses, yet to be turned into puppets, were being ushered here by the corpse herders.
Under the moonlight, bodies and Corpse Puppets swiftly formed a sea. Like a scene of a thousand corpses crossing over to the Underworld in unison, it was a terrifying sight that numbed one’s scalp.
“Hold tight onto me!”
Xiao Chen cried, and immediately formed seals. The Unsullied Sword became larger and larger in the sky, its blade glowing with a layer of white radiance. One could faintly see its golden script throbbing. The ordinary Corpse Puppets dared not come close to the sword at all.
“The just and honest Qi of heaven and earth, unbounded in the world, that expels all evil creatures, rise!”
The clanging of metals shattered the air. The sword radiance of the Unsullied Sword intensified. Xiao Chen leaped onto the body of the sword, with Su Lianyue holding tightly on his arm. Swish! Like a white radiance flitting across the night sky, the Unsullied Sword carried them away from the place. This place was bound by restrictions that prevented the use of flying swords, but Xiao Chen used the Mystic Cyan mystic arts and was able to fly, if just barely.
On the sword, the two of them passed through the forest with Corpse Puppets hot on their tails. The Corpse Puppets were, astonishingly, not slower than them. The Corpse Refinery Sect disciples with higher cultivations had also caught up to them.
Xiao Chen pressed the fingers on his left hand together and made a slashing motion. A seal, bathed in golden glow, flew at the four to five people pursuing them from the side. He then increased the sword’s flying speed. Out of the blue, a rumbling noise shattered the air and a one-hundred-feet-tall dirt wall emerged in front of them. Xiao Chen instantly shifted the direction of the sword so that they wouldn’t ram into the wall, but Su Lianyue was screeching, having nearly had the inertia fling her off.
Not only were the Corpse Refinery Sect disciples good at manipulating puppets, but they were also experts of ground manipulation spells. Before long, more than ten dirt walls were produced. They would suddenly pop up on the left, and then on the right. This disoriented Xiao Chen enough that his pace became a lot slower.
Xiao Chen’s brows furrowed tightly at the sight of the relentless Corpse Puppets. If they fell, their bodies would certainly be lost in this sea of corpses. Once the Corpse Refinery Sect disciples arrive, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Su Lianyue took note of his strained expression and tightened her grip on him, afraid that he would abandon her and escape by himself. By now, a yellow-robed Taoist caught up to them and asked loudly, “Who are you two? How dare you trespass on the Corpse Refinery Sect’s forbidden ground! If you don’t stop right now, don’t blame me for being merciless!”
Thanks to the dark of the night, that person couldn’t get a clear look at Xiao Chen and Su Lianyue’s faces. Xiao Chen ignored him and twirled his left fingers. In a flash, nine flames erupted on the hollow of his palm. These were the Nine Heaven-scorching Flames. The yellow-robed Taoist was shocked. He could instantly feel the terrifying might hidden in these flames. He yelled, “What are you trying to do?!”
Xiao Chen didn’t even think twice before tossing the nine flames onto the sea of corpses below. A loud explosion shattered the air and blaze rocketed into the sky. The rolling flames dyed the sky an intense red. The storm produced by the nine raging flames instantly incinerated countless Corpse Puppets into ashes. Aside from the hundred-year-old Corpse Puppets, nothing survived.
This attack produced a massive commotion that drew the attention of many experts from the Corpse Refinery Sect. Xiao Chen hadn’t wanted to use it. The yellow-robed Taoist’s heart ached to see all the Corpse Puppets that he painstakingly refined destroyed. In a pained voice, he said, “You wretched child! I swear I’ll refine you into a Corpse Puppet today!”
The Taoist then recited an unknown spell, casting three to five red rays of light on Xiao Chen. Xiao Chen moved sideways to dodge them. He didn’t try to fight the Taoist as he was now trying to escape a siege. He casually threw a blade of Qi at the Taoist and increased the speed of the Unsullied Sword to the extreme, lest any more pursuers catch up to him.
Just then, a heavy sound drifted from the mountain range in the southwest direction. The voice was peculiar and low, like it was capable of sucking one’s soul out. The trees all around them were shaking. Under his feet, the Unsullied Sword that was speeding along shuddered twice.
Su Lianyue had a bad premonition. The seven or eight pursuers behind them stopped giving chase as well, all of them looking deathly pale as they stared at the mountain range in the southwest in a daze.