Chapter 685 - 684: Running Into an Acquaintance
Fang Zhou’s divine sense swept over and found a passage at the bottom of the tomb pit, leading straight underground.
His divine sense followed the passage downwards and discovered that it actually led into the depths of Wild Tomb Ridge.
Alright, it seems it wasn’t Yan Chixia’s barely decent remains that were stolen; if Yan Chixia’s body had turned into a corpse, it would have dug a passage itself.
But Yan Chixia was only at the Innate Realm; the preservation of his flesh was due to the miracle of the Heaven and Earth Qiankun Technique. Who knows why he would become a corpse?
The passage under the tomb pit extends deeply into Wild Tomb Ridge, and Fang Zhou couldn’t crawl in, so he and Yun Zheyue returned to the Tree Demon’s roots.
The entrance to the Imperial Mausoleum is right here.
The two flew into the passage that Yan Chixia had cleaved open with a single sword strike.
The center of the tree is very spacious; Fang Zhou had stolen the Tree Demon’s Golden Core here back then.
Now it was naturally pitch black and dead silent, with the remaining tree trunk decayed into rotting wood.
On the ground in the middle, there was a broken hole resembling a well’s mouth, pitch-black inside and leading unknown depths underground.
"Indeed, Bisha Heavenly King must have been here."
Upon seeing the broken hole, Yun Zheyue knew her guess was right.
The entrance to the Imperial Mausoleum was blocked by the growing Tree Demon. After the Tree Demon’s death, the True Mother God Sect only sent people to guard it, never breaking the trunk to go inside.
Now that the trunk was broken open, someone must have already entered it.
Fang Zhou and Yun Zheyue jumped through this broken hole and plummeted straight down.
They fell for over a hundred meters before the ground appeared.
It was pitch-black all around, but this had no impact on the two of them.
Fang Zhou’s divine sense rapidly expanded outward, covering the entire Wild Tomb Ridge in the blink of an eye.
Below was indeed an Imperial Mausoleum, and its scale was quite large, comparable to the underground palaces of the Chu Kingdom’s Royal Capital.
However, this Imperial Mausoleum was not a normal tomb; it did not follow traditional burial specifications. Instead, it was a maze.
In the maze, Fang Zhou’s divine sense detected several living people and many things that didn’t seem alive, scurrying around.
These living people were likely the True Mother God Sect’s subordinates, but he did not see Bisha Heavenly King’s figure.
And deeper in the maze, there was a dense fog, completely disrupting Fang Zhou’s divine sense exploration.
Fang Zhou explained the situation to Yun Zheyue, then they headed toward those cultists.
The cultists huddled together, back to back, completely adopting a passive defensive posture, some of them even injured.
On the ground at their feet lay many mutilated corpses, apparently after a fierce battle.
These cultists were all in the Innate Realm, strong, but under Fang Zhou, they were like children, easily controlled by his Primordial Spirit power, with no ability to resist.
Fang Zhou didn’t need to interrogate them, directly extracting memories from their minds.
Bisha Heavenly King indeed had been here.
These cultists were responsible for guarding Wild Tomb Ridge. Bisha Heavenly King arrived at Wild Tomb Ridge last month.
She wasn’t alone; there was also another strange guy wearing a mask.
Bisha Heavenly King and the Masked Man went deep into the maze while these cultists stayed to guard.
But they soon encountered an attack, the attackers being a group of resurrected beings: humans, animals, and even monsters.
These beings, nourished by Yin Cold Spiritual Energy, turned into zombies, impervious to blades and bullets, with immense strength.
The True Mother God Sect was actually mentally prepared for these zombies.
Back when the passage between the two realms was penetrated, a large amount of Yin Cold Spiritual Energy surged in from the Boundless Land, causing a heavy toll on the True Mother God Sect, with those corpses subsequently turning into zombies.
The True Mother God Sect had exerted great effort to wipe out these zombies back then.
There are many holes dug by wild animals or earthquake-created cracks in Wild Tomb Ridge.
The Yin Cold Spiritual Energy seeped through these holes and cracks, nurturing the animal or monster corpses into zombies nearby, thereby attracting them.
Most of the zombies in the maze are these.
These cultists were left behind by Bisha Heavenly King to clear out all these zombies.
However, they miscalculated; among these zombies was a very ferocious one, forcing them into a defensive cluster, not daring to be alone.
Fang Zhou understood why Yan Chixia’s remains turned into a corpse; it turned out he had buried Yan Chixia directly above the Imperial Mausoleum. The Yin Cold Spiritual Energy in the mausoleum seeped through cracks to the surface, nurturing Yan Chixia’s remains into a zombie.
This usually required a long period, but Yan Chixia’s body was already preserved to prevent decay through her cultivation, stronger than animal or monster corpses. Once nourished by the Yin Cold Spiritual Energy, she became a zombie quickly.
Fang Zhou saw the Masked Man who came with Bisha Heavenly King in memory. The mask on his face was clearly the lost Blood God Mask.
Thus, the identity of this person became obvious; it should be the missing Di Ao.
However, Bisha Heavenly King hadn’t killed her, perhaps wanting to use her for something.
"Here they come!"
Yun Zheyue heard something approaching fast.
Without her reminder, Fang Zhou’s divine sense spread throughout the maze, having long sensed the approaching zombies.
In the darkness, a figure suddenly flew out at lightning speed, lunging toward Fang Zhou and Yun Zheyue.
Fang Zhou saw clearly with his divine sense; this was the zombified Yan Chixia.
She still looked like she did when deceased and buried by Fang Zhou, but her complexion was paler, with blood-red eyes, long claws growing from her hands, and two fangs appeared in her mouth.
The zombified Yan Chixia’s strength was terrifying, not only impervious to blades but also immensely powerful, moving in the dark like a ghost.
These Innate Realm cultists weren’t her match.
Watching his master who had once taught him, Fang Zhou couldn’t help but sigh.
Yan Chixia was absolutely a legendary hero in life, slaying demons and upholding justice, though she ultimately failed. Her spirit was invaluable.
Unexpectedly, she became a corpse after death, which was truly unfortunate.
Fang Zhou directly enveloped Yan Chixia with his Primordial Spirit power. She struggled desperately but couldn’t resist the absolute power difference.
Dealing with zombies was easy—simply hack the bodies apart—but Fang Zhou wouldn’t dare make a mess of Yan Chixia’s remains. He could only collect her into the gourd for now, awaiting a proper solution.
He similarly eradicated these cultists, their bodies destroyed to prevent them from turning into zombies under the continued influence of the Yin Cold Spiritual Energy.
He and Yun Zheyue reached the maze’s depths, diving into the thick fog.
This fog was nearly liquidated Yin Cold Spiritual Energy, completely disrupting Fang Zhou’s divine sense.
These Yin Cold Spiritual Energies were also toxic, and Yun Zheyue couldn’t endure after a short while, having to hide in the gourd.
Fang Zhou proceeded alone through the fog, quickly finding the entrance at the maze’s deepest part.
This entrance was carved into the cave wall, resembling a crack.
Fang Zhou plunged in.