CHAPTER 363: CHAPTER 348: CORPSE PEARL [3 UPDATES, REQUESTING SUBSCRIPTION]

"The path within the Sealed Demon Cave is difficult to traverse."

The difficulty of traveling this path is not just because one must constantly guard against the demons hidden in every corner of the sky and earth that could launch surprise attacks, but also because of the need to cautiously avoid certain natural hazards and broken arrays within it.

Back when demonic cultivators invaded the Sealed Demon Cave and battled against the Immortal Dao cultivators of the Profound Purity Dao Alliance, some high-tier demonic cultivators utilized demonic divine techniques that, under the influence of demonic qi within the Demon Realm Grotto Heaven, directly altered the environment of the earth and sky within a certain range.

For example, a Golden Core Stage cultivator practicing a certain poison attribute demonic divine technique, upon using their poison attribute divine technique, or the power exuded upon their demise, could combine with certain related laws within the Demon Realm Grotto Heaven and directly form a poisonous death zone.

The toxic power within this poisonous death zone is something even Golden Core Stage cultivators must handle with caution.

If a Purple Mansion Stage cultivator recklessly enters, they are likely to succumb to the toxic power, leading to sudden death.

Moreover, there are various demon arrays left by the demonic cultivators upon entering the Demon Realm Grotto Heaven to counter the Profound Purity Dao Alliance.

Though most of these demon arrays were destroyed during the great battle, some have not been completely wiped out. Fed by the pure demonic qi within the Demon Realm Grotto Heaven over time, they have regained considerable power, becoming more concealed and difficult to locate.

In conclusion, due to the special environment of the Sealed Demon Cave, cultivators like Zhouyang, who enter to exterminate demons, dare not fly casually or at full speed as they do outside.

The safest way to advance here is to fly slowly at low altitude, so as to avoid stepping on the Demon Land and being ambushed by demons hidden within, and to ensure not flying too fast to inadvertently rush into a demon array or a death zone.

Zhouyang is currently doing exactly this.

It has been four days since he entered the Sealed Demon Cave, during which he has slain thirteen demons, twelve of whom were Tier Three demons corresponding to Foundation Establishment cultivators, with only one demon being a Tier Four demon comparable to a Purple Mansion Stage cultivator.

To annihilate these demons, Zhouyang certainly did not need to use the major killing move of ’Qianyang True Flame’; he possesses quite a few treasures that can eradicate demons.

Whether it is the newly refined ’Celestial Thunder Horn’ or previously owned ’True Yang Fan’ and ’Fire Separation Vermilion Bird Furnace’, they all have miraculous effects in dealing with demons.

The ’Fire Separation Vermilion Bird Furnace’ had its stored ’Purifying Blue Lotus Flame’ refined by his Dao companion Xiao Ying before his visit to the Sealed Demon Cave, and now this artifact can be used normally.

On this day, Zhouyang was flying northwest within the Demon Realm Grotto Heaven, preparing to complete the task given by Master Cyan Yang. As he passed a hill, he was suddenly ambushed by a powerful demon.

The demon that ambushed him was a human-shaped Tier Four demon corpse, towering nearly two meters tall, covered in black corpse hair half a foot long, its human face completely transformed into a beast-like visage resembling a ferocious ghost, with a wide mouth and sharp teeth, eyes red as blood.

It had been hiding in the hill Zhouyang passed, absorbing demonic qi from the Demon Land to enhance its cultivation. Upon sensing a living being entering its territory, it boldly leaped out of the hill to launch a surprise attack.

Demonic corpse refinement naturally strengthens the body, making it comparable to barbaric beasts of the same tier, its power exceptionally formidable. This demon corpse, nurtured by demonic qi in the Demon Realm Grotto Heaven, has not only immense strength but also cultivated a secret skill of ink-green corpse flame.

The ink-green corpse flame is extremely powerful, specializing in polluting and destroying the spiritual nature of cultivators’ artifacts, which Zhouyang was initially unaware of, resulting in his Flying Sword being nearly stained by the corpse flame despite being made of Great Derivation Divine Light Sword material.

"Damn fiend, you’re courting death!"

Zhouyang’s face turned angry, and he immediately slapped his storage bag at his waist, summoning his own refined Tier Four Mid-grade Spiritual Artifact ’Celestial Thunder Horn’.

Boom!

Blue-white celestial thunder burst forth from the horn and struck the demon corpse instantly.

Celestial thunder dispels evil; though the thunder produced by the ’Celestial Thunder Horn’ is not pure celestial thunder, it possesses some celestial thunder qualities due to the incorporation of ’Celestial Thunder Stone’.

When the demon corpse was struck by this celestial thunder, electric currents rampaged across its body, igniting its corpse hair in blue-white flames.

Roar~

In pain, the demon corpse bellowed like a beast while swinging its arms, then took a deep breath, causing large amounts of demonic qi from the demon lands to rush towards it.

Simultaneously, ink-green corpse flames rose from its body, engaging in battle with the blue-white lightning flames, quickly extinguishing them.

The cost it paid for this, however, was losing most of its corpse hair, revealing a corpse body black as metal, shriveled under where the hair had been.

The body of the demon corpse, nurtured by demonic qi within the Demon Realm Grotto Heaven for thousands of years, had hardened to the point where ordinary Tier Four artifacts could not easily harm it. Even the celestial thunder Zhouyang unleashed merely left a slight crack in its chest without causing substantial damage.

After extinguishing the lightning flames on its body, it directly leaped up, hurling itself like a bullet towards Zhouyang with a speed nearly comparable to a flying sword of the same tier.

Bang Bang Bang!

Ear-piercing sonic booms exploded in the air, accompanied by the sparks produced from the friction between the demon corpse’s body and the air.

The ability of sheer physical force to exceed the speed of sound shows just how strong the demon corpse’s body is.

Witnessing this scene, Zhouyang’s expression changed markedly, quickly summoning another artifact.

A shadow flickered, and a black giant cauldron shot out from the storage ring on his hand, rapidly enlarging into a giant cauldron over ten meters tall, heading to smash against the demon corpse.

Clang clang!

The demon corpse launched like a cannonball collided with the black cauldron, and instantly emitted a bell-like booming sound.

Then, the enormous black cauldron, towering over ten meters and weighing thousands of pounds, was directly slapped away by the demon corpse.

Of course, although the demon corpse had knocked away the "Mountain and River Cauldron" Zhouyang had summoned, its explosive momentum was interrupted, causing it to pause briefly in mid-air, even retreating more than ten meters.

It was at this moment that Zhouyang’s subsequent attack followed closely.

With a flash of firelight, a crimson cauldron flew out from the storage bag at Zhouyang’s waist and rushed towards the demon corpse with blazing flames.

The demon corpse, suspended in the air, had no way to evade and could only ignite its arms with dark green corpse flame, attempting to strike the incoming crimson cauldron like before.

However, it soon tasted the bitter consequences.

The flames emitted by the "Fire Separation Vermilion Bird Furnace" were the Vermilion Bird’s Separation Flame, which in the field of exorcism and demon destruction, was not inferior at all to the "Qianyang True Flame" mastered by Zhouyang.

Even though the Vermilion Bird’s Separation Flame emitted by the "Fire Separation Vermilion Bird Furnace" was not pure, for demons like the demon corpse, once touched by this flame, extinguishing it isn’t as easy as extinguishing the previous thunder fire.

Boom!

The crimson flames rose on the demon corpse, causing the creature to howl miserably as it fell towards the ground below, attempting to use the demonic qi seeping from the earth to extinguish the fire on it like before.

Yet, Zhouyang wouldn’t let it have its way.

With a push of his magical power, the "Celestial Thunder Horn" emitted a blue-white thunderbolt once more on the demon corpse, adding electricity to the fire.

Then, taking the opportunity of the demon corpse being entrapped by the flames and lightning, he quickly formed a sword technique with his hands and unleashed the "Six Harmonies Celestial Sword" secret skill.

"Sword Array, merge!"

Zhouyang shouted loudly, and immediately, ten "Great Derivation Divine Light Swords" converged to form a crimson giant sword, slashing towards the demon corpse.

The giant sword cut through the air, its scarlet sword light illuminating the sky like a crimson sun, then descended like the sun setting towards the struggling, roaring demon corpse below.

Boom rumble!

After a series of earth-shattering noises, a huge pit appeared where the demon corpse was, with a diameter of more than ten meters, several meters deep, and at the bottom lay the demon corpse suppressed under the crimson giant sword.

Yes, just suppressed!

The demon corpse’s body was too strong, even harder than a Tier Four High-grade Spiritual Artifact, and although the "Great Derivation Divine Light Sword" was incredibly sharp, it was essentially still a Tier Four Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact, so expecting it to deal with the demon corpse in one blow was unrealistic.

However, the demon corpse wasn’t entirely unscathed. Though the crimson giant sword had not split it into pieces, its previously indestructible body now bore countless cracks, similar to a piece of glass hit by a large stone but not shattered.

"Still not dead? Then I’ll just give you another slash!"

A flash of astonishment appeared in Zhouyang’s eyes, and with a thought, the "Fire Separation Vermilion Bird Furnace" in the sky roared down towards the pit.

Boom!

As the scarlet light illuminated the subterranean darkness, Zhouyang knew everything was settled.

He stepped forward, looked downward, and saw the heavily injured demon corpse struggling and wailing under the Vermilion Bird’s Separation Flame, unable to escape the suppression of the crimson giant sword, and finally burned alive into ashes, leaving only a fist-sized dark green corpse pearl resisting the flames.

"It actually formed a corpse pearl, no wonder it’s so hard to kill!"

Zhouyang gazed at the dark green corpse pearl with a hint of surprise in his eyes.

Corpse pearls are rare; generally, only Tier Five demon corpses, equivalent to Golden Core Stage cultivators, can condense them, akin to a demon beast’s demon pill and containing the purest power of a demon corpse.

But just as demon beasts can condense demon pills at Tier Four, some Tier Four demon corpses sometimes have opportunities to condense corpse pearls before Tier Five.

Generally, such demon corpses that condense a corpse pearl can evolve into Tier Five demon corpses, and their divine techniques and abilities are far stronger than same-tier demon corpses without a corpse pearl.

"It is said that corpse pearls, if processed properly, can also be used by cultivators. Better to collect it first, and ask Master Xu Zhengyang how to deal with it after returning!"

After contemplating for a while, Zhouyang waved his hand, extinguished the flames, collected the corpse pearl, and put it into the storage bag.

ps: It’s been four consecutive days of three Chapters; I initially planned to continue tomorrow, but recently a major event occurred in the online novel industry, and most authors, myself included, have been distracted. Therefore, after this Chapter, there will be no update tomorrow!

First time asking for leave since starting the book, I hope for understanding!