CHAPTER 499: CHAPTER 484: CELESTIAL KILLER CORPSE KING!

"Where am I?"

In a daze, Zhouyang awoke from his slumber.

He opened his eyes and looked around. All around were uneven stone walls, seemingly in a naturally formed cave.

"Why am I here?"

As soon as this thought flashed through his mind, his face changed dramatically.

He remembered, he remembered!

Back then in the underground hall, when the dark golden coffin was opened, the highest cultivation among them, the Red Eyebrow Old Monster, had no power to resist and was directly sucked into the coffin, then torn apart and devoured alive by the creature inside!

It was a two-zhang-tall, hideously-faced dark golden humanoid monster.

The monster’s visage was extremely ugly, with sharp, monkey-like features, and patches of purplish-black spots resembling corpse marks on its cheeks. Its mouth was several times wider than a normal person’s, with canine-like sharp fangs.

At the time, because the Red Eyebrow Old Monster was sucked into the coffin and let out a terrifying scream, Zhang Xuanzhi and Liu Boyong, not far from the coffin, attempted to flee with expressions of shock.

But as soon as the monster jumped out of the coffin, it merely raised its claw and inhaled, sucking Zhang Xuanzhi into its hand, then decapitating him in one swift move.

During this process, the "Celestial Spirit Shield" that even a Ninth-Layer Golden Core Cultivator would struggle to break, enveloping Zhang Xuanzhi, was shattered like a bubble by the sharp claws of the dark golden monster.

After witnessing Zhang Xuanzhi’s tragic fate, Liu Boyong was horrified, continuing to flee while wielding his Dragon Head Long Saber at the dark golden monster.

But a shocking event occurred: facing the swing of Liu Boyong’s Dragon Head Long Saber, the monster directly extended another hand to catch the blade. With a dark golden spiritual light flashing on its palm, Liu Boyong felt a pain in his head and was stunned to find he had lost connection with his Dragon Head Long Saber Artifact.

Then, before Liu Boyong could recover from the blow, the monster waved its hand, and the Dragon Head Long Saber was hurled towards Liu Boyong like a dart.

It was laughable that, with just a casual throw without any divine techniques, Liu Boyong, an Eighth-Layer Golden Core Cultivator, could not evade it, and the saber pierced his chest, causing him to fall to the ground half-dead.

Of course, after witnessing this, Zhouyang and the others did not laugh. Instead, their faces turned grim as they desperately fled towards the exit of the hall.

At that time, they had no time to consider how to leave the sealed underground hall; they just wanted to escape this terrifying place and get far away from that dreadful monster.

Zhouyang felt the same way then.

He directly urged his "Qianyang True Flame" to burn the collapsed passage he had entered through, hoping to rely on the Qianyang True Flame’s restraining effect on demonic power to break through the array restriction power there.

But before he could see any effect, everything went black, and he lost consciousness.

Zhouyang didn’t know how he fainted or who knocked him out at the time, but recalling the situation before he fainted, he dared not harbor any hope.

Sure enough, as he reminisced, a cold voice rang behind him.

"It seems your memory has returned well. I was worried that my force injured your divine soul, but it appears your divine soul is more resilient than I imagined!"

His face changed, and Zhouyang abruptly turned his head, seeing the dark golden monster he had seen in the underground hall sitting cross-legged behind him.

Beside the monster was a half headless corpse, whose lower body garments indicated it was Zhouyang’s Second Senior Brother, Yan An!

"What is your relationship with Master Heisha? Why did you kill everyone else but leave only me?"

Zhouyang’s face turned pale, his eyes filled with fear as he glanced at this flesh-eating monster, tremblingly voicing his inner doubts.

He couldn’t remember the last time he felt such fear!

Even when coerced by Guo Jinhong into becoming his disciple, he didn’t feel such an innate terror or dread.

This fright, this dread, rose uncontrollably from deep within his being, akin to a sheep facing a wolf.

In response to his question, the dark golden humanoid monster surprisingly replied amiably: "Master Heisha has long perished. I am now known as the Celestial Killer Corpse King. You may address me as Elder Tiansha, or Celestial Slaughter Ancestor!"

After saying this, the creature looked at Zhouyang with a smirk and said, "As for why I’m leaving you alone, why don’t you try to guess? I enjoy dealing with smart people, and I don’t like wasting time with fools!"

Seeing this sharp-nosed, monkey-faced monster with tusks showing such an expression, Zhouyang felt a chill in his heart, and his heartbeat slowed.

The information revealed by the creature’s words just now was truly shocking.

First of all, this monster named Celestial Killer Corpse King must be a Nascent Soul stage level monster.

Secondly, if he understood correctly, this monster known as the Celestial Killer Corpse King should be the spiritual zombie formed from the reanimated body of "Master Heisha", a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, after his death!

The so-called "spiritual zombie" actually refers to a special creature that forms naturally when the corpse of a high-tier cultivator falls after death and is nourished by Yin Qi, giving rise to spiritual wisdom once more.

This kind of "spiritual zombie", which forms naturally after the death of a high-tier cultivator, is inherently exceedingly powerful, with innate intelligence that equals normal humans and can even be more cunning than ordinary humans.

Though their bodies remain the original bodies of the high-tier cultivator, from a soul perspective, they have no connection with the deceased cultivator and generally do not inherit the other’s memories.

Usually, this is the case, but Zhouyang knew that a very few high-tier cultivators in the Demon Dao would choose a secret and unknown Land of Extreme Yin as their deathbed and seal their lifetime memories in a special treasure to bury with their bodies before death.

So, if their corpse can become a "spiritual zombie" after many years, and they use the treasure that seals their memories, then they can receive those memories. In a sense, this allows them to achieve a form of reincarnation rebirth!

However, Zhouyang knew this so-called "reincarnation rebirth" wasn’t true reincarnation in oneself, just a self-deceiving expression used by those cultivators.

Therefore, upon hearing the Celestial Killer Corpse King’s words now, and recalling the "Master Heisha" life history information he got from Guo Jinhong, he immediately had a guess of "spiritual zombie" flash in his mind.

From "Master Heisha’s" crazy life experience, the other person was definitely a madman capable of doing such self-deceiving acts!

Thoughts rotated quickly in Zhouyang’s mind, with various speculations flashing through, then he suppressed these guesses and started contemplating the meaning behind Celestial Killer Corpse King’s subsequent words.

Soon, like he thought of something, he tentatively looked at Celestial Killer Corpse King and asked, "Is it because of my having the Qianyang Treasure Body?"

Apart from this reason, Zhouyang really didn’t know why the powerful Celestial Killer Corpse King would spare him alone and bring him here, while killing all the other fellow cultivators.

"It seems you’re not too stupid after all."

The Celestial Killer Corpse King’s grayish-white eyes slightly moved, directly looking at Zhouyang and said, "I spared your life because I wish to use your Pure Yang True Fire to help me refine magical power. Are you willing to help me?"

Upon hearing this, Zhouyang’s face instantly turned white. He looked at the Celestial Killer Corpse King, pallid, and asked, "If I say I’m unwilling, does that mean Elder would kill me immediately?"

"Not quite, as I am still counting on you to help me refine magical power. After all, Pure Yang True Fire, this kind of Supreme Yang Fire, is quite hard to find. If I kill you, where else would I find a cultivator who can wield Supreme Yang Fire?"

The Celestial Killer Corpse King shook his head, then with a sinister smile said, "However, if you refuse, I can only take the risk to cast the Nine Nether Soul-Stealing Technique on you. Although there’s a high chance it may cause your divine soul to shatter and perish, should it succeed, I would gain a compliant human puppet!"

Although Zhouyang didn’t know what kind of evil divine technique the "Nine Nether Soul-Stealing Technique" was, hearing the words of the Celestial Killer Corpse King, he could guess that it must be an evil secret technique similar to the "Divine Control Art", even more evil and tyrannical countless times, capable of forcibly controlling cultivators as puppet slaves against their will!

At the thought of possibly being controlled and turning into a slave in the hands of another, thereby harming and bringing disaster to his family and friends, Zhouyang couldn’t help but shudder, his heart trembling.

But the Celestial Killer Corpse King didn’t give him much time to think. After answering him, it blandly asked, "So, have you decided how to answer me yet?"

Zhouyang’s heart skipped a beat, and with a bitter face, he asked with a full bitter expression, "But as Elder said, how can I be sure that after helping you refine magical power, you won’t burn bridges and use the Nine Nether Soul-Stealing Technique on me, turning me into a puppet?"

"Do you have a choice? Agree to help me, and you can live a few more years; refuse, and now you’ll have a taste of my Nine Nether Soul-Stealing Technique!"

The Celestial Killer Corpse King coldly laughed, with words striking sharply at the weakest spot in Zhouyang’s heart, making him at a loss on how to respond.

With a pale face, he opened his mouth and firmly shook his head, "No matter what, if you aren’t even willing to give me this most basic guarantee, then I truly cannot agree to your terms!"

"If living a few more years still ends in being enslaved, I would rather die now!"

The smile on the Celestial Killer Corpse King’s face stalled, its eyes flashed viciously, and an overwhelming aura suddenly fell upon Zhouyang, making him feel like struck by lightning and spit out a mouthful of blood with a "poof".

However, his expression in his eyes never changed, still looking decisively at the other, without a hint of yielding.