CHAPTER 758: CHAPTER 181 GHOST FOX KILL INTENT

Nine Origin Soul Sea, Endless Ice Palace.

All around was a land steeped in a dense Netherworld atmosphere, as if it had returned to the richest treasure trove of Nether airs in the Peaceful Realms.

Ahead was a pitch-black peak, soaring high without any speck of another hue, entirely black.

Within the mountain, the trees bore only withered branches and leaves, all uniformly black, without any other mixed colors. This mountain, however, exuded majestic and imposing strength, with extraordinary momentum.

The mountain stood there silently, yet it inspired fear in one’s heart, an urge to kneel and worship it irresistibly.

Gradually, cultivators emerged near the mountain peak, causing ripples in the surrounding void like a calm lake disturbed, occasionally showing fluctuating halos.

Zhou Yan, in response to Liu Jin’s comments, didn’t take them to heart because he understood this fat man well. The fat man valued Yanyan’s future and bloodline—after all, being the daughter of the Netherworld Goddess, whose excellence was well known, he always dreamt of "raising her from a young age," attempting to show off his "good uncle" style to attract Yanyan’s attention. Unfortunately, he never had the chance, for Yanyan was always very secretive, and he had barely seen her twice.

Therefore, the fat man settled for less, now very much hoping Zhou Yan would accept him.

As for someone so ’shamelessly impudent,’ Zhou Yan completely ignored him, and as for his words, they went in one ear and out the other, disregarded as wind beside his ear.

"Fatso, can you please not be so naive? Even if Lei Yan King was willing to let Yanyan be with you, do you think Yanyan would take a liking to you? Besides, we haven’t thought hard about it before. Now that we think about it carefully, Lei Yan King is probably just missing a few memories and should be able to inherit the rest without problems. So you really don’t need to worry that he won’t remember Yanyan’s matters."

Fang Hong said with utter contempt.

Although not much different from the fat man and not exactly serious either, Fang Hong also looked forward to Yanyan’s future, deeming her an even more outstanding figure than the Netherworld Goddess, far surpassing other goddesses and holy daughters. However, he knew his limits, aware that even with Zhou Yan’s approval, Yanyan wouldn’t spare them a glance, so he instead gave up on such thoughts.

"Hehe, I know it’s impossible, but I can still dream, can’t I? Fang Hong, don’t be so discouraging, okay? You know my spirit is very fragile."

The fat man Liu Jin said pitifully, his face a mask of ’melancholic’ despondency.

His appearance wasn’t extraordinary, only passable. Yet with his ’worried’ expression, Zhou Yan really wanted to say, "So ugly!"

"Really ugly!"

Fang Hong quickly turned away, avoiding looking at Liu Jin’s face, voicing Zhou Yan’s inner thoughts.

Their antics eased the oppressive atmosphere, and even Qingmu Clan’s siblings, Qing Feng and Qing Lan, relaxed a bit and weren’t as tense anymore.

But when faced with the signature black dead mountain of the Endless Ice Palace, all cultivators couldn’t find it in them to be happy.

"Although I’m ugly, I haven’t evolved targeting my physical appearance; it’s all natural. Never mind, you wouldn’t understand such natural divinity’s beauty. Let’s talk about Lei Yan King instead. Fang Hong, why don’t you give the Qiankun Life and Death Chess to Lei Yan King to use? In this place, we might all have to rely on him, or else we are really not going to make it."

Liu Jin became somewhat serious, no longer fooling around.

Because where his gaze landed, under the Black Mountain, dozens of figures flickered by; these were cultivators like them, forced into the Nine Origin Soul Sea. But around the mountain peak, ripples appeared next to these cultivators, and their bodies, like oxen sinking into the sea, were bizarrely devoured in an instant, their souls directly harvested.

They issued eerie screams and roars, yet no sound came out, as if it was a silent lamentation of the soul.

A mysterious and fearsome power targeted and bound them, rapidly yet seemingly slowly drawing them into the unknown ripples. They didn’t even have the strength to struggle.

Bursts of blood sprayed out, also causing ripples. Where the ripples appeared, the powerful devouring force was unstoppable; immediately, more cultivators were ensnared and devoured.

The range of the ripples widened, mysterious and horrifying.

The Black Mountain boiled with blood, briefly taking on a dark red hue, then instantly reverted to its cold blackness.

Even the remarkable individuals from upper-class planes were first suppressed by the Heavenly Dao here, their cultivation regressed to the realm of Sword Void Nine Transformations, then further suppressed by this mysterious force of Heaven and Earth—sealed, bound, their souls harvested like seeds, reduced to insignificance.

Human life was as cheap as grass. In the Endless Ice Palace, this was displayed to the fullest extent.

Liu Jin, having seen this scene, was devoid of any trace of laughter.

The same was true for Zhou Yan and the others.

"That dead green-clothed woman, the one carrying a red Xuanyuan Sword—that was our Qingmu Clan’s Third Senior Sister. Her strength wasn’t inferior to that of Mystic Level Xiao Fei from the Demon Soul Palace. Although she ranks somewhat lower among the Mystic Level elites, she stood out among the many cultivators here."

Qing Lan’s face was somber as she spoke.

"Yes, and her own strength was as strong as the three stars of the Sword God Sixth Transition, yet to think she would end up like this... If she didn’t leave a Void Soul, that would mean losing her original soul, and even if she were resurrected, her strength would have greatly diminished... Our Qingmu Clan has suffered substantial losses this time."

Qing Feng’s face and gaze were downcast.

"Lei Yan King—"

Fang Hong’s voice carried a plea, but before he could finish his sentence, Zhou Yan interrupted him.

"Just call me Zhou Yan, Lei Yan King is a thing of the past. I won’t refer to myself as ’Lei Yan King’ again unless I recover the Lei Yan King’s strength. I intend to abandon the title of ’Lei Yan King’."

Zhou Yan had made his decision. He stepped out of the shadow of Lei Yan King’s past achievements and distinguished the life he was living from the one he had lived before.

"Alright, I think I understand your thoughts. This is the ’Qiankun Life and Death Chess’. Do you think you can manage it? It can determine the True Void and break the Soul Killing."

Fang Hong said gravely.

"I can, it should be of some help. This is a... fragment of an Immortal Weapon, right? It transcends even divine instruments."

Zhou Yan glanced at the black chess piece and immediately saw through its nature. It possessed an aura similar to that of the Xuanyuan Sword Fragment, containing incredibly terrifying and invincible power within it.

This was an ’Immortal Weapon’, an existence that could be called truly invincible in the world, capable of piercing through planes.

But this thing, with even the slightest disturbance, could drain a Nine Revolutions Sword God dry, unless there was a corresponding bloodline and control method, which might make it a little better.

But its consumption was equally massive, and ordinary cultivators absolutely could not use it.

Fang Hong had unhesitatingly used the black chess piece once without a second word. Now, he no longer had the ability to use it, not even the strength to activate it.

In nearly ten days, he could barely move it once, and even then, he could not exert much of its power. Yet, he had not hesitated to activate it to assess Zhou Yan’s situation, effectively giving up his own great trump card.

Zhou Yan had noticed this earlier, and so he had an increased recognition of the two men.

"Yes, your judgment is as good as ever. Some say you are ’crude and shallow.’ When I hear that, I usually just laugh dismissively," Fang Hong said coldly.

"That’s right, could they understand the unfathomable depths of Lei Yan King, uh, Brother Zhou Yan? The very complex Tai Chu Rune that others have taken thousands, tens of thousands of years to study, Lei Yan, um, Zhou Yan learned in an instant. His attainments could even surpass the prolonged research of others."

Liu Jin agreed wholeheartedly.

"That’s good to hear. I should be able to activate it a few times, though this thing does consume a lot of soul power."

Zhou Yan nodded slightly, not taking much heart in their praise.

He reached out and took the black chess piece, his soul power faintly sensing it and immediately discovered the extremely complex Heavenly Mechanism Dao—Heavenly Mechanism Skill from Tianji Mountain. In front of this Qiankun Life and Death Chess, it was child’s play.

Zhou Yan’s understanding of the Heavenly Mechanism Skill was shallow, even though his soul had undergone multiple transformations, it hadn’t deepened much. But he could understand it, and that was enough.

Understanding it, and being adept at the profound Tai Chu Rune Ancient Array, controlling the Qiankun Life and Death Chess became less difficult.

"To determine the truth and falsehood of Heaven and Earth, to break the cycle of life and death, and to defeat the Soul Killing. This black chess piece, quite impressive."

After carefully sensing it, Zhou Yan felt even more alarmed. Even in its incomplete form, such an Immortal Weapon belonged to the realm of the truly forbidden.

"Sssss—"

"Aaah—"

Suddenly, not far from Zhou Yan and the others, a line of three Light-winged Women was instantaneously slain by ripples, their formidable strength offering no chance for resistance, directly bursting into a pool of blood and water.

This scene caused even Zhou Yan to narrow his eyes in shock, a look of astonishment on his face. These three were from the Wanling Race, just like the Returning to Truth Clan, the Sky Wing Clan members. Not only did the Sky Wing people possess all the excellent bloodline traits of humans, but they also had innate bloodline talents, with Light Wings on their backs enabling them to fly high and burrow deep. The more Light Wings they possessed, the more their strength signified.

All three of these Sky Wing Clan women had three pairs of Light Wings. Being in the Sword Void Nine Transformations Realm and manifesting such wings demonstrated their extraordinary talent.

Yet such three outstanding cultivators died so suddenly without a chance to fight back, which was quite frightening.

"That is—I saw a pitch-black finger, transforming into a snake’s head, swallowing those three Sky Wing girls in one bite."

"That’s the Ghost Fox from within the Endless Ice Palace, which has absorbed the endless dead air of the Netherworld that grew within. The Endless Ice Palace’s path is from the ancient times of Tai Chu, and the Ghost Fox, nurtured by the Ultimate Dao’s essence, is not limited by the rules of this world but has grown even more powerful... over countless years, who knows how powerful they have become?"

Qing Lan’s voice trembled with a great sense of fear.

Her words made everyone present gasp, their hearts chilled.

"Pfft—"

A ripple suddenly appeared close to Zhou Yan without any warning or perceivable sign.

Even with the Nine Orifice Exquisite Heart, Zhou Yan completely failed to detect it.

Startled, Zhou Yan was about to make a move when blood light suddenly burst out beside him. Qing Lan and Qing Feng were devoured by the black light in an instant, turned into two blood mists, shattered in a blink, their bodies and spirits annihilated.