Chapter 367

With the stench hitting his face, a cold light appeared in Xu Qing's eyes, and his body retreated rapidly; he didn't want to waste time entangled with this zombie old man.

Now that the fragments were in hand, he intended to leave.

But the zombie chased rapidly, the fierce and malevolent aura emanating from his body becoming increasingly intense, clearly not stopping until one of them died.

This caused a cold light to flash in Xu Qing's eyes as he closely observed this zombie old man.

The feeling the opponent gave him was somewhat similar to the Sea Corpse Clan, but the joints all over his body were not flexible, yet the hardness and recovery ability of his body were even more exaggerated.

At the same time, he also possessed some characteristics of seeming immortality.

"No heartbeat, no blood, lacking intelligence, seeming more like a fierce beast than a mutated cultivator, and permeated with traces of time."

"He seems to have no techniques, but his aura and the wind he stirs up contain potent poison. This poison belongs to the corpse poison category, primarily having a rotting effect."

"Physically powerful, combat power above the Four Palaces, combined with his recovery and his own immortal characteristics, infinitely approaching the Wugong."

Xu Qing's body flickered, and after avoiding the zombie old man's pounce again, he had already analyzed the opponent thoroughly in his heart.

"His speed is slightly weaker than mine. If I use the Poison Prohibition, I can wipe him out, but that would be a bit of a waste."

"After all, his poison is not bad, and the nails on his hands also look like excellent materials for artifact refining."

"If I can find the source of his recovery, the value would be even greater, and it wouldn't be a waste of my time."

While Xu Qing was analyzing in his heart, the zombie old man, having failed to touch Xu Qing several times in a row, became somewhat irritable and suddenly opened his large mouth, spitting abruptly toward Xu Qing.

Immediately, a sheet of black mist surged out from his mouth, rapidly enveloping Xu Qing.

"Then, I will suppress him first and strip him one by one." Xu Qing made a decision in his heart. Although his figure was submerged in the poison mist, the next instant, the poison mist suddenly exploded outward with a boom.

A heaven-shaking aura erupted from within, causing the poison mist to be swept away as if by a gale, rapidly expanding outward, and a residual image instantly walked out from the poison mist.

His speed was so fast that it exceeded the limit of what the naked eye could see, and even exceeded the zombie old man's perception. It only noticed the poison mist exploding, and in the next breath, its body was hit by a great force that suddenly erupted in front of it with a bang, and its body suddenly rolled backward.

It crashed directly into the mud wall of the deep pit hundreds of zhang away.

The mud wall shook, and the zombie old man's body sank in. Just as it was about to struggle, in the blink of an eye, a black palm landed directly on its face and pressed down fiercely.

With another boom, its head was completely pressed into the wall of the deep pit, and no matter how it struggled, it was to no avail.

It was also at this moment that the owner of the black palm revealed his figure beside the zombie old man.

It was a figure entirely pitch-black; his clothes, skin, and everything were black.

And at this moment, this blackness was rapidly gathering at the center of the figure's brow, finally transforming into an eye, also revealing the figure's true appearance—it was Xu Qing.

After merging with the shadow, Xu Qing lost his ability to use techniques, but in exchange, he gained extreme physical tempering power. His physical combat power exceeded four Heavenly Palaces, reaching the peak of the Wugong.

In his eyes, the zombie old man's speed was incredibly slow. At this moment, Xu Qing raised his right hand expressionlessly, grabbed the zombie old man's fingers, and with a cracking sound, snapped off his ten pitch-black, sharp nails one by one.

Then, after thinking for a moment, his right index finger landed on the zombie's neck and slowly slid down, as if searching, finally stopping at the zombie's chest and piercing through it fiercely.

Soon, he dug out a black mist ball the size of a fist.

This mist ball contained potent corpse poison.

After doing this, Xu Qing searched again, wanting to find the source of this zombie's recovery.

But at this moment, after losing that black mist ball, the trembling zombie suddenly paused, instantly rotted, and turned into black blood, flowing downward along the sunken wall of the deep pit.

Watching this scene, the shadow eye on Xu Qing's brow expanded, finally covering Xu Qing's entire body. After covering him again, it transformed into the shape of a coffin, and Xu Qing's figure walked out from within.

"So, this black mist ball contains not only poison but also the strange power that supports this zombie's existence?" Xu Qing was thoughtful. He put away the nails and the black mist ball, and his body flickered as he continued to move toward the deep pit below.

The surroundings grew darker, the fishy stench became thicker, and the cold feeling was even more intense. In the relative silence, only the faint, intermittent singing that always existed below continued to echo.

Carrying sorrow, carrying despair, carrying etherealness, and also carrying shrillness.

This sound constantly invaded Xu Qing's entire body, making him increasingly uncomfortable and unable to block the sound out.

At this moment, his body landed on a protruding rock wall, and he looked down at the pitch-black darkness below.

"How deep is this place?" Xu Qing murmured in his heart and continued to sink. Until more than half an hour later, his figure suddenly paused, his pupils contracted, and he looked downward.

Dozens of zhang below, Xu Qing saw suspended corpses—not one, but dozens.

Among them, one was the small-sect cultivator who had once stepped onto the thousand-zhang mark of the Taichu Liyou Pillar.

But it was not the youth who had attacked Xu Qing, but a young man.

As for the other corpses, Xu Qing also saw cultivators from the Eight-Sect Alliance and disciples of the Taisi Daoist Sect.

These people had all died here. What was strange was... their faces were all covered with yellow paper money.

The faces under the paper money were green and full of ferocity, as if they had experienced extreme pain before death. Several people even held teleportation jade slips in their hands, as if the unexpected appearance was too sudden for them to teleport.

And on the mud walls around them, dozens of Taichu Liyou Pillar fragments were shining. One could even imagine that the storage bags on these people must also contain fragments.

After all, these people were the first to leave after the trial-takers stepped into the deep pit.

But Xu Qing did not act rashly. On one hand, this all looked like a trap; on the other hand, there were still sheets of paper money fluttering around these corpses.

They flew back and forth like yellow paper butterflies, rolling with the aura emanating from the deep pit below, rising and falling.

And just as Xu Qing stared, these yellow paper money suddenly stopped fluttering and lifted in unison, looking like ghost faces as they looked toward where Xu Qing was.

Being watched by so many paper money—this scene was enough to make one's hair stand on end.

A sharp light flashed in Xu Qing's eyes. The paper money whistled and rose into the air in unison, rushing straight toward him, and there were even bursts of joyful sounds emanating from within these paper money.

These laughs were eerie and carried greed, seeming to crave flesh and blood, craving souls. At this moment, their speed was extremely fast, approaching in an instant.

And just as they were about to approach, Xu Qing raised his right hand and pressed down abruptly.

With this press, the power of his three Heavenly Palaces erupted, and the Golden Crow manifested behind him, letting out a hiss. Its wings flapped, stirring up flames that swept across all directions, intending to burn these paper money.

For a moment, the paper money rolled backward, unable to get close, but the eerie laughter within them not only didn't disappear but became even clearer.

Immediately after, these paper money actually gathered together. Under Xu Qing's own eyes, a large amount of paper money composed a giant paper cicada.

The wings were also formed by paper money. At this moment, the paper cicada spread its wings and flapped rapidly, emitting a buzzing cicada sound. At the same time, the laughter from the paper money became spoken words, echoing with the vibration of the wings.

"You, are you hungry? Do you want to eat me?"

This voice was evil and shrill, incredibly ear-piercing. As the sound waves impacted Xu Qing, they actually caused the flames around him to roll backward.

The paper cicada took the opportunity to flicker and whistle toward Xu Qing, its body revealing countless ghost faces, all carrying greed, carrying craving.

"Eat me, eat me, eat me..."

The voices were dense, constantly echoing, like invisible sharp thorns rushing into Xu Qing's mind.

A cold light rose in Xu Qing's eyes, and he was about to strike, but the next instant, his expression suddenly sank, and his body retreated abruptly.

Almost the moment he retreated, the mud wall of the deep pit to the side suddenly blurred, and a giant centipede, a full ten zhang wide, pierced directly through the mud wall of the deep pit. Its target was not Xu Qing, but... the paper cicada that was emitting the eerie sound.

This centipede looked ferocious, emanating a thick, fishy, rotting smell, its body semi-transparent, seeming both virtual and illusory.

Its speed was so fast that in the blink of an eye, the giant centipede bit the paper cicada, arrived directly at the other end of the mud wall of the deep pit, lay there with its body twisting, and bit down with all its might, swallowing it.

One could see that on the centipede's back, there was actually a figure sitting—a woman whose lower body was integrated into the centipede, seeming to have grown together.

The exposed upper body was not wearing any clothes, and long black hair covered her body.

At this moment, she was holding a comb, combing her hair while letting out a burp, spitting out a sheet of paper money that hadn't been digested yet. She turned to look in Xu Qing's direction, raised the paper money, and revealed a smile.

"It's very delicious, don't you want to eat?"

Xu Qing was vigilant. This scene was too eerie. He faintly felt that the opponent didn't seem to be talking to him, but looking behind him.

Behind him, a black coffin rose at this moment, emanating bursts of ominous aura.

That was the shadow, stimulated to appear on its own. A large number of eyes appeared on it, staring fixedly at the paper money in the woman's hand, blinking constantly.

"What does blinking mean? Are you looking at this?" The woman on the centipede lowered her head to look at the paper money in her hand.

But at this moment, a sudden change occurred. A ghost face suddenly appeared on the paper money in the woman's hand, grinning at her.

"Are you full?"

As the words were spoken, the next instant, the centipede where the woman was located trembled all over, and countless paper money appeared visibly to the naked eye. These paper money permeated the centipede's entire body, causing the centipede to instantly lose its semi-transparent state and become a paper centipede.

All the paper money on its body now revealed ghost faces, one after another emitting laughter and saying the same words.

"Are you full?"