Chapter 206: Into the Tiger's Den

Ye Liuyun sent Qiong Qi to take Lin Xueying outside the city to wait for him, while he himself groped his way through the chaos toward a mansion north of the city.

His Divine Sense had already detected that the Demon Qi here was the strongest, and it could also obscure the Divine Sense.

He had surveyed the other places and found no abnormalities.

Moreover, as he drew near, a strong scent of blood arrived, confirming to Ye Liuyun that this was the Corpse Demon's lair.

What surprised him was that there were no guards, as if they were not at all worried about intrusion.

Ye Liuyun carefully scaled the wall and entered, only to suddenly find the Demon Qi drilling into his body.

Fortunately, the Ten Thousand Gods Command instantly burst into Golden Light, forcing the Demon Qi out of his body.

"That was close! If an ordinary person had entered, they'd surely be corrupted! No wonder there are no guards."

Ye Liuyun felt a pang of fear, but then realized the interior was still empty; the courtyard was dead silent, and he stopped hiding, heading straight for the Grand Hall where the Demon Qi was strongest.

The Demon Qi in the Grand Hall blocked Divine Sense probing; as Ye Liuyun stepped inside, the entire scene of the hall changed at once.

"So this is also a Cave Heaven World arranged with a Formation," Ye Liuyun instantly understood.

Yet the sight before him made him nearly vomit.

All he could see were Corpse Bones. A huge circular pit was already filled with bones and flesh, and the bones kept piling upward, forming an Altar.

From the top of the Altar constantly rose black vapors, within which lingered an unusually evil aura.

Within the vapors, a skull with eyes flashing a dim blue light stared at him.

"Alien Evil Artifact!" Ye Liuyun immediately reacted. This was not a Corpse Demon at all, but an Alien Evil Artifact.

The Blood Demon Sect only used Corpse Demons to conceal the truth of reviving the Alien Evil Artifact.

Or rather, these Corpse Demons are merely Kuailei tools of the Alien Evil Artifact.

And this Altar before him is a means for the Alien Evil Artifact to communicate with its race, allowing alien aura to seep in and corrupt more Corpse Demons.

Ye Liuyun grasped the cause and effect, yet the skull before him gave an exceptionally terrifying feeling, its oppressive pressure far surpassing the Saint Realm.

"A hero doesn't bite the immediate loss; better to retreat first," Ye Liuyun thought, and decided to withdraw.

Little did he know, the Alien Evil Artifact suddenly spoke!

"Since you've come, why rush to leave?"

Moreover, the pressure it exuded was so powerful that Ye Liuyun could not even move.

"What realm is this? It's far stronger than the Saint Realm!" Ye Liuyun's heart raced.

Before, even when facing a Saint, he still had some resistance. But before this skull, his True Essence could not be summoned at all.

"Are you an Alien Evil Artifact?" Ye Liuyun gritted his teeth and asked through the pressure.

"Hm? I haven't heard that title in many years! It sounds rather familiar. Looks like you little human are not so simple," the skull slightly eased its pressure, probably to make conversation easier for Ye Liuyun.

"What do you want?" Ye Liuyun felt the pressure lessen a bit and mustered courage to ask.

"Back then, for a treasure I failed to evacuate from this star region, I hid here. After countless years of arduous cultivation, I finally refined it. Recently, I obtained another treasure," the skull boasted, chatting with Ye Liuyun.

Ye Liuyun stayed silent, listening quietly. Since he couldn't leave now, any extra information was welcome.

The skull continued: "With the Altar completed, my connection to the clan's spatial channel is also opened. With this aura, in less than half a month my realm will be fully restored! Then I will become the invincible presence here."

At that point he paused again, eyeing Ye Liuyun. "But this skeletal host makes my actions cumbersome. How about you give me your Physical Body, so I can infiltrate the Human Race and accelerate their extinction, what do you think?"

"You intend to infiltrate the Human Race? Aren't you already controlling the Blood Demon Sect?" Ye Liuyun asked coldly, while pondering a countermeasure.

"Sigh, the Blood Demon Sect are a bunch of useless idiots, several times they almost ruined my plans. Moreover they're too weak to meet my standards," the skull complained to Ye Liuyun, as if the two were longtime friends.

At this moment, Ye Liuyun had already raised a stone shield in his left hand and grasped the Demon Slaying Sword in his right, ready to give his all and then make a break for it.

The skull merely glanced at him, paying him no heed.

"No matter how you resist, it's useless. The gap between us is too great! Even now I'm less than a tenth of my peak strength, wiping you out would still be effortless."

He said this, glancing at Ye Liuyun. Ye Liuyun felt his blood throughout his body seemed about to solidify, and the True Essence vortex in his Sea of Consciousness also came to a complete halt.

"This power… could it be higher than the Yuan Dan Realm? The Heavenly Gang Realm?" Ye Liuyun asked, his heart trembling.

The skull opened its mouth, revealing a black void, and chuckled, "Envy this power, do you? Then let your Physical Body follow me to experience this great strength!"

Speaking, its Divine Soul suddenly detached from the skeleton and surged toward Ye Liuyun. The pressure it released in an instant stripped Ye Liuyun of even the strength to raise his shield.

All offensive power in his body failed to manifest; even his Golden Pupil grew dim and lifeless.

In an instant, Ye Liuyun's muscles tensed and cold sweat broke out over his body.

But he could only stand rigidly, watching the skeleton's Divine Soul plunge into his Sea of Consciousness.

"Ah! What is this!" The skeleton's Divine Soul, after entering Ye Liuyun's Sea of Consciousness, was instantly enveloped by the Ten Thousand Gods Command's Golden Light, unable to escape.

Ye Liuyun smiled faintly, patting his chest to comfort himself.

"You scared me to death! This guy could easily kill me with any other method, yet he insists on taking my Physical Body—asking for death!"

At that moment, he also saw the true form of the Alien Evil Artifact.

The Alien Evil Artifact was covered head to toe in black scale armor, limbs like claws, fingers like hooks, its body twice the size of a human, bearing a beast‑like head, eyes as large as bronze bells, and protruding two tusks.

Now its Divine Soul was struggling with all its might, yet under the Ten Thousand Gods Command it grew weaker and its form shrank.

"Ah! I'm about to regain my peak power! I won't accept this… I won't… to fall into the hands of a blood‑eater…"

Soon, the Ten Thousand Gods Command completely drowned the Alien Evil Artifact's Divine Soul, but it did not return any Divine Soul power to Ye Liuyun.

The spot where the soul had been now held only a wisp of eerie blue fire, resembling ghost fire, flickering, and upon close look it emitted a pale blue glow.

The Ten Thousand Gods Command's Golden Light shrouded that pale blue flame. It initially struggled wildly, but after a while it calmed completely, being directly transferred by the Ten Thousand Gods Command into Ye Liuyun's Divine Soul.

With the Ten Thousand Gods Command's aid, the ghost fire was instantly refined and merged into Ye Liuyun's Divine Soul.

Subsequently, that ghost fire conveyed some obscure information to Ye Liuyun.

"Nether Ghost Fire? The bane of all yin‑ghost things!"

Ye Liuyun, half‑believing, used a strand of Divine Sense, wielding the Nether Ghost Fire's power to strike the evil vapors; indeed, with a 'whoosh', the Nether Ghost Fire instantly incinerated a swath of the foul mist.

"Ha ha, this is one of the treasures the Alien Evil Artifact refined, and it's now mine for cheap!"

Ye Liuyun forced himself not to laugh out loud.