Chapter 256: Strange Death

Outside the entrance to the underground palace, the five Sea Transformation realm disciples each wore a look of resentment, yet were helpless.

They had no choice but to tremble and follow the Guard Leader into the underground palace.

A quarter hour later, two Demon Race saints were also forced to enter the underground palace, and then the other eight saints followed. The Fourth Prince, however, was left to guard the entrance.

Ye Liuyun's mouth twitched into a faint smile. "You left a sheep to guard a wolf, you unlucky bastard!" Yet he did not act immediately; he waited a quarter hour before approaching the Fourth Prince.

When he came within thirty zhang of the Fourth Prince, the Fourth Prince finally noticed him.

"Blood‑armored person…" the Fourth Prince shouted, then hurriedly said, "Don't kill me, I'll leave at once!"

Ye Liuyun's Golden Pupil flashed, and he directly pulled the Prince's Soul into his own Thunder Fire Domain.

"Fourth Prince, don't be in a hurry to leave, okay? Aren't you all looking for me everywhere?" a golden‑armored Soul of Ye Liuyun appeared before the Fourth Prince.

"Ye Liuyun? Why is it you?" the Fourth Prince cried out in terror. He instinctively stepped back two paces, only to be struck by a bolt of Blood Thunder, which split his Soul almost in two.

"Ah!"

He let out a wail and immediately fell to his knees, begging for mercy.

"I never struck you before! If you release me, I'll agree to anything! I can even acknowledge you as my master, gladly become your slave and servant!"

He also knew that unless he was harsh enough, Ye Liuyun would not let him go.

"Huh? Is this the royal backbone? When you hunted me, you never imagined this day? What a pity, I don't need such soft‑bones around me." the golden‑armored Soul said, beginning to devour his Soul.

But Ye Liuyun's devouring was slow. Watching his Soul being consumed bit by bit, the psychological torment caused the prince to collapse on the spot, his Soul even fainting from fright.

"Hmph! So you're a useless waste! Pretending to be human!"

Ye Liuyun let out a cold snort, stopped wasting time on him, and directly absorbed his entire Soul, then took his Storage Ring, and entered the underground palace with Lei Ming.

Inside the underground palace, the aura of death grew even denser. The passages twisted endlessly, with no visible end. The murals on the palace walls depicted various hellish scenes, looking unusually eerie.

They hadn't gone far when Lei Ming lifted his nose and sniffed, informing Ye Liuyun that the scent of fresh blood lay not far ahead, surely someone had died recently. Yet Ye Liuyun detected nothing. His Divine Sense expanded as far as it could, but could only probe a range of a hundred zhang.

After walking a bit further, his Divine Sense discovered a square hall ahead, containing a coffin. The coffin lid was already open, and the interior was empty.

The female disciple of the Ninth Sea Transformation from the Water Moon Palace lay against the wall, already lifeless. Her death was strange. A wound gaped on her neck, yet a speck of blood stained the sword in her hand. From her posture, it seemed more like suicide!

The disciple's Soul had been completely devoured; her eyes were wide open, pupils dilated, as if she had seen something terrifying before death!

Her Storage Ring was still there, and it didn't look like a case of comrades killing each other for loot.

When they drew near, Lei Ming also went to sniff the bloodstain on her sword.

"It really was suicide. It's her own blood!" Lei Ming said in disbelief.

"There will be danger soon; you must immediately retreat into your Storage Ring! This is likely a Soul‑type attack." Ye Liuyun warned Lei Ming at once. He thought the female disciple might have fallen under some terrible illusion.

He possessed the Ten Thousand Gods Command, so he wasn't afraid of such attacks, and he also had a Skeleton Puppet to ensure his safety. Lei Ming also knew he must not hinder Ye Liuyun at this moment, and immediately agreed.

Ye Liuyun carefully inspected the coffin. There were no traces inside, as if it had always been empty; no one had ever lain inside.

Looking around, there was nothing else besides the coffin, so Ye Liuyun had no choice but to continue forward.

His Golden Pupil dared not rest for even a moment. He had already seen through more than twenty layers of palace walls, yet ahead lay endless walls, as if there were no end.

Moreover, this was not an Illusion Realm, because the Ten Thousand Gods Command functioned normally, showing no signs of attack. The passage had no branches, only a winding single road, indicating this was still not a Migung.

They took the female disciple's Storage Ring and gave it a check, finding nothing unusual.

After walking further, they entered another identical hall, where another Ninth Sea Transformation disciple lay dead. Yet there was no blood.

His Soul had likewise been completely devoured, his eyes filled with terror.

Ye Liuyun used his Divine Sense to scrutinize the space, finding not even a trace of a dead person's Soul. Logically, even if a Soul dissipated on its own, it could not vanish so cleanly in such a short time.

"Either the Soul was directly extracted, or they were frightened to death and then the Soul was taken!"

Ye Liuyun was certain that these people's Souls had been extracted.

The coffin interior was the same—no trace at all, and the lid appeared as if it had just been opened.

Lei Ming asked curiously, "If there were a ghost inside the coffin, why would they fall for it last time, kill someone, and then be so foolish as to open the lid?"

Ye Liuyun nodded at the remark. "Either the coffin contains a treasure with great allure for them, or the lid opened itself, not by them."

Ye Liuyun examined the lid again, but found no signs of violent damage inside or out.

He then shook his head and said, "Let's go; the truth will surface eventually."

Thus, the two of them quickened their pace.

Each time they walked a stretch, they encountered a hall. Inside each hall lay a corpse, the manner of death identical, the coffin condition the same. Along the way they collected quite a few Storage Rings.

When Ye Liuyun saw that the Demon Race saints were also dead, he noticed that fear filled the demons' eyes as well.

Ye Liuyun, while taking his Storage Ring, murmured, "What could frighten a demon lord?"

Lei Ming asked, "They've died so many, didn't they ever think of turning back?"

Ye Liuyun was startled, hurriedly leading Lei Ming back, but this time, after wandering, they returned to the same demon‑death chamber.

Lei Ming also became a bit worried!

"It seems this place is a Formation. We have only one road to follow to the end!"

Ye Liuyun steeled himself; since there was no way out, he would go to the end and see what was causing the trouble.

Then, Ye Liuyun almost employed the Lingkong Art, sprinting through the underground palace. After passing another demon corpse, he finally slowed down.

Because his Golden Pupil had already seen through the palace walls, he spotted saints ahead moving forward.

Ye Liuyun followed forward, and once his Divine Sense could detect them, he matched their pace.

The few of them wore solemn expressions, silent. Before entering the hall this time, they all stopped, glanced at each other, then mustered the courage to step inside.

Ye Liuyun also halted.

He discovered that the coffin in the hall was still covered. He decided to stop and see what would happen.