Chapter 93

In the next two days, Zhou Shuo did not rush into the wilderness to seize the Qiankun bag; instead, he stayed on the island to rest, studying the dao arts of the Witch Ghost Dao and Fangxian Dao, attempting to control that heavenly corpse monster, and also comparing the corpse-refining secret arts of the two worlds.

The Witch Ghost Dao specializes in raising corpse ghosts, excelling at using human and animal corpses to refine iron corpses, bronze corpses, silver corpses, gold corpses, flying corpses, witch corpses, heavenly corpses, and corpse emperors, finally condensing into an external incarnation, the supreme demon lord. They train zombies, mostly like the Fangxian Dao's alchemical forging of tools; after restoring the corpse's mobility, they begin to alter the zombie's flesh, making it iron-boned and steel-sinewed, growing wings to fly, its aura like a substantive demon. They also believe that commanding these fiendish demons can help them subdue their inner demons.

Unlike the Witch Ghost Dao, the corpse-refining method of the Xiangxi Liu family in the world of strangers, although named corpse-refining, actually cultivates the inner corpse deity; zombies are merely a vessel used to warm and hold corpse qi, which strengthens the corpse's tendons and bones; the corpse demon incarnation they cultivate is also an entrustment of the human body's three corpse deities, differing from the Witch Ghost Dao's pursuit of mighty material destruction and ferocious aura with their heavenly corpses and corpse emperors.

Besides their differing goals, the two also differ in how they provoke corpse revival: the Witch Ghost Dao uses thoughts, injecting their vicious thoughts into the corpse to make it move again, while the Liu family accumulates corpse soul and then uses their own true qi to revive the corpse; in many respects they are largely similar, yet subtle differences appear.

Having compared the differences in corpse-refining between the Witch Ghost Dao and the Liu family, Zhou Shuo quickly adjusted his method, changing the drawn corpse-control talisman to 'refine'; the Heaven-Reaching Talisman has many uses for talismans— the simplest are affixing, transforming, scattering, plus moving, refining, combining, repeating, etc.; combined with the talisman's purpose, the usage varies endlessly, and the content of the Heaven-Reaching Talisman cannot be mastered in a day or two.

The heavenly corpse trained with the corpse-control talisman was quickly subdued, completely shedding its original ferocious aura; it obeyed Zhou Shuo's orders without question, able to wield a steel fork and perform several sword moves, far surpassing its former beast-like state of merely flying, pouncing, roaring, and biting.

While Zhou Shuo studied the heavenly corpse, Chan Yinsha was not idle either, sharpening her spear before battle, promptly familiarizing herself with the thunderous nature of the Xiandu Jade Pendant in her hand to increase her cultivation of the Divine Heaven Five Thunder Method; if not for Zhou Shuo stopping her, since the thunder in the Xiandu Jade Pendant can be used only once and needs recharging after use, she also wanted to use its thunder to cultivate the Valley Spirit Aperture.

After resting two days, Zhou Shuo and Chan Yinsha set out again, the two using yin wind to lift their bodies, bringing along the obedient heavenly corpse servant, they flew over the deep sea for a day and night; after crossing several islands, the wilderness continent came into view.

The Wilderness Continent, true to its name, is a vast barbaric land far from civilization; here live savage natives, monstrous beasts and strange insects, or else cults like the Witch Ghost Dao that civilization rejects; Zhou Shuo did not rush into the depths of the wilderness, but instead began a coastal search with Chan Yinsha.

In about half a day, Zhou Shuo found a natural harbor on the wilderness land, inside which countless large and small vessels were moored, interwoven inside and out into an octagonal shape, shrouded above by resentful blood clouds, while below countless Yung Meng people either patrolled or slaughtered the dark-skinned wilderness natives, laying a formation with blood force and resentment.

"Over three hundred ships, among them many great fang ships, plus eight of that kind, which should be the Peach God Fury Whale Grand Ship; hmm, the innermost one must be the Yung Meng State Guard Grand Ship you mentioned!" Zhou Shuo gazed at the distant fleet, his eyes mainly on the eight crystal-red wood ships arranged in an octagon at the core, and the giant ship lying at sea like a fortress, akin to an aircraft carrier, encircled by those crystal-red wood ships.

"Correct, that is the Meng Shen, one of the giant ships the Yung Meng state spent two hundred years building; the other, the Tian Wu, did not come; they have laid out this formation, apparently waiting for us to come over—what do you plan to do?" Chan Yinsha gazed at the fleet from afar, nodded slightly, and asked Zhou Shuo; if following her usual temper, she would surely launch a hard assault.

"I'll go meet the vanguard, see if I can lure the snake out of its hole; you guard my body." Upon hearing Chan Yinsha speak, Zhou Shuo smiled, sent his soul escaping into the flying sword, broke through the void and sped away, while the heavenly corpse beside him also unfurled its wings and gave chase, leaving his physical form for Chan Yinsha to guard.

Blood-cloud resentment permeated the air above the fleet, the blood-cloud resentment and the ships arranged in formation, obviously hiding a killing move; once an external soul encountered it, those blood-cloud resentments mixed with the army's killer qi would instantly become a soul-destroying dao art, yet Zhou Shuo did not directly let his soul descend.

Zhou Shuo entrusted his soul entirely within the long narrow sword, like a pilot flying a plane, he and the heavenly corpse servant skimmed the sea surface, in an instant pouncing onto a ship at the fleet's edge; the heavenly corpse shook the flesh membrane behind its wings, accelerating like a cannonball and directly cleaving a small fang ship at the waist, while Zhou Shuo kept his soul within the sword, picking off experts to kill; this feudal-era army, being a blend of soldiers and bandits, had nothing in common with the People's Liberation Army, and he slaughtered without any psychological burden.

"Impudent."

"Enemy attack."

"It's the Silver Shark King."

"No, it's a heavenly corpse."

"It's a heavenly corpse."

"There's also a flying sword."

"Enemies are attacking."

"Don't launch the grand formation, that's not the Silver Shark King." After the fang ship was overturned, Zhou Shuo piloted his sword and sliced several heads; dozens of thoughts rose, intertwining layers to observe and judge the incoming Zhou Shuo and heavenly corpse, and he ceased controlling the blood-cloud above.

"Hehe." Zhou Shuo felt the blood-cloud resentment above that was about to change but not yet, gave a faint cold laugh, the heavenly corpse responded to the thought and flew off, while he himself piloted his flying sword to follow.

"Bold demon, still trying to flee? Yuwen Tu, Murong Hu, follow me to meet the enemy."

"Commander Ou Yang, please reconsider."

"The comer is not the Silver Shark King; with a heavenly corpse accompanying, likely a Witch Ghost Dao person—be on guard; if the Silver Shark King dares to attack, use the destroyer talisman granted by the manor lord to strike her." As Zhou Shuo retreated with his sword and the heavenly corpse, three thoughts flew from the fleet, exchanged with other thoughts, carried their physical forms, and instantly pursued the fleeing Zhou Shuo.

The heavenly corpse led, Zhou Shuo's soul commanding the long narrow sword in the center; three Yung Meng dao adepts at the rear blinked out of the fleet about four or five li away; the three Yung Meng adepts were calculating, intending to blast Zhou Shuo's soul hiding in the flying sword and seize his heavenly corpse, when suddenly three arrow shafts shot from below, piercing the wind formed by their thoughts and accurately striking the three bodies they carried in the wind.

"Oh no, an ambush, it's the Pole-Extreme Arrow." The three Yung Meng adepts were instantly struck by the Pole-Extreme Arrow; their flesh was burned to ash by the sunlight fire gathered on the arrow, while their soul thoughts did not escape, being completely absorbed by the arrow's rune formation; the fire gathered and retracted, and the three Pole-Extreme Arcs traced an arc in the air, falling back into Chan Yinsha's hands below.

"Hmph, the Profound Heaven Blood Hex Grand Formation, destroyer talisman—Bi Shi Hua really left some good means." Chan Yinsha caught the falling Pole-Extreme Arrow, looked at the returning sword light and heavenly corpse ahead, turned to gaze coldly at the distant Yung Meng fleet; if she rashly went up to attack, she would surely suffer a loss.

"Those fellows are surprisingly composed, but your grudge with Bi Shi Hua is indeed no light matter!" Zhou Shuo's soul returned to his body, the long narrow sword resheathed; looking at Chan Yinsha's cold smile, gazing at the distant Yung Meng fleet with a slight nod, the Yung Meng dao adepts did not rashly pursue, rather they were quite composed; yet my earlier attack made them think of the Silver Shark King, and the Profound Heaven Blood Hex and destroyer talisman they left behind seem clearly prepared for her.

"I've fought him hundreds of times at sea; he covets my silver shark flesh after corpse-release, captures my kin, I attack Yung Meng ships, and sometimes when we clash, even passersby suffer." Chan Yinsha took it for granted; her enmity with the Black Wolf King was not something of a day or two.

"No wonder, in this situation they still guard against you." Zhou Shuo gave a slight nod; having come to this point, if it were me, I'd also be on guard.

"What should we do now? The plan to lure the snake out of its hole seems to have failed; they haven't come out, we can't rashly go over, and that Profound Heaven Blood Hex and destroyer talisman are no easy matter." Chan Yinsha tilted her head toward Zhou Shuo; the lure-the-snake plan had not succeeded, instead it startled the snake, and the distant fleet had already sealed itself tightly.

"You should wonder why they aren't coming out." Zhou Shuo looked at Chan Yinsha tilting her head to look at his younger sister, and involuntarily laughed while shaking his index finger.

"Hmm, the adepts aren't present?" Upon hearing Zhou Shuo's words, Chan Yinsha instantly thought of some things: the Yung Meng adepts dare not act rashly, surely the adepts are absent from the formation, which would mean …

"Here comes a yin wind; judging by its level, it's a ghost immortal's cultivation, approaching from that direction with great speed." Zhou Shuo raised his head and pointed toward the distant continent; only a yin wind flew in from the horizon, twisting like a dragon, extremely swift.

"The Riding Dragon Thought Method—it's Nalan Yanluo, the Destroyer Hall Lord of the Profound Heaven Pavilion, the Yung Meng State's Divine Moon Princess; but this is her thought incarnation." Chan Yinsha followed Zhou Shuo's pointing finger and instantly recognized who it was.

"Another princess!" Zhou Shuo watched the extremely fast-approaching dragon-shaped yin wind about to land in the distant fleet, involuntarily raising his eyebrows; the identities of these ghost immortal reincarnations are all quite prominent, obviously prearranged, and it seems living long is beneficial.

"Nalan Yanluo is not like me; in her past life she was indeed Yung Meng royal kin, reckoning by seniority she is still the aunt of the current Yung Meng State lord Nalan Yi Hong, and in this life she has again borrowed the Nalan bloodline." Chan Yinsha watched the dragon-shaped yin wind enter the fleet, hearing Zhou Shuo's words, she couldn't help but overthink; the Divine Moon Princess opposite her, unlike her own shark-cultivated fox immortal reincarnation, was originally a princess.

"What a big difference in seniority—what does she call Nalan Yi Hong now? And how are her parents reckoned?" Zhou Shuo looked at Chan Yinsha's pretty face, accurately caught her train of thought, then threw out a joke; hearing it, Chan Yinsha also couldn't help but laugh, and in this light she seems to be a shark without such worries.