Chapter 517: Mature? (5/10, Autumn Subscription)

Whether or not they could completely seal off the entrances and exits of the Underground Stronghold in Qingsi County, preventing this 【Coffin-Pulling Gui Yi】 from breaking through, was not something he needed to worry about for now.

That was a problem for Lord Han and You Sisi to figure out.

Jing Yan squinted, his hair tousled by the wind.

Being dragged by Fang Yue with one hand, he felt his arm was about to dislocate, completely numb.

The scenery around him blurred wildly backward, moving so fast he couldn't tell where he even was.

He only knew he now felt like a pile of boneless sludge, being dragged along by Fang Yue, wind pounding him, dizzy and nauseous, on the verge of passing out.

Fortunately, after a short while, they felt Fang Yue slow down.

When Fang Yue set them down, Jing Yan collapsed onto the ground, vomiting uncontrollably, too weak to even sit up—just lay there vomiting, each spasm worse than the last.

"Ye… Ye Ge… next time, if you're gonna run like this… just let me die instead…"

Jing Yan said weakly, leaving Fang Yue speechless.

"Your physique is worse than someone's morning exercise."

Mentioning this made Jing Yan angry.

Of course it is! Chen Qing was a post-heaven Martial Dao cultivator—how could he compare to an ordinary person like me?

But after stopping to catch his breath, Jing Yan barely recovered.

He was helped onto a Qingsi Horse, then heard You Sisi's shocked voice.

"Lord Han?! How could he…?"

At this point, Fang Yue could no longer hide it—he briefly explained to You Sisi about Lord Han.

"So… Lord Han being like this… he's still alive??"

You Sisi stared in shock at Lord Han, whose body was reduced to just a head, with a black wooden tube sticking out of the back of his skull.

Her knowledge of Lord Han had always been limited to legends, rumors, and… some records in her family's archives.

Legend said Lord Han of Gu Yue Cun wiped out an entire village with a single sword—he was one of the few Xian-level Martial Dao masters of this age!

Yet she never imagined this mighty warrior had fallen so far.

While Fang Yue was searching for Lord Han, the others had already cleared all the Gui Yi from the battlefield and were conducting the final cleanup—these Gui Yi corpses, and the occasional Blood Stones or Black Stones, were valuable materials.

Just as they finished clearing, preparing to rejoin Fang Yue, they saw Fang Yue sprinting toward them in panic.

That's how this scene came to be.

"If what you say is true—that there's a Blood Grade High Stage Gui Yi, or even a Disaster Grade Gui Yi here—then we absolutely cannot stay!"

After issuing orders, everyone in the team remounted their Qingsi Horses and began galloping back.

They had come solely to rescue Fang Yue; eliminating the Phoenix Organization was secondary.

Because the Phoenix Organization's strength was so great, they believed they lacked the power to annihilate it.

Who would have thought Fang Yue was so formidable—he nearly destroyed the Phoenix Organization's stronghold all by himself, turning everything upside down.

"Giddy-up!"

Trusting Fang Yue implicitly, You Sisi immediately led the team to retreat.

But she was puzzled by the extra Lord Han, and by Bai Xiaoya, who kept curiously touching everything and drooling inexplicably at the horse's head.

Still, this wasn't the time to ask detailed questions—everything would be settled once they returned to Qingsi County.

On the return journey, You Sisi and Fang Yue rode at the front, leading the way.

You Sisi noticed that the exposed white bone on Fang Yue's shoulder had partially regrown flesh, as if a sunken depression had begun filling in, slowly restoring the lost tissue.

"Are you in pain? Do you need me to give you some pills?"

"Pills?"

Fang Yue frowned and extended the back of his right hand: "Do you have pills that suppress the 【Gui Curse】?"

The Xinghong Banyue Yinjie on his hand glowed red and hot like boiling water, steaming as it burned his flesh—yet his strange recovery ability rapidly repaired the damage.

"What exactly is this…?"

"I don't know."

Fang Yue's expression turned grim.

He truly knew little about the 【Gui Curse】 Wu Yu.

The only thing he was certain of… was that big trouble was coming.

Before him: the 【Gui Curse】 Wu Yu. Behind him: the 【Coffin-Pulling Gui Yi】. For now, Fang Yue's outlook on his situation had grown bleak…

…

While Fang Yue and the others fled, the 【Coffin-Pulling Gui Yi】 that had struck Fang Yue so fiercely had only just reached the spot where You Sisi's group had previously stopped.

Its movement speed was nothing compared to the Qingsi Horse's maximum velocity.

Yet it moved forward with unwavering determination, step by step, toward the direction Fang Yue and the others had taken.

Behind the 【Coffin-Pulling Gui Yi】, countless Gui Yi followed silently, like devout believers.

Meanwhile, along the way, more Gui Yi—once scattered across the Underground Stronghold—upon spotting the 【Coffin-Pulling Gui Yi】, prostrated themselves on the ground, rising only after it passed, then joining the growing horde as its followers.

Slowly, the horde of Gui Yi grew larger and denser, a dark, endless sea stretching into the distance.

The number of Blood Grade Gui Yi also increased steadily as the horde advanced.

Black Grade Initial Stage Gui Yi, following the 【Coffin-Pulling Gui Yi】, evolved into Black Grade Mid Stage Gui Yi.

Similarly, Black Grade High Stage evolved into Black Grade Peak Stage.

Black Grade Peak Stage ascended to Blood Grade Gui Yi!

More and more Gui Yi, following in the footsteps of the 【Coffin-Pulling Gui Yi】, steadily grew stronger.

"Not yet mature…"

Someone in the horde whispered.

The Coffin-Pulling Grotesque steadily advancing ahead suddenly stopped and turned to look toward the source of the sound.

All the grotesques following behind also ceased their movements in unison.

The Coffin-Pulling Grotesque's gaze, like an inspection of death, finally settled on a single blood-grade grotesque.

A bone hand lifted gently.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The grotesques along a straight line all burst open, exploding all the way through, blasting out a skyful of black blood mist, directly clearing a black blood passage through the endless grotesque horde.

While all the grotesques were silent as cicadas in winter, the Coffin-Pulling Grotesque withdrew its bone hand and resumed, walking forward with firm resolve. From its throat came a rolling sound, like a soft murmur, yet also like a voice stuttering, spreading outward.

"Al-ready, al-ready, al-al-al-al-ready, ripe, ripe, ripe."

When the words fell, no grotesque responded.

Only the Coffin-Pulling Grotesque, in confusion, lowered its head to look at its own body, tilted its head—once, twice—like a broken robot, and spoke again.

"Al-ready, al-ready… al-ready…"

The voice gradually faded, leaving only the steady rhythm of footsteps and forward progress.

At this moment, if one's gaze were lifted and pulled back.

Behind the Coffin-Pulling Grotesque, behind the Giant Bone Coffin, the vast grotesque army was ceaselessly replenishing, ceaselessly growing, and… ceaselessly strengthening on its own!

The ground was trembling!

The main path was shaking!

The massive grotesque army marched forward, unwavering, toward the end of the passage.

……

(End of Chapter)