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Chapter 218 - 210: This Item Has an Affinity With My Holy Sect
The Valley of Ten Thousand Corpses.
This was once the Zombie Alliance Headquarters—a grim and magnificent place that made the Northwest Cultivators pale with fear at its mere mention.
Now, it was nothing but a shocking wasteland of scorched, dead earth.
As far as the eye could see, the land for ten thousand miles around was covered in bottomless chasms and warped craters, as if gouged by an invisible giant’s hand.
Solidified lava and shattered rock littered the charred ground. The air was thick with the acrid stench of sulfur, rotting corpses, and a strange, burnt smell—the lingering odor of Broken Laws.
The dense corpse miasma that once shrouded this place year-round had long been torn to shreds by a more violent power.
Only a thin, gray haze remained.
Of the gloomy, thousand-foot-tall palaces and pavilions built into the mountains, only broken walls and ruins were left.
In some places, space itself was unstable, twisting from time to time to refract bizarre and fantastical phantoms.
These were the wounds inflicted upon Heaven and Earth by the clash of True Monarch Level power, scars that refused to heal.
Across the ruins, clusters of strange phenomena remained:
From one patch of ground, a viscous, blood-like, dark red liquid continuously seeped out, pooling and bubbling with a nauseatingly sweet, coppery scent. GLUG. GLUG.
In one mountain forest drifted the formless, intangible "Wind of Annihilation," which could directly corrode the Divine Soul. Wherever it passed, even the light seemed to dim.
Another valley was shrouded in deep shadow, from which faintly echoed the wails of a thousand vengeful souls and the sound of chewing. No living person dared approach.
These were the "residual poisons" left behind by the world-shaking battle—treacherous, forbidden lands formed from the dispersal of True Monarchs’ Magical Power and the loss of control over the Zombie Alliance’s Secret Skills.
Yet now, in this desolate region filled with perverse strangeness, cautious figures were sprouting up like mushrooms after a rain.
Sect Disciples, heirs of Noble Families, and Loose Cultivators from all over the Northwest and even more distant lands had formed teams of all sizes. Like hyenas scenting blood, they moved with extreme caution through the deadly ruins and perilous phenomena.
They maintained multi-colored Protective Spiritual Lights, holding Magical Artifacts like Compasses and Treasure Hunting Rulers as their sharp gazes swept over every shard of rubble and every fissure.
Someone, to their delight, dug up a few pieces of partially intact Yin Sha Jade from beneath the ruins of a half-collapsed Side Hall.
Someone risked being struck by the Wind of Annihilation to collect a wisp of dispersed, pure Corpse Evil Qi. Others teamed up to tentatively approach the areas of phenomena that seemed relatively "safe."
They all hoped to find treasures or legacies that the Zombie Alliance Headquarters might have left behind.
...
"The Zombie Alliance has really become a juicy piece of meat. Everyone and their ghost wants a bite."
High in the sky, astral winds howled. Qi Yun and Qian Xin Master stood side by side on a cloud, their robes fluttering. Their calm gazes swept over the ruined Zombie Alliance Headquarters below, a scarred landscape stretching for ten thousand miles.
The scene before them was even more brutal than the rumors described.
The might of clashing True Monarchs was truly something else, having almost beaten a swath of Heaven and Earth back to its primordial, chaotic state.
According to their perception, they were not the only ones in the skies above the scorched ruins or on the high ground of the few surviving surrounding peaks.
Figures flickered in and out of view.
All of them were Foundation Establishment Masters from the Major Sects and Families.
They were like hawks circling high above, calmly observing the ant-like bustle below.
Clearly, compared to the Qi Refining Cultivators below—who were like carrion-eating hyenas rummaging through the rubble, ready to fight to the death over a few pieces of Yin Sha Jade or a wisp of Corpse Evil Qi—these Foundation Establishment Masters had grander goals and far more patience.
The scattered materials and Magical Artifact fragments, which were treasures to those in the Qi Refining Stage, were beneath their notice.
What they were truly waiting for, what they truly sought, were the real treasures accumulated by the Zombie Alliance over ten thousand years.
Only treasures of that caliber were worthy of them making a move personally.
Besides, letting the Qi Refining Cultivators scurry about like worker ants suited their purposes perfectly.
This True Monarch Battlefield was strange and unpredictable. Who knew what other hidden, more lethal dangers lurked besides the obvious forbidden zones of phenomena?
Letting this vast number of Qi Refining Cultivators scout the way, using their lives to fill in the unknown traps, was undoubtedly the cheapest and most effective method.
When the truth was revealed and the real treasures appeared, that would be the time for these "Hunters" to descend and reap their harvest.
Qian Xin Master smiled faintly and sent a Divine Sense transmission to Qi Yun:
"See? These old foxes are a crafty bunch."
"We’ll also wait patiently. Good things come to those who wait."
"These waters are still murky."
...
Ma Xiong was a collateral disciple of a mid-sized Northwest family, the Black Water Ma Family, with a Qi Refining Eighth Layer Cultivation.
He wasn’t top-tier in his family, but he was quite clever and had always been rather lucky.
After the great upheaval at the Zombie Alliance, he had come with his family’s team, hoping against hope that he might find something to change his standing within the family.
He relied on an "Earth Vein Spirit-Seeking Ruler" that he had unexpectedly acquired. The Magical Artifact was of a low grade, but it was exceptionally sensitive to fluctuations in Earth Qi and Spiritual Mechanisms.
The main contingent of his family was searching the conspicuous ruins where it seemed most likely to find great treasures.
He, however, had gone off alone. Following the faint guidance of the Spirit-Seeking Ruler, he delved into a relatively remote cluster of ruined palaces, mostly buried by half a collapsed mountain.
The Spiritual Qi here was chaotic, and he could barely sense any valuable fluctuations.
His family members who had come with him all felt this place was worthless and had long since moved on.
Only Ma Xiong, relying on the faint yet unusually persistent direction from the Spirit-Seeking Ruler, refused to give up.
He spent two whole days, practically moving countless boulders by hand, clearing blocked passages, and accumulating numerous scrapes. His True Essence was more than half depleted by the time he finally reached the deepest part of the ruins.
He stood before a secret chamber sealed by a massive crossbeam and fragments of a Restriction.
At this moment, the Spirit-Seeking Ruler was vibrating violently, its tip pointing stubbornly at the interior of the chamber.
Ma Xiong was ecstatic. ’There must be a great treasure inside!’
He cautiously broke through the lingering power of the already tattered Restriction, then used the last of his strength to barely shift the heavy beam aside.
The secret chamber wasn’t large and was completely empty.
In the center was a stone platform about half a man’s height, upon which sat an unremarkable, dust-covered black wooden box.
The box was of an ancient style and emitted no Spiritual Qi fluctuations, appearing to be an ordinary object.
But the Spirit-Seeking Ruler was pointing directly at it!
Ma Xiong’s heart pounded. Suppressing his excitement, he stepped forward, brushed away the dust, and carefully opened the box.
There were no radiant jewels inside, only a stone the size of a baby’s fist. It was dark in color and its surface was covered in natural holes, like an ordinary... Honeycomb Stone?
The instant Ma Xiong, filled with doubt, reached out and touched the stone,
BOOM!!!
A brilliant pillar of light, of a color impossible to describe, erupted without warning from the "Honeycomb Stone." It instantly shattered the confines of the secret chamber, blasted through the ruins above, and shot straight into the nine heavens like a colossal pillar holding up the sky!
Within the pillar of light, tens of thousands of Talismans flickered in and out of existence as the sound of the Dao boomed. It radiated a majestic Dao Rhyme and an aura of life, so pure that it far surpassed ordinary Spiritual Objects!
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
In an instant, one after another, gazes heavy with pressure swept over.
They belonged to the Foundation Establishment Masters who had been occupying the Celestial Vault.
In a flash, Ma Xiong felt as if he were being crushed by countless mountains at once. His bones creaked, and even breathing became incredibly difficult.
He looked up and saw pairs of eyes—like blazing suns, cold moons, and deep abysses—flickering behind the clouds, filled with scrutiny, greed, and unquestionable authority.
The "Honeycomb Stone" in his hand now felt as heavy as a mountain and as hot as a branding iron.
Possessing a treasure invites disaster!
Catastrophe was upon him!
...
"An Innate Holy Embryo? Heh, a sinking ship still has three thousand nails. The Zombie Alliance really did hide some good things."
Noticing the source of the light pillar—the Honeycomb Stone—Qian Xin Master raised an eyebrow, a flicker of surprise and understanding in his eyes.
"So that’s the Innate Holy Embryo?" Qi Yun’s gaze also sharpened as he focused on the stone in Ma Xiong’s hand, the cause of the world-shaking phenomenon.
Now a Foundation Establishment Master himself, he naturally understood what this item signified.
The three realms of Foundation Establishment—Early, Middle, and Late—each presented a difficult breakthrough.
To break through from the Foundation Establishment Early Stage to the Middle Stage, one needed to gather the four items of [Purity and Turbidity], [Four Seasons], [Yin and Yang], and [Innate], and refine them into one’s Foundation Establishment Mirror Heaven.
And this "Innate Holy Embryo" was precisely the representation of ultimate "Yang" among the wondrous items of [Yin and Yang]!
It was not man-made but a rare product of Heaven and Earth’s Creation, containing a sliver of the purest Innate Yang Qi and the life force of Creation.
This item was so precious that any Master in the Foundation Establishment Early Stage would fight to the death for it!
Meanwhile, just as the sky-piercing Treasure Light drew all eyes, and the hidden Foundation Establishment Masters grew restless, their Magical Power surging as they prepared to snatch it,
a clear shout suddenly echoed between Heaven and Earth:
"This item is destined to be with my Holy Sect. This humble Daoist has come to retrieve it."
...