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Chapter 164 - The Mysterious Corpse

Of the four major sects, only the Corpse Sect had returned to Hou Fen after the rank 4 cultivation country came and cleared out the fire beasts.

This move confused many people. Although the fire beasts had been cleared out, the spiritual energy there was too violent to cultivate. As a result, the entire country was a dead zone for cultivators.

The Corpse Sect didn't give any explanation and just disappeared one night.

The Corpse Sect was very mysterious in the eyes of the other three sects. Although they didn't have many Nascent Soul cultivators, every time the Nascent Soul cultivators gathered, they could feel a terrifying power within the Corpse Sect's Nascent Soul cultivators.

Taking that into consideration, the three major sects just kept silent and didn't attempt to stop them.

In the western part of Hou Fen, below the erupting volcanos, there was a huge cave leading into a network of interconnecting tunnels and caves that formed its own underground world.

Compared to Zhao's Corpse Sect, the structure was fairly similar, only it was a bit larger.

The current Corpse Sect's sect head, Zhao Chuanliang, was down on one knee before an irregularly-shaped crystal made of many intersecting crystals.

Zhao Chuanliang was being very respectful. Hints of fear would occasionally surface and then disappear from his face. He whispered, "Shang Zong, please give me just a few more days and I promise I'll find out what happened to soul number 4876."

"If I give you a few days, then who will give me a few days? Soul number 4876 is a disciple of the Tian Gang Sect of Tian Gang, which is where I'm in charge, and now they have come looking for him. According to calculations, soul number 4876 should have already finish possessing the body. What am I going to tell them?"

Zhao Chuanliang secretly cursed. His face revealed a look of panic and he quickly said, "Shang Zong, I have already found some clues and found where soul number 4876 disappeared. From analysing the clues, it seems like a disciple of the War God Shrine named Ma Liang is related. I have received news that he recently appeared in Xuan Wu, so I have sent people over. As long as you give me ten days, I'll definitely be able to find the truth."

The face of the person inside the crystal became a little more relaxed as he looked at Zhao Chuanliang and sighed. "Chuanliang, I'll give you ten days to find it because it's "that" body. However, if you still show no results in ten days, don't blame me for reporting this to the rank 5 cultivation country division. With how they work, they will definitely take away your right to choose a body after you have been possessed."

With that, the face in the crystal slowly disappeared.

Zhao Chuanliang slumped to the ground and bitterly smiled. "If that soul number 4867 is someone from Tian Gang, then wouldn't it be better for him to just posses a body there instead? Why must he be thrown to me, ah?!" However, in his heart he understood that when someone needed to possess a body, they would always do it in another country.

A cold voice came out from Zhao Chuanliang. "Forget about your chance to choose a body, Zhao Chuanliang. You seem to be in a bad situation!"

Zhao Chuanliang sighed and asked, "Ye Zizai, what should I do?"

"What to do? I don't know either, but as Zhao's former Corpse Sect sect head, I have encountered a similar situation. The situation with my junior disciple was similar, but slightly different too. Soul number 4876's soul lamp hasn't gone out yet, meaning he is still alive. If you can find him, it will be for the best, but if you can't, then you will be in danger."

"However, I'm very curious. Shang Zong said that he would give you ten days because it's this body. What is your relationship with the former owner of that body?"

Zhao Chuanliang calmly said, "It was my younger brother. Both of us entered the Corpse Sect 400 years ago. His talent was better than mine, so he was picked by Shang Zong."

Ye Zizai sneered. His voice was filled with discontent. "If it wasn't for the fact that the perfect body I had prepared for myself was found by the rank 5 cultivation country and taken away from me, I would have already recovered my cultivation and finished the possession."

Zhao Chuanliang took a deep breath as he placed a piece of jade on his forehead. After a few moments, he threw the jade.

"All Core Formation and above cultivators, follow me on a trip to the Hou Fen Union!" With one order, all of the disciples of the Corpse Sect opened their eyes. A ghostly light appeared in their eyes.

As for Wang Lin, although the Divine Path was indeed extraordinary, it was not fitting for him to cultivate. He pondered for a bit before letting out a sigh and began to leave. What surprised Wang Lin was that the Divine Path now remained in his head instead of disappearing like normal.

However, when Wang Lin attempted to make a copy of it, he still couldn't do it. It felt like there was an invisible force preventing the Divine Path from being recorded.

Wang Lin pondered for a bit before giving up on writing it down. He looked around at the water mirror doors. All of them were dark and looked exactly the same.

He pondered for a bit before spreading out his divine sense, but there seemed to be a layer of protection on the water mirror doors that would bounce his divine sense back. Wang Lin's eyes lit up and he looked at the entrance. The red-faced old man was just probably outside that door.

He jumped and landed before one of the water mirror doors. He reached into the water mirror door with his hand and felt the cool sensation. Soon, he reached a stone wall.

Wang Lin withdrew his hand and began to ponder. He quickly took out the jade containing the War God Shrine's refining methods and began to search through it.

The three main parts of the War God Shrine's refining method were extract, melt, and fuse. All magic treasure refining followed these three processes. Wang Lin quickly found something called reverse refining in the jade.

Reverse refining was originally meant for cultivators to exchange refining methods. To reverse engineer the magic treasure to find out how it is created and then recreate the same magic treasure.

Long term practice of reverse refining can increase one's refining capability. To reverse refine other people's products, to learn their methods, and to use those methods to refine your own treasures.

However, this kind of reverse refining can only be used on a treasure that is created through extract, melt, and fusion.

Wang Lin carefully looked at the process before putting the jade away. He put his hands together before his chest and sent spiritual energy into them. When he moved his hands, there were threads of spiritual energy connecting his two palms.

Wang Lin shouted, "Go!"

The threads were cut down the middle. The broken ends drilled into the water mirror door with the other ends still connected to Wang Lin's hand. As Wang Lin poured spiritual energy into his hand, more and more threads appeared until there was enough to wrap around the entire water mirror door.

The fusion part of the refining process was similar to balancing the spiritual energy and formation inside a magic treasure to reach a mysterious balance.

The reverse refining process requires the exact opposite, as the first step was to break this balance. Once it succeeded, the balance would be broken. Wang Lin kept pouring spiritual energy in with a calm expression, but his gaze was locked onto the water mirror door.

His expression suddenly changed as the threads coming out of his hand began to tremble and a very bright ring of light appeared at the center of the water mirror door. This ring released soft crackling sounds until it completely shattered. The moment it shattered, the the light expanded to the edges of the temple and disappeared.

The water mirror door became dim. Wang Lin knew that the balance inside had been broken. What was next was to split the materials and the spirit core that were used to make the door in the melting process.

Wang Lin's expression was serious as he slowly withdrew the threads of spiritual energy.

As the thread was withdrawn, the water mirror door began to shake and the edges of the temple began to shine. The light slowly withdrew from the edges of the temple and became a ball of light.

There were countless threads on the ball of light, all of which were connected to Wang Lin's hand.

Wang Lin shouted, "Withdraw!"

The ball of light was pulled out of the door as Wang Lin quickly shook his hand and the thread disappeared back into his body.

Wang Lin looked at the ball of light with a smile on his face. He completed the second step of reverse refining, which was to split the melting process. The spirit core had been split from the other materials of the treasure.

Wang Lin took a deep breath and looked back at the entrance. He didn't know how long he had been in here, but these water mirror doors cut off divine sense and spiritual energy, so no matter how much of a commotion he created in here, no one outside would notice.

In addition to that, the red-faced elder didn't believe that Wang Lin could break the water mirror door with only his Core Formation cultivation, so he didn't wait inside.

This gave Wang Lin a chance, but he knew that he had to be quick, otherwise the red-faced elder would suddenly come in. Everything would be for nothing if he did.

Thinking about this, he quickly took out the reaction furnace he had made in the 14th valley. He carefully put the spirit core inside the reaction furnace and placed a seal on it. Then the reaction furnace immediately began to spin. It was slow at first, but then it went faster and faster.

After sending out the seal, he walked toward the door.

This water mirror door was made of two parts: the stone door's device core and the spirit core. Now that he had removed the spirit core, the only thing that blocked him was the stone door's device core.

Wang Lin raised his hand and pressed on the door. His divine sense quickly went inside. After sweeping it with his divine sense, his expression immediately became strange.

Inside the stone room was only a corpse that contained an invisible power that prevented it from rotting. The corpse was sitting there with its finger pointing to the ground. A trace of black aura was going from the finger into the ground.

Wang Lin's divine sense carefully examined the inside of the room before he withdrew it. What he saw inside made him start rubbing his chin. He reached out toward the reaction furnace, causing it to stop and making the spirit core come out. The spirit core was now dimmer than it was before.

Wang Lin looked at it before throwing it back into the reaction furnace. The furnace began to spin again when the spirit core was inside it. His gaze fell onto the next stone room. After opening ten more water mirror doors, his expression became ever more strange.

Wang Lin muttered to himself, "What the hell is the War God Shrine doing? Could this place be a grave?" Every single stone room contained a corpse and nothing else.

Wang Lin looked around and began to ponder. He quickly opened the water mirror doors, checked inside, and then put the spirit cores back to return the water mirror doors to normal. After checking everyone single stone room, he finally found something abnormal.

One corpse was clearly different from all the others. Instead of sitting down, it was floating in the air. Slivers of black gas were coming out of the walls and making their way into the body.

Wang Lin's heart immediately tightened.

This person wasn't dead; there were signs of life on him, and the amount of life in that body would shock anyone.

Wang Lin was about to exit the room when he noticed the black, silk bag under the body. This was obviously a bag of holding. Wang Lin's eyes narrowed after he had looked at it for a bit. After pondering for a while, he didn't act recklessly but instead withdrew his divine sense and backed up.

After backing out of the room, Wang Lin looked toward the reaction furnace. The speed at which the reaction furnace was spinning had slowed down and the spirit core had already melted into a clear liquid. Without a second thought, Wang Lin reached into the liquid.

He grabbed a portion and molded it back into a ball before throwing it back at the first door he had opened. That door immediately returned to the way it was before.

After that, he revealed an undecided expression. That bag of holding appeared to be very different from ones he had seen before. However, this was the War God Shrine's temple. They allowed him to view the Divine Path, so it was really hard to justify taking something from here as well.

If the stone rooms contained refining materials, he wouldn't mind taking some of it, but only this one stone room was different from the rest.

After pondering for a bit, Wang Lin suddenly gained some insight. Could it be that all of the corpses in those stone rooms were in fact used for the person in the abnormal room to cultivate with?

While thinking about this, a thought struck Wang Lin. The black gas going into that person's body was the same as the black gas the corpses were emitting.

Wang Lin's face was filled with terror. He was now convinced that his guess was 80% or 90% correct. This person had to be cultivating some type of technique. He had looked at the more than 100 stone rooms. The corpses inside them must have been prepared for this person to use.

Wang Lin pondered for a bit. He began to suspect that this person was not a member of the War God Shrine. It was likely that the War God Shrine didn't even know this person, or else the red-faced elder wouldn't have been so casual in here, and more importantly, he wouldn't have left Wang Lin in here by himself.

Of course, there was a chance that the red-faced elder had evil intentions, but after thinking about it, Wang Lin's death would bring no benefit to the War God Shrine. There was really no need for all this trouble.

The more he analysed it, the more he was certain of his own speculations. This place must have been the resting place for the War God Shrine's ancestors. For some reason, it attracted this person to cultivate his technique here.

Thinking about this, Wang Lin backed up a few steps. He felt waves of cold air pass by. It was like a pair of eyes had been staring at him these past few days.

But his eyes quickly moved back onto the bag of holding. He spat out a mouthful of spiritual energy and the crystal sword appeared.

The flying sword cut into the bottom right corner of the door and carved out a hole. Wang Lin held his breath. His whole body was tense as he used the attraction force technique to bring the black bag of holding out from the hole.

He didn't look at it as he held it against his chest and immediately backed up. His hand moved very fast to quickly return the spirit core to the door. In the blink of an eye, the door returned to normal. However, there was a not-so-noticeable hole at the bottom right corner.

Wang Lin didn't pause for a moment before quickly exiting the temple. As soon as he came out, he saw the red-faced elder cultivating outside.

The red-faced elder looked at Wang Lin and said, with a deep tone, "You stayed inside for seven days. Did you comprehend it?"

Wang Lin shook his head and bitterly smiled. "The Divine Path is simply too strange. I kept on forgetting what I had read and was unable to comprehend it. Senior, I want to ask, what exactly is in those stone rooms sealed by the water mirror doors? Can you tell me?"

The red-faced old man looked at Wang Lin and said, "All of the ancestors of the War God Shrine are placed in a stone room after they die."

Wang Lin's expression remained the same, but his heart trembled. He was now sure that his guess was correct. He clasped his hands and said, "Junior will no longer bother you anymore. Goodbye!"

The red-faced old man nodded and walked into the temple. The moment the red-faced old man old man walked into the water mirror door, Wang Lin quickly flew out of the mountain.

In the blink of an eye, he left the Hou Fen Union's mountain and saw the old man sitting on top of a cloud. He opened his eyes as Wang Lin got close and snorted. "If you had stayed in there any longer, I would have gone inside to look for you."

Without a word, Wang Lin flew away. The old man moved his body and the clouds quickly dispersed, revealing the gourd underneath him. He quickly followed behind Wang Lin.

Wang Lin stepped onto the gourd and disappeared into the sky along with the old man.

The gourd's speed was very fast. It was even faster than Wang Lin's earth escape technique. They could slowly see the border of Xuan Wu and Hou Fen coming into sight.

Along the way, the two of them didn't say a single word to each other. Wang Lin could feel the bag of holding in his clothes, but he didn't check what was inside it and he didn't use his divine sense to probe it.

After all, the old man was right next to him. If he were to make any unusual movements, there would likely be more problems.

It didn't take long for the gourd to reach the border of Xuan Wu and cross into Hou Fen. One day later, they arrived at the border of the Sea of Devils. The Sea of Devils was completely covered by thick layers of rolling fog. One could sometimes see spirit beasts appearing and disappearing in the fog.

Outside the Sea of Devils, the old man slapped the gourd, causing it to shrink. It land in his hand. Wang Lin jumped off the gourd and landed on the ground. The old man put the gourd away and said, "We are going to wait here for a few days for one more person. Once that person is here, the three of us will go together."

With that, he sat down in the lotus position and closed his eyes.

Wang Lin stared at the Sea of Devils. The layer of fog rolled before him and sent out waves of cold energy. He pondered for a bit before sitting down to cultivate.

Not much time had passed before Wang Lin suddenly opened his eyes. A mysterious scene occurred above the Sea of Devils. Eight rays of purple light suddenly appeared out of thin air. Each ray of light condensed into a wooden pillar, making eight pillars in total. The pillars intersected to form a circular formation. The spiritual energy fluctuations coming from it were so powerful that all of the fog around it was pushed away, revealing the whirlpool underneath.

There were many strange symbols and images carved onto the eight wooden pillars, making them a very shocking sight. There were interconnecting rays of light that formed rings inside the eight wooden pillars. Looking closely, there was total of 49 rings.

The old man opened his eyes, let out a snort, and said, "That is a special teleportation formation from the Corpse Sect. I wonder what made those freaks have the guts to come here."

Wang Lin was very familiar with the Corpse Sect. Even this formation looked familiar. It was the same formation he had seen back in Zhao, only it was many times bigger.

At this moment, the rings of light began to shine one after another until all 49 rings were shining brightly. More than 30 dark figures appeared. Although their spiritual energy was a bit unstable, their eyes all contained a ghostly light. Every single one of them was at least at the late stage of Core Formation, with five of them having reached the Nascent Soul stage.

Aside from the five people at the Nascent Soul stage, everyone else had a black coffin floating behind them.

Zhao Chuanliang was among the five Nascent Soul cultivators. He stood in the center of the formation as his gaze stopped on the old man for a while before moving onto Wang Lin.

He hesitated for a bit before reaching out with his hand. It turned into a giant, black cloud of smoke that reached toward Wang Lin.

Wang Lin sneered. Instead of dodging, he continued to sit there as if nothing was happening. As the black smoke closed in on Wang Lin, he could feel the cold air coming from it. Just as it was about to touch Wang Lin, the old man's face darkened and he waved his right hand. The black smoke disappeared without a trace.

Chapter 165 - Palpitating with Eagerness

The old man grumbled, "This is really troublesome!" He coldly looked up at Zhao Chuanliang and said, "I don't want to kill right now, so scram!" The old man wasn't lying; the mysterious Corpse Sect was more scary to him than rank 4 or 5 cultivation countries.

Unless he had to, he really didn't want to get into a fight with them. What angered him the most was that the fight wasn't even for himself but for a junior that had no relation to him other than him needing to use this brat.

Zhao Chuanliang's pupils shrank as he stared at the old man. That casual wave of the old man's hand was able to destroy his attack. This secretly shocked him. He had already heard about this old man from Hou Fen. The reason he had brought all of the Nascent Soul cultivators from the sect was to prevent this person from acting.

But now it seemed that this person's cultivation level was much higher than he had anticipated. Zhao Chuanliang pondered for a bit and then said, "Senior, this person is connected to an important matter of my Corpse Sect. I have to take him with me today."

The old man secretly sighed. He wondered why this brat was so troublesome. Out of all the people he could have offended, why did this brat have to offend the Corpse Sect? If he had a choice, he would just leave and not get involved in this anymore.

But he had no choice. Offending the Corpse Sect wasn't a big deal if he were successful in that place.

And looking back at that brat Ma Liang's previous actions, the brat was sure that he was going to act. Although he hated this, he couldn't help but admire this brat as well.

Those who cultivated the demonic method were different from normal people. The Eighth Extreme Demon Lord believed that Wang Lin's actions were correct. If it was he himself in that position, he would have done the same thing.

After hearing Zhao Chuanliang's words, the Eighth Extreme Demon Lord frowned. He looked at Wang Lin and asked, in a lukewarm tone, "How did you offend the Corpse Sect?"

Wang Lin looked at the vicious members of the Corpse Sect and calmly said, "I don't know."

Zhao Chuanliang's eyes were like lightning as he stared at Wang Lin and said, "You don't know? You killed Corpse Sect disciples on the Burning Gold mountains and you dare to say you don't know?"

Wang Lin rolled his eyes and said, "I still don't know." With that, he didn't even look at Zhao Chuanliang as he closed his eyes and began to cultivate. However, in his heart, he was prepared to escape into the Sea of Devils with his earth escape technique if the old man decided to not help him.

Zhao Chaunliang sneered. He looked toward the old man and said, "Senior, not only has this person killed disciples of my Corpse Sect, he also captured the soul of a disciple of Tian Gang, Xu Liguo, who came to possess a body. I spent a lot effort and even took a trip to Tian Gang to buy this information from old man Tian Di. This can't be wrong."

The old man's face became a bit ugly as he muttered, "Old man Tian Di…"

"Old man Tian Di's cultivation is very powerful. He was able to find out what happened back then using Xu Liguo's soul lamp. It was this person called Ma Liang who killed my Corpse Sect's disciples and trapped Xu Liguo's soul!" With that, Zhao Chuanliang waved his hand and his body disappeared.

The four Nascent Soul cultivators behind him also disappeared and reappeared before the Eighth Extreme Demon Lord. As for Zhao Chuanliang, he appeared above Wang Lin and quickly threw down a mass of black smoke from his hand. At the same time, the Core Formation cultivators inside the formation began a mysterious chant. The formation immediately expanded at a very quick pace and covered the surrounding 1000 kilometers.

A cold light flashed across the Eighth Extreme Demon Lord's eyes as he quickly split from one to two. This avatar quickly appeared between Zhao Chuanliang and Wang Lin. He opened his mouth and sucked in all the black gas.

"Impudent!" the avatar shouted, as a green gourd suddenly appeared in his hand. With a slap, the cork on the bottle came out and a powerful force came out of the gourd.

Ripples appeared in the air with the mouth of the gourd as the origin and spread wider and wider. Zhao Chuanliang's expression immediately changed as he and the other four Nascent Soul cultivators teleported multiple times to return to the formation.

The old man's eyes were cold. His voice was low as he slowly said, "There are several reasons why I haven't massacred people in a long time, yet a mere early stage Nascent Soul cultivator dares to act so impudently before me. If you harm even a hair on Ma Liang's head today, I, the Eighth Extreme Demon Lord, will go wipe out your Corpse Sect!"

With that, he reached up and formed a giant hand. Like breaking a child's toy, the Corpse Sect's transfer formation was shattered. The energy within it quickly spread out in all directions and disappeared.

Aside from five pale-faced Nascent Soul cultivators who were able to dodge it, all of the Core Formation cultivators were turned to dust by this shock wave along with the coffins behind them.

Zhao Chuanliang's body shivered as he stared at the old man and bitterly said, "Senior's cultivation level is very high, but becoming enemies with the Corpse Sect is not wise! With senior's cultivation, you should have some understanding of our Corpse Sect, but what you understand is only the tip of the iceberg. I once again advise senior to not make an enemy of the Corpse Sect. Even if senior is the city lord of one of the Seven Plum Flower Cities, it would be hard to escape death!"

The Eighth Extreme Demon Lord didn't want to offend the Corpse Sect, so he didn't kill these five. As for those Core Formation cultivators, he checked them with his divine sense to make sure that none of them were being possessed. He killed them all only after he confirmed that they weren't.

The old man frowned and slowly said, "This person is of great use to me. I wouldn't bother protecting him otherwise. You guys should leave. If it wasn't today, I wouldn't be bothered with this."

Wang Lin looked coldly at everything that was happening. Although his expression remained normal when the old man broke the transfer formation, his heart was shocked. This Eighth Extreme Demon Lord was able to break the Hou Fen Union's sect protection formation with one palm and easily crushed the transfer formation of the Corpse Sect. Wang Lin had been wondering what exact cultivation level this old man was at and reached a conclusion that caused him to stop breathing.

In truth, he already had this guess very early on. From when the old man started chasing him in the Sea of Devils, everything this old man had done showed how powerful his cultivation was.

Soul Formation!

This Eighth Extreme Demon Lord's cultivation level was very likely Soul Formation, or else there was no way for him to be able to so easily do what he had done.

After hearing Zhao Chuanliang speak of the Seven Plum Flower Cities of the inner Sea of Devils, Wang Lin recalled that name. His eyes turned to the old man and locked onto the seven plum flower on old man's clothes.

Zhao Chuanliang pondered for a bit before staring coldly at Wang Lin. He slowly said, "Ma Liang, the Corpse Sect is far beyond your imagination. Offending the Corpse Sect is the biggest mistake of your life!" With that, he disappeared.

The four Nascent Soul cultivators also coldly looked at Wang Lin before disappearing.

Wang Lin pondered for a bit. If it wasn't for the Corpse Sect disciples attacking him first with the intent to kill, he wouldn't have killed them. If he had let Xu Liguo go, it would have created a series of problems.

However, the cultivation world runs by the law of the jungle. The Corpse Sect was like a very large and powerful creature. If it said it was your fault, it was your fault. Even if it wasn't your fault, it still was your fault.

Wang Lin took a deep breath. Even though he had already been very careful, he still got into this much trouble. In the end, it was because his cultivation level wasn't high enough. If he had the same cultivation level as the Eighth Extreme Demon Lord, then even if he had killed one person, it wouldn't be such a big deal.

Wang Lin became even more determined to reach the Nascent Soul stage. Whether it was for himself or for returning to Zhao to get revenge on Teng Huayuan, he absolutely had to succeed in reaching the Nascent Soul stage, or everything he wanted to do would just be dream.

The Eighth Extreme Demon Lord turned toward Wang Lin and gloomily said, "Little guy, this is the second time I have helped you. No matter what misunderstanding we have, this should be more than enough to make up for it. I hope that when we go in, you won't try any unnecessary scheming!"

The Eighth Extreme Demon Lord now had some understanding of Wang Lin's schemes from these days with Wang Lin and the time he had spent chasing him. This Ma Liang was a good seed for demonic cultivation. He easily guessed what had happened after hearing about the matter from Zhao Chuanliang. This brat was very ruthless and bold.

In the Sea of Devils, the brat dared to move around openly with the kill order. He used the kill order to draw people to him in order to kill them until they ran away scared. It could be said that this person was very decisive and ruthless.

When he chased him out of the Sea of Devils, the brat dared to leave a flying sword to ambush him, which even drew blood. This showed just how bold this person was.

If those were the only things, then he wouldn't really be much, but this person even borrowed someone's power to force the War God Shrine to let him see the Divine Path. This person was a true schemer.

Just now, when Zhao Chuanliang attacked him, he was able to not even bat an eye. He didn't show a hint of panic. This showed just how calm and determined he was.

In addition to all of this, the Eighth Extreme Demon Lord remembered that it took him three years to finally trap this person. In the end, the only words the old man had that could describe him was "as sly as a fox."

This person was ruthless, bold, and decisive. He was also very brave, cunning, determined, and as sly as a fox.

Even the Eighth Extreme Demon Lord became tempted after carefully analysing the situation. He stared at Wang Lin as one thought entered his mind.

Chapter 166 - Ancient Transfer Array

But just as the idea appeared, it disappeared. He secretly sighed in regret. If it wasn't for the fact that they needed to enter that place, he would have taken him as an inner disciple. However, whether or not the kid would still be alive in the end was still up for debate.

At this moment, his expression suddenly changed as he raised his head and looked into the distance. Wang Lin immediately noticed an unnatural spiritual energy fluctuation coming in from the distance. This fluctuation was very mild, but it was also filled with a sense of power.

He saw a scholarly person wearing a grey robe with a square bandana on his head coming in from the distance. This person's face was as white as snow and hints of coldness could be seen in his eyes.

His body moved like a willow swaying in the wind as he descended from the sky. He waved his hand and calmly said, "Duanmu Ji, was my earth boat useful?"

Wang Lin's pupils shrank. He wasn't able to see through this person's cultivation just like he couldn't see through Eighth Extreme Demon Lord's. Seeing how he talked to Eighth Extreme Demon Lord as equals, their cultivation levels must've been similar.

Eighth Extreme Demon Lord Duanmu Ji snorted as he took out the earth boat and threw it at him. He said, "As useful as a fart! You consider this broken thing a treasure? I wouldn't even want it if you gave it to me for free."

The grey-robed scholar caught the earth boat with his right hand and put it away. His gaze fell on Wang Lin as he calmly asked, "Why is there a Core Formation junior?"

Duanmu Ji rolled his eyes and said, "I obviously have a use for him. Let's go. That place is about to open." With that, he threw out the gourd, which immediately expanded. With one step, he jumped onto the gourd.

Wang Lin looked at the grey-robed scholar before taking a step and jumping onto the gourd. He was very cautious because ever since the grey-robed scholar arrived, his divine sense had been scanning Wang Lin.

Just at this moment, he suddenly heard a voice transmission from Duanmu Ji. "This person is Wang Qingyue. He is a messenger sent by the Yin and Yang Sect from a rank 4 cultivation country. His cultivation is terrifying, so don't anger him."

Wang Lin's expression remained the same, but he became even more vigilant in his heart. The three of them quickly charged into the Sea of Devils. Wang Lin coldly observed Wang Qingyue the whole time. He didn't have any treasure under his feet, but he was moving as fast as the gourd. The fog three feet in front of him would automatically move to the sides.

Not long after, the three of them were deep inside the Sea of Devils. Nan Dou city quickly appeared before them, but the three of them didn't stop there.

Along the way, the face of any cultivator who saw the three of them would immediately change. Some of them seemed to recognize the gourd and would respectfully stand to the side. Only after the gourd disappeared did they dare to move.

Wang Qingyue's expression remained calm. As he flew, he slowly said, "Eighth Extreme Demon Lord's reputation is not bad. There are even people in the outer sea that recognize you."

The three of them were moving very fast, but the words clearly entered everyone's ears. The old man Duanmu Ji glanced over and said, "If we were in the inner sea, then there would be even more people that know me. If you saw that, would you want to say even more insults?"

Wang Qingyue chuckled as his gaze swept past Wang Lin and he said to Duanmu Ji, "You're taking a Core Formation cultivator into that place. Aren't you asking him to die?"

Duanmu Ji blandly said, "Don't underestimate this guy. He knows the death spell, which can be very useful in the third realm!"

Wang Qingyue was stunned, but soon his eyes shined like they had never shined before. He revealed a very strange smile as he stared at Wang Lin. Soon, the light in his eyes disappeared as he shook his head. "Regrettable. If you were at the Nascent Soul stage, I would have liked to have a fight with you."

Wang Lin remained silent.

Wang Qingyue stared at Duanmu Ji and suddenly said, "Duanmu Ji, when you went there 1000 years ago, you must have gotten some treasures. Why else would you want to go back so badly? Where exactly is that place? Is the thing you talked about really there?"

Duanmu Ji pondered for a bit before saying, "I got this gourd for that place. Wang Qingyu, I can only tell you this much: once you are there, you will naturally know. Sorry."

Wang Qingyu looked at the gourd without displaying any abnormal expression. After that, he silently followed Duanmu Ji. The three of them flew at a very high speed. In the blink of an eye, one month passed.

During this one month of time, the three of them never stopped once. Along the way, Wang Lin saw a total of four cities. Each city had more cultivators then the last. These cities were much more developed than Nan Dou City.

On this day, a very large mountain range with no end in sight appeared before them. Duanmu Ji hit the gourd and quickly flew toward the mountain range.

Soon, he went around the mountain peak and arrived in a valley inside the mountain. The valley was very quiet without any signs of life.

Duanmu Ji was very familiar with this place. They soon arrived at the center of the valley. He jumped off the gourd and formed a seal with his hand. A strange wind appeared and cleared out everything in the surrounding area, creating an opening.

Wang Lin jumped down from the gourd and immediately saw a circular formation in the clearing. There were countless symbols carved on this formation that released an ancient aura.

After Wang Qingyue saw the formation, he revealed a strange expression and thoughtfully looked at Duanmu Ji.

Duanmu Ji slapped his bag of holding. He carefully took out a spirit stone that released a milky white light. He revealed a sad expression as he placed it into the groove in the formation.

Duanmu muttered, "This damn formation is made to eat spirit stones. After the transfer is complete, this top quality spirit stone will be destroyed."

Wang Qingyue's eyes shined again as he stared at the spirit stone and asked, "Duanmu Ji, that top quality spirit stone is also from… that place?"

Duanmu Ji grumpily said, as he messed with the formation, "That is correct. Back then, I was able to obtain three pieces, or else it would be impossible to enter that place. Only this ancient formation can take us there. Back then, me and some old friends searched through ancient texts and spent 1000 years to find this place. Then we used a lot of spirit stones and materials to exchange for a few top quality spirit stones from Suzaku in order to enter."

Wang Qingyue stared at the top quality spirit stone and said, "Top quality spirit stone… top quality spirit stones are very rare everywhere in this planet. Rumor has it that it is the main currency used to do business between planets. If that place really has top quality spirit stones, then even if there is no Soul Transformation pill, it is still worth exploring it."

Duanmu Ji stared at Wang Lin and muttered, "This transfer array is not what you imagine it to be. It does not take us directly there but to the Chaotic Broken Stars in the Sea of Devils. Once we are there, we will meet with a few friends and go inside together. Otherwise, it would take too long to fly there. Without one hundred years, it would be impossible to make it there in time. Not to mention the dangers outside the Broken Stars, just the red mist between the outer and inner seas is bad enough. With our cultivation levels, just being careful is enough, but this kid will die for sure. Why else do you think I would be so wasteful as to use a top quality spirit stone to rush there?"

Duanmu Ji formed a few seals with his hand and sent it to the transfer array. The top quality spirit stone at the center of the formation began to shine. Shortly after, the countless symbols on the formation began to light up. When all of the symbols were lit up, the top quality spirit stone shattered.

The entire transfer array suddenly began to move as it released a large amount of spiritual energy. This spiritual energy almost became solid as it moved like the wind, moving the fog along with it. Soon, a giant vortex of spiritual energy appeared. The vortex became larger and larger.

Such a shocking scene caused Wang Lin to take a deep breath as he stared at the groove in the center of the transfer array. The top quality spirit stone had already turned to dust and was blown away by the wind.

However, the spiritual energy inside the top quality spirit stone tempted Wang Lin. Not even tens of thousands of high quality spirit stones could match this amount of spiritual energy. They weren't even on the same level.

Duanmu Ji moved next to Wang Lin and said, "Go inside!"

Wang Lin sneered in his heart as he saw through Duanmu Ji's thoughts. He must've been afraid that there might be a problem if he let Wang Lin go last. Wang Lin silently walked through the vortex and stood at the center of the array.

Duanmu Ji quickly walked into the array as well. The last one was Wang Qingyue. He carefully checked it before walking in.

Shortly after, the vortex suddenly paused. Then it all came crashing down, causing the whole mountain to shake. The three of them inside the formation suddenly disappeared.

It took a long time for the place to return to normal. The fog that was pushed aside slowly surrounded the area again.

The Sea of Devils was very large. Between the inner and outsider seas, there was a zone of red mist. If one didn't have a high enough cultivation level, their body would decay the moment they come into contact with the red mist. Their soul would also not be able to escape and would be forever trapped within the red mist.

This red mist was a natural barrier between the inner and outer seas. The barrier was only passable for one day when the fog turns into sea.

Most cultivators that wished to enter or leave the inner sea would choose to quickly pass through on that day.

The inner sea was filled with powerful cultivators. Many infamous demonic cultivators lived in the inner sea.

The inner sea was also very large. If one were to fly, it would take at least 100 years to cross it. To the extreme north of the inner sea, there was a plain called the Chaotic Broken Stars.

This was the one place in the Sea of Devils that was never affected when the fog became sea. There was a ring of mysterious broken stones that created a natural barrier around the area.

Chapter 167 - Gathering of Devils

There was a mysterious force holding these shattered rocks in place. This 1000 foot wide area was what gave this place the name "Chaotic Broken Stars."

This was also considered a dead zone. If someone at the Nascent Soul stage wanted to get through the red mist by force without waiting for that one day, then out of ten people, a few would still succeed.

However, if they wanted to get through the Chaotic Broken Stars by force, then out of the ten of them, all of them would die. This was considered one of the most dangerous places in the Sea of Devils.

Legend had it that this place existed before all of the water in the Sea of Devil became fog. Throughout the countless years, many cultivators wanted to go inside but were forced to give up. Even those that had successfully entered never came back out.

Even the rank 5 cultivation countries found it hard to send people here due to how chaotic the area was. Also, no one knew exactly what was inside, so if they were to spend all this effort only to find nothing inside, it really wouldn't be worth it.

As time passed, fewer and fewer cultivators wanted to go inside.

However, this situation changed 10,000 years ago. A powerful cultivator from the only rank 6 cultivation country in Suzaku came. He had challenged countless powerful cultivators and none of them were a match for him. In the end, he entered the chaotic broken stars, but he was never heard from again.

Ten years later, Suzaku sent countless experts to the Sea of Devils to seal the Chaotic Broken Stars. They announced that anyone who dared to enter would be killed without mercy.

As a result, this place became a forbidden area. Although the fear had died down after all these years, there were still no cultivators within 10,000 kilometers of it.

On this day, in a dark valley outside the Chaotic Broken Stars, a giant vortex appeared. This vortex continued to grow until an opening appeared on the ground. There was a very ancient transfery array on the ground that began shine. It shined brighter and brighter until three figures appeared within it.

The moment Wang Lin appeared in the transfer array, the first thing he saw was the circular area with rocks floating around. Stones of various sizes connected by threads of purple lightning moved in a circular motion.

From a distance, that area was 1000 feet wide with no end in sight.

This was also the first time Wang Qingyue had been here. His eyes shined as he stared at the Chaotic Broken Stars and asked, "This place is the Chaotic Broken Stars?"

Duanmu Ji looked over with regret. After a long time, he slowly said, "Yes, this is the place. After 1000 years, there is no change at all."

Wang Qingyue's eyes shined as he licked his lips and said, "Rumor has it that 10,000 years ago, Suzaku's number one expert disappeared in the Chaotic Broken Stars. I want to see what's so mysterious about this place."

Wang Lin pondered for a bit before saying to Duanmu Ji, "The place senior talked about is inside this Chaotic Broken Stars?"

Duanmu Ji nodded as he looked toward the Chaotic Broken Stars. He revealed a worried expression as he said, "That area of broken rocks contains a mysterious force. Once you have entered the area, the mysterious force will enter your body. Those broken rocks will use an extraordinary power to create an avatar exactly the same as you. This avatar will also be one level above you in cultivation. No matter what method you use to suppress your cultivation, it won't work. Once the avatar appears, you must defeat it to move 500 feet. Once you pass those 500 feet, two more avatars will appear. Only by defeating them can you pass through the Chaotic Broken Stars."

Wang Lin raised his head and looked up. Duanmu Ji seemed to know what Wang Lin was thinking and said, "Although you can avoid the rocks by flying above or below, the avatars will still appear, and it will be ten at a time.

Wang Lin stared at the area and silently pondered.

Wang Qingyue stared at it for a while before his eyes shined and he let out a cruel smile. He said, "Such an interesting place. I have to go check it out for myself!" With that, his body disappeared and reappeared outside the Chaotic Broken Stars. Without any hesitation, he stepped inside.

Wang Lin became focused as he carefully looked over without even blinking once. He only saw that right when Wang Qingyue entered, some of the broken rocks gathered together and formed a net of purple lightning. Inside the net of purple lightning, an avatar that looked exactly the same as Wang Qingyue appeared.

Even the smile on their faces were exactly the same. Without a word, the avatar charged forward and the sounds of fighting echoed from where the two were.

Duanmu Ji snorted. "It won't be long before he comes back. How do you fight an avatar that is one level above you?"

Wang Lin pondered for a bit and suddenly asked, "How did you guys enter last time?"

Duanmu Ji pointed at the transfer array and said, "Through that! We had a transfer array expert last time. We had obtained some inheritance item from the Chaotic Broken Stars which documented a method to create the transfer array to go inside. Only by using ten top-quality spirit stones did we manage to enter."

Wang Lin slightly frowned and asked, "What exactly is inside the Chaotic Broken Stars?"

Duanmu Ji looked at Wang Lin before waving his hand and taking back the divine sense mark he had left on him. He slowly said, "Forget it. Since we are already here, it's fine to tell you. From the recording we found, the corpse of an ancient god is inside the Chaotic Broken Stars."

Wang Lin was startled. "Ancient god?"

"Ancient god is an existence similar to the ancient celestial cultivators, and even more powerful than the ancient celestial cultivators in some regards!" This wasn't said by Duanmu Ji. It was an old man in black who had suddenly arrived next to Duanmu Ji.

The old man was very tall and skinny. His long, white beard flowed in the wind and his face was filled with the air of an immortal. With the whisk in his hand, he really did look like an immortal. He had a friendly expression as he smiled and nodded at Wang Lin. "Little friend, the power of the ancient god has already broken past our realm of comprehension and reached an unimagined limit. It has to be said that the time when ancient gods were alive was even before the ancient cultivation world."

Wang Lin's expression remained calm, but he was very cautious on the inside. Although this person looked friendly, he had a vague feeling that this person's cultivation level was even higher than Duanmu Ji's.

The old man finished speaking and waved the whisk in his hand with a smile on his face. However, that smile contained a sliver of malice.

Wang Lin had been on guard the whole time. When the old man waved the whisk, he felt a powerful sense of danger. He didn't hesitate to quickly back up. He slapped his bag of holding to take out a large amount of charms. All of these charms were defensive types.

A series of crackling sounds could be heard as all those charms shattered.

At the same time, Duanmu Ji took a step forward and stood between Wang Lin and the old man. A half-circle black light screen appeared. It negated the attack from the whisk. The light screen wavered as Duanmu Ji looked at the old man with a serious expression that Wang Lin had never seen before. He said, word for word, "Ancient Emperor, this kid is very important for getting past the third realm. Don't mess around!"

After Ancient Emperor heard those words, he didn't act, but the smile on his face slowly disappeared. The air of a celestial completely disappeared and now he looked much more frightening as he calmly asked, "Are you sure?"

Duanmu Ji nodded and said, "He knows the death spell!"

Ancient Emperor looked at Wang Lin before turning and walking to the side. He stopped 30 feet from then and silently looked toward the Chaotic Broken Stars.

Wang Lin's expression was very gloomy. This Ancient Emperor was clearly a madman. One moment he talks to you in a friendly tone and the next moment he attacks you, revealing his ugly nature.

Duanmu Ji stood beside Wang Lin and sent a voice transmission saying, "He is called Gun Lan, but we all call him Ancient Emperor. This person's cultivation is very powerful; even I have no confidence in taking him on. He pretends to be a righteous person, but he's actually ruthless. He has slaughtered countless people and is just a madman. He is a very famous demon in the Sea of Devils."

Wang Lin was very sullen as he looked at the Ancient Emperor and then at Wang Qingyue, who was having fun fighting his own avatar while occasionally letting out bloodthirsty growls. He felt his heart become heavy.

Ancient Emperor was a madman and this Wang Qingyue was crazy. Only Duanmu Ji seemed normal.

Duanmu Ji's expression slightly changed as he whispered, "Another one has arrived.

From the edge of the sky came a dragon boat. On the boat stood a very handsome man, but his lips were a bit thin, revealing a sense of ruthlessness. His hands were behind his back and his head was held up high. He was wearing bright red clothes with golden threads embroidered on them. His long, black hair was scattered behind him and moved with the wind.

Beside him stood a person. This person was very young; he looked to be about 20 or so years old. This young man looked plain, but a red light would occasionally appear in his eyes. After the dragon boat got close, the man in red jumped down and the young man behind him quickly followed.

Wang Lin examined the man in red. This person gave off a cold aura. This coldness pierced the bones like a piece of never-melting ice.

After the man in red landed, he coldly looked around. His gaze stopped on Wang Qingyue, who was inside the Chaotic Broken Stars, then he glanced at Wang Lin before turning to Duanmu Ji. His voice was as cold as ice. "How festive!"

Duanmu Ji laughed and said, "Six Desire Devil Lord, I haven't seen you in 100 years. It seems your cultivation level has increased!" With that, his mouth slightly moved as he sent a voice transmission to the man in red. Six Desire Devil Lord listened until he suddenly became startled and turned his gaze toward Wang Lin. After looking for a while, he said, "Little brother, if you can get us past the third realm, then I, Xu Liqing, promise your safety!"

Just as he finished speaking, the expression of the young man behind him changed. The gaze he had toward Wang Lin gradually turned hostile.

Wang Lin clasped his hands and said, "Many thanks!"

The man in red nodded before withdrawing his gaze and said to Duanmu Ji, "The only one left is Hunchback Meng. I heard that he offended the Giant Demon Clan 300 years ago and was being chased by ten of the battle demons. I don't know if he is still alive or not."

Chapter 168 - Land of the Ancient God

"Even if old hunchback dies, he will drag the entire Giant Demon Clan with him!" A hoarse voice came from the sky. In the horizon, a giant, green toad slowly came closer.

The toad landed on the ground far away, causing the earth to shake. Even though Wang Lin was very far away, he could still feel the ground shake. Shortly after, that toad kicked with its hind legs and disappeared from sight. When it appeared again, it was already close by.

The toad descended from the sky like a small mountain falling down. It landed about 100 feet away from them, creating a shockwave that sent the fog in all directions.

After the fog was pushed apart, it revealed the giant toad. There were countless pustules on the toad's body, each one slowly moving, and every one of them emitted a powerful spiritual energy fluctuation.

As the toad's eyes moved, it revealed a powerful desire for blood. There was a person sitting on the back of the toad. He was wearing a green robe and was very short. His back bulged out like a hunchback. His eyes were triangular, his chin was sharp, and his mouth was like a monkey's.

He touched the pustule on his face as he laughed and said, with a hoarse voice, "Those old guys from the Giant Demon Clan that chased me for more than 300 years were all poisoned to death by me. If it wasn't for the fact that the 1000 year time limit was coming up and this place was about to open, I would have gone to the Giant Demon Clan for revenge."

With that, he took a step on top of the toad. The toad seemed to know what he wanted as it stuck out its blood-red tongue and touched the ground with it. The hunchback walked down the tongue toward the ground. As he walked, he would sometimes cough.

After he landed, he casually waved his right hand and the giant toad quickly shrank until it was the size of his palm. It then jumped onto his shoulder. Its stomach rapidly expanded and shrank while it crocked.

When he landed on the ground, everything within three feet of him immediately began to sizzle and a stream of black gas rose from the ground.

Wang Lin calmly retreated a few a steps as he coldly observed the person. This person used poison, so his caution was raised by another level.

Six Desire Devil Lord Xu Liqing frowned and said, "I haven't seen you in 1000 years. Why is that poisonous stink on you even worse now?"

The old hunchback rolled his eyes and said, "Others might be afraid of your six desire spell, but I'm not. One thousand years ago, we fought to a stalemate. Could it be that you want to fight again?" With that, he touched the toad on his shoulder and creepily laughed.

Six Desire Devil Lord coldly stared at the hunchback. Soon, the spiritual energy between them began to go crazy, but the fluctuations soon calmed down as the two withdrew their spiritual energy.

Just at this moment, Ancient Emperor, who had been looking coldly from the side, suddenly said, "Looks like everyone is here. I have stolen the Icy Wind Shield from a rank 4 cultivation country. It should help us finish more than half of the first trial."

Six Desire Devil Lord coldly said, "I'll deal with the second half of the first trial."

Hunchback Meng touched the pustule on his face and said, with a hoarse voice, "Just watch this old man for the second trial."

Duanmu Ji looked toward Wang Qingyue and said, "That person is Wang Qingyue. He knows the five element escape technique, which is useful to us. This little friend knows the death spell. The third trial's divine sense attack will depend on him."

Hunchback Meng's foggy eyes swept past Wang Lin, but he didn't say a word.

Six Desire Devil Lord's hand formed mysterious seals as he walked toward the transfer array. After sending out several seals, the entire formation began to shatter from the inside. Bursts of green gas came from the transfer array until no more came out and the array was completely shattered. Then his body disappeared as he began to walk through the shattered array.

Every time he took a step, he would leave a trace of spiritual energy on the ground. He began to move faster and faster and more and more traces of spiritual energy were left on the ground. Finally, he began to leave behind afterimages. Now it looked like there were several people walking around the array.

After a short period of time, all of the afterimages disappeared. Only the original body remained at the center of the array. Then his hand began to move, taking out a lot of precious materials. Finally, he spat out a purple flame. All of those materials melted when they were touched by the fire.

Six Desire Devil Lord pointed with this finger. The liquids of various colors began to move and entered the array in a certain order. When the final liquid entered the array, it began to rumble.

A different transfer array appeared where the old one was. This one contained at least double the number of symbols the previous one had, plus ten pillars of light that shot into the sky.

One by one, disembodied creatures let out silent screams as they moved within the pillars of light. Six Desire Devil Lord took a deep breath and shouted, "The transfer array has been opened. Quickly toss over the top quality spirit stones that we agreed upon. I will use four pieces this time."

With that, four top quality spirit stones appeared from his bag of holding. The four stones each flew into one of the pillars and stayed in place.

This change attracted the attention of Wang Qingyue, who was still fighting with his own avatar. He was losing the fight at the moment. The avatar's endless attacks, along with it being one level higher than him, meant that he could die if he made one mistake, causing him to be in a sorry state. He was pushed out of the Chaotic Broken Stars many times, but the more he fought, the more his eyes lit up, and the bloodlust in his eyes became even stronger.

After seeing the change in the transfer array, he began to hesitate and backed out of the Chaotic Broken Stars. He arrived next to Duanmu Ji as he stared at the four top quality spirit stones. A hint of greed flashed across his eyes.

After he returned, his avatar slowly faded away and returned to rocks that slowly rotated around the area.

Wang Lin also stared at the top quality spirit stones with temptation in his eyes. The Sea of Devils was very large. If not for the ancient transfer arrays allowing people to teleport across it, it would take too long to travel through it. It was also filled with danger.

However, the only way to use these ancient transfer arrays was to have top quality spirit stones. Since top quality spirit stones were so rare, all of the ancient transfer arrays in the Sea of Devils were in a state of disrepair, and many of them were completely useless.

At this moment, Ancient Emperor took out two top quality spirit stones and looked at them with great importance. Then he threw them toward the pillars of light, where they remained unmoving.

Duanmu Ji clenched his teeth as he took out his last two top quality spirit stones from his bag of holding. His heart ached as he threw them toward the light. Of the ten pillars, eight of them had top quality spirit stones.

The last person was Hunchback Meng. He patted the toad on his shoulder. The toad's belly expanded as it spat two things into the light pillars.

At this moment, all ten pillars had top quality spirit stones in them. The light pillars suddenly disappeared. All of the light had gathered on the top quality spirit stones.

These ten spirit stones were shining like ten bright suns. They slowly descended onto the transfer array, causing it to slowly spin.

Six Desire Devil Lord revealed a look of excitement as he shouted, "1000 years ago, more than 100 of us entered, but we didn't even really get to enter the inner area. Just the restrictions on the outside made us struggle, and we were forced to retreat on the third trial, which only the four of us managed to survive through luck. 1000 years later, all of our cultivation levels have increased quite a bit. We must break through the restrictions and see what's inside!"

Even Ancient Emperor's eyes couldn't help but sparkle as he stepped into the transfer array.

Behind him was Hunchback Meng, Duanmu Ji, and the young man who came with Six Desire Devil Lord. As for Wang Qingyue, he pondered a bit before walking into the array. Wang Lin lowered his head. His eyes sparkled as he walked in.

After all seven of them had entered the transfer array, Six Desire Devil Lord let out a roar and the array began to move. The ten top quality spirit stones shattered, creating a powerful surge of spiritual energy. All of the surrounding mountains turned to dust and even the Chaotic Broken Stars shook.

It took a very long time before the spiritual energy dissipated. The transfer array was completely broken and unable to be used again.

There was a plain inside the Chaotic Broken Stars, and in the sky above the plain was an oval-shaped ring of light. The inside of the ring was completely dark.

Below the ring was a transfer array. At this moment, the transfer array started shining, and seven figures appeared.

Ancient Emperor was the first to walk out. He stared at the oval-shaped ring in the sky with a hint of obsession. He jumped up and appeared next to the ring of light before circling around it for a bit. He said, "It seems that no one else has come here in these past 1000 years. The seal we left is still intact."

With that, he opened his arms and moved around before the ring. Every now and then, there would be black slivers that came out and entered his hand.

Wang Lin could clearly feel Duanmu Ji, Six Desire Devil Lord, and Hunchback Meng let out a breath of relief after hearing those words.

He looked around and saw that the plain inside the Chaotic Broken Stars was completely empty. It looked endless and was covered by a similarly endless dark sky. Wang Lin understood that this was some kind of powerful restriction.

There was complete silence in this plain without any signs of activity.

Six Desire Devil Lord looked at Wang Qingyue and Wang Lin before saying, in a heavy tone, "Welcome to the Chaotic Broken Stars. No matter if Duanmu has talked to you two about this place before, I must emphasize again."

"After passing through the oval ring, you will enter a mysterious space. According to the information we got from an inheritance, the corpse of an ancient god is there. The ancient gods' power came from their bodies, so their bodies were extremely large. Even the weakest ancient god was at least the size of planet Suzaku. I can tell you that this ancient god is a fully grown adult. Its size is like countless planet Suzakus."

"The reason why there are countless treasures inside is because although the ancient god is dead, its divine sense is not destroyed but remains in a hibernating state. If we can get inside and obtain its memory, then any technique from its memories will be an unimaginably powerful technique today."

"As for magic treasures, because none of the magic treasures used by the ancient gods can fit inside a bag of holding, all of them are held within its body. If you are lucky, you will be able to find one."

"There are also pills. The ancient god's cultivation requires pills, and the things they consume are far more valuable then we can ever imagine. However, they don't absorb 100% of the pills, so some of the remains are stored in their bodies. Our goal this time is the Soul Transformation Pill, which can be found inside the ancient god's veins."

Wang Qingyue's eyes lit up as he stared at the oval ring in the sky and began to ponder.

Hunchback Meng touched the pustule on his face and said, "Six Desire, Duanmu, this won't matter if we can't break through the restriction, but if we do manage to break through, how will we split the items?"

Six Desire Devil Lord looked at Wang Qingyue and said, "As for items, they will be distributed equally, but if there is a Soul Transformation Pill, then let our skills decide."

Duanmu Ji let out a sly chuckle and said, "It is a bit too early to talk about this matter. It won't be too late to decide once we break the restriction."

Hunchback Meng's gaze landed on the young man following Six Desire Devil Lord. He said, "I wonder what this little friend will do to help us break through the restriction?"

Six Desire Devil Lord looked at Wang Lin and coldly said, "Same as him; this person will be of use in the third trial. This person is a cultivator from the rank 3 cultivation country Tian Zhu. He is good at ghost techniques that might be useful against the creatures inside the third trial. I spent quite a few years to find him."

"So it's like that, hehe… the third trial. Back then, we were stopped at the third trial. I hope we can break through that trial this time!" Hunchback Meng let out a strange smile as his gaze swept between Wang Lin and that young man.

Ancient Emperor, who was in front of the oval, began to move his arms even faster, causing black slivers to appear like rain. His expression became serious as he closed his hand and pushed forward. Suddenly, countless black slivers came out from the ring. They gathered and formed the shape of a dragon. It let out a roar before shrinking down and landing in Ancient Emperor's palm.

"It is ready. Come in!" Ancient Emperor took a deep breath. After putting away the dragon, he took out two jade bracelets. The larger bracelet was red while and the smaller bracelet was grey.

Holding the two bracelets, Ancient Emperor hesitated for a bit before stepping into the ring and disappearing.

Six Desire Devil Lord's eyes narrowed as he grabbed the young man and jumped in. Wang Qingyue licked his lips and followed in.

The last two remaining were Duanmu Ji and Hunchback Meng. After they looked at each other, they turned to Wang Lin. Without a word, Wang Lin flew into the air and stopped before the ring of light. He extended his hand to Duanmu Ji and said, "Since I have arrived at this place, I hope senior can keep his promise."

Duanmu Ji laughed and said, "There is no rush. Once we have broken past the third trial, I'll naturally give it to you."

Wang Lin coldly looked at him and didn't say a word.

Hunchback Meng let out a sly chuckled as he watched them. He was done watching the two of them, so he walked past Duanmu Ji and into the ring.

Duanmu Ji stared at Wang Lin. He pondered for a bit before taking out two pills and threw them at Wang Lin. He said, with a heavy tone, "Take them!"

Wang Lin caught them and examined them. They were indeed as Li Muwan had described. The smaller one was the earth transformation pill and the larger one was the Nascent Forming pill.

After carefully putting them away, Wang Lin walked into the ring without a word. When he entered, he felt like he had walked through a thin film.

The scene before him made him suck in a breath of cold air and stare at what was before him dumbfoundedly.

This place was very similar to the world of decay. It was also a place of endless darkness. The only difference was that there were countless large, stone pillars here. These stone pillars were being kept afloat by a mysterious force and were slowly moving forward.

Wang Lin was standing on one of the stone pillars. The top of the pillar was 300 feet wide and he was the only one on it.

Under the stone pillar was endless void.

He looked around and saw that everyone who had entered was just like him. Everyone was standing on a stone pillar by themselves.

From Wang Lin's observation, he could see that Duanmu Ji, Six Desire Devil Lord, Hunchback Meng, and Ancient Emperor were very calm. Wang Qingyue was pondering as he looked over the edge of the pillar into the void.

Finally, there was the young man. He was sitting on the stone pillar as he stared dumbfoundedly at the surroundings with shock in his eyes.

Wang Lin took a deep breath and slowly spread out his divine sense. There was no force stopping his divine sense, but considering the powerful old monsters around him, he didn't spread it out too far. He only covered the stone pillar he was on and stopped.

At this moment, Six Desire Devil Lord's voice came in from the distance. "There are no dangers here as it is just a passageway. You only need to remain on the stone pillar."

After Wang Lin heard this, he sat down and looked at the stone pillars slowly moving forward. He noticed that no one was paying attention to him, so he put his hand into his shirt and touched the bag of holding he had gotten at the Hou Fen Union.

His divine sense entered the bag but there was no reaction. Wang Lin was startled, but it was not the time to test it, so he slowly withdrew his right hand and looked at his surroundings.

Wang Qingyue, who had been looking over the edge of the stone pillar, suddenly shouted, "What is that?"

In the endless void below them, two bright lamps suddenly lit up. These two lamps were several feet wide. Wang Lin spread out his divine sense and found that they weren't lamps at all but a pair of eyes.

Shortly after, the pair of eyes disappeared but soon reappeared, only this time they were even larger. Hunchback Meng walked to the edge of his pillar and looked down with a gloomy expression. He waved his right hand and blue powder fell down from his palm. As the blue powder descended, it released a ghostly light. The more it descended, the brighter the ghostly light became, and when it finally landed on the pair of eyes, a scene that caused everyone to suck in a breath of cold air unfolded.

The creature below was a very large, snake-like creature. Its size was impossible to estimate. With just what was shown by the ghostly light, it was at least 10,000 feet long and at least 1000 feet wide. A body covered in a reddish-purple shined under the ghostly light.

There were nine horns on its big head, and when it opened its mouth, the sharpness of its teeth would cause anyone to shiver.

Hunchback Meng's expression became very ugly as he waved his hand. The light immediately disappeared and the darkness covered the area again.

Hunchback Meng pondered for a bit before slowly saying, "At the weakest, it is a desolate beast, which is the same as a peak late stage Soul Formation cultivator!"

Six Desire Devil Lord's expression was gloomy as he calmly said, "Don't anger it. We were able to pass safely last time, so as long as we don't anger it, it should be fine."

Just as he finished speaking, a roar came from below him. The pair of eyes became larger and larger as a curtain of foul smell came towards him.

Everyone immediately stood up. Hunchback Meng quickly took out several pills and threw them out. He shouted, "Holding them in your mouths will prevent the poison from killing you."

Six Desire Devil Lord jumped and arrived next to the young man he had brought with him. He grabbed the young man, caught the pill, and quickly escaped into the distance.

At the same time, Duanmu Ji looked toward Wang Lin. When he saw that Wang Lin's expression was calm, he hesitated a bit before sending a voice transmission saying, "Follow me!" With that, he quickly flew into the distance.

Wang Lin caught Hunchback Meng's pill, but he didn't immediately take it. He looked around and after seeing everyone else take them, he put it into his mouth as he jumped into the air.

Everyone quickly escaped by jumping from one stone pillar to the next. The pillars seemed to go on endlessly. Wang Lin stayed close behind Duanmu Ji. The roar from below became louder and louder and the surrounding stone pillars seemed to tremble.

At this moment, one of the stone pillars behind them shattered as the snake's head smashed into it. After the pillar shattered, the giant head came up, revealing its cold gaze.

A wave of fishy smell came from behind them. Wang Lin held the pill in his mouth as he jumped as quickly as he could behind everyone. As for the abnormality behind them, no one but the young man turned back to look. Everyone else was focused entirely on moving forward.

As a result, everyone was traveling at top speed. The fastest person was Wang Qingyue, who knew the five element escape technique. This person was half transparent and flew in a different arc than everyone else. He flew straight ahead, and whenever there was a stone pillar blocking him, he would charge right toward it. His body would disappear the moment he touched a pillar and reappear on the other side.

The snake-like desolate beast coldly stared at the people jumping before it. After letting out waves of roars, it raised its body immediately, revealing its more than 10,000 feet length, and slammed down.

Chapter 169 - Obtaining the Marrow

It was like the sky was collapsing upon them due to a powerful gust of wind descending from above. Without a word, Wang Lin slapped his bag of holding and took out countless defensive charms. He had a lot of these charms to spare. After killing so many people and stealing their stuff, he had countless low quality charms and treasures.

These charms formed countless light screens around him. Then, at the moment the wind descended, he jumped to the side.

At the same time, Six Desire Devil Lord and Ancient Emperor stopped moving. The two of them didn't say any useless words to each other. Ancient Emperor had a very serious expression as he threw out an ancient bell. The moment the ancient bell appeared, it immediately became large and began to wave back and forth. As the bell rang, it sent shockwaves out, causing the surrounding stone pillars to shatter.

The snake who was descending from the sky twisted its body to turn and landed head first into the shockwave. It immediately let out a roar and spat out black smoke.

This black smoke was very powerful; the moment the surrounding stone pillars touched it, they would turn into black dust and disappear.

The black smoke that was spat out by the snake was dealt with by Hunchback Meng. He touched one of the pustules on his face and popped it. A very powerful stench came from that popped pustule as well as a black liquid.

The hunchback's body suddenly disappeared. When he reappeared, he was already before the black smoke. His face looked terrifying at this moment as he opened his mouth and sucked in all of the black smoke. Gradually, the hump on his back became larger and larger. After all the black smoke was sucked up by him, it looked as if he had a small mountain on his back.

He stood wobbling back and forth on a stone pillar while staring at the snake-like creature. He was silently pondering. Slivers of black gas that came out of the pustule that he had broken was sucked in by the toad on his shoulder.

Six Desire Devil Lord's hand moved to form seals and as he recited a mysterious chant. At the same time, Ancient Emperor threw out the bell. When he did this, his gaze fell on Wang Lin.

Wang Lin's eyes lit up. He quickly backed up and without any hesitation took out the nascent level charm. At the same time, he opened his mouth to spit out the crystal sword. The crystal sword floated before him with its tip pointed at Six Desire Devil Lord.

Six Desire Devil Lord's gaze paused for a moment before shifting it to the young man next to him. The young man's face looked terrified as he stared at the snake-like creature, his body trembling.

Six Desire Devil Lord's eyes lit up as he suddenly shouted, "Fear!"

The young man's body suddenly started trembling. Black gas came out of his nostrils and his mouth. The black gas quickly gathered to form a black sword that floated in front of Six Desire Devil Lord.

The young man's body waved back and forth as he stood there dumbfounded with a look of confusion in his eyes.

His right hand pointed at the black sword as Six Desire Devil Lord began to chant. The sword gradually became larger and larger until it became an extremely large sword.

All of this happened in a very short amount of time. Right at this moment, the snake collided with the shock wave from the bell and spat out black smoke again. Six Desire Devil Lord shouted, "Go!"

The black sword before him suddenly began to move and swung down on the neck of the snake-like creature. It landed on the snake-like creature, causing it a lot of pain. The snake jerked its head and sent the black sword flying into the distance.

This caused the young man beside Six Desire Devil Lord to bleed out of his mouth and nose. His body became very weak, and the confusion in his eyes deepened.

Ancient Emperor turned his right hand, causing the bell to ring even faster. One by one, shockwaves were created and sent toward the creature.

Just as the snake-like creature knocked the black sword away again, it was hit by the shockwaves created by the bell. It suddenly shook its body as it revealed a bloodthirsty gaze and opened its mouth. As it opened its mouth, which could swallow a small mountain, a ghostly figure suddenly flew out. Ancient Emperor's expression changed and the bell quickly disappeared.

Wang Lin's divine sense had been locked onto the snake-like creature the entire time. When it opened its mouth, Wang Lin clearly saw a smaller snake fly out. It bit the bell and then quickly withdrew.

Hunchback Meng's eyes lit up as he stared at the snake-like creature from a stone pillar in the distance. He licked his lips and was about to charge out, but the creature had already closed its big mouth.

Hunchback Meng's abnormal behavior was noticed by Wang Lin. He was wary of everyone present, especially this expert poison user.

At this moment, Six Desire Devil Lord's gaze turned to the young man beside him again. He pointed at the young man's head and shouted, "Anger!"

A reddish-purple gas came out of the young man's mouth and nose. The gas shaped another sword that floated before Six Desire Devil Lord.

Duanmu Ji's expression was dark as he looked toward Wang Qingyue. They seemed to understand each other as they both quickly jumped down to the snake's body, took out their magic treasures, and began their attacks.

Duanmu Ji no longer used the gourd but a very large hammer. Everytime he lifted the hammer, many balls of lighting would form and would fall down along with it.

Wang Qingyue didn't use any magic treasures. When his hands formed a seal, the ancient words for metal, wood, water, fire, and earth appeared. They formed a five elemental formation that slammed into the body of the snake.

Wang Lin's heart trembled. The techniques of these five people were all powerful beyond imagination. They were not at all things normal people could match. The one that caught his eye the most was Six Desire Devil Lord's technique. This technique required a sacrifice to be used and that young man became the unfortunate target.

The snake-like creature felt pain. It let out a roar and frantically twisted its body. A vortex began to form around it and the surrounding stone pillars began to be pulled in toward the snake-like creature.

After this large vortex appeared, Duanmu Ji and Wang Qingyue were the first ones to charge back in. The two of them had very dark expressions on their faces. As for Ancient Emperor, his face was even more ugly as the connection between him and his treasure had disappeared.

The vortex became larger and larger. The powerful suction force forced everyone to quickly back away.

The reddish-purple sword in front of Six Desire Devil Lord released a very evil light before darting forward. The black sword that had been knocked always also reappeared and each sword stabbed toward one of the snake-like creature's eyes.

The moment the swords touched the creature's eyes, they turned back into smoke and drilled into the creature.

The snake-like creature's body suddenly paused for a moment as it let out a howl of madness. Its eyes were bloodshot as two streams of smoke, one reddish-purple and one black, were forced out of its eyes. It opened its mouth again and the small snake came back out and devoured the two streams of smoke.

At this moment, a hint of coldness flashed across Wang Lin's eyes. This was the moment he had been waiting for. He quickly jumped forth and, by borrowing the suction of the vortex, he entered the snake-like creature's mouth.

At the same time, a green light flashed by him, which turned out to be Hunchback Meng, who had been looking with a cold gaze from a distance with the same idea. Hunchback Meng was slightly startled at the sight of Wang Lin before letting out a faint smile of admiration.

However, this faint smile seemed to contain a sense of cruelty.

Hunchback Meng flew past Wang Lin. His goal was the other snake inside this snake's mouth. Wang Lin saw this and immediately switched directions. He followed the throat and went in deeper. His target was this creature's spine.

Li Muwan once said that with any of these dragon-like creatures, the most valuable part wasn't the core, but the marrow. The reason why Wang Lin risked going in there was for the marrow.

From the moment he saw this snake-like creature, he had been secretly observing it. Li Muwan once said that the effect of the bone marrow depended on the age of the dragon. If the dragon had reached a certain age, then it could help increase the chance of forming one's Nascent Soul.

Although he didn't know if this creature was considered a dragon, even if it wasn't, it should be considered the same type of creature. If he could get the marrow, then it should at least have some effect.

This was why he charged in the moment the creature opened its mouth a second time. He also knew that Hunchback Meng would come in as well. When the snake first opened its mouth, he saw Hunchback Meng's various expressions.

This made him even more committed to do this. At first he was afraid that people would suspect him after he obtained the marrow, but now that Hunchback Meng was in here, then if anything abnormal were to happen to the creature, it could be blamed on Hunchback Meng.

Also, the two choose two different paths that had no chance of intersecting with each other. Hunchback Meng wouldn't be able to notice what Wang Lin was doing, so there shouldn't be any problems.

And even if there were any problems, they wouldn't act against him. After all, those people were not here for the marrow of this creature but for the corpse of the ancient god.

Wang Lin used the crystal sword as he moved inside the snake, but he was unable to inflict a single wound on the creature.

The deeper Wang Lin moved within the snake, the more heavy his heart felt. Aside from the smaller snake inside its body, there was nothing else but the black flesh walls that surrounded him.

Wang Lin controlled the flying sword and stabbed the flesh with all his might, but he was still unable to leave a mark. The spine was right under this flesh, but not being able to harm it at all caused him to frown.

His eyes sparkled as he quickly moved to a different spot. This time, his target was where the head and the neck connected.

Just at this moment, the smaller snake inside began to tremble and release slivers of black gas. Wang Lin quickly dodged to the side and charged toward the snake's head.

Soon, he arrived at the head. There was a flashing red filament at the spot where the head and neck connected. Wang Lin took a deep breath and activated all of the spiritual energy in his body. He slapped his bag of holding and suddenly hundreds of flying swords appeared. His divine sense spread out to take control of all of them. All of the flying swords' tips pointed at the red filament and attacked it fiercely.