Chapter 906: The Mystery of Immortality
This was a bizarre scene. One ancient grave after another split open, and snow-white or even decayed bone hands reached out, slowly climbing up from within.
It was unbelievable. Even bone fragments that had long since rotted into formless sludge were reassembling into skeletons, rapidly growing flesh and blood. The heavenly soldier armor that had turned to dust in the graves reversed the flow of time, clanging as it reformed into battle garments covering their bodies.
Those heavenly soldiers had pale faces and expressionless features as the armor clad them. Then, holding weapons, they stepped out one by one, forming into square formations and advancing forward.
This was almost too much to believe. Their scalps tingled, and cold air seemed to pour into their pores. They couldn’t understand—could someone truly achieve immortality?
Rain poured down in torrents. Blood-red lightning bolts streaked across the night sky, occasionally illuminating the dark cemetery. Everything here was hair-raising and utterly baffling.
“I’ve spent my whole life digging up graves, but I’ve never seen anything like this. They’ve all come back to life—it defies all reason!” Fatty Duan swallowed hard.
He had encountered ghost soldiers, seen vengeful spirits, and fought corpse-transformed demons, but he had never seen living people crawl out of coffins. Even he felt a chill, saying he might not want to do archaeological work anymore.
“The Feather Transformation Divine Dynasty is too eerie. What secret did they discover? How did these people revive? What’s going on?”
This was the cemetery of heavenly soldiers from countless eras, accumulated over endless years. If they all came back to life, a single dynasty could sweep the world, and even the ancient clans couldn’t stop them.
“This is terrifying. If the heavenly general cemetery is the same, with Dao-Severing kings constantly reviving, I think we should leave as soon as possible. Going deeper means certain death,” Old Blind Man said.
This was the heavenly soldier cemetery, with countless ancient graves accumulated over tens of thousands of years. A heavenly general cemetery must also exist, but not here. The thought made their scalps crawl.
The dead coming back to life—what kind of scene was that? All the experts of past generations reviving at once sent chills down their spines, and all sorts of terrible consequences quickly surfaced in their minds.
“I don’t believe this. Wait for me,” Fatty Duan said boldly. He crept to a remote corner with only a few old graves, waited for a skeleton to crawl out, and the moment it revived, he covered it with his Kun Xian Pocket, stuffed it inside, and ran.
Even though he was quick and chose a remote spot, he was still discovered. A group of heavenly soldiers chased after him.
Seeing this, the others turned and fled. That damn fatty always had itchy hands and had brought trouble again. Still, they didn’t blame him—they also wanted to understand what was happening. This situation made them deeply uneasy.
The earth trembled as hundreds of heavenly soldiers formed a square formation and charged forward like a surging flood. With every step, this small world shook, and killing intent split the heavens.
At this moment, the rain fell like a river from the sky, growing heavier and heavier, blinding them as it struck the ground, raising thin layers of mist.
Ye Fan and the others ran wildly, quickly disappearing into the hills and vanishing into the forest, finally shaking off the living dead behind them.
Duan De untied the pocket and released the captive, who fell into the muddy water. The heavenly soldier tried to struggle, but Black Emperor’s big paw flipped him over.
They all worked together to seal him, then immediately probed his sea of consciousness to understand everything.
“This is strange. His sea of consciousness is blank—nothing there. Oh, no, wait, it’s appearing now—just a simple command to kill us all,” Dongfang Ye said in confusion, a strange look on his face.
The others came forward one by one and also noticed this bizarre situation. Duan De was alert and suddenly changed expression. “Not good, fall back!”
Just as they retreated, the heavenly soldier exploded, trying to kill them with the blast. Flesh and bone scattered everywhere, and his life force vanished in an instant, returning to death.
Duan De picked up a small piece of bone, studied it for a long time, and said, “Let’s go back and see what happened to those heavenly soldiers we killed.”
They retraced their steps, moving stealthily. Along the way, they saw many corpses—cultivators who had just entered, slaughtered by the heavenly soldier formations. The scene was horrific, with blood mixing with rainwater into a crimson mess.
“Strange. It was right here—we killed at least seven or eight heavenly soldiers. Where did the bodies go?” They were all puzzled, unable to find the corpses.
“No need to look. They’re still here, but they’ve turned to dust,” Duan De said solemnly. He found a rotten bone in the mud, covered in thousands of tiny holes, decayed beyond recognition.
Duan De took out the Great Saint Dao Bone Mirror, activated his divine power, and shone it on the ground. They immediately saw several eerie scenes. Seven or eight corpses, in a very short time, seemed to have experienced over two hundred thousand years. Flesh rotted and turned to ash, bones aged and then completely decayed, leaving only fragments. The heavenly soldier armor shattered inch by inch, turning to mud and dust.
“They were alive just now, no doubt about it. But they became like this the moment they died!” They pondered for a long time but couldn’t figure it out.
The Feather Transformation Divine Dynasty was too eerie. Their ultimate goal was ascension to immortality. This was likely a bizarre method they had explored in the past, not true resurrection.
“Many have died, but many have also pushed through. Let’s get moving and stop dwelling on these strange matters. We’ll figure it out when we come back.”
The temple blazed with light, exceptionally conspicuous in the dark, rainy night. It looked like a sacred immortal palace, opening a path to the heavenly realm, illuminating all directions. They quickly approached, not wanting to miss the opportunity.
Suddenly, in the pouring rain, a dark light flashed, devouring the essence of heaven and earth and shooting straight at Ye Fan, trying to dissolve him. It was a Great Dao Vase with the power to swallow the heavens!
“Dang!”
Ye Fan flicked it away with his finger and immediately spotted Hua Yunfei. In the rainy night, he looked like a banished immortal, his blue robes untouched by a single raindrop.
“Chi!”
A golden light flew in. Li Xiaoman appeared from another direction, striking out with a golden crocodile shadow that tore through the night sky.
Ye Fan punched, his golden fist shattering the long crocodile into pieces, sending out a massive wave of energy that annihilated in the sky.
“Still daring to show up?” Pang Bo glared, killing intent surging even toward this old acquaintance from the other shore, having nearly died being hunted by them before.
Ye Fan said nothing, charging at Hua Yunfei, while Pang Bo attacked Li Xiaoman. A fierce battle erupted on the spot, divine light illuminating the night sky.
“Shua!”
With a flash of light, Hua Yunfei and Li Xiaoman joined together and fled, not wanting to fight.
Ye Fan, Pang Bo, the Monkey, and the others quickly gave chase. Ye Fan, especially with the Stride Art, was incredibly fast, catching up several times and fighting both alone, his golden fist force connecting with the lightning in the sky.
“Stop!” Suddenly, Ye Fan halted because he heard a rumbling sound and felt the earth trembling slightly.
“Run!” Qi Luo shouted. He saw four formations, each with five hundred heavenly soldiers—two thousand Great Powers in total. This was terrifyingly excessive.
“Those two wanted to lure us into the chaos of the soldiers.”
They had no choice but to abandon the chase, veering off and fleeing quickly to avoid the four terrifying formations. Who would dare fight so many heavenly soldiers alone? It was pure suicide.
Through the rain curtain, they approached the glowing temple. There were many heavenly soldiers here, but more and more cultivators were charging in from outside, gradually gaining the advantage as large numbers fought their way in.
Corpses lay everywhere. They fought their way through, and as they looked at the light source on the high platform ahead, they all shuddered. It was the shrine, with a stone man half a foot tall sitting cross-legged inside.
Everyone knew that the runes around it could dissolve people, so no one looked directly at it. Instead, it was emitting a most sacred power, strand by strand, vanishing into the void, dancing with the lightning, and disappearing into the distance.
“It’s heading toward the cemetery!” Ye Fan exclaimed in surprise.
“That’s right. It’s this power that revived those skeletons,” Qi Luo said with certainty, sensing a familiar aura, identical to that on the heavenly soldiers.
“I think I understand. They transform others to achieve themselves. There are fragmentary records in ancient texts,” Ji Ziyue said. Doing this came with great drawbacks, and in the end, it was unfeasible.
What they saw now was based on that forbidden technique. One could imagine how many people had died entering the ancient temple—every heavenly soldier corresponded to a life.
“The heavenly soldiers are nothing to worry about. They won’t last more than a few days before returning to dust. But this ancestral temple is terrifying, probably far more troublesome than we imagine. There might really be some living person controlling it.”
They found the stone door and quickly charged into the thirty-second layer of the small world. This was a dim region, without the torrential rain. The ground was dry, but it was even more dangerous.
As soon as they entered, a demonic shadow in the darkness turned around, revealing a pair of cold, emotionless eyes like two ghostly flames.
“Boom!”
He held a black broadsword and immediately struck down, splitting heaven and earth in two with peerless dominance.
The Monkey swung his great iron staff to meet it. “Dang!” A deafening sound echoed in all directions, and chains of law surged up, red as blood.
“A Dao-Severing king, extremely powerful. This is a heavenly general!”
A fierce battle began. Although the Monkey eventually smashed the king’s head with his staff, it cost him considerable energy. This was clearly no ordinary king.
Over the next two days, they encountered great trouble and couldn’t leave. The thirty-second layer of the small world had no heavenly soldiers—only heavenly generals!
This was a terrifying discovery. All were Dao-Severing kings. Ordinary people entering would die without a doubt, with no way to survive.
The only saving grace was that there weren’t that many Dao-Severing heavenly generals, and they moved alone, not forming formations, giving them opportunities.
Even so, with generations of heavenly generals revived, there were still many in this area, making it nearly impossible to move. Ye Fan and the others were trapped for two days, almost spilling their blood.
Others either suffered heavy casualties or were also trapped, barely able to pass through. The heavenly generals were devastatingly lethal. During this time, the Celestial Prince set traps, determined to kill the Monkey and Ye Fan. Several beings on the verge of becoming saints followed them in and nearly succeeded.
The thirty-second layer of the small world was filled with killing intent. Many great sects were defeated. Even several living fossils from the Great Extension Holy Land were wiped out, and they weren’t the only holy land forces annihilated.
In this temple small world, besides dealing with the heavenly soldiers, they also had to guard against various ambushes. The Assassin Divine Dynasty, the Celestial Prince, the ancient clans, and others all struck at different times.
What surprised Ye Fan most was that Hua Yunfei’s Dao Protector had clashed with Qi Luo. Though wounded, he retreated safely. Ye Fan had never seen this person before, and Hua Yunfei seemed cold toward him, not particularly willing to be with him.
“That Dao Protector is terrifying. He’s probably been in contact with an Imperial Weapon for a long time. He carries the aura of an Extreme Dao weapon!” Duan De’s brow twitched.
This news shocked them all, but they didn’t doubt the unscrupulous Taoist. He had long been accompanied by the Devouring Demon Jar and had all sorts of strange methods, so his judgment should be correct.
A Dao Protector for the inheritor of the Ruthless Great Emperor could be with an Extreme Dao Imperial Weapon for years—this was a huge deal. It sent chills down their spines, and the more they thought about it, the more terrifying it became.
“Which holy land is it? Or did the Ruthless Great Emperor leave behind another Imperial Weapon?”
A day later, more cultivators broke in. They joined forces, attacking together, fighting the heavenly generals. Someone even sacrificed a legendary Saint Weapon, and they finally broke into the thirty-third layer of the temple small world.