Ye Xiu coldly surveyed everything before him. This was supposed to be the Tomb of Emperor Jie, yet it was filled with artifacts pertaining to the descendants of Fuxi and ancient, arcane arts. More astonishingly, there was modern civilization within this ancient palace.

"Look at Hong Ling..." The Birdman finally folded his wings and stood in line with Ye Xiu and the others. She pointed at Hong Ling, who was walking ahead, "Is she still the Bone Picker we know?"

Old Liu was crouched low, examining the surroundings. Hong Ling walked step by step down the center of the red carpet, her figure magnificent, her posture graceful. With every row of human-beast figures she passed, she gently raised her hand as if taking inventory of something, presenting an air as if a queen acknowledging her subjects.

"Hong Ling, what are you doing!" Ye Xiu couldn't help but whisper her name, but Hong Ling seemed like a different person, completely ignoring what was happening behind her.

"Is that throne Xia Jie's?" Old Liu yearned for the emperor's seat, but seeing so many terracotta-like strange objects before him dampened any hint of joy.

"No..."

"Swish..." By now, Hong Ling had strolled onto the golden throne. With an air of composure, she turned and lifted the hem of her skirt. As she slowly sank onto the throne, a rumbling sound filled the entire hall. The statues that had been kneeling all stood up.

Ye Xiu and the others swiftly retreated several steps upon seeing this. Before them were not only robust soldier sculptures, but even more chilling were the heroes on either side and the soldier wielding a Bo Mian Dao (Thin-Faced Saber).

"..." Hong Ling suddenly mumbled something that sounded like an incantation. As soon as her words fell, a crimson mist instantly materialized around the throne. This mist, deepening in intensity, enveloped her entire body, and in an instant, it vanished with her from the hall.

"Are you kidding me, Hong Ling disappeared..." Old Liu stood up with wide eyes, unable to comprehend this spectacle regardless of his profound Taoist arts.

Ye Xiu sighed softly and turned to the Birdman. The Birdman had already revealed his Heavenly Eye. He pursed his lips and said, "If I guessed correctly, beneath that throne lies the most malevolent nexus of this Nine Venomous Fierce Array—the very source of the soul energy that solidified this formation."

"What does Soul Energy have to do with Soul Stones?" The moment Ye Xiu heard the word 'soul,' he recalled what the High God had told him about the Soul Stones. If the Nine Venomous Fierce Array was created by the power of a Soul Stone, then the more bizarre the array, the stronger the Soul Stone's power. He had to obtain it.

"Hey, hey!" Old Liu slapped Ye Xiu's shoulder and said coldly, "Stop standing around making sarcastic remarks, look at what's in front of us."

Ye Xiu finally snapped back to reality. After Hong Ling ascended and departed, all those statues had transformed into their true forms. The soldiers stood braced in the front row, bare-handed. Above them, two fierce eagles were poised for action. The figure holding a Bo Mian Dao similar to Old Liu's now stood in the center of the formation, and at the very rear was the human-bodied, serpent-tailed monster.

"It's obvious we have to defeat them to enter that teleportation array. See that human-headed, snake-bodied thing at the back?" The Birdman's wings were fully spread. "Look at its eyes? Maybe one of them is the Soul Stone you're after!"

Ye Xiu had certainly noticed the creature at the end. It was coiled on the ground like a snake, but its head was held defiantly high in the air. It possessed only a single eye, yet that eye radiated a bone-chilling light that could make even Death himself tremble.

Old Liu ignored the rest. He had already drawn his Bo Mian Dao and strode to the front. He had only one target: the soldier wielding a Bo Mian Dao. "That one is mine. Those eagles go to the Birdman, and the rest are yours, Ye Xiu."

"Damn it, leaving so many for me!" Ye Xiu glanced ahead. Defeating the numerous soldiers would only take a swing of his sickle. The crucial threat was the one-eyed serpent-man.

"Let's go..." The Birdman's words ended as he dove toward the rear of the hall, his sharp feathers instantly spreading out, naturally targeting the two eagles in the sky.

"Hah!" Old Liu leaped into the air with his Bo Mian Dao raised, intending to attack from above and drag the general into his own fight.

"Roar!" At this moment, the serpent-man standing at the rear opened its cavernous mouth and bellowed furiously. Instantly, the monstrous beasts before them surged forward like an erupting mountain torrent toward the trio. In that instant, the eagles charged the Birdman, the general raised the small blade in his hand and leaped up to meet Old Liu, and the rank-and-file soldiers rushed Ye Xiu with reckless abandon.

"Whoosh!" Ye Xiu took two deep breaths and spread his arms, gathering an immense amount of purple flame. The ground beneath his feet began to tremble with the soldiers' impact, and the surrounding air grew scorching hot as the purple flames burned. Just as they were mere steps apart, Ye Xiu released his palms, and towering fire erupted, instantly shattering everything before him.

"Your opponents look too weak," Old Liu commented disdainfully after trading a blow with the general mid-air and landing beside Ye Xiu. Seeing Ye Xiu's overwhelming momentum, he sneered, "Do cannon fodder deserve to only fight cannon fodder?"

"Stop the nonsense and watch your own opponent!" Ye Xiu ignored the other battles. While his purple flame had indeed annihilated all the minor soldiers, strangely, the serpent-man behind them had not suffered even a scratch. In fact, it was opening its mouth, seemingly swallowing his purple flames.

"Crackling..." Various feathers flew down from above, cutting numerous marks into the surrounding architecture and murals. Some even managed to destroy a support pillar. Those two eagles were anything but ordinary; weaving back and forth, they were holding the Birdman to a stalemate.

"Aargh!" Suddenly, the serpent-man roared again. It threw its head back and expelled the flames from its mouth. As the fire exited its maw, the purple color transformed into red, and it split into three streams, charging toward Ye Xiu.

Ye Xiu ducked and charged forward, slashing with his Death Scythe. Just as the three flames were about to hit him, he brought his scythe up, forcefully parrying the flames away.

"Damn it, that didn't kill him!" Old Liu fought with increasing ferocity, but when his Bo Mian Dao pierced the general's abdomen, the foe showed no sign of injury. On the contrary, Old Liu himself was nearly struck. "Impossible. Being stabbed by my Bo Mian Dao, even if he doesn't die, he should react. Even something formed by soul energy should be constrained."

"It seems these guys are both material and inanimate; everything is caused by the Soul Energy," the Birdman said, suddenly flying to Ye Xiu's side. He pointed to the eagles above, now bristling with embedded feathers. "Ye Xiu, we can only keep these two occupied. You need to deal with the serpent-man quickly, or these things are unkillable."