Flames roared, instantly turning the entire passage into a towering inferno, and an oppressive, terrifying wave of heat immediately permeated the underground world of the Zhan family!
The two figures, one in front and one behind, were instantly submerged in a blaze!
"How despicable! Setting a fire!" A surge of extraordinarily icy, powerful energy erupted instantaneously, sweeping with a swish from one end of the passage to the other. Wherever the chilling aura touched, the raging fire was extinguished, and a layer of white frost instantly coated the stone walls on both sides!
The originally scorching, raging flames vanished in a flash. The two enemies ahead and behind reappeared, completely unharmed, but the expressions on both their faces were stretched taut with extreme displeasure.
The reason was simple: although they had emerged unscathed from the fire, every single one of the Ten Thousand Ghost Soul Devouring Insects within the passage had been utterly incinerated!
Not a single one remained!
In the hollowed-out passage, a strange smell of burning lingered, accompanied by a scent of scorching fragrance.
It turned out the mysterious person’s purpose in setting the fire was not to deal with the two of them, nor was it to obscure vision; it was to completely eradicate these Ten Thousand Ghost Soul Devouring Insects to ensure their method of concealment was truly unimpeded!
Faced with such a drastic turn of events, even Zhan Lunhui, who had been observing the battle while remaining invisibly hidden in the shadows, was utterly dumbfounded. His hands trembled slightly, and his eyes radiated disbelief. The words 'How is this possible' nearly burst from his lips!
Others might not know, but how could Zhan Lunhui himself be unaware?
If these Ten Thousand Ghost Soul Devouring Insects could truly be killed so easily by fire, Zhan Lunhui would never have taken them so seriously, nor would he have foregone any protective measures! Zhan Lunhui had tested them many times before; these insects had absolutely no fear of intense heat!
Even after burning continuously for an entire hour in flames reaching their highest temperatures, these creatures could fly out of the inferno completely unscathed, unaffected in the slightest!
But this utterly unexpected scene was something the seasoned Zhan Lunhui could not reconcile—his painstakingly nurtured three thousand-plus Ten Thousand Ghost Soul Devouring Insects had all turned to ash under this bizarre wave of flame!
If the flame was truly so peculiar, how could it have been instantly annihilated by that icy palm strike?
Everything was strange, everything defied comprehension!
In fact, no one would have imagined the truth.
Because there was nothing in the passage to provide illumination—it was absolute darkness. Unnoticed by anyone, just a split second before the great fire erupted, another flame, one perfectly merged with the passage’s darkness, had quietly begun to burn.
In reality, it was only after this black flame started burning that the massive fire, which engulfed the entire passage, officially roared to life.
Although the processes of the two flames were extremely close in time, there was still a sequence. By the time the great fire ignited, those insects had already been completely reduced to ashes by the black flame! When the great fire reached its full intensity, the black flame had already quietly withdrawn, its mission accomplished. In conclusion, the magnificent, late-arriving fire was nothing more than a smokescreen.
Otherwise, even with that icy palm strike, what use would it have been?
Now, the flames were gone, and the passage returned to absolute darkness!
Zhan Yixiao and Zhan Tu snorted, and both attacked simultaneously toward the location where the mysterious person’s voice had originated. However, they were shocked to discover that all their profound energy struck nothing but air, with no resistance whatsoever. Even where there was impact, it was merely their displaced profound energy hitting the surrounding stone walls!
The enemy had vanished without a trace!
Both were peerless masters. Since the enemy had departed, they ceased their fruitless efforts. They stopped simultaneously, glancing at each other, and saw the deep horror reflected in the other’s eyes!
Who was this person?
To be able to remain unseen, and even more composedly annihilate all three thousand-plus Ghost Soul Devouring Insects under the full assault of two Saint Venerable-level experts, before effortlessly disappearing!
The two Saint Venerables had not managed to catch even a glimpse of the enemy’s corner of a robe throughout the entire process!
Yet the enemy had achieved such unimaginable, glorious results right before them!
If this story were told, perhaps no one would believe it—it was utterly astounding!
What they did not expect was that Young Master Jun had not actually retreated after achieving success.
The Young Master had merely leaned against the stone wall and instantly melted into it. He had originally planned to leverage his stealth advantage, combined with the sharpness of his Yanhuang Blood and the peculiarity of his Heaven-Opening Creation Skill, to launch a sudden ambush, eliminate these two, or at least one of them, which would be good.
But he immediately realized that although he had reached the realm of a Third Level Saint Emperor, in terms of sheer power, he was above Cao Guofeng, the gap separating him from these two men was still vast! Moreover, both were fully alert. A rash attack would certainly not yield the desired effect; on the contrary, it would expose his true foundation!
Therefore, Jun Moxie forcibly suppressed the tempting notion of an ambush.
Taking advantage of the fact that the two men were still bewildered, suspicious, and scanning their surroundings, Jun Moxie invoked the power of Earth once more, penetrating the stone wall horizontally, permeating toward the other side! The Young Master employed the power of Earth, merging with the rock, and instantly perceived that the stone wall he was infiltrating now was far thicker than the several walls he had just traversed! The thickest of the previous walls was only about ten feet thick at most, yet this one appeared to be at least ten zhang thick! He had clearly traveled more than ten zhang of distance yet still hadn't reached the other side!
One must remember that the underground world constructed by the Zhan family was vast. Almost all the underlying rock layers had been opened up. There was no logical reason to leave a massive wall over ten zhang thick unutilized! Behind this wall must lie some great secret!
Jun Moxie steeled his heart and continued to penetrate, relying on the Yin-Yang Evasion and Five Elements Divine Abilities—where could he not go?
After passing through another seven or eight zhang of thickness, his eyes suddenly lit up, and an indescribable, foul stench rushed toward him. In an instant, Jun Moxie felt an intense urge to vomit!
The Young Master fixed his gaze and erupted in fury!
What met his eyes was an unusually vast open space—or, to be more precise, a deep pit! Within this pit lay countless densely packed corpses! Stacked layer upon layer, haphazardly arranged. Even a cursory glance revealed at least ten thousand bodies!
In the lower layers, many corpses had already decayed, exposing bleached white bones, while the bodies in the uppermost layers still looked as if they were alive, clearly having been thrown in immediately after death.
Jun Moxie was currently positioned exactly on the stone wall above this Ten Thousand Corpse Pit!
Poof, poof sounds echoed, and several lines of blood sprayed out—a dozen more bodies were tossed down. Then, an exceedingly reverent voice said, "Old Ancestor, here are today's three hundred bodies; all have been delivered. Do you have any further instructions? If this is insufficient, your junior will arrange it immediately!"
"Hmm… you did well this time," a chilling voice replied with satisfaction. "Just one thing you must not forget: tomorrow, you must deliver at least five hundred bodies! They must be fresh; absolutely no errors can occur. Do not jeopardize the grand plan." Jun Moxie followed the sound and saw, upon a high stone platform, an old man resembling a skin-and-bones skeleton sitting there, holding a strangely shaped, long object in his hand. Before the old man was a completely black cauldron, from which faint black mist continuously drifted. Below the cauldron, nine extremely thin black tubes branched out, extending all the way to the bottom of the corpses in the Ten Thousand Corpse Pit...
"It’s… b-but…" The voice seemed fearful, carrying the weight of wanting to speak but daring not. After several deliberations, it stammered, "The people near our clan have mostly been eliminated… If we continue slaughtering on such a large scale, I fear some observant parties might intervene. In fact, members of the Miao and Zhang families, among others, are already investigating the whereabouts of the missing persons… If this continues, your junior fears…"
"What are you afraid of, you boy?" The sinister voice boomed, "As long as your hands and feet are clean, never mind a few hundred, what about a few thousand? These people are nothing more than commoners, mere ants. Who would truly care? If the supply of heads from the Shushu Network is insufficient, you can start picking from Xinhuan City. The more the better…"
"Yes…" The voice hesitated again, "Your junior only came to seek instruction. Everything must proceed according to your progress as the priority. However, if we have to travel to Xinhuan City to gather personnel, the journey is somewhat longer. Moreover, the quantity required by the Old Ancestor this time is excessively large; I fear we will need to dispatch more manpower. If it relies only on us…"
"Hmm, what you say has some merit. Go find Zhan Wuyun and let him make the specific arrangements. Be sure to tell him that I have reached a critical juncture! There absolutely cannot be a pause! If the sustenance of living beings is cut off, the entire effort risks being wasted!"
"Yes! Your junior takes his leave."
A stout man with a brutalized face bowed respectfully and then slowly backed away.
Jun Moxie slowly floated up from the stone wall, gazing at the withered old man on the platform, a murderous intent constantly surging within his heart!
Everything before him clearly indicated that the Zhan family was executing some conspiracy, and that conspiracy required an unimaginable number of living human bodies as sacrifices to extract the power of the dead, achieving some unknown objective… This old man’s utter disregard for human life—this behavior could not be described merely as cruel or vicious; it was completely inhuman! In terms of his past life’s terminology, this was straightforwardly anti-human and anti-social!
With murderous intent surging, Jun Moxie raised his hand slightly, preparing to strike, when suddenly another figure flashed through the doorway, and a person walked in. He heard the newcomer ask casually, "How is it going? What is the progress today?" Upon seeing this person, Jun Moxie was utterly taken aback!