The Corpse King had always been the foundation of the Corpse God Sect; the sect's power was intrinsically linked to the Corpse King. Qing Ming’s status as a warlord in the Boundless Sea was also entirely due to the Corpse King’s existence.
It could be said that without the Corpse King, Qing Ming would not possess his current standing in the Boundless Sea, and now and in the future, the Corpse King was the guarantor of Qing Ming's formidable strength.
Losing the Corpse King meant losing his current position, and he would even fall from grace within the Corpse God Sect.
Even the secret techniques of the Corpse God Sect he practiced, and the very advancement of his cultivation realm, were heavily dependent on the Corpse King. Once the Corpse King slipped beyond his control, future breakthroughs would become agonizingly difficult, potentially halting his progress forever.
The abnormality displayed by the Corpse King was even harder for him to accept than if Shi Yan had simply slain him with a single sword strike.
Seeing the Corpse King seemingly begin to regain its consciousness, Qing Ming panicked completely—a true, visceral fear!
He was terrified of losing everything he currently possessed!
"You are free."
Mid-air, Shi Yan held the mysterious greatsword aloft, continuously repeating this thought, leveraging the connection between himself and the Corpse King, attempting to awaken the sentience that had been shackled for ten thousand years.
His efforts soon yielded results!
The Corpse King ceased its attack on him; the murderous intent within its soul receded. It merely hovered in the air for a moment, confused, its soul gradually gathering blurred memories, as if recalling something of paramount importance.
Qing Ming’s shrill cries from below did not disturb it. It floated silently in the sky, its vacant eyes slowly acquiring shades of human emotion, as if deep in thought, searching for something…
Shi Yan remained silent, making no move to relentlessly bombard the creature with his sword. He maintained his guard while continuing to transmit waves of friendly intent toward it.
He employed the same method of spiritual communication he had used years ago with the Ten Thousand Year Earth Core Fire, skillfully pouring his amicable emotions into the Corpse King’s mind, forging a friendly bond.
Perhaps it was Shi Yan’s ceaseless transmission of goodwill that took effect. After a moment of stunned contemplation, the Corpse King’s soul was suddenly gripped by murderous intent once more.
However, this time, the target was not Shi Yan.
It was Qing Ming!
The Five Elements Barrier floating beneath Shi Yan's feet, spreading like ocean waves, suddenly sprang to life. It unfurled like a vast, inescapable net, emitting five-colored halos that enveloped Qing Ming below.
Simultaneously, the Corpse King let out a fierce roar and shot forward like a razor-sharp sword, moving even faster than the Five Elements Barrier, plunging straight toward Qing Ming!
Empress Tian and Emperor Di flinched in terror, instinctively dodging aside, retreating nervously lest they become the Corpse King’s next target.
As fellow martial artists from the Tuota Sea Region, Fan Xiangyun and the other understood the sheer terror of the Corpse King. Over the years, Qing Ming had used it to slaughter countless powerful cultivators.
The Corpse King, adept at utilizing the Five Elements, was almost impervious to energy attacks, capable of manipulating Corpse Qi and transforming it into an endless source of power!
On this Yin Wind Island, if the Corpse King were unleashed to slaughter freely, even Fan Xiangyun felt a profound fear.
Qing Ming’s eyes flashed with utter despair.
The Corpse King attacking him without mercy was like a sharp blade piercing his last sliver of hope, making him truly realize that the creature was no longer under his command!
He knew the Corpse King’s strength better than anyone!
With the Corpse King moving, Qing Ming, in desperation, dared not linger. He cast one last venomous glare at Shi Yan, screaming, "Shi Yan! I will kill you sooner or later! I will make you taste the most brutal tortures known to man!"
Amidst the scream, clusters of green spikes in Qing Ming's eyes suddenly coalesced into a grotesque ball of fire. Within that fire, countless corpses seemed to writhe, unleashing potent, wicked power.
Qing Ming's pitch-black robe instantly absorbed the surrounding Corpse Qi. Within a surge of green light, Qing Ming’s physical body transformed into a streak of light and shot violently toward the west, vanishing thousands of miles in an instant.
When the Corpse King, accompanied by the Five Elements Barrier, descended to that spot, Qing Ming was already gone, even his residual soul aura having dissipated.
Empress Tian and Emperor Di exchanged a glance and wisely retreated. Dazzling light burst from their bodies simultaneously, and in a ripple of spatial distortion, they vanished into thin air.
Divine Realm experts had all mastered such divine abilities allowing instant travel across vast distances, either by consuming secret treasures or by exploding their total power, enabling them to shift their physical bodies tens of thousands of miles in the blink of an eye while concealing their soul auras.
Unless one could lock onto their souls continuously and pursue them with the same divine ability, it was nearly impossible to find them again. To truly eliminate them, one needed a cultivation realm surpassing theirs and the ability to perpetually lock onto their souls!
Shi Yan clearly had not reached that level.
Consequently, he could only watch as Empress Tian and Emperor Di disappeared after Qing Ming, powerless to pursue them.
His ability to stand toe-to-toe with Qing Ming, Fan Xiangyun, and Emperor Di was entirely due to the temporary fusion of the Holy Spirit God, Profound Ice Cold Flame, and Earth Core Fire, and because of the mysterious greatsword.
Without these advantages, relying solely on his true cultivation of the Second Heaven of the Nirvana Nest, even if he entered the Second Heaven of the Berserk State, he would not be a match for any of the three.
The gap between the Nirvana Nest Realm and the Transcendence Realm was an insurmountable chasm. Without the three heavenly fires and the mysterious greatsword, he would likely already be dead.
With Qing Ming, Fan Xiangyun, and Emperor Di gone, Shi Yan moved his thoughts to deal with the Heavenly Rank martial artists hiding nearby, but he found that they too had received a signal. They fled faster than ghosts, all utilizing secret treasures and overbearing secret arts, disregarding bodily harm to instantly vanish thousands of miles away into various directions.
Shi Yan's expression immediately darkened.
He had failed to lock onto the soul of a single martial artist. His Nirvana Nest Realm cultivation made locking onto the soul aura of a Heavenly Rank martial artist from thousands of miles away a pipe dream.
If he possessed the same cultivation realm, even at the Heavenly Rank, the advantage of his main soul might allow him to track one or two Heavenly Rank martial artists' souls. If he possessed the Divine Realm cultivation, he could find the souls of Qing Ming, Fan Xiangyun, and Emperor Di, and easily lock onto the souls of the surrounding Heavenly Rank martial artists, allowing him to pursue and kill them relentlessly.
Alas, his true realm… was merely the Second Heaven of the Nirvana Nest.
In a flash, all the martial artists on Yin Wind Island vanished completely, leaving behind only corpses slaves, two Celestial Corpses, one Corpse King, and himself.
Deactivating the Magnetic Suppression Field, Shi Yan remained suspended in the center of the Dead Silence Ridge, continuing to absorb the vital energy surging nearby.
The dozens of Nirvana Nest and lower-realm cultivators who had been splashed by the mysterious greatsword’s bloody light were still hemorrhaging their vital essence into Shi Yan’s body; this process was not yet complete.
Every wisp of vital essence was immeasurably precious to Shi Yan—the source of power for his physical mutation—and he would never let it go.
After establishing a link with him, the Corpse King recalled the Corpse Qi it had previously infused into Shi Yan’s legs. Now, his mangled legs began to rapidly recover under the effect of the Undying Martial Spirit.
Amidst excruciating pain, flesh and blood reformed on his legs, meridians reconnected, muscle fibers in the bloody holes contracted furiously, and the wounds healed swiftly.
The Undying Martial Spirit truly lived up to its status as a Saint-Grade martial spirit. After his successive evolutions, the recovery speed for severe bodily trauma had increased exponentially. Even mid-battle, his lacerations were seen to mend and twitch.
Standing in the air, feeling his body heal under the Undying Martial Spirit, Shi Yan grinned, a sense of relief washing over his mind.
Just then, the mysterious greatsword clutched in his hand suddenly slipped from his grasp, transforming into a beam of bloody light that drilled back into the Blood Pattern Ring, settling back into stillness within the ring.
As the mysterious greatsword left his hand, Shi Yan was suddenly overwhelmed by profound fatigue; his limbs felt heavier than a mountain, and his entire body weakened.
The aftereffects of the Second Heaven of the Berserk State.
Shi Yan reacted instantly, feeling the massive influx of vital energy and the tearing pain in his acupoints. His expression drastically changed.
Many cultivators had died by his hand this time, and most were high-realm experts. The vital essence generated after their deaths was far richer than he had anticipated. This essence poured into his acupoints, bringing with it all the negative emotions from their final moments—fear, despair, resentment—which began to affect his mind.
Shi Yan, experienced in such matters, realized something was amiss and immediately prepared to leave this place to find a suitable outlet to vent.
Below, the Corpse King and the two male and female Celestial Corpses stood together, staring at him blankly, seemingly wanting to say something.
Shi Yan frowned. Although he had established a connection with these three Celestial Corpses, he remained wary of them.
He couldn't be certain whether these three would remain as docile if he lost control or began to vent. He also couldn't guarantee that he would maintain a clear, friendly disposition toward them while in an irrational state.
Among the three Celestial Corpses, the Corpse King was the most terrifying. Once its sentience awoke, it would truly possess autonomy, and its intelligence would only increase over time.
Shi Yan understood: with the Corpse King’s sentience restored, it would be nearly impossible for anyone in the Boundless Sea to control it. Even Qing Ming, who had dedicated years to mastering Corpse Control, had barely escaped. Who else could subdue it?
Perhaps he himself could, but his own condition was too peculiar, especially at this moment—he could lose control at any time. Even if he found an outlet for his fury, it would take time to release that violence.
During that period, if the three Celestial Corpses remained nearby, he didn't know what might happen.
He dared not take the risk.
Therefore, after swiftly weighing the pros and cons, he made a practical decision.
"You are all free. From this day forward, you can choose your own path of evolution. I have liberated you, and I do not wish to chain you as your former master did. Therefore, you should not stay with me; this is the best path for your future development. Take care of yourselves. I look forward to seeing you grow. Perhaps one day, you can become a new apex species in this world's food chain. I hope that when we meet again, you will be able to speak. By then, perhaps we can become allies, perhaps friends…”
He split his benevolent message into three parts, infusing the depths of the three corpse slaves’ souls. Without waiting for a response, Shi Yan spread his Star Wings, transforming into a beam of starlight and instantly vanishing.
The three corpse slaves gazed up at the sky, strange glints appearing in their eyes, as if reluctant to let him go, or perhaps wanting to pursue him, yet ultimately remaining still.