A palace stood tall, its sweeping roofs curving skyward like a crow's wings. The walls were painted in gold and black, accentuated with purple carvings of crows flying around majestic trees. Wide courtyards filled with pebbled paths and giant fish ponds surrounded the central hall, where massive wooden doors opened to reveal numerous pathways.
Delicate windows cast intricate shadows on the polished marble floors, and silk lanterns hanging from carved beams and pillars bathed the space in its warm light.
At the heart of the palace, a garden flourished, its plum blossoms and bamboo groves swaying gently in the breeze coming from the open balcony.
However, this garden was empty. No, the entire palace was nearly empty.
Only the sign of guards could be seen.
At this moment, a black-robed woman appeared as she broke through the void and stepped out.
She tripped over five killing formations, their dark light erupting to kill her. Dark chains of strange energy surged from the grounds in unison, with spectral blades materialized from thin air. They carried a strange curse energy, and black flames erupted like a tide, converging to set her ablaze.
With a flick of her feet, Mingzhi's figure blurred. She retreated into the spatial layers, causing the chains to snap at nothing. The spectral blades slashed through empty air and broke themselves while the black flames simply burned them all.
Mingzhi reappeared elsewhere and broke a formation flag with a wave of her hand, causing space to crumble.
The formations were destabilized, but they still activated, trying to throw attacks on her, but she pretty much formed a spatial barrier around her, causing them to be unable to penetrate inside, for the formation no longer possessed such killing prowess.
It wouldn't have normally had enough prowess to kill her, but she wasn't the type to just receive attacks and do nothing about them.
"Quite strong High-Level Autarch Grade Killing Formations but they are nowhere to be seen… it seems like they were prepared to… run away…"
She broke through space, landed softly in the central courtyard, and brushed her sleeves off the dust.
The surroundings were silent. Not a single attendant nor a whisper of conversation could be heard. Only the guards stood still, but it made Mingzhi frown.
Her gaze sharpened.
She stepped forward and appeared in front of one of the guards. After bringing light and darkness energy into her eyes, she could see a faint, almost imperceptible grayish mist clinging to the guard's bodies, flowing like subtle drifting smoke. Their expressions were stiff, and their movements unnatural.
"My goodness… these are corpse puppets? No, curse puppets that aren't alive anymore… their souls are used as a sacrifice…"
Mingzhi raised her brows as she looked around before walking around and looking at the cloak these guards wore, "So that's how it is…"
If she had focused her soul sense on these guards, she surely would've been cursed. As for these guards, she determined they weren't even guards but prisoners who were waiting for execution. They were practically dead. As for the cloak they were clad in, she was sure it was the Eclipsing Phantom Shroud, a cloak made from cursed shadows that allowed the user to carry the curse thrown by countless people as they were dying.
It was none other than one of the three Legacy Artifacts of the Ghostly Crow Clan. She knew it was a cloak that could split off and be worn by multiple corpse sacrifices from the information the Heavenly Blight Hall gathered.
This palace wasn't empty. It was meant to curse and perhaps seal whoever invaded.
'Which means they couldn't have fled yet… they shouldn't be far…'
Mingzhi's lips curled as her expression turned into one of disdain.
This Legacy Artifact could maybe affect Peak Empyreans but not her, who was at the layer limit.
However, she suddenly wobbled and fell to the ground.
Her body ceased any movement, and her aura receded.
Exactly fifteen minutes later, a chill spread through the air. From deep within the halls, a low, raspy voice echoed.
"You've come far, Divergent. You will go no further as you will become a piece for me to negotiate with the Divine Emperor of Death."
The Ghostly Crow Realm Master finally arrived.
He slid in the air and landed beside Mingzhi as she saw her beautiful side face.
"What a beauty but a pity that you serve evil…"
He shook his head and brought out black chains that appeared like tendrils as it was made from a magical beast's intestines. It was the last Legacy Artifact of the Ghostly Crow Lower Realm, called the Wraith Crow Chains, that drained vitality and turned people into a highly impure yin energy state, which made them appear like corpses and made them unable to use energy as the cells but mainly, the meridians wouldn't respond.
He bent down to grab her wrist and tie the chains when suddenly his wrist was caught.
"…!"
The Ghostly Crow Realm Master's wings spanned wide, and he shot back. His hand was shredded within an instant by a terrifying devouring force, but he decisively pulled back so hard that his hand was ripped apart from the elbow.
However, a tremendous force of devouring kept him at bay, disallowing him to leave.
"What!? Die!"
The Ghostly Crow Realm Master couldn't believe she wasn't cursed and weak.
Still, he quickly retaliated, his cultivation base exploding as he revealed Level Three Autarch Stage undulations. Surprisingly, he appeared to have improved his cultivation base by one level, becoming stronger than a Level Nine Autarch by one level higher since his prowess was four levels higher, enough to be called a Heavenly Autarch, while the Realm Core bestowed an additional three levels.
He drew out the Crescent Bow and shot a terrifying arrow capable of piercing through even a being at the near-layer limit if they were not careful.
However, it ended up being devoured by the same terrifying spatial vortex that ground everything in its path like an insatiable tornado of darkness.
"Realm Master!"
At this moment, old and hoarse voices resounded. Three figures appeared around Mingzhi as they attacked from the flank, trying to get her to let go of the Ghostly Crow Realm Master. Evidently, their cultivation base was at Level Seven Autarch Stage, their prowess two levels higher.
They were weaker than the Ghostly Crow Realm Master but were still able to battle against Level Nine Autarchs. With the three of them, they might even be able to battle against a being who was a level higher than them in prowess.
"Annoying~"
However, an unamused voice echoed as Mingzhi raised her other hand and extended three fingers from the middle finger.
Twilight energy shot out of her fingers like a ray of light and fell on those three Guardians, causing them to freeze in their place and become enshrouded in a mysterious phenomenon that could be neither be explained as being burned nor frosted as they evaporated into thin air, leaving behind their rings.
They were unable to retaliate and probably didn't even see it coming.
"Now then-" Mingzhi raised her head and gazed at the Ghostly Crow Realm Master, "I hope you have a recording of you kowtowing nine days straight in a lavatory and a trillion High-Level Transcendent Crystals ready."