Chapter 191: Trembling in Fear
Compared to the other faction of the Running Corpse Sect, they kept a much lower profile. They were even more strange. To cultivate the way of the corpse, these people even buried themselves underground for thousands of years.
When the Tianwu Emperor exterminated the Running Corpse Sect, he had also killed the experts of this faction. However, some of the old monsters hiding underground managed to avoid these attacks.
Although this faction was preserved, because their Cultivation Technique was too strange, there was no one willing to learn the way of the corpse, and the Running Corpse Sect completely vanished.
After Xiao Chen heard Ma Chen’s introduction, he was filled with doubts. He asked, “According to your words, they turned the powerful into corpses. The miners that turned into corpses in the tunnels clearly did not have much combat prowess. So why turn them into corpses?”
Ma Chen smiled faintly, “Naturally, they did not have much combat prowess as their bodies were not very strong; there would not be many changes after they become corpses. The truly strong ones should be the first batch we encountered. After using some special methods to refine them, they obtained their combat prowess.
“As for the miners we met, they were likely turned into corpses in passing. After all, it is not difficult for them to do so.”
Xiao Chen revealed a livid expression as he clenched his left fist tightly. He said, “This group of people are too inhumane. They did not even let off the innocent people.”
Ma Chen laughed, “Humane? These people are neither alive or dead, how humane can they be? They are no longer humans since long ago. Otherwise, they would not have incited public anger back then.”
After thinking for a while, Ma Chen continued, “I wonder where Elder Ye and the others are. We are stuck here and we can neither advance nor retreat. If we can’t get out, it is likely that we will die here.”
The exit of the mines was a tightly guarded secret. It was impossible for the inner sect disciples here on a sect mission to know about it. There were people who specialized in bringing people in or out. They would first place people in a Secret Treasure before transporting them around.
If something really happened to Ye Wen and the others, it would be possible that Xiao Chen and Ma Chen would never get out and die here. Their bodies might even be refined into corpses.
Xiao Chen felt fear just thinking about it. However, when he thought about it again, he felt it was impossible for anything to happen to Ye Wen. Back then, when he was telling Ye Wen of the strange things he noticed about Mu Xinya and Supervisor Li, he had an extremely calm expression. He even warned Xiao Chen to mind his own business.
Upon retrospection, Ye Wen was actually hinting that he already knew of this long ago. He was warning him not to alert the enemies by accident.
“Bang!”
Xiao Chen punched the wall violently; his fist carried a force of thousands of kilograms. A large hole immediately appeared in the wall and rocks fell continuously.
If he really knew of this matter in advance, he could have saved the lives of all these miners. However, he did not move these miners away in order to avoid alerting the enemies, so that his plan could succeed.
When Xiao Chen thought about the miners, he felt that was not worth it. He recalled the scene of Supervisor Zhao pleading with him on their behalf, to help mediate for those miners whose terms were ending soon.
These people could have left safely at the end of the month. They could have left these endless hell-like tunnels forever and reunite with their wives and family.
However, all of these things were just an illusion now. He thought that by putting in more effort and taking care of them, he could allow them to leave safely. In the end, he had to personally kill these miners who turned into corpses.
“Ye Wen, you are too ruthless!
Ma Chen said in astonishment, “Junior Brother Ye, what are your doing? Don’t take things too hard, everything will turn out for the best. Elder Ye and the rest will definitely find a way to deal with these corpses. By then, there would be a way out.”
“Hu!” Before Ma Chen had finished his words, Xiao Chen suddenly attacked. Xiao Chen used his hand to chop at the back of Ma Chen’s neck, which caused him to faint as he stared at Xiao Chen in astonishment.
Xiao Chen watched as Ma Chen fell over slowly and said, “I’m sorry, I have to find that person to clarify everything. Senior Brother Ma, you have to be inconvenienced for a while.”
After Xiao Chen spoke, he dug out a shallow pit and slowly placed Ma Chen into it. Then he used the soft dirt to cover Ma Chen’s body.
With Ma Chen’s cultivation, it would be no problem for him to breathe under the soft dirt. This way, the corpses would not be able to find him; he would be safe while he was unconscious.
After doing all this, Xiao Chen walked forward with a resolute gaze. Ye Wen was definitely at the place where the Fiend King was being suppressed.
Xiao Chen had gone there once, so he remembered the way there. All he needed to do was the find the hidden switches and he would be able to enter.
After Xiao Chen walked for a bit and turned a corner, a petite figure slowly appeared. It was difficult to make out who it was in the pitch dark tunnel.
However, Xiao Chen was very familiar with this person. After spending half a month with her, Xiao Chen would able to recognize her from just a silhouette—Mu Xinya!
Mu XInya looked at Xiao Chen and smiled, “Senior Brother Ye…”
Xiao Chen could not be bothered to speak with her, he immediately drew the Lunar Shadow Saber from the scabbard. The moment the saber left the scabbard, it glowed with a resplendent electric light. In the time it took for a spark to fly, the dark tunnel was brightly lit up.
Both their expressions changed under the electric light. Xiao Chen’s face turned cold and emotionless, whereas Mu Xinya’s lovable face looked slightly dejected.
“Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art, Roaming Dragon’s Nine Transformations! Qingyun Secret Technique, Clear Wind Chop!”
Xiao Chen executed a high level technique of the Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art—Roaming Dragon’s Nine Transformations. Xiao Chen’s figure vanished into the electric light, leaving nine images in the air.
Without touching the ground, each image turned and moved in a different direction. Nine gusts of cool breezes appeared in the tunnel. Xiao Chen continuously executed nine Clear Wind Chops at the speed of lightning.
If the blade was hidden amongst the wind, there was no killing Qi leaked. Instead, it would seem to be as gentle as a lover. It was like he was whispering sweet-nothings in the gentle spring breeze.
“Shua!”
The nine images all merged back together. Xiao Chen returned the saber to the scabbard as he stood quietly behind Mu Xinya. There was a calm expression on his face, not betraying any emotion; it was incredibly cold.
“Pu Chi!”
The nine death acupoints on Mu Xinya’s chest, Baihui, Qingming, Jiuwei, Juque, Shenque, Qihai, Guanyuan, Zhongji, and Qugu, all spurted out blood at the same time. She then fell to the ground with a bang.
The nine death acupoints on her chest were all struck by the saber. Even a Martial Saint would die immediately from this; there was no way to treat this.
Mu Xinya was pale as she smiled bitterly, “I thought that after working together for half a month, you would at least let me finish speaking before killing me. I did not expect Senior Brother Ye to be so merciless.”
Xiao Chen said in a frosty voice, “I also did not expect that underneath your innocent exterior, you harbored a cruel heart. I used to think that regardless of your errant motives, you would not stoop to involving all these innocent people.
Xiao Chen did not consider himself to be a good person but he was normally unable to do utterly heartless actions like this. However, this girl in front of him had crossed the bottom line in his heart.
In this strong-eat-weak world, where natural selection prevailed, morality was something that was lost long ago. People respected the strong, he whose fist was bigger was right.
Ever since the first day he had arrived in this world, when he was humiliated by the people of the Xiao Clan, he completely understood this principle.
However, there were some things that had to be maintained no matter how the situation changed. Willfully slaughtering the innocent without any reason was this bottom line that must be maintained.
Mu Xinya had violated Xiao Chen’s bottom line. Kill on sight!
If Ye Wen did not have an appropriate explanation, Xiao Chen would also seek justice on behalf of all these miners.
“Pu! Pu!”
Just as Xiao Chen was preparing to leave, Mu Xinya’s body started to move. He quickly stopped and took a look.
Turning into a corpse?
Xiao Chen gazed on with suspicions. Mu Xinya’s skin looked like it had been sliced apart by a knife; it split apart with a ‘shua’ sound.
A figure slowly emerged from the skin. She was completely naked. A full head of silver hair covered her back, giving off a faint glow in the pitch dark tunnel. The girl in front of him looked like an elf.
Her skin was snow-white, it was very attractive in the darkness.
Xiao Chen’s gaze pierced through the darkness but he was not focusing on the parts that would make a man have a nosebleed. Instead, he was focused on her ears.
They were a pair of sharp ears. They were exactly like the elves from the movies. She was extremely pretty. However, elves did not exist in this world. These pair of ears that were clearly not human proved her identity.
She was a Fiend, a girl from the Fiend Race.
Mu Xinya waved her hand and long white robes appeared. She quickly put it on in front of Xiao Chen, covering all the important parts.
Mu Xinya looked at Xiao Chen and said, “Senior Brother Ye, it was not convenient for me to tell you the truth. The entire Spirit Mines is currently in chaos. You should stay here and not move. After the whole thing is over, I will bring you out..”
“I said before, I will do my best to find an opportunity to save you, to repay the favor.
“Hu! Hu!”
After Mu Xinya said that, she moved quickly, turning into a silver flash of light and vanished from Xiao Chen’s sight. Her speed was faster than Xiao Chen’s small perfection Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art by at least ten percent.
Xiao Chen was slightly stunned. In the instant he was distracted, Mu Xinya had completely vanished.
Chase!
Following the path that Mu Xinya took, Xiao Chen chased after her. He discovered the place that Mu Xinya was headed was where the Fiend King was sealed.
The path was exactly the same as Xiao Chen remembered but all the secret switches were activated. Xiao Chen was able to follow unhindered. After some time, he finally arrived at the huge underground cave.
“Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi!”
Before he got near, he could hear the sounds of intense fighting. The sound of killing filled the air and shouts rang out continuously. Xiao Chen hid himself and extended out his Spiritual Sense to carefully observe the situation.
Within the cave, the river seemed to be like a boundary. The side that had the Fiend King suppressed were the bladesmen of the Divine Saber Camp. They held their sabers and did not make a move.
On the other side was a large corpse horde. They were all the type of corpses that was refined by that special method. Counting roughly, there was at least a thousand of them.
Furthermore, more corpse kept pouring out from underground. This caused the huge cave to be tightly packed. Just one look would cause one’s scalp to go numb.
In the middle of the river, there was a large group of Heavenly Saber Pavilion’s Martial Saints. They were fighting with the corpses that attempted to cross the river. The scene of the intense battle surpassed Xiao Chen’s imagination. The clear river water was already dyed red with blood.
The strength of the corpse also exceeded Xiao Chen’s initial expectation. Even an expert of the Martial Saint cultivation realm was not able to kill this specially refined corpse with one blow.