Chapter Four Hundred and Fourteen – Fiend Corpse
Reality proved at the worries Zuo Mo and the others had were well founded. The first two days of the journey went smoothly, but they encountered trouble on the third day.
The vicious being they encountered had a human-shaped figure. It looked like a zombie. It had a human-shaped primate facing them had a vicious pair of eyes that glimmered with red light. Its entire body, including its face, was covered in fur. What was strangest was that the color of its fur was not uniform. Instead the multicolored fur created a complex and exquisite pattern that was like an unknown formation.
There was a skull hanging from its waist. It seemed to be made of jade or porcelain. There seemed to be a ball of black mist that floated it the empty eye sockets.
“Careful, this is a fiend corpse!”
From the tone of Pu Yao’s warning, Zuo Mo instantly understood this thing called a fiend corpse was posed an extraordinary danger.
He had just watched as at least three flying swords chopped at the fiend corpse’s body. Other than causing a few sparks, the attacks didn’t leave behind any mark and the rebound had almost caused the attackers harm instead. Everyone, including Zuo Mo, leapt forward. Wei Sheng, Xie Shan, and the others hurried forward to help.
The fiend corpse instantly retreated as his initial attack had not succeeded. Its right hand was pressed against the skull on its waist. Its eyes flashed with red light and its gaze was tightly locked onto Wei Sheng. It seemed to understand that Wei Sheng was the greatest threat to it. When its gaze landed on the broken sword in Wei Sheng hands, the red light grew, and the fiendish mist roiled.
The fiend corpse’s presence shocked Zuo Mo. He hurriedly asked Pu Yao. “What is a fiend corpse?”
“Corpses left in areas of dense fiendish energy do not easily rot. The fiendish energy enters the corpse and forms a fiend corpse. You have to be careful, this fiendish corpse isn’t simple.” Pu Yao’s tone was grave. “Along the way here, there were no traces of corpses. Over time even the bones had turned to dust. The formation of black fiendish energy takes time, at least hundreds of years. Meaning corpse was able to stay preserved for hundreds of years. Either it has the help of a treasure, or the corpse itself is strange.”
Treasure?
Zuo Mo’s gaze floated instantly to the skull on the fiend corpse’s waist. Was this skull a treasure? When he looked at the fur on the fiend corpse’s body that was like a formation, he felt Pu Yao’s other speculation was also possible.
Facing the fiend corpse, Wei Sheng’s expression was serious. The pressure he sensed from the fiend corpse was beyond anything he had previously experienced. Ever since he had stepped into the stage of jindan, his power had multiplied. This increase wasn’t just in cultivation, it included growth in sword essence and his mentality. He had to spend large amounts of time to stabilize his cultivation. This increase in power had caused the fiend soul beasts to become less pressuring to him.
But the fiend corpse in front of him … …
Wei Sheng could not feel even a thread of its presence. If he wasn’t staring at it with his eyes, it would seem there was nothing where the fiend corpse was standing. This shocked him. The only thing that he knew that could do this were fifth-grade ling beasts. Fifth-grade ling beasts could form void covers and hide their presences.
This fiend corpse wasn’t a ling beast, not even a yao beast, but definitely was above fifth-grade!
Vicious beings above fifth-grade could only be faced by xiuzhe in jindan or above. Zuo Mo had killed a Bloody Horned Great Serpent before but that one had been forced to form. It only just touched the boundary of fifth-grade.
The fiend corpse in front of them was definitely not a normal fifth-grade vicious being. It could possibly be sixth-grade. In the world, other than xiuzhe, yao, and mo there were all kinds of beings. For these living beings, grades were used to categorize their power.
The space shield of fifth-grade, the space boundary of sixth-grade, the space source of seventh-grade, and the scape spirit of eighth-grade. The ninth and tenth-grades were existences that almost were undefeatable and immortal.
Each grade had upper, intermediate, and lower divisions. With fifth-grade as an example, the lower level could just form the space shield, the space shield that formed was also very unstable. Intermediate fifth-grade had a basic and complete space shield, and started to form new transformations. When it came to upper fifth-grade, the space shield was almost perfect, and many transformation could be comprehended.
“Intermediate fifth-grade … …” Yi Zheng exclaimed. His face instantly became pale white. Being from a great sect, Yi Zheng’s knowledge was much broader than a country bumpkin like Zuo Mo. He instantly recognize the power of the fiend corpse.
When he spoke, he frightened everyone. It had to be said that in all the major xiuzhe jie, the danger any ling beasts or vicious being posed was clear. Fourth-grade vicious beings were very rare, much less intermediate fifth-grade vicious beings. Even Yi Zheng, who was from Great Buddha Temple, was frightened. Large sects like Great Buddha Temple naturally did not lack ling beasts. Not just fifth-grade, the temple even raised a few sixth-grade ling beasts. But the fifth and sixth-grade ling beasts raised in the temple were harmless babies when compared to this fiend corpse that had formed over tens of thousands of years.
With one look at the fiend corpse, a bone-aching coldness jumped into Yi Zheng’s heart.
Wei Sheng’s expression did not change. He did not blink, and the broken sword in his hand did not waver even a sliver.
The fiend corpse stared at Wei Sheng, baring his teeth and displaying a vicious expression. Its right hand was still pressed against the skull on its waist.
The xiuzhe around Wei rapidly retreated backwards. Xie Shan, Zong Ru, Su Long, and the others came forward, and loosely surrounded the fiend corpse.
The mood became increasingly more tense.
Zuo Mo’s heart suddenly jumped, and his eyes lit up. He urgently shouted, “Xie Shan, Zong Ru, Shu Long, guard the other directions. Be wary of other vicious beings!”
The trio’s hearts shook. They rapidly retreated but were still late.
“Careful! Enemy attack!”
Chaotic shouts came from the rear and flanks. At this moment everyone’s expression changed, including Zuo Mo! Diverting attention to the front to attack the back! This fiend corpse understood misdirection!
At this moment, the eyes of the fiend corpse facing off with Wei Sheng flashed with red light, and its figure suddenly disappeared.
Clang!
A crisp sound of a metallic collision rang out so the whole camp could hear!
Wei Sheng had raised the broken sword and as he firmly parried the other’s claw! At some unknown time, the fiend souls’ ten fingers had grown into sharp white bone claws!
Clang clang clang!
The collisions were as rapid as raindrops. Some xiuzhe who had not been prepared felt their ears ring. The fiend corpse and Wei Sheng turned to two balls of shadow that chased about in the air. Everyone was unable to track their shadows.
The fiend corpse’s bone claws and Wei Sheng’s broken sword crossed and matched!
At this time, Zuo Mo’s expression changed slightly. Damn it!
There wasn’t just one vicious being that was attacking them from behind! Looking at Wei Sheng who was in fierce combat against the fiend corpse, Zuo Mo gritted his teeth, turned and charged towards the back.
He believed that with Eldest Shixiong’s power, even if he could not defeat the fiend corpse, he could slow down the other! If the vicious being that was ambushing form the back was fifth-grade as well, then it was a calamity for the others. Other than the few that had their core formations, everyone else was ningmai. Ningmai xiuzhe in front of fifth-grade yao beasts were as weak as lettuce.
This wasn’t something that numbers could change. The difference in power was too great!
If one fifth-grade yao beast charged in, blood would flow in rivers. Thinking about it, Zuo Mo’s eyes instantly became red. In name, everyone in this group were his subordinates, but in his heart, they were fellows he could give his life too.
One, two … … five … … six!
Damn it! There were six!
The damned group!
Halfway in the air, Zuo Mo suddenly bellowed. The furious howl was like thunder that suddenly spread!
The golden yellow and fiery red flame seal armor quickly wrapped around Zuo Mo at a rate visible to the naked eye. The half-transparent and gossamer thin golden wings formed silently behind him like they were drawn by an invisible pen.
Hiss!
Zuo Mo’s figure disappeared from the air.
———
An enormous shadow covered A Wen. Within the fiendish mist, there seemed to be a small mountain moving towards him. The ground was rumbling, and pebbles were furiously bouncing.
A Wen tightly gripped his black spear. His young face was expressionless like the most practiced hunter. Having survived the dueling stadium, A Wen might be young, but he had gone through hundreds of fights, and was one that truly climbed out of piles of corpses.
But this unknown monster had pressured him to the point he almost couldn’t breathe!
Even though the other had not attacked yet, A Wen was clear this feeling would occur when the enemy’s strength was far greater than his. However, he did not retreat because this big guy had wounded several of his brothers.
Shu Long was not present, and he was the strongest one present out of Guard Camp. If he ran now, the other people would directly face this big guy. Then only death awaited them.
What should he do?
His mind moved quickly. Use his speed to slow down this big guy?
At this time, the enormous shadow within the fiendish mist revealed its true face. A Wen’s pupils suddenly shrank!
An ugly sand puppet with the body of a small mountain that was at least twenty zhang. In front of it, A Wen was like an ant. It seemed to move very slowly, but it was able to move over a large distance with each step. Many small flows of sand surrounded it like mist.
So ugly!
A Wei twisted his mouth. He knew his plan of using speed to slow down the other was no longer viable.
However … …
A cold light suddenly flashed through A Wen’s eyes. He suddenly raised the black spear in his hand.
“Hardship Guard!”
A Wen’s angry shout jolted the confused and disorganized Guard Camp and quickly calmed them down. They were well trained. After the initial confusion, they quickly organized themselves. When they saw the youngest among them, A Wen, standing at the front, these men felt their blood rise up, their necks turned red, and tendons bulging.
Without any orders, just like normal, they quickly formed the Crow Fiend Mo Killing Formation!
The spear that A Wen had raised was now tilted downwards towards his side. With both his hands grasping the spear, he pointed the tip of the spear straight at the enormous sand puppet that was approaching .
All of the hardship guards understood A Wen’s meaning instantly!
These men that had felt shame at their panic furiously channeled into the formation.
Immediately, the fiendish mist was like water that furiously flooded the formation. The fiendish mist that was absorbed into the Crow Fiend Mo Killing Formation only left behind small threads of black mist.
The slender black mist swam and gathered in one direction
—towards the very front of the formation, the individual standing with his spear, A Wen.
Translator Ramblings: Fang Xiang’s foreshadowing at the end of last chapter was very clumsy.
About Gongsun Cha winning over Yu Heng … … there are two major factors in my mind: 1) he is a talented person and he had a very good teacher. If you look at chess, there are some who become grandmasters at a very young age and some who might play for years but never reach the highest level. 2) This was a “virtual” match. Essentially, both Yu Heng and Gongsun Cha started out with approximately the same amount of strength. That doesn’t happen in real battles where the strength of the battalion, the battlefield and other factors come into play. This is like the different between building a nation in Civilization and actually founding a nation in real life. So Gongsun Cha won in a “fair” game which his own skill was all that mattered. But if Heavy Earth Corps met Vermillion Bird Camp in real life, that would be a whole other matter.