84: The Corpse King of Thunder Town raged and burned the ravine; the Old Demon was beheaded, and the cause and effect were cleared.
Li Muchen, carrying the momentum of a thousand thunders, dove down from the mountain ridge! Within his palm, a blazing white lightning ball expanded to the size of a human head, with electric snakes dancing wildly inside and emitting crackling explosions. The supreme Yang and unyielding destructive aura completely tore apart and purified the grayish-green poisonous miasma along the way!
"Palm Thunder?! It's you again!!" Corpse Old Nine's eyes nearly split from rage, a mixture of horror and malice. He never expected this star of calamity would find Poison Dragon Ravine so quickly, and precisely seize the moment when he was at his weakest, his attention occupied by the stone coffin!
His heavy injuries had not yet healed, and the Qi in his body was chaotic due to backlash. Facing this second, even more powerful Palm Thunder, he could hardly dodge, let alone defend! Even worse, the invisible suppression force descending upon him made him feel as if he were trapped in a quagmire, his movements sluggish; he couldn't even activate the other traps in the cave in time!
At the critical moment of life and death, a final burst of madness and ruthlessness erupted in Corpse Old Nine's eyes! He snapped his head around, looking at the massive stone coffin beside him, which was absorbing blood food from the black jade bottle, its lid vibrating more and more violently.
"You want me dead?! Then let's die together!!"
Exhausting his last bit of strength, he bit the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of black blood—a mixture of his life essence and endless malice. Like an arrow, it shot out, not toward Li Muchen, but precisely splashing onto the gap in the lid of that massive stone coffin!
"Heh... Ergh—!!"
The black blood merged with the viscous liquid poured earlier, acting as the final, violent catalyst for the thing inside the coffin! From within the stone coffin, an inhuman roar filled with endless pain and tyranny suddenly erupted! That roar seemed to come from the Nine Netherworlds, shaking the entire Poison Dragon Ravine until it hummed, and gravel fell from the cliff walls!
“Boom—!!!”
The heavy stone coffin lid was violently blown off from the inside by an unimaginable force! The massive lid spun and smashed into the nearby cliff wall with a deafening impact, sending debris flying!
A thick, ink-like black corpse malevolent energy, nearly liquefied, shot up from the open coffin like a volcanic eruption! And within that rolling black malevolence, a tall, burly figure clad in shattered, decayed ancient armor slowly and stiffly... sat up!
That "Corpse King" had finally been forcibly activated!
Its face was shriveled and greenish-black, its features distorted, though one could vaguely tell it was a military general in life. In its deep eye sockets, there were no pupils, only two flickering points of eerie, crimson flames filled with endless malice and the desire to slaughter! The shattered armor on its body was covered in dark red blood stains that seemed as if they would never dry. Its exposed skin was greenish-black, with muscles knotted like the roots of an old tree, yet emitting a cold, metallic luster.
A fierce, tyrannical, and cold pressure—ten times, a hundred times stronger than an Iron Corpse—spread out like a physical tide! The seven or eight "Old Corpses" carrying the coffin trembled under this pressure, nearly kneeling. Even Corpse Old Nine turned pale and stumbled back, his eyes containing both the pleasure of a successful scheme and deep fear—because this "Corpse King" he had forcibly awakened did not seem to be entirely under his control. Those crimson flame eyes were slowly scanning the surroundings with a destructive desire that disregarded everything.
And at this moment, Li Muchen's figure, carrying the blazing white lightning ball, had already pounced close!
His objective had been crystal clear from the start—first, destroy this most threatening "Corpse King"! Second, kill Corpse Old Nine!
"Evil creature! How dare you appear in this world to cause chaos!"
Li Muchen's voice boomed like spring thunder, shaking the ravine! In the instant the "Corpse King" had just sat up and had not yet fully adapted—the moment when its fierce power was at its peak but it was also at its "freshest"—he fiercely struck out with the Palm Thunder concentrated to the limit in his right hand!
This time, it was no longer a condensed bolt of lightning, but the entire blazing white lightning ball being pressed against the "Corpse King's" chest, which was covered in a shattered breastplate!
"Roar—!!!"
The "Corpse King" seemed to sense a fatal threat and let out an even more violent roar. Its greenish-black arms suddenly snapped up, carrying a foul wind that tore through the air, crossing them in front of its chest to protect itself. Simultaneously, it spat out a thick, impenetrable cloud of pitch-black corpse malevolent energy, attempting to block and corrode that supreme Yang lightning!
However, the Palm Thunder was the supreme lightning technique of the orthodox Daoist sects, acting as Heaven's punishment. It was supreme Yang and unyielding, the natural nemesis of all dark, evil, and foul things in the world! Moreover, Li Muchen had been gathering power for a long time and was striking with all his might!
“Sizzle—Boom!!!!”
The blazing white lightning ball and the pitch-black corpse malevolence collided violently! The expected stalemate did not occur; the lightning ball was like a red-hot iron piercing through snow, and that seemingly thick corpse malevolent energy was instantly evaporated and purified! Following that, the lightning ball's momentum remained undiminished as it slammed heavily into the "Corpse King's" crossed arms!
Blinding white light and explosions drowned out everything!
The "Corpse King's" greenish-black arms, which were strong enough to shatter stone monuments and withstand weapons, snapped inch by inch, charred and pulverized under the violent power of the thunder! The lightning broke through the defense and struck solidly against its chest!
“Pfft—!”
Dark green, viscous blood like asphalt, mixed with shattered armor pieces and charred bits of bone and flesh, sprayed out from the massive wound on the "Corpse King's" chest! Its massive body was sent flying backward by the blast, slamming heavily into the cliff wall behind it and creating a deep crater. Gravel fell, half-burying it within.
At its chest, a shocking, massive wound that went straight through was charred at the edges. Residual electric snakes were still sizzling inside, continuously destroying its corpse structure. Those two points of crimson flame flickered violently and dimmed, emitting a silent hiss full of pain and resentment as its aura instantly withered by more than half!
Although it hadn't been completely reduced to ashes, this "Corpse King" had been heavily damaged and would certainly have no strength to fight again in the short term!
After unleashing this earth-shaking strike, Li Muchen's face also turned slightly pale. His body landed, and he stumbled a step. Performing the Palm Thunder at full power twice in a row consumed a massive amount of true essence and mental energy. Even with his Peak Foundation Establishment cultivation, he felt a significant burden.
But he did not pause for a moment. Forcing a breath, his eyes flashed like lightning as he instantly locked onto Corpse Old Nine, who was currently in a daze of despair due to the "Corpse King" being heavily injured!
"Your turn!"
The dao rhyme of the earth vein suppression talisman that Li Muchen's left hand had been pressing down suddenly intensified! That suppression force instantly concentrated entirely on Corpse Old Nine!
Corpse Old Nine was already heavily injured and weak, and having suddenly lost his greatest reliance, his mind was in disarray. Now, being covered by this suppression force specifically designed to restrain evil and restrict movement, he was unable to move at all, like an ant nailed to the ground!
He watched in terror as Li Muchen approached step by step, seeing the pale gold true essence light—which, while not as blazing as the Palm Thunder, still made his Divine Soul tremble—lighting up in the other's hand again.
"No... don't kill me!" Corpse Old Nine pleaded hoarsely, tears and snot flowing. "I... I know many secrets! The Treasure Trove of Western Hunan! The Immortal Caves of ancient Cultivators! And... and dirt on Hemp Third Aunt! I'll tell you everything! Spare my life! I'm willing to be your slave!"
He was answered by Li Muchen's cold gaze and a finger pointing ruthlessly at the center of his brow!
Golden light concentrated at the fingertip like a needle, incomparably sharp, containing pure evil-breaking true essence and a hint of residual thunder!
“Pfft!”
With a soft sound, the golden light vanished into Corpse Old Nine's brow.
Corpse Old Nine's entire body jerked violently, his eyes bulging. The distorted expression of pleading and fear remained on his face, but it was frozen. The last bit of vitality in his body, his remaining evil magic, and even that foul Divine Soul that dealt with countless corpses were completely shattered and annihilated by this one finger!
The evil cultivation giant of the Western Hunan Corpse Refining lineage, Corpse Old Nine, was thus executed! His life, full of sin and bloodshed, came to an end.
Li Muchen withdrew his finger and panted slightly. After the continuous fierce battle and killing a powerful enemy, even he felt a trace of fatigue. But he didn't dare relax, his Spiritual Sense quickly scanning the surroundings.
The seven or eight "Old Corpses" carrying the coffin had lost control under the double shock of Corpse Old Nine's death and the "Corpse King's" heavy injury. They stood blankly in place, some even beginning to wander unconsciously, but their threat was greatly reduced.
And that "Corpse King" half-buried in the cliff rubble, with a large hole in its chest, still had its crimson flame eyes fixed on Li Muchen despite their dimness. Filled with endless malice, its body was still twitching slightly; it seemed it hadn't completely "died," retaining an extremely stubborn, fierce instinct.
This thing was too evil; leaving it would surely become a future problem. Even if it was heavily injured now, if it were discovered by other evil Cultivators or recovered on its own over time, it could still cause a great disaster.
Li Muchen took a deep breath, suppressing his churning blood and fatigue. He walked to the side of the stone coffin and picked up the heavy lid that had been blown off. The lid felt cold and heavy in his hands; its originally rough patterns had become blurred under the residual power of the Palm Thunder and the previous impact.
He walked back to the cliff and looked at the "Corpse King" that still emitted a dangerous aura.
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Since you have long passed, why remain in this world to plague mankind?" Li Muchen whispered to himself, as if speaking to the "Corpse King's" residual consciousness, or perhaps as a consolation to the innocent souls it had devoured or that Corpse Old Nine had killed.
He aimed the heavy stone coffin lid at the "Corpse King's" broken body. Then, channeling his remaining true essence into his arms, he suddenly lifted it high and slammed it down fiercely!
“Boom!!!”
The coffin lid fell heavily, completely covering and burying the "Corpse King" along with the surrounding rubble. The massive impact force caused the already heavily damaged body of the Corpse King to completely disintegrate.
But Li Muchen did not stop there. He bit his fingertip and, using his own essence blood mixed with true essence, quickly drew a complex Daoist talisman array on the surface of the heavy coffin lid, one that contained the intent of sealing and purification.
"Heaven is clear, Earth is peaceful, let the evil spirits be hidden! With blood as the guide, and the talisman as the suppression! Seal!"
With the final command, the talisman array flashed with blood-red light and sank into the coffin lid. The entire lid seemed to merge with the ground below, emitting a steady, heavy, evil-repelling faint spiritual light. This was not a permanent Seal, but it was enough to ensure that over the long years, the remains of the "Corpse King" below and its residual fierce aura would be gradually worn away and purified, eventually returning to the dust and never causing trouble again.
Only after doing all this did Li Muchen truly breathe a sigh of relief. He walked to Corpse Old Nine's body and, after a brief search, found several small bottles, a few bone fragments, and that black bone whistle. These were all items reeking of evil energy, so he wrapped them in true essence, intending to deal with them later. He found no other valuable information or clues.
He then looked toward the depths of Poison Dragon Ravine, at that open, pitch-black cave entrance.
After meditating briefly to recover some strength, Li Muchen cautiously walked into the Corpse Raising Cave.
The cave was wider and deeper than imagined. The air was thick with the stench of corpses, medicine, and blood. Many pits of varying sizes had been carved into the cave walls, some empty, others containing decayed coffins or shattered skeletal remains. Various eerie Magical Artifacts, medicinal dregs, and a large number of human and animal bones were scattered on the ground; the sight was nauseating.
In the deepest part of the cave, he saw a crude altar made of white bones and black stones, upon which several hideous evil god statues were enshrined. The incense burner was filled with ash. Beside the altar were stacked some chests and baskets, mostly containing gold and silver jewelry and antique jade (clearly obtained from grave robbing), as well as some tattered leather scrolls or bamboo slips recording evil corpse-refining methods and Gu arts.
Li Muchen had zero interest in the jewelry; he only collected the scrolls and slips of evil techniques, intending to destroy them all. He searched carefully again but found no more specific information regarding "Hemp Third Aunt" or the other clues Release Void had provided. He only found a very crude partial map of Western Hunan drawn on animal skin in a hidden compartment under the altar. Several locations were marked with dark red pigment, and one was heavily circled with two small words written beside it: "Ghost Crying Forest."
"Ghost Crying Forest... could it be Hemp Third Aunt's hiding place?" Li Muchen thought to himself. But the map was too crude and the information vague, so he couldn't be sure.
He tucked the map away and checked the cave once more, confirming there were no other dangers or omissions.
Finally, he took out a Fire Talisman, injected true essence into it, and flicked it onto the pile of evil technique scrolls and some of the Magical Artifacts and medicinal dregs that were clearly tainted with evil energy.
“Boom!”
The talisman fire ignited and spread rapidly, swallowing and burning those foul and evil things. The flames danced in the cave, illuminating this hellish scene and seemingly purifying the sins that had accumulated here for untold years.
Li Muchen exited the Corpse Raising Cave, looking at the raging fire inside and the mess outside in Poison Dragon Ravine, where the corpse energy was slowly dissipating.
Corpse Old Nine was executed, the "Corpse King" was suppressed, and their nest was destroyed. The primary goal of this trip had been achieved.
As for "Hemp Third Aunt" and that "Ghost Crying Forest," they were potential threats, but he was not currently at full strength, and Western Hunan was a treacherous and unpredictable place; it wasn't wise to continue venturing deeper. He needed to plan carefully or use Wu Yuanshan's forces to investigate further.
He took one last look at this Poison Dragon Ravine that had left a deep impression on him, then without lingering, he sped away in the direction he had come from.
The mountain forests were still deep, and the mist still swirled. But the vigilance and killing intent toward unknown demons he felt when he arrived had mostly dissipated with the death of Corpse Old Nine and the destruction of Poison Dragon Ravine.
Next, it was time to deal with Release Void, who was waiting at the Mountain God Temple with his cultivation destroyed, and then... return to Yuntai Mountain.
The trip to Western Hunan, while not completely successful, had seen the main evil eliminated and the Karma temporarily settled.