Chương 180: Chapter 69: Lustful Corpse, Devouring, and Extermination (2)

The black-robed cultivator's eyes flickered with a cold, calculating light. With a sudden slap to his storage bag, a burst of orange radiance erupted, manifesting into a skeletal titan three zhang in height. The moment it appeared, the Shura Secret Bone descended upon the male corpse. Its skeletal palm splayed out, fingers as sharp as daggers, and plunged ruthlessly into the corpse's torso. Instantly, torrents of obsidian light surged through the bone-palm, flooding into the skeleton's frame with voracious hunger.

"Argh!" A pained, guttural roar tore from the male corpse's throat as the bone-blade violated its flesh. Within its jaundiced eyes, divine light flared violently as it struggled to shatter the eerie, blood-red ropes binding it.

"Die! I want you dead!" Beneath the beast, Li Zhupu's once-fair visage twisted into a mask of pure, manic agony. Her eyes burned with a frantic, suicidal fire. The sanguine glow radiating from her body intensified, causing the manifested ropes to constrict even tighter. Despite the corpse possessing the raw power of a Mid-stage Golden Core, it found itself unable to break free in that critical, suffocating moment.

Behind it, the Shura Secret Bone's second palm drove deep into the corpse's back, and the devouring speed doubled instantly. As its essence was forcibly siphoned, the corpse's jaundiced eyes filled with a hollow despair. Its lower body began to thrust with feral desperation within Li Zhupu, its mouth erupting in a series of venomous, hateful shrieks. As the corpse bucked, Li Zhupu's exposed skin turned scalding hot.

Eerie blood-red filaments crawled across her flesh like a web, converging at a single point beneath her navel.

"Even if I die, I'm dragging you to the Yellow Springs with me!" the corpse bellowed, its movements becoming even more savage. Li Zhupu's body shuddered uncontrollably, a high-pitched, piercing scream escaping her lips. With that cry, her flesh, blood, and primordial essence were forcibly siphoned through her lower body into the corpse. Her supple, rounded form withered at a visible rate, turning into a parched, desiccated husk of bone and skin before the very eyes.

Reyn stood at the hall's entrance, his expression unreadable. With his powerful Primordial Soul, a single sweep of Divine Sense confirmed that the moment Li Zhupu ignited her life force to bind the corpse, her vitality had already been severed. Even if he intervened now, she was beyond salvation. Given their deep-seated enmity, he hesitated only for a heartbeat before deciding to remain a silent observer to this grim finale.

As the Shura Secret Bone accelerated its feast, the corpse's frantic movements slowed and eventually went limp. The divine light in its jaundiced eyes faded into nothingness. The Corpse-Controlling Gu within its skull shriveled instantly, and all traces of life vanished. The Shura Secret Bone withdrew its palms, and a brilliant orange radiance exploded from its frame. Enveloped in this thick, luminous glow, its skeleton expanded, reaching a towering five zhang.

The aura it radiated surged, peaking at the Great Circle of the Mid-stage Golden Core. Simultaneously, the red glow within the withered Li Zhupu flickered out. The ropes shattered into dust, and the corpse's shrunken body slid heavily to the floor. Her eyes were filled with a desolate, deathly chill. She parted her lips, her voice a raspy, fragile whisper.

"Whoever you are... if you promise to kill one person for me, I will leave behind a Divine Sense jade slip. Take it to the Purple Mist Sect, and you will be richly rewarded." Reyn remained silent for a long moment, his gaze lingering on the woman who had become little more than a piece of dried wood. He sighed softly and slowly pulled back his black hood, revealing his face.

"If the person you speak of is Yang Dawei, then there is no need for such gestures. Moments ago, I struck him down. He has been utterly erased from this world." Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Recognizing the cultivator's face, Li Zhupu's clouded eyes glazed over in shock. Then, a fit of tragic, low laughter escaped her.

"Killed well! He deserved it! I was truly blind to have ever trusted him... to have ended up like this." As she laughed, bloody tears traced paths down her withered cheeks—a sight of absolute, soul-crushing misery.

"Though I once wished for nothing more than your death, you killed Yang Dawei and this rotting corpse. You have avenged me. As a final thanks, I will tell you this: three zhang to the left of this cave's entrance, there is a hidden chamber behind the stone wall. Use your restriction-breaking methods, and you will find a harvest of no small value."

"The three of us ventured here in pursuit of hidden riches, yet who could have foreseen such a wretched conclusion? Every treasure has been claimed by you, Fellow Daoist. Is this truly the decree of fate?" Li Zhupu's voice was a hollow rasp. After she finished, she paused, her breathing shallow and labored, before she spoke again with agonizing slowness.

"Daoist Reyn, considering the secrets I have unveiled to you, I ask for one final mercy. Will you grant me this last request?" Reyn looked at the withered woman, a flicker of complicated emotion—pity mingled with the cold pragmatism of a cultivator—crossing his features.

"Speak," he replied softly.

"If it is within my capability, I shall not decline."

"End my life." Li Zhupu's eyes were glassy, her focus dissolving into the void. She extended an arm that resembled nothing more than a parched, brittle branch and clawed at her scalp. A massive clump of hair, dry and tangled like dead summer weeds, came away in her grasp.

"I refuse to endure another moment in this hideous state, waiting in the suffocating silence for the inevitable crawl of death. Please... I beg of you, help me!" Reyn stood in silence for a long heartbeat, the weight of her plea hanging in the stagnant air. Finally, he gave a slow, solemn nod. With a sharp wave of his hand, his internal essence surged, condensing into several translucent streaks of sword-qi. They whistled through the air, instantly transfixing the woman's heart.

Yet, the wound was ghastly in its bloodlessness; only a few stray threads of crimson leaked out, as if her very essence had been siphoned away long ago. Li Zhupu's shriveled body gave a final, violent tremor. A faint glimmer of liberation replaced the murk in her eyes, and the last flickering ember of her life force was extinguished. With her passing, the four cultivators sent by the Purple Mist Sect to the Mu Family had all met their ends.

In truth, every one of them had perished, directly or indirectly, by Reyn's hand. The Great Dao of cultivation was a path of unparalleled hardship. It mattered not what illustrious lineage one claimed or what peerless talent one possessed; the boundary between existence and the void was as thin as a cicada's wing. A single error in judgment, a solitary moment of hubris, and one would be consigned to the dust in an instant.

Reyn stood amidst the silence, his eyes reflecting a momentary lapse into sentimentality before he regained his composure. He shook his head slightly, clearing the thoughts. With a casual flick of his fingers, several spheres of searing flame streaked forth, incinerating the remains of Li Zhupu, Zi Luanxing, and the Tier 3 rotting corpse into fine ash. However, he spared the female corpse. It was the perfect fuel for the Shura Secret Bone's evolution.

At this stage, the skeletal construct already wielded power comparable to the peak of the Mid-Golden Core realm. Should it feast upon this high-level corpse, there was a tangible possibility it might ascend to the Late-Golden Core stage. A spark of anticipation kindled in the depths of Reyn's eyes. Guided by his mental intent, the Shura Secret Bone lumbered toward the corpse. Its jagged bone-palms thrust deep into the flesh, and it began to ravenously siphon the latent energy within.

Moments later, the feast was complete. The orange luminescence radiating from the skeleton erupted in a blinding flash, and its stature swelled until it stood six zhang tall. Its aura surged with newfound ferocity, yet it failed to break the bottleneck. It remained anchored at the Mid-Golden Core level. Though a trace of regret touched his mind, Reyn offered a small, philosophical smile and let the disappointment fade.

To have elevated the Shura Secret Bone to the Mid-Golden Core stage during this tomb excursion was already a harvest that far exceeded his wildest projections. Moreover, a greater hoard of treasure likely awaited him further in. Reyn's gaze sharpened, sweeping across the jagged interior of the cavern before coming to rest on a section of remarkably smooth stone wall. He extended his Divine Sense, probing the surface with meticulous care. His brow furrowed in confusion.

Despite possessing the Primordial Soul of an Early Golden Core expert, he could detect nothing out of the ordinary—not a single ripple of spiritual energy or a hidden mechanism.