Zhang Ling had already entered the canyon and was now standing on a earthen slope surveying the surrounding environment.
At his feet lay a broken throwing knife and a section of dried thigh. This was another cultivator's mangled corpse, resembling the one found in the stream not long ago, drained of blood by something.
He had been in the canyon for about the time it takes to brew a pot of tea. The canyon was filled with gray-black Yin Sha mist, several times denser than outside. The level of yin energy was a bit stronger than that of a normal yin vein.
All of this proved that this place was unusual and definitely not the ordinary yin vein he had previously guessed.
Under the exploration of his divine sense, Zhang Ling noticed that this was a valley surrounded by mountains on three sides. The surrounding mountains were grayish-white stone mountains, hundreds of a unit of length high, but he could see many holes of varying sizes on the stone mountains. The earthen slope beneath him was the same, with yin energy rising from these holes.
Zhang Ling stood on the earthen slope, listening to the ghostly laughter carried by the yin wind, his face expressionless as he waited for something. Only the Yin Soul Banner floating beside him slowly rotated, wreathed in a layer of gray-green spiritual light.
He was waiting for the results of his investigation.
Earlier, he had released more than a dozen Yin Souls, using his divine sense to control them to scatter around and investigate the area with the densest yin energy.
Before long, a vague Yin Soul rushed out of the yin wind and merged into the Soul Banner. Then, more than ten other Yin Souls arrived one after another.
Only then did Zhang Ling take action, pointing at the Yin Soul Banner. A bat ghost emitting black air appeared on it. With a screech, the bat ghost transformed into a black light, carrying him towards a certain direction.
The yin energy was densest in the direction this Yin Soul had investigated, and it seemed to have discovered something else. Naturally, he had to go and see for himself.
If time were turned back to half an hour ago, four cultivators, all with Golden Core cultivation, had also passed through the direction Zhang Ling was now heading. They had discovered a cave and had been investigating it for some time.
At this moment, these four people were in a stone cave deep underground, in a bad situation, surrounded by a group of Yin Souls.
The yin wind howled, and the ghost energy was dense and chilling. There were hundreds of blue-faced with fangs Yin Souls. They surrounded the passage in front and behind, leaving the four with no way to escape.
Fortunately, the four were not weak. The bald old man leading them had reached the peak of Golden Core cultivation, while the black-faced burly man also had late-stage Golden Core strength, and the remaining man and woman were both mid-stage Golden Core.
Although the four's expressions were grave, they stood back-to-back. The only red-skirted female cultivator summoned a cyan treasured pearl, which, with flashes of lightning, formed a layer of lightning shield to protect them.
Although there were many Yin Soul ghosts, and they were of various shapes, baring their fangs and claws as they pounced, most of them were low-level ghosts and could not get close to them at all.
The only trouble was the five Ghost Kings that had reached high-level strength: a bull-headed ghost with a pitch-black body, a horse-faced ghost, a green crow with Yin fire burning all over its body, and two red-haired and blue-faced flying head ghosts.
" Eldest brother, what should we do?" the black-faced burly man asked grimly.
"This is really bad luck. Let's work together to destroy this group of ghosts," the bald old man's face was also unsightly. As he spoke, he summoned a golden flying sword.
The flying sword transformed into a golden light wheel, flying around his body and shooting out golden sword beams. Instantly, more than a dozen ghosts were chopped into pieces, scattering into wisps of green smoke.
"Although these fierce ghosts are numerous, they pose no threat to us. Moreover, so many ghosts don't seem to be gathered naturally, but rather by a Yin spirit formation such as the Evil Spirit Formation. If so, then it's not much different from what we predicted. This is an ancient cultivator remains. As long as we break through, we might be able to obtain some treasures."
The remaining male cultivator, a pale-faced scholar, also summoned a crimson treasure vase, which spat out clumps of flames.
Although the attack power was not as strong as the old man's golden flying sword, it had a wide attack range and great destructive power.
"Haha, if it's really as Second brother predicted, then we four friends of Wolf Mountain will not have made this trip in vain," the black-faced burly man also laughed wildly, abruptly patting his chest. His body became much taller, as if inflated. Most of his body was bulging with veins, and his whole body turned iron black.
His palms clapped together with a metallic sound, and a black giant sword was gripped in his hand. He stepped on the ground and charged directly out of the lightning shield, killing his way into the Yin Soul crowd with extreme ferocity.
The giant sword was about a丈 long and wide, and when swung rapidly, it created a layer of black light. Many Yin Souls were caught in it and turned into ashes.
Those few high-level ghosts were immediately attracted.
The two blue-faced and fanged flying head ghosts and the green crow, three high-level ghosts, howled as they besieged the burly man.
The black-faced burly man was not afraid. His aura was violent, and the robes on his body were torn apart, revealing some strange black-blue magic patterns tattooed on his body. As he used his spiritual power, these magic patterns swelled up like blood vessels.
" giggling, Third brother's Mad Demon Art has improved a lot," the only red-clothed female cultivator who had not attacked the Yin Souls smiled and praised.
" Third brother, hold back those three ghosts. I'll kill them. Second brother and Fourth sister, you assist from the side," the leading old man, who was the strongest, also shouted loudly, directing the others to fight.
"Okay, Eldest brother. Watch me," the black-faced burly man laughed wildly. The giant sword in his hand slammed into the ground with a bang. Then, he raised his hands to the sky, stepped on the ground with one foot, and struck a strange pose.
He looked as if he was standing still. The three high-level ghosts would not miss this rare opportunity. The two flying head ghosts opened their mouths wide, revealing rows of sharp teeth, and bit down fiercely.
But then the black-faced burly man shouted sharply, and his body trembled. The black-blue magic patterns tattooed on his body began to flow. Strangely, these spirit patterns transformed into spiritual light and rushed out of his body, wriggling like hair.
In an instant, the two flying head ghosts were wrapped up in mid-air.
Gurgling strange noises came from above. The emerald green crow also opened its mouth wide and stabbed down.
The burly man made a grabbing motion with both hands, and a blue light emerged from his body, forming a huge blue fist. With a loud bang, it directly sent the green crow flying.
At the same time, the two flying head ghosts that were trapped by him let out a scream and were killed in a golden glow.
In the smoke, a golden light flashed. The old man's flying sword slashed at the crow that had been sent flying. This high-level ghost did not resist and was cut in half. Its body swayed and turned into ashes.
The other two high-level ghosts were also covered by lightning. This was the female cultivator's method. Huge fireballs constantly smashed out, engulfing the two high-level ghosts.
In addition, the old man and burly man freed their hands. In a short time, they killed five high-level ghosts.
The four were strong and coordinated well. Dealing with the remaining low-level ghosts was like cutting grass. Before long, there were no more ghost mists in the passage.
They happily collected the five ghost cores and walked towards the front of the passage.
ghost cores are only found in the bodies of Yin Soul ghosts and are much more precious than demon cores and magic crystals. The sudden harvest of five ghost cores was a significant gain for several Golden Core cultivators.
Passing through the passage, they came to a karst cave that was thousands of a unit of length wide. Seeing the scene not far away, the four were stunned.
"This is..."
The red-clothed female cultivator looked at the side of the karst cave where there was a twenty more than 丈 high bronze giant door on the stone wall and exclaimed.
"Haha, this seems to be an underground palace. We're in luck. This place is truly an ancient cultivator remains," the black-faced burly man also looked at the bronze giant door with a face full of joy.
A hundred a unit of length away, a bronze giant door was inlaid in a grayish-black rock wall, looking somewhat mysterious. A layer of grayish-black yin energy was also swirling around it.
Approaching the bronze giant door, the group saw many ghost patterns carved on it, including blue-faced fangs ghost heads, blood-red one-eyed monsters, Yaksha with unusually large heads, and two-headed and four-armed little devils that spewed Yin fire, among other various evil ghost images.
These ghosts carved on the giant door exuded a cold evil aura as if they were not dead objects. The closer they got to the giant door, the stronger the feeling became for the four, and subtle sensations arose in their hearts.
" Eldest brother, this door is not ordinary. Let's observe it first," the pale-faced scholar among the four was the first to remind.
" Second brother, why have you become so timid? This is obviously an ancient cultivator remains. Let's quickly go inside and see what treasures there are," the black-faced burly man said dismissively in a buzzing voice.
" Third brother, don't be careless. Be careful," the bald old man looked at the giant door with a heavier expression. With his peak Golden Core strength, he also felt that the bronze giant door was unusual.
" Eldest brother, don't worry. You wait here, I'll go take a look first," the black-faced burly man did not stop and continued to move forward, but he also nodded and took out the wide giant sword, holding it in front of him to prevent accidents.
Walking to a place ten a unit of length away from the bronze giant door, the burly man stopped. Although he was reckless, he was not a fool to have such cultivation. He also sensed that something was wrong.
After looking at the bronze giant door a few more times, he sensed that it was surrounded by Yin Sha energy, but there seemed to be no other restrictions.
The burly man touched his chin, stretched out a hand, and a ball of black light appeared in his palm. The sound of whistling wind rang out, and the black light left his hand, transforming into a strong wind ball.
After a loud rumble, the bronze giant door trembled and was actually pushed open a crack by this gust of wind. The crack was pitch black, and it was impossible to see what was inside.
But this scene stunned the burly man, and then a look of joy appeared on his face. He did not expect that this strange giant door would be opened so easily.
The black-faced burly man turned to look at the three people behind him and laughed. " Second brother, you see, I said this giant door.."
" Be careful."
However, before this person could finish speaking, the old man and the other two's expressions changed drastically, as if they had seen something. They quickly reminded the burly man to be careful.
At the same time as the old man's reminder, the black-faced burly man also felt a cold wind. He immediately realized that there might be danger, and his body swayed, shifting to the other side.
His movements were extremely fast, but he was still a step too slow.
A hand claw, at the same time as his body moved, reached out from the opening of the bronze door crack and pierced into the burly man's chest.
The burly man's body swayed, and he felt weak all over. Lowering his head, he glanced at the withered hand claw that had pierced through his chest.
This was a hand claw covered with green hair. The five emerald green fingernails, like blades, were flowing with bright red blood.
" uh, ah," the black-faced burly man groaned, struggling to mobilize all the spiritual power in his body to break free from the hand claw that had pierced his chest.
But there was no chance. Another blue-green hand claw then grabbed his shoulder, causing him to let out a scream.
The two hand claws tore left and right, and the burly man's body was torn into two pieces like rags, scattering blood all over the ground.
This cruel scene caused the old man and the others to change their faces drastically. They only had time to summon their magic weapons and had no chance to rescue the burly man.
The black-faced burly man's strength was second only to the old man among them. Moreover, due to the magic technique he practiced, which was inclined towards body cultivation, his physical body was not weak. Being killed so easily dealt an even greater blow to them.
At this moment, they saw clearly that what rushed out of the bronze giant door was actually a blue-faced and fanged, dried-up zombie.
This corpse monster was covered with emerald green fluff, looked thin, but was full of corpse evil energy, which was no weaker than the mid-stage Golden Core cultivation. It was a high-level corpse monster.
"Let's work together to destroy this monster," the old man's face was ugly, but he quickly regained his composure. With an angry roar, he raised his golden flying sword and attacked.
The pale-faced scholar and the red-skirted woman also summoned their magic weapons with ugly faces and attacked.
The corpse monster did not know fear and rushed over with a roar. Several magic weapons attacked the corpse monster, immediately causing it to retreat.
Within a few breaths, the corpse monster was cut into two pieces, and then scorched by flames and lightning, and was killed in this way.
After all, they were three Golden Core cultivators, and their strength was not weak. Dealing with a corpse monster was not a problem.
But before the three could be happy, a few thump sounds came from behind the giant door, and shadows rushed out one after another. In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen blue-faced and fanged corpse monsters appeared, all of them high-level corpse monsters.
" Run,"The three people's faces changed drastically, and they turned around and left without thinking, turning into three escape lights and flying towards the way they came, becoming a look of fleeing in panic.
More than a dozen corpse monsters immediately chased out, and at the same time, a ball of black mist floated out from behind the huge bronze door.
The old man and the others only escaped a dozen a unit of length before being trapped by a piece of black and gray air. In the black mist, there seemed to be a huge monster. They couldn't see it clearly, but they could only see two blood-red ghost eyes.
Roars, explosions and other attacks sounded. But it only lasted for more than a dozen breaths before it calmed down. As the black mist dissipated, only a few broken magic weapons and a pile of broken bones fell down.
