Red Death Valley, two days later;
Lu Qingyun, Zhao Xingye and Leng Qiuyue had arrived at a place where there was a vast chasm lying in front of them.
It was as though the ground below them had suddenly split into two.
But that was not all.
There were dozens of large skeleton remains of the desolate beasts all over the place and these remains were all of a different species. Judging from their towering sight, these desolate beasts were all at least of the fifth rank and above.
It was like a graveyard of the desolate beasts…
Yan'Er said, "Master, there is a strong desolate force that is emanating from inside that abyss." Then she hovered a little before she said to the recon party. "There is also a celestial array in the perimeter here that will alert whoever is there so you shouldn't try to take any further more steps."
Lu Qingyun nodded as he said, "Yan'Er, thank you. You may retreat to my inner cultivation sea for the time being first. I know what to do."
"Alright." Yan'Er said before she vanished from view.
Zhao Xingye and Leng Qiuyue stole a glance at each other. If it was not for Yan'Er, they would still have spent many more days or even weeks to reach this place and this place was not easy to find as the places below the desolate mists were really too vast.
"So what are we going to do now?" Zhao Xingye asked Lu Qingyun.
She was supposed to the leader of the group but yet she was asking Lu Qingyun for instructions.
Lu Qingyun pondered for a while before he said, "We can alert Fragrance Herald Yufeng first but I don't think it is wise to ask her to come at all. This will only endanger her. Therefore we can leave a marker here for later and leave in secret. Although we have no strong proof that this is the hideout of that evil cultivator but it may be closer to the truth than anything else. With this information, we can always come back with a large force later."
Leng Qiuyue looked at Lu Qingyun with an impressed look, "I agree with senior brother here."
Zhao Xingye nodded, "This sounds like a good plan to me too. Let's do it…"
All of a sudden there were groaning sounds that were creeping out of the skeleton remains of the desolate beasts and dozens of humanoids could be seen.
Lu Qingyun was startled. These dozens of humanoids were not desolate beasts but they were cultivators or rather, they used to be one. Now they were moving like zombies and were closing in from all around them!
Leng Qiuyue gasped, "Are they alive?"
Zhao Xingye said with startled expression, "I'm afraid that they are no longer alive but how they could move is beyond me…"
Lu Qingyun was alarmed. Although they were careful not to step into the celestial array and was even prepared to leave the vicinity but they had neglected something; there may be sentries beyond the perimeter and these zombie like cultivators were the sentries.
These zombie-like cultivators were actually looking a little different from their previous self and all of them had metals protruding unnaturally from their bodies, providing a layer of armor around them.
Their numbers alone were scary enough!
Zhao Xingye had immediately slashed at one of the zombie and it took almost all of her profound strength to penetrate through the armor of the zombie. The slow moving zombie had stumbled backward but to her shock, the wounds that the zombie had just received were regenerating instantly in front of her eyes!
Not only was she gasping with shock, so was Leng Qiuyue as she had also attacked at almost the same time.
Lu Qingyun had just sent two zombies to fly off and he was startled to see the zombies that Zhao Xingye and Leng Qiuyue had just attacked were regenerating their wounds rapidly. But they were even more startled than him because the zombies that Lu Qingyun had just attacked had stayed dead.
Leng Qiuyue gasped softly as she took a shocked look at him, "Senior brother, this seems that your profound strength is able to affect them more than us."
Lu Qingyun was also feeling a little strange but he said calmly as he took a swung at the head of one of the zombie, "Maybe the Flaming Crimson Sword that I've practicing is their nemesis, that why. Or maybe it is because of my divine sword. Aim for their heads, they should stay dead."
Leng Qiuyue and Zhao Xingye did as they were told and soon over a dozen zombies stayed dead.
However as the zombies were too numerous, they were all forced to take slow steps back and very soon they were being cornered by the hordes of zombies.
The situation was looking grim. Although one to one, the zombie was not a major threat but they were facing a horde of them. Moreover with every swing of their swords, their profound strength was losing bit by bit and everyone was now breathing hard due to exertion; they simply could not catch up with the loss of profound strength and was losing stamina extremely fast!
Zhao Xingye had secretly triggered the transmission but she knew that there was no way that her sister could respond with the aid in a timely fashion. She would let this transmission ran for a full three minutes and her sister would be able to home in to their precise location from where she was with her perception.
After she was done, she whispered to the group. "Let hope that they can respond…"
Lu Qingyun nodded and he was slashing furiously to keep the zombies at bay. Some of the zombies were even retreating as though they were afraid of them!
Even though the zombies were animated dead and were fearless but they could sense the desolate force that was in Lu Qingyun's attacks. That was why they were fearful. It was because not only could Lu Qingyun's desolate force burn their vitalities to stop them from regenerating, his desolate force could also sap away their remaining life force with just a single hit.
Almost all the zombies that were struck dead by Lu Qingyun was done by just a single stroke where else the maidens would require a few strokes before the head could be aimed.
With a panic look, Lu Qingyun said in a low voice. "We need to find a way out soon. We are trapped…"
Indeed they were. More than two hundreds of the zombies had surrounded them and had forced their backs to face the towering cliffs!
Leng Qiuyue muttered softly, "If only we can fly…"
"Even if you can fly, it will still be futile. I will still be able to get you to the ground!" An old man with a hunchback could be seen saying from the other side of the zombies.
At his approach, all the zombies had stopped moving.
And there was a monstrous humanoid monster that was stood terrifying behind him. Despite its huge size, there was no warning of any sound when it had made its approach.
Zhao Xingye shouted with seething rage, "Who are you? Are you the one that had killed everyone here?!"
The old man laughed coldly, "Indeed I am. So what are you going to do with me? You are all within my clutches now. To think that you can come so far in that I have thought that there must be a fifth realm expert in your party. Sad to say that, I am a little disappointed. My experiments are done now and I've no need for any low level cultivators now."
As he laughed, his eyes had moved to Lu Qingyun. "This is…"
Then he was smiling, "Maybe you may still make a good vessel and may be a good experiment…"
Lu Qingyun interrupted him coldly, "Who and what exactly are you? Why are you killing all these cultivators and desolate beasts? You can actually live inside the desolate mists?"
The last question was actually an important question that even Zhao Xingye and Leng Qiuyue was curious about. It was because there was little spiritual force below the desolate mists to sustain the cultivators. Even if a fifth realm golden celestial were to fall into the desolate mist, their golden bodies would find it difficult to regenerate because they would still need a source of external spiritual force once their own inner spiritual sea was used up.
The old man smirked coldly, "You can't sustain here but I can! This desolate mist is my source of strength! I am the last of my kind, beings of great power that you cannot imagine! Once my glorious race ruled over the immortal realm and bent the knees of the powerful god beasts. This is not something that you mere celestials can ever imagine because you don't even know how vast the cosmos is!"
Lu Qingyun said coolly, "Maybe your race has a glorious past but I'm sure that you are not them or else you will not be here."
Leng Qiuyue and Zhao Xingye were both startled by Lu Qingyun's audacious words and they were tugging his robe to warn him to stop.
But Lu Qingyun continued, "If you are really that strong, you won't need so many minions."
The old man laughed coldly as his purple eyes stared at him, "You are saying that I am not strong? Young man, you think too highly of yourself and too lowly of me. I have already subdued quite a number of golden celestials that had come to this place. One of them had even become my Number 3!"
Then he looked at the terrifying monster that was behind him as he babbled, "This is my Number 2. The perfect Metamorph of my creation…oh no…there is still Number 1…but she has not yet awakened. When she does, she will be my most perfect creation. Then we shall leave this place and go up beyond the desolate mists. In no time, the entire Celestial Realm will be mine to rule. Next will be the Immortal Realm…"
Lu Qingyun smiled weakly to himself, "This old man is completely insane…" He really could not believe what he was actually hearing. Did he even know how vast the Celestial Realm is?
The old man had suddenly stopping laughing as he said sternly, "Number 2, capture that man and shredded the women. I only want the useful tools."
Immediately Number 2 towering body had moved forward!
Lu Qingyun was startled. It was because he knew that this Number 2 was many times more formidable than the Number 4 that they had fought.
Immediately he had lifted his half-step divine sword and displayed the Flaming Phoenix Sword to the third stage in a perfect unison between his profound aura and his sword stance. This was his most powerful sword art and he prayed that it would be strong enough…
"Keqin, good bye…" He thought. "But this is the cultivator life. I hope that you will find happiness with that man that you are longing for. I know that you still have him in your heart. I have overheard you…"
"Wait Number 2!" the old man had suddenly said as he stared blankly at Lu Qingyun. "This sword art, where did you learn it from?"
Lu Qingyun said coldly, "I have created it myself." He did not expect that the old man would believe him.
The old man had suddenly laughed coldly, "Hmph, good, good…good." He had said good three times before he said. "Young man, what is your name?"
Lu Qingyun was surprised that this old man was actually asking him for his name so he answered, "Lu Qingyun."
The old man said, "Lu Qingyun, come with me!"
Lu Qingyun laughed, "Why should I come with you? Just because you have said so?"
The old man hummed coldly, "Do you have a choice?"
Lu Qingyun smiled coldly, "I still have a choice of being a dead man…"
But he had suddenly said, "But if you let my two friends go, I will go with you."
Leng Qiuyue and Zhao Xingye were both gasping as they shook their heads. They were determined to fight this evil cultivator to the death!
The old man pondered for a while before he said, "At this point, I'm no longer afraid of the surface celestials. They may go but you must come with me!"
Lu Qingyun replied, "Then that is a deal then."
Leng Qiuyue shook her head and her eyes were woeful, "Senior brother, don't…"
Lu Qingyun gave her a faint smile before he whispered almost incoherently, "I won't allow him to turn me into a monster. It is better for me to be sacrificed than sacrificing all three of us here. Help me to tell sect leader if there is a next life, I want to be her disciple again. Go now."
With that, Lu Qingyun turned to shout loudly. "Old man, you must remember to keep your words!"
The old man was grinning coldly as he released his profound aura. Immediately the zombies had opened a path.
"So what are you waiting for now? Are you waiting for me to change my mind?" the old man laughed coldly.
Leng Qiuyue took a last woeful look at Lu Qingyun before she nodded quietly. Even Zhao Xingye was trembling because she knew that Lu Qingyun was surrendering himself to give them a lease of life…