Despite opening the defensive formation around the ship, waves of dark copse qi still managed to enter the ship.
The terrifying corrosive strength of the qi caused Huang Xiaolong, and the others no small amount of shock!
Even the defensive barrier around the ship slowly eroded away!
Every time a layer was broken, rays of light would emerge from the eye of the formation to repair them. However, that came at a cost. The high-grade holy spiritual jade stones Huang Xiaolong threw into the formation were being used up at an astounding speed! From the looks of it, the hundred jade stones would only last for ten days!
"Young Master, why don't we forget about it…." The Departing Sword Sage couldn't help but try to persuade Huang Xiaolong when he saw the speed of consumption.
Those were high-grade holy spiritual jade stones they were talking about! Wasn't the price of adventuring a little high?!
After all, the chances of them locating the White Boned Dark Lotus were minuscule. If they wasted all the jade stones without finding it, it would be a terrifyingly bad deal!
Moreover, the Departing Sword Sage was afraid that they would run out of jade stones by the time they arrived on the continent. If that happened, wouldn't that mean that they would be trapped in the Black Corpse Continent forever?!
"It's fine." Huang Xiaolong was naturally able to notice his concerns. A chuckle left his lips. "Aren't they just high-grade holy spiritual jade stones? I have tons of them." During the apprenticeship ceremony, he had received lots of gifts from the various holy grounds. High-grade holy spiritual jade stones were one of the most common gifts, and he had so many of them that they piled into a high mountain. It wouldn't be a problem if he wanted to travel around the Black Corpse Continent for several years.
As they continued on their journey into the depths of the continent, Huang Xiaolong activated his holy souls to investigate the area around them. Not a single detail could escape from his detection.
The Departing Sword Sage and Chen Zhi wore an anxious expression as they looked around them cautiously. After all, the Black Corpse Continent wasn't somewhere they could mess around in.
Roar!
Soon after entering the continent, a heaven-shattering roar tore through the skies. The space around them started to tremble violently and the protective formation started to ripple.
Huang Xiaolong and the others were startled, and the Winged Dragon Flying Ship screeched to a halt.
Looking into the void around them, a massive profound beast tore through space as it rushed towards them. Every step it took brought it several million miles closer to them. Mountains were crushed every time it placed its foot down.
The profound beast approaching them was different from anything Huang Xiaolong had seen. Corpse qi around its body fluctuated endlessly and devil qi seemed to form clouds around its presence. Before it arrived, Huang Xiaolong and the others could already feel a wave of threatening qi slamming into them.
"Second Heaven True Saint Realm!" Chen Zhi and the Departing Sword Sage yelled in unison, and their expressions changed.
The profound beast in front of them had definitely reached the Second Heaven True Saint Realm! Peak First Heaven True Saints wouldn't be able to exude such pressure on them!
Huang Xiaolong had never expected to run into a Second Heaven True Saint Realm profound beast the moment he stepped into the Black Corpse Continent.
His chest constricted and a sense of unease filled his heart.
One had to know that profound beasts in the Black Corpse Continent had undergone a transformation due to the dark corpse devil qi in the air. The Second Heaven True Saint profound beast had battle prowess comparable to a Third Heaven True Saint!
If they were discovered by the beast, things would get troublesome.
The beast arrived in front of them before they could blink, and all of them held their breaths.
Luckily for them, the beast didn't plan to stop as it continued on its way. It disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Huang Xiaolong heaved a sigh of relief when the beast was no longer visible.
After a short scare, Huang Xiaolong and the others continued on their way.
Very quickly, a day passed.
Again, Huang Xiaolong and the others ran into True Saint Realm profound beasts. This time, it wasn't just a single beast. They ran into two of them! Other than the first profound beast they met, the others were only First Heaven True Saints!
Huang Xiaolong thought about subduing the two beasts he ran into, but after a short moment of consideration, he decided to put the idea down for now.
Even though with the assistance of Chen Zhi and the Departing Sword Sage, Huang Xiaolong was confident in suppressing a late-First Heaven True Saint profound beast, they would be in serious trouble if they attracted another beast over during the duration of the battle.
As the days passed, Huang Xiaolong started to feel irritated. Other than the True Saint Realm profound beasts, he failed to locate even a single stalk of holy herb during his journey on the continent!
Two months passed in the blink of an eye.
Huang Xiaolong practically swept through the entire Black Corpse Continent in two months, but other than several strands of holy spiritual herb and high-grade origin spiritual herb, he found nothing.
The treasures he found weren't able to comfort him much, but it was something.
"The Black Corpse Continent is truly as desolate as they made it out to be in the rumors…." Huang Xiaolong muttered softly.
Even though high-grade holy herbs like the White Boned Dark Lotus existed in the Black Corpse Continent, that was basically it. With the existence of such a high-grade herb, almost all the holy spiritual qi was absorbed by it. It was impossible for other herbs to survive!
If it was of any consolation, Huang Xiaolong's strength took a big leap in the two months of adventuring. He managed to break into the mid-Seventh Order Venerable Realm, and his saint attributes increased by a large margin.
To his surprise, Huang Xiaolong discovered that the herbs found in the Black Corpse Continent were useful in improving his saint attributes!
At his level, only high-grade origin spiritual herbs would be of use to him. The effects of the herbs he found on the continent were much better than devouring Chen Zifeng and the rest.
Finally, Huang Xiaolong arrived at the edge of a massive black hole in the ground.
Even though it was only several million miles wide, none of them managed to see the bottom. Waves of dark corpse devil qi poured out from the hole and threatened to engulf them.
"That's the Black Corpse Devil Cave!" The Departing Sword Sage screamed in fright.
If the Black Corpse Continent was one of the most dangerous forbidden grounds in the profound river, the Black Corpse Devil Cave was the most dangerous place in the Black Corpse Continent!
The dark corpse devil qi it spewed out was several hundred times denser than the qi around the continent!
"Young master… I don't think we need to enter the cave, right?!" Chen Zhi stuttered, "Even though the chances of locating the lotus is higher, this is really too dangerous!"
The Departing Sword Sage followed up and tried to dissuade Huang Xiaolong.
No matter how they tried, the light in Huang Xiaolong's eyes grew brighter and brighter. Eventually, he declared, "We'll use three days to locate the White Boned Dark Lotus! If we fail, we'll leave immediately!"
Since they were already there, Huang Xiaolong felt that it was a waste if he left without exploring the cave.
Like what Chen Zhi had said, the chances of locating the White Boned Dark Lotus in the Black Corpse Devil Cave were much higher than on the continent itself. After all, the herb would hide itself in places with extremely concentrated dark corpse devil qi!
Not allowing any more objections, Huang Xiaolong controlled the Winged Dragon Flying Ship to dive straight into the cave. They disappeared into the stream of dark corpse devil qi in an instant.