No one answered. Only the long, blood-red banner surged like waves. Gazing into it, it actually felt boundless.
The Dark Queen took out a soybean-sized pill from her sumeru ring and placed it into her mouth, closing her eyes to rest.
Under the many layers of white and corpses, almost-transparent white flames flickered quietly in Xiao An’s eye sockets, clearly reflecting the Dark Queen’s appearance.
The long-forgotten past that she refused to remember forcefully burst out, making it unavoidable.
Her sea of consciousness raged like the ocean. Countless memories were forcefully linked and glued together messily.
She saw the towering, magnificent estate, she saw the great state that gazed at the sea, she saw the deep rift valley, and she saw the Dark Queen!
All of these images reflected a child in the end. These were her memories.
The child was wrapped in a verdant-green waistband, dressed in black, luxurious clothes that were riddled with images of dragons and snakes. She was pretty and had a chilly expression, both unfamiliar and familiar.
Who was she?
Who am I?
……
“Zi’er” watched as her subordinate Corpse Commanders vanished into the long, blood-red banner, and her expression finally changed. Arcane artifacts and treasures that could generate a space of their own were all extremely powerful. They were not what regular people could possess.
The “power of the domain” it gave off was not as powerful as the space that the Hungry Ghost realm had devoured, but it would be very difficult to break free from without any countermeasures.
“Get out here!”
“Zi’er” brought her hands together in a seal, and with a yell, corpse qi surged out and condensed into a vicious head. It shot off into the air with a long trail of black corpse qi.
It burrowed violently into the land where the long, blood-red banner had erupted from.
With a boom, the ground suddenly bulged as waves of soil were thrown into the surroundings. The bulge erupted soon afterwards, and the terrifying power it unleashed enveloped the Dark Queen.
Countless remains were blasted into the air, falling down like a storm.
Even the Dark Queen had vanished.
“Has she been finished off? The arcane artifact should have been disabled!”
“Zi’er” frowned. She was actually unable to detect their aura.
The group of Corpse Commanders vanished suddenly along with the long, blood-red banner. They were nowhere to be seen.
……
“Her majesty the Dark Queen’s aura has vanished.”
In the huge, black coffin, Gu Yanying’s expression changed; she let out a glum sigh. She seemed like she had run out of choices.
Li Qingshan asked in surprise, “Really? You can sense it?”
He could not even extend his soul sense out of the black coffin, so he was unable to check on the situation outside. Was the soul sense of Golden Core cultivators stronger? However, when he saw how the Marquis of Ruyi also paled in fright, he realised he had only found out from Gu Yanying too.
Sure enough, she was hiding many different abilities; this made perfect sense. As the only beloved daughter of the Guardian Hawk God, her status was probably greater than most princes and princesses of the Great Xia empire. If it were not for the Hungry Ghost realm restricting and limiting almost everything, she probably could clear out the entire place with her talismans single-handedly.
“But I’m not certain whether she’s dead or alive.” Gu Yanying nodded. A bronze coin appeared in her hand, and she flicked it a few times, but she was unable to reach a conclusion with her divination.
Li Qingshan asked, “Are you going to be leaving?”
“I’m considering it. Why don’t the two of you discuss among yourselves and decide who will blow up their golden core or daemon core to destroy this black coffin and send me off?”
The Marquis of Ruyi’s expression became uglier, while Li Qingshan laughed loudly. “Don’t even think about it!”
“Then forget it. Men sure are unreliable. I can only rely on myself!” Gu Yanying smiled before suddenly becoming stern. “She’s here!”
“Zi’er” turned around and brought her hand over the black coffin. “Let’s deal with these three first!”
She twisted her hand violently, and the black coffin began to shrink abruptly. In the end, it had been reduced to the size of a room. She closed her fingers and said, “Live Burial!”
……
Within the remains that “Zi’er’s” corpse qi face had blasted into the air, an inconspicuous little skeleton curled up within the huge bones that a corpse beast left behind.
She had stowed the Blood Sea Banner away in her mouth, and the Samādhi Flames of White Bone became extremely dim too. All that was left were two hollow sockets. Her white bones no longer gave off the same shiny lustre anymore either.
She seemed no different from a regular skeleton now.
Who could find a droplet of water in an ocean?
Like what Li Qingshan had said, she only had to lie down casually within a pile of remains, and she would be ridiculously safe.
The Dark Queen opened her eyes again and gazed at the boundless sea of blood below in shock. She saw the Corpse Commanders who had lunged at her earlier currently fend off the constant pounding of the blood sea.
White skeletons wandered about in the sea of blood. They were not powerful, but they seemed endless. They lunged over with each pounding of waves.
Over twenty huge skeletons circled around in the surroundings constantly, spraying white flames at the Corpse Commanders.
However, these Corpse Commanders were all extremely tough. Even without the support of Corpse Soldiers and Generals, they could still rampage through the sea of blood like there was no one else around. Even the Skeleton Demons were unable to stop them.
However, the Dark Queen discovered they wrapped themselves up firmly in corpse qi, refusing to let the sea of fire or sea of blood come into contact with their bodies. This was no longer merely caution, but also a form of fear.
And, their numbers seemed to have decreased by two compared to when they surrounded her earlier.
As the Dark Queen had guessed, the Corpse Commanders were indeed filled with fear. When they had first been trapped here, they completely ignored the blood and fire.
Their bodies were so tough that even if a flying sword was thrusted at them, it would not necessarily be able to penetrate their skin.
And, they possessed no weaknesses on their bodies. Even if they were beheaded or torn apart, they would not die. They were even tougher than Golden Core cultivators who had trained their bodies all these years like Han Anguo.
That was until the flames burned their bodies and the blood splashed on them.
A Corpse Commander had directly been incinerated. His indestructible body was like dry firewood in fierce flames, burnt to a crisp in the blink of an eye. And that was not even the most horrifying. The other one had the lower half of its body melted away by the blood, letting out maddening shrieks before the sea of blood swallowed them soon after.
The willpower they had forged like steel in the Hungry Ghost realm immediately crumbled in the sea of blood. Under the constant invasion of despair they had not experienced in a very long time, their minds were thrown into a mess.
The sea of blood had no bounds. Even with repentance, there was no shore of salvation.
TL: It a “corrupted” version of a Chinese buddhist saying, 苦海无边，回头是岸, which basically translates to “The sea of bitterness has no bounds. Repent and the shore is at hand”, or as the English saying goes, “Repent and ye shall be saved”. It basically means that no matter what heinous deeds you’ve committed, no matter how far you’ve ventured into the sea of bitterness and suffering, the shore is right there as long as you look back—there is still salvation as long as you repent.
Only an endless sinking into misery awaited them. It was even more terrifying than roaming the Hungry Ghost realm and even more cruel than the punishments of the Hell realm.
The Blood Sea Banner was still very weak, but it still contained the despair of a bodhisattva!
“Where is this? Let’s work together and force our way out of here!”
Following the bewilderment and confusion, the Corpse Commanders gradually calmed down and repelled the Skull Prayer Beads together. They stood with their backs against each other as they observed the surroundings cautiously. They gathered their corpse qi together, condensing into a swelling, black sphere that hovered in the air.
Sure enough, the space began to twist and ripple. They could vaguely make out the familiar aura of the Hungry Ghost realm and the Corpse Commanders all riled up with vigour.
At this moment, the Dark Queen appeared. Having refined the pill, not only did her strength recover, but even her vigour had been revitalised. She felt like she had spent three whole days and nights resting. She bore no resemblance to how she ran out of strength from a bitter battle earlier.
It doesn’t matter who’s helping me, right now is the best opportunity for killing these Corpse Commanders!
The Dark Queen’s gaze was chilly, noble, and composed. A black figure extended from her shadow, reaching over three hundred meters tall in the blink of an eye and turning into the Void-bellied Ghost King. It slammed down with its hand.
The sea of blood surged with violent waves as the Corpse Commanders scattered. The black sphere they had condensed after so much difficulty immediately collapsed.
The Dark Queen possessed the strength to contend with this group of Corpse Commanders in the first place, and not only had the Corpse Commanders lost two of their companions, but they had also lost the support of the corpse army.
And, the sea of blood constantly interfered with their actions and influenced them. When the Dark Queen appeared and destroyed the black sphere, the feeling of despair filled their minds immediately. They felt like it was useless no matter how they resisted, where they were better off simply giving up.
Although they managed to suppress this thought very quickly with their great willpower, their reactions still became delayed. And, they had to contend with the feeling of despair constantly, preventing them from unleashing their full strength.
As a result, the tables turned, and the Dark Queen easily gained the upper hand, suppressing the Corpse Commanders firmly. She fought them to the point where they fled for their lives, properly venting her feelings from earlier.
The Void-bellied Ghost King swung its hand at a Corpse Commander. A huge shadow enveloped it!
A sliver of despair appeared in the Corpse Commander’s eyes. He thought to himself, Even if I dodge this strike, what then? I’ll still end up dead! No, how can I think like that? Oh no!
He was distracted. By the time he returned to his senses, the huge hand had already filled his vision as the gust of wind rushed into his face. Dodging was already too late. He was sent flying viciously, falling into the sea of blood.
The Dark Queen knew this was nowhere near enough to kill a Corpse Commander. Right when she was about to go after him, she saw the region of blood surge violently and heard a horrific howl from the Corpse Commander. She could not help but become slightly taken aback.
She had had a lot of contact with the Hungry Ghost realm. She knew the minds and willpower of these zombies were almost numbingly tough. There was no pain that could faze them. Even when destruction descended upon them, they would not feel fear. As a result, almost all bewitching or enchanting techniques would struggle to be of any effect on them.
Just what terrifying thing can make a Corpse Commander let out a horrific howl like that?
As it turned out, the attack from the Void-bellied Ghost King had not smacked the Corpse Commander to death, but it did disperse his protective true qi. When he fell into the sea of blood, it was like he fell into a vat of sulfuric acid.
If the Corpse Commander had immediately circulated his corpse qi, he would have been able to force away the blood and escape from the sea of blood. However, under the furious corrosion of the blood, a feeling of great horror and great despair filled his heart, throwing his mind into chaos. He was like a drowning person that did not know how to swim, that only knew to struggle instinctively and desperately, but the more they struggled, the deeper they sank. His body was reduced to blood very soon, becoming a part of the sea of blood. He only left behind a set of bones that floated above the sea.
The Skeleton Demons rushed over and surrounded the bones. With a spray of Samādhi Flames of White Bone, they were melted into a ball of bone fluid very quickly. Before long, another Skeleton Demon leapt out of the flames. The number of Skeleton Demons now reached twenty-six, and Xiao An had reached a new bottleneck.
