Hearing that it was the alliance head, Boss Bao and the others immediately felt like winter had passed and spring had come. Their salvation was at hand.
The old man was forced to stop and bring everyone back to the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect, whereupon they saw Qu Jianying had come with Mo Nian.
“Mo Nian, aren’t you supposed to be in seclusion? Why are you here?” asked Long Chen.
Mo Nian’s expression was odd. He worked his jaw a few times before finally sighing, “It’s hard to explain in a few words.”
“Did you cause some calamity again?” asked Long Chen curiously.
“You really are a good pair. You guessed it in one go. This little bastard actually snuck his way into the Corrupt God Cemetery.” Qu Jianying glared at Mo Nian.
“Damn, how could you do such a thing? What kind of time is it for this nonsense?!” raged Long Chen.
“Well…” Mo Nian was a bit embarrassed.
“Don’t give me some bullshit excuses. The Martial Heaven Continent is in crisis. Devil Spirit Mountain and the Yin Yang World can invade at any moment!” scolded Long Chen.
Qu Jianying nodded at this. Although Long Chen was mischievous, he knew about the big picture at important times.
“At such a time, you actually went grave robbing in the Corrupt God Cemetery by yourself? Why didn’t you call me? Didn’t we discuss that already?!” raged Long Chen.
“I’ll beat you both!” Just as she thought that Long Chen was actually somewhat reliable, he took a sudden turn.
“What happened?” asked the old man quickly, pulling Qu Jianying to his side.
“Let him tell it.” Qu Jianying glared at Mo Nian.
Mo Nian obediently explained. In truth, Long Chen had wrongly accused him. Mo Nian truly had come to look for Long Chen, but since Long Chen was in the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect, it was clear that he was training in the ninth form of Split the Heavens. So after realizing what Long Chen was doing, Mo Nian decided against disturbing him.
After that, he snuck into the Corrupt God Cemetery by himself. With his years of experience, the Corrupt path’s restrictions were unable to stop him. He entered the inner cemetery without anyone the wiser.
In the end, he reached the same place that Long Chen had reached back then. However, Mo Nian didn’t go look at the Corrupt Emperor guarding this place. Instead, he stealthily opened one of the stone coffins, only to find that it was empty.
Most shocking of all, based on his experience, the coffin had only been opened recently. At that time, he even suspected that someone had robbed this place before him, but then thinking about it, he didn’t think it was very likely. Perhaps they had been moved by the Corrupt path.
Upon closer examination, he found an underground passageway. On the other side of it was a world of darkness.
It was an ancient city filled with ghostly qi. The aura of rot and decay was everywhere. That aura alone was toxic.
The toxicity was low enough that Mo Nian was able to endure it. Hence, he snuck inside, finding countless bones. But when he reached the inner city, he saw countless resentful spirits.
There were humans, beasts, and all kinds of races. They were corpses, but their withered eyes still contained a terrifying light. They possessed their own consciousness.
However, after becoming resentful spirits, they didn’t attack each other. They had sharp senses, and Mo Nian was almost noticed by them several times.
It was at this moment that Mo Nian realized that he had entered the most mysterious of the continent’s seven danger zones, Resentful Death City. The entrance was within the Corrupt God Cemetery.
Mo Nian carefully scouted the city, but it was so big that it was hard to believe. The feeling that Mo Nian got was that the city was no smaller than the Central Plains.
The closer he got to the heart of the city, the stronger the auras of the resentful spirits. At first, there was only the occasional existence that had reached the Heaven Merging realm. But then he saw more and more of them.
Mo Nian was truly terrified upon realizing this. There were countless resentful spirits sitting here, silent. Sometimes they would sense him and rise, forcing him to hide.
At one moment, he was surrounded by dozens of resentful spirits that had reached the Heaven Merging realm. If he was noticed, there was no way he would be able to leave alive. He might even be joining their ranks if he was killed here.
Throughout the city, he also noticed quite a few disciples wearing robes of the divine families that had also become resentful spirits. The legends had to be true. Those that died here would be transformed into resentful spirits, essentially puppets without their own will.
Mo Nian thought about fleeing several times due to the danger, but it had been difficult enough to get to this point. If he didn’t get a look at the heart of the city, it would be a waste.
Mo Nian then bravely entered deeper. However, he was disappointed to see that the inner gates were closed shut. He didn’t dare to use his spiritual yuan to open them, or he would disturb the resentful spirits.
The majority of the resentful spirits in this city had reached the Heaven Merging realm, some with auras so powerful that he didn’t dare to get close to them. Just their auras alone were enough to make his soul feel a stabbing pain.
Those resentful spirits had surpassed his understanding. They might not just be in the Heaven Merging realm. Any one of them could destroy him with a wave of their hand.
After scouting the city, he found an ancient python whose body was badly corroded. Moreover, it wasn’t a resentful spirit but a true corpse. It had crawled up the wall, so Mo Nian carefully climbed up its back.
When he reached the top of the walls, he almost let out a muffled cry. He saw thousands of thousands of resentful spirits bound by chains, and at the end of those chains was an altar with coffins lying on it.
At the center of those coffins sat a person, and it was this person that made Mo Nian almost shout.
It was the Corrupt path’s Ye Ming. He was seated cross-legged, and the auras of the resentful spirits swirled around him. He seemed to be cultivating.
Just as Mo Nian saw him, Ye Ming’s eyes suddenly opened. As a result, Mo Nian shot an arrow without a second thought, and without looking to see if it landed, he fled.
The arrow was sucked into a twisting void when it was a few meters away from Ye Ming, devoured by some mysterious energy.
Because of all the commotions, all the resentful spirits in the city were awoken, and they charged at Mo Nian.
At that moment, Mo Nian had fled in the Earth Splitting Divine Shuttle. He dug through the earth, but he was immediately locked onto by a terrifying aura and was dragged out of the ground.
Just as Mo Nian thought that he was definitely dead, a Sovereign seal appeared in the sky.
However, just as it appeared, it exploded, transforming into divine runes that illuminated the city.
Those resentful spirits cried out, terrified of the light. Using this chance, Mo Nian immediately fled. However, those runes quickly dimmed, and the resentful spirits once more chased after him.
At this time, Mo Nian finally managed to reach the Corrupt God Cemetery. However, those resentful spirits had no intention of letting him off so easily. The passageway behind him almost blew apart as they followed him into the Corrupt God Cemetery.
Fortunately, upon entering the Corrupt God Cemetery, their speed was impacted. They seemed suppressed and their speed dropped.
Delighted by this, Mo Nian fled out of the Corrupt God Cemetery. Although a giant mass of resentful spirits followed, as soon as they left the Corrupt God Cemetery, they began to scream and burn, white smoke coming from their bodies. Under those circumstances, they quickly returned to the Corrupt God Cemetery.
Some were too slow and didn’t manage to retreat, so they were turned to dust.
Looking at this, Mo Nian sighed with relief, but before long, his heart tightened once more. The entrance to the Corrupt God Cemetery was no longer silent. A corrosive aura was pouring out of it and infecting the Martial Heaven Continent, slowly withering the trees and vegetation in the surroundings.
After that, black qi began to spread in that space along with some resentful spirits, which then roared at Mo Nian.
Mo Nian immediately realized that he had inadvertently opened the gates to Resentful Death City. Its aura was now leaking onto the Martial Heaven Continent. Once it infected the continent, these resentful spirits would also be able to run rampant everywhere.
Thinking of that, Mo Nian felt a chill and ran over to Qu Jianying. After explaining, she immediately brought Mo Nian to Long Chen. This matter was too big.
“This can’t be blamed on Mo Nian. It’s a good thing to have this exposed as early as possible. The Corrupt path has had control over Resentful Death City for all this time. That’s clearly a scheme, and Ye Ming is very likely the key to activating it. Perhaps this is why Yun Tian discarded everything else and only focused on killing Ye Ming,” said Long Chen.
Long Chen wasn’t saying this just to stand up for Mo Nian. Although he hadn’t gone to Resentful Death City, Qu Jianying had told him that there were only two entrances to it. One lay with the divine families, while one lay with the Corrupt path. As for the divine families’ entrance, it only gave them access to the outer regions.
The fact that Mo Nian appeared right inside the city when he came from the Corrupt path’s entrance already showed the problem. As for why the Corrupt path had dragged the inner coffins of the Corrupt God Cemetery into Resentful Death City, that was a hair-raising question.
In any case, the Corrupt path had some secret when it came to Resentful Death City, and Mo Nian had taken the first step to expose it.
Before this, Qu Jianying was afraid that the Corrupt path would open the gates of Resentful Death City and unleash the resentful spirits on the continent. Now it seemed that the Corrupt path’s goal was even worse. They might already be able to control all of Resentful Death City.
“Why would there be a Sovereign seal in Resentful Death City?” asked the old man after a long moment of silence. This was truly inexplicable. Was it some other Sovereign?
“The Sovereign’s methods are beyond comprehension. What will come will come eventually.” Long Chen turned to Mo Nian with a mischievous smile. “Great Sage Mo Nian, I wonder if you’ve made any gains on your archaeological trip this time? Don’t you think… you should share?”
“A bandit never leaves empty-handed!” Mo Nian smiled, feeling pleased with himself.
The old man and Qu Jianying stared in dumbfounded silence as Mo Nian took out a bag and emptied it. The two of them couldn’t believe their eyes.
