Chapter 206: An Encounter After Exiting the Tomb

Chapter 206: Chapter 206: An Encounter After Exiting the Tomb

Beneath a giant tree outside the Desolate Ridge, Corpse Nineteen was leaning against the trunk, lost in thought.

"What are you thinking about?"

Yi Xiaoyao appeared before him, breaking his train of thought.

Corpse Nineteen was taken aback. He stood up and said with a wry smile, "Sir, I was just wondering how much longer I have to stay in this godforsaken place."

Yi Xiaoyao nodded. ’It really is pitiful for a Yin Soul like Corpse Nineteen to be trapped in this space forever.’

"How did you end up in this Ancient Tomb?" Yi Xiaoyao asked.

Corpse Nineteen sighed. "A hundred years ago, my younger brother and I were traveling to the Great Chu Dynasty. When we passed Black Stone Mountain on the border, we were inexplicably sucked in here..."

"So, do you want to get out?" Yi Xiaoyao asked with a sudden, peculiar smile.

"Yes! Of course, I do!" Corpse Nineteen nodded repeatedly, then added in frustration, "But this place seems to have some kind of restriction. We Yin Souls can’t get out at all."

Yi Xiaoyao raised an eyebrow. He took out the Extreme Yin Soul Stone, and with a mere thought, focused its power on Corpse Nineteen.

Corpse Nineteen felt the gray glow emanating from the Extreme Yin Soul Stone. He didn’t resist and was drawn directly into it.

"Consider this a reward for guiding me. I’ll get you out of here," Yi Xiaoyao said with a faint smile, casually tossing the Extreme Yin Soul Stone in his hand.

Since the Extreme Yin Soul Stone could contain a Copper Body Puppet, it could naturally also hold a Yin Corpse like Corpse Nineteen.

Then, Yi Xiaoyao suddenly seemed to remember something. After a flicker of emotion in his eyes, he left the area.

...

「At the base of Black Stone Mountain, on the border between the Great Shang Dynasty and the Great Chu Dynasty.」

The King of Shang was holding a black Jade Token, his heart pounding as he stared at the two words carved upon it: "Yi Xiaoyao."

Sword Wind Breaker, Bo Hong, and the others were also staring at the token with worried expressions, because this was Yi Xiaoyao’s Soul Jade Token.

If a Soul Jade Token shattered on its own, it meant that its owner—in this case, Yi Xiaoyao in the Ancient Tomb—was dead.

The hook-nosed man from the Great Xia Empire saw this and gave a cold smile.

He had just learned that a prodigy from the Great Shang Dynasty was still inside the Ancient Tomb, and he found the behavior of the people before him laughable.

"Hmph, no need to wait. Before this, I already promised the Great Yuan Dynasty and the Great Jin Dynasty that if we encountered anyone from your two dynasties inside the Ancient Tomb, we would kill them on sight," the hook-nosed man said with a mocking laugh.

Hearing this, the King of Shang and the others grew furious, but there was nothing they could do about the man. The king could only snort coldly and say, "That’s not a certainty!"

"Not a certainty?" The hook-nosed man scoffed and shook his head, a cold smirk on his lips. "The nine I brought with me this time are the nine strongest Golden Core Realm cultivators in my Great Xia Empire. While the Golden Core Realm is nothing in Great Xia, for small dynasties like yours, any one of them is an invincible existence within the Same Realm."

"Therefore, that brat from your Great Shang Dynasty has no chance of coming out alive."

After he finished speaking, the hook-nosed man let out another two smug, cold laughs.

But at that very moment, the smile on his face suddenly froze.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

Nine crisp cracking sounds rang out almost simultaneously.

Everyone’s gaze shot toward the hook-nosed man, who raised his hand, his face a mask of utter disbelief.

In his palm, nine Soul Jade Tokens had all shattered!

"How is this possible!"

The hook-nosed man cried out in alarm.

What did this mean?

It meant that the nine strongest Golden Core Realm experts from the Great Xia Empire who had entered the Ancient Tomb were all dead!

And based on how the Soul Jade Tokens shattered, the nine had died at the exact same moment.

Who could possibly instant-kill nine such powerful experts at the same time?

Silence fell, broken only by the howling wind. Shock was written on every face.

The hook-nosed man’s expression shifted uncontrollably; he simply couldn’t believe this reality.

As for the people from the Great Shang and Great Chu Dynasties, they were all equally horrified.

Bo Hong and Sword Wind Breaker, in particular, were aghast. They had personally witnessed the strength of those nine from the Great Xia Empire and knew it far surpassed their own.

Each of those nine had the power to fight a cultivator at the Nascent Soul Second Realm, or even the Third Realm. Yet now, they had all been simultaneously instant-killed.

Who on earth was capable of such a feat?

’Could it be that monster, Yi Xiaoyao?’

The thought suddenly occurred to them. They exchanged glances, their expressions peculiar.

’Yi Xiaoyao is strong, but he’s not that outrageously powerful, is he?’

’Could there be some other, extremely terrifying danger inside this Ancient Tomb?’

Everyone present found this hypothesis more believable.

But soon, they realized another strange problem: if that were the case, why was Yi Xiaoyao still alive? Was it just because he was lucky? That explanation was hard to swallow. After all, the Ancient Tomb Space was limited in size. Yi Xiaoyao had been inside long enough to traverse the entire area several times over. If such a danger truly existed, how could he possibly have avoided it?

Even the hook-nosed man was beginning to look suspicious. Though all the men he had brought were dead, he still hadn’t left.

He too would wait for Yi Xiaoyao, the sole survivor in the Ancient Tomb, to emerge so he could confirm some of his own thoughts.

Several hours later, a ripple of energy emanated from the entrance of the Ancient Tomb, and Yi Xiaoyao’s figure walked out.

SWOOSH!

Every person present turned their gaze toward him in unison.

"HISS!"

Everyone gasped, sucking in a sharp breath. They could sense Yi Xiaoyao’s Cultivation—he was actually at the Nascent Soul Realm!

Before he entered the Ancient Tomb, they clearly remembered he was only at the Golden Core Sixth Realm.

With this revelation, everyone began to understand. The nine men from the Great Xia Empire had, in fact, been killed by Yi Xiaoyao.

Yi Xiaoyao was also surprised that everyone had apparently waited for him. He offered a faint smile and a greeting.

Suddenly, a cold shout reached his ears.

"Brat! Was it you? Did you kill the people from my Great Xia Empire!" the hook-nosed man roared, his eyes wide with fury.

Yi Xiaoyao’s brows furrowed slightly as his gaze swept over the man.

A short while ago, Yi Xiaoyao had indeed encountered nine powerful Golden Core Realm experts. If it had been the old him, those nine might have been a serious headache. But now, having entered the Nascent Soul Realm and possessing Dual Nascent Souls, Yi Xiaoyao had annihilated all nine of them with a mere wave of his hand.

And now, the hook-nosed man’s questioning made Yi Xiaoyao understand. So, the nine people he had annihilated were from the Great Xia Empire. No wonder their strength was far superior to that of Bo Hong and the others.

"And why should I answer your question?"

Yi Xiaoyao said with a cold smile, refusing to give the man any face.

"Hmph, I know the answer even if you don’t tell me!" A cold glint flashed in the hook-nosed man’s eyes as he snorted heavily. "Furthermore, those at the Nascent Soul Realm cannot survive inside this Ancient Tomb, yet you walked out alive. It seems you’ve obtained Cang Tianxing’s inheritance!"

Everyone came to a sudden realization. For Yi Xiaoyao to have improved so drastically, he must have received the Creation within the Ancient Tomb!

But in the next moment, the hook-nosed man grinned sinisterly and said, "Since that’s the case, if you hand over Cang Tianxing’s Secret Technique for creating Multiple Nascent Souls, I’ll let you live. Otherwise..."