"Here..." Bai suddenly emerged from the Corpse Puppet Pouch, staring deeply at the altar before turning toward the Immortal Tomb, lost in thought. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

He slowly walked to a heavily damaged stone stele, crouched down, and gently brushed his fingers across its surface.

The stele had long been shattered beyond recognition, its inscriptions worn away by time.

After touching it for a long while, Bai murmured softly, "I don’t know why, but seeing these tombs didn’t awaken any memories. Still, I feel something I can’t quite describe..."

Qin Sang stood silently beside him. Bai’s physical body had been refined into a corpse, so no expression could be read from his face. Yet from his tone, Qin Sang could hear a faint trace of sorrow.

The Immortal Tomb stretched endlessly. No one could tell how many graves lay within. The scene was strikingly similar to the place where Bai had once been trapped.

Who knew how many corpses were sealed within the Purple Mist End?

Moments later, Bai rose to his feet. Instead of returning to the Corpse Puppet Pouch, he walked alongside Qin Sang.

His gaze swept over the endless tombs, his eyes filled with wistfulness. Qin Sang, however, had no time for sentiment.

He knew just how dangerous the Immortal Tomb was. Within dwelled ghost kings whose strength rivaled middle-stage Spiritual Infant cultivators. Once, a Spiritual Infant grandmaster named Immortal Dongyun had been entangled by one such ghost king, while Dongyang Bo merely stood aside and watched.

Qin Sang summoned his ebony sword and the six-banner array. Whenever they encountered ghosts, he annihilated them instantly, never giving them a chance to gather and alert a ghost king.

Bai, on the other hand, walked as if on a leisurely stroll, perfectly at ease. After traversing some distance, they had already reached deep within the Immortal Tomb.

Suddenly, Bai stopped and turned sharply to the right.

"What is it?" Qin Sang tensed. He knew Bai’s perception was far sharper than his own, especially in a place saturated with ghost qi. Here, Bai’s power would only grow stronger, while his own spiritual senses were far inferior.

Bai’s eyes glimmered strangely. "I think... I’ve found someone with the same Dao."

"Same Dao?" Qin Sang was taken aback, then realization struck. "A Heavenly Corpse Talisman?"

Bai nodded. "Over the years, I haven’t completely unraveled the Heavenly Corpse Talisman, but I’ve gained some understanding, enough to partially absorb its talismanic power. Just now, I sensed the fluctuation of a refined corpse, one strikingly similar to that of the Heavenly Corpse Talisman."

"I’ve searched the Small Cold Domain for years and found no sect related to Heavenly Corpse Sect’s lineage. What you sensed might truly be a corpse refined through a Heavenly Corpse Talisman!"

Qin Sang’s eyes brightened. "I’ve never left a refined corpse here. If that’s true, it could have been left behind by another cultivator of Heavenly Corpse Sect! Corpses controlled by the Heavenly Corpse Talisman are most likely living corpses, with intelligence higher than ordinary ones. For such a thing to survive in the Immortal Tomb isn’t surprising. But if it truly is another member of the Heavenly Corpse Sect, all the better. Capture him, and we might find some clues!"

"I’ll go take a look..." Bai nodded and vanished into the ghost qi, swiftly moving toward the direction of the disturbance.

"Be careful!" Qin Sang reminded him.

He lacked the ability to conceal himself within the ghost qi and could only approach cautiously.

Not long after, the surrounding ghost qi rippled, and Bai reappeared, bringing news that shocked Qin Sang to the core. "It’s not a mere living corpse. It’s a corpse king, a masterless corpse king."

"A corpse king? Impossible!" Qin Sang was dumbfounded.

From what he had learned through the Heavenly Corpse Sect’s passed-down teachings, the Heavenly Corpse Talisman could at best control a malevolent corpse comparable to a Foundation Building cultivator. Through the technique of the corpse core, such corpses could be forcibly advanced into flying yakshas, but no further.

He had even experimented on the Witch God Continent, attempting to use the Heavenly Corpse Talisman to control a Core Formation cultivator’s corpse. The result had been disastrous, the talisman shattered and the soul perished.

He had always believed that to control higher-level corpses, the Heavenly Corpse Sect must have used other talismans or treasures. Never did he expect to encounter here, of all places, a corpse king controlled by a Heavenly Corpse Talisman.

"Have I underestimated the Heavenly Corpse Talisman?" Qin Sang frowned deeply.

In corpse refinement, few below the Spiritual Infant Realm could match his expertise, yet he had clearly misjudged something.

A corpse king... Did it belong to a former sect leader of Heavenly Corpse Sect? Qin Sang thought.

"Since it’s a corpse king, we shouldn’t provoke it. We can return later and capture it under safer conditions," said Qin Sang.

He, too, wished to unlock the mysteries of the Heavenly Corpse Talisman and rescue Mute Girl.

But a corpse king was a being even Spiritual Infant grandmasters dreaded, and here in the ghost-ridden Immortal Tomb, caution was the only wise choice.

Yet before Qin Sang finished speaking, Bai raised a hand to stop him. "Wait! Have you forgotten my abilities? This corpse king’s intelligence seems low. With ghost qi so dense around us, it’s worth attempting. Even if we can’t defeat it, I can command the ghost qi to conceal us. It won't be hard to escape it."

"The flesh of a corpse king is tougher than steel. Even with the ghost qi at your command, you won’t be able to harm it, let alone kill it." Qin Sang shook his head.

It was pointless to take this risk. They could never match a corpse king in strength.

But Bai refused to back down. "Though its intelligence is lacking, it’s no mindless husk. If it were an ordinary corpse king or a ghost king, I’d never dare. But this one carries a Heavenly Corpse Talisman within it. Through that, I may be able to restrain its power and movements. Moreover, here, my strength surpasses what it was in the Purple Mist End. If you and I strike together, we might just stand a chance. Of course, just being able to drag out the fight with a corpse king serves no benefits for us, so it’ll still take one decisive blow to finish it."

Before Bai even finished, Qin Sang already understood his intent. The only means capable of harming a corpse king was the twelve-banner array.

"I’ve used that array once before. With a bottle of Soul-Cleansing Liquid, I can barely drive all twelve banners again. But I only have one bottle left, and it was meant for you. Are you sure you want to use it now? If we fail to subdue the corpse king, it’ll be wasted."

Back at the foot of Yitian Peak, he had taken two bottles of Soul-Cleansing Liquid from the successor of the Four Saints Palace but had only consumed one.

The remaining bottle was never mentioned again by the successor, and Qin Sang naturally saw no reason to bring it up. He kept it for himself, intending to save it for Bai.

Last time, he had acted in haste. After hastily refining the fire lotus, he had been forced to consume two bottles of Soul-Cleansing Liquid consecutively just to barely control the twelve-banner array.

By his estimation, taking one bottle now should be enough to stabilize the array.

"I feel like the Soul-Cleansing Liquid won’t help me much. Better to take a risk. If we can capture or slay the corpse king, perhaps we might catch a glimpse of the secrets hidden within Heavenly Corpse Sect!" Bai spoke without hesitation, his tone slightly urgent.

Qin Sang glanced at him, understanding his eagerness to break free from his predicament.

After a moment’s thought, he remembered that Bai carried the Soul-Nourishing Wood.

The Soul-Nourishing Wood’s gentle nourishment was not inferior to that of the Soul-Cleansing Liquid.

"Very well! Since you’re willing to take the gamble, I’ll accompany you!" Qin Sang did not hesitate further and agreed.

Slaying the corpse king would benefit him as well! Hearing this, Bai was overjoyed.

Without delay, the two discussed their plan carefully, identified their retreat path, and quietly advanced toward the corpse king.

Bai concealed his presence and scouted the surroundings. If there happened to be another existence at the level of a corpse king nearby, they would have no choice but to abandon the plan.