Invincible Dad-Chapter 709 Corpse Sect_1
Slowly, Bai Tang realized something was amiss. He turned his head to look around, his pupils shrinking continuously. A Demonic Wind had clearly been blowing just a moment ago, but now... it had completely vanished!
Within the forbidden land, the range covered by his Divine Sense was only a thousand zhang in radius, and the Demonic Wind he could disperse was limited to a mere hundred zhang.
What about this Human Race expert, then?
He couldn’t even tell how large an area of Demonic Wind the other party had dispelled, because it had already exceeded the reach of his Divine Sense.
The other party was very strong, far beyond his own Boundary.
Bai Tang’s expression changed slightly, unable to gauge the other’s exact strength.
Amidst his hesitation, a cold voice rose, "Expert from the Human Race, none of us invited you here."
As the voice spoke, eight men and women emerged. All were dressed extravagantly, possessing a natural aura of authority.
"The one speaking is Lei Fengyun, the Holy Master of the Divine Thunder Pavilion, that bastard Lei Wanjun’s ancestor..."
"There’s also the Immortal Terrace Holy Master from the Fifth Domain of the Southern Immortal Domain, the Corpse Sect Holy Master from the Sixth Domain, and the Golden Armored Holy Bear Demon Master from the Ninth Domain..."
Even for Shen Qing, the Pearl of the Shen Family who hailed from a distinguished line, cold sweat began to bead on her forehead.
Counting Bai Tang, the Demon Master of the White Rhino Tribe, there were nine renowned peak Immortal Venerables present. A single stomp from any one of them could make the Southern Immortal Domain tremble.
Shen Qing couldn’t understand why there was no word in the outside world about such a major event, with so many Holy Master-level figures entering the forbidden land. And judging from Holy Master Lei Fengyun’s words, there was a meeting of Immortal Venerable Realm experts deep within the forbidden land.
But they had not invited the Immortal Venerable from the Human Race—the one beside her, named Xu Lai.
...
...
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.
A ripple of disturbance appeared in Xu Lai’s calm eyes. According to the report from Yan Chunfeng, the Fourth Divine General, a total of ten Immortal Venerables from the Southern Immortal Domain had entered the forbidden land.
With nine appearing now, it meant that unless other unknown Immortal Venerables had joined later, only one of the ten who had lost contact had died. The death rate for Immortal Venerables was this low. Considering the strength of the one from Qingqiu, she likely hadn’t encountered any danger either. It was possible that their life tokens had ceased to function for some unknown, special reason.
The only thing that left Xu Lai slightly puzzled was that he hadn’t sensed any trace of Heavenly Soldiers on his journey here. This group of Heavenly Soldiers and Generals seemed to have truly vanished from the face of the earth.
"Fellow Daoist," Lei Fengyun, the Holy Master of the Divine Thunder Pavilion, said calmly, "I am speaking to you."
"A great opportunity like the Snowflower bearing ten fruits... I’m afraid none of you Fellow Daoists are capable of seizing it."
Xu Lai’s words struck Lei Fengyun’s heart like a heavy hammer. But the Divine Thunder Pavilion’s Holy Master showed no change in his expression, revealing no hint of his inner turmoil.
Indeed, someone leaked the information.
The same thought surfaced in the minds of all nine Immortal Venerables. It definitely wasn’t any of them, nor was it the one who had died. It was probably those Holy Masters from the other Tao Lineages in the Southern Immortal Domain, the ones who were too indecisive and didn’t dare to step into the forbidden land.
"We shouldn’t have invited them in the first place."
The Corpse Sect Holy Master from the Sixth Domain had a waxen, pale face. He stood less than 1.6 meters tall, yet he carried an enormous coffin on his back. This was the unique cultivation method of the Corpse Sect. From the Qi Condensation stage, disciples of the Corpse Sect would carry coffins containing corpses, nourishing them with their own blood.
The Corpse Sect was a Sect Gate of ill repute in the Immortal Domain. The talent of a Corpse Sect disciple was not important; what mattered was the corpse in the coffin on their back. Although the body of a deceased Corpse Sect disciple would be reclaimed by the sect to become a ’corpse’ for a new disciple to cultivate, the numbers were far from sufficient.
Therefore, the Corpse Sect dug graves. They excavated the graves of the great Tao Lineages, Holy Lands, and cultivation families throughout the Immortal Domain. Fortunately, the Corpse Sect understood the principle that a rabbit doesn’t eat the grass near its own burrow; they never dug graves in the Southern Immortal Domain, instead bringing calamity upon the Eastern, Western, and Northern Immortal Domains.
In bygone eras, the three other domains had tried more than once to annihilate the Corpse Sect, but each attempt only made the Corpse Sect stronger. Not to mention, the Corpse Sect had a legacy stretching back dozens of epochs. Many experts at the Emperor Realm, nearing the end of their lifespans, would go to the Corpse Sect to trade secret treasures for life-extending Secret Techniques. And each time the great Holy Lands tried to exterminate the Corpse Sect, the bodies of the powerful experts they couldn’t retrieve would directly bolster the Corpse Sect’s combat strength.
Furthermore, the disciples of the Corpse Sect did not fear death, as they would be refined by their fellow disciples after they fell. If they were to awaken their consciousness and become a Corpse Cultivator, wouldn’t that be a wonderful outcome?
According to rumors circulating in the Immortal Domain, the Corpse Sect had profound origins. Its Founding Ancestor was the Corpse Emperor, who rose to emperorship from a Mass Burial Mound during the sixty-fifth era of the Immortal Domain. However, this rumor was denied by the Corpse Sect, which claimed its Founding Ancestor was merely a corpse herder from the Immortal Domain.
Truth or fiction, fiction or truth—the real story had been buried by the passage of time.
Eventually, no one in the Immortal Domain paid any mind to who the Corpse Sect’s ancestor was. As for the incredibly mysterious Corpse Emperor, the Immortal Domain knew very little; only the most ancient Tao Lineages held a few vague, scattered records.
Xu Lai, however, knew the truth.
The Corpse Emperor was Dongfang Youming. In life, he was a member of the Netherworld Clan who became Great Emperor Youming in the Netherworld. In the World of Obsession belonging to Gu Yan, a hundred-thousand-zhang giant from a race outside the Immortal Domain, Xu Lai had crossed the river of time and spoken briefly with Great Emperor Youming.
Dongfang Youming believed that a path to becoming an undying Immortal lay within the Nine Kings’ Palace. From Xu Lai’s words, however, Great Emperor Youming learned that he had failed; not only did he not find the key, but he also died there.
He didn’t seem to mind. Instead, he had declared proudly, "Even if I die, I will live out a second life! I shall use my corpse to attain emperorship and tread the Immortal Path once more!"
Later, Great Emperor Youming died. His body became a corpse puppet. And he truly did live out a second life, attaining emperorship through the path of the corpse.
In terms of splendor and grace, every Great Emperor throughout history was the strongest being under their respective stars, but Dongfang Youming had left an especially vivid mark among them.
...
...
The words of the Corpse Sect’s Holy Master left the other eight Immortal Venerables looking indifferent.
Xu Lai returned from his reverie and sighed lightly, "Did Dongfang Youming become an Immortal?"
"..."
The Corpse Sect Holy Master frowned deeply. "Fellow Daoist, the name of Great Emperor Youming is not one to be discussed lightly."
"I’m asking about the Corpse Emperor. The hundred-thousand-zhang Bronze Gate he carried away—is it in the Corpse Sect?" Xu Lai asked calmly.
The pupils of the Corpse Sect’s Holy Master contracted imperceptibly.
How does this human know?! The Corpse Emperor’s true identity is shrouded in mist throughout the entire Immortal Domain. There are countless theories, but not even the Saint Heirs or Supreme Elders within the Corpse Sect know the truth. Only the successive Sect Masters of the Corpse Sect know that the Corpse Emperor is the second life of Great Emperor Youming and the Founding Ancestor of the Sect Gate. As for that Bronze Giant Gate, even I don’t know what it is.
"I don’t know what you’re talking about," the Corpse Sect Holy Master said coldly. "Everyone, this Human Race Immortal Venerable came uninvited. We should first join forces and eliminate him."
"The Human Race expert is right," Bai Tang, the Demon Master of the White Rhino Demon Clan, spoke up. "The nine of us need a helper."
"And... he has brought a sacrificial offering with him."
The enormous Bai Tang pointed at Shen Qing and cracked a sinister smile. "She is Shen Qing from the Shen Family of the Divine Wind, the very one we’ve been searching for."
