Chapter 2052: Chapter 2053: Mummies! Third Watch

Trying to fly over was clearly impossible; this area seemed to prohibit flying, constrained by certain rules.

Fortunately, jumping onto the stone pillars was still allowed by the rules; perhaps this was the only permitted way through.

Standing on a stone pillar, Ye Qiu did not move. He surveyed his surroundings, always feeling that stepping forward while standing on the pillars was unsafe.

He observed for quite a while but could not glean any insights; everything was calm and peaceful.

What must come will come; he had to press forward despite hesitations.

Ye Qiu took a step forward onto another stone pillar. For the first few stone pillars, there were no sudden changes; but as Ye Qiu reached halfway across, suddenly, the ground beneath the stone pillars ahead began to bubble, as if boiling in a mix of water and mud, when one by one, humanoid creatures began crawling up the stone pillars.

Ye Qiu’s gaze sharpened as he looked at these humanoid creatures. It was clear without thinking that these figures appeared to attack him.

He knew he couldn’t remain stationary because the creatures were closing in from behind; staying on one stone pillar would lead to being surrounded.

Ye Qiu lightly tapped his foot, jumping onto another stone pillar, just as one of the humanoid creatures reached for him with long nails, leaving deep marks in the pillar.

Ye Qiu’s agility allowed him to leap to another stone pillar early, leaving the humanoid creature’s attack wasted.

Whoosh, whoosh...

At that moment, some humanoid creatures had already climbed onto the stone pillars and immediately lunged at him.

They resembled dried corpses.

Ye Qiu punched out twice, surprisingly only knocking them back instead of smashing them apart, startling him.

These dried corpses had incredibly strong defensive power.

Seeing these shriveled, skin-and-bone dried corpses constantly climbing towards him, Ye Qiu frowned repeatedly.

Moreover, Ye Qiu noticed more dried corpses emerging from the mud beneath the stone pillars.

He wondered how many people had died here, all turned into dried corpses, still able to attack people, which was most astonishing.

The stone forest was expansive; while attacking, Ye Qiu advanced, though the number of dried corpses was too many and hard to kill. At most, he could knock them back, and shortly after, they would pounce again, endlessly annoying.

As the pace of his steps quickened, Ye Qiu gradually found that the farther he went, the larger and stronger the dried corpses became.

If there were more people advancing together, the pressure would reduce significantly. But Ye Qiu disliked forming teams and preferred solo play. Now, in this scenario, he became the sole target for the dried corpses, all attacking him.

It was fortunate that Ye Qiu was reasonably strong; otherwise, just consuming energy would deplete a lot of strength.

Besides the danger from the dried corpses, the stone pillars beneath his feet were growing restless. Some pillars, when stepped on, would sink into the mud unexpectedly, easily causing one to fall in. From atop the stone pillars, glancing into the mud revealed heads everywhere, snarling, one after another, countless in number.

Falling truly was not an option; Ye Qiu figured that based on the attack power of the dried corpse claws, even someone at the Void Realm would have to kneel.

Falling into the mud was definitely not an option.

Ye Qiu indeed had good luck as the stone pillars he stepped on mostly did not suddenly retract, which allowed him to maintain a fast pace.

The dried corpses came one after the other, climbing like monkeys, their movements not stiff at all, extremely agile.

Swoosh. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

A shadow attacked from Ye Qiu’s back, sending a chill down his spine and causing his heart to pound as he jumped immediately. He saw the shadow pass through the spot where he had just been.

As Ye Qiu landed, he saw the shadow had already moved ahead of him, standing on a taller pillar.

Ye Qiu felt disgusted as this dried corpse seemed to have evolved, sporting two heads and four arms, making its movements very nimble.

The terrible stench emanating from its body was extremely pungent, causing discomfort.

The dried corpse stared at Ye Qiu with four eyes, crouched like a dog, gripping the stone pillar with all four hands.

Hiss...

Opening its mouth, the dried corpse let out a shriek, moving all six limbs at once, closing in instantaneously. Ye Qiu reached for his waist; the Bahuang Sword appeared in his hand, slicing horizontally in an instant.

But to Ye Qiu’s surprise, the sword didn’t completely sever the dried corpse; it even grabbed onto the Bahuang Sword’s blade, climbing up along with it.

Ye Qiu let go, commanding the Sword Spirit to eradicate it.

The Sword Spirit controlled the Bahuang Sword, sweeping the dried corpse down, then immediately slashed out an awe-inspiring Sword Qi, causing the dried corpse to plunge into the mud instantly.

Retract!

The Bahuang Sword circled in the air, swiftly returning to Ye Qiu’s hand.

He refused to believe that with Ge Tian’s cherished treasure, the Bahuang Sword couldn’t handle a Dried Corpse King.

Without the Dried Corpse King, the other dried corpses couldn’t withstand Ye Qiu’s divine weapon. The Bahuang Sword continuously swung, slicing one dried corpse after another, splitting them like dumplings. In moments, Ye Qiu slaughtered all dried corpses around him.

Whew...

Standing atop a stone pillar, Ye Qiu let out a long breath. Now, without those disgusting dried corpses, he could proceed peacefully.

However, just as he was about to step forward, the relaxing heart of his suddenly tensed.

Not far ahead, he saw numerous replica Dried Corpse Kings emerging from the mud, all with two heads and four arms, numbering in dozens, blocking his path.

Ye Qiu gripped the Bahuang Sword; despite possessing Ge Tian’s second-largest treasure, his palms began to sweat.

Because these dried corpses were difficult to deal with; although he easily killed one before and it seemed effortless, Ye Qiu knew it took eighty percent of his strength, yet he hadn’t managed to slice the dried corpse in one strike. Now, seeing so many appear at once, it was simply leaving no path for survival.

With so many Dried Corpse Kings present, likely no one could break through.

Ye Qiu silently griped, realizing these life-and-death roads were terribly complicated.

If one could survive past the life-and-death road, their strength surely wouldn’t fall short compared to the most elite geniuses.

How could Ye Qiu know that the collective appearance of these Dried Corpse Kings was entirely his own doing? Previously, martial artists traversing this path had never eradicated all dried corpses like him, which was akin to provocation, naturally attracting more formidable dried corpses.

The numerous Dried Corpse Kings already knew how to form a siege, encircling Ye Qiu and slowly closing in.

Ye Qiu could not wait for the last moment when they all attacked; he must quickly tear open a gap and leave here in speed.

Previously, he somewhat underestimated the situation; if he had swiftly moved forward after killing the first Dried Corpse King, perhaps he could have already escaped the stone forest by now. But now, he inadvertently brought out more Dried Corpse Kings.

Ye Qiu grasped the hilt of the Bahuang Sword with both hands, suddenly leaping out, slicing down with a massive Sword Qi.

Boom...