Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 1276 - 1276 0733 The Most Unwanted Surprise_2

Chapter 1276: Chapter 0733: The Most Unwanted Surprise_2 Chapter 1276: Chapter 0733: The Most Unwanted Surprise_2 Qi Tian made a snap decision; he immediately ordered the Colored Glaze Sand to gather up all the dense fog, then quickly turned around, taking the Colored Glaze Sand, all the ghostly faces, as well as the Transporting Whirlwind with him, intending to evacuate from the place as soon as possible.

Just as Qi Tian was about to reach the tomb entrance of the Outer Palaces, a sinister, chilling laughter suddenly echoed from within the Outer Palaces, filled with ferocity and domineering. At the same time, the temperature inside the Outer Palaces dropped rapidly, and the light grew bleak, as if in an instant, it had plunged into Hell itself, becoming an entirely different world.

Qi Tian murmured to himself, “This is bad,” and hastened his pace, using all his strength as he desperately ran toward the tomb entrance of the Outer Palaces. Just as the tomb entrance was in sight, there was a sudden shake and a huge boulder burst from the ground, “whooshing” up to completely block the top of the tomb entrance, sealing it tightly shut.

This boulder, while Qi Tian had never seen it before, he was very familiar with its material. It was made of the same substance as the walls he had uncovered in another Saint’s Tomb, material that isolated Divine Sense and blocked the detection of the Heavenly Dao Engine, and was also extremely durable, requiring a Nascent Soul Stage flying sword to cut through it bit by bit.

For Qi Tian, breaking this boulder in a short amount of time was simply impossible.

Qi Tian refused to admit defeat. He still ran at top speed toward the tomb entrance of the Outer Palaces. He planned to stop at the closest point to the tomb entrance and then let the Colored Glaze Sand take action. If the Colored Glaze Sand could direct its several grains of Nascent Soul Stage strength yellow sand to transform into a sand wheel and cut full-force, it might be possible to carve a hole in this stone gate. Then Qi Tian could escape through this hole.

Qi Tian had a well-thought-out plan but when he tried to implement it, he discovered one unexpected issue after another, precisely the kind of issues he least wanted to encounter.

As the Colored Glaze Sand was about to approach the stone gate, ripples suddenly appeared on it, and a frightening head protruded from the ripples, followed slowly by the rest of his body. His hand resting on the stone gate, he leaped forward and jumped out from the stone gate.

The Colored Glaze Sand came to an emergency stop and swiftly retreated, perching anxiously on Qi Tian’s shoulder.

The figure that had leaped out of the stone gate looked somewhat similar to Manager Chen, but he no longer had any semblance of life, exuding the stench of rotting corpse. The flesh revealed outside was marked with terrifying patches of death. His features were ghastly, his lips were gone, his teeth irregular and extremely sharp, covered in bloodstains, and one of his eyes had fallen from its socket, connected only by a red vein-like tissue to the dislodged eyeball.

Upon seeing Qi Tian, the creature that resembled Manager Chen let out an angry roar. He harbored immense hatred towards Qi Tian. Had Qi Tian and the ghostly faces of the Nascent Soul Stage not trapped him, he wouldn’t have crawled into the lamp stand and accidentally become an offering to the master of the Saint’s Tomb.

He would never forget what had happened during the brief period that had just passed.

After crawling into the lamppost, he hadn’t even had time to catch his breath when the teleportation array inside the post whisked him away. Before he realized what was happening, a living corpse, skin and bones with just a skeleton left, crawled out of the coffin, staring at him with blood-red eyes. It didn’t give him any chance to react before a withered hand was pressing down on his head, starting to possess him directly.

Manager Chen’s will was strong, but in front of the skeletal figure, his determination was a joke. The skeleton didn’t intend to possess him in the usual sense; it simply wanted to survive, to extend its own life. It didn’t care about the quality of the body it took over.

Manager Chen’s resistance was futile. He lasted only two or three seconds before the skeleton successfully completed its possession. Then it began to modify his body; amidst immense pain, Manager Chen turned into what he was now—neither human nor ghost.

Although Manager Chen was possessed, his memories were not completely erased, most were retained, which naturally led him to attribute all his misfortunes to Qi Tian. Manager Chen wanted to flay Qi Tian alive, to eat his flesh, to drink his blood, to use Qi Tian as the sacrifice for his rebirth. If possible, he wouldn’t let Qi Tian’s soul disappear; he would imprison Qi Tian’s soul in his mutilated body, preventing him from reincarnating to cultivate anew, making him live forever as a living corpse, filled with anger and hatred.

Qi Tian, seeing Manager Chen’s appearance, felt chills all over. Manager Chen looked terrifying, but it was more of a visual impact. Qi Tian had seen creatures even more dreadful than Manager Chen more than once or twice. It wasn’t exactly that he had gotten used to it, but he wasn’t particularly scared by Manager Chen’s appearance. What truly frightened him was that Manager Chen’s cultivation realm had advanced by leaps and bounds in the short time that had passed. He had not only successfully advanced to the Nascent Soul Stage but had also made rapid progress within it, reaching the early phase of the 2nd Level of Nascent Soul Stage.

This was a cultivation realm that was particularly shocking to Qi Tian. Although there were quite a number of cultivators at the Nascent Soul Stage on his side, whether it was the Spectral Faces or the ruling Lu Li Sand, they were all at the First Level of Nascent Soul Stage. Even if a few of the Spectral Faces had reached the peak of the first level, the gap between the peak of the first level and the early stage of the second was still vast as heaven and earth.

In the Cultivation World, during standoffs, the difference in quality often outweighs the difference in quantity. Once there’s a gap in quality, it often requires a lot of quantity to bridge it. At present, the gap between Qi Tian and Manager Chen was one of quality; for Qi Tian to close this gap with numbers was difficult, extremely difficult.

Manager Chen’s eyes stared fixedly at Qi Tian, even the eyeball that had fallen out of its socket was raised, staring dead at Qi Tian. Now a living corpse, Manager Chen couldn’t speak clearly, but he still wanted to express his rage to Qi Tian. From the first glance, Manager Chen recognized Qi Tian. He could never have imagined that the one who had driven him to this point would be Qi Tian, a youth he had once deemed unworthy of a second look.

What made him even more furious was that he had become such a terrible sight, paid a heavy price, yet Qi Tian appeared unscathed. Not only that but by his side were nine Spectral Faces, several of which were at the Nascent Soul Stage cultivation realm. The Lu Li Sand on his shoulder also emitted a powerful aura, and even Qi Tian himself had advanced to the Gold Core Realm, specifically the 4th Level of Gold Core Realm. This kid’s luck was just too good, driving one mad with envy. Especially in comparison to himself, Manager Chen found it even more intolerable for someone like Qi Tian to continue living.

“Qi Tian, I know you,” he rasped. “Ever since you entered the Imperial Family Secret Territory, you have been stirring up storms, casting the place into chaos and disorder. I didn’t intend to bother with you at all, but you insisted on pestering me and even pushed me to this state. Tell me, how should I punish you? Should I devour you alive, or should I throw you into a frying pan and fry you for a bit?”