Shocking the Nine Heavens With My Sword
Chapter 348 - 336: Valley of Corpses (1/3)

Chapter 348: Chapter 336: Valley of Corpses (1/3)

Zhou Heng and Sang Qingshan, both of whom were at the Spirit Sea Realm cultivation level and had even formed a Divine Intent, moved with incredible speed, covering a thousand miles in an instant, their gazes sweeping over the surrounding area.

These tens of millions of corpses, they couldn’t just be hidden away if one wished.

To transport these corpses, the caravan that would have to be mobilized would surely be astoundingly large, or perhaps even a flying artifact larger than a Void Ship! But Void Ships were ancient treasures that no one could forge anymore, and finding a flying artifact bigger than a Void Ship was almost impossible!

But with so many corpses in tow, how could they move so quickly?

After chasing for half a day, Zhou Heng and Sang Qingshan exchanged glances, their eyes filled with confusion.

"Could it be that we’ve chased in the wrong direction?"

"Were the previous blood footprints just a misdirection?"

The two stopped and, after a brief pause, Zhou Heng said, "Brother Sang, let’s search separately!"

"That’s fine!" Sang Qingshan nodded. "However, let’s set a three-day limit. If there’s no result by then, we’ll return to Heavenly Gate Mountain! This is a Sound Transmitting Stone; if you discover anything, you can contact me anytime!"

Zhou Heng nodded. Although the theft of corpses was bizarre, with both armies at war, it wasn’t fitting for experts like them to stray too far. Within three days, it was unlikely that the combined forces of the alien races would launch an attack; he figured it should be fine.

The two split up and no longer chased straight ahead but began to move in a roundabout manner.

——How could they possibly move far with so many corpses in just two days? Therefore, it was unlikely they were far away; they must have circled around to another place!

Zhou Heng released his Divine Sense, sweeping over the nearby region, his figure slicing through the air. With each rise and fall, he covered a thousand feet, stepping on the air with more agility than a bird. Although he hadn’t pushed his speed to the extreme, it was still too fast for ordinary eyes to catch—a flash of lightning.

The reach of Divine Sense is too limited!

Zhou Heng quickly realized that when his Divine Sense swept over an area, it was like touching something with his hands, a feeling so vivid that it allowed a martial artist to grasp everything, avoiding panic even when sight was unavailable.

But with the strength of Zhou Heng’s Divine Sense, he could only cover a range of a thousand feet. Within this distance, he was like a Heavenly God, sensing every subtle change.

However, in an open field, this was meaningless!

His eyesight could discern the gender of a fly a hundred miles away, and here was a vast flat plain. He only needed to look back and forth; the utility of his eyesight far exceeded that of his Divine Sense.

And the number of corpses at the tens of millions level was immense, not something that could be hidden by a few rocks or other obstacles. So, even if sometimes his view was obstructed, it didn’t matter, unless the obstacle was too large, then he would have to fly over to see.

Moving in a winding route, after another half day, a high mountain appeared in front of Zhou Heng. Calculating the distance, it was only three thousand miles from Heavenly Gate Mountain. If the corpses were hidden in this mountain, it would make sense both logically and tactically.

He accelerated, his toes touching the air lightly in quick succession, fast as light, fast as lightning.

An old saying goes, a distant mountain can kill a horse from exhaustion. Although the high mountain was already in sight, it was still quite far from Zhou Heng. Fortunately, his speed was incredible; within a few minutes, he had already reached the foot of the mountain.

Zhou Heng didn’t enter the mountain but circled around it. He was in luck, as a heavy rain had fallen the day before, making the ground unusually muddy. At a mountain path, he discovered numerous chaotic footprints.

It should be here!

He moved swiftly, flying into the mountain.

He tried hard to contain the overflow of Spiritual Power, knowing that a Stealth Talisman could only hide his presence, not the spiritual power itself. If an expert with Divine Sense swept over, the escaping Spiritual Power would be a glaring target.

Following the footprints, after a hundred miles of mountain roads, a valley appeared ahead.

The mountain wind blew, and a stench of decay assaulted him. Zhou Heng quickly held his breath, nearly unable to resist the urge to vomit.

Just two days, and there was already the smell of decay? It was deep winter!

Zhou Heng climbed onto the ledge of the valley cliff like a gecko, peered down, and saw an immense valley below, filled with corpses. Some were relatively intact, while others were missing arms and legs or even heads.

To Zhou Heng’s amazement, these corpses were all standing upright!

There were no carts or a large number of corpse carriers here, only countless "living" corpses, slightly swaying, with black light surging in their eye sockets, exuding unspeakable evil.

Hiss!

No wonder they could "move" the corpses so cleanly in two days—these corpses were walking on their own!

This was getting more and more interesting!

Zhou Heng took out the Sound Transmitting Stone and, after communicating with Sang Qingshan, asked him to come immediately.

He surveyed the surroundings and spotted several black tents amidst the countless corpses. His ears could faintly hear human voices coming from inside, but the distance was too far, and he couldn’t hear clearly.

Climbing down the mountain side, Zhou Heng sought to be as silent as possible, using the shadowed side of the mountain for cover, and stealthily made his way into the valley toward the tents.

No matter how you looked at it, that was where all the answers would be uncovered.

"Heh——"

A deep voice sounded, and just as Zhou Heng took a few steps forward, he saw a dozen nearby corpses turn towards him, a flash of black light in their hollow eyes as they all lunged at him.

This movement was like a dam burst, instantly attracting more and more corpses to lunge towards his direction.

Damn it!

Zhou Heng had no choice but to move his thoughts and enter the Nine Mystic Trial Tower.

It wasn’t that he was afraid of a fight, but to clarify the situation, it was better to keep a low profile for now. There are always those in this world who are fearless in the face of death, as well as those high-ranking who cruelly dispose of others, like biting off a tooth filled with poison to commit suicide.

Seeing so many "living" corpses, it’s hard not to think that there’s a big secret hidden here.

The hordes of corpses surged, but because Zhou Heng had vanished without a trace, they naturally stopped in their tracks, swaying about where he had been standing.

"What’s going on?"

"Why did the walking corpses suddenly go berserk?"

"Hehe, could it be that they’ve just been produced and the human qi hasn’t completely dissipated? Should we draw some out?"

"Draw your old lady, every single one of these corpses is dead as can be, there’s no human qi, only ghost qi!"

"Could it be that someone has come?"

"Haha, even if someone did come, they’d be torn to pieces instantly!"

Messy voices arose as several men in black squeezed through the crowd of corpses to come over, and interestingly, the corpses showed no reaction to their approach, as if they were treated as their own kind.

With a sweep of Divine Sense from within the tower, Zhou Heng already knew these men in black were all at the Heaven-Opening Realm in terms of cultivation level, which could be considered as experts in any ordinary forces, but in his eyes, they were indeed as insignificant as ants, and he could suppress them with a flip of his hand.

"Everyone, take it easy and look carefully to see what has happened!" one of the men in black, who seemed to be the leader, commanded authoritatively, "This time it’s Lord Qianwu who personally leads the charge. If we handle this well, there will definitely be benefits for everyone in the future! But if we screw up... the Nascent Soul Realm Old Ancestor will be so furious that all of us combined wouldn’t even be enough for Lord Qianwu to snuff out with a flick of his finger!"

"Yes!" the other men in black responded solemnly and began searching around more carefully, but how could they possibly discover the Nine Mystic Trial Tower?

After a full half-hour of fruitless searching, they finally stopped. One of them said, "Should we report this incident to Lord Qianwu?"

"Or it was just some beasts that fell off the cliff by accident and have already been devoured clean by the walking corpses!"

"Right, that’s most likely it!"

"We shouldn’t disturb Lord Qianwu over such a trifling matter. Otherwise, if the Lord blames us, we’re gonna be in big trouble!"

"Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go back to playing cards!"

The men in black returned to their tents, and soon, their loud calls began again. When it came to gambling, each of them was shouting at the top of their lungs.

Zhou Heng didn’t need to get closer; at this distance, he could hear them clearly enough. But those guys knew nothing but card games and not a word about their origins was mentioned. Names like "Zhang," "Seven," "Jin Tong" could never reveal their true identities.

A Nascent Soul Realm Old Ancestor, huh?

Zhou Heng smirked to himself, thinking that since eavesdropping got him nowhere, it was time to stir things up! Any Old Ancestor from the Nascent Soul Realm was well-known, and although he didn’t recognize many, Sang Qingshan would be able to identify them upon arrival.

Then he would know who was pulling the strings from behind!

With a flash, he reappeared outside the Nine Mystic Trial Tower.

"Ho!" The surrounding corpses once again let out a low growl and reached out to grab Zhou Heng, their faces so naturally ferocious it was frightening.

Zhou Heng’s eyes widened, and as the might of the Purple Flame Heavenly Dragon surged, ’puff puff puff,’ all the corpses within a hundred yards instantly fell to the ground, incinerated to ash, finally returning to dust.

However, walking corpses were not living beings and didn’t entertain the notion of fear. Amidst the low growls, more distant walking corpses quickly surged over, swirling in like a vortex.

"What’s happening now!"

"Why have the walking corpses gone berserk again?"

The men in black hurriedly stopped their card game and ran out.

"You, who exactly are you?" they finally saw Zhou Heng, and each of their faces was hard to hide their shock.

"Before asking someone else’s identity, shouldn’t you first state your own origins as a matter of courtesy?" Zhou Heng said with a slight smile, flicking his finger. Spiritual Power surged out, ’puff puff puff,’ and all the charging walking corpses were shattered to pieces by him!

These resurrected walking corpses were quite troublesome; since damaging their brains or hearts still allowed them to "live," it was clear that they no longer had a weak spot. Only by shattering them into bits could they be truly killed!

Zhou Heng couldn’t help but let his thoughts wander. What if this army of walking corpses suddenly attacked? Which of the Three Great Dynasties could withstand it? This was an army that grew in number and strength the more it fought; who could endure that?

Wait a minute!

Hadn’t he been searching for the hidden hand that had framed him?

Zhou Heng snorted coldly and suddenly let out a long howl to the sky. Although he didn’t use Divine Intent, his powerful aura still surged like the ocean in the valley. The purple Heavenly Dragon swept through, ’snap snap snap,’ and corpse after corpse was burned to cinders.

"That Qian Wu, come out and fight!"(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)