Chapter 2400: Blood Fiend Corpse

However, the three were exceedingly cautious and did not immediately land beside the skeleton. After exchanging glances, the elder surnamed Wu carefully flicked his finger, sending a ball of black light slowly descending.

Much to their surprise, as soon as the black light touched the crimson chain, it ignited with a whoosh, burning fiercely.

In just a few breaths, the seemingly ancient blood chain vanished into ash.

However, the Heavenly Witch's skeleton inside remained completely unaffected by the black flames, still pristine white, smooth, and gleaming.

Upon seeing this, the three elders were overjoyed.

Without any further hesitation, the elder surnamed Wu recalled his incantation, and the black flames below immediately vanished.

With another flicker of his form, the elder landed on a specific bone section he had been secretly observing.

At the center of this bone was precisely the blurry black shadow resembling a jade slip they had seen earlier.

Seeing this, the other two elders also floated down excitedly.

“Can the two of you clearly discern what this is now?” the elder surnamed Wu asked with a frown after gazing intently at the black shadow within the bone for a long moment.

“No,” the elder surnamed Yu said, withdrawing his gaze with a hint of frustration. “The Heavenly Witch’s bones contain an energy that interferes with divine sense. Although it’s slightly weaker than outside the iron cage, our spiritual sense is still immediately scattered upon entering, making it impossible to see its true form.”

“My divine sense is far weaker than yours, Daoist friends. If even you two cannot, then I am even more helpless,” the last elder replied with a sigh.

“Never mind what it is,” the elder surnamed Yu said with a strange laugh, licking his lips. “Since it was left by the Heavenly Witch, it’s most likely related to her legacy. Let’s just break it open and take it out. Then everything will be clear.”

Without waiting for the others to reply, a slender white bone sword appeared in his hand with a flash of white light. With a shake, he fiercely slashed down towards the black shadow.

With a bang.

The moment the white bone sword touched the bone, the immense power it contained vanished without a trace, as if a clay ox had entered the sea. It was then sharply repelled upwards by a surging force from below.

The seemingly incredibly sharp blade left not even the slightest mark where it struck.

The Heavenly Witch’s remains were as hard as a Vajra body.

After witnessing this, the Three Saints of Wuling showed no dejection. Instead, after exchanging glances, they all saw expressions of extraordinary delight on each other's faces.

If even the bones left behind after her demise were so formidable, it showed how profound the cultivation technique the Heavenly Witch practiced in her lifetime must have been.

This made the Three Saints of Wuling anticipate her legacy even more.

“Since the Ghost Bone Sword is ineffective, it seems ordinary treasures cannot damage the skeleton either,” the elder surnamed Wu said resolutely after taking a breath. “Other treasures with too much power would destroy the item hidden inside along with it. To be safe, let me use a secret technique to directly retrieve it.”

“Brother Wu is going to use the Transference Technique?” The elder surnamed Yu’s expression shifted upon hearing this.

“Only this technique can guarantee retrieving the item without damaging the skeleton,” the elder surnamed Wu replied.

“But this technique consumes a vast amount of spiritual energy. Brother Wu has already used a lot of his primordial energy earlier; can he still successfully perform this technique now?” the third elder asked hesitantly, concerned.

“Don’t worry. Since I’ve said so, I naturally have some confidence. If it fails, it won’t be too late for the two of you to use other drastic measures.”

Hearing this, the other two elders naturally had nothing more to say.

Thus, the elder surnamed Wu first took out a blood-red pill, threw his head back, and swallowed it. Then, after sitting cross-legged in meditation for a while, he stood up again, a sanguine glow appearing on his face. His previously somewhat weakened aura seemed to have recovered considerably.

After gazing at the black shadow within the bone beneath him, the elder raised an arm, his ten fingers rapidly forming a series of mysterious hand seals, while simultaneously chanting an obscure incantation.

The other two watched all this solemnly from the side.

As the incantation grew louder, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth near the blood lake trembled, vibrating continuously to a strange rhythm.

Around the elder surnamed Wu’s body, some milky-white, unknown runes began to appear, shaking with the same rhythm and emitting a low humming sound.

The elder stopped his hand seals, and one palm slowly extended towards the bone containing the black shadow. Just then, the nearby milky-white runes paused slightly, then suddenly became transparent.

The extended palm of the elder surnamed Wu also became crystal clear, turning transparent along with them.

An incredible scene unfolded.

As the transparent fingers touched the bone, they directly sank into it as if intangible, reaching for the black shadow hidden within.

What seemed like an extraordinarily simple action caused the elder surnamed Wu’s spiritual energy to drain at an incredible speed. In an instant, his face turned pale, and he was drenched in sweat.

With a thud.

The elder surnamed Wu’s fingers finally grasped the black shadow, slowly retracting it inch by inch, his movements even slower than before.

However, as the transparent runes began to flicker wildly, the palm, with fingers tightly clenched, finally withdrew from the bone, and instantly reverted to its original form.

Almost simultaneously, the runes circling nearby exploded with a muffled sound, all flickering slightly as they shattered.

Although the elder surnamed Wu was drenched in sweat, his face was filled with unrestrained joy.

“Brother Wu, quickly let us see if this object is the jade slip containing the Heavenly Witch’s cultivation methods!” The other two elders were also overjoyed, staring unblinkingly at their companion’s clenched hand, with the elder surnamed Yu speaking eagerly.

The elder surnamed Wu did not reply to his two companions. Instead, after taking a deep breath, he slowly raised his clenched hand and gradually opened it.

A jet-black jade tablet, its surface covered in intricate spirit patterns, suddenly appeared there.

“This is…” The elder surnamed Yu was slightly taken aback.

However, before he could fully react, the elder surnamed Wu’s face suddenly changed as he cried out, “Not good!” He violently flung the jade tablet high into the air and simultaneously shot backward.

With a bang, the jade tablet in his hand instantly exploded, spraying out a dense shower of black runes.

These runes blurred once and then shot in all directions like a torrential downpour. The moment they touched the massive flower drum below, they seemed to come alive, desperately burrowing into it.

At such close range, the Three Saints of Wuling, though greatly alarmed, desperately dodged. However, some of the black runes still vanished into their bodies in a flash.

Their protective spiritual light proved completely ineffective.

The three gaunt elders paled in fright. Some formed hand seals with one hand, causing several defensive treasures to suddenly burst from their bodies. Others let out a low roar, their bodies instantly erupting with black flames a foot high.

But no matter what divine abilities they displayed, the next moment, with a thud, they all fell head over heels from the air, landing squarely on the skeleton.

At this moment, black threads had appeared all over the Three Saints of Wuling’s faces, hands, and feet, almost covering every inch of their skin.

The three gaunt elders felt their physical bodies and true essence become uncontrollably numb. Even their Nascent Souls, deeply hidden within their bodies, were tightly entangled by countless black threads, rendering them unable to move.

Faced with such a shocking turn of events, the Three Saints of Wuling were naturally filled with both alarm and fury.

Just then, the black runes within the previously motionless half-human, half-horse skeleton nearby also transformed into black threads, spreading throughout its entire body, on the verge of covering every inch.

Suddenly, two points of green light flickered into existence within the colossal skeleton’s empty eye sockets. After a quick spin, they transformed into two fiercely burning green flames.

At the same time, a flash of crimson light emanated from its colossal body, and a blood-red light barrier instantly appeared on its surface. After swiftly condensing, it then transformed into countless blood threads, which also vanished into its body in a flash.

The next moment, strange hissing sounds came from within the skeleton. The black and red blood threads intertwined like mortal enemies, twisting wildly and devouring each other.

For a moment, the skeleton’s surface glowed with dazzling black and red light, flickering wildly between dim and bright.

“A Malevolent Corpse! It’s a Blood Fiend Corpse Transformation!” The last elder’s face instantly turned deathly pale upon seeing this scene, and he cried out involuntarily. “That thing just now wasn’t the Heavenly Witch’s legacy, but a restrictive rune used by True Monarch Tianding to suppress the corpse transformation!”

The other two elders were equally panicked, desperately trying to mobilize their true essence with various incantations. However, the black threads clung tightly to their meridians like maggots to bone, rendering all their incantations and secret techniques completely useless.

After a short while, all three of them became utterly ashen-faced.

A strange cry, “Hum!” suddenly emerged from the colossal skeleton’s gaping mouth. Then, after the green flames in its eye sockets flickered, the previously motionless skeleton began to tremble slightly. At the same time, the blood threads within its body thickened several times over, instantly tearing the intertwined black threads into shreds and absorbing them into itself.

In a blink of an eye, the black threads within the skeleton rapidly vanished at a visible speed. The previously inert skeleton suddenly moved a thick arm, pressing it against the ground. Its colossal body then sat up halfway amidst rumbling vibrations.

This sudden development utterly terrified the Three Saints of Wuling.

Under normal circumstances, even if this Malevolent Corpse was incredibly powerful, the three of them acting together would not have feared it. However, in their current predicament, where they were at the mercy of others, the situation was entirely different.

Seeing that the Malevolent Corpse, transformed from the Heavenly Witch’s skeleton, was truly about to break through True Monarch Tianding’s restrictions on its body, the three of them simultaneously resolved to fight to the death.

Immediately, after a loud shout from both the elder surnamed Wu and the elder surnamed Yu, their respective cranial domes burst open with a muffled sound. From each, a small figure, wreathed in smoke, shot out.

As for the last elder, green light suddenly appeared in his eyes. After a flash of green runes on his skin, countless verdant vines, branches, and other plant matter surged wildly from his body, instantly transforming him into a massive tree-man, dozens of feet tall.