Chapter 364: Heart of the Jackal Fox

The woman on the centipede let out a bloodcurdling scream. Her body trembled, and the centipede's thousand legs scurried rapidly across the mud wall, attempting to shake off the paper money, but to no avail.

The paper money had formed within its body and was quickly spreading, engulfing the centipede's entire form. It was even on the verge of covering the woman's upper body.

Eerie voices continuously emanated from the ghoulish faces on the paper money, echoing in all directions.

"Are you full?"

The voices were dense and pervasive, like countless people screaming in a sharp, high-pitched chorus.

The woman's eyes showed ferocity. Realizing she couldn't suppress the paper money, she abruptly maneuvered her body to burrow into the mud wall. As soil scattered, her figure plunged in and vanished.

At that very moment, the paper money on the faces of the corpses below also flew up, one by one, drifting towards where the centipede had gone.

The ghoulish faces on them laughed as they pierced through the mud wall, pursuing the centipede.

It seemed this place was indeed a trap, but it wasn't aimed at Xu Qing. Instead, it was targeting… that strange centipede.

Alternatively, the centipede's appearance might have attracted the paper money, causing them to shift their focus.

Xu Qing wasn't entirely clear about the exact truth; he could only speculate.

He watched the direction the centipede had gone, feeling even more wary of this place. Both the paper money and the centipede had given him a profound sense of danger.

This feeling was unrelated to cultivation; it seemed these entities inherently possessed a mysterious power.

"It's somewhat similar to the Crimson Moon… Perhaps my Poison Restriction Pill could eliminate them, and the Purple Moon might also work."

Xu Qing muttered to himself, but he didn't want to reveal his full capabilities here. Remaining vigilant, he cautiously approached the corpses below, collecting the scattered fragments around them and taking the storage bags from their bodies.

As he continued to descend, he opened the storage bags. Each indeed contained some fragments, totaling over a hundred.

After collecting them, Xu Qing descended further, maintaining his vigilance.

At this depth, though the stench was stronger, the sound of opera grew clearer, and the chill and anomalous matter intensified. However, fragments began to appear around him.

Xu Qing quickly collected them as he saw them.

And so, time slowly passed; a day went by.

During this time, Xu Qing also encountered a few severely decomposed remains, making it impossible to tell if they belonged to those who had entered with him.

Beside these remains, there were often spectral shadows, like wild dogs, gnawing on them.

Furthermore, these remains had no storage bags on them.

This made Xu Qing even more cautious, and he slowed his descent.

He also encountered many strange spirits, such as a giant resembling a mountain of flesh, with a huge gash on its belly, exhaling and inhaling mud.

There were also eye-like plants growing on the mud walls, staring at Xu Qing with an eerie intensity.

And there were dancing maidens, beautifully dressed, like celestial beings.

They floated out from the mud wall, dancing as they passed through to the other side. Though seemingly beautiful, their faces were actually blank.

A timid person would likely be terrified, their legs turning to jelly, and would want to escape this place.

After all, the place was dark and confined, reeking of a foul odor. Both the strange spirits and the persistent opera music instinctively made one's soul tremble and spine tingle.

However, Xu Qing was fine; he had witnessed too much human misery, and there were things more terrifying than this.

By the end of the second day, Xu Qing had descended to an extremely deep level, having collected over two hundred fragments, which was nearing the practical limit.

Just as he was contemplating whether to descend further, the coffin formed by his shadow suddenly reappeared behind him. All of its eyes simultaneously opened, gazing at the opposite wall.

At the same time, intense and clear vibrations were transmitted to Xu Qing.

Xu Qing's mind stirred. As he looked up, the black iron skewer suddenly shot out, heading directly for the mud wall. It instantly blasted open a large pit, revealing the dying centipede woman inside.

Her centipede body had now completely turned into paper money, shriveled and dry, as if its inner essence had been devoured, leaving only a papery shell.

The human part of her body, from the eyes down, was also like this. She lay there limply, her eyes hollow, seemingly awaiting her final dissipation.

Xu Qing glanced at her, then withdrew his gaze, about to leave. However, a pleading vibration emanated from his shadow behind him.

"You want me to save it?" Xu Qing was surprised; it was the first time he had felt such an emotional fluctuation from his shadow.

"Aura… familiar… want…"

Xu Qing pondered for a moment, then nodded.

"I can only try. If it fails, it will still die."

The coffin formed by the shadow immediately swayed. Xu Qing glanced at it, having grown accustomed to its skewed perceptions, likely influenced by the Diamond Sect Ancestor.

He now walked towards the large pit where the paper centipede lay.

At his approach, the woman, whose body below the eyes had turned into paper money, showed a slight ripple in her hollow gaze, but she couldn't speak.

Xu Qing calmly approached, looking down. His Third Heavenly Palace within him suddenly vibrated, and the power of poison restriction emanated from his body, spreading towards the centipede woman.

It instantly encroached.

The woman's eyes instantly widened in terror. The next moment, all the paper money on her body simultaneously transformed into ghoulish faces, staring intently at Xu Qing and speaking in unison.

However, what emerged was not an eerie sound, but a bloodcurdling shriek.

Xu Qing's poison rapidly spread over the paper money. Wherever it touched, the paper money turned completely black and melted directly. The entire process didn't last long; all the paper money transformed into black liquid and merged into the mud.

After losing the paper money, the exposed centipede body was also affected by Xu Qing's poison.

As the woman's body below her eyes continued to rot and her gaze grew even more hollow, Xu Qing's Third Heavenly Palace vibrated.

Instantly, all the dissipated poison, including the poison present within the centipede woman's body, rolled back and flowed into Xu Qing's Heavenly Palace.

After this, the centipede woman's body trembled. She weakly raised her head, gave Xu Qing a glance, then turned and flickered, instantly piercing through the mud and disappearing into the distance.

Xu Qing paid no attention to her, standing at the edge of the pit. After a moment of thought, he decided it would be better to collect more fragments to ensure he could rank among the top ten.

So he leaped down, continuing his descent. Another half-day passed like this, and the fragments Xu Qing had collected reached two hundred and forty-three.

At this point, only half a day remained until the deadline for qualifying. Xu Qing decided not to continue and prepared to leave.

But just as he collected the last fragment, his pupils abruptly contracted.

He saw a living person.

This was the first living person he had seen here in the past day and a half, after venturing deeper.

It was precisely the Daoist Disciple of the Grand Arbiter Immortal Sect!

This person was even further down in the deep pit.

Several caves surrounded that area. The Grand Arbiter Daoist Disciple was currently flying in and out of these cave entrances, battling a strange spirit.

Both were extremely fast, and as they moved back and forth, low rumbles occasionally echoed, though due to the peculiar surroundings, these sounds didn't travel far.

The strange spirit battling the Grand Arbiter Daoist Disciple was incredibly powerful and terrifying in appearance.

It had a humanoid form but no skin, its entire body cracked and dry, like a corpse burned alive by a great fire.

Yet, its movements were extremely agile and fast, repeatedly preventing the Grand Arbiter Daoist Disciple from escaping its attacks.

Each of the burnt corpse's attacks stirred up black flames, incinerating the surroundings. The aura emanating from it was also the strongest Xu Qing had encountered on his journey so far.

It had reached the level of a Six-Palace entity.

Notably, the black flames it emitted were not hot but intensely cold.

This was Netherflame, extremely potent in burning and threatening souls.

All of this made the Grand Arbiter Daoist Disciple's expression grim. He had been targeted by this burnt corpse for a long time. Although he had repeatedly used secret techniques to shatter it, the opponent would instantly reform, completely unharmed, making it extremely troublesome.

Even using some soul-destroying trump cards proved futile; the burnt corpse seemed immortal and indestructible. Especially the strange power it unleashed periodically left him alarmed.

"Damn it, I was just one step away from reaching that place. How did this Five Elements Corpse escape? Could it be that Grandmaster miscalculated, and something unexpected happened below?"

The Grand Arbiter Daoist Disciple's expression was gloomy. In reality, the reason he had refused his Grandmaster's direct qualification was to enter this Ghost Cavern through the qualification trial.

He had long known that the location for this qualification trial was set in the Ghost Cavern. His Grandmaster had specifically informed him that the upper levels of the Ghost Cavern contained something he needed, and obtaining it depended entirely on his luck.

Even some arrangements regarding this place had been clearly explained to him. Therefore, upon entering, he had immediately rushed here at full speed.

However, he was ultimately blocked by this burnt corpse, unable to proceed deeper. He couldn't shake off the persistent burnt corpse; forcefully breaking through would often provoke it, causing it to unleash even more astonishing techniques.

He was also well aware that this terrifying corpse before him was no ordinary entity and knew its origins.

"This can't go on…" The Grand Arbiter Daoist Disciple's face was grim as he mentally analyzed how to escape. He abruptly retreated, evading the burnt corpse in front of him, just as it lunged forward again.

A sharp glint flashed in his eyes; he was about to make a move when, the next moment, he spotted Xu Qing, who had just arrived.

A distance of over two hundred zhang separated the two at that moment.

Although the visibility was dim, they could still clearly see each other. The moment their eyes met, Xu Qing raised an eyebrow, glanced at the abyss below, and then retreated.

He intended to leave, not wanting to get involved.

"It's you!" But the instant Xu Qing retreated, the Grand Arbiter Daoist Disciple, two hundred zhang away, showed an unusual glint in his eyes.

He didn't hesitate for a second. Even with the burnt corpse rapidly lunging towards him, he ignored it and swiftly formed hand seals.

Immediately, the void around his body twisted, and spatial fluctuations appeared. Then he raised his right hand and tapped his forehead. In an instant, a crack opened on his forehead, and a palm-sized black goat surprisingly poked its head out from the fissure between his brows. It then bleated towards Xu Qing.

After the bleat, Xu Qing's retreating mind felt disturbed. He only heard cracking sounds from the void around him, as if space had shattered into countless pieces, and two of those pieces were picked up, swapped positions, and then reassembled.

A wave of dizziness washed over him. When everything became clear, Xu Qing's face darkened as he realized he was now in the exact position where the Grand Arbiter Daoist Disciple had just been.

The other person, meanwhile, appeared in Xu Qing's previous spot. In that instant, they had forcefully swapped positions through spatial exchange!

Simultaneously, the burnt corpse abruptly closed in and lunged towards Xu Qing!

Standing in Xu Qing's former position, the Grand Arbiter Daoist Disciple chuckled softly. Using Xu Qing to attract the burnt corpse, he burst forward with explosive speed, heading straight down into the deep pit, vanishing in an instant.

Xu Qing looked at the departing Grand Arbiter Daoist Disciple, his gaze turning incredibly cold.