Chapter 366: Third Supreme Deity

The sound of opera echoed faintly amidst the fluttering paper money. The sound was mournful and eerie, and the place itself was unsettling.

This place seemed more like a ritual of unknown duration. To Xu Qing, the five-pointed wooden house resembled an unconventional altar. Because at the five corners of the wooden house, where they were connected by chains, lay three terrifying corpses.

The first corpse was soaked wet and severely decomposed, its features indistinguishable, making it impossible to tell its gender. It knelt facing the wooden house, clad in a tattered black robe, as if ravaged by countless years and full of holes. Yet, the continuously dripping corpse fluid suggested that some unimaginable power had preserved the moment of its death in the past, remaining so even to this day. It was a drowned corpse.

The second corpse also wore a tattered black robe and knelt facing the wooden house, its hands spread apart at the stomach, exposing its abdominal cavity. There were no internal organs; they had clearly been removed, and something else was vaguely visible inside but unclear. The agony it suffered in life seemed to have forced it to bow its head and hunch its back, as if in worship. It was a mutilated corpse.

The third corpse was slightly different from the previous two. A red vine, covered in sharp thorns, was wrapped around its neck, deeply piercing its flesh. The vine was tightly coiled around its neck, its ends held by the corpse's own hands. It seemed to have been pulling with all its might before death, resulting in severe ligature marks that suggested it had strangled itself. This was a hanged corpse.

Each of the three corpses was eerie, leading Xu Qing to believe the place was more akin to a ritual.

Additionally, at the fourth of the five corners, though there was no corpse, there was an unmarked tombstone. A tombstone implies a grave, and while there wasn't one visible, the intention of burial was clear.

Xu Qing suddenly looked at the second, mutilated corpse, inspecting it closely. Finally, inside its stomach, he saw some soil and a small grave containing a partially buried infant's body. This, perhaps, was the fourth corpse.

As Xu Qing observed all this, he noticed burn marks at the last corner of the five-pointed wooden house, suggesting a corpse had once been seated there as well. Xu Qing thought of the previously encountered burned corpse.

"Metal for disembowelment, wood for hanging, water for drowning, fire for burning, earth for burial."

Xu Qing didn't know what kind of ritual this was, but he clearly understood that the wooden house and the four corpses were extremely terrifying. He felt an intense suppression, and what truly chilled him was the aura and anomalous energy emanating from deeper within the pit beneath the wooden house, reverberating with the opera music. This aura made Xu Qing's mind tremble; the last time he felt such a sensation was from the breath of the Red Moon.

Xu Qing knew that an unimaginable entity resided in the darkness below.

He also understood that the Daoist of Tai Si must be aware of this, as he had spotted him here. The Daoist was currently climbing down the muddy wall several hundred zhang away, proceeding cautiously. He seemed fearful that moving too quickly would disturb the woman inside the wooden house and the corpses. At this moment, he was only tens of zhang away from the wooden house's chains, very close.

Xu Qing watched the Daoist of Tai Si, a cold glint in his eyes. He raised his right hand, taking out a small mirror and a black wooden block, then retrieved a pouch containing pills. The pouch held black pills, which could absorb anomalous energy upon self-detonation. In this deep pit, permeated with a chilling aura and anomalous energy, no other pill was better suited for causing a disturbance.

Xu Qing raised his left hand and gently tilted the pouch downwards, emptying its contents towards the five-pointed wooden house, which the Daoist of Tai Si, Zhang Siyun, was so careful not to disturb. Hundreds of black pills spilled from the pouch, falling downwards.

The Daoist of Tai Si, climbing below, suddenly changed his expression. He looked up sharply, seeing Xu Qing and the pills.

To stop him, Xu Qing softly spoke. "Explode!"

As the single word left his lips, the black pills suddenly burst open in mid-air as they fell. The sound wasn't loud, but the moment they exploded, vast amounts of anomalous energy surged from both above and below. The self-detonation of hundreds of black pills created an immense suction force. In a blink, it transformed into a whirlpool, forming a tide that instantly produced earth-shattering roars in the area. The surge of anomalous energy was even more intense; if anomalous energy were likened to seawater, then this was a furious, sky-shattering tide.

Everything below became blurred, the surroundings twisted, and the five-pointed wooden house trembled. Even the sound of the opera paused. At this instant, the four corpses, seated cross-legged at the five corners of the wooden house, simultaneously opened their eyes, revealing disturbed madness and ferocity. They let out roars and howls, staring at Zhang Siyun, who was closest to them!

Overwhelming malevolence erupted at that moment. The Daoist of Tai Si's face completely changed, and an indescribable mix of fury and horror surged within him. He hadn't expected Xu Qing to escape the entanglement of the burned corpse, especially since he himself couldn't do it earlier. But now, not only had Xu Qing escaped, he had also deliberately come to mess with him. All this made the Daoist of Tai Si incredibly alarmed and enraged. At this moment, not only was his plan ruined, but he also faced immense danger. Bloodshot, his eyes fixed on Xu Qing, he formed hand seals, intending to activate his spatial transfer technique again. But this time, Xu Qing was prepared.

Xu Qing had experienced the opponent's spatial transfer technique once before, and since he had chosen to act, he naturally had a way to counter it. Thus, almost at the instant the Daoist of Tai Si, Zhang Siyun, made his move, Xu Qing raised the small mirror he had previously taken out. The mirror's shining light directly entered Zhang Siyun's eyes below. Zhang Siyun's mind jolted. Under the mirror's effect, his soul instantly froze for a moment, interrupting his spellcasting. Simultaneously, Xu Qing activated his black wooden block. In the next instant, the black wooden block transformed into the Gate of Profound Spirit Everlasting Will, which instantly opened towards the Daoist of Tai Si, Zhang Siyun. Upon opening, a decaying heart flew directly out from within. The moment this heart appeared, Zhang Siyun's body stiffened, and his eyes showed confusion. The Gate of Profound Spirit Everlasting Will, having undergone a second refinement, could seal off life levels. At this moment, Zhang Siyun's life essence was frozen and solidified. His technique could not proceed, and seizing this opportunity, Xu Qing's body rapidly retreated, soaring upwards.

But this was not enough to vent the killing intent in his heart. So, while ascending rapidly, Xu Qing manipulated his shadow, sending it plunging downwards and instantly spreading towards Zhang Siyun. Taking advantage of Zhang Siyun's life level being sealed, the shadow slapped him with a cracking sound, sending Zhang Siyun's body hurtling towards the raging corpses at the five-pointed wooden house.

The rules of this place forbade killing, and Xu Qing naturally wouldn't violate them. He believed that since the Sword Holders' Court had repeatedly emphasized this, they likely had ways to detect violations, for instance, through the teleportation jade slips given to them. However, killing indirectly was clearly not against the rules. Having accomplished this, the shadow swiftly returned, and Xu Qing's speed erupted, instantly ascending a thousand zhang.

From this height, he could no longer see the scene at the bottom of the deep pit, but roars and Zhang Siyun's shrill screams, after he had recovered, echoed from below.

"And his life lamp!" Xu Qing squinted, staring downwards. He planned to wait for the opponent to die and see if there was a chance to retrieve his life lamp.

But just as Xu Qing pondered this, a horrifying sense of crisis, making his hair stand on end, erupted in his mind. His mind was engulfed by a colossal wave of shock, all stemming from a light that appeared at the bottom of the deep pit. Xu Qing looked down for just a glance, and his mind roared violently, the world spinning. It was as if the world twisted at that moment, all directions blurred, and his soul and flesh seemed to tear apart in that instant.

Reaching the wooden house suspended by five chains, he saw that beneath it, in the darkness of the endless deep pit, an eye had appeared! A massive golden eye! This eye was so vast, as large as the thousand-zhang deep pit itself. It was as if an unimaginable entity slumbered at the bottom of the pit, and the pit itself was merely an opening on its eye. At this moment, this entity awakened, opening its eye and looking at the opening. The indifference in its gaze suggested that all life was mere ants in its eyes, and the only way to coexist with it was to transform towards its very essence.

This was the crushing force of a higher life level! With just one glance, Xu Qing's hair, eyes, fingers, and all his flesh and blood seemed to gain independent consciousness, no longer belonging to him, threatening to tear away from his body. Anomalous energy, potent to the extreme, erupted all over his body. Even Xu Qing's physique began to mutate, and an indescribable agony and tearing sensation spread throughout him.

Xu Qing wanted to teleport, but at that moment, it was difficult to initiate. He could only rely on sheer willpower to prevent himself from disintegrating, while the purple moon within him shone and the poison-forbidden pill exploded, simultaneously suppressing and neutralizing the effects as he forced himself to sprint upwards at full speed. However, the aura from the golden eye was too terrifying, and amidst his struggle, Xu Qing's speed gradually slowed.

Seeing this, Xu Qing was about to summon his shadow to cover his body, when suddenly, a centipede shot out from the muddy wall nearby, approaching Xu Qing in an instant. The woman on the centipede's body grabbed Xu Qing's arm. With a flicker, the centipede sped rapidly upwards out of the deep pit, carrying Xu Qing along. Her cultivation was inferior to Xu Qing's, yet her speed was unaffected by the gaze. In a frantic dash, she ascended thousands of zhang. Simultaneously, the opera music from within the deep pit, now with a tremor, echoed once more.

"Past lives never come, future lives always remain, severing lovesickness, painting dust! This life, lingering, remaining life buried, who waits in the cycle of reincarnation!" The beautiful and mournful voices continuously reverberated, and the massive golden eye, surprisingly, slowly closed again amidst the opera music, as if the sound held a special meaning for it, gradually lulling it to sleep.

However, the anomalous energy here was already intense, as was the sense of wild fury. Moreover, a large number of anomalous spirits emerged from all directions, letting out countless shrill and savage roars.

Xu Qing's mind reeled, and he looked down. Everything within this ghost cave was utterly bizarre.

The wooden house and the ritual, upon closer inspection, seemed to have been deliberately arranged here by someone, specifically to keep the entity in the deep pit in a deep slumber. And this centipede woman was completely different from the other anomalous beings Xu Qing had encountered. She had actually appeared at a critical moment to rescue him, even though it was because Xu Qing had saved her before. Such an act of gratitude was something Xu Qing had never witnessed from an anomalous being! At this moment, he looked complexly at the centipede woman beside him. She did not look at him, but continued to run at full speed until she had carried Xu Qing another thousand zhang away, before finally stopping.

After nodding to Xu Qing, the centipede woman opened her mouth and unexpectedly spat out a large number of Primeval Pillars of Gloom fragments, approximately one hundred seventy to eighty pieces. After tossing them to Xu Qing, her body flickered, and she burrowed directly into the earth, vanishing from sight.

Xu Qing remained silent, looking at the now extremely dangerous deep pit, filled with countless anomalous spirits and violent roars. At this moment, the teleportation jade slip in his hand automatically glowed. The assessment had ended. Xu Qing didn't need to crush it; the jade slip's inherent teleportation activated abruptly.

Xu Qing hesitated for a moment, but did not discard the teleportation jade slip. He allowed the light to envelop him, beginning the teleportation. In the final moments before teleporting, he looked down at the deep pit once more.

"What hidden secrets does this place hold?""Who arranged that altar?""Is the woman inside the wooden house alive or dead?""Why can her opera singing put the underground deity to sleep?"

This was the third deity Xu Qing had encountered. The first was the Disfigured Face. The second was the Red Moon.