Chapter 822: Investigation

The Wind Rises in Kyushu

"How did you get into Mount Sumeru?" Lu Ye asked.

Hua Ci then briefly recounted how she and Lan Ziyi entered Mount Sumeru.

When she mentioned helping the cultivators of Mount Sumeru who were afflicted with the source corpse poison, Pang Huanyin, who was flying ahead, suddenly turned back, an incredulous expression on her face: "Junior Sister can cure source corpse poison?"

Hua Ci nodded silently.

At first, she didn't expect her ability to be valued so highly, but she gained insight after entering Mount Sumeru, though by then it was too late.

Now, with Lu Ye beside her, there was no need to hide anything.

"So that's how it is!" Pang Huanyin understood.

She had wondered why someone like Liu Zhenguan would have thoughts of marriage. It turned out this Junior Sister Yi Ye had such an extraordinary ability!

For a thousand years on the Boundless Continent, the source corpse poison had been incurable, and countless cultivators had perished because of it. Among the three great secret realms, the Purple Star Dao Palace suffered the most deaths due to their fierce battles with the Corpse Race.

If someone had possessed such an ability earlier, the Purple Star Dao Palace wouldn't have lost so many people over the years.

Upon learning of this, Liu Zhenguan naturally coveted it. From his perspective, how could such a talent be missed? It was just that his method of retaining people was wrong, leading to his ultimate demise with lingering resentment.

They hurried on, and by daybreak, led by Elder Xiao, they arrived at a mountain peak.

According to Elder Xiao's calculations, the Purple Star Dao Palace would drift nearby in a day, at which point a portal could be opened here to return to the palace.

After traveling all night, everyone was travel-worn and sat down to rest. Lu Ye set up an array nearby to prevent disturbance from the Corpse Race.

Compared to others, he recovered quickly, needing only to consume a few more spiritual pills.

Looking up, he saw Pang Huanyin, who was on alert duty, standing nearby with her hands clasped behind her back, her gaze thoughtfully fixed in a certain direction.

Lu Ye rose and walked over to her, following her gaze, but saw nothing.

Pang Huanyin spoke softly: "What the Boundless Continent was like a thousand years ago, we can only find scattered records of in ancient texts left by our ancestors. Now, the Boundless Continent is broken, plagued by corpse disasters, and I wonder where humanity will go in the future."

She was filled with worry.

Lu Ye listened silently, not interrupting.

Pang Huanyin sighed: "The All-Heaven Saint Hall was originally a top human stronghold, but now it has been occupied by the Corpse Race, and its secret realm has become a breeding ground for corpses. How tragic. After so many years, we humans don't even know how strong that Golden Corpse King Corpse Fiend truly is."

"No one has fought him?" Lu Ye asked.

Pang Huanyin said: "Four hundred years ago, the Palace Master of the Dao Palace led a group to attack the All-Heaven Saint Hall, but unfortunately, they barely even saw the Golden Corpse King before almost being completely annihilated. Only a handful of people escaped, but they all died shortly after due to severe injuries."

She turned to look at Lu Ye: "Yi Ye, I don't know what your plan is, but I just want to ask, how confident are you?"

"If I can break into the All-Heaven Saint Hall secret realm, then it's a hundred percent!"

Pang Huanyin's eyes narrowed.

Generally speaking, those who speak so definitively are unreliable, because the future is uncertain, and no one can be completely sure of what hasn't happened yet.

But when these words came from Lu Ye's mouth, Pang Huanyin couldn't harbor the slightest doubt.

"So you must enter the All-Heaven Secret Realm!"

Lu Ye nodded.

"Difficult!" Pang Huanyin shook her head and gestured forward, "That's where the Corpse Race is densest. Under the Golden Corpse King, the three great Corpse Commanders are all formidable, and the number of ordinary corpses is beyond reckoning..."

"The All-Heaven Saint Hall is over there?" Lu Ye suddenly interrupted her. Pang Huanyin's previous gesture had made him realize something.

Pang Huanyin paused, then nodded: "It's about five thousand li from here. To be precise, we are already on the outskirts of the All-Heaven Saint Hall."

Lu Ye fell into contemplation. After a long moment, he suddenly spoke: "Perhaps there's no need for a direct confrontation with the Corpse Race. I'll go take a look."

As he finished speaking, he shot up into the sky and swept towards that direction with extreme swiftness.

Pang Huanyin watched his departing figure in astonishment, feeling helpless for a moment.

This commotion also startled the others who were resting, but no one asked questions. Even Hua Ci quickly closed her eyes and continued to recover.

With the dual enhancements of Wind Walk and Flying Wings, Lu Ye transformed into a streak of fiery red light.

To avoid revealing his tracks, he flew very high.

Before setting out, someone from the Heavenly Mystery Merchant Alliance had given him four sealed Heavenly Mystery Pillars. Upon arriving in the Boundless Continent, it happened that there were four great secret realms here.

Humans controlled three, and the Corpse Race occupied one.

This was clearly no coincidence.

Those four sealed Heavenly Mystery Pillars were meant to be placed within the four great secret realms.

Now, the human race's three great secret realms each had a Heavenly Mystery Pillar, leaving only the All-Heaven Saint Hall's secret realm.

As long as he could place the last Heavenly Mystery Pillar into the All-Heaven Saint Hall secret realm, the objective of this trip would largely be achieved!

Therefore, Lu Ye had to enter the All-Heaven Saint Hall secret realm.

Now that he knew the secret realm was nearby, he naturally had to investigate. Perhaps with good luck, he could directly infiltrate it.

The All-Heaven Secret Realm was different from the human race's three great secret realms. The human race's three great secret realms drifted in the void, elusive and traceless, but the All-Heaven Secret Realm was fixed within the All-Heaven Saint Hall.

This was undoubtedly good news for Lu Ye.

Peering down through the clouds, he could vaguely see the landscape below. Pang Huanyin was right; their previous location was already considered the outskirts of the All-Heaven Saint Hall.

Because the further inward one went, the easier it was to spot the Corpse Race's tracks. Those clusters of yellow clouds covering certain areas were clearly the breeding grounds for decaying corpses.

As for the solitary zombies, their tracks were less easy to spot.

In less than two hours, Lu Ye halted his figure, concentrating his spiritual energy in his eyes to observe below.

Even from a great distance, a massive portal came into view.

That was indeed the portal to the All-Heaven Saint Hall secret realm!

Unlike the portals of the three human secret realms, the All-Heaven Saint Hall's portal had a tangible existence, as if space had been torn open into a square hole, through which rays of light flowed, connecting two worlds.

The Corpse Race continuously moved in and out of it, making it seem extremely busy.

And near the portal, countless Corpse Race members were gathered, resting and recuperating.

Lu Ye couldn't help but frown. In such a situation, it would be difficult to infiltrate, and once his presence was exposed, the outcome would not be good.

Even if a ghost cultivator like Shadow Wuji were to undertake this, success would be far from guaranteed.

After a brief thought, Lu Ye activated his Concealment and Aura Restraint techniques, trying his best to suppress all traces of himself, slowly drifting downwards.

Compared to the ghost cultivators' unique stealth methods, he relied on the power of spirit patterns, each having its own merits.

The numerous Corpse Race members clearly didn't expect anyone to be so audacious as to infiltrate their heartland alone. Coupled with Lu Ye's careful movements, despite the large number of Corpse Race members near the portal, he didn't reveal any clues until he landed in front of it.

Reaching this point was a good start, but the real test was yet to come.

Having experienced the Silver Serpent Valley secret realm, Lu Ye knew that once he stepped through this portal, his presence would be exposed instantly.

However, he didn't need much time; if he could just break free from the Corpse Race's entanglement at the very beginning, ten breaths would be enough!

Taking a deep breath, Lu Ye placed his hand on his saber hilt and stepped inward.

His vision spun, and when he regained his senses, he was already inside the All-Heaven Saint Hall secret realm.

Looking up, Lu Ye couldn't help but frown.

As far as his eyes could see, countless Corpse Race members filled the space, their dull, lifeless eyes gathering on him in astonishment.

He had thought the number of Corpse Race members outside the portal was already significant, but compared to those beyond the portal, it was like a small fry meeting a big shot!

Even though the Boundless Continent was broken, many humans had been born over the years. Besides normal birth, old age, and death, too many of these humans had been transformed into Corpse Race members or refined by decaying corpses into members of the demonic corpse army.

The Corpse Race members encountered in the wild were scattered and few, because ninety-nine percent of the Corpse Race was gathered here, at the All-Heaven Saint Hall.

One could imagine how massive the number of Corpse Race members gathered here was.

As those many gazes fell upon him, even Lu Ye felt immense pressure instantly, because among these Corpse Race members, there were quite a few powerful auras!

Retreat!

This thought immediately surged in Lu Ye's mind.

In such a situation, let alone safely placing the sealed Heavenly Mystery Pillar, if he were to fall into their midst, even a complete retreat would be a luxury.

Almost simultaneously with this thought, deep within the secret realm, an immense pressure suddenly awakened. Regardless of the distance, that pressure locked onto Lu Ye, causing his skin to crawl and a strong sense of danger to surge in his heart.

Without knowing why, Lu Ye knew he had been targeted by that Golden Corpse King Corpse Fiend!

With his current strength, only this Golden Corpse King could exert such pressure on him.

Overlord level!

Lu Ye immediately made a rough assessment of the Golden Corpse King's strength. This was definitely an overlord-level existence, and not an ordinary overlord level at that!

Back in Fox Immortal Valley, the fox demon's two hundred subordinates had hunted the overlord-level ferocious giant ape. With the aid of arrays Lu Ye had set up in advance, they suffered over fifty percent casualties in one battle.

But the ferocious giant ape was, after all, a beast. Even if it possessed overlord-level strength, its intelligence wouldn't be very high, otherwise it wouldn't have fallen into Yang Yu's array and been injured by it.

This Golden Corpse King was undoubtedly stronger and more difficult to deal with than the ferocious giant ape.

If the Fox Immortal Valley group had surrounded the Golden Corpse King that day, even if Lu Ye had set up more arrays, it would have definitely resulted in complete annihilation.

"Roar!"

The roars of the Corpse Race echoed. After a brief astonishment, the numerous Corpse Race members realized that someone had intruded into their territory and immediately swarmed towards Lu Ye.

Lu Ye quickly retreated, stepping out of the secret realm. His concealment faded, and the Corpse Race outside was also alerted.