Chapter 4238: Star God Sand

He also found three Taiyi Immortal Fruits, along with numerous immortal medicines and artifact refining materials. The Immortal Essence Stones alone amounted to over four million, accompanied by thousands of Chaos Beast Cores, dozens of which were seven-colored.

Wang Qingshan took out a lotus seed and handed it to the Four Seasons Sword Sovereign, saying, "Fellow Daoist Li, this lotus seed is for you."

"Fellow Daoist Wang, this is too precious," he replied. "If I hadn't encountered you, I would have lost my life."

The Four Seasons Sword Sovereign declined, feeling it was already a great stroke of luck to have saved his life.

"There are many lotus seeds," Wang Qingshan said. "It's perfectly fine for you to have one; please accept it!"

The Four Seasons Sword Sovereign thought for a moment, then took out a cyan storage bracelet and a cyan jade slip, handing them to Wang Qingshan. "These are all the things I've collected," he said. "Take them; consider it my payment."

Wang Qingshan took the storage bracelet. As his spiritual sense swept over it, a look of surprise flashed in his eyes.

"Star God Sand!" Wang Qingshan exclaimed. "Where did you get so much Star God Sand?"

Star God Sand can be used to refine high-grade immortal artifacts, guide the power of stars to attack enemies, and even aid in cultivation by channeling stellar energy. The amount of Star God Sand in the storage bracelet was substantial enough to tempt even Taiyi Golden Immortals.

"From an ancient cultivator's cave dwelling," the Four Seasons Sword Sovereign explained. "This is all the Star God Sand I possess. However, the most precious item is the Aperture Opening cultivation method recorded on the jade slip, 'Mystical Aperture Opening Art,' which allows one to open up to eight apertures."

In his opinion, the Aperture Opening secret technique was even more valuable.

Wang Qingshan's spiritual sense swept over the jade slip. He nodded and put it away.

"Let's go somewhere else," Wang Qingshan said. "Hopefully, we'll find more." With that, the three of them left the area.

In a stretch of undulating black mountains, eerie winds howled, and the incessant wailing of ghosts filled the air. Deep within the mountain range, Ye Haitang, Wang Yidao, and Fang Mu stood outside a narrow valley, their expressions solemn.

"The place I mentioned is inside," Fang Mu said. "There are a lot of corpse puppets and ghostly creatures, and the Corpse King is a Grand Completion Golden Immortal."

This was a corpse-nurturing ground of the Nether Corpse Sect. Although the original corpse puppets had long since perished, some cultivators who died within had their bodies preserved and transformed into new corpse puppets. These new corpse puppets regarded this place as a holy land for cultivation, gathering here to practice, with the Corpse King as their leader.

"When the time comes, I'll use the Five Ghosts Immortal Annihilation Array to trap most of the corpse puppets," Ye Haitang said. "You two will deal with the Corpse King." This was their plan.

The three of them applied defensive measures to themselves and then strode inside.

Before long, they reached the end of the valley, where a cave several *zhang* wide appeared before them. They exchanged glances and strode into the cave. After walking for over a hundred steps, a black light portal appeared before them.

Ye Haitang fully extended her spiritual sense but found no abnormalities. The three of them then walked towards the black light portal.

Passing through the black light portal, they felt a blur before their eyes and found themselves in a dim, gray space. The Yin energy here was incredibly dense; Ye Haitang and Fang Mu felt quite comfortable, while Wang Yidao felt slightly uncomfortable.

Ye Haitang fully extended her spiritual sense, only to find it was somewhat restricted.

A deafening roar resounded, and a massive crimson fire light shot up into the sky. A streak of red light flew out from it and rapidly flew towards their location.

"Stay here!" a cold male voice echoed. "Join my corpse puppet legion."

No sooner had the voice fallen than a large hand, enveloped in corpse energy, appeared out of thin air. The hand was covered in green hair with black fingernails. It slapped the red light, causing it to plummet from a high altitude and crash heavily onto the ground, revealing a plump, red-robed old man. His eyes were wide with terror, as if he had seen something horrifying.

From the ground, a corpse puppet with a green face and fangs burst forth, its sharp claws lunging directly at the red-robed old man.

The red-robed old man tried to evade, but a powerful gravitational force firmly held him in place. His body glowed brightly with red light, and a thick red light barrier appeared around him. Simultaneously, a wave of crimson flames, imbued with the Law of Fire, swept out, engulfing the corpse puppet and even melting the ground.

A dazzling yellow light shone within the fierce flames. As the flames dissipated, the corpse puppet's figure was revealed, completely unharmed and enveloped in an earthy yellow glow. It opened its mouth and spat out a stream of corpse fire, which landed on the red light barrier, making a sizzling sound and causing the barrier to dim.

A pair of sharp claws struck the red light barrier, instantly shattering it. The corpse puppet's claws then seized the red-robed old man's arm. It opened its mouth, revealing sharp fangs, and bit into him.

The red-robed old man let out a shriek, his body twitched once, and he rapidly withered into a dried corpse before their eyes.

A dazzling golden blade light, mighty as if it could cleave the sky, swept forth. Wherever it passed, a huge fissure appeared on the ground.

The corpse puppet reacted quickly, transforming earth into sand. Countless yellow grains of sand surged towards it, condensing into a thick yellow battle armor that protected its entire body.

The sky-cleaving blade light swept past the corpse puppet's body, splitting it into two.

"What kind of secret art is this?" an astonished male voice exclaimed. "It killed one of my generals with a single blow."

A black light flew from a distance and stopped high in the air, revealing a burly old man in a black robe. His body exuded an overwhelming aura of corpse energy, his eye sockets were purple, and his fingers were jet-black.

"Hand over the cultivation method for this secret art," the black-robed old man demanded. "Allow me to plant a restriction on you and become my corpse slaves, and I can spare your lives."

The black-robed old man gazed at Wang Yidao with fervent eyes.

"'This Venerable One'?" Fang Mu scoffed. "You're just a Grand Completion Golden Immortal. How dare you refer to yourself as 'This Venerable One' in front of us? Aren't you afraid of biting off more than you can chew?"

"Hmph," the black-robed old man sneered. "You refuse my good intentions and invite trouble instead."

The black-robed old man's expression turned cold. He flipped his right hand, and a palm-sized black bell appeared. The bell had some tiny cracks on its surface, and a small corner was missing.

"A high-grade immortal artifact!" Fang Mu exclaimed, his expression becoming solemn.

The black-robed old man gently shook the black bell, and a clear ringing sound resounded. Accompanied by loud roars, over thirty corpse puppets flew in from all directions. They varied in form, but all were in the Golden Immortal stage.

"Controlling corpses with an artifact," Fang Mu frowned. "You're not a corpse puppet yourself."

"Hehe," the black-robed old man chuckled. "Once you become a corpse puppet, everything will be clear." The black bell in his hand emitted clear ringing sounds, and the over thirty Golden Immortal-stage corpse puppets all opened their mouths and spat out streams of corpse fire, directly heading towards Wang Yidao and the other two.

Wang Yidao swung his blade. The area seemed to turn golden as an immense golden blade light swept forth to meet the incoming attack. The incoming corpse fire collided with the golden blade light and completely dissipated, while the golden blade light continued straight towards the corpse puppets.

Having witnessed Wang Yidao's strength, the black-robed old man did not intend to let the corpse puppets take the blow head-on. He shook the black bell in his hand, and a loud ringing sound resounded. The over thirty corpse puppets each spat out a ring of light; these rings, of various colors, merged into one.

"A combined attack technique!" Ye Haitang exclaimed in surprise.

Fang Mu's eyes gleamed with excitement; if he could obtain this secret technique, his strength would greatly increase.