Chapter 317: Chapter 189: The First Tripod Cauldron Secured
No wonder!
No wonder Xiao Xing went crazy over the Void Divine Stone!
The Xiao Family’s last King’s Body expert was nearing the end of his life.
And once a Noble Family lost its resident King’s Body expert, its decline was inevitable.
If that Noble Family was also large and had many enemies, the consequences would be even more severe.
The younger generation of the family could only wait to be hunted down by their foes.
To ensure the succession of the King’s Body and halt the Xiao Family’s decline, Xiao Xing naturally would stop at nothing.
Unfortunately for him, he had the bad luck of running into Gu Zheng.
"What about the Heroic Body Realm?" Gu Zheng asked calmly, continuing his questioning. "Besides you, how many are at the Heroic Body Realm?"
"There are two others."
Xiao Dongxuan replied respectfully, "Both are in the first stage of the Heroic Body Realm. However, Xiao Duguang, who went to the Nine Heavens Shadow Realm, is about to advance to the second stage."
...’That’s still not many.’
’Only three at the Heroic Body Realm.’
’Xiao Xing is dead, and only one King’s Body expert remains, who is nearing the end of his life.’
’The decline of the Xiao Family is visible to the naked eye. It’s inevitable!’
’No, wait...’
Gu Zheng’s gaze shifted as a thought occurred to him. He said, "Take these two halves of the Golden Silk Armor for your own protection."
"Thank you, Master!"
Upon hearing this, a look of delight appeared on Xiao Dongxuan’s face, and he bowed in salute.
"The bell Xiao Xing was using is yours now, too," Gu Zheng said coolly. "Take his Storage Pouch and everything in it as well. With Xiao Xing dead, you should be the one to lead the Xiao Family from now on, right?"
"Yes, Master."
Xiao Dongxuan nodded respectfully. "What are your orders, Master?"
He wasn’t a fool; he knew Gu Zheng must have a reason for doing this.
"Nothing for now. First, get the Xiao Family in order."
Gu Zheng said flatly, "And keep Xiao Xing’s death a secret. If that Third Grand-Uncle of yours asks, just say I’ve gone into hiding."
If a King’s Body expert on the verge of death went berserk, Gu Zheng could hide or run.
But the other members of the Gu Family couldn’t.
For this reason, Xiao Xing’s death absolutely could not be revealed.
It wouldn’t be too late to deal with other matters after the Xiao Family’s last King’s Body expert was well and truly dead.
"This subordinate understands!"
Xiao Dongxuan bowed and replied.
Then, he put away the Golden Silk Armor, the bell, and the Storage Pouch from Xiao Xing’s body.
Once everything was collected, Gu Zheng used his Fire Manipulation to ignite Xiao Xing’s corpse. Amidst a crackle of sparks and roaring flames, it was reduced to ash.
...
Xiao Dongxuan departed as ordered.
Gu Zheng continued south toward Yue Country.
He flew high in the sky, crossing several large provinces in a straight line until he entered the territory of the Celestial South Dao.
Gu Zheng once again used the Human Emperor’s Seal Artifact Embryo to sense the precise location of the Celestial South Tripod.
As he got closer, the location of the Celestial South Tripod became increasingly clear.
Following the guidance, Gu Zheng donned an Invisibility Cloak, concealed his aura, and arrived in the sky above the great mountain where the Celestial South Tripod was located.
Standing high in the air, he looked down at the ground below.
What met his eyes was a valley surrounded by three mountains, their forms half-shrouded in mist.
The mist was two colors, one black and one red, which churned and mixed, emitting a strange hissing sound.
Miasma!
This miasma-filled valley was vast.
It was encircled by the three great mountains, and strange noises occasionally echoed from within.
Gu Zheng hovered in the air, observing for a moment before descending through the thick mist.
When his feet touched the ground, he saw hundreds of corpses strewn about—under the shade of trees, in the tall grass, and among piles of rubble.
Some had long since decomposed into skeletons, while others had died only recently.
A road wide enough for two carriages to pass side-by-side cut through the middle of the corpses, leading deep into the third mountain.
The Celestial South Tripod was located within that third mountain.
Gu Zheng scanned his surroundings, then drifted along with the wind, moving through the miasma and following the road toward the third mountain.
Soon, the entrance to a semi-artificially excavated cave appeared in his field of view.
At the entrance were four living guards and about twenty half-dead Corpse Puppets.
’Corpse Puppets?’
Seeing these half-human, half-ghoul puppets refined by the Yong Family once again, a thought stirred in Gu Zheng’s mind.
’Is this valley a Corpse Puppet refinement base for the Yong Family?’
’Were all those bodies outside just carelessly discarded failures from the refinement process?’
Gu Zheng pondered this as he remained invisible, silently drifting with the wind into the cave entrance.
The entrance tunnel was wide and tall, easily allowing passage.
Gu Zheng followed the draft down the corridor and went inside.
After two turns, the view suddenly opened up. A massive natural cavern that had been converted into a large space came into view.
Corpse Puppets stood lined up against the walls, arranged in neat rows and columns, perfectly still.
Several slender men and women wearing light armor and wide-brimmed hats with black veils walked along the aisles, splashing medicinal liquid onto the Corpse Puppets.
The entire underground space was silent. There were as many as a thousand Corpse Puppets standing there.
Besides the tunnel Gu Zheng had entered through, there were two other exits, one to the southeast and one to the northeast of the cavern.
Gu Zheng scanned the area for a moment and confirmed that no one was coming from the other two tunnels for the time being.
Immediately—
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
The Chaotic Heaven Shield dispersed, transforming into three hundred and sixty blades that shot through the air like a heavenly shower.
The primary targets were the men and women walking in the aisles!
They didn’t notice when the blades vanished, but when the blades reappeared out of thin air and descended upon their heads, their instincts screamed in warning. However, it was too late.
SHLICK! SHLICK! SHLICK!
The gruesome sound of sharp blades tearing through flesh rang out simultaneously.
When it was over, the men and women stood frozen in place without a sound. A bloody hole pierced straight through each of their chests, their insides churned into pulp.
With those people dead, the three hundred and sixty blades had nothing holding them back. They flew about freely, cutting into the motionless Corpse Puppets and dismembering them.
Heads, hands, feet, and torsos were severed one by one.
Swaths of Corpse Puppets fell to the ground in pieces.
The torsos of these once-still, half-dead puppets began to twitch and bounce on the ground after being cut to pieces.
