Chapter 425: Zhiyang Bird

Staring at the bloody skeletal hand protruding from his abdomen, Hu Yue’s eyes widened in disbelief, his face a mask of shock.

With a sickening crunch, the blue core was crushed into powder, and then the skeletal hand abruptly vanished.

Hu Yue grunted softly. As the skeletal hand withdrew, he collapsed limply to the ground, blood gushing incessantly from the gaping wound, filling the hall with the thick scent of blood.

Though not yet dead, he was already on the brink of passing.

The startled cries of Jin Qing and Shi Die, the sounds of explosions, and the whistling of magical treasures reached his ears. Memories of his life flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern.

His impoverished childhood, the joy his family felt when his spiritual roots were discovered, the helplessness when the senior sister he admired married another, the pride after successfully forming his core, the immense ambition to condense a Nascent Soul—all of it seemed to fade away as his limbs grew cold…

But Hu Yue was unwilling to accept it!

He had refined three flying dagger treasures. In battles, he usually deployed only two to attack, while the third never left his side.

This third dagger was forged using a secret method. Though its offensive power was average, its ability to sense danger and protect its master far surpassed that of ordinary treasures.

Moreover, he had poured immense effort into refining it, and not long ago, it had reached a state of spiritual awareness.

Even if he hadn’t actively commanded it, the dagger should have sensed the killer’s intent and automatically protected him against a sneak attack!

“Unless the attacker was…” Hu Yue suddenly recalled something. With his last ounce of mortal strength, he strained to turn his head slightly and finally caught a glimpse of what was happening behind him.

A pale, shadowy figure was closely pursuing Jin Qing, who was enveloped in a silvery glow as he frantically dodged and counterattacked with his own magical treasures, seemingly terrified of the white apparition.

On the other side, Han Li and the others were trapped within a thick mass of black mist. However, Han Li now held a fiery red scroll in his hands, from which countless fist-sized fire sparrows flew out, forming a massive ring of flames that continuously repelled the encroaching black mist, preventing it from drawing near.

Qu Hun and Shi Die stood closely behind Han Li.

Qu Hun was shrouded in a bloody light, his hands continuously releasing purple flames to disperse any black mist that breached the fiery ring. Shi Die held a white pearl that radiated light, keeping the occasional stray tendrils of black mist at bay, though fear was evident in her eyes.

Ignoring the black mist, Hu Yue strained to get a clearer look at the white apparition pursuing Jin Qing.

It was indeed the white skeleton that had been dead for who knows how many years. But now, it emitted a white mist and moved with astonishing agility, leaping about without any semblance of a lifeless corpse.

Hu Yue let out a bitter smile.

A Core Formation cultivator like him had been ambushed by a dead skeleton—how utterly ridiculous.

With this self-mocking thought, darkness swallowed his consciousness, and he sank into an eternal slumber, the trace of a bitter smile still lingering at the corner of his lips.

Just as Hu Yue breathed his last, Han Li’s expression turned grim as he scanned their surroundings.

Earlier, when Hu Yue was ambushed by the leaping skeleton, a wave of chilling ghostly mist had suddenly erupted from the nearby walls, trapping all of them.

Fortunately, Han Li had been somewhat prepared. Without hesitation, he unsealed the newly acquired scroll, releasing a flock of fiery spiritual birds.

These flame-wreathed birds, resembling ordinary swallows, were known as “Fat Yang Birds.” Han Li had read about them in an ancient text.

Born from essence fire, they specialized in devouring Yin ghosts and malevolent spirits, making them famous nemeses of dark entities. Though such birds had long been extinct in the cultivation world, the scroll contained a trace of their essence, allowing it to summon mere avatars of the Fat Yang Birds.

While these avatars looked identical to the real Fat Yang Birds, their power was vastly inferior. Otherwise, the black ghostly mist would have been completely devoured rather than merely temporarily dispersed.

Han Li wasn’t overly concerned about the persistent ghostly mist. Whether using his Green Bamboo Cloud-Swarm Swords or his Gold Devouring Beetles, he could easily break through it.

What unsettled him was the master of the ghostly mist, who had yet to reveal themselves. As for the skeleton, he could see clearly that it wasn’t truly sentient but rather a puppet controlled by someone. Still, the skeleton was peculiar—despite being struck multiple times by Jin Qing’s magical treasures, it remained unscathed, suggesting some hidden mystery.

As Han Li pondered this, intermittent ghostly wails began to echo around them.

These eerie, androgynous cries were sharp and piercing, unsettling the mind and churning the blood.

Han Li’s heart chilled. He immediately expanded his spiritual sense to cover the entire hall. With a flick of his finger, two emerald-green small swords materialized before him, slowly circling in the air.

“What demon dares to skulk in the shadows? Show yourself!” Jin Qing, seemingly agitated by the ghostly cries, suddenly roared. Though his voice wasn’t loud, it reverberated through the hall, and the ghostly wails ceased abruptly.

Not only that, when his magical treasure struck the skeleton again, the bones shattered into pieces, no longer resembling a human form.

Jin Qing was both shocked and relieved.

At the same time, the black mist trapping Han Li and the others retracted with a swoosh, shrinking back into the surrounding walls.

Han Li was taken aback. He didn’t believe Jin Qing’s shout alone could have such an effect.

Just then, Shi Die, who was behind Han Li, seized the opportunity to turn and sprint toward the staircase leading out of the cavern. In the blink of an eye, she reached the steps and began ascending.

Seeing this, Han Li remained expressionless, but Jin Qing’s face darkened with anger.

Was she deserting them? Though Shi Die’s cultivation was weak, her precious pearl clearly had a restraining effect on the ghostly mist. They couldn’t afford to let her escape. Without a second thought, Jin Qing opened his mouth to shout after her.

But at that moment, another mutation occurred!

After taking just two steps up the staircase, a terrifying ghostly claw suddenly emerged from the stone wall beside her. The claw, with its sharp, jade-green fingers, shot out at an imperceptible speed and plunged into the female cultivator’s chest.

Shi Die screamed, desperately channeling the light from her pearl in an attempt to break free.

But the ghostly claw seemed utterly unafraid. Instead, dark ghostly energy erupted from it, enveloping her completely.

Her screams cut off abruptly. Then, a desiccated corpse, little more than skin and bones, was tossed out from the black mist, landing right in front of Han Li and Qu Hun.

Han Li glanced down at the bloodless, emaciated corpse, his face slightly pale.

Jin Qing, meanwhile, had turned ashen, gripping his white seal treasure tightly as he frantically scanned their surroundings.

“Heh heh! This venerable one requires a suitable vessel. Which of you three will offer yourselves?” A cold, mocking laugh echoed from all around the hall, dripping with disdain.

Hearing this, a cold glint flashed in Han Li’s eyes. He unfurled the scroll in his hands once more, and the fire sparrows outside flew back into it like nestling swallows returning home. Then, with a somber expression, he formed a hand seal.

With a whoosh, a gigantic Fat Yang Bird, over ten feet long, emerged from the scroll. Its flames blazed brilliantly as it circled once above Han Li’s head before soaring toward one of the stone pillars in the hall.

A thunderous crash echoed.

Just as the giant bird was about to collide with the pillar, a green light flashed, and a black mist transformed into a strange python, lunging from the pillar to meet the firebird head-on.

The firebird spat scorching white essence flames, while the python exhaled ink-black cold air. A fierce battle between bird and serpent erupted within the hall.

“Tsk tsk! To think someone in the Scattered Star Seas still knows the long-lost Spirit Driving Art. It seems this venerable one has underestimated you.” As the voice faded, a strange figure slowly emerged from the stone pillar.

Han Li and Jin Qing focused their gazes simultaneously.

It was a jade-green humanoid figure, its body shimmering with a crystalline green light that obscured its true features. Thick, arm-like bands of black mist coiled around it, and its eyes glowed with a blood-red intensity.

As the strange figure swept its gaze over Han Li and the others, both he and Jin Qing felt a chill run down their spines, as if their innermost thoughts had been laid bare. They exchanged a glance, seeing the horror in each other’s eyes.

The mere pressure from its gaze was enough to indicate that its cultivation far surpassed theirs. Could it be that this entity was at the Nascent Soul stage?

Yet, the figure didn’t seem entirely human, resembling a ghost or specter more closely.

But if it were a malevolent spirit, how could it speak so coherently, showing no signs of lost rationality?