301: Chapter 301 Xiao Xiao is furious after the palace lanterns are stolen.

Dead Silent Ice Lake.

"How is it possible? You cut off the power between me and my main body and devoured my strength... Impossible..."

The roar stopped abruptly, and the boiling lake water returned to its calm state.

"Dad did it! He really destroyed the Corpse King's clone..." Xiao Xiao said in surprise, her eyes filled with longing for the Blood Jade Palace Lantern.

Her delicate body trembled; it was excitement, but even more so, shock.

In her eyes, her father was an unreachable existence in this life, someone she could only look up to without ever seeing the peak.

Yet he had defeated General Jiang Li.

Of course, Xiao Yan had no idea what his precious daughter was thinking. If he did, he would likely be dumbfounded.

He knew his own true strength well; the Flame Emperor Body was merely a backup plan consisting of a sliver of his soul. If it had come to a real fight to the death, he would likely have been defeated in the very first round.

However, the biggest variable in this was General Jiang Li.

First, General Jiang Li was only a clone condensed from a wisp of aura, with less than one-ten-thousandth of his peak strength.

Furthermore, General Jiang Li had used the mysterious power of the Blood Jade Palace Lantern to connect with his main body and manifest the destructive sea of lightning.

Finally, the primordial spirit within this wisp of aura was too weak, even with the precious palace lantern as a medium for transformation and the purple flame thunder bead as a vessel.

He simply couldn't exert his full strength.

He couldn't even maintain the clone's existence for very long.

Under the onslaught of the Flame Emperor Body, he had lost his composure and continuously used high-level Dou Techniques, appearing incredibly powerful on the surface.

But Xiao Xiao was unaware of all this.

She then closed her eyes to heal. The energy consumption this time was massive, and her injuries were severe, requiring a long period of recuperation.

Still, it was all worth it; the Blood Jade Palace Lantern was right before her.

"The Sovereigns Blood will also be mine!" she thought excitedly.

Within the vortex of the lightning sea.

Through the lightning sea, Hun Tiandi knew that General Jiang Li's clone had been destroyed, and even the purple flame thunder bead that housed the primordial spirit atop the Corpse Ancestor Hall had fallen into his hands.

But in his heart, he vaguely sensed that the life-threatening danger had not vanished.

Things had gone too smoothly—terrifyingly smoothly. Easily killing an ancient king just didn't seem right.

"Could it be... General Jiang Li isn't dead?"

A glint flashed in Hun Tiandi's eyes as a terrifying thought occurred to him, and he grew secretly vigilant.

"I can't stay in this tomb any longer; I must leave quickly..."

Hun Tiandi looked back; the area was filled with purple lightning as the void lightning sea flickered out and cracks slowly spread.

They were beginning to show signs of closing.

But without the suppression of the purple flame thunder bead, the purple lightning rioted, each bolt twisting frantically like an enraged magical beast, turning the area into a purgatory.

Swish...

Hun Tiandi moved, pushing Lightning Flash to its absolute limit. With his Three Thousand Lightning Movement having broken through, his speed had more than doubled as he darted out of the crack.

What met his eyes was Xiao Xiao, who was healing with her eyes closed, her aura withered and her face as pale as paper.

It seemed she had suffered extremely severe injuries.

Beside her, the stiff Seven-Colored Sky Swallowing Python had its eyes half-closed, looking like a mere loach without any of the dominance of a magical beast.

"The Blood Jade Palace Lantern? What a great opportunity..."

Hun Tiandi's speed surged as thick silver electrical glows appeared on his feet. He streaked through the air toward the altar.

"It's you? You're actually not dead..." At the critical moment of her healing, Xiao Xiao sensed the sound of electrical sparks in the distance and opened her eyes.

It was the familiar Hun Tiandi, whom she had previously thrown into the lightning sea crack as a blood sacrifice to prevent General Jiang Li's appearance.

She hadn't expected her plan to fail. The Hun Tiandi she had thrown into the lightning sea...

...not only survived but had also obtained fragments of the purple flame thunder bead and even made a breakthrough in his Three Thousand Lightning Movement to the second level, Lightning Flash.

"Miss Xiao Xiao, we meet again. Thank you for securing the Blood Jade Palace Lantern. Goodbye!"

"Actually, let's make that 'goodbye forever'!"

Hun Tiandi didn't slow down, a smile appearing on his handsome face. With a wave of his sleeve, soul power surged from his sea of consciousness to envelop the altar.

And the Blood Jade Palace Lantern.

He stored them in the Netherworld; how could such an important treasure be placed in a mere storage ring?

Pfft!

"You bastard, put down that palace lantern for this Saintess..." Enraged, Xiao Xiao spat out a mouthful of blood, worsening her partially healed injuries.

But how could Hun Tiandi give up the Blood Jade Palace Lantern now? Ever since Xiao Xiao threw him into the lightning sea crack...

...the two had become sworn enemies.

He pushed his speed to the limit and streaked toward the Corpse Ancestor Hall without stopping.

"Xiao Cai, shall we chase him?" Xiao Xiao forced herself to focus. The Seven-Colored Sky Swallowing Python flashed with light and turned into a small snake that slipped into her sleeve as she gave chase.

Buzz!

In the blink of an eye, Hun Tiandi arrived at the edge of the Dead Silent Ice Lake. With a flick of his finger, a bolt of blood-light burst forth and transformed into a blood shadow clone that sped toward the tomb's exit.

It cut through the sky like a streak of blood-light.

Then, with a splash, Hun Tiandi jumped into the Dead Silent Ice Lake and hid beside the black imperial coffin to conceal himself.

Hiss...

"You say he fled outside..." Xiao Xiao arrived at the ice lake and glanced at it, seeing the gold and jade-paved floor and the black imperial coffin.

She knew how terrifying the Dead Silent Ice Lake was and didn't think for a moment that Hun Tiandi would hide there.

Unfortunately, she had miscalculated. With the Taiyin True Fire in his possession, the Dead Silent Ice Lake held no danger for him; instead, it felt like home.

Swish...

She turned into a streak of light and sped toward the tomb's exit, vanishing in an instant.

But Hun Tiandi remained at the bottom of the lake. He didn't surface immediately. Fifteen minutes later, The Lady in White appeared, her brow furrowed slightly.

She scanned the ice lake and murmured, "Could I have sensed wrongly before..."

She then left the lakeside. Half an hour later, The Lady in White appeared again, but she still didn't detect anything unusual.

She then flashed away toward the tomb's exit.

Whew!

"That crazy woman is truly cautious..." Hun Tiandi stayed at the bottom of the lake for another three days before slowly surfacing and scanning his surroundings.

He let out a long sigh of relief.

Stepping onto the shore, he flipped his hand to reveal five pitch-black Corpse-Suppressing Nails that he had found near the black imperial coffin at the bottom of the lake.

He took one from his storage ring, making a total of six Corpse-Suppressing Nails, placed them in a jade box, and stored them in the Netherworld.

Fearing the tomb's owner would sense the nails upon awakening, he knew only the Netherworld was safe.

Boom!

Suddenly, a terrifying aura erupted from the lake bottom, the pitch-black water churning as if something horrific was about to emerge.

The coffin lid shook, and the three Corpse-Suppressing Nails remaining on it glowed with light.

Ah...

A long howl filled with endless malevolence and resentment rang out—an enraged roar from a primordial spirit.

It carried an ancient and primordial aura that seemed to pierce through time.

"Damn it, that old ghost really is alive..." Hun Tiandi's hair stood on end as he bolted toward the tomb's exit.

Before long, he reached the tomb entrance. Looking back, he saw streaks of pitch-black resentful aura frantically surging toward him.

They transformed into hideous magical beasts, tearing through the air toward him.

Hun Tiandi moved, turning into a streak of blood-light that slipped through the gap in the door, vanishing from the tomb in an instant.

"Damn it, I'm finally out!" He cursed while looking at the familiar broken stone tablet, as the roar of the stone doors and the shrieks of ghosts echoed behind him.

They were frantically slamming against the stone door.

Without lingering, he chose a direction and sped away, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

Beside the stone tablet, dozens of figures lay frozen by the frigid aura, showing no signs of life.

"These people must have come to investigate the tomb..." Hun Tiandi said softly.

Rumble!

Half an hour later, the Heaven-Reaching Peak shook with a deafening roar as it slowly sank into the ground. The black clouds in the sky gradually dissipated, leaving the weather clear and warm.

Black Cloud Ravine returned to its original state.

Swish...

Soon after, numerous powerful experts arrived by tearing through space. The phenomenon in the Heaven-Reaching Mountain Range had long been noticed, and people had been sent to investigate, but they were all stopped by the broken stone tablet.

Frozen by the radiating frigid aura, they had perished on the spot.