198: Ancient imperial tomb, three thousand puppets!

"This... this is pure Spatial Law?!"

Ye Youluo gasped, looking at Chen Xu as if she were looking at a monster. "You are clearly only at the Early Body Integration Stage. How is it possible for your comprehension of Spatial Law to reach such a level?"

"Even a Peak Demon Venerable couldn't handle it with such ease!"

Chen Xu withdrew his hand and said indifferently, "Realm has never been the sole measure of strength. Let's go. Let me see what tricks this so-called Demon Emperor's legacy actually has."

After saying that, he took a step forward, his figure instantly vanishing into the black vortex.

Badao didn't hesitate at all, following close behind with his great saber in hand.

Lan Shuyao glanced at the still-dazed Ye Youluo and said softly, "Aren't you following? If you fall behind, the cold Qi out here won't care if you're a Demon Princess."

Ye Youluo bit her lip, her figure flickering as she also rushed into the dark passage... The feeling of passing through a spatial vortex was unpleasant, like being thrown into a wildly spinning drum.

The surroundings were filled with chaotic void turbulence.

However, this discomfort only lasted for a few breaths.

When a sense of solid ground returned beneath their feet, the scene before them had undergone a world-shaking change.

There was no sunlight here; overhead was a gray-purple dome that seemed carved from a single massive piece of demon crystal, emitting a soft yet cold light.

The air was thick with a Devilish Qi so dense it wouldn't dissipate, its purity and concentration—

Was actually over a hundred times that of the Dragon Burial Valley outside!

"Cough, cough..."

Lan Shuyao couldn't help but cough lightly. For a Sword Cultivator who practiced orthodox Daoist methods, this environment was like falling into a mire.

Every breath brought a burning sting.

In contrast, Ye Youluo looked like she was receiving rain after a long drought.

She took a deep breath, an intoxicated expression appearing on her face, and her previously somewhat unstable Aura—

Actually stabilized within this short moment.

"This is the true Aura of the Ancient Demon Realm..."

Ye Youluo murmured to herself, a hint of nostalgia flashing in her eyes. "This Secret Realm was likely refined by directly severing a fragment of the Ancient Demon Realm."

Chen Xu stood at the very front, hands behind his back.

The Primordial Chaos Dao Body within him operated automatically. The dense Devilish Qi, which was like poison to ordinary Cultivators, was converted into Spiritual Qi as soon as it approached his body, nourishing his entire frame.

"A good place."

Chen Xu praised, "Cultivating here for one day is worth ten days of hard work outside. If I could move this Secret Realm back to Zhenyuan City, I could feed even a pig into a Great Demon of the Void Refining Stage."

Badao rubbed his somewhat dizzy head and looked ahead, then froze in place.

His mouth hung open wide enough to fit a fist.

"Good heavens... Is this... a place for humans to live?"

Following his gaze, a group of underground palaces so magnificent they were breathtaking—

Stood quietly at the end of the plain.

It wasn't just a simple palace, but a complete imperial city.

The city walls were cast entirely from some kind of black metal, reaching a thousand zhang in height and stretching on for an unknown distance.

The walls were carved with complex demon runes that still flowed with a terrifying luster after ten thousand years.

Behind the walls, countless spires and pavilions were arranged in an orderly fashion, with the main hall at the highest point piercing straight into the dome.

It was as if it were proclaiming the supreme majesty of its master to this world.

This scale and Aura made even the mountain gates of the top Sects in the Central Province—

Appear somewhat small-minded in comparison.

"Netherworld Demon Palace..."

Ye Youluo looked at the familiar architectural style with complex emotions. "Legend has it that the Netherworld Demon Emperor was not only peerless in combat power but also extremely focused on pomp. It seems the rumors were true; he actually replicated his own imperial palace in the Spirit Realm."

The group did not rashly take flight. In this unknown land, keeping a low profile was the secret to living a long life.

They walked toward the imperial city along a wide black stone avenue.

This avenue was wide enough for a hundred carriages to drive side-by-side.

The road surface was spotless, as if someone had just cleaned it yesterday.

Quiet!

This was Chen Xu's strongest impression.

There was no sound of wind, no chirping of insects, not even the sound of Spiritual Qi flowing.

The entire imperial city was like a still painting, so quiet it made one's heart uneasy.

"Careful."

Chen Xu suddenly stopped, his gaze locking onto the plaza in front of the imperial city's main gate.

It was not empty.

Dense black dots stood upon the plaza, arranged in neat phalanxes.

As they drew closer, they could see clearly that these were black Demon Statues, each three zhang tall.

These statues were clad in heavy, full-body armor, either gripping halberds or holding giant swords.

They stood there silently, like mute sentinels.

They had been standing guard here for over ten thousand years.

There were so many that, at a rough glance, there were at least three thousand.

"They are Demon Funerary Statues."

Ye Youluo's expression changed slightly, her voice very low. "These are the Demon Emperor's personal guards, known as the Netherworld Iron Guardss. They are not living beings, but Puppets refined from special demon iron and battle souls."

They know no fatigue and no pain; as long as their core is not destroyed, they will fight until the very end."

"Puppets?"

Badao curled his lip and brandished his great saber. "So they're just a pile of scrap metal? Since they're dead things, can they still jump up and bite me?"

As soon as he finished speaking, it was as if some Restriction had been triggered.

"Click."

An extremely faint sound of mechanical engagement sounded particularly piercing in this quiet space.

Chen Xu's gaze instantly became sharp.

Deep within the originally pitch-black eye sockets of the statue standing at the very front—

Two clusters of ghostly red fire suddenly lit up.

Then came the second, the third... In the blink of an eye, a sea of red lit up the plaza.

The previously lifeless group of statues—

Suddenly erupted with a terrifying Evil Qi that made one's heart skip a beat.

That was a physical Killing Intent that could only be condensed by veteran soldiers who had experienced mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

"Boom!"

The hundreds of statues in the front row took a step forward simultaneously.

The heavy sound of their footsteps converged, making the earth tremble.

Chen Xu felt those surges of Spiritual Pressure rising into the sky and raised an eyebrow slightly.

"This is the scrap metal you were talking about?"

He glanced at the somewhat dumbfounded Badao and said calmly, "Every single piece of this scrap metal has the combat power of the Early Void Refining Stage."

...Three thousand at the Early Void Refining Stage?

This wasn't some group of guards; this was clearly a terrifying army capable of sweeping across the entire Northern Region!

One had to know that even if Tianyu Holy Land and the Ascending Immortal Gate were added together—

The number of Void Refining Stage Cultivators would only be a few hundred.

And here, this was merely the Formation for guarding a gate.

"Those who trespass into the Demon Palace shall be killed without mercy!"

A cold wave of Divine Thought transmitted from the group of statues, instantly echoing in everyone's minds.

Without giving anyone time to react, the hundred statues at the very front had already moved.

They did not charge clumsily like ordinary Puppets.

Instead, they split into three echelons with extreme coordination.

The first echelon held giant shields, crashing forward like a moving iron wall.

Halberds from the second echelon poked through the gaps in the shields, glinting with cold light.

And at the very back, there were even statues drawing giant bows, their pitch-black demon arrows already locked onto the Auras of Chen Xu and the others.

"Watch out!"

Lan Shuyao reacted extremely quickly, her long sword instantly unsheathing and transforming into a silver sword curtain to block in front of her.

But her movements were still half a beat too slow.

"Twang—!"

Dozens of demon arrows left their strings, carrying a sharp whistle that tore through the air, arriving in an instant.

"Clang, clang, clang!"

The sword curtain trembled violently, sparks flying in all directions.

Lan Shuyao gave a muffled groan, her footsteps retreating several zhang, each step leaving a deep footprint on the black stone ground.

The force on those demon arrows was astonishingly large, making her webbing go numb.

"Damn it, these iron lumps are playing for keeps!"

Badao roared and charged forward instead of retreating.

He knew they absolutely couldn't be suppressed right now; once these statues started moving and formed an encirclement—

Even the Family Head, no matter how strong, would be hard-pressed.

"Overlord Slash!"

He leaped high into the air, his wide-bladed great saber carrying ten thousand jun of force as it hacked down fiercely toward the wall of giant shields.

If this strike were to hit an ordinary Void Refining Cultivator—

It would be enough to cleave them in two.

However—

"Bang!"

A dull, heavy sound. The great saber hacked onto the tower shield of the leading statue, but it only kicked up a string of sparks.

It left only a shallow white mark.

Instead, a massive counter-shock force sent Badao flying backward.

He flipped several times in the air before barely landing.

The great saber in his hand hummed, nearly flying out of his grip.

"This turtle shell is too hard!"

Badao stared with wide eyes, his face full of disbelief. "Is that Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Demon Iron? Such a large piece, and it's just used to make a shield?"

The statue that was hit merely swayed its body, then its giant shield suddenly pushed forward.

A wave of black Qi erupted, forcing Badao back once more.

"It's useless."

Ye Youluo was forming hand seals, several blasts of purple demon fire hitting out, but they were also bounced away by the armor on the statues. "These Netherworld Iron Guardss have their Auras linked; they've formed the 'Immovable Demon Mountain Formation'."

"If you attack one of them, the power will be distributed among all the statues. Unless you have the power to shatter these three thousand statues in a single blow, you can't break through!"

Seeing the black flow of iron pressing closer and closer, the sense of pressure was almost suffocating.

Chen Xu still hadn't made a move.

He quietly watched this perfectly coordinated Puppet army, the light in his eyes growing brighter and brighter.

He felt no fear; instead, there was a joy like seeing a peerless treasure.

This wasn't some tiger blocking the way.

This was clearly a generous gift left for him by the Demon Emperor!

If he could take these three thousand Netherworld Iron Guardss for his own use and bring them back to Tianxuan City, then how could the Chen Family be merely as solid as a rock?

They could practically walk sideways through this Spirit Realm!

"Since it's a Formation, there must be a Formation eye."

Chen Xu spoke indifferently, "Since they are Puppets, there must be a control core."

He took a step forward, his figure instantly disappearing from where he stood.

In the next moment, he did not appear in front of the group of statues.

Instead, he appeared like a ghost in the air above that army.

"Suppress!"

Chen Xu did not use the Myriad Ages Evergreen Sword, nor did he use any fancy Divine Abilities.

He simply pressed his right hand down into the empty air.

Boom!

An extremely majestic pressure descended from the heavens.

It was not a simple Spiritual Pressure, but a hint of a high-and-mighty imperial Aura mixed within.

And the Grandmist Laws that were enough to devour all things.

The army of statues, which had been uniform and unstoppable, suddenly froze under this pressure.

The flow of demonic power within them seemed to encounter the suppression of a superior being, becoming sluggish.

"Now is the time."

Chen Xu's gaze was like lightning, instantly locking onto the center of the phalanx.

There stood a tall Puppet that was slightly different from the other statues.

That Puppet did not hold a weapon, but instead carried a black command flag.

"To capture the bandits, one must first capture their leader."

Chen Xu's body fell like a meteorite, plunging directly into the forest of spears and halberds.

Sensing the threat, hundreds of halberds from the surrounding statues turned simultaneously, thrusting toward Chen Xu.

In that instant, it was like a blooming lotus of death.

"Begone!"

Chen Xu let out a low shout as violet Qi erupted from his body.

The thrusting halberds, the moment they touched the violet Qi, felt as if they had hit something incredibly slippery.

They were all deflected away.

Like a hot knife through butter, he landed directly in front of the flag-bearing statue.

The flag-bearing statue seemed to sense danger, and the red light in its eyes flared brightly.

It was about to wave the command flag to change the Formation.

But Chen Xu's hand was already pressed against the top of its head.

"Submit, or be destroyed."

The Primordial Chaos Nascent Soul let out a roar within his Dantian, and a domineering, peerless Divine Thought followed Chen Xu's palm.

It crashed arrogantly and unreasonably into the Puppet's core Formation.

This was a dimensional strike.

Primordial Qi is the ancestor of all Qi; for Puppets driven by Devilish Qi like these,

it was their most direct ruler.

The flag-bearing statue trembled violently, the red light in its eyes flashing frantically.

It seemed to be making a final struggle.

But after only three breaths,

the red light in its eyes completely extinguished, replaced by a submissive violet hue.

It slowly lowered the command flag in its hand and knelt on one knee.

It bowed its head toward Chen Xu!

With the core Puppet kneeling, it was like the first domino falling.

*Clatter—*

Across the square, the heart-shaking sound of armor grinding rang out.

The three thousand Netherworld Iron Guardss, who had been brimming with Killing Intent, suddenly put away their weapons at this moment.

Facing Chen Xu, they knelt on one knee in unison.

The originally violent Killing Intent vanished instantly, and the entire square returned to a deathly silence.

Only this time, that silence contained a sense of awe for a new emperor.

Chen Xu stood in the midst of the army, his robes fluttering loudly.

Badao and Lan Shuyao were already dumbfounded, and Ye Youluo covered her mouth, her eyes full of disbelief.

Subdued?

Just like that?!

Those were the Netherworld Iron Guardss that even Body Integration Stage experts would find troublesome! Yet they were tamed by this man in just a few breaths, like training dogs?

"Rise."

Chen Xu waved his hand indifferently.

The three thousand statues rose with a crash, their movements as synchronized as a single person.

Chen Xu turned around, looked at the three stunned people behind him, and smiled slightly: "Let's go. Since the gatekeepers are dealt with, we should go in and see what good things that Demon Emperor left for us."

Passing through the square filled with kneeling statues, the black stone road ahead became even wider.

Lining the sides were no longer simple buildings, but rows of Coiling Dragon Demon Pillars hundreds of feet high.

Carved on these pillars were not true dragons, but a type of winged, hideous Ancient Demonic Beast.

They had been silent here for ten thousand years, but that Aura of malevolence was like aged wine, becoming even more intense and pungent.

Badao walked in front holding his great saber, occasionally glancing warily at those pillars.

He was afraid the things carved on them would come to life like the iron lumps outside.

"Stop looking, those are dead objects used to suppress the Earth Veins."

Chen Xu's voice came calmly, dispelling Badao's doubts.

Reaching the end, a massive corridor lay across their path.

There were no doors here, only nine pitch-black, deep tunnels, like nine giant beasts' open maws leading in different directions. Above each tunnel hung a tattered ancient Talisman.

They emitted distinctly different fluctuations of Laws.

From some tunnels came shrill ghostly wails and wolf howls, the path of pure soul slaughter; some tunnels had faint flickers of fire and oppressive heat, clearly a Body Refining fire hell; others were as calm as water, yet gave the illusion that once entered, one would be lost for eternity.

"The Nine Palaces Absolute Kill Formation."

Lan Shuyao stopped, her brow furrowed, and the long sword in her hand vibrated slightly: "This is a labyrinth layout unique to the Ancient Demon Clan. Of the nine paths, only one is the path of life; the other eight lead to death or some kind of absolute kill trap used for sacrifice."

Ye Youluo's expression also became grave. She stepped forward, violet light flashing at her fingertips as she tried to sense the Bloodline guidance within.

But after a moment, she shook her head and said helplessly: "The Restrictions here are too strong, and they are mixed with the Demon Emperor's imperial pressure. My Bloodline sensing is completely suppressed; I can't tell which path is the real one."

"If you can't tell, then there's no need to choose."

Chen Xu stood with his hands behind his back, violet light swirling in his eyes. His Primordial Chaos Dao Body was sensitive to the Laws of heaven and earth to the extreme.

In his vision, these nine tunnels were not simply paths of life or death.

Rather, they represented nine different types of Law power.

"The three on the far left correspond to greed, slaughter, and destruction; entering them leads to an Asura battlefield. The three in the middle correspond to illusions, souls, and labyrinths. Only the one on the far right, which looks dangerous, is actually..."

Chen Xu's gaze suddenly sharpened, his eyes bypassing all the side hall entrances and locking directly onto the very center of the nine tunnels.

On a black stone wall that appeared to be perfectly sealed.

"Actually, they are all lying."

Chen Xu gave a cold laugh. Instead of heading toward any of the tunnels, he walked straight toward the solid wall.

"Patriarch, that's a wall!"

Badao shouted, scratching his head. "If you crash into that, won't your head be bleeding?"

"Sometimes, what the eyes see is not necessarily true."

Chen Xu did not stop, standing three zhang away from the black stone wall before slowly raising his right hand.

In his palm, Primordial Violet Qi transformed into a complex spiral. It wasn't an attack.

Instead, it began to vibrate at an extremely precise frequency.

"Open!"

With Chen Xu's low shout, the wall actually rippled like water.

The solid rock gradually became transparent, finally turning into an illusory gate of light.

Revealing a straight white jade staircase leading to the main hall behind it.

"This..."

Ye Youluo's beautiful eyes widened: "How do you even know this?"

Such a method was an extremely profound secret technique even in the Ancient Demon Realm, specifically used to deceive intruders who only used brute force or Divine Sense to investigate.

If they had truly crawled into those nine tunnels next to them, they might not have died,

but they would definitely have been trapped for eight or ten years.

"The essence of the Dao is interconnected. No matter how clever the blindfold, it cannot hide the trajectory of spiritual power flow."

Chen Xu didn't explain much, being the first to step into the gate of light: "Let's go, don't keep that Demon Emperor waiting."

...Passing through the gate of light, the oppressive and cramped feeling instantly vanished.

Before them was a main hall so magnificent it was breathtaking.

There was no ceiling here, or rather, the ceiling was the starry sky of the Ancient Demon Realm captured by a Formation.

Countless violet stars slowly rotated overhead, shedding a cold demonic glow.

The hall was extremely vast, the floor paved with solid slabs of Deep Sea Demon Jade, reflecting the starlight.

Walking on it felt like walking through a river of stars.

In the very center of the hall, a massive statue a hundred zhang high towered majestically.

It depicted a man dressed in imperial robes.

His face was majestic and cold, his eyes slightly closed, with one hand resting on the hilt of the sword at his waist.

The other hand held a miniature nine-story black tower.

Even though it was just a dead object, that overwhelming imperial pressure

was a hundred times more terrifying than all three thousand statues outside combined.

*Thud.*

As soon as she stepped into the hall, Ye Youluo felt her legs go weak. The awe originating from deep within her Bloodline made it impossible for her to stand.

She fell to her knees uncontrollably.

Chen Xu, however, looked as usual, even having the leisure to observe the surroundings.

Although Lan Shuyao and Badao also felt immense pressure, under Chen Xu's faint Aura of protection,

they were able to barely hold on.

"Is this that Netherworld Demon Emperor who's been dead for ten thousand years?" Badao wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and muttered softly, "Even dead he has such a grand display; how arrogant must he have been while alive?"

The moment the word "dead" left his mouth,

*Boom!*

The entire hall shook violently.

The slowly rotating starry sky above suddenly froze, and then, the starlight across the sky seemed to be summoned.

It converged frantically toward the massive statue in the center.

"I am arrogant because this Emperor has the capital to be so."

An old yet vigorous voice abruptly rang out within the hall.

The voice did not sound human, but more like the roar of metal grinding together.

Carrying a high-and-mighty indifference, it struck directly at everyone's Divine Soul.

"Who?!"

Lan Shuyao's long sword instantly left its sheath as she warily scanned the surroundings.

"Stop looking, he's up there."

Chen Xu looked up, his gaze calmly fixed on the massive statue.

The eyes of the Demon Emperor statue, which had been tightly closed,

now slowly opened.

They were two balls of burning blood-red flames, dancing in the hollow sockets like two rising blood suns.

They emitted a soul-stealing cold light.

With the opening of these eyes, a terrifying will that had slept for ten thousand years awakened.

"I didn't expect that after sleeping for ten thousand years, I would still see a descendant of my Youyue Clan upon waking."

The statue did not move, but the voice made the air hum and vibrate.

The two blood-red gazes swept over everyone, pausing for a moment on Chen Xu with a hint of surprise.

But they soon moved away, finally locking onto Ye Youluo, who was kneeling on the ground.