343: Corpse Land

A rumbling sound exploded and echoed through the valley.

Xiao Shi and the corpse of the burly, robust, white-haired old man, like two savage behemoths, clashed violently within the valley, causing the entire valley to shake and the ground to erupt with deep craters one after another.

Besides that.

Zhou Hong and Guan Zhihong also engaged in battle with two other corpses that had flown out of coffins.

However, compared to Xiao Shi.

Zhou Hong and Guan Zhihong found themselves struggling greatly against these two corpses.

After all, both of these corpses possessed strength comparable to the peak of the Martial Demon Realm.

And their bodies were tough and sharp.

Possessing astonishing lethality.

Since there were no souls within the corpses, the soul power carried in Zhou Hong’s and Guan Zhihong’s attacks was completely ineffective.

Coupled with the fact that their Demonic Body Clones had been stripped away, causing their cultivation to drop to the first stage of the Martial Demon Realm, this led to them being repeatedly defeated and completely suppressed in their battle against these two corpses.

While Xiao Shi was fiercely battling this corpse, he also kept an eye on the surrounding situation.

Seeing that no more corpses appeared from the coffins on the cliff wall, he breathed a sigh of relief.

From the current situation, it seemed that each corpse here corresponded to a Martial Demon who had entered this checkpoint.

With the three Martial Demons entering this valley together, three corpses charged out from the coffins.

“If that’s the case… ”

“My previous guess was correct!”

“The difficulty of this checkpoint has not increased.”

Xiao Shi breathed a sigh of relief at this.

If nine corpses had appeared at once, it would have meant that the difficulty of this checkpoint had very likely tripled.

But with each person facing one corpse, it basically indicated that the difficulty of this checkpoint had not increased at all.

And judging by the strength of these corpses.

Normal Martial Demons would undoubtedly struggle greatly when facing these corpses.

Xiao Shi now saw Zhou Hong and Guan Zhihong constantly retreating in their battles with these two corpses, completely outmatched.

Even Xiao Shi himself could only maintain a stalemate by relying on his powerful physical body, unable to suppress this corpse, and thus unable to spare a hand to help Zhou Hong and Guan Zhihong.

And most importantly… Xiao Shi felt that this checkpoint was far from being as simple as just three corpses comparable to the peak of the Martial Demon Realm appearing.

From the first two checkpoints, it was clear that the dangers within these checkpoints were not only for the Martial Demon martial artists like them, but also for the guards.

Currently, only dangers targeting the three Martial Demon martial artists had appeared.

Dangers targeting the guards had not yet emerged.

Just as he was thinking this.

The ground beneath the entire valley suddenly began to tremble.

And along with the trembling.

Puff!

Puff!

One arm after another, covered in decay and corpse spots, stretched directly out from under the ground, pushing hard against the surface, revealing half of a body.

It was a horde of corpses!

However, these corpses were very different from the three that had flown out of the coffins.

The corpses from the coffins seemed to have been preserved for years; even to the naked eye, one couldn’t tell they were corpses!

On the surface, they looked almost identical to normal living people.

But these corpses crawling out from under the ground had multiple areas of decay on their bodies, and their eyeballs were a ghastly white, looking very eerie.

Once these corpses crawled out from under the ground.

They immediately lunged towards the guards.

Their target was precisely these guards.

“This checkpoint seems to be a land of corpses!”

Xiao Shi’s eyes narrowed.

He realized that the era corresponding to this checkpoint was likely one related to corpses.

The most peculiar aspect was that these corpses were not controlled by souls.

It was more like some command had been instilled within the corpses… Even though these corpses lacked consciousness and were not manipulated like puppets, their combat style was completely unlike the rigid and dull mirror images from the previous checkpoint; instead, they possessed strong agility and rich combat experience.

Coupled with the tough and sharp bodies of these corpses, they possessed incredibly powerful combat strength.

Boom!!

Accompanied by a deafening roar.

Guan Zhihong, the weakest of the three, was slammed heavily into the valley floor by the corpse in front of him.

Leaving a deep crater in the ground.

He suffered multiple bone fractures and was covered in blood.

He was instantly severely wounded and faced a great crisis.

As the corpse once again lunged at him, in the critical moment, Guan Zhihong’s hand suddenly produced a dark red seed.

He flicked his finger.

Sending the seed in his hand flying towards the attacking corpse.

Whoosh!

A flash of dark red light appeared.

The seed accurately struck the attacking corpse.

And the moment it touched the corpse.

The seed instantly merged into the corpse.

This caused the charging corpse to pause, its entire speed suddenly slowing down.

Not only that.

After the seed merged into the corpse, numerous dark red branches immediately began to grow rapidly from the corpse’s elbows, knees, and other joint areas at an astonishing speed.

By the time the corpse charged to Guan Zhihong’s front, these growing branches had already formed ropes, firmly binding the entire corpse.

It could be seen… these branches possessed incredibly powerful binding force; even with the corpse’s powerful body, it was unable to break free from the branches’ restraints despite its continuous struggles.

In an instant.

The corpse was bound into a “zongzi” by these rapidly growing branches, standing rooted to the spot, unable to move.

This also allowed the severely wounded Guan Zhihong to breathe a sigh of relief.

In the moment of crisis.

He didn’t hesitate at all and decisively used his exclusive item.

Only then did he successfully resolve the crisis.

At the same time.

Although Zhou Hong on the other side did not encounter such a major crisis as Guan Zhihong, his situation became increasingly difficult under the corpse’s powerful attacks.

In response.

Zhou Hong no longer hesitated.

He directly chose to use his exclusive item.

The exclusive item he used was one that could cause the target’s power to drain, which led to the corpse’s strength continuously draining away until it lost all its power and collapsed helplessly to the ground.

The moment the corpse was dealt with.

Zhou Hong and Guan Zhihong immediately rushed to kill the other corpses that had crawled out from under the ground.

To prevent their guards from being killed by these corpses.

In the previous checkpoint, some of their guards had already died, especially Guan Zhihong’s guards, of whom only five remained now.

He could not allow these guards to continue dying.

Otherwise, once there were no guards to transport the Demonic Body Clones, the boxes sealing the Demonic Body Clones would have to be left in place, unable to be taken to the Holy Land.

At the same time, they also didn't know if they would have another chance to unseal the boxes containing the Demonic Body Clones.

If the Demonic Body Clones remained sealed in the boxes… then their loss would be immense.

No matter what.

They could not allow any more guards to die.

The corpses that crawled out from under the ground were clearly not as strong as the corpses that flew out of the coffins.

Zhou Hong and Guan Zhihong’s strength was fully capable of handling them.

Xiao Shi, who was constantly monitoring the situation in the valley, saw that both Zhou Hong and Guan Zhihong had used their exclusive items, and couldn’t help but wonder if he needed to use his exclusive item.

Although he hadn’t encountered any crisis in his confrontation with this corpse.

The current situation was that neither he nor the corpse could do much to the other.

Continuing to fight like this would just be a waste of time.

This corpse was not only physically powerful, but its healing and recovery ability was incredibly astonishing; even if Xiao Shi used the Thousand Weapon Dao Slash to shatter a part of its body, the corpse would fully recover within a few seconds.

Xiao Shi felt that if he wanted to completely destroy this corpse.

It would probably take at least a day or more.

And he couldn’t just stay here and keep fighting this corpse indefinitely.

Ultimately.

Their understanding of this checkpoint was very limited at the moment.

They couldn't be sure if the corpses here would appear in waves, like the mirror images in the previous checkpoint, every so often.

If that were the case… they had to act quickly.

Otherwise, dragging it out would only make the situation worse.

Thinking of this.

Xiao Shi immediately stopped hesitating.

He decisively took out the Bewitching Martial Evil Flower.

The entire Bewitching Martial Evil Flower had three petals in total, representing three uses.

After Xiao Shi tore off a petal.

He directly flicked this petal towards the corpse.

When the petal adhered to the corpse, the corpse’s strength immediately began to drain away.

Three minutes later.

All of the corpse’s strength had completely drained, rendering it directly incapable of combat.

At the same time.

Zhou Hong and Guan Zhihong, along with the guards, also dealt with the corpses that had emerged from under the ground.

“We need to leave as soon as possible.”

Xiao Shi said in a deep voice.

Zhou Hong and Guan Zhihong nodded.

They were also worried that more corpses would appear here over time.

It was important to know.

There were still hundreds of coffins on the cliff wall above their heads.

If all these coffins contained powerful corpses comparable to the peak of the Martial Demon Realm, even if they continued to use their exclusive items, they might not be able to pass this checkpoint.

Immediately, they moved away from the valley at their fastest speed.

Fortunately, after they had traveled for a long time.

No more corpses appeared here.

This basically confirmed that… the corpses here would not appear over time.

However, just as they breathed a sigh of relief, they suddenly noticed… the coffins on the cliff wall had changed.

Previously, those coffins were all dark black and decayed.

Now, they had turned deep red and looked brand new.

At the same time, an obscure, profound rune was present on the coffins.

It wasn't just the coffins on the cliff wall that had changed.

The ground in front of them had also turned deep red, emitting a strong smell of blood.

“It seems this valley mainly consists of different sections…”

“The previous location was the front section of the valley; now, this might be the middle or back section of the valley…”

Xiao Shi said in a deep voice.

Zhou Hong and Guan Zhihong also nodded with solemn expressions.

This also meant… that when they entered here, new corpses might appear again.

Sure enough.

As they stepped into this area.

A bloody wind immediately swept through the valley.

Under this foul wind.

The three deep red coffins above shook violently, and with the shaking.

With a bang.

The coffin lids flew off.

Three blood-colored figures rushed out from within.

These were three blood-haired corpses, and like the previous corpses, they had crimson pupils with spreading blood-red filaments.

However, these three corpses appeared to be even better preserved.

There wasn't even a single corpse spot on them.

Aside from their expressionless, rigid faces and their vacant, emotionless pupils, they were virtually indistinguishable from living people.

When these three corpses appeared.

They simultaneously performed the same action.

They all extended their right hands towards the blood-colored earth below.

Their palms directly sank into the ground.

Then, they each pulled out a two-meter-long blood-colored long saber from beneath the blood-colored earth.

The entire blood-colored long saber glowed with numerous tadpole-shaped twisted patterns, causing a strong sense of dizziness when gazed upon.

A dense bloody aura also emanated from the long saber.

Xiao Shi’s eyes narrowed at this.

He could feel that these three corpses, in terms of strength, should be the same as the previous corpses, without much change.

After all, the previous corpses had already reached the peak strength of the Martial Demon Realm.

Beyond that, it was the Saint Realm.

And these three corpses clearly did not possess the strength of a Saint.

However, they now held a blood-colored long saber, which the previous corpses did not.

This was no ordinary blood-colored long saber.

Wielding such a blood-colored long saber would greatly enhance their strength!

They would undoubtedly be much harder to deal with than before.

“I suggest you all use your exclusive items directly…”

As soon as Xiao Shi finished speaking.

Swish!

The three corpses in front had already transformed into three streaks of blood-red light, charging towards them at an astonishing speed.

Xiao Shi and the other two immediately met them.

Zhou Hong decisively used his exclusive item.

Previously, what they had used were the exclusive items obtained from passing the first checkpoint.

Now, Zhou Hong directly chose to use the exclusive item obtained from the second checkpoint.

However, Guan Zhihong hesitated.

Because the exclusive items they obtained were not the same.

Their number of uses also varied.

Guan Zhihong currently only had one exclusive item left, and this exclusive item could only be used once.

This made him hesitate about whether to use it.

If he used this exclusive item here, he would have no more exclusive items to use afterward.

During his hesitation.

Chii!

A blood-colored saber light, too fast for the naked eye to catch, flashed directly past Guan Zhihong.

He didn’t even have time to react, and his entire body had already been ravaged by this blood-colored saber light.

With a gush.

Guan Zhihong’s body split down the middle, cut in half by a single saber strike.

He died instantly and tragically!!

Not only that.

The moment he was struck by the blood-colored saber light, all the blood in his body had already been completely drained, not a single drop remaining.

Because this scene happened too quickly.

Even though Xiao Shi had been keeping an eye on their situation, he couldn’t intervene in time.

He could only watch Guan Zhihong being cut down by a single saber strike!