344: Cracking the corpse

“This blade… is strange!!”

Xiao Shi stared at the blood-colored long blade in the corpse’s hand.

It wasn’t just because of the blood-sucking ability of this blood-colored long blade; more importantly, it was the warning of danger that this blood-colored long blade brought to him!

He actually felt a sense of danger from the blood-colored long blade in the opponent’s hand!

This indicated that this blood-colored long blade could threaten him!

Xiao Shi dared not be careless at this moment.

He decisively took out a crystal ice blade without a hilt.

It was… the Ice Domain Yama Blade!

The reason he chose to use the Ice Domain Yama Blade instead of continuing with the Bewitching Martial Evil Flower was because Xiao Shi knew that even if he used the Bewitching Martial Evil Flower to drain the strength of the corpse in front of him and make it lose its combat ability, he would still have to face another corpse.

After the other corpse killed Guan Zhihong, it immediately locked its gaze on Xiao Shi.

It swiftly charged towards Xiao Shi.

At this moment, Xiao Shi was facing not just one corpse, but two corpses flanking him from front and back.

In this situation.

If he were to use the Bewitching Martial Evil Flower, unless he used the remaining two petals simultaneously, he would still face a considerable threat.

The best option… was to use the Ice Domain Yama Blade.

Immediately.

As Xiao Shi took out the Ice Domain Yama Blade.

He raised his hand and pointed at the ground.

Whoosh!

The entire thin, cicada-wing-like crystal ice blade instantly cut an icy blue arc through the air.

With a 'chi' sound.

It pierced into the ground.

In an instant.

Centered on the spot where the Ice Domain Yama Blade pierced.

Dense cold air rapidly spread in all directions, freezing everything in its path—the ground, rocks, cliff walls… all were enveloped by the pervasive frost.

In an instant.

Centered on the spot where the Ice Domain Yama Blade pierced, this blood-scented area transformed into a frosty land, much like the previous checkpoint.

An ordinary person breathing the air here would suffer permanent lung damage.

The moment this ice domain formed.

The three corpses within the ice domain instantly condensed a layer of frost on their bodies.

This caused their speed and mobility to be affected, making them slow.

However, this slowdown in mobility did not reach its maximum extent immediately, but gradually slowed down as time passed.

Therefore, although the three corpses within the ice domain were affected, they still swung their blood-colored long blades, unleashing a blood-colored blade light.

However, within the ice domain, even the unleashed blood-colored blade light had its overall speed greatly reduced.

And Xiao Shi, after feeling the threat brought by the blood-colored long blade, naturally would not confront it head-on.

When the blood-colored blade light struck him, he had already transformed into an afterimage, instantly teleporting to the side of the corpse fighting Zhou Hong through the Crimson Tiger Form’s teleportation, perfectly avoiding the blood-colored long blade’s strike.

At the same time, Zhou Hong, upon facing the corpse in front of him, decisively used his exclusive item.

The exclusive item he used.

It was a giant frost shield.

When the blood-colored long blade in the corpse’s hand struck this frost shield, countless frosts immediately condensed from the blood-colored long blade.

In an instant.

The blood-colored long blade in the corpse’s hand was completely frozen by this layer of frost.

Not only that.

These frosts also spread along the blood-colored long blade to the corpse holding the blade, freezing the entire corpse into an ice sculpture.

Crack, crack!

However, just then.

Cracks suddenly appeared on the frost shield in Zhou Hong’s hand, and these cracks spread at an extremely fast speed, covering the entire frost shield.

With a 'boom' sound.

The frost shield in Zhou Hong’s hand shattered and exploded on the spot.

This greatly alarmed Zhou Hong.

His exclusive item… could withstand three attacks and bring about frost freezing during defense.

But now it was shattered by a single strike after only one defense!!

Clearly, the blood-colored long blade in the opponent’s hand was in no way inferior to his frost shield in terms of quality.

Xiao Shi, witnessing this scene.

He became even more certain that the blood-colored long blades in the hands of these corpses were extremely powerful.

Fortunately, Zhou Hong had frozen this corpse with his exclusive item, and now Xiao Shi only needed to deal with the remaining two corpses.

Swish!

Xiao Shi’s figure flashed.

He continued to use teleportation, instantly moving behind one of the corpses.

And during the teleportation process.

He decisively used the Myriad Mirrors Handle, forming a mirror image that inherited all of his strength and was controlled by him.

He made the mirror image perform the same actions as himself.

Swish!

This mirror image immediately teleported with him, synchronously, behind another corpse.

Both simultaneously unleashed powerful attacks.

They directly blasted two huge holes in the backs of the two corpses.

However, under the corpses’ powerful healing and recovery, the holes on their bodies immediately began to recover at a visible speed.

And during the recovery process, these two corpses simultaneously turned their bodies, swinging their blades at the enemies behind them.

However, the slowdown in movement and speed brought by the ice domain.

Made the corpses’ turning speed extremely slow.

When these two corpses turned and swung the blood-colored battle blades in their hands at Xiao Shi and his mirror image behind them, Xiao Shi and the mirror image had already teleported to the other side of the corpses, launching attacks.

Through the speed and action slowdown brought by the ice domain.

Xiao Shi and the mirror image could easily dodge all of the corpses’ attacks.

And while dodging attacks, they continuously struck, furiously bombarding these two corpses, causing them to be entirely on the defensive, unable to fight back.

Moreover, the longer the corpses stayed in the ice domain, the thicker the frost covering their bodies became, leading to progressively worse mobility.

Eventually, they were completely frozen and unable to move.

But even so.

Xiao Shi and his mirror image still did not stop attacking.

This greatly puzzled Zhou Hong, who witnessed the scene.

Given the current frozen state of these two corpses, they could already retreat, but Xiao Shi showed no intention of retreating, instead furiously attacking the corpses.

This made Zhou Hong unable to understand the meaning of Xiao Shi’s actions.

Xiao Shi’s actions… were clearly not just to simply pass through here, but to completely destroy the corpses!

Even to speed up the destruction of the corpses.

Xiao Shi did not continue to attack two corpses separately with his mirror image; instead, with the two corpses frozen, he and his mirror image concentrated their attacks on one of the corpses.

Originally, with the powerful recovery ability of the corpses.

It would take Xiao Shi a very long time to completely destroy them.

But the freezing brought by the ice domain not only froze the corpses’ speed and mobility, but also froze their recovery ability.

This led to a significant decrease in the corpses’ recovery speed.

Coupled with Xiao Shi and the mirror image continuously striking.

Finally.

After a series of bombardments.

Boom!!

This corpse was completely blown apart by Xiao Shi and his mirror image.

As the corpse scattered.

Xiao Shi grabbed the only complete bone after the corpse exploded, holding it in his hand and examining it closely.

He clearly saw… some obscure runes on this bone, rapidly dimming and disappearing.

The moment these runes completely vanished.

The bone in Xiao Shi’s hand immediately lost its integrity, shattering and exploding.

Xiao Shi pondered this thoughtfully.

The reason he exerted himself to destroy this corpse was to uncover the secrets of these corpses!

He needed to know… how these corpses could move and fight without being controlled by a soul!

Only by understanding this point.

Could he find the best way to deal with these corpses!

Xiao Shi was very clear.

This checkpoint involved the appearance of corpses based on the terrain.

The section they were currently in could be the middle section of the valley, or it could be the latter section of the valley.

If this was the middle section of the valley… then it meant they would inevitably face another batch of corpses!

And so far, they had been using the exclusive items obtained from the first two checkpoints to deal with these corpses.

Even though Xiao Shi’s current exclusive items still had uses remaining, if he continued to use them, these exclusive items would likely be consumed.

After all, both the Ice Domain Yama Blade and the Myriad Mirrors Handle could only be used twice.

Xiao Shi did not want to consume all these exclusive items on this checkpoint.

Therefore, he needed to find a way to deal with these corpses without using exclusive items.

“If this is the middle section of the valley, then the difficulty of the later section of the valley will likely double!”

Xiao Shi glanced at the dead Guan Zhihong.

He knew that the difficulty of this checkpoint would not decrease just because a Martial Demon Realm within the checkpoint died.

It would only increase accordingly.

He had to be prepared for the worst.

Fortunately, after blowing up the corpse, by observing the bones inside the corpse, Xiao Shi realized that some strange runes were engraved within the bones of these corpses.

These runes were clearly the reason why the corpses could still fight on their own without being controlled by a soul.

When these runes were combined, they seemed to form a series of instructions, prompting these corpses to still be able to fight independently without a soul.

In addition to this.

The powerful recovery ability and the formidable physical strength of these corpses also originated from these runes.

As long as the runes within their bodies could be dealt with… then even without using exclusive items, these corpses could be dealt with.

At the same time, Xiao Shi also wanted to study the blood-colored long blades in the hands of these corpses.

After all, the threat these blood-colored long blades posed to him was even stronger than the corpses themselves.

However, he found that once these blood-colored long blades left the corpses’ hands, they automatically disintegrated, making them impossible to touch.

Xiao Shi thus realized… that these blood-colored long blades were likely a type of 'corpse weapon'!

They were weapons that only corpses could touch and use.

After gaining some understanding of the corpses in this area.

Xiao Shi and Zhou Hong continued forward with their group of guards.

After Guan Zhihong’s death, his original guards also successively became Xiao Shi’s and Zhou Hong’s guards.

At the same time, Guan Zhihong’s Demonic Body Clone, sealed in a box, also transformed into black smoke, just like the Martial Demon Realm previously killed by Xiao Shi, and directly merged into the box sealing Xiao Shi’s and Zhou Hong’s Demonic Body Clones.

However, due to the equal distribution.

These black smokes did not condense into black beads on the Demonic Body Clone’s neck.

But they further strengthened the previous black beads.

As they led the guards and advanced for a certain distance, they once again entered another section of the valley.

“Indeed…”

“This valley has far more than two sections!”

Xiao Shi’s eyes narrowed slightly.

The coffins in this section were crimson gold, and their style was noble, like the coffins of Emperors and generals!

At the same time, the ground here was no longer ordinary, common ground.

Instead, it was paved with golden bricks.

Filled with splendor and grandeur.

Just from the style of this section, one could feel its extraordinary nature.

Regarding this.

Zhou Hong’s expression was solemn.

“I have no more exclusive items…”

He said bitterly.

His frost shield, which he had previously used, could be used a total of three times, but after it was shattered, he had no more exclusive items he could use.

Xiao Shi thought for a moment.

He gave Zhou Hong the last exclusive item that Guan Zhihong had not had time to use before he died.

As a member of the Four Symbols Divine Martial Sect, Xiao Shi would still take care of him when he could.

With this exclusive item, Zhou Hong should have no problem protecting himself.

Immediately.

They stepped into this golden, shimmering section.

Just like the previous two sections.

When they entered here.

Under a gust of strong wind.

The coffins on the cliff wall suddenly shook violently.

Amidst rumbling sounds.

Golden coffin lids flew off.

From the four coffins, four tall and sturdy figures rushed out.

They were four corpses clad in golden armor and golden helmets.

They were like four majestic and extraordinary generals, guarding a region; even though they had become corpses, their heroic and powerful aura still remained.

The most terrifying thing was… after they rushed out of the coffins.

They performed the same action as the corpses in the previous section, each drawing a long blade from underground!

But unlike the previous section, the long blades in their hands were no longer blood-colored, but crimson gold.

Not only were they different in color, but these golden long blades also gave Xiao Shi a stronger sense of danger.

Making Xiao Shi feel a sense of trepidation when facing these golden long blades.

And besides the golden long blades in their hands, their golden armor was also extraordinary!

“Four… four of them!?”

Zhou Hong’s expression drastically changed.

“How can there be four of them!!”

Previously, when Guan Zhihong was alive, there were only three corpses.

He couldn’t understand why there were now four corpses here.

“It’s obvious that after one of us died, the difficulty of the checkpoint doubled, so the number also increased accordingly.”

Xiao Shi didn’t find it strange.

Although the difficulty had increased.

And the corpses in this section were clearly more powerful than those in the previous two sections, Xiao Shi had already thought of a way to deal with these corpses.