116: Chapter 116 Skeleton Soldiers

This was his secret weapon for breaking Formations.

Breaking Formations? He didn't know how to do that.

But with one mouthful of A-Diao's Scarlet Flame Breath, any Formation or Restriction was absolute trash.

Back at the Jade Maiden Sect, he had relied on this to peek at the fairies bathing.

The tip of his sword, carrying the Scarlet Flame, lightly touched the light screen and gave it a twist—

"Crack."

The light screen shattered like colored glass, cracks spreading rapidly from the sword tip until they covered the entire Formation barrier. A moment later, with a soft "pop" like a bursting bubble, the Formation vanished into nothingness.

A dense wave of Spiritual Qi rushed out from the depths of the ruins, mixed with a faint, refreshing medicinal fragrance.

The entire scene fell silent for three full seconds.

Then, a deafening exclamation erupted—

"It's open?!"

"One sword strike? It was that simple?"

"That guy from the Bagua Sect spent ages and couldn't do a damn thing, yet this Senior broke it with a single strike?"

"What a useless trash, truly trash!"

Wu Qizi's face flushed red and white. His lips trembled for a long time before he finally shut his mouth and slunk back into the crowd, not daring to show his face again.

Zi Youqian stood behind Xiao Ye, his eyes shining like lightbulbs as he hollered, "See that? That's my Big Brother! My blood brother!"

Tong Yizhen's mouth twitched as she muttered softly, "Wasn't he just 'Big Brother' a moment ago? Now he's a 'blood brother'?"

Zi Youqian turned and glared at her. "Shut up! No one will think you're mute if you don't speak!"

Xiao Ye sheathed his sword and clapped his hands. He looked back at the group of restless Cultivators and said indifferently, "Treasures go to those destined to have them, but I broke the Formation—I'm going in first. Any objections?"

After saying that, he strode toward the depths of the mountain.

Xiao Yan, Zi Youqian, Tong Yizhen, and Dianshao quickly followed, afraid of being left behind.

Behind them, over a hundred Cultivators looked at each other before surging into the entrance of the ruins like a floodgate opening, fearing they would be too late to grab the treasures.

Xiao Yan walked beside Xiao Ye and lowered his voice. "Dad, are you really not afraid they'll steal the treasures?"

Xiao Ye's lips curled, revealing a row of white teeth. In a voice only the two of them could hear, he said, "Steal? We'll wait for them to find the treasures, then we'll steal from them." He paused and added, "This is called—fattening them up before the slaughter."

Xiao Yan: "..."

He knew it—his dad wasn't kind-hearted at all.

The group had just stepped into the mountain and hadn't gone far when they discovered something eerie—both sides of the mountain path were densely packed with countless skeletons.

Some held swords, some held sabers, and some held axes. They were scattered haphazardly among the withered grass like discarded, broken toys.

"Hey—that axe is glowing!" someone shouted. Before the words even finished, the person dashed out.

Everyone looked over simultaneously—they saw a skeleton holding a dust-covered axe, with a faint but clear green light seeping through the cracks.

A Spiritual Artifact! It was definitely a Spiritual Artifact!

"Move aside! I found it first!"

"Get lost! I'll say I discovered this whole mountain, so the entire mountain should belong to me!"

Before the argument could finish, many people rushed toward the skeleton, pushing and shoving until they were red in the face.

The glint of blades exploded instantly as they fought in a chaotic brawl, making it noisier than a marketplace.

Xiao Ye stood behind the crowd, unmoving.

He frowned, his gaze scanning the surroundings.

He felt something was off—before entering, this mountain had looked like a treasure mountain from afar, overflowing with treasure light and soaring Spiritual Qi.

But once they entered, it was filled with eerie Yin Qi and chilling winds. Even the sunlight seemed unable to penetrate, making it feel like they had entered a graveyard.

"This mountain is strange," Xiao Ye whispered. "Be careful."

Xiao Yan nodded, his hand instinctively resting on his sword hilt.

"Ah—! Get back! Back! Back!"

A terrified scream suddenly came from ahead. The fighting crowd retreated like cats whose tails had been stepped on, scrambling backward.

Once the crowd dispersed, Xiao Ye finally saw what had happened—someone had tried to snatch the axe in the chaos, and as a result, the skeleton had moved.

Green fire burned in its eyes. It raised its decaying bony arm and swung the axe down ruthlessly, clean and decisive, splitting the person in half on the spot.

Blood sprayed out, splattering the ground and the surrounding skeletons.

"Holy shit! These skeletons are alive?!" The same thought popped into everyone's minds simultaneously, and cold sweat instantly drenched their backs.

In the next moment, something even more terrifying happened—the skeletons splattered with blood began to make "clack-clack-clack" noises, like rusted machinery restarting.

One, two, three... More and more skeletons slowly stood up under everyone's terrified gazes, ghostly green flames lighting up in their hollow eye sockets.

"Run—!"

Someone shouted, and the crowd instantly exploded.

Over a hundred Cultivators scattered like frightened rabbits, some running down the mountain, some up, and others running blindly into trees. The scene was as chaotic as a doomsday escape.

Xiao Ye stood his ground, but the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

This made things much easier.

In truth, he could easily deal with these Skeleton Soldiers—his ten thousand soul banner could absorb all the ghostly fire on these skeletons, turning them into a pile of waste bones in a single thought.

But how could he possibly do a good deed? Right now, these Disciples from various Sects in the East Sea Region were all here to compete with him for treasures.

Without the Skeleton Soldiers blocking the way, wouldn't this group swarm inside and fight him for the treasures?

He couldn't just kill all these people, could he? If he did that, he would offend so many forces at once that he'd surely be hunted down as a demonic Cultivator.

So, even if he could kill them, he couldn't be the one to do it.

These resurrected Skeleton Soldiers all over the mountain were the perfect scapegoats to do his dirty work.

"Big Brother, Big Brother, you can handle this, right?" Zi Youqian hid behind him, his chubby body trembling violently.

Xiao Ye looked back at him expressionlessly. "What, are you questioning my strength?"

"No, no! Big Brother, you've misunderstood! Big Brother is invincible!" Zi Youqian shook his head like a rattle.

Xiao Ye looked back toward the dense army of awakening skeletons ahead and slowly drew his long sword.

He had to put on a show, or else people would get suspicious later.

"What are you afraid of? Follow me closely!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Xiao Ye charged upward while fighting.

The first axe-wielding skeleton had already charged toward Xiao Ye and the others. It raised its axe high, the green light flaring as it swung down at Xiao Ye's head.

Xiao Ye sidestepped and struck back with his sword. A flaming Sword Qi swept out, cleaving the skeleton in two. Bones shattered, ghostly fire splattered, and the skeleton fell to the ground in pieces.

But more skeletons were already surrounding them—there were at least a hundred, densely packed and completely blocking the path ahead.

"Don't just stand there, start fighting!"