105: My Godly Father (Thirty-Six)

Stepping into the gray mist, Quan Yun felt as if he had entered another world.

The commotion of the Divine Abilities erupting behind him and the shouts and curses of the Prodigies gradually grew faint before disappearing entirely; it was as if everything had never existed.

That was no simple mist.

A cold, deathly, and decaying power transformed into countless invisible hands, grabbing him from all directions and frantically boring into his body.

His already heavily injured Physical Body let out an overburdened moan at this moment.

The Spiritual Qi burning within his Meridians was doused by a bucket of ice water, instantly extinguished. His connection with the external Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi was completely severed.

This place was a Spiritual Qi desert.

The wound on his shoulder, pierced by a golden arrow, had been barely stanched, but now it split open again. What flowed out was no longer bright red blood, but a dark, dull hue carrying Death Qi.

At the wound, his flesh was turning gray and withered at a visible rate, losing all vitality.

The power here was preventing all forms of recovery.

The intense pain of his body, the exhaustion of his Spiritual Qi, and the worsening of his injuries transformed into three great mountains, pressing down heavily upon Quan Yun.

He stumbled and fell to one knee, panting heavily; every breath brought a knife-like pain to his throat.

He felt like he was about to die.

Just as his consciousness was about to blur, a silent black shadow lunged from the thick mist beside him.

It was a withered claw with pitch-black nails and thick Death Qi, aiming straight for his heart from behind.

The sneak attack was silent and lethal.

Quan Yun didn't even have time to look back, let alone raise his sword.

But his battle instincts had already reacted before his conscious mind could.

Within his Sea of Consciousness, his Divine Soul—which he had polished for years using the "Millstone Method"—shook violently.

The Soul Power of the Early Stage Spirit Wandering Realm transformed into an invisible shockwave, instantly erupting from his body.

"Buzz!"

The ghostly claw about to touch his back was blocked by an invisible force and came to a sudden halt.

The black shadow let out a sharp, silent shriek—a wail on the level of the Divine Soul.

It was violently knocked back by this pure Soul Power, dissipating into a wisp of green smoke in mid-air.

Quan Yun trembled and used the recoil to lunge forward, rolling deeper into the mist to escape his original position.

He leaned against a cold, stone-like object of unknown origin, gasping for air, his heart filled with lingering fear.

An Undead.

They had no physical form, were immune to most physical and Spiritual Qi attacks, and only targeted the Divine Soul of the living.

For ordinary Cultivators, such enemies were an absolute nightmare.

But for him, the situation seemed somewhat different.

Quan Yun slowly calmed down and began to examine himself.

His Spiritual Qi was exhausted and his Physical Body was heavily damaged, but his Divine Soul was more active than ever in this deathly environment.

The Soul Power of the Spirit Wandering Realm allowed his perception of the surroundings to be even clearer than using his eyes.

This Spirit-Restricting Land actually had no suppression on his Soul Power.

He thought he was a fish out of water, certain to die, but unexpectedly found he could draw strength in this desperate land, finding a new lease on life.

This strange thought popped into Quan Yun's head.

At least it wasn't a total dead end.

He thought of his Alchemic Dao.

In his previous life, due to cultivation limits, he had never entered the Alchemy Sect Master Realm.

Back then, his Divine Soul had barely met the requirements of the Alchemy Sect Master Realm—a Divine Soul at the Peak of the Spirit Stabilizing Realm.

In this life, while only in the Earth Spirit Realm, his Divine Soul attainments had already crossed the threshold of the Spirit Wandering Realm.

As long as he could reach the Peak of the Heavenly Spirit Realm and his Spiritual Qi cultivation kept up, he might be able to directly charge for the position of Alchemy Sect Master.

Provided he could get out of this hellhole alive.

Quan Yun gave a bitter smile and cast these stray thoughts aside.

For now, Soul Power was his only reliance.

He closed his eyes and slowly spread out his Soul Power, turning it into an invisible net to explore the surroundings.

As far as the eye could see, there was only gray mist.

But within his Divine Soul perception, the landscape of this restricted area gradually became clear.

There were no meteors; beneath his feet was hard and cold black earth, covered in cracks.

In the distance, many blurry figures wandered through the gray mist, emitting the same aura as the Undead from before, though their strengths varied.

This was a paradise for the Undead.

Quan Yun did not act rashly; he needed time to recover.

At the very least, he needed his body to be able to support him through the next battle.

He found a relatively secluded corner, used his sword to dig a shallow pit in the ground, and buried himself inside, leaving only a tiny gap to perceive the outside world with his Divine Soul.

Time slowly flowed in this deathly silence.

After an unknown amount of time, Quan Yun's physical strength had recovered somewhat.

He had to move; he had to find a way out or find the source of the disturbance in this restricted area.

He crawled out of his hiding place, suppressed all his aura, and moved across this Undead-infested wasteland like a true ghost.

The Soul Power of the Spirit Wandering Realm allowed him to always sense those powerful Undead in advance and stay far away.

Occasionally, when he encountered stray, weak Undead, he no longer held back.

With a single Divine Soul shock, he could directly shatter them, turning them into the purest Soul Power.

Although this Soul Power was mottled, it was a minor supplement for his heavily depleted Divine Soul.

In this way, he hid, hunted, and ventured deeper.

He discovered that the deeper he went, the thicker the gray mist became, and the sense of deathly silence grew heavier.

The Undead entrenched here also became increasingly powerful.

Suddenly, Quan Yun stopped in his tracks, feeling a wave of icy dread.

An unprecedentedly terrifying aura swept toward him from the far distance.

It wasn't just one; it was an entire wave.

It was a tide formed by the convergence of deathly auras.

Within his Divine Soul perception, a black line appeared on the distant horizon.

That black line expanded rapidly, surging forward.

Those were endless Undead!

Thousands upon thousands, densely packed, converging into a massive Undead tide that swept across heaven and earth!

And in the center of that tide was an existence most terrifying.

It was a massive Undead, a hundred zhang tall, sitting atop a throne piled high with countless pale bones. Within its sunken eye sockets burned two clusters of ghostly blue soul-fire.

Just by sitting there quietly, the pressure it emitted caused Quan Yun's Divine Soul to feel a stinging pain.

The Undead King!

This hellhole had actually birthed a terrifying creature of this level!

Quan Yun's scalp tingled.

He had seen many grand spectacles, but this scene still caused him to feel an instinctive shudder.

This was not an existence he could possibly contend with.

Not to mention his current heavy injuries; even in his prime, if he charged into this Undead tide, he likely wouldn't even make a ripple before being torn to shreds.

Run!

This was the only thought in Quan Yun's mind.

Without a moment's hesitation, he turned to bolt in another direction.

However, the moment he turned...

Deep within his Sea of Consciousness, that Ancient Small Tower—which had been quiet and playing dead ever since it swallowed the Sword Scripture—suddenly began to vibrate violently.

"Buzz—!"

A strong, longing intent emanated from the small tower, acting directly upon his Divine Soul.

Simultaneously, a powerful pulling force began to tug at his body, trying to lead him in another direction.

That direction was not his planned escape route.

Nor was it directly in front of the Undead tide.

Instead, it was off to the side, toward an area shrouded in even thicker gray mist that appeared even more deathly and unknown.