599: Chapter 599

The wind in the Eternal Burial Soil does not blow towards the sky.

The wind here travels along the ground, rolling up grey-black dust and sand, scraping between broken steles and withered bones, making a faint, fragmented sound.

As soon as Qin Yun landed, the ground beneath his feet sank slightly.

Ahead lay endless grey fog, and behind him was the already closed spatial rift.

There was no birdsong, no sound of water, and even the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi carried a scent of decay.

Chen Yang and Gu Zhan stood not far away, one on the left and one on the right.

The three of them did not speak.

A moment later, the ground suddenly split open with a few fine cracks.

The grey fog churned.

A cold wave of Death Qi rose from underground, first wrapping around the ankles of the three, then spreading in all directions.

Immediately after, a forest of black stones in the distance began to shift, as if someone were secretly pushing the entire terrain to move slowly.

The Forbidden Ground had come alive.

The change happened very quickly.

Gu Zhan had just raised his hand to press on his old chest wound when the grey fog at his side surged violently, dragging him to the other side.

The ground beneath Chen Yang's feet collapsed at the same moment, and a half-section of a withered tree pierced out from underground, carrying a cold, chilling Aura, forcibly separating him from Qin Yun.

"Watch out!"

Chen Yang only had time to spit out those two words before his figure was swallowed by the thick fog.

Gu Zhan's situation was even more terrifying.

A ruined ancient battlefield appeared out of thin air, forcing its way into this space and directly sweeping him inside.

The three of them were separated in the blink of an eye.

Qin Yun stood in place, not rushing to charge around blindly.

Chen Yang had just reshaped his Physical Body and had forcibly activated the Yangchen Technique in the Ancient Tomb, so his Origin was severely depleted.

Gu Zhan had only recently retrieved the Grandmist quasi-Immortal Qi, and his injuries had not yet stabilized.

As for himself, having fled and fought all the way here, the Chaos Qi within him had not yet completely smoothed out, so a head-on collision would not be a good thing.

Qin Yun exhaled a breath of stale air.

Stabilize first.

His Divine Thought had only just spread out a short distance when it was consumed by the grey fog.

He immediately activated his Heart Heavy Pupils; by now, his Heart Heavy Pupils could see through almost all illusions in the world.

Deep to his left, Chen Yang's Aura flashed and then vanished.

On the other side, Gu Zhan's Grandmist Aura sank into some ruins and then went quiet.

They were both alive.

But they were both in trouble.

Qin Yun withdrew his Heart Heavy Pupils.

It was at this moment that the death coffin deep within his Sea of Consciousness suddenly shuddered heavily.

It was a clear pull.

Qin Yun's eyes shifted.

The death coffin was showing the way.

Something that could make the death coffin react like this could not be simple.

It was highly likely related to the death book.

"Then let's see where you want to take me."

Qin Yun took a step forward, following that pull.

The deeper he went, the more wrong his surroundings felt.

Stone statues half-buried in the earth began to appear by the roadside.

Those stone statues had no faces, only humanoid outlines holding swords, like some kind of long-forgotten guards.

Further ahead, many ancient scratch marks appeared on the ground; some extended for dozens of zhang, as if they had been hacked out by some weapon.

The grey fog was becoming thicker and thicker.

The Death Qi was becoming heavier.

In that scent of decay all around, another thing was slowly mixing in.

Filth.

Qin Yun's footsteps paused.

It was very faint.

But he was too familiar with it.

That was the scent of the eerie.

After walking another hundred zhang or so, the grey fog ahead suddenly cleared.

An ancient palace appeared before his eyes.

The palace gate had long since collapsed on one side, and the door frame was covered in black cracks.

The pillars on both sides were made of unknown Materials, and to this day, they still retained a heavy pressure.

The ground was covered with a layer of crushed bones—some human, some remains of some strange beast—which made a soft sound when stepped upon.

It was too quiet.

So quiet that it didn't seem like a living place.

Yet the pull of the death coffin was heavier.

The target was inside.

Qin Yun did not retreat; holding his breath, he walked into the ancient palace.

One step.

Two steps.

As his third step landed, a very light friction sound rang out from deep within the hall.

It was as if something were slowly raising its head in the darkness.

Qin Yun's whole body tensed up.

The next instant, a pair of pitch-black eye sockets lit up in the deepest part of the hall.

That was no ordinary eerie existence.

The outline in the darkness did not immediately become clear; one could only see a blurry humanoid shape wrapped in thick black Qi.

That black Qi did not scatter; it simply hung quietly, causing the temperature of the entire ancient palace to plummet.

Qin Yun's expression turned serious.

At this moment, only one thought crossed his mind.

Saint Race.

That thing did not immediately make a move.

It just stared at Qin Yun.

Staring at his chest, staring at the center of his brow, staring at those few Origins within his body that were pressing against each other.

That gaze was very cold.

Like a butcher examining meat on a chopping board.

Qin Yun did not wait for it to move first.

He struck first.

"Sever Self."

A strand of Sword Intent left his hand, slashing directly at the center of the black Qi.

The Sword Intent swept past, but the mass of black Qi in the hall only swayed slightly, not even leaving a crack.

Qin Yun did not stop, following up with a second sword strike.

"Punish Heaven."

This time, the Sword Intent was heavier, directly tearing open the old marks on the pillars on both sides, even sending a layer of crushed bones on the ground flying.

Yet when it landed on that thing, it still only made the black Qi retreat by half an inch.

Half an inch.

That was all.

Qin Yun's gaze darkened as he pressed on with a third sword strike.

"Return to One."

The three sword strikes overlapped into a single line, and the sword momentum instantly surged.

This strike finally cut into that mass of black Qi.

But a pale palm reached out from deep within the black Qi and pressed down lightly.

Crack.

The sword light shattered.

Qin Yun felt a tightness in his chest, his internal Qi and blood churned, and he stumbled back several steps.

The thing in the darkness finally moved.

It raised its hand.

A wisp of black Qi fell from its fingertips, as light as a feather.

But as soon as that wisp of black Qi left its body, the entire ancient palace felt as if it were being pressed down by a mountain.

Qin Yun's knees sank, and his bones tightened.

Unwilling to wait for death, he activated his Dual Emperor Body simultaneously, and his Chaos Qi exploded along with it, forcibly pushing up the black Qi pressing on his head by a fraction.

But it was only a fraction.

The opponent attacked again.

The black Qi descended again.

Qin Yun felt a sweetness in his chest as blood reached his throat.

At this very moment.

A strand of Sword Intent descended from beyond the sky.

When the Sword Intent descended, time seemed to pause for an instant.

The high-level eerie entity in the darkness had just raised its head, not even finishing its movement, when its entire outline split from the middle.

No scream.

No struggle.

Even that layer of thick black Qi could not churn before it was slashed away along with its Origin by that sword strike.

Shhh.

A very light sound.

And then, it was gone.

The thing that had just been pressing Qin Yun until he couldn't breathe had simply vanished.

Completely wiped out.

Qin Yun stood in place, the blood in his throat not yet swallowed, yet he was already stunned.

He did not relax first.

Instead, he was even more shocked.

Because the person who could achieve this with one sword stroke was definitely not an ordinary expert.

At least a Pseudo-Immortal.

And not just an ordinary Pseudo-Immortal.

What was even more terrifying was that the feeling the Sword Intent gave him was very familiar.

Like the Sword Scripture.

Yet it was not entirely the Sword Scripture.

Qin Yun slowly looked up, towards the direction where the Sword Intent had descended.

He had originally thought he would see some peerless expert hidden in the depths of the Forbidden Ground.

But what walked out of the darkness was not a human.

It was a skeleton.

A skeleton holding a broken sword.

Its frame was tall, and its whole body gleamed with a dull, ancient golden light. There were fine cracks in many of its joints, as if it had endured too many great battles and was barely holding on until today.

The broken sword in its right hand was only half-length, the blade covered in rust, yet the Sword Intent remaining on it was even more startling than that previous strike.

It walked over step by step.

Very slowly.

Yet it possessed an Aura that suppressed all directions.

Qin Yun watched it, his throat tightening.

How strong must it have been while alive, to still be able to slash away an eerie entity of this level with one sword strike, even after death, with only its remains left?

Ancient.

Desolate.

And overly strong.

Just as he was still staring at that sword-holding skeleton, the death coffin within his body suddenly began to vibrate as if it had gone mad.

It was not the same pull as before.

Nor was it a simple resonance.

It was a near-uncontrollable disturbance.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Each hit heavier than the last.

Qin Yun's chest felt muffled from the vibrations.

He suddenly lowered his head, then quickly raised his eyes to look at the skeleton.

The answer was already laid out before him.

Qin Yun's gaze gradually hardened.

The death book.

It was right on this skeleton.

But new problems also pressed in on him.

How to take it.

What was the Origin of this skeleton?

What exactly was its relationship with the Sword Scripture?

And why was it buried together with a death treasure in the deepest part of this Forbidden Ground?

Inside the ancient palace, the grey fog slowly closed in again.

The skeleton holding the broken sword stopped not far away; there was no light in its hollow eye sockets, yet it inexplicably gave the feeling that it was looking at Qin Yun.

Qin Yun did not move forward again.

The death coffin continued to vibrate incessantly within his body.

His hand also slowly pressed onto the hilt of his sword.