Chapter 311: Are You Bargaining With Me?

Chapter 311 -309: Are You Bargaining With Me?

Chen Yuan searched Ma Gushan’s body but found no Sect Tokens or Clan Tokens. This all but confirmed the man was an Independent Martial Artist—and a relatively strong one at that.

In truth, the man hadn’t been exceptionally strong, but he had a plethora of tricks up his sleeve. Besides the Array, both his Ghost-faced Poison Spider and the Nine Nether Bone-Eroding Needle were capable of threatening a Primordial Pill Realm Martial Artist.

Of course, that was only if the ambush succeeded. If used in a direct confrontation, never mind a Primordial Pill Realm Martial Artist, even an ordinary Condensing Truth Realm expert would be on guard.

Ma Gushan had thought his act was flawless, but Chen Yuan had never once lowered his guard.

The trial on the Heaven-Ascending Ladder had already weeded out the worthless riffraff.

‘Of those who could truly enter the Heaven-Reaching Tower, even the Independent Martial Artists, how many were pushovers? Why would anyone who made it this far see me arrive at these ruins and just sensibly back down?’

‘A Martial Artist that cowardly would never have risked their life to enter the Heaven-Reaching Tower in the first place.’

‘Therefore, anyone who chose to brave the Heaven-Reaching Tower and reached this place via the Celestial Ladder was no fool. They would fight for any opportunity, even knowing my strength.’

Ma Gushan’s cowardly act was so over the top it was suspicious.

Chen Yuan glanced around and took out the piece of jade Qin Wuye had given him.

The jade hadn’t changed much. Where it was once an ordinary stone, it now held a faint luster.

But beyond that, it offered no other guidance. Chen Yuan had no idea how to find this so-called opportunity.

After a moment’s thought, Chen Yuan put it away again. ‘I’ll leave it to fate.’

There was one thing inside the Heaven-Reaching Tower he was determined to obtain: a Seven Kills Stele Fragment.

That’s right. There was a Seven Kills Stele Fragment within the Heaven-Reaching Tower—an exceptionally powerful one.

If he failed to acquire the fragment during this visit to the Heaven-Reaching Tower, he would have to wait thirty years for it to open again.

Chen Yuan walked into the palace ruins. The floors, stone pillars, and walls were all inscribed with images of Demonic Ghosts and other such things. He was fairly certain that what he was looking for wasn’t here.

The Sect ruins he sought belonged to the Blood Shadow Nether Kill Sect. This was one of the few Sects in history that had actually figured out a way to fuse with the Seven Kills Stele.

In the original story, someone had found the ruins of the Blood Shadow Nether Kill Sect inside the Heaven-Reaching Tower and brought the method of fusing with the Seven Kills Stele out into the world.

Chen Yuan wandered through the Sect ruins for a while but found little of value. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly froze, his gaze fixed on the ground.

A moment ago, a faint wave of sinister energy had wafted up from below. It was incredibly weak, but Chen Yuan’s keen perception still caught it.

Chen Yuan stomped on the floor and heard an echo from beneath. He gathered his True Qi Power, then stomped again, shattering the floorboards and revealing a space below.

He paused to inspect it for a moment. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, he jumped down.

The underground space was smaller than the level above. Its floor was covered in Array Patterns, but due to long years of disrepair, some had crumbled, and the Array itself was completely broken.

The fluctuations of sinister energy were more distinct here. As Chen Yuan ventured deeper, he was met with an astonishing sight: hundreds, even thousands, of Bronze Coffins!

The entire underground space of the Sect ruins was like a massive morgue, filled to the brim with coffins. Each one had a dedicated Array beneath it to provide power, though all of them were now broken.

Chen Yuan used his Blood Sea Listening Tide to flick the lid off a Bronze Coffin, and a foul-smelling black mist immediately billowed out.

Once the black mist dissipated, Chen Yuan looked inside. All that remained was a skeleton, so decayed it was on the verge of crumbling to dust.

Chen Yuan raised an eyebrow. ‘I think I know what kind of Sect this was.’

‘This was a Sect that specialized in Corpse Refining Demon Techniques.’

Nowadays, the Corpse Refining Lineage was reviled by all. Even within the Demon Dao, it was considered bottom-of-the-barrel, with a terrible reputation in the Jianghu. Only the Corpse-Driving Sect had managed to amount to anything.

The last glorious era for the Corpse Refining Lineage was under the Corpse Demon Sect, the predecessor to the Corpse-Driving Sect. However, the Corpse Demon Sect went too far, provoking the Major Sects of the Jianghu into joining forces to annihilate them. The Corpse Refining Lineage never recovered from that blow.

But in ancient times, the Corpse Refining Lineage wasn’t a taboo. In that era, the Human Race would stop at nothing in its pursuit of power. Peering across the boundary of life and death to gain strength was a common practice.

Corpse Refining simply utilized the Power of Nether Death, which they saw as no big deal.

Now that he understood what this place was, Chen Yuan lost most of his interest.

If members of the Corpse-Driving Sect were to find this place, both the Corpse Refining Arrays and these special coffins for nurturing corpses would be priceless treasures. To Chen Yuan, however, they were useless.

His Qiankun Bag had limited space, and he certainly wasn’t going to fill it with coffins.

Just as Chen Yuan turned to leave, a dense wave of sinister energy surged from behind him, accompanied by the whistle of immense power.

His Blood Sea Listening Tide still in hand, Chen Yuan spun around and slashed.

With a resounding CLANG, a Bronze Coffin lid was sent flying by his strike.

From among the numerous coffins, one that was a size larger than the rest and bound in iron chains suddenly shot upright.

While the corpses in the other coffins had turned to dust, this one contained the body of a woman.

The female corpse was dressed in a lavish, scarlet robe, like the ceremonial garb of some Ancient Clan.

Her body was devoid of all flesh and blood, leaving only a layer of bluish-gray skin stretched over a skeleton.

Yet, this bluish-gray skin was covered in dense, black Spells. As the female corpse opened its mouth to roar, the Spells seemed to squirm, creating an incredibly sinister sight.

Wreathed in sinister energy, the female corpse lunged at Chen Yuan with a roar, its every movement radiating a desperate hunger for flesh and blood.

Chen Yuan raised an eyebrow. ‘This corpse must have been extraordinary ten thousand years ago. The others have all but turned to ash, yet this one can still sustain itself on sinister energy.’

He brought down his Blood Sea Listening Tide. Scarlet flames erupted as a torrent of blazing Sword Aura slammed into the female corpse, sending it flying.

The sinister energy on the female corpse wasn’t particularly strong. After ten thousand years, it was nearly spent. If the presence of Chen Yuan’s living flesh and blood hadn’t roused it, it probably would have dissipated completely in a few more decades, crumbling to dust just like the others.

But its skin and bones were incredibly tough. The Blood Sea Listening Tide was a Celestial Soldier, and the Power of Li Yan Blood Fiend was exceptionally volatile, yet his strike had failed to even break the corpse’s skin.

‘Those black Spells tattooed on its skin must be something special,’ he thought. ‘They’ve refined it to an unimaginable level of toughness.’

The female corpse shrieked and lunged at Chen Yuan again, only to be blasted away once more.

After a few more exchanges, Chen Yuan had a clear understanding of the situation.

‘If members of this Sect were still around to control this corpse with a Corpse Refining Secret Technique, unleashing the various Evil Secret Techniques of the Corpse Refining Lineage, its power would be truly astonishing.’

‘But as it is now, it’s just a corpse driven by a hunger for flesh. Even with some lingering sentience, its attacks are limited to its physical strength. It’s nothing to be afraid of.’

Nothing for *him* to be afraid of, at least.

Its physical durability was comparable to a Celestial Soldier. An ordinary Condensing Truth Realm Martial Artist would likely have their Weapon shattered after just a few exchanges.

As the female corpse charged again, Chen Yuan formed a Seal Technique with his hands and unleashed the Three Generations of Bright King’s Demon-Suppressing Spell—a power to suppress demons, vanquish evil, and bring the Three Realms to submission.

Within the dazzling Buddha Light, the seal of an Eight-Armed Bright King slammed down. The female corpse let out a piteous wail as a large portion of its sinister energy instantly scattered.

Chen Yuan stepped forward and unleashed the Three Generations of Bright King’s Demon-Suppressing Spell again, striking the female corpse so hard that the sound of cracking bones echoed through the chamber.

After three consecutive strikes from the Three Generations of Bright King’s Demon-Suppressing Spell, the surging Buddha Light and immense power had completely shattered the female corpse’s skeleton. Its sinister energy dispersed entirely, leaving only a sheet of human skin behind.

Chen Yuan walked over, picked up the sheet of skin, and shook out the bone fragments inside. He was rather surprised.

‘I have no idea how this skin was refined,’ he mused. ‘Not only did it withstand a strike from a Celestial Soldier like the Blood Sea Listening Tide, but it also endured three rounds of the Three Generations of Bright King’s Demon-Suppressing Spell. Its bones were smashed to bits, but the skin itself is completely unharmed. This must be a treasure.’

Just then, a scorching sensation suddenly emanated from within Chen Yuan’s Qiankun Bag. ℯ

Chen Yuan opened his Qiankun Bag and took out a book suffused with Celestial Fire Power. It was the very same Human Skin Evil Book he had acquired from the Sun-piercing Alliance.

Ever since Chen Yuan had sealed it with the Celestial Fire Formation, the Human Skin Evil Book had been completely docile. Now, for some unknown reason, it had suddenly grown restless, triggering the formation to activate.

Seeing that Chen Yuan had finally taken it out, words excitedly materialized on the cover of the Human Skin Evil Book.

“Master! Please, I beg you, give me that skin! If you let me devour it, I can help you find lots of good things in here!

I’ve been here before! My pages contain many records of this place!”

Chen Yuan was taken aback for a moment. He waved his hand to temporarily disperse the Celestial Fire Power, allowing the Human Skin Evil Book to open and display more text.

“You’ve been to the Heaven-Reaching Tower before? You can lead the way?”

A fawning little figure immediately appeared on the Human Skin Evil Book, nodding repeatedly. “Not only have I been here, I think I was originally brought out of the Heaven-Reaching Tower by someone.

Just give me that skin, and I’ll lead you to every treasure in this Heaven-Reaching Tower!”

Chen Yuan sneered. A blazing Celestial Fire erupted in his hand and began to scorch the Human Skin Evil Book.

The pages of the Human Skin Evil Book instantly burst into flames, and the little figure on it began kowtowing frantically, begging for mercy.

“Don’t burn me!”

“I didn’t do anything wrong! Master, why are you treating me like this?”

“Stop, Master! Any more and I’ll really die!”

Chen Yuan showed no mercy. He only stopped when a mere fifth of the Human Skin Evil Book remained, and he fixed it with a bone-chilling glare.

“Are you trying to bargain with me?”