Dragon War God

Chapter 623 Ancient Demon Corpse

As the King Crystals spun around Long Shan, he quickly absorbed and refined their energy. He was like a bottomless pit, and due to the long period of starvation, he did not hold back at all. Endless amounts of martial essence flowed into his body.

Starting from the Earthly Martial Realm, progressing through each stage required a long time and a great amount of effort as comprehension wasn’t easy. Very few people could progress as quickly as Long Chen, so masters beyond the Third Earthly Martial Stage were rare. Now the trio was about to personally create a Fourth Martial Stage cultivator.

Long Shan’s actual cultivation level was the Fifth Earthly Martial Stage, but he would not reach it without several years of rest and recovery. Long Chen sensed that the old man had great hatred and resentment in his heart, and this resentment wasn’t resolved even after he learned that Chen Xiong was dead. The people who would face his wrath would naturally be the Martial Alliance!

To Long Chen, this was amazing news!

No one knew that an anti-Martial Alliance faction was quickly growing in this tiny place.

Another half a day passed quickly.

The King Crystals spinning around Long Shan had mostly dimmed, and the martial essence within them was slowly disappearing.

“It’s almost time.” Long Chen had only just spoken when the floating King Crystals all turned into regular stones and fell noisily on the ground.

The light in the cave dimmed, though it was pitch-black to normal people.

Long Shan stood up slowly. Long Chen sensed that he was a source of danger; ever since he reached the Second Earthly Martial Stage, very few people had given Long Chen this feeling. He knew that Long Shan was strong enough to kill him!

He was likely on the Martial Overlord Zhao Wuji’s level.

Long Shan savored the power running through his body and slowly opened his eyes. He first looked at Long Chen, and his face, which had stiffened over many years, broke into another smile.

“Thank you so much, kid.” Genuine gratitude filled Long Shan’s eyes.

Long Yue smiled happily. “Grandfather, my brother and I were trapped in the Nine Spirit Purgatory. That Long Chen tricked a Martial Emperor into telling him the way to leave this place, then he came here to save us. It was also his idea to follow the stone scorpions here.”

Long Shan laughed and said, “In that case, you are truly my savior. All these King Crystals were yours too. You have done a great act of kindness to my family, so in the future, just tell me if you need my help. I will do anything to help you!”

Long Chen laughed dryly. “You all are taking this too seriously. We’re family; this was nothing. Anyway, it’s getting late. We should leave as soon as possible.”

This was not a good place to stay for long. They all nodded and then headed upwards. Soon, following the path that had brought them here, they returned to the Nine Spirit Purgatory.

Looking around, Long Shan sighed. “The Nine Spirit Purgatory hasn’t changed one bit, but the number of people who have died here must have reached millions throughout the centuries.”

Then he looked at Long Chen and asked, “You know how to get out of the Nine Spirit Purgatory too?”

“I heard that the Nine Spirit Purgatory has a ten-meter-tall hill, and if you dig a hundred meters down from there, you will find a compass. And if we follow the direction it points to, we will be able to get out,” Long Chen answered with a nod.

“Not bad. It’s the same way I know,” Long Shan said approvingly.

The four of them immediately started to search for the small hill. Due to their discovery of Long Shan, they had delayed their journey by a day.

With a Fourth Earthly Martial Stage master protecting them, Long Chen wasn’t worried about his safety after getting out.

The four of them forged on determinedly in search of the small hill the gray-clothed teenager had once seen. They walked for a very long time until they finally found the legendary hill.

During these four days, the four of them traveled with little stress, occasionally chatting, which made them closer.

Long Chen got to learn about Long Shan’s life too. Years ago, Long Shan and the then Martial Overlord were both at the Fourth Earthly Martial Stage. They were good friends. After that, Long Shan reached the Fifth Earthly Martial Stage first, but he was tricked by his friend and was later trapped in the Nine Spirit Purgatory.

His misplaced trust had resulted in him being harmed by Martial Overlord Chen Xiong.

Just like that, more than thirty years passed.

Years ago, he was a mighty master, but now he was an old man weathered by time. Long Chen was frightened by his story.

The Yang family patriarch was right. One had to know his own friends well, or he might not even know the cause of his own death.

Long Chen was grateful that the people he met were good people he could trust.

After they found the small hill, Long Chen personally dug a hundred meters deep. Lo and behold, he found an ice-cold compass. After they took it out, they studied it in detail.

It looked very normal, and they did not find anything strange about it. It was made of bronze and looked just like a normal compass. However, when Long Chen held it, he faintly sensed that the compass was connected to the Nine Spirit Purgatory.

Holding it flat, the compass quickly pointed in a particular direction.

Since they had found the compass, they were ready to leave.

“This way.” They left immediately, heading to the direction it was pointing. But to their surprise, after they took about ten steps, the compass pointed in the reverse direction.

“How could this be?!” lamented the gray-clothed teenager. They had just come from that direction!

“Whatever. We’ll just follow it.” Long Chen frowned and turned around, ready to walk back in the direction he came from.

“We can’t get out of this cursed place exactly because the directions here are so strange. Let’s try following it no matter what first,” said Long Chen while they walked.

After they walked for a while, the compass pointed in a different direction again, and the group continued to follow it without question.

The Nine Spirit Purgatory is a bizarre place! We’ve been following this compass along such a random path. In the beginning, I thought we were walking just as blindly as before—I didn’t know that such a random pattern could actually be the true way out! This was what everyone thought after a few days had passed.

During these few days, the four of them became much closer to Long Shan, and he learned about the major events that had taken place over the past decade in the Divine Martial Empire.

Long Shan also learned about the current state of affairs in the empire.

“In that case, it looks like the Martial Overlord’s family monopolizes the whole empire. Have factions like the Ancient Demon Domain submitted to them too?” Long Shan asked, puzzled.

“Yes, the Ancient Demon Domain submitted to the Martial Alliance ten or so years ago. At the time, the Martial Overlord was there personally. In front of countless people, he defeated all the masters of the faction with a few moves,” said Long Yue a little sourly.

The Martial Overlord was widely recognized as the strongest person in the Divine Martial Empire.

“He defeated all the masters of the Ancient Demon Domain?” Long Shan nodded slowly and continued, “Every Martial Overlord gets to cultivate the Martial Alliance’s most advanced secret scripture; it’s the Divine Martial Empire’s only advanced King-tier combat technique called the Martial Overlord Seal! It makes sense that the Ancient Demon Domain’s masters were defeated. The gap between techniques of the same level can be large, and this is especially the case at the King tier. It can defeat all the other combat techniques unless there is an Emperor-tier combat technique, which has never been seen in the Divine Martial Empire before. Until one appears, no one will be a match for the Martial Overlord.”

An advanced King-tier technique would far surpass Long Chen’s current Soul Dispersing Dragon Claw, and it was indeed powerful. Long Chen was privately nervous knowing that he would surely need to fight the Martial Overlord in the future!

“Wait ... Isn’t there an Ancient Demon Corpse sitting in the Ancient Demon Domain’s Seven Layered Demon World? There are rumors that every leader can control the corpse. It possesses powerful combat abilities, and even a Fourth Earthly Martial Stage cultivator might not be able to defeat it. How could it be that the current domain leader didn’t use it?” Long Shan looked confused.

“Ancient Demon Corpse?” The three younger ones looked at each other, as if they had never heard of such a thing.

Looking at their confusion, Long Shan shook his head with a bitter smile. “Maybe the rumors are false. If the Ancient Demon Domain really had the Ancient Demon Corpse, and they could control it, why would they let the Martial Alliance step on their heads?”

Long Yue and the others nodded.

Long Chen had some questions about it because he thought about how barren the Ancient Demon Domain was. While Long Yue and Long Shan chatted, he asked Little Cat in the Primordial Realm, “Fat Cat, could the Ancient Demon Corpse be related to that thing absorbing all the life force from the Ancient Demon Domain? You sensed something at the bottom of the Seven Layered Demon World. Could it be the Ancient Demon Corpse?”

Little Cat said lazily, “Oh, you’re quite smart! You are worthy of my protection ...”

“Enough of that nonsense,” said Long Chen, lowering his voice to scare the cat.

Little Cat laughed drily and said, “If I’m right, the Ancient Demon Corpse is in the seventh layer of the Demon World. As for why it absorbs life force—it’s a corpse, meaning it’s dead. If you want to use a secret technique to control the dead corpse, you must inject enough life force to make it move. That is why the Ancient Demon Domain is so barren!”