Free Web NovelChapter 384: Chapter 342: The Laughing Corpse Blocks the Path
"Old Yang has come again," someone said in a low voice.
A cultivator next to him was startled: "What? Has he been inside before?"
The elderly cultivator with Late-Stage Qi Cultivation was hunched over, his body trembling. His hair and beard were completely white, looking like withered grass, and his cloudy eyes were fixed on the entrance of the mountain ridge, ignoring the hundreds of cultivators around him.
Anyone could tell that this was just a poor cultivator whose lifespan was nearing its end.
No matter how you looked, he didn’t appear to be the kind of Child of Celestial Mandate who had been inside the Corpse Prison Forbidden Land and come out alive.
"No, he’s here waiting for his son," the person explained. "I’ve been to the Corpse Prison Forbidden Land several times, just to observe the entrance beforehand and make some preparations."
"Every time I came, I’d see this Old Yang. Later, I found out that a hundred years ago, this father and son had a quarrel, and Old Yang’s only son, with a stubborn temper, angrily entered the Corpse Prison Forbidden Land, since then there’s been no news."
"So, ever since then, every year Old Yang would come to the entrance of the Corpse Prison Forbidden Land, waiting for his son to come out."
He sighed, "He’s truly an unfortunate person. Who knows how much regret he has harbored over these past hundred years."
A kind-hearted person advised, "Old Yang, don’t wait here anymore. The entrance to the Corpse Prison Forbidden Land is fixed, but there are other exits elsewhere. Maybe your son has come out from a different place long ago and just doesn’t want to find you. Just wait at home, don’t come here again."
What he said was true. The Corpse Prison Forbidden Land opens several cracks every year on the tenth day of the eighth month, but only this ridge entrance is fixed, while the others randomly appear in various places around the ridge, constantly shifting from the tenth of the eighth month to the tenth of the ninth month.
So those who enter from here, if they survive, are very likely to come out elsewhere; waiting here won’t help.
Someone else snorted coldly, "You old man, you’re delusional. Your son has long been dead inside, why come here every year asking for bad luck."
Even more so, someone loudly ridiculed, "Old man, if I were you, I would’ve had another child long ago after my son died. Too bad, even if you want to now, you can’t get it up anymore, hahaha!"
Laughter erupted, but Old Yang seemed to be deaf to it, standing there dazed, staring intently at the cloud miasma at the entrance, not uttering a word.
Wang Yu stood on one side, sighed, and without the power to interfere, he sorted the known intelligence in his heart.
The Corpse Prison Forbidden Land is extremely dangerous. Some forces, some cultivators have thought about exploring a small section each year and gradually probing deeper to understand the dangers within and form an effective entry strategy. However, every entry encounter was different, with no discernable pattern, resulting in heavy casualties among the cultivators, so the explorations ceased.
But since its formation over the years, despite not knowing what dangers lay within, some cultivators used various strange methods to enter and exit the ridge entrance, playing the game of "I’ve gone in and come out again," successfully understanding the terrain of the ten-odd mile mountain path inside the entrance, and some orally passed down information gained with life.
Inside the ridge entrance is a muddy, winding mountain path with dense forests on both sides. The path is relatively safe, while the forest is strictly off-limits!
Along the mountain path, ten miles in, there’s a dilapidated red-roofed stone house. If the door is open and there’s a red-lacquered coffin inside, it’s safe, and one can even hide in the stone house to avoid risks.
But if there’s no coffin in the stone house or the door is tightly shut, do not approach!
Beyond that lies an uncharted area.
There’s only information revealed by someone who reportedly gained a great opportunity in the forbidden land and survived.
The Corpse Prison Forbidden Land cannot be flown over!
Of course, this information was purchased with Spirit Stones from these Loose Cultivators. Even though cross-verified, there’s no assuring they haven’t held something back.
Yang Jiye and the other Yushan Disciples remained silent, feeling heavy-hearted.
This group of uniformly clothed sect disciples stood out among the Loose Cultivators. Curious and skeptical glances kept darting their way, with some bold ones trying to strike up conversations, only to be gently declined.
Several hours slipped by quickly, and soon the moon was high in the sky, and 11:00 PM on the tenth day of the eighth month arrived.
Suddenly, the sound of a howling wind emerged from within the Corpse Prison Ridge.
This howling wind resembled the wailing of ten thousand souls, the simultaneous mourning of a thousand ghosts, making one’s hairs stand on end and heart pound.
As the wind blew, the thick layer of cloud miasma ahead began to swirl, like a curtain being drawn open, slowly pulling aside to reveal a narrow, muddy mountain path.
On both sides of the path were densely packed, pitch-black ancient trees, whose moonlit brilliance vanished upon entering the forest’s depths, leaving nothing visible.
Among the cultivators, someone shouted, "The forbidden land is open, whoever’s not afraid of death, go on in!"
The crowd began to stir, stepping forward when suddenly a woman’s playful laughter echoed, halting everyone in their tracks, faces painted with terror.
A woman suddenly appeared on the mountain path.
She wore palace attire, her posture graceful, standing with her back to the crowd, showing only her waterfalls of long hair and slender shoulders.
"Hehehe..." An eerie laugh emerged from her body, her shoulders trembling as if she was greatly amused.
With a sweep of Divine Sense, this woman’s features revealed she was not alive—a living corpse!
Better to hear ghosts wail than ghosts laugh. The cultivators shuddered, but more crucially, the Evil Qi intensity on the female corpse was enough to rival a Late-Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator.
The cultivators exchanged glances; although there were about five hundred here, able to overwhelm even a perfected Foundation Establishment target, no one dared to make the first move, knowing the strange methods this living corpse might possess!
Thus, several hundred people stood frozen, while the living corpse remained still on the mountain path.
"Perhaps we should wait? Maybe the living corpse will retreat when the sun rises," someone speculated.
Though deeply skeptical of this claim, nobody wished to personally test it, so this large crowd stopped and waited in silence once more.
Others could afford the wait, but Wang Yu could not!
He was here for Foundation Establishment, an opportunity only lasting twenty-one days. Failure to reach the Foundation Establishment Treasure Land in time would waste this opportunity.
Besides, the Corpse Prison Ridge was vast, comprising endless mountain chains, its place among them unknown yet required Celestial-Human Synchrony for discovery.
Moreover, the forbidden land’s bizarre nature demanded cautious travel, severely slowing progress. Going only a few miles a day was possible, truly unaffordable delays.
Seeing this, Yang Jiye gritted his teeth, "Junior Brother Wang, let us pave a way for you!"
Even if this living corpse wielded cultivation akin to Late-Stage Foundation Establishment, his Dao Pattern and the recently mastered Vast Sea Stars Battle Array of the Yushan Disciples were not to be trifled with either!
Wang Yu considered for a moment, shaking his head, "Let’s wait a few hours. If this corpse hasn’t retreated by daylight, I’ll think of a method. We join with a few other Foundation Establishment Feather Scholars to enter together."
Yang Jiye gave a slight nod when suddenly a beam of Escape Light from the sky rushed toward the place, dazzlingly bright, blazing with a tail a dozen zhang long!
This was a Golden Core Master!
The crowd erupted in shock and chatter. A Golden Core Master, ruler of a county, lacking nothing, why risk their life here?
