On their way to the Domain of Forbidden Heaven, Nie Tian told Yan Zhan that a mysterious expert from the Heavenly Corpse Sect had shown up to kill scouting Demons in the starry river where the Domain of Forbidden Heaven bordered the Domain of the Falling Stars, and that man was also the reason why he knew there had been a teleportation portal in the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries.
Yan Zhan’s expression flickered as soon as he heard this piece of information. “The Heavenly Corpse Sect?! They’re by no means insignificant! Why would they suddenly show up to kill those Demons?”
Nie Tian shook his head. “What do you know about that sect?”
Yan Zhan fell silent.
Only after a short while did he say, “Even among the crooked human forces, the Heavenly Corpse Sect is a special existence. Not only are they not accepted by humans, but outsiders detest them as well.”
“Why is that?” Nie Tian asked, looking confused.
“That’s because their way of becoming powerful is refining and manipulating corpse slaves,” Yan Zhan explained. “Their corpse slaves can be divided into three tiers: Humanly Corpses, Earthly Corpses, and Heavenly Corpses.
“Humanly Corpses are the weakest, mostly refined from dead humans. Earthly Corpses and Heavenly Corpses are much stronger, and they’re mostly refined from dead outsiders and Ancientbeasts.
“The reason why outsiders hate them too is because many of their kind have been refined into those undead things by the Heavenly Corpse Sect.
“It’s said that only dead ninth grade outsider grand patriarchs can be refined into Heavenly Corpses.”
Nie Tian was taken aback. “They refine Heavenly Corpses with dead grand patriarchs?!”
Yan Zhan nodded. “It seems that only the Bonebrutes have connections with the Heavenly Corpse Sect. After all, the death power the Bonebrutes practice and the corpse power the Heavenly Corpse Sect disciples practice have a lot in common.
“Back in the day, powerful experts from the Heaven Span Pavilion and the Void Spirit Society suffered heavy losses to exterminate the Heavenly Corpse Sect.
“Even though the disciples of the Heavenly Corpse Sect may not be the best fighters, their Earthly Corpses and Heavenly Corpses are very hard to deal with.
“Their sectmaster had been at the late Saint domain many years ago when he disappeared. Now, I suppose he has either entered the G.o.d domain already, or is only a step away from doing so.”
With a thoughtful expression, he added, “If it was him who Cardy the Blood Warden encountered, I doubt that he’ll survive.”
Jing Feiyang gasped with astonishment. “Is the sectmaster of the Heavenly Corpse Sect really that strong?”
At the peak of the ninth grade, Cardy was one of the most powerful Demon grand patriarchs. He had a great chance at becoming the Demons’ fifth grand monarch.
Even such a mighty figure wouldn’t stand a chance fighting the sectmaster of the Heavenly Corpse Sect?
Both Jing Feiyang and Xie Qian had only heard of the name of the Heavenly Corpse Sect, but didn’t really know much about them.
“Like I said, even though their own battle prowess may not be outstanding, their Heavenly Corpses are extremely powerful,” Yan Zhan said with a grim face. “Their sectmaster is named Feng Beiluo. It’s said that he has three deadly Heavenly Corpses, which were respectively refined from a Fiend, a Bonebrute, and a Demon grand patriarch.
“With the help of his Heavenly Corpses, he has no problem contending against an early G.o.d domain human expert.
“Even though Cardy the Blood Warden is also a mighty existence, he’s not a grand monarch after all. If he really ran into Feng Beiluo, he’s pretty much done for.”
After hearing Yan Zhan’s words, both Jing Feiyang and Xie Qian fell silent.
The Heavenly Corpse Sect had vanished for a very long time since their elimination under the four great sects’ joint efforts. Back when they had inspired fear across human domains, neither Jing Feiyang nor Xie Qian had manifested their remarkable power. They hadn’t even entered the Saint domain back then.
Therefore, they only knew that the Heavenly Corpse Sect had been a mighty power, but didn’t know their sectmaster could even contend against a G.o.d domain expert with the help of his three Heavenly Corpses.
“So Elder Yan, will you...” Nie Tian wanted to ask Yan Zhan something, but stopped on second thought.
Yan Zhan immediately realized what he wanted to ask. With a bitter smile, he answered, “Given my current cultivation base and strength, I don’t even have the confidence to win a one-on-one battle against the Blood Warden. Perhaps only with Brother Xie’s help will I be able to contend against him. If we were to fight Feng Beiluo, I’s afraid all of us combined wouldn’t be able to match his battle prowess.”
Nie Tian’s heart grew heavy.
“But don’t worry,” Yan Zhan added with a comforting tone. “I suppose his battle against Cardy will wear him out to a large extent. I doubt he’ll pose a serious threat afterwards.”
“Do you think we’ll have a chance to beat him then?” Nie Tian asked cautiously.
“That’ll depend on how his battle against Cardy goes.” Yan Zhan couldn’t give him a definite answer.
Their conversation went on as they traveled through the starry river, from which Nie Tian learned more and more about the sectmaster of the Heavenly Corpse Sect.
The more he learned about him, the more he realized how mighty he actually was.
According to Yan Zhan, the man had escaped the Void Spirit Society and Heaven Span Pavilion’s joint pursuit with the help of his Heavenly Corpses, and had never shown up again.
It was baffling why he would show up now and get word to Nie Tian through Li Langfeng, informing him of that teleportation portal in the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries.
After traveling for a few more days in the starry river, they finally arrived at the location the Heaven-equal Vine had referred to.
There seemed to have been a large amount of meteors in this area, but they had all been reduced to dust, filling the starry river with lingering corpse power and Cardy’s residual flesh aura.
A large-scale stars.h.i.+p was sailing away.
On the deck lay a huge, ancestral-awakened Demon, along with three other outsider grand patriarchs that were wreathed in intense corpse auras.
Those three outsider grand patriarchs were a Demon, a Bonebrute, and a Fiend.
A white-robed, silver-eyed man could be seen floating over the moving stars.h.i.+p, smiling strangely towards them from a thousand meters away.
“Feng Beiluo!” Yan Zhan took a deep breath to calm himself. Fixing the man with an apprehensive look, he said in a low voice, “That’s Feng Beiluo, the sectmaster of the Heavenly Corpse Sect.”
Feng Beiluo was older, and had seniority over him.
When Feng Beiluo had stirred up trouble across the human world, he had merely entered the early Saint domain.
He had met him once, but had been far from powerful enough to be his opponent.
“If he hadn’t been injured by powerful experts from the Heaven Span Pavilion and the Void Spirit Society back then... he might have entered the G.o.d domain already,” Yan Zhan said with a grim expression, not seeming to have any intent to go after the man. “Cardy seems to have died at his hands already.”
“Yan Zhan, right?” Feng Beiluo’s ethereal voice echoed out. “I remember you. You’re right. If it weren’t for the Void Spirit Society and the Heaven Span Pavilion, I would have entered the G.o.d domain long ago. But it’s not too late now. I shall be able to enter the G.o.d domain after I refine Cardy’s corpse into my fourth Heavenly Corpse.”
“Did you simply come for Cardy, or do you have other intentions?” Yan Zhan asked in a loud voice.
Normally speaking, members of the four great sects would launch killing attacks upon seeing a crooked human cultivator like Feng Beiluo.
However, Cardy was dead now. Yan Zhan observed with rapt attention, and discovered that Feng Beiluo didn’t seem to have suffered any noticeable injuries, so he didn’t dare to make any rash moves.
“Other intentions?” Feng Beiluo laughed softly and shot Nie Tian a glance. “Sort of. But rest a.s.sured. I mean no harm to the humans in the Domain of the Falling Stars. In fact, I helped them with their problem with the Demons.”
“A-are you leaving?” Yan Zhan asked with a puzzled expression.
“Now that I have Cardy’s corpse, of course I want to refine it into a Heavenly Corpse as soon as possible,” Feng Beiluo answered seriously. “With their leader dead, the rest of the Demons should be easy to take care of. My mission ends here. Time to say goodbye.”
With these words, the stars.h.i.+p underneath him slowly accelerated, and sailed into the distant starry river.
“Mission?” Yan Zhan was taken aback. “Was it his mission to come here to deal with the scouting Demons and kill Cardy? Who in this heaven and earth could give him missions?”
Jing Feiyang and Xie Qian were even more confused. However, even from several thousand meters away, they could sense Feng Beiluo’s terrifyingly strong aura.
Even Yan Zhan didn’t dare to pursue him. Of course they wouldn’t do so on their own, fearing that they would enrage him and get themselves killed.
After all, the man seemed to have killed Cardy the Blood Warden effortlessly.
Moments later, the enormous stars.h.i.+p vanished from their sight.
Face grim, Yan Zhan remained silent and motionless for a long while after he left, as if he knew that an upheaval was going to hit the human world.