Before him lay the ruins of an ancient sect.
The sight was bleak, filled with nothing but wreckage and devastation, the ruthless passage of endless years leaving its mark.
Dried bloodstains clung to broken bricks and shattered tiles. The remains of mummified corpses sprawled in disarray across the ground.
The air was thick with the unsettling stench of antiquity, and the atmosphere seemed to hold the remnants of a brutal battle that had occurred long ago. Even though countless years had eroded everything, the scene left behind still sent a chill down one's spine.
Chu Xuan turned his gaze to the stone door behind him. There were numerous dried blood handprints smeared across it. Clearly, many body-refining cultivators of the Eight Extremes Palace had tried to escape but were slaughtered here. He sighed lightly and continued forward, cautiously exploring. Before long, the gathered Gu insects sent back reports, indicating that they had detected the sound of chewing ahead.
Chu Xuan silently approached and soon saw a corpse demon crouched on the ground, greedily devouring the body of a dead cultivator. The cultivator's eyes were wide open in death, evidently having been ambushed by the corpse demon and not even realizing his fate until it was too late.
The presence of a living being nearby made the corpse demon stop its feeding and turn its attention to the surroundings. However, it didn't have time to rise before Hu's massive body, like a storm, swiftly closed the distance.
With a powerful punch, Hu struck the back of the corpse demon's head, obliterating it instantly.
Following Chu Xuan's signal, Hu quickly extracted a black crystal ball from the corpse demon's chest. This object was called a Corpse Demon Pearl. It was the token obtained for slaying a corpse demon. In the end, the number of Corpse Demon Pearls a person collected would determine their eligibility to obtain the Eight Extremes inheritance.
Furthermore, the pearls contained intense yin energy, which could also be used to forge powerful spirit tools, though one would need the crafting formulas to do so.
After dispatching the corpse demon, Chu Xuan and Hu continued forward. Thanks to the vast network of Gu insects he had scattered ahead, Chu Xuan was always able to detect the presence of corpse demons and eliminate them swiftly. Along the way, he came across the gruesome remains of several cultivators, most of whom had been torn apart and devoured.
With Spiritual Qi and spiritual sense suppressed, ordinary cultivators were no match for the corpse demons in one-on-one combat. The Eight Extremes Palace's purpose was simple. Only body-refining cultivators could obtain the Eight Extremes inheritance. They were unwilling to allow the inheritance to fall into the hands of the fragile Qi cultivators. Perhaps, this was the last stand of the Eight Extremes Palace.
"It seems many people have already entered the Eight Extremes Palace through the stone doors before me. I need to speed up and kill more corpse demons. If the number of Corpse Demon Pearls isn't enough, others will definitely get the inheritance before I do."
As this thought crossed his mind, Chu Xuan couldn't help but recall the figure of Moon True Master. This person had long since begun trying to attract and control body-refining cultivators, clearly already aware of the existence of the Eight Extremes Palace.
Moon True Master would undoubtedly be the greatest obstacle in Chu Xuan's quest for the Eight Extremes inheritance.
Three days later.
Chu Xuan had obtained two Corpse Demon Pearls and shook his head slightly. In these three days, he had only managed to kill a little over twenty corpse demons. What struck him as odd was that these demons were all of similar strength, roughly equal to a body-refining cultivator at the thirty-seventh level of body refinement. There were no particularly powerful or weak ones among them.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Moreover, their attack patterns were remarkably consistent. None seemed to specialize in ambushes or overwhelming assaults; they all appeared to be cut from the same mold.
"If they are all this level of strength, sweeping through the Eight Extremes Palace doesn't seem like it would be difficult," Chu Xuan mused.
Just as he was about to continue forward, his Gu insects alerted him to movement ahead. It seemed a large group of people was approaching from a distance.
Chu Xuan's expression shifted slightly. Instinctively, he moved closer to the ruins of a nearby collapsed wall. This could only mean one thing: a horde of corpse demons.
No matter how strong he was, facing an unexpectedly large number of corpse demons would lead to his demise.
Just then, he spotted several figures advancing toward him. The leader was none other than Bai Tianhe, the Yellow Spring True Master.
Behind him were Shang Xingchen, Xia Shi, and other cultivators from Yellow Springs Island. Trailing behind them were over a hundred corpse demons. It was unclear how they had angered so many of these creatures.
Bai Tianhe spotted Chu Xuan, who had yet to hide behind the rubble. His eyes lit up, and he immediately pointed in Chu Xuan's direction, "Head that way!"
With a gust of wind beneath his feet, Bai Tianhe closed in on Chu Xuan at an incredible speed. From a distance, he tossed something the size of a fist toward him—a shriveled, desiccated heart.
"Fellow daoist, keep this for now. I'll come for it later!" Bai Tianhe said with a meaningful glance toward Chu Xuan.
Then, without waiting, he turned and sped off in another direction. It was strange. The corpse demons, who had clearly been chasing Bai Tianhe and the others, immediately shifted their focus toward Chu Xuan the moment the heart landed near him. They changed direction and charged straight at him.
Chu Xuan caught the heart and couldn't help but smile. Without hesitation, he turned and fled. If he hadn't known what this was, he would have thrown it away without a second thought. But since he had received information from Tang Bing's spiritual sense jade slip, he recognized it immediately.
This was the heart of the Grand Hall Master of the Eight Extremes Palace. Inside it contained the essence of blood and Qi from an ancient body-refining cultivator.
Such a heart could draw the attention of the corpse demons, causing them to be irresistibly drawn to it and preventing them from leaving the ruins of the Eight Extremes Palace. They would forever wander within the desolate remnants of the hall, trapped in a cycle of hunger and instinct.
For Chu Xuan, this heart was also an invaluable treasure. Once refined, it would significantly enhance his body-refining cultivation. That was precisely why he was willing to risk everything to take it.
As the horde of corpse demons bore down on him, Chu Xuan's expression grew resolute. This heart would not only serve as a powerful asset but also as a crucial turning point in his quest for the Eight Extremes inheritance.
As Chu Xuan sprinted forward, a thought crossed his mind. He could simply toss the heart into the Myriad Realm Mirror, thereby isolating its aura and causing the corpse demons to disperse. However, if used properly, this heart could also attract the demons and accelerate the collection of Corpse Demon Pearls.
With this in mind, Chu Xuan immediately stowed the heart inside the Myriad Realm Mirror. As expected, the corpse demons, like headless flies, immediately lost their target and began to wander aimlessly.
Once Chu Xuan had moved a fair distance from the horde, he took the heart out again. Sure enough, a small group of demons was drawn to it and quickly sped toward him. This cycle repeated itself. The number of corpse demons chasing him had been reduced from over a hundred to just a handful.
"That should be enough," Chu Xuan said with a slight smile. He summoned Hu and turned to face his pursuers. The weak spot of the corpse demons was located at the back of their skulls.
Chu Xuan and Hu acted together. Though these dozen or so corpse demons were equivalent to body-refining cultivators at the thirty-seventh level, they quickly fell, their heads exploding in an instant. The Corpse Demon Pearls from their chests were carefully extracted and added to Chu Xuan's pouch.
After a brief rest, Chu Xuan approached the remaining wandering demons once again and used the heart to lure them. Once more, over ten demons were attracted and rushed toward him.
The cycle continued. Not long after, all one hundred or so demons were slain, their skulls shattered and scattered across the ground. All the Corpse Demon Pearls were now safely in Chu Xuan's possession. He grinned broadly.
"Good, good, good."
The number of pearls he had gathered today far surpassed the few days' worth of effort he'd put in earlier. It was clear: patiently collecting Corpse Demon Pearls the regular way could never compare to having the right tool to speed things up.