Chapter 191: Hold On, Bro!

After burying the corpse of his killer, Chen Luo began searching the cave. The frigid temperatures caused by the banesoul explosion had slowly returned to normal. The Coffin-Bearing Old Man wouldn’t have come here for no reason; there must be something valuable nearby.

Unfortunately, the old man’s brain was too severely damaged from the blast, with such extensive destruction that not even a lingering obsession remained when Chen Luo attempted to absorb it.

After circling around, Chen Luo found himself back at the blood pool’s edge. The cave didn’t contain any notable treasures. It wasn’t large, and aside from stalactites and stalagmites, the only other feature was this blood pool. In the short time since he’d last seen it, the pool had fully reformed. Blood continuously bubbled up, forming massive globules that expanded before bursting.

Could it be this blood pool?

Chen Luo produced a talisman paper, conjured a paper figurine, and tossed it into the pool.

Fizzle.

Before the paper figurine could even hit the surface, steam rising from the blood pool incinerated it into black ash. Even the remaining ashes couldn’t reach the pool, burning away completely as they approached its surface.

The thought suddenly materialized in Chen Luo’s mind.

It was none other than Wang Cangxiao, the rogue cultivator known for his peculiar sense of humor. As a bug cultivation specialist, he had raised three unique insects during his lifetime. These insects now languished in Chen Luo’s Pouch of Holding, while the Secret Manual of Insects he held had been discovered on Wang Cangxiao’s person.

After obtaining this manual, Chen Luo had given it only a cursory glance, lacking the time for a thorough study. Fortunately, since Wang Cangxiao had researched these matters before his death, all Chen Luo needed to do was access his memories to gain that knowledge.

“The Blood Fiend Territory?”

Chen Luo produced a Pouch of Holding, intending to test its capabilities by attempting to store some blood from the pool. However, upon touching the blood, the pouch instantly combusted, destroying both itself and the space within.

This outcome left Chen Luo bitterly disappointed, feeling as though he were staring at a mountain of treasure beyond his reach.

“Perhaps I can use this instead.”

His gaze caught sight of something nearby, recalling the old man with the coffin and his precious casket. During their previous encounter, blood had seeped out from within; surely it could hold more!

The explosion had sent the coffin flying, and now one side rested against the cave wall. Chen Luo approached, prying off the coffin lid before retrieving the rest of the pieces from his Pouch of Holding. He reassembled them and placed the coffin near the blood pool.

With a dull thud, the coffin slammed into the ground.

Chen Luo unleashed his spiritual energy, swirling it around the blood within the pool. The crimson liquid coalesced into an arc, carrying the essence of the pool as it descended into the black casket. As expected, this time the blood did not melt upon entering but was perfectly preserved within.

A quarter-hour later.

The blood coffin was full; when the overflowing blood splashed onto the ground, it reacted like concentrated acid, releasing massive amounts of toxic smoke. This acidic smoke rose and gathered at the cave ceiling, forming a new protrusion.

These were the origins of the stalactites in this cavern.

“That should do it.”

Chen Luo extended his hand, summoning spiritual energy to lift the coffin and tucking it away into his Pouch of Holding.

Having drained the Blood Pool, Chen Luo wasted no more time there. He turned and followed the passage back out. His visit had already proven profitable, so he decided to make his escape early. As for Lady Bai Gu’s invitation to slay Hundred Monsters Alliance’s Roshana, he never intended to involve himself from the start.

It had been nothing more than going through the motions.

Roar!

As soon as Chen Luo emerged from the tunnel, that roar echoed again. It was the first sound he’d heard here, and with each repetition, Chen Luo felt the entire area tremble increasingly.

The buildings of the corpse house began to tremble, their wooden structures creaking as if signaling the end of the world.

Swish…

An iron chain emerged from the earth, swinging through the air with a crisp sound, clumps of soil falling from its links. On both sides of the passage, massive yellow talismans dimmed further, while smaller ones affixed to the walls spontaneously ignited.

“A catastrophe is imminent!” Chen Luo’s heart lurched. Without hesitation, he activated his spiritual energy and shot towards the exit at breakneck speed.

But someone was faster than him.

Chen Luo looked up just in time to see two streaks of black light emerge from the depths, one after another. The first figure had lost half their body; as they flew, masses of white gu insects swirled around them. It was none other than Khan Jiu, the gu demon who had vanished upon entering.

The second figure fared slightly better—still intact but radiating an aura of extreme exhaustion.

As the black lights flashed past, Gu Demon Khan Jiu’s speed was incredible—he surpassed Chen Luo in the blink of an eye. The trailing figure also approached rapidly, and only then did Chen Luo recognize it: it was Lady Bai Gu herself.

“Run for your life! The real Roshana died ages ago! There’s something huge in there.”

Lady Bai Gu also spotted Chen Luo and, unlike the Gu Demon Khan Jiu, she took a moment to issue him a warning.

Both of them employed life-risking escape techniques, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye.

A single Eternal Life Fruit could save a hundred years of arduous cultivation.

Chen Luo turned to flee as well. But just as he was about to move, the thought from the mummy’s brain suddenly surfaced in his mind. He whipped his head around to look back and noticed faint glimmers of light flashing within one of the rooms behind him.

Upon closer inspection, it was indeed a fruit resembling a peach.

“A hundred years of arduous cultivation?!”

Chen Luo’s eyes went bloodshot. If not for the mummy’s brain alerting him, he would have missed this incredible opportunity. Glancing at the roiling black clouds behind him, he gritted his teeth and charged towards that room.

At worst, I’ll just take a detour; it won’t delay me too long.

If I miss this chance, won’t I regret it forever once outside?

Bang!

Racing through the door without pausing, Chen Luo demolished it with a forceful impact. This room stood out from all the others—it was meticulously arranged with two rows of tables and chairs neatly aligned. Directly opposite the entrance stood an eight-armed stone statue, exuding a menacing aura. Each arm held a different torture device, giving it the appearance of a malevolent underworld spirit.

Unwilling to examine it closely, Chen Luo swept his divine sense over the table and swiftly drew the fruit into his hand.

The moment it touched him, a wave of chilling coldness surged up his arm, numbing half his body.

To his shock, the flesh in his grasp writhed like a living creature, struggling incessantly.

This is an offering. Leave now.

Before Chen Luo could investigate further, the mummy’s brain issued another command.

An offering? Who was it for? And who had made it?

A shiver ran through Chen Luo as he quickly stowed the fruit in his Pouch of Holding. He instantly circulated his spiritual energy to its peak, channeling it into the external brain that governed his martial arts mastery. In a flash, his speed skyrocketed to an incredible level.

He darted out of the room, chasing after Lady Bai Gu in the direction she had disappeared.

Roar.

At that moment, a sixth roar echoed from behind. This time, softer than before, yet sending chills down his spine.

Dimly, he seemed to hear the sound of snapping iron chains, followed by eerie suona music emerging from the depths of the corpse house. It was as if someone were playing, but the notes drifted with an otherworldly, ghostly quality.

An inexplicable voice resonated, causing Chen Luo’s spirit to tremble violently. The Soul Banner he had ingested flew out eerily, its over a hundred banesouls seemingly summoned by the voice. They began spontaneously departing from the banner, flying towards the source.

“Stay right here!” Chen Luo seized the Soul Banner, pouring spiritual energy into it to forcefully halt the banesouls’ escape. In that brief instant, however, the number of banesouls within the banner had plummeted by a third, leaving only about seventy. These remaining souls continued to quiver incessantly, desperately trying to break free from his control and fly towards the origin of the voice.

A second voice echoed, compelling even Lady Bai Gu and Khan Jiu to pause in their flight. All three turned back just in time to witness countless ghostly figures emerging from the swirling black mist behind them.

These shadows coalesced, enveloping themselves in an endless shroud of darkness as they began to spread madly outward.

Within this sea of blackness, the silhouette of a pitch-black temple emerged.

The moment the black temple appeared, all the ghostly apparitions retreated. Chen Luo’s heart raced as he once again lowered the soul banner. This time, only about thirty spirits were drawn in. Dense masses of white shadows flew out from the corpse house, converging on the Black Temple.

Below the temple, Chen Luo spotted an incredibly familiar face—the woman with white hair who had entered with them. She stood near the Black Temple, seemingly having voluntarily attached herself to it. Beside her loomed a hazy figure that glared at him resentfully—it was the blood qi old ghost he had slain.

It remained unclear how the white-haired woman managed to extract his soul and cultivate such a banesoul within such a short span of time.

“Think you can claim my soul? You’re not worthy yet! Spring-Autumn Gu!” Khan Jiu, the foremost gu demon, bellowed, radiating the aura of Foundation Establishment Perfection. A three-inch-long white gu insect emerged from atop his head. Resembling a cicada, its snow-white body instantly repelled the essence of the Black Temple upon its appearance.

Zzzz, zzzz!

The cicada’s song radiated outward like sound waves, colliding with those eerie tones and creating ripples of sonic booms at their edges.

Seizing the opportunity, Chen Luo internalized his soul banner while channeling spiritual energy, swiftly following Lady Bai Gu as they fled.

When the sky falls, let the tallest bear it.

Right now, Khan Jiu was that tallest figure, shouldering seven-tenths of the pressure from the black temple. Lady Bai Gu bore two-tenths, leaving only one-tenth for Chen Luo, who had just entered Foundation Establishment—his attention remained minimal.

Both figures escaped rapidly; in the blink of an eye, they were outside the corpse house.

In the desolate old forest, where chilling winds swept through, Chen Luo relied on memory to retrace his steps. He had barely flown a few paces when he felt a sudden chill down his spine.

“You won’t escape,” came a venomous voice from behind him.

Boom!

Chen Luo whirled around, unleashing a Lightning Fire Talisman. The spirit talisman exploded, sending gray-white ripples outward, but there was nothing at the epicenter of the blast—not even debris.

Only the voice remained.

Turning back, Chen Luo once again faced off against the blood-soaked fiendish bane soul beside the woman with white hair. They stood unmoved at the edge of the black temple.

Khan Jiu’s aura had weakened significantly, and the Spring-Autumn Gu atop his head showed signs of fatigue.

Hold on, bro! You can do it!