Chapter 192: Escape

“Impossible! How could even Khan Jiu be drawn out by this sealed corpse ancient land?!”

Before Chen Luo’s thoughts had fully formed, he witnessed Gu Demon Khan Jiu let out a blood-curdling scream. As if something had gripped him, his upper body exploded with a thud. The Spring-Autumn Gu perched atop his head fell silent, its voice abruptly fading away.

This spectacle made Chen Luo’s heart skip a beat, sensing that whatever was emerging behind them might have something to do with him.

By taking that fruit, I’ve stirred up an even greater trouble.

Khan Jiu, my brother, is taking the hit for me!

However, Chen Luo had no time to spare on such matters; at most, he’d offer some extra paper money prayers to Khan Jiu during future festivals.

This big brother, I accept you wholeheartedly!

He redirected his spiritual energy to its limit, desperately employing escape techniques to flee. This experience had made Chen Luo acutely aware of the limitations of Aerial Flight Technique. In normal circumstances, it wasn’t apparent, but when faced with life-and-death situations, the speed issues of Aerial Flight Technique became painfully obvious.

As they rushed towards the edge, Chen Luo suddenly halted near their original entrance point.

Lady Bai Gu was there as well.

She stared at Chen Luo, her face deathly pale.

“The exit has vanished.”

The disappearance of the exit meant they would be trapped here until the Black Temple’s aura spread to this place, ensuring their deaths. Even a powerful Foundation Establishment cultivator like Khan Jiu couldn’t withstand it; for them, venturing forth now would be akin to offering themselves as easy prey.

Ignoring her, Chen Luo focused intently, his desiccated brain coming alive with thought.

His most formidable external brain immediately detected something amiss—the vanished exit’s edge bore traces of fluctuating array patterns.

An array! Chen Luo realized the issue and once again enlisted the Foundation Establishment array master’s brain, swiftly pinpointing the problem.

The exit hadn’t disappeared at all; rather, the ‘corpse house’ had altered its array configuration.

“Where’s the exit?!” Lady Bai Gu’s body emanated a dense white bone fiendish energy as she frantically searched her surroundings. However, lacking expertise in arrays, she couldn’t decipher the changes, rendering her efforts futile no matter how hard she tried.

As she repeatedly scoured the area, the encroaching black qi behind them grew ever closer. Despite herself, despair began to creep in.

“Compose yourself,” Chen Luo cautioned. “I have a plan.”

He was now without any direct allies. While Lady Bai Gu possessed considerable strength, he could only hope that if danger arose, she might serve as a last-ditch shield.

“You understand formations?” Lady Bai Gu exclaimed, her voice a mix of surprise and delight.

She hadn’t expected such luck—to encounter a rare formation master like this.

“A bit,” Chen Luo replied succinctly. His divine sense swept over the area repeatedly, searching for nodes while trying to keep Lady Bai Gu composed. With the help of a formation master’s mind, he saw this as an opportunity to learn more. Ideally, he hoped to decipher the mystery of that altar; after all, stealing their offerings might lead to complications later.

“What happened to Hundred Monsters Union’s Roshana?”

“He’s long dead! This whole affair was his doing. I wanted his Rakshasa Bone, and he coveted my White Jade Bone.”

“The thing inside there is a Core Formation Corpse King. It sucked Luo Zhengdao dry, leaving only his bones behind.”

Lady Bai Gu’s scheme from the beginning had been nothing but a trap.

She intended to eliminate Hundred Monsters Country’s Roshana, absorbing its bone to break through her cultivation barrier. However, Roshana had similar plans for her. As they plotted against each other, neither gained any advantage in the end. Instead, Roshana fell prey to the ancient corpse king within the Sealed Tomb, and Lady Bai Gu’s undercover agent, Luo Zhengdao, met the same fate at the corpse king’s hands.

The ‘Roshana’ they had engaged was merely a corpse slave released by the Core Formation Zombie King. Their battle had been orchestrated to break the final seal through its residual effects.

“Is the Black Temple actually the zombie king?” Chen Luo mused. “Why do I get the feeling that whatever’s in those black mists is more akin to a soul cultivator lineage?” He recalled Khan Jiu’s final agonized scream at the hands of the gu demon.

Even to this day, no one knew what the old man had encountered; his death had been truly horrific.

The sound of suonas grew ever closer, reaching even this peripheral region. The eerie opera vocals chimed in like soul-summoning music, their disconcerting melody sending shivers down spines.

“The Black Temple… I can’t say for certain,” Lady Bai Gu admitted. “I was completely unaware of its existence until recently. In fact, I suspect Xue Ning might have set it loose.”

Lady Bai Gu remained uncertain. Her inquiries had yielded no clues about the Black Temple. Perhaps only the woman with white hair, Xue Ning, held the answer—she had witnessed Xue Ning standing near the temple before.

This enigmatic figure clearly walked a different path from the others. Her apparent ‘aid’ in their venture likely masked some ulterior motive, much like how each demonic entity harbored its own unique goal: the coffin-bearing old man sought the blood-haired girl and the cave’s crimson pool, while Old Demon Fang eyed something within the courtyard. Every ancient fiend had its own agenda.

From Lady Bai Gu’s initial goal of disrupting the situation, it was clear she hadn’t made a single wrong move in her choices.

“What do you know about Xue Daoist?” Chen Luo asked.

Chen Luo recalled the Blood Qi Old Ghost banesoul standing behind Xue Ning. He had killed that creature himself, making them mortal enemies. Now refined into a banesoul, it would undoubtedly seek revenge. If given the chance, Chen Luo would have to eliminate this threat at its root.

“Xue Daoist’s origins are shrouded in mystery,” she replied. “I only know her name is Xue Ning, and she arrived in Blackstone City forty years ago. Her power is immense; even Old Demon Fang isn’t a match for her.” At the mention of Old Demon Fang, she cast a meaningful glance at Chen Luo.

Considering their past encounter upon entering here, with only Chen Luo present now, the outcome was all too predictable.

Boom!

The wildly spreading black mist suddenly erupted in a cataclysmic collision when it reached a certain area. A wave of destructive energy swept through, toppling houses around the corpse house. A corpse king burst forth from the earth, his skin dark gold and hair disheveled. With two arms dragging four long iron chains, he waved his hand, sending them hurtling towards the Black Temple.

A tempestuous wind swept across the region, causing chaos to the surrounding vital energy.

“Go!”

At this critical moment, Chen Luo finally located the formation eye. With a flash, he charged ahead first.

His goal wasn’t to break the entire array but simply to find a weak point—a gap—much like digging a tunnel versus constructing an ancient tomb: two tasks of entirely different difficulty levels. As a Foundation Establishment array master, his perceptiveness was more than enough to unearth such a ‘hole’ in this formation.

Seeing his move, Lady Bai Gu swiftly followed suit.

As soon as they burst through the black forest, they felt disoriented, as if caught in a whirlwind.

Contrary to their expectation of being freed, they found themselves thrust into an even darker, older woodland. The trees stood eerily still, with only faint rustles betraying any movement among the leaves.

“Where are we?”

Lady Bai Gu swiftly flew forward, dispersing her divine sense to search for an exit.

They hadn’t passed through this particular stretch of old woods when entering; their previous path had been confined to the area surrounding the corpse house alone.

“We’re still within the formation,” Chen Luo observed, approaching a nearby tree. There, he discovered a square stone etched with a magical inscription. These stone talismans were left behind by those who originally sealed the burial grounds long ago, intended to prevent the entombed spirit symbols from failing and allowing the Corpse King’s escape.

In essence, the formation now treated them as the Corpse King himself, trapping them within its confines.

“Can you find our way out?” Lady Bai Gu quickly returned, her voice tinged with urgency.

When it comes to arrays, if you don’t understand them, you can only consult a professional.

Chen Luo remained silent; comprehending combined arrays was beyond the grasp of even Foundation Establishment array masters. He could only rely on his instincts and intuition. Thankfully, he had the mummy brain’s innate sense to help him save time.

A pitch-black gourd materialized in Chen Luo’s hand.

This gourd was once possessed by the Shan City’s insect cultivator woman whom Chen Luo had defeated long ago. After killing Wang Cangxiao, the Insect Cultivation King, Chen Luo had fused their insects together and stored them within this very gourd.

“You’re still an insect cultivator?” A flicker of surprise crossed Lady Bai Gu’s eyes. Is this man truly a prodigy? How vast his knowledge, yet his cultivation hasn’t suffered.

“I have some understanding,” Chen Luo replied cryptically. Testing each individual with paper talismans would be too slow. The best approach was to leverage sheer numbers—combining his ability as an insect master with his skills as an array master—to locate the exit swiftly.

Buzz…

A wisp of black qi drifted from the gourd’s mouth, releasing countless tiny black bugs. These diminutive creatures circled briefly around Chen Luo before dispersing rapidly, aiding him in his search for the hidden escape route.

Through the collective trial-and-error efforts of the swarm, Chen Luo quickly identified the critical nodes of the array.

The insects flying southwest eventually converged into a swarm, circling continuously. To them, it felt like they were constantly moving forward; even Lady Bai Gu observed the same phenomenon nearby. However, Chen Luo’s instincts as an array master quickly alerted him to something amiss.

“This way,” he whispered, heading directly towards the swarm.

Both his vision and divine sense perceived nothing but trees ahead. It seemed as if they would crash straight into one of them.

As they approached, ripples spread out across their path.

Chen Luo and Lady Bai Gu appeared to phase through the tree trunk effortlessly, as if it weren’t there at all.

After passing through this ancient grove, the scene before them shifted once again. A sensation akin to teleportation washed over them, leaving no time for reaction as they were swept inside. When the force subsided, they found themselves standing in the desolate village outside.

The area was barren, still bearing traces of Chen Luo’s battle with Old Demon Fang earlier.

“We’re really out!” Lady Bai Gu exclaimed, her voice filled with joy and surprise. But within moments, she sensed something wasn’t right.

Why had the sky turned black outside too?

“The power has seeped out,” Chen Luo muttered grimly. “Those Black Temple fiends are far more terrifying than I ever imagined…”

Chen Luo swiftly produced a medicinal pill and swallowed it, beginning to replenish his depleted spiritual energy. The double kill combined with their frantic escape had drained him completely; now that they were momentarily safe, he naturally needed to quickly restore his reserves.

Beside him, Lady Bai Gu performed similar actions. Her exhaustion was even greater than Chen Luo’s; managing to flee at all had been a supreme effort. Recalling Khan Jiu’s fate, she realized her injuries paled in comparison.

Roar!

The entrance room cracked, its left wall collapsing. A savage sound wave surged from the rear of the house, spreading beyond the door. However, having escaped the array’s confines, its impact lessened significantly. Even the irritating suona music now sounded intermittent and faint.

“You’ve crossed paths with the corpse king before,” observed Chen Luo.

After resting briefly and regaining some strength, Chen Luo prepared to inquire about the corpse king when suddenly, Lady Bai Gu’s expression shifted. She stared towards the building where they’d entered.

At some point, a figure had appeared at the main gate.

Krak!

A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, dispersing the surrounding darkness.

A torrential rain descended without warning, as if summoned by some emerging entity. Instinctively, Chen Luo turned back through the half-open gate and saw two rows of shadowy figures standing guard. Between them, an eight-man sedan chair bore a solitary occupant, shrouded in darkness.