Chapter 4 Shocking

  The outside world is windy and cloudy, many cultivators gather, but the one who started all this, Wang Qian, doesn't know that he is now immersed in the world of cultivation, feeling his power rising bit by bit, even his soul seems to have been sublimated.

  In the underground mausoleum, it is quiet and still. Any slight movement or disturbance that spreads here will converge into a great commotion.

  "Huh? What's going on? Ever since I've been cultivating this Undying Scripture, my mind has become incredibly keen. Even the slightest movements can't escape my spiritual awareness. This heartbeat... what exactly is going on?"

  Wang Qian's originally clear mind was suddenly shrouded in a layer of dark clouds, as if something was about to happen.

  Whoosh!

  A loud gust of wind reached his ears and was instantly caught by him.

  "Is anyone there? It's been so long, this underground mausoleum is eerily quiet, never a sound, how could someone be here?"

  The Undead Scripture is incredibly mysterious, and although Wang Qian's cultivation is still very low, his spiritual awareness is much more acute than that of other cultivators. Moreover, as an undead creature, he is naturally a favorite of the earth, able to conceal all his aura and blend into the soil completely, without emitting even a hint of life energy. After all, the undead are a mysterious existence between life and death. These divine abilities are nothing special, and as an undead creature, as long as he is underground, he will possess unparalleled perceptual power. The entire landscape is his eyes, so Wang Qian suddenly felt that someone was rapidly approaching above the underground tomb, which made him instantly vigilant.

  His cultivation ended, Wang Qi's body was like the wind and mist, disappearing into the crystal coffin in an instant. With a swing of his sleeve, the lid of the crystal coffin flew up lightly and accurately returned to its original shape.

  This was Wang Qian's first time leaving the crystal coffin, and his feet were firmly planted on the ground of the imperial mausoleum. He felt very solid, and the floor here emitted a faint blue light. Wang Qian looked intently and found that this entire underground palace was built with green jade. This green jade was much more solid than what he had seen on Earth, crystal clear and translucent throughout, carved with many exquisite patterns, birds, beasts, insects, fish, ancient scrolls, everything was there.

  "Right, the God-slaying Halberd! This Tianyuan Emperor, although he is an emperor of a mortal nation, his tone is not small. A single halberd, also named the God-slaying Halberd, truly has the demeanor of an emperor!"

  Wang Ganxin smiled to himself and stepped out, arriving at a palace outside the mausoleum. This palace was also resplendent in gold and jade, but as soon as he entered, he felt a cold and sinister aura, cruel and ruthless, icy and bloodthirsty, as if he had walked into the halls of Asura, filled with the atmosphere of slaughter and the scent of bloodshed.

  "Huh? What's this?"

  Wang Gan's eyes lit up, and he strode forward, soon arriving in front of a weapons rack in the center of the hall. The rack was entirely black, with intricate dragon patterns subtly etched onto its surface, exuding an air of nobility and mystery. However, none of this caught his attention, as his gaze was immediately drawn to a large halberd on the rack.

  The giant halberd's body shone with a bright silver light, about 18 feet long. The pole of the halberd was densely covered with patterns. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the pole of the halberd was carved with ferocious and twisted dragons. Reaching out to touch it, it felt cold and rough, yet the texture was wonderful. As soon as his hand grasped it, he felt a sense of connection, as if his hand was meant to be there all along.

  Look at the spearhead, it's pitch-black and glossy, with a cold light gleaming brightly. A deep blood groove is carved on it, with a crimson patch that seems to have swallowed countless lives' blood. The spear blade is extremely sharp, revealing a profound chilliness, as if it were an ancient ice. The two edges of the spearhead are shaped like a crescent moon, with a heavy demonic aura.

  It was almost in an instant that Wang Qian completely fell in love with this gun.

  "This is a slaughter god soldier, only with blood can his sharpness be revealed! Old buddy, I hope you can follow me to conquer the nine heavens, and live up to your name as a god-slaying general!"

  Wang Gan stroked this large halberd, muttering to himself.

  Buzz!

  This divine halberd seemed to possess unparalleled spirituality. As soon as Wang Qian's voice fell, a long dragon hum echoed through the palace, and with a swish, it detached from the weapon rack, its blade dancing, leaving deep marks on the surrounding palace walls before falling into Wang Qian's hands.

  "Haha, this Heaven's Origin Great Emperor, although he was just an ordinary person when alive, this great halberd is also just an ordinary soldier. However, after the passage of time, day by day nourished by the evil energy from the underground, it has actually gained a hint of spirituality, its power greatly increased. Although it can't compare to a true treasured sword, as long as I continue to refine and worship it day and night, in the future it will definitely become a top-notch fierce soldier!"

  Wang Gan's heart was filled with excitement and joy, tightly grasping the Demon-Slaying Halberd, instantly disappearing from his original location.

  He already felt someone was constantly approaching the underground palace, so he hid first and didn't reveal any flaws.

  "Hmph, I'd like to see who dares to disturb me while I'm cultivating!"

  A zombie wants to hide itself, especially in the depths of the ground, that is a general immortal cultivator, it's also very difficult to discover.

  The empty and desolate underground palace corridor echoed with a series of footsteps.

  "Wang Shixiong, this is an underground palace! Judging from its appearance, it has been here for a very long time. Looking at the scale, I'm afraid it's also an emperor!"

  A group of people proceeded with caution in the underground palace, even speaking was extremely careful, their voices were as soft as the hum of ants.

  These people were a group of disciples of Tianyuan Sect. They were the closest to Wang Qian's Tianyuan Emperor Mausoleum, so they were also the first wave to arrive.

  "That's right, but over the past few thousand years, our Tianyuan Sect has grown stronger and more prosperous. Even those mortal nations have to invite our sect's disciples to offer sacrifices to ensure the safety of their corrupt royal lives. What kind of imperial mausoleum can they compare to ours?"

  "Hmm, Brother Wang's words are reasonable. As I traveled here, I observed the local geomancy and found that it is a place of innate yin evilness, where endless yin energy gathers. Ordinary people who are buried here will inevitably bring disaster to their descendants. Only those supreme emperors with noble fate and prosperous fortune can suppress everything and be buried in such a treasured land, which will surely bring boundless good fortune!"

  A young monk furrowed his brow and carefully observed the surroundings, slowly speaking out his conjectures.

  "Xu Tian Shi Di, you have always been meticulous in your research on the art of gathering energy and sealing spirits. Now that you mention it, I feel that this place is not as simple as it seems. I once heard our sect's elders say that when our Tian Yuan Sect first descended upon this continent, there was a mortal emperor here called Tian Yuan Da Di, who was arrogant and domineering, looking down on even us cultivators. He was a hero of his time, with an aura that soared to the clouds and exceptional talent. Even without knowing the ways of cultivation, he gathered the world's royal energy, tempered himself, and had strength far surpassing ours, even if we were just ordinary foundation-building cultivators. If he continued on this path, becoming an immortal wouldn't have been difficult for him! Later, our sect's elders, in a fit of rage, completely annihilated that person, overturning his empire, causing the world to return to its fragmented state, scattering the royal energy, allowing us cultivators to better control those mortals, search for resources, and expand our sect. I think this place should be the mausoleum of that ancient emperor!"

  Wang Qi couldn't help but praise Tianyuan Dadi at this time.

  "Then, senior brother, according to what you said, this is the mausoleum of a mortal emperor. Why did we just see a heavenly phenomenon? It seemed like a treasure was being born into the world! Did Tianyuan Great Emperor really bury a treasure with him?"

  Others in the room looked puzzled and began to speak up.

  Wang Qi also started to feel a bit suspicious, but in an instant, his expression changed drastically.

  "Fellow disciples, I think this underground palace has a profound and mysterious terrain. Over the thousands of years, it's possible that some precious treasures have been nurtured here. Those earthly emperors, although they didn't recognize valuable objects, each had immense power and searched for strange and precious treasures, but not recognizing them, might have used them as burial objects. After being tempered by the gloomy and sinister energy of the underground for many years, it's possible that some heavy treasures will emerge!"

  That Wang Qi thought he was extremely clever and the more he thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed to him, and it was very likely to be true.

  "Right, right, that's exactly what I'm saying. Let's find the coffin of this so-called emperor first and then talk about it. If there are treasures, they'll be there too!"

  Wang Qian secretly merged into the underground palace, and all the land and rocks could not become his obstacles. He clearly heard what these people were saying.

  "This Wang Qi is also clever, although his guess isn't entirely accurate, it's roughly close to the truth. My Divine Punishment Halberd has indeed evolved from an ordinary soldier, but it doesn't seem like what he said - becoming a treasured artifact of the same level as a precious treasure!"

  With the Undying Secret Manual in hand, Wang Qian was also very clear about the treasures of this cultivation world. The level of magical artifacts, from low to high, was divided into several grades: ordinary artifacts, spiritual artifacts, precious artifacts, and then there were the legendary immortal artifacts. However, immortal artifacts could only be refined by immortals, and in the cultivation world, they were extremely rare, so the most valuable ones were the precious artifacts. Each grade of magical artifact was further divided into four levels: top-grade, high-grade, medium-grade, and low-grade. The difference between each level was like a chasm between heaven and earth.

  Like the Demon-slaying Halberd in Wang Gan's hand, it was an inferior spiritual artifact in his opinion. However, in the Undying Classics, there were secret methods for refining artifacts. He had been constantly planning in his mind to refine the Demon-slaying Halberd into a peerless divine weapon connected to his heart and soul, one that could continuously grow stronger.

  A shrill cry came from the underground mausoleum, and Wang Qian swiftly darted through the mud and rocks, arriving in the blink of an eye.

  "Ah, Shixiong, this, this, this crystal coffin is empty!"

  "What about him? What about the corpse of Tianyuan Dadi?"

  "It's impossible, even if it had rotted away, it couldn't have been so thorough that not even a single white bone was left behind!"

  One by one, the Tianyuan Sect disciples were completely shocked. They had originally come to search the crystal coffin for any treasures that could trigger a heavenly phenomenon and stir up the power of the Nine Heavens' stars. But who would have thought that inside this crystal coffin, there wasn't even a corpse? It was spotlessly clean, with only some gold, silver, pearls, jade, and other mundane objects.

  Xu Tian, who was skilled in the art of Qigong and sealing spirits, was now trembling with his nose flaring, as if he had caught wind of something in this mausoleum. Gradually, his face turned increasingly solemn, then pale.

  Wang Qi was the first to notice Xu Tian's change and immediately spoke up.

  "Xu Shidi, what's wrong?"

  The rest of the people also stopped discussing and their eyes gathered together, all discovering Xu Tian's change.

  "Big brother, I smell the stench of death! This isn't the scent of an ordinary corpse, but rather that legendary zombie's stench. The smell is almost imperceptible, but my nose has always been sensitive since birth, so I can pick up on some faint clues. However, it's not very clear, which only goes to show that this zombie's cultivation far surpasses mine. If it weren't for my innate talent, I probably wouldn't have even detected his presence!"

  Xu Tian's tone was solemn, and he almost spat out each word one by one.

  As soon as he finished speaking, everyone exploded.

  "What? Zombies? Are such things really in this world? What to do, what to do, how did we encounter zombies, even in the Cultivation Realm, zombies are almost extinct, how did one appear on this Tianyuan Continent! It's said that zombies love nothing more than the blood of us cultivators, it's their supreme nutrient for evolution!"

  Wang Qi no longer had the proud and carefree demeanor of just now, nor did he mention anything about treasures. Now he completely understood that what they had discovered earlier, the so-called "silver light illuminating the world" and "stars shining brightly", was not some kind of precious treasure being unearthed, but rather the zombie's cultivation.

  "This news is grave, it's not something we can handle on our own. Fellow disciples, hurry! We must inform the seniors of our sect about the appearance of zombies in the Nether Mountains and call upon all cultivators across the continent to come and eradicate them. Otherwise, it will be a catastrophe for us!"

  A shrill howl, echoing through the palace, this Wang Qi's identity is noble and knowledgeable, having seen many secrets of the sect, he can browse many secret books, and suddenly a large number of terrifying legends about zombies emerged in his mind, and he exclaimed on the spot.

  Wang Qian, who was secretly watching the commotion, was shocked by the information in Wang Qi's words.

  "What? This zombie is actually the archenemy of the Cultivators? Impossible, my Undead Scripture doesn't have any information about this! No, no way, I absolutely can't let these people spread the news out, otherwise I, Wang Qian, will become a street rat, with everyone shouting and chasing me. Those Cultivation old monsters, if just one of them comes out at the Nascent Soul stage, I'll be done for! The Undead Scripture is useless no matter how powerful it is!"

  Wang Gan was alarmed, he could fully imagine that once Wang Qi exposed the appearance of zombies in Mingyu Mountain Range, what a terrible outcome would befall him.

  "Hmph, for survival, all of you must die, die immediately! Don't blame me, Wang Qian, for being ruthless and merciless!"

  Wearing imperial robes, the handsome Wang Gan's eyes suddenly flashed a layer of blood light, dense and unparalleled, filled with murderous intent.