I picked up skill fragments in the demon world.

Chapter 865 The Resurrection of the Queen Mother of the West

As Zhang Chen spoke, Zhou Chuan and Chen Xu were terrified. They saw hundreds of bronze-colored steel cables, each about the thickness of a thumb and covered with countless thorns like those of a cactus, rushing towards them like a nimble snake.

The steel rope covered in spikes was terrifying to look at, making one want to turn around and run away immediately. If that object landed on you, wouldn't your whole body be riddled with holes?

Fortunately, the two remembered Zhang Chen's instructions and stood there without moving, letting the overwhelming steel ropes bind them. As soon as the steel ropes got close, all the sharp spikes on their bodies disappeared, and then the three of them were bound together like dumplings. At this moment, Zhang Chen gently blew a whistle with a strange melody, and the black cloud vines slowly retreated with the sound of the whistle.

The crisis is over!

"What a terrifying thing! I feel like I don't even have the strength to resist this monster." Zhou Chuan stood there with lingering fear. Although he was known as the ancestor of martial arts in this era, he was still like an ant when faced with this kind of terror that exceeded the twelfth level, and he had no power to resist at all.

"This ancient tomb is fraught with danger. You two brothers must be careful to avoid causing trouble and losing your lives," Zhang Chen warned the two of them. He then took the lead and walked into the white jade gate. As the three of them entered the bright light, the white jade gate suddenly slammed shut again without leaving a crack.

Just then, a strange wind suddenly blew in from the outside passage, revealing its presence in front of the white jade gate—it was a master from the Feng family.

"There really is a large tomb here. Zhou Chuan has already gone in first. Let's quickly find the mechanism and follow him in. Zhou Chuan is already very troublesome. If he gets the treasures inside the tomb, I'm afraid we'll all be in trouble." The leader was a young man, who gave instructions to the elder beside him.

Following the young man's instructions, the group hurriedly searched in front of the white jade gate, but unfortunately they couldn't find any mechanism.

“Gong Chun, this great tomb is an ancient tomb. We don’t have anyone who is proficient in feng shui and tombs, so finding the entrance will be as difficult as climbing to heaven.” An old man standing in front of the jade tablet said, “Why don’t we hide here and ambush Zhou Chuan when he comes out? Zhou Chuan will definitely take all the treasures out of the tomb, so why should we risk going into the tomb?”

Upon hearing the old man's words, the young man clapped his hands in praise: "Third Grandfather is right. Let's secretly set up an ambush, like the mantis stalking the cicada unaware of the oriole behind. This time, we must strike decisively and not let Zhou Chuan escape. Our Gong family is currently embroiled in a troublesome matter, and we may not have the energy to deal with Zhou Chuan later. We must not let him escape again and gain the opportunity to grow."

As the words fell, a group of people flew out of the cave and went outside to set up a killing trap.

The three people who entered the tomb were unaware of Gong Chun's methods or that the Gong family had already surrounded them. At this moment, the three of them had entered the underground palace, where they saw an endless expanse of emptiness, with the sun and moon hanging high in the sky, illuminating the entire world.

Zhang Chen was not surprised by the sun and moon high above. They were two pearls that the Queen Mother of the West had taken from the sea years ago. They were priceless treasures to ordinary people, but useless to cultivators.

With the help of the Eastern Pearl, one can see that there is a wide passage in front of them. The passage is quite wide, several tens of feet high and several tens of feet wide. Countless holes are densely packed on both sides of the passage, and the Black Cloud Vine extends and retracts from these holes.

Looking closely at the black cloud vines now, they resemble strange sticks growing along the passageway, with only ten centimeters of their heads showing, revealing no sign of danger.

"Brothers, please wait a moment. This Black Cloud Vine is quite a treasure. Let me retrieve it before we continue." Zhang Chen said to the two men beside him, and then they arrived at a certain spot in front of the stone wall. The next moment, the Earth Element Authority was activated, and the passage was torn apart, revealing a stone chamber. Inside the stone chamber, there was a pile of 'wild grass' with swaying roots. The wild grass was more than thirty meters tall, and countless roots stretched out, which were the iron rods seen on the wall.

Zhang Chen watched as the countless branches and roots of the Black Cloud Grass swayed, muttering something under his breath. The next moment, the Black Cloud Grass began to shrink rapidly, and the countless roots clinging to the walls of the passage also began to retreat quickly. In just a moment, they had all shrunk back. Then, the entire Black Cloud Grass began to shrink, eventually turning into a copper bean the size of a thumb, which Zhang Chen held in his hand.

"You've subdued this thing just like that?" Chen Xu's eyes widened in amazement after seeing the Black Cloud Grass subdued. "Congratulations, Brother Zhang, on adding another protective technique to your path. Who can stop you from dominating the world in the future? The Great Victory Dynasty will be nothing but a chicken and a dog in your hands."

"This thing is both useful and useless. It can only be planted in the earth's veins, and it cannot be moved. It's fine for guarding the house, but it's not quite suitable for fighting enemies. Besides, it can't distinguish between friend and foe, so using it for guarding the house is too much trouble," Zhang Chen explained.
"I was just thinking that if I ever die and my soul dissipates in the future, I would use this to guard my tomb."

After Zhang Chen finished speaking, he turned around and continued walking into the passage: "Follow me. The next level should contain the Primordial God and Demon True Spirit that Brother Zhou wants. However, I think it is extremely difficult for you to refine the Primordial God and Demon Soul into a Dharma Image. If you are not careful, you will die and your Dao will be destroyed. Brother Zhou needs to be very careful."

Zhang Chen wanted to advise Zhou Chuan, but considering the great changes in the world, which no longer tolerated those ancient and powerful beings, he realized that if Zhou Chuan truly wanted to refine the souls of ancient gods and demons, he wasn't entirely without a chance.

In the past, the Queen Mother of the West sent countless primordial beings from the entire Kunlun Mountains to be buried with her in the Great Tomb. These primordial beings could be considered ancient gods and demons, though incomparable to the Queen Mother of the West, who came from chaos, they were still incredibly powerful and ranked among the primordial beings. However, dragon veins forbid all magic, and the Queen Mother of the West had gathered all the creations of the dragon veins within the entire Kunlun Mountains. The essence of the flesh and blood of those beings trapped in the Great Tomb had likely already been absorbed and refined by the Corpse-Nourishing Array, and it was uncertain whether they could survive.

Next, Zhang Chen and his group passed through one underground palace after another, where they saw the Qionghua Immortal Herbs buried with them. All the innate spiritual herbs had long since turned into withered wood.

Looking at the countless innate spiritual herbs that had turned into withered trees, Zhou Chuan clicked his tongue in amazement: "What a waste! If I could eat these immortal herbs, I would definitely be able to soar to the sky, reach the Great Perfection of Martial Arts, break through my own shackles, and be reborn to condense a golden body."

They arrived at the Pill Hall again, but all the pills inside had turned to dust, their medicinal power absorbed by the feng shui array.

As Zhang Chen searched through the palaces, his greatest worry was still Lady Biyun. He wondered if Lady Biyun had been captured by the Queen Mother of the West and brought back to be buried with her. If she had, her fate was likely grim.

As one palace after another passed by, all the objects from the ancient times had decayed under the suppression of the feng shui dragon vein.

Zhang Chen looked into the distance, a thoughtful expression in his eyes: "We're about to approach the core palace."

"This underground palace is truly enormous, practically an underground world. I wonder how those ancient gods and demons managed to build it back then." Chen Xu looked at the ornately decorated palace and the magnificent architecture with a hint of curiosity in his eyes.

Zhang Chen did not answer, but continued walking through the palace. At this moment, he understood many things. For example, why Laobieling was clearly the ancestral land of Kunlun, but it was not outstanding at all. It was because the entire Kunlun Mountain's earth veins were probably used to nurture the corpse of the Queen Mother of the West. Therefore, in the present day, after countless years, Kunlun Mountain had no outstanding features and had become an ordinary Laobieling.

"The Queen Mother of the West swallowed an entire dragon vein. How well would her physical body have grown? It must have reached an unbelievable level, right? Is it something our era can match?" Zhang Chen suddenly wondered to himself.

The main reason is that the Queen Mother of the West is too powerful. She could crush him with a flick of her finger, and then she could fly to the spiritual world in time.

Just as Zhang Chen's thoughts were racing, the three of them passed through layers of traps and suddenly saw a square in the distance. Chen Xu exclaimed in surprise:

"So many white bones! And all of them are jade bones! This proves that these beings were all incredible beings in their previous lives."

Looking around, Zhang Chen saw the white bones on the ground gleaming with a jade-like luster, radiating an incredible aura of light.

"Interesting." Zhang Chen looked at the white bones on the ground and realized that they had lost their essence due to the passage of time and the erosion of years.

Most importantly, Zhang Chen was well-versed in Feng Shui formations. He could sense that the Feng Shui formation was still operating in the void, constantly drawing the remaining essence from the bones through the formation and transporting it to an unknown place in the darkness.

Under the plundering of this feng shui formation, it would be impossible for any resentful evil spirits to be born, nor could any innate beings survive across countless eras.

"Among these skeletons, many were once extremely powerful innate beings, but unfortunately, none of them possess the divine and demonic spirits that Brother Zhou desires!" Zhang Chen's eyes swept over the countless skeletons before him, unleashing his Soul-Stealing Skill. Countless pieces of information floated before his eyes, but all the innate beings had already been reduced to ashes by the power of time and the Feng Shui formation, becoming nourishment for the Queen Mother of the West. Zhou Chuan couldn't get a single hair from them.

However, for Zhang Chen, the ruined remains of the gods and demons before him were of little significance, because he knew that there was still a great opportunity that could help Zhou Chuan forge an unparalleled martial arts golden body.

After all, there was once a fire god who was captured and suppressed in the cauldron by the Queen Mother of the West. It is likely that the innate fire god was also taken to the tomb by the Queen Mother of the West for burial.

(End of this chapter)