After I left the sect, the entire sect knelt down and begged for forgiveness.

This black crocodile mainly uses venom and brute force as its attack skills. I thought the beast core would be earthy green, but when I picked it out, it was completely black, almost the same color as its skin.

Thinking of the stark white bones underwater, and then looking at the strangely colored beast core, Lin Yan couldn't help but wonder, "This thing is so thoroughly black, could it have been contaminated by some strange force?"

She was filled with suspicion, fearing there might be something wrong with the beast core, so she didn't dare put it into her spatial storage.

She took out a new ordinary storage bag, put the beast core and the corpse inside, closed the bag, and threw it into her own treasure storage bag.

This time, we didn't use bottles specifically for storing monster corpses because these ordinary storage bags weren't bought with money, so we didn't care if they got dirty. We could just sell them to the merchant guild at half price later.

Without any information about Lanlian, she touched the stone statue again, only to see the same image as before.

Having run out of clues, she decided to return the way she came, retrieve the small flying boat, and bring it here.

As evening approached, the oasis gradually quieted down, as if the whole world had been muted.

At first glance, the leaves that were swaying in the wind seemed to have been frozen in place, no longer rustling, and even the lower-level beasts and insects stopped chirping.

The surroundings began to become eerie. Sensing danger, she didn't linger. She shrunk the rabbit, hugged it, and rode on the back of the Snow Frost Eagle towards the flying boat.

After landing, she took out high-grade spirit stones to reinforce the defensive array, then added another layer of barrier inside the defensive array, and then used an array plate to set up an illusion array.

The two little ones were licking their fur on the deck. Exhausted from the battle, they stopped bickering and fighting and obediently prepared to rest.

After placing talismans on the array, she went up to the deck to sit and see what would happen in the oasis that night.

As night fell, the surrounding area grew increasingly dark, the thick darkness seeming to take on a tangible form, pressing down heavily.

A chanting came from afar, initially indistinct, but gradually the sound grew closer.

The voice was ethereal, and it was unclear what language it was sung in, but it exuded a mysterious and ancient charm.

As the chanting grew clearer, Lin Yan felt as if she were in an ancient ritual, and she could sense the eerie power within it.

As if summoned by the chanting, something awoke from the lake, from under the sand, and from some unknown place, and then rose up and came toward her.

The sound of its footsteps creaking and crunching, like bones colliding.

She opened her eyes and saw many skeletal monsters walking towards her, their eyes glowing with red flames, blending strangely with their bones.

Good heavens! A night-vision skeleton army?

Dead creatures leave their skeletons here, and then are controlled by a mysterious force to drive away her, the outsider.
She was on guard, but the skeletons stopped not far away, and then several mummies fell from the sky and stopped outside the magic circle.

"Guests from afar, tonight is our festival ceremony, and we have come to invite you to participate."

One of the mummies opened its mouth, its voice hoarse, as if it were because it had been buried in the sand for a long time and had swallowed a lot of sand.

Lin Yan couldn't sense the other party's strength, but felt something was off. Without resorting to violence, she chose to observe their intentions first. Her voice was calm, with a hint of sincerity. "I apologize. I didn't mean to wander in here. I was swept here by a sandstorm. Does anyone know how to get out? I promise I won't reveal a single thing about this place once I'm out."

She made it clear that she hadn't come here because she coveted any treasure, but out of desperation. She also expressed her desire to leave and promised to keep it a secret.

Normally only the dead can keep secrets, but if the inhuman and beastly monster hiding here doesn't want conflict, it might choose to let itself leave.

The mummy seemed not to understand her and continued repeating what she had just said.

Lin Yan frowned, guessing that these mummies were just puppets responsible for relaying messages, without their own consciousness, and could only repeat pre-programmed words.

She released her spiritual power, and the sand and stones condensed into a palm that patted the mummy's body.

The mummy fell down but miraculously stood up and used the same method to condense a sand and stone hand to fight.

This thing actually has the ability to mimic magic?

She didn't find mummies scary at all; in fact, she found them quite interesting!
If this thing truly is a puppet with mimicry capabilities, creating one myself would provide an extra layer of protection in battle. After all, a puppet only requires spirit stones as an energy source to operate.

It can be controlled without using mental power, making it the perfect bodyguard!

Knowing that something was monitoring her through these puppets, she resisted the urge to snatch the mummy and continued negotiating: "How many people participate in your rituals? And who is the priest?"

"Our priest is the great Creator, with the power to grant eternal life. Guests from afar, do you desire eternal life? Come and join our ceremony, and together we may possess eternal life..."

She thought this "priest" was just faking it. Even a Great Immortal couldn't grant immortality! Lifespan could be extended, but there would be no such thing as eternal life. In fact, when the world's energy was insufficient, the Heavenly Dao would create accidents, causing the longest-living cultivators to perish and reaping a wave of energy.

The longer one lives, the slimmer the hope of ascension becomes. This is because that person has too many connections with this world; if they ascend and leave, taking a large amount of resources with them, it would be a loss to this world.

Rather than letting people ascend to heaven, it's better to kill them and use the energy to nourish the earth.

Perhaps, those favored by Heaven are the ones who can ascend relatively easily!
Lin Yan never imagined she could reach the ascension stage. All she wanted now was to become stronger, to become someone no one could threaten her survival, and then challenge that old man to a duel!

She clicked her tongue twice and retorted, "Your priests are definitely bragging! I wonder what kind of storage bag the priests use, how can it hold so much?"

The mummy bared its teeth and claws, letting out eerie, cacophonous roars. "Damn outsiders, how dare you disrespect our great priests! Heh heh heh, accept your punishment!"

The mummy waved its arms, and the army of skeletons behind it began to move again. Then the mummy floated up, watching as the skeleton army crashed into the barrier with a series of clanging and clattering sounds.

Lin Yan quickly formed hand seals, freeing herself from the sand and stone hand that was being imitated, and slapped it at the skeleton army!
Dust billowed across the ground. Some of the skeleton army had been knocked down, but many others had gone mad, leaping onto the giant sand and stone hands and biting and chewing wildly.

No matter how terrifying the scene was, she remained unfazed!

The mummy also controlled another giant sand and stone hand to strike the defensive barrier, causing it to tremble.

The two little ones were woken up by the noise, and groggily came to their senses... (End of Chapter)