The undead have descended upon the world? I possess a sword that can cleave the heavens once more!

The golden streak of light, like a falling star, tore through the night sky with a long trail of light.

The light grew brighter and more blinding, crashing down with overwhelming force onto the location of the black-clad corpse. The air was compressed and torn apart, emitting a sharp explosion; the ground trembled, gravel bounced, and even the distant streetlights began to flicker.

boom--!

A loud bang made people's eardrums hurt.

Smoke and dust billowed into the sky, debris flew everywhere, and the ground cracked open with countless spiderweb-like fissures. The shockwave, carrying a golden afterglow, spread in all directions, making the air heavy wherever it passed.

Wang Qi was pushed back two steps by the blast wave and raised his hand to cover his face.

After the smoke and dust had cleared up a bit, he took a closer look.

The pit is still there, but the black-clad zombie is no longer inside.

Instead, a ball of light as black as ink and a ball of light as brilliant as gold were locked in fierce combat.

It is called a sphere of light, but it is actually two completely different energy fields colliding, tearing, and clashing.

The black one was deep and deathly still, like a bottomless dry well.

The golden one is dazzling, like a sun fallen to earth.

The boundary between the two energy fields kept shifting, sometimes black overwhelming gold, sometimes gold swallowing black. Each collision unleashed astonishing energy fluctuations, the ground trembled, and the air groaned.

Wang Qi's pupils contracted slightly as his gaze fell on the center of the golden light.

There was a man standing there.

His beard and hair were all golden, his eyes were like torches, and crackling golden arcs of electricity coiled around his body. These arcs of electricity moved across his body like living things, each pulse carrying destructive power.

"Director Ye!!!"

Wang Qi practically shouted it out, his voice filled with the relief of surviving a disaster.

The person who arrived was Ye Yi.

At that moment, all the dark energy detectors within a few kilometers of the two light spheres simultaneously issued piercing alarms.

One by one, bright red alarm screens lit up, spreading out like dominoes in the monitoring room.

All the torchbearers patrolling or on duty nearby received that notification at the same time—

High-intensity dark energy field fluctuations detected, energy level: sixth order!

Some people gasped, some gripped their weapons tightly, and some instinctively looked up at the distant sky.

Sixth order.

Those were opponents that most of them would never face in their lifetime.

It is a force capable of easily leveling half of an urban area.

It is a terrifying force that only the Silver Bearers can confront head-on.

After a while.

The black and gold energy fields dissipated simultaneously.

Ye Yi stood still, his beard and hair still golden, but the electric arcs on his body had subsided considerably. He stared at the expressionless black-clad zombie opposite him, his brows furrowing slightly.

"The Thousand-Faced Royal Family..."

His voice was very soft, as if he were confirming something, or as if he were talking to himself.

The Thousand-Faced Royal Family.

These four words, spoken by Ye Yi, carried the weight of a mountain.

Wang Qi's heart sank. He had only guessed before, but now Ye Yi had personally confirmed it—it really was a royal corpse.

The most powerful members of the Thousand-Faced Corpse Clan are each a monster capable of single-handedly slaughtering an entire city, if they were not part of an organization of equally powerful individuals.

There was no time to hesitate.

Ye Yi raised his hand, palm facing up, and golden lightning began to gather power in his palm. Arcs of electricity intertwined, wrapped, and compressed, forming an increasingly bright sphere of light.

The brightness of the sphere of light was rapidly increasing, and the surrounding air was ionized, emitting a buzzing vibration.

But before he could make a move...

The black-dressed zombie moved.

It did not attack.

It simply turned its head, its pure black eyes first glancing at Ye Yi, and then—

He glanced in the direction where Wu You was.

The glance was light and quick, like an unintentional sweep, but both people present noticed it.

Then its form dissipated, like ink drops falling into water, merging into the shadows of nearby buildings and disappearing completely.

Ye Yi frowned even more deeply.

"You're leaving already?"

He dispersed the lightning in his palm and scanned his surroundings warily. He could feel that the suffocating aura was indeed fading, growing farther and farther away.

Wang Qi strode forward, drenched in sweat, his voice still trembling with tension: "Director Ye, that royal corpse..."

"I can sense that the other party has left," Ye Yi interrupted him, her tone calm, but her eyes remained sharp. "I don't know their purpose, but at least for now, they're gone."

He turned to look at Wu You, who was leaning against the wall and covered in blue ice.

"Take Wu You back to the station first," he said. "I'll stay nearby for a while longer to make sure it doesn't come back."

"yes!"

Without a word, Wang Qi flashed to Wu You's side, picked up the blue "ice sculpture," and transformed into a streak of blue light, disappearing from the spot.

For a fifth-tier powerhouse, traveling at full speed is much faster than driving. Normally, driving is just to conserve energy; if you really need to travel a certain distance, it only takes a few minutes.

. . . . . .

When Wu You opened his eyes again, there was an unfamiliar ceiling above him.

It's white and has a faint smell of disinfectant.

He was stunned for a few seconds before his consciousness slowly returned. His chest still ached slightly, like he had been bluntly bumped by something.

But the hole that was open at both ends was gone, replaced by a patch of newly grown tender flesh, lighter in color than the surrounding skin, pink and delicate, clearly just grown.

"hiss--"

He tried to take a breath; it hurt a little, but he could bear it.

I've been rescued...

He stared at the ceiling, his mind a jumbled mess.

This incident made him experience the cruelty of this world once again.

The first time, I was dragged into the Dark Domain by a Tier 1 Thousand-Faced Corpse Species and almost got eaten.

The second time, when they encountered that third-tier corpse creature, they were almost swallowed whole.

The third time is this one.

Each time, their strength grows stronger, their opponents become more terrifying, and the feeling of escaping death becomes more real.

When he lacks strength, even a first-tier corpse species can take his life.

When he had some strength, the third-tier corpse species wanted to eat him like a snack.

And now? He has far surpassed the third tier and reached the fourth tier, able to kill ordinary third-tier individuals as easily as cutting melons and vegetables—and then what?

Then, a mysterious zombie almost casually ripped out his heart.

People don't just die when they get old.

They could die at any moment!

This is especially true in this world full of dangers!

"Still not strong enough..."

He muttered to himself, his voice very soft.

When he uttered those five words, he suddenly felt a little ridiculous.

Just a few days ago, I was overjoyed at my minor success in the Phantom Cloud Sword Technique and wondering if I would have a chance to gain experience points from a fourth-tier corpse species.

Looking back now, it was all bullshit.

In the face of a true powerhouse, his meager strength was nothing more than something that could be crushed with a flick of the wrist.

He took a deep breath, suppressed the distracting thoughts in his mind, and began to recall the details of that time.

When the black-dressed corpse pierced his chest, he seemed to feel a slight fluctuation in the Sword Codex panel, but the situation was too urgent at the time, and he didn't have time to look at it. Now that he thinks about it, it really happened.

With a thought, he opened the Sword Manual panel.

My gaze swept over the familiar data, then stopped at the bottom.

Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Hidden Realm: 0 (35%)

Wu You was stunned.

He clearly remembered that the progress was 0 the last time he checked, but now it had become 35%.

How did it come about?

He frowned as he recalled.

When the sword fluctuated, he neither killed any corpses, gained experience points, nor practiced sword techniques—the only difference from usual was that he was seriously injured and almost died.

Could it be that... Wan Jian Gui Cang requires me to be seriously injured in order to accelerate the process?

The moment the thought popped into his head, he thought it was absurd. How could something be so ridiculous? You have to hurt yourself to become stronger?

He thought about it for a while, then realized something was wrong.

Perhaps that black-skirted corpse had something special about it, who knows?

It's not entirely unreasonable that such a mysterious, powerful, and unique corpse species could provide Wan Jian Gui Cang with some energy after close contact.

But regardless of the possibility, he needs more information to verify it.

Just as Wu You was pondering.

squeak-

The door to the ward was pushed open.