The headless ancient corpse, wrapped in iron chains, aimlessly advanced, its long chains extending to the ground, creating a crisp sound as it rubbed against the surface.
As the headless ancient corpse slowly walked past the previous fighting spot of the two people, Ding Yan, who was hiding in the dark, keenly felt a powerful and extremely chilling force enveloping the headless ancient corpse. This force had deviated from concealment and had turned into a single Yin force. If an ordinary person were to make contact, they would undoubtedly die immediately. Even an Immortal, if caught off guard, would still perish.
"Ah!!"
A piercing scream sounded.
Endless vitality burst forth from the End-Wood Old Ghost, who was hiding among the broken stones, at the moment the headless ancient corpse approached, but it was instantly engulfed by an icy coldness and then exploded, turning into endless blood mist, merging into the body of the headless ancient corpse.
A Loose Immortal had fallen.
Ding Yan, who was hiding in the dark, looked on in horror.
"How did he die!"
At his level, he couldn't even discern how the End-Wood Old Ghost died. Now, Ding Yan finally understood why Emperor Minghu, upon hearing the sound, disregarded the enemy and fled instead. Faced with such an unknown entity, evading was clearly the best choice.
The headless ancient corpse seemed to be completely oblivious to all of this, dragging its iron chains step by step as it walked into the distance, eventually disappearing into the gray mist.
The world once again returned to tranquility.
Everything prior felt like a dream.
After a long time, and after confirming the headless ancient corpse had left, Ding Yan's breath slowly recovered. He glanced at the direction where the headless ancient corpse disappeared and, without hesitation, chose the opposite direction. Although he didn't know how many such creatures lurked in this eerie place.
After flying for a long time, Ding Yan encountered several cultivators along the way.
All of them were at the Qi Refining stage, with no Loose Immortals among them.
When these people saw Ding Yan, they either fled or their expressions changed dramatically, bowing in respect. Encountering someone with a higher cultivation level in a place like this was clearly not a good thing. If their attitude was poor and they were easily killed by the other party, it would be a great injustice.
After flying for a long time, Ding Yan stopped at the edge of a desert.
Taking out the map, Ding Yan began to search for a way to leave this foggy area. Unfortunately, the map's records were extremely blurry. Although many landmarks were marked, there was no clear record of how to leave the fog layer. It only pointed out a place called the Dark King Lake.
"Dark King Lake..."
Ding Yan muttered before noting it down. He wasn't surprised that he couldn't find a way out on the map. After all, the map that the Mo Family Patriarch drew was based on the places he had walked through. There would naturally be no record of places he hadn't been to.
Of course, the map was not without its uses. After looking at the map, Ding Yan found a section of information. Inside the foggy layer was a black crystal, which contained pure Yin energy and was an excellent material for refining high-quality treasures, known as the Dark Crystal.
The Dark Crystal was extremely valuable, and in the outside world, one Dark Crystal could be exchanged for a hundred Yuan Crystals.
Yuan Crystals were not like the jade stones in Ding Yan's hands. To a certain extent, Yuan Crystals were even more precious than the Spirit Stones in his previous life's cultivation world.
"First, find Dark King Lake, and then, if possible, see if there's a chance to find some Dark Crystals." After putting away the map, Ding Yan made his decision.
Ignoring the value of the Dark Crystal, just refining treasures alone was worth Ding Yan's attention, as he had yet to refine a treasure at this point. The only thing he could use in combat was the mysterious skull he had taken from the Old Strange Self-Punisher.
Of course, with Ding Yan's abilities, even without treasures, he wouldn't fight at a disadvantage against a normal Loose Immortal. Just the three Dao techniques alone were enough to make him invincible.
Expanding his divine sense, Ding Yan cautiously entered the desert.
The sand was extremely cold, and stepping on it, he could clearly feel a trace of Yin force permeating from his foot.
Ding Yan didn't dare to take the eerie desert lightly, nor did he dare to fly casually. He could only proceed step by step along the ground. As for other directions, Ding Yan had considered them, but thinking about the possibility of the headless ancient corpse appearing at any time, he decided to keep as far away from it as possible.
The fog grew thicker.
In this silent world, one couldn't even feel the passing of time.
After walking for who knows how long, Ding Yan discovered a desolate area. This place used to be a lake, but now, apart from sand, there were some partially decayed dead wood left. The location of the lake had long dried up, and the ground was covered with cracks, devoid of any vitality.
Ding Yan walked over and observed for a while, finally discovering a broken gold bell fragment on one of the cracks.
"This is a treasure, someone has been here!" picking up the treasure fragment, Ding Yan affirmed.
The gloss on the treasure fragment had not completely faded, apparently it had been damaged not long ago.
Just as Ding Yan was about to study it further, a sudden gust of Yin wind struck, and the sand on the ground started to roll.
Gradually, the wind grew stronger.
Suddenly, the desert beneath his feet trembled.
Endless desert began to rise up, and a terrifying Yin force swept over.
“This aura…”
Ding Yan, holding a fragment of a golden bell, felt this aura, and his face changed drastically. He stomped twice on the ground and then flew away, the illusory Eight Diagrams disappearing in the air. He disappeared as if teleporting to a distant place.
Just as Ding Yan left for only a breath's time, a huge iron coffin suddenly rose from the sand, terrifying corpse energy surged into the sky, dispersing the surrounding haze temporarily.
From a distance, Ding Yan clearly saw the huge iron coffin.
"It's not the headless ancient corpse!" Ding Yan gasped.
Originally, when he felt that aura, Ding Yan thought the headless ancient corpse had appeared. But after the haze dissipated, Ding Yan saw clearly that the chilling aura was not coming from the previous headless ancient corpse, but from this nameless iron coffin.
Click, click…
The coffin lid slowly shifted, emitting a piercing sound.
Bang!!
A dry bone claw suddenly reached out from it, grabbing onto the coffin wall.
Without looking back, Ding Yan fully activated the Qiankun Daojing technique, and the Yin-Yang illusions reappeared. He disappeared as if teleporting before their eyes.
In his final glance before disappearing, Ding Yan clearly saw a mummified corpse wrapped in bandages walk out of the iron coffin, trembling uncontrollably as it held a partially undevoured bloody corpse in its right hand, with blood continuously dripping. The dark aura behind the iron coffin illuminated the area!
The inside of the iron coffin was full of gloomy crystals!
Corpse energy filled the air, roaring into the sky!
The terrifying Yin force spread out from the mummified corpse as the focal point, causing the ground's sand to ripple and spread like waves...