Chapter 697: The Corpse Array Drains Vitality
Chapter 697: The Corpse Array Drains Vitality
"I'm afraid that even if we wanted to leave, we won't be able to for a while," Li Fan said quietly.
Huangfu Song's mind finally caught up. Once you entered a Lost Domain, there was only one way out: find and pass through a specific location. Fail that, and the distance of a single step might as well be a chasm that could never be bridged, no matter how close it looked.
Cold sweat traced a path down his forehead.
"This..."
Dongfang Yao had more spine. He clapped Huangfu Song on the shoulder and spoke with steady reassurance. "Relax, Brother Huangfu. This place looks a bit sinister, I'll grant you that, but they're all just dead men. There shouldn't be any real danger.
"If you're truly afraid, just stay behind me. I'll take the lead." He thumped his own chest with a fist.
Huangfu Song nodded frantically. "Then I'll leave it to you. But be careful..." He lowered his voice. "I don't sense a single trace of death qi from them. These cultivators... might still be alive."
Dongfang Yao shivered at those words.
"Brother Huangfu, it's fine if you don't pull your weight. But don't spout nonsense." Dongfang Yao's gaze swept over the countless ice coffins floating on the black sea, and his face twisted into a grim mask.
"No need to scare ourselves. We're already here, so let's make the best of it. First, we need to understand our situation." Compared to the other two, Li Fan, who had Return to Truth as an escape route, remained far calmer. He stepped forward and took command.
The three stowed the Samantabhadra True Boat, formed up into a battle formation, and laid protective arrays around their perimeter. They donned every defensive artifact they had prepared, then skimmed low over the sea's surface with excruciating caution.
The Heaven-Measuring Mirror pulsed with green light, collecting and recording data from every region they passed.
None of them dared approach the frozen cultivators drifting on the water. They kept their distance, studying them attentively from afar.
"Judging by their clothing and bearing, these are cultivators from the ancient era. I can't sense any aura from them. It's impossible to determine their cultivation level."
"Strange. They don't seem alive. But compared to the truly dead, there's a difference."
"I wonder what they saw before they were frozen. Their expressions are hideous."
"And who did this? To freeze so many cultivators in an instant, their cultivation would have to be..."
They communicated rapidly through divine sense. None of them made rash movements or tried to shatter the ice coffins below.
True, the artifacts, pills, and even techniques carried by these ancient cultivators made a tempting sight. But no one could guarantee that breaking a coffin wouldn't trigger some catastrophe.
Besides, they had already earned Qingxuan Points from exploring the Lost Domain. If they could just return safely from this place, they would have already profited immensely. With the Myriad Immortals Alliance's rewards laid out before them like gleaming jewels, the hoard of these ancient cultivators suddenly seemed far less alluring.
Time itself seemed frozen in the Silent Sea of Death. There was no day or night. The sky remained an unchanging, leaden gray.
The connection between the Heaven-Measuring Mirror and the Tianxuan Mirror seemed severed. The points the three had earned were recorded only on the ancient square mirror, without syncing.
Huangfu Song and the others knew: if they couldn't escape this place alive, those Qingxuan Points meant nothing, just a string of empty numbers. But if they completed their exploration and fled successfully, then even if they gained nothing more in the operations to come, what they had already collected here would be more than enough.
So they moved with extraordinary caution.
By their own reckoning, they had been flying for dozens of days, yet they still had not reached the end of the black sea.
Everywhere they looked, there were only more frozen corpses.
Even Dongfang Yao knew something was wrong.
"Are we going in circles?"
Huangfu Song nodded. "It seems so. We think we're moving in a straight line, but something here is clearly twisting our perception. Otherwise the corpses we've seen these past days would number in the billions. Even if every cultivator from the ancient cultivation world were buried here, there wouldn't be that many."
Li Fan stayed silent.
He compared and reorganized the images recorded in his mind by the Dao Transformation Stone.
Blue light flickered, as if the crystal was being pushed to its limits.
Soon after, Li Fan discovered a truth that chilled him to the bone.
In reality, the frozen cultivators they had encountered so far did not seem to repeat.
Or rather, even if a few identical faces had slipped past his notice, the vast majority of the cultivators they had seen in this Silent Sea of Death were separate, unique individuals.
Two billion, six hundred and seventy-nine million, eight hundred thousand cultivators lie sleeping here.
And this is only what we've seen so far.
Li Fan looked into the distance. Black, oppressive ice coffins floated across the ocean, stretching beyond sight.
What in the...
The bizarreness of this Lost Domain far exceeded his imagination.
"This won't work. We need to find a way out, and fast." As Huangfu Song spoke, he let out a light cough.
Li Fan and Dongfang Yao froze, exchanged glances, and their expressions shifted.
"Huangfu, are you all right?" Dongfang Yao flew to Huangfu Song's side and gripped his shoulder to check on him.
A moment passed.
"Strange. Nothing seems wrong. So what was that cough about?" Dongfang Yao's face was grim.
Huangfu Song sensed something was wrong too. He closed his eyes, examined his own condition, and his face darkened. "I feel weaker. Like my life force keeps draining away..."
He looked down at the Silent Sea of Death below. "This ocean seems to be siphoning our vitality."
"I see. My constitution is a bit stronger than yours, so I'm fine for now." Dongfang Yao's words suddenly stopped.
He turned to Li Fan. "But, Fellow Daoist Li Fan, how are you..."
Huangfu Song's eyes narrowed too.
After all, it was Li Fan who had guided them to this Lost Domain.
Huangfu Song understood Dongfang Yao's special constitution well. But Li Fan, who outwardly had only Nascent Soul cultivation, seemed more spirited than Huangfu Song, who was at the Spirit Transformation realm. That he could last longer above this Silent Sea of Death made Huangfu Song unable to help but suspect something.
Li Fan understood the implication. He smiled faintly and shook his head. "You need not doubt me, brothers. Perhaps it's because my grotto-heaven domain has a wood attribute, so I have greater life force overall.
"In a situation like this, we should pool our strength and work together. We absolutely must not let suspicion drive a wedge between us.
"Huangfu, take the Longevity Pill I gave you. It might work wonders."
Seeing Li Fan so unruffled, Huangfu Song set aside the suspicion curling in his chest for now. He flipped open the jade vial and swallowed a Longevity Pill. Sure enough, some color returned to his face.
"It works. Many thanks, Brother Li!" Huangfu Song said, a flush of shame coloring his voice.
"No matter." Li Fan waved a hand, as though it didn’t bother him at all. "Brother Huangfu, do you have any thoughts on how we might find our way out?" he asked.