In a short time, the group advanced several hundred miles and spotted a dozen corpse puppets lying on the ground ahead. A few signaled to Lin Xiao, who commanded the Purple Corpse Puppet to stop several hundred miles away.
Then, the three Sky Control Boats slowly descended near the dozen corpses.
Lin Xiao activated his spiritual power, lifting several corpses into the air, and carefully examined them.
Among the corpses were young people, middle-aged individuals, and elders, seemingly part of a group. Each corpse bore no wounds, and every face displayed the same expression.
It was one of ferocity and terror, as if they had witnessed the most horrifying thing in the world before death. Combined with the stiffness after death, they gave off an eerie, terrifying vibe at first glance.
Upon closer inspection, Lin Xiao’s eyes were involuntarily drawn to the ferocious face of one corpse, as if pulled by some inexplicable force. It felt both sinister and terrifying, yet he couldn’t tear his gaze away.
The sense of dread grew stronger, and his eyes fixated even more.
It was as if the body contained some mysterious power.
After staring unconsciously for a moment, Lin Xiao snapped out of it, shaking his head vigorously. His gaze returned to normal, and the corpse seemed ordinary again.
“How strange,” Lin Xiao thought, puzzled, wondering if it was an illusion.
But he had indeed felt that terrifying sensation.
“These corpses are strange!” At that moment, Sikong Jian’s startled voice rang out. Then, a burst of energy shot out, slashing the corpse in front of him.
With a soft “bang,” the corpse was sliced diagonally in two.
At this, the group snapped back to reality, each shaking their heads, their faces showing traces of fear.
“I felt like something was pulling me in. The more I looked, the harder it was to look away, and the more terrifying it felt,” the ninth-level Martial Lord elder from the Sheng family said first, his face revealing a hint of fear.
“I felt the same,” Sheng Qianyu added.
“These corpses are indeed strange,” Dongfang Kaiyuan couldn’t help but say.
As one of the top powerhouses in the Southeast Region, few things could make him feel fear.
Even facing danger in the Saint Emperor Ruins, confronting the mysterious Hall Master, or facing death in battle, he would not be afraid.
Yet just now, merely looking at one of these corpses gave him a sense of dread.
But upon closer inspection, the corpse seemed entirely ordinary.
Even the cut on the severed corpse showed no energy leaking out. The wound was dark and yin-colored, just like the stiff, ferocious faces.
“Boom!”
At this point, Sikong Jian couldn’t resist acting again. With a light pat of his palm, a faint burst of palm energy shot out, shattering several corpses in front of him.
Still, no trace of energy or yin qi leaked out.
Or rather, if there was any yin qi left in the corpses, it was so faint they couldn’t detect it.
“We need to be more cautious,” Sikong Jian said, frowning, clearly having experienced the same sensation as the others.
And the strangest part was that it was just a feeling, with no tangible substance.
The group nodded and continued forward.
At this point, they could see the Purple Corpse Puppet hundreds of miles ahead, still absorbing the surrounding yin qi, though it was extremely faint. They weren’t sure if this faint yin qi lingered in the air, the ground, the dead plants, or the corpses.
This puzzled the group.
Under Lin Xiao’s command, the Purple Corpse Puppet stopped eagerly absorbing the yin qi and proceeded cautiously, with the group following hundreds of miles behind.
In a short time, they advanced over a thousand miles.
Along the way, they saw many more corpses, each with the same ferocious, terrifying, and stiff expressions.
Moreover, every corpse gave them that terrifying yet compelling sensation.
Beyond that, they even felt a faint dread toward the dead plants, the ground, and the void itself.
As they ventured thousands of miles deeper, this sense of dread grew stronger.
“I’m feeling more and more uneasy,” the only non-Martial Emperor, the ninth-level Martial Lord from the Sheng family, said, his face gradually showing fear. They had now penetrated five thousand miles, and he felt increasingly unsettled.
“Indeed, something’s off. But if we don’t investigate, we’ll feel even more uneasy,” Sheng Qianyu said.
If they didn’t uncover the cause, who knew what might happen in the future? Finding the reason might allow them to nip it in the bud or find a way to address and resolve it.
Nodding, the group pressed on, steeling themselves.
After all, with over a dozen Martial Emperor powerhouses and the Purple Corpse Puppet leading the way, they wouldn’t back down.
After some time, they reached seven or eight thousand miles in. Though the unsettling fear of their surroundings persisted, nothing had happened along the way.
As they approached within a thousand miles of the Yin family’s headquarters, Lin Xiao and the others spotted ten people standing on a mountain peak, gazing at the vast plain thousands of miles ahead.
To Lin Xiao’s surprise, these ten were staring ahead, their legs trembling, bodies shaking, as if they had seen something terrifying.
“They’re from our Orthodox Alliance,” the ninth-level Martial Lord from the Sheng family exclaimed.
These were part of the dozens from the Orthodox Alliance left to guard the area. He recognized several by their silhouettes, including a seventh-level Martial Lord elder from the Sheng family.
He hadn’t expected this team to have ventured so far in.
Seeing their terrified, trembling state, Lin Xiao and the others frowned and cautiously approached.
As they neared the ten, the Sheng family’s ninth-level Martial Lord elder called out softly to one in Sheng family attire, “Elder Sheng Kang, why are you here?”
At this, the ten slowly turned around.
Seeing their faces, Lin Xiao was startled.
Their expressions were terrifyingly ferocious and stiff, much like the corpses they had seen along the way.
“Elder Sheng Kang, what… what happened to you all?” Sheng Qianyu asked, shocked.
“Terrifying, too terrifying,” Elder Sheng Kang said, his voice trembling.
“So scary, so scary.”
“I’m so afraid.”
“I’m so uneasy, so uneasy.”
The group spoke one after another, their voices trembling as their bodies seemed to stiffen in place.
“What exactly did you see?” Sikong Jian asked gravely.
