The Burial Sect had arrived, and this time, three Martial Emperor powerhouses appeared.
The mysterious Burial Sect rarely sent out so many Martial Emperors at once.
What shocked Lin Xiao’s group even more was that the Burial Sect members immediately attacked the terrifying entity emerging from the ground, showing no fear and instructing them to stay.
Could it be that the Burial Sect knew something about this terrifying thing?
“Why not retreat?” Sikong Jian was the first to voice the question puzzling everyone.
“It has just broken through the seal, when its strength is at its weakest, not yet a threat. If we don’t eliminate it now, it will become a great calamity in the future,” the central Burial Sect elder said.
This elder was the one who had saved Lin Xiao multiple times.
As he spoke, his face grew grave.
Seeing this, Lin Xiao and the others tensed, quickly turning to look.
By now, the three elders’ earlier attacks had passed over the Yin family’s headquarters, dispersing the rolling sinister qi.
In the void, a figure clearly appeared in their sight.
The figure wore a strange, multi-layered, tattered ancient robe, stained with dried blood. Its body was twice the size of an ordinary person. What horrified everyone was that the figure’s head was half-destroyed, missing its left eye and ear, leaving only the right half of its face with an intact nose and lips.
The half-face was grotesque, far more terrifying than the corpses they had seen earlier, barely resembling anything human.
Long white hair hung from the remaining right side of its head, reaching its waist.
At its chest was a ghastly white hole where the heart had been gouged out, surrounded by dead-white flesh and stark white bones. Below, at its waist and abdomen, was a long, gaping wound exposing two rows of ribs.
In that instant, everyone felt a chill, their hairs standing on end.
What was this corpse? How could it emerge from the ground in such a state?
All eyes were drawn back to the corpse.
It seemed to possess an inexplicable power, not only terrifying in appearance but also instilling an unexplainable fear and an ability to captivate everyone’s gaze.
“Be careful not to be drawn in!” the Burial Sect elder warned sharply, snapping the group out of their trance.
Still, everyone remained deeply shaken.
“What is that thing?” Sikong Jian asked, his voice tinged with fear. He had never seen such a thing.
Even a corpse puppet required a complete body to house intricate arrays and mechanisms.
This corpse, clearly incomplete, could not be refined into a corpse puppet.
Nor could it possess such terrifying abilities.
If it were a living person, that was even more impossible. No one could survive without half a head and a heart.
This thing surpassed their understanding.
“The ancient records of the Burial Sect state that beneath the Yin family lies a sealed Yin Demon. This is likely a true demon!” the Burial Sect elder said uncertainly, his face showing shock. He hadn’t expected the Yin Demon from the records to look like this.
“What?” Everyone was stunned.
The term “demon” was often a conceptual label, used to describe something evil, dark, and terrifying, with no precise definition.
More specifically, it referred to demonic attribute forces, demonic vital energy, or those who cultivated powerful demonic energy, called demons.
However, such demons were only relatively strong compared to weaker beings.
Even those who became powerful through demonic energy cultivation couldn’t survive without half a head and a heart.
Another theory likened demons to divine beings, such as legendary divine beasts, dragons, or phoenixes.
But those existed only in legends, their specifics unclear.
No ruins confirmed the existence of divine dragons or phoenixes, so demons of similar rank were even less likely.
Another belief held that above Martial Emperors were divine beings, eternal through the ages, and demons were their counterparts.
Yet, with no Martial Emperor appearing in millennia, achieving a level beyond was mere speculation.
Another interpretation saw demons or gods as eerie, special life forms.
For instance, beings born in unique environments, like spirits nurtured over eons in magma, possibly human-shaped, beast-like, or rock-like, called magma demons, fire demons, or even magma gods or fire gods.
Similarly, endless lightning energy might birth a lightning god, or a dark abyss might produce a dark demon.
Ancient trees, absorbing the world’s spiritual qi over ages, could gain intelligence and be called tree spirits.
But these were mere speculations by martial artists about the pinnacle of martial arts and the ultimate potential of all things to birth life. Their existence was uncertain.
Even if such beings existed, they were more acceptable.
For example, a being born from magma might be a unique race, not necessarily as terrifying as something surpassing a Martial Emperor upon emergence. Their strength could vary, possibly stronger than a Martial Saint or weaker than a Martial Emperor, Lord, or even Venerable.
Their strength depended on the time of their nurturing and cultivation.
The entity before them, with half a head, no heart, and no lower abdomen or dantian, was likely such a special being.
A corpse of a powerhouse, through unique circumstances, had developed spiritual intelligence.
However, this intelligence was far more extraordinary than that of Lin Xiao’s Purple Corpse Puppet.
After all, the Purple Corpse Puppet was a complete corpse. A fragmented corpse gaining intelligence was harder to fathom.
“A true demon?” Lin Xiao was utterly shocked.
Even the memories of the Spirit Emperor Devouring Heaven contained no mention of true demons.
Or perhaps the Spirit Emperor had encountered true gods or demons in the God-Demon Graveyard, but those memories were lost.
However, special beings did exist, like the Stone People Clan.
Lin Xiao had seen these half-stone, half-human beings.
But they seemed different from so-called “demons.”
The Ancient Stone People Clan resembled humans cultivating stone-based techniques, passed down through generations, forming a unique human race.
Of course, defining this wasn’t his concern.
At the same time, Lin Xiao thought of another issue.
The Nine Nether Demon Body he obtained from the Nether Heaven Demon Pillar was a demonic attribute cultivation technique.
According to the technique, cultivating the Nine Nether Demon Body to its peak could make one a true demon. Could it be that if he mastered it, he would become like this Yin Demon, with half a head, no heart, no dantian, yet still alive?
