Chapter 732

Chapter 732: Ashen World

The entire sky was shrouded by dark clouds. The black-sky-bearing blackbird was locked in combat with the eight cloud serpents in the sky.

Amidst the struggle, the vast expanse of sky was torn apart, and its flapping wings split the fragmented space like a torn silk fabric, crushing the eight immortal cloud serpents.

Even so, the alchemical furnace on the ground remained intensely hot and vibrant. Its glow, though contained by the inscriptions on the furnace body, emitted red light like that of heated iron.

“Cough!” Crane Feather tightly gripped the edge of the alchemical furnace, spewing out blackish-red blood from his mouth. His complexion instantly paled, some of his hair seemingly turning white at once, and wrinkles appeared on his face.

After catching his breath, he struggled to raise his head, gazing at the cloud serpents being slaughtered by the ghostly carriage in the sky. A hint of despair flashed across his eyes, and his face was filled with pain.

The surrounding disciples noticed his condition and hurried over to support him. Although some regretted and resented Crane Feather, they did not want to see him fall at this moment.

As Crane Feather had said, they had no way out now.

“Retrieve the last item from the Yama Palace treasures,” Crane Feather instructed the disciples around him with a weak hand.

“Yes, Uncle Crane Feather.” The others intended to ask questions but ended up bitterly smiling, realizing there was no point in asking at such a time.

One of the inner disciples carefully took out an ironwood long box from his chest.

Compared to other treasures of the Yama Palace, the ‘Seven Swords Piercing Heart Cabinet’ was a rare spatial artifact, used for storing and refining ghost bones and corpses.

It could also be easily shrunk or expanded.

Soon, a gray-blue stone cabinet resembling a six-sided palace lantern appeared before everyone’s eyes. This stone cabinet had six sides, each with a door, and the doors were engraved with different human forms.

Some were as fierce as ghosts, some as kind as immortals, some utterly ordinary, and some grotesque and strange.

Compared to other treasures, activating this one was extremely difficult, usually controlled only by those of sequence 8 or higher within the Yama Palace in ancient times.

But now they had no choice but to resort to some cunning methods.

Looking at the rustic gray stone cabinet, Crane Feather slowly placed his hand on it, feeling a cold and smooth sensation from the cabinet.

“I’ll go in first; you can follow voluntarily later.” Crane Feather turned back, looking at these disciples with complex and hesitant expressions, and let out a self-mocking yet relieved laugh.

“The night is cold, the rain heavy, and alone, waiting until the dawn to look back, one has already become a hundred years old.”

As the words fell, this man with white hair and suddenly aged, walked into the dark interior of the stone cabinet. As the last piece of his clothing entered, the cabinet door abruptly closed, and the swords embedded behind the door stabbed through it.

Gushes of blood seeped from the cracks in the stone cabinet, flowing to the ground, moistening the soil and staining it black and red.

“Goodbye, Uncle Crane Feather.” A few disciples who were close to Crane Feather in the past,

The disciple bowed deeply.

Subsequently, several other disciples with stronger strength also entered this stone cabinet and were pierced by the swords inside.

Under normal circumstances, the soul was like water in a cup; when the body died (shattered), the water naturally spilled out, immediately dissipating and fragmenting.

However, this “Seven Swords Piercing Heart Cabinet” was different. At the moment it pierced and killed a living being, it would also immobilize the soul, temporarily preventing it from shattering. Meanwhile, the treasure would begin to refine the body, directly transforming it from a living form into a special corpse of the Necromancer Sequence.

But such a process was irreversible. Even if the corpse retained some memory and consciousness afterward, it could no longer be considered human. It became a demon-like existence. After six disciples had entered the six stone doors, the others no longer held back and began to fully activate it.

This hexagonal stone cabinet floated like a palace lantern, with six blue ghost lights hanging down from its sides as it slowly rotated.

In the sky, the black-red ghost carriage bird tore apart and pecked at the eight cloud serpents until it finally devoured them all. There was now nothing left to stop it.

This massive black-red bird dived from the sky, directly towards the black-and-white metal alchemy furnace on the ground.

The rebel disciples guarding it saw this and quickly dodged aside, retreating to the surroundings. The ghost carriage bird paid them no mind, its double pupils fixed on the black-and-white furnace.

Seeing the furnace about to light up again, the ghost carriage bird descended with a raging fire, like a meteor, colliding with the furnace.

Red flames exploded, spreading in all directions, bringing a suffocating and terrifying heat wave.

Lolan Hill, who was preparing to approach the stone cabinet, had no choice but to pause momentarily, lifting her arm quickly. Myriad Winds patrolled the valley interior, forming an invisible circular air wall that enclosed the flames, confining them within a circle to prevent them from harming the other residents in the valley.

The blazing red flames burned fiercely, the intense light seeming to scorch one’s eyes, making it impossible to look directly at them. Even from hundreds of meters away, one could feel the burning pain and stifling heat on their skin, with smoke rising from the surrounding debris, some even starting to emit dark red flames.

In the midst of these unseeable flames, the massive ghost carriage bird grabbed the furnace with its two claws, flapping its wings and soaring toward the sky.

The red flames trailing behind the ghost carriage and the white smoke trails from the furnace overlapped in the sky before disappearing into the clouds.

Finally, the ghost carriage bird hurled the furnace high into the air, flying for a long time before gradually descending. But just as it was about to accelerate, a pair of sharp claws descended with the giant bird, stirring sparks, and once again gripping the sides of the furnace.

Ee—

The ghost carriage bird let out a long cry to the sky, its claws tightly gripping the sides of the furnace, its wings spread straight, leaving two trails from the edges of its feathers, leaving long streaks in the sky.

As the ghost carriage bird continued to flap its wings, the flames on its body burned brighter and brighter, and the metal furnace it held was roasted to a glowing red. Gradually, the edges of the furnace began to deform under the tearing claws.

Thus, under the fierce efforts of this ghost carriage bird, the secret treasure of the Yama Palace began to crumble step by step. Until finally, the entire alchemy furnace was torn apart by the ghost carriage, splitting into two deformed pieces.

The shattered fragments fell from the sky like meteorites, smashing into the ground and forming scorched depressions. Some fell outside the secluded valley onto the earth, while many others landed inside the secluded valley, turning households into seas of fire.

Watching the broken pieces of the alchemy furnace below, which could no longer produce the mist snake, the ghost carriage bird let out a high-pitched cry, seemingly very satisfied. The small six-sided stone cabinet that had been previously insignificant suddenly opened wide, with endless deep blue light points surging out from within. These light points scattered across the earth with the stone cabinet, and the dead demons outside the secluded valley slowly rose again amidst the flames.

This time, they were no longer alone. Corpses continuously gathered toward the center of the earth, gradually piling up to form a massive creature resembling a mountain made of bones, its eye sockets like bottomless voids.

Seeing the undead beast on the earth gradually taking shape, the ghost carriage in the sky let out a loud cry and spread its wings, causing a rain of fire to fall from the sky.

The world seemed to be in the end times, filled with scorching black smoke, falling fire, and twisting bones. Cries of wailing and mourning never ceased, with everywhere filled with desperate roars and fleeing figures.

The giant undead beast on the earth struggled to rise, opening its enormous mouth full of bones and flesh, biting down on the descending ghost carriage bird. Red flames occasionally burst from between its flesh and bones, illuminating the dark and ravaged earth.

For a moment, the two were evenly matched, engaging in fierce battles back and forth in the sky and on the earth, stirring up a stench and waves of fire.

A small figure of a young lady slowly ascended outside the secluded valley, looking at the roaring earth and the broken world illuminated by black and red.

Sparks drifted through the air, still carrying residual heat, spreading throughout the wilderness, landing on the young lady’s face, adding a layer of ash.

Lolan Hill stared blankly at the world outside the secluded valley, where a giant undead beast, nearly four hundred meters tall, was slowly rising. When it opened its mouth, the small six-sided stone cabinet was swallowed, and ghostly flames began to appear in its eye sockets, making its form even more powerful.

When would this all end? Lolan Hill took a deep breath and slowly closed her eyes.

She had thought that when the ghost carriage bird appeared, everything would gradually come to an end, but things did not unfold as she had hoped.

In the end, one cannot rely on others’ pity.

A sense of disappointment and sigh arose in Lolan Hill’s heart, then she opened her eyes again, looking at this chaotic world.

Then, rely on herself.

Facing the scorching wind filled with sparks, this young lady raised her slender arm.

Her tattered outer garment fluttered in the wind, revealing the intact black and white dress underneath. Silver snow-white hair mixed with sparks danced amidst the ruins. When this young lady opened her eyes again, her transparent azure pupils stood out like upright sword hilts, beautiful and bright.

Above the nine heavens, magnificent starlight began to descend.

(The chapter ends)