The Gatekeeper of Nine Thousand Years

Chen Zhou frowned. After a moment of thought, he used death qi to hook the jade slip next to the skeleton and gave it a gentle tug.

The jade slip flew up from under the sword and landed in his hand.

Chen Zhou looked down to examine it.

There was only one sentence inside the jade slip: "My name is Jiao Mu Jiao, guardian of this city. If you are of the human race, please withdraw. If you are an evil spirit, please die."

The signature date was approximately nine thousand years ago.

Chen Zhou raised an eyebrow. "Evil spirits, please die"?

Jian Huaishuang walked to Chen Zhou's side. He had also noticed the dried-up giant tail and asked with a frown, "Lord, what is this thing?"

Chen Zhou looked at the jade slip and said slowly, "Jiao Mu Jiao. There's a signature here."

"This tail isn't a living thing, and it doesn't look like a demon with a special destiny, yet it absorbed so many hundred corpse patchworks..."

Before he could finish, the tail suddenly twitched.

Chen Zhou immediately fell silent, staring warily at the tail.

The tail didn't move again, but Chen Zhou could feel something watching him.

It was a strange sensation, as if countless pairs of eyes were looking at him from all directions, their gazes cold and devoid of any emotion.

Chen Zhou activated his Ghost Domain to protect himself and Jian Huaishuang.

In the next second, the human-shaped markings on the tail suddenly lit up.

All the markings flickered with a ghastly green light before they began to wriggle. Twisted figures peeled off the tail one by one, landing on the ground and rapidly expanding.

In the blink of an eye, seven or eight giant hundred corpse patchworks appeared before the two of them.

Each one was a hundred feet tall, covered in rotting flesh and oozing pus.

Chen Zhou sensed their rank; they were about the same as the giant hundred corpse patchworks he had encountered in the Earth Dissolving Cave, all at the seventh stage.

Monsters that were only at the seventh stage were nothing to worry about. Chen Zhou remained calm and even let out a small smile.

Chen Zhou raised his hand, and death qi surged from his palm, transforming into countless bone spears. The spears shot toward the hundred corpse patchworks like a rainstorm, pinning them to the ground.

Then he activated Hatred Fire, igniting the bone spears.

The Hatred Fire spread along the spears, burning into the bodies of the hundred corpse patchworks. They struggled and roared in the fire but could not break free from the bone spears, forced to watch as they were incinerated into ash.

With overwhelming force, Chen Zhou reduced the hundred corpse patchworks to cinders. The human-shaped markings on the tail dimmed and did not light up again.

However, the feeling of being watched remained.

Chen Zhou took a step forward.

The tail twitched again. Chen Zhou stopped and looked at it.

The tail did not move again, but Chen Zhou could sense that the gaze watching him was drawing closer.

Suddenly, the ground split open.

Countless glimmers of ghostly blue light surged from the rift, illuminating the entire underground space.

A thin figure walked out from the light.

He was nine feet tall, with half of his body in a state of decay.

The man wore a suit of cyan armor that was intact on one side but shattered on the other, revealing the rotting flesh beneath.

His face was cold and stern, and two horns grew from his forehead, one long and one short. The long horn was broken halfway. In his hand, he held a vine sword; its blade was slender and emitted a ghostly blue glow.

He wore shackles on his hands and dragged chains beneath his feet as he walked toward Chen Zhou step by step.

The man stopped ten feet away from Chen Zhou, his amber vertical pupils staring at him without any emotion.

"Withdraw."

His voice was extremely dry, as if he hadn't spoken for a very long time, making his pronunciation sound stiff and unfamiliar.

Chen Zhou watched him warily, his Ghost Domain expanded to protect Jian Huaishuang.

The man repeated himself.

"Withdraw."

Chen Zhou still didn't move.

The man fell silent for a moment before saying, "Die."

As soon as the word left his mouth, the man's figure blurred, appearing directly in front of Chen Zhou as he swung his vine sword down.

Chen Zhou was prepared. Countless bone spears stabbed out from the void toward the decaying man.

But he did not dodge or block, allowing the bone spears carrying Hatred Fire to pierce through his body.

The bone spears went in, drawing out traces of ghostly blue light, but that light quickly flowed back, repairing the wounds as if they had never existed. He continued his swing toward Chen Zhou.

Chen Zhou dodged to the side, and Jian Huaishuang struck from the flank, his sword slashing into the man.

The giant sword bit into his shoulder, cutting half a foot deep, but the man still didn't react. He simply turned his head and glanced at Jian Huaishuang.

Then he raised his hand and thrust his sword at Jian Huaishuang.

Jian Huaishuang pulled his sword back to parry but was knocked back ten feet by the impact.

The man stood in place as ghostly blue light surged from the wound on his shoulder, rapidly repairing it.

From beginning to end, the man with the half-decayed body showed no expression on his face.

After this brief exchange, Chen Zhou realized that this person's cultivation was approximately at the level of the fifth symbiosis contract.

This was troublesome.

Even with the temporary boost from Faith Conferment, he might not be able to resolve this quickly.

Moreover, this person's regenerative abilities were terrifying. Hatred Fire burned him, yet he stood in the flames expressionless, his wounds healing faster than the fire could burn him.

Chen Zhou glanced upward.

The auspicious cloud was still there, pointing toward the interior of the stone door.

He looked at the man again. The opponent stood in place and did not attack further, merely staring at him with amber vertical pupils devoid of emotion, as if waiting for his next move.

Chen Zhou suddenly realized something.

Once he and Jian Huaishuang retreated to a certain distance, Jiao Mu Jiao stopped attacking.

He just stood there, watching them, unmoving.

Furthermore, he was bound by chains.

Those chains extended from his wrists deep into the ground. They were thick and covered in script that shimmered with light, clearly a powerful restriction.

Chen Zhou narrowed his eyes. This made things easier.

Since the opponent was bound, there was no need for a head-on confrontation.

He looked at Jian Huaishuang and whispered, "Go destroy the stone door. I'll distract him."

Jian Huaishuang nodded and blurred, rushing toward the stone door.

Sensing the movement, the man immediately turned to intercept.

Chen Zhou used Hate Prison, summoning bone spears to trap him in place. Although he couldn't completely lock him down, he could manage to distract him for a few breaths.

The man swung his vine sword, easily shattering Chen Zhou's bone spears, but it was too late.

Jian Huaishuang reached the stone door and slashed down.

Boom!

The stone door shook violently, and the script on its surface flickered wildly.

The stone door's restriction wasn't particularly strong. With Jian Huaishuang's seventh-stage cultivation, he quickly shattered it.

Rumble—

The stone door crumbled, revealing a deep, dark passage within.

It was pitch black inside, but faint points of light could be seen flickering, resembling starlight or fireflies.

Chen Zhou seized the opportunity. His Ghost Domain enveloped Jian Huaishuang and himself as they dove straight into the stone door.

Behind them came the man's angry roar.

"Withdraw."

"Die."

"Withdraw. Withdraw. Withdraw. Withdraw."

"Die. Die. Die. Die. Die."

But the roars grew distant and blurred until they finally vanished completely.

...

The man stood in place, looking at the shattered stone door. Within the passage, faint points of light were visible.

He didn't pursue them further. The chains bound him, allowing him to move only within a certain range. If he exceeded that range, the chains would tighten and pull him back.