The armless corpse soldier hastily recounted everything that had happened to him in great detail, omitting nothing—not even the specifics of his clash with Yang Kai.
After listening, the female corpse soldier's body trembled slightly. "You're saying he could unleash a pitch-black, blade-like attack? And that attack carried no energy fluctuations whatsoever, yet even your corpse body couldn't withstand it?"
"Correct. After the slash, a portion of my arm was simply gone—I don't know where it went." The armless corpse soldier nodded emphatically, his emerald eyes fixed on the female corpse soldier. "Do you know something about this?"
A flicker of hesitation crossed the female corpse soldier's face. She pondered for a long while before answering, "Judging from what you've described, what he used seems somewhat like the power of space."
"What?" The other three corpse soldiers were greatly alarmed. "The power of space? You can't be serious!"
The female corpse soldier gave a cold snort. "Have you all forgotten where I come from?"
The armless corpse soldier froze, then suddenly seemed to recall something. Understanding dawned on his face. "So that's it!"
The female corpse soldier nodded slightly. "Among the successive elders of the Battle Heaven Alliance, one has always cultivated the power of space. I once had the fortune of witnessing Elder Mo Xiaosheng demonstrate such a divine ability, so I understand spatial power far better than any of you. However..."
"However what?"
"But if what Brother Nie says is true, then this intruder's mastery of spatial power is unreasonably high. Even Elder Mo back then couldn't condense space into a blade to effortlessly sever a corpse body. And this man is merely at the second layer of the Sage King realm—how could he accomplish such a thing? That's why I said what he used resembled spatial power, but I can't say for certain."
"True, true. I've heard quite a bit about your alliance's Mo Xiaosheng over the years. But several hundred years have passed—who knows if he's still alive. If that kid really can condense space into a blade, that's rather terrifying."
"What's the use of discussing this now? Have you all forgotten what kind of beings we are? Miss Lan, I know you have some connection to Elder Mo, but if you appeared before him in your current state, do you honestly think he'd let you go?"
The female corpse soldier called Miss Lan felt the ghostly flames in her eyes flicker faster—her emotions were clearly unsettled.
"By the way, Brother Nie—when you came back, you didn't leave any traces, did you?" the first corpse soldier to speak asked warily.
"Of course not. And even if that man found this place, he couldn't break the restrictions here. These are formations set up by the Ancient Yang Sect in ages past. Without knowing their method of entry and exit, it would be impossible to breach them even at full strength. How could a mere second-layer Sage King possibly manage it?"
"That's a fair point." The corpse soldier nodded, then—perhaps reminded of something—let out a sigh. "I truly don't know whether I should be grateful to those people from the Ancient Yang Sect or hate them. If not for them, I wouldn't have died. But without them, I would have long since dissipated into nothingness. And now this is what I've become... heh!"
At these words, the other three corpse soldiers fell silent. They clearly shared the sentiment.
The depths of the cave remained quiet for a long while before the female corpse soldier spoke again. "Enough—let's not dwell on these things. This decade, it's our four who are stationed here. To be safe, we should go outside and take a look. Better than having those lords wake up and question us."
"Agreed. Miss Lan and I will go check. Brother Nie, you should hurry and use the yin energy here to reattach your arm. It may be shorter, but it's still better than nothing." With that, the corpse soldier stood and walked out with the female corpse soldier.
Meanwhile, in another enormous secret cave, Yang Kai and Yang Yan had sneaked inside. Looking at the rows upon rows of empty wooden shelves and the various boxes scattered across the floor, Yang Kai's expression turned dark as a storm, and he barely restrained himself from cursing aloud.
The two had followed the faint scent of medicinal herbs all the way here. After careful examination confirming that no corpse soldiers were dormant in the area, they had rushed in with great excitement.
Who could have guessed that this was what awaited them?
This had clearly once been where the Ancient Yang Sect stored its spiritual herbs and medicines. There were at least a hundred wooden shelves standing in rows, each with three tiers capable of holding five or six boxes. But now, every box had been tossed about in complete disarray and dumped on the floor, looking as though nobody cared about them in the slightest.
Every box had been opened, and whatever had once been stored inside had vanished without a trace.
They had worked so hard to find this place, already anticipating a massive haul—only to be met with this scene. One could well imagine how Yang Kai felt.
No guessing was needed. Those spiritual herbs and medicines had all been devoured wholesale by the corpse soldiers sleeping here.
Though such consumption was practically a criminal waste, corpse soldiers had no way to refine pills. This was the only option available to them—consume spiritual herbs and medicines directly to strengthen their bodies. It was the corpse soldiers' own path of cultivation, no different from that of demon beasts.
But after searching carefully, Yang Kai did manage to find some remnants among the opened boxes—remnants of fire-attribute and yang-attribute herbs and medicines. For corpse soldiers, who favored yin and cold, such herbs were nothing short of the deadliest poison. Naturally, they had never consumed them.
Unfortunately, all the boxes had been opened, and after such a long time, the medicinal properties and spiritual energy of these herbs had dissipated entirely. Not a single one could be used. This made Yang Kai so furious his eyes nearly burst from his head—he wanted nothing more than to charge into the depths of those caves and hack every last corpse soldier to pieces to vent his rage.
After searching in sullen frustration for a while, Yang Kai and Yang Yan could only sigh in bitter regret.