Chapter 10: Cleaning up the abandoned cave

The moment Li Ze possessed the body, the crimson sword unsheathed silently.

A single strike pierced the shadow’s vitals, and the black figure collapsed like a human.

Qing Ruanning was stunned, not expecting Cai Xiaonuo’s reaction speed to be so fast.

It was even much faster than her own.

This reaction didn’t seem like the speed a Spirit Realm Fourth Stage should possess; it was more like the subconscious sword reflex of someone who had survived endless slaughter.

“Xiaonuo, your swordplay has improved so much. You actually managed to kill a second-grade beast equivalent to the Spirit Realm Fifth Stage with a single strike.”

Qing Ruanning looked at the girl’s sharp gaze and felt as if she were looking at a completely different person.

This cave was not only large but also quite deep.

“We need to be careful from here on out!”

A fire talisman lit up at Qing Ruanning’s fingertips again as they walked deeper into the cave.

They reached the end of the gloomy cavern, where a dark hole appeared that looked as if it had been smashed open by a beast.

The black hole was like the throat of a giant monster—deep, damp, and cold, swallowing all light.

The flickering glow from the fire talisman on Qing Ruanning’s fingertip reflected off the jagged rocks of the cave walls.

Water droplets fell from the tips of stalactites, hitting the stone floor with a “tap, tap” sound that was hollow and heart-palpitating.

The depths of the cave were thick with a decayed, earthy stench mixed with an indescribable, sinister chill.

Qing Ruanning whispered, “Be careful, this place… isn’t right.”

Before her voice could fade, a sudden rustling of flapping wings echoed overhead.

Dense clusters of red dots lit up across the dark ceiling—those were the pupils of mutated bats, crimson as blood under the light of the fire talisman.

The swarm of bats descended like a black cloud, letting out piercing shrieks.

Every single one had wing membranes like bone spurs and protruding fangs.

“There is actually corpse qi here.”

Li Ze realized something was wrong and wanted to leave, but they were already surrounded.

Qing Ruanning flicked fireball talismans rapidly.

Blazing flames lunged out like snakes, scorching the first few bats that lunged at them, filling the air with a charred stench.

However, the corpse qi had already permeated the stone cave, and the mutation of the bats far exceeded the norm.

They did not fear the fire; instead, their ferocity was fueled by the corpse qi, causing them to slam into the wall of fire without regard for their lives.

Li Ze moved.

The girl’s figure spun out like a phantom, the crimson sword transforming into a streak of red light.

The tip of the blade trembled slightly as it precisely pierced the throats of the bats.

There were no wasted movements; every strike went straight for the vitals.

“On the left!”

The girl’s voice rang out.

Qing Ruanning snapped back to her senses in horror, turning her body to avoid the claws of a diving bat, though the clothes on her shoulder were torn open and blood seeped out.

Qing Ruanning muttered something under her breath as array patterns appeared on her hands.

“You beasts, do you think I’m a pushover just because I haven’t shown my strength!”

“Ten Thousand Swords Extermination Array.”

“Go!”

Countless azure swords instantly shot out from behind Qing Ruanning.

With this strike, bats fell like rain wherever the blades passed.

More than half of the mutated bats were killed or injured.

Li Ze’s sword light drifted through the firelight.

Inadvertently, his left arm was also slashed by a direct sneak attack from a bat, opening a wound deep enough to see bone.

Blood soaked the sleeve and dripped onto the stone floor.

Qing Ruanning released a spiritual energy shield to protect the girl.

Li Ze took out medicinal powder from a storage bag and sprinkled it on the wound.

Qing Ruanning spoke with difficulty.

“We aren’t going to meet our end here today, are we?”

Li Ze tore a piece of his hem and gritted his teeth while bandaging the wound.

“Hold on, it’s not that easy to die.”

“These things are truly troublesome!”

The girl lunged out with her sword once more, sealing throats with every strike.

…

After fighting for half an hour, Li Ze was exhausted.

He panted heavily.

“This body is still too weak!”

Qing Ruanning was also nearing her limit.

Waves of dizziness from spiritual energy depletion washed over her.

She caught sight of Li Ze.

“There are twenty-three left, hold on!”

She slapped the last fire talisman toward the ceiling of the cave.

The flames exploded, illuminating the sword light as Li Ze spun for a strike.

The blade light poured out like moonlight, instantly piercing the heads of three bats.

All the bats were eliminated.

Their mangled bodies thudded as they hit the ground, and the cave returned to a deathly silence, leaving only the heavy smell of blood and char.

Qing Ruanning staggered and knelt, the feeling of exhaustion from overdrawing her spiritual energy flooding her limbs like a tide.

Li Ze stood supported by the sword, blood dripping from the tip, his breathing slightly hurried.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine!”

“It’s just spiritual energy depletion. A few days of meditation back at the Sect will fix it.”

Qing Ruanning no longer had her previous brisk voice; her tone was now weak.

Li Ze looked up and scanned the area.

The corpses were piled into small mounds everywhere.

He then looked up toward the stone platform at the end of the cavern.

The fading light of the fire talisman flickered, revealing a dark figure sitting cross-legged at the end of the cave.

The shadow was hunched like a withered tree, sitting on a square green stone platform.

It was covered in gray-white corpse spots, and its robes had long since rotted into shreds, revealing skeletal arms.

Most terrifying was its face: the flesh was half-rotted, and the eye sockets were deep as black holes, yet they flickered with two clusters of eerie green ghost fire.

Qing Ruanning suppressed her discomfort and whispered, “An obsession that won’t dissipate, absorbing yin to become a puppet… No wonder the bats mutated to this extent.”

She remembered the records in the Sect’s ancient texts: If a living person’s obsession is too heavy, the obsession backfires after the soul dissipates, gathering yin energy into a form to become a corpse puppet.

Its corpse qi can annihilate spiritual energy, and any beast touched by it will undergo a violent mutation, becoming a bloodthirsty puppet.

Her gaze fell on the corpse puppet’s waist—several items were hanging there: a jade pendant, half a broken sword, and a copper coin.

Although covered in dust, they held a faint spiritual resonance.

“Maybe there is some lost treasure…” she murmured, her fingertip condensing a faint bit of spiritual energy as she reached out to touch the jade pendant.

“Don’t touch it!”

Li Ze’s voice cracked like tearing silk.

But it was too late.

The moment Qing Ruanning’s fingertip touched the jade pendant, the object turned into flying ash with a soft “poof” and scattered.

The broken sword and copper coin also crumbled along with it.

Qing Ruanning froze in place, cold ash remaining on her fingertip.

“It’s been too long… A thousand years? Obsession erodes objects; even Dharma treasures couldn’t hold out…”

She shook her head with a bitter smile and sighed.

However, a bead of blood from her wound dripped down due to her movement.

It landed squarely on the withered back of the corpse puppet’s hand.

In an instant, the ghost fire in the corpse puppet’s hollow eye sockets surged!

The eerie green light pierced the darkness, and corpse qi surged out like a raging tide.

Its stiff neck gave a “crack,” and it snapped its head up, its rotted mouth splitting into an inhuman grin.

Qing Ruanning didn’t even have time to retreat before the corpse puppet’s withered claws, like iron pincers, pierced through her abdomen.

It slammed her violently against the stone wall!

“Bang!”

“Qing Ruanning!”

In the loud crash, Qing Ruanning’s head hit the rock, and blood flowed down from her temple.

She then spat out a mouthful of blood, and her vision instantly plunged into darkness.

Li Ze immediately sealed her meridians and applied healing powder.

During this time, a guttural, strange sound rolled from the corpse puppet’s throat.

The corpse qi condensed into a black mist, and the corpse puppet disappeared from its spot.

Li Ze’s pupils shrank.

At the critical moment, Cai Xiaonuo’s body erupted with startling speed.

The crimson sword was thrown from his hand, nailing itself into the corpse puppet’s shoulder like a red thunderbolt, stopping its biting momentum.

The corpse puppet shrieked, the black mist churning, and the crimson sword was corroded into a greenish-black liquid.

The corpse puppet went berserk, its claws tearing through the air as they lunged, bringing a foul, stench-ridden wind.

Li Ze dodged to the side, his sleeve shredded by the wind from the claws, and three more bloody gashes were added to his arm.

As blood dripped, the corpse puppet became even more frantic, its corpse qi annihilating the surrounding spiritual energy like a tide.

The spiritual energy circulation within Li Ze’s body became sluggish, and his movements gradually slowed.

Li Ze looked up; the corpse puppet had vanished from its position.

He immediately felt that something was wrong…