There was a black chain stabbing the corpse through its spine. The chain was extremely strange, but the most shocking thing was that this chain seemed to be alive, as if it was pulsating flesh. It contained its own living aura.

It was like the chain was growing out of the corpse’s back. It connected to the stone wall behind him, and they could clearly sense the corpse’s energy slowly being extracted.

Long Chen, Bao Buping, and Chang Hao’s scalps turned numb. This sight was simply appalling. They continued downward and quickly saw another notch with another corpse.

This corpse was of a female, and its aura was even stronger. She had fire-red hair and was very beautiful. There was a scale growing on her forehead.

“It’s an ancient race expert,” whispered Bao Buping. She possessed the specific aura of the ancient races, and it was easy to recognize her just from her appearance.

She was also a rank seven Celestial and had reached the Soul Transformation realm. If she had been alive, her power would have been terrifying.

“Are these corpses from the dark era?” asked Chang Hao.

Long Chen shook his head. “Her robes don’t look like they come from that era. And based on the texture of her hair, this corpse’s age must be under ten thousand years.”

As an alchemist, he had to be knowledgeable about the corrosion of time. It was a fundamental skill for alchemists when distinguishing the ages of medicinal ingredients.

“How is that possible? If she only entered once the Sovereign seal weakened, how could her cultivation base be above the Jade Core realm?” said Bao Buping.

It was only after Devil Spirit Mountain’s Sovereign Blood Seal had weakened that the Martial Heaven Continent’s experts had been able to probe Devil Spirit Mountain. Basically everyone who went in never came out. It was unknown how many heavenly geniuses had been devoured.

Long Chen looked at the two of them. “The only possibility is that she broke through to the Soul Transformation realm after becoming a corpse.”

Their expressions changed. Such a thing was too bizarre. Sensing the woman’s aura, it was like she was meditating. Then looking at the chain behind her, they were unable to refute this theory.

Long Chen’s expression was also grave. Devil Spirit Mountain was even stranger and more dangerous than he had expected. Once more warning the two of them to absolutely not touch the black marks, they continued downward.

As they continued descending, they saw more and more notches in the walls with corpses. The atmosphere was so tense that it was hard for them to breathe.

These corpses were all young and powerful Celestials. Seeing them stabbed through the back by chains in the wall was a ghastly sight.

The notches were lined up in even rows. There would be one every three hundred meters.

The majority of the notches had corpses in them, but some were empty with only a chain inside.

Seeing this, Long Chen’s heart sank. This square-shaped giant pit was like a deep well. If these notches continued in this pattern, then just how many notches did there have to be within this pit? Just how many corpses?

As they went deeper, they noticed that the corpses actually grew stronger. There were rank eight Celestials amongst them.

Seeing rank eight Celestials had been turned into corpses, Bao Buping and Chang Hao’s hearts pounded. These were existences on the same level as them.

“Bastards, this is a senior of our Heaven Splitting Battle Sect!” As they continued downward, Bao Buping and Chang Hao suddenly saw the robes of the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect. Their killing intent immediately soared.

But before they could reach out to sever the chain, Long Chen held them back. “Now isn’t the time to save them.”

“Unacceptable! I won’t allow these bastards to blaspheme the corpse of my Heaven Splitting Battle Sect’s senior!” raged Bao Buping.

Long Chen furiously replied, “Do you still remember why we came here?! If you sacrificed all our lives to save a corpse, just how stupid would you be? Since they’ve come to Devil Spirit Mountain, all of these people knew what they were getting themselves into. Our goal is the Heaven Splitting Divine Tablet and Devil Spirit Mountain’s secrets. If you cause our deaths here, will you be able to face the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect’s ancestors in death?”

“Buping, the old man already told us to listen to Long Chen. And he’s right.” Chang Hao was equally infuriated, but he still retained some of his rationality.

Bao Buping gradually calmed down as he stared at Long Chen’s iron-stiff expression. Looking at the corpse, killing intent raged in his eyes, but he didn’t say any more.

Just at this moment, the sound of the wind changed. They immediately recognized it to be something flying through the air.

“What now?!” Bao Buping and Chang Hao were both caught off-guard. This sound was clearly not just one person. There had to be several of this world’s creatures flying over.

In this kind of place, let alone fighting, just the slightest carelessness could end up causing them to touch the forbidden restrictions here, while these creatures could probably come and go as they please.

Long Chen couldn’t care that much any longer, and he spread his divine sense to find the empty spots. “Get over here. There are three empty spots. We’ll disguise ourselves as corpses.”

They stood in the notches, taking the same posture as the other corpses. They even made the fluctuations of their aura as steady as them.

They had only just set themselves up when over ten of those winged creatures flew over. They held a person in their hands. He was a cultivator. Long Chen stealthily used his divine sense to see that it was a rank eight Celestial who was also at the Foundation Forging realm.

He clearly had to be a disciple from a powerful sect. However, his robes were foreign to him so he wasn’t able to tell what sect he came from. But such a powerful genius couldn’t possibly be a wild cultivator.

Long Chen closed his eyes and didn’t move. Bao Buping and Chang Hao did the same. They solemnly acted dead.

Long Chen suddenly realized that they were coming for him. That was because there was an empty spot beside him for the cultivator.

As soon as this thought formed in his head, those creatures arrived beside him. He could smell the scent of blood coming from them. It was like they were the offspring of evil and violence born in blood.

One of them tossed the cultivator into the notch beside Long Chen. The cultivator let out a pained grunt. He was actually not yet dead.

These creatures icily stared at him like he was a pig for the slaughter.

One of them grabbed the chain coming out of the wall. Its tip flickered with a cold, sharp light.

The chain stabbed through the cultivator’s back, causing him to let out a miserable scream that resounded throughout the pit.

“Jiejie…”

The creatures laughed bizarrely. That laughter was as painful to listen to as scraping iron. But from that laugh, it was possible to tell that they delighted in his suffering.

Long Chen involuntarily clenched his fists. Although he wasn’t a friend of this cultivator, seeing these creatures torment a fellow human like this still infuriated him.

The cultivator’s screams lasted for a few breaths before his body turned stiff. His screams came to a halt, and his twisted and pained expression became calm.

Using the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art’s senses, Long Chen sensed the chain absorbing the cultivator’s soul. Once his soul was stripped from him, he entered an extremely strange state. It was like he had become a living corpse.

A strange energy also came out of the chain, causing the cultivator to suddenly become covered in runes. Then he entered a bizarre cultivation state just like the other corpses.

After a few minutes of watching, seeing that the cultivator was completely motionless, the creatures flew away.

But although they had left, Long Chen didn’t move. He still felt a sense of danger that hadn’t passed.

Seeing Long Chen hadn’t moved, Bao Buping and Chang Hao also didn’t move. It took a full two hours before a figure appeared in the sky. It was another one of this world’s creatures.

This creature once more checked the cultivator that had just been caught before leaving.

Only once it left did the feeling of danger pass. Long Chen sighed with relief. Confirming there was no more danger, he slowly began to move.

“Fuck, what a crafty thing. We almost got duped.” Bao Buping wiped off some sweat.

Just now, he had almost spoken. Fortunately, he had been smart enough to glance at Long Chen and see him standing there motionless. Otherwise, they would have been screwed. Perhaps after being with Long Chen for so long, he had also learned to use his head a bit.

“That creature wasn’t targeting us. It was targeting this cultivator. His soul was sucked away by the chain, and the creature wanted to see if he had split his soul and created a spiritual clone,” said Long Chen.

Many cultivators made spiritual clones to protect against the worst-case scenario. At a critical time, they could sacrifice the clone to protect the main body. This creature had been lying in wait to prevent this.

Now that two hours had passed, that person’s spiritual fluctuations had completely vanished, allowing it to leave.

“Let’s go. I want to see what secrets Devil Spirit Mountain is hiding.”

Long Chen waved his hand, and the three of them once more began to carefully descend. After two hours, they finally saw the end of the pit and a huge altar. Seeing that altar, they were filled with shock.