"No, Beng Hu, this time is different, I feel something is wrong!"

"Remember the Sky Flame Tiger we encountered? This feels even worse than that!"

"Really?"

Beng Hu was full of disbelief. The Sky Flame Tiger was an existence comparable to King Level extremes, due to its special talent; even Beng Yu, an extremely powerful King Level cultivator, dared not confront it head-on.

"Alright, let's go in and take a look!"

The interior of the gathering place looked no different from the outside, very dilapidated.

On both sides were crooked wooden houses. In slightly better-off gathering places, generally, stone houses would be built, or a mix of both. Such poverty-stricken gathering places, like this one, were rare in the Sunset Mountain Range.

Beng Yu even suspected that this place might be the poorest area in the Sunset Mountain Range.

"General, we've found something!"

"What is this?" Beng Hu rushed over upon hearing and was somewhat bewildered.

In front of them was a skeleton, a corpse had entirely turned into a mummy, with a shriveled face where facial features were indistinguishable. If it were only this, Beng Hu wouldn't be surprised, as bloodsucking Fierce Beasts were not uncommon in the Sunset Mountain Range.

But the strange part was that this mummy struck a peculiar pose in death, hands clasped together, head tilted up, legs irrationally bent over its back, and the desiccated eyeballs were misaligned.

Those present were warriors who had emerged from mountains of corpses and seas of blood, yet witnessing this scene made them feel a chill they couldn't quite place.

"Don't touch the corpses, pair up and don't stray too far, search around to see if there are similar corpses nearby!"

"Yes, General." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Soon, soldiers searching around the wooden houses made voices: "I found one here!"

"I found three here, and they seem like a family!"

"I found two, they should be a couple!"

"Do not touch the corpses!" Beng Yu felt a sense of unease and reinforced his order.

"General, we didn't touch them, but the corpse moved!"

A frightened voice came from a nearby wooden house.

Bloodthirsty Fierce Beasts and brutal enemies hadn't instilled fear in these warriors, but resurrecting from death was too overwhelming for cultivators of the Heavenly Gift Realm.

"Boom"

With a punch, a wooden house was completely destroyed, a shriveled corpse leisurely pushed away debris on it, the misaligned eyes flashed a red light, and thick, dark green liquid flowed from the corners of its mouth.

"Food, food!"

"All mine!"

A hoarse voice drilled into everyone's ears, a bad omen rose in their hearts.

Sure enough, in the next moment, all the mummies in the Hemu Gathering Place resurrected, a creeping feeling surged up in their hearts.

"What on earth, die properly if you're dead!"

The irritable Beng Hu grabbed a mummy by the neck and smashed it to the ground, the dense cracks on the ground testified that Beng Hu had exerted full force.

As the dust settled, Beng Hu's sinister smile froze: "How can this be, it can move?"

The aura displayed by these mummies wasn't strong, only at Silver Blade Level, which is why Beng Hu acted directly, hoping to dispel everyone's internal fear, but his full-force attack achieved nothing, which was unexpected for Beng Hu.

"So hard!"

"Can't hurt them at all?"

"Beng Hu, keep an eye out!"

Beng Yu instructed, and a thin layer of scales appeared on the surface of his palm, opening and closing, the scales were raised, from afar, his palm seemed full of bone spurs.

"Ding ding"

A palm landed, emitting a crisp sound of metal clashing, Beng Yu frowned slightly, then applied more force to his palm, this time the mummy's strong defense couldn't withstand.

The green liquid mixed with some blood slowly flowed from the wound.

"Bang"

Although the corpse looked skeletal, when it fell, it made a rather heavy sound, its weight wasn't as simple as it appeared!

"Godfather!"

Beng Hu's urgent voice brought Beng Yu back to his senses.

The mummies' defenses were too high, Beng Hu could only push them back, unable to inflict effective damage, and now the number of mummies kept increasing, making it impossible for Beng Hu to protect everyone.

Beng Yu took a deep breath, scales on his cheeks stood upright, a row of bone spurs rose along his spine, showing Beng Yu's full-force state.

After a series of heavy sounds, all the mummies lay on the ground, the green liquid recolored the earth.

"General, I believe I saw Dahe's corpse!"

A soldier looked at a corpse on the ground with complex emotions. As elite soldiers in the army, most knew each other; even if not very familiar, they still recognized appearances.

"Dahe's corpse?"

Beng Yu hesitated, following the gaze, although the facial features were completely indistinguishable, the army uniform was recognizable.

"It seems they indeed encountered trouble here!"

"The mummies are completely dealt with, search again, such an eerie change happening at Hemu Gathering Place must be caused by something!"

"Be careful, report any abnormalities directly to me!"

"Yes, General."

Hemu Gathering Place wasn't large, unaffected by mummies, within an hour, the place was thoroughly searched.

"Is this the only anomaly?"

Beng Yu arrived at the largest wooden house, its hall enshrined a statue with a cryptic smile.

This bizarre black statue made from unknown materials exuded unease; its close proximity felt distinctly cold, raising chills even among those present who weren't ordinary people.

"Bang"

After crushing it with bare hands, Beng Yu noticed something wrong: "Since when?"

"Godfather, what should we do here?"

Beng Hu and others didn't notice anything unusual, mistakenly thinking Beng Yu discovered danger and eliminated it in advance.

Suppressing disbelief, Beng Yu said calmly, "Hmm, let's go back!"

........

Outside the Sunset Mountain Range, in a remote mountain forest.

"Hmm? My Corpse Ghost Buddha was actually cracked by someone?"

Hong Ri showed slight surprise, then recalled those natives encountered upon descending the Heavenly Gift Realm, but wasn't overly astonished; after all, he was only at Daluo Second Step, and there existed Third Step experts among those natives, so cracking his Corpse Ghost Buddha was normal.

"Luckily, only one was destroyed, it doesn't affect the big picture!"

"Now, more importantly, is the All Things Ruler!"

Divine Sense probed into thoughts, observing the silver-glowing ruler, Hong Ri's expression turned gloomy: "At this stage, you still refuse?"

The All Things Ruler slightly trembled but didn't respond, as if sneering at Hong Ri, that you wish to become the host of the Nine Great Treasures.

"If it weren't for Little Nine not returning, missing some Essence Blood for the Nine Heavens Earth Exchange Array, you'd already be mine!"

Among the nine in the Tomb of Death, excluding the rebellious Little Nine, who fortuitously, driven by curiosity, apprenticed under Chen Jiuge to learn Beast Taming Technique, subsequently stayed in Star Moon City and avoided disaster.

The other eight, Little Eight perished resisting invasion; the remaining six were sacrificed by Hong Ri, who they probably never knew denied saving Little Eight not due to lack of power, but necessity for their Essence Blood!

As for motive, it was for the All Things Ruler, one of the Nine Great Treasures!

"Sigh, no rush, though without Little Nine, fortunately I have backup, as long as the Corpse Ghost Buddha absorbs enough Essence Blood, it's not a big problem!"

"After waiting all these years, a little longer doesn't matter!"

After Hong Ri's Divine Sense withdrew, a little old man appeared on the All Things Ruler's surface.

With a beard longer than himself, swiftly moving across the ruler's surface, the little old man showed concern: "Why hasn't Zi Nü arrived, that blasted guy wouldn't sell me out!"

Thinking of a future host being Hong Ri, the little old man's face reflected fear.

With Hong Ri's vengeful nature, once becoming All Things Ruler's host, chances were he'd be erased, with slim hopes of suffering excruciating torment; any likelihood of a good end wasn't expected.

"No way, can't rely entirely on Zi Nü, must prepare my own backup!"

As the longest-living Supreme Treasure's Artifact Spirit, the All Things Ruler naturally possessed its own means, though how effective it would be, depended on fate.