Chapter 168: Coral Command

Shang Xia had been through countless tribulations. However, that was the first time he felt so helpless.

If not for Ji Wenlong stopping the rank five undead corpse for a second, Shang Xia would have already been dead.

Slowly regaining his wit, Shang Xia propped himself up from the ground. His gaze landed on the blade that was stabbed into the ground.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

The blade had already severed part of the formation, but the strange thing was, it would only malfunction when he pulled out the blade!

When he finally regained some of his energy, Shang Xia started to inspect the region around the blade. He could tell that the grand formation was still working as the heaven and earth qi in the air could still flow through the blade as its medium.

In other words, the material that made up the blade was extremely special. It could guide the flow of heaven and earth qi!

What a damn coincidence…

When Shang Xia was still stuck in a state of shock, he started to regret his actions. He shouldn’t have retrieved the blade previously. Now, everyone knew of his existence!

Whatever was done was done. He couldn’t forget the purpose of his trip. However, before doing anything, Shang Xia decided to search Zhu Ying’s corpse. Grabbing the dead man’s Embroidered Cloud Case, Shang Xia realized that it was even better than his own! Zhu Ying’s Embroidered Cloud Case could contain three cubic feet worth of space!

Looking through everything inside, Shang Xia realized that it was packed to the brim with goodies. However, a look of disappointment soon appeared on his face.

He didn’t find any of the treasures belonging to either Liu Jitang or the other Martial Extermination Realm expert in Zhu Ying’s spatial artifact!

The two of them were clearly beaten to death by the rank five undead corpse, and Zhu Ying was the first to arrive. How could he not have searched through their bodies?

Shang Xia looked around carefully, but there wasn’t a need to mention their remaining treasures. Even their corpses were nowhere to be seen!

“Did their items turn into dust after they were killed by the undead corpse? Did it eat their bodies too? Is that why everything is gone?!” Shang XIa muttered to himself.

A chill ran down Shang Xia’s spine when he thought about their gruesome end. However, when he recalled that all the treasures they brought with them were gone too, the discomfort he felt when thinking about their gruesome fate disappeared. One had to know that Liu Jitang and the other Martial Extermination Realm expert were at the peak of the power pyramid when they entered the Coral Forest. They were also the first to enter the Zhu Family Manor.

Even if he used his buttocks to think, he would realize that they gained the most during their trip!

Zhu Ying might be able to sneak in some benefits for himself with his advantage of being a member of the Zhu Family, but there was no way he would have gathered more treasures than the two of them. After all, the disparity in strength was too large!

Even after he entered the Martial Intent Realm, he was still far from their match! Anyway, they already died when he entered the Martial Intent Realm…

Everything he obtained previously were things Liu Jitang couldn’t be bothered with. However, judging from Zhu Ying’s intelligence, he probably didn’t realize it. He was probably congratulating himself for being smarter than Liu Jitang! Alas, everything he did fell into Shang Xia’s hands.

“Why didn’t the undead corpse attack Zhu Ying anyway? Hmm, it probably has something to do with his bloodline and his Vermillion Plaque…” Shang Xia thought out loud. “From his actions, he probably has a way to control the undead corpses. However, it probably has some pretty serious limitations. If I didn’t guess wrongly, he should be able to control undead corpses whose cultivation level doesn’t exceed his own!”

“Is there another possibility that the rank five undead corpse managed to retain some of its own memory?” Shang Xia’s expression turned solemn. He recalled the expression on the undead corpse’s face when the spatial door opened earlier. It ignored Ji Wenlong completely in order to grab a mere Martial Extermination Realm cultivator like Shang Xia!

How could an undead corpse reveal an expression like that? Moreover, why would an undead corpse be angry if it hadn’t regained some sort of consciousness?

Was it angry that Shang Xia managed to sneak deep into his territory?

Shang Xia stared at the bronze gate in the distance and saw the blood leaking out from Zhu Ying’s brain. Could that be the reason?

If his guesses were true, things weren’t looking good for Shang Xia. After all, that would mean that he was a target for a rank five undead corpse!

He was struck speechless for a long time. Only when he realized that scaring himself wasn’t the best plan did he wake up from his shock.

An idea flashed through his mind all of a sudden. He placed all of Zhu Ying’s treasures into his own Embroidered Cloud Case before stuffing Zhu Ying’s body into his own Embroidered Cloud Case. Next, he finally cleaned away any signs of battle and Zhu Ying’s bloodstains.

When he was done, his gaze turned to the tiny mountain not too far away from him.

From the looks of it, the Coral Forest would shift when the tiny mountain was affected. Also, Shang Xia saw Zhu Ying carefully reaching for it when he arrived, and he knew that the tiny mountain was definitely some sort of important object. It might be the key to controlling the entire region!

Walking over slowly, a trace of suspicion could be seen on Shang Xia’s face. He eventually chose to reach for it.

The instant he touched it, a frighteningly strong suction power came from within.

Shang Xia’s expression changed and he forced himself to remain calm. He transformed his Yin Yang Essence Qi to light and heavy qi before allowing it to be sucked into the tiny mountain.

The tyrannical suction power was reduced by a whole lot, and the tiny mountain started to rotate slightly faster.

At the same time, the formation on the ground lit up as the surrounding heaven and earth qi started to gather around the item. They formed four giant screens. Each screen displayed the scene in one of the four special regions of the Coral Forest.