Chapter 87

At some point, a layer of gray mist rose from the basin, enveloping the sky and casting a gloom over the land. The twilight sun could no longer penetrate into the basin, and the sky turned dark, as if the heavens were pressing down, creating an endless sense of oppression. The dense forest within the basin took on a ghostly and sinister atmosphere.

The trees in the basin were already tall and lush, and with the added darkness, it felt as if night had fallen. In the depths of the forest, faint green ghostly flames seemed to flicker, as if a chilling and sinister force was enveloping the entire basin.

"Be careful! Stay on guard!" The guards cried out in alarm. After the unfortunate guard was dragged into the ground by a bone claw that suddenly emerged, everyone was shocked, their hair standing on end.

Zhong Bo, dressed in a green robe, scanned the surroundings with a serious expression. His eyes shot out rays of light, like stars in the night sky, and a powerful aura emanated from him. At this moment, the ordinary old man was no longer ordinary.

The two maidservants, Xiao Cui and Xiao Yue, were terrified by the sudden turn of events, their faces pale with fear. They clutched their long swords tightly, nervously watching the surroundings.

Dozens of guards in brocade uniforms, armed with weapons, formed a circle, tense and on guard, slowly retreating along the path they had come. The guards of the Huo Tian Merchant Group were well-trained and did not panic even when they entered this place of great danger.

But at that moment, the ground around them suddenly began to undulate like waves. A scene that shocked everyone to the core unfolded as a skeleton struggled to stand up from the bone and soil beneath. The white skeleton was relatively intact, and what was astonishing was that it was moving, as if it had a life of its own. It stretched out its skeletal arms and lunged at the group.

The bone claws, like ten sharp bone spines, would create ten bloody holes if they made contact with flesh.

"Xiao Cui, Xiao Yue, take the others and retreat," Zhong Bo said in a deep voice. He stepped forward, and a fierce force immediately surged from his feet, causing the ground to tremble. "Boom!" The skeleton that lunged at the group was instantly thrown back and disintegrated into hundreds of pieces, scattering in all directions.

The other skeletons that were breaking through the soil and crawling out were also shattered or suppressed and crushed into fragments by the soil.

This martial artist of the secular world displayed his formidable strength. Although he had not mastered the true essence of martial arts, his strength was comparable to that of a cultivator at the third level of the Awakening Realm.

Unfortunately, his cultivation could only go so far in this life and could not advance further.

Without receiving true teachings, Zhong Bo had managed to strengthen his body with basic martial techniques, which was truly exceptional.

After all, only those who truly touched the threshold of martial arts could be called true experts. The guards, on the other hand, merely knew some combat techniques. Even though they were much stronger than ordinary people, to true experts, they were just flashy and superficial.

Martial arts had declined, and the deeper aspects had long been lost. The "martial arts" widely practiced in the world only had the "form" but lacked the inner "spirit." No matter how refined the external techniques were, they only served to strengthen the body.

Zhong Bo's step shattered dozens of skeletons emerging from the ground. Then, he punched forward, and a powerful fist force surged out. The sound of bones cracking echoed continuously, and dozens of skeletons that lunged at the group were immediately thrown back and disintegrated in the air, showering the ground with white bones. The scene was extremely shocking.

"Roar!"

"Kill!"

"Fight to the death!"

In an instant, the dozens of guards in the circle roared and swung their weapons, engaging in close combat with the skeletons. The forest was immediately filled with the flash of blades and the cold light reflecting off the weapons.

"Thud!" A skeleton was split in two by a sword, its bones scattering on the ground.

"Bang!" A skull was smashed away, and it crashed into the chest of another skeleton, lodging itself there. The skeleton was then kicked apart by someone.

The skeletons were not as terrifying and powerful as imagined, and the fear in the guards' hearts quickly dissipated. They became invigorated, shouting and fiercely swinging their weapons, hacking and slashing at the skeletons. Soon, the ground was covered with broken bones and shattered skulls.

The group slowly moved toward the edge of the forest, but more skeletons continued to emerge from the ground. It seemed that a mysterious force was enveloping the basin, summoning the bones of the dead from the earth.

In the forest, ghostly shadows flickered, and the skeletons did not all emerge from the ground; some walked out from the depths of the forest.

The sound of bones grinding together, "crack," "crack," was bone-chilling. No one could remain unafraid when surrounded by hundreds of skeletons that should have been buried in the earth.

"Shh!" Xiao Cui pierced a skeleton's skull with her sword, her face pale, and said to Zhong Bo, "What should we do? These ghostly things seem endless!"

"Ah!" At that moment, a tall guard was grabbed by a skeleton's sharp claws and dragged out of the circle.

"Help! I don't want to die!" The guard frantically swung his single-edged sword, shattering the skeleton that dragged him into the group of skeletons. He tried to rush back to the group, but suddenly, a bloody bone claw pierced through his chest from behind.

Blood spurted from his mouth, and his eyes instantly lost their light. Then, the guard was pounced on by the skeletons from all sides, torn into pieces, and the scene was extremely bloody.

All of this happened in a split second, and by the time the others tried to save him, it was too late.

"Send a signal to call for reinforcements from nearby," Zhong Bo said, his eyes red. This guard unit that followed Ling Luoyan was personally trained by him, and each member was an elite, not inferior to veterans who had survived countless battles.

"Yes!" Xiao Yue immediately pulled out a signal flare from her pocket, lit the fuse, and "Boom!" a fist-sized fireball shot up into the sky, piercing through the layer of gray mist over the basin. With a loud explosion, the fireball burst in the air, dozens of feet above.

A burst of flames, like a brilliant firework, appeared in the sky. Even in the twilight, when the world was still bright, the light from the flames was extremely noticeable and did not fade quickly.

Especially the loud explosion, which could be heard clearly within dozens of miles. The designer of this signal flare seemed to have considered the possibility of use during the day. Even if the flames in the sky could not be seen, the sound could still be heard.

The sound traveled dozens of miles, and people nearby would gather toward the source of the sound.

"Whoo... Whoo..." At that moment, a ghostly and chilling sound echoed from the depths of the basin, lingering in the forest, intermittent and unpredictable, like the sound of death from hell.

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