Chapter 5

As Zhu Jiu stepped through the dark portal on the ground that connected to the demon corpse world, he instantly felt a bone-chilling cold that seemed to freeze his soul, making it difficult for his thoughts to function normally.

When he regained consciousness, he found himself standing on a vast, boundless plain. The ground and sky were a dark gray, deep and oppressive, with a heavy, deathly aura and a foul, pungent smell permeating the air.

The hard, gray-brown ground was crisscrossed with deep marks, as if carved by powerful weapons.

Zhu Jiu turned around alertly. The rippling void behind him slowly returned to normal, and he suddenly realized that he must have been transported through the void.

Not far from his line of sight, there was a wolf-like demon creature. It was hairless, with hollow eyes, and a pale red soul fire burning fiercely within. Its black-brown skin was tightly adhered to its bones, with sharp teeth and claws, looking emaciated and terrifying.

In the distance, he could see more demon corpses, each with different forms, some fierce and ugly, others majestic and powerful. He never imagined that the demon corpses would be so densely distributed.

These terrifying creatures were all filled with a thick, deathly aura, their eye sockets glowing with red soul fire. They must have been animated corpses that had been nurtured by a century of corpse qi.

The wolf-like corpse soldier closest to Zhu Jiu was baring its fangs and slowly turning around.

Zhu Jiu cursed inwardly, feeling extremely unlucky. Not only had he encountered a demon corpse upon arrival, but he was also in an open plain with few places to hide.

The wolf-like demon corpse was about ten zhang away, and the danger was imminent. Although Zhu Jiu was startled, he remained calm. He guessed that these corpse soldiers were far stronger than ordinary humans, so direct confrontation would be unwise. As his thoughts raced, he leaped into a trench about two to three meters deep to take cover.

Landing silently, he quickly opened the item box he had received before entering the demon corpse world, which was now his only hope for survival.

Zhu Jiu grabbed the instruction sheet inside the box and scanned it. It listed the functions of the various items, and one line read "Invisibility Pill." Zhu Jiu was delighted to see this.

He quickly found a wax-sealed red pill in the box, broke the seal, and swallowed it.

He then quietly squatted at the bottom of the trench, regulating his breathing to slow his racing heart.

The instructions stated that this pill was designed to exploit the fact that demon corpses lack eyes and rely on their soul fire to sense prey. It rapidly diminishes the yang qi of humans, masking their presence from the demon corpses, hence the name "Invisibility Pill."

The wolf-like corpse soldier quickly approached, lingering nearby for a while, seemingly puzzled by the sudden disappearance of the yang qi it had sensed. With its simple intelligence, it couldn't understand why.

After a thorough search yielded nothing, the black-brown wolf corpse turned and quickly left.

Zhu Jiu slowly opened his eyes, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, relieved by the temporary safety. He then carefully read the remaining content on the instruction sheet and muttered to himself:

"This place doesn't prohibit killing, including the ambush and murder of other young participants in the assessment. It's truly a lawless place. The red-souled corpses are divided into several types based on their combat power. The most common are those that fight with their bodies, impervious to blades and spears. Next are those that wield partial soul weapons, which are relatively rare, with bow and arrow types being the most powerful. Hmm! Finally, it mentions that among the demon corpses, there are one-in-a-million spell-casting demon corpses, the kings of their kind. Heh heh!"

He then examined the other items in the box. Inside was a blood-red sword about a foot long, two soul-stabilizing green coppers, one invisibility pill that Zhu Jiu had already taken, and a palm-sized hexagonal metal object used to return after completing the assessment.

The instructions stated that the blood-red sword was called a Corpse-Slaying Sword, a basic cultivation tool. By inscribing the mysterious rune from his mind's sea onto the sword with a blood spirit pen, the sword would gain the ability to cut through the bodies of red-souled corpse soldiers that had been nurtured by a century of death qi. It was intended as a last resort for disciples in danger.

The instructions also detailed the process and principles of capturing demon corpses. The soul-stabilizing green coppers carried the complete soul aura of the inscriber, which was fatally attractive to these soulless demon corpses.

By using the mind's sea rune to guide the green copper close to a chosen demon corpse, the red-souled corpse would absorb it into its soul fire, merging it with its own. If the corpse successfully communicated with the inscriber after absorbing the green copper, it would become a loyal servant of the inscriber.

Zhu Jiu now understood that each person's soul aura was unique, and the mind's sea runes they created were also different. As their knowledge and cultivation power grew, their mind's sea runes would become more complete, allowing them to control more advanced demon corpses.

In addition to the green copper already inscribed for the assessment, the other two soul-stabilizing green coppers were for backup. If all three green coppers were wasted and he still failed to acquire a corpse servant, he would be eliminated.

After understanding the item descriptions, Zhu Jiu immediately took action. He took out the evil spirit pen he carried with him, grabbed the blood-red sword, and activated the mind's sea rune, quickly inscribing it on the sword.

When the last stroke was completed, a blood-red glow appeared on the sword, extending from the tip to about two feet, making the sword over three feet long in total.

Zhu Jiu examined the strange long sword, thinking to himself:

"This thing is probably similar to the talisman sword in our Xiangxi corpse-driving technique, which has a special killing power against corpses. I wonder if there are talisman swords in this world. I should try to make one when I get the chance."

He reached for the chest area, intending to remove the ancestral corpse mirror that protected his reincarnation from his neck to examine its mysterious properties. However, he decided to hold off, suspecting that his every move might be monitored during the assessment.

He cautiously peeked out of the shallow pit and saw no red-souled corpses within ten zhang. He then leaped out of the pit.

Not far ahead stood a human-shaped skeleton with white, lustrous bones and a pale red soul fire burning in its skull. This was an initial-level skeleton corpse soldier.

He slowly approached the skeleton, which slowly turned its white skull, apparently checking for other soul fire fluctuations to select prey. It turned in Zhu Jiu's direction but did not stop, eventually choosing another direction and walking away.

Zhu Jiu stood where he was, smiling. The Invisibility Pill seemed to be working well, with a three-day effect. He needed to make the most of his time.

He began walking on the gray-brown ground, gradually moving deeper into the plain, searching for his first demon corpse.

The plain was filled with raw, brutal survival of the fittest, with battles raging everywhere.

Zhu Jiu saw that almost every inch of land had been ravaged by battles. Red-souled corpses with deeper soul fire colors continuously hunted and devoured weaker counterparts, tirelessly and without pause.

The demon corpses came in all shapes and sizes. Zhu Jiu mentally categorized them: some were mummy-like with withered muscles, others were clean skeletons, and the most disgusting were those with dried, putrid flesh.

There were animal, human, and even plant-like demon corpses. Most had strong physical bodies, impervious to blades and spears. As for the spell-casting demon corpses mentioned in the instructions, he had yet to see any.

Zhu Jiu hoped to find a spell-casting demon corpse as his first corpse servant.

As he continued walking, he suddenly saw a fierce battle ahead, which seemed quite significant.