Chapter 49: The Corpse-Locking Array, Suppressing a Corpse King?

Four minutes later.

Guided by the peach tree spirit, they arrived at their destination.

The entrance to the cave was very narrow.
It was only wide enough for a single person to pass through.
Any large beast would be unable to get inside.
It seemed likely that crustal movements had squeezed the cave entrance and made it smaller.

Through the entrance, several evil artifacts and magic items could be clearly seen lying on the ground.
Further in lay a skeleton.
A peach wood sword was stabbed right into the skeleton's body.
The bones were pitch black, clearly not belonging to a normal human.

"This person was an evil cultivator. Even his bones are black, though who knows what kind of wicked arts he practiced.
Still, he must have been extremely powerful; all these years have passed, yet his skeleton hasn't weathered away."
Mu Rusue said, looking at the jet-black skeleton.

"It looks like a fierce battle took place inside this cave. These evil artifacts and magic items probably all belonged to the people who died here.
As for their owners, they've likely turned into a pile of dust by now." Qin Feng said.

In fact, it wasn't hard to guess.
There were marks left by fighting on the cave walls.
And the black skeleton had a peach wood sword driven into it.
Surely he hadn't stabbed himself.

"You two wait for me outside. I'll go check what kind of array and restrictions are set up at the entrance."
Mu Rusue stepped forward and walked toward the entrance.

Just as she approached the entrance,
"Whoosh!"
A golden light rose up.

Mu Rusue passed right through the golden light without suffering any harm.
This golden light was not meant to target humans, but rather demons and evil spirits.
When she took another step forward,
Her body trembled, and she suddenly froze in place.

Her expression shifted—sometimes pained, sometimes joyful, and at other times furious.
It looked like she had fallen into an illusion.

"Auntie!"
Qin Feng called out, but Mu Rusue gave no response.

"There must be an illusion array at the entrance. Your aunt has fallen into the hallucinations created by it." The peach tree spirit explained.
Aside from an illusion array, it couldn't think of any other possibility.

"I wonder if Auntie will be able to break out of the illusion array."
Qin Feng frowned, his face full of worry.

After waiting for about two minutes,
Mu Rusue suddenly opened her eyes.
Then, she tore down a yellow talisman hidden on the stone wall.
Next, she removed a Bagua mirror hanging at the entrance.

"Feng'er, it's done. You guys can come over now."
Mu Rusue turned around and said to Qin Feng.

"Let's go!"
Qin Feng immediately led the peach tree spirit over.

"Auntie, are you alright?"
Qin Feng asked with concern as he reached Mu Rusue's side.

"I'm fine. Just a mere illusion array, it couldn't do anything to your aunt." Mu Rusue chuckled.
Only, the look she gave Qin Feng became somewhat bashful.

Two minutes had passed in reality.
Yet twenty years had passed within the illusion array.

The illusions generated by the array were based on the entrant's own memories.
In the illusion, she had witnessed members of the Taoist sect kill Qin Feng right before her eyes.
Just as she realized it was all an illusion, the scene shifted again.
She found herself in ancient times, dressed in bridal robes, and the man marrying her was none other than Qin Feng.

Thus,
she lived in that illusion for twenty years, and even gave birth to a son and a daughter.
In the end,
Qin Feng was bitten to death by a zombie, transforming into a monster that only knew bloodlust and slaughter.
Qin Feng killed their son and daughter, and then prepared to turn on her.
Overwhelmed with grief,
whether because she was too deep in the illusion or not, her Dao heart nearly shattered, and her soul was on the verge of sinking into oblivion.
Fortunately, she reacted in time,
remembering that Qin Feng was still outside and everything here was fake, which allowed her to shatter the illusion.

Though an illusion array seemed harmless to humans and animals alike, it was actually far more terrifying than a killing array.
A moment of carelessness would trap you in hallucinations from which you could never escape.
Because it would craft illusions based on your inner desires or deepest hatreds to bewitch your mind.

"Auntie, what did you experience in the illusion array just now? I saw you looking sad one moment and happy the next." Qin Feng asked out of curiosity.

"Oh, stop asking. It was nothing."
Mu Rusue's face turned red with embarrassment.

"Really nothing?"
Qin Feng looked at Mu Rusue suspiciously.

"Alright, let's hurry up and gather all the magic items and evil artifacts on the ground. These are all good things!"
Mu Rusue changed the subject.
Then, she carefully walked over to the black skeleton.
Seeing no danger, she pulled out the peach wood sword stuck in the skeleton.

The sword was carved with talismanic scripts resembling little tadpoles; at a glance, it was clearly no ordinary item.

"It's a high-grade magic artifact! I didn't expect us to find a high-grade magic artifact just as we entered the cave." Mu Rusue said, her face filled with excitement.

Magic items were divided into four tiers:
Primary magic items, intermediate magic items, high-grade magic items, and top-tier magic items.
The higher the tier, the greater the power.
For instance, Fengyang’s binding rope was an intermediate magic item.
To him, an intermediate magic item was exceptionally precious.
That was why
he hadn't wanted his binding rope to be destroyed by Qin Feng.
As for high-grade magic items, even major sects didn't possess very many of them.
And top-tier magic items were treasures of the sect, hardly ever used casually.

"That's great, Auntie! You can switch to a much more powerful weapon now!" Qin Feng said with a smile.

"Yeah, I can."
Mu Rusue gazed at the peach wood sword, unable to put it down.

The peach tree spirit was also excitedly picking up the evil artifacts on the ground.
It couldn't use magic items, but evil artifacts were fair game.

"We're rich, we're rich! So many evil artifacts!"
Like a miser who could no longer hold any more, the peach tree spirit still clutched a pile of evil artifacts tightly to its chest.

"Cut it out. You can't use this many evil artifacts anyway. Just pick a few that suit you." Qin Feng glanced at the peach tree spirit and said.

"So we're just leaving the rest behind?" the peach tree spirit asked.

"Of course not. Put them together first. Who knows, maybe one day my zombie army will be able to use weapons just like me, and we can just give these evil artifacts to them." Qin Feng said.

"Fine."
The peach tree spirit selected two evil artifacts and piled the rest aside.
Those two evil artifacts were a long sword and a black umbrella.

Mu Rusue, on the other hand, chose quite a few magic items.
Among them were intermediate-grade items like a soul-capturing bell, a Bagua mirror, a seal, and a writing brush.

"Feng'er, aren't you going to pick one?" Mu Rusue looked at Qin Feng.

"No, I don't like any of these evil artifacts." Qin Feng shook his head.
He already had his black long sword.
Unless it was something he truly loved, he wouldn't choose it.
Right now, he preferred to go without rather than settle for subpar items.

"Alright then, let's keep going inside and take a look. There might be even better things further in."
Mu Rusue walked in the front, her nerves tense, fully prepared to attack or retreat at a moment's notice.
The cave had witnessed a fierce battle, and the entrance had arrays and restrictions—who knew what other dangers lurked within?

The further they went inside, the more humid the air became.
The fight marks on the cave walls also grew more distinct.
Before long,
dense and intricate talismans appeared all over the cave walls.
Every single meter, a Yin-Yang Bagua mirror was installed on the wall.

"This is the Nine Heavens Corpse-Locking and Demon-Subduing Array from the Supreme Celestial Master's inherited memories!"
Mu Rusue's expression darkened, a look of solemnity crossing her eyes.
"This array is specifically designed to suppress and seal corpses. Could it be that deep inside this cave, a terrifying corpse king is being suppressed?"

"Could the group of dead Taoist disciples and evil cultivators outside have come here specifically to fight over this corpse king?" Qin Feng guessed.

"That's entirely possible. Those evil cultivators love refining corpses into puppets.
If what's being suppressed here is a powerful corpse king, they would definitely come to fight for it.
As for you, Little Feng, you must be careful from now on. Try not to let evil cultivators find out about your abilities if you can help it." Mu Rusue said with a serious expression.

"But Fengyang and the other two already know about my abilities." Qin Feng smiled bitterly.

"They won't spread your abilities around, at most they'll report it to their sect.
And their sect will have to classify the matter as a top sect secret; after all, they wouldn't want you to be caught by evil cultivators and refined into a puppet." Mu Rusue said with absolute certainty.
As a Taoist sect disciple, she understood the mindset of Taoist practitioners all too well.

"So should we still go in?"
The peach tree spirit asked from the side.

"In! We are definitely going in!!
If a terrifying corpse king really is suppressed here, it probably masters corpse techniques.
So many years have passed; no matter how strong this corpse king once was, having been suppressed for this long, its strength is probably less than one ten-millionth of its prime." Mu Rusue said decisively.

"Corpse techniques!"
Qin Feng's heart gave a violent leap.
He had previously heard from his aunt that demons had demon arts, ghosts had ghost skills, and corpses had corpse techniques.
Whether it was demon arts, ghost skills, or corpse techniques, they all seemed immensely powerful.
Although he could already use Taoist spells, nobody would ever complain about having too many tricks up their sleeve.
Just like a wealthy person with a five-figure bank balance would never complain about having too much money.