Chapter 271: “Old Hag, do you even care whether your employees live or die?!”

"Roar—!!"

That deafening roar carried a terrifying sound wave that could almost tear a person's Divine Soul apart, sweeping through the entire ancient road paved with white bones like a hurricane.

A fierce wind blew into their faces, mixed with a sickening, aged corpse stench.

Gu Lan stood in place, feeling his eardrums sting as the Qi and blood within his body surged uncontrollably.

The soul-devouring demon sword at his waist shook like a sieve; if Gu Lan hadn't pressed down on the hilt with all his might, this good-for-nothing sword spirit would have long since shrunk back into the deepest part of the scabbard to play dead.

In the darkness, those two massive eyes, resembling blood-colored lanterns, were approaching at an oppressively fast speed.

"Thud! Thud! Thud!"

Every heavy footstep crushed the beast bones on the ground into tiny fragments.

Finally, that behemoth hidden in the darkness completely walked out of the shadows.

The moment Gu Lan saw it clearly, he couldn't help but gasp.

This thing looked way too damn hideous!

Its size was like a small hill, and its shape resembled an ancient giant ape magnified dozens of times.

However, its entire body lacked any flesh or skin, being entirely pieced together from pillar-thick black bones.

In the center of its sternum burned a cluster of nether-green ghost fire.

Furthermore, its thick arms were covered in bone spikes as sharp as blades, with dark red Evil Qi darting back and forth among them.

"Ancient tomb-guarding beast—Bone Ape."

Ye Hongzhuang stood behind Gu Lan, her cold and detached voice carrying not the slightest ripple, as if she were simply commenting on a stray dog by the roadside.

"This beast was at least a Yao King of the Nascent Soul Middle Stage during its lifetime. After death, it was refined into a tomb-guarding beast, absorbing the Death Qi of this Gods and Demons Tomb for tens of millions of years. The hardness of its Physical Body is comparable to a top-grade defensive Magic Treasure."

As she spoke, Ye Hongzhuang gracefully took two steps back, and even produced a clean silk handkerchief from goodness knows where to cover her mouth and nose, frowning in disgust.

"It stinks too much."

"Go, slaughter it.

Don't let its filthy blood splash onto this seat's clothes."

Gu Lan: "…"

What the hell…

Veins throbbed across Gu Lan's forehead as he turned his head to look resentfully at Ye Hongzhuang.

"Respected Sovereign, you aren't joking, are you?

This thing is comparable to a top-grade Magic Treasure, and you want me to go smash my head against it?"

"What?

You can't even handle a guard dog; is your Purple Extreme Golden Core made of paper?"

Ye Hongzhuang's phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, a dangerous, cold light leaking from her gaze.

"Go.

If you cannot resolve it within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, this seat will resolve you first."

Having said that, she actually tipped her toes and lightly flew up to a towering stalactite pillar to the side, sitting down to watch the show from a condescending vantage point.

"You're ruthless!"

Gu Lan gritted his back teeth, mentally greeting all eighteen generations of this Old Hag's ancestors.

Eating this soft rice is simply working for one's life every day!

"Roar!!!"

At this moment, the tomb-guarding bone ape had completely locked onto Gu Lan.

In its simple mind, there was only the instinct to tear apart all living things.

The human in front of it, radiating dense vitality and Pure Yang Qi and blood, was simply a mobile bowl of ultimate nourishing soup to it!

"Boom!"

The bone ape fiercely kicked off the ground, its massive body resembling a black meteorite carrying a whistling sound of breaking air, directly smashing down toward Gu Lan with the force of Mount Tai pressing down!

Those two huge arms covered in bone spikes were like a pair of giant iron hammers, fiercely smashing toward Gu Lan's crown.

"Well-timed!"

A flash of frantic Battle Intent crossed Gu Lan's eyes.

Since he couldn't dodge, he would meet force with force!

This old man wants to see whether your ancient bones are harder, or this old man's Pure Yang Physical Body tempered by strange fire is harder!

"Get lost for this old man!"

Instead of retreating, Gu Lan advanced. His legs exerted fierce force, and meeting the falling giant fist, he punched straight up!

He did not use the soul-devouring sword, nor did he release the strange fire.

He directly urged the ten-pattern purple extreme golden core within his Dantian.

An overbearing and peerless dark purple Devilish Qi instantly rushed into his right arm like a breached flood.

The muscles of his right arm bulged high in an instant, and his veins protruded like coiled dragons, with the peak of his fist even wrapped in a layer of substance-like purple-gold Protective Aura!

"Bang—!!!"

The two fists, one large and one small, collided fiercely in mid-air.

A teeth-aching, muffled roar exploded within the ancient road.

A visible and terrifying wave of Qi, centered on the two of them, swept crazily in all directions, directly grinding the countless bone fragments on the ground into powder!

"Crack!"

After deadlocking for less than half a breath.

On that thick arm of the bone ape, which it was so proud of and which was comparable to a top-grade Magic Treasure, a fine crack actually appeared!

Following closely, that violent purple-gold Devilish Qi traveled all the way up its arm, destroying its internal structure like a withered weed.

"Roar?!"

In the bone ape's eye sockets burning with red light, a trace of human-like astonishment flashed.

Its massive body was directly blown away by this terrifying rebound force, smashing heavily onto the rock wall dozens of zhang away, blasting out a huge deep pit as gravel rattled down.

"Holy shit, am I this fierce now?!"

Gu Lan landed on the ground, shook his somewhat numb right hand, and was himself dumbfounded.

Although he knew the ten-pattern purple extreme golden core was strong, he hadn't expected it to be strong to this extent!

Relying purely on Physical Body strength, he could actually send an ancient tomb-guarding beast of the Nascent Soul Stage flying with a direct blow!

This is simply a humanoid Tyrannosaurus!

On the high stone pillar.

Ye Hongzhuang watched this scene, a trace of imperceptible sharp light flashing in her slender phoenix eyes.

"With the foundation of the ten-pattern Golden Core, plus the Qi and blood feedback of the Top-grade Pure Yang Body, the potential of this Physical Body is probably beyond this seat's estimation."

She licked her delicate red lips, the possessiveness in the depths of her eyes growing even more intense.

"Roar—!!!"

The bone ape smashed into the rock wall was completely enraged.

It fiercely struggled free from the ruins, the nether-green ghost fire on its chest surging wildly, instantly spreading all over its body.

It opened its bloody maw, and a pitch-black Evil Qi wind, dense to the extreme and mixed with countless sharp bone spikes, spewed toward Gu Lan like a storm!

"Still pulling this trick?"

Gu Lan sneered.

Having tested out his own bottom line just now, he was not afraid of this big guy at all now.

"Shadowless Demonic Trace!"

Gu Lan's figure instantly turned into a pitch-black afterimage, shuttling like a ghost through the dense Evil Qi wind and bone spikes.

Those attacks, which were enough to shoot a Golden Core Cultivator into a sieve, couldn't even touch the corner of his clothes.

"Swish!"

In merely a single breath of time.

Gu Lan had already crossed a distance of dozens of zhang, directly appearing above the head of the bone ape.

"Big guy, I'll send you on your way!"

Murderous intent was fully revealed in Gu Lan's eyes as his right hand fiercely drew the soul-devouring demon sword from his waist.

"Clang—!!!"

The moment the sword was unsheathed, the purplish-black Devilish Qi surged ten zhang high.

Gu Lan held the sword with both hands, looking down from above, and fiercely chopped down toward the crown of the bone ape!

"Die for me!"

With this sword strike, he did not hold back at all, urging the power of the Purple Extreme Golden Core to the extreme.

The bone ape sensed a fatal threat, and it fiercely raised its arms to cross them over its head, attempting to block this strike.

"Screech—!!!"

It was as smooth as a hot knife cutting through butter.

Those two hard bone arms couldn't hold out for even half a second under the sharpness of the soul-devouring sword, being directly cleaved into two!

The remaining momentum of the sword edge did not abate, cutting open the bone ape's hard skull like a withered weed, all the way down its spine, actually splitting this behemoth into two halves with raw force!

"Rumble!"

The skeleton split into two halves collapsed with a crash, kicking up a sky full of bone powder.

And in the center of that pile of scattered bones.

A fist-sized bead emitting a dense nether-green glow was suspended in mid-air.

That was the core of the bone ape—the nether fire corpse core!

Gu Lan landed steadily and grabbed the corpse core into his hand.

Starting with an ice-cold and biting feel, it contained an extremely massive and pure energy inside.

"Good stuff!"

Gu Lan's eyes lit up; if this thing were taken to the black market to be sold, it could definitely exchange for a huge amount of Spirit Stones.

He just wanted to put the corpse core into his storage ring.

"Hand it over."

An icy-cold voice came from overhead.

Ye Hongzhuang had drifted down from the stone pillar at some unknown time, and was extending a white, jade-like hand, pausing in front of Gu Lan.

"…"

The smile on Gu Lan's face instantly froze.

Holy shit! The most vicious capitalists! I do all the fighting against monsters, and you take all the dropped equipment, right?!

"What? Reluctant to part with it?"

Ye Hongzhuang's phoenix eyes lifted slightly, her tone revealing a trace of dangerous warning.

"What is Respected Sovereign saying? This subordinate's things are Respected Sovereign's things! Although this nether fire corpse core is not bad, in Respected Sovereign's eyes it is merely garbage; this subordinate will present it to you right away!"

Gu Lan immediately switched to a flunky's smiling face, respectfully handing the corpse core over with both hands.

He couldn't afford to provoke her; he simply couldn't afford to provoke her.

If this Old Hag flipped out, a single slap could flatten him against the wall so hard he couldn't even be scraped off.

Ye Hongzhuang casually took the corpse core, didn't even look at it, and threw it straight into her storage ring.

"Performance is passable; you didn't lose face for this seat."

She turned around and continued walking deeper into the ancient road.

"Let's go, in this Gods and Demons Tomb, the good show has only just begun."

Gu Lan curled his lips in secret, shoved the soul-devouring sword back into its scabbard, and hurriedly followed.

The two walked all the way down along the ancient road paved with white bones.

The further inside they walked, the wider the surrounding space became, and the decaying, oppressive aura in the air grew heavier.

Along the way, they encountered a few more waves of demonic monsters bred by Death Qi.

But with Gu Lan, the "free hired thug", clearing the way in front, these demonic monsters couldn't even touch the corner of Ye Hongzhuang's clothes before Gu Lan neatly and efficiently resolved all of them.

Finally.

After passing through a long black corridor, the view ahead suddenly opened up.

Gu Lan stopped in his tracks, looking at the scene before him, his pupils unable to stop contracting violently.

This was not any underground cave at all!

Instead, it was an underground mausoleum unimaginably huge!

The area of the entire mausoleum was as large as a dozen football fields.

Embedded across the dome were countless night-luminescent pearls radiating a blood-colored glow, illuminating this underground space like twilight.

Surrounding the mausoleum stood one hundred and eight giant bronze pillars a hundred zhang tall.

On every single bronze pillar, an incomparably massive Yao Beast skeleton was locked with thick black iron chains.

Some looked like ancient giant dragons, some like ferocious tigers with dual wings; although they had been dead for tens of millions of years, the lingering fierce might still made one's heart palpitate with fear.

And right at the very center of the mausoleum.

It was a white-bone altar piled up from countless human skulls.

At the top of the altar was placed a huge and ferocious black throne.

Sitting upright on the throne was a corpse clad in tattered black-gold battle armor!

Although that corpse had already withered, it still maintained a posture of looking down upon the world from its lifetime.

Its right hand firmly propped up a giant heavy sword a zhang long and entirely blood-red.

An ancient demonic might, countless times more terrifying and pure than Ye Hongzhuang's, was continuously emanating from that corpse and the heavy sword, suppressing the entire underground mausoleum!

"Found it."

Ye Hongzhuang stood at the entrance of the mausoleum, looking at the corpse on the throne, her deep phoenix eyes bursting forth with an unprecedented fanatical glow.

"This is the remains of the First Generation Demon Lord of the Heavenly Demon Palace!"

"That sword… is the legendary number one divine weapon of the Demonic Path, the 'weeping blood demonic blade'!"

Gu Lan's eyelids twitched wildly upon hearing this.

The remains of the First Generation Demon Lord?!

No wonder the Devilish Qi in this place was dense enough to drive a person crazy.

"Respected Sovereign, we're not going to touch that ancestor's relics, are we?"

Gu Lan swallowed a mouthful of saliva and asked in a low voice.

This damn thing looked like a massive killing Formation at a glance!

Those one hundred and eight bronze pillars and Yao Beast skeletons were clearly a protective Formation.

Rushing in just like that would definitely get them blasted into scum!

"Nonsense."

Ye Hongzhuang turned her head and gave him a cold glance.

"Did this seat spend so much effort entering this Gods and Demons Tomb just to come here for sightseeing?"

"In that 'weeping blood demonic blade', the ancient Demon Lord's purest Origin demonic blood is contained. As long as I obtain it, this seat will be able to Breakthrough the shackles of the Soul Transformation Stage and step into the legendary Void Refining realm!"

She pointed at the white-bone altar, her tone unquestionable.

"Gu Lan, go."

"Pull out that sword for this seat!"

Gu Lan: "…"

I just knew it!

This Old Hag brought me here just to make me walk through the minefield!

"Respected Sovereign, there's definitely a Formation up there…"

Gu Lan still wanted to struggle a bit.