Chapter 657: Departed Spirit Road

The thick mist that engulfed the island’s sky dissipated at an unknown time. Golden sun rays penetrated the clouds and shone upon the palace gate, which had collapsed. Sun rays shone upon the outside, but a chilly wind still blew frequently in the deep palace, accompanied by muffled roars.

This was eerie and strange!

With his eyes, Yang Ling followed Richardson and his companions, who left before he summoned a group of Horned Bee Beasts. He ordered them to inspect the vicinity’s terrain and ascertain that nothing unusual occurred. Soon after, he followed a group of wanderers and entered the eerie palace. He took every step carefully and ordered the Corpse Wizard King, Ophelia, and others to form the Demon God Battle Formation. They walked inside cautiously.

He didn’t know what treasures were hidden in the Demon Palace, and he didn’t know the terror of the Black-Horned Demon, who had already awakened. But after he saw the great experts of Algernon Divine Branch, Longbarton Divine Branch, and other great factions that arrived there, Yang Ling realized that this matter was anything but simple. Even if there was a rare treasure in the Demon Palace, it wouldn’t be had by any person. If he wasn’t careful, he might not just fail to get the treasure. He might lose his life!

There was a soccer-field-like plaza in front of the great gate, with many unfathomable passages ahead of it. Each passage also had many winding side roads. This seemed like a labyrinth that was accessible from all directions, and the numerous wanderers chose to walk through different passages. They quickly disappeared among the eerie passages.

“Lord, where should we go?” the Blood Angel Ophelia asked.

When the Corpse Wizard King saw the identical side roads and detected the Death Aura and Energy Ripples in the air, he furrowed his brows. This unfathomable palace gave him a bad feeling. It had a dead atmosphere and was filled with resentment, as if a large number of dead people were buried in the depths of the palace.

“Lord, I have always felt that something was amiss with this palace,” the Blood Angel Ophelia continued. “The Death Energy is unusually dense, and even if I cast a Detection Spell, I can’t inspect the state of this palace’s depths. If I’m not guessing wrong, it’s surely protected by an Ancient Magical Formation Spell with a large scope.” The Blood Angel Ophelia fought in innumerable Materialistic Planes and thus had rich experience. She noticed quickly and keenly the Demon Palace’s peculiarities.

The palace’s interior was lifeless and eerie, and people wouldn’t dare to lower their guard here. But, what was truly strange was that the farther they were from the large gate, the lower their Divine Consciousness’s detection scope became. Even though the offensive and defensive powers of the Corpse Wizard King and Ophelia were raised greatly upon forming the Demon God Battle Formation, they still didn’t dare take this carelessly.

“Let’s go to the large road in the middle. Even if there are strong demons in the way, they would have already been killed by other people,” Yang Ling said. He closed his eyes and observed with his senses the Energy Ripples in the air before opening his eyes and leading the crowd toward the central passage.

He wanted to ambush the arrogant Dio in the Demon Palace and kill him. This was why Yang Ling had stealthily left a Soul Imprint on him. His Divine Consciousness was weakened greatly in the Demon Palace, but he could still depend upon his intense Soul Energy to detect, if only vaguely, Dio’s approximate location.

The road was very broad. Ten people could walk on it shoulder to shoulder. On the way, they frequently saw side roads. They were gloomy, and it was unknown where they would take them. The ground was made out of black slabs, and many mysterious symbols were carved on them. The walls on either side were black and cold to the touch. It seemed like they were smeared with black glue, or dyed with unusual black paint.

Black, stifling, and gloomy!

There were some small crystals embedded in the walls, separated by a certain distance. Their light was faint, and they gave off a stifling feeling. The vision of the Corpse Wizard King, Ophelia, and others was affected greatly by this environment. This was the same for Horned Bee Beasts, which explored the path. This was why Yang Ling summoned a group of Vampire Bats as an extra precaution.

The Vampire Bats weren’t like Horned Bee Beasts. They depended mainly on sound waves to identify obstructions or pinpoint an enemy’s location. Even if the region was so dark that one couldn’t see his own finger, the bats could still manage to quickly pinpoint the location and size of moving objects. In a sense, it could be said that they were like the piranhas, which depended on ripples to attack enemies, achieving the same effect but in a different way.

Swoosh!

The numerous Vampire Bats commanded by Yang Ling separated from the group and started exploring the path. The crowd advanced at a higher speed thanks to the weird scouts, and they quickly closed in on Algernon Divine Branch’s group. Dio’s Soul Ripples also gradually became more distinct.

In a way, they didn’t see just wanderers who traveled with them. They still frequently saw little horned demons as tall as an ordinary human, with a pair of wings on their backs and forks in their hands. They were smaller than Abyssal Demons by manyfold, but their offensive power wasn’t any lower. In fact, it was higher by a tad. However, Algernon Divine Branch, Longbarton Divine Branch, and other large factions at the front wiped them out, and most of the flying demons were killed. Even their Godheads were already taken out by people.

“Even if they don’t have Godheads, it’s still pretty good to refine and absorb their souls.” Yang Ling stretched his hand to refine and absorb the soul of the last flying demon. He could detect his Soul Energy increase wisp by wisp, and he couldn’t help but chuckle. After he had done so, he led the crowd onward.

Along the way, he absorbed the souls of one hundred flying demons and managed to make large gains without putting in much effort. Godheads were no longer important to him. They could only help High-Level Magical Beasts advance into the God-Level. But souls were a different matter, because they could speed up his Wizard Spells’ practice and also strengthen the power of his Soul Wizard Spells.

“Well? Is there a team of flying demons that slipped by?” Yang Ling thought. When he turned a corner, he stopped suddenly. The Vampire Bats at the front transmitted a certain piece of news. A group of flying demons swiftly pounced at them from a side road, and they all held forks that shone with cold light.

Swoosh!

The winged demons were quite swift and flew like shells. They seemed like a group of locusts flying at them. Their number reached one hundred, and they were headed by a demon who held a large fork and wore black heavy armor. It seemed like this was a Demon Leader.

“Death Ripples!”

The Corpse Wizard King responded swiftly and attacked without waiting for Yang Ling’s instructions. He instantly fused his Soul Energy with Ophelia, the Giant Ape King, and others before launching Death Ripples. In an instant, the air became filled with ripples, and those ripples flew toward the flying demons like waves. Each wave was higher than the other and let out a sizzling noise.

Sizzle!

The flying demons were very swift, but the Corpse Wizard King’s Death Ripples were swifter. They instantly entered the demons’ bodies and caught them off-guard. The tens of flying demons at the front who bore the attack’s brunt fell on the ground, holding their heads as they rolled around. Even the Demon Leader let out a miserable scream and seemed on the verge of collapse.

The legendary Master Divine Weapon of Death, the Death Horn, released terrifying power in the hands of the Corpse Wizard King.

“Ah! Rush over and kill them. Kill them!” the Demon Leader shouted. After letting out a miserable scream, he flew into a rage and rushed recklessly along with a large group of demons. He tried to use their numerical advantage to kill Yang Ling and the other invaders so that they could buy more time for the Black-Horned Demon to recover his power.

The Burning Fire Elf King muttered for a moment before bravely stepping forward. “Blazing Fire Domain!” He waved his hand and released a large amount of flames. He sealed the whole passage, and the swift-flying demons, who couldn’t retreat in time, were devoured by the flames. They were instantly burned and let out loud cries. Their bodies were instantly charred, and their brows, hair, clothes and even their wings started burning.

If this scene was observed from afar, the demons would seem like moths that flew into a flame. They suffered disastrous casualties!

In the last period of the battle, as the crowd comprehended further the Demon God Battle Formation, the Burning Fire Elf King’s offensive power turned higher, and he could instantly fuse his power with the crowd. The Blazing Fire Demon’s power turned higher than before by manyfold, and even the ground and meteorites could quickly be melted by its high temperature. The terror his flames’ power created from this could be easily imagined.

As the crowd’s power turned higher, and they comprehended further the Demon God Battle Formation, the demons started revealing their malevolent claws and teeth. In the future, the Magical Beast Divine Branch would sweep all Planes and all experts would flee at the mere mention of its name. This Magical Beast Divine Branch was developing quickly!

“Ah!” After the Demon Leader let out a miserable scream, he led the remaining flying demons and rushed out of the terrifying flames by force. He escaped quickly into a side road in the vicinity and depended upon his knowledge of the terrain to disappear instantly. They had lost half of their men before they closed in on the enemies. Even if the Demon Leader’s reaction time was slow, he still realized that they had run into a powerful foe. He realized that ordinary demons couldn’t deal with Yang Ling’s group.

“Their power isn’t high, but they are quite swift. They disappeared instantly,” the Corpse Wizard King said as he cast Corpse Explosion. He bombarded several flying demons, who were still struggling among the flames, and tore them into shreds. At first, he assumed that he would get to take one hundred Godheads. He hadn’t expected the enemies to be as sly as Siberian Rabbits. They slipped away and escaped quickly!

“Those little demons are present everywhere, and we won’t manage to exterminate them all no matter how much we kill,” Yang Ling said. “Let’s go and not waste time here.” Yang Ling instructed the Burning Fire Elf King to extinguish the large flames before he extended out his hand and started absorbing the demons’ souls one by one. Soon after, he advanced with large strides and sped up. He shortened the distance between him and the great factions.

The passage was covered with symbols, and it seemed like a boundless spatial tunnel. It also had many winding roads like a labyrinth. There were all sorts of side roads, and they were innumerable. But, Yang Ling depended upon the Soul Imprint he left on Dio, and he chased after them along with the crowd. He shortened the distance between them and followed the groups quietly. They waited patiently for a chance to attack!

Along the way, they ran into more flying demons, which would frequently rush out of the dark side roads. They launched sharp attacks, and many wanderers were caught off-guard. In addition, the flying demons had a numerical advantage, and because of this, many wanderers were stabbed to death by the numerous demons’ forks. However, Yang Ling managed to get through this daunting experience without suffering any mishaps. The Binding Space and the Demon God Battle Formation allowed the Corpse Wizard King and his companions to release great power, and they managed to exterminate most of the Flying Demons which attacked them. Yang Ling didn’t even have to fight!

After the crowd walked for around two hours, they reached a strange, majestic hall. There was a black river between them and the opposite hall, and there was also a little bridge. The gravity in the vicinity was too high, and it was difficult even for Divine Duty Experts to fly over the river. In addition, the crowd’s scalps turned numb at the sight of the innumerable skeleton hands stretching out of the river. The air was also engulfed by dense Death Energy and resentment. If one observed this place from afar, he would feel like he had reached by mistake the frightful hell.

The Departed Spirit Road, which protected the Demon Hall, was like a natural moat in front of the crowd.