But how difficult was it for a corpse to develop spiritual intelligence?
When a person died, they were simply dead. They no longer had any connection to this world. Even unparalleled Demons and absolute titans could not escape the ultimate fate of death. No matter how universally heroic or remarkably magnificent one was, in the end, it was ashes to ashes and dust to dust.
In this world, everyone desired eternal life, but no one could actually attain it. Those who could live for a thousand years were exceptionally rare. Thus, the great figures resorted to various methods to seek opportunities for rebirth, leading to the creation of a Secret Technique.
The Secret Technique was known as possession. It required formidable mental strength as its greatest reliance; otherwise, if the possession failed, one’s soul would undoubtedly be reduced to ashes. Furthermore, this Secret Technique usually involved the strong possessing the weak. This act was essentially seizing another person’s body, meaning the soul and the physical vessel were inherently incompatible. Even if the possession was successful, it would be difficult to rise to greatness in the future.
The only exception was possessing a peerless genius. However, peerless geniuses possessed resolute willpower, so how could their bodies be so easily taken over?
Therefore, these great figures found a second path. That was to return from the dead!
Before their deaths, they would lay down Unparalleled Arrays, expending countless Exotic Treasures and Divine Medicines to nourish their corpses, allowing them to absorb the essence of the sun and moon. Through this, they sought a chance at rebirth.
Unfortunately, these great figures did not know that even if their corpses developed spiritual intelligence thousands or tens of thousands of years later, they would not retain their original memories. The entity that ultimately resurrected would merely be a Spirit Corpse harboring weak intelligence. A Spirit Corpse was, after all, just a corpse, not a human.
Of course, these great figures were not fools. After so many eras had passed, they were well aware of the existence of Spirit Corpses. So why did these prominent individuals still follow in each other’s footsteps, exhausting the resources of an entire era to attempt resurrection?
The answer was simple: Spirit Corpses could continuously upgrade by devouring blood. In fact, a Spirit Corpse was the entity that emerged after a zombie advanced by two major cultivation realms.
A zombie could purify and evolve into a Walking Dead. The mobility and speed of the Walking Dead were a hundred or even several hundred times that of a regular zombie. After the Walking Dead came the Spirit Corpse.
Naturally, whether a zombie or Walking Dead, advancing was extremely difficult. They needed to drink the blood of a hundred thousand, a million, or even ten million people. Although it was difficult, it offered a glimmer of hope. Ancient texts recorded that in antiquity, there were Spirit Corpses that purified themselves and reached the realm of the Corpse Demon.
The stronger a Spirit Corpse became, the more likely it was to recover the memories of its past life. Once its memories were restored, that would be true rebirth. Having already been an absolute titan in their past life, and now possessing a body tempered like a supreme treasure in this life, they might just reach the legendary realm of eternal life!
This was the reason why the great figures exhausted countless Exotic Treasures to resurrect themselves. What they truly sought was eternal life.
"To think it’s actually a Spirit Corpse..."
Ye Xuan’s expression turned solemn as he carefully scrutinized the woman. Sure enough, the wounds on her body had already healed without leaving a single scar.
The body of a Spirit Corpse was nourished by peerless Exotic Treasures. No matter how severe the injuries were, it could quickly recover. The only way to kill a Spirit Corpse was to destroy its head.
As for the living people here, they were the Blood Slaves raised by the Spirit Corpse. Although the Spirit Corpse’s intelligence was not high, she knew not to suck a person dry all at once, otherwise she would go hungry in the future. When a Spirit Corpse starved, it would become incredibly frenzied. This was the reason for the abnormal movements within the Forbidden Area.
Over the years, a delicate balance had formed within the Forbidden Area. As long as two people were sent over every ten years, this balance would remain intact.
ROAR!
As he analyzed the situation, the zombie roared and lunged at Ye Xuan to bite him.
"Die!"
Ye Xuan showed no mercy, throwing a punch that obliterated the zombie’s head. At the same time, he completely unleashed his Dragon Soul Power, and the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon appeared above his head once more.
The Five-Clawed Golden Dragon raised its head, its emotionless eyes staring intently at the Spirit Corpse. Unfortunately, its oppressive aura was useless against her. Strictly speaking, a Spirit Corpse was just a dead body.
WHOOSH.
In the blink of an eye, the Spirit Corpse disappeared. An evil aura suddenly pressed right up against him.
Without hesitation, Ye Xuan directly released his Fire Attribute Spiritual Qi, his entire body bursting into golden flames.
"Fire... fire..." The Spirit Corpse, which had originally intended to attack Ye Xuan at close range, retreated instantly. She looked at the flames on Ye Xuan’s body with obvious fear. Earlier, Ye Xuan had burned her to the point of pain.
"I... hate you!"
Suddenly, the Spirit Corpse pointed a finger at Ye Xuan. Her demeanor was actually somewhat playful.
Was she acting spoiled? It seemed that the intelligence of this Spirit Corpse was already on par with a three-year-old child.
Then, the Spirit Corpse went mad. She turned her head to look at the Blood Slaves she had cultivated. With a flash of her silhouette, she used Instant Movement to appear beside them and began to frantically suck their blood.
Every single Blood Slave’s body shriveled up at a speed visible to the naked eye. Ye Xuan did not know what the Spirit Corpse was doing, but this was a perfect opportunity to escape. Having only advanced his cultivation base by one level, he still had no way to deal with the Spirit Corpse. He needed to improve by a few more levels.
Without staying any longer, Ye Xuan hurriedly left. Just as the Big Mountain was about to disappear behind him, an evil aura suddenly surged from afar.
He knew that the Spirit Corpse was catching up!
Turning his head, he saw the Spirit Corpse with her blood-red hair flying high, appearing at the very edge of his line of sight. However, in merely the blink of an eye, she closed the distance by five hundred meters. In another blink of an eye, she was less than a hundred meters away.
The speed of her Instant Movement was simply too fast.
In just a breath or two, the Spirit Corpse appeared right in front of Ye Xuan. Her pale yet beautiful face revealed a trace of anger.
"I want... you..."
She pointed at Ye Xuan’s face and uttered this predatory phrase before opening her cherry-like mouth, revealing sharp fangs, and pouncing toward him.
Ye Xuan dared not be careless. He unleashed his Fire Attribute Spiritual Qi with all his might, his body resembling a burning miniature universe. The scorching temperature ignited all the surrounding trees. He originally thought this would scare off the Spirit Corpse, but unexpectedly, after her frenzied blood-sucking, she was entirely undaunted.
Even though her entire body was instantly set ablaze by the Fire Attribute Spiritual Qi, she still charged at Ye Xuan. One man and one corpse were both engulfed in flames. It seemed neither of them was afraid of being burned.
"She’s no longer afraid of fire!" Ye Xuan was deeply shocked.
After her frantic blood-sucking, the physical toughness of the Spirit Corpse seemed to have increased once again. The Fire Attribute Spiritual Qi might make her feel the scorching heat, but she was now capable of withstanding it. Her body was not charred in the slightest, and even her blood-red hair remained completely undamaged, as resilient as a supreme treasure.
"This is ridiculous!" Ye Xuan suddenly had the urge to cry.
He had thought that advancing his cultivation base by one level would improve his situation, but now, it had become even more grim! However, he quickly rallied his spirits. No matter how terrifying this Spirit Corpse was, he had to fight!
A monstrous fighting intent abruptly surged out of him, and the blood in his veins began to boil.
Perhaps because his cultivation had leveled up, Ye Xuan’s body was much more agile, and his speed had significantly increased. Surprisingly, he managed to dodge the Spirit Corpse’s initial attack. But before he could even rejoice, he felt a sudden tightness around his waist.