Chapter 487: Seizing the Treasure

The moment the Ghost Infant appeared, everyone felt their scalp go numb.

"What the hell is that thing?"

As someone let out a low cry of alarm, they watched in horror as the Ghost Infant, having crawled from the Female Cultivator’s stomach, lowered its head and devoured her corpse, bite by bite, until it was gone.

They ate quickly. The constant, grinding sound of their chewing was endless, making everyone feel sick to their stomach.

Finally, someone couldn’t take it anymore. Raising a hand, they shot a Spell at the nearest Ghost Infant. "You damn thing, die!"

But to their surprise, the Spell hit the Ghost Infant but caused it almost no harm.

It merely paused its chewing, its expression twisting for an instant as if in pain.

Its body, however, was completely unharmed. It suddenly snapped its head around, a pair of pitch-black eyes staring intently at the cultivator who had just attacked it.

The male cultivator’s scalp went numb under its gaze, and he unconsciously took two steps back.

He opened his mouth, about to say something, when he saw the Ghost Infant lunge at him with astonishing speed!

"Aaaah!"

With a cry of alarm, the male cultivator hastily conjured a Spell to defend himself.

The others nearby snapped to their senses and quickly jumped in to help.

Soon, however, they all came to a realization. "Spells don’t seem to work on these things at all!"

"Damn it, what kind of monsters are these?"

Just then, an idea struck Lu Sangjiu. She quickly gripped her sword and thrust it at a Ghost Infant!

The Ghost Infant’s body seemed incredibly hard. Sparks flew as her sword collided with it, but the blade couldn’t pierce its flesh.

Even so, Lu Sangjiu managed to send it flying with a flick of her sword.

Her face lit up. "Physical attacks work!" she called out immediately.

Because their Storage Magical Treasures were unusable, most people didn’t actually have any weapons on them.

Still, some people had been carrying weapons on their person. The dead, in particular, had left their weapons scattered on the ground, unused.

The moment they heard Lu Sangjiu, everyone scrambled to pick up those weapons to use.

A total of four Ghost Infants had been born, while only ten of the cultivators remained alive.

As a result, despite how strange the Ghost Infants were, with a two-on-one advantage, they could hold their ground for the time being.

But they all knew this wasn’t a long-term solution... They could all feel their strength gradually being depleted. If this kept up, they were afraid they wouldn’t even make it to nightfall!

Lu Sangjiu, however, wasn’t too concerned about her own stamina. The meridians in her body were much wider than those of others at her level of cultivation, so she could naturally store a great deal more Spiritual Energy.

Besides, her body didn’t just contain Spiritual Energy. ’At a rough estimate, I should be able to last for three days with no problem.’

’The problem is, if everyone else dies, I doubt I’ll be a match for the person behind all this.’

’Besides, I’m not so cold-hearted that I can just stand by and watch my companions die off.’

And so, she frantically wracked her brain for a solution.

Finally, she resolved to take a gamble.

With that, she suddenly pulled back from the fight. "Mr. Lie, buy me some time!"

Lie Rufeng flinched for a second but didn’t ask what she was planning to do. He just quickly moved to intercept the Ghost Infant she had been deadlocked with.

"A quarter of an hour."

Lie Rufeng bit out his answer, letting Lu Sangjiu know he could hold on for a quarter of an hour at most.

Lu Sangjiu didn’t even look back as she sprinted toward the center of the valley. "More than enough!"

Her eyes were locked on the Magic Treasure that was slowly rotating in the sky.

This thing was neither a pure Demon Artifact nor an Immortal Artifact. Its properties were hard to discern, but it was tainted with a foul, Evil Qi. Any normal person who touched it would most likely be instantly corrupted by that energy.

On top of that, it seemed to have some sort of protective mechanism, rendering everyone’s attacks useless.

So, even though they knew it was the main culprit, they were completely powerless against it.

But... Lu Sangjiu felt she might have a chance.

The energy in her body, a mixture of Spiritual Energy and Demonic Qi, was neither of the two. It was immensely powerful. ’Perhaps,’ she thought, ’it can contend with the bizarre Evil Qi emanating from that Magic Treasure.’

It was a risk, but death was coming for them either way. How could she be content to die without putting up a fight?

Upon reaching the center of the valley, Lu Sangjiu used a nearby stone wall to launch herself into the air, soaring toward the Magic Treasure suspended overhead.

At the same time, she reached out a hand, determined to pull it down from the sky!

At that moment, the slender, elegant figure of a man stood atop a mountain peak, surveying everything below.

Upon seeing Lu Sangjiu’s actions, he let out a short, sharp laugh, the contempt in his eyes utterly undisguised.

’How foolish...’

’This was once a Divine Artifact,’ he mused. ’Although it has now fallen and been corroded by Evil Qi beyond recognition, granted a new life by my hand, it is still not something a mere Earth Immortal can touch so easily.’

’Never mind its residual Divine Power. The Evil Qi tainting it alone is enough to instantly riddle her with holes and turn her into its nourishment.’

At this moment, he was like a God looking down from on high, watching these ants struggle to survive.

He had no intention of intervening, wanting only to watch them sink, bit by bit, into despair.

So now, seeing what Lu Sangjiu was about to do, he had no intention of stopping her. He was merely settling in to watch a good show, awaiting the gruesome state she would soon be in.

The next moment, Lu Sangjiu’s hand finally closed around the edge of the disk-shaped Magic Treasure!

In an instant, she felt an astonishing power surge into her body! Along with that power came the Evil Qi clinging to it, which also began to eat away at her.

But she had no time to react. In this no-flight zone, it had been difficult enough just to leap high enough to touch it.

The instant she touched it, her body plummeted, and she crashed heavily to the ground along with the disk.

The pain from the fall was now the least of her worries.

Now, with that strange power invading her, Lu Sangjiu felt her entire body wracked with agony!

The only saving grace was that once the Evil Qi invaded her body, it was quickly assimilated by the energy within her!

This was the first time she had discovered it—the energy in her body could not only devour Spiritual Energy and Demonic Qi, but it could even absorb Evil Qi for her own use!

Her own energy even seemed to be trying to assimilate that strange power, but because that power was too strong, it hadn’t yet succeeded. That was why she was in so much agony!

But even through the pain, she hadn’t forgotten what she needed to do.

’No matter how powerful this Magic Treasure is,’ she thought, ’and no matter if the mastermind is a demon or an immortal, since they were able to enter this Secret Realm, their cultivation definitely can’t be above the Heavenly Immortal Stage!’

So... Enduring the excruciating pain wracking her body, Lu Sangjiu’s eyes flashed with grim determination. She bit her own fingertip and smeared the blood onto the disk.

...She was going to seize this treasure!