Liu Hanyan's silver needles transformed into a silver rainstorm, Night Owl's flames were as scorching as the sun, Mo Bai's golden arrows were as dense as a meteor shower, Rong Jiaojiao's Demon-Suppressing Stele shone brightly, and Zi Ling's purple lightning enveloped the entire passage like a net.

At this moment, their powers merged perfectly, forming an unstoppable torrent.

The blood bats appeared so small in the face of this power; they were instantly crushed, turning into black ashes that drifted away in the wind.

The passage finally returned to silence, with only the heavy breathing of the crowd and the remains of blood bats scattered on the ground.

"Finally solved." Qi Lan sheathed his sword and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Rong Jiaojiao took out a spirit fire talisman and burned the bat corpses on the ground.

Continuing forward, the passage suddenly opened up, and the group stepped into a huge cave.

Countless crimson vines hung from the cave ceiling, their ends bearing fist-sized, dark red fruits that emitted an eerie, sweet aroma.

"Blood Soul Fruit?" Mo Zhizhou's expression changed drastically. "This is an evil creature cultivated using the essence blood of living people!"

Before the words were even finished, the fruits suddenly burst open all at once, spewing out a cloud of red mist.

Countless distorted human faces emerged from the mist, emitting mournful howls.

"It's a vengeful spirit! Seal off your five senses!" Liu Hanyan shouted urgently, and seventy-two silver needles formed the Big Dipper formation to protect everyone.

The owl's mechanical arm suddenly transformed, unfolding into a fan-shaped metal shield. The shield's surface was engraved with exorcising runes, keeping the red mist at bay.

Qi Lan's sword ignited with azure spiritual flames, and he said in a deep voice, "These vengeful spirits have been used as nourishment by the blood bats... They must be released from their suffering."

Rong Jiaojiao slammed the Demon-Suppressing Stele into the ground and formed the Rebirth Seal with her hands: "I'll do it!"

The Demon-Suppressing Stele emitted a soft white light, and the distorted faces gradually calmed down. But just then, the sound of chains being dragged came from deep within the cave.

"Crack—crack—"

Each sound seemed to strike the hearts of everyone present.

Zi Ling's fur stood on end, and she let out a menacing growl into the darkness.

Mo Bai suddenly pressed down on the Demon-Subduing Brush, which was trembling wildly: "Something is absorbing resentment... It's a living corpse!"

Suddenly, the ground rose up, and five ancient corpses bound with rusty iron chains emerged from the earth.

Their chests were embedded with the roots of Blood Spirit Fruit, and ghostly green flames flickered in their rotting eye sockets.

The most terrifying thing is that one of the ancient corpses was dressed in the clothes of a contemporary monk.

"They've been turned into corpse puppets!" Mo Zhizhou's voice trembled. "Be careful not to touch those chains, they're Soul-Devouring Locks!"

As if to confirm his words, the ancient corpses suddenly sprang to life.

The iron chains shot out like venomous snakes, bringing with them a foul-smelling, eerie breeze.

Liu Hanyan's flowing sleeves fluttered as her silver needles struck the joints of the iron chain with pinpoint accuracy.

But the needle tip turned black and corroded the moment it touched her, and she groaned as she took three steps back.

The owl's mechanical shield blocked two chains, but its right leg was entangled by a third chain.

Visible black smoke spread upwards along the metal parts!

At the critical moment, Zi Ling transformed into purple lightning and smashed into the night owl.

He was struck by the iron chain and fell against the stone wall with a groan.

"Zi Ling!" Rong Jiaojiao's eyes widened in fury. Sensing its master's rage, the Demon-Suppressing Stele spun around and crashed into the group of ancient corpses.

"boom!"

The monument collided with the iron chain, bursting into dazzling sparks.

The ancient corpses were forced back several steps, but quickly surrounded them again.

Qi Lan suddenly leaped into the air, his sword drawing upon the thunderclouds of the heavens: "Azure Sky Thunder-Drawing Technique!"

A bolt of lightning as thick as a child's arm struck, but the leading corpse puppet raised its hand to form a hand seal, and a blood-red Bagua array appeared around its body. The lightning was completely absorbed!

"It has preserved its cultivation level from its previous life!" Mo Bai exclaimed in shock.

Even more terrifying, the other four ancient corpses took the opportunity to throw out iron chains, which tightly bound Qi Lan's limbs!

Black energy surged wildly along the iron chains, and Qi Lan's face turned ashen at a visible speed.

Rong Jiaojiao bit her tongue, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the Demon-Suppressing Stele: "Nine Dragons Demon-Suppressing Stele, Forbidden!"

The nine dragon patterns on the Demon-Suppressing Stele lit up simultaneously, and the stele swelled to a height of three zhang (approximately 10 meters) before crashing heavily into the center of the five corpse puppets.

The ground cracked instantly, and nine dragon-shaped beams of spiritual light burst forth from the monument, shattering all the iron chains!

Qi Lan managed to break free, but his face was ashen. He forced himself to swing his sword, unleashing an arc of sword energy that repelled the approaching corpse puppet: "These guys... are absorbing our spiritual energy!"

Sure enough, the broken iron chains wriggled like living things, with fine, blood-red roots extending from the broken ends, greedily absorbing the spiritual energy dissipating from the air.

Mo Zhizhou took out a handful of ancient bronze coins, bit his finger, and drew a blood symbol on the coins: "Heaven and Earth, Mysterious Ancestor, Root of All Qi—Seal!"

The ancient coin spun and embedded itself between the eyebrows of the corpse puppet, causing their movements to pause abruptly.

But just three breaths later, the copper coin cracked open, and the roots of the Blood Spirit Fruit on the corpse puppet's chest became even thicker!

"Use fire!" Night Owl's mechanical arm spewed out blue flames once again.

But the cultivator's corpse puppet opened its mouth and sucked all the flames into its belly! Its skin quickly shone with a metallic luster, clearly evolving.

"Oh no, it's adapting to our attack methods!" Liu Hanyan hurriedly recalled the silver needles, only to find that the needle tips were covered in rust.

At the most critical moment, the seriously injured Zi Ling suddenly leaped into the air.

The spiritual pattern on its forehead cracked open, and a drop of purplish-gold essence blood fell into the Demon-Suppressing Stele.

"Ziling, no!" Rong Jiaojiao cried out. But it was too late—

The purple-gold light emanating from the Demon-Suppressing Stele was like the rising sun, and the inscription on the stele detached from the stele and floated into the air, transforming into nine hundred and ninety-nine demon-subduing proverbs!

Each character burned with purple-gold flames, illuminating the entire cave as if it were daytime.

The cultivator's corpse puppet showed a look of terror for the first time, turning to flee into the ground. How could Qi Lan allow it to escape? The Azure Sky Sword flew out of his hand, its blade transforming into countless sword lights in the air, forming a cage-like sword array to block all escape routes.

"boom--!"

A torrential rain of fire rained down. The five corpse puppets writhed and howled in the flames, while the roots of the Blood Spirit Fruits twisted wildly like living snakes, finally bursting into a foul-smelling mist of blood with a "crackling" sound.

As the last wisp of black smoke dissipated, a sound of rocks cracking suddenly came from the top of the cave.

The vines, deprived of the support of the Blood Spirit Fruit, withered and died, revealing a hole blocked by roots through which the light of day could be faintly seen.

"It's the exit!" Just as Mo Bai was about to step forward, the ground suddenly shook violently.

Rong Jiaojiao quickly hugged Ziling in her arms, gave it a healing pill, and sent it into the small secret realm to recuperate.

The scattered remains of the corpse puppets automatically gathered together and merged into a monstrous mass of flesh and blood that kept expanding!

Rong Jiaojiao hated them for hurting Zi Ling, and seeing this, she wouldn't allow them to cause any more trouble. She unleashed a barrage of Soul-Burning Talismans, Blazing Flame Talismans, and Heavenly Thunder Talismans.

The talismans rained down, instantly blasting the monstrous mass of flesh into pieces.

Limbs and severed parts scattered everywhere, but the moment they hit the ground, they began to wriggle, trying to piece themselves back together.

"We can't give them another chance!" Qi Lan shouted, his sword energy carrying raging flames as it burned towards the lumps of flesh.