Sword Devours Four Corpses, Half a Step Beyond the Coffin

At the bottom of the Ten Thousand Ruins Abyss, the storm had yet to dissipate.

The shattered remains of four peak Martial God ancient corpses scattered across the void—black blood, bone dust, and lingering embers of corpse-fire drifted through the air like a primordial starfield slashed to pieces.

Wang Hao knelt on one knee in midair, right hand gripping the New Emperor Sword, his imperial robes torn, chest heaving violently.

That combo he had just unleashed might have looked like an unstoppable steamroll, but in truth, it had drained his internal true essence to the last dregs.

The vow-power shield was emptied.

The ninth-level purple lightning of the Thunder Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda had already used one of its two charges.

Nine simultaneous strikes of the Heaven-Prisoning Earth-Covering Palm.

Three consecutive slashes of the Nine Heaven-Opening Swords.

Had this been any other normal Martial God at the First Layer, they wouldn’t just be standing there looking smug right now—they’d be buying their next breath on a payment plan.

But Wang Hao was not a normal man.

Even as he secretly circulated his cultivation method to frantically recover true essence, he looked up at Ji Wushang on the altar platform, that cold smirk still plastered on his face—the kind that made people want to slap it right off him.

“What’s the matter?”

Wang Hao wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his voice hoarse yet still arrogant.

“Your dogs are all dead. Ready to come down and take a beating yourself?”

Ji Wushang stood atop the Nine-Coffin Altar.

On his pale, handsome face, there was no trace of anger.

In fact, he was still smiling.

That smile was cold, sickly, like a butcher standing outside the slaughterhouse, watching a desperate tiger burn through its last ounce of strength.

“Wang Hao.”

Ji Wushang spoke slowly.

“You are more interesting than I imagined.”

“An emperor from the lower realm, only at the First Layer of Martial God, yet you managed to slay four peak Martial God corpses through trick weapons, vow-power, god-tier martial techniques, and that near-shameless combat instinct of yours.”

“In the ancient era, you might have genuinely earned the right to contend for the position of Human Sovereign.”

Wang Hao raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t flatter me.”

“When you compliment me like that, I always feel like you’re about to stab me in the back.”

The smile on Ji Wushang’s lips deepened.

“I am, in fact, waiting.”

Wang Hao’s eyes narrowed.

“Waiting for what?”

Ji Wushang did not answer.

And then—

“Gaaaaahahaha!”

A manic, gleeful, utterly obnoxious cackle suddenly erupted from within the New Emperor Sword in Wang Hao’s hand.

The blade trembled.

Black-gold demonic runes writhed wildly.

The Sword Spirit’s face—that of a sinister, handsome youth—surfaced from the blade, eyes locked onto the four peak Martial God corpse remains floating in the void, drool practically pouring from his mouth.

“Wang Hao!”

“Quick! Let me eat!”

“These are four peak Martial God dried-aging wines! Tight meat, deeply infused with nether qi, thick prime origin—clearly top-tier jerky buried for years!”

“If we wait any longer, they’ll go cold!”

Wang Hao glanced down at him.

“Didn’t you just get punched into a wall? How are you hopping around again all lively?”

The Sword Spirit immediately bristled.

“Bullshit! That was strategic terrain embedding! You got any idea what it means to absorb the power of the earth?”

Wang Hao sneered.

“All I know is, you screamed like a dog being chased.”

The Sword Spirit snapped, “Wang Hao, you—”

Wang Hao said flatly, “Don’t want to eat anymore?”

The Sword Spirit shut up on the spot.

Then, with practiced, shameless fawning, he cooed, “His Majesty is wise, His Majesty is mighty, those three strikes just now were absolutely peerless beneath heaven—this sword almost cried from how moved it was by Your Majesty’s brilliance.”

Demon Lord: “...”

Yue Ji: “...”

Han Shanyue: “...”

At that moment, no one could tell whether it was the sword that had no shame, or Wang Hao who had even less.

But Wang Hao did not immediately let the New Emperor Sword devour anything.

He looked at Ji Wushang.

Ji Wushang stood on the altar, showing absolutely no intention of stopping him.

That was highly abnormal.

With Ji Wushang’s personality, there was no way he would calmly watch the New Emperor Sword devour the prime origin of four peak Martial God corpses.

Wang Hao’s thoughts raced.

“System.”

[Sign-in Intel System online.]

[Current special location: Ten Thousand Ruins Abyss · Nine-Coffin Emperor-Fall Altar.]

[Intel update: The First Sequence four corpses have been slain. Their remnant origin provides powerful nourishment for the New Emperor Sword and may loosen its rank among trick weapons.]

[Additional note: Ji Wushang does not stop the devouring because the First Sequence four corpses were merely outer-layer fodder for the altar. Their origin being consumed will not affect the opening of the Second Sequence.]

[Danger alert: The Second Sequence ancient coffins are about to open. They contain four Half-Step Transcendence corpses.]

Wang Hao’s eyelid twitched almost imperceptibly.

Half-Step Transcendence.

Four of them.

Damn it.

This bastard really fights dirty.

Just finished four peak Martial Gods, and now he’s bringing out four Half-Step Transcendence.

Any Tomato reader would tell you that dungeon difficulty can’t spike like this.

This isn’t scaling the difficulty—this is the dev getting drunk.

Wang Hao cursed inwardly, but outwardly he stayed calm, even showing a flicker of disdain.

“Eat up.”

“Hurry up and eat.”

“Then get ready to work.”

The New Emperor Sword heard this and got so excited the blade itself flushed red.

“Gaaaah! Here I come!”

Boom!

The New Emperor Sword shot out of his hand.

The blade expanded in the wind, black-gold demonic runes spread open like living things, forming a monstrous maw in the void.

Within that maw, there were no teeth—only spiral vortexes of twisted sword-qi.

The remains of the four peak Martial God corpses tried to reconstitute themselves through instinctive corpse-qi, but the New Emperor Sword dragged them over by force.

“Sluuurp—”

A severed arm was swallowed into the blade.

“Crunch! Crunch!”

Bone shards exploded.

“So good!”

The Sword Spirit roared to the heavens.

“That’s the taste! Perfect!”

In the next moment, the shattered remains of the four peak Martial Gods flowed like ten thousand rivers returning to the sea, devoured hungrily by the New Emperor Sword.

The black-gold runes on the blade brightened rapidly.

The Sword Spirit, whose combat strength had only been at the Seventh Martial Realm, began to surge.

Empty Lord Realm, early stage!

Empty Lord Realm, mid stage!

Empty Lord Realm, peak!

Boom!

A sword-will comparable to just-breaking-through Martial God exploded outward.

Though it was only a temporary spike, not a solid foundation, the sharpness of the blade was already utterly transformed.

The Sword Spirit’s humanoid form emerged once more.

This time, the black-gold demonic runes ran deeper, and a thin vertical mark had appeared between his brows—like a sealed demonic eye.

Hands on hips, he cackled to the heavens.

“Hahahaha!”

“I AM UNBEATABLE!”

Wang Hao said darkly, “Right now, you’re barely capable of trimming a Martial God’s toenails.”

The Sword Spirit’s laughter cut off dead.

“Would it kill you not to dunk on me?”

Wang Hao thought about it seriously.

“No, but it would ruin my mood.”

Sword Spirit: “...”

Demon Lord’s mouth twitched.

Even at a time like this, the man and his sword could still bicker.

But precisely because of that, the suffocating fear pressing down on everyone’s chests had been slightly eased.

That momentary lightness lasted less than three breaths.

RUMBLE!

The second layer of the Nine-Coffin Altar—four bronze ancient coffins—had finally fully opened.

This time, there was no lid blasting off.

Instead, all of heaven and earth seemed to step aside for them.

The four coffins rose slowly.

Their surfaces were carved with dense ancient runes, each one as if written in emperor’s blood, flowing with a dark red glow.

“Crack...”

The first coffin opened.

A withered hand reached out from within.

The palm was not huge, yet it forced the entire void to sink three inches.

Invisible pressure radiated outward.

Demon Lord’s expression shifted violently.

“Flesh-Army Domain!”

“This corpse, in life—must have touched the threshold of Transcendence with its physical body alone!”

The second coffin opened.

A broken war spear thrust out from within.

The spear tip was rusted, yet carried a slaughterous aura capable of toppling stars.

The moment even half of it was revealed, several warriors at the Void Flight realm in the distance had blood streaming from their eyes, their divine souls stabbed with pain, nearly collapsing to their knees on the spot.

The third coffin opened.

No figure appeared.

First came a low laugh.

That laughter seemed to rise from the depths of everyone’s mind—cold, sinister, involuntarily spawning thoughts of self-destruction.

Yue Ji’s fair face turned pale. She immediately formed hand seals to guard her mind.

“Spiritual erosion!”

The fourth coffin opened.

Black mist surged out.

This was no ordinary death aura.

It was a death-aura domain.

Wherever the black mist passed, the void decayed, laws snapped, and even the thunder light cascading from the Thunder Abyss Demon-Suppression Tower was corroded with a sizzling hiss.

Four figures slowly walked out from the coffins.

Their bodies were likewise withered and broken, clad in ancient war armor, but unlike the previous four peak Martial Gods—

Those earlier corpses were like dead objects.

But these four before them were more like death itself.

The moment they appeared, the Myriad Abyss changed.

Above was no longer a shattered sea of clouds.

Below was no longer the sacrificial altar’s abyss.

Everyone seemed dragged into an ancient death realm.

The sky dimmed, blood rain hung upside down, billions of soldier spirits wailed in silence.

The four corpses stood there, faint afterimages of ancient battlefields emerging behind them.

Imperial blood stained the heavens.

Gods and demons fell to earth.

War banners snapped in two.

Kings fell one after another.

That oppression was no longer mere power.

It was the corpses of an entire era pressing down on everyone’s hearts.

Ji Wushang stood at the highest point of the altar, both hands resting on his black-gold war halberd, his smile ice-cold.

“Wang Hao.”

“The first sequence was merely an appetizer for the altar.”

“Now the second sequence is where the real show begins.”

Wang Hao clenched the Emperor Sword.

Blood seeped through his palm.

He still wore a smile on his face, but in his heart, he had already dug up Ji Wushang’s ancestors eighteen generations and flogged their corpses three times over.

Four half-transcendence ancient corpses.

Each one far surpassed the previous peak Martial Gods.

This was no longer something that could be ground down through skill alone.

This was suppression through cultivation realm.

Suppression at the level of laws.

The terrifying residual might left behind after taking half a step beyond the ninth realm of martial arts.

The Demon Lord drew a deep breath, black flames surging skyward once more.

“Your Majesty, leave the strongest physical corpse to me.”

Wang Hao glanced at him.

The Demon Lord was already a peak Martial God, but the earlier battle had drained him considerably.

Facing a half-transcendence corpse was extremely dangerous.

Yet now, no one could retreat.

Yue Ji let out a soft laugh, wiping blood from the corner of her lips.

“I’ll hold off the one that uses spiritual erosion.”

Ghost Granny leaned on her cane and stepped out of the shadows, speaking in a sinister tone: “This old woman will accompany Yue Ji for a round. Let’s see if there are maggots in these ancient dead men’s brains.”

Shadow said nothing, merely turning into a thread of black light, circling toward the third corpse.

Xue Wuhen grinned, revealing a mouthful of bloody teeth.

“Your Majesty, this subject’s life is cheap. It’s a fair trade to buy some time with it.”

Yin Jiuyou sneered darkly: “Don’t get all sentimental—it makes me want to puke. Just don’t die before me, you’ll get in the way.”

Wang Hao looked at them, and something stirred in his heart.

None of these people were saints.

The Demon Lord was arrogant, Yue Ji was seductive, Ghost Granny was vicious, Shadow was silent, Xue Wuhen was bloodthirsty, Yin Jiuyou was spiteful.

But at this moment, they all stood before him.

Not out of righteous morality.

But because they knew—if Wang Hao fell, everyone would die.

And more than that, because Wang Hao was their emperor.

Wang Hao slowly straightened his body.

His imperial robe snapped in the wind.

Even with his true essence depleted, even with his vow-shield still on cooldown, his spine remained ramrod straight.

“Listen up.”

“First corpse—strongest physical body. Demon Lord takes the front, I’ll finish it off.”

“Second corpse—deadliest with the spear. Shadow and Xue Wuhen, hold it off. Don’t take its hits head-on.”

“Third corpse—spiritual erosion. Yue Ji and Ghost Granny stall it. Anyone who gets the urge to kill themselves, slap yourself twice. If the slap doesn’t wake you, have someone next to you do it.”

“Fourth corpse—death-aura domain. Yin Jiuyou, you’re the best fit. Don’t tell me you can’t do it. With a name like yours, you’re hardly a proper mortal thing to begin with.”

Yin Jiuyou’s face darkened.

“Your Majesty, I feel like you’re insulting me.”

Wang Hao said seriously: “Don’t ‘feel’—I absolutely am.”

Yin Jiuyou: “…”

The New Emperor Sword trembled with excitement in Wang Hao’s hand.

“What about me? I’m terrifyingly strong right now!”

Wang Hao looked down, his tone cold: “You ate four peak Martial God corpses. If you dare slack off after a full meal, I’ll use you as a chamber pot when this is over.”

The Sword Spirit flew into a rage.

“Wang Hao! You bully a sword too far!”

Wang Hao said flatly: “After the chamber pot, you’ll be a toilet cleaner as well.”

The Sword Spirit fell silent instantly.

“Your Majesty, rest assured. Today I will fight to the last drop of blood.”

Everyone: “…”

Say what you will, His Majesty certainly knows how to handle his sword.

Ji Wushang watched Wang Hao assign the battlefield, a hint of amusement flickering in his eyes.

“Struggling.”

“It’s always so laughable.”

He raised his hand and gave a light wave.

The four half-transcendence ancient corpses raised their heads at the same time.

Ghostly green corpse-fire ignited.

The next instant—

Heaven and earth collapsed.

The first physical corpse took a single step, and the entire abyss sank violently. Before the fist even arrived, the ten-thousand-zhang demonic shadow behind the Demon Lord was crushed into a bowed spine.

The second slaughterous corpse raised its broken spear. As the spear tip swept across, a black line ten thousand zhangs long was slashed through the void.

The third spiritual corpse smiled silently. In an instant, mountains of corpses and seas of blood appeared before Yue Ji’s eyes, and her pupils dulled into a layer of gray.

The fourth death-domain corpse spread its arms wide. The black domain spread like a tide, and even the shadow beneath Yin Jiuyou’s feet began to rot.

Wang Hao took a deep breath, holding the Emperor Sword horizontally before him.

“Everyone.”

“Don’t die too fast.”

“I haven’t decided on your posthumous titles yet.”

The Demon Lord burst into laughter.

“Your Majesty, rest easy. My life is tough!”

Boom!

Four battle fronts exploded simultaneously.

The abyss lost its color.

Blood light shot into the heavens.

For the first time, everyone truly understood—

The words “half-transcendence” were not a realm.

They were a sky pressing down above the peak of Martial Gods.

And now, they were going to defy that sky and fight.