Long ago, Miao Region had a king, and Dali was the royal capital. Its ruler, the Black Miao King, was on the Heavenly List. Dao Qingfeng's White Miao were oppressed to an extreme extent; they once nearly faced extinction and considered the Black Miao their sworn enemies.

After the Black Miao King unified the various tribes of the Miao Region, he naturally wasn't content with just that, his ambitions led him to invade Ba Shu multiple times.

Regrettably, he clashed with the then-dominant Xia Longyuan, an Xia Longyuan who was vigorously advancing in his pursuit to "Control the World." At that time, Xia Longyuan was invincible.

The Black Miao King was effortlessly executed with a single slash. Yes, a slash was used, and that blade is now well-known to everyone—it's called Dragon Sparrow. Dragon Sparrow is very familiar with this Black Miao King... But he wasn't cleaved in two, instead half of his head was sliced off. In any case, he died thoroughly.

From that moment on, Miao Region was subdued by Great Xia. Due to geographical factors, it was difficult to directly establish counties for governance. In the end, it evolved into ethnic chieftainships under autonomous rule, following the template of provincial governors. The Black Miao hence declined, but since they had the largest base, Xia Longyuan, although he slaughtered a batch, didn't implement a policy of extermination. Over these years, the Black Miao had been developed and revived by the likes of Lei Zhentang, even colluding with Ba Mountain Sword House to stir the last rebellion, which was thwarted by Zhao Changhe.

After that uprising, the concerted tribes of the Miao Region were said to have a "joint council," but in reality, it existed in name only. After all, there were no foreign wars to vote on, just power struggles between the tribes, such as who would own Dali? Sisi, as the strongest faction, opted to withdraw swiftly without contesting for Dali, simply because she really didn't have the leisure.

The White Miao's Dao Qingfeng and the Yao clan's Pan Wan fought furiously over this, and in the end, Dao Qingfeng took Dali and also became the strongest tribe besides Sisi.

Dao Qingfeng originally didn't have much ambition; he only opposed Lei Zhentang's Black Miao. But human ambition often inflates with the growth of power, and now, Dao Qingfeng believed that the Miao Region could be plotted.

In the eyes of other tribes, Sisi's side was fraught with peril. The mainstay Xia army couldn't be expected to sell their lives just for past kindness; they lacked a cultural and systemic identification with the tribe, unable to consider the Spirit Clan as their belonging. This was perilous, very susceptible to being manipulated and infiltrated, especially under the premise of also being from Great Xia. Sisi herself was on guard against this, for example, Zhao Changhe saw that the Spirit Clan already made up half of the army; this was her way of creating a balance.

Dao Qingfeng had not personally experienced the terror of the Spirit Clan's Spirit Beasts. On the surface, it seemed that as long as he defeated Taoyuan Town's forces, he could have a chance to unify the Miao Region. How could he not be eager?

But even though the Spirit Clan posed significant issues, he himself fell short—lacking not just in military strength, but also lacking powerhouses. He couldn't defeat Sisi, let alone considering that her master was on the Heavenly List possessing the Divine Artifact.

However, some time ago, an outsider from Xiangxi came to him, telling him that he too could have a powerhouse.

It was the tomb of the Black Miao King next to Dali... and the Black Miao King within it.

He could use a special Corpse Puppet Technique to turn the Black Miao King's corpse into his own puppet, a puppet with the strength of someone on the Heavenly List.

Moreover, this wasn't controlled by someone else, but the Magic Skill would be taught to him directly—it was for him to operate. After repeatedly testing with other corpses to confirm its feasibility, Dao Qingfeng began a secret undertaking targeted at the Black Miao King's corpse. The previous so-called grave robbing was just a distraction; what he truly intended was to refine the Black Miao King into a Corpse Puppet.

However, the noise that would be caused by the resurrection of the Black Miao King was unpredictable to anyone. Dao Qingfeng couldn't afford to act prematurely, fearing that a large disturbance would attract the attention of the Spirit Clan, considering Dali wasn't devoid of Spirit Clan members. Also, on Sisi's side, there indeed was a treasure that could suppress Corpse Puppets, the Thunder of Divine Axe, majestic and divine, the natural nemesis of these Yin Corpses. Having the Thief Saint bringing the Divine Axe here was disgustingly like destiny at work.

But with the Thief Saint dead, and the Divine Axe without a master, and with Sisi's inner circle facing turmoil, there really was no better opportunity to act.

Dao Qingfeng hastily led everyone into the tomb, making their way to the core of the burial chamber.

The burial chamber's mechanisms had long since failed, with only guards at the entrance. However, they didn't notice a figure in red always following behind them. As they entered the burial chamber's passage, the guards by the entrance silently collapsed outside, stalked by a ghostly shadow.

Upon reaching the burial chamber, the coffin had already been opened, a dried corpse lying within, emitting traces of a fierce and violent aura, causing Yue Hongling, watching from a distance, to shiver with fear.

—The Corpse Puppet Technique was already halfway completed; they just needed to finish the latter half. Yue Hongling, who had fully grasped the state of Xue Wu's and Maitreya's Corpse Transformation during her Dual Cultivation with Zhao Changhe, could almost be certain that the emergence of this Corpse Puppet would unleash calamity, not just on the Spirit Clan, but on the entirety of Dali and even the Miao Region!

Several White Miao Priests stood apart in formation, chanting incantations. Dao Qingfeng stood at the head of the dried corpse, gently brushed the corpse's forehead with his hand, and closed his eyes to begin casting. The one who'd come to give the news stood to the side with a smile on his face, clearly excited and anticipating the completion of their plan.

"Crack!" The dried-up corpse stretched out an iron-like hand, placing it on the edge of the coffin, "Crunch," the stone coffin lid was crushed to dust.

Dao Qingfeng was in a frenzy of joy when a sudden flash of red light and an explosion of sword brilliance occurred.

A streak of Sword Qi pierced straight through his forehead. Dao Qingfeng's smile was still frozen on his face when the Sword Qi shredded his Spirit Platform.

The surrounding White Miao priests and the messenger were all shocked. They had never imagined that such a terrifying assassin would appear out of nowhere. With no one present even close to the Human List in ability, who could withstand her surprise attack?

With just one sword strike, all of Dao Qingfeng's actions turned into empty talk.

"Yue... Hongling?" Dao Qingfeng looked ahead with a dazed gaze at the ugly face, not needing to see her face to recognize that swordsmanship could only belong to Yue Hongling, "Why... just because you're partial to Simeng?"

"You're blinded by your lust for power! Do you really think you, who haven't even reached the Secret Treasure level, could control a Corpse Puppet with the foundation of the Heavenly List!" Yue Hongling, having succeeded with her move, showed no pleasure, but grew even more angry, "Energy cannot be born from nothing, just as life does not arise without reason. You test regular corpses and of course detect nothing, but the resurrection of a Corpse Puppet from the Heavenly List will inevitably require the life of the summoner as nourishment! I am already too late in killing you!"

The few White Miao priests instantly turned pale.

"Crack!" The ceremony for summoning the Corpse Puppet having stopped, the dried-up corpse did not turn to stone, but continued to rise. The entire stone coffin disintegrated into dust as he stood up.

Dao Qingfeng stared dully at the messenger, as if in disbelief.

Finally, the man smiled, "Of course... it's strange, such techniques of the Yin Corpse should be unknown to outsiders. I wonder how Heroine Yue came to know of this... Could it be that during the time when the Maitreya Sect was wreaking havoc, some minor forbidden arts from Xiangxi fell into Heroine Yue's hands?"

As he spoke, an invisible Qi transferred from the bodies of the few White Miao priests to the dried-up corpse, and the priests could not utter a single word; they all died instantly on the spot.

"Without nourishment... it will tear apart everything living in this place, including Dali, and even the Miao Region... as well as all the life within your tribe!" Yue Hongling drew her sword and suddenly thrust it toward the messenger.

Regret filled Dao Qingfeng's eyes, but he could no longer speak as his corpse thumped to the ground.

The last scene in his eyes was the dried-up corpse swiftly extending its hand, blocking Yue Hongling's sword path, as the messenger tried to flee—he had never been part of the ceremony to awaken the corpse, so no Life Force was drawn from him. Instead, he could control the corpse!

From beginning to end, it was all a deception. The Corpse Controller was someone else.

"Clang!" Yue Hongling's sword collided with the Black Miao King's hand, as hard as steel. A sudden outburst of Qi Force caused the tomb to start shaking and collapsing.

The terrifying corpse Qi burst upward, breaking through the structure of the underground tomb, and the chamber collapsed with a roar.

The messenger thought he could control the corpse, but he never anticipated that before he could even run out of the tomb's passage, he would be crushed into meat paste by falling rocks from above.

After all the careful planning, it was all a path to his own death.

But could Yue Hongling escape?

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