Chapter 1206: Bone Curse

The twelve devilish banners and the ebony sword protected their master, yet Qin Sang did not suffer any attack. Only the tremors grew more violent.

He steadied himself and cautiously observed his surroundings. The sealing power here was identical to that outside.

This place was the true core of the seal. The hidden realm on the other side was merely a part of the overall sealing power. For some unknown reason, this portion had spilled out of Abyssal Ruin. Heavenly Corpse Sect had relied on the connection between the altar and the seal to communicate with the mysterious person trapped inside.

The source of the tremors came from above. However, based on his earlier experience, Qin Sang analyzed the barrier within the water and discovered that the direction in which the sealing power converged was actually below.

Beneath the water stood steep mountain peaks, sharp as blades. These peaks were completely barren, devoid of any life.

At the summit of each peak was a cave entrance. Inside was pitch black, bottomless. The seal seemed to be suppressing these mountains, or rather, the unknown entities within them.

These caves resembled prison cells, each entrance left open.

Qin Sang now hovered above one of the entrances, his gaze sweeping across the peaks.

He remained cautious, using the Sky Eyes to silently observe his surroundings. If anything was amiss, it could not escape the Sky Eyes.

After confirming there were no abnormalities, Qin Sang did not immediately enter the cave beneath him. Instead, he moved to the edge of the mountain range and decided to explore the perimeter first.

He deployed the twelve devilish banners outside as a fallback. If something strange lay within the caves, this would give him an advantage.

The peaks and caves all appeared similar. Qin Sang casually chose one at the edge and cautiously entered.

The moment he stepped inside, he immediately felt a subjugating force. Although the seal had already been broken, its residual power still attempted to subjugate the prisoners.

Qin Sang’s divine protective aura fluctuated. He realized that the seal was not merely subjugating. Its power manifested as countless needle-like strands of lightning, forming a kind of punishment. Even now, it still retained some of its strength.

If the seal had remained intact, it was difficult to imagine how those imprisoned here had endured such torment for countless years.

Sword qi enveloped Qin Sang, shielding him from the punishment as he slowly descended into the mountain’s interior.

This was the end. Within the mountain lay a square, orderly chamber. Inside, arcs of lightning slithered like serpents.

The seal's punishment targeted living beings. Upon sensing Qin Sang, the lightning surged toward him in a frenzy, only to be easily blocked.

This was where the seal and punitive forces were strongest. Yet the chamber was empty, with no unusual traces.

He explored several more caves, and they were all the same.

Finally, Qin Sang returned to the place where he had first appeared. The seal's power here was the strongest, and the moment he entered, he sensed something different.

Unlike the others, this chamber was not empty. Even from above, Qin Sang had seen a ghastly pale glow.

When he saw the source of the light clearly, his expression shifted slightly, and he halted abruptly.

On the ground, there was an additional stone platform, unlike in the other caves, though nothing was on top. And before the platform, there was a bone array!

With a single glance, Qin Sang confirmed that this array had been formed from human bones.

It was impossible to tell how many years it had existed. The bones had long since lost any trace of blood, their eerie pale glow emanating from their own luster, appearing especially sinister in this place.

Humerus, tibia, clavicle, patella, phalanges, ribs... Every bone of the human body could be found here. Even a complete spine lay at the center of the array, curved into the shape of a yin-yang diagram, fully refined.

All of it had come from a single person!

The one who set up the array had stripped the flesh and dismantled the bones of an entire body to construct it.

Yet after counting carefully, Qin Sang found one piece missing. There was no skull.

Though the array appeared somewhat disordered, Qin Sang’s experience allowed him to discern its purpose. This bone array had likely been used to resist the seal’s punishment.

"Was the skull destroyed... or..." Qin Sang paused slightly.

Perhaps he had been mistaken. The array might not have been made from another person’s bones, but from the caster’s own!

In a place like this, how could there be a second person to be dismantled for such an array?

Unless two people had been imprisoned here from the beginning, or it had been created from a refined corpse.

The cultivation world was filled with strange phenomena. A trapped individual, on the brink of death, might refine their own body into a bone array to resist the punishment, hiding their soul within the skull to prolong their existence. Such a thing was entirely possible.

At this point, Qin Sang roughly understood why the mysterious person had desperately sought help from outside. The bone array was likely failing. She had been on the verge of death and made a final gamble.

Now that the seal had been broken and the skull was gone, it meant she had escaped.

Thinking of this, Qin Sang felt a chill run down his spine. Even he might not have had the resolve to use such a method on himself.

He carefully examined the surroundings, searching for any additional clues. Otherwise, the trail might end here.

As expected, Tan Hao had already rescued the mysterious person. Yet afterward, both had vanished without a trace, their whereabouts unknown. This was Qin Sang’s greatest confusion.

Like the previous caves, the ground and walls here were smooth, devoid of any markings or inscriptions.

Finally, Qin Sang’s gaze fell upon the bone array.

"Hmm..." He noticed something unexpected and immediately moved closer.

On each bone, there were twisted, winding patterns, a kind of rune he had never seen before.

These runes had been directly carved into the bones, forming a peculiar kind of bone curse.

Bone curse, corpse refinement... Is there a connection? Qin Sang pondered.

The Dao of white bones differed from the Dao of corpses, yet both revolved around manipulating the dead.

He suspected that Heavenly Corpse Sect’s inheritance had been obtained from this mysterious person through the altar.

Back then, the sect had possessed corpse-king-level refined corpses, yet they had failed to rescue her. Perhaps they had been wary of her, seeking only benefits without releasing her. Or perhaps the sealing power had been too strong, beyond even the corpse king’s ability to break...

Thoughts raced through Qin Sang’s mind as he collected the bones one by one. Since he could not find Tan Hao or the mysterious person, these bone curses at least counted as a gain.

After returning, he might be able to comprehend something from them.

As he picked up the spine, his expression suddenly changed. He stared fixedly at a section of the vertebra.

"This rune..." Qin Sang’s heart stirred as the Heavenly Corpse Talisman surfaced in his mind.

The rune within this segment of the bone curse closely resembled one of the runes on the Heavenly Corpse Talisman.

"So there really is a connection!" A trace of joy appeared in Qin Sang’s heart.

The latter half of Heavenly Corpse Sect’s inheritance might not be purely corpse refinement techniques, but a fusion with the Dao of white bones. No wonder he had made so little progress before.

Unfortunately, he still had not found a way to unravel the Heavenly Corpse Talisman.

As he continued collecting the bones, Qin Sang memorized the bone curses, hoping they would help him decipher the talisman. He could also bring them back for Bai to study.

Bai had possessed the Corpse Soul Orb for decades and had remained in seclusion, yet he had never managed to refine it. Advancing to the corpse king level remained a distant goal.

Now it seemed like the problem was not a lack of strength, but that his path had been wrong.

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