The infant's eyes were clear and pure as it stared with watery innocence at the army of yin corpses. Opening its small mouth, it burst out crying. "Wah! Wah!"
The tender, piercing wails echoed through the valley and resounded into the corridor. Fleeing into the depths of the passage, Xiao Yuan and the others could not escape hearing the baby's cries.
The very next second, their lower abdomens swelled slightly. Within moments, fetal movement stirred inside them, accompanied by the shrill sound of infant crying.
"...Yuanshi Tianzun, couldn't you fucking wait a moment?!" Xiahou Aotian braced himself against the corridor wall, stomping his foot in outrage.
How could a dignified protagonist be made pregnant in broad daylight? Did he not care about his dignity?
No sooner had he cursed than he slumped against the wall, cradling his ballooning belly and groaning in agony.
Xiao Yuan pressed one hand against the wall and clutched her lower abdomen with the other, the corners of her mouth twitching faintly.
Never had she imagined that one day she would experience pregnancy in such a manner, with Yuanshi Tianzun as the culprit.
Guan Ya had originally been carrying Sun Miaomiao on her back. Sun Miaomiao had suffered fatal injuries, and her self-healing required time, leaving her unable to move on her own.
Yet as soon as the crying began, Guan Ya could barely look after herself. Clutching a spherical belly, she leaned her back against the stone wall, her pretty face pale with pain and her brows tightly knit.
"I... I'm pregnant? Pervert... Yuanshi Tianzun is a total pervert..." Asano Ryo leaned on her saber, looking down at her lower abdomen on the verge of tears.
She was enduring pregnancy pains she shouldn't have had to bear at her age.
Compared to the women, World Returns to Fire and Zhao Chenghuang, experiencing the sensation of pregnancy for the first time, suffered a complete mental breakdown. Their straight-male worldviews were violently shattered.
Both of their faces turned ashen. They looked as though they wanted to curse someone's mother, yet the rowdy children in their bellies left them only wanting to lean against the wall and rest.
Only Brother Red Chicken stubbornly staggered forward along the wall. Seeing his teammates failing to keep up, he looked back and roared:
"Don't stop! Keep moving! The babies in your bellies will strip away your spiritual power and skills! If you don't want to drop levels, hurry and follow me! Once we get away from the crying, we'll be fine!"
By now, the party members' bellies were approaching the size of a six-month pregnancy. The outlines of tiny infant hands pressed against the skin of their bellies, the fetuses within seemingly trying to tear through the flesh and crawl out.
Spiritual power and physical stamina began draining away, and their extraordinary stage skills were being stripped from their genes, transferring into the fetuses.
Sensing the changes within themselves, everyone's hearts sank. Gritting their teeth through the agonizing pain that felt like their internal organs being turned upside down, they staggered forward against the wall.
After a few steps, Guan Ya suddenly remembered that Sun Miaomiao was still lying back where they had been. She halted abruptly, her lips pale as she cried out, "Miaomiao..."
Even in her unconscious state, Sun Miaomiao had not escaped the fate of pregnancy.
"You go ahead. I'll go save her," came Commandery Princess Yinyao's steady voice.
Guan Ya looked at Commandery Princess Yinyao, panting heavily as she urged, "Quick, go quickly!"
Commandery Princess Yinyao dashed back, hoisted the heavily pregnant Sun Miaomiao onto her shoulder, and ran like an agile leopard—chasing down the others, overtaking them, and vanishing into the depths of the corridor.
The party members hurried along the walls for a long time until the infant's crying gradually fell behind them, finally fading into silence.
The fetuses in their bellies first calmed down, then lost their vitality. Their swollen bellies slowly receded, though the tearing ache in their abdominal muscles lingered.
To them, however, this pain felt wonderful.
The fetuses were gone. What a relief...
"Not good!" Commandery Princess Yinyao raised her megaphone and said in a grave voice.
Hearing that, everyone instinctively clutched their lower abdomens, bracing to run like startled birds.
Brother Red Chicken glanced around. Seeing no danger descending and hearing no baby cries, he breathed a sigh of relief, then snapped angrily:
"What are you making a fuss about?!"
"I am not pregnant!" Commandery Princess Yinyao said.
"Isn't not being pregnant a good thing?!" Brother Red Chicken spat.
"Yin corpses cannot become pregnant. How will Yuanshi Tianzun deal with the enemy?" Commandery Princess Yinyao snatched the Eight-Direction Han ancient sword from Guan Ya's hands and strode away. "I must go back to help him."
Zhao Chenghuang and the others shifted slightly. Indeed, if yin corpses could not become pregnant, how could Yuanshi Tianzun handle a hundred of them?
"Let her go." Guan Ya sat cross-legged on the ground, her tone calm. "Yuanshi knows the Holy Infant's abilities best. Since he told us to leave, he naturally has a way to handle the yin corpses. There's no need to worry."
Nobody understood Yuanshi Tianzun better than she did; he was a man she knew inside and out.
A short distance away, Commandery Princess Yinyao suddenly stopped. Turning back toward the group, she held up her megaphone:
"I have a question for you all."
Everyone looked over.
The princess said, "Guan Ya, Sun Miaomiao, World Returns to Fire..."
She called out each person's name in turn, then asked, "How does it feel to be knocked up by Yuanshi Tianzun?"
???
Everyone stared at her in silence, their expressions practically screaming a desire to beat her up.
Commandery Princess Yinyao patted her waist pouch with regret and turned to slip away.
A pity she hadn't managed to record leverage like that.
***
Frenzied, bloodthirsty yin corpses charged forward, baring their fangs and brandishing their claws. Zhang Yuanqing stood at the mouth of the corridor under Yi Chuanmei's protection. In a calm, orderly fashion, he pulled on the Gale Walker Gloves and grasped the Mountain God Scepter in his left hand.
Finally, from his faction storage, he retrieved a square iron tea canister.
The canister was filled with black, powdery spores.
Zhang Yuanqing tossed the canister high into the air, activating the Gale Walker Gloves' skill to manipulate the airflow, sweeping the spores toward the oncoming army of yin corpses.
Next, he raised the Mountain God Scepter high and slammed it against the ground.
*Thump!*
The emerald gem atop the scepter blazed with a dazzling yet gentle green light.
Faint popping sounds resonated in the air as clusters of black vegetation sprouted rapidly, bearing twisted, tentacle-like vines resembling octopuses or writhing tumbleweeds.
These plants instinctively snared the yin corpses. Their tentacle-like vines locked tightly onto the cold bodies, greedily leeching away lunar energy.
This flora was called Ghost Claw Grass, a plant rare even in Night Walker-exclusive dungeons. Their environmental requirements were extraordinarily demanding; they could only grow in mass graves rich with yin energy.
They could not grow in ordinary soil. Instead, they had to take root in corpses, using rotting flesh as nourishment. Once a corpse was exhausted, Ghost Claw Grass would produce seeds and enter a prolonged dormancy to await another opportunity.
The seeds possessed tenacious vitality, capable of remaining dormant for decades or even centuries.
Because of their property of consuming rotting flesh and lunar energy, the Taiyi Sect had invested massive amounts of manpower and time to cultivate large quantities of Ghost Claw Grass, specifically for cleansing mass graves and other deadly sites brimming with yin energy.
Knowing that Ghost Claw Grass countered yin corpses, Zhang Yuanqing had requested some from Fu Qingyang.
The boss was the boss; he never refused Zhang Yuanqing's requests.
Entangled by the Ghost Claw Grass, the yin corpses slowed dramatically as their yin energy continuously drained away. Devoid of intelligence, they did not even know to clear the grass clinging to their bodies.
Seeing this, the black-robed vengeful spirit immediately let out a shrill screech, seemingly conveying an order.
The muddled yin corpses finally "realized" what was endangering them. Looking down, they began tearing at the Ghost Claw Grass wound around their forms.
Ghost Claw Grass relied on rotting flesh as soil, and corpses did not resist; as such, the plants had not evolved combat capabilities. They were uprooted and torn to shreds almost without resistance.
The yin corpses then resumed their charge toward Zhang Yuanqing at the corridor entrance.
"Wah! Wah!"
The infant's wails continued.
The shredded fragments of Ghost Claw Grass suddenly came back to life. The pieces sprouted rapidly like dividing single-celled organisms, and the Ghost Claw Grass multiplied even further.
The baby's crying had granted them the power to reproduce.
Furthermore, black, writhing tentacles burst from the mouths and nostrils of over a hundred yin corpses. Their bellies bulged high, resembling women six months pregnant.
Yet what they carried in their bellies were not human fetuses, but clumps of Ghost Claw Grass.
A small fraction of the spores had entered their bodies through their mouths and noses. Though few in number, under the Holy Infant's crying, they reproduced rapidly and relentlessly.
At this moment, they finally erupted.
Clearing Ghost Claw Grass off their bodies was simple; clearing it out of their stomachs was something the yin corpses could never achieve.
From the start, Zhang Yuanqing's plan had been to utilize the Holy Infant's "fertility" ability to turn a limited amount of spores into endless Ghost Claw Grass, then use the Mountain God Scepter's traits to stimulate their growth and mutate them to possess greater offensive power.
Seeing that the effect had been achieved, he brought out Little Red Riding Hood and gave it a shake.
Led by Greed Divine General, nine yin corpses tumbled out of the hat.
Zhang Yuanqing waved a hand. "Cripple them."
Before his voice had even faded, a beam of starlight rose from within the yin corpse army. Commandery Princess Yinyao materialized from the starlight, sweeping her sword horizontally.
With a series of squelches, several heads flew through the air, and headless corpses crashed heavily to the ground.
Greed Divine General led the numbered Dead, charging brazenly into the enemy force. The big-bellied yin corpse army had no means to fight back as their rotting heads were lopped off one after another.
Zhang Yuanqing looked toward the black-robed vengeful spirit floating in midair, then raised a hand to press his forehead. "Time to finish you off."
Deep blue light erupted from his fingertips, spreading across his face. Black, white, and red outlined his mouth and eyes, depicting an unruly, upright facial makeup.
Blue Face: stamina increased by 50%, immunity to three mental attacks.
Riding the wild winds, Zhang Yuanqing led Yi Chuanmei soaring into the sky, darting toward the black-robed vengeful spirit.
A deep vortex surfaced in the spirit's eye sockets, pulling the two of them into a dream.
"Child's play!" Yi Chuanmei raised her hand and snapped her fingers, mimicking her master's habit.
Cracks instantly spread across the surrounding space, shattering it like glass.
The dream was dispelled.
Without hesitation, the black-robed vengeful spirit threw back its head and shrieked, unleashing a Mental Strike!
Blue light flared on Zhang Yuanqing's face, nullifying the attack. The divine power of the sun surged into his palm, coalescing into a pale golden long saber.
He brought it down with all his might.
The black-robed spirit's form was severed in two, hissing with plumes of green smoke.
A Level 6 yin entity that had degraded into a vengeful spirit and possessed no items was utterly incapable of contending with him, a Stargazer.
Thick, pitch-black energy welled in Zhang Yuanqing's eyes. Opening his mouth, he inhaled the two soul fragments into his belly.
Spirit Devouring!
Mechanism City was riddled with traps and puppets; encountering a "creature" with intellect was a rare opportunity. Perhaps he could glimpse the truth behind the fall of Mechanism City from the spirit's memories.
Within his sea of consciousness, the vengeful spirit disintegrated into a chaotic, evil torrent brimming with negative emotions, lashing against Zhang Yuanqing's spirit body.
It brought a mind-splitting agony and chaos, which was promptly suppressed by his willpower.
Fragmented memories flashed past. Zhang Yuanqing read the black-robed spirit's identity: he was a Dream Master active during the Song dynasty. Back then, the Jin state held absolute dominance in the north, marching south to conquer the Song capital of Bianjing and capture the two emperors.
Seeking wealth and glory, this Dream Master pledged loyalty to the Jin state, following their iron cavalry southward to destroy the Song. However, they met fierce resistance from patriotic generals such as Yue Pengju, and their southward advance stalled.
The Jin military leadership received a secret report that the Mohist Sect in the southwest had recently acquired an ancient, supreme treasure capable of crafting apocalyptic mechanism weapons.
It was precisely what was needed to resolve the Jin state's predicament.
Thus, the Jin leadership dispatched envoys to "borrow" the treasure, promising that after unifying the realm, the Mohist Sect would be honored as the state religion and its mechanism arts widely promoted.
Yet the Mohist Sect refused to yield and executed the Jin envoys.
Furious, the Jin court mobilized the exceptional talents and military experts under its command—deploying their absolute elite—vowing to eradicate the Mohist Sect.
The leader of the expedition was an Ancient God of War, a prominent figure in the Jin military.
This Dream Master had fought alongside the leader all the way to this spot, ultimately dying of exhaustion. Bound by the mechanisms here, he had become a spirit servant guarding the valley.
With that, Zhang Yuanqing completely pieced together the storyline of the Mohist Mechanism City.
Faint yet hurried footsteps echoed from the corridor.
Having recovered their stamina, the party members rushed back. They stared in astonishment at the chaotic field of corpses. Although they had known that Yuanshi Tianzun had stayed behind alone because he was confident, seeing the sight in person still left them profoundly shaken.
In their minds, only someone of the caliber of the official Four Young Masters—those strongest few beneath the Dominators—could solo this valley.
Now, Yuanshi Tianzun had achieved it as well.
Without realizing it, he was already standing at the pinnacle of the Saint stage.
"Zhao Chenghuang, Sun Miaomiao, I left a Level 5 yin corpse for each of you. Once we exit the dungeon, your experience should be enough to control one of this level." Zhang Yuanqing pointed toward the big-bellied yin corpses pinned beneath the feet of Greed Divine General and Bai Ren Zhan.
Sun Miaomiao and Zhao Chenghuang's eyes instantly lit up.
Back in the Taiyi Sect, trading for a Level 5 yin corpse required at least Grade B merit.
While Sun Miaomiao didn't personally control corpses, she could always sell it to her fellow sect members.
"Grade S dungeons really are packed with great stuff." After marveling, Xiahou Aotian grumbled, "Why didn't you leave a few more and give me one to sell for cash?"
*I still have tens of millions in debt...* He was too embarrassed to say those words aloud.
Guan Ya asked, "Did you try Spirit Devouring?"
"I've figured out the whole story behind the fall of Mechanism City." He immediately relayed the intel gathered from Spirit Devouring to his teammates in detail.
"So that's how it happened!" The group came to an understanding, though they weren't overly shocked, as it aligned with their expectations.
World Returns to Fire knitted his brows tightly, then suddenly shook his head.
"Something seems off. The main quest is to investigate the cause of the Mohist Sect's destruction. Logically, we should have completed the main quest by now, but the dungeon hasn't given any prompt."
Chapter 539