Chapter 0824: Phantom Beast

Chapter 0824: Phantom Monsters

The Long Family managed to open the chest, meaning they must've brought plenty of backup.

Qin Yun was worried about the sheer number of Long Family members, which was why he hurriedly took Xiao Yuemei and hid below.

Neither he nor Xiao Yuemei had fully fused with the Sacred Eyes yet, and their heads were still throbbing faintly, forcing them to stay hidden.

As Qin Yun descended, he left a Spirit Eye Pearl up there to keep an eye on things.

The massive lid of the chest was soon completely flipped open, and noisy shouts rang out from outside.

The noise made Qin Yun’s heart skip a beat, worried that the Long Family might capture them.

Both he and Xiao Yuemei were in the midst of fusing with the Sacred Eyes, making them in no shape to fight—they couldn’t even flee at full strength.

Through the Spirit Eye Pearl, Qin Yun saw a large group of people descending. It was daytime outside, and as the intense sunlight poured in, cheers rang out.

The Long Family members were overjoyed, cheering loudly.

Seeing numerous chests of varying sizes inside, they believed there would be many treasures, and they eagerly descended excitedly.

The Long Family had brought a small army—over a thousand people in total!

Qin Yun guessed they must have come from a nearby secret base.

Once they landed, they immediately began opening the chests.

Inside were many Profound Artifacts, Spirit Artifacts, armor, and weapons.

The younger ones were thrilled upon obtaining these artifacts, with some even strapping them on immediately.

"With so many Profound Artifacts and Spirit Artifacts, we can equip all of the Long Family’s elite forces!"

"Once we transport these back, we’ll be ready to attack the Sword Family. Those cocky Sword Family punks will surely be crushed by us!"

"But… why are these artifacts so worn out?"

"Well, they were left behind by our forefathers. It’s normal for them to be a bit aged."

"Still… they’re falling apart in our hands!"

Soon, many discovered that the artifacts were indeed fragile and prone to damage.

Even the Emperor Wu and Half-Immortals among them looked pissed.

"Did they break when the chest fell earlier?"

"Impossible! These aren’t damn china plates—they shouldn’t shatter that easily!"

"It’s because they’ve been deprived of spiritual energy for too long," a Mystic Rune Master sighed regretfully. "This chest was a sealed chamber, preventing any spiritual energy from entering. That’s why this happened."

The cheering stopped as the Long Family members slumped in disappointment.

Had the equipment remained intact, it would have been a game-changing windfall for the Long Family, giving them a huge power boost.

"Turn this place upside down! Find anything that still works!" a Half-Immortal shouted.

The others, filled with disappointment, rummaged through the contents alongside Qin Yun.

Soon, someone found some talismans, but they were unusable.

The equipment and talismans inside had decayed badly after ages without spiritual energy nourishment, rendering them useless.

Qin Yun had previously inspected them carefully and noticed that many of the mystic engravings had nearly worn away, indicating severe damage.

If nourished by spiritual energy, these engraved equipment could have been preserved for tens of thousands of years, maybe even power up over time.

Many young disciples of the Long family began complaining about their ancestors.

"Why did our ancestors seal this box? Couldn’t they have set up an array outside?" a young man grumbled under his breath.

"You don’t understand—the box was completely sealed to prevent spiritual energy from entering or leaving, to keep it hidden! Think about it—with so much equipment inside constantly absorbing spiritual energy for maintenance, leaving it unsealed would have easily revealed its presence!"

"Still, our ancestors shouldn’t have screwed over their own descendants like this!"

At that moment, an elder called out, "There are many depleted purple crystals here..."

Many of the older generation rushed over, heading straight to the area where Qin Yun and Xiao Yuemei had been earlier.

"With so many purple crystals here, they should have been enough to sustain the equipment’s self-maintenance... but these crystals were drained dry millennia back!" An elder crushed a purple crystal in his hand, frowning deeply.

"Could... could something have absorbed the spiritual energy inside the purple crystals?" A middle-aged man felt a chill run down his spine.

Qin Yun had been using his Spirit Eye Pearl to observe the surroundings, scanning for anything off.

He and Xiao Yuemei had previously seen something moving at an incredible speed—too fast to make out.

The Long family members were instantly plunged into panic.

They were certain something terrifying lurked within.

"Ah—"

A gut-wrenching shriek suddenly erupted not far away.

A youth’s abdomen had burst open, his upper body gutted—just raw meat and bone left, his organs and Dao Core completely gone, leaving a gory, nightmare scene.

Yet, the youth was still alive, his face white as a sheet as he screamed in terror.

"What was it?" An elder rushed over, barking.

"I don’t know, I don’t know!" the youth wailed. "My organs... they’re gone... gone..."

Others who came to look recoiled in horror!

"Huddle up—now! We’re leaving this place!" a Half-Immortal shouted.

Just then, screams ripped through the air from the distance!

Dozens of people had been ripped open—innards and Dao Cores scooped clean.

The victims included those at the Mysterious Martial Realm and Spiritual Martial Realm, while the Martial Kings and Wu Emperor remained unharmed.

Despite their horrific wounds, the warriors’ tough-as-nails bodies and raging vitality kept them alive—but not for long.

"Run! Now!" a Martial King roared.

Many people suddenly leaped into the air.

The dozens of gutted victims screamed for help below, unable to fly without their Dao Cores or the strength to escape the enormous crate.

As a large group flew upward, more blood-curdling screams rang out!

At this moment, Qin Yun, through his Spirit-Eye Pearl, finally saw what it was—creatures resembling spiders, each only dinner-plate sized, moving at blurring speed.

"What are those things?" Qin Yun asked Ling Yuner.

"I don’t know, must be some freakish critters!" Ling Yuner replied. "But why haven’t you or Yuemei been attacked?"

Qin Yun frowned. "If it’s just these things, they shouldn’t be strong enough to cause that massive black crate to shake violently!"

The young members of the Long family, once overrun by those freakish spiders, had their internal organs devoured.

One after another, they slammed into the ground with wet crunches.

Terrified beyond measure, the young men screamed for help on the ground.

Those in the air above, witnessing the two to three hundred people below with their abdomens torn open, empty and bloody, felt their hairs stand on end.

Qin Yun, observing through his Spirit-Eye Pearl, was also fighting back nausea.

"What exactly are those things? They don’t even have spiritual forms!" Qin Yun thought in horror.

Earlier, Xiao Yuemei had only seen a single soul entity through the mirror, yet these spiders were numerous.

Moreover, both Qin Yun and Xiao Yuemei had merged with the Saintly Eyes, leading him to suspect that the soul entity was the Sacred Pupil itself.

"Elders, why did our ancestors screw us over like this?"

"Exactly! They’ve gotten so many of us killed and left behind nothing but worthless crap!"

"Should we go down and save them?"

"By the way, who was the one ambushing us earlier?"

"Don’t bother rescuing them—not gonna die for lost causes!"

"Without organs or Dao Cores, even if we save them and regrow their organs with medicine, it’ll take ages for them to reforge their Dao Cores!"

"They’re already dead men. Let them die!"

Qin Yun was shocked by the Long family's cold-bloodedness.

If this were the Immortal Soldier City or the Sword family, they would never just abandon their disciples to perish.

Holding Xiao Yuemei, Qin Yun endured the agony in his skull while remaining on razor's edge—he and Xiao Yuemei might very well be inside a spider den.

"What exactly are those spiders? They move so fast, burrow into bodies, and scarf down innards and cores in an instant?" Qin Yun had only caught flashes of those arachnid horrors but hadn’t seen how they consumed their prey.

In short, the spider monsters were terrifying—not even the HalfImmortals and Emperor Wu couldn’t catch them.

The Long family was too greedy to bail, convinced there was more inside the box, yet none dared descend for a closer look, not even the HalfImmortals.

They feared something worse was waiting down there, waiting to kill them.

Qin Yun's heart pounded. He had never expected there to be creatures inside that could so quickly devour internal organs and cultivation pills.

Suddenly, Qin Yun sensed an extremely faint presence approaching!

"Are those things coming?" Qin Yun was currently suppressing his energy signature, hiding inside a large crate and using Shadow Power to remain hidden.

"Stay calm, those things can't do anything to you!" Xiao Yuemei snapped.

Qin Yun could already hear various sounds around him. The crate where he and Xiao Yuemei hid was surrounded by many other crates, all filled with equipment.

Now, the sounds he heard were those of the equipment and crates being destroyed.

Qin Yun was wound tighter than a spring!

He was ready to summon the Heavenly Lion Subduing Dragon Cauldron and hide inside it!

"They're here!" Through the darkness, Qin Yun could clearly sense the spiders passing by him.

The spiders moved very slowly, merely passing through.

Using this opportunity, Qin Yun carefully observed the spiders' forms. They resembled spiders with many legs, but each leg ended in a dragon claw, and their bodies were covered in tiny dragon scales.