Chapter 161: The Corpse King Awakens

Words : 1423 Updated : Sep 19th, 2025

Chapter 161: The Corpse King Awakens "Something's wrong!" The Bearded Guy yanked the steering wheel, bringing the armored vehicle to a screeching halt by the roadside. His expression was grim. As a seasoned Demon Slayer, he could smell the overwhelming scent of danger in the air. And this was not a threat he could handle alone. Perhaps even if every Demon Slayer in C-Province's Demon Slayer Bureau took action, they still might not be able to deal with it. "You four, and Chen Huai'an, leave now! Head to the C-Province Demon Slayer Bureau and request reinforcements!" As he spoke, he grabbed his machete and stepped out of the vehicle, throwing open all the doors. "What about you, Uncle?" Chen Huai'an got out and stared at the Bearded Guy, who had walked to the trunk. "I'm the only one here who's Elite Soldier-Class," the Bearded Guy muttered around the cigarette between his lips as he popped open the trunk, revealing an arsenal of heavy weaponry. He tilted his head and smirked. "If I don't stay, who will?" "I think I can help." Chen Huai'an pursed his lips. Yes, he was simply offering his assistance—he had nothing to do with the Demon Slayer Bureau. "You?" The Bearded Guy pulled out a bottle filled with a pale golden liquid, uncapped it, and poured it over a box of ammunition. He then turned to Chen Huai'an with a sharp look. "You're not part of the Demon Slayer Bureau. You can't help me, and you shouldn't stay here. Get moving!" "I'm a Containment Object." "Containment Objects need clearance. Without clearance, they stay in the containment facility. Your clearance expired as soon as you completed the mission to kill the Black Coffin Emissary," the Bearded Guy said as he loaded bullets soaked in golden liquid into a massive shotgun. Then, he shoved a bottle of the same liquid into Chen Huai'an's hands and jerked his chin. "Holy water from the Church—works well against demons and malevolent spirits. The Bureau pours a ton of funds into getting this stuff. Things have been a bit better since we developed the Qi Absorption Technique... Take this and use it for self-defense." Seeing that Chen Huai'an was still standing there, unmoving, the Bearded Guy grinned wickedly. "What’s wrong, kid? Join the Demon Slayer Bureau right now, and I'll throw you straight into this mission. The bounty on this big guy is at least twenty or thirty million. Tempting, isn’t it?" "Uncle, you look way cooler when you shut up." "HAHAHAHA!" The Bearded Guy watched as Chen Huai'an and the others left, finally letting out a breath of relief. "Go. The farther, the better." The further they went, the safer they’d be. With a cigarette dangling from his lips, the Bearded Guy hefted his machete and shotgun, stepping onto the dry riverbed. The easygoing facade on his face vanished, replaced by a heavy, horrified expression as— From the center of the riverbed, a solid gold coffin slowly rose from an ancient bronze tomb. Creak— The coffin lid opened with a slow, eerie groan. A burst of frost-white corpse energy billowed outward. Inside, a figure sat up. The Bearded Guy's pupils shrank violently. It was a gaunt man draped in imperial yellow dragon robes. His skin was an eerie bluish-gray, his veins writhing like black serpents beneath it. The golden crown on his head swayed as if moved by an invisible force, its strings of jade beads dangling eerily. At the ends of each bead-string hung a shriveled child's skull, with incense sticks stabbed into their hollow eye sockets. The smoke coiled into twisted script in the air. His ten fingers gleamed with a cold, bronzed sheen, and a blood-red mole at his brow pulsed with a sinister light, distorting the space around his face into a swirling vortex, making his features impossible to see. The sheer, suffocating terror radiating from this creature was enough to make the Bearded Guy's blood run cold. But that wasn’t the only reason for his fear. He had seen this thing before. After being promoted to Elite Soldier-Class, he had the privilege of visiting the stone monument beneath the thousand-step staircase of the Kunlun Immortal Palace. That monument was engraved with countless stone reliefs. One of those engravings depicted this very scene—a monstrous figure rising from a golden coffin. What did this mean? A prophecy? The Bearded Guy recalled the other engravings on that monument and felt a chill creep up his spine. If all those figures recorded in the stone truly began appearing one by one... This world would become a living hell. Before he could think further, the Corpse King moved. He tilted his head back and let out an ear-piercing howl. The sound was like the static of a million old television sets, screeching in unison. Corpse energy surged forth. The river instantly froze over. The ginkgo trees along the banks shed their leaves in a flurry. A man in a business suit sprinted along the shore, his briefcase bursting open, sending contracts flying like snowflakes—only for the papers to turn into funeral money the moment they touched the corpse energy. "We can't let this bastard scream any longer—if he does, the whole city will be dead!" The Bearded Guy cursed as he charged across the frozen river toward the Corpse King. He knew he stood no chance against this monster. But he also knew— He couldn’t let more people end up as unlucky as him. "F***ing beast, SHUT—THE—HELL—UP!" His blade spun in a deadly arc toward the Corpse King. At the same time, he raised his shotgun. A burst of azure flames erupted from the barrel. Bang! Bang! There was no sound of bullets piercing flesh—only sparks flashing before the Bearded Guy's eyes. His pupils contracted. In a blink, the Corpse King's withered hand had caught his blade mid-swing. Beneath the dangling skulls, that distorted face remained unscathed. Not a single shotgun pellet had found its mark. "You motherf***er! How thick is your damn skin?!" The Corpse King’s response was a single, swift movement. A punch. BOOM! The Bearded Guy spat blood. He looked down. His chest—pierced clean through. The Corpse King retracted his hand, pulling out a pulsing tumor. He raised it to his mouth, then hesitated—it wasn’t a heart, and it didn’t smell fresh. The Bearded Guy chuckled hoarsely. "Haha… Old bastard… bet you didn’t expect this… I ain’t got a heart!" He clenched his fist and swung at the Corpse King's face—only to feel as if he'd hit a steel wall. “AAAHH!” Pain shot through him as he reeled back, his fingers shattered completely. He finally understood what it meant to have skin tougher than a city wall. His punch hadn’t harmed the Corpse King. But to the Corpse King, it was an insult. "ROAR—!" The monster slammed the Bearded Guy into the ground. Then its claws lashed out. The sickening crack of shattering bones. Agonized screams, stretched like a violin string snapping. Flesh tore apart like shredded cloth. Blood splattered across grayish-blue scales. Severed limbs convulsed before rolling into the river. The Bearded Guy, now just a dismembered head, glared up at the Corpse King. The pain was unbearable—his mind had gone blank. But still, he smirked, spat at the monster’s feet, and sneered: "I... pfft—!" Squish. A single stomp crushed his skull. The Corpse King took a deep breath. At last, silence. "By the order of Heaven and Earth, the source of all Qi!" A solemn chant rang out from the rooftops lining both sides of the Jin River. Seven Demon Slayers stood atop separate buildings, hands forming seals. Their auras interlinked, and above each of their heads, a yellow banner billowed in the wind. Sёarᴄh the NôvelFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As their incantations grew louder, seven stars ignited beneath the frozen river, forming the Big Dipper Formation. The Corpse King stood at its core—the Pojun Star, Yao Guang. In that moment, the crimson Yao Guang Star in the sky mirrored its counterpart on the frozen river. A blood-red sword slowly took form above the Corpse King's head. On the ice below, the Bearded Guy’s shattered eyes watched silently. He had been torn to pieces. But at least— The Demon Slayer Bureau's reinforcements had finally arrived.

Chapter 161: The Corpse King Awakens

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