Immortality Through Array Formations Chapter 1982 Chapter 957: Lighting the Soul Lamp

Mo Hua plummeted into the depths of the tomb pit.

The sensation was akin to sinking into a suffocating, pitch-black ocean, where the heavy darkness was thick with the frigid, putrid odor of rotting flesh.

After an indeterminate amount of time spent falling through the void, his feet finally struck solid earth.

A ripple of shimmering light manifested beneath him as Mo Hua executed the Water Passing Step to cushion the impact, allowing him to regain his footing steadily.

One after another, the rest of the group leaped down until the entire party had reconvened.

Mr. Hui and the group of black-robed Demon Cultivators gathered once more, following the lead of the black-robed elder as they pressed deeper into the abyss.

The environment was consumed by a total blackout; visibility was so poor that one could not even see their own hand, far worse than the conditions above ground.

To compensate, Mo Hua began to circulate his Spiritual Power, channeling it into his eyes to trigger the "Night Vision Skill."

This was a common cultivation technique familiar to most, designed specifically for navigating through darkness.

However, because the flow of Spiritual Power created ripples that might alert enemies or Monster Beasts, seasoned cultivators typically avoided using the Night Vision Skill in high-risk zones unless they had no other choice.

The issue here was that the tomb pit offered absolutely no natural light to work with.

In such a place, even the sensory feedback from one's Divine Sense felt unreliable.

Consequently, not just Mo Hua, but every member of the group activated their night vision.

A soft glow of Spiritual Power settled around their eyes, granting them enough sight to distinguish their surroundings so they could cautiously follow the path ahead.

Yet, the further they traveled, the more Mo Hua felt a sense of unease.

The area felt even more desolate and abandoned than the graveyard they had left behind.

Furthermore, the terrain was littered with jagged debris, the walls were nothing but damp, raw stone, and there were no architectural corridors to be seen; it felt less like a finished tomb and more like a rugged, subterranean excavation.

After walking for some time, the black-robed elder called out a sudden warning:

"Be careful."

Mo Hua picked up on the danger as well, halting his steps and drifting closer to the protection of the group.

From the shadows came the rhythmic sound of wet, splashing footsteps.

The noise wasn't echoing from the ground, but rather from the ceiling above.

It was as if something was stalking them from the heights.

Everyone immediately unsheathed their Spiritual Artifacts and Magic Treasures, surging their Spiritual Power and Blood Qi in a state of high alert.

Suddenly, a rancid wind whipped through the dark, followed by a glint of cold light.

This metallic flash lunged from above, but before it could strike, the Bear Demon Cultivator intercepted it. He seized the creature, snapped its limbs, tore its frame apart, and slammed the remains onto the floor.

Blood of a strange, sickly hue began to leak out, soaking into the dry earth.

Squinting, Mo Hua realized the attacker wasn't a walking corpse, but a genuine Monster Beast.

The creature was armored in thick scales with jagged claws and teeth, looking much like a Mountain-penetrating Demon. However, its pointed head bore facial features that were disturbingly human, creating a truly macabre appearance.

"What kind of creature is this..."

"A beast with a man's face? What could it have consumed to mutate into such a thing?"

Grimaces appeared on the faces of the group.

Fortunately, while this Mountain-penetrating Demon was eerie, it was only at the Third Grade Primary Rank.

A Third Grade Primary Rank beast would have been a lethal threat to Mo Hua and a major headache for Mr. Hui, but it was nothing more than an annoyance to the powerful cultivators in the group.

The Late Golden Core Stage Demon Sect leader, the Bear Demon Cultivator, and the black-robed elder faced no real danger from it.

Mo Hua felt a private sense of relief.

The Solitary Mountain Tomb was a deathtrap; without the presence of these high-level Demon Cultivators, he would never have survived this long.

"Continue forward," the black-robed elder commanded in a low tone, resuming his stride.

Mr. Hui remained unsettled. After a few more minutes of walking, he muttered with a frown, "This place doesn't resemble a tomb in the slightest..."

His brow furrowed, haunted by an unidentifiable feeling of dread.

Eventually, they reached the edge of a massive, seemingly endless pit.

A heavy weight settled in their chests as they stepped toward the precipice of the mine, peering into the darkness below.

Within the void, the vast expanse of the mine began to take shape through the enhancement of their Night Vision Skill.

Mr. Hui froze in shock, and even the black-robed elder and the other hardened Demon Cultivators gasped, their eyes widening in horror.

The mine before them was an abandoned ruin that had suffered a catastrophic collapse.

Not only was it vast beyond measure, but the floor of the pit was unfathomably deep and completely overflowing with corpses!

It was a literal ocean of the dead, piled high into a mountain of flesh.

Some bodies were rotted to the bone, others were mummified and dry, while many were half-buried under ore or torn apart by scavenging beasts, discarded like common trash at the bottom of the mountain.

The poses of many suggested a final, desperate struggle for survival before they succumbed.

These victims, clad in tattered rags, were almost entirely Mining Cultivators. Their numbers were so vast they were impossible to count.

The scene seemed to echo with their silent cries for help, their fury, and their ultimate despair.

As tomb raiders, these men had blood on their hands. As Demon Cultivators, they had committed countless murders.

Yet, even for these cold-blooded killers, the sight of such a massive, collective grave left them paralyzed with shock.

This was a death that was both mundane and unimaginably horrific.

"Was this... a mining accident?" Mr. Hui asked, his voice cracking with emotion.

"How could a disaster of this scale even happen?" Stone added, his voice full of disbelief.

Mo Hua’s eyes quivered, his expression turning as cold as ice.

Neither the Shen family's private archives nor the official records of the Taoist Court mentioned anything about a tragedy of this magnitude.

There wasn't a single word written about it.

Even the secret Jade Slip provided by Shen Xiuyan contained no mention of this event.

For a catastrophe of this size to occur, the Shen family had to have known. They hadn't just forgotten; they had scrubbed it from history.

Mo Hua finally grasped the truth of why Solitary Mountain City had been flooded with orphans centuries ago.

Their parents and forefathers had been swallowed by this mine.

Left with no one to care for them, those children had no choice but to become the orphans of the city.