Everyone immediately heightened their alertness and prepared for battle.

Previously on their journey, they also encountered some demons, but they had always fully avoided them.

Now, they were in a long underground stone staircase, and they could imagine that if a demon rushed towards them from below, it would likely be very difficult for them to hold it off.

Sure enough, moments later, the group saw a woman clad in white rapidly charging up the stone staircase towards them.

"It's a Netherworld demon!"

Everyone quickly reacted, casting Soul Fire at the approaching Netherworld demon.

A thunderous boom soon echoed throughout the underground staircase.

The group saw the demon ablaze as soon as the Soul Fire struck its body, burning fiercely like it was doused in kerosene.

Shortly, the demon was reduced to ashes.

Seeing the demon turn to ashes, the group finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"We should keep moving!"

Ning Tiancheng said happily. He had been performing outstandingly throughout the journey and believed he would eventually win over the beauty.

Seeing the demon ahead being vanquished, Duan Gujin's eyebrows furrowed tightly.

"We're now seeing humanoid demons!"

He knew that the appearance of humanoid demons in an area could very likely mean that other cognizant demons were nearby.

Generally, demons with awakened Divine Wisdom were far more powerful than other demons.

The group continued down the underground stone staircase for several hundred meters until they finally arrived on flat ground.

However, to their surprise, they found no other stone staircases on this flat terrain.

"What is this place?"

The group looked around but didn't discover anything.

"How strange, why is it like this?"

Duan Gujin looked up at the sky and saw tall stone walls.

The walls were exceptionally smooth, clearly indicating that they were man-made.

He sensed that there were Forbidden Space Arrays on those stone walls, meaning they couldn't fly upwards.

Some Martial Artists looked up at the tall stone walls and began to feel a sense of fear.

"It's strange, this staircase is too long!"

Just as the group was pondering why there were only stone walls in the place they could see, suddenly a cracking, crunching noise came.

Everyone quickly looked towards the source of the noise and soon realized that it originated from the staircase they had passed earlier.

"Look, there's a cave here!"

About nine steps retracted into the stone wall, revealing a massive cave.

Upon seeing the cave, everyone couldn't help but frown.

They knew that a cave appearing here was no ordinary cave, and they wondered what its purpose could be.

"Should we all go in to take a look, or should we leave some people here to guard?"

Ning Tiancheng suddenly asked.

"This place is very likely a test from the Heaven Stealing Immortal Sect for all of us! It's best if we enter the cave ahead together! I think the Heaven Stealing Immortal Sect wouldn't set up various traps to ensnare us here; the higher-ups likely want to test our courage and bravery!"

A Martial Artist replied.

"Yes, that's it!"

After pondering for a moment, Ning Tiancheng decided to join everyone in entering the cave ahead.

"Since this is part of the Heavenly Seizing Exam, many other contestants will come here as well! We must race against time and rush to the finish line as fast as possible!"

After Ning Tiancheng finished speaking, he was the first to enter the cave ahead, with the others immediately following him.

Duan Gujin's eyes had been wide open, meticulously searching the vicinity for any clues.

But he found no clues, and like the others, followed the crackling sound to discover the cave beneath the stone stairs.

He harboured some doubts about this part of the Heavenly Seizing Exam; he felt there was something abnormal, but couldn't pinpoint what exactly was amiss at the moment.

"Ah! There's a corpse!"

They had only walked about ten meters into the cave when suddenly, a woman screamed in terror.

Immediately, everyone looked in the direction the woman was pointing to, and indeed, they saw a body lying on the ground.

At first, the group suspected the corpse was a demon and released a ball of Soul Fire, hoping to burn the creature.

However, they soon smelled an extremely foul stench wafting from up ahead.

"That's not a demon, it's a real corpse!"

The group quickly realized.

"Oh my god! How could there be a real corpse here? We should have been the first to arrive; we ran here the fastest and no one should have been able to outpace us!"

A Martial Artist exclaimed in shock.

After saying this, he felt he should take back his words.

"We arrived much faster than you all!"

Yan Dapang said, touching his nose and kindly reminding them.

"Yes! Yes! We were much faster than you! Or perhaps others arrived here before us!"

Duan Gujin's eyes flickered as he speculated. From the previous signs, he initially thought he and Yan Dapang were very likely the first to see the underground staircase appear.

But now that he carefully examined the male corpse, seemingly not dead for long, he realized things were not as he had previously imagined.

"It seems very possible that we were not the first to arrive here!"

Duan Gujin exhaled, thinking so in his heart.

Upon inspecting the male corpse, he suddenly noticed a storage ring on the body and a short sword lying next to it.

"This corpse isn't one of the contestants! Look at the storage ring and the short sword - the elders said that in this Heavenly Seizing Exam we're not allowed to use any storage rings or Dark Weapons! But this male corpse has a storage ring and a short sword!"

Duan Gujin immediately said.

"Right! Right! This corpse isn't one of the contestants!"

Ning Tiancheng and the other Martial Artists all furrowed their brows, their minds whirring, yet unable to figure out the reason.

"Should we pick up the storage ring and take a look?"

A Martial Artist suddenly suggested.

"No, the belongings of the dead are inauspicious!"

"That's right, we shouldn't touch the belongings of the dead!"

Many of the Martial Artists present expressed their opposition, while they were curious about what was inside the storage ring, they also considered that the elders of the Heaven Stealing Immortal Sect could be observing their every move with treasures from a hidden spot.

With this thought in mind, many Martial Artists refrained from picking up the storage ring.

Duan Gujin's brow was deeply furrowed as he gazed down at the male corpse.

He estimated that the man had been dead for about three days, with a fatal wound on his neck—a large hole, completely turned black, with many dried blood stains nearby on the ground.

From these apparent signs, he could not determine what exactly had killed the man; he could only associate the man's death with the Netherworld demons of this place.

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