Chapter Ninety-Two: The Coffin and Burial Chamber [Subscription Request]

May pure heaven and lucid earth bestow upon me the divine spirit. Within and beyond the three realms, my Way alone is supreme. Receive this golden radiance, that it may cover and reflect my body. With my power, I shield all living beings.

Seeing the look that Old Rogue Luo cast his way, Li Yang smiled faintly. He formed seals with both hands, spiritual force surging through him, and his figure blurred into a streak of afterimage as he shot through the crowd at astonishing speed.

One by one, golden talismans were stamped upon the foreheads of the soldiers behind him. Only then did he say, "All right. With this pure yang incantation protecting you, so long as you are not attacked, you should be safe for at least an hour."

"Then what are we waiting for? Brothers, hurry up! Take anything you can carry. If you can't carry it, smash it and take the pieces too!"

At Li Yang's words, Old Rogue Luo immediately waved a broad hand and ordered the soldiers behind him.

"That old Luo..." Chen Yulou shook his head as he saw the man almost trembling with impatience, then turned to the brothers behind him. "You all go as well, but be careful."

"Yes, Chief."

At his command, the mountain-shifting men dispersed at once through the tomb.

Once the others had spread out, Li Yang led Zhegu Shao, Chen Yulou, and the rest onward into the depths of the burial chamber.

As they pressed deeper, the world before them suddenly opened wide. At the end of the passage stood bridges of varying shapes. Beyond the bridges, a gigantic altar rose on the summit of the mountain.

Below it stretched a long stairway of white jade, aligned with the number of stars and totaling ninety-nine steps. Because of the lay of the land, the jade steps, though broad enough, were extremely steep. From the very bottom, they ran straight upward through bands of rainbow light to the altar.

The altar itself was supported by one hundred and sixty nanmu pillars. Those massive columns glowed with a golden sheen, while on either side towered gilded osmanthus trees coiled with dragons. Around the altar stood exquisitely carved white-marble balustrades and platforms, and beyond them rose painted beams and purple pillars, all of it opulent beyond measure.

"This... this is practically no different from the Heavenly Palace!"

At the sight across the bridge, everyone stood dumbfounded. They had never seen such a sumptuous spectacle before.

But Li Yang knew this was still far from the whole of King Xian's tomb. Beneath that pool, there should be another palace passage leading here. This place was merely the very heart of the entire tomb.

If he guessed correctly, the Black Orb and King Xian's remains were both upon that altar.

"This is called the Bridge of Three Lives. Since ancient times, our land has told that after death, when one becomes an immortal and ascends to heaven, one must first cross this Bridge of Three Lives, cast off the entanglements of the mortal world, and only then shed the old body, roam the boundless void, and live as a carefree deity."

Pointing at the bridge before him, Li Yang gave a cold laugh and continued, "I think this King Xian was truly mad. In all ages, those who cultivate immortality and seek the Dao have relied on nothing but relentless self-discipline and hard practice. What use are all these gaudy flourishes?"

"Alas... since the dawn of time, the path of immortality has had no proof. We who seek the Dao, for all our lives, are still chasing mirror flowers and moonlit water. I suppose King Xian was the same, unwilling to die here in old age, and so he behaved as he did."

Zhegu Shao looked at the three coffins on the far side of the bridge and sighed, speaking with some feeling.

Li Yang said nothing in reply, but led the others across the Bridge of Three Lives toward the altar.

At the center of the altar stood a huge cauldron furnace, likely a ritual vessel King Xian used in sacrifices to heaven.

On both sides were rows of chime bells, and at the far end of the altar rose a gigantic statue, its hands holding aloft a flesh-colored coffin.

"Damn it all, that must be King Xian's coffin. But why is it that color?"

Seeing the coffin in the statue's hands behind the altar, Old Rogue Luo was already cursing as he moved forward.

"Don't touch it. That coffin is a corpse den formed from a lich spirit. Do not lay a hand on it lightly!"

Seeing Luo about to step in, Li Yang quickly seized him. He knew the Black Orb should be inside that coffin. If it were disturbed, the great serpent guarding the tomb might be awakened.

"Brother Li, the Black Orb should be inside that coffin, shouldn't it?"

Zhegu Shao scanned the surroundings once, finally fixing on the coffin in the statue's hands, and spoke.

"Yes, it is indeed in there. But this is also the greatest mechanism in King Xian's tomb. Once our brothers have gathered most of the gold, silver, and burial treasures in here, it won't be too late to move against it."

Faced with Zhegu Shao's expectant gaze, Li Yang explained slowly.

"What exactly is hidden in King Xian's tomb that makes Brother Li so wary?"

Seeing how cautious Li Yang was, Chen Yulou could not help growing curious.

The supernatural abilities Li Yang had displayed, in his eyes, were already no different from those of the immortals in legend. And yet even so, he remained afraid of King Xian's final measure.

"What it is, I don't know. I only suspect it is some hidden contingency left behind by someone."

There were many theories about the origin of the Black Orb, but it was absolutely inseparable from the lineage of the Ghost Cave and its Queen of Jingjue. According to the account from his former life, there had simply been too many coincidences in how Hu Bayi and the others escaped from this tomb. If there had been no arrangement by the Queen of Jingjue, he would never have believed it even if killed.

It could be said that the Black Orb had never escaped the Queen of Jingjue's grasp. King Xian thought he had controlled it, but Li Yang suspected that from first to last, King Xian had merely been its temporary possessor. As for what the Queen of Jingjue's purpose was, only she herself could say.

From the reincarnated form she later took in Shirley Yang, one could tell that the Queen of Jingjue's cultivation had surely reached a level beyond mortal understanding. Though she had ultimately failed to withstand the erosion of time, a hundred-legged insect does not die easily. Like the old Daoist Purple Dawn, how could she possibly have left no hidden hand behind?

To Li Yang, Hu Bayi and the others were very likely that hidden hand. Perhaps even the route their party had taken had been arranged in advance by the Queen of Jingjue herself.

Clang, clang, clang...

Just as everyone's thoughts were in tumult, a sudden breeze passed over the altar, and the chime bells on both sides rang in unison. An eerie wave of sound rippled across the entire platform.

"Ah..."

"Ugh..."

"Bad news. Everyone, cover your ears!"

"..."

As the sound wave rang out, everyone immediately grew dizzy and dazed. Several mountain-shifting men climbing the great pillars to pry off gold leaf lost their footing and crashed down, reduced to two heaps of pulp.

Someone has triggered the tomb's mechanism. Quickly inform the brothers to gather at the altar!

Seeing this, Li Yang's expression changed. He shouted at Chen Yulou and the others behind him.

Rumble...

Crash...

Then he moved at once, charging forward with overwhelming force, and the chime bells on both sides were shattered in an instant.

"Steady! Tell everyone to assemble!"

The moment the sound wave ceased, the coffins along the sides of the mausoleum suddenly flipped open behind them, and one enormous insect after another burst forth from within.

"Ah..."

"Help..."

"Run!"

"Agh... agh..."

"..."

These insects wore thick armor all over their bodies, with vicious mouthparts and swift movements. Coupled with their sheer numbers, they pounced into the crowd like a tiger among sheep and began a bloody slaughter.

"Damn it all, brothers, counterattack!"

Bang bang bang... clang clang clang...

Seeing this, Old Rogue Luo flew into a rage. He snatched up the pistol at his waist and began firing back.

Yet these insects had hard shells. The bullets left at most a white mark on them and did nothing at all.

"Croak..."

Whoosh whoosh whoosh...

At that very moment, a loud croak of a giant toad rang out. A great creature, more than ten meters tall, charged into the swarm of insects. Opening its mouth, it spat out its tongue, which shot forth like a sharpened arrow.

It pierced more than ten armored beetles at once. Then the entire tongue drew back like a skewer, swallowed into its belly. The whole movement flowed like water, and the scattered, fleeing crowd suddenly felt far less pressure, all of them rushing toward the altar.

Seeing the combat power of these insects, Li Yang's expression also changed.

In the original story, the dragon-scaled armored insects could be killed even by ordinary people, yet here they could not even be pierced by bullets.

Still, this was only natural. If such gu insects could not even deal with ordinary people, why would King Xian have gone to such lengths to raise them as guardians of the tomb?

One could only say that the same tale gave different fates. Hu Bayi and the others had come here by arrangement of the Queen of Jingjue, so of course everything had gone smoothly.

Ha!

Seeing that everyone had gathered upon the altar, Li Yang did not hesitate. He roared, and golden-red blood energy surged skyward from his entire body, blasting a great hole through the clouds overhead.

"Die!"

Clang, clang, clang...

Rumble...

Li Yang's figure transformed into a streak of golden light and rose into the air. With both hands he grasped at emptiness, and a hammer and chisel appeared in his palms. As they struck against each other, the sky was instantly sealed by dark clouds, and dense lightning spread across the entire tomb like serpents of thunder.

Sizzle...

Buzz...

Screech...

"Divine Thunder, summon!"

Rumble...

Crack...

As Li Yang violently hammered the thunder chisel in his hands, the lightning in the sky gradually turned purple, then crashed down upon the mausoleum like a vast electric net.

"Hahaha... satisfying!"

Looking down from the sky and seeing that, apart from the altar, the entire tomb of King Xian was in utter chaos, with dragon-scaled armored insects sprawled belly-up on the ground, their bodies charred black and smoking white, while the air reeked thickly of scorched flesh and ozone, Li Yang burst into laughter.

The thunder chisel truly deserved its reputation as a rare treasure handed down from ancient times. According to the Daoist of Purple Dawn, it had been forged by the founder of the Purple Dawn Divine Thunder School from innate yin-yang thunderstone taken from the Thunder Marsh. The chisel and hammer were one yin and one yang; even without full refinement, they possessed tremendous power.

To refine such a treasure, one would need at least to have cultivated the Thunder Body before one would be qualified to begin. Even the old Daoist Purple Dawn could only make use of it; he lacked the standing to truly refine it.

After obtaining this treasure, Li Yang had even been puzzled for a long time. Legend said that the Thunder Lord of Heaven also used a thunder chisel.

He had even gone specially to ask the old Daoist Purple Dawn about it. According to the old man's explanation, ancient myths were themselves things people had invented. They knew that such things existed, but not why.

The previous patriarch of their line had indeed attained the Dao during the Shang and Zhou eras, and had also held office in the Heavenly Court. Later, for some reason, he left the Heavenly Court. As for the exact reason, even the Daoist Purple Dawn did not know. By the time he received the inheritance, that earlier patriarch was already dead, so he counted as a successor across generations.