Chapter 1768: The Tomb Inside the Coffin

Three hundred and sixty-five Diexis opened their eyes at the same time, dying the sky blood-red with rays of crimson light. However, they remained sitting cross-legged on the ground. Their core essence was linked to the crystal coffin in the palace and they couldn’t move.

If not for that, they would’ve rushed the trespassers long ago.

The hell battleship rumbled into motion and arrived over the cavern, blotting out the soaring crimson light and giving the sky space to turn blue again.

“Changxi is the Taiyin Goddess, a goddess born from the Taiyin Star. The Corpse Refiners chose her to refine into three hundred and sixty-five zombie kings probably because she’s the only one who can withstand the process.” Lu Yun scanned the Diexis beneath them. These were three hundred and sixty-five instances of Changxi’s destiny. Once the three hundred and sixty-sixth Diexi arrived, the Corpse Refiners would have perfectly reached their goal.

While the sect lacked specific intent in the world of immortals, they’d tried to capture Diexi ahead of time. They’d likely foreseen something as Lu Yun had already broken free of his destiny then. Whoever interacted with him or had karmic ties to him—whether enemy or friend—would see their fate change as well.

Diexi’s fate had changed, the Corpse Refiners’ destiny had also changed. They didn’t need to repeat the same actions from the previous cycles.

“The Corpse Refiners aren’t targeting you!” Lu Yun suddenly said to Chu Xingran. “Not you, not me, but Diexi! Only she can break this formation. They’re keeping me here, but let me easily find the core essence because they want me to deliver Diexi here!”

Formula dao operated at a furious pace as Lu Yun simulated their situation again and again. There was only one way to break this major cycle formation, and that was through Diexi. She stood a ten percent chance of breaking it through physical attack; another ninety percent came into play if she entered the formation and became the three hundred and sixty-sixth aberration. That would also fully activate the corpse dao on the premises.

While it seemed that Lu Yun had made his way here under his own volition, resolving each problem as they came up, he’d been led around by the Corpse Refiners all this time. They’d arranged everything from his first step into the secondary worlds to his entrance into the abyss. And it wasn’t until now that he saw their true nature.

“Interesting.” He imitated Chu Xingran and ground his teeth. “What a marvelous scheme they’ve cooked up, and it all culminates here. It would be gravely impolite not to reciprocate. Battling methods is fun only when there’s a back and forth! You stay here.”

He jumped lightly and floated down from the hell battleship, drifting into the massive cavern. It was like a thieves’ tunnel that ran straight to the palace fifteen thousand kilometers underground. There was an even more colossal underground world around it; the major cycle formation of the zombie kings and the black palace sat in the center of the world.

It was completely empty. It should’ve teemed with boundless zombies, but they’d all been moved elsewhere, leaving behind only the zombie kings and palace.

“What are you doing?” Lu Yun started when he saw Chu Xingran next to him.

“I’m not afraid of death.” Chu Xingran fanned himself with a stack of Resurrection Talismans. “I can come back to life even if I die, so what is there to be afraid of? But really, are you planning to summon Diexi here?” He frowned.

“Let’s take a look around first,” Lu Yun responded noncommittally and stuck a Stillness Talisman onto his companion before making his way to the palace. He operated hadal hellfire to conceal the ripples of his life force, whereas Chu Xingran’s Stillness Talisman was also refined from hadal hellfire.

They sauntered into the palace, completely ignored by the Diexis. Without the presence of life, there was no way for the zombie kings to see them. The zombie kings were now part of the formation instead of individual entities.

All was dark within the palace and the only thing that could be seen was the glittering crystal coffin. It was translucent, so Lu Yun and Chu Xingran could see the corpse inside when they drew near.

It would be more accurate to call it a skeleton. Sparkling slender bones like jade formed a skeleton that wore a kaleidoscopic silk dress. This was a female skeleton.

“Not Jiang Chen?” Lu Yun opened the Spectral Eye, but failed to read any information about the skeleton. The coffin could block his death art!

“This crystal coffin…” he frowned at it. It was an outer-coffin of crystal, much like the netherwood coffin, hanging coffin, and Enneawyrm Coffinbearers. It was more similar to a layout and only those extraordinarily noble in life enjoyed the privilege to be buried in one.

“It’s empyrean crystal!” Chu Xingran gasped with recognition. “A tiny particle of empyrean crystal can manifest a major world, but someone’s sculpted a coffin with an entire chunk?!

“And I don’t mean a major world of your home, but one of the outside realm! Each major world outside possesses a complete heaven and earth and is the ultimate peak of order! Even my Darklake only has three such words!”

Chu Xingran’s lips trembled from the implications. The coffin was thirty-six meters long, twenty-four meters wide, and eighteen meters tall. The Corpse Refiners didn’t possess this kind of wealth! Even the richest dragon race only owned a piece of crystal the size of a fist.

While empyrean crystals could manifest a major world, no one used it for that purpose. They were a wondrously useful treasure that was priceless in the outside realm. It was a sinful waste to use it for a coffin!

“I see,” Lu Yun nodded. “No wonder I couldn’t see through this, there are countless real worlds in this coffin. The skeleton seems close at hand, but it’s protected by layers and layers of worlds. We’re only seeing a shadow, and those worlds form layers and layers of tombs to lay the owner to rest.

“What an amazing layout, it’s a tomb inside a coffin!” Lu Yun took a deep breath and looked back behind them. The three hundred and sixty-five Diexis were still looking upward at the floating hell battleship outside the cavern.

“Are you… planning on having Diexi come?” Chu Xingran immediately understood what the young man wanted to do when he read the look in Lu Yun’s eyes.

“Mmhmm,” Lu Yun nodded. The Gates of the Abyss opened by his side to grant passage to Diexi wearing a white silk dress.

She was still Diexi; she hadn’t returned to being Changxi because she was already a zombie king. The extremity of death was life and thus a rebirth. Although she’d regained her memories of being Changxi, she was still Zombie King Diexi.

The only difference was that her name was now written in the Tome of Life and Death—the first name in the book, replacing where Ge Long’s had once been.

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