After meeting each other, they both felt that this group of undead was different from those in Return Town, as they seemed to still possess thoughts. The two attacked Qian Wanyu and Dongfang Minghui from left and right, attempting to separate them since they had been sticking together.
Dongfang Minghui, startled at first, put away her open silk umbrella and slammed it onto the man’s head.
Unexpectedly, the tall man’s thick arms transformed into a pair of metal pincers. They barely held the silk umbrella and, with great force, sandwiched it, making it impossible for her to retrieve it no matter how much she tried.
“What the hell is this? It’s so strong.”
“Similar to the transformation of beast people when they morph into beasts, the situation here seems like the fusion of weapons into one’s body, achieving the ultimate state of merging human and weapon. It can be seen as a way of cultivation, quickly improving oneself. It’s a bit tricky to handle, so be careful,” warned Little Color. Little Color’s vine took the opportunity to whip the opponent, but the latter had obviously lost any human consciousness and didn’t react to the touch of the naked bodies of the group. Little Color was worried about being consumed by the black mist again.
The undead tried to rip the vine branches with his other hand, but Little Color nimbly shuttled back and forth in front of him, drawing most of his attention.
Dongfang Minghui kicked the man, leaped, and wrested her silk umbrella back from his grasp. There were two marks on the silk umbrella from being gripped by the metal pincers. After Uncle Wood’s sabotage, she didn’t know if it was a psychological effect, but she felt that the resistance of the silk umbrella seemed to have diminished considerably, and it seemed on the verge of breaking.
The opponent Qian Wanyu faced had undergone a similar transformation as the other person, their limbs merging with their weapons. The man standing before her was 1.9 meters tall. When he emerged from the ice cellar wall, his right hand melted into a chain and lashed towards her face.
With Ninth Sister behind her, Qian Wanyu retaliated by throwing her whip. The whip morphed into a silver snake, colliding with the opponent’s chains and knocking him back into the ice cellar in one swift encounter.
“Die.”
Qian Wanyu seized the moment, pursued, and lashed the whip towards the opponent’s neck swiftly and ruthlessly. She pulled him to the steps, stepped on him, and twisted the opponent’s head.
With Little Color’s help, Dongfang Minghui managed to get rid of her opponent, albeit with some difficulty.
“Seventh sister, someone was standing at the entrance of that cave, watching us just now.”
“Let’s go and have a look.”
The two corpses lay on the steps, and after a while, they liquefied into a puddle of black water. The black water seeped into the ice and disappeared. The broken ice on both sides regrew, and the devastated land was restored to perfection.
Dongfang Minghui and Qian Wanyu didn’t witness all of this. They quickly moved to the first cave entrance, moving twice as fast as before, where Dongfang Minghui had spotted someone earlier. However, the cave was now empty.
Qian Wanyu surveyed the area, then stood at the entrance of the cave to take in the view. The scenery was vast and stunning, and he could even see the first step clearly.
Dongfang Minghui also stood by, “Seventh sister, we—”
“He must still be here. Let’s search around.”
“Alright.”
Then, they discovered traces of chains in other caves. The iron chains hung high above, and there was a raised area in the cave that resembled a grandstand. The sight seemed familiar to Dongfang Minghui. Observing her frown, Qian Wanyu recalled, “In the Cass tribe, we found underwater rivers and dark holes beneath their cultivation area. The setup there is very similar to this one, and there are bloodstains on the iron chains. It seems they were used to bind people.”
“So that’s it. No wonder it looked so familiar,” said Qian Wanyu, examining the still-hanging chain. She felt an itch to touch it and mused, “Could these chains also be crafted by the dwarves?”
“Uncertain.”
After Qian Wanyu explored the area, she concluded that there was no more value in further investigation here. So, she urged Dongfang Minghui to move on to another cave. However, just as she stepped into the entrance, a small clicking sound reached her ears before her other foot could even touch the ground.
Dongfang Minghui observed Seventh Sister balancing on one foot and asked curiously, “Seventh Sister, why aren’t you going in?”
Qian Wanyu felt a slight trembling beneath her feet. Gradually, she released Dongfang Minghui’s hand, warning, “Don’t come in.”
Witnessing her cautious demeanor, Dongfang Minghui couldn’t help but wonder if there were other hidden dangers in the cave.
Boom–
“Seventh Sister!”
Just as Qian Wanyu was about to pull out her whip, the ice board under her feet clicked and abruptly flipped over. Caught off guard, Qian Wanyu stumbled and fell. By the time she managed to draw out the whip, it was too late.
Dongfang Minghui’s mind went blank. Without thinking, she lunged to grab her companion’s wrist but missed. Instead, she slid down the ice board.
Boom–
The ice board closed again, seamlessly fitting together with no gaps.
Dongfang Minghui only felt herself falling, sensing that Seventh Sister was not far from her.
“Little Color, please catch Seventh Sister. Don’t let her fall.”
“You’d better take care of yourself first.”
Qian Wanyu, with her exceptional hearing, accurately located Dongfang Minghui. She pulled out her whip, “Ninth Sister, grab it.”
The whip tied to the vine once again, both of them reached out to grab something from the stone wall. As they descended, their hands encountered a sticky, cold liquid. Neither had time to identify the substance when they saw two iron cages, resembling animal traps, suspended in mid-air. Each was more than two meters high, with chains hanging from the top. Qian Wanyu landed deftly on one of the cages.
Dongfang Minghui landed on the bars of another cage, positioned half a meter apart.
The identically sized iron cages swayed a few times, and the hanging chains rattled slightly.
“Seventh Sister, where are we?”
“Quiet.”
Qian Wanyu crouched and leaned over the iron railing. Feeling the loose bars, she quickly stood up. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she took a quick survey of her surroundings, estimated the distance to the ground, and finally pulled out her whip. She struck a section of the chain hanging from the railing, causing it to detach.
The iron cage swung wildly in the air, and the grating sound of iron chain scraping against iron bars could be faintly heard. The noise was disturbingly loud, and Dongfang Minghui couldn’t shake the feeling that the sound would draw unwanted attention.
Then, one end of the chains securing the iron cages came loose, and the cages dropped uncontrollably, plummeting straight down. They were further jolted by the aftershocks.
In a state of panic, Dongfang Minghui realized the severity of their situation. Without the iron bars to halt their fall, they would have sustained severe injuries.
Qian Wanyu was half-kneeling on the iron railing and threw down two moonstones. Below the railing was a patch of mud, where a dark brown color and a few pieces of worn cloth could be faintly seen. The iron cage was suspended about five meters above the ground. It appeared to have been set up as a trap.
“Ninth Sister, how are you? Are you injured?”
“No.”
Dongfang Minghui was a little disoriented, mainly because her sharp sense of smell had picked up a distinct odor. “Seventh Sister, do you smell anything strange?”
“What kind of smell?”
“Hmm.” Dongfang Minghui inhaled a couple of times to identify it. “It seems to be the scent of secret dew, and it contains very potent medicinal ingredients.”
Qian Wanyu subconsciously covered her nose, jumped down, and stretched out her hands. “Come down, I hear footsteps approaching us.”
Dongfang Minghui felt lightheaded, possibly from inhaling the scent earlier. She extended her arms weakly, resembling a young bird opening its wings. Fluttering downwards, she was caught by Qian Wanyu.
“Seventh Sister, I’m feeling dizzy.”
“Silly girl.”
Qian Wanyu held Dongfang Minghui in her arms and looked around, but couldn’t find any cover. Out of options, she used her whip as an anchor, stabbing the tip into the wall. She tied the other end to the chain. The two of them started swinging in mid-air, much like being on a swing.
The chain, probably under stress, started to creak.
Dongfang Minghui lay in Seventh Sister’s arms, cradled like a princess. Hearing the noise, she was too scared to move. Moreover, her body was already limp and powerless. Little Color’s vines fetched an anti-dizziness pill from their storage and deftly placed it in her mouth.
“It seems there are new arrivals.”
“Two of them.”
At the spot where the chain was before, there were two footprints belonging to Seventh Sister imprinted on the stone wall. If one were to examine closely, one could definitely find this clue.
A light flickered below them, and a group of people entered. The two leading individuals were simply dressed, not even in robes. Their attire resembled training clothes. They had made the earlier remarks. The eyes of the eight individuals following them were glazed over, and they moved listlessly.
At first, the two leaders were cheerful, their steps light. But when they saw the empty iron cages, they were momentarily stunned.
“What’s going on? There’s no one here?”
One of them squatted to examine the ground but accidentally stepped on a moonstone, crushing it. He picked up a fragment of the stone and said, “Someone was here, but…”. He scanned their surroundings. “They seem to have left.”
“That’s impossible. These iron cages are designed to release smoke dozens of times more potent than ordinary smoke. They were specifically prepared for a group of Spiritual Masters. Even a Spiritual King would likely be stunned after inhaling it for a while.”
Qian Wanyu was silently grateful they had noticed the smell quickly. She propped one leg against the wall, stabilizing the chain so that it no longer made a creaking sound. At first, it was fine, but after a while, a hair-raising sensation crept over her like a shadow.
Dongfang Minghui held her breath, her eyes darting nervously around. As time passed, she grew anxious. Why hadn’t this group left?
The two leaders, along with the eight individuals, examined every inch of the area below. They even looked upwards, but due to the obstructed light and considerable height, they likely couldn’t see Qian Wanyu and Dongfang Minghui.
The voices of the two leaders sounded immature. From their tones, it could be inferred that they were still quite young.
“I think they really left.”
“Such a waste of excitement. Let’s go. Our help is needed elsewhere.”
As soon as the others left, Qian Wanyu waited for about the time it took half an incense stick to burn before retracting her lightning whip. She tugged the other end of the iron chain and slid down. Once both of them landed safely, Qian Wanyu retracted her lightning whip and examined her leg in the glow of the moonstone.
“Seventh Sister, what happened to your leg?”
“There’s a bit of black mist in this mucus, but it’s nothing serious.” Qian Wanyu attempted to force the black mist out of her body using her spiritual power. After a couple of unsuccessful tries, she wisely used a potion which caused the black mist to retreat like the tide.
Dongfang Minghui circled the area three times, “Seventh Sister, did you see how they left? Where’s the exit? It’s too dark in here. Why does it feel like I can’t see anything?”
Qian Wanyu waited for the black mist on her leg to disappear completely, moving her leg a few more times, she grabbed Ninth Sister’s hand, “Let’s go.”
She seemed to know her way around and found the so-called ‘door’ in no time. She pulled it from the inside and it opened easily. Outside, everything was still covered in ice and the temperature dropped abruptly.
What was even stranger was that from the outside, the door was completely integrated into the ice. If they hadn’t come out from inside, they wouldn’t have noticed there was something hidden there.
“Seventh Sister, no one’s guarding the outside. Isn’t that a bit odd?” Dongfang Minghui was surprised, it wasn’t what she had envisioned. Shouldn’t a secret base be heavily guarded?
“This place is only connected to the Sleepy Dragon Valley. I think they’re probably aware that no outsiders have entered the Sleepy Dragon Valley in the last twenty years, so they’ve let their guard down.”
Dongfang Minghui watched as Qian Wanyu purposefully turned left, went straight, then turned right, as if she knew exactly where she was going. She looked confused until they stopped at a corner. She leaned into Qian Wanyu’s arms and whispered, “Seventh Sister, where are we going?”
Seeing her confused expression, Qian Wanyu smirked, obviously amused at her protest. She covered Dongfang Minghui’s mouth and said in a low voice, “Things might get dangerous soon. Look after yourself.”
Dongfang Minghui stared back at her, wide-eyed as if asking ‘why?’
However, it didn’t take long for her to understand what Seventh Sister meant. There was a separate cave at the corner they were standing, guarded by eight people in two groups. Intermittent screams could be heard from inside.
“I’ll take six, you handle two.”
“Let’s split it evenly, four each.”
Dongfang Minghui even haggled with her, but Qian Wanyu stepped out first. Her lightning whip quickly and violently took down one person by surprise.
By the time they reacted, Qian Wanyu was already on her second target.
As Dongfang Minghui swallowed hard, Qian Wanyu had moved onto her third target. She quickly pulled out her silk umbrella, and as she saw someone exit the cave, back turned to Seventh Sister and releasing spiritual power, she instinctively opened the umbrella. “Seventh Sister, watch out!”
The hidden weapon of the silk umbrella whizzed out, aimed at the young man who had emerged suddenly. The man, focused on Qian Wanyu, was caught off guard and was hit in the chest and arm by the hidden weapon.
“Who are you?!”
Dongfang Minghui found the voice somewhat familiar. It must’ve been one of the people who had spoken under the iron cage earlier. The person questioned them with righteous indignation as if they were unforgivable criminals. She hesitated for a moment, then kindly warned him, “It’s—poisoned.”
The man seemed to mull over her words, his eyes widening in disbelief as he blurted out, “Poison!”
The hidden weapons in the silk umbrella originally weren’t poisonous, but every time Dongfang Minghui came across a difficult situation, she would simply soak all the round beads shout out by the umbrella in poison. So, when she saw that the person was injured, she assumed he’d be affected by the poisoned hidden weapon.
Much to her surprise, as soon as she finished her warning, the man began to foam at the mouth, his lips turning an ominous shade of purple. He pointed a trembling finger at her as if wanting to say something, but before he could utter a word, he collapsed.
Dongfang Minghui couldn’t help but feel secretly pleased, her hidden weapons had proven effective.
“Seventh sister, be careful.”
Qian Wanyu promptly snapped the neck of another man, swiftly ending his life. That made three down.
The remaining five rushed them. Two attacked Dongfang Minghui, while three encircled Qian Wanyu. At that moment, another person emerged from the cave, dressed in the same simple clothing as the young man from before. To Dongfang Minghui, their attire resembled the practical and casual attire of doctors.
“Intru-”
Before he could finish his sentence, Dongfang Minghui silenced him with a swift strike of her plum blossom nail, causing him to choke on his own blood.
“Darn.”
Before she knew it, her clothes had caught fire. One of the two undead men that had approached her still possessed the ability to manipulate fire. She quickly tore off her burning sleeve and used her silk umbrella to shield herself.
“Seventh sister——”
Qian Wanyu, slightly exasperated, stepped over the accumulating bodies and twisted the neck of the last opponent. “Be careful, these people are far more dangerous than your average Spiritual Masters.”
“They’re tough.”
Their usual seven emotions and six desires were lost, even consciousness was mostly absent. Typical spiritual power attacks on them were like tickling them; only snapping their necks seemed effective.
“If we encounter someone as powerful as Uncle Wood, we’ll be in big trouble.” Dongfang Minghui sighed. She hadn’t had the time to study these undead bodies in depth to discover a true weakness. She hadn’t found a suitable opportunity since their experience in the Qian Family’s back mountain had side tracked her plans.
On that note, Dongfang Minghui felt a pang of regret. As a pharmacist, it disturbed her to see these creatures who were neither dead nor alive still moving.
Qian Wanyu looked at Dongfang Minghui’s bare arm, then touched her similarly exposed back, smirking, “Now we’re even.”
They navigated around the fallen bodies and entered the cave, where they found one person hanging from an iron chain and another lying bare on a high platform. The man hanging from the chain was still somewhat conscious, and upon seeing them, he started to laugh insanely.
Dongfang Minghui first examined the person lying on the elevated platform. The individual was unconscious, with no signs of breathing, as though he had been dead for a long time. She lightly touched the body, feeling the cold skin, “Seventh sister, this person seems to have no injuries.”
“Seems so, they didn’t have the time.”
As soon as Qian Wanyu stepped into the cave, her gaze quickly swept over everything it held, including samples, a pot of medicine spilt on the ground, and the iron chains dangling beneath the elevated platform. She withdrew her attention from the man outside, “They were about to convert him into an undead, but we interrupted them. As for this one—”
Dongfang Minghui’s heart ached as she saw the man hanging in such a pitiful state. His body was covered in blood and wounds, as if he were bleeding from everywhere. She attempted to move towards him but Qian Wanyu held her back.
“The man’s breath is weak. It’s unclear whether he’s human or undead. Don’t approach him, it’s dangerous.”
“Who are you?”
The man weakly raised his head, giving them an odd smile. With strained vocal cords, he started to sing, “Rose Rose is the most charming, Rose Rose is the most beautiful… The holy light shines on the earth…”
TL: I think this is the song not sure… https://youtu.be/4HerntGUVl0
At first, Dongfang Minghui thought she was hallucinating, but the song progressively became grating to her ears, freezing her on the spot.
“Ninth Sister, what’s wrong with you?”
In a daze, Dongfang Minghui moved towards the man, brushing away the loose strands of hair on his face. Upon seeing his handsome features, she uttered in disbelief, “Meng—Meng Yixiao?!”
“Meng Yixiao?!” Qian Wanyu unsheathed her long whip.
“No, no, wait, Seventh sister.” Dongfang Minghui frantically blocked Seventh sister’s whip. She still had questions for him, “You, who are you?”
“Haha, who are you?” He laughed, coughing up blood.
“The song you sang just now was beautiful, can you sing another one for me?”
A peculiar light ignited in his dying eyes. After contemplating for a moment, he sang a song in Cantonese. His hands instinctively formed gestures as if he were a superstar on stage, radiating arrogance and dominance, “You don’t need to be for me, pursue too much, why talk about shallowness, lament wasted… don’t miss me anymore…”
Whether it was the mournful melody or empathy for this wanderer, Dongfang Minghui’s eyes moistened. She was no longer repulsed by the face identical to Meng Yixiao’s, “Although your face is irritating, you sing beautifully. I want to know you, what’s your name?”
The man observed her with suspicion as if he was trying to decipher the sincerity in her words, and then unexpectedly, tears welled up in his eyes.
The abnormal encounters she had with Meng Yixiao played out in Dongfang Minghui’s mind, and the sense of incongruity she’d felt now had an explanation, “It’s body possession, Seventh sister, it’s body possession! Meng Yixiao is a fraud, but who took over his body?”
She felt bewildered, “Seventh sister, can we untie this iron chain? Let’s take him out, so there will be no more Meng Yixiao.”
“Ninth Sister!”
Qian Wanyu furrowed her brows, feeling as if things were spiraling out of her control, “What’s happening to you?”
“Hahaha.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the man threw his head back and laughed three times. The pure black and white light in his eyes was replaced with a tinge of red, and his previously clear eyes gradually altered, turning wild and reckless.
Qian Wanyu quickly pulled her back.
With a series of clinks, the iron chain that had been seemingly indestructible moments ago was now broken into pieces with a light tug from Meng Yixiao. He swung the iron chain and rapidly attacked Qian Wanyu and Dongfang Minghui. The chain whistled through the air.
The two were forced to separate.
Dongfang Minghui hadn’t yet recovered from the shock. Whoever it seemed to have successfully taken over the body, implying the original soul had been consumed and that person… likely vanished for good.
“Hahahaha—”
Meng Yi, wielding the iron chain and missing his targets, bolted away as if he’d gone mad, his laughter echoing behind him.
“Ninth Sister, are you hurt?”
Only then did Dongfang Minghui notice the bloody mark left on her wrist by the iron chain, though it wasn’t bleeding. She shook her head, her voice slightly hoarse from frustration, “Seventh sister, we should follow Meng Yixiao. Where he’s headed might be the real exit out of Sleepy Dragon Valley.”
Qian Wanyu helped her up, “Leaving you here alone like this, I wouldn’t be able to rest easy. Besides, I’ve attached a sliver of consciousness to Meng Yixiao, I can track him until he notices.”
Hearing Seventh sister’s words, Dongfang Minghui instantly felt relief.
“Can you share with Seventh sister what’s going through your mind? Especially when you saw Meng Yixiao, you seem to recognize him quite well…” However, Qian Wanyu quickly dismissed her suspicion.
“I don’t know.” Dongfang Minghui felt a little frustrated, but in her current situation, confusion could be deadly. She quickly released the sentimental feelings she shouldn’t have been having, “Seventh sister, I think this place is too dangerous, maybe we should go back.”
Meng Yixiao was born here, Qian Ziyan was born here, and Meng Ruoyu…
As if this was a gathering spot for all the abnormal ones, Dongfang Minghui had a bad premonition. If they continued forward, they might encounter something beyond her expectations.
Qian Wanyu stared at her, reached out, and gently stroked her soft hair, “Ninth Sister, you’re just upset right now. Rest for a bit, and when you’ve calmed down, if you still insist, we’ll leave, okay?”
“Seventh sister.” Dongfang Minghui pouted and threw herself into Seventh sister’s arms in an aggrieved manner. She knew she was being willful again.
But Seventh sister always accommodated her.
It seemed that not every person who crossed worlds was as lucky as her. In the Seven Colors Continent, the dead were more than abundant.
Dongfang Minghui thought that after being a doctor for so many years, she would become accustomed to seeing life and death. But in the end, she found out that it wasn’t true. She watched Lu Xing fall, Wei Junlan was on the brink of death, and another traveler just vanished before her eyes. She didn’t even know the other person’s name. The things she was used to, unexpectedly became unfamiliar in the end.
“Seventh sister, promise me that no matter what, you’ll be okay.”
“Sure.”
Qian Wanyu’s eyes darkened, she merely patted the other person’s shoulder gently, habitually saying into the sea of souls, “Meng Yixiao is very different from Meng Ruoyu. If the person who just ran away really is Meng Ruoyu, when he later appeared at the Qian Family, seeing my mother’s almost identical face, he shouldn’t have been so calm and collected.”
Little White in the sea of souls: “…” Aww.
Qian Wanyu rubbed her forehead, she wasn’t used to Qing Mo not being by her side.
Dongfang Minghui was overwhelmed with sadness and fear of losing her friends one by one. She even worried that one day she might involve Seventh sister and kill her life too. Contemplating this, she fell asleep with her head buried in her arms.
“Child, come here~”
“Child, come here~”
In a daze, someone kept calling her. Dongfang Minghui felt that the voice was strangely familiar, but after pondering, she couldn’t remember, “Who are you?”
“Ninth Sister, wake up quickly.”
Dongfang Minghui was awakened by a nudge from Seventh sister. She sat up straight and rubbed her sleepy eyes. It seemed like she had heard someone calling her, only to find herself still in that cave, surrounded by a mess. Little Color was hiding behind Qian Wanyu, timidly peeping out.
“Seventh sister, did you call me?”
“Ninth Sister, did you have any nightmares?” Qian Wanyu asked, noticing how deeply asleep she had been. She was unsure what was troubling her. She wanted to peek into Ninth Sister’s mind during their dual cultivation session, which would be better than her holding everything in her heart. However, Little Color was ejected from Ninth Sister’s soul sea, leaving her with no other choice but to wake her up.
“I’m chasing Little Color?” Dongfang Minghui wondered if she was still dreaming. She and Little Color had made a blood pact; there was no reason for such a thing to happen. She stretched out her hand, “Little Color, come here. Let’s try again to enter the soul sea.”
Little Color shook its head in resistance, even showing fear towards Dongfang Minghui. It had been peacefully cultivating in the soul sea when a great force expelled it. After several more attempts to enter during her sleep, it was truly frightened.
“Little Color, let’s try again,” Dongfang Minghui insisted. The last thing she wanted was for Little Color to fear her.
“Alright…”
With that, Little Color tried once again to slip into her soul sea. But the moment it touched her forehead, it was rebuffed by a powerful energy. Dongfang Minghui saw clearly that the energy was emerald green, with a hint of golden yellow mixed into it.
“What’s happening?”
“Ninth Sister, do you still want to go back now?” Qian Wanyu looked from Little Color to Dongfang Minghui, whose brows were tightly furrowed, “If you’re not feeling well, we should leave.”
Dongfang Minghui glanced at Little Color, her large black and white eyes filled with uncertainty. If it wasn’t for Little Color’s situation, she might have chosen to leave. But now, it seemed like she couldn’t leave just yet. If Little Color was still unable to return to her soul sea after they left, she wouldn’t be able to explain it to her little friend.
“Just now, I had a dream. I don’t remember the specifics, but I kept feeling like someone was calling me.”
The three of them exchanged glances, unsure how to respond.
“I suspect that something in this place is calling me, which is why Little Color can’t enter my soul sea,” Dongfang Minghui boldly shared her hypothesis, “If, and I stress, if we can solve this mystery, we might unearth many secrets here, maybe even the exit of the Sleepy Dragon Valley.”
Being trapped in a time loop, finding the exit would certainly be a good thing.
“In that case, let’s move forward.”
With the addition of Little Color, their journey became more lively. They even uncovered many places that had previously been overlooked, like a door, completely ignored by them due to its ice-like color.
Each time they came across a spot, Little Color used its vines to pry at the corner of the wall. After a few tries, it discovered a door, a rather small one. It was about one meter in height, requiring a person to squat in order to pass through.
And there were stairs leading downwards, so narrow that only one person could descend.
After Dongfang Minghui went down to take a look, she felt a tinge of regret.
Below lay ice coffins. Inside these coffins were skeletons. There were about fifteen coffins in total. They examined each one and found one peculiar detail – each skeleton was marked with flowing black lines.
“Meng Ruoyu’s bones also had these black lines after he turned into a skeleton,” Qian Wanyu clearly remembered the eerie black color that always sent chills down her spine. After encountering it too many times, she subconsciously linked black to this eerie sensation.
“Just like when I had the Dragon Seal, its lines represented a sort of topographic map,” Dongfang Minghui speculated. Meng Ruoyu’s hasty jump into the blood pool was probably a desperate attempt to avoid death.
Dongfang Minghui studied the coffins again and found that some had fewer black lines, while others had more. Only one of them had black lines covering two-thirds of the skeleton, with the lines moving in a specific pattern as if a few more rounds would complete some sort of task.
“Could it be that this is actually a sign of resurrection? When the black lines become more and more numerous, they become a kind of advanced death Spiritual Master, part of the dark system of Spiritual Masters that can control corpses. Maybe only by dying once can one truly understand the meaning of death,” Dongfang Minghui hypothesized.
“Rising from the ashes.”
“No, at best, this could be considered a promotion of the death spiritual arts.”
While Little Color and Dongfang Minghui were engaging in idle chatter, Qian Wanyu was observing the ice coffins meticulously, looking for ways to disrupt the black lines, “Ninth Sister, lend me a hand.”
Dongfang Minghui watched as Qian Wanyu jumped onto an ice coffin and, with a swift move of her leg, swung the whip towards one of the ice coffins in the middle. It seemed that Seventh Sister’s aggressive tendencies had surged again.
However, instead of the expected shattering and explosion, the whip left a hissing mark on the ice coffin, failing to crack it open.
“Seventh Sister, what are you trying to do?”
“This is arranged in an array. If someone is aiming for resurrection, then I must prevent it.”
“Huh?”
Array… Dongfang Minghui had always been clueless when it came to arrays and barriers. She just felt that the arrangement of the fifteen ice coffins was a bit peculiar, but how it could form an array was beyond her.
“What should we do?”
“We should alter the formation’s position. Change it from a spirit energy gathering array into a soul scattering array.”
Though easy to say, implementing the change was not simple. Dongfang Minghui and Little Color, under Qian Wanyu’s command, managed to shift the positions of seven of the fifteen ice coffins.
“Seventh Sister.” After adjusting the positions, Dongfang Minghui jumped onto the ice coffin, standing alongside Qian Wanyu. They observed the ice coffins below them, now with seven coffins spread out. “Seventh Sister, doesn’t this arrangement of ice coffins look like a blooming flower?”
There were seven ice coffins on the outside, with one in the center. The remaining seven ice coffins seemed to be guarding, protecting the most central ice coffin.
And the ice coffin at the center was right beneath their feet.
“Did you hear any strange sounds?” Little Color swiftly moved behind Dongfang Minghui, hunching its back against hers.
Dongfang Minghui nearly tumbled off of the ice coffin in fright. Given the somber circumstances, she already had a 20,000-word ghost story running through her mind. “Little Colour, you, you, you… why are you so cold?”
Suddenly, she shuddered, her teeth chattering from the chill. She wasn’t sure whether she was truly frozen by the surrounding temperature, or if the sight of the ice coffins had scared her stiff.
“This is a world of ice. It’s a wonder that I haven’t turned into an icy plant yet. And you’re wondering why I’m cold? Are you feeling cold too?” Little Color found that its vines were coated with a thin layer of ice. More disturbingly, a terrifying black mist seemed to be seeping out from within the frost.
“Enough.”
Qian Wanyu silenced both of them with a single word. Little Color wanted to retort, but Qian Wanyu spoke again, “You two are right. The temperature is dropping rapidly now, it’s much colder than when we first came down. Use your spiritual power to counter the cold.”
Just as she finished her statement, there was a sudden violent tremor. The trio staggered, supporting each other to stay upright. They quickly realized that it wasn’t the ground shaking – it was the lid of the ice coffin on which they were standing that was moving.
For once, all three of them acted in unison. They all glanced down simultaneously to see the ice coffin lid shifting more violently than before.
Suddenly, with a deafening boom, the lid of the ice coffin burst open, catapulting all three of them off the coffin.
Thank you for the support as usual my friends this is a sponsored full chapter<3