A third coffin slammed down upon hell’s dirt, kicking up a small cloud of dust and sending a massive tremor through the nearby City of Life.
The shaman girl grew whiter at the sight of the Enneaqilin Coffinbiers.
In life, she’d entered the dragon nest to kill the blood qilin to prevent it from releasing this very coffin, but her present status divorced her from her past affiliations. Plus, the Enneawyrm Coffinbearers and the Nine-Phoenix Casket were here, too. In some ways, the three entities were much alike in power.
Cangyin came to Xingzi’s side to soothe her emotions, a gesture that provoked a thoughtful glance from the little girl.
“Do you want to become a blood qilin? An existence like Aoxue and Huangqing?” she asked.
The water qilin blinked.
All of Lu Yun’s envoys were connected to each other. After becoming an envoy herself, Xingzi was naturally informed about the backgrounds of her new colleagues.
“The one in the coffin will revive and continue plaguing the world. If it absorbs the energies of hell, it might free itself from the layout’s control. The only way to stop it is to consume its bloodline… and its blood demon strength.” Despite her innocent face, Xingzi was very serious.
“My people have a method to strip it of its bloodline and transplant it into your own. You’re the patriarch of the water qilins, but your talent is the most lacking among all of us envoys… you can’t help the master at all.
“Therefore, I want you to become a blood qilin!” Xingzi’s sparkling eyes glowed with roguishness, looking for all intents and purposes like she’d force the procedure if Cangyin breathed a hint of declining.
She wasn’t wrong, though; although Cangyin was the head of the water qilins, her talents were limited to the water-attribute abilities of her clan. After helping Lu Yun complete the water intent of his sword aura, she hadn’t been able to help him at all.
Now that Lu Yun’s sword ocean had transformed into a cosmic sea, the intent of water was no longer particularly important to him, either. He couldn’t read her memories, so she was of no help in that regard as well.
All seven of his other envoys were both helpful and important to him. Although Cangyin had cultivated inside hell all this time, she couldn’t break through easily because her killer had used a temporal art. She’d have to slowly cultivate her way back, and the Tome of Life and Death wouldn’t be of much help to her.
“Alright!” Cangyin agreed and looked intently at her colleague. “But I want more than its bloodline—I want its potential as well! I know your race is a resourceful bunch. As the number one genius in their history, you must have a way to transplant that, too.”
“Yes, but the chance of success is very low… and failure means death,” confirmed Xingzi after some thought.
“Death? Envoys don’t die as long as the master is still with us.” Cangyin smiled. “If I do, we’ll just try again once I revive!”
Xingzi grinned broadly as well. Eagerness flickered in the depths of her eyes. Clearly, she was a mad scientist in all things shaman-related.
In the heart of hell, opposite the endless void, black rays shone from the Enneawyrm Coffinbearers and the Nine-Phoenix Casket into their newly arrived peer.
……
The instant the Enneaqilin Coffinbiers was absorbed into hell, the sealing formation began crumbling. The countless smaller formations that were its building blocks seemed to spontaneously lose their power as well, starting a domino effect.
“What’s happening? Why is the formation suddenly failing like this?” Lu Yun was rather confused. As the target of the sealing formation, the Enneaqilin Coffinbiers’ presence should’ve had no bearing on the integrity of its cage.
Boom!
The air shook as the blue planet was destroyed alongside the formation that it powered. The annihilation of the energy source seemed to further speed up the ruination that surrounded it.
Before Lu Yun could react, his body reappeared in the intersection between the dragon and phoenix nests, along with two fist-sized pearls glowing with hazy light.
The Skydragon and Skyphoenix Pearls!
The former was surrounded by watery light, while the latter was aglow with a vibrant fire. With their appearance, the minor world created by the mixture of dragon and phoenix strength began shattering.
“Shit, I have to go!” Coloring with concern, Lu Yun tried to beckon the pearls to him. Alas, the pearls had an apparent life of their own and counteracted the call of his energy.
Why’s the minor world disintegrating too? The young man really couldn’t figure it out.
“Those are the Skydragon and Skyphoenix Pearls!” a number of the immortals still attentive to the goings-on in the minor world clamored with surprise.
“That world is going to crumble soon. Don’t let him out!” Many grinned with schadenfreude.
The Skydragon and Skyphoenix Pearls were life spheres created by a dragon and phoenix beyond dao immortality. They wouldn’t be affected by the destruction around them. One couldn’t say the same for an insignificant cultivator like Lu Yun, though. Despite Situ Zong’s guardianship, the boy would be buried alongside the minor world. Even an aether dao immortal wouldn’t be able to ward off the devastation of a world’s implosion.
Hum.
The appearance of a white path disrupted their malicious delusions. It extended from the gap in the minor world, creating an escape route for Lu Yun. Setting foot on the Path of Ingress, he injected power into the Treasurefall Coin at the same time in an attempt to capture the pearls.
“Destroy the Path of Ingress!” an immortal shouted. At least a hundred brilliant sword-lights slashed through the air in tandem.
“Who dares!” roared Situ Zong. He stepped up with blast after incinerating blast, exterminating intrepid sword immortals in droves.
“Immortals of the Ling Clan, desist!” shouted Ling Zhen, who’d profited quite a bit by breaking open a large burial mound very shortly before.
“Exalted Immortal Sect, stay your hands!”
“Don’t move either, immortals of the Donglin Clan!” The other hundred and seven immortals called for their respective allies and factions to abstain. Ling Zhen was the most direct of them all and sent a fellow peerless immortal of his clan flying without another word.
“What are you doing, Ling Zhen!” his kinsman roared angrily. “Lu Yun has a death grudge with our clan! Your nephew Ling Ruyu died at his hands! Do you intend to repay his evil with kindness?”
Stunned, Ling Zhen paused for a moment.
Ling Ruyu had been the first Ling genius to reach void realm. As one of the best and brightest, he’d been blessed by the Dao Flower. Alas, a dao immortal under Lu Yun’s command had stomped him to death on Immortal Sky Island.
“Lu Yun has shown me great favor!” He gritted his teeth after some mental turmoil. “At the very least, you can’t kill him here. What happens after he leaves is none of my business!”
“Is that so?!” the peerless immortal snarled in anger. “Then Ling Zhen is a traitor of the clan. He deserves death! Get him!”
The man’s enraged howls didn’t have the intended effect; instead, it caused his kinsmen to hesitate.
Although the Ling Clan heeded Ling Zhen’s words, the other factions’ immortals wouldn’t be so easily swayed. They continued hammering at the Path of Ingress and Situ Zong.
Though the cannon on the old man’s shoulder was powerful, there were too many evasive targets for him to get them all. The swarm of return attacks as they dodged the blasts were a bit too much for him to handle.
By now, dao immortals had joined the fray as well. Situ Zong’s robes were quickly stained red from the new offensive barrage. The world created by the intersection of dragon and phoenix intensified its self-destruction.
“No, no… this is all wrong!” Finally subduing the Skydragon and Skyphoenix Pearls through the Treasurefall Coin, Lu Yun clutched them tightly and jerked his head around in sudden realization. “The sealing formation’s destruction shouldn’t have affected the world around it… unless….”
The blood drained from his face.
“The Enneaqilin Coffinbiers wasn’t the thing being sealed. It was part of the formation, too! Its power had been used to seal something—someone—else! The coffin isn’t the horror everyone’s dreading!”
Boom!
A furry golden hand punctured through the ground, piercing the minor world’s membrane altogether.
