Chapter 812: The Yan-Kang Sword God
"The woman in this coffin is indeed Jue Wuchen!"
Qin Mu's heart stirred, and he asked the Heavenly Duke through his divine consciousness, "Then the other woman in the coffin, is she the Empress?"
His gaze fell on the other woman. Her body was a natural masterpiece, born from the Great Dao of heaven and earth. Though not as stunningly beautiful as Jue Wuchen, she was still a rare and exquisite beauty.
She possessed an aura of maternal grace, as if she were the mother of the world. Her clothes were woven from the most precious divine gold, spun into silk and forged into fabric. She wore a phoenix crown, with a single vermilion mark between her brows, her face powdered and lips painted red.
She bore severe injuries. In Qin Mu's view, her wounds were not particularly fatal; there were ways to heal them.
However, in the ancient times, without the conditions of today, the injuries on this woman were already deadly enough.
After all, the medical Dao did not belong to the Great Dao of heaven and earth; it was a Dao created by later-born beings. In ancient times, the medical Dao was just emerging and insufficient to treat such wounds.
Similarly, the Dao of Creation was also a Dao created by later-born beings, and the Creation Dao of that era was not enough to help the Empress defy her fate and change her destiny.
"She is the Empress," the Heavenly Duke said, using Qin Mu's eyes to examine the two female corpses in the coffin. He sighed, "The Empress truly died. This woman was also extraordinary and sacred, yet she too has turned into a corpse. I always thought the first ancient god leader to fall was the Yin Tian Hou, but it turns out to be her. Who, then, is the Empress in the Heavenly Court? Could it be..."
"Can the Heavenly Duke be certain she is the Empress?" Qin Mu suddenly asked. "Heavenly Duke, I've heard that the Empress and her sister look exactly alike. Perhaps the one in the coffin is the Empress's younger sister."
"It wouldn't be that woman. Though they were twin lotuses from the Guixu, there are still differences," the Heavenly Duke said patiently. "The elder sister was pure and icy, with an inviolable sacred demeanor, so she became the Empress. The younger sister was much more lively and mischievous. Their most obvious difference lies in the vermilion mark between their brows. The elder sister's mark is red, representing ultimate yin and softness, while the younger sister's is a black mark, extremely sinister and alluring."
Qin Mu carefully examined the vermilion mark on the Empress's corpse's brow. It wasn't applied with cinnabar; upon closer inspection, it seemed to contain endless patterns, profound and mysterious.
The Heavenly Duke sighed, "For the Heavenly Emperor, sisters turned against each other—what was the point? But why did Jue Wuchen also die? That woman seduced the Heavenly Emperor's reincarnation, ambushed and killed him—truly ruthless and extraordinary. Why is her corpse here? Who killed her and placed her here?"
Qin Mu was left bewildered by his questions. The Heavenly Duke's questions were also what he wanted to ask, but clearly, the Heavenly Duke didn't know the answers either, which was why he was asking.
"Don't close your eyes yet!" the Heavenly Duke said urgently when he saw Qin Mu reaching for the willow leaf. "This is interesting; let us see too."
Qin Mu had no choice but to put away the willow leaf. Chi Huang's voice came through: "So this is Jue Wuchen? Truly a beauty, pitiable even to me. If I were still alive..."
"You'd die a miserable death," Tu Bo's voice interjected. "Even the Heavenly Duke and the Heavenly Emperor couldn't resist temptation. If the Heavenly Emperor hadn't gone to his death, the Heavenly Duke would have reincarnated to flirt with this woman and then lost his life. Old Buddha, have you been stirred by mortal desires?"
The Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha said, "Red powder and skeletons—to me, they are no different."
"But gods don't age or die; there's only red powder, no skeletons," the Heavenly Duke said. "Old Buddha, your Buddhist teachings still have flaws; be careful not to suffer for it. Great Sun Star Lord, what do you know about this woman?"
The Great Sun Star Lord grumbled, "What could I know? Everything I knew has been squeezed out of me. Jue Wuchen died after me, and I wouldn't dare have any thoughts about her."
...
"What a peerless beauty! If only I could share a room with such a person... Strange, there are no obvious wounds on her!" Chi Ming Shenzi suddenly noticed.
Everyone quickly examined her closely. Jue Wuchen in the coffin indeed had no wounds. She lay there quietly, as if asleep, her fair cheeks tinged with a faint pink blush, but she had no breath.
"Could someone have used Netherworld techniques to forcibly strip her soul?"
The crowd lingered reluctantly before the coffin, completely forgetting that their purpose here was to investigate the true Empress, not the woman inside.
Feng Qiuyun suddenly sneered, "Men are all worthless; how can they be called heroes? Just a woman, and a corpse at that, and you're all bewitched, a disgrace!"
Qin Mu said cheerfully, "Sister Qiuyun, I'm not bewitched; I'm still clear-headed. Village Chief, you too, right?"
The Village Chief's old face flushed slightly, and he chuckled, "I've long grown accustomed to Old Madam Si's beauty, so I have plenty of self-control."
Feng Qiuyun snorted, looked at Qiu Ming Huangzi, and said, "You provincial royal from the upper realm, our purpose in seeking the Empress's coffin was to determine if it truly contains the Empress. Now that we've seen it, do you have an answer?"
Qiu Ming Huangzi withdrew his gaze and said solemnly, "The one in the coffin is indeed the Empress."
Everyone's hearts tightened, including Luo Wushuang, who was deeply shaken.
Feng Qiuyun said, "Then who is the Empress in the Heavenly Court?"
Qiu Ming Huangzi shook his head. "I don't know. Suddenly, I don't want to know. Knowing too much leads to a quick death. I don't want to die. Right now, I only want this ghost ship. All of you can leave."
All the men's eyes were fixed on Jue Wuchen in the Empress's coffin. No one moved; the ghost ship no longer mattered. They all wanted to stay and accompany this woman in the coffin.
The Village Chief sighed, withdrew his gaze, and slowly pulled Qin Mu back, saying, "We have no interest in the ghost ship, nor in the woman in the coffin... not at all! We'll leave first!"
He kicked Huan Long Jun, who struggled to stand and followed them out.
Just then, a sudden burst of light came from somewhere, blinding everyone with a flash of white. Qin Mu and the Village Chief's hearts tightened: "This ghost ship is resetting time and space again!"
Dragon roars echoed from within the hall, and waves of terrifying auras erupted. Qin Mu immediately sensed the eight petrified divine dragons guarding the Empress's coffin reviving in the light. His hair stood on end as he hurriedly fled outside.
In the great hall, dragon roars surged, and then a terrifying tremor came. Blades and swords clashed, and even imperial might surged. Though the hall was vast, it couldn't withstand the impact of so many experts' divine abilities, especially with the imperial corpse and emperor-throne-level divine weapons present!
"Get out quickly; it's about to reset!" the little figure in the lamp said in panic.
The Village Chief immediately drew his sword. In terms of sword techniques, Qin Mu had surpassed him, but in terms of the sword Dao, he was still the foremost in Yan-Kang, far ahead of even the Yan-Kang National Teacher!
At the Divine Bridge realm, he had already created the Nine Forms of the Sword Diagram. Each form was a layer of the sword Dao, and at that time, he was already a master of the ninth layer of the sword Dao!
No matter the method of entering the Dao, the beginning was difficult, but advancing further was even harder. Even someone like Zi Xi Heavenly Teacher, in her lifetime, had only reached the thirteenth layer of the sword Dao.
However, Zi Xi Heavenly Teacher was at the Ling Xiao realm, and the thirteenth layer was her limit, the sword Dao she had created at that realm.
The Village Chief was different. Back then, he was trapped at the Divine Bridge realm, unable to find techniques to surpass it or cultivate to higher realms.
He relied entirely on his talent and effort to create the Nine Forms of the Sword Diagram.
The Nine Forms corresponded to the True God realm, meaning that at the Divine Bridge realm, his insights into the sword Dao had already reached that level.
Later, Qin Mu passed down techniques like the Magpie Bridge Art to repair the Divine Bridge, used the connection between life and death to link Fengdu, and the Relocation Bridge to connect Tai Huang Tian. Various divine and demonic techniques emerged endlessly, even emperor-throne techniques were shared, vastly expanding the Village Chief's horizons.
During Qin Mu's travels, the Village Chief hadn't been idle. He had thoroughly mastered the sword Dao techniques in the Yu Ming Palace and made astonishing breakthroughs in the sword Dao.
With his sword in hand, the Village Chief cut through the residual waves of various divine abilities and charged out with Qin Mu and Huan Long Jun.
Ahead was also light, obscuring everything. He could only advance by instinct. Suddenly, his sword clashed with a divine blade, producing a rapid series of clangs.
The divine blade flowed like quicksilver, penetrating every gap. The Village Chief wielded his sword to block it and said calmly, "Luo Shen Dao?"
"Yan-Kang Sword God?"
The blade flowed like water, and the blade Dao clashed violently with the sword Dao. The Village Chief parried, momentarily stunned. The power from the blade wasn't particularly strong, roughly equal to his own magical power.
"Is Luo Shen Dao suppressing his realm to duel me? He wants to see my sword Dao!"
Suddenly, the blade light retracted, and Luo Wushuang vanished into the distance. Amid the light, a divine dragon swept through the blades and shadows, sending the Village Chief, Qin Mu, and the others flying into the air. It was unclear whether it was a dragon from the Dragon Bo Kingdom or the Ancestral Dragon King.
More people rushed out of the hall. The roar of the collapsing hall echoed, and flames blazed in the light as Feng Qiuyun opened the imperial coffin. The imperial corpse rose, roaring in fury, collapsing the hall!
"Feng Qiuyun, you're insane!" Chi Ming Shenzi turned into a streak of light and fled past Qin Mu and the others.
Just then, the light suddenly faded, and their vision cleared again.
The Village Chief shielded Qin Mu and Huan Long Jun, his sword light sweeping away the residual waves of divine abilities as he landed lightly. He grunted, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
Qin Mu quickly asked, "Village Chief, are you injured?"
"I'm fine," the Village Chief said calmly. "I got grazed when that divine dragon rushed past. It won't kill me. Luo Wushuang's blade Dao is indeed formidable; it's almost at the thirteenth layer. But purely in terms of entering the Dao, my sword Dao is no less."
Qin Mu quickly used Creation techniques to heal him.
Huan Long Jun muttered dazedly, "Master, wasn't that hall destroyed just now?"
Qin Mu was stunned. He turned back to see the hall standing perfectly intact, not collapsed at all, exactly as before, with no damage.
Inside, the eight dragons were still coiled around the hall, guarding the Empress's coffin.
Beside the coffin was another coffin—the imperial tomb stone coffin Feng Qiuyun had brought. Half of it was buried in the ground, half exposed. The imperial corpse inside had fused with the ground and the coffin, its cyan, zombie-like face pressed against the coffin lid, its gray-white eyes rolling.
Many of the demigods brought by the Ancestral Dragon King had half their bodies growing into the walls, some into the pillars with only their butts sticking out, and some had sunk into the ground, with faces appearing on the floor like masks.
They were all still alive.
But when the light burst forth, they seemed to have been reassembled, though incorrectly, merging them with the hall into a single entity.
This afternoon, I finally sorted out the courier. Tomorrow, I can send the "Pastoral God's Tale" fans to the winning readers. There will be more events in the future, giving away "Pastoral God's Tale" peripheral prizes. The next event will be on Zhai Zhu's public WeChat account. Everyone is welcome to follow Zhai Zhu! 2k Reading Network