# Chapter 613: Peerless Beauty
Zhang Ruochen looked into the distance and saw, within the darkness, two evil path cultivators wearing gleaming black leather armor carrying a coffin as they rapidly ran forward.
Their cultivation levels were both at the third transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm. As they executed their movement techniques, their feet seemed to tread on wind and fire, each step covering a distance of ten zhang.
Suddenly, the two evil path martial artists halted, stopping abruptly.
Their gazes simultaneously locked onto the figure standing before them, expressions turning wary.
Zhang Ruochen wore a metal mask and white robes. He descended from above, landing lightly on the ground, and asked, "Who is inside the coffin?"
The two evil path cultivators exchanged glances, set down the coffin, and each produced a tenth-rank True Martial Treasure. They attacked Zhang Ruochen from both the left and right.
Their movement speed was extremely fast, leaving trails of afterimages on the ground.
Zhang Ruochen walked straight forward. Without any visible movement from him, two streaks of sword light flew out.
"Shua!"
"Shua!"
The sword light flashed past, and the two evil path cultivators immediately froze in place, still gripping their True Martial Treasures, but their bodies became completely motionless.
Zhang Ruochen walked all the way to the side of the coffin. Only then did two thudding sounds of bodies falling come from behind him.
The Abyssal Ancient Sword circled the two corpses once more, refining the two tenth-rank True Martial Treasures into metallic droplets that merged into the sword body, before flying back into the Space Ring.
Zhang Ruochen extended a palm, pressed it against the edge of the coffin lid, and pushed forward. The hundred-jin heavy lid flew off, landing more than ten zhang away.
It seemed to be a new coffin, as no dust or strange odor emanated from it. Instead, a faint, delicate fragrance spread outward.
Zhang Ruochen immediately held his breath and looked into the coffin. At the bottom lay a slender young woman, dressed in light blue-green clothes, her eyes tightly shut, with long, curved eyelashes.
She was a woman of breathtaking beauty. Her jet-black hair was spread within the coffin, her skin was white as snow, her brows were delicately curved, her nose was exquisitely sculpted, and her lips were elegantly pale. There was scarcely a single part of her that was not beautiful.
"Evil path cultivators from the Black Market actually dug up a female corpse."
Even though Zhang Ruochen had seen many beautiful women, when he looked at this female corpse, he still felt a sense of stunning amazement. She was like a goddess descending to the mortal world, involuntarily stirring emotions in one's heart.
"If she were still alive, how peerlessly elegant and graceful would she be? Even the most heartless man in the world would probably be captivated by her, willingly becoming her devoted admirer."
Zhang Ruochen sighed and was about to retrieve the coffin lid to seal the coffin again.
Suddenly, his ears twitched. He heard a faint heartbeat from within the coffin.
Zhang Ruochen immediately stopped in his tracks and looked once more at the peerless beauty in the coffin. He listened carefully, but heard nothing. He truly wondered if he had just imagined it.
"Could this be a trap set by the Black Market?" Zhang Ruochen became cautious.
However, when he used his spiritual power to probe her, he found that the beauty in the coffin had no trace of life—no heartbeat, no breath, and even her jade-like delicate body was extremely cold.
If she were truly alive, no matter how well she disguised herself, she could not have fooled Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power.
Unless she was a Half-Saint.
If she really were a Half-Saint, there would be no need to use such a method to deal with Zhang Ruochen.
Strange, truly very strange.
The thick clouds scattered, and the bright moonlight poured down from the sky, illuminating the dim earth and falling directly onto the face of the woman at the bottom of the coffin.
The beauty in the coffin became even more radiant. Every inch of her skin was as translucent as immortal jade, every curve was flawless and perfect, breathtakingly beautiful.
"Such smooth skin, such fresh and bright clothes—how could she possibly be a female corpse buried underground?"
Zhang Ruochen took a deep breath, shook his head, and once again grabbed the coffin lid, preparing to close it.
"Thump!"
Another faint heartbeat.
This time, Zhang Ruochen could be certain he had not misheard. There was indeed a heartbeat coming from the coffin. This meant the beauty in the coffin was likely not dead, but had merely entered some strange state.
Zhang Ruochen set down the coffin lid and came to the side of the coffin once more. He reached out and grasped the beauty's cold wrist to begin examining her.
He had to admit, her skin was extremely smooth and delicate, like snow silk. The moment he touched it, even Zhang Ruochen felt a momentary distraction.
However, he quickly regained his composure and injected a stream of true qi into her wrist to check if she was injured.
The true qi circulated through the beauty's body for one cycle before flowing back into Zhang Ruochen's Qi Sea.
"How can this be? No internal injuries, no external injuries—how did she become a living corpse?"
Zhang Ruochen gently set down the beauty's hand, a puzzled expression on his face. He prepared to help her up and examine the Heavenly Heart Meridian on her back.
The Heavenly Heart Meridian was the main meridian of all meridians. To determine whether she was alive or dead, he only needed to check if there was still true qi within it.
Just as Zhang Ruochen bent down to help her up—
"Shua!"
Suddenly, a jade-white hand shot out, swiftly removing the mask from his face, revealing his true appearance.
Zhang Ruochen's heart leaped violently. He knew he had fallen into a trap after all, and immediately pushed off with his legs to retreat backward.
His reaction speed was very fast, but the peerless beauty in the coffin was even faster. She extended a pair of slender jade arms, hooked them around his neck, and pressed her crystal-clear, elegant lips against Zhang Ruochen's, kissing him.
Zhang Ruochen retreated rapidly, but the peerless beauty still clung tightly to his neck, rising from the coffin. Her long hair and clothes spread out in the air, her soft, delicate body seemingly boneless, her impossibly slender waist arching at a stunning angle.
The scene before him was both beautiful and eerily startling, as if a female corpse had suddenly awakened, wanting to suck out Zhang Ruochen's yang energy.
Just as Zhang Ruochen was about to strike out with both palms, he found that the peerless beauty's eyes had already opened. They were incredibly beautiful, like two jet-black immortal spirit gems, filled with passionate affection as she stared straight at him.
Completely different eyes, yet an utterly familiar gaze.
So it was her.
Zhang Ruochen immediately withdrew the palms he was about to strike, revealing a complex expression—puzzled, helpless, and with a trace of bitter laughter.
A small, moist, smooth tongue actively breached Zhang Ruochen's lips. Though her movements were very inexperienced, her offensive was fierce. Finally, she broke through Zhang Ruochen's defenses and touched his tongue.
This kiss lasted a long time, unable to end. Even Zhang Ruochen's lips had gone somewhat numb before the peerless beauty finally stopped, gasping for breath.
But her hands did not release Zhang Ruochen. She held him tightly, immediately burying her head in his chest, a sweet smile spreading across her face. "Now, do you still want to hide? Do you still need to keep deceiving me and continue leaving?"
Zhang Ruochen closed his eyes and let out a long breath. "Did you deliberately lure me here?"
The peerless beauty's face showed a triumphant, cunning smile. "Who told you to hide yourself? I couldn't find you. But I knew that as long as I was in danger, you would definitely come and would rush to save me in the shortest time possible."
Zhang Ruochen shook his head helplessly. It turned out that from the very beginning, he had already stepped into the trap carefully laid by Mu Lingxi.
He should have guessed long ago. With Mu Lingxi's mischievous cleverness and the many treasures she carried, how could Ice Demon and Azure Star Envoy possibly have harmed her?
Zhang Ruochen thought further—even if he had guessed early on that Mu Lingxi was deliberately trying to lure him out, would he not still have been worried and come to Zhuishen Mountain Ridge?
Zhang Ruochen asked, "Why did you lie in a coffin pretending to be dead?"
"If not for that, how could I have made you let down your guard? Moreover, only by having you approach on your own could I remove your mask and prevent you from continuing to pretend you didn't know me."
The smile on Mu Lingxi's face gradually faded, replaced by shimmering eyes veiled with a layer of mist.
Zhang Ruochen did not notice the change in Mu Lingxi's expression. "But how could you be certain that the one coming would be me? Don't you know that everyone in the world believes I am already dead?"
"I just… knew I could be certain." Mu Lingxi said.
Zhang Ruochen felt an indescribable sense of defeat. Even though he wore a mask and Mu Lingxi had only seen him once, she could still recognize him.
But Mu Lingxi, merely by changing her appearance, lay right before him, and he had not recognized her at all. It was only when she opened her eyes that moment, revealing that familiar gaze, that Zhang Ruochen confirmed her identity.
Actually, Zhang Ruochen could not be blamed. After all, the seal on Mu Lingxi's body was placed by the Demon Sect's High Priestess. It had not only changed her appearance but also her entire aura.
Not to mention Zhang Ruochen, even a Saint from the Saint Academy would not have been able to discover that Mu Lingxi and Duanmu Xingling were the same person.
Zhang Ruochen felt the cloth on his chest becoming somewhat damp, a warmth seeping into his skin from outside. Sensing something unusual, he immediately looked down and saw that Mu Lingxi was already covered in tears, sobbing softly.
"Sister Duanmu, can't we be happy about meeting again?" Zhang Ruochen asked, puzzled.
Mu Lingxi pursed her lips and struck Zhang Ruochen's chest with a powder-soft fist, completely without strength, her voice filled with grievance and resentment. "For you, it's just meeting again. For me, it's like reuniting after an entire lifetime apart."
"Do you have any idea how heartbroken I was when I learned you had died under the sword of the Nine Nether Sword Saint? I thought the sky had fallen. I thought I couldn't go on living. I became completely dazed and confused. I foolishly went to the place where you died, found some broken bones, buried them while crying, and erected a stone tablet."
"When Auntie sent someone to find me, I had already fainted beside that stone tablet."
"When I was revived, that person wanted to take me away, but I refused to leave. I wanted to die. It was only when he told me that I should live—at least to avenge you—that I regained some will to survive and found a reason to keep living."