Chapter 707: Investigating the Black Coffin

One month later, within a hall in the palatial valley at Shenfeng's capital, Xiao Nanfeng glanced at the reports from the frontlines with satisfaction. "The six empires don't seem particularly strong, do they? They've all already lost half their land each."

"But your twelve Golden Immortals have all been exposed..." the Divine Emperor murmured.

"It doesn't matter. They're still masked, at least. It'll take some more time before their identities are actually revealed. That said, I have been getting a strange feeling lately," Xiao Nanfeng said, frowning.

"Oh?"

"According to the reports from your shadow cursed effigies, Hongyue is already massing troops by its borders. If I'm not mistaken, it's planning to wait for us seven empires to wound each other before taking on us all."

"I've been on guard against Hongyue all this time. If they dare interfere, I'll make them pay," the Divine Emperor replied.

"What's strange is that Hongyue doesn't seem to have made a move even after learning about our twelve Golden Immortals."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Not quite. They want us and the six empires to be on roughly equal footing, but they've known about our twelve Golden Immortals for quite a while. Everyone can tell that we're swiftly destroying the six empires. The longer they wait, the stronger we become. How can Hongyue not do anything?"

"They must not have had the time to respond," the Divine Emperor suggested.

"No, they have! A single edict from the Immortal Emperor of Hongyue would cause their Golden Immortals to descend on the battlefield in force, but they've allowed us to rise to fame and recruit stronger cultivators. Isn't that strange? Something's wrong," Xiao Nanfeng concluded, frowning.

"Oh?"

"Hongyue would never just sit back and watch an enemy grow stronger. Even if they don't send out their troops, they should at least have gone against us in secret—but they're not doing a single thing! I suspect they're planning something big, something they can't divert their attention from," Xiao Nanfeng surmised.

"An even greater conspiracy?" the Divine Emperor asked, frowning.

"No matter what they're planning, the moment they succeed, they'll cause trouble for us. In that case, our priority should be to finish off the six empires before Hongyue can join them," Xiao Nanfeng surmised.

"I'll have my shadow cursed effigies assassinate key targets, then." The Divine Emperor nodded.

"Let's move as quickly as we can. We'll have to recruit more cultivators from Immortal sects, too. Our fame is rising sharply, and this is our best opportunity to have Immortal sects and holy lands join our cause. They'll stake their bets on us, and we'll have more allies with whom to take on Hongyue together."

"Understood!" the Divine Emperor replied.

Just then, a shadow cursed effigy rushed into the hall. "Your Majesty, there's been news from the Southeastern Aquatic Palace."

"What's going on?" the Divine Emperor asked.

"The black coffin in the Southeastern Aquatic Palace is being guarded by a group of Martial Aspects from the Imperial Court, Mountain Lords from Yuqing, and Hongyue soldiers. Many forces have sent spies to learn about the situation. Just now, the Immortal Emperor of Hongyue and Li Qianjun were spotted beside the coffin. They used it to fix Li Qianjun's badly broken Taiqing burial pagoda," the shadow cursed effigy reported.

"He must have paid no small price to do so," the Divine Emperor said.

"They exchanged a group of convicts with the black coffin," the shadow reported.

"Living sacrifices?" the Divine Emperor exclaimed.

"That's right. Later, the Immortal Emperor of Hongyue even stepped into the coffin with a group of cultivators and vanished."

"What? The Immortal Emperor of Hongyue brought his cultivators into the black coffin?" the Divine Emperor exclaimed.

The shadow cursed effigy nodded. "No one knows what they're doing within."

Xiao Nanfeng asked anxiously, "How many people saw it?"

"Quite a few. In addition to representatives from Hongyue, there were those from other divine empires and holy lands present. The Immortal Emperor of Hongyue brought a huge procession in, and Li Qianjun's guarding the coffin from the outside."

The Divine Emperor frowned. "Could the conspiracy that Hongyue is planning be related to this coffin?"

"It's very likely. After all, there's no need for the Immortal Emperor of Hongyue to show himself heading into the black coffin. The fact that he did so so ostentatiously is abnormal—it's like telling everyone that the coffin hides a tremendous secret."

"The black coffin appeared fifty thousand years ago, and I had heard rumors of its existence even then. The interior of the black coffin isn't meant to be traversed. No one who has entered it has ever come out—it ought to be a forbidden zone," the Divine Emperor murmured.

"The Immortal Emperor of Hongyue must be planning some major conspiracy," Xiao Nanfeng replied.

"It's a pity I can't examine the black coffin myself. Otherwise, I might be able to learn something," the Divine Emperor said.

Xiao Nanfeng hummed. He dismissed the shadow cursed effigies in the hall. "All of you, leave us for the moment."

"Understood!" The shadows bowed and retreated.

Xiao Nanfeng waved a hand. The doors to the hall slammed shut, and the formation surrounding the hall activated.

"This is an office! Don't do anything weird in here," the Divine Emperor grumbled, blushing.

"I have something to show you. Would you prefer we move elsewhere?" Xiao Nanfeng asked curiously.

The Divine Emperor stiffened, realizing that her thoughts had been entirely off-base. "No, no, it's nothing. What do you want to show me?"

Xiao Nanfeng waved a hand. A huge coffin appeared before the Divine Emperor.

The Divine Emperor gaped at him. "When did you head to the Southeastern Aquatic Palace? Wasn't that coffin supposed to be immobile? How did you manage to steal it?"

She had never seen the black coffin for herself, but she had certainly at least seen images of it. It was clear that this black coffin was precisely like the one from the Southeastern Aquatic Palace.

"Look more closely," Xiao Nanfeng urged.

The black coffin before her was sealed with runes multiple times over. The Divine Emperor corrected her mistake quickly. "No, you never left, did you? Could there have been a second coffin?"

Xiao Nanfeng nodded. "That's right. This is a different coffin from the one in the Southeastern Aquatic Palace. I found it in Yin Shenhua's storage bangle after his death."

Xiao Nanfeng summarized the origins of the black coffin, causing the Divine Emperor to frown.

"Let me have a look." The Divine Emperor leaned down to inspect the coffin carefully.

There were plenty of runes and seals that Yin Shenhua had left on the coffin, but they were trivial for the Divine Emperor to deal with. She broke through the seals and runes until only the black coffin was left.

A tremendous amount of black smoke burst out from the coffin and into their surroundings.

The Divine Emperor reached out and waved an arm. Her Divine Emperor's bell tolled, forcing all that black smoke back into the coffin.

"What concentrated cursed spiritual power," she exclaimed. "No wonder Yin Shenhua had to seal it."

"A relic that even Yin Shenhua wasn't able to handle is likely particularly dangerous. Be careful," Xiao Nanfeng warned.

The Divine Emperor nodded. She wasn't any weaker than Yin Shenhua in her current state, but she still proceeded with extreme caution.

She slowly pushed open the coffin lid.

A frightening suction pulsed from the coffin and tried to drag the two cultivators within.

"What incredible suction," Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

He too had ended up flying involuntarily toward the coffin.

The Divine Emperor's bell tolled again. A barrier of sound protected him as the Divine Emperor slammed the coffin, causing it to shake and the suction to belatedly vanish.

"There's something wrong with this coffin," the Divine Emperor said.

She inspected the coffin carefully. The interior of the coffin was pitch-black, as if there really were some extradimensional space within that she couldn't see into.

"Shall we test it and see if we can exchange for any items?" Xiao Nanfeng proposed.

The Divine Emperor nodded.

Following what Blue Lantern had taught him, Xiao Nanfeng prayed to the coffin and inserted three pills brimming with spiritual energy into it, exchanging them for a pill of a different sort. The new pill was quickly deposited into Xiao Nanfeng's hands.

"It does work," Xiao Nanfeng said, his eyes brightening.

He popped the pill into his mouth.

"Be careful," the Divine Emperor warned. "The items that these coffins produce might contain cursed spiritual power."

"Don't worry. I even ate the Eye of the Sea that one of these black coffins produced. This pill is nothing in comparison."

He closed his eyes and extended his senses throughout his body. As expected, the center of the pill was filled with cursed spiritual power, though it didn't take on the form of black hands. He activated his Jade Emperor's Frame and cleansed it.

"Well?" the Divine Emperor asked.

"There is cursed spiritual power within, but no manifestations of black hands. It's clear that some saint must have meddled with that black coffin at the Southeastern Aquatic Palace."

The Divine Emperor nodded, then continued, "I've probed this coffin with cursed spiritual power, but I can't seem to inspect what lies within its depths. Unless I step in myself, it's very difficult to figure out what the situation's like within."

"Don't!" Xiao Nanfeng hurriedly pulled the Divine Emperor back and shook his head. "This coffin can even trap Boundless Immortals within. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I'll be careful. What's more, didn't the Immortal Emperor of Hongyue step into the other one?"

"He's him, and you're you! I don't care if he dies, but I won't let anything happen to you. I don't want you to take any risk at all!"

The Divine Emperor smiled gently and nodded. "Very well."

"Let's wait for the moment. The Immortal Emperor of Hongyue must have a plan—we have resources and time aplenty. You can investigate and study this coffin for now, but be careful and make sure not to enter," Xiao Nanfeng warned.

"Alright, then. I'll study it carefully from the outside." The Divine Emperor nodded.

Xiao Nanfeng relaxed. With the Divine Emperor's strength, she should be unharmed from examining the coffin from the outside.

"Don't forget about the upcoming court session, either. We're in a critical period in which the six neighboring empires are about to fall. We'll have to take the opportunity to recruit as many disciples from the largest Immortal sects around as we can."

The Divine Emperor nodded again.