Chapter 757: Trapping the Saint

Days later, in a hall in Hongyue's capital, the saint listened to Tang's report.

"Everything is under your control, Your Eminence," Tang said.

The saint was very pleased with Tang's attitude. He nodded. "How's the situation going?"

"We discovered a spy from Shenfeng and piqued her interest with a zombie. She chased it into a forest, where it began to fight with another zombie to the death."

"The two zombies fought each other?" the saint asked.

"Yes, Your Eminence. Only the Immortal Emperor and Xiao Nanfeng are known to possess such zombies. The fact that two zombies are fighting, neither of which belong to Xiao Nanfeng, will certainly command his attention. We won't reveal too much information. The goal is to have Xiao Nanfeng investigate personally and fall into Your Eminence's trap."

"Well done." The saint nodded, satisfied.

"That said, Your Eminence, Xiao Nanfeng is particularly sly and crafty. I don't believe he'll fall for the trap as is."

"Oh?"

"It's likely that Xiao Nanfeng will be suspicious of the supposed owner of this third coffin, so we need to act quickly. We have to ensure that Xiao Nanfeng doesn't have time to get more information or think more critically about the situation. Ideally, the Immortal Emperor's ancestral zombie will start fighting with the third coffin's owner immediately."

"Continue," the saint commanded.

"The second black coffin is in Xiao Nanfeng's hands, and the Immortal Emperor desperately needs a new black coffin with which to grow his zombie army. The appearance of the third coffin's owner will give the Immortal Emperor an opportunity to strike. From a logical perspective, the Immortal Emperor will surely attack at full strength in order to obtain the third coffin for himself—at the very least, he'll use his ancestral zombie body. The third coffin's owner must fight the Immortal Emperor as well."

"You intend to have Xiao Nanfeng watch on in hopes of claiming the coffin once both combatants are weakened?"

"Indeed. Given Xiao Nanfeng's wariness, he'll surely lie in wait rather than make a move. That's why the Immortal Emperor must fight viciously against the third coffin's owner. Otherwise, Xiao Nanfeng will retreat the moment he senses something amiss. Furthermore, this fight must take place far from the two empires lest he suspect that it's a trap."

"And both combatants must fight on relatively equal footing, I assume?" The saint frowned.

"Indeed. Only a Boundless Immortal will be able to take on the Immortal Emperor's ancestral zombie body, and that Boundless Immortal would ideally be unknown to Xiao Nanfeng."

"That won't be hard. It's easy enough for me to change my appearance. What's more, as long as Xiao Nanfeng doesn't get close to me, he won't realize that I'm involved. I'll simply fake an ancestral zombie's aura."

"You intend to take Xiao Nanfeng on yourself, Your Eminence?" Tang's eyes lit up.

"Indeed."

"In that case, I'm sure I won't have anything to worry about. We'll have to act quickly. Ideally, we can lure Xiao Nanfeng out within a few days' time."

"Arrange for it," the saint commanded, nodding in satisfaction.

Days later, above an island on the Eastern Sea, Lou Yujing's ancestral zombie body, along with a horde of ordinary zombies, faced off against another horde of zombies.

The ground quaked and flames flared as the battle unfolded. Huge waves spawned over the Eastern Sea. The zombie hordes fought viciously and intensely.

Lou Yujing's body was grievously wounded from the battle, as was the 'ancestral zombie' cloaked in black fog who was his opponent.

"Die, Lou Yujing!" the false ancestral zombie roared.

"Hand over the black coffin, or I'll kill you!" Lou Yujing retorted.

The two combatants struck at one another, flames blazing over their fists as they fought intently. Neither combatant was about to give in.

"Lou Yujing, are you stalling for time?" the fake ancestral zombie roared. "Are you waiting for your main body to get here?"

Lou Yujing roared and didn't explain himself. He continued to attack the fake ancestral zombie furiously. The fake ancestral zombie tried to flee, but Lou Yujing prevented it from doing so.

"You intend to leave? Dream on! Now that I've found you, your black coffin is mine!" Lou Yujing thundered.

The fake ancestral zombie roared in rage as it revealed a gleaming treasure.

"A Boundless Immortal relic? Why didn't you use it beforehand? It must not have much use," Lou Yujing surmised.

"Explode!" the fake ancestral zombie shouted.

"What?!" Lou Yujing exclaimed.

The fake ancestral zombie held on tightly to Lou Yujing as it detonated the relic. A huge mushroom cloud erupted above the Eastern Sea.

After the explosion, both Lou Yujing and the fake ancestral zombie were more wounded than ever. Blood streaked from their bodies, and their limbs were broken.

"Are you crazy?!" Lou Yujing roared, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

The fake ancestral zombie tried to flee.

"You won't get away!" Lou Yujing shouted.

Incensed, he had no intention of giving up on his prey.

Just then, the fake ancestral zombie pulled out another relic.

"You have another relic? What are you doing?!" Lou Yujing roared.

"Explode!"

Another relic erupted into flames. The huge explosion engulfed both cultivators.

By the time the fire and smoke dissipated, the two combatants were even worse off than before. Half of Lou Yujing's body had been destroyed by the two successive explosions, and much of his skeleton was now exposed. The fake ancestral zombie fared worse. Even its storage treasure had been destroyed, revealing countless relics, a black coffin among them.

"The black coffin!" Lou Yujing cried out in surprise.

Despite his serious injuries, Lou Yujing shot toward the coffin immediately.

"Hold it! The coffin's mine!" roared the fake ancestral zombie.

The two Boundless Immortal cultivators faced off again. Neither managed to seize the black coffin; it flew toward an island in the distance.

"Hurry up and retrieve the coffin!" the fake ancestral zombie commanded.

"Everyone, seize that coffin!" Lou Yujing roared.

"Understood!" Their subordinates all rushed off toward that island as the two ancestral zombies continued to fight, deterring each other from seizing it.

The black coffin landed on the island in a huge plume of dust.

Zombies on both sides rushed toward the black coffin, only to find themselves blocked by a shadowy figure.

The shadowy figure sent all the zombies flying.

"Who's there?!" everyone demanded.

By then, the smoke had dispersed to reveal an antique black coffin, its lid having been blown off in the commotion.

Xiao Nanfeng and the Divine Emperor had appeared out of nowhere and were holding the zombies back.

"Xiao Nanfeng?!" Lou Yujing cried out.

The fake ancestral zombie roared and charged toward them.

"Lou Yujing, I suppose I have you to thank for helping me gather the three black coffins, haha!" Xiao Nanfeng laughed.

The Divine Emperor's long hair fluttered in the wind as she held the two ancestral zombies back. Meanwhile, Xiao Nanfeng leapt toward the black coffin.

Just then, a pillar of red light shot out of the coffin and pierced through the air. A frightening aura emanated from it, quelling even the waves surging across the Eastern Sea.

"This is a trap!" the Divine Emperor suddenly cried out. "You have to flee!"

Xiao Nanfeng blanched as he turned to flee.

"Flee? Don't you think it's too late to do so?" The saint's voice could be heard from afar.

A fearsome aura emanated from around the red pillar, so intense that even the void began to ripple. A sea of blood manifested in the void, filling the air and sealing off any escape routes.

The Divine Emperor transformed into a black shadow as she tried to flee with Xiao Nanfeng, but the sea of blood trapped them within.

"You won't be able to escape. I've prepared a cage of heavenly law for you. Now, become my prisoners, haha!" The saint's voice could be heard from afar.

The sea of blood quickly compressed around the two cultivators as the saint's figure manifested within the sea of blood. With a wave of his hand, he sucked Xiao Nanfeng and the Divine Emperor into the black coffin.

"I can still hold him off for a bit. Hurry up and escape into the red moon illusory realm!" the Divine Emperor shouted.

"Got it!" Xiao Nanfeng replied.

The saint frowned. "It's too late. You're all done for!"

The saint, bolstered by his sea of blood, shot into the coffin, dragging Xiao Nanfeng and the Divine Emperor inside along with him.

The next moment, red light flashed. Xiao Nanfeng had activated his candleflame powers to bring the Divine Emperor out with him. He quickly slammed a lid over the coffin in a flash of light.

Meanwhile, the fake ancestral zombie and Lou Yujing blanched at what was happening.

"Impossible! That's not the black coffin I forged!" the fake ancestral zombie roared.

The black coffin began to shake violently. The tremendous strength that the saint had unleashed shattered the black coffin to reveal a bright red cauldron within, which was rocking back and forth from the impact of something trapped within.

The Divine Emperor reached out and stabilized the cauldron.

Lou Yujing cried out, "Impossible! Xiao Nanfeng must have exchanged the coffin for another one when it struck the island in a cloud of smoke. But how could Xiao Nanfeng have known about our plan?!"

The fake ancestral zombie was naturally one of the saint's avatars. He roared in anger, "Who betrayed me? I'll kill him!"

The fake ancestral zombie leapt toward Xiao Nanfeng, but Ye Sanshui appeared out of nowhere and punched it. Lou Yujing and the fake ancestral zombie were sent flying.

Ye Sanshui wasn't particularly strong; rather, Lou Yujing and the fake ancestral zombie had expended too much of their reserves during their orchestrated battle to block his attack.

"We've been tricked. This is an ambush. We have to flee!" Lou Yujing shouted.

"You can't leave me! My main body's still in that cauldron. Something's wrong with it—it's preventing me from accessing heavenly law! Save my main body!" the fake ancestral zombie roared.

"We can't! If we don't leave now, we'll be done for!"

Lou Yujing turned to flee.

"No!" The fake ancestral zombie refused to give up. It continued to attack Ye Sanshui, who retaliated at full strength. Flames erupted around them as they began to fight in earnest.