Chapter 31 – The Struggle

Wu Bing had been fixating on the things inside. Upon hearing that the Soul-bewitching Stairway couldn’t trap Zhan Changfeng, he grew anxious at once and couldn’t be bothered to keep dealing with Songshi Zi. He said decisively, “I’ll undo the venom curse on your body right now. You lead the way ahead for me.”

“I would not dare refuse such a gracious command.”

After all that trouble, the Gaotian Tribe finally set foot on the stairway.

The stairway was riddled with branching paths everywhere, and a single moment of inattention could send one wandering unknowingly down another route. Zhan Changfeng, however, was completely unaffected, striding forward as if walking through an empty land. Before long, she spotted a cave ahead.

Oh, a cave. Perfect for hiding treasure.

Zhan Changfeng still hadn’t given up hope on the Founding Emperor’s treasury.

The cave had been hewn out by hand, the craftsmanship just as superb as before, and the style was equally grand and imposing.

However, its Walls were hung with coffin after coffin — at a rough count, no fewer than thirty of them.

Zhan Changfeng felt the yin energy here was extremely dense, the resentment heavy and thick — even surpassing the Hundred Ghosts of the Old Manor.

She casually rapped the smooth black-stone Ground with her sword scabbard, her gaze sweeping past a hundred meters to the Exit.

Was there a mass grave beneath this hundred-meter Passage?

No wonder she hadn’t seen the bones of the tomb-builders earlier — they had been buried here.

The black stone was covered with engraved scriptures and Talismans to suppress the resentment of the craftsmen.

Yet if the craftsmen were all buried, who had filled in the pit and applied the sealing arts?

And these coffins — whose remains lay inside them?

Suddenly her phoenix eyes opened slightly wider. How could this be! Where were the ghosts?

Zhan Changfeng had lost her inner power, but at the time she had already reached Peak Postnatal, and her six senses had transcended the limits of the mortal body, subtly harmonizing with nature.

This powerful perception did not change with the rise or fall of inner power, so it remained with her still — and was even more sensitive to the netherworld because of her Pure Yin Bones.

If the deceased were unwilling to leave this world, their souls would linger among the living and become ghosts, and the place where ghosts dwelled was usually steeped in yin energy and overflowing with resentment.

Thus, at first she had assumed the spirits of the craftsmen were sealed here. But when she extended her perception, there was not a single trace of any ghost whatsoever.

If that was the case, where was all this resentment coming from?

Zhan Changfeng’s eyelid twitched — she felt as though something was watching her. Yet when she looked around, there was nowhere in this place for anything to hide.

She stepped back a few paces, then turned and continued walking inward. Having come this far, there was no reason to retreat.

Her view suddenly opened up. A broad square served as the floor, and the domed mountain walls formed the ceiling. A solemn and majestic palace of white stone walls and nanmu timber beams stood tall and proud.

It was fitted snugly within the cave, appearing to merge seamlessly with this enormous Space.

Strangely, its palace doors were half open.

As if someone had once passed through and forgotten to close them.

At this moment, the palace felt more like an empty House without its Owners.

Zhan Changfeng slipped sideways through the half-open palace doors. The eternal lamps burned on.

The great hall was extraordinarily spacious and bitterly cold. The faintest sound was amplified endlessly within it, enough to make one’s hair stand on end.

On the High Platform at its far end sat a crystal coffin, and one could vaguely make out a person lying within.

Zhan Changfeng glanced at the accumulated dust on the Ground, then strode toward the High Platform and stood beside the crystal coffin.

Drawing close for a better look, she saw a Man of towering stature with features as sharply carved as though by a Knife. He wore an imperial robe of black trimmed in red and a Son of Heaven’s crown upon his head, as magnificent in death as he must have been in life.

And from his Mouth, a bewitching red flower had pushed out a bud and bloomed in full.

That flower completely ruined the sense of reverence Zhan Changfeng had felt upon seeing her ancient ancestor.

What on earth?!

A faint, drawn-out sigh sounded at her Ears. Zhan Changfeng spun around abruptly and saw a Man standing behind her — his Face was strikingly handsome yet wicked, his Eyes deep and full of sentiment.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” he said, gazing at the flower.

“Quite beautiful — if it weren’t growing out of my family ancestor’s Body,” Zhan Changfeng said quietly, sidestepping to the other side of the coffin to put some distance between them. “General Wu truly put a great deal of thought into my ancestor.”

The Man curled his lips in a smile, his voice low and husky. “You know who I am?”

“I’ve seen a Portrait.”

“Heh, so you are indeed from the Yi Family,” the Man said with a lingering smile. “When he designed the Gate outside back then, he also placed the Dragon Scale Divine Scripture on it, saying he was waiting for his descendants to come and solve it. I laughed at him then for being a hopeless dreamer — it’s already Heaven’s great mercy for a single bloodline to produce one person bearing the imperial purple aura. How could a second one possibly appear?”

“And yet,” his gaze grew heavy, “the art of prophecy — he truly learned it exceptionally well.”

Wu Xingshan had also participated in designing the underground palace? It seemed the Founding Emperor had held him in extraordinary regard.

The Man seemed to read what Zhan Changfeng was thinking. His expression was both sardonic and complex. “But then again, he intended this underground palace to imprison me. In the end, he still became my vessel.”

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked again. “This is called the Emperor’s Flower.”

He smiled wickedly. “I was originally waiting for those disappointing disciples of mine to come in. I didn’t expect you to arrive first — but this works out just as well.”

Zhan Changfeng’s alarm bells rang out. She suddenly saw this remnant soul transform into a beam of Light shooting toward the space between her brows. He was no inheritable cultivation technique — what good could it possibly do him?

In that instant, Zhan Changfeng no longer cared about her physical Body. She raised her Eyes, which turned cold and Blood-red.

A living person holds both yin and yang; at death, yin and yang disperse. Those unwilling to depart cling to their last breath of yin energy and become ghosts. This yin energy is the purest yin energy, closest to the fundamental source of Heaven and Earth’s yin and yang.

Strictly speaking, Zhan Changfeng could not yet be counted among cultivators. But as it happened, the one thing she needed most right now was precisely pure yin energy.

This remnant soul had rashly attempted to seize her Body and claim her fortune — but it was a sheep walking into the tiger’s den.

Wu Xingshan was stopped halfway, as if his entire soul were being drawn toward the Archer’s Ring on her Hand.

How could this be!

Wu Xingshan was forced to manifest his Figure once more. He stared at her Eyes in absolute shock and alarm. At that moment, the sound of Footsteps came from outside, and the great hall’s doors were thrown wide open.

Wu Xingshan gritted his teeth, abandoned half of his soul, and flew directly into a person’s Body.

That person was none other than the Youth, Wu Cheng!

Wu Cheng’s Face drained of color in an instant. His Eyes were filled with pain and struggle, as if he were fighting against some tremendous pulling force. He was nearly on the verge of tears. “Grandpa, save me!”

Wu Bing had also caught a glimpse of Wu Xingshan’s faint Figure. Seeing him dive into Wu Cheng’s Body, a flash of surprise crossed his Face — followed by a wild, ecstatic joy, as if he had finally waited long enough for something.

He said to Wu Cheng in a gentle tone, “Grandson, it is your good fortune that the Founding Master has descended upon you. Do not resist — relax your Heart and mind, and listen carefully to the Founding Master’s teachings.”

Descended?!

Was Wu Cheng foolish? On the contrary, he was the most intelligent and most Talented child in the entire Gaotian Tribe — and before all of this, also its most beloved young chief!

He understood at once that this so-called Founding Master was stealing his Body, and that his beloved Grandpa was asking him to sacrifice himself!

Wu Cheng felt a chill seize his Heart. Resentment and fury surged violently, and his will to survive burned so fiercely that Wu Xingshan actually suffered a degree of backlash.

Had Wu Xingshan been in his original state, devouring Wu Cheng’s soul would have been as easy as turning his Hand. But he had earlier recklessly provoked Zhan Changfeng and damaged his own soul — and now he could no longer withstand Wu Cheng’s counterattack.

In this critical moment, Wu Xingshan forcibly formed a pact and declared: “If we keep fighting, both of us will be ruined. Why not sign an equitable covenant? I will help you soar through the nine heavens and attain immortality!”

When Wu Cheng heard the words “attain immortality,” his Heart and mind wavered — and just like that, the contract took hold. His expression changed dramatically. “But what if you try to harm me again?!”

“This is an equitable covenant. I cannot harm you, and you cannot harm me. Moreover, I can help you. What have you to lose?”

Wu Cheng fell silent. The deed was done — what else could he do? “Fine, I’ll trust you for now!”

He looked down in shock at the sword that had pierced clean through his lower abdomen.

“You scoundrel — how dare you!” Wu Bing’s round Eyes flew open in fury, as if someone had just killed his own father.

“Why would I not dare?!” Zhan Changfeng pulled out the sword. Wu Cheng crumpled, and she seized him by the throat with one Hand. “He can’t die yet. Take one more step forward, and that might change.”

Wu Bing hesitated, unable to advance or retreat.

Zhan Changfeng’s expression turned icy, shattering the gentle facade she had maintained until now. Wu Bing felt a pang of unease — and yet also a fleeting sense that this was how things ought to be.

She was the Crown Prince of an entire dynasty, a person who carried the imperial inheritance. How strange it would have been for her to be gentle and compliant.

“What do you want? Let Cheng’er go and everything is negotiable!”

“That is a question I should be the one asking,” Zhan Changfeng said, her voice cutting and cold. “Speak. What is the Emperor’s Flower for? What are your intentions?”

She was asking Wu Xingshan, who now resided within Wu Cheng’s Body.

(End of Chapter)