HSSB708: The Emperor’s vanished corpse
Yan Zhaoge’s expression changed. He immediately summoned the Myriad Dragon Palace, first bringing Ah Hu within.
Feng Yunsheng forcibly sheathed her Cold Sun Divine Sabre, the dim blue radiance vanis.h.i.+ng from her eyes before she too leapt into the Myriad Dragon Palace.
“What did you feel?” Yan Zhaoge asked Ah Hu via sound transmission.
Ah Hu’s mind seemed to clear within the Myriad Dragon Palace as his gaze regained its clarity.
However, he was still at a loss as to what he had felt earlier, “I didn’t feel anything special. It was like when being too deeply absorbed thinking about something sometimes, or just yawning when tired.”
Feng Yunsheng shook her head, “There was no obvious abnormal feeling. I was just feeling slightly out of it before the Cold Sun Divine Sabre reacted on its own.”
“Still, there definitely was a problem. Otherwise, the Cold Sun Divine Sabre wouldn’t have tried to protect its owner on its own.”
Yan Zhaoge knit his brows slightly as he kept the Myriad Dragon Palace, carefully appraising their surroundings.
There still didn’t appear to be anything out of the ordinary on this dim path of the mausoleum.
Now, however, it appeared strange however he looked at it.
The Dim Darkness Sect martial pract.i.tioners beside him, all Martial Saints, detected it as well.
The expression on the face of their Chief, Zhou Haosheng, was especially stern, “Something’s not right. Everyone, be careful.”
He released his true essence from the acupoints of his entire body, vaguely forming a layer of black qi which resembled the descent of the night sky as it kept the surrounding radiance at bay.
They walked on. A short while later, as Yan Zhaoge was concentrating on observing his surroundings, he vaguely felt as if his mind had seemingly been thrown amidst that dim radiance as well, unable to extricate itself from within.
He was alerted to the fact that the more he tried to concentrate and stay vigilant, the easier it instead was for his mind to drift away.
This was actually a restriction of the mausoleum that acted formlessly, taking one wholly unawares.
Meanwhile, the deeper they ventured into the mausoleum, the more powerful this strange restriction correspondingly became.
Observing that dim radiance, Yan Zhaoge vaguely came to an understanding, “In this place, one will gradually be a.s.similated by this dim radiance, losing their minds as they fall into a muddled mess.”
“At the end of it, they would have become zombie-like puppets. It is because of this that those puppets outside ended up this way.”
Yan Zhaoge’s gaze turned heavy and quiet, distant and chaotic, even more blurry and indiscernible than the dim radiance before him.
As Yan Zhaoge circulated the Peerless Heavenly Scripture, while he appeared no different from the outside, his entire person seemed to have transformed into chaos within, stopping the a.s.similation with that dim radiance.
As they walked on, more and more Dim Darkness Sect experts showed signs of not being able to carry on.
Fortunately, Zhou Haosheng and the other top bigwigs still remained clear-headed as they paid attention to the situation of their companions at all times.
Seeing that the power of the restrictions was still continuing to grow, Zhou Haosheng sighed.
With a shake of his hand, a long banner appeared within. As it was waved, streams of black light scattered downwards like silk.
The majority of the dim radiance within the mausoleum was instantly repelled. The Dim Darkness Sect martial pract.i.tioners all regained their wits, their expressions still rather blank. Then, they all revealed thankful expressions of being afraid after the fact.
Yan Zhaoge looked rather interestedly at the long banner in Zhou Haosheng’s hands that resembled a flag whilst also a spear.
The Dim Darkness Sect did not possess a mid-grade Sacred Artifact. Still, it had a mid-grade Sacred Artifact, the Soul Brocade Banner that was rather outstanding in terms of quality and had numerous wonderful uses. It was viewed as a supreme treasure as well, usually being grasped by their Chief.
This long banner here should probably be the Soul Brocade Banner.
As Yan Zhaoge glanced back towards Yan Zhaoge now, he could not help but be taken aback by those bright, clear eyes of his.
Aside from Feng Yunsheng and Ah Hu, those two Martial Grandmasters, the person with the lowest cultivation base here was Yan Zhaoge at the first level of the Martial Saint realm, the early Merging Avatar stage.
Yan Zhaoge possessed shocking power that far surpa.s.sed most martial pract.i.tioners of the same cultivation level. This had already gradually come to be acknowledged by everyone now.
However, he still appeared so relaxed even within the Dim Radiant Mausoleum. This still took Zhou Haosheng and the others by surprise.
“This youth is even harder to grasp than my earlier impression of him…” Zhou Haosheng thought even as he expanded the Soul Brocade Banner.
The black light enveloped Yan Zhaoge, protecting him as well.
Yan Zhaoge smiled and nodded in appreciation as he walked alongside them.
The more they walked, the more powerful that a.s.similative force became. Towards the end, even the combination of Zhou Haosheng who was at the peak of the sixth level of the Martial Saint realm, the late Seeing Divinity stage and the mid-grade Sacred Artifact, the Soul Brocade Banner, gradually became unable to resist it.
Even Zhou Haosheng felt his mind vaguely wavering somewhat.
Fortunately, the fragments they possessed that were related to the Dim Radiant Mausoleum continued serving their use now.
The radiance of these treasures helped everyone to bear a considerable portion of the pressure, enabling the group to continue entering the depths of the mausoleum.
When everyone had arrived at the bottommost area of the mausoleum, they saw numerous dim streams of light that resembled chains congregated at its centre.
There hovered a ma.s.sive stone coffin!
Yet, what rendered everyone dumbstruck was that the lid of the stone coffin was askew. Gazing over from a distance away, no corpse could be seen inside the coffin at all!
Zhou Haosheng and the others stared dazedly at this scene, unable to recover for a long time.
Yan Zhaoge too felt astonished, “Could it be that the Dim Radiant Emperor isn’t dead? All that happened that year was merely a means with which to conceal the truth?”
“Or might it be that like the Exalted Solar Luminary Gao Han, he played a golden cicada shedding its sh.e.l.l, hoodwinking everyone with his supposed death?”
Yan Zhaoge’s gaze turned deep and distant, “That’s not right…”
That stone coffin had been used before, having been opened by someone afterwards. It was not that Yin Tianxia had prepared but not used it.
The mausoleum chamber was filled with an air of dusk and death.
Such a majestic qi of death proved that there had indeed formerly been an extremely powerful existence that had been buried here.
That being so, could it be that the Dim Radiant Emperor Yin Tianxia had revived many years after his death, next leaving this place?
Or was it that someone had opened the coffin, moving away Yin Tianxia’s remains?
Whichever possibility it was, it left everyone’s hairs standing on end, a chill shooting straight through their entire bodies.
The expressions on the faces of Zhou Haosheng and the others changed unceasingly. Even as they felt joyful at the fact that the Dim Radiant Emperor Yin Tianxia might still be alive, they were also feeling worried over the mysterious disappearance of his remains.
Especially with how it was still unknown how exactly those people who had previously entered the mausoleum and been turned into puppets had managed to enter.
That having happened, looking at the empty stone coffin now, it would be hard for one not to feel pessimistic.
Gazing carefully over, everyone saw a lone lamp placed atop the stone coffin.
The lamp was half-black and half-white, the two colours clearly distinct as no impurities were mixed within in the least. Yet, this had been achieved seamlessly in a way that was perfect and without flaw, formed purely of nature as it showed no signs of having been created by human hands at all.
The lamp had already long since been extinguished. Yet, radiance connected it to the chamber of the mausoleum all round.
A Dim Darkness Sect expert’s expression changed as he cried out in a low tone, “Dim Radiant Lamp!”
Hearing his words, Yan Zhaoge’s gaze grew focused.
The Dim Radiant Lamp had been the accompanying treasure of the Dim Radiant Emperor Yin Tianxia that year. This supreme treasure and high-grade Sacred Artifact had disappeared together with him.
All these years, everyone had been speculating all along that the Dim Radiant Lamp had been buried alongside Yin Tianxia within the Dim Radiant Mausoleum.
In having come to explore the mausoleum this time, the Dim Radiant Lamp was the primary target!
From the looks of it now, this Dim Radiant Lamp seemed to have been damaged greatly that year.
Still, it unquestionably remained a supreme treasure.
Gazing at the Dim Radiant Lamp, Zhou Haosheng bowed before walking forward and extending his hand towards that ancient lamp that was half-black and half-white.