Chapter 181: Zhu Que Bone

"Cough, cough... This coffin must not touch the ground... Otherwise, the consequences will be endless..."

"Xiaoya... throw those two stone beads into the eyes of the Zhu Que on the coffin... Once the coffin opens... you will obtain what you desire... cough, cough..."

Lady Murong Fu began to cough violently, his entire aged body appearing ready to collapse.

Under the severe poison and grievous injuries, mobilizing true qi seemed extremely difficult, as if he would collapse at any moment.

Hearing this, Lady Murong Xiaoya glanced at her second uncle, then leaped up and rushed toward the crimson coffin suspended by true qi before her.

Approaching the three-zhang-high coffin, Lady Murong Xiaoya now clearly saw a relief carving of the Zhu Que, a dark bird, with wings extending from the coffin's head to its tail, appearing atop countless feathers and scales.

Its left wing was raised high, neck stretching toward the sky, while its right wing hung low over the coffin's tail; the fine feathers on the scales swayed like flickering flames, yet the two eyes were hollow and empty.

What should have been a lifelike relief now lay dead and lifeless.

Seeing this, Lady Murong Xiaoya did not hesitate; she immediately flicked the stone bead from her hand into the bird's eye, then immediately channeled her martial true qi and retreated backward.

However, the instant the stone bead fell into the bird's eye, the Zhu Que's twin pupils suddenly erupted with molten gold light, directly locking onto Lady Murong Xiaoya in mid-air.

At the same time, the Zhu Que's left wing rose high, flipping open the coffin lid; sulfuric fire rain flung from its wingtip ignited the entire cave ceiling, while its right wing swept low, melting the broken iron chains below into red pythons.

The next moment, as a high-pitched bird cry rang out, an irresistible force suddenly arose from within the coffin, wrapping around Lady Murong Xiaoya's neck and dragging her inside in an instant.

Then, flames rose in streams from the entire crimson coffin, nearly turning it into a torch, unleashing a towering wave of scorching heat.

The heat wave surged outward, instantly blasting Lady Murong Fu, who was using true qi to hold up the coffin, flying away below.

And at this moment, within the coffin.

A segment of crimson Zhu Que bone suddenly pierced Lady Murong Xiaoya's heart; as an indescribably intense pain surged through her, her bones seemed to melt and her blood to boil.

Crimson-gold threads of fire burst from every pore on Lady Murong Xiaoya's body; her bones emitted a gurgling sound like flowing lava, and her entire form seemed to be roasted over flames, causing her to let out a cry of agonizing pain.

Blown away by the heat wave and crashing to the ground, Lady Murong Fu lay propped against the cave corner; hearing the piercing screams around him, his hollow eyes stared blankly toward the central coffin.

After a long while, the screams belonging to Lady Murong Xiaoya in the cave finally ceased.

At this time, inside the entire cave, apart from the scorching air waves like molten lava, everything around fell suddenly silent.

Lady Murong Fu struggled to sit up, glanced around with his hollow eye sockets for a moment, then weakly and slowly spoke:

"Xiaoya..."

However, only his echo rang out in the cave; no one responded.

Seeing this, Lady Murong Fu immediately called out a few more times in urgency, but the result was the same.

The next moment, Lady Murong Fu suddenly slumped down to the ground in despair, murmuring:

"So it still failed..."

And just then, Lady Murong Xiaoya's voice suddenly rang out beside Lady Murong Fu:

"Second uncle, I am here."

At this moment, Lady Murong Xiaoya was completely naked, with streams of crimson-gold true flames swirling around her body.

Her twin pupils had turned into molten-gold vortices, seemingly reflecting a river of lava surging like underground veins; her bare feet touched the ground, melting the patch of earth beneath them into fiery soil.

However, at Lady Murong Xiaoya's heart, there was a scarlet, hideous bloodstain; within the stain, firelight seemed to flow, constantly burning her flesh and blood, never able to heal.

Hearing Lady Murong Xiaoya's reply, Lady Murong Fu was stunned, then immediately displayed an expression of immense joy.

Drawing strength from somewhere within his aged body, he suddenly stood up abruptly and laughed loudly:

"Excellent, excellent, excellent... This Zhu Que bone is a supreme divine object; a mortal who merges with it can become a demigod..."

However, as the molten-gold vortices in Lady Murong Xiaoya's eyes turned, she suddenly spoke to interrupt him, saying:

"Second uncle, answer me one question: Is the destruction of the Lady Murong family related to you?"

Upon hearing these words, Lady Murong Fu's expression froze; he immediately shook his head and said:

"Xiaoya... how could you ask such a thing..."

"You need only answer me: yes or no?"

True flames surged around Lady Murong Xiaoya's body, and the temperature in the air nearly climbed in an instant.

As if sensing Lady Murong Xiaoya's killing intent, Lady Murong Fu immediately replied:

"This matter is certainly unrelated to me; it was all that Han Chuiyuan..."

However, before he could finish speaking, Lady Murong Xiaoya suddenly raised her hand and reached directly toward the heart of the wretched-looking old man before her.

Her fingertips, wreathed in molten-gold flames, pierced into his body as easily as cutting tofu; a scorched smell of burning flesh and blood rose in the air for a moment.

Lady Murong Fu stood frozen in place, slowly lowered his head, and sensing that Lady Murong Xiaoya's palm had already inserted itself into his heart, he displayed an expression of disbelief on his face and spoke with trembling voice:

"You... why... do this..."

Hearing this, Lady Murong Xiaoya remained expressionless, merely speaking coldly:

"Because you lied to me in the question I just asked."

"Second uncle, you may not know; since childhood, I have possessed the ability to distinguish truth from falsehood in people's words; only my father and mother knew of this matter, and I did not even tell my elder brother."

Upon hearing these words, Lady Murong Fu's face, marked with bloodstains in his eyes, froze; after a while, he suddenly displayed a strange smile and said with sudden realization:

"So that is how it is... No wonder it is the 'Zhu Que Bearing Blood Fate'... it even possesses such an ability... this is something I did not expect..."

At the same time, Lady Murong Xiaoya clearly had no intention of listening to Lady Murong Fu's nonsense any further; she slowly tightened her grip on his heart.

Feeling the intense burning pain from his heart, Lady Murong Fu sighed heavily and suddenly said:

"One move too late... Xiaoya... you have won..."

"However... I have one more gift left for you..."

As he spoke, Lady Murong Fu pointed his finger toward a corner of the cave; illuminated by the flames surrounding Lady Murong Xiaoya, there stood a tightly closed stone door there.

But Lady Murong Xiaoya did not give him a chance to speak further; with a heavy squeeze of her hand, Lady Murong Fu's heart instantly shattered into a cloud of blood mist.

After that blood mist was burned away by the flames, it transformed into a wisp of refined blood that, following the unhealable bloodstain, directly merged into Lady Murong Xiaoya's heart.

After killing Lady Murong Fu, she casually tossed his aged body aside; at this moment, Lady Murong Xiaoya's beautiful face was filled with utter indifference.

She slowly glanced around the entire cave, and finally her gaze settled upon the Zhu Que coffin in the very center.

After Lady Murong Xiaoya merged with the Zhu Que bone, the entire coffin seemed to lose all the power it had contained; the red carvings of the Zhu Que on its surface had now faded to gray-white.

Seeing this, Lady Murong Xiaoya swept her hand lightly, and a gust of firewind swept over, blowing the nearby Zhu Que coffin into a pile of ash that scattered into the air.

At that moment, Lady Murong Xiaoya turned her gaze to the stone door.

(End of Chapter)