Chapter 88: Coffin Sea Pavilion

After the two walked down the stone bridge, they walked down hundreds of steps along the stone staircase passage and appeared in a dark and empty underground warehouse.

Although the light was dim, one could still see mountains of iron boxes and otherworldly coffins piled up here; the quantity was so huge that it might not be possible to finish counting them in ten days and ten nights.

An aged figure appeared silently behind Li Youyi, holding a lamp, and said hoarsely: "Little Twenty-Four, is this this year's newcomer?"

Li Youyi hurriedly moved his body to the side and looked at the person behind him, his heart pounding wildly.

How could there be no sound or breath at all? Is it a human or a ghost?

He was aged beyond recognition, very hunched, with sparse hair on his head. In this dark underground warehouse, he was simply like a ghost or specter from the underworld.

What he held in his hand was not a lamp, but a ball of flame he was grasping with his hand.

"He is not Yin Twenty-Six, but he is a person specially arranged by the Hidden Lord for a special trial."

Yin Twenty-Four bowed respectfully to the old man and said to Li Youyi: "This is the Forty-Fifth Supreme Elder of the Hidden Gate, responsible for guarding the entrance from Nine Li City to the Nine Li Hidden Gate."

In the Hidden Gate, Hidden People from the previous sixty-year cycle are called Elders.

Supreme Elders are Hidden People from the sixty-year cycle before that.

In other words, the Forty-Fifth Supreme Elder in front of them was Yin Forty-Five from the sixty-year cycle before that, definitely an old guy over a hundred years old. Being able to guard such an important place, one can imagine his cultivation.

Li Youyi hurriedly bowed with cupped hands.

The Forty-Fifth Supreme Elder held up the flame in his hand, and after getting closer, squinted his eyes to examine Li Youyi carefully, then smiled: "Indeed very interesting, you two change your clothes first!"

He hunched his back and walked away with a stumbling gait.

The surroundings became dim.

Yin Twenty-Four threw a set of purple-black robes to Li Youyi, then untied her belt and started to undress first... of course, she was still wearing inner clothes, only changing the outer coat.

Li Youyi took the purple-black robes and identified them carefully. Seeing the silver coffin mark embroidered on the cuffs of the robes, he was moved and said: "This is the standard martial robe for disciples of the Coffin Sea Pavilion!"

Yin Twenty-Four said: "That's right, this is the third floor of the Coffin Sea Pavilion's underground treasury, a forbidden area that only the Pavilion Master can enter. What we are wearing is the standard martial robe for disciples of the Coffin Sea Pavilion's External Affairs Hall."

"We are now under the core Dao Domain of Nine Li City?" Li Youyi confirmed again, somewhat incredulous.

Yin Twenty-Four said: "The Nine Li Bug Valley itself is underground in Nine Li City, and it is directly below the Dao Domain. Otherwise, why do you think the Hidden Gate has such rich magic Qi? So suitable for cultivation? So easy to grow precious medicine? Of course, there are layers of ancient arrays blocking it in the middle, and no one can chisel through them."

"Great hiding is hidden in the city; it's truly amazing. I should have thought of it earlier!"

Li Youyi smiled bitterly and muttered to himself: "The Nine Li Bug Valley is completely shrouded in magic Qi, forming a Dao Domain, so there must be a super-large Heavenly Magic Earth Spring nearby. Possessing such a large Heavenly Magic Earth Spring and still wanting not to be discovered, except for Nine Li City, where else could it be?"

After changing into the martial robes of the Coffin Sea Pavilion's External Affairs Hall disciples, the two used the Disguise Technique to change their appearance and figure.

At the same time, there were two other bundles that had been prepared long ago.

Opening them, inside were night-traveling clothes at the low-grade magic tool level. After being activated, they possessed a certain degree of defensive and stealth capabilities, which were worn when executing missions.

There was also a bottle of powder. According to Yin Twenty-Four, this powder could make trackers lose their sense of smell for a short time.

"Your Yellow Dragon Sword will expose your identity as the perpetrator; do you need to carry another magic tool?" Yin Twenty-Four said.

Li Youyi said: "Of course I need one."

"With your and my authority, we can only apply for one low-grade magic tool, and it must be returned after the mission is completed. If it is lost, it must be compensated," Yin Twenty-Four said.

"It's not given for free?"

"Do you really think the Hidden Gate's resources are infinite?"

Li Youyi waved his hand and said: "Then forget it! I think I already have a grudge with the Long Forest Gang. Taking revenge as Li Youyi, no one will associate it with the Hidden Gate, which is even more reasonable. The problem now is, how strong are Xu Changlin and Tang Yan? I know nothing about their strength, nor the strength of the Five Seas Realm."

If everyone in the Five Seas Realm could lift the Five Seas Pillar with their physical body, and their magic power condensation level was higher than that of the Spring Gushing Realm, and their Qi Sea magic Qi was thick, then Li Youyi felt that he should go home now and smash through the Hidden Gate with Master Coffin's letter; that would be the best choice.

Yin Twenty-Four said disdainfully: "Both of them are Seven Springs breaking into the Five Seas Realm, and they have only opened the first Qi Sea. With my strength of having broken through to the Five Seas Realm for only two months, it would only take one hand to clean them up!"

"I only opened the Eighth Spring," Li Youyi said.

The arrogant and self-satisfied look on Yin Twenty-Four's face suddenly disappeared, and she said coldly: "Don't worry, they are just two pieces of trash hollowed out by wine and lust. With me suppressing the formation for you, just go ahead and do it."

Li Youyi didn't dare to entrust his life to Yin Twenty-Four, so he secretly thought about the trump cards he could expose, and then carried them on his body.

After all, when he fought Yang Shenjing, he only used the Yellow Dragon Sword.

That was not the height of his true combat power.

"What is in these iron boxes?"

Li Youyi was curious and really wanted to open them to see, but they were arranged with array patterns.

"This is not only the most important treasury of the Coffin Sea Pavilion, but also the storage warehouse for the most precious goods of the Coffin Sea Chamber of Commerce. The finale items at the auction are almost all placed here. In addition, many of the Hidden Gate's resources and treasures are also stored here," Yin Twenty-Four said.

The Coffin Sea Pavilion is the sect established by the Coffin Sea Chamber of Commerce.

Fourteen years ago, the Nine Li clan was defeated, and four pieces of the Nine Li City Dao Domain were cut away to establish four major sects.

They are: Sui Sect, Three Chen Palace, Tianyi Gate, and Coffin Sea Pavilion.

Today in Li Prefecture, the Nine Li Dao Academy and Sui Sect stand side by side as the two strong powers, with the Three Chen Palace following closely behind. The Tianyi Gate and Coffin Sea Pavilion were only established fourteen years ago, and their strength and foundation are a big step behind.

Li Youyi asked: "What exactly is the relationship between this Coffin Sea Pavilion and the Nine Li Hidden Gate?"

Yin Twenty-Four said: "Actually, the four major forces of Sui Sect, Three Chen Palace, Tianyi Gate, and Coffin Sea Pavilion were initially house servants and slaves sent out by the Nine Li clan to sell otherworldly coffins."

"The batch of people from the Sui Sect's ancestors were responsible for water transport, transporting otherworldly coffins along the Sui River to the major states of the Lingxiao Life Realm."

"The ancestors of the Three Chen Palace were responsible for land transport on the three roads, transporting from the North Straight Road, Prefecture West Road, and East Forest Road to the North Realm, West Realm, and East Realm."

"The ancestors of the Tianyi Gate and Coffin Sea Pavilion were responsible for selling, which is now the Tianyi Chamber of Commerce and Coffin Sea Chamber of Commerce."

"With the ten-million-strong ancient Nine Li clan as their backing, all the forces of various sizes in the Lingxiao Life Realm naturally had to give them face. Under the name of the Nine Li clan, gradually, their power grew larger and larger, establishing gangs, recruiting Wu Xiu, cultivating death squads, and expanding wildly."

"The transport channels were all opened, ambition grew, and business naturally was no longer limited to otherworldly coffins. Salt, iron, ore, cloth, brothels, gambling dens, restaurants, human trafficking... After a thousand years of operation, they gradually made a fortune, living off the Nine Li clan, sucking blood and eating meat, and using the tiger's power to intimidate others. The small saplings grew into towering trees, and several million-strong clans actually emerged."

"The Nine Li clan painfully lost their strongest magic tool and was slow to choose a leader who could convince the public. They were all lying on the natural treasury of otherworldly coffins, dreaming beautiful dreams. In order to get more coffins and seize more wealth and benefits, the nine clans fought each other constantly. The Dao Academy and the Divine Temple, which should have been presiding over the overall situation, instead became the hardest-hit areas of internal strife, losing their ability to rule."

"Against this background, the nine clans instead wooed and cultivated those servants and slaves, pouring a large amount of resources into them, thinking they were their own thugs who could be used to deal with other tribes, completely failing to see their wolfish ambition. These servants and slaves profited from all nine sides, growing bigger step by step; how happy they were."

"Fourteen years ago, these servants and slaves saw the weak essence of the Nine Li clan and simply stopped pretending. That was how the half-year martial battle and the Battle of Long Mountain came about."

"Until that time, having suffered great humiliation, the high-level officials of the Nine Li clan were finally awakened, realizing that they were no longer the ten-million-strong ancient clan they once were. Subsequently, the nine clan leaders sat down to discuss calmly, and the nine clans no longer fought each other. All conflicts seemed to have room for compromise, but how could hundreds of years of decline be caught up in fourteen years?"

Li Youyi smiled mockingly: "It's the same everywhere. Without external threats and with abundant internal resources, there will definitely be endless internal strife. Once there is an external enemy, they can unite. But why didn't the Hidden Gate take action, just letting the former servants and slaves bully their masters, and even carve away the Dao Domain?"

"If they are not allowed to suffer some humiliation, how can they know shame and then be brave? When they know someone is covering for them, they will only become more unscrupulous, decadent, and luxurious. Besides..."

Yin Twenty-Four looked at the treasury in front of her and added: "Who said the Hidden Gate didn't take action?"

Li Youyi said: "The high-level officials of the Coffin Sea Pavilion have long been controlled by the Hidden Gate? Or rather, there are people from the Hidden Gate inside the Sui Sect, Three Chen Palace, and Tianyi Gate?"

"I am just a Hidden Person who arrived two years earlier than you; how would I know so many secrets?" Yin Twenty-Four didn't want to say more.

The Forty-Fifth Supreme Elder moved out from behind Li Youyi like a ghost and said hoarsely: "Leaving the Hidden Gate to execute a mission requires planting the Death Spirit Fire."

Yin Twenty-Four obviously knew the rules, closed her eyes, and calmly accepted the flame overflowing from the Forty-Fifth Supreme Elder's fingertips; the flame entered her brow.

Li Youyi thought of Li Qing's death state, felt horrified in his heart, and naturally resisted.

Yin Twenty-Four said: "The Death Spirit Fire will only erupt when you are captured and suffer a Mindfulness Master's invasion of your consciousness. When that time really comes, do you think the other party will spare your life? Don't worry, when the mission is over, the Death Spirit Fire will be removed."

Li Youyi said: "Then... if I take the initiative to tell the secrets I know, will the Death Spirit Fire erupt?"

"No."

Yin Twenty-Four immediately added: "But you will be hunted down by the entire Hidden Gate. And all those who know the truth will also be cleared out. Of course, if you are truly captured and don't want to suffer the pain of mindfulness invasion, you can trigger the Death Spirit Fire yourself. There is no way, the Hidden Gate must ensure its own safety."

Li Youyi couldn't find a reason to refute, so he nodded.

After planting the Death Spirit Fire, Li Youyi and Yin Twenty-Four went up along the stone steps, walked through three floors of the treasury, and finally reached the ground.

The two disguised themselves as disciples of the Coffin Sea Pavilion's External Affairs Hall, helped move goods from the first floor of the warehouse, and left the Dao Domain with the chamber of commerce's convoy, entering the bustling streets of Nine Li City.

The noisy and lively sounds rushed toward them.

On the road, the two quietly got off the carriage and mixed into the endless stream of people.

The July sun was very scorching.

But, finally feeling the sunlight again and seeing the blue sky and white clouds, Li Youyi felt an indescribable joy: "After eating medicinal meals for two months, I really miss the delicacies of the human world. Let's go, let's go eat a good meal first, my treat!"

Yin Twenty-Four was a bit surprised; she didn't expect this guy to have a generous and bold side. Having not satisfied her appetite for too long, she was naturally looking forward to it.

But when Li Youyi brought her to the place to eat, she was instantly dazed, carefully examining this simple noodle stall opened on the side of the street, wanting to see its extraordinary features. Perhaps it was her own lack of observation? Who knows, there might be a mystery in the pot, and the shopkeeper might be able to conjure up many human delicacies with color, fragrance, and taste in the next moment.

Li Youyi had already sat down first and shouted: "Shopkeeper, two bowls of noodle soup, add more beef. Sit down quickly, don't stand there so stiffly."

Yin Twenty-Four's face looked very bad: "If it's just two bowls of noodle soup, you didn't have to let me have such high expectations earlier."

"How could it be just two bowls of noodle soup?" Li Youyi said.

Yin Twenty-Four said: "And beef, right? This joke is not funny."

Li Youyi took out the Three-Headed Snake bracelet and placed it on the table: "This is the main course!"

Yin Twenty-Four was naturally experienced and immediately saw that this bracelet was extraordinary. She hurriedly picked it up, carefully observed every detail of it, and her eyes became more and more eager.

She whispered: "This is a Blood-Refined Magic Tool! There should be a powerful blood soul sealed inside. Looking at the forging craftsmanship, it doesn't look like a low-grade magic tool."

"Good eye, worthy of being a Five Seas Realm expert."

Li Youyi said something shocking: "This is a high-grade magic tool!"

With Yin Twenty-Four's temperament, her hands also shook, and the bracelet nearly fell to the ground.

A high-grade magic tool is a treasure that only top figures in the Five Seas Realm are qualified to possess.

What's more, this high-grade magic tool also had a blood soul sealed inside...

Li Youyi completely ignored her shock, looked toward the direction of the pot, as the noodles had started to boil, and whispered: "Help me sell it. Isn't your Hidden Gate in control of the Coffin Sea Pavilion? Just go to the Coffin Sea Chamber of Commerce and sell it secretly. Help me buy some Light Flame Pills. I must break through my mindfulness as soon as possible and impact the Square-Inch Bright Fire; otherwise, I don't know how many years it will take to temper the golden trace veins. I can't wait that long."

Yin Twenty-Four couldn't listen anymore and couldn't help but want to scold him: "Are you crazy? The blood soul inside a high-grade magic tool has combat power at least at the level of the third realm of the Five Seas Realm. You want to sell it just to buy Light Flame Pills? Fine, sell it to me."

Seeing Li Youyi staring at her in surprise, she immediately put away the Three-Headed Snake bracelet.

Subsequently, Li Youyi asked a question that hit her soul: "Can you afford it?"