Chapter 528

The Nine Dragon Coffin rose slowly, soaring straight up into the high sky.

The higher it rose, the more the Nine Dragon Coffin's volume shrank; when it was ten thousand zhang above the ground, the coffin had shrunk to a length of a hundred zhang.

The Flying Yakshas that took off from the great island increased from a few dozen to over three hundred. On the ground, the outlaws' faces turned ashen, unable to speak as they watched these Flying Yakshas.

These Flying Yakshas each moved with extreme speed and boundless strength; when ordinary six‑tempered immortal weapons slashed at them, only sparks flew, yet their skin showed not the slightest damage. They were all half‑step Divine realm Flying Yakshas, and there were over three hundred of them here.

Then thousands of Flying Golden‑Armored Corpses leapt into the air, landing on the treetops of towering ancient trees, arms raised to the sky as they roared. Like beasts, their roars shook the eight directions, making the whole great island tremble.

Following them, countless ferocious birds and beasts responded, each strange in form yet huge in size, standing on mountain peaks, clinging to treetops, or circling low in the air, continually answering the roars of the Flying Golden‑Armored Corpses.

In an instant, the island's evil qi surged to the heavens—neither alive nor dead, yin and yang reversed, belonging to none of the three realms or five elements—condensing into invisible great mountains that pressed down heavily on everyone on the island. Even Wu Tie, who was in a state of invisibility, had his concealment shattered by this terrifying aura and directly bore its crushing weight.

The formless, traceless pressure was unusually heavy; Wu Tie's body trembled slightly, involuntarily sinking downward, his knees and below already embedded in the hard rock. Above Wu Tie, on a towering tree, two Flying Golden‑Armored Corpses lowered their heads to look down, their eyes flashing with green gloomy light, already fixed on him.

A dozen or so elite warriors of the Hu family carried a net bag, imprisoning the drought demon as they advanced toward the island's edge, targeting the three great warships where the Hu patriarch was. Just as they were about to reach the island's perimeter, a strange voice echoed from within the Nine Dragon Coffin.

"Beauty, I came too late to rescue you, letting you suffer… heh, heh. Since that year, I watched your former self descend from the heavens, on the brink of death, I directly condensed the island's dragon veins and prepared for you that yin‑yang transmuting spirit aperture."

"I have watched you day by day re‑incarnate and take shape; my heart is truly delighted, joyful. Although this cost me my vital energy, delaying my emergence for so many years, I am truly happy."

"You and I are both beings unacceptable to heaven and earth; we were meant to be the perfect pair… truly, exquisite." The terrifying presence within the Nine Dragon Coffin said leisurely: "Come, come, be with me, rule my clan, then strengthen my clan, wage war in all directions, until we completely grasp this realm of heaven and earth."

On the island, wisp after wisp of visible gray‑white yin wind rose from underground, howling. The bodies of a dozen elite warriors stiffened, then their flesh turned gray‑white, peeling away like ash from burnt paper money, becoming fine dust that scattered on the wind.

The net bag imprisoning the drought demon was blown by the yin wind, a few thin flashes of lightning flickered, then it exploded into fragments. The gravely wounded drought demon, its chest torn open to reveal a transparent hole, rose into the air in the yin wind and drifted slowly toward the Nine Dragon Coffin.

"Your wounds, I can heal them. This Nine Dragon Heaven‑Bearing Coffin is my natal treasure, my place of incarnation, transformed from my mother's womb; anything like me, belonging to none of the three realms or five elements, can be nourished, strengthened, even shed its mortal womb and be reborn, gaining endless benefits."

"If you agree, become my beauty." The voice suddenly sighed: "Perhaps you will refuse—what then? You are destined to be my beauty; my clan is born to dominate the three realms, slaughter in all directions, the law of the jungle, blood‑stained storms—this is our ordained fate."

"So, if you do not agree, I will use force… the means don't really matter; as long as the outcome is what I desire, everything is irrelevant."

The Nine Dragon Coffin slowly opened a slit; a tall arm, its surface covered in fine dark‑gold scales, extended from the swirling mist and seized the drought demon's body. Before this slender arm, the demon's form was tiny; it was grabbed into the palm, and as the demon struggled and shrieked, it was pulled into the Nine Dragon Coffin.

"Children, rise, ascend! Our clan emerges, unwelcome by heaven and earth, so a heavenly tribulation naturally descends. If we endure this tribulation, our clan will roam the eight directions, freely feasting on the flesh and souls of all weaker peoples. How beautiful, how beautiful, how wonderful, how wonderful. I, when I unify the three realms and eight directions, shall become the supreme god sovereign between heaven and earth."

In the high sky, the thick yin clouds dispersed, revealing a cerulean sky and a blazing sun.

Over three hundred Flying Yakshas simultaneously raised their heads and howled; golden sunlight fell on them, and threads of thick black smoke rose from their surfaces, as if ordinary people had been splashed with boiling water—large blisters quickly formed on their bodies, then burst, leaving them bloody and fuzzy, with viscous fluid continually spraying from the ruptured blisters.

On the island, tens of thousands of Flying Golden‑Armored Corpses raised their heads and shrieked; they were even more fragile than the Flying Yakshas, and as sunlight fell, immediately about half of them burst into pale red flames across their bodies.

The True Solar Fire has a terrifying restraining and lethal power over these corpse‑like beings; their bodies are like kindling soaked in fire oil—once ignited, they immediately blaze from their very depths.

The eldritch presence within the Nine Dragon Coffin gave a "keke" laugh; sunlight bathed the island, and the countless living things there—whether flying beasts, running animals, flowers, birds, insects, fish, or even the moss growing on the ground—had been soaked for countless years in the evil qi emitted by the Nine Dragon Heaven‑Bearing Coffin, which is why the island hosts so many strange and wondrous species.

Sunlight poured down, and the entire island began to burn.

Gigantic ancient trees burned, countless vines burned, countless giant beasts burned, countless giant snakes burned, countless giant birds burned, as did the strange creatures whose bodies could stretch hundreds of zhang—centipedes, scorpions, spiders, millipedes—all burning. Even the soil burned, the boulders burned, and the whole island was shrouded in a layer of pale red flame.

Subsequently, strange runes on the Nine Dragon Heaven‑Bearing Coffin lit up one after another; the whole blazing island began to emit thread after thread of pure essence—like blood‑flesh vigor, like soul power—each strand turning into a visible mighty river that continually flowed into the burning Flying Yakshas and Flying Golden‑Armored Corpses.

The agonized Flying Yakshas and Flying Golden‑Armored Corpses, as if injected with chicken blood, all raised their heads and howled, each leaping with joy, their aura suddenly rising by one to two levels.

The mastermind within the Nine Dragon Heaven‑Bearing Coffin showed great skill, using the island's hundreds of millions of living beings as offerings, the True Solar Fire as a furnace, smelting the entire island, extracting its purest essence, then infusing it into his subordinates—the over three hundred Flying Yakshas and tens of thousands of Flying Golden‑Armored Corpses.

This is the yin‑evil qi that, over countless years, the Nine Dragon Heaven‑Bearing Coffin has absorbed unknown amounts of worldly essence and dragon‑vein purity, transformed by the coffin; over eons, this qi has permeated everything on the island spanning millions of li.

Every blade of grass, every tree, every grain of sand and dust—all were thoroughly soaked by the yin‑evil qi.

Now the True Solar Fire descends; the yin‑evil qi accumulated over countless years is hammered out from the entire island and fused into the bodies of the Flying Yakshas and Flying Golden‑Armored Corpses. What a tremendous force it is—its magnitude can be called earth‑shaking.

Wu Tie stared as several nearby Flying Golden‑Armored Corpses raised their heads and howled; on their backs two large lumps sprouted, accompanied by a piercing tearing sound, plasma spraying, then they grew huge flesh‑wings, flapped them, and shouted with joy as they shot into the sky.

Vast swarms of Flying Golden‑Armored Corpses grew double wings, transforming into Flying Yakshas that flew into the sky.

The original three‑hundred‑plus Flying Yakshas also raised their heads and howled; their bodies rapidly twisted and elongated, becoming leaner, more adept, more ferocious and vicious. Spikes grew on their heads, scales appeared on their skin, new lumps formed on their backs, which then burst, giving birth to pairs of flesh‑wings.

In the high sky, six‑winged Flying Yakshas continually blinked and teleported, moving through the void so fast that the naked eye could not catch them.

Somewhat lower, hundreds of four‑winged Flying Yakshas raised their heads and shrieked, activating certain special divine attributes; gray yin‑thunder, gray yin‑wind swirled around them, plus puffs of gray yin‑fire rotating, and gusts of gray profound‑ice chill flashing in and out.

Squads of two‑winged Flying Yakshas rose from the ground into the sky, hovering mid‑air, lowering their heads to emit a "jie jie" strange laugh as they looked down on the outlaws on the island.

The island's forest had been burned to a crisp; the ground lay bald and bare, all the outlaws, even the over a hundred elite warriors led by Hu You, were as conspicuous as flies on a monk's head—clear and glaring.

"Kill them!" the person inside the Nine Dragon Coffin said in a low voice: "Leave the one carrying the longbow… his bloodline is very interesting, pointing directly to the source of heaven and earth, the Great Dao of Creation… therefore… I will transform him into the first child of me and my beauty."

"From today on, you are my first crown prince; from now on you will lead my clan in conquering the world."

Hu You stared wide‑eyed, his face twisted and strange. Was he being targeted by that monster inside the Nine Dragon Coffin? And had he been pre‑appointed as the first crown prince? From now on, to live and die for these monsters, to conquer the world?

Hu You really wanted to burst out laughing—who gave you the audacity to so brazenly despise the legitimate heir of the illustrious Hu family of Jinhua Prefecture?

In the high sky, a vast shadow swooped down; tens of thousands of beings who had shed their mortal wombs and been reborn—evolved from Flying Golden‑Armored Corpses into Flying Yakshas—rushed downward, emitting sharp cries, waving their sharp claws, continually performing short‑range spatial jumps, like a horde of soul‑chasing evil ghosts, rapidly closing in on the island's outlaws.

Just one swoop, and over half the outlaws had their chests pierced by the Flying Yakshas' claws, screaming and cursing as they were dragged up into the sky.

These outlaws also fiercely resisted and struggled, brandishing flying knives and swords, producing secret treasures and magical artifacts, continually urging their hidden arcane techniques.

But it was useless; nothing worked, for the Flying Yakshas' bodies were too tough, and they all possessed half‑step Divine realm strength—these Embryonic Storage realm outlaws' attacks merely sparked on their skin, unable to injure them in the slightest.

Inside the Nine Dragon Coffin, wisp after wisp of misty vapor spewed out, quickly enveloping those outlaws who had been seized into the sky.

The outlaws' bodies rapidly withered and wilted; from within the Nine Dragon Coffin came the drought demon's contented hum, showing her wounds were quickly healing; she felt the coffin's immense power, and the owner's laughter faintly echoed: "Beauty, submit to me, and thereafter you shall enjoy endless bliss."

Hu You was simultaneously assaulted by over a dozen Flying Yakshas, all of them four‑winged.

In a single clash, Hu You's body split open with dozens of wounds deep to the bone, great sprays of blood flew; he roared hoarsely, left hand gripping the longbow tightly, right hand somehow producing a seven‑colored crystal divine arrow.

The four black‑clad figures in long robes and tall hats behind him had already been cut down in the first encounter; the formation of over a hundred elite warriors was shattered by a single blow from a six‑winged Flying Yaksha, the warriors all vomited blood and collapsed, then were seized by the swooping Flying Yakshas, their chests pierced, and hauled aloft like chickens.

At the same time, Wu Tie also faced a coordinated assault by three Flying Yakshas.

The three Flying Yakshas swooped down from above, their sharp claws trailing streaks of murky gray cold light, straight for his head, chest, and back.

Wu Tie turned and left without a word; clear Dao markings appeared on his body, then swiftly gathered behind him with a thunderous "boom‑rumble‑rumble," and two enormous wings of wind and thunder, their light intertwined, erupted from his back.

The wind‑and‑thunder wings, formed purely of condensed mana, gave a powerful shake; Wu Tie shot forward several thousand zhang, and one of the three Flying Yakshas, caught off guard, crashed to the ground, half its body sinking deep into the hard, burning rock, scorched until its skin split and flesh tore, a miserable sight.

Wu Tie flapped his wind‑and‑thunder wings and fled at high speed; a few leaps carried him hundreds of li away.

Within the Nine Dragon Coffin, a deep voice sounded: "Here, there's an interesting little reptile, hey hey, come, come, become part of me… you cannot escape!"

Before the words faded, a thread‑thin seven‑colored crystal light tore through the firmament and fell straight onto the Nine Dragon Coffin.

The surrounding heaven and earth trembled in unison; that seven‑colored crystal light seemed to stamp an odd Dao‑mark sigil into the Nine Dragon Coffin, directly triggering violent fluctuations of the world's essence within a radius of ten million li. In the blink of an eye, spiraling silver‑white cloud patterns formed rapidly in the air, then the long cloud bands began to spin wildly around the Nine Dragon Coffin as their center.

On the ground, Hu You's hysterical scream rose: "Heretical demons and evil ways, not tolerated by heaven and earth... Heavenly god, descend divine punishment! Hahaha, obediently become the national divine artifact of my Hu family! Otherwise, you are doomed to destruction!"