Chapter 87: Ten Thousand Coffins Pay Homage, Opening Heaven and Earth

(PS: Still not satisfied with the writing; it feels a bit off.)

The Golden Crow sinks in the west, the Moon Rabbit rises in the east.

Fang Shi worked for a long time and finally dug out the entire root system of the Owl Tree.

Countless skeletons came with it, some human, some beast.

These were all left by the Owl Tree's victims.

They were buried in the soil beneath the Owl Tree, entangled by its roots.

They had turned into wisps of nourishment to sustain the Owl Tree.

If this continued, after several hundred years.

The Owl Tree would grow into an Ancient Giant Owl, equivalent to a legendary terrifying plant.

By then, its Voice of Despair would cover a mountain forest, turning this place into a dead zone.

Its terrifying power would spare even legendary creatures slightly weaker than itself.

Unless one killed the Owl Tree, or used a Wish Technique or a legendary spell.

Those hit could only close their eyes and await death.

The reason Fang Shi went to such lengths to move the Owl Tree.

was because the Owl Tree's rooting position was too perfect.

It was exactly where the Yang family ancestral tomb was located.

The surrounding broken walls and ruins still showed the former glory of this place.

This was built later by the Yang family descendants who returned from abroad.

And they frequently conducted sacrifices here.

Thinking back now, the Yang family descendants' motives were not pure.

They had not forgotten the ancestral teachings left by their ancestors.

After returning, using investment as a pretext, they fenced off a plot in the cemetery and built an ancestral hall.

Seeing the money involved, and since this place originally belonged to the Yang family, the authorities did not object too much.

They let the Yang family act freely.

Every year when the Yang family held their ancestral worship, it was lively and bustling.

Hundreds of clan members gathering from all over the world, it could be called a grand ceremony.

Even later, the Yigao Cemetery was basically staffed by Yang family descendants.

They also developed upstream and downstream industries, turning the Yang family into the leader of Ancheng's funeral industry.

Of course, talking about this now has completely lost its meaning.

After the apocalypse, nine out of ten households were empty; no matter how glorious the Yang family was, it was already a thing of the past.

The Owl Tree's massive power smashed this magnificent ancestral hall into ruins.

Everything had completely vanished into thin air.

After clearing the Owl Tree's roots, Fang Shi could not wait to follow the open crack and squeeze into the tomb chamber.

To be honest, the Yang family's ancestral tomb was built extremely spacious.

After generations of construction.

It was like an underground residential district, with not only smooth ventilation but also a complete living environment.

Fang Shi carried a smokeless oil lamp and searched everywhere.

He saw not only the quiet rooms housing the coffins.

He also saw modern equipment like electric lights, computers, air conditioners, and televisions.

Before his rebirth, the top of the ancient tomb had already been destroyed by legends.

Therefore, this was the first time Fang Shi saw such a scene, and he couldn't help but silently whistle in amazement.

So the Yang family, in order to occupy this ancient tomb for the long term.

Had turned this place directly into a living area.

The corpses of the walking dead on the surface were proof of this.

Before the apocalypse, someone had been stationed here for a long time.

However, Fang Shi was not interested in anything related to the Yang family.

He was looking for a passage, a passage leading directly to the ancient tomb complex below.

That place was Fang Shi's main destination.

Soon, Fang Shi arrived before a large door cast from concrete.

This was clearly built according to civil air defense engineering standards.

Fang Shi was a bit speechless; why did the Yang family have to be so cautious?

This door looked to be at least 20 centimeters thick; truly careful.

He was too lazy to look for any key and simply drew the Earth Dragon Sword to strike forward.

Boom!

Rolling waves of air surged from the sword tip; Fang Shi, exerting his full strength, had already slashed at supersonic speed.

Bang!

A deep sword mark instantly appeared on the thick concrete door.

A cold wind blew straight through the crack.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three more slashes, and a small door large enough for one person to pass through appeared directly on the civil air defense door.

Fang Shi pushed hard, and the small door slammed heavily onto the ground.

At the same time, a chill unique to the underground swept in with the wind.

Fang Shi waited a long while until the air inside had fully exchanged.

Then he slowly walked along the stairs.

The steps spiraled, extending downward endlessly, with no end in sight.

Add to that the pitch darkness deep underground, with only the smokeless oil lamp as the sole light source.

Walking on them was like treading the ancient Yellow Spring Road leading to the Underworld.

Who knows how the Yang ancestors originally built this passage.

Although now there were obvious traces of reinforcement with cement and steel.

One could still see wooden load-bearing structures present.

Indeed, for money, humans can create any incredible miracle.

In the latter half, the style of the walls gradually changed.

The modern cement walls gave way to old, weathered stone bricks.

Fang Shi knew they were nearly there; the ancient tomb complex was about to appear before him.

……

Stepping out from the stairwell, Fang Shi arrived in a vast expanse.

This was a huge underground cavern, roughly twenty meters high.

In the distance, patches of black shadows stood clustered together.

This was a true underground city.

There were city walls, corner towers, and even a moat encircling the city.

Yet at the same time, it was also a graveyard.

In the deep, dark river water, coffins floated on the surface.

Completely surrounding the city.

Moreover, on the bridges, on the streets, inside the houses, in every corner, there was a coffin.

As if every place required a person to stand guard.

Even more incredible, no matter where the coffins were located.

Their heads all faced the city center, as if paying homage to that place.

As for why, Fang Shi knew very well in his heart.

That legendary Golden Corpse was currently located within the building at the city's center.

The coffins in other places were merely its subjects.

In life, be a hero among men; in death, be a hero among ghosts.

This was clearly a Feng Shui layout.

Fortunately, Fang Shi did not need to enter the city at all; his treasure land was in another place.

Fang Shi walked along the edge of the moat, arriving at the left side of the underground city.

There stood a massive stone wall, covered with numerous pits.

Illuminated by the smokeless oil lamp, they could be seen clearly.

Within the pitch-black pits stood human-sized statues.

Like the Ten Thousand Buddha Grottoes.

The statues either smiled playfully or looked majestic; their faces were bizarre and varied, like the myriad forms of sentient beings.

Especially since these statues were carved so vividly.

Their eyes were like those of living people, as if gazing at the devotees bowing in worship.

Fang Shi paid no mind and rushed straight toward a statue in a corner.

This was a lively statue, like an innocent child.

Yet in this deep, gloomy environment, it exuded an evil aura.

Fang Shi observed carefully, and after confirming everything was correct.

He directly reached behind the statue and pressed hard on the coccyx.

A passage slowly revealed itself within the pit behind the statue.

But it was only one meter high; Fang Shi did not mind.

He crawled straight in, crawling and turning for about ten meters.

Suddenly, the view opened up; a spacious secret chamber appeared before Fang Shi.

In the center of the chamber sat a meditation cushion.

On the cushion was a skeleton sitting cross-legged.

The skeleton wore a Daoist robe, and its bones were like white jade.

Emitting a faint Bai Guang in the darkness.

This was Fang Shi's destination, and the skeleton was the opportunity.

On the skeleton's right hand was a jade thumb ring.

It was this thumb ring that had raised Fang Shi's perception to 18 points.

Since there was no flesh or blood, he easily removed the thumb ring.

Just as before his rebirth, Fang Shi projected his consciousness into it.

Swish!

A wisp of ethereal Qi flowed out from the thumb ring, spreading along Fang Shi's consciousness into his mind.

This was the wondrous object from his previous life that could enhance perception.

Fang Shi was looking forward to this wisp of ethereal Qi once again working its miraculous effect.

No! What was happening?

The ethereal Qi did not directly remodel his brain the way Fang Shi had imagined.

Instead, it surged straight toward his Niwan Palace.

The fragile, cramped Niwan Palace was instantly filled by the ethereal Qi.

Fang Shi only felt an unbearable swelling between his brows, a touch of pain.

But this was not the end — the ethereal Qi began to slowly spin within the Niwan Palace, faster and faster.

Fang Shi's pain also deepened bit by bit, gradually becoming hard to endure.

The spot between his brows bulged high, as if swollen into a pustule.

And as the pustule pulsed, the thin spiritual energy of the outside world began to pour into Fang Shi's brow.

Gradually, the ethereal Qi spun faster and faster.

The energy core Fang Shi carried on him also began to spill out energy.

In an instant, it was drained dry.

At this moment, Fang Shi's Niwan Palace was brimming with a massive amount of energy.

He only felt as if a huge bomb had been planted inside his brain.

The countdown was about to begin.

According to the knowledge Fang Shi had learned, the Niwan Palace was the seat of the Upper Dantian.

It was extremely fragile — recklessly flooding it with spiritual energy would only blow his own brain apart.

Then his soul would be wounded, and he would become an idiot.

Involuntarily, Fang Shi's heart began to panic — how had the wonderful encounter from his previous life now turned into such an accident?

It was not that Fang Shi didn't want to stop it; he simply had no way to at all.

As the ethereal Qi spun, a wave of pain struck directly at his soul.

In a brief instant, Fang Shi lost control of his body.

He could not even extend his consciousness outward, and could only huddle inside the cramped Niwan Palace.

Watching helplessly as all of this unfolded.

"Do I really have to use the trump card I just obtained?"

"This is the best thing I've ever opened from a Silver Treasure Chest."

"I really can't bear to part with it!"

Boom!

Boundless spiritual energy exploded outward from within the Niwan Palace, and Fang Shi's Niwan Palace was instantly torn apart.

The surging spiritual energy was about to take advantage of the moment to pour out and blow Fang Shi's head apart completely.

Who would have thought — the ethereal Qi accelerated once more.

It directly sucked the spiritual energy back in, and along with it, the fragments of the Niwan Palace as well.

Nurtured by the vast spiritual energy, the Niwan Palace's injuries began to slowly recover.

"You have opened the Upper Dantian."

"You have obtained Divine Sense."

"Your Divine Sense value is: 5/5."

"Your magic power has been increased: 9 → 14."

"Your Perception has been increased: 21 → 23."

"Your Intelligence has been increased: 14 → 18."

"Your Magic Power Control I → Magic Power Control II."

"【Magic Power Control II】: Your control over magic power has reached a higher level; the minimum control unit is 0.01 points of magic power."

Fang Shi slowly opened his eyes and gently spread his five fingers.

In the center of his palm, a point of Bai Guang slowly emerged, like smoke, like mist.

In an instant it condensed into a small sword, floating in his palm, slowly spinning — just like the ethereal Qi.

Looking at this small sword, Fang Shi finally showed a faint smile.

"Pangu!"

"Chaos-Splitting!"

This was the new inheritance Fang Shi had obtained — something he had never expected.

Within the jade thumb ring, besides the inheritance of Besides Multiple Weights.

There was also a new inheritance — the method for opening the Upper Dantian.

The ethereal Qi's effect of enhancing perception was merely incidental; its true purpose was to open the Niwan Palace.

Like Pangu splitting the chaos — a Rapid-Cultivation Method that blew apart the Niwan Palace and then restored it anew.

Fang Shi seemed to have a vague impression that the story of Pangu splitting the chaos originated in the Wei-Jin period.

And the Wei-Jin period was an era when the gentry were swept up in the craze for cultivating the Dao.

At that time, things like Five-Stone Powder and Outer Elixir arts were at their peak.

Though he didn't know if it was true or not, looking at this ancient tomb, it clearly carried the style of the Wei-Jin.

The Ten Thousand Gods Cave on the stone wall was built in imitation of the Buddhism that had been transmitted into the country during the Wei-Jin period.

Fang Shi deeply suspected that the so-called Pangu separating heaven and earth

was fundamentally about how to open the Mud Pill Palace.

The Mud Pill Palace represents the spiritual world, and humans are the creator gods of their own spiritual world.

Pangu is oneself, and the torn chaos is the Mud Pill Palace.

Fang Shi was shocked by his own thought; although he felt this guess was inconceivable,

thinking about it, it seemed quite reasonable.

And most importantly, the senior before him very likely had not died.

Fang Shi had once found it very strange—bones like white jade

were not something an ordinary person could achieve; it required a constitution powerful to an inconceivable degree.

Only then would the bones on one's body be like this.

Simply put, it required a constitution equivalent to that of a Legendary Warrior.

Then, for a human with such a powerful constitution, how could flesh and blood decay so easily?

At this point, any natural decomposition by microorganisms and the like was completely ineffective.

As long as there was no external damage, it could endure forever like gold.

Unless this decay was self-inflicted.

Fang Shi thought of a legend.

During the Wei-Jin period, the leader of the Waidan Sect, Ge Hong, had once proposed a saying:

"The superior cultivator lifts his form and ascends to the void, called a Celestial Immortal; the middling cultivator roams famous mountains, called an Earth Immortal; the inferior cultivator dies first then transforms, called a Corpse-Released Immortal."

A skeleton has no flesh or blood, only bones remaining.

This clearly matches the characteristics of a Corpse-Released Immortal.

Could it be that this senior had shed his corpse to become an immortal, heading off to an immortal realm whose existence and location were unknown?

A Corpse-Released Immortal, a Legendary Golden Corpse—this ancient tomb was absolutely extraordinary.

It was just unknown why this place had basically no Supernatural Items.

Even this jade thumb ring was merely an item for storing the Qi of Lightness and transmitting inheritance.

Its own material was utterly ordinary, with not a single special quality.

Moreover, once used up, it truly became no different from ordinary jade.

Fang Shi also could not use it to store information like inheritances.

But regardless of how many doubts he had, Fang Shi first respectfully bowed toward the skeleton.

He planned to leave directly; so many Legendary powerhouses before his rebirth had failed to uncover the mysteries.

What He Deheneng did a mere first-tier cultivator like himself possess to accomplish what even Legends could not?

With these gains, he was already very satisfied.

Thus, Fang Shi happily crawled toward the cave entrance.

But gradually, his expression changed.

Because Fang Shi detected a wisp of light piercing in from the cave entrance.

And that beam of light was so bright—not candlelight, not firelight,

but a beam of sunlight!