Chapter 57: 56, Python Robe

56, Python Robe

A full day has passed since Feng Si inflicted the Death Omen upon Zhou Chang.

Now Zhou Chang has only nine days of lifespan remaining, so the deal he struck with the 'Golden Head of Emperor Shizong' is to place the head upon the neck of a Jian corpse after nine days.

After nine days, everything will have its outcome.

As Zhou Chang's words fell, the richly dressed concubine who had been face-to-face with him suddenly straightened her body to a rigid upright stance.

Numerous blurred and chaotic golden light points filled the concubine's rigid form, and from within every single light point, harsh noise was radiating outward.

The moment the intense noise surfaced within Zhou Chang's spirit, a sudden, excruciating pain erupted in his head!

He knew this feeling all too well—this was the agony that appeared only when one's own spirit suffered a heavy blow and was on the verge of being drained dry!

Every golden light point filling the concubine's body was gathering a massive volume of Xiang thoughts.

Zhou Chang perceived these Xiang thoughts, but could not bear the scouring of this ocean-like torrent of Xiang thoughts, which is why his head throbbed with pain!

He suddenly understood now why Xiue's grandfather, upon seeing this concubine, had fallen gravely ill, alternating between stupor and waking, until finally taking his last breath.

For the terrifying Xiang thoughts wrapped around the concubine had directly shattered the life-soul of Xiue's grandfather!

This concubine, holding the head of Emperor Shizong, had from beginning to end been nothing more than a role akin to a 'feeder'.

The severed head of Emperor Shizong needed to draw Xiang thoughts through her to maintain its own 'freshness'.

And under the irrigation and scouring of countless living souls' Xiang thoughts, although she had not yet transformed into a 'Xiang Demon', she feared that even a Xiang Demon like Li Xiamei could only catch a glimpse of her from the 'corner of her eye'.

Once one directly faced this 'Xiang Thought Aggregate', under the scouring of terrifying Xiang thoughts, Li Xiamei's killing pattern would also crumble to pieces!

Amidst the unbearable excruciating pain, the golden light points surrounding the richly dressed concubine wove together into a bright yellow dragon robe.

The concubine raised the swaddled head of Emperor Shizong high above her head with both hands and placed it upon her own crown.

Air currents, dark green like deep water and utterly broken, rose from all corners of the void, gathering behind the dragon-robed figure bearing Emperor Shizong's head to form a dragon throne.

'Emperor Shizong' sat upright upon that decrepit, teetering dragon throne; his face was cast in gold, and as soon as he opened his mouth, Zhou Chang saw rows and layers of official titles and memorial tablets pressed beneath his tongue.

Among the many memorial tablets, there truly was one for 'Wen Yongsheng'.

Wen Yongsheng's tablet stood before all the others; the characters upon it were already so faded and mottled that they might fall off completely at any moment.

"Wen Yongsheng's tablet stands before all other tablets and official titles; only the characters on his tablet remain legible, while the rest show no characters at all.

Does this indicate that, over many past years, this Wen Yongsheng was actually the one most deeply connected to the head of Emperor Shizong?

Did Emperor Shizong truly borrow Wen Yongsheng's body to carry out certain schemes?

To make Wen Yongsheng sacrifice his body, Emperor Shizong must have offered an immense benefit—perhaps that divine banner of 'Grass-Headed Dragon Rampant'?

Will this Emperor Shizong bestow another divine banner upon me now?

After all, I have granted him such great convenience, allowing him to use such an excellent body..."

As Zhou Chang felt the excruciating pain in his mind weaken considerably, his thoughts began to turn as well.

Glancing from the corner of his eye at the teetering dragon throne beneath 'Emperor Shizong', and seeing that among the many official titles and memorial tablets pressed beneath his tongue, only 'Wen Yongsheng' remained as a usable minister, he felt a sense of reality: "The late Qing dynasty has truly exhausted its fate, dead beyond any resurrection."

"Reward..."

Only at this moment did a drawn-out, breathy sound emerge from the mouth of Emperor Shizong.

As his words fell, all those faded, unrecognizable, rotting official titles and memorial tablets beneath his tongue were crushed into tiny specks of golden dust.

The specks of golden dust, like fine sand, poured out from Emperor Shizong's lips and teeth, splashing toward Zhou Chang!

The remnant emperor on the broken dragon throne rose unsteadily; a pair of lotus arms emitting the stench of corpses extended from sleeves embroidered with faded flowers and removed the golden head of Emperor Shizong from atop.

The concubine stored the golden head within the swaddling cloth, held the bundle, and departed from Zhou Chang's peripheral vision.

Meanwhile, as Zhou Chang's brow trembled, threads of blood-thought and iron-thought swam out from within, covering his body and also shielding his living soul—he used this thought-clothing upon his body to receive the reward resembling specks of golden dust.

Who knew whether the reward given by this emperor's head concealed any treachery?

Zhou Chang did not wish for his own memorial tablet to appear beneath the emperor's tongue, becoming a worthless object that could be crushed by him at any moment!

Vmm...

Specks of golden dust drifted down from the void, adhering to the thought-threads surrounding Zhou Chang.

The thought-threads covering Zhou Chang's entire body began to tremble, and amidst this trembling, they caused the specks of golden dust to spread and multiply upon his skin—scales of gold grew upon the thought-threads, covering Zhou Chang's torso and limbs.

In the blink of an eye, the rustling golden dust, using Zhou Chang's full-body thought-threads as support, transformed into a 'Python Robe' draped over Zhou Chang's body!

A four-clawed dragon-snake coiled around Zhou Chang's chest, its blood-filled maw wide open, exuding solemn majesty.

"A Python Robe? What use is it?"

Zhou Chang looked at the python robe upon his body and attempted to project his spirit into it; however, although his spirit could merge within this python robe, it ultimately vanished like a mud-ox entering the sea, disappearing instantly without any other change manifesting in the robe.

Wearing this python robe, Zhou Chang felt its protective power was even stronger than that of the thought-threads.

Yet Emperor Shizong had crushed too many memorial tablets and official titles beneath his tongue; was the purpose of this python robe assembled from them merely to simply help Zhou Chang protect himself?

That was understandable, after all, it had taken a liking to Zhou Chang's body.

Zhou Chang made further attempts but still could not unlock any other functions of this python robe; he then tried to remove the python robe from his body. He retracted all the thought-threads covering his body, yet the python robe remained firmly draped over him.

He tried again to unbutton the garment, but still could not take off the python robe.

"Once this python robe is put on, is it impossible to take off?"

Zhou Chang's thoughts churned; the thought-threads gathered in his brow instantly covered his entire body once more.

At this moment, the object growing on the thought-thread network in the palm of his left hand stirred faintly.

He raised his left hand; in his palm, the Xiang Demon root-form of Li Xiamei—the black-purple lips slightly parted, revealing canine teeth coated in saliva, faintly visible within.

Zhou Chang's eyes flickered; he cast a single thread of thought into those black-purple lips—

That thin, milky-white, transparent thread of thought drilled into the black-purple lips, and from between the black-purple lips and teeth, a thread of black cotton yarn swam out, winding once around Zhou Chang's left wrist.

The arrow-sleeve of the python robe covering Zhou Chang's left wrist shortened slightly.

Zhou Chang's gaze sharpened as he cast thread after thread of thought into the black-purple lips—

On the mountain path, the tall figure in a full python robe suddenly transformed into an eerie figure, half clad in a python robe, half in a black funeral shroud.