Chapter 595: The Shame of the Origin, Offending

The owner of the bronze coffin needs a substitute fighter?

Reflecting on what he had just seen and heard, Li Yuan felt he had hit the mark with his guess, though a part of him couldn't help muttering in doubt.

"The Origin Divine Dynasty fell so long ago — there's no reason this 'noble one' couldn't even pass the first trial, is there?"

In the shadow of the palace's courtyard wall, Li Yuan studied his surroundings while chewing over the voice he had just heard.

"Someone who can bury people outside of time and space… this kind of powerhouse…"

Li Yuan drew a deep breath, still feeling his hair stand on end.

He had spent thirty years in this Zang Guan Mi Jing, and he did know a thing or two about the Origin Divine Dynasty — that ancient dynasty that had once ruled over countless realms, its power terrifying beyond words.

But the casual talk of time and space, of transcending tribulation and rebirth, still made him uneasy, and he couldn't help guessing the identity of the voice's owner.

"If the one in the coffin really is that 'Shame of the Origin Divine Race' who fled the Origin Divine City, then this person is very likely one of the nine Divine Kings of the Origin Divine Dynasty?"

The thought turned over in Li Yuan's mind.

If it really was a Divine King who lay buried in the coffin, then the 'weak disposition' and 'not adept at killing' this one spoke of couldn't be taken at face value.

What a Divine King called weak and what an ordinary person called weak were hardly the same thing.

After all, they were of the Origin Divine Race — how weak could they possibly be?

"To verify whether my guess is right, I still need to meet this 'noble one' first…"

Squinting toward the main hall of the palace, Li Yuan pressed down his speculation and slipped into the shadows, moving inside.

……

Wooo~

Within the bronze coffin, a ghostly light flickered, weaving itself into shadows.

The white-robed figure, curled up like an infant, had opened her eyes at some unknown moment. She stared blankly at the young Daoist carefully creeping through the light and shadow, her gaze tinged with sorrow and dejection:

"Bronze, I have failed my great-granduncle, I have failed the Divine Race, I, I… if great-granduncle knew how things stand today, would he regret choosing me?"

"The 'Honored Lord' chose you because only you can continue the Divine Race — how could He regret it?"

A wooden, stiff voice rang out in the gloom.

"Is that so?"

The white-robed figure's expression dimmed.

"If you don't believe in yourself, surely you still believe in the Honored Lord of the Five Dragons? He…"

"Great-granduncle…"

The white-robed figure closed her eyes, her tone complex.

Even the wooden, spirit-stripped spirit of the bronze coffin spoke of great-granduncle with an inexpressible reverence in its stiff voice.

The wooden voice changed the subject: "Lord Immortal, are you truly not going to try breaking through the trial yourself again? Perhaps conquering yourself isn't quite so hard?"

"That isn't me!"

The white-robed figure frowned, a trace of imperceptible frustration and vexation threading through her cool, clear voice:

"That's the me great-granduncle imagined… I, I…"

The wooden voice hurriedly picked up, soothing: "Killing isn't your strength, you need not dwell on it so much…"

"Enough!"

Divine light flared in the eyes of the Immortal of the Five Dragons, illuminating the dim and hollow coffin. Within the bronze coffin lay a world of its own — beneath the gloom, mountains and rivers stretched out, and palaces stood in rows.

The wooden voice vanished for a moment, then rang out again:

"Look, that boy is approaching the Zhudian… hmm? That's…"

The Immortal of the Five Dragons snapped her eyes open with a 'whoosh', her expression shifting as if struck by a tremendous fright:

"How could it be?"

……

The guards outside this palace were extremely strict, but the interior seemed rather lax — passing through courtyard after courtyard, Li Yuan had actually run into no sentries at all.

"Strange…"

The infiltration had gone too smoothly, and Li Yuan grew all the more wary.

The palace interior being this lax was one thing, but the patrolling guards outside hadn't made any move either?

Wooo~

A moment later, Li Yuan stopped in his tracks.

Not far ahead lay a moderately sized lake, with the palace's main hall set in its midst, connected to the outside by only a single bridge of stone white as Bai Yu.

"That's…"

Li Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly.

A small boat drifted lazily across the rippling water, sending out layer upon layer of ripples. A figure in a straw raincoat sat cross-legged on the boat, rod in hand, fishing — utterly at ease, as if merged with the palace and the Gaoshan into one.

Heavy, vast…

"No wonder the palace interior is so lax — with such a great master posted outside the hall, the other guards really aren't necessary…"

Li Yuan's eyelid twitched. The instant he saw the straw-coated fisherman, he knew he probably wouldn't be meeting the Immortal of the Five Dragons this time.

Though the straw-coated fisherman had revealed no edge at all, the mere glimpse of him gave Li Yuan the feeling of standing at the foot of a mountain and peering up at its peak — his heart trembling.

A master!

A master beyond imagination!

"At the very least, a great master who has condensed a 'Law Ring' and a Jin Dan — possibly even more than that…"

Li Yuan's teeth ached a little, but he stopped skulking and stepped openly out of the shadows.

With ten thousand lives to fall back on, so be it if he fell.

Looking them over one by one

Wooo~

The lake wind blew gently.

The angler on the little boat, however, seemed utterly unaware; even when Li Yuan walked to the end of the stone bridge, there was no reaction.

Glancing at the great hall's doorway within arm's reach, Li Yuan suppressed the pounding of his heart and turned his head toward the little boat drifting about on the lake. The angler at the bow took the opportunity to reel in his line, pulling out a large crimson fish:

"After waiting so long, only this one little fish… well, so be it, so be it."

Hum—

The instant the angler's voice reached him, Li Yuan's hair stood on end; he felt a terrifying sensation, as if he himself had been hooked.

"Whoosh!"

The next moment, he had already landed on the bow.

"Senior…"

Li Yuan forced himself to hold still, cupped his fist in greeting, and at the same time swept a sidelong glance—and was startled once more.

Beneath the angler's rain cape there was not a trace of flesh or blood, only indistinct divine patterns interweaving. Though the figure stood right before him, it gave Li Yuan a sense of being utterly beyond reach.

"Sigh…"

Li Yuan heard a long, drawn-out sigh. He raised his head; the angler seemed to be raising his head as well, as if gazing across the void at someone. Within the sigh was an inexpressible melancholy:

"Perhaps… this is the price of offending 'Heaven'!"

Offending Heaven?

Li Yuan's heart stirred; he felt something was rather odd. The words had neither head nor tail, and didn't much sound like something a guardian would say to an intruder.

Or perhaps…

'Could these words be meant for the Five Dragon Immortal?'

Casting a sidelong glance at the rain-caped angler, Li Yuan's thoughts began to race.

But before he could think further, after a brief sigh from the angler, an invisible gaze had already settled upon him: "To come uninvited is to be a thief!"

"Senior, you aren't the guardian of this place, are you?"

Though he had already prepared himself in his heart to take the loss, Li Yuan had not given up trying to gather information.

"Quite a sharp little lad."

The rain-caped angler looked calmly at the Daoist before him:

"Since you've come, then let's have a try!"

"Hm?"

Li Yuan was taken aback.

The rain-caped angler gave a casual flick of his sleeve; invisible force spread out in all directions, and in the blink of an eye, the palace hall and the lake had both vanished.

In their place was a stretch of ruined, desolate scorched earth.

The rain-caped man held his fishing rod, standing amid the scorched earth. His voice was low and heavy, echoing in Li Yuan's ears—and even in his heart:

"Divine-demonic endowment, only upon entering the Dao does it take form; the nascent shape of the spirit-image…"

"I shall not take advantage of you either!"

Li Yuan raised his head; across a hundred li of scorched earth, he seemed to see a pair of burning eyes:

"Come!"

(End of chapter)