Chapter 111: Healing the Sacred Body, Seeking Audience with the Empress

The Big Dipper Star Domain—Big Dipper Star, also known as the Burial Emperor Star.

Within one of the seven great forbidden zones lay the Ancient Forbidden Land. Throughout countless ages, no living being had ever managed to set foot there. Any creature that entered the Ancient Forbidden Land would mysteriously have its lifespan drained away and die.

Yet there was also a legend that within the Ancient Forbidden Land grew supreme treasures capable of prolonging the lives of those nearing the end of their years.

For countless years, many powerful figures from the great forces of Big Dipper Star, their lifespans nearly exhausted, had risked entering the forbidden zone in search of a slim chance at survival. None of them had ever appeared on Big Dipper Star again.

On this day, before the Ancient Abyss, a Eight-Trigram diagram suddenly appeared in the sky. Nine enormous dragon corpses dragged a bronze coffin slowly out from within it.

Boom!

With a thunderous crash, the dragon corpses and the bronze coffin landed beside the cliff. The coffin lid was jolted open.

“Damn, there’s light! We made it!”

A delighted shout came from inside the bronze coffin.

As the voice faded, a burly figure sprang out. Seeing the coffin teetering precariously at the cliff’s edge, he hurriedly shouted back inside, “Everyone, get out quickly! The coffin’s about to fall!”

At his bellow, one person after another emerged from the coffin. The first to come out were Chen Xing and his younger sister, who was holding Chen Chen.

Once more than a dozen people had exited, the coffin lost its balance and plunged over the cliff with a tremendous crash. The rumbling echoed for a long time.

Looking at the burly man before him, Ye Fan said helplessly, “Pang Bo, can’t you be a little quieter? The coffin is barely big enough as it is. Did you really have to shout so loudly?”

As he spoke, Ye Fan rubbed his ears. Clearly, Pang Bo’s booming voice had left them ringing.

Pang Bo gave an embarrassed grin and scratched his head. “You know I’ve never been good at keeping my voice down!”

Ye Fan ignored him. Pang Bo was truly something else. Ye Fan had originally thought he had missed the class reunion, yet somehow he had arrived at the most critical moment and boarded the Nine Dragons pulling the coffin. What luck! Whether it was good or bad was impossible to say.

Of the more than twenty classmates who had originally attended the reunion, only a dozen or so remained. Ye Fan was filled with complicated emotions. Liu Yunzhi and Li Changqing’s group had actually dared to harass Miss Chen Mi after she removed her mask. Their deaths were entirely deserved.

But the classmates who had been killed by the Crocodile Ancestor still weighed heavily on his heart. If Liu Yiyi had not begged Miss Chen Mi to intervene at the critical moment, perhaps only a handful of them would have survived.

As these thoughts crossed his mind, Ye Fan could not help glancing at Chen Mi’s breathtakingly beautiful figure. He immediately turned his head away, afraid that the witch might punish him.

Chen Xing looked at the dozen or so survivors as well and could only smile bitterly. They should not have lost so many people on the ancient star of Yinghuo.

Yet who could have imagined that after seeing Chen Mi’s face, Liu Yunzhi would be reckless enough to try to threaten her with Chen Chen and force her to follow him? In her fury, Chen Mi had gone on a killing spree, slaughtering seven or eight people and shocking everyone else inside the bronze coffin.

“All right. Since we have arrived, we should part ways here. This place is ominous. You should leave as soon as possible, lest you lose your lives for nothing.”

Seeing the fear on everyone’s faces as they looked at Chen Mi, Chen Xing spoke up.

When they realized that Chen Xing and the others were leaving, the group secretly breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly saluted.

“Safe travels, Mr. Chen!”

Chen Xing smiled helplessly. He took Chen Chen from his sister’s arms, and with a flash of his figure, disappeared together with Chen Mi and Liu Yiyi.

Ye Fan had heard what Chen Chen said before leaving and could not help feeling a tremor in his heart. He knew Chen Chen would never deceive them. If she said there was danger, then there had to be a danger of which they knew nothing. He hurriedly led the others toward the outside.

Chen Xing, however, did not leave with his companions. Instead, he brought his younger sister and the others down beneath the Ancient Abyss.

He knew that the woman whose brilliance had astonished the ages, and who was no less extraordinary than the Willow God, was here. Naturally, Chen Xing wished to meet her.

The moment they reached the bottom of the abyss, an enraged roar rang beside their ears. The timid Liu Yiyi’s legs went weak, and she nearly collapsed to the ground.

With a helpless sigh, Chen Mi pulled up her useless disciple. With a turn of her hand, a bracelet appeared in her palm. She held it out to Liu Yiyi and said, “Put this on first. It can protect you for a short while.”

Chen Mi had refined the bracelet herself out of boredom. With the cultivation of a Chaos Heavenly Venerable, she had forcefully elevated it to the level of a mid-grade innate spiritual treasure—far beyond the so-called Emperor Weapons of this world.

She spoke of it so casually only because she did not want Liu Yiyi to become dependent on it. Such dependence would do her future cultivation more harm than good.

Hearing this, Liu Yiyi quickly accepted the bracelet and said gratefully, “Thank you, Master!”

Chen Mi waved her hand, signaling that she only needed to put it on.

Chen Xing looked at the long-haired man bound by chains before him and could not help sighing inwardly. The lineage of the Sacred Body had indeed paid too much for humanity. In the end, however, it had been cursed by the Netherworld lineage and could never escape the ominous fate that befell it in its later years.

Chen Chen, nestled in Chen Xing’s arms, stared curiously at the hairy man before turning to him.

“Daddy, is that a gorilla?”

Chen Xing gave a bitter smile and gently explained, “That uncle is a great hero. He saved many people, but bad people harmed him, which is why he grew all that hair.”

Chen Chen nodded thoughtfully. Then she suddenly asked, “Then why don’t you save him, Daddy? You’re so powerful. You should be able to save him, right?”

Her eyes were filled with hope.

A tremor passed through Chen Xing’s heart, and a surge of heroic spirit suddenly rose within him. He had come to this Shrouding the Heavens world merely to accompany his daughter on a journey. He had never intended to change anything.

But the adoration and hope shining in his daughter’s clear eyes left him with no bottom line at all. This was the first time she had ever asked him for something. How could he possibly disappoint her?

Chen Xing laughed heartily. He extended one finger and touched it to the center of the long-haired Sacred Body’s brow.

In an instant, a pure and righteous force entered the man’s body and struck a deeply concealed place within him.

There, a strange and ominous energy had been corroding his body all along. Now that it had been struck by this mighty righteous force, a shrill scream rang out, and the ominous aura instantly vanished into nothingness.

At the very moment that strange aura disappeared, an enraged voice echoed through an underground palace hidden in a place unknown to all.

“Who was it? Who exactly shattered the curse we placed upon the Sacred Body? If I ever learn your identity, I will make certain you suffer a fate worse than death!”

The roar reverberated through the palace for a long while before gradually fading away.

Within the Ancient Abyss, the Fully Accomplished Sacred Body, his chains severed by Chen Xing, knelt before him and thanked him for saving his life.

“Rise. The Sacred Body has fought for all living beings beneath Heaven. You should never have suffered such an ominous fate in your later years. I saved you only because my daughter asked me to. There is no need for you to kneel.”

As he spoke, Chen Xing helped the man to his feet.

The man respectfully acknowledged his words, then cast a grateful glance at Chen Chen.

“Is the Empress still here?” Chen Xing asked indifferently.

The man was startled. Who was this person? How did he know that the forbidden zone was guarded by the Ruthless Great Emperor?

Then he thought of how effortlessly Chen Xing had removed the curse from the Sacred Body. If Chen Xing truly wished to enter, there was likely nothing he could do to stop him.

With a helpless gesture, he extended an arm and said, “Please, everyone. The Empress is cultivating at present. You may first rest in the cave dwelling for a while. I will inform her myself.”

Chen Xing nodded and entered the cave dwelling with the others, following the Sacred Body.