Standing outside the wide-open gate, the interior of the hall is a blurry scene.
Tai Sui wanted to ask something more, but the Dream-Eating Ghost stepped through the barrier first.
Tai Sui followed closely behind, its sword-like light initially making it difficult for it to open its eyes.
After it adjusted to its surroundings, it looked inside and the magnificent hall revealed its true form: it was as vast as a plaza, with white-glowing stone bricks paving the ground and walls, and dark, unknown lines penetrating it like a giant spider web, and at the center of the spider web was a solemn and silent Black Coffin.
All eyes were drawn to the Black Coffin, and an unprecedented feeling of wanting to submit welled up in Tai Sui's heart, like a guilty subject paying homage to a king.
It's worth mentioning that the Black Coffin has already been opened, with the lid only half closed.
"Has anything else been here?" Tai Sui asked tremblingly.
"Um."
The Dream-Eating Ghost responded briefly to Tai Sui. For the first time, the vortex on its body stopped flowing, and for the first time, Tai Sui saw a confused and bewildered look in the Dream-Eating Ghost's two eye-like orbs of light.
"But... who else could come here?"
The short lifespan and limited experience of the Tai Sui made it difficult for it to imagine that any other creature could reach this place.
"I don't know. Apart from Tai Sui, which serves as the Key to Awakening Gods, no other living being can safely pass through the Pillars of Evil Spirits."
Upon hearing this, Tai Sui suddenly recalled the weathered, crooked stone pillars outside, and a terrifying guess surfaced in its mind.
It assumed that the appearance of those stone pillars was due to the passage of time, completely ignoring the possibility that they were deliberately destroyed.
The Dream-Eating Ghost stopped and continued along the eerie black lines on the ground, heading towards the solemn coffin.
Tai Sui hesitated for a moment, then followed.
As it drew closer to the coffin, the Dream-Eating Ghost's movements slowed considerably, as if it were enduring immense pressure. Tai Sui watched it in astonishment, feeling as light as a feather, as if it were experiencing no resistance whatsoever.
After a difficult trek, the two evil spirits finally reached the Black Coffin. They walked slowly and nervously to the side of the coffin, peering inside...
There was nothing there.
Tai Sui looked at the Dream-Eating Ghost in shock, only to find that the Dream-Eating Ghost's eyes had turned completely black, and its eight wandering tentacles were as still as dead fish.
It wasn't until much later that the Dream-Eating Ghost ended its abnormal state, and the light in its eyes dimmed considerably.
"What's wrong with you?"
The Dream-Eating Ghost didn't answer its question. Instead, it extended a tentacle and placed it on the top of Tai Sui's head.
The overwhelming images flowed into the consciousness of the giant fish along its tentacles, and its six fish eyes widened even more. After the panic and fear, it even felt a sense of relief and calm.
If it cannot escape the fate of being eaten by the Grand Duke Jupiter, then being eaten by him is the best outcome.
The tentacles retracted, then joined the other tentacles placed before the vortex, catching You Su and Ji Lingruo as they were spat out of the vortex. The two were still unconscious.
It then extended two more tentacles to lift the coffin lid. The moment they touched it, a sizzling sound of flesh being roasted filled the air. This was not a divine object it was worthy to touch, but the Dream-Eating Ghost still managed to push the coffin lid off completely, revealing a complete divine coffin, even at the cost of its two tentacles being roasted off.
It gently lifted You Su and carefully placed You Su into the Black Coffin. The boy's wounds and bloodstains made him look like a real dead man, and his faint breathing completely disappeared after he was placed in the Black Coffin.
"What happened to him?"
"He is not dead. This coffin, made of the Stone of Ceased Breath, will absorb his life force and keep it for him. This black blood is the life that God once lost. And only you can make this blood flow back into his body."
Tai Sui then noticed that the strange black lines on the ground had begun to move, and even the blackness on the Black Coffin was flowing, clinging to You Su's body as if it were alive.
Just then, the entire palace began to shake violently, as if the earth itself was venting its anger.
Tai Sui was confused, while the Dream-Eating Ghost looked towards the door. A voice rang out in Tai Sea of Consciousness:
"Complete the ceremony as quickly as possible; this is your mission. Do not fear death; we will never truly die."
The Dream-Eating Ghost then put Ji Lingruo down and began to walk out of the hall.
"Where did you go?"
"The Lord of Spreading Mist intends to disrupt the ritual; I will go and stop him."
Tai Sui stared blankly as the Dream-Eating Ghost disappeared behind the barrier at the gate. Despite the Dream-Eating Ghost's words, "We will never truly die," and despite its past desire to die, fear was still unavoidable when the moment of death arrived.
It clung to the coffin lid, unaffected by the Stone of Ceased Breath.
Its six fish eyes were fixed on You Su. It hesitated, reaching out to touch You Su's face, but stopped itself out of fear. It remembered the time it had pretended to confess to You Su, and how You Su was not afraid of its hand. So it mustered its courage and reached out, but suddenly a voice interrupted its actions.
"Don't touch it!"
The owner of the cold voice was Ji Lingruo.
She glared at the bizarre monster with a fierce look, filled with disgust and hatred.
As expected, Tai Sui immediately pulled his hand back after she shouted, like a cat caught stealing fish.
"You're awake..."
"What exactly do you want?!"
Ji Lingruo's chest heaved like an angry lioness. Even now, this evil spirit still used the same voice as her, which disgusted her.
Tai Sui was startled by the girl's angry voice and remained speechless for a long time. It moved the six fish eyes from Ji Lingruo You Su and whispered:
"Sorry..."
Ji Lingruo was momentarily stunned by the other party's apology and lost her momentum. She only had a simple understanding of evil spirits, and she had never thought that there could be an evil spirit that apologized... It was as if it was not an evil spirit, but a person with emotions.
Ji Lingruo let out a long breath and said, "I don't care what you're going to do, send us back now, immediately!"
Her voice was fierce; despite facing an evil spirit she couldn't resist, her will to save her senior brother allowed her to overcome her fear.
Upon hearing this, Tai Sui gently shook his head:
"Not now, my senior brother is dying."
These words sent a chill down Ji Lingruo's spine. She then noticed that You Su, lying in the coffin, was pale, with not a single patch of intact skin on his body. Even more terrifying was that the blackness from the coffin had seeped into his body, staining his blood vessels black. However, this blackness remained stagnant. Ji Lingruo knew that only the blood of the dead does not flow.
"How could this be... how could this be!" Ji Lingruo had forgotten her anger. She knelt on the ground, surrounded by a sea of sorrow, and she couldn't even shed a tear.
From beginning to end, she was like a powerless burden, unable to offer You Su any help, and always lived under You Su's protection. She hid in You Su's consciousness, listening to You Su tell this monster, disguised as herself, about his experiences fighting against True Man Ling. Only then did she realize how much effort You Su had secretly made to protect her, and she didn't even know that she had been possessed by an evil spirit.
She hated her own powerlessness; her eyes became lifeless, filled only with endless emptiness.
"Don't give up, there's still you who can save him."
The voice that sounded exactly like hers woke her up.