Jade Herb

The setting sun blazed like fire, burning across half the sky. Chen Xuan rode the Bronze Horse, his gaze sharp as he strode through the air.

"Whinny!"

Inside Peach Town, the Four-Eyed Divine Being stood atop the Bronze Chariot. Seeing this scene, he put two fingers to his lips and let out a piercing whistle.

"Clang!"

Chen Xuan slammed a punch into the head of the Bronze Horse beneath him as it stirred restlessly, scolding, "I'm your master!"

"Neigh!"

The Bronze Horse winced in pain and had no choice but to firmly abandon the darkness for the light, obeying as it flew toward the center of Peach Town.

At the center of the town, a huge hole had broken open in the ground, as though it were the entrance to an Underground Palace.

This was the Four-Eyed Divine Being's lair. Dim orange light spilled from the entrance.

"Fence-sitters never meet a good end. You'll be the first one killed."

Chen Xuan gripped the Bronze Horse's neck and earnestly reasoned with it.

"Neigh!"

How could the Bronze Horse dare harbor any other intentions? It immediately mustered all its strength and charged toward the Underground Palace entrance.

The Four-Eyed Divine Being finally realized that something was wrong. He immediately roared and leaped down from the chariot. With a single bound, he covered a terrifying distance of more than ten meters and gave chase.

"Boom!"

Moreover, halfway there, the Four-Eyed Divine Being hurled the Bronze Halberd. It streaked across the sky like a shooting star. The force was so great that even the air seemed to burst beneath its point.

"Whoosh!"

The Bronze Horse was extremely alert, as though it had anticipated this move. It descended early to evade the attack.

"What a fine horse!"

Chen Xuan could not help praising it. The Bronze Horse skimmed along the ground and slid into the Underground Palace entrance. Chen Xuan and Chu Huo Gun did not even need to search for the way—the horse took the two of them deeper into the Underground Palace on its own, racing toward the treasures.

The Underground Palace was enormous, with countless passageways. Along the way, Bronze Ancient Lamps bloomed with flames, illuminating the path ahead.

"Click! Click!"

When they entered a relatively large dark chamber, Chen Xuan saw neatly arranged groups of Bronze Armored Warriors and warhorses. There were several hundred of them, an immense force.

Hearing the disturbance, they opened their eyes one after another, all their gazes snapping toward him. The sight was terrifying to the extreme!

A whole nest of Mountain Demons!

Chen Xuan's heart tightened. He hurriedly slapped the Bronze Horse's back. "Brother Horse!"

"Roar!"

The Bronze Horse immediately threw back its head and neighed. Its roar was filled with an overbearing air, like a eunuch berating a group of slaves beneath him in rank.

The group of Bronze Mountain Demons instantly fell silent as cicadas in winter. They shut their eyes and dared not look again.

Brother Horse has quite a high status. Chen Xuan thought to himself.

Soon, the Bronze Horse carried Chen Xuan and Chu Huo Gun into the largest room and stopped before a massive Bronze Coffin.

"Is the Terrestrial Treasure Tree hidden inside?"

Chen Xuan exchanged a glance with Chu Huo Gun.

The coffin was extraordinarily huge, more than three meters long. Its surface was engraved with all kinds of patterns—mountains, marshes, plants, birds, beasts, insects, and fish. Chen Xuan even saw some ancient creatures that resembled dragons and pythons, birds and phoenixes, making the coffin seem incomparably savage and ancient.

"Clang!"

The Bronze Horse pushed the coffin lid halfway open with its head, then turned and urged Chen Xuan to hurry up and take the treasure. "Neigh, neigh."

"All right."

Chen Xuan immediately dismounted. He had Chu Huo Gun bite down on the Bronze Horse's neck to intimidate it, then hurried toward the half-open Bronze Coffin.

He bent down to look inside. His eyes instantly froze, and his entire body broke out in gooseflesh.

"Xiao Wang, what are you waiting for? Move quickly. Take the treasure and let's go!"

Chu Huo Gun urged him repeatedly from the side, extremely nervous. This Underground Palace was a nest of Mountain Demons, and it made his heart inexplicably uneasy.

"..."

Chen Xuan turned stiffly and looked at Old Man Chu and the Bronze Horse, who kept urging him.

"This treasure..."

Inside the coffin lay a corpse.

A woman lay in the coffin. Her black hair was coiled into a bun, her lips were bright red as though stained with blood, and her snow-white neck was long and slender like a swan's. She wore an ancient garment woven from fine golden threads, its fabric outlining the graceful curves of her reclining body like distant mountains...

A bronze coffin. A gorgeous female corpse...

Chen Xuan found the scene terrifying beyond words!

Was she a Qi Refiner among humans, or a monster from the mountains and marshes?

Was this Underground Palace her tomb, where she had lain in eternal rest?

"But her body looks so full, as though she only died recently..."

Chen Xuan made a guess. Then, beside the woman, he saw a palm-sized snow-white Ganoderma.

The White Ganoderma's roots pierced into the bottom of the Bronze Coffin. Several small golden flowers bloomed from its top, hanging a few cocoon-silk-like fruits. Its entire body radiated pure white light, while a delicate herbal fragrance filled the air.

The Terrestrial Treasure Tree!

"Since I'm already here."

Chen Xuan was a martial man. Though he had been startled at first, he was not truly afraid. Calming his mind, he quickly climbed into the coffin, bent down in the cramped space, and felt his way forward.

"There's a fragrance spreading from her body too..."

As Chen Xuan crawled forward, he smelled a fragrance like that of the White Ganoderma beneath him. Has it been marinated until it absorbed the flavor?

"Pfft!"

Soon, beside the woman, Chen Xuan pulled the White Ganoderma out by the roots.

"With this Terrestrial Treasure Tree, my Feather Transformation Path will surely have a much higher limit."

"I might even be able to nurture Immortal Qi ahead of time!"

Red Crow City, Green Deer Mountain, Wang Chan... These Qi Refiners had traveled thousands of miles to the Southern Wilderness precisely to seek a natural treasure like the Terrestrial Treasure Tree.

Yet Chen Xuan had already obtained one along the way!

Chen Xuan was exhilarated. He poked his head out of the coffin and was just about to withdraw when a flash of inspiration suddenly crossed his mind.

"I'm going to offend you again."

This was an ancient Underground Palace. The burial soldiers accompanying the dead were countless, and its standards were staggeringly high. It was impossible to imagine how prominent the person buried here had been in life.

Even the burial soldiers and warhorses accompanying her had developed spirituality and become monsters!

There must be other treasures in the coffin!

"Xiao Wang, are you done yet? What exactly are you doing?" Old Man Chu hurriedly urged him. He did not understand why Chen Xuan had come out and then gone back in. Had he found another treasure?

"Almost."

Chen Xuan replied vaguely. Then he felt around the coffin several more times, turning it upside down and searching every inch. In the end, he removed the hairpin from the woman's bun.

The moment the hairpin was taken, the woman's soft black hair spilled loose and spread out, creating a captivating beauty.

"Forgive my rudeness. You've already died, and there's no need for outsiders to admire your appearance. Give me the hairpin."

Chen Xuan apologized inwardly. He sensed that the gold-and-jade-colored hairpin was no ordinary object. Its tip was extremely sharp and could replace the small sword he carried.

As he offered his sincere apology, he took it away cleanly and decisively.

In truth, he had even wanted to strip off the expensive golden ancient robe and take it with him. It was soft and smooth to the touch, had not decayed despite the passage of time, and clearly was no ordinary object.

But Chen Xuan ultimately did not act on it, leaving the woman her dignity.

"Let's go!"

After sweeping up the spoils, Chen Xuan immediately crawled out of the Bronze Coffin, closed the lid, mounted the horse, and left.

He did not want to remain in the coffin any longer. For some inexplicable reason, he kept feeling that a cold gaze was watching him, making his hair stand on end. The atmosphere in this Underground Palace was far too strange!

"Jade Herb!"

Old Man Chu spotted the snow-white Ganoderma in Chen Xuan's hand at a glance. His eyes immediately widened as he shouted, "That's Soul Return Grass! Legend says it only grows beside the dead!"

Jade Herb had been recorded in many ancient texts. It was an extraordinarily precious Land Treasure Medicine.

The oldest records could even be traced back to the distant Mountains and Seas Era.

Legend had it that after an Ancient Mountain God died, the first Jade Herb between heaven and earth grew from its body. It was an immortal medicine capable of granting eternal life.

Although this White Ganoderma Jade Herb before them could not possibly compare with that one, the birth of such a thing was inherently sinister, and its medicinal potency was fierce.

Chen Xuan was speechless. "If a coffin doesn't hold the dead, is it supposed to hold the living?"

"That's not what I meant. I just didn't expect it to be a Land Treasure Tree like Soul Return Grass."

Old Man Chu gradually began to feel afraid. His voice trembled as he said, "The owner of this coffin must have had an extraordinary identity... Xiao Wang, you didn't do anything reckless in the coffin just now, did you? Be more cautious. You could cause a huge disaster."

It was either a noble of the mortal world who carried royal blood, or a great cultivator from the Qi Refining World.

Soul Return Grass—didn't that name mean bringing the dead back to life?

"I know what I'm doing. Don't make such a mountain out of a molehill!"

Chen Xuan's eyes twitched. Old Man Chu's words chilled his heart, so he hurriedly ordered the Bronze Horse to run faster.

In truth, he had even seen the Small Underworld with his own eyes, so he had developed a certain immunity.

No matter how strange this Underground Palace was, could it really be stranger than the Small Underworld?

Never mind nobles of the mortal world—even if Qi Refiners died, they would still become nothing more than a handful of dust.

"Brother Horse, take another route."

Chen Xuan ordered the Bronze Horse not to return by the same path. Otherwise, the Four-Eyed Divine Being could trap them in the narrow passageway.

"Roar!"

The Bronze Horse was the most anxious of all. It had already defected and was even less willing to be intercepted. Its four legs pounded wildly like the wheels of wind and fire, leaving afterimages in their wake.

A moment later.

At the exit of the Underground Palace, one man, one horse, and one head were still blocked by the Four-Eyed Divine Being.

"Very clever. You actually blocked the exit."

Chen Xuan's palm began to sweat faintly. There was nothing more to say. He had already anticipated this worst-case scenario.

"Clang!"

At the broad exit, a majestic figure stood holding a halberd. More than two meters tall and clad in Bronze Armor, he stood alone guarding the pass, like a small mountain blocking the way. Divine light shone brilliantly from his golden four eyes.

The Four-Eyed Demon!

A group of short figures wearing grotesque masks, carrying flags and lanterns, focused their gazes on them in unison.

"You... all—"

The Four-Eyed Divine Being raised his Bronze Halberd. His lips parted slightly as he uttered hoarse, grating syllables Chen Xuan could not understand. "Re... bel... lious... subjects—"

"Attack!"

Chen Xuan abruptly flung Chu Huo Gun's head forward. The old man's head hovered in midair for a moment, his beard and hair bristling as he suddenly opened his mouth and inhaled. "The divine hides in antiquity, Fire Virtue descends upon the world—command the firebirds—"

A trick!

"Boom!"

Blazing Red Qi firelight surged from the old man's mouth, nose, and seven apertures, like a river of flames swallowing the entire Underground Palace entrance.

Chen Xuan followed close behind, charging straight ahead on horseback.

"Slash!"

Ahead, a burst of halberd light cleaved through the sea of fire!