A Chance Encounter

Since he could see through the illusion and determine that this was the heart of the place, Ye Yuqi—with her greater experience and divine weapon—could certainly do the same. His opponent, who could contend with her and relied on the illusion to set traps, could do so as well. So why hadn't he seen a single person?

Was it because he'd been closest when he fell into this place, or had the others run into one another and begun fighting, slowing their progress?

Meng Qi opened his Wisdom Eye and silently performed the Yuxu Divine Calculation. He heightened the Eight-Nine Arcane Art's warning of danger to its utmost, then carefully inspected the mountaintop again. Apart from the black pine and the Bronze Coffin, he found nothing else.

He forced his worries and temptations back down and walked steadily to the Bronze Coffin. After confirming that the restrictive spell had vanished, he reached out with his left hand and touched the coffin lid.

Ye Yuqi's skirts fluttered as she held her sword in her right hand and reached toward the coffin lid with her left.

The Netherworld Emperor's enormous body stood before the Bronze Coffin. He held the Life and Death Brush in both hands. Suddenly, his belly swelled and writhed as if he were ten months pregnant. Then an arm rolled out of his abdomen, pale and bloodless, and reached for the coffin lid.

Fearing that something might happen, Liu Zejun stood farther away. Chen Zhao circled the Bronze Coffin once. The apertures in his body opened, seeming to be planted with one round little sun after another, and radiating a vigorous, supremely righteous and yang aura. He slowly reached for the coffin lid.

His fingertip touched the verdigris-speckled edge of the lid, but it was like touching a reflection