While the beast from the western reaches was in seclusion, consolidating its realm, Lin Hai remained at the Xiao Clan, waiting for Yao Chen to finish refining the pills before setting out for the Ancient Realm. Then an urgent message from the Black Foot Domain arrived in Lin Hai's hands through Haibodong.
The messenger was a member of Yaoye. During a black-market deal in the Black Foot Domain, he had unexpectedly acquired an ancient-looking jade pendant.
The pendant seemed ordinary, but its material was exceptionally hard. The organization's members studied it for days without success. Then, in an accidental slip, it fell and struck the hard ground. The pendant shattered with a sharp crack.
There was no physical object inside the shattered pendant. Instead, it projected a faint but clear stream of information that sank into the member's brow.
The message read: "Black Foot Domain, the heart of the Black Domain Great Forest. Beneath an ancient Ten-Thousand-Year Ironwood, a thousand zhang underground, a Saint sleeps. Yin and yang accompany one another; burn to ashes and return to the void."
The message was immediately reported to Yaoye and Haibodong.
The two dared not delay and promptly relayed the information to Lin Hai, word for word.
"Yin and yang accompany one another... Yin-Yang Twin Flames?" Lin Hai looked at the message, a spark of interest flashing in his eyes.
The Yin-Yang Twin Flames, ranked twenty-first on the Heavenly Flame Ranking, took the shape of black and white fish. They nurtured and complemented each other, containing the strange forces of life and destruction. They were indeed a rather wondrous Heavenly Flame.
Collecting Heavenly Flames had already been part of his plans. What was more, this came with a Spiritual Saint's tomb.
"The Black Domain Great Forest..."
He didn't delay. After giving Yao Chen and Haibodong a few instructions, his figure vanished once more.
The Black Foot Domain, the Black Domain Great Forest.
Lin Hai's figure appeared directly in the very heart of the forest.
The trees here were generally more than ten thousand years old. Their trunks were black as iron, emanating an ancient, weathered aura.
His soul power swept carefully over every inch of ground, and he soon locked onto the largest ancient tree, whose life force was also the most vigorous.
The ancient tree stood several hundred zhang tall, with a trunk so thick that dozens of people would be needed to encircle it. Its cracked bark resembled dragon scales.
"Ten-Thousand-Year Ironwood. You're the one." Lin Hai landed at the base of the tree.
According to the message, the tomb lay a thousand zhang beneath the tree.
Lin Hai's perception was like an invisible drill, piercing straight into the earth.
Soil, rock, underground water veins... Layer upon layer of obstacles were as good as nothing to his perception.
One thousand meters, one thousand five hundred meters, two thousand meters... Only when he reached nearly three thousand meters did his perception finally touch an abnormal area.
It wasn't solid bedrock, but a pocket of spatial fluctuations cleverly concealed from view. It blocked investigation, and without his exceptionally high soul realm—the Emperor Realm Soul granted by the system earlier—or a deliberate search, it would have been impossible to discover.
"Nicely hidden. This spatial technique means the person who made it must have been at least a seven-star Spiritual Saint." Lin Hai assessed it.
The space left behind by an ordinary one- or two-star Spiritual Saint would never have been able to evade his perception after their death.
His figure sank. He didn't dig; instead, he merged directly into the earth, slipping toward the depths below in an utterly astonishing manner, like a fish entering water.
The soil and stones parted on their own around him, unable to impede him in the slightest.
In just a moment, he had pierced the final layer of hard basalt, and the space before him opened up.
A vast underground magma lake came into view. Crimson magma boiled and churned, releasing a terrifying heat.
At the very center of the magma lake, an invisible force held open a spherical space. It was silent and still, in stark contrast to the blazing tumult around it.
Lin Hai took one step, passed through the magma, and appeared just outside the spherical space.
A faint, nearly transparent energy membrane enveloped the space, covered in complex runes. Though the passage of time had dimmed them considerably, they still gave off an alarming fluctuation.
"A restriction? Too bad. Time is the greatest force of all." Lin Hai extended a finger and gently touched the energy membrane.
At his fingertip, space warped slightly, and an indescribable force of disintegration seeped out.
The restriction's luminous barrier popped like a needle-pierced bubble. With a faint "pop," it instantly scattered into specks of light and vanished without a trace.
The space inside was fully exposed.
It wasn't large, only a hundred zhang across, and was empty and lifeless.
A huge black coffin sat in the very center.
The coffin was made from an unknown material, neither metal nor wood. It was icy to the touch, completely blocked perception, and had not decayed in ten thousand years. It was clearly a treasure.
The coffin lid wasn't completely shut.
Lin Hai walked over and gently laid a hand on the lid, then pushed with a little force.
The heavy lid slowly slid open, revealing what lay inside.
A lifelike male corpse lay peacefully in the coffin.
He had handsome features and looked to be middle-aged. His expression was serene, as if he were merely asleep. His skin even retained a faint sheen, giving no sign that ten thousand years had passed since his death.
Only his completely stilled aura proclaimed the end of his life.
His hands were folded over his abdomen, holding a dark golden scroll.
At the location of his dantian, one black and one white flame, like docile little fish, swam in a slow circle, their tails meeting. They radiated a contradictory aura that was at once full of life and utterly still—the Yin-Yang Twin Flames, ranked twenty-first on the Heavenly Flame Ranking!
In addition, a dark green Storage Ring of ancient design was on a finger of his left hand.
Lin Hai first took the dark golden scroll. Its material was unusual, and it too had endured ten thousand years without damage.
He slowly unrolled it. The writing had been inscribed with soul power, and remained clear even after ten thousand years:
"I am the Yin-Yang Saint, Mo Yin. At the peak of the nine-star Spiritual Saint realm, I regret that my attempt to break into the Emperor Realm failed. My soul shattered, my lifespan ran out, and here I perished."
"I spent my life alone, accompanied only by the 'Yin-Yang Twin Flames.' I studied the cycle of life and death, but regret that I never completed my work. These flames are gentle in nature, yet the transformation of yin and yang contains endless mysteries. I hope those who come after me will make good use of them."
"This coffin was forged from Nether Cold Jade. It can preserve a body for ten thousand years, and is a rare treasure in its own right. My Storage Ring contains everything I collected throughout my life: many Cultivation Methods and Combat Skills, pills, treasures, and more. It also contains my cultivation insights, especially my methods for using the Yin-Yang Twin Flames and my understanding of the 'Yin-Yang Laws,' all recorded in a Soul Jade Slip for a worthy successor."
"If you inherit my legacy and are willing, bow three times before the coffin to acknowledge my lineage. If not, simply take the flames and leave. Do not disturb my body."
That was where the information on the scroll ended.
After reading it, Lin Hai's expression remained calm.
The tomb of a nine-star Spiritual Saint at the peak of his realm contained enough treasures to shake the continent. His cultivation insights and understanding of the laws were priceless as well.
But for Lin Hai, also a nine-star Spiritual Saint at the peak of his realm, they were mostly useful as points of reference.
As for the request, Lin Hai had no intention of honoring it. This corpse, belonging to a nine-star Spiritual Saint at the peak of his realm, could be used to refine a body for Yao Chen's resurrection. After reviving, Yao Chen might even ascend directly to the eight-star Spiritual Saint realm.
If it wasn't used for Yao Chen, the corpse's Spiritual Saint blood essence could be extracted instead. At least twenty drops could be obtained, more than enough to let the western beast advance to the six-star Spiritual Saint realm.
His gaze shifted to the slowly rotating Yin-Yang Twin Flames, and he extended his palm.
The Yin-Yang Twin Flames seemed to sense a source of power within him far greater than their own. They trembled slightly but didn't resist, gently leaving Mo Yin's dantian and turning into a small black flame-fish and a small white one. They landed in Lin Hai's palm and quietly merged into it.
Lin Hai casually sealed the Heavenly Flame and put it into a jade bottle.
Then he removed the dark green Storage Ring. His soul power easily erased the faint imprint left behind ten thousand years earlier. A brief inspection revealed five Ninth-Grade Profound Pills, the Heaven Tier Advanced Dou Technique Mysterious Underworld Heaven-Covering Seal, the Heaven Tier Elementary Dou Technique Nine Dragon True Fire Slash, several Earth Tier Dou Techniques, the Heaven Tier Advanced Cultivation Method Samsara Profound Fire Art, an Earth Tier Cultivation Method, and some high-grade materials.
Finally, he looked at the enormous Nether Cold Jade Coffin.
This object could preserve a body for ten thousand years. It was indeed a rare treasure.
With a sweep of his sleeve, he stored the entire coffin, along with Mo Yin's remains, in his own Storage Ring.
After he had done all this, the secret space that had existed for ten thousand years was left completely empty.
Lin Hai turned and took one step. He had already vanished from the bottom of the magma lake.
The next moment, his figure appeared directly in the back courtyard of the Xiao Clan in Wutan City.
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