Nine Dragons Bearing a Coffin
"Could the master of this Underground Palace possess some kind of method to reshape the physical body? And after being reborn, will his strength increase dramatically?" Jiang Wanyue's tone revealed a doubt that even she herself found hard to believe.
"It must be... impossible! How could such a heaven-defying secret technique exist in this world?"
Although Ji Jinglun denied it verbally, his eyes gleamed with a sharp light.
If such a secret technique truly exists, once mastered, one would no longer need to fear the destruction of their physical body; as long as their soul remains, they could be reborn. This means that in future battles, one would no longer need to hold back, but could boldly fight, even at the cost of their own life.
Not to mention the incredible effect of greatly increasing strength after rebirth. If that's true, each "resurrection" would be nothing short of a complete transformation.
Jiang Wanyue also brightened considerably.
Only Song Wen showed little interest.
He possesses an almost unlimited number of Death-Substitute Puppet, allowing him to escape if his physical body faces a Death-Substitute Puppet threat. Therefore, his physical body is very difficult to destroy.
As for the claim that his strength would greatly increase after being reborn, Song Wen did not believe it.
Cultivation doesn't come from nowhere.
To improve one's strength after rebirth, the reconstructed physical body must be stronger than the original one. Even if there were Secret Method in the world that could achieve this, it would require an unknown amount of resources and time.
It's better to cultivate yourself rather than waste that time and resources.
"Set off immediately, don't delay any longer," Ji Jinglun urged.
Then, the three of them walked deeper into the room and entered the passageway that was only about the height of a person.
The passageway was narrow, allowing only Rong Yi person to pass at a time.
Golden Steel Corpse led the way, followed by Ji Jinglun, with Jiang Wanyue and Song Wen behind them.
The rocky ceiling looming overhead, and the narrow stone walls on either side that made even turning around difficult, inexplicably created an invisible sense of oppression.
The three of them activated their Divine Sense, constantly monitoring everything around them. Even the cold stone walls of the passageway were under their watchful eyes, for fear that something unexpected might happen.
However, after walking for dozens of miles and reaching the end of the passage, they did not encounter any danger.
At the end of the passageway was a bottomless cliff.
A dense aura of death rose from the depths of the ground, limiting the three men's Divine Sense to only a few miles below the cliff.
Without saying a word, the three of them jumped off the cliff together.
"Bang!"
After falling for over a hundred miles, the Golden Steel Corpse was the first to land.
Song Wen and his two companions arrived shortly afterward.
This is an underground cave, extremely vast, and with the current range of their Divine Senses, they cannot even glimpse its edges.
However, the three of them did not detect any danger.
"Which direction should we go next?" Jiang Wanyue asked.
Within the limited range of their senses, everything was the same in all directions; apart from the omnipresent aura of death, there was nothing at all.
"There's no better way right now; we can only slowly search this underground cave," Ji Jinglun said.
Song Wen frowned slightly, then suddenly pointed to the right.
"Listen carefully, isn't there an extremely faint sound coming from that direction?"
Jiang Wanyue and Ji Jinglun immediately fell silent, and apart from the whimpering sound of the flowing corpse energy, there was no other sound.
"There is indeed a slight abnormal noise, but it's not continuous; it comes and goes," Jiang Wanyue said.
"Let's go take a look," Ji Jinglun said.
The three people and the corpse set off again.
As they continued forward, the sound became clearer and clearer.
Whoa--!
It sounded like some hard objects colliding and rubbing against each other.
After traveling another ten miles or so, the source of the strange noise was finally detected by the three of them with their Divine Sense.
That was a circular stone platform, about three zhang (approximately 10 meters) off the ground and about li (approximately 5 kilometers) wide, with nine stone pillars standing around it.
The stone pillars are hundreds of feet tall, and each one is adorned with a golden dragon.
The golden dragon is an inanimate object, forged by human hands, yet it is incredibly lifelike, with every scale meticulously detailed.
One of the golden dragons was positioned directly in the direction where Song Wen and his companions were. Its enormous head emerged from the top of the stone pillar, its gaze haughty, as if looking down upon them, these insignificant outsiders.
Each of the nine golden dragons had a chain attached to its neck and back.
Nine chains hang in the air, extending towards the center of the stone platform.
The strange noises that Song Wen and the other two heard earlier were caused by the occasional shaking of these chains.
At the other end of the nine chains hung a Bronze Corpse Coffin.
The Corpse Coffin was held up by nine chains and suspended several feet above the stone platform.
Beneath the Corpse Coffin, a figure sat cross-legged on a stone platform.
The man was dressed in a gray robe, thin, and his eyes were bloodshot.
Upon seeing this person, Jiang Wanyue immediately exclaimed in surprise.
"Elder Yin Corpse, what are you doing here?"
This person was none other than the Corpse Daoist Yin Song Wen and Jiang Wanyue had been searching for.
The Corpse Daoist Yin also noticed the three of them.
"Elder Ji, Madam Jiang, what brings you here?"
"We received intelligence that Elder Ruins have appeared in this Withered Glory Valley, so we came here to search for treasure. But Elder Yin Corpse, you suddenly left the Xiao Household half a month ago, how come you are here alone?"
Ji Jinglun's tone was not friendly; it carried a questioning undertone.
"I also heard that Elder Ruins have appeared in this place, so I came to investigate," the Corpse Daoist Yin said.
"Oh? I wonder if Elder Yin Shi has made any gains?"
As Ji Jinglun spoke, his figure swayed and slowly moved towards the stone platform.
Watching Ji Jinglun's retreating figure, Jiang Wanyue was surrounded by Taiyin Cold Qi, and she deliberately glanced at Song Wen.
Song Wen, however, did not respond.
He understood Jiang Wanyue's meaning: the Corpse Daoist Yin had been found, and now was the perfect opportunity to ambush Ji Jinglun.
However, Song Wen was not in a hurry to take action.
The altar and Corpse Coffin before them were clearly the core of the entire Underground Palace, yet they exuded an eeriness. Ji Jinglun coveted the treasures here, and this was a good opportunity to use them to investigate.
Furthermore, it was rumored that Ji Jinglun and the Corpse Daoist Yin had a good relationship, but at this moment it seems that this is not the case. When faced with the possible treasures here, Ji Jinglun was the first to show hostility.
In contrast, consider the Corpse Daoist Yin.
He didn't react to Ji Jinglun's approach at all, and didn't even get up. He just said calmly.
"Although I arrived before the three of you, I have yet to gain anything."
"Really?"
Ji Jinglun clearly did not believe it.
He had already floated to the side of the stone platform and asked again.
"Elder Corpse, how long have you been here? And why are you sitting here, neither opening the coffin nor leaving?"
"I..."
The Corpse Daoist Yin had not yet uttered his words.
Ji Jinglun had already floated above the stone platform.
In an instant, the stone platform glowed with an earthy yellow light, and Profound Patterns emerged from its surface.
Ji Jinglun suddenly plummeted, crashing heavily onto the stone platform, as if he had been pulled down by some immense force.
Fortunately, he hadn't flown very high, only a few feet from the stone platform. When he landed on it, he was unharmed, but his knees bent deeply to absorb the force of the fall.
Ji Jinglun's aura surged, then he straightened up, kneeling on both knees.
He gritted his teeth and glared angrily at the Corpse Daoist Yin.
"This stone platform actually has such a strong gravity restriction, why didn't you say so earlier?"