Shrouding the Heavens: Those Years as the Empress's Strictest Master

"Dead."

"What a coincidence. How did he die?"

"We still don't know. We're investigating."

"..."

The two groups continued talking in the clearing for a long while.

There were not many people besides those from the Feathered Immortal Dynasty, only seven or eight.

Aside from a seductive woman with a graceful figure and lovely jade-like features, the others all possessed astonishingly vigorous blood energy. They were tall and upright, with a few built like iron towers.

They wore uniform dark-purple battle armor. Ancient patterns occasionally glimmered across it in the moonlight, radiating an overbearing aura.

At their head stood a cold-faced young man whose gaze was as sharp as a hawk's. Even a stray trace of his immense blood energy surpassed everyone present, making him seem like an ancient dragon in human form!

"Forget it. We don't care about the Feathered Immortal Dynasty's mess. I only care whether this deal can still continue now that the man is dead."

The young man spoke in a low voice.

"Naturally..."

The spokesman with a dazzling green feather on his helmet smiled faintly.

His aura was as unfathomable as an abyss. Even with that bloodline flowing through the young man before him, he showed no fear whatsoever.

Besides, this was the Big Dipper!

"That's good..."

The young man's expression eased considerably upon hearing that.

As he spoke, he pulled the beautiful woman beside him into his embrace. With soft jade in his arms and her fragrance lingering around him, his mood improved greatly. He then waved at the attendants behind him, signaling them to open the coffin.

Bathed in the divine glow of her jade-like body, the woman became even more enchanting.

Leaning against the young man's chest, she watched as two attendants slowly pushed open the coffin lid. She then giggled sweetly and said, "Yuhang, with this Indestructible Golden Body corpse, you can present it to Father-in-law during his grand banquet. Not only will it please him, but it will also be a tremendous merit. If Father-in-law defeats that person in their duel, perhaps he might even teach you the cultivation method for the Fourth Divine Form..."

"I hope so. The purity of my Tyrant Blood is inferior to Third Brother's. In the competition for the clan's top inheritances, I've always been at a disadvantage..."

The young man shook his head, not particularly optimistic.

"But what if you're rewarded with a bottle of Great Accomplishment Precious Blood?"

The woman did not think much of it.

Great Accomplishment Precious Blood?

The young man's eyes widened. He reached out and pinched his companion's pretty cheek.

"How could that be possible? You really dare to dream!"

Crack!

Crack... crack...

As the two chatted and laughed, the coffin lid had already been pushed halfway open.

Above them.

Li Qingjue held her breath and stared fixedly at the coffin, tears welling in her eyes.

The first thing she saw was a pair of broken leg bones, completely stripped of flesh.

From that alone, she could already imagine that her brother in the coffin had most likely become nothing more than a pile of dry bones...

Tan Lin's remnant soul stood beside her like a clay statue, devoid of emotion and utterly unmoved.

Yet for one brief instant, a trace of crimson flashed through his eyes as he looked toward somewhere in the distance.

Whoosh...

Below, before the coffin, the young man could not wait for the lid to be fully opened. He immediately sent his divine sense sweeping into the coffin.

Once he saw what was inside.

In the next instant.

His expression darkened, as though he had swallowed a dead fly.

With a remnant like this piece of trash, if he presented it to his father, let alone receiving Great Accomplishment Precious Blood or the Fourth Divine Form, it would already be fortunate if he was not punished.

Bang!

With a thunderous crash, the immense power of Tyrant Blood erupted.

He flung the coffin lid open with one hand, making the Feathered Immortal Dynasty soldiers around him tremble. Then he fixed the man with the green feather with a hawk-like glare.

"This is the corpse your Feathered Immortal Dynasty is using for the transaction?!"

"Just tell me, is it or is it not the remains of an Indestructible Golden Body?"

The green-feathered man merely smiled calmly before asking in return,

"This was a first-generation physique born of heaven and earth!

With the price you offered, did you really think you could buy a corpse with its origin and essence blood still intact, with not even a trace of Soul Resonance dispersed?

If there were such a good deal, we would have kept it within the dynasty. Would it ever have been your Tyrant Body Ancestral Star's turn?"

"You..."

The string of questions left the young man unable to retort. The frustration lodged in his chest had nowhere to go.

"Even if its origin and essence blood are gone, why are there no organs, flesh, skin, or hair left? These bones..."

"Do you still want these remains?"

The green-feathered man smiled, avoiding the question.

"As agreed, even if the transaction falls through, the Feathered Immortal Dynasty will not refund the deposit. Think it over carefully. If you still want it, make it quick. I have other important matters to attend to."

"..."

The young man fell silent, narrowing his sharp eyes as he stared at the other party. The attendants behind him were eager to make a move.

But in the end, he did not erupt. He stopped the covert movements of his attendants.

"Phew..."

After letting out a long breath, he actually began to smile.

"I want it. Of course I do. Why wouldn't I? Xin'er, give him the item."

Borrowing the Human Emperor Hall

"You still want those bones when they're like this?"

The seductive woman found it hard to believe.

"Don't ask. Give him the item."

The cold-faced young man named Yuhang returned to his earlier indifference.

"Take it away..."

He waved his hand, and several attendants stepped forward. They carefully took out a bronze coffin overflowing with cold air and placed Li Fan's remains, covered in strange marks, inside.

They had no choice but to be careful. The bones in these remains were more brittle than paper. Had they not confirmed it repeatedly, they would never have believed these were the bones of an Indestructible Golden Body.

And a first-generation one at that?

Bang...

A moment later, the bronze coffin was sealed tightly. Since the two sides had parted on unpleasant terms, the group from the Tyrant Blood Ancestral Star had no desire to linger and prepared to leave.

"W-Woo..."

In midair.

Her brother's remains were once again cut off from the world. Li Qingjue covered her mouth tightly, her eyes wide as she tried desperately not to blink, but tears still poured down silently.

Thanks to a small technique used by her master Tan Lin, she had witnessed everything below and heard the conversation between those people.

She did not understand. Her brother was already dead!

Why were these people taking away her brother's remains?

What were they taking them back for?

Research? Experiments?

Researching what?

Could they not simply let her brother rest in peace?!

She did not understand!

She truly did not understand...

"W-Woo... M-Master, c-could you..."

Seeing those people in dark-purple armor about to leave, she raised her small face and looked pleadingly at Tan Lin.

But before she could finish, Tan Lin coldly refused her.

"No."

He did not explain much. With the tiny amount of Primordial Spirit power he had managed to gather, his current strength was not even one ten-thousandth of what it had been in his previous life. He could not even connect to Dao Marks now, and he was heavily restricted.

Li Qingjue swayed. Those two words shattered every last one of her hopes.

Whoosh!

Just then, inside the station below, the green-feathered man seemed to sense something. His dim gaze abruptly swept toward the sky above.

His divine sense swept through the area, but the formation patterns showed no abnormalities.

Finding nothing, he frowned slightly and dismissed it as an illusion.

"What are you looking at?"

The cold-faced young man before him had also become somewhat uneasy from the man's sudden reaction.

"I was thinking that perhaps the person who killed Zhou Jie and the others is still here?"

The green-feathered man spoke slowly.

"Heh. If that's the case, then it's even less advisable for us to remain here..."

The young man chuckled. Without any hesitation, he turned and led his group aboard the ancient warship hovering outside the station.

Rumble...

Soon, the warship roared as it tore through this corner of the night sky, vanishing from Li Qingjue's sight in the blink of an eye.

During the Early Desolate Era, a Quasi-Emperor Tyrant Body ancestor from their Ancestral Star had descended upon the Big Dipper. He suppressed his own realm and fought an Indestructible Golden Body at the peak of the Great Saint realm.

After a fierce battle lasting three months, he ultimately killed that Indestructible Golden Body "at the same realm"!

At the time, many people from their Ancestral Star had crossed the starry sky in groups to witness the battle. Above the Southern Region of the Eastern Wasteland, beyond the domain, they had set up a long-term starfield transit formation.

This time, they had used that formation to travel here from another starfield.

Whoosh...

The moment the warship disappeared, Tan Lin also departed with his young disciple.

The two did not head directly back to the abandoned brick kiln. Instead, Tan Lin seemed to deliberately take a detour, wandering aimlessly through numerous deep mountains.

Yet by dawn, Li Qingjue's tattered little bundle contained seven or eight century-old spirit herbs. She remained completely unaware, lost and listless, her eyes vacant.

She was still immersed in the immense grief and shock of knowing that her brother's remains had been taken away for research and experimentation.

Tan Lin glanced at her. Perhaps feeling that the helplessness in her heart was not yet great enough, he spoke slowly.

"This is the cruelty of the cultivation world. If you are weak, you cannot even protect the bones of your closest kin. You can only become expendable material in the eyes of others..."

Every word he spoke along the way was like an ice spike stabbing deep into Li Qingjue's heart, and like a heavy hammer making her head buzz.

At this moment.