Drifting Remains Mountain
[Drifting Remains Mountain]
It was said to be a small world created by a True Person of the corpse Dao. Within stood a towering peak ten thousand feet high, its heaven and earth shrouded in mist, with neither sun nor moon in sight. Countless [coffins] floated around the mountain.
The coffins held nothing but corpses refined by that True Person of the corpse Dao all those years ago, hence its name: Drifting Remains Mountain.
"Once you enter [Drifting Remains Mountain], just follow our earlier plan. I'll enter afterward and keep you safe from the shadows.
"As for the master of Flower Moon Hall, there's no need to worry about him either. Master will watch him personally.
"If he doesn't act, so be it. But the moment he dares to make a move, this bucket of shit... ahem, this charge will be pinned on him for good." His tongue had nearly let his true thoughts slip. Zheng Yi hastily coughed a few times and glossed over it.
"Don't worry, senior brother. I'll keep the True Person's instructions firmly in mind. I'll be going, then."
Cupping his hands toward Zheng Yi, Qi Yun crushed the orange-yellow jade talisman in his hand, which was the size of a goose egg.
This jade talisman was the token for entering [Drifting Remains Mountain].
The instant it shattered, the magical command within activated. The void above Qi Yun's head abruptly split open, and a massive hand that looked as though it had been forged from pure gold suddenly reached out, scooped him up, and withdrew in a flash.
As soon as Qi Yun left, the expression on Zheng Yi's face gradually turned impassive.
He turned his hand over and produced a shell-shaped communication jade talisman, identical to the one he had given Qi Yun earlier.
Zheng Yi injected a strand of True Qi into the jade talisman. It immediately rose into the air, giving off a soft glow that vaguely formed a pair of calm, indifferent eyes.
"Master, the bait is in the water," Zheng Yi said softly and respectfully.
"Mm. Proceed as planned. Until that old bastard acts personally, keep that junior alive. No matter what, we must draw him into taking action himself.
"True Person Wei of the Internal Inspection Office is here at my residence.
"This time, we'll catch him with evidence piled high as a mountain!"
"Yes!"
Bowing as he answered, Zheng Yi put away the communication jade talisman, then took out a talisman token leading to [Drifting Remains Mountain] and crushed it.
The instant that golden hand scooped him up, Qi Yun felt heaven and earth spin. Countless brilliantly colored streaks of light flashed before his eyes.
Through the haze, he seemed to glimpse the entire Great Void Mirror Heaven beneath him.
Could these [Remnant Realms] all lie outside the Holy Sect's Great Void Mirror Heaven?
The thought had barely surfaced when Qi Yun felt a force surge beneath his feet, and he landed steadily on the ground.
The feeling of solid ground beneath his feet settled his mind somewhat. An icy, foul wind, mingling the smell of rotting coffin wood with dense Corpse Qi, struck him in the face, making his skin prickle.
"So this is... Drifting Remains Mountain?"
A ten-thousand-foot peak of bone pierced the gray mist.
It thrust straight into the murky sky.
The entire mountain was jagged as the spine of a colossal beast, its pallor glaring.
Countless coffins floated in the churning sea of mist, packed so densely that the sight made his scalp crawl.
Thin-walled coffins seeped dark yellow corpse oil, bronze outer coffins crawled with sickly green verdigris, and enormous nanmu coffins were wrapped in layer upon layer of pitch-black chains as thick as a child's arm.
A blue-purple arm hung limply over the edge of a half-open stone coffin. In the gaps beneath its withered fingernails, dark red moss spread and grew like blood vessels.
An icy wind swept past in spirals. Twelve gold coffins with bronze corners carved with ferocious beast heads floated end to end, slowly revolving in the mist. Through a gap beneath one lid, a shriveled finger suddenly twitched and hooked tightly over the coffin's rim, as though it would push the heavy lid open the very next moment!
From deep in the mist came the shrill scrape of chains against rock walls, mingled with the groaning of coffins pressing against one another.
The entire mountain breathed like a living thing.
"Wu Tao left word in his letter for me to head to the north side of Drifting Remains Mountain and meet him as soon as I entered the secret realm."
Taking out a compass, Qi Yun checked his bearings against its needle, drew a deep breath, and steadied his gaze.
Whether he could pull himself free of this mire would depend on this venture.
As for whether he succeeded, that would also depend on how the battle between those two Foundation Establishment True Persons went.
Forming hand seals and chanting an incantation, Qi Yun stirred the True Qi within him, transformed into a breeze, and plunged into Drifting Remains Mountain, hurrying toward the location Wu Tao had left in his letter.
Dense forests covered Drifting Remains Mountain, dim and shadowy.
Faint, barely perceptible miasma filled the air. A single breath would leave an ordinary person seriously ill.
Even a Qi Refining Realm cultivator like Qi Yun had to circulate his True Qi constantly to keep the miasma from seeping into his body.
As he sped along, he could see caves of every size densely covering the mountain. From the depths of several came faint glimmers of deep blue, sickly green, or dark red light, as though silently tempting greedy treasure hunters.
"Drifting Remains Mountain is a relatively stable [Remnant Realm]. Over the years, many outer residence disciples have explored it."
As he hurried on, the contents of several guide scrolls he had purchased from fellow disciples at a high price flashed rapidly through Qi Yun's mind.
"Most of the treasures here are hidden in two places.
"The first is these caves in the mountain, but nine out of ten are empty!
"And some people, upholding the demonic sect 'virtue' of 'I came away empty-handed, so don't think you'll have an easy time either,' have filled the empty caves with vicious traps specifically to ensnare those who come after them.
"The second is those locked coffins in the sky! The truly good stuff is supposedly inside them.
"But opening a coffin is like opening a mystery box. The moment you get your hands on the treasure, its 'rightful occupant' wakes up too.
"Without some real ability, not only will you fail to get the treasure, you'll also be dragged inside by a zombie for some 'intimate interaction.'"
The Holy Sect had captured [Drifting Remains Mountain] long ago, and at least several hundred Holy Sect disciples had explored it. Apart from the traps deliberately laid there, all its dangerous areas had already been identified.
"And the most valuable things on all of Drifting Remains Mountain are those twelve gold coffins with bronze corners.
"They say the corpses lying inside are all Bronze-Armored Corpses at Qi Refining Great Perfection, further refined by that True Person of the corpse Dao using Black Witchcraft.
"Once they awaken, it will probably take a Foundation Establishment True Person to suppress them." Qi Yun raised his eyes toward the twelve gold coffins with bronze corners suspended above the summit. Even from far away, he could feel a bone-piercing Corpse Qi seemingly lingering around his nose.
Crossing a little less than half of Drifting Remains Mountain swiftly and cautiously, Qi Yun reached the desolate, sinister northern foot of the towering ten-thousand-foot peak.
Jagged rubble and strange rocks stood in clusters, forming a natural maze.
Qi Yun concealed himself in the shadow behind an enormous boulder and reined in his presence. His gaze pierced the thin mist, locking firmly onto a figure at the edge of the field of shattered stone.
"Wu Tao..."
His former colleague, whom he had not seen for over half a year, stood right there. Qi Yun looked down at him calmly.
Wu Tao's complexion was much better than Qi Yun remembered. Dressed in well-fitted cultivator's robes with a sword hanging at his waist, he already showed a hint of an immortal cultivator's composed bearing in his every movement. He was like an entirely different person from the wretch he had been in the mortal world.
"He's alone. That means the disciple of Flower Moon Hall's master is hiding elsewhere."
Standing on high ground with the entire stone forest below in view, Qi Yun did not rush to reveal himself. Instead, he remained quietly where he was.
He had to wait.
Wait until all the fish he, the "bait," was meant to hook had arrived.
Only then would the scheme he had so painstakingly devised truly begin.