"Senior Brother, what material is this coffin made from? It seems neither gold nor wood, and it's exceptionally hard; even your Seven Stars Sword couldn't leave a single scratch on it."
"Junior Sister, keep your voice down. If you wake the corpse inside, things will get bad. This Purple Gold Coffin is made from special ancient purple bamboo wood. Naturally, my Seven Stars Sword can't leave any marks on it."
"If it's just a corpse, why would it wake up?" The girl's voice trembled slightly.
"Stop asking so many questions. The coffin has a life gate. The Spirit Communication Jade our master gave me can open this life gate. By opening this coffin... Although Master didn't explicitly state what kind of demon we're here to subdue in the Demon Cave, I've gleaned a bit of insight. They're mainly here to eradicate Corpse King Jiang Chen! If I'm not mistaken, the one lying inside this coffin, which receives the reverence of ten thousand ghosts, must be Corpse King Jiang Chen!"
"Ah!" The woman exclaimed in shock.
"Is it really that Jiang Chen?! Senior Brother, shall we not open this coffin and just leave quickly?"
"No!" The man responded with decisive firmness.
"Master always thought I haven't been through enough trials and tribulations and has been unwilling to agree to betroth you to me. This opportunity is rare; Jiang Chen is at a crucial moment in his evolution. If I can annihilate him while he's asleep, Master will surely start to see me in a new light and betroth you to me. Ah, I've found the life gate."
The man spoke with sudden joy, and with a rumbling sound, the heavy lid of the coffin opened halfway. The young man lifted his Daoist robe and jumped into the Purple Gold Coffin without waiting for the girl to stop or refute him, leaving her alone, suspended over the half-opened coffin in the center of the Demon Cave.
With a gust of chilling wind, as if wails of ghosts could be heard, the girl, with a nearly tearful expression, looked down at the bottomless Abyss, worried about her Senior Brother's safety. Clenching her teeth, she also jumped into the coffin.
But as soon as her feet touched down, they came into contact with an ice-cold, hard body. She tripped, let out a scream, and fell flat on her face.
Her forehead bumped into a cold forehead, and the girl instantly realized she was lying on top of something. It was her first time descending the mountain to subdue demons and evil spirits; she had never encountered such a thing and started crying out, "Senior Brother! Senior Brother! Senior Brother!"
The sound of a sword humming followed immediately. The Seven Stars Sword emitted a faint glow, and the girl, panicked as if grasping at a lifeline, looked towards the light of the sword.
The coffin was quite large, and even with three people inside, there was still room to spare. She saw her Senior Brother standing with his sword, not close to her and with a very ugly expression - but not the kind that comes from seeing something horrifying. Instead, it was one of disappointment.
The girl felt a sharp sadness in her heart, fearing that her Senior Brother, by acting rashly, may have provoked some evil spirit and, not caring about her own fear, had jumped into this ill-omened coffin with him.
But her Senior Brother didn't pay any attention to her, even allowing her to fall and crash onto a cold corpse, without even the gesture of coming over to help her up, his gaze fervently and eagerly sweeping the interior of the coffin.
The man, full of disappointment, said, "It's just an ordinary corpse, its spiritual energy so faint that it's nearly dissipated. This person probably didn't live past sixteen years old; he is not Jiang Chen."
Upon hearing these words, the girl's disappointment grew even more pronounced—it was clear that compared to her Senior Brother's bright future, the safety of their fellow disciples seemed trivial.
Fortunately, the girl was no ordinary person. Having cultivated for over a decade, she had heard many tales of ghosts and goblins, and having laid on this corpse for so long without a stir, it was probably just an ordinary corpse.
Shortly after calming her mind, a hint of curiosity arose in her heart.
Senior Brother said that the person in the coffin was only sixteen years old. Why would someone so young die and end up buried in the Demon Cave, a place forbidden to the living?
Lit by the faint residual light, she carefully inspected the corpse beneath her. At this glance, the last shred of fear in her heart dissipated.
Lying beneath her was merely a young man, about fifteen or sixteen years old, and quite handsome at that.
A delicate small sword was deeply embedded in his chest, its blade not visible, showcasing the severity of his killer's determination. It was clearly the fatal wound that had led to the young man's death.
The young man's eyes were closed tight, his skin pale without a hint of color, yet with an air of gracefulness. His features were refined and elegant, exuding a warm aura, altogether the type that girls would find appealing.
If it weren't for the excessive paleness of his face, he would seem like a normal boy, peacefully asleep.
Looking at the peaceful expression on the dead boy's face, for some reason, she perceived an indelible sorrow.
Baili An had a very long dream.
The dream felt distant, and even deep within it, he couldn't remember exactly what he was experiencing.
He was like a leaf on a flat boat in a turbulent sea, lonely and drifting, at any moment at risk of being swallowed by a dangerous tsunami.
He guarded his fading consciousness with difficulty, refusing to sink into oblivion.
Gradually, a clear image emerged in his mind; the scenes before him were blurry and unclear, vague figures swayed before him like man-eating demons, gnashing their teeth and clawing.
He had nowhere to retreat to, for behind him was an Abyss.
A delicate small sword, with unerring accuracy, pierced his heart. An overwhelming pain came, his limbs grew cold—this was due to the blood draining away.
Then, he died.
He couldn't open his eyes, breathe, or move, because he was a corpse.
He was laid to rest in an opulent Purple Gold Coffin.
The dead are gone, just like an extinguished lamp.
After death, his soul should have returned to the earth, entering the cycle of reincarnation.
But the specially prepared coffin became his eternal shackle.
His poor and weak soul was eternally imprisoned within this small space.
He couldn't find peace; he couldn't reincarnate. He could only struggle in vain, sinking into a terrifying and lonely eternity.
In a daze, an ancient and majestic voice reached his ears. The voice, indescribable with all the words in the world, filled with unknowable magic power, gathered his dissipating soul back together.
Countless years might have passed since then, with that voice often accompanying him, filling his ears, speaking languages he couldn't understand.
Until this day, he still couldn't lift his eyelids, his corpse still stiff, but a light and gentle female voice reached his ears.
"This young man looks rather handsome; naturally, he's not the Corpse King Jiang Chen your Senior Brother spoke of. He doesn't seem like a bad person either, so why did he meet his demise here?"
Seeing his Junior Sister lying on top of that young corpse, a corpse that appeared even more handsome than himself, the man felt inexplicably irritated.
The man coldly said, "Appearances can be deceiving. Since he's revered by ten thousand ghosts, he's definitely not a good entity. Junior Sister, step aside. Watch me annihilate this evil spirit and destroy his physical body."
The woman suddenly felt a chill, as if seeing her Senior Brother clearly for the first time.
Usually, her Senior Brother was modest, polite, and gentle, truly presenting himself like a gentleman, respected and loved by their younger fellow disciples in the sect.
But now, in this place without their Master or outsiders, he had changed his demeanor.
She got up from the young corpse, dusting the dirt from her body.
A tinkling sound of something falling rang out. A Jade Ring fell from her bosom into the coffin, making a clear sound.
The man's eyes lit up, following the trajectory of the falling Jade Ring with an ecstatic gaze.
"Jade birthed by clear water! A Space Treasure! It's actually a Space Treasure!"
No matter how much he tried to hide it, the man's greed showed blatantly on his face.
The woman looked down at the bright green ring, bent down to pick it up.
She too was from a Cultivation Sect, and how could she not recognize a Space Treasure?
Of course, she couldn't possibly have such an item on her person. It must have been when she fell onto the young man's corpse that the impact dislodged the ring into her clothing.
Jade birthed by clear water, a treasure of space, unlike the Qiankun Bag that could store inanimate objects, it could preserve living spirit beasts and was only possessed by houses of the Righteous Sects.
Even in their Lihe Sect, such a treasure couldn't be found, no wonder the Senior Brother was so thrilled.
She held up the Jade Ring and indignantly said, "This jade, born of clear water, is something only legitimate Cultivation Sects possess. If it accompanies this young man in burial, then he must be from a Righteous Sect. We absolutely must not destroy a corpse without cause!"
Only noble families would be willing to spend such effort to bury such luxurious goods with the dead.
The Demon Path's characteristically cold and selfish nature would have claimed such items for themselves long ago, not leaving them behind until now.
But the man was not listening to any of this. He knew this as well, but to him, it didn't matter.
What mattered was that, if it was a burial item, there would certainly be more than one.
He ignored his Junior Sister's questions and hurriedly used the faint light from his sword to illuminate the surroundings of the coffin.
His eyes grew brighter and brighter, even more so than the light from the sword in his hand.
Unable to contain it, the tip of the sword began to tremble. He clenched his teeth tightly, trying not to scream out in excitement.
His eyes shone with a madness akin to possession, his face showing a nervous excitement running through every nerve.
Muttering to himself, he said, "The Shadow Sword! The Night Light Cup! The Mountain River Fan! The Demon Suppression Tower! And what's this?! My god! There's also the Glazed Umbrella! So many treasures! If they were all mine, why would I worry about the uncertain journey ahead!"
The woman's spirit darkened, lowering her arms with a disappointed heart.
The man, bent over with excitement, eagerly collected the glittering treasures on the ground, his mind no longer on the dangers of defeating demons and evil spirits.
His left hand did not forget to push aside his beloved Junior Sister, who was in the way.
Collecting... collecting... The excitement in his eyes suddenly turned into a fierce glare, and he remembered that he was not the only one here.