CHAPTER 775: CHAPTER 196: BURIAL OF THE EMPEROR, ENTERING THE COFFIN

Various puzzles surged to his mind, but vanished in an instant.

Zhou Yan approached the Female War God. Her eyes still bore tears while her hands clutched the crystal tightly.

The severed arm of the Mechanical Clan confined this space tightly. The dark black hole, filled with an aura nearly at its destructive apex, opposed all energy in heaven and earth, brimming with the breath of death.

The closer Zhou Yan got, the more his soul felt like shattering under the immense pressure.

But he still walked forward.

The original form of the woman with a broken arm.

The original form of the blind woman.

The origin of the Lonely Sword Intent.

And the figure that was about to turn around but didn’t.

All these merged with the woman in the red battle armor before him.

Who was she?

She seemed so familiar, yet so foreign.

Zhou Yan’s hand gently touched the face of the woman in red battle armor, but the woman, nailed in the void, suddenly shattered.

The mechanical giant arm also crumbled.

The black light broke into dust, carrying with it the aura of the Tai Chu era, casting ashes in the air.

Bone upon bone turned to ash.

Suddenly, this phrase seemed to find its best proof.

The crystal fell from the woman’s hands but didn’t hit the ground.

Zhou Yan did not catch it, yet it flew into his palm as if it were alive, radiating vibrant energy, like a blue planet with flowing water streams, spinning in the palm of his hand.

It was a deep blue planet, with ancient Tai Chu runes, heartbreakingly beautiful.

Zhou Yan cradled the crystal that resembled a planet, but saw within the crystal the reflection of a very familiar little girl.

The girl in a ragged red cotton-padded jacket, smiling sweetly at him, with adorable little tiger teeth and cute dimples.

Zhou Yan was taken aback, staring intently, but there was nothing left in the crystal.

It was like an illusion.

After all, a crystal is just a crystal.

The divinely spiritual Extreme Cold Ice Soul Stone was, in essence, merely an Extreme Cold Ice Soul Stone.

Suddenly, Zhou Yan’s heart grew inexplicably heavy, as if he had taken on the entire history of the Tai Chu era in an instant, as if carrying the shackles of an age.

"Cultivation has no end; bone upon bone turns to ash."

"Why, all of a sudden, do I understand its endless vicissitudes? Why do I suddenly feel old?"

Zhou Yan murmured to himself, and unexpectedly, tears streamed down his face.

"All Heavens and Myriads of Worlds, Lei Yan reigns as king."

"All Heavens and Myriads of Worlds, Lei Yan reigns as king."

...

All of a sudden, Zhou Yan faintly heard the voices of the cultivators under the Thunder Flame Sect once again shouting loudly, declaring their allegiance.

The voice seemed to grow louder and clearer.

Zhou Yan looked up, seeing the world around him showing fine cracks as if on the verge of collapse after the crystal fell into his hand.

Zhou Yan gathered his spirit, retracting any emotions that had formed into illusions, and the shouting in his ears also disappeared.

Silence reigned between heaven and earth.

Much like Zhou Yan’s heart, equally still.

The world was also cold.

Just like Zhou Yan’s heart, equally cold.

Yet he did not know why he felt cold.

Was it his heart that was cold, or his soul?

Zhou Yan did not know.

But his set fate still lay ahead.

His heart cold, his soul cold, everything in the world cold, he still had to go out.

Inexplicably, Zhou Yan sighed deeply, then took out a bottle of Fiery Flame Sword Heart Wine, pouring it gently onto the ground.

As if to pay homage to the unknown era of Tai Chu, to offer tribute to certain beings that deserved it.

The wine was still bitter, scalding the soul.

Zhou Yan had not drunk for a long time.

But this time, he bid farewell to the last remnants of an era that was about to pass.

He was reluctant to leave.

Yet he did not know what precisely he was reluctant to leave behind.

Not knowing, not knowing.

Life was full of too many unknowns.

In the bitterness of the wine, in the dim and piercing cold light, Zhou Yan’s shadow stretched long and lonely.

Then, his figure gradually distanced itself from this ancient place.

...

"You’ve come out..."

The Red Dress Princess watched Zhou Yan and said softly.

"I’ve come out," Zhou Yan replied calmly.

"What did you see?"

"Those that have passed, they are no longer important."

"Indeed, they are no longer important. You got the Extreme Cold Ice Soul Stone, right?"

"What should I do?"

"One-tenth of your Vast Qi and one-tenth of the divinity from the Soul Stone are enough."

"What about the extra Extreme Cold Ice Soul Stones? Aren’t you going to use them all for Xi’er?"

"No, the surplus belongs to you."

"Um?"

"You’ve come in the form of a soul, correct?"

"Yes, my body is indeed manifested from my soul, my true form is that of the soul."

"Then condense the Tai Chu Killing Spirit, derive the Soul Path Vast Qi, and become the remaining strand of divinity from the Extreme Cold Ice Soul Stone."

"I will save Gu Xi first."

"Good."

...

Soul Path Vast Qi was extracted, and the divinity from the Extreme Cold Ice Soul Stone was naturally drawn out, one-tenth of it by Princess Hongyi, merging together, giving rise to an aura like the Supreme Dao from the chaos of the void.

The purple Supreme Dao aura gradually entered Gu Xi’s body.

Gu Xi was about to awaken.

At this moment, however, Zhou Yan transformed himself into pure Soul Path Vast Qi and entered the Extreme Cold Ice Soul Stone, completely merging with its divinity.

The Extreme Cold Ice Soul Stone, in that instant, suddenly underwent a transformation, gradually growing larger, turning into a crystal coffin.

The Emperor Burial Crystal Coffin appeared once more, yet it was like a conglomerate of all the Emperor Coffins that had appeared before.

Majestic, immortal.

At this moment, the Ten Thousand Ghosts Sword Tomb suddenly began to shake.

Zhou Yan’s body appeared inside the crystal coffin, just like the one he had seen in that lonely grave in the Ten Thousand Ghosts Sword Tomb.

Now, he lay inside the crystal coffin.

The Extreme Cold Ice Soul Stone, the Emperor Burial Crystal Coffin. What was buried was himself.

Darkness.

Darkness.

All of Zhou Yan’s soul and consciousness became darkness.

The darkest moment of his life was this moment.

Then, Zhou Yan heard a faint, strange sound.

A trembling of the soul piercing through the endless void, as if descending upon a certain place.

It was also the sound of a shattering soul.

It was the sound he, Zhou Yan, heard when he killed his enemies, the sound of their souls shattering.

Now, he heard the sound of his own soul breaking.

...

"Brother Zhou Yan..."

Outside the crystal coffin, Gu Xi, as beautiful as a divine being, underwent a tremendous transformation. The tails of the Nine-tailed Jade Fox bloomed like beautiful plum blossoms amidst the howling cold wind, blossoming alone in their stunning beauty.

She was crying.

She lay atop the crystal coffin, gazing at the near-depleted soul body of Zhou Yan, weeping endlessly.

"He will come back."

Princess Hongyi sighed.

"The shattered soul body must return to the Ancestor Land; that was his original wish, and now it is fulfilled."

"But he will come back because here, there are people he cares about even more, the red face he can’t bear to leave, family, friends."

Princess Hongyi sighed.

"Um..."

Reluctantly letting go but finally releasing her grip, Gu Xi watched as the crystal coffin suddenly transformed into a beam of Yuan Ci magnetic light, disappearing into the Ten Thousand Ghosts Sword Tomb.

Gu Xi looked up at the void, which remained cold and clear, the sky invisible.

But she knew, at the end of the sky, a loved one had already begun his journey.

He was Lei Yan King, once the Ten Thousand Realms Supreme King.

...

"We are preparing to set off for the Sword Burial Ancestor Star to arrange his afterlife matters."

"Wu Ji has been temporarily suppressed by me, and there are some surprises waiting for his return."

Princess Hongyi spoke softly.

"Has there been news from the War God Yanyan?"

Gu Xi nodded slightly, wiping the tears from the corner of her eyes, and asked with a bit more strength.

"I don’t know, only when we find that particular ’trail.’ His growth has been faster than anticipated, so some things have changed."

"But... his love for you has always remained unchanged."

"I love him, and neither will my love fade with the passage of time. I hope... in the Ancestor Land, he can..."

"Absolutely!"

Princess Hongyi affirmed.

...

(Today marks the completion of the volume on Lei Yan King. The next volume, the Path of Ancestor Worship, opens a new Chapter.)