Such a change in Ling Ziwei was observed by everyone present, and their complexions shifted. But they didn’t know whether they ought to prevent it — Clearly this had something to do with the woman in the coffin, and it was presumed that this woman was the Human King. While they weren’t aware of the Human King’s goal, on the off-chance that they instead ruined Ling Ziwei’s opportunity after interrupting, what were they to do then?
Even if it was Gongyi Tianheng, he couldn’t come to a decision right away.
— When all was said and done, this moment’s scene was just too peculiar.
Amid everyone’s hesitation, Ling Ziwei had already walked close to that coffin. She reached out a palm, and lightly pressed on the coffin.
Gu Zuo’s eyes suddenly widened.
He didn’t know if he saw things incorrectly, but the woman in the coffin seemed to have blinked her eyes!
The next moment, Ling Ziwei’s expression changed.
Her red lips curled up, resembling a smile brimming with an enticing power, but her brows were tightly creased and the qi emissions of her whole body fluctuated as if she was undergoing an intense struggle. She seemed to be deeply immersed in something.
Tianheng suddenly said: “Something’s wrong.”
Gu Zuo’s heartbeat was also very fast. His intuition was positive that this was something bad, but his knowledge was limited. He simply had no way of knowing what the cause was.
He promptly inquired within his consciousness.
[System, what’s going on with Ling Ziwei?]
The system quickly answered the question.
[Possession of a Remnant Soul.]
Gu Zuo suddenly felt far from encouraged.
Possession of a Remnant Soul? Once he heard this, he knew it wasn’t a good thing! The system’s meaning was that, in this coffin, there still remained the remnant soul of the woman who had already died?
[Then, how should we resolve this problem? Tell me quickly!]
[A single thread of the Human King’s Remnant Soul is incomparably powerful. However, because it has no support, it still needs to use a bit of time. Presently, there are no other methods. It will come down to a contest between Ling Ziwei’s own willpower and that of the Remnant Soul. If you want to increase Ling Ziwei’s chances of victory, the host can feed lots of Moon Yin Pills to strengthen her. At the same time, this will also suppress the other side.]
Gu Zuo didn’t dare to hesitate for a moment. His inner thoughts moved, and the previously-refined top grade Moon Yin Pills appeared in his hands. He immediately threw them to Tianyang: “Tianyang, quickly go and feed them to Young Lady Ling.”
Likewise, in order to ensure that there weren’t any accidents, he also threw a bottle to Ling Ziqi.
Although Tianyang and Ling Ziqi didn’t know what was going on, when Tianheng mentioned that something was wrong and Gu Zuo acted so urgently, they didn’t dare to neglect anything.
The two promptly poured out the medicinal pills and approached Ling Ziwei at lightning speeds. One was on the left and one was on the right as they continuously fed her the Moon Yin Pills.
Luckily, Ling Ziwei seemed to know that they had come to help her. The shifts in her facial features became even more intense. She strived to open her mouth, and did her best to swallow the medicinal pills.
As more and more Moon Yin Pills were sent in, Ling Ziwei’s delicate body began to faintly shudder. Her complexion turned deathly pale, but her eyes shined resplendently.
Gu Zuo and Tianheng had already walked in front of Ling Ziwei to observe her reactions. The two saw it distinctly. Ling Ziwei’s left eye was crystal clear and held a trace of unswerving determination. It had the feeling of a staunched personality that had yet to see the wider world. As for the right eye, it had the feeling of vicissitudes and heavy enticement. It was as if it had experienced the passing of tens of thousands of years.
This time, Gu Zuo was even more convinced of the system’s judgment.
While inwardly anxious, he told Tianheng about the information he obtained after inquiring the system.
But there wasn’t anything they could do at all.
The only thing they could await was Ling Ziwei’s own efforts.
While Gu Zuo explained to Tianheng, Tianyang and Ling Ziqi also heard it. The two only felt both anxious and worried. Their fingers trembled the entire time as they incessantly fed Ling Ziwei the Moon Yin Pills.
At this moment, they were extremely resentful towards this so-called Human King. She was clearly a person who died long ago, so why was she so ruthless to the younger generations? Ling Ziqi was endlessly regretful, and he even somewhat blamed that ancestor who obtained the secret key.
But it was of no use now. Who could’ve expected this situation to occur? Obviously, they had crashed their way through many dangers and obtained many benefits. Nevertheless, during this final juncture, it was like this…
Gu Zuo threw more jade bottles to the two, and they also didn’t dare to pause for a moment.
More and more Moon Yin Pills were fed to Ling Ziwei, but the total number of pills decreased further and further.
Gu Zuo hesitated somewhat.
If it continued like this, he was afraid that there wouldn’t be enough Moon Yin Pills. Should he take advantage of the time when the Moon Yin Pills weren’t yet completely used up to refine a few more bottles for Ling Ziwei?
For a moment, his mood became very complicated.
Just when Gu Zuo was about to take out a pill cauldron, his hand was stopped by Tianheng.
Gu Zuo didn’t understand: “Big brother?”
Tianheng said: “Ah Zuo, look.”
Gu Zuo hastily faced Ling Ziwei and looked over. Soon after, his frame of mind eased.
As it turned out, the radiance in Ling Ziwei’s left eye had become even more vigorous. Meanwhile, there appeared to be two forces battling one another in the right eye. The qi emissions belonging to Ling Ziwei grew more and more exuberant, while the other fluctuation weakened at speeds visible to the naked eye.
Tianyang steeled himself, and stuffed all the Moon Yin Pills in his hand into Ling Ziwei’s mouth. Upon seeing this, Ling Ziqi clenched his fist and did the same.
Immediately following this, Ling Ziwei’s palm pulled away from the coffin. She clutched at her head, and shivered as she leaned against that coffin. At this time, she was dripping with sweat like she had suffered the greatest of pains. But at the same time, the surface of her body was also seeping out faintly gray vestiges.
After another joss of incense passed, Ling Ziwei let out a soft murmur. After that, her body turned limp like she was going to collapse.
Tianyang swiftly caught her. Then Ling Ziqi went to hold his younger sister, taking her from Tianyang’s hands.
Ling Ziwei opened her eyes.
Everyone looked over… A part of Gu Zuo’s heart was nervous, too.
Was the current Ling Ziwei still Ling Ziwei?
Ling Ziwei showed a weak smile: “Big brother, everyone.”
Her qi emissions were still the same as before, but it was much stronger. The expression in her eyes also had no changes — There was obviously an extreme difference between a woman who had experienced the vicissitudes of life and a young lady who’d yet to experience the ways of the world.
The current Ling Ziwei really was the real Ling Ziwei.
Everyone’s tensed heartstrings loosened.
Gu Zuo wiped away a sheen of sweat.
That was truly a close call… The Human King’s “legacy” left behind in the Great Tomb truly wasn’t that easy to obtain.
To be honest, since they had taken the initiate to come over and rob the tomb, getting trapped was actually to be expected. But while reason dictated as such, who would be happy to experience this?
Fortunately, it was still their victory.
After Ling Ziwei sighed in relief, she slowly sat up: “Just now, the Remnant Soul of the Human King Yan Ruo has already been assimilated by me. As a result, I’ve learned a few things. I’ll tell everyone about it now.”
Ling Ziqi and Tianyang saw that she was strained, and intended to have her rest for a while. However, Ling Ziwei was somewhat stubborn, and wasn’t willing to do so.
Following that, Ling Ziwei talked all about the matters she learned from the Human King’s Remnant Soul.
First of all, this Great Tomb really was the tomb of the Human King, and the owner of the tomb really was that remarkably beautiful woman in the coffin.
The woman was called Yan Ruo. She also had the Moon Siren Body, and the cultivation method she practiced was <<Nine Yin Moon’s Embrace Sutra>>. There were actually all kinds of secret knowledge in the Remnant Soul. Also, she really had left behind an inheritance. Only, this inheritance was best for a woman with the Moon Siren Body to accept. If there wasn’t a Moon Siren Body, then a woman with a cold constitution would also work.
But it was absolutely impossible for a man — Unless that man also had a yin constitution.
This was certainly good news. Ling Ziwei just so happened to be without a suitable cultivation method. This was tantamount to delivering a pillow when it was time to sleep. This was an enormous opportunity for Ling Ziwei.
But Gu Zuo didn’t fully understand.
Since there was an inheritance, what was going on with the possession?
Not only Gu Zuo, but the others all had this question, too.
Ling Ziwei soon continued explaining to everyone.
What the original Yan Ruo had left behind was a thread of a Remnant Soul. This was to allow the Remnant Soul to deliver the inheritance memory of its own accord and properly guide the disciple in Yan Ruo’s place. However, in this Great Tomb filled with yin qi, there were corpses of the people who intended to plunder Yan Ruo’s savings but were later buried alive in the Great Tomb by her. What wasn’t expected was that while the Remnant Soul was once Yan Ruo, after the true Yan Ruo vanished like smoke into thin air, the resentment of those corpses had then contaminated the Remnant Soul!
This so-called contamination gave rise to another consciousness in the Remnant Soul. It became very extreme and volatile. It was no longer willing to act as the tool of an inheritance. Rather, it wanted to seize an opportunity to directly snatch a Moon Siren Body to act as a corporeal body. This would allow it to appear once more in this world.
Thus, after Ling Ziwei entered the Great Tomb’s core, the Remnant Soul automatically awakened and used its thoughts to attract Ling Ziwei over. It borrowed the inheritance’s chance to invade Ling Ziwei’s Tianfu Acupoint in one stroke!
If it weren’t for the numerous Moon Yin Pills that had been fed to Ling Ziwei, which let her keep a clear head and suppress the Moon Siren Body’s power, the Remnant Soul would’ve easily dispelled Ling Ziwei’s consciousness — And regardless of whether the Remnant Soul’s possession was successful or not, Ling Ziwei would’ve certainly had her own soul scattered.
During the entire course of events, had there been just a little less luck, even if the process deviated by just a thread, Ling Ziwei would’ve been done for.
This was truly too frightening.
Ling Ziqi and Tianyang both held lingering fears.
However, it could presently be said that Ling Ziwei had nevertheless profited from this disaster.
After all, this Remnant Soul was the Human King’s Remnant Soul. It contained many experiences about the study of the Moon Siren Body. When that moment came, she only needed to refer to the memories. She wasn’t worried about going down the wrong path and wasting time due to a lack of someone’s guidance.
Once she finished speaking, Ling Ziwei’s expression seemed to turn strange.
Gu Zuo was a bit curious: “Does Young Lady Ling have something else to say?”
Ling Ziwei composed herself, and said somewhat bashfully: “It concerns that carved statue…”
Gu Zuo stared blankly: “The carved statue?”
He suddenly recalled that sculpture from before. It was like a great general who was guarding the Human King’s tomb.
Although Ling Ziwei was shy, she still spoke the following words.
The sculpture was in the likeness of a great general. In fact, he really was a great general. The Human King Yan Ruo was originally a country’s princess, and this great general was the princess’ personal guard.
When Yan Ruo was young, she was like the current Ling Ziwei. Her constitution was special. However, as she was a princess, there were many secrets that the royal family knew about, and they quickly recognized the matter of the Moon Siren Body. Soon after, the princess joined a sect to learn a cultivation method. The Great General Huo Zhan followed her to the sect as a personal guard who protected her.
Time passed. Huo Zhan’s aptitudes were pretty good, so his strength rose sharply the whole way. However, he had always been faithful and true to Yan Ruo, and his thoughts never strayed. However, young girls were sentimental. After Yan Ruo had her first awakening of love, she didn’t adore anyone who pursued her for her beauty or constitution. Instead, she liked Huo Zhan. It was just a pity that Huo Zhan had no desires for her from beginning to end. He only revered her as a master, and didn’t have the slightest hint of affection for her.
Originally, Yan Ruo should’ve been a proud and outstanding woman, but her birth country had been wiped out by a powerhouse. Among all the members of the royal family, not a single one survived. If the sect that Yan Ruo resided in hadn’t been rather powerful, perhaps Yan Ruo herself wouldn’t have been able to escape total annihilation!
Such a disaster filled Yan Ruo’s heart with hatred. From that moment on, she cultivated assiduously, and her strength underwent explosive increases. To put an end to her enemy, she practically squeezed out all of her potential, and got stronger at all costs. To this end, she didn’t hesitate to lure numerous men and made them fall head over heels for her. They supplied her with large quantities of resources needed for practicing martial arts. As before, Huo Zhan accompanied her and remained loyal and devoted. However, Yan Ruo felt that she had become filthy, and repressed her kindly feelings towards Huo Zhan to the bottom of her heart.
Yan Ruo’s reputation changed from a proud genius to a reviled seductress, but ultimately, she still killed that murderer. However, after the murderer was killed, the opponent’s contacts in the opponent’s sect hunted her down, forcing her into a dangerous situation.
From running away in a sorry state to being able to return and slay her attackers, Yan Ruo’s hands were stained with blood. Huo Zhan had also accompanied her to kill her enemies from all directions, and always guarded her in the front.
In the end, her enemies were finally killed, but Huo Zhan had died protecting her. Not even his skeleton remained. Up until his death, Yan Ruo didn’t know if Huo Zhan ever bore even a trace of affection for her. And after Huo Zhan died, she would never know.
Moreover, Yan Ruo was approaching the end of her lifespan.
Afterwards, Yan Ruo decided to pass down her own meager savings and legacy. Thus, she created the Human King’s tomb, making it her own final resting place. At the same time, with her last breath, she needed to cause a world-shaking event for her own sake and for Huo Zhan’s sake.
In the Human King’s tomb, there were layers upon layers of mechanisms within seventeen tombs. Only the innermost section of the true tomb was the location of her and Huo Zhan’s eternal sleep. The exterior sculpture was just to fool others. The interior sculpture was personally carved out using Yan Ruo’s blood, sweat, and tears.
Yan Ruo placed her own things in the core tomb chamber, and she placed Huo Zhan’s inheritance in the outer tomb chamber. Only when the inheritor paid their respects to Huo Zhan was it possible to enter her tomb chamber. And in her eyes, this kind of person was also considered as the continuation of herself and Huo Zhan.
As for the corpses outside and the similar situations in the other fake tombs — Back then, she had let out rumors, which lured countless people who wanted to loot a burning house or who were disciples of forces that feared her and Huo Zhan. Consequently, most of the capable elites of a youthful generation were buried alive in the tomb by her. After the Great Tomb was sealed, these descendants of her former enemies instead became her most unyielding tomb guardians — This was also considered an unconventional continuation of her vengeance.
If it was only this, Ling Ziwei wouldn’t have been so shy while narrating this tale. The part that really made her bashful was Yan Ruo’s final wish.
Throughout Yan Ruo’s life, her greatest regret was not being able to get together with Huo Zhan. She originally believed that she had plenty of time to kindle feelings with Huo Zhan, but due to the downfall of her home and country, she ultimately gave up and didn’t dare to confess.
As a result, Yan Ruo had left behind this inheritance. Yan Ruo hoped that the person who opened the tomb chamber was either a man who would inherit Huo Zhan’s legacy and would bestow her inheritance upon a Moon Siren Body whom he deeply cared about, or that the person who opened the chamber was a woman who respected Huo Zhan, inherited everything Yan Ruo had, and presented Huo Zhan’s precious cultivation method to her beloved man.
Yan Ruo wished that the things that she and Huo Zhan left behind could fall into the hands of a pair of lovers, fulfilling her failed dream of Huo Zhan and herself protecting and accompanying one another.
If Yan Ruo herself couldn’t do it, then having a pair from the younger generation practice her and Huo Zhan’s cultivation methods was enough to console her.
And what was so coincidental here was that Ling Ziwei happened to have the Moon Siren Body, which was the most suited physique for practicing Yan Ruo’s cultivation method, and Tianyang, whom she had a favorable impression of, happened to have the same constitution as Huo Zhan and had been allocated Huo Zhan’s cultivation method.
If they got together…
Of course, Ling Ziwei didn’t intend to talk about any matters pertaining to Yan Ruo’s final wish.
Otherwise, raising this subject in front of Tianyang, with this kind of deliberation, would’ve made her want to bury herself in a pit.
Gu Zuo gave a small sigh.
Ah, this was simply a romantic tragedy… But the two’s constitutions happened to be the same as that of Ling Ziwei and Tianyang. It seemed that Ling Ziwei and Tianyang’s predestined relationship was deep.
Perhaps what hadn’t happened between those two people could really be achieved by these two teenagers.
— Gu Zuo naturally didn’t know that his train of thought was quite in line with Yan Ruo’s final wish.
However, the others just listened to this romantic tale. After all, this was an affair that happened a long time ago. Thus, they didn’t have any particular opinions about it.
Alright. The Remnant Soul’s matter had been resolved. Ling Ziwei was considered lucky. Ling Ziqi, who’d been racking his brain the whole time, now stuck close to her.
But despite their happiness, the expression that Ling Ziqi and Ling Ziwei used to look at Tianheng was somewhat guilt-ridden.
The entire journey from start to finish was basically through the strength of Tianheng’s group. In the end, the final inheritance fell to Ling Ziwei, and the ones who exerted a lot of effort didn’t get anything. This really wasn’t very appropriate… Although this inheritance was something a woman could use, the Ling Clan siblings weren’t truly aware of what inheritances were. But no matter how one looked at it, the current scene appeared like one where the siblings had deliberately taken advantage of Tianheng and the others. With excessive remorse, Ling Ziqi also felt worried.
If their benefactor had a misunderstanding, then…
Yet, Tianheng didn’t do anything to them, and didn’t once open his mouth to blame them. He just walked slowly to the rear of that coffin.
In here, there was a jade circlet. It was also classified as a spirit weapon, and it was the weapon of Human King Yan Ruo at the time. It was compatible with the Moon Siren Body, and it brought out the best in each other.
Ling Ziwei had long known about that head ornament from Yan Ruo’s memories, but at this time, she didn’t open her mouth.
Tianheng took out that jewelry box, but actually called over his family’s second brother.
Tianyang blanked before trotting over.
Tianheng tossed this head ornament to Tianyang: “This thing will be in your care. If you have any intentions in the future…”
Tianyang caught the jewelry box in a daze. His complexion unknowingly reddened, and a warm feeling sprung up in his heart.
On the side, Gu Zuo secretly thought: Big brother’s intent is for this to act as a betrothal gift for Tianyang to present to his future wife… It’s really hard on big brother to just give hints without saying it outright.
Tianyang couldn’t help turning his head to look at Ling Ziwei.
Off to the side, Ling Ziwei lifted her face just in time to meet Tianyang’s gaze. Soon after, her pupils quickly brightened and she looked away. But her white cheeks were suddenly colored with a wisp of reddish-pink.
At this moment, her mind was in a complete mess. She didn’t know what to think at all.
Tianheng didn’t go to manage the thoughts of this young child. His vision fell upon those two black cloaks that were next to the jewelry box.
For the cloaks, one was spacious and wide, and the other was slightly narrow and small. The styles were identical. They seemed to absorb all the light and couldn’t have been more plain and simple. But since they appeared in the core tomb chamber of the Human King, how could they have been ordinary objects?
With Ling Ziwei, who obtained the Human King’s memories, on site, Tianheng didn’t go to try them himself. He opened his mouth to ask: “Young Lady Ling, would you know what these two items are?”
Ling Ziwei collected her thoughts without delay. She thought about it, and said: “These two cloaks were unexpectedly obtained after Human King Yan Ruo unearthed some historical remains. The product grade is unknown, but it’s at least greater than Golden-Level spirit weapons. After someone puts it on, they can reveal the strength of an Atomic Realm or higher, but the duration is very short. The higher one’s own realm, the greater the number of times one can use it every day. Aside from this, the cloak has the function of concealing one’s appearance and qi emissions. It has powerful defensive capabilities, and can even hide one’s figure for a short time. It was like this even upon reaching the Human King’s realm.”
Gu Zuo heard this and gasped with amazement.
Heavens. With such descriptions, other spirit weapons were nothing but trash compared to this thing!
Ling Ziwei continued to speak.
“During that time, after Yan Ruo obtained these two cloaks, she gifted Huo Zhan with one set. Fortunately, these two cloaks gave them many chances to flee with their lives. Not only did the cloaks allow them to survive, they were able to serve their enemies crushing defeats. This also allowed Yan Ruo to have a life where she ultimately became the Human King.”
Gu Zuo promptly said: “Big brother, have it recognize you as its master!”
Tianheng didn’t reply. He went over to take the two cloaks, and threw the smaller cloak to Gu Zuo.
After that, he flicked his finger and directed a streak of qi energy to bump onto Gu Zuo’s fingertip.
Gu Zuo made a bemused face: “Big brother, I’m a pharmacist. I can’t use spirit weapons… Eh?”
The instant his blood dropped down, a burst of extremely comfortable sensations engulfed his whole body. For a split second, it made him feel that there was a subtle connection between himself and this cloak.
No way! What was this thing?! A pharmacist could use it, too?!
Tianheng likewise dripped some blood to have the cloak recognize a master. He put on the hood, walked next to Gu Zuo, and also pulled up the hood for Gu Zuo since he was still flabbergasted. Soon after, the qi emissions of their bodies immediately underwent a drastic change.
Gu Zuo had always been a good-looking teenager, but after he put on the cloak, he seemed to become somewhat gloomy and sinister. Tianheng’s temperament was originally as bright as the moon, but at this moment, he also seemed to become grim and unfeeling.
Even though the heights of their bodies didn’t change, and even their statures didn’t change, no matter who stood in front of them, no one was capable of connecting the two with the previous Gu Zuo and Tianheng.
T/N: Thanks for the corrections, Charysa.
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