Chapter 401 The Lone Lamp Above the Copper Coffin. (1/2)

In the beginning, Fang Yanying could still keep up with Shen Lian's pace. As they kept going, she could feel the weight of each snowflake, as if it burdened her, crushing her body and stalling her movements. Furthermore, the Qi of heaven and earth here felt as if it originated from a single source, belonging to a master. She could not absorb it and her footsteps became increasingly heavier. It felt as though her consciousness had been lost, as she numbly followed the footsteps left by Shen Lian.

If she did not step on the path guided by a trail of golden flowers, this snow-capped mountain would not be scalable. One would even end up somewhere in the snow mountain, eternally frozen, trapped in a state where one is neither dead nor alive.

Shen Lian's pace remained steady. The footsteps he left when he started was heavy. Then it gradually got shallower. The golden flowers too grew fainter and fainter.

There was no light on the snowy mountain - neither sunlight or moonlight shone on the mountain, there was only snow.

Barefooted, Shen Lian walked deeper into the mountain, everything became pitch black, the snowfall fluttered down, the cold wind howled, turning the world frozen and quiet. Apart from Shen Lian, there were no other signs of life, even the gilding technique could not bloom any golden flowers.

Shen Lian finally stopped. Although he did not know which part of the snow mountain this place was, he was clear about one thing, the snow mountain was the Dipamkara Temple, and vice versa. There was no difference.

Even the white-robed monk Shanjue could not change that fact, because this snow mountain was not a product of nature, but the product of a seemingly everlasting spirit.

There were no other powers in this place, nor any natural Qi of vitality that could be found here.

Shen Lian closed his eyes and shut off his five senses, relying only on the spiritual sense, going to a place no one can go.

A sharp awl appeared as Shen Lian took his first step, right where his foot landed. Having his five sense shut off, Shen Lian took no notice of it and landed his foot. The sharp awl did not go through Shen Lian's tender sole, it was pressed back instead.

With Shen Lian's every step a sharp awl appeared, stemming out from the everlasting snow, only to be pushed back into the ground again by Shen Lian's bare feet. The awls were not an illusion, but a Buddhist instrument called 'nullifying awl', others would call it 'a nullifying awl upon touch'. What it meant was that this awl would be able to absorb other magical energies, resulting in one to lose their power, and the awl was made of materials harder than steel or diamonds. Anything other than a Vajra's body would be easily pierced.

But the nullifying awl lost its effect in the presence of Shen Lian. Shen Lian shut himself off in a world of his own, not leaking any power. His body had the composition similar to that of Vajra, matching the nullifying awl's material by its own.

A total of eighteen awls came from the ground, each failing to achieve their purpose. When Shen Lian opened his eyes, it was as if a ray of black and white leaked from his eyes, breaking the spatial barrier.

Among the dark snowy mountain, two separate rays of black and white intertwined and became a spherical disc, rotating the black and the white. The darkness of water, and the whiteness of gold, were as if a reflection of itself, rippling slowly, continuously absorbing the surrounding darkness, seemingly erasing a void in space. The darkness was absorbed by the disc. Eventually, the entire disc turned black save the bit of white left in the middle.

A copper coffin appeared in front of Shen Lian, carrying a mottled appearance that spoke of its ancient age as if it had endured many millenniums that gave it such an appearance.

At one end of the coffin stood a lamp with a red light, it's light akin to the shape of a bean. A lamp shining its light would radiate outward until it dispersed in the darkness.

The lone lamp above the coffin shone on Shen Lian and stilled.

'The speed of light is the fastest in the universe, and every lux is many times smaller than a speck of dust.' It was impossible to imagine anything that would be able to stop light.

But not a single ray leaked through, as the light there was stilled.