Chapter 421 - Desecrated (1/2)
The staggering presence grew until the green sarcophagus reached within a mile from the battlefield. Unable to withstand the pressure any longer, a voice screamed, “It’s the Divine Corpse! The Divine Corpse has awakened!”
The peaking morale of the invaders pouring through the crumbling formation of the routed defenders immediately plummeted down a dark hole and the deserters felt themselves filled with renewed faith that their accursed order might be salvaged after all. “We’re saved!” Exultant cries from the defenders tore through the air with whoops and exclamations of joy, “Come back, all of you! The Divine Corpse is awakened! The Divine Corpse is awakened!”
The sarcophagus continued its flight and stopped overhead the center of the square, casting a canopy of fear and deathly chill over everything below. Everyone stopped and looked up, hardly moving a muscle as if petrified into stone. As if with a will of its own, the green sarcophagus seemed attracted to Xiao Chen; it whirled and flew at Xiao Chen in ramming speed but Xiao Chen, still startled beyond comprehension, could still not move.
“Beware, My Lord!” Guifeng shouted a warning, swinging his polearm to deflect the charging sarcophagus as he rushed to defend Xiao Chen. But the sarcophagus slammed into him and his horse and both reeled into a decrepit building and a loud crash followed as everything tumbled.
The sarcophagus wheeled back and rammed into Xiao Chen, sending him flying away and the rest of the invaders into frenzies of panic. But the green stone chest did not stop; it continued its rampage, charging at different targets like a bloodhound on a scent. First at Zi Mo, Qing Feng, then Perfected Immortal Feng Lan, then Su Yue, the daughter of Clan Su, and Feng Xi before it went on and on…
No one was left standing after being struck by the stone sarcophagus, mages of the Nirvana Realm or the Apotheosis Realm alike. The sarcophagus had willfully pursued and attacked the most powerful mages among the invaders, striking them with the force of a mountain that some of them were frothing blood while some could not even stand. Aghast by this, the surviving invaders of the Orthodox Path felt the color leaving their faces with fear. This is the Divine Corpse of the Corpse Refinery Sect! The most invincible creature of war that could possibly be fielded into battle!
On the other side, the excitement and furor rekindled the spirits of the defenders and they regrouped once again, reforming their formations. But the Elders looked far from pleased; the Great Immortal gasped worriedly, “The Divine Corpse has risen?!”
He was joined by a frowning Ye Wuxin, who agreed somberly, “It’s not yet the seventh day of the seventh month. It should not have been so soon. Something is wrong…”
BOOM!
With a deep and heavy thud and the crunching of shattering cobblestones, the green sarcophagus finally came to a rest and landed, its binge of destruction ending finally with a rolling wave of dust. Still frozen by fear, the invaders knew not what to do. With their breaths held by intense consternation, they could only wait and watch.
Xiao Chen stared blankly at the green sarcophagus with a panting Guifeng towering over his shoulders defensively with his polearm in a wary stance.
BOOM!
Another loud crash. The thickset lid of the sarcophagus trembled as it inched open slowly. Bone-stabbing mists of chilly air escaped from inside like apparitions and still, no one dared to move.
The distraction was time enough for Xiao Chen to calm down; his breath and his eyes were back to normal now, although the sorrow of losing Muxue lingered still in his heart. The cold air pouring from within the stone sarcophagus made everyone afraid. Everyone, but for him. Instead, it only made him sad. How, he could not say, but the forlornness that wrenched his heart struck with the keenness and suddenness of a bolt of lightning.
BOOM!
Another thunderous crash resounded, making everyone, the members of the Sect included, leap with a jolt. The sturdy lid lifted up high with a deluge of cold mists in its wake and no one could see what was inside through the thick, murky fog.
Xiao Chen felt his eyes watering and his vision began to blur as the strange and indescribable sadness swelled in him. Then he saw her. A young woman sitting up from inside the sarcophagus.
She looked nowhere as hideous and horrid as the Corpse King. Only a girl with flowing jet-black hair, young and fair, sweet and innocent in her robes of red.
With her hands holding on to the side of the coffin, she pushed herself up and vaulted herself gracefully out of it, her robes fluttering behind her as if she was in a waltz.
She stood in the night breeze, her clothes and stray locks of hair rippling gently in the wind. The skin on the lithe and tender arms of hers was fair like snow and her eyes as deep and serene as the waters of a lake. Yet, in her misty eyes, there was the unmistakable hint of rancor and spite…
Xiao Chen could no longer see; the angst and anguish worsened markedly that his own Qi fluctuated violently, so badly that he spat a mouthful of blood and the reminiscences of his former lifetimes flashed before his eyes, as vivid as the swelter of the sun hanging above.
“Don’t you forget! You’ve lost! That means you owe me three favors! Remember me, I’m Hua Weiyang!”
“Don’t even think of going back on your word. The first thing: I still don’t know your name.”
“The second thing is, you’re not allowed to engage in zither matches with other girls, especially not promising them that you’ll promise them three favors after you lose. Got it?”
“Of the three favors, you still owe me the final one… And here it is: I want you to be alive and well…”
… …
“Arghh!” Another mouthful of blood and froth poured from his mouth. Everything he remembered about him and Hua Weiyang, beginning from their meeting at the Beautiful Immortal Mountains to the end, replay around him as if he was looking at himself through a looking glass. But the glass shattered suddenly and so was the visions…