Chapter 42: Truewater City Lord (1/2)

“Corpsewater!” Lu Yun shivered reflexively. Thank goodness he hadn’t tried to cross the pond on impulse. He was under the impression that corpsewater tended to be yellowish, muddy, and generally rancid smelling. The pool before him, on the other hand, was perfectly clear, like ordinary water.

Without Yueshen’s warning, he wouldn’t have been able to tell.

When a normal person ran afoul of corpsewater, the best they could hope for was zombification.

“How are we supposed to get across it?” Lu Yun’s expression was rather dark. This water probably originated from the humongous corpse they were in.

“My nine coffins… they’ll float on corpsewater,” Yueshen replied hesitantly, after some deliberation. “Corpsewater has no density, so not even a feather will float upon it. But my coffins are rather special… I think they should probably work.”

“Well, it’s worth a try.” Lu Yun wasn’t exactly filled with confidence.

Corpsewater was a special substance that zombies and rotting corpses exuded. It was incredibly toxic, and once pooled, nothing could touch it without being consumed. Only a few specific monstrous species could survive in it, like corpsefish, undead hags, and corpse flies and the like.

“If they sink, you’ll need to go down and salvage them,” he added.

Yueshen’s nine coffins had originally formed a Ninefilia Specter Fostering layout, the basis of her existence. Now that they’d entered, and the art assimilated by the Gates of the Abyss, she would exist even if they were scattered, as long as the coffins remained intact.

“Alright,” Yueshen agreed readily.

Lu Yun conjured a pitch-black coffin with a wave of his hand. It landed on the surface of the corpsewater pool, spinning around once before achieving solid buoyancy.

“It works!” His eyes lit up.

“I knew it. I told you Yueshen would be able to do it,” Miao exclaimed proudly upon his return from bespelling Qing Hongchen.

“Why did you tell me to use the Portrait of Emptiness then? You should’ve told me about the coffins in the first place,” Lu Yun huffed.

The invisible spirit could only smile sheepishly.

“Stay still on my back and don’t move,” the young man instructed Qing Han, who nodded slightly. The latter couldn’t move even if he wanted to.

Possessing Li Youcai’s body once more, Yueshen leapt onto the coffin and sprawled atop it. Lu Yun jumped next, landing squarely on the fatty’s back.

The coffin’s lid was closed, and there wasn’t much room upon its surface. Li Youcai’s large body occupied most of the space, which forced Lu Yun to stand on his back.

Ditching her rotund host, Yueshen reemerged and began pulling the coffin along. They drifted slowly through the pond like a small boat.

A number of bloody or pallid eyes stared at the coffin from beneath the surface, but the immortal ghost’s presence daunted the corpsefish, preventing them from appearing. A number of undead hags also tailed them. They weren’t scared of Yueshen, like the fish, but they were oddly wary of her coffin.

“There’s someone on the other side. Who is it? Could it be Formation Thirteenth?” Qing Han whispered suddenly from Lu Yun’s back.

“That’s not a person. Close your eyes and don’t look at it.” Lu Yun put his fingers over the envoy’s eyes.

“Not a person? Then what is it?” Taken aback, Qing Han obediently shuttered his eyelids.

“An immortal ghost… a vengeful one.” Lu Yun’s eyes were fixated upon the white shadow on the other shore.

It wore robes white enough to instill ghastly despair. Long, sable strands of hair trailed to its feet. It stood silently at the water’s edge, its back apparently turned to Lu Yun and company. Nevertheless, the young man felt two palpable daggers of venom drilling into his body.

“Such intense resentment! This ghost is different from Yueshen, who fears me because she’s hung onto her sentience and rationality. This ghost is filled with nothing but malice. It’s not afraid of me, and the current me can’t drive it off!”