Chapter 74: A True Immortal’s Treatment
Chapter 74: A True Immortal’s Treatment
Li Si felt very uneasy.
When he saw the Blood Coffin, he knew running was useless. His basic teleportation Dharma Seal shattered directly, and the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl…
Well, there was no need to take it out now.
Perhaps the only fortunate thing was that, so far, his Heart-Clearing Domain, Disaster-Averting Domain, Evil-Repelling Domain, and one Heart-searching Soul Seal were all intact, showing no signs of being triggered at all.
But this eerie Blood Coffin also showed no movement, just quietly blocking his path ahead.
This scene was very bizarre.
In a desolate mountain wilderness,
a young man and a Blood Coffin, staring at each other, what were they doing?
Several minutes passed, and Li Si confirmed that the Blood Coffin would not activate. So, he carefully took a step back. The next moment, the Blood Coffin immediately followed one step forward.
Damn!
Li Si’s hair stood on end with fear, but that was all. The Blood Coffin only moved forward one step.
So he took another step back, and the Blood Coffin indeed followed one more step.
Li Si turned and ran, but the Blood Coffin swooshed, faster than him, blocking his path again.
Hell!
Li Si turned left; the Blood Coffin swooshed left.
He turned right; the Blood Coffin turned right.
Screw this!
For a moment, Li Si felt a surge of anger. He stepped forward. Huh? The Blood Coffin stayed in place. But when he stepped back again, the Blood Coffin followed once more. This time, the distance between them changed from the previous seven steps to six steps.
Damn!
Li Si felt a chill all over. He roughly understood this thing’s game mechanic—no, its restriction mechanism.
First, it always blocked his path ahead. But if he walked straight forward, he would actually enter the Blood Coffin. Then, even a god couldn’t save him—probably.
Second, if he stepped back, the Blood Coffin would follow him but always kept a certain distance. Maybe this distance was related to the passage of time. For example, one step closer per day. Seven steps meant seven days. Why did it feel like a seven-step poison?
“Can I really only hop around from now on?”
Li Si studied it for a long time and tried shooting a Demon Slaying Thorn at the Blood Coffin. The Divine Ability whooshed through the Blood Coffin and hit a hillside hundreds of meters away. A large patch of Anomalous Weed and Alien Tree nearby were burned to Gray Ashes.
“Huh?”
Li Si was shocked and confused. He took out his beginner weapon, that broken spearhead, and used the Artifact-Control Incantation to send it flying. The spearhead whooshed through the Blood Coffin and flew back. Throughout the process, the spearhead’s power didn’t decrease, but the Blood Coffin seemed not to exist…
“Heart-searching Soul Seal!”
Li Si decisively used a Dao Technique from the Spirit Cultivation Sect. After all, the Heart-searching Soul Seal was specifically for breaking illusions. Even the tricky Peach Blossom Evil Spirit had been caught by it.
But the next moment, the Heart-searching Soul Seal flew out slowly, passed by the Blood Coffin, and then flew back without any reaction.
As if there was no Blood Coffin there at all.
Li Si refused to believe it and decisively took out the Soul-Quelling Bell that Jiang Ying had given him this morning. This magical tool was stored in a small box the size of a matchbox, but the moment he opened it—holy crap—it was as big as Big Ben, weighing at least tens of thousands of pounds, and it directly trapped him inside.
No wonder Senior Sister Jiang said it was simple to control. Because there was no way to manipulate it except for storing and releasing it.
Fortunately, Li Si’s Artifact-Control Incantation was not only mastered but also enhanced to an advanced Divine Ability level. Tens of thousands of pounds was nothing. Shaking, he lifted the massive thing and threw it at the Blood Coffin…
“BOOM!”
The ground shook as if in an earthquake, but throughout the process, the Blood Coffin remained in place, unaffected. Even the Soul-Quelling Bell itself showed no change.
Li Si had to put it away and solemnly took out the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl.
Hmph, are you forcing me to use my ultimate move?
Whoosh,
The Wish-Fulfilling Pearl instantly shot into the sky, illuminating the Mortal Realm and the Illusory Void. But the next second, a bloody streak swept over, like a long tongue spat out by something, gently licking the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl.
Splat,
It instantly turned pitch black, as dark as ink, and fell down lifelessly like a corpse. It was contaminated again…
But it truly lived up to being Li Si’s Wish-Fulfilling Pearl. Because its last glimpse successfully showed Li Si the way.
The Blood Coffin indeed came from the Illusory Realm, but it hadn’t reached the Mortal Realm yet. What had arrived in the Mortal Realm was just a projection. No wonder even the Heart-searching Soul Seal had no reaction. After all, it was just a shadow!
This was already beyond the scope of Dao Techniques and Divine Abilities.
Or perhaps, this Blood Coffin never needed to come to the Mortal Realm. Because something was pulling Li Si, dragging him toward the Illusory Realm.
So, Li Si used the Artifact-Control Incantation to retrieve the pitch-black, icy-cold Wish-Fulfilling Pearl. He washed it with one stream of Black Fortune, and the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl instantly shone with a cyan light. But this time, a tiny crack appeared on it, so small you could hardly see it without looking closely.
Li Si frowned slightly and, without a word, injected another stream of Black Fortune. Swish, the crack disappeared, and it was as good as new.
“Whoosh!”
He threw the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl out again, once more illuminating the Mortal Realm and the Illusory Void. But he only had time to take one more look before—splat—it was contaminated again…
This time, Li Si saw a bit more. He noticed blood-red chains wrapped around his body, with one end inside the Blood Coffin.
But what were these blood-red chains?
Why couldn’t his Heart-Clearing Domain, Disaster-Averting Domain, Heart-searching Soul Seal, or Evil-Repelling Domain interfere with them?
This was just too unfair!
They could affect the Mortal Realm but weren’t influenced by the Mortal Realm’s power rules!
Li Si grew furious. The Wish-Fulfilling Pearl was cleansed again, repaired again, sent flying again, contaminated again…
This happened many times…
Li Si finally saw the problem clearly.
There were twelve blood-red chains wrapped around him. But these chains weren’t real chains. By piecing together high-definition images frame by frame with the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl, then zooming in, zooming in, and zooming in some more!
The essence of this thing emerged!
It was countless people, countless people glowing with bloody light—men, women, old, and young. They were like bargemen on the Volga River, suffering, wailing, numb, using all their strength, enduring pain and fear, yet still trying to take care of their own clans, their own children, desperately pulling forward.
So this was the living beings of this world!
One chain represented a Puppet Kingdom controlled by an Evil God. Everyone in the kingdom became part of the chain.
They were innocent, but was Li Si some heinous criminal?
“So this is an open trap! Evil God, damn your ancestors!”
Li Si trembled with horror. The Evil God had used its ultimate move on him!
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. It didn’t give him a chance to grow slowly, just went straight for the kill!
What kind of villain are you!
Li Si immediately thought of the internet-addicted Old Madam hiding in the Stone House, always motionless.
He once thought this was the price of suppressing Fate. Now, it seemed the truth was just that!
If the Old Madam and the other World Guardian True Immortals each had such a Blood Coffin and chains formed by the masses of the world!
What would they do?
Li Si fell silent. The Blood Coffin probably wouldn’t drag him away, but it would definitely restrict his movements. Also, ordinary people probably couldn’t see this Blood Coffin, but they would surely be affected.
After a long time, he sat cross-legged on the ground. First, he deployed a Demon Sealing Domain around himself, then summoned the Soul-Quelling Bell to cover him.
Then, with a thought, his mind transferred to his Statue Avatar. Now, hiding his identity was meaningless. He needed the Old Madam for strategic support.
But just as he was about to enter the Hall of Fate in the Illusory Realm, without any warning, a message appeared.
“You are being blackmailed by an Evil God. Do you want to pay ten portions of White Fortune to send your Statue Avatar out as a hostage?”
“Damn!”
Li Si was shocked, tears instantly streaming down his face. He decisively refined one thousand portions of White Fate Firewood and paid!
Success!
The next second, Li Si’s Statue Avatar whooshed away from the Temple, and Li Si successfully escaped!
At that very moment, he saw his Statue Avatar being directly pulled into the Blood Coffin, vanishing into nothing…
Li Si shed sad tears.
One thousand portions of Fortune Fuel—it wiped out a quarter of his savings. If he didn’t take revenge, he wasn’t human!
“Divine Decree: Immediately build four Statue Avatars for emergencies!”
Li Si was furious, but he soon noticed the Evil God’s Mark on his body was gone. It had disappeared.
“Wait, what does this mean? I’ve been cleansed! The Evil God couldn’t possibly fail to recognize a Statue Avatar, right?”
Li Si felt very disappointed. Damn, without this Mark, his income would drop sharply!
“No, things probably aren’t that simple. If sacrificing one Statue Avatar was enough, the Old Madam and those World Guardian True Immortals would have broken free long ago.”
“Of course, maybe it’s all just my guess.”
Li Si thought this and then teleported back to the Quiet Room in the Floating Cloud Sect’s small village.
No one disturbed him. Perfect!
He pushed the door open and went out. Li Si sneakily threw the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl near the Stone House, but found nothing.
“Seems I was overthinking.”
Li Si sighed in relief and was about to retrieve the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl when Xu Shen happened to push the door open, revealing the clay-formed Old Madam behind him.
In that instant, the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl turned completely black, contaminated again.
But that wasn’t important. What mattered was the glimpse it caught while illuminating the Illusory Void!
Inside the Stone House, there was a Blood Coffin, only one step away from the Old Madam. Twelve blood-red chains were wrapped around the Old Madam, desperately pulling at her!