Chapter 557: Under the Sea of Heavenly Fire The Bronze Coffin

It won't be long before the other four life lamps successively come to a halt. As the life lamps were separated by seven hours each, their halting times varied sequentially. Xu Qing was filled with anticipation. As the life lamps continued their progression, he ascended within the magma. Upon reaching a depth of one zhang, a sharp glint appeared in his eyes.

Beyond allowing the purple crystal to emit light that melted the life lamps, this magma offered another benefit: it could advance his Golden Crow Refining All Spirits technique. This was Xu Qing's judgment, though it remained unverified. However, he believed that since his Golden Crow Refining All Spirits technique could merge with solar remnants, then intrinsically, this sea of fire should also be beneficial to it.

"'The Golden Crow Refining All Spirits, upon transforming into a Nascent Soul, has already advanced to the third stage,' Xu Qing mused. A light flashed between his eyebrows, and the Golden Crow Nascent Soul instantly flew out from within. Initially a Nascent Soul, it transformed in the next instant into the form of a Golden Crow. It circled Xu Qing, emitting intermittent cries that echoed within his soul. The Golden Crow then turned towards the surrounding magma and inhaled sharply. Immediately, a surge of fiery power rushed towards the Golden Crow's mouth. As it poured in, the Golden Crow's body trembled, its eyes narrowed, and its entire body erupted with increased flames. After digesting for a moment, the Golden Crow shivered, letting out an even more intense cry. It continued to fly around Xu Qing, then surprisingly plunged headfirst into the magma.

Xu Qing's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately focused. A moment later, he let out a sigh of relief. The Golden Crow was inherently spiritual, and its spirituality intensified after transforming into a Nascent Soul. Especially since it was intertwined with Xu Qing's consciousness, he could clearly perceive everything about it. Currently, within approximately one zhang of magma, the Golden Crow was continuously devouring, its aura growing fiercer, and more tails began to appear. An hour later, as Xu Qing's second sundial halted at noon, the Golden Crow's tails increased from one hundred to one hundred and thirty. Xu Qing, invigorated, controlled the Golden Crow, instructing it to continue devouring. Time slowly passed.

Soon, a third life lamp halted at noon, and within several hours, the remaining two also successively stopped. Once all life lamps had ceased moving, Xu Qing, who was beneath the magma, felt his body tremble. For a fleeting moment, his eyes appeared dazed. Instantly, the dazedness vanished, replaced by a strange glint in Xu Qing's eyes. He could sense that the five sundials contained a certain power, which could be activated with a mere thought. However, he couldn't discern what this power truly was.

"'Let's try it!' Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, his body still. He sat cross-legged in the magma, and as a thought arose, the five sundials in his sea of consciousness instantly hummed, materializing around him. Looking around, the five sundials circled Xu Qing as their center, like purple petals, enveloping him. While emitting a brilliant glow, five sun-like lights also floated above Xu Qing's head, arranged in a pentagram shape. With the sundials as aid and crimson suns forming stars, Xu Qing was dazzling at this moment, radiating an overwhelming aura. Moreover, the five sundials emanated the power of time, surging into Xu Qing's body, causing him to exude a mystical aura. His entire being became blurred, as if he had descended from the flow of time itself.

This process lasted only an instant before abruptly vanishing. The sundials dimmed, seemingly having expended all their energy and unable to sustain themselves, returning to Xu Qing's body along with the crimson suns. The first sundial began rotating again, its timer continuing, while the other four remained still. Xu Qing paused, looking around and sensing his own body, but he perceived no difference whatsoever. 'What just happened?' Xu Qing frowned, recalling the event for a long time, yet he still couldn't pinpoint the specific ability of the sundial's activated power. This left Xu Qing greatly puzzled, so he decided to simply wait.

Thus, after seven hours, the second life lamp also began its count. Subsequent life lamps activated at seven-hour intervals until the fifth life lamp also started moving, at which point his first life lamp halted at noon. 'This entire process takes thirty-five hours, roughly three days,' Xu Qing calculated silently. Another twelve hours passed. As the other life lamps successively stopped, all of them returned to the noon position, completely still. The aura of imminent eruption reappeared. 'Four days marks a cycle.' 'The effect wasn't obvious when I activated it before. Was it because I was inside the magma?' After pondering, Xu Qing glanced at the Golden Crow in the distance, whose tails had now reached over two hundred. The moment he withdrew his gaze, his body flickered, and he flew directly out of the magma.

Once above the magma, standing in mid-air, Xu Qing didn't hesitate. The five sundials within him activated simultaneously, and five sun-like lights circled above him. The power of the sundials instantly erupted. In a flash, Xu Qing felt intense heat. Magma permeated all around him; his body... had astonishingly returned to the magma! This scene jolted Xu Qing's mind, and disbelief filled his eyes. He abruptly turned his head to look around, confirming that he had indeed returned to the magma. 'I was clearly in mid-air just now!' A wave of realization surged through Xu Qing's mind. After careful thought, he conceived a possibility. 'Could it be... time reversal?'

This conjecture stirred endless ripples within Xu Qing's heart. He measured his current height, then mimicked his previous action, flying out at the same speed. It took seven breaths of time to reach mid-air. 'Reversed by seven breaths?' 'As for the first time, it wasn't obvious because I was sitting still, cross-legged!' A strange light shone in Xu Qing's eyes, but he wasn't entirely certain and needed to try again. Thus, he spent eight days beneath the magma, while the Golden Crow continued its devouring.

During these eight days, he activated the power of the sundials twice, using different methods to verify its effects. The first time, he unleashed rapid speed and activated the sundial's power while rushing, finding that his body returned to its position from seven breaths ago. The second time, he took out some external magic artifacts and deliberately inflicted injuries upon himself. After activating the power again, he discovered that the sundial's power could only affect himself. The external objects remained as they were, in their original positions, but his body was altered: injuries vanished, and all his conditions reverted to what they were seven breaths prior.

All of this gave Xu Qing a profound understanding of the sundial's ability. 'It allows me to return to my state and position from seven breaths ago!' 'If used promptly, this ability is akin to gaining an extra life, and also a lethal weapon!' For a long while, Xu Qing suppressed the turmoil in his heart. He introspected the purple crystal, understanding that all these abilities stemmed from it. 'What exactly is this purple crystal...' 'It can seal shadows, seal deities, grant me astonishing recovery, and possesses temporal magic...' Xu Qing fell silent. After a long time, he buried all his questions deep in his heart and looked at his Golden Crow.

The Golden Crow's tails had now reached over two hundred and eighty, a clear limit. It could only absorb from deeper magma, but this was a paradox, as the current Golden Crow couldn't withstand flames beyond one zhang of magma depth. However, in the past half-month, increasing its tails from one hundred to over two hundred had been immense nourishment for the Golden Crow. In fact, signs of it soon attracting a second life tribulation were subtly emerging. At this point, Xu Qing's cultivation in the Skyfire Sea had come to an end. There was no longer a need for him to remain here. 'I need to return the eyeball, then leave the eastern region to rendezvous with Senior Brother at Mount Tianniu in Weiyang.' Xu Qing had been in the eastern region for nearly half a year. He was unsure of Senior Brother's current situation and felt concerned. However, before leaving, Xu Qing glanced into the depths of the Skyfire Sea's magma. 'I should go check out the Red Moon Temple's restriction that Senior Duanmu mentioned...' Xu Qing intended to investigate why the Red Moon Temple had placed a restriction here. With the power of the sundials, he felt that as long as he was cautious, he wouldn't face major problems. Thinking of this, Xu Qing squeezed the eyeball. The eyeball immediately vibrated, emitting even stronger isolation power. Satisfied, Xu Qing retracted the Golden Crow and, holding the eyeball, headed straight for the bottom of the magma. He quickly reached one hundred zhang, then continued descending to two hundred, then three hundred zhang...

The further he descended, the more intense the heat became. Fortunately, the peculiar eyeball provided isolation, preventing the external heat from invading him. In this manner, Xu Qing descended all the way to over nine hundred zhang. At this depth, in addition to the high temperature, there was also a pervasive pressure. The brown blood vessels on the eyeball grew even more prominent. Xu Qing also sensed a familiar aura emanating from even deeper below. It was the divine power of the Crimson Mother. This discovery made Xu Qing even more cautious. As he approached carefully, a sense of crisis spread within him. Without hesitation, his Purple Moon Nascent Soul instantly erupted, and Purple Moon power immediately permeated his entire body. The next instant, the crisis emanating from below slowly dissipated. In the unseen, he used the Purple Moon power to sense the source of the Red Moon power beneath. Xu Qing waited for a moment, then continued to approach.

Meanwhile, above the Skyfire Sea, not far from Xu Qing's location, the Red Moon Temple's enormous heart-shaped structure floated in the sky. Dozens of meteorites were scattered around it, with figures standing motionless on each. Only from within the temple itself did a figure clad in red robes emerge. This was a human woman. Her expression was cold, and her eyes held impatience. She stepped out of the temple, reaching the edge of the heart, then looked down at the sea of fire below. Her brows were tightly furrowed. She was inwardly reluctant about what she was about to do, not because of cruelty, but because such an act would leave a mark that could affect her future. However, as a divine servant, she had no right to refuse. 'I can only use a dispersion technique later to remove the mark,' she thought with a sigh. The woman then took a step, directly entering the magma below. With a wave of her hand, a red bead appeared, which she placed in her mouth before submerging into the magma. The bead was clearly an exotic treasure of the Red Moon Temple. After she swallowed it, the heat of the magma surprisingly avoided her body. This allowed the woman to descend at incredible speed. As she sank, her cultivation also spread, filling the area with the aura of a Spirit Repository, though it wasn't surrounded by Heavenly Dao laws. She hadn't fully completed a Secret Repository cultivation but was in the Dao Nurturing and Enlightenment stage. However, her status as a divine servant and the corresponding blessings from the Crimson Mother ensured that within the Moon Sacrificing Domain, outside of the temple itself, virtually no one dared to provoke her in the slightest. The cost of harming a divine servant was something no clan within the Moon Sacrificing Domain could bear. Indeed, with her divine servant status, a single word from her could decide the survival or annihilation of a minor clan. This was because she had grown up in the temple since childhood, and her family had produced divine envoys, allowing future generations to enjoy such incredibly precious blessings within the Moon Sacrificing Domain. At this moment, she was rapidly descending a thousand zhang into the magma, her objective clear.

Xu Qing, also a thousand zhang deep and not far from this location, was approaching according to the subtle sense he perceived. The two parties, one after another, were drawing closer. However, compared to Xu Qing, the woman's speed was faster, allowing her to enter the designated area first. The spiritual sense isolation within the magma prevented either of them from detecting the other's presence. Furthermore, compared to Xu Qing, their different upbringings meant that the divine servant's vigilance was inferior to his. Thus, as Xu Qing cautiously approached, the moment he perceived the location sensed by the Purple Moon power, he also saw the red-robed woman heading directly toward it. Xu Qing's body abruptly froze. He crouched down, making himself as inconspicuous as possible, his eyes gleaming with a faint light as he silently observed.

In the distance, a thousand zhang beneath the magma, there stood a colossal and peculiar flat-topped mountain-like structure. More accurately, it might not have been a mountain at all, but rather an enormous coffin standing upright. The portion visible to Xu Qing was the size of a city, clearly indicating the immense scale of this giant coffin. It was entirely crafted from bronze, covered in rust that was a mix of black, green, and blue, interwoven, giving the coffin an air of ancient vastness. It looked as though it had been placed there for an immeasurable period. Its height was unknown; Xu Qing's gaze couldn't reach its end. He could only see four massive chains extending from its four corners, connecting deeply into the magma. Furthermore, the coffin's lid wasn't tightly sealed; it had a visible gap. But because the coffin was so enormous, this gap appeared like a deep, abyssal chasm.

At this moment, the red-robed figure descended outside the fissure, floating a hundred zhang above it. Her hands formed incantation gestures, and waves of Red Moon divine power radiated outwards as her hand seals materialized. These waves integrated into the pre-existing invisible restriction in the area, causing red light to flash and a large net to gradually materialize. This net was precisely the manifestation of the restriction. Upon closer inspection, the emerging net was seen to be covered in runes, exuding divine might. Xu Qing concealed his presence and observed carefully. He noted that the opponent seemed to be reinforcing the restriction, but this small amount of divine power felt like a drop in the ocean. Soon after, Xu Qing's eyes narrowed. He saw the red-robed woman, after forming her incantations, take out a head-sized crimson crystal from her person.

The moment the crystal appeared, the surrounding magma churned, and a terrifying aura emanated from within it, startling Xu Qing's mind. Others might not have recognized it, but through his Purple Moon's senses, he immediately identified the crystal as a single drop of blood that had been diluted countless times. 'Crimson Mother's Blood?' Xu Qing's heart raced. Although it was a diluted drop of blood, the Red Moon aura it contained was still incredibly rich, and to Xu Qing, it was immense nourishment.

As Xu Qing observed, the red-robed woman gazed at the crystal, her eyes revealing a hint of desire, which she forcefully suppressed. She knew this was not something she could enjoy. 'When the True God arrives and harvests this domain, my family will also be granted a drop of such divine blood. Then, perhaps, I'll have a chance to absorb a bit of it,' the woman murmured to herself. She then raised her hand and tossed the crystal downwards. The crystal did not fall into the fissure but floated outside the abyss, shattering on its own. It released terrifying fluctuations that merged into the surrounding restriction, causing the emerging red net to become even more brilliant. This was the true reinforcement. As the blood-colored net shone dazzlingly and its divine might intensified, the enormous coffin was also stimulated by this aura. It trembled violently, and a roar filled with pain echoed from within the coffin. 'Crimson Mother!!'

The moment this sound emerged, the coffin's trembling intensified. Ripples also rose in Xu Qing's heart, and as he became even more cautious, the red-robed woman lowered her head, looking into the abyss, and transmitted a divine thought. 'Silence!' Rapid breathing echoed from within the coffin. Clearly, being humiliated by such a low-tier cultivator was an immense indignity for the entity inside the coffin. But it was powerless. The red-robed woman's eyes showed mockery. To her, humiliating such an ancient and terrifying entity brought a peculiar thrill. She then raised her hand and, with a wave, pulled out bundles of flesh from her storage bag. There were hundreds of bundles in total, each ten zhang in size. After they spread around, the woman pointed her finger, and one of the flesh bundles immediately dropped into the abyss. 'Eat up. This is food given to you by the True God, all citizens of the Moon Sacrificing Domain. Your brothers and sisters, just like you, love to eat them. And to help you digest better, we've thoughtfully removed all the bones. Enjoy.'

As the flesh fell into the abyss, a roar filled with pain emanated from within. The entity inside the coffin seemed to vehemently reject it, yet for some unknown reason, it had no choice but to devour it. Thus, whimpers bordering on cries of pain intertwined with chewing sounds, creating a scene of utter misery that would move anyone who heard it. Moreover, an intensely strong malevolence emanated from within the coffin, as if turning into a mark branded upon the red-robed woman, intent on remembering her precisely. The woman doing the feeding, however, clearly enjoyed it. Listening to the sounds, her mood seemed to lighten, and she paid no attention to the mark forming on her. With a wave of her hand, more bundles of flesh dropped. Xu Qing remained silent. He witnessed the woman's depravity and heard the coffin's agonizing screams, forming some guesses about its identity. After a long moment, Xu Qing quietly retreated, preparing to leave the area. He did not wish to engage in conflict with the Red Moon Temple at this moment. But just as Xu Qing was retreating, the woman who had been feeding suddenly let out a laugh.

'You've been watching for quite a while now. Are you just going to leave?' Xu Qing's eyes narrowed, and his body accelerated backward. At the same time, the red-robed woman raised her right hand and pointed it in Xu Qing's direction. Using her authority as a divine servant, she manipulated the restriction power of the area and spoke calmly. 'Come!' The moment her words left her lips, the surrounding Red Moon power, which had formed the restriction, instantly twisted, manifesting into a colossal crimson hand that fiercely clawed towards Xu Qing. Xu Qing remained silent. This giant hand, formed from the Red Moon restriction, was impossible for him to resist with his own power. He would have to use his own authority, but doing so would expose everything. In an instant, Xu Qing made his decision. A cold light flashed in his eyes as he spoke calmly. 'How audacious.'

The moment his words rang out, the approaching blood-colored hand suddenly trembled, then instantly turned, astonishingly lunging directly towards the red-robed woman. This scene clearly stunned the red-robed woman. She rapidly formed hand seals, but couldn't avoid the attack. Amidst a roar, her body was sent flying backward, spitting blood, barely managing to deflect the blow only after retrieving a blood-colored token. Her expression changed rapidly, and she exclaimed in disbelief. 'Divine Envoy?' After speaking, she immediately formed hand seals, displaying a peculiar mark, and bowed her body, looking at Xu Qing with immense respect.

Xu Qing frowned. He naturally recognized this as an internal etiquette for a subordinate addressing a superior, but unsure how to respond, he feigned composure and nodded. However, the next instant, the woman's pupils contracted. She made other hand gestures, gazing at Xu Qing, and then her expression changed. 'You are not a Divine Envoy!' 'Who are you, and how do you possess the power of the True God!' The woman was filled with shock and uncertainty, a tidal wave of emotions surging within her. She had never encountered such a thing in her entire life. Indeed, not just her, but even the Red Moon Temple itself had never experienced anything similar. This left her utterly incredulous.

Xu Qing's face remained impassive, but inwardly he pondered. He felt that his lack of knowledge regarding etiquette and hand gestures shouldn't be the reason the opponent detected his abnormality. There must have been other flaws that gave him away. After all, cultivators at such a level were naturally not foolish; it was normal for them to perceive anomalies. He had originally intended to leave, but since he had chosen to act, even if the opponent's cultivation made him wary, he now had no choice but to find a way to kill her. Killing intent filled Xu Qing's heart as he spoke calmly. 'You have overstepped.'

As he spoke, he raised his right hand and pointed. Instantly, the surrounding Red Moon restriction roared like never before, vibrating from all directions. Xu Qing's authority over it was instantly asserted, forming a suppressive force that surged directly towards the red-robed woman. The woman's beautiful face completely changed, her inner horror uncontrollably showing on her features, twisting her expression. 'He's not from the temple, I'm certain of that, but he possesses divine power!' 'And the authority he wields is incredibly formidable!' 'What is going on?!' The woman's body trembled. She unleashed her full power, and a Secret Repository materialized behind her. Although it hadn't formed a Heavenly Dao, its combat power was astonishing. Coupled with the blood-colored token, she barely managed to hold her ground. 'This level of control and coordination with the restriction... his authority is so high, it surpasses all Divine Envoys!' The woman was utterly astounded. In her younger years, she had followed her ancestor and witnessed Divine Envoys activating restrictions. Comparing it now, the difference was immediately obvious.

'Impossible!' The woman's heart pounded wildly. In an instant, another thought arose in her mind. 'This matter is too significant! If I report it to the temple, it will surely be a great merit!' Thinking of this, the woman spared no cost. Her Secret Repository began to burn, and the blood-colored token before her also emitted extreme authoritative power. She burst forth, not to pursue Xu Qing, but to escape from the area. Above the magma, a thousand zhang away, was the location of the temple's heart-shaped palace. As long as she could fly out of the magma, she could instantly notify the temple headquarters of this situation. But how could Xu Qing let her succeed? With a wave of his hand, the surrounding blood-colored restrictions pulsed once more, forming seven or eight massive blood-colored hands in one go, which furiously slammed towards the woman. Xu Qing knew very well that once he left this Red Moon restriction area, he would be no match for this Spirit Repository cultivator in the Dao Nurturing and Enlightenment stage. Furthermore, if she managed to escape successfully, endless crises would await him. 'She must be killed!'