Chapter 1605: Coffin Sacrifice Technique Opens the Heavenly Realm, Devouring Spirits and Swallowing Intent Descends the Evil Yin

“The Fetus-Nurturing Holy Tree isn't dead? She's still here?”

Old Sang instantly evaporated the fetuses in everyone's bellies. His Ashen White Flames shot out like fiery serpents, scattering to search for something. But he couldn't find the Fetus-Nurturing Holy Tree.

Just moments ago, everyone clearly saw the Extreme Giant stomp down, turning the Ancestral Tree's branches and the Evil God's Eye into nothing. So how could such a strange life force still be lurking here?

“Or perhaps someone has been secretly parasitized!” The Water Ghost quickly drowned the fetuses in their bellies, then frowned and spoke. But with so many people around, all with swollen bellies, who could have been parasitized? Anyone could be! Their children inside them could also be the bizarre main body!

“Half-Saints are excluded,” Cen Jiaofu's mind started working on its own. “Given the Fetus-Nurturing Holy Tree's power in the First Heaven, it cannot covertly influence Half-Saints.” After aborting his own fetus, he looked at the others and analyzed: “Therefore, the Ancestral Tree's power could only have subtly parasitized Throne, Dao-Severing, or Grand Void cultivators just now. These people…”

His voice trailed off. Among those present, excluding a few Half-Saints, all the remaining Spirit Refiners were at these cultivation realms. At this moment, the fastest way to eliminate the anomaly was undoubtedly to eradicate all possibilities here. Which meant… kill them all! But what if the Fetus-Nurturing Holy Tree's life force persisted after that?

“Baby…”“Ah, don't hurt my baby!”“I've waited so many years for this one pregnancy; how dare you harm my child?”

As the Dragon Assimilation Realm opened, Old Sang seemed deaf to their pleas—he didn't kill anyone, but merely dried up the fetuses in everyone's bellies. Yet, the situation didn't improve! One by one, their bellies swelled again. It was then that everyone realized that after the first fetus died, the residual power within their bodies rapidly mutated. The second fetus formed faster than the first. And the third fetus was even quicker than the previous two.

“What do we do?” Bai Zhou stroked his swollen belly with a complex expression. “My image…” In a short time, he was on his third pregnancy. Only because everyone else present was also pregnant did he not stand out. If this were on the Saint-God Continent, he'd be infamous. Just then, his spiritual sense clearly spotted that while everyone else around them had swollen bellies, one person was an exception. She was so pure, like a white lotus!

“Mo Mo?” Bai Zhou recognized Mo Mo. This young woman had recently visited the Grey Moon Palace with the Heavensealing Saint Emperor. But that connection alone wasn't enough. He pointed at the young woman nearby and exclaimed, “Why are you unaffected?”

Everyone looked over, bewildered, and before any commotion could arise, a cold snort echoed from within Mo Mo: “Who am I? Who dares offend me?” Ah, right, it's the Saint Emperor... Everyone then realized that while the Saint Emperor might concede, he himself wasn't weak. At that moment, a thin layer of gray mist enveloped Mo Mo, isolating her from the influence of the bizarre life attribute. With everyone around sporting unsightly, grotesque swollen bellies, she, in her perfectly fitted white dress, truly stood out like a snow lotus, ethereal and transcendent, like a fairy descended to this defiled place to save the world.

“Feng Yujin, can you find the source of this power?” Mo Mo asked inwardly.

“I can't!” Feng Yujin replied irritably. His spiritual sense had long since spread out, almost covering half of the First Heaven. But like the Water Ghost and Old Sang, he hadn't found the "mother body" of the Fetus-Nurturing Holy Tree.

“It's not Dao Infant… Nor is it anyone present… But besides these two options, where else could the Fetus-Nurturing Holy Tree be hiding?” Xu Xiaoshou took in everyone's reactions. From the perspective of his life mysteries, he could also determine that there was nothing abnormal about the people here; they were merely influenced, not parasitized. Yet, one doubt lingered: The Extreme Giant had clearly pulverized the Fetus-Nurturing Holy Tree's branches. If she could regenerate, he couldn't have failed to notice... Unable to fathom it, Xu Xiaoshou suppressed the urge to vomit and looked back at Dao Qiongcang.

Dao Qiongcang had by now swollen into a mountain of flesh composed of countless fetuses. Through his stretched-thin skin and worm-like black veins, the ugly nascent forms of the subcutaneous embryos were still visible, utterly repulsive!

“Ugh!” Xu Xiaoshou couldn't help but retch.

Dao Qiongcang was truly patient, even more so than Moon Fox! He was currently the only one who had protected his own child and hadn't personally aborted even a single fetus. At times, Xu Xiaoshou even suspected Dao Qiongcang was possessed by Bei Huai—he was actually studying his child!

“You flashy old Daoist, have you found anything?” Xu Xiaoshou no longer called him "my Daoist," feeling it was too intimate and nauseating.

“Yes!” Dao Qiongcang's decisive answer made everyone else present look back in surprise. Soon, his small mouth, pushed to the side of his fleshy head by the swellings, opened slightly, and he spoke with a hint of excitement: “This is hyper-Daoized life force, the Medicinal Ancestor's power inherited by the Fetus-Nurturing Holy Tree, but now there's no trace of the Medicinal Ancestor's power left. This power has been completely corrupted by the Evil God's power, and now it's being dominated by it. It also contains faint traces of the Heavenly Ancestor's and Saint Ancestor's power, serving as a dual safeguard against external comprehension. But this is the First Heaven; her power is greatly weakened, not even a ten-thousandth of her peak. She doesn't even want to provoke the sealing power of the weakened Heavensealing Saint Emperor…”

Mo Mo's lips curled into a smirk, meaning 'that's you.' The Heavensealing Saint Emperor chose not to react. He knew the Dao Hall Master's formidable power. In fact, all ghost beasts on the inner island knew of "Dao Qiongcang, unfathomable as gods and ghosts," as orders for "purges" repeatedly came from the Dao Hall Master.

Xu Xiaoshou summarized: “Nine-tenths of the Life Dao Disc, mutated Medicinal Ancestor's power, and at her peak, she wielded the perfectly balanced powers of the Three Ancestors. Perhaps the quantity isn't enough, but the quality is supreme... This is the strength the Fetus-Nurturing Holy Tree is displaying now.” From this, it could also be concluded that the power influencing everyone present was not left behind a long time ago. Rather, it was left by the Fetus-Nurturing Holy Tree after she obtained Yue Gongli's Dao Infant. But after gaining the Dao Infant, she was pursued by Shen Yi to the Thirty-Third Heaven. Her only descent to the First Heaven, where she covertly left this influence, was when she died under the Extreme Giant's foot this time. This entered a vicious cycle again: its power had clearly been terminated by the Extreme Giant...

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes suddenly lit up; he realized a blind spot. He kicked Yue Gongli: “Did you leave any of the Fetus-Nurturing Holy Tree's methods on you?”

Yue Gongli's head nearly exploded from the kick. After tumbling away, he clutched his head in pain and cried, “No! I swear, there was only that one Evil God's Eye, and only that one Fetus-Nurturing Holy Tree branch—that's all of it. There are no other Fetus-Nurturing Holy Tree remnants on me at all. I haven't even settled the score with her for stealing my child!”

Not only did Yue Gongli make a valid point, but Xu Xiaoshou, observing from the perspective of his life patterns, also found no trace of parasitism on him. Indeed, for a dignified Saint Emperor's successor to be parasitized by an external force without noticing—wouldn't that be a laughingstock?

“Dao Qiongcang, say something!” Seeing Xu Xiaoshou's direct gaze, Yue Gongli couldn't help but turn and direct his words at the flashy old Daoist, trying to get him to intervene.

“Thirty-Six Heavenly Secrets, Great Purification Art.” Dao Qiongcang first cast a Heavenly Secret Art on himself, cleansing all his life pollution and restoring his normal appearance. He turned aside, his hands forming graceful seals, quickly outlining an array on the ground: “Life Forbidden Zone!”

With a hum, a magnificent Heavenly Secret Array quickly formed. Everyone could feel that within it, life's vitality was suppressed to the extreme. Even the Dao of Life seemed to be stripped away.

“I have thoroughly studied the Fetus-Nurturing Holy Tree's life force. Those who cannot withstand the Ancestral Tree's influence may enter this array.” At his words, the Spirit Refiners who had already understood why the array was set up rushed into it without hesitation. Once inside, sure enough, their bellies rapidly deflated. All their bizarre life vitality was dispelled, returning them to normal. Everyone's faces showed gratitude: “Thank you, Dao Hall Master!”

No need to be polite… Dao Qiongcang was no longer that Dao Hall Master. The reason he was so kind as to save these people was purely because he realized that the bizarre Fetus-Nurturing Holy Tree grew stronger with each life force it devoured. In other words, for every death in the First Heaven, the Ancestral Tree would gain a point of strength, and he himself would relatively weaken even further. This action merely benefited himself at the Ancestral Tree's expense.

Only after everyone entered the Life Forbidden Zone did Dao Qiongcang turn his gaze to Yue Gongli, who had cried for help, and declared resonantly, “The anomaly originates from you.”

Instantly, Xu Xiaoshou's furious gaze locked onto Yue Gongli. His Painted Dragon Halberd was raised high, aimed at the latter's head.

“You can joke about food, but you can't talk nonsense, Dao Niantian!” Yue Gongli paled in shock. “It's bad enough you won't save me, but you're slandering me now? What did I do to you?”

“You brought it from the Eighteenth Heaven.” This firm, certain statement came out again, and without needing further explanation, Xu Xiaoshou's halberd had already flown out.

“Bang!” Yue Gongli flashed, grabbing the Nether Coffin to block. He was almost shaken apart. He pleaded with Master Shou, “I still have last words; give me a chance!” After speaking, he turned to Dao Qiongcang, baring his teeth in intense hatred: “No, are you really sick? I'm innocent! I only provided a drop of my soul blood, and then you gave me an eyeball and a branch. But all of that was resolved by you; I didn't bring anything else…”

“Are you sure you didn't bring anything else down?” Dao Qiongcang interrupted with a half-smile.

“I…” Yue Gongli paused, looking down at the Nether Coffin. “Just this coffin. The coffin isn't guilty, right?” He then pointed at the Six Marrow Corpse King. “My Corpse King! But it has Saint Ancestor's power, which has a purifying effect. How could the Medicinal Ancestor's power, mutated by the Evil God's power, attach itself to it?” Looking around, Yue Gongli spread his hands: “That's all!”

“Really nothing else?” Dao Qiongcang glanced elsewhere. Following his gaze, everyone's spiritual and saintly senses remotely probed the previous battlefield, far from the Samsara Heaven Ascent Pillar. That place was already empty, with nothing special except a Coffin of Deification, half-buried in the ground from Master Shou's earlier kick.

Wait! Suddenly, everyone's expressions changed. As Mo Mo was about to make a move, Feng Yujin's voice erupted: “Mo Mo, don't probe it! Break contact! Stay away from the Coffin of Deification!” As soon as he spoke, everyone's spiritual and saintly senses, though unable to penetrate the Coffin of Deification initially, now recoiled rapidly as if shocked.

“Hua… Huayuan?” Yue Gongli froze, stammering slightly, his eyes filled with disbelief. More precisely, Huayuan's soul body? Xu Xiaoshou had witnessed everything and knew precisely what was sealed inside that Coffin of Deification. It was the Ancient Sword Saint, whose spirit and will had been effortlessly sealed by Mo Mo with his sword's aid! It was the spirit within the coffin that Old Sang and the Water Ghost's saintly senses couldn't probe after the life anomaly appeared! Feng Yujin, right under his nose, searched half of the First Heaven but didn't check his Coffin of Deification? Mo Mo's sealing energy could block the influence of life force. Was the Coffin of Deification acting like that barrier, isolating everyone's perception of the anomaly's source? Yue Gongli, wielding the powers of the Three Ancestors, was immune to parasitism. The Six Marrow Corpse King, with the power of the original Saint-God, wasn't the Fetus-Nurturing Holy Tree's target. But Huayuan's soul body, lacking ancestral power, had already been infiltrated back in the Eighteenth Heaven?

“You…” Xu Xiaoshou hesitated, glancing at Dao Qiongcang. “Are you sure?”

Dao Qiongcang offered no comment. “Open the Coffin of Deification, and you'll see.”

“Then my suggestion is no!” Bai Zhou quickly waved his hand, pointing to the Life Forbidden Zone. “This place can block the influence.”

“But what about afterward?” Dao Qiongcang tilted his head and asked, “Are you focused only on the present? Do you think waiting here will make the God's Remains open by itself and let us out, or that the Fetus-Nurturing Holy Tree won't worsen until my Life Forbidden Zone can no longer resist its power?”

Bai Zhou was speechless. Was this sarcasm? “Alright, alright, I was short-sighted. You all discuss it then!” He grabbed his wine gourd and stepped into the Life Forbidden Zone, looking as if he wouldn't interfere further.

“I'll open the coffin!” Xu Xiaoshou frowned, pulling up his Painted Dragon Halberd, ready to go. Everyone looked on expectantly. Indeed, at critical moments, one had to rely on the courageous Master Shou. Just then, Master Shou stopped, turning his gaze to Yue Gongli.

Yue Gongli shivered: “W-what?”

“You said before, didn't you, that if I spared your life, you'd be the vanguard?” Xu Xiaoshou tilted his head, recalling.

Yue Gongli immediately felt unwell, his lips trembling with anger. Just talk! You took it seriously?

“Go.” Xu Xiaoshou tapped his backside with the Painted Dragon Halberd, too lazy to say more. The latter reluctantly scurried over.

Whoosh, whoosh… Yellow sand swirled. The Coffin of Deification, standing in the empty and chaotic battlefield, was grayish-white tinged with the unique shadowy hue of the God's Remains. Everyone watched: Xu Xiaoshou, Dao Qiongcang, Mo Mo… Yue Gongli, in front of the coffin, mentally prepared himself. He gritted his teeth, jumped up, grabbed the lid of the Coffin of Deification, and kicked wildly with his legs. The vertically standing coffin sealed all saintly power of those who touched it, yet it was easily pried open by the mortal body of Yue Gongli, using the inertia of his falling weight. As if… someone inside was cooperating to open it.

“Bang!” When the coffin lid crashed heavily to the ground, pinning Yue Gongli, everyone no longer heard the fox's screams. Their gazes swept in unison to the coffin's interior.

“How is it? How is it?” Yue Gongli pushed away the lid that pinned him, quickly got up, and ran, looking back over his shoulder. The first thing he saw was the countless people in the Life Forbidden Zone, their expressions frozen. He turned his head and tripped over thin air, falling straight forward.

“This is…” In the Coffin of Deification, where was Huayuan's soul body? There were clusters of gnarled black branches, interwoven to form the image of a seductive tree mother. Her six arms pointed skyward, each forming different hand seals. Her tree tendrils were like hair, studded with Half-Saint positions, roughly numbering no less than twenty. Her branches extended, suspending individual soul bodies whose flesh had been devoured. Among them was Huayuan!

“Huayuan—!” Yue Gongli let out a shriek. Compared to his countless past acts of feigned weakness and deception, at this moment, Moon Fox lay sprawled on the sand, his eyes truly red. The suspended soul body of Huayuan showed no pain on its face. Like the other familiar Half-Saints beside it, its features were normal, eyelids drooped, and it was eerily lifelike. But precisely because of this, Yue Gongli understood even more… Huayuan, the Saint, had fallen. Fallen silently. Even when he thought that just opening the Coffin of Deification meant everything could still be salvaged.

Huayuan was Hua Changdeng's shadow. He, Yue Gongli, was the shadow of his sister, Yue Gongnu. Hua Changdeng was aloof and cold-natured, never caring about his brother's fate. Huayuan had spent his entire life in the Cloud Mountain Imperial Realm. Yue Gongnu, though she disciplined him, would cover for him when he, Yue Gongli, wanted to sneak out of the Cold Palace Imperial Realm to play on the continent. He was almost an unfortunate replica of himself! Honestly, Yue Gongli's interactions with Huayuan weren't as frequent as his interactions with the other successors of the Five Great Saint Emperor Families. After all, he was just a shadow. But shared suffering always made people feel a kinship. This was why Yue Gongli had been overjoyed to see Huayuan in the Hall of Destiny and had pulled him aside for a long, heartfelt talk. Yet, the scene of them drinking and reminiscing was still vivid, and while he was outside the coffin, Huayuan was already suspended on the tree…

Screech—! A mournful shriek, like a dying eagle's cry, erupted the moment everyone saw the Fetus-Nurturing Holy Tree. This sound made even Xu Xiaoshou, inside the Life Forbidden Zone, feel his scalp tingle. By the time he recovered, the Fetus-Nurturing Holy Tree in the coffin had swayed her skirt, unleashing countless black branches. Yue Gongli, directly in its path, was instantly pierced through his belly. With rage surging, he glared at Huayuan's soul body, his brows furrowed, moonlight reflected in his eyes, just about to erupt.

Whoosh! He cleaved down an Ancestral Tree branch with an axe, then turned and lunged toward the Life Forbidden Zone: “Master Shou, save me!”

How could Xu Xiaoshou bother with that disemboweled man? When he regained his senses, most of the spoils he had acquired in the Eighteenth Heaven—the Half-Saint positions from the Twelve Saint Lords and Taizai Ci, among others—were all simultaneously summoned by the Ancestral Tree's branches.

“So many Half-Saint positions?” The appearance of this long string of crystal gems made everyone in the Life Forbidden Zone gasp in shock. Master Shou hunted down all the Half-Saints who entered the God's Remains?

“My treasures, you dare to steal?” Xu Xiaoshou's eyes were bloodshot. 'You can harm me, but how dare you touch my Half-Saint positions? Do you know how much effort that took?' He raised his halberd and charged out, intending to sever the Fetus-Nurturing Holy Tree's branches, but who would have thought…

With a rumble. The entire world went dark. The Heaven Realm shattered, sending down countless Ancestral Tree branches that impaled and suspended scattered Spirit Refiners. The earth disintegrated, erupting with countless black vines that sent all those hiding in the God's Remains flying. All the Spirit Refiners in the entire world were strung up, their flesh and blood instantly devoured, except for those in the Life Forbidden Zone. Xu Xiaoshou had just stepped out of the Life Forbidden Zone when he heard tens of thousands of tragic wails. The First Heaven had become a grand sacrificial array! His flesh and blood rapidly decomposed… His soul rapidly evaporated… All sorts of passive abilities frantically circulated within him, yet even they struggled to withstand the sacrificial power.

“Damn it!” Xu Xiaoshou frantically retreated, pulling back repeatedly, hoisting Yue Gongli in front of him as a shield.

Inside the Coffin of Deification, the beautiful tree mother devoured the flesh and blood of the entire world, then burst forth in full bloom, transforming into the World Tree itself, towering to the heavens. Her soft, melodic hum instantly enervated the hundreds of lives within the Life Forbidden Zone: “With this world's spirit, I sincerely open the Heaven Realm! With the will of all things, I invite the ominous shadow!”