Chapter 810: Shipboard Mystery

Outside the black coffin, everyone waited for a moment, but the two red lights inside remained motionless.

From a distance, others who had entered the ghost ship with them were also closely observing, awaiting the results of Ancestral Dragon King's exploration.

The ghost ship was infamous, so they were content to let others take the risks while they reaped the benefits.

The surroundings were eerily quiet.

Ancestral Dragon King signaled to a demigod. Understanding the unspoken command, the demigod channeled their power, first casting several defensive spells to protect their body, transforming them into tortoise shells. Mysterious turtle patterns also appeared on their arms. Only then, steeling themselves, did they step forward, cautiously reaching into the black coffin to explore.

The coffin was massive; their hand was still far from the red lantern's glow in the darkness. Gradually, the demigod stepped into the black coffin and disappeared.

Silence fell within. After a moment, the demigod's voice emerged from the coffin: "They really are lanterns!"

Those outside sighed in relief, and Ancestral Dragon King also relaxed slightly. The demigod stepped out of the coffin, chuckling: "The red glow in this coffin really comes from lanterns, two paper lanterns. I only found one, so I brought it out. There’s no danger inside... Why are you all looking at me like that?"

The demigod, holding a lantern, looked around in surprise, noticing that everyone was slowly backing away as if they had seen a ghost.

Ancestral Dragon King also took a step back, tightening his grip on his dragon-head scepter.

Even he had never witnessed such a bizarre situation, making him somewhat uneasy.

In the distance, Luo Wushuang and the others were also silent, and the disciples of the Divine Beauty Army watched the scene with terror.

"Sword God, what's happening?" Dragon Breeder Monarch's voice trembled as he hid behind the Village Chief.

The Village Chief and the Heavens were old adversaries, and Dragon Breeder Monarch had narrowly escaped death at the Village Chief's hands on several occasions. Though they had a feud, Dragon Breeder Monarch admired the Village Chief the most, so in the face of such a strange sight, he instinctively drew closer to him.

As for Qin Mu, his lord, Dragon Breeder Monarch instinctively disliked the boy.

Qin Mu frowned, his gaze fixed on the demigod who had emerged from the black coffin. The demigod held a paper lantern, and the red glow previously seen in the black coffin had come from this very lantern. In the darkness, it had eerily resembled two glowing red eyes.

The paper lantern was very strange; it spun round and round when blown by the wind. On the lantern was a face, wide-eyed and smiling, looking around.

However, this was not what terrified everyone.

What truly frightened them was the demigod themselves: another paper lantern sat atop the demigod's neck.

And his head was gone!

His face appeared on this paper lantern, complete with a nose and eyes, and it was speaking: "What's wrong with you all? Why are you looking at me like that?"

His face was on the lantern's surface, and the internal light shone through, as if someone had peeled off his face and pasted it onto the lantern.

The lantern's light was dim and eerie, causing his face to flicker in and out of view.

Ancestral Dragon King suddenly raised his dragon-head scepter and pointed. The lantern on the demigod's neck abruptly extinguished!

Plop.

The lantern fell to the ground.

The demigod's neck was now empty. Divine blood gushed forth, their body swayed, and they collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

"You will all die..."

The lantern he had been holding also dropped, rolling twice on the ground. The face on the lantern displayed a sinister smile: "Hehe, you will all die here, then gain eternal life, forever linked to this ship..."

Ancestral Dragon King stomped on the lantern, extinguishing the candle flame within. His face grim, he declared: "Playing tricks! I am a great god of the Empyrean Realm; to play such tricks in front of me is utterly foolish!"

With a roar, he thrust his dragon-head scepter heavily into the black coffin before him. The tall black coffin instantly shattered into pieces, its panels bursting apart and clattering to the ground with loud thuds.

His combat prowess was astonishing; even with the Four Emperors' seal, the black coffin could not withstand his single strike.

As the dust settled, the coffin panels on the ground let out piercing howls, and fresh red blood began to gush from the wood.

Everyone was startled and quickly took to the air, not daring to touch the ground.

They watched as fresh red blood flowed from the coffins, and saw that the inner walls of the coffins had living people embedded within them. They seemed to have grown together with the wood; some had faces protruding like bas-reliefs, others half their chests, and numerous arms grew out from the coffin walls.

These hands clawed and grasped, trying to seize something, while some faces were contorted, gasping for breath.

Innumerable shrill voices cried out: "Save me—"

Ancestral Dragon King was at a loss.

Suddenly, a face cried out: "Ancestral Dragon King, it's me! It's me! I am Roaming God, you sent me to investigate this ghost ship! I'm trapped here, Dragon King, please save me!"

Ancestral Dragon King was shocked and quickly looked at the person. That demigod, merged with the coffin, was indeed one of the many demigods he had dispatched to investigate the ghost ship!

He had already sent five or six groups of powerful demigods to explore this ship, including beings at the Jade Pool and God-Slaying Platform realms. However, once they entered the ship, they vanished without a trace, like clay oxen entering the sea!

He had never expected one of them to appear within the black coffin, grown together with it!

Suddenly, another voice cried out: "I am Pan Qiong, a general from the Western Sunset Gate of the Heavenly Court! Quickly, save me!"

"I am Qing An, a disciple of the Eastern Emperor, trapped here for countless millennia! If you can rescue me, the Eastern Emperor will surely reward you greatly!"

"I am Crown Prince Chixiao of the Radiant Emperor! Who will save me? The Radiant Emperor will surely give you a lavish reward!"

Various cries filled the air, leaving those on the ship bewildered. They watched as the faces on the coffins shriveled, their voices rapidly fading until, finally, all the blood drained, and they became mummified corpses, their eyes wide open in death.

More and more blood flowed, slowly submerging the other seals on the deck.

Qin Mu whispered, "Village Chief, look!"

The Village Chief narrowed his eyes, whispering: "The seals on the deck are devouring this blood. We can't stay on the deck for long; we need to get off it as soon as possible!"

The deck of this ghost ship was covered in circular seals. The blood plasma was absorbed by the seals' patterns, and each seal began to emit a faint green glow.

The runes forming the seals gradually dimmed, and as they rotated, black coffins slowly began to grow out from beneath the deck.

Qin Mu and his companions, realizing the danger early, rushed towards the ghost ship's superstructure first. The others also reacted and scrambled towards it.

Behind them, massive black coffins sprouted from the deck, growing in number, forming a veritable forest of coffins. Thudding sounds came from behind them, the sound of coffin lids falling to the ground.

Qin Mu looked back, only to see the coffins open, but nothing leaped out. Instead, streams of pitch-black gas erupted from them, coiling erratically in the air like bodiless pythons.

Some slower demigods were touched by the black gas, letting out agonizing screams as their flesh dissolved and rapidly disintegrated. Yet, their faces remained, and some of their melting bodies, falling onto the coffins below, merged with the wood, becoming faces on the coffins.

The Village Chief also saw this scene and couldn't help but shiver repeatedly. The black gas swirled wildly, quickly filling the entire deck. In front of them, black coffins also rose, their lids open, and black gas diffused from them.

The area ahead became a forest of coffins, with black gas writhing like venomous snakes and giant pythons, darting everywhere, making it impossible to defend against. A demigod roared angrily, their primordial spirit standing on the Jade Platform of the Heavenly Palace, unleashing divine abilities and techniques with terrifying power, but the black gas instantly seeped into their body, and their flesh dissolved!

The Village Chief shivered again and shouted, "Mu'er, faster!"

Qin Mu seemed lost in thought, muttering to himself: "This black gas... it's like a creation divine ability... Yes, it is a creation divine ability, but one that connects living and non-living things..."

"At a time like this, you're still thinking about that?"

The Village Chief, furious, grabbed Qin Mu by the collar and sped away, his mind working. Streaks of sword light cleared a path, severing the incoming black gas.

However, the black gas reconnected as soon as it was severed, utterly inextinguishable.

The Village Chief could only drag Qin Mu, dodging and weaving, silently cursing his misfortune.

Dragon Breeder Monarch hurriedly followed, but saw Qin Mu, like a cat held by the scruff of its neck, hanging motionless yet turning his body to continue watching the swirling black gas, mumbling indistinctly.

"My lord is a Dao fanatic!"

Dragon Breeder Monarch cast divine abilities to block the black gas, but to no avail, muttering inwardly: "A suicidal Dao fanatic!"

Qin Mu's eyes gleamed as he continued to muse: "If it's a creation divine ability, what is it used for? Why has it gone out of control? Why are there so many black coffins? What about the Feathered Forest Army transmigration incident... What principles does this creation divine ability employ?"

Ahead, black gas permeated everything. All the black coffins on the deck opened, and the black gas enveloped the ghost ship's superstructure, making it impossible to see where the buildings were.

Darkness enveloped them. Sweat streamed down the Village Chief's forehead as he stopped, standing back-to-back with Dragon Breeder Monarch, guarding their surroundings.

Just then, moonlight brightened the darkness. Luo Wushuang activated a treasure, which exuded imperial might. Its light actually repelled the black gas, and Luo Wushuang led the remaining Divine Beauty Army disciples, charging forward along the illuminated path.

"Divine Blade Luo has a treasure forged by a Great Emperor!"

Qin Mu praised: "No wonder he's so confident. Luo Wushuang, I'm here. Do you remember who cut off your arm?"

Luo Wushuang paid him no heed, continuing to press forward with his disciples, moving away from the area.

At that moment, Feng Qiuyun, carrying a stone coffin, opened it. Immediately, overwhelming imperial power erupted. Within the coffin, a divine emperor among the demigods sat upright, forcing back the black gas.

"Sister Qiuyun!"

Qin Mu called out loudly: "Do you remember me?"

Feng Qiuyun's voice drifted back from afar: "I remember! You little brat betrayed the Earth Mother. The Earth Mother would love to take your life right now!"

Qin Mu's face darkened. Crimson Bright God-Child's body transformed into a red light and flew away through the black gas, ignoring him.

"The God-Child has no loyalty either," Qin Mu muttered.

Qin Mu shook his head. Everyone on the deck brought out their own methods; even the Heavenly Court visitors who had slid down the silver rope from above had protective treasures.

Qin Mu then took out a military tally. The moment it appeared, all the black gas suddenly froze. Then, streams of black gas swiftly flew back into the coffins. With continuous thudding sounds, the coffin lids automatically closed, and each black coffin slowly sank back into the deck, vanishing from sight.

The Village Chief blinked, looked at Qin Mu, and whispered: "Is this jade pendant of yours truly the treasure that controls this ship?"

Qin Mu shook his head, honestly replying: "I'm not entirely sure; I was just guessing..."

"You!"

The Village Chief, exasperated, said: "Let's keep moving."

Suddenly, a lantern floated down from the mast, flying towards Qin Mu and the others. The round lantern circled the three of them several times.

The Village Chief was on alert, his hand on his sword, eyes narrowed as he scrutinized the lantern, ready to strike at any moment.

Creak.

A sound of a door opening came from the lantern, startling the Village Chief. He saw that the lantern actually had a pair of doors on it, and a strange bird-headed, human-bodied creature, barely an inch tall, pushed them open from inside the lantern and peered at them.

An intense, dazzling light emanated from behind the tiny figure. The three looked inside the lantern, only to see a fiercely burning sun behind the inch-tall creature!

"Feathered Forest Army, Brigadier General Lin Xiao, greetings, Lord Commander!"

The tiny figure bowed ceremoniously at the threshold, saying: "Lord Commander has become younger again."

Qin Mu blinked, muttering vaguely: "Hmm. Lead the way."

"As you command."

The tiny figure sat on the threshold, its wings buzzing. The lantern, illuminating the path ahead, flew forward.

The Village Chief, suspicious, sent a telepathic message: "Mu'er, what's going on?"

"I don't know."

Qin Mu looked bewildered: "Perhaps he mistook me for someone else..."

Ahead, a cluster of buildings came into view. A colossal dragon head grew from the front of the structure; it was alive, merged with the entire building, its flesh and wood intertwined. The dragon's face was contorted and frenzied, seemingly in immense pain. Upon seeing them, it cried out: "Heaven and Earth may change, but the thirty-six constants remain! What does it mean? Tell me, what does it mean?"

"This is another ancient deity linked to this ship by a creation divine ability, but he seems to have gone mad."

Dragon Breeder Monarch said fearfully: "This divine dragon's power is far greater than mine..."

"I'm not mad."

The frenzied divine dragon suddenly lowered its head and looked at them, chuckling: "Sooner or later, you'll be like me, merging with this ship, becoming a part of it... the unchanging constants, the unchanging constants, you can only leave by deciphering the unchanging constants..."

"Someone left a record here!"

A voice came from within the building. Qin Mu and the others hurried over, finding that many people had already gathered inside, including Crimson Bright God-Child, the Heavenly Court visitors, and Feng Qiuyun, all looking at the wall.

Qin Mu also looked at the writing on the wall, his heart jolting: "Senior Brother's handwriting!"

On the wall, the words left by Wei Suifeng, the founding patriarch of the Heavenly Saint Cult, spoke not of the ghost ship, but of another matter entirely.

Qin Mu read carefully, and was stunned: "The death of the Dragon Han Heavenly Court's Emperor and Empress? Why did Senior Brother record this on the wall? What connection does this have to the Feathered Forest Army transmigration incident?"