Chapter 878: Hello, Wei Suifeng

“The Empress’s sister… how could her body be here?”

Qin Mu’s mind went blank; he could barely believe his eyes!

The Empress’s body was hidden on the ghost ship. Qin Mu’s experience on that ship was so strange that he could never forget it. To solve the mystery of the ghost ship, he had memorized every detail and every cycle on board, giving him an exceptionally profound memory of it.

On the ghost ship, both the Empress and Jue Wuchen’s bodies were in the same coffin. When Qin Mu summoned Jue Wuchen’s soul, he discovered that Jue Wuchen had no soul at all; she was an artificial beauty, a perfect woman created by Celestial Venerable Ling using creation techniques to eliminate the ancient god, Heavenly Emperor.

When Qin Mu summoned the Empress’s soul, he was horrified to find that she was not dead at all, but still alive! He then deduced the process by which the Empress and her sister conspired with the Heaven Alliance to murder the ancient god, Heavenly Emperor.

The Empress and her sister teamed up. The sister remained in the Celestial Heavens to keep the ancient god, Heavenly Emperor, occupied, while the Empress returned to her hometown. There, she used the nearby Dragon King Kingdom, manipulating King Long Bo into rebelling and injuring her, trapping her in the Return to the Ruins.

The Heavenly Emperor ordered Wei Suifeng to lead the Imperial Forest Army to suppress the rebellion and rescue the Empress. On the eve of their triumphant return after quelling the rebellion, the Empress’s ambush case erupted. Undercurrents surged in the Return to the Ruins, and two Empresses appeared in the dark of night. The true Empress died.

Wei Suifeng brought the Empress’s body back to the Celestial Heavens. On the Celestial River, he encountered Celestial Venerable Ling casting a spell. Wei Suifeng immediately used the mist to leave the Dragon Han Era and return to his own time, while the Imperial Forest Army and their ship, caught in Celestial Venerable Ling’s divine power, transformed into the ghost ship that traversed thirty-six dimensions.

However, the Empress did not die; she became Jue Wuchen. The Celestial Heavens also announced that the Empress was not dead. Qin Mu speculated that the Empress in the Celestial Heavens must be her sister. According to this deduction, both the Empress and her sister were involved in the plot to murder the Heavenly Emperor.

Yet, now before him was the Empress’s sister’s coffin, with her body lying inside!

What if, at that time, the Empress’s sister didn't stay in the Celestial Heavens to hold back the Heavenly Emperor, but instead followed the Empress to the Return to the Ruins, incited the Dragon King Kingdom’s rebellion, and then seized the opportunity to attack her sister, only to be killed by her sister instead? The Empress could have hidden her sister’s body in the Return to the Ruins, faked her own death by ambush, had Wei Suifeng deliver her ‘body’ to the Celestial Heavens, then escaped using the ghost ship, transforming into Jue Wuchen.

Wei Suifeng, discovering the trick, realized it was actually the Empress’s sister who had died. He then left a map, guiding Qin Mu to uncover the truth.

“But this theory has a flaw: why did the Celestial Heavens announce that the Empress was still alive?” Qin Mu steadied himself and fell into deep thought. “The Empress in the Celestial Heavens must be one of the sisters, but which one? Perhaps there’s another possibility: the sisters were playing a double act. The sister pretended to ambush and kill the Empress in plain sight, while the Empress faked her death to escape and become Jue Wuchen. Her sister then returned to the Celestial Heavens, becoming the official Empress from her previous subordinate role.”

“After the ancient god, Heavenly Emperor, was killed, the Empress then eliminated her sister, sending her body here to bury the truth! Until Wei Suifeng arrived here and discovered the Empress’s sister’s body...”

“There are still inconsistencies! If one sister’s body was hidden on the ghost ship and the other in the Return to the Ruins, then who are they now? Is there still an Empress in the Celestial Heavens? Or perhaps, the Empress didn’t eliminate her sister, but rather the two sisters became one, remaining in the Celestial Heavens to control the Heavenly Emperor’s physical body?”

Qin Mu felt his head was about to explode. He suddenly shouted, “Fatty Dragon, get down and open the coffin!”

Dragon Qilin trembled all over, paralyzed on top of the crystal coffin. Qin Mu lifted the coffin with him still clinging to it, tossing it aside. He then activated his Overlord Body Three Elixirs Art. Behind him, the Gate of Heaven’s Will appeared, but strangely, it was extremely faint, barely visible, and couldn’t fully materialize! Qin Mu frowned. The Return to the Ruins was incredibly strange, suppressing Netherworld’s divine arts. He couldn’t use the Soul-Tethering technique to ascertain whether the Empress’s sister was alive or dead.

“Wei Suifeng left the Empress’s sister’s body here as if it were a treasure. Does he want me to take this body away?” His brows furrowed even more. He walked around the coffin, pondering deeply as he looked at the Empress’s sister’s body within. Should he really take it?

Suddenly, a tremendous sound of water came from outside. Qin Mu was startled. He quickly walked out of the Red Palace and looked up. The sound came from beyond the heavens, but it didn’t penetrate the Flower World.

“The Celestial River has stopped flowing, so where is that water sound coming from?” Qin Mu was stunned. “Could it be...”

Just then, a mist began to drift through the sky. The fog seeped through the crevices of the Flower World, gradually filling it. Yan’er and the beautiful snake formed from the stamens were still fighting, appearing and disappearing in the mist.

A moment later, the mist dispersed, and the sound of water vanished. A loud rumble echoed, and the Flower World trembled violently. Then, Qin Mu felt two large flowers slowly rising! “These two flowers are about to rise from the Return to the Ruins!”

Qin Mu’s heart stirred. He immediately returned to the Red Palace, picked up Dragon Qilin, and pried him off the coffin lid. Qin Mu closed the crystal coffin and said, “Fatty Dragon, stop trembling. You’ll get extra food. Go quickly and call Sister Yan’er. We’ll leave this place as soon as these two flowers float out of the Great Abyss!”

Dragon Qilin, invigorated, immediately rushed out of the Red Palace, looked around, and exclaimed, “Cult Master, the flowers have opened! Sister Yan’er and that ancient god have gone into the dark world! It’s too dark in there, I don’t dare go in!”

“Two extra meals!” Dragon Qilin plunged into the dark world to find Yan’er. Qin Mu lifted the crystal coffin onto his shoulder and chuckled, “The Empress and her sister don’t know what tricks they’re playing, but once I carry this coffin out, I’ll know whether you’re dead or alive...”

Just as he stepped out of the Red Palace, he saw a middle-aged man approaching. The man was dressed in coarse cloth, dusty from travel, with large hands and feet, thick eyebrows, and big eyes. A belt woven from coarse hemp was tied around his waist, and a piece of parchment floated before him, moving as he moved. In front of the parchment, a brush was automatically writing and drawing, charting the geography of the Flower World.

The two men met, both slightly startled.

“Founding Patriarch... Senior Brother!” The coffin on Qin Mu’s shoulder dropped to the ground. He stared blankly at the middle-aged man, stammering, “Wei... Wei Suifeng!”

“Who are you?” The middle-aged man was astonished. His gaze shifted to the crystal coffin on the ground. The coffin was open, and a female corpse had rolled out, face down, with a hole in the back of her head and a peach wood hairpin stuck in it.

The middle-aged man grew wary, immediately putting away his parchment scroll and writing tools. “Who are you? Why do you know me? What are you planning to do with this female corpse?”

Qin Mu’s mind was a mess. The recent mist, the sudden appearance of Senior Brother Wei Suifeng, and the peach wood hairpin in the back of the Empress’s sister’s head—a series of sudden events made it impossible for him to sort things out for a moment.

The middle-aged man was indeed Wei Suifeng, the founding patriarch of the Heavenly Saint Sect. His portrait hung in the sect’s headquarters on Mount Saint’s Arrival, and every cult master, during their initiation at the Saintly Instructor’s Training Stone, would witness scenes of Wei Suifeng listening to the teachings of the Saintly Woodcutter. He couldn't possibly be mistaken about the person.

“That water sound earlier was the Celestial River reappearing, and then the mist erupted, bringing this place back to twenty thousand years ago.” Qin Mu’s mind was no longer confused; he immediately grasped the situation. Celestial Venerable Ling’s divine power had brought him back twenty thousand years. At this time, Wei Suifeng, aiming for the “three accomplishments”—establishing a sect, establishing doctrines, and achieving meritorious deeds—to become a saint, began exploring past mysteries, which led him to the Return to the Ruins.

As for the peach wood hairpin in the back of the Empress’s sister’s head, it was because Celestial Venerable Ling was the one who killed the Empress’s sister, not the Empress herself. It was Celestial Venerable Ling who hid the Empress’s sister’s body here!

“Why aren’t you speaking?” The middle-aged man, who had various weapons strapped to his back, suddenly shook his body. All the weapons clattered to the ground, quickly assembling themselves. He stared at Qin Mu warily and asked, “How do you know me? Are you someone left here by the extraterrestrial Celestial Heavens, or a tomb robber?” His weapons were extremely unusual: various components that could be freely combined into different weapon forms.

Having understood the crucial point, Qin Mu smiled and said, “Senior Brother, I am your junior brother, your fellow disciple. We both learned from the Saintly Woodcutter...”

The middle-aged man reached back and grabbed, and the divine weapon he had just assembled immediately landed in his hand. He sneered, “You’re my junior brother? The Saintly Instructor never took any other disciples! Who exactly are you?” The weapon in his hand resembled a conical hat, but this was likely just one of its transformations.

“I am your junior brother from twenty thousand years in the future.” Qin Mu hastily explained, “Teacher Woodcutter took me as his disciple twenty thousand years later. I am also the Cult Master of the Heavenly Saint Sect, separated from you by two millennia. Did you encounter mist just now? That mist is why I traveled back twenty thousand years. I followed the map you left me to find this place. This coffin and the woman inside are both things you left for me, waiting for me to discover the truth of history. This woman is the sister of the Empress from the extraterrestrial Celestial Heavens...”

As he spoke, he couldn’t continue. If he were in Wei Suifeng’s shoes, he wouldn’t believe these words either! They were simply too absurd, too bizarre!

Qin Mu sighed and said, “You surely don’t believe what I’m saying, do you?”

“Do you think I would believe you?” The sneer on the middle-aged man’s face grew more pronounced. He said, “Leave the coffin and the female corpse, and I can let you go.”

Qin Mu sighed again. He said, “Teacher said you are very stubborn, that once you’ve made up your mind about something, not even nine oxen can pull you away from it, and no one can change your mind. It seems I’ll have to defeat you in a fight for you to acknowledge me as your junior brother. We three fellow disciples have never really tested each other’s strength.”

The middle-aged man, whose demeanor was quite simple, laughed upon hearing this. “I have a third junior brother too? Today, I came to this dangerous place, the Return to the Ruins, and suddenly I have two more junior brothers. How truly strange.”

Qin Mu said seriously, “You will see us in the future. But today...” Before he finished speaking, Wei Suifeng suddenly tossed his conical hat into the air. It spun and floated, disappearing in an instant. Qin Mu looked up, and countless stars shone above his head! The starlight of myriad stars intertwined, pressing down.

“Star sand? No, it’s the myriad divine arts from the Great Creation Demonic Scripture!” No sooner had he thought this than he was engulfed by countless stars!

Wei Suifeng reached out, and the conical hat returned to his hand. He said indifferently, “Fighting me? Subduing you is no effort at all...”

Boom— The conical hat in his hand suddenly exploded, and countless divine weapons flew through the air. Qin Mu broke through the hat, leaped up, and chuckled, “Senior Brother, you can’t use Teacher’s abilities against me without...”

Wei Suifeng’s expression subtly changed. The countless divine weapons instantly combined, forming a cauldron that re-contained and suppressed Qin Mu before he could fully ascend! “Star River Buries the Heavens!” Star rivers coiled around his body, and suddenly, a vast river of countless stars surged into the cauldron!