Chapter 219: The Murderer

After some attempts, it became clear that the coffin could only be opened from the head, sliding the lid towards the foot.

Li Weiyi was careful and first pushed the coffin lid open by about a foot.

Inside lay Yang Qingchan, who looked exactly like Yang Qingxi, her face exposed, as pale as paper yet as hauntingly beautiful as a painting.

He first used his spiritual sense to perceive, then swiftly extended a finger to check her neck and pulse.

Her blood had cooled, and her heart had stopped.

She was undeniably dead.

Only then did Li Weiyi finally relax, pushing the coffin lid open to three feet, fully revealing her upper body.

Yang Qingchan's hair, clothing, and makeup had all been meticulously arranged. Her clothes were neat, she wore various ornaments, and her lips and eyebrows were painted. If not for the lack of color in her face, she would appear to be merely sleeping.

Her cultivation was at the peak of the Five Seas Realm, and her physical body was formidable. Even after soaking in water for seven days, her skin remained delicate as jade, as if she had just died, with no signs of damage.

As the coffin master had said, the inside of the coffin was covered with array inscriptions.

Li Weiyi turned her face to the side, revealing the sword wound on her neck.

This wound was from seven days ago, when she forcibly broke free from Li Weiyi's sword and was cut by the Yellow Dragon Sword.

"No, this isn't right!" he thought. "The wound has deepened, severing the carotid artery."

Li Weiyi remembered very clearly that although the Yellow Dragon Sword had cut her, it had certainly not severed her carotid artery.

Furthermore, he had not imbued the Yellow Dragon Sword with spiritual energy at the time. Even if it had truly severed the carotid artery, with Yang Qingchan's cultivation, she could have easily mobilized her spiritual power to temporarily seal the wound.

As for the peculiar destructive power of the Yellow Dragon Sword itself, it currently appeared to only target demonic spirits and the deceased, not humans.

"Someone has fabricated the wound," he realized, "creating the illusion that Yang Qingchan died from excessive blood loss after I severed her carotid artery with a single sword stroke."

In Li Weiyi's view, this was completely unnecessary.

Whether Yang Qingchan was killed or not, he and the Yan faction were already mortal enemies.

If the target was Li Weiyi, then this added layer of false accusation was meaningless.

What, then, was the true purpose of the other party?

He turned the body over, back facing upwards.

Li Weiyi formed a hand seal and swept his fingers across his brow, causing the Heavenly Insight Eye to appear.

What should have been an exquisitely beautiful jade-like back instead bore large patches of dark bruises, injuries left from when Tao Yanyan struck her with a hammer seven days ago.

Yang Qingchan had been wearing defensive armor at the time, so the hammer blow to her back was not fatal. Her bones were not broken; only her internal organs were concussed. Under the Heavenly Insight Eye, the Six Desires Talismans also became visible, covering her entire back.

Even though she had been dead for seven days, the talismans had still not dissipated completely.

The Six Desires Talismans were, naturally, terrifying. They were created by the ancient Heavenly Emperor, "Six Thoughts Heart Devil," who used them to control the hearts of all under heaven. In the era of Six Thoughts Heart Devil, every martial cultivator who reached the Five Seas Realm had to have a Six Desires Talisman planted within their body.

However, the Six Desires Talismans of that time possessed six different powers, each representing one of the six human desires. The antidotes for each of these six talismans were held by six different demon officials.

Now, the evil cultivators hidden in the shadows of the Lingxiao Living Realm's world structure used a version of the Six Desires Talismans that only represented one of the six desires.

This type of talisman was not easy to deploy.

On that particular day, if Yang Qingchan had not been too severely injured, the Six Desires Talismans launched by Bai Shu would have been dispersed by her protective spiritual energy before they even came close.

"There must be another fatal injury!"

Li Weiyi released Erfeng, instructing it to search Yang Qingchan's body for injuries and subtle traces of spiritual energy.

Erfeng moved inside Yang Qingchan's clothes, creating a bulge.

A moment later.

The bulge stopped at the corpse's chest, over the heart.

After emerging from the neckline, Erfeng informed Li Weiyi telepathically that there were extremely faint residual spiritual energy fluctuations near Yang Qingchan's heart,

but no injury.

"No injury, yet residual spiritual energy fluctuations," Li Weiyi murmured. "In other words, this means someone effectively crushed her heart with spiritual energy, stopping her heartbeat and causing her death."

"How could this be?" he wondered. "With Yang Qingchan's high cultivation, she couldn't even resist?"

This method of death was truly too bizarre.

Erfeng's next message dispelled his confusion.

It informed him that the residual spiritual energy fluctuations did not belong to a Five Seas Realm martial cultivator.

"This is impossible!" he exclaimed. "How could a martial cultivator above the Five Seas Realm dare to kill someone during the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival?"

Li Weiyi immediately released his spiritual sense, injecting it into Yang Qingchan's chest for a thorough examination.

He found nothing.

The perpetrator's methods were extremely sophisticated; only a special creature like Erfeng could detect the traces.

"Could it be..."

Li Weiyi's face showed an expression of incredible shock and confusion. In his mind, the elegant figure of Yao Qian, the "gentleman," emerged.

To be able to kill Yang Qingchan without being investigated by the Du'e Temple, there was only one possibility: she was killed by a high-ranking member of the Huai Sect itself.

The only high-ranking Huai Sect member who appeared that night was Yao Qian.

"Beneath a facade of bright unity," he mused, "the Huai Sect's interior is unexpectedly dark. Yet, the method of killing was rather gentle."

Li Weiyi did not believe that Yao Qian killed Yang Qingchan merely to frame him.

At most, it was... a convenient way to shift the blame.

Li Weiyi couldn't be bothered to ponder the deeper reasons. All he cared about was finding the true culprit behind Yang Qingchan's death so that he wouldn't feel so uncomfortable anymore!

"Yao Qian probably thinks his methods were clean," he mused. "What's more, the body had been soaking in water for days, further obliterating any traces. Heh heh, what a 'gentleman' indeed..."

Respect for the deceased.

After tidying Yang Qingchan's appearance, Li Weiyi was about to close the coffin lid and leave.

Suddenly, he sensed something was amiss.

The coffin was ten feet long, but Yang Qingchan's body was placed at the head end. In other words, there was still over a meter of space at the foot end.

This imbalance seemed too disproportionate.

"Whoosh!"

Li Weiyi pushed the coffin lid fully open, revealing the space at the foot of the coffin.

A foot-long jade box was hidden and pressed against the foot end.

Talismans were arranged on the jade box.

The talismans were connected to the coffin.

Li Weiyi's eyes darted around. Not believing it to be a burial item, he quickly took out the Yellow Dragon Sword and broke the talismans. After opening the jade box and examining it with his spiritual sense, he found that it indeed contained something else entirely.

The jade box was forged from a martial cultivator's Inner Sea of Qi, containing a spatial volume of several tens of cubic units.

The stolen Spring Coins and the bets from the martial cultivators on the last day were all inside.

Li Weiyi was excited; this feeling of recovering something lost was truly wonderful. He no longer had to worry about feeding the seven little ones until they grew to seven inches. And it should be enough for his cultivation of the Sixth Sea's Wind Mansion in the future.

He quickly moved the jade box out and stored it in his Blood Mud Space.

The voice of Master Lingwei emerged from the Blood Mud Space: "This otherworldly coffin is actually a decent combat artifact. It contains two types of arrays, one for offense and one for defense, complementing each other perfectly."

"Oh!"

Li Weiyi, who was in the process of closing the coffin lid, immediately had an idea. He asked, "What level of power can this coffin's offensive array reach? Can it still be activated?"

Master Lingwei replied: "This otherworldly coffin's offensive array is a superposition of nine layers of Profound Light Arrays. The power of each individual layer of profound light cannot reach the Dao Seed level. However, with nine layers superimposed, ordinary Dao Seed Realm martial cultivators would likely find it difficult to withstand. The only drawback is that the profound light within the array will be completely released in a single burst."

"Look," Master Lingwei continued, "the white substance embedded in the Blood Mud Coffin is still in a semi-illusory, semi-solid state, indicating that the profound light within the array is still present."

Li Weiyi's resolve grew stronger!

Originally, when he discovered the stolen Spring Coins in the coffin, he had thought of using this opportunity to hide inside and ambush Hua Yuzi.

Yang Qingxi was no match for the martial cultivators from the Extreme West Ash Region. The array in the fourth courtyard, not being set up by a Spiritual Mind Master, certainly wouldn't hold for long.

When she was captured or her consciousness seized, and Hua Yuzi came to retrieve the Spring Coins, Li Weiyi would be able to kill him by surprise.

With Li Weiyi's current cultivation, if he attacked by surprise, it was entirely possible to kill Hua Yuzi.

At worst, he could severely wound him.

As for the remaining Chen Wenwu and the two attendants, Li Weiyi had no fear. Even if he couldn't defeat their combined efforts, he could certainly escape.

Killing Hua Yuzi would be like severing an arm from Luansheng Linyou... no, severing a leg. From then on, Luansheng Linyou would only be able to walk on one leg, no longer able to simultaneously manage both the Western and Southern borders, nor balance both offense and defense.

Just like, if the imperial court didn't have Jiang Ning, this extremely capable second-in-command, supporting it, Ge Xiantong's days would be much harder.

The chances of success were high, but it was too risky!

Even a slight mistake would have serious consequences.

Therefore, Li Weiyi had previously abandoned this idea, not wishing to take such a risk.

Now, however, it was different. If the coffin itself possessed a formidable offensive power and also a defensive array, then if Li Weiyi still didn't dare to seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, he would have to swallow his own harsh judgment of the Dragon Offering Hall and Lu Cangsheng.

"Boom!"

From the direction of the fourth courtyard, a loud bang resounded.

Hua Yuzi had activated the Hundred-Character Scripture artifact to forcibly attack the array.

Li Weiyi no longer hesitated and jumped into the coffin. He moved Yang Qingchan's body to the foot end, then lay down at the head end in an invisible state, forming the Hand Seal of Guiding Light.

As soon as the coffin lid opened, he would immediately act.

If the one opening the coffin was not Hua Yuzi, he would directly activate the offensive array, indiscriminately dealing with all martial cultivators who entered the mourning hall. Master Lingwei had already informed him of the offensive array's activation method.

People from the Extreme West Ash Region had likely inspected this coffin when searching for hidden individuals, only failing to discover the jade box at the foot end.

As long as Yang Yun didn't expose him, Hua Yuzi would definitely open the coffin himself, and he would be unprepared.

Li Weiyi's concern was clearly unnecessary.

One after another, Huai Sect martial cultivators were brutally killed before Yang Yun by the Left Attendant. The screams of Yang Yue, who was being skinned alive, echoed in his ears. This was a nightmare Yang Yun wouldn't dare to have even in his sleep, and he quickly fainted from fright. Of course, it could also be due to extreme weakness from not eating for seven days.

Before long, the array was breached.

"Yang Qingxi, you don't even have the right to buy your life now!"

"Haha, as for her skin, Qijin wants it," a voice sneered, "I'll personally strip it off later."

The voices of the Left and Right Attendants sounded one after another.

Immediately after, there were more shouts of battle. Facing a group of top experts from the Extreme West Ash Region, even if they formed a combined attack array, they only managed to withstand a few dozen blows before collapsing.

"Young Miss, don't mind us, run!"

"Young Miss, I'll go ahead... Ah..."

The screams gradually faded.

The sounds of combat, however, did not stop.

Li Weiyi, lying in the coffin, knew that Yang Qingxi was the only one left of the Huai Sect's younger generation! She definitely wouldn't escape. Two Grand Spiritual Mind Masters of the Disaster Fire Realm from the Three Chen Palace had come to preside over the array, making it impossible for her to escape.

Her capture was only a matter of time.

Beyond everyone's expectations, Yang Qingxi erupted with the combat power of a Legacy Holder-level expert, and at the cost of further injury to herself, she repelled Hua Yuzi and fought her way out of the encirclement, drenched in blood.

She did not choose to attack the array barrier. Instead, with lightning speed, she flew down from the rooftop, instantly plunging into the mourning hall.

The Left and Right Attendants pursued her closely.

"Qingxi, surrender! There's still a way out," Chen Wenwu called out as he also caught up.

Yang Qingxi, who had entered the mourning hall, had cold, sharp eyes filled with killing intent and hostility. She threw her broken sword at the pursuing Chen Wenwu. She then forcefully slapped the foot end of the Blood Mud Coffin, releasing a circle of spiritual light flames.

Instantly, the coffin, which could not normally be opened from the foot end, was pushed open by her.

"Swish!"

She immediately leaped into the coffin.