Chapter 548: Chapter 397: Subduing the Double-headed Fire Phoenix, Three Flames True Fire, the Secret of the Golden Coffin

Because she had now become Lin Chang’sheng’s Contracted Beast, she had to obey his every command.

If Lin Chang’sheng told her to lie down, standing was out of the question.

Thinking of this, the Double-headed Fire Phoenix could only submit with resignation.

She wanted to see just how Lin Chang’sheng would meet his end here—trying to escape was nothing but wishful thinking.

Once the Double-headed Fire Phoenix quieted down, Lin Chang’sheng began to examine the massive lava pit at the center of the Great Hall.

The coffin suspended deep in the pit by iron chains glittered dazzlingly.

Lin Chang’sheng reached out with his hand and pulled the Golden Coffin from mid-air right up toward himself.

Thunk—

The coffin landed on the floor of the Great Hall with a muffled thud.

No one could tell if the radiant gold glow around the coffin was from being burned by flames or if it was inherent to the coffin itself.

It definitely looked extraordinary.

Strange, mysterious engravings covered the coffin, mostly designs of blades and swords. Lin Chang’sheng had no clue what they meant.

"Could this be a coffin from the Infinite Blade Sect?"

Gu Shan guessed, because the long blade patterns matched those of the Infinite Blade Sect almost exactly.

Gu Shan remembered the Infinite Blade Sect because three thousand years ago, they had produced a legendary genius—Foundation Establishment at ten, Golden Core at fifteen, Nascent Soul at eighteen, Divinity Transformation at twenty-one, Void Refining at twenty-five, Integration at thirty-one, Mahayana at two hundred forty-six, and Tribulation Crossing at eight hundred sixty-two.

It was said he was the greatest genius in the Immortal Realm in ten thousand years, with the potential to reach the Immortal Realm in a thousand years.

But after he reached the Tribulation Crossing Stage, he disappeared without a trace, and rumors abounded ever since.

Some believed he ascended to the Immortal Realm and shattered the void to seek another world. Others thought he perished.

Still others claimed he saw through the vanity of the world and chose to live out his days in anonymity like an ordinary person.

In the end, speculation never stopped.

No one ever truly found out what happened to him.

"The Infinite Blade Sect?"

When Xiaonan heard that name, her body trembled.

Because this sect was the arch-enemy of the Supreme Sword Sect.

But to Lin Chang’sheng, this sect felt completely unfamiliar.

He then tried to open the coffin to see what secrets it might hold inside.

But when Lin Chang’sheng attempted to open the coffin, he found it was incredibly secure and almost impossible to pry open.

Seeing this, Gu Shan’s brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

If even opening the coffin was so difficult, then the difference between inside and out must be immense.

Outside, flames scorched with blazing yang energy; by contrast, the inside must be pure yin.

Could there be an outrageously strong yin corpse within?

"Don’t you control souls? Wait till the flames around the coffin subside, then use a soul to open it!"

Gu Shan suggested.

Lin Chang’sheng thought that was the only way, since forcing the coffin open might damage what was within.

Who knew, there could be treasures inside too.

While waiting for the flames around the coffin to die down, Lin Chang’sheng gathered up all the Heaven-Reaching Spirit Treasures from the coffin.

Most of these Heaven-Reaching Spirit Treasures were middle grade; only three were lower grade, twelve were middle grade—a very respectable haul.

It was another step toward fusing his own Heaven-Reaching Immortal Treasure.

As the flames dissipated, the coffin slowly turned pitch black, looking thoroughly bizarre.

Lin Chang’sheng took out the Celestial Soul Banner and summoned two souls to open the coffin.

Clack-clack-clack—

Unexpectedly, the souls were able to easily open the coffin.

But the moment it opened, a powerful force sucked both souls directly inside.

"Aargh—"

The two souls let out shrieks of agony, then vanished without a trace.

This sent a chill through Lin Chang’sheng’s heart. What on earth was inside?

As he stepped forward to inspect, he discovered a man dressed in black lying within the coffin.

Black mist swirled around the man’s body. His face was lifeless yet uncorrupted, as if he were merely asleep—not dead at all.

Strong, fierce energy kept circulating within this corpse.

Lin Chang’sheng assessed it—this corpse was once at the Tribulation Crossing Stage.

Such youth and such cultivation—he must have been an unrivaled prodigy in his time.

Beneath the man’s side lay a long saber.

It seemed like an ordinary saber, but its blade aura was razor sharp, inscribed with layer upon layer of intricate patterns.

"A Heaven-Reaching Immortal Treasure?"

Upon seeing this, Gu Shan gulped. Judging by the clues, this really was someone from the Infinite Blade Sect—most likely that once-in-ten-millennia prodigy himself.

As for how he met his end and wound up in this coffin—that was anyone’s guess.

Inside the coffin, besides the corpse and saber, strange black-brown mushrooms grew all over the rest of the space.

"Those are Corpse Evil Mushrooms. When the evil qi of a corpse fuses with the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, they sprout—and they greatly enhance corpses. This must be a Corpse Refining Land!"

Gu Shan finally understood.

Most likely, after the genius from the Infinite Blade Sect died, someone from the Demon Dao brought him here—to nurture his body and refine the strongest Corpse Evil.

So that’s why this place was guarded by a Grand Array and Spirit Beasts.

But unfortunately, before they finished their refinement, we discovered it.

"Corpse refining?"

Lin Chang’sheng thought to himself—that works in my favor!

He happened to have the Divine Corpse Technique; in the future, he might be able to complete the refinement process himself.

This was a Tribulation Crossing corpse!

Once his cultivation hit the Early Stage of Mahayana, he could use the Divine Corpse Technique for refining.

"It’s a shame—a genius of this level dying so senselessly!"

Lin Chang’sheng sighed inwardly. The Immortal Realm really was full of dangers—even Tribulation Crossing titans could lose their lives. He would have to stay even more vigilant moving forward.

He also recalled having killed someone from the Immortal Corpse Sect—no doubt, they would never let him go.

It looked like he’d need to be highly cautious from now on.

The last thing he wanted was to end up like this genius, turned into a Corpse Puppet.

"Sorry for the disturbance!"

Lin Chang’sheng muttered, then with a wave of his hand swept the corpse into his Celestial Soul Banner. As for the Corpse Evil Mushrooms and Heaven-Reaching Immortal Treasure, he planned to study those more closely later.

Those Corpse Evil Mushrooms could enhance corpses significantly—maybe they’d strengthen his own Middle Stage Integration Corpse Puppet.

With that thought, Lin Chang’sheng summoned his Middle Stage Integration Corpse Puppet and had it consume one of the Corpse Evil Mushrooms.

He found that the puppet’s evil qi surged rapidly, and its aura grew markedly stronger.

Soon it broke through directly to the Late Stage of Integration.

"It really does boost a Corpse Puppet’s cultivation?"

This sudden change thrilled Lin Chang’sheng.

He tried feeding it more, but there were no more obvious gains.

Apparently, raising a single small realm was the limit for the Corpse Evil Mushroom.

But that alone was already impressive. Next time he refined a Corpse Puppet, giving it one of these would be enough to boost it a realm.

He stowed away the rest of the Corpse Evil Mushrooms, then began examining the Lower Grade Celestial Immortal Treasure in his hand.

This was a treasure at the Immortal Treasure Level. Lin Chang’sheng noticed the longing flash in Gu Shan’s eyes as well.

After all, such Heaven-Reaching Immortal Treasures were coveted by all Tribulation Crossing experts.

Had they been somewhere safe, Gu Shan might have fought Lin Chang’sheng for it then and there.

But trapped in the Secret Realm with no guarantee they’d get out alive, starting an internal conflict over a treasure was certain death for both.

So what good would having the treasure do?

So in the end, after much hesitation, Gu Shan let it go.

Lin Chang’sheng could see Gu Shan’s inner turmoil. Fortunately, he didn’t try an attack—if he had, this would have become Gu Shan’s burial ground.

Besides, Lin Chang’sheng wasn’t alone—he still had Xiaonan with him.

Gu Shan was no match for Xiaonan.

Lin Chang’sheng then studied the saber and discovered it had twenty-six restriction layers, making it one of the stronger Lower Grade Celestial Immortal Treasures.

With each restriction refined, the saber would unleash more of its power.

But at the moment, Lin Chang’sheng wasn’t inclined to refine it right away; instead, he kept searching the coffin for anything else useful.

That included any possible way to leave this place.

But no matter how hard he searched, Lin Chang’sheng still came up empty-handed.

Was there really no way out?

A sense of despair started to creep up in Lin Chang’sheng.

If even the Divine Mountain had no method to escape the Secret Realm, where else could one be found?

Just as Lin Chang’sheng looked up in exasperation at the Great Hall, he spotted streaks of fiery red light squirming over the rafters, forming lines and patterns into a series of bizarre array diagrams.

"Wait—could the way out be hidden in these array formations?"

Lin Chang’sheng exclaimed in shock.