Lying in the coffin, there was a hint of a smile on Zheng Yang’s lips. His body was still warm, and it looked as if he would open his eyes at any moment.
“Senior…”
Concentrated poison aura seeped out from Wei Ruyan’s body as strong emotions began building up within her.
Despite her cold exterior, she did care a lot for the others. While she had put Zheng Yang down earlier, just seeing his corpse made it feel as if her heart was going to explode. If she knew who the culprit was, there was no doubt that she would have dashed right in to tear that person into shreds.
“Control your emotions!” Zhang Xuan bellowed.
“Y-yes!” Hearing her teacher’s words, Wei Ruyan swiftly snapped out of her condition.
Nevertheless, she could not stop trembling as she looked at the corpse in the coffin.
“This isn’t Zheng Yang,” Zhang Xuan said.
He had also received the shock of his life when he first saw the face of the corpse. However, as he took a closer look, he had swiftly realized that something was amiss.
The body was simply too lifelike.
There would inevitably be some changes to a person’s body after their death, no matter how powerful they might have been in life. Furthermore, he was well aware of Zheng Yang’s character; he would never be one to accept death so peacefully. Even at the cost of his life, he would surely rip off a bone from the culprit before breathing his last breath!
More importantly… he had left a surge of his Heaven’s Path zhenqi in Zheng Yang’s body, so there was no way that anyone would be able to kill Zheng Yang without drawing his notice.
“If it isn’t Senior Zheng Yang, then…” Wei Ruyan was taken aback by what Zhang Xuan was saying.
No matter how she looked at or touched the corpse, it was very clear that it belonged to Zheng Yang. She could not imagine anything in the world that could possibly create such a lifelike replica of him.
“It’s most likely an illusion, an illusion that blurs the distinction between truth and falsehood. Something that can even deceive the heavens,” Zhang Xuan murmured as he walked back and forth in the hall.
If the one to appear had not been Zheng Yang, he might not have considered the possibility that it was an illusion.
This was because the sight before him was too real, and the Library of Heaven’s Path just happened to be crippled.
“An illusion?” Wei Ruyan looked around her before eventually pinching her own cheeks… “Ouch!”
“Dragonbone Divine Spear!” Zhang Xuan called out.
Hula!
The Dragonbone Divine Spear flew over from the passageway. With his spear in hand, Zhang Xuan felt boundless strength surging into his body. He raised the tip of his spear and directed it right toward the stone coffin.
Boom!
The coffin was pierced through, and the entire chamber dissipated like bubbles. The next instant, they saw Zheng Yang lying diagonally by the wall, unmoving. From the looks of it, it seemed like he had passed out.
What was right before them was not a coffin but a massive barrier that resembled a mirror.
It seemed like the two of them had walked into the world within the mirror, thus blurring their perception of reality.
“It’s actually an illusion,” the Dragonbone Divine Spear exclaimed excitedly. “If that’s the case, could the old master’s corpse be fake as well? So, the old master actually isn’t dead yet!”
It had been a huge blow to it seeing the old master’s corpse appearing right before its eyes. Since this was all an illusion, could that corpse possibly be an illusion as well?
“I’m sorry, but Ancient Sage Ran Qiu’s body was likely real.” Zhang Xuan shook his head. “It’s the sheer power of his corpse that has been sustaining everything here. If his body had been fake, this place wouldn’t have been concealed from the heavens.”
As much as he hated to shatter the Dragonbone Divine Spear’s hopes, the truth was the truth. The moment that the illusion dissipated, he had come to realize the truth as well.
An illusion that he had been unable to discern and was able to deceive even the heavens was bound to require a vast amount of energy in order to sustain it, and the very center of this formation was Ancient Sage Ran Qiu’s corpse.
Only the second strongest Ancient Sage in the world could possibly have the ability to beguile him, such that he failed to notice that he was in an illusion for a moment.
“So… the old master is really dead?” The Dragonbone Divine Spear fell to the floor weakly.
If the corpse was real, it meant that Ancient Sage Ran Qiu was truly dead.
“It’s still too early to say whether Ancient Sage Ran Qiu is truly dead or not. Just because the corpse is real doesn’t mean that he has already passed away. Take the old Sovereign Chen Yong for example. His body has already been buried, and his cultivation has already been passed on to Liu Yang. However, his soul has been taken away by a deity from the Azure, and there’s a good chance that he could be revived in the future!” Zhang Xuan said.
“Those who have become as strong as Ancient Sage Ran Qiu are unlikely to die that easily!”
Even Vicious could revive despite being divided into so many pieces, let alone Ancient Sage Ran Qiu.
Even if the corpse was real, as long as his soul remained, he could not be said to be dead in the truest sense.
Hearing that explanation, the Dragonbone Divine Spear’s glazed eyes cleared up a little as it heaved a sigh of relief. “This… You’re right!”
“First, we have to wake Zheng Yang up,” Zhang Xuan said. “Something must have happened for him to be unconscious.”
With a tap of his finger, he sent a surge of Heaven’s Path zhenqi into his student’s body. A few moments later, Zheng Yang slowly opened his eyes.
Zheng Yang had always been an extremely strong-willed individual, and for even someone like him to be knocked out cold, it was likely that he had received some kind of astonishing shock that resulted in an intense fluctuation in his state of mind.
“Teacher!” Zheng Yang’s face reddened as he quickly got to his feet.
“You were the one who entered this room first. What happened in here for you to pass out like this?” Wei Ruyan asked.
“I…” Rubbing his head to alleviate the splitting headache in his mind, Zheng Yang took a deep breath before he began his explanation. “I found the passageway leading here, and there was a hall similar to the one above. There was a coffin as well, and when I opened it to take a look, I saw… Kong shi’s body.”
“Kong shi’s body?” Zhang Xuan frowned.
They had seen Zheng Yang’s corpse whereas Zheng Yang had seen Kong shi’s body.
Was there some kind of link between the two?
“Regardless of what is happening here, it’s likely to have something to do with this barrier! I’m certain that this place has something to do with Kong shi!” Unable to make a precise deduction with the limited evidence they had over here, Zhang Xuan decided to put the matter aside for the moment and worked on things that were more certain.
Thus, he turned his gaze toward the massive mirror-like barrier in front of him.
The answers that he sought were likely to be beyond there. The only problem left was to figure out a way to get to the other side.
“Let me give it a try!” Zhang Xuan raised the Dragonbone Divine Spear in his hand and pierced straight ahead.
Hula!
The spear tore through space, ripping a hole right through the world. In a flash, it struck the barrier squarely.
Boom!
A massive energy swept across the area. Zhang Xuan’s body stiffened a little before being forcefully knocked back. His back crashed heavily into the wall behind, causing his face to turn pale and his breathing to become a little ragged.
In a brief moment, he had already sustained significant injuries.
“It didn’t work?” Zhang Xuan was astonished.
His might, paired with the Dragonbone Divine Spear, even granted him the strength to put up a fight against the deity that he had met previously. Considering that he had put his full strength behind the pierce, it was unthinkable that he had failed to inflict the slightest damage on the barrier. On the contrary, he had suffered a backlash so severe that he had almost spurted blood.
It was insane! Just what in the world was the barrier made of to be so terrifying?
“Master, let me give it a try!” Vicious’ voice sounded in his mind.
“Go ahead!” Zhang Xuan nodded as he released Vicious from the Book of Heaven’s Path.
Vicious had already completed his body, and he had assimilated the straw garment. His current strength could be said to be on par with Dimension Shatterer realm primary stage cultivators. If he made a move, he might just be able to destroy the barrier.
