Chapter 1: The Corpse in My Coffin is an Empress!

“Disciple, swear a soul-binding oath!”

“Disciple obeys! Should I violate this oath, may the five bolts of thunder strike me down!”

“Good! After I die, you must seal your meridians and sleep while embracing this woman’s corpse for three years!”

“After three years, you will shed your mortal coil and soar to the heavens!”

“I will remember, Shizun!”

Xuan Yunzi nodded, passing away with a smile.

…

Three years later.

“Who are you? What are you doing?”

Lu Jin opened his eyes, completely dazed. Why was there a stark naked stranger in front of him? He realized he had been stripped bare, too. His legs were weak, and his back throbbed with a dull ache.

Was I… forced by her?

He shook his head violently as memories surged back like a tide. Three years ago, following his Shizun’s final wish, he sealed his meridians, held a cold corpse, and buried himself in a grave.

Now that the three years were up, where was the withered body? Suddenly, a terrifying thought struck him.

A reanimated corpse? A Painted Skin demon?

“You… You’re that female corpse?”

The more he thought about it, the more his skin crawled.

Did I really get taken by a corpse? Worse, he had been in a state of suspended animation for three years. He was completely oblivious. It was highly likely she had “snacked” on him many times!

Under the dim glow of a night-luminescent pearl, the woman’s face was peerless. Her waist was like a willow branch; her hair was a cascading waterfall. Her skin shimmered with a pearly white glow, and her eyes were soul-snatching, like a succubus or a goddess, yet cold as frost.

“What needed to be done has long been done. Why are you so nervous?”

Her voice was like heavenly wind chimes, ethereal and immortal. The key was: she didn’t deny it!

Lu Jin’s eyes widened, his face pale despite his attempt to look stern. In other words, he had lain in a coffin for three years, and for three years, he had been drained dry by this corpse?

What a sin!

Logically, being taken by such a stunning beauty wasn’t a loss. But this was a grave! And this beauty was a transformed corpse! Who could handle that?

“Who exactly are you?”

Lu Jin fumbled in the dark, grabbing strips of torn fabric to cover himself. He gathered his courage to ask.

“Your Shizun told you to sleep with me, yet he didn’t tell you who I am?”

Lu Jin shook his head.

The woman narrowed her eyes, nodding thoughtfully. Then, her expression turned solemn.

“I am the Empress Qinglian!”

Her majestic voice boomed like muffled thunder: her aura was as terrifying as a deity’s. As she spoke, clothes automatically flew out from Lu Jin’s spatial ring, draping over her in the blink of an eye.

The robes were wide, failing to hide her snow-white, sexy collarbones; yet, this only added to her world-toppling charm.

Lu Jin’s gaze was complicated. He had no heart to appreciate the woman sharing his coffin. He frowned.

“Empress Qinglian? I’ve never heard of you…”

Empress Qinglian said coldly, “Ten thousand years ago, I walked alone through the universe and the primordial chaos without a single rival. A frog in a well, like you, naturally wouldn’t know the vastness of the heavens.”

Lu Jin was stunned. It seemed this woman had a staggering background.

“Then how did you become a corpse?”

This one sentence almost broke the Empress’s composure.

“You aren’t qualified to know yet.”

Empress Qinglian knit her brows, her voice commanding. “For three years, you used your essence to nourish me day and night. Only then did my physical body regain its vitality and my soul return to its place.”

“However, my flesh and blood have not fully recovered. One month from now, you must continue to offer your essence. But with your current cultivation, the quality of your essence is too low. I want you to reach the Jindan realm within a month.”

“Furthermore, I have fallen to this continent, and my soul is suppressed by the laws of this world’s Heavenly Dao. Within a hundred days, you must find the Soul-Breaking Fruit for me. Otherwise, I will kill you and find someone else!”

Her voice was overbearing, leaving no room for argument. Lu Jin’s heart trembled. He scowled.

Kill me if I fail? What a heartless woman! And… reach the Jindan realm in a month? That was pure fantasy! Three years ago, even with his peak talent, he was still one step away from the Jindan realm. Now that he was a cripple, it was impossible!

“Lady Empress, you might not know, but I… I can no longer cultivate!”

With his life on the line, Lu Jin had to come clean. “I was framed. My Dantian was destroyed, and even my Supreme Bone was dug out!”

Empress Qinglian frowned. “That miserable? How did you end up like this?”

Lu Jin sighed helplessly. “I was once a genius of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect, the number one disciple of the Inner Court. My status was nearly equal to the Saint Son! But everything changed three years ago during that expedition to the Demon Cave! I was lured into a desperate situation. Facing the demons was hard enough, but then I was backstabbed by my fiancée. She conspired with the Saint Son to cripple my Dantian and dig out my Supreme Bone!”

“In the end, although I escaped with my life, I lost my cultivation. I can’t cultivate at all! Not only that, when that bitch found out I wasn’t dead, she accused me of harming the disciples who died in the cave! With the Saint Son backing her, everyone in the sect wants me dead!”

“If Shizun hadn’t protected me, I would be dead already. But he passed away three years ago. Before he died, he told me I had to hold a thousand-year-old corpse, seal my meridians, and be buried alive for three years to turn my luck around. Now, I am just a piece of trash. I’m afraid I can’t handle such a great responsibility.”

By the end, Lu Jin could only offer a bitter smile.

“Trash? Is that how you see yourself?”

Empress Qinglian glanced at him sideways, her eyes full of undisguised contempt.

Stung by her gaze, Lu Jin said unwillingly, “In my youth, my ambitions reached the clouds; I once vowed to be the finest in the world! If there were a way, who wouldn’t want to soar to the blue clouds and shatter the heavens!”

Empress Qinglian narrowed her eyes. “So, you’ve become a self-loathing piece of trash?”

Lu Jin shook his head, his eyes firm. “My vengeance is not yet paid. How could I give up? If there is even a sliver of hope, I will carve a path of blood and kill my enemies with my own hands!”

Hearing this, the corner of Empress Qinglian’s lips curled slightly. “At least you have some spine.”

She then asked back, “Do you think I’ve been the only one using you for the past three years? After sleeping with me for three years, you haven’t just gained my body, you’ve gained a heaven-defying fortune! Feel your body properly before you jump to conclusions.”

Startled, Lu Jin finally noticed the changes in his body. His expression shifted.

“Wait… my Dantian… and the Supreme Bone… what happened? Have they recovered? No, this power… It’s not just recovery. It feels like a mysterious power has been directly bestowed upon me. I can’t even see through it!”

Empress Qinglian said, “Now, you are a piece of trash with potential that could shroud the heavens.”

Lu Jin was dumbfounded, finding it hard to believe.

Empress Qinglian added casually, “That Emperor Tyrant Glazed Bone and the Endless Devouring Dantian are too overbearing. With your current strength, you can’t control them. I will give you one more thing to assist your cultivation.”

As she spoke, she opened her mouth and spat out a miniature coffin the size of a walnut.

“This is the Heaven Burial Coffin, one of the Nine Absolutes Heavenly Coffins! Ten thousand years ago, I swept through the Eight Desolations relying on this very object! Now that we have dual-cultivated for three years and our bloodlines have merged, this Heaven Burial Coffin has naturally acknowledged you as its master.”

“You only need to provide it with items containing spiritual energy. The Heaven Burial Coffin will naturally give back to you. As for more advanced uses, you must figure them out yourself. However, your cultivation is still shallow. Do not be reckless, or you might suffer a backlash from the artifact.”

“There are nine Heavenly Coffins in total: the Heaven Burial, Heaven Peering, Heaven Devouring, Heaven Crying, Heaven Birthing, Heaven Demon, Heaven Prisoner, Heaven Buddha, and the Immortal Heavenly Coffin! The other eight are scattered across the myriad worlds. Since you are now linked to the Nine Absolutes, you must find the other eight within thirty years. Otherwise, you will suffer a backlash! You will either die or become a slave to the coffins!”

Lu Jin’s brow furrowed tightly.

Empress Qinglian ignored him, continuing on her own. “In one month, I will come for you right on time! One last thing to correct: I am not some thousand-year-old withered corpse. I am the Seven Apertures Exquisite Saint Body!”

Buzz…

As her voice fell, her figure turned into a streak of light and entered the Heaven Burial Coffin. The coffin vanished instantly.

“Huh?”

Lu Jin froze. A second later, he saw the Heaven Burial Coffin had drilled into the Niwan Palace in his mind! He was stunned, but a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

“Empress Qinglian! Emperor Tyrant Glazed Bone! Endless Devouring Dantian! And the Heaven Burial Coffin! All of these are heaven-shrouding means! With such a fortune, reaching the Jindan realm in a month shouldn’t be a joke… and finding all nine coffins in thirty years is going to be a long challenge! But I, Lu Jin, accept!”

The realms in this world were divided into: Body Tempering, Spirit Opening, Spirit Pearl, Jindan, Purple Mansion, Profound Venerable, Nirvana…

Three years ago, at his peak, he was at the ninth stage of the Spirit Pearl realm, just a step away from Jindan. Unfortunately, a sudden change turned him into a cripple. Now that he had this opportunity, he vowed to rise against the tide and seek his revenge!

Calming his mind, he sat cross-legged and began to check his body. The moment he checked, his face changed drastically! His bloodline was powerful; he was already at the peak of the Spirit Opening realm! Moreover, the spiritual energy coursing through his limbs and bones was ten times more majestic than that of an ordinary cultivator!

“She really didn’t lie to me!”

Three years ago, he followed his Shizun’s instructions, using a secret technique to seal his meridians and hide his aura, putting himself in a state of suspended animation to evade the sect’s pursuit. Now, after three years, as his body woke up, he had actually stepped into the ninth stage of the Spirit Opening realm!

Closing his eyes to look within, he saw the surging spiritual energy completing a cycle before flowing into his Dantian like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.

“My Dantian! Endless Devouring? This is too domineering!”

The current Dantian was of much higher quality than his previous peak; they were like clouds and mud!

“My Dantian is reconstructed! I can cultivate again! And… the Emperor Tyrant Glazed Bone?”

In the place where his Supreme Bone used to grow, a piece of Glazed Jade Bone had appeared!

“This jade bone is unfathomable! My stolen Supreme Bone is nothing compared to this! So the Empress had already modified my body long ago!”

In that instant, his blood boiled! Empress Qinglian had repaired his body, reconstructed his Dantian, bestowed upon him a rare jade bone, and given him a divine object like the Heaven Burial Coffin!

This was a massive debt of gratitude! And… he was now entangled with such a peerless Empress…

Perhaps this was the ultimate purpose of his Shizun asking him to sleep with the corpse before he died! He suddenly understood the old man’s painstaking efforts.

“But how did Shizun know about this opportunity?”

He thought for a while but couldn’t find an answer. He decided to stop thinking about it and focused entirely on his body.

“This Emperor Tyrant Glazed Bone and the Endless Devouring Dantian seem to be shrouded by a mysterious power. I only know they exist; I can’t investigate them further… However, the Heaven Burial Coffin can be used preliminarily because of the bloodline fusion with the Empress. With such a treasure, I will definitely step into the Jindan realm within a month. I, Lu Jin, keep my word!”

At this thought, the memories of the past flashed again.

“Liu Ruyan, Yang Dianfeng! You two bastards! The pain of that sword through my heart, the agony of having my bone dug out; I will pay you back a hundredfold!”