Chapter 80
Chapter 80
Inside the World in the Box, Han Lie stood alone on the volcanic Stone Path.
He held a mouthful of water mixed with Fei Yi snake bile, swallowing it in small, careful sips.
As one of the top trackers in the Jade Balance Army, discerning directions was not a difficult task for him.
The bile water in his mouth was so bitter it made his head throb. Han Lie crouched down to examine the slithering tracks left by the Fei Yi on the ground.
Every so often, the corpses of the Guifang Tribe acted like road signs along the Stone Path, helping him adjust his course.
He casually pushed a standing Wax Corpse of the Guifang Tribe, which was on the verge of reanimating, into the lava beside the path.
As the Wax Corpse crackled and popped in the burning magma, Han Lie faintly heard a rhythmic, scuttling sound-the sound of a pack moving together.
In the distance, two massive pillars came into view.
Han Lie hunched his back and moved forward at a swift pace for a distance before hiding behind a pillar to observe.
Beyond the pillars lay a vast white stone plaza.
In the center was a massive… thing covered in ash. A thick layer of charred crust coated it, making it impossible to tell exactly what it was.
Many Wax Corpses wandered near the object.
These Wax Corpses moved in a circular formation, patrolling with a distinct regularity.
Han Lie’s throat moved as he slowly swallowed the bile water he had been warming in his mouth.
The temperature here was even higher, no different from being inside a charcoal furnace.
The sweat on his body had long since been baked dry. His bare chest, back, and especially his arms were covered in a string of blisters.
It was only because he had eaten Qilin Meat that the burns did not worsen further.
At such a close distance, Han Lie discovered something.
The endless lava in this cavern was actually flowing out from beneath the massive, bulging object in the middle of the plaza.
It looked like… flowing blood.
He endured the searing pain in his eyes as he studied the shape of the mound, trying to identify what it was, but to no avail.
All he could see was that the thing was bound by chains as thick as an adult’s thigh.
Could that be the Mountain God of Golden Saddle Mountain?
After his thoughts raced, Han Lie searched the surroundings for a sacrificial altar.
If it were a Mountain God, there would surely be a Divine Position or a spirit tablet.
As he searched, he did indeed find something.
To the right of the bulging mass stood a stone platform.
By all logic, that should have been the place for sacrifices.
However, Han Lie saw semi-melted gold ornaments, ceramic jars, and curved scimitar weapons scattered around the stone platform.
On the platform itself, large pieces of timber were stacked.
It didn’t look like an altar; it looked more like… a sarcophagus.
It was a clear imitation of the highest-specification imperial burial style, the Huangchang Ticou.
The stacked timber looked the part, but true imperial sarcophagi were constructed from Emperor’s Rest Wood.
Emperor’s Rest Wood, also known as the “Wood of No Sorrows,” grew in Shaoshi; it was impervious to water and fire, remaining undecayed for ten thousand years.
Unlike the inferior material on the platform, which was visibly rotting to the naked eye.
Seeing that shoddy Huangchang Ticou and the wandering Wax Corpses around it, Han Lie already had his answer.
Most likely, the person lying in that sarcophagus was the Guifang Chieftain who had incited the Sand People Rebellion many years ago.
The Guifang Chieftain, defeated by Great Xia, had come here.
Perhaps he realized his efforts were futile, or perhaps he sought to harness the power of some heterodox path.
Regardless, he had usurped this place, seizing the Mountain God’s sacrificial altar to build himself a bastardized Huangchang Ticou.
Wang Chang’s previous suspicion had been correct.
Han Lie raised his hand to cover his nose and mouth, easing the burning pain of each breath.
He decided to take the risk and head over.
Han Lie moved with extreme deliberation, removing the water skin from his lower back. He took a sip of the bile water and held another mouthful in his mouth.
Then, he moved his Fire Oil to a position where it could be easily reached, drew his long blade, and crept forward with his back arched.
The Wax Corpses wandering near the sarcophagus weren’t particularly lethal, but Han Lie moved with extreme care, fearing he might disturb something else.
One by one, he dragged the Wax Corpses behind the pillars, snapped their necks, and shoved them into the magma.
Soon, the plaza was mostly cleared of the Wax Corpses, with only a few scattered ones left near the center that were too difficult to approach.
Han Lie poked his head out from behind a pillar, his face covered in a dense network of red burn scars.
He took another swig of the bitter snake gall juice before moving toward those final Wax Corpses.
This time, his movements were much faster.
By the time the corpses hit the ground, he had already scrambled onto the stone platform.
However, as he peered into the Outer Coffin Chamber atop the platform, Han Lie’s heart sank.
The Outer Coffin Chamber was empty; the Painted Coffin was nowhere to be seen.
Touching the wood of the chamber, which felt as hot as glowing charcoal, Han Lie took the waterskin filled with Fire Oil from his waist and smashed it against the structure.
The clear oil soaked into the wood, inside and out.
Han Lie did not ignite it immediately. Instead, he turned to retreat from the stone platform.
He had barely taken a step when his expression shifted.
Accelerating his retreat, he leaped off the platform and rolled beneath the feet of the massive, chain-bound creature in the center of the plaza.
He crouched low in the searing hot ash, leaving only half his face exposed.
Just as he finished hiding, a dense sound of hissing drifted from the distance.
The surrounding temperature suddenly spiked again.
Han Lie remained motionless, even as the heat scorched every part of his body like burning coal.
A writhing mass of Fei Yi surged forward like a tidal wave.
Upon reaching the stone platform, the swarm of Fei Yi parted.
They revealed a Painted Lacquer Coffin. Up close, the coffin appeared somewhat crude. On its left side was a painting of a crowned leader guiding warriors into a fire; above the flames were the characters for Golden Saddle.
Han Lie, half-squatting in the ash, took in the entire scene.
He became increasingly certain that this was the Hanba Corpse that was about to emerge from its coffin.
Surrounded by the Fei Yi, the coffin was rotated and slowly pushed back into the Outer Coffin Chamber.
As it was moved, the other side of the coffin was revealed to Han Lie, causing his pupils to constrict.
Compared to the first side, this one was far more exquisite and complex.
It depicted a giant tree leading to the heavenly realm.
The giant tree, serving as a passage, was engulfed in raging flames and had five main roots.
Beneath one of the roots, a human-headed, snake-bodied Ya Yu was coiled head-to-tail, its body bound in iron chains.
Day after day, it used the magma flowing from its own wounds to burn… a puppet.
No, it wasn’t just burning it; it was imprisoning it.
Han Lie’s heart skipped a beat, and his breathing faltered for a moment.
At that moment, the Hanba’s coffin, which had already entered the Outer Coffin Chamber, suddenly stopped.
Neither the Hanba Corpse nor its Fei Yi servants were particularly intelligent.
They lacked the capacity for complex thought, but their instincts remained.
Sensing something was wrong, the Fei Yi across the ground suddenly reared up, their countless deformed, humanoid heads turning toward Han Lie’s direction.
Seeing that he could no longer hide, Han Lie cast aside all distractions and lunged out from the hot ash.
With a flick of his wrist, he threw a handful of Toad Venom powder toward the Fei Yi swarm.
Toad Venom was the natural bane of the Fei Yi, and the swarm immediately fell into a chaotic scramble to get away.
With a heavy thud, the colorful Hanba coffin hit the ground.
The impact jarred the lid open, leaving a narrow crack. A withered, ink-black hand marked with golden patterns reached out from the gap.
With a twist of the wrist, it prepared to throw the lid aside.
Right then, Han Lie scrambled onto the high platform and leaped, slamming his knees down hard onto the coffin lid.
The coffin, which had been cracked open, slammed shut once more.
Han Lie gripped his blade with both hands and drove the tip straight into the coffin planks.
After pinning the lid shut with the blade, he abandoned the weapon and retreated.
A lit Fire Starter spun through the air, landing on the oil-soaked ground.
Flames roared toward the ceiling.