"Ah!"
A cry of alarm rang out.
Shen Yuling landed hard not far from Qin Xuan.
Her already tattered palace dress was now completely shredded, leaving her nearly naked. The breathtaking curve of her full chest was exposed, along with large patches of her snow-white, delicate skin.
"S-so... so cold..."
Shen Yuling hugged her chest, her lips covered in a thin layer of bluish frost. Her voluptuous body shivered uncontrollably.
A wave of frigid Spiritual Qi invaded her body, causing a sickly flush to spread across her stunningly beautiful face.
Unlike Qin Xuan, Shen Yuling only had the Cultivation of soone who had just entered Foundation Establishnt. There was no way she could resist the invasion of the dense, frigid qi all around her.
"If you’re cold, find sothing to wear. Don’t you have hands?"
Qin Xuan snapped, showing no hint of chivalry. He tossed Shen Yuling aside, gathered his wits, and surveyed his surroundings.
This was no longer the magnificent Crystal Palace, but a quaint and even sowhat crude stone chamber.
The stone chamber was not large. Its four walls bore the rough marks of excavation and were completely unadorned.
The only thing inside was a three-foot-square, grayish-white stone platform.
’This space... It feels like it doesn’t exist in the real world... Why was I brought here?’
Qin Xuan frowned slightly.
At that mont, the spot between his eyebrows suddenly beca scorching hot, flaring with a cyan light.
BUZZ!
The Cyan Fla Mark representing the Profound Cyan Cave Nether Blessed Land detached itself and transford into a plu of cyan fire, blazing intensely.
Qin Xuan’s expression tightened, his face a mask of horror.
’What’s happening? I already completed the Refinent of the Profound Cyan Cave Nether True Fla! Why can it still appear on its own?!’
No matter how Qin Xuan tried to summon it, the cyan fla slowly floated down.
It slowly approached the stone platform.
Only then did Qin Xuan notice a golden skeleton sitting cross-legged on the stone platform, draped in a Moon White Daoist Robe!
The skeleton was a lustrous gold all over, with ten long, slender fingers. Lying across its lap was a starkly black-and-white Seven-Stringed Zither with ancient markings.
The ancient zither had not decayed despite the long passage of ti. A faint starlight flowed along each string, and together with the skeleton, it maintained the posture of soone playing while seated cross-legged.
The remains of a Golden Core True Monarch!
Qin Xuan’s heart trembled violently.
’Marrow turned to gold, pill patterns forming naturally... The person this skeleton belonged to was actually a Golden Core True Monarch in life!’
RUMBLE!
The next mont, the Profound Cyan Cave Nether True Fla—powerful enough to incinerate even a Purple Mansion Cultivator—silently rged into the golden skeleton.
Within its empty eye sockets, two clusters of cyan fla suddenly flared to life.
The lingering, ethereal notes of a zither began to play, an eerie sound in the silence.
"Elder Wang... It-it looks like it’s co alive!"
Shen Yuling stamred in terror. Cowering in a corner, she hugged her chest and shuffled backward, the tear tracks on her face frozen into Ice Crystals.
Qin Xuan’s expression was grim, and he remained silent.
’Everything happening is beyond my comprehension. I still don’t understand how I ended up in this bizarre stone chamber, much less why there’s a Golden Core True Monarch’s skeleton here.’
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
As the zither music played, the entire stone chamber began to tremble violently.
On the rough stone wall behind the skeleton, dust rained down in streams.
Two lines of Ancient Seal script slowly erged, looking as if they had been forcefully carved with a fingertip before death. The calligraphy, with its powerful, graceful strokes, exuded a sense of endless desolation and the profound weight of ages.
"Trapped at Golden Core for three thousand years, the path to the Great Dao was closed, leaving only these remains. The Pill Fire is not extinguished, the furnace still here, left for a fated one to glimpse the immortal stage."
Qin Xuan’s face turned grim as he scanned the Ancient Seal script with his Divine Sense.
’This godforsaken place... It actually trapped a Golden Core True Monarch for three thousand years, until the day they died!’
Shen Yuling had clearly seen the two lines of Ancient Seal script as well. She went pale with fright, and her soft, beautiful voice trembled as she spoke.
"How is that possible? Even a Golden Core True Monarch has a lifespan of 1,500 years at most. How could they have lived for three thousand?"
"Elder Wang... We’re not going to be trapped here for three thousand years too, are we?!"
Qin Xuan shot her a cold glance.
’What a ti to be screaming. Does she want to die faster?’
Shen Yuling flinched, curling her voluptuous, snow-white body into a ball, not daring to speak another word.
As they spoke, flesh and blood began to slowly grow over the golden skeleton.
In an instant, the golden skeleton seed to co to life, transforming into an exquisitely beautiful woman with a face of otherworldly elegance.
In terms of looks, she was a notch above even Shen Yuling.
"Have I... co alive again?"
The Female True Monarch murmured softly, her gaze lowered, carrying a hint of aloofness and a faint, lancholic air.
From Qin Xuan’s perspective, however, he noticed sothing was off.
’She hasn’t actually co back to life. It’s a Divine Thought Illusion.’
The illusion was simply so masterfully crafted that while Qin Xuan knew the woman was an illusion, Shen Yuling couldn’t see anything wrong.
Soon, the Female True Monarch also seed to realize her own condition.
"Still within the Sun and Moon Blessed Land... I truly am dead, after all..."
The woman sighed softly.
’To eke out an existence for three thousand years, only for it to all co to nothing in the end.’
She lifted her head. The stone chamber before them abruptly vanished, revealing a vast and boundless starry sky.
She wore a simple Cloud Water Green Gauze Skirt, its hem fluttering as if wreathed in clouds and mist.
In that instant, the very fabric of the world seed to shift!
High in the sky, seven dazzling stars appeared.
Gold, red, purple, blue, cyan... A five-colored radiance flowed between them.
Shen Yuling’s eyes widened.
’To change the world with a single thought... This is the power of a Golden Core True Monarch!’
Qin Xuan, ever the opportunist, dropped to his knees faster than anyone.
"Shi Huaizhong of the Demon Sect pays his respects to Elder!"
Shen Yuling was shocked by how smoothly Qin Xuan perford the gesture.
’You weren’t like this just now when you were hitting and cursing .’
The Female True Monarch nodded slightly and turned a quizzical gaze on Shen Yuling.
"He is at the Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishnt Eighth Level and can barely be considered qualified to receive my legacy. But you... you are so weak. Where did you co from?"
Shen Yuling’s face went deathly pale with fear. Only now, belatedly, did she grasp her situation, her voice trembling as she spoke.
"I... I am Shen Yuling... from the Mirror Lake Shen Family. I pay... pay my respects to you, Elder."
The cyan flas in the Female True Monarch’s eyes flickered, and screens of light appeared before her one by one.
Within the stone chamber, images suddenly appeared, showing Ji Bochang, Dong Yunhe, and others rushing toward this location.
"I see. So it wasn’t you who truly awakened ."
The Female True Monarch looked at Shen Yuling. "My ti is short. May I borrow your body for a while?"
Shen Yuling froze, her face a mask of terror. Before she could even voice her refusal, her eyes suddenly went vacant.
Her head lolled to the side, and she collapsed, unconscious.
’Ji Bochang is here too?!’
Qin Xuan’s expression changed drastically.
In that instant, he understood everything.
’This is all Ji Bochang’s doing! I just accidentally completed the sa ritual as him, and that’s why I was brought here!’
A clear, cold female voice, imbued with the Dao, echoed between heaven and earth.
"I am Xiao Qi Wu, honored with the title of Sun and Moon Xiyue Palm Shining Daoist. Today, I pass down the inheritance of the Seven Luminaries. Let those who are fated take it and fulfill my lifelong regret."
"Five Luminaries as your Life Stars can lead to the Divinity Transformation realm... Gather all Seven Luminaries, and you shall beco a Daoist Lord."
BOOM!
The five-colored radiance in the sky dimd.
Two Life Stars, one black and one white, suddenly blazed with brilliant light!
The woman’s clear, cold voice resounded through the world.
In the distance, Ji Bochang was ecstatic. "They’ve appeared! The Taiyin and Sun Fate Stars! Junior Sister Su, with !"
"Alright!"
The bewitching and beautiful Su i followed closely behind Ji Bochang, her lovely eyes shimring with extraordinary light as she realized she was on the verge of a great fortuitous encounter.
At that mont, in the sky above,
The stars shifted in their courses, and the heavens tore asunder.
True Sun Fire, like liquid gold, and Taiyin Moonlight poured out from the rift.
The golden-red True Sun Fire and the silvery-white moonlight spiraled and intertwined like a pair of playful, prival dragons.
They ford a colossal Yin Yang Tai Chi Diagram!
At the diagram’s heart, two points—one black, one white—the very sources of the Life Stars, shone too brilliantly to be looked at directly, holding their position at the center.
Surrounding them in five directions were five more Life Stars—gold, red, purple, blue, and cyan—each one bowing in submission.
However, the Female True Monarch’s figure was gradually turning ethereal.
She dissolved into motes of starlight, scattering between heaven and earth, until only one thing remained.
With a soft CLINK, it fell to the ground.
Qin Xuan looked closely and saw a pair of black and white Yin Yang Fish. They were made of a material that was neither gold nor jade and radiated a gentle, warm light.
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