Xiao Fuxuan’s coffin?

Xiao Fuxuan……

Wu Xingxue repeated quietly to himself.

His subordinates followed, but made sure that they didn’t get too close to the coffin.

Ning Huaishan craned his neck and asked in confusion, “What the-why is the Celestial Immortal’s coffin here?”

Good boy, that’s more like it.

Wu Xingxue was still wondering who Xiao Fuxuan was, afraid that he would accidentally make a mistake and blow his cover. But thankfully, Ning Huaishan’s quick mouth helped him avoid some troubles.

But it was certainly weird.

Wu Xingxue didn’t know the rules here, but he has read books before.

In those stories, the immortals all treated devils like filth. They stood on opposite sides of the spectrum, and neither one could tolerate the other. Who would place their coffin in the Devil Lord’s prison?

Unless… there was another reason?

As Wu Xingxue pondered, he reached out his hand to brush the side of the jade coffin’s nails.

He had a bad habit since he was little. Most of the nobles and princes of Que City all had uncommon possessions: Shark pearls, parjana, earthly lanterns, and more. Each name sounded fancier and fancier.

But he wasn’t like them.

He was more traditional and mainly liked white jade. He couldn’t help but reach forward and test its quality every time he saw one,

……

"I reckon it’s fake. It’s probably a coffin for his possessions or something."

"But that’s still strange. How is burying his possessions different from him being here himself?"

"You’re right! Even the ugly stone statues in a shabby mountain temple can get a bit of the actual immortal’s spiritual energy, not to mention his clothes and belongings. Those are beyond a bit: they are no different from an actual Celestial Immortal being present. City Lord, you might want to…"

But before Ning Huaishan could finish, he turned his head and found the City Lord touching the coffin.

Ning Huaishan: "……"

Ning Huaishan: "???"

What in the world?

The scene left the subordinates speechless.

This Devil Lord was indeed hard to read, and his actions were often beyond people’s expectations. When he smiled, it didn’t always mean he was happy. When he used a gentle tone, that didn’t always mean a compliment.

He was hard to serve and especially hard to see through.

……

But that was Xiao Fuxuan, that Xiao Fuxuan, who nailed him into the Northern Frontiers. Why… why was he touching that?

Ning Huaishan licked his lips before asking slowly, "City Lord, what are you…?"

The subordinates exchanged glances before turning to face Wu Xingxue. The person closest to Ning Huaishan suddenly felt that something was wrong. With his finger, He reached out and wrote on Ning Huaishan’s hand:

[Do you feel like…]

Before he could finish, there was a "ping-" sound.

Where Wu Xingxue’s hands touched, the black coffin nail suddenly popped out, sticking up by almost an inch. There were crushed jade bits on the nail, along with a dim golden covering."

"……"

The person who was writing with his fingers took a breath and curled them back.

Then there was another noise.

Ping-

Another black nail popped out.

And a third.

A fourth.

……

With the loss of every nail, the jade coffin would shake.

Not only the coffin, but the sword cemetery, the huge tree, and even the entire wilderness would shake with it.

Ning Huaishan and the others acted as if they were facing a great threat. They immediately jumped back a dozen meters, shouting, "City Lord, we thought… we didn’t know you were planning to open the coffin?!"

No, that’s not what I wanted to do…

Wu Xingxue thought to himself, If I knew any techniques or spells, I’d be running faster than you guys.

But unfortunately, he didn’t. And not only couldn’t he run, but his feet also couldn’t even more. The coffin seemed to have some supernatural powers. The second it started to shake, there seemed to be hands growing from the ground, firmly holding him in place.

And so, all the subordinates had retreated to a safety distance, and yet he was still standing beside the coffin, watching the nails come out one after another.

With the last noise, the giant jade coffin’s lid began to slowly grind open, then fell onto the ground with a loud boom.

Wu Xingxue closed his eyes.

He didn’t smell decayed matter as he had expected; there was only the scent of cold snow and floating dust,

Like the deep winters of Que City.

"It opened…” Ning Huaishan murmured, "City Lord, what’s inside?"Wu Xingxue opened his eyes.

The jade coffin was much taller than normal coffins. From where he was standing, he couldn’t see what was inside.

The pull on his legs suddenly disappeared. He took a hesitant step, "Inside is…"

Xiao Fuxuan.

Wu Xingxue moved his lips, then unconsciously tightened them.

This was too unexpected.

Inside the jade coffin was none other than the Celestial Immortal himself. It was like the shadow he saw standing on the golden lily, but not completely alike.

There was a layer of frigid air surrounding Xiao Fuxuan’s body. His eyebrows and the black nails on his ear bone all had a layer of frost on them, looking colder than the jade coffin itself.

Wu Xingxue rested against the coffin and studied what was inside for a long time.

"City Lord, is it only his clothes inside? Or did he also bury some precious possessions here?" Ning Huaishan’s voice sounded closer this time.

Not hearing a response from him, Wu Xingxue’s subordinates started to gather around again.

With a glance, they saw Xiao Fuxuan’s face.

……

Ning Huaishan immediately retreated to where he was before.

The others were also about to run for their lives, but one of them suddenly said, "Huh? Wait!"

Ning Huaishan, "Are you crazy? Wait for what?"

"The City Lord’s here, why are you guys worried! And look, it’s not the actual Celestial Immortal inside."

Hm? Not the actual one?

Wu Xingxue raised his eyes, but was afraid it would create suspicion, so he immediately lowered them again.

Fortunately, Ning Huaishan got his handy-dandy mouth, "Not the actual one?"

"Yeah, did you forget? Those immortals love splitting themselves into corporeal bodies, leaving one here and another three.

Oh, the stories were also like this, when the deities were roaming around the human realm.

Wu Xingxue thought.

"How can you tell?" Ning Huaishan returned with some suspicion.

"I’m much older, after all, I’ve seen these kinds of things before. Look at his left wrist."

Wu Xingxue looked.

On the inner side of the wrist on the left hand, there was a small black mark, just like the lily from before.

So that meant, this wasn’t the Celestial Immortal after all? Just an empty shell?

The subordinates continued to discuss, but Wu Xingxue didn’t listen.

Because he was thinking about a problem —

Since this wasn’t the Celestial Immortal, and the corpse didn’t have any signs of coming back alive, then… who opened the coffin?

He immediately lowered his head to look at his own hand.

He was starting to believe that the so-called City Lord didn’t completely disappear from this body yet. Perhaps there were still some spiritual powers of his left on the hand.

But wait…

When he touched the coffin, he didn’t use even the slightest strength, it was really nothing more than a touch.

Besides…

If the original owner of the body was still here, with his abilities, it was a piece of cake to snatch his body back. Why would he leave him to have his body until now?

While all sorts of thoughts were popping into Wu Xingxue’s mind, he suddenly noticed that there was something under the "Xiao Fuxuan". He slightly curled his hand, only revealing a corner of the item.

Could it be a jade statue?

Wu Xingxue hesitated, then muttered his head, "Although you’re just a shell, I still have to apologize, please excuse me."

He uncurled the ice-cold corpse’s fingers and took out what was underneath.

It was a jade figure made with excellent carving skills. But the figure didn’t have a face, and so he couldn’t tell who it was supposed to be. It did, however, have a long sword in his hand, and a flower platform beneath his feet.

In Que City, statues that had platforms only had one purpose—to worship deities.

He wondered if it was the same here.

If it was a deity, then the sword in his hand could mean that this was the Celestial Immortal.

Wu Xingxue’s thumb unconsciously brushed against the carved flowers as e though.

As he touched, he suddenly felt his heart jump—he heard a voice.

[Have you gone to Chunfan City, at the west of Meng City? There is an exceptional person there named Yi Wusheng]

Wu Xingxue: "……"

He almost tossed the statue away.

But thankfully, since he had been through all sorts of situations in Que City, he knew how to maintain a calm expression.

Who’s talking? Why can I hear such a voice?

Wu Xingxue looked around; his heart thundering inside his chest.

Is it because I’m holding this statue?

Wu Xingxue remained silent for a second, then touched that flower again.

Nothing.

What’s the matter? Was I hallucinating?

Wu Xingxue studied the statue and mumbled in his head.

[Do you want to return? Go find him.]

Suddenly, that voice appeared again.

Wu Xingxue tightened his fingers.

Although this was very out of the blue, the words "do you want to return" were exactly what he wanted to hear.

Do you want to return?

Of course.

He wanted to go back to Que City so bad.

A place where there were no devils and demons, no hell like Northern Frontiers, and no clanging Heavenly Chains.

A place where there were no Immortal Capital and Devil’s Den, where people and horses came and went freely.

Chunfan City…

Yi Wusheng…

He subconsciously repeated those two words, then mocked himself.

You must be hallucinating. Wu Xingxue said to himself.

You don’t know who said this voice, nor if it is directed to you. Perhaps there’s just some spiritual energy left on this statue, which happened to match what you want. How foolish of you to think it’s real.

He shook his head. Just as he was about to return the statue to its original position, the blurry sound came again.

[These shells are so handy. Hold the wrist, insert your spiritual energy, and the puppet comes to life! If it is some well-known person, then it’s a big win. He’ll be obedient and strong… are you obedient?]

"……"

Wu Xingxue threw the statue back into the coffin without another thought.

He was quite respectful, as he purposefully made sure not to throw on the Celestial Immortal’s body. The statue hit the bottom of the jade coffin with a bong, startling Ning Huaishan and the others.

"City Lord, you can’t do… City Lord?" Ning Huaishan didn’t finish, because he saw the City Lord lowering his waist and reaching into the coffin.

He saw Wu Xingxue holding onto Xiao Fuxuan’s wrist, and pressed his thumb on the wrist’s black mark.

Isn’t that how you make a puppet?!

Everyone was stunned in place, "City Lord! Don’t tell me, that you’re going to make the Celestial Immortal’s shell your puppet?!"

Wu Xingxue wanted to say no. Would I dare? Besides, do I even know how?

In fact, he didn’t know himself why he reached to touch that mark. To prove that the voice was just a fraud? But to be honest, he couldn’t prove anything. The voice said specifically that he must input his spiritual energy.

He didn’t have that sort of thing, so he could only press, to see if something would happen.

Before he even finished thinking, he suddenly felt something jump under his thumb.

It was very light, like the veins of a living being.

Wu Xingxue: "?"

……

……

……

Hold up a second.

With shock, he quickly looked up, only to see the dead man in the coffin slowly open his eyes.

Ning Huaishan’s scream sounded, "It worked! It really worked! City Lord! Look, the puppet came to life! His eyes opened!"

Their City Lord almost fainted.

His eyes did open.

But the scary thing was that he didn’t do anything, and the eyes opened by themselves.

Wu Xingxue didn’t even get to say anything before he felt a blur in front of his eyes.

A huge force landed on his body, then the sky started to spin. He subconsciously closed his eyes.

No one saw how the “puppet” came to life, they only felt that hurricane of snow formed in front of the coffin.

All the swords in the sword cemetery started to vibrate. The sound of metal hitting was mixed in the howling wind, almost indiscernible from the chains on Wu Xingxue’s body.

By the time the blizzard lifted, the “puppet” had pressed Wu Xingxue to the ground. In his right hand, he held a sword from the sword cemetery. The sword spun, aiming downwards.

……

Wu Xingxue opened his eyes, only to see the tip of the sword only inches away from his face. The cold sword aura came for his face, but stopped immediately at his neck.

He wasn’t hurt, but the danger didn’t seem to cease.

He looked at the frost coming off from Xiao Fuxuan’s eyebrows as he lowered his head to look at him.

After a long time, he called out his name, "Wu Xingxue."