Two Realms: Don't call me evil!

Hannan Province, China!
It's still that same little hill, under the old locust tree.

Su Jie brought Wei Yushuang and Han Ruyan here, which involves the tomb of Emperor Tianwu. There may be unknown risks. To be on the safe side, Su Jie only brought Han Ruyan, who had been promoted to the Ghost King of Yinxu, and Wei Yushuang, who needed bloodline power. On the contrary, Su Jie did not let Qin Yushang and Liu Yingying take any risks.

"Is this the mausoleum of Emperor Taizu?"

When Su Jie confirmed that this land was indeed the mausoleum of the mighty Emperor Tianwu, Wei Yushuang was somewhat stunned.

Therefore, this place is too simple and does not follow feng shui principles; it is just an ordinary little hill.

Compared to the illustrious military achievements of Emperor Tianwu during his lifetime, this burial place cannot even be described as simple. In the Tianyuan world, even an ordinary landlord family would be buried better than this.

"In my opinion, it's most likely true."

Su Jie shrugged, and the Thousand-Handed Centipede emerged from his sleeve and, without Su Jie's command, began to do its old tricks.

Pale, corpse-like hands swung rapidly, digging a deep pit in the blink of an eye, revealing a two-meter-long stone coffin inside.

The stone coffin looked unremarkable, without any relief carvings or paintings on it. It was tightly closed, making it impossible for anyone to see the true appearance inside.

This seemingly normal scene, however, reveals the greatest abnormality.

Even Wei Yushuang, the weakest among them, possessed the cultivation level of the Purple Mansion Realm, and her divine sense could easily cover nearly a thousand miles. She could even penetrate the interior of a large mountain and see it clearly. Yet, she couldn't see through the interior of this stone coffin. The problem was self-evident.

"It's your turn to take charge."

Su Jie pointed to the stone coffin, gesturing for Wei Yushuang to step forward.

Wei Yushuang did not refuse. This was her great-grandfather's tomb, and she needed to confirm the identity of the remains in the coffin before she could bring them back to her ancestral home and allow the body of Emperor Tianwu to return to its roots.

Thinking of this, Wei Yushuang walked step by step to the stone coffin and placed her hand on the coffin lid.

The nearby forest was completely silent at this moment. Wei Yushuang, feeling inexplicably nervous, turned around and saw that Su Jie, holding the Thousand-Handed Centipede, had retreated to a distance of a thousand meters with Han Ruyan. It seemed that if something was wrong, they would turn around and run away immediately. This made Wei Yushuang feel a tightness in her chest and her face turn dark.

She finally understood why Su Jie didn't want Qin Yushang to come; that guy had no good intentions.

"Get to work! What are you waiting for?"

Seeing Wei Yushuang in a daze, Su Jie urged her twice.

The stone coffin in front of us is most likely the tomb of the Heavenly Martial Emperor, who was a genuine Dao-crossing powerhouse, involving great powers such as reincarnation, cause and effect, and time and space. Su Jie witnessed the terrifying power of a Dao-crossing powerhouse last time.

That was merely a true spirit avatar of a Dao-crossing expert who had crossed the Great Dao River through past karmic connections. It was completely incomparable to the Dao-crossing corpse and was far too dangerous. Su Jie dared not gamble on the Dao-crossing expert's methods.

"This bastard"

Wei Yushuang glared at Su Jie, took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and used her strength to slowly push open the coffin lid.

Click!

As soon as a crack appeared, Wei Yushuang couldn't help but peek inside. However, the inside of the coffin was pitch black, and not a single ray of light could penetrate it. Neither the naked eye nor the divine sense could penetrate this darkness. The deathly silence made one's heart inexplicably uneasy.

As the coffin was opened, a chilling, desolate, and gloomy aura gradually spread out.

Wei Yushuang felt her hands and feet begin to go numb and stiff, her face turned pale, and a presumptuous thought suddenly surfaced in her mind, making her heart tremble: Could it be that the founding emperor has turned into a zombie?
Wei Yushuang wanted to seek Su Jie's help, but when she turned her head, she saw that Su Jie had already retreated further away and was watching the fire from the sidelines. Wei Yushuang was so angry that her chest heaved up and down, and she wanted to grab Su Jie and beat him up.

"My wife, do you think it's possible for a Dao-crossing expert to turn into a zombie?"

Su Jie was also considering the same problem as Wei Yushuang, because the aura emanating from that stone coffin was really too eerie.

"I don't think so!"

Even Han Ruyan, the Yin Xu Ghost King, dared not guarantee that, normally, zombies are formed when evil energy from heaven and earth enters their bodies.

The physical bodies of experts at the Void Realm are already excessively powerful; even in death, they cannot be invaded by so-called malevolent energy.

If even Void Realm experts are like this, then logically speaking, the physical bodies of Dao Transcending Great Powers should only be stronger. What kind of malevolent energy could invade such a physical body and nurture a zombie?

However, given her limited understanding of the Dao Transcending Realm, Han Ruyan couldn't be too absolute. At least based on the current situation, there was definitely a major problem with this stone coffin.

Without Su Jie's help, Wei Yushuang had to muster her courage and grit her teeth to slowly push open the coffin lid, even though her hands and feet were frozen stiff.

At this moment, the chilling and malevolent aura within the coffin reached its peak, like a ferocious beast awakening from its slumber. A dense, blood-red light spread for 30,000 miles, and the malevolent energy surged from this unnamed hilltop, sweeping across the entire solar system and even extending beyond galaxies.

Humans and animals on Earth felt as if they were facing a natural enemy who was superior to them, their blood was about to freeze, and an unprecedented fear rose in their hearts.

Amidst the soaring crimson light, the invisible, cold darkness that had enveloped the coffin dissipated, revealing the true appearance of its interior.

When they saw the inside of the coffin, Wei Yushuang, Su Jie who was watching from afar, and Han Ruyan were all stunned.

Because what was inside the coffin was not the skeleton of an emperor, nor the zombie state that Su Jie had imagined, but a finger segment, which looked to be only the little finger, and only half of it.

The severed finger exuded a sense of desolation and antiquity. When Su Jie focused his gaze on it and smelled a faint scent of blood, Su Jie's head felt as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer, his soul trembled violently, and he almost lost his balance.

On the other side, Wei Yushuang's mind went blank, her blood boiled instantly, and her body felt like it was about to burst from the force.

Whoosh!
Suddenly, Su Jie appeared behind Wei Yushuang, grabbed her, and without any mercy, threw her away to a distance, then stood beside the coffin.

In that instant, Wei Yushuang's body was on the verge of exploding. If Su Jie had been even a fraction slower, Wei Yushuang would have been crushed to death by that aura. Standing beside the coffin at close range, Su Jie sensed with his divine sense that the severed finger seemed both infinitely large and infinitely small. It was like the source of the Great Dao, every inch of its flesh containing the profound mysteries of countless Dao patterns.

Looking directly at this severed finger is like looking directly at an ancient and primordial river of chaos. The power that overwhelms the heavens and the earth, the eight wastelands and the six directions, makes Su Jie's neutron battle body, constructed from his physical body, and his soul, condensed from the Black Hole Myriad Manifestations Technique, sway like a candle flame in the wind, and cracks appear on his body.

Whoosh!
Within Su Jie's sea of ​​consciousness, the Kunlun Mirror automatically emerged. This legendary celestial treasure was now trembling slightly as it flew above the severed finger. Thousands of streams of light appeared on the mirror's surface, drawing upon the power of the celestial treasure and gradually covering the Kunlun Mirror.

Almost the instant the severed finger was placed on the coffin, and the aura of bloodlust erupted, several ancient beings in the distant river of the Great Dao were startled. They opened their eyes, which shone with divine light, as if trying to find the source of this aura through the turbulent waves of the Great Dao.

"Tianwu, it's you! After hiding for so many years, you've finally shown your true colors."

"This is the aura of an immortal, there's no mistake, I'll never forget it in my life."

"A thousand years have passed, and the immortal corpse has reappeared. This time, we absolutely must..."

Several figures, some domineering, some indifferent, and some ordinary, stood in the long river of the Great Dao. Some held a jet-black spear, as if hundreds of worlds were endlessly rotating on the spear. Some had a celestial cauldron hanging above their heads, suppressing the void and annihilating it like a spider web. Some had long swords hanging at their waists, their sword energy crisscrossing and hanging upside down in the Milky Way. Some carried a large banner on their backs, its surface filled with chaotic energy flowing like a waterfall.

These figures, without prior arrangement, each used their own methods to head towards the direction from which the energy was emanating.

The dangerous and terrifying, turbulent Great Dao River appeared as calm as a lake beneath their feet. As they traveled along the Great Dao River, their true spirits illuminating the ages, some chaotic creatures of the Great Dao sensed this aura from afar and involuntarily tucked their tails between their legs and fled. Other overlords among the chaotic creatures of the Great Dao, their massive bodies swaying, also swam towards this aura, their eyes filled with greed.

On the small hilltop of Blue Star, the Kunlun Mirror floated above the severed finger. Su Jie felt the pressure on his body ease, and he took out the Primordial Holy Thunder Tree to absorb some of the pressure, finally allowing him to breathe heavily.

Han Ruyan's expression was solemn. Her blood-red wedding dress billowed like waves. She raised the Billion Soul Banner, and a miniature version of the Underworld appeared behind her. Under the suppression of the fierce aura of the severed finger, which was like a torrent of the Great Dao, this Underworld continued to tremble. With the assistance of the Billion Soul Banner, it managed to withstand the pressure.

Wei Yushuang was also standing behind Su Jie at this moment. Looking at Su Jie's broad back, which shared the pressure of her severed finger, she felt inexplicably touched.

If it weren't for Su Jie's intervention, she would have already died here. The horror of having every inch of her flesh crushed still makes her shudder with fear whenever she thinks about it.

"Why does the Great Ancestor only have one finger?"

Wei Yushuang couldn't help but speak up. When she saw the severed finger, she thought it belonged to the Heavenly Martial Emperor.

“This finger is not right; it doesn’t belong to Emperor Tianwu.”

Han Ruyan floated to Su Jie's side, her gaze fixed on the finger inside the coffin, and answered Wei Yushuang's question in the process.

"If it's not Mao Zedong's, then what is it?"

Wei Yushuang was startled. Upon closer inspection, it made sense. Although the Great Ancestor had a great reputation in the Tianyuan World and was known as the greatest emperor in millions of years, it was impossible for him to have such a powerful figure as Su Jie and Han Ruyan struggling to support him with just a single severed finger.

Su Jie stared intently at the severed finger, an answer forming in his mind. He said in a deep voice, "If I'm not mistaken, this is probably a severed finger of the 'Immortal'."

boom!
Upon hearing Su Jie's words, Han Ruyan and Wei Yushuang were both stunned.

Immortals, those are legendary beings.

Anything that can be associated with immortals is an extremely terrifying thing. For example, immortal treasures. Five immortal treasures gave birth to the five holy lands of the Tianyuan World, which shows how powerful they are.

The severed finger before my eyes was actually left by an immortal. How could an immortal be injured? And how could he leave behind a severed finger, which was buried in what is suspected to be the coffin of the Heavenly Martial Emperor?

Su Jie stared intently at the severed finger in front of him, his mind racing with thoughts.

The stone coffin did not contain the remains of Emperor Tianwu, but rather something related to 'immortals'.

Su Jie couldn't help but think of the fact that when Emperor Tianwu died, he was besieged by three holy lands, including the Nine Heavens Holy Land, and that there were three Dao Ancestors who chased after Emperor Tianwu.

In the past, Su Jie thought that the Heavenly Martial Emperor was besieged mostly because of the Immortal Treasure Kunlun Mirror. After all, there are only five such Immortal Treasures in the entire Tianyuan World. They are the treasures of holy lands and sects. It is reasonable for powerful beings who have crossed the Dao to wage war over this.

But now, seeing this severed finger that resembles that of an immortal, Su Jie speculates that the occurrence of that great battle, besides being due to the Kunlun Mirror, a magical treasure, is more likely because Emperor Tianwu possessed some secrets about becoming an immortal, which led to this calamity.

It should be understood that the realm of the Dao-Crossing Ancestor is extremely terrifying, and they rarely fight each other. Just like the Dao-Crossing Ancestor who tried to kill the young Su Jie in the causal space-time, if he could do that, other Dao-Crossing Ancestors would naturally have corresponding methods. If they are not careful, even if they are outnumbered, they will still be at risk of death.

What makes those sacred sites so desperate, besides the Kunlun Mirror, is the secret to becoming an immortal—the ultimate goal that these Daoist masters have been pursuing with all their hearts.

Becoming an immortal seems to be only one level away from the Dao Transcending Realm, but it is like an insurmountable chasm that has trapped all cultivators.

Immortals have only appeared in the ancient Tianyuan World. Legend has it that they are beings that transcend the Great Dao and are above the Great Dao. They can create the world and the cycle of life and death in an instant, and control the birth and death of all things and spirits. They are truly free and unrestrained, and eternally immortal beings.

If Emperor Tianwu truly possessed some secrets about becoming an immortal, then Su Jie guessed that he certainly wouldn't keep this secret in the Tianyuan World. That way, he wouldn't be able to stop the pilgrims of the Dao Crossing Ancestors from spying on it. No matter how well it was hidden, the Dao Crossing Ancestors would dig it up from the ground.

Most likely, Emperor Tianwu will bring this secret back to Earth through the Kunlun Mirror, where it will be safe enough.

This stone coffin, placed on Blue Star, sealed away the energy of the immortal's severed finger. It may be the greatest treasure left to Blue Star by the Heavenly Martial Emperor, or it may be the root of destruction.

As Su Jie's mind raced, the aura of the severed immortal finger, though covered by the Kunlun Mirror, continued to fluctuate inwards.

Centered on this mountain, the void within a radius of a hundred miles was completely shattered, and chaotic currents raged like a mountain torrent.

Su Jie felt a strange sense of unease. If the powerful beings who had crossed over to the Dao had waged war over this severed immortal finger, resulting in the death of Emperor Tianwu, then their act of opening the stone coffin might have already alerted the powerful beings who were wandering in the River of the Great Dao.

Thinking of this, Su Jie quickly reached out to close the coffin again and seal it shut.

(End of this chapter)