I picked up skill fragments in the demon world.

Chapter 868 New Skill: Corpse Control

Chen Xu obtained the power of the ancient serpent Taigu, and could be described as having the strength to uproot mountains and the spirit to overwhelm the world.

He placed his hands on the lid of the jade coffin and pushed hard, but the lid remained unmoved.

"What a heavy lid! Let me handle this!" Zhou Chuan suddenly stepped forward, placed his hands on the lid, and a fiery red light swirled around him. He pushed the coffin lid hard, but it remained as immovable as a mountain, not budgeing an inch.

Zhang Chen shook his head as he watched from the side. If the coffin lid were so easy to open, it wouldn't have trapped such a powerful being as the Queen Mother of the West.

Do you really think a coffin lid only weighs as much as a coffin lid?

This place was transformed by Zhang Chen into a place for raising corpses. The yin energy formed by the dragon vein of Kunlun Mountain has already sucked the coffin lid. So it is more accurate to say that the entire dragon vein of Kunlun Mountain is being pushed rather than the coffin lid being pushed.

"Brothers, please step back. Opening this coffin lid will require a bit of skill." Zhang Chen stepped forward and stood before the coffin, a strange look in his eyes. He knew that the Queen Mother of the West's physical body had now transformed into a zombie, and her strength had reached an unbelievable level. Zhang Chen was unsure of her abilities. If he could control and subdue her body, it would definitely be a great help to him in the future.

Zhang Chen stepped forward, hesitated for a moment, and then opened his Frost Domain, instantly severing the connection between the coffin and the Kunlun Mountain dragon vein. Then, Zhang Chen pushed hard, and the coffin slid directly into the Frost Hell, only to be spat out by the Frost Hell.

This turn of events happened in an instant. Zhou Chuan and Chen Xu, who were watching from the side, only felt the coffin blur for a moment, and then they saw Zhang Chen put one hand on the coffin. With the circulation of his divine power, the Mountain Moving Technique was activated, and the coffin lid was pushed off.

The coffin hit the ground with a loud thud that echoed across the empty altar.

Zhou Chuan and Chen Xu came forward together, and after seeing the situation inside the coffin, they couldn't help but gasp.

Lying in the coffin was a woman, a woman who was very, very beautiful, without the slightest flaw. Her skin was as delicate as jade, and every skin texture shimmered with mysterious luster, as if the great Dao of heaven and earth flowed on it.

The woman's hair was simply tied up with a jade hairpin, and she was draped in a colorful robe. She lay lifelike in the coffin, as if she were fast asleep.

The world seemed to lose its color in the face of that woman.

To be honest, this was the first time Zhang Chen had seen the true appearance of the Queen Mother of the West. He felt that her face looked somewhat familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

"How come this goddess still looks as if she's alive?" Chen Xu exclaimed from the side, "There's not a single sign of decay."

“You’re right, this goddess is indeed still alive, but she’s been in a deep sleep and hasn’t woken up yet.” Zhang Chen’s gaze swept over the Queen Mother of the West, then fell on the coffin, where he saw three withered saplings.

The sapling was no thicker than a thumb and as long as a palm, but it had already withered and died. Zhang Chen's primordial spirit, which had remained within it, had long since vanished into thin air. In this land suppressed by the dragon vein, even the peach tree could not withstand the endless years and turned into a withered tree.

However, it was nothing to Zhang Chen. He held the power over the wood element, so what if the peach tree died? He could bring it back to life at any time.

"You mean this ancient god-demon is still alive?" Zhou Chuan's expression turned serious upon hearing this.

Zhang Chen nodded very seriously: "They are indeed still alive, but they haven't woken up yet because they have been asleep for too long."

"Don't be greedy for the things in the tomb. Let's hurry up and leave. We can't afford to provoke the ancient gods and demons." Zhou Chuan's voice was serious.

Upon hearing Zhou Chuan's words, Zhang Chen's eyes revealed a strange look: "Now that we have entered the tomb and opened the coffin, we have already gotten involved with the karma of the ancient gods and demons. It is probably unrealistic to just leave like this."

As Zhang Chen finished speaking, his gaze fell on the side of the Queen Mother of the West, and his expression became subtle. He saw a ball of skill light falling down next to the Queen Mother of the West.

The skill orb shimmered with a black luster, pitch black as ink, seemingly harboring endless evil within it. Zhang Chen's cheat code popped up on the screen:

[New skill discovered. Do you wish to pick it up?]

"A black skill, and it exudes an ominous aura. I've never seen one like it before." Zhang Chen's eyes showed a hint of curiosity, and then the next moment his aura flickered, and he directly issued a command to the cheat interface: "Pick it up!"

Zhang Chen was very much looking forward to the skills that had fallen from the ancient goddess and demon, the Queen Mother of the West.

[New skill discovered: Corpse control]

[Note 1: You can brand marks into the bodies of zombies and then influence and manipulate them.]

[Note 2: This skill has no level. The longer the mark remains in the opponent's body, the deeper its influence on the opponent, and the greater your control over them.]

Then the cheat screen refreshed directly:
New Skill: Corpse Control

Zhang Chen looked at his cheat system interface, his gaze becoming subtly intrigued. He had only just discovered the corpse of the Queen Mother of the West, and already he'd been presented with such a generous gift? His eyes lit up as he looked at the new skill appearing on his cheat system, filled with a strange light: "Interesting! Very interesting! No matter how high-level the zombie is, as long as it's hit by my mark, the mark will invade it, gradually gaining control. The stronger the zombie, the longer the mark's influence will last; the zombie's level and the mark's influence time are directly proportional."

Zhang Chen's eyes lit up as he looked at the Queen Mother of the West in the coffin. He saw a mysterious black mark condensing at her fingertips, enveloped in a black mist. The black mark then flew out and landed on the Queen Mother of the West's brow, as if branded onto her skin, before gradually disappearing without a trace.

At this moment, in Zhang Chen's eyes, a series of time indicators suddenly appeared on the body of the Queen Mother of the West:

[Controlling the head, for a million years]

[Control your hands, for ten thousand years]

[Master your feet, for ten thousand years]

[Control of the torso, for 500,000 years]

A series of time-related events flashed before Zhang Chen's eyes:

Please select: head, hands, feet, torso.

Zhang Chen hesitated for a moment, then tapped his hands. The next moment, all the time indicators on the Queen Mother of the West disappeared, leaving only her hands to begin counting down from 100,000.

"I wonder if my time acceleration can be applied to zombies?" Zhang Chen's eyes showed a thoughtful look.

If he could accelerate time on the zombies, one day would be 180 years, and one year would be 65,000 years. He would only need two years to completely control the zombies' hands. At that time, he would have more control over the zombies in front of him, and he could even use the Queen Mother of the West's zombies to deal with that old guy above the Thirty-Three Heavens.

Without hesitation, Zhang Chen channeled the power of time through his fingertips and directly touched the zombie. The next moment, a mysterious light emanated from the zombie's body, and its time reading decreased by 180 years.

"It actually works!" Zhang Chen was overjoyed and couldn't help but feel ecstatic.

"I can stay in Laobie Territory for a while longer, two or three years, and completely control him. Then I can go to Kyoto. No matter what trump cards the eight great families have, I can deal with them easily." Zhang Chen hadn't forgotten that he still had an old rival in Kyoto.

Whether it's Zhang Gaoqiu from the Zhang family in Kyoto or the lobbying efforts of the Prince of Pingbian, both are formidable challenges that Zhang Chen must confront.

Just as countless thoughts were swirling in Zhang Chen's mind, Chen Xu leaned forward and looked at the hairpin on the Queen Mother of the West's head: "This seems to be a good thing!"

"You have a good eye. This hairpin contains the power of the sun, moon, and stars, and has the law of the shifting of stars. It can be considered a divine artifact," Zhang Chen praised.

Zhou Chuan, standing to the side, said with a serious expression, "Zhang Chen, when will this ancient being awaken? We'd better escape quickly. If this old relic catches us robbing a tomb, we're doomed."

Although he was proud of his methods, he knew his own limitations when facing the ancient gods and demons.

"This goddess has been asleep for countless years, she shouldn't wake up anytime soon, right?" Zhang Chen was also unsure when the Queen Mother of the West would wake up.

His gaze fell on the three withered trees beside the Queen Mother of the West, and then he picked up the withered trees: "I only want these three withered trees."

"I want that hairpin!" Chen Xu said without hesitation, reaching out to pull the hairpin off the Queen Mother of the West's head.

"What do you want?" Zhang Chen turned to look at Zhou Chuan, only to see Zhou Chuan pointing at the coffin with a pale face: "I saw that the corpse's fingers seemed to tremble just now."

"what?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Xu's hair stood on end, and he almost dropped the hairpin in his hand.

"I think I really saw the ancient god's fingers tremble. I don't want the items on the god's body anymore, you two can share them!" Zhou Chuan was a little scared. He felt that there was a great cause and effect here, and he wished he could run away immediately.

Upon hearing Zhou Chuan's words, Zhang Chen looked at the corpse of the Queen Mother of the West, and a thought flashed through his mind: "I accelerated the corpse's life by 180 years. If it shows signs of awakening, it's not impossible!"

"You two go out first, don't worry about me anymore, I'll handle this demonic corpse." Zhang Chen was a little unsure, afraid that he might accidentally implicate Zhou Chuan and Chen Xu, so he quickly gave them instructions.

"No way, we'll go together and come back together. How can we expect you to take all the blame while we reap the benefits?" Zhou Chuan was the first to object.

“You don’t understand ancient feng shui, so staying here is useless. I’ve used an ancient feng shui formation inside the tomb to reseal and suppress it. You’ll only cause me trouble if you stay here, and I’ll have to take care of you. You should leave as soon as possible!” Zhang Chen urged.

(End of this chapter)