Don't provoke mentally ill people in the infinite flow genre!

Just as Emperor Yunxian said before his death, the curse of Feng Kingdom does exist, and it will indiscriminately befall every emperor, causing them to die a tragic end in any cruel way.

"My mother longed for immortality and always sought a way to break the curse, but she failed time and time again, and even went astray, turning herself into a monster," Emperor Akihito said slowly. "I tried to persuade her and wanted to help her, but unfortunately, I saw that she was beyond saving, so I had no choice but to force her to abdicate the throne to me."

Yi Zanglan stared at the face in the mirror that was exactly the same as Yi Yuncen's, and felt her head throbbing more and more. She tried her best to calm herself down and sort out her chaotic thoughts.

"So, it was you who sealed Emperor Yunxian inside the statue in the Qin'an Hall?"

"To break the curse, one must first reshape one's soul and become a god. That was the Queen Mother's wish, and this is the only thing I can do. In a way, I have fulfilled a part of her wish."

"Did you refine that pill too?"

"Mother Empress has tried many times before and failed. Her transformation into a demon was inevitable, and it's not entirely my fault." Emperor Mingren shook his head. "The elixir I refined was indeed unsuccessful. Not only could it not grant immortality, it could even affect one's mind and accelerate aging. I'm sorry to have made you suffer these consequences."

"Liar. Emperor Yunxian is a madman, and you're not exactly normal either." Yi Zanglan rubbed his temples and answered impatiently, "One uses infant bones to refine medicine, and the other relies on absorbing people's life essence to prolong his life. They're just going further and further down the path of demonic possession."

After she finished speaking, she turned and walked towards one of the coffins, and with one hand, she forcefully pushed open the coffin lid.

Then came the second, the third, the fourth...

In each coffin lay a corpse that had been drained of its life force, with only wrinkled skin clinging to the bones, exactly the same as the death of the scholar in Qin'an Hall.

Clearly, Emperor Akihito was the culprit. This mortuary was her evil sanctuary. It seems that she did indeed achieve immortality to some extent, but she was also permanently trapped in this mirror.

This time, the curse came true again.

"Actually, I only realized later that the curse was destined to be inescapable." Emperor Akihito sighed, his tone filled with helplessness and self-mockery. "If the Empress Mother couldn't do it, I couldn't do it, and neither can you."

How do you know I can't do it?

"You absorbed that elixir, and you would have died of old age this morning," Emperor Akihito replied. "I moved you here. The mortuary is a realm I created. Only here can we live forever. You can't even leave that door."

"..."

"Lanlan, don't you want to stay with me forever?"

Yi Zanglan remained silent for a long time. She slowly adjusted her breathing, feeling the intense pain that was eroding her mind gradually subside, as if her tightly gripped heart had returned to normal beating.

She paused, then looked up coldly: "So this is your territory. No wonder I couldn't sense any illusionary threat."

This was a trap set specifically for her, and whether she succeeded or not, it seemed destined to lead her into an even more unknown abyss.

That road carries the fate of the Feng Kingdom and is also connected to her mission within the Bureau.

"...You're not Yi Yuncen, so what's the point of talking about being together all the time? I'm going to get out of here today and see if I'm really going to die."

Emperor Akihito said in a deep voice, "You cannot get out. Even if you did, you would only face greater calamities. Why must you endure such suffering?"

"If it is pain that I must endure, then there is no point in running away from it."

"Have you made up your mind?"

"I made up my mind a long time ago."

A faint, enigmatic smile appeared on Emperor Akihito's lips, a smile that seemed to be both a sigh and a murmur to himself.

"You're always so stubborn... Who out there is worth risking your life for?"

"A ruler stands alone between heaven and earth, inevitably facing betrayal and abandonment from all sides. Is the sincerity and loyalty you pursue truly as unbreakable as you believe?"

A sudden gust of cold wind rose in the courtyard, and withered leaves danced in the air. Dozens of coffin lids were opened one after another, emitting a dull and heavy thud.

Countless dried corpses crawled out of the coffin, transforming into a pair of pitch-black, sharp bone claws with ferocious faces, approaching Yi Zanglan from all directions.

Yi Zanglan glanced back at the bronze mirror and met Emperor Mingren's gaze. In that instant, she vaguely recalled many past events, but they ultimately dissipated like smoke and dust in the old dreams covered by the years.

Perhaps, some people will never meet again, no matter how hard they try.

What's lost is lost, but she promised Yi Yuncen that life is unpredictable, and one should stand tall and move forward steadfastly.

In this world, there is no cage that can truly confine her.

"Sincerity and loyalty are rare and hard to come by; I will spend my life searching for the answer to this question."

The Abyss Scythe instantly materialized in his palm, its endless dark light spreading out until it covered the entire mortuary.

The next moment, the blade flashed coldly, slashing horizontally through the wind.

* * * * * *

Following the skill's guidance, Yan Zhao and his two companions sped all the way to the Inner Court Mortuary.

However, the door was sealed, and they were forbidden to enter, so they could only wait anxiously.

Another half hour passed, and the rest of the teammates arrived one after another. They stood in front of the door, but couldn't come up with a solution for a long time.

Lingye tried, and even his Tang sword couldn't leave any mark on the door lock.

This place seems to be a testing ground set up specifically for Yi Zanglan; no one is allowed to disturb her until she passes the test.

"...Look, everyone!"

Wang Mingyue unrolled the scroll and saw that at the position of the eighth painting, it was as if an invisible brush was rapidly sketching and gradually blurring the scene inside the mortuary:

Surrounded by countless dried corpses, Yi Zanglan was still wearing her blue nightgown, standing in front of a carved bronze mirror. The mirror reflected her long, gray hair that fluttered in the wind and her face marked by the passage of time.

The emperor is old and frail.

A chill ran down Yan Zhao's spine, and an uneasy premonition instantly filled her heart. She hesitated, but dared not say anything.

"This is……"

"What happened to Lanlan?" Tang Yunxi was extremely anxious. She grabbed Ling Ye's sleeve. "Prince Ye, besides obtaining that pill, was there anything else unusual about you at Qin'an Palace last night?"

Ling Ye stared intently at the painting, forcibly suppressing his chaotic thoughts, and answered in a deep voice after a long while.

"Before Emperor Yunxian died, he said that there was a curse on the Feng Kingdom, and that every emperor... would not have a good end."

"What does that mean? Does that mean Lanlan can do it too? Lanlan can't!"

"Yes, she won't."

Before the words were finished, a deafening roar like ancient thunder was heard. All the team members looked up in shock and saw a dark, inky light bursting forth from above the mortuary. The light was so intense that it almost pierced through the thick fog that permeated the imperial city.

The overwhelming power, carrying boundless killing intent, spread wildly, causing sand and stones to fly in all directions, and the entire mortuary was instantly reduced to ruins.

"team leader!"

Once everyone realized what was happening, they all ran frantically toward the mortuary.

……

……

The bronze mirror had been shattered at some point, and the mortuary was littered with the severed limbs and remains of the dried corpses, a scene of utter chaos.

Yi Zanglan stood there, her appearance seemingly restored, but perhaps it was just an illusion, her figure seemed shorter, her hair shorter, and there was a two-finger-wide iron chain around her neck, barely touching her throat.

With her back to everyone, she was bending down and pulling hard on the iron chain, clearly trying to remove it, but unfortunately, she failed.

"Lanlan!"

Ling Ye rushed to the front, panting heavily, looking anxious, and instinctively reached out to help her.

"Are you hurt? You...?"

But he couldn't touch her.

At the same moment, Yi Zanglan nimbly dodged to the side, and almost without hesitation, she threw a punch.

boom!

This punch was delivered with full force, striking Ling Ye's injured left arm from the previous night. With a cracking sound, the bandaged wound burst open, and blood instantly stained half of his sleeve.

Ling Ye was completely unprepared and didn't even have time to feel the pain. He stared at her for a few seconds before belatedly covering his wound with an expression of utter disbelief.

The other team members also stopped in their tracks, and everyone surrounded Yi Zanglan, all of them taken aback by the scene before them, speechless with shock.

Yi Zanglan slowly retreated, maintaining a safe distance from them.

At this moment, she revealed her face. Compared to the captain after she grew up, this face was not as calm and gentle as everyone remembered. Although her eyebrows and eyes were slightly immature, her aura was sharp and fierce, like a ferocious beast that had been lurking in the jungle for many years, ready to show its sharp claws at any time.

"...Who are you?" She asked through gritted teeth, her face darkening with suspicion. "Where's Ah Lang? Give her back to me."