Lie Huo Jiao Chou

Xuan Ji had travelled far and wide, visiting many botanical gardens, but this was the first time he had encountered such an odd creature that could bleed to death with just a few words. It was too late to save it.

Since his "departure from home", his destiny had been especially bumpy. Being possessed by a demon was one thing, but at least the demon seemed to be quite hygienic, maybe even fragrant. But if he was to be covered in this “flower’s menstruation”, how would he be able to put his sword back on his back?

Did a man's back have to bear so much?

At that moment, Xuan Ji really wanted to just throw the goat-bearded man on the ground. But as a youth who had been indoctrinated with the "Five Principles and Four Virtues" for many years, although this human life he was carrying smelled bad, he really couldn't bring himself to let go. With no other choice, he stretched out his feet and used all his strength to thrust the sword into the sky, then he grabbed the goat-bearded man and flew after the sword, intending to use his feet to grab it and save it from the "blood soup".

However, at that moment, the blood-like flower juice flowed along the four walls and suddenly, ignoring the gravity of the earth, made an unnatural turn in mid-air and sprayed out sideways.

The flying blood-like flower juice weaved a red glow in mid-air, and when it touched Xuan Ji's wings, it immediately evaporated and turned into a faint mist, forming a layer of peach blossom fog, which was almost spectacular. But before Xuan Ji could admire it, the originally unconscious goat-bearded man suddenly screamed and moved, and a few drops of flower juice splashed onto his hand. The skin and flesh on the goat-beard's hand was corroded by a strong acid, and several shocking black spots appeared immediately, waking him up in pain!

The flower juice was indeed poisonous!

In the blink of an eye, the red mist from the flower juice seemed to be getting thicker and thicker, and the goat-bearded man was exposed to the "mist", his skin starting to rot, like a human being burned by fire.

The pink mist quickly rose to the top of the cave and condensed quickly when it encountered the cold mountain rock, then fell like rain. Although Xuan Ji the birdman did not produce acid rain, he inadvertently became the transporter of acid rain!

Xuan Ji had no choice but to take care of the living first, and had no time to take care of his sword. He curled up his legs and hugged his huge wings around himself, forming an impenetrable shield to cover himself and the goat-bearded man.

At the same time, the heavy sword that he had kicked into the air with his foot was accompanied by the "blood rain and stench", and it fell into the pool with a “bang”.

The pool was not deep, and the heavy sword fell to the bottom when it fell in, and Xuan Ji saw from the gap in his wings that there was a stone platform three meters square under the pool, and something on the stone platform…

The next moment, Xuan Ji suddenly opened his eyes wide -

On the stone platform was an open coffin, and his sword was falling straight into the coffin!

Before he could go to pick it up, a chill flew through his chest, like a steel spike piercing his heart, cold, hollow and painful. A"crack" sounded in Xuan Ji’s ear, as if something had broken, and he couldn't breathe for a moment.

Blood-like flower juice poured into the pool, and the clear pool turned red in an instant -

At the same time, in the depths of the distant Chiyuan altar, the patrolling spirits suddenly stopped in unison, and Dao Yi felt something and turned back, looking towards the altar, and another stone tablet cracked inexplicably!

The spirits all fell in front of the cracked stone tablet, and Dao Yi stretched out his rotten hand cautiously, trying to put the cracked stone together, before he touched it, the stone tablet made a light sound and broke into powder in front of the spirits. Then, a white light burst out of the broken stone tablet and flew eastward like a fiery arrow.

The spirits looked at each other, and the cold armor clattered in the wind, they were too old, their memories were as rusty as their bodies, and they couldn't remember what the cracked stone tablet meant, but... it seemed to be something very terrible.

As the sword fell into the pool, Sheng Lingyuan felt that all his seven orifices were blocked, his senses became numb, his heartbeat became abnormally present, as if something wanted to protrude through the thin muscle, through his chest. Sheng Lingyuan didn't want to know what it was, for a moment, he inexplicably felt fear in his heart, hoping that the blood-like water could coagulate into a cocoon, wrap him in it, let him close his eyes and ears, and hide until the end of the world.

But... there is no place for him to hide in this world.

Sleep, catching a breath, rest... for him, all are delusions.

His memory was like an awakened monster, opening its eyes and opening its bloody mouth to him.

The sword "vibrated" and made a buzzing sound, and the cave trembled, and all the flowers withered at the same time, and a dangerous whirlpool was stirred up in the pool with the coffin as the center, and then the water surface suddenly sank little by little, as if something was sucked into the coffin.

Xuan Ji took a breath of relief from the sudden palpitation, and was surprised to see that the bloody liquid in the pool was sucked up by the coffin, and when the pool returned to clear, the coffin "came to light" –

The coffin emerged from the water, and the sword that had been lying in it was gone. Inside was a... "person".

Xuan Ji was unsure whether to call it a person. 

The goat-bearded man’s eyes were rolling wildly in its sockets, fainting and then waking up again, suspended in mid-air, "dead and alive". He was about to go crazy, and even Xuan Ji’s hair couldn't help but stand on end. He thought that after seeing "lightning strike and bones scattered" up close, he would be able to watch all kinds of horror movies from ancient to modern times without any taboos.

But this "person" exceeded his imagination... because its body was not human-shaped.

Inside the coffin was clearly a charred corpse, head and feet indistinguishable, with no part of the bones and flesh fully intact. Its waist was broken, and the upper and lower halves were barely stuck together by charred flesh.

And yet, this charred corpse was still able to move!

The bones on its body "crackled", and then, with a "puff", white and bony fingers pierced through the charred skin. The bones moved around, automatically looking for their own positions, and soon pieced together a slender skeleton, and veins and flesh grew on the skeleton...

Xuan Ji shivered violently, and in an instant, he felt the flesh and skin grow layer by layer, seeming even more painful than when the Yin Sacrifice backlash cut layer by layer of flesh back at the top of the building - he remembered when the Yin Sacrifice counterattacked, the demon stood motionless on the roof, smiling until he was reduced to ashes.

But now, the "charred corpse" was still struggling, its hands tightly grasping the coffin, and the inch-thick bronze coffin was pinched and deformed by it alive.

Like a silent scream... because the vocal cords and tongue had not grown yet.

Just by watching, Xuan Ji felt his whole body burning, and he couldn't help but sweat.

It took a full quarter of an hour for the flesh and bones on the "charred corpse" to grow completely, and then blood-red flesh grew on the body, followed by cascading hair, covering the entire coffin. The hands that were tightly gripping the coffin finally dropped weakly, making a light sound.

The fingers were pale and slender, wet, like jade that had been washed for thousands of years.

Xuan Ji recognized these hands - he had just fought them not long ago.

The heavenly demon that had been struck by lightning had come out from the sword!

At this time, the water in the pool had dropped nearly two meters from the beginning, and the entire stone platform under the water was exposed. 

Looking down from a high place, the stone platform was full of dense lines, and the lines were actually two layers. 

One was engraved on the stone, which Xuan Ji had never seen before, but according to experience, it was not a decoration, but rather an unknown script.

The other layer was painted with pigments, which he was familiar with - it was the Yin Sacrifice.

After the water calmed down, Xuan Ji hesitated for a moment, and carefully landed on the stone platform. He stepped aside to avoid the strange characters on the ground, and heard a chaotic and hurried breathing.

"Er... that..." Xuan Ji tentatively asked, "Are you... alive?"

The person in the coffin seemed to respond with a movement, but did not answer.

Xuan Ji searched around the coffin for a while, and finally found a blank space without any writing near the coffin, and put the goat-bearded man that had already fainted with his tongue stretched out aside. It was not until then that he realized that something was missing.

"Wait," Xuan Ji thought, "Where the hell is my sword?"

Xuan Ji came to his senses and a string of questions squeezed out of his mind in order.

What is this situation?

Wasn't the heavenly demon cut to pieces by lightning? Where did the body come from? How did it come back to life?

These were minor details, but the most important thing was - the heavenly demon "came out", where was his sword?

Before the demon head "possessed" his sword, his sword was like part of his body, able to move according to his will. After the heavenly demon possessed his sword, he suffered from "separation anxiety from the sword", and would go crazy if he was away from it for a while. But this time, he couldn't sense the sword at all, and the inexplicable separation anxiety evaporated!

Xuan Ji stepped up to the coffin, looking for a sword. But before he had a chance to move, his eyes were fixed on the person inside the coffin.

He recognized him from the fight he had with Sheng Lingyuan at the Chiyuan Hospital. The person in the coffin had the same face, body, and even the same amount of hair as the one from the hospital. But Xuan Ji felt that this person was different from the demon in the Chiyuan Hospital.

The one in the hospital had disappeared right before his eyes, and even a vacuum cleaner couldn't pick up the remains. Also, the Sheng Lingyuan in the Chiyuan Hospital didn't have any "liveliness" to him, as if he couldn't feel pain or show any emotion. Even if he was struck by lightning, it only made people feel scared. It was like seeing a tree struck by lightning.

But now, the person in the coffin was "alive". Xuan Ji could almost feel his pain.

He was lying silently in the coffin, as if he was trying to lift himself up. His sharp shoulder blades seemed to be piercing through the tight skin, trembling silently with each suppressed breath.

Xuan Ji saw this moment, and was suddenly overwhelmed by an indescribable emotion. It was a mix of sorrow and joy, and even his soul trembled. It was like a thousand-year-old grudge had been resolved, and like he had been lost in the endless darkness for an unknown amount of time before finally seeing a glimmer of light.

He had never experienced such joy and sorrow in his life. His soul seemed to have left his body, and Xuan Ji was stunned for a moment. He almost shed tears and pressed his chest involuntarily.

The person in the coffin was as white as if he hadn't seen the sun in a thousand years, with jet black hair. A shocking line of dried blood ran down his side face, connecting to the red corners of his eyes, as if it was a line of tears. The strong contrast was piercing, and it created a powerful impact.

And…

He wasn't wearing any clothes.

Wait a minute!

Xuan Ji snapped back to reality and broke free from the strange emotion. He had been staring at a naked man! He could be arrested for peeping!

"Erm, well... I didn't do it on purpose. You just popped out without saying anything..." Xuan Ji quickly looked away, and the scene he had just seen seemed to be stuck in his retina. He blinked hard and fumbled around his body, trying to find something to give the person some clothes. But he was out of luck. His coat and sweater had been burned by the wings when he came in and out, and he wasn't used to wearing underwear. If he took his pants off, he would become an embarrassment.

"Erm... how about... I take this guy’s clothes off and give it to you? Is that too flashy for you?"

Sheng Lingyuan ignored him and reached out a hand to the side of the coffin, weakly gesturing.
The withered vines that had been full of "blood flowers" suddenly moved, intertwining with each other. They imitated the "double helix needle" on Xuan Ji's sweater and wove a long robe, which fell onto the man.

But Sheng Lingyuan seemed to be unable to bear the weight of even a single piece of clothing. 

The whole person was pressed down by the robe that had fallen off. Xuan Ji instinctively reached out to help him, but halfway through, he stopped, not understanding why he had such an impulse.

At this moment, he heard Sheng Lingyuan murmuring something.

Xuan Ji held his breath: "What?"

The person spoke slowly, as if squeezing it out from between his teeth, with a trembling voice.

"Who... who opened his coffin...?"