Chapter 1769: Still Diexi

“Hello, master~~” Diexi sang lazily when she saw Lu Yun.

“Pfft, enough of that.” Lu Yun waved her off. Though she was a zombie king, she’d come back to life after reaching the extremity of death. She was now a real living being and had recovered her memories as Changxi during the great wilderness era, shedding her previous stiffness.

Her lively eyes curiously assessed the surroundings. When she saw the three hundred and sixty-five other copies of herself, she took them in without a flicker of change in expression.

“I’ve often dreamed of numerous versions of myself sitting in front of a black palace.. So it was a place I’ve really been to before.” Diexi stroked her smooth chin in thought. “I also dreamed about..”

“About what?” Chu Xingran asked with surprise. Her dreams stemmed from when she was Changxi, a connate great god. Existences like those shouldn’t have dreams.

Dreams were a regular, objective pattern that all living beings experienced. Ah Zhi’s dream sequence, for example, was a type of sequence pattern and not one of dao.

“I dreamed that I lay there.” Diexi pointed at the crystal coffin and walked up to it. She caressed the immensely opulent coffin and murmured, “I was at the center of an endlessly vast world.. I wanted to leave, but couldn’t do so no matter what I tried.”

“You mean that.. the person buried there is you?!” Lu Yun’s eyes widened.

She blinked rapidly and shook her head, “I don’t know, I just know that this was how it was in my dreams..”

“So what’s going on here? What do the Corpse Refiners want?” Lu Yun looked around with stark incomprehension. “Do they want to release you from the coffin and claim it for themselves instead?”

According to Chu Xingran, the coffin was made from empyrean crystal and worth cities. This singular coffin alone was probably more than the sum of the dragon race’s collective fortune.

“Old zombie Jiang Chen wouldn’t do something so pointless,” Chu Xingran shook his head and turned to Diexi. “Who were you before to be buried into a coffin sculpted from empyrean crystal?”

“I was Changxi,” Diexi responded. “The connate goddess of the Taiyin Star! Oh.. right, I was also Chang’e once before I became Diexi, the one who fled to the moon!”

Lu Yun smacked his forehead. Wanfeng must’ve led Diexi astray. The two spent their days together ever since he left the world of immortals, jointly overseeing Dusk Province for him. Wanfeng had become ever more mischievous and rascally since she recovered her memories from the great wilderness, and now Diexi showed signs of her influence.

“And before that?” Chu Xingran asked dumbly.

“How would I know?” Diexi pouted. “Those three hundred and sixty-five versions of me want to break my true spirit and turn on me, assimilating me into them.” She cocked her head. “But my name is written in your treasure, so unless they.. er, unless our strength is stronger than your precious, they—er, we won’t be able to do anything to me.

“Okay, this is so uncomfortable. They’re me, like my replicas, but some other will has occupied them. That will should’ve been me too, but it’s like I have—what do they say on the ancestral planet? Multiple personality disorder or schizophrenia.”

Diexi had also been by Earth, wanting to locate traces she’d left back in the day. In this underground cavern, the three hundred and sixty-five facets of her attacked her at the same time, wanting to destroy her will and turn her into one of them.

“No matter what, this crystal coffin and palace are the foundations of the Corpse Refiners and corpse dao in this land!” Lu Yun declared solemnly. “No matter who Diexi in the coffin was in the past, she’s part of the Corpse Refiners now! Hold off the three hundred and sixty-five other you’s while I claim the crystal coffin. Don’t let them in!”

No matter who the person in the coffin was, she was just part of corpse dao now—its foundations, to be specific. If he wanted to eliminate the Corpse Refiners, he had to take the coffin with him.

However, the major cycle formation outside the palace protected it and the crystal coffin within. It would roar to life the second the coffin moved and attack indiscriminately, no matter if the zombie kings discovered the interlopers in the palace or not. The zombie kings were part of the formation, not its mainstay.

Lu Yun flipped open the Tome of Life and Death and used its inner world to collect the coffin. As expected, the formation stirred to life the moment the treasure’s power enclosed the coffin and the zombie kings shot to their feet. Crimson light blazed from their eyes; a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood brewed in their gaze.

A mountain of corpses was symbolic of the Abyssal Hell, while the sea of blood was symbolic of the Sanguine Hell.

The power of two hells was concentrated on the zombie kings.

“Get out!” Diexi snarled when she saw three hundred and sixty-five copies of herself walk into the palace. Her Diexi shortsword flitted into her hand like a pixie, erupting with a dazzling array of sword light.

She was a zombie king who had completely shaken off the form of a zombie and become a true living being. Diexi could use both the strength of a zombie king and the power of the living.

Rays of sword light intersected into a sword net that lashed the other zombie kings. Rather than being individual entities at the moment, they were a complete formation. They themselves didn’t unleash any attacks, but each of their footsteps forward created a marvelous rhythm that formed waves of terrifying aura.

Three hundred and sixty-five blood-red stars rose from their heads and radiated brilliant crimson light, turning the palace bright red. The crystal coffin had been the only source of illumination in the palace before and radiated very strange light, allowing one to see into it but failing to illuminate the palace.

That was a worry no more since three hundred and sixty-five red stars flooded the premises with light.

Piles upon piles of white bones came into view. They were all shapes and sizes and of various races, but any other associated information had been lost long ago. They were just mountains of skull-shaped stones. Even so, it was a very shocking sight.