Chapter 821 — Strange Tales Aboard the Ship

Shen Mu looked back and saw the coffins open, yet nothing leaped out from within. Instead, pitch-black currents of air burst forth, like bodiless pythons darting wildly through the air. Some demigods who ran too slowly were touched by the black air. They let out mournful screams as their bodies dissolved and rapidly crumbled—yet their faces remained. Some of the melting flesh fell onto the coffins below, merging with them and becoming faces on the coffin wood.

Lizheng saw this too and could not help but shiver several times. The black air darted about wildly and soon filled the entire deck. Ahead of them too, black coffins erected themselves one by one; the coffins opened, and black air spread everywhere. Ahead, coffins formed a forest, and the black air, like venomous snakes and great pythons, darted in all directions, impossible to guard against. A demigod roared in fury, his primordial spirit standing upon the celestial palace's jade terrace, unleashing divine abilities and dharma arts of terrifying power—but immediately the black air bored into his body, and his flesh dissolved!

Lizheng shivered again and shouted: "Shen'er, go faster!"

Shen Mu seemed lost in thought, murmuring to himself: "This black air is like a kind of creation divine ability... yes, a creation divine ability, only this one connects the living with the nonliving..."

"At a time like this, you still have the mood to ponder such things?"

Lizheng was furious. He grabbed Shen Mu by the back collar of his clothes and sped away with him. With a thought, streaks of sword light carved a path, severing the incoming black air. But the black air reconnected as soon as it was severed—it could not be eradicated at all. Lizheng could only carry Shen Mu and dodge this way and that, secretly lamenting his plight.

Huanlong Jun hurried to follow. He saw that Shen Mu, like a cat gripped by the scruff of its neck, hung motionless as he was carried—yet he had turned his body around and continued watching the darting black air, muttering something unintelligible.

"Our lord is a Dao-fool!"

Huanlong Jun unleashed his divine abilities to block the black air, but could not hold it back at all. He grumbled inwardly: "A Dao-fool who doesn't know death when he sees it!"

Shen Mu's eyes flickered as he murmured to himself: "If it's a creation divine ability, then what is this creation divine ability used for? Why has it run out of control? Why have so many black coffins appeared? And what about the Yulin Army's transmigration incident...? What is the principle behind this creation divine ability?"

Ahead, black air spread everywhere. All the black coffins on the deck opened, and the black air shrouded the ghost ship's buildings, making it impossible to see where they were. All around was darkness. Cold sweat poured down Lizheng's forehead. He stopped and stood back to back with Huanlong Jun, guarding their surroundings.

Just then, moonlight shone in the darkness. Luo Wushuang activated a treasure; the treasure exuded imperial might, and its radiance actually forced back the black air. Luo Wushuang led the few surviving Lingxiu Army disciples forward along the moonlight.

"The Divine Blade Luo carries a treasure forged by a Great Emperor!"

Shen Mu praised: "No wonder he was so certain. Luo Wushuang, I'm right here—do you remember who cut off your arm?"

Luo Wushuang turned a deaf ear, leading his many disciples onward in silence, away from this place.

At that same moment, Feng Qiuyun carried a stone coffin on her back. The stone coffin opened, and immediately imperial might surged to the heavens. Within the coffin, a divine emperor among demigods sat bolt upright, forcing back the black air.

"Sister Qiuyun!"

Shen Mu called out loudly: "Do you remember me?"

Feng Qiuyun's voice came from afar: "I remember! You betrayed the Earth Mother—she wishes she could take your life this very moment!"

Shen Mu's face darkened. The Crimson Bright Divine Son's body transformed into a red light, fleeing through the black air, paying him no heed.

"The Divine Son has no loyalty either."

Shen Mu shook his head. Everyone on the deck brought out their own methods. Even those few visitors from the Heavenly Court who had slid down from the sky along silver ropes each had treasures to protect themselves.

Shen Mu took out the military tally again. The moment it appeared, all the black air froze. Then, one by one, the streams of black air flew swiftly back into the coffins. A ceaseless series of thuds followed as the coffin lids automatically covered the coffins, and the black coffins slowly sank back into the deck one by one, disappearing from sight.

Lizheng blinked, looked at Shen Mu, and said softly: "That jade pendant of yours—is it really the treasure that controls this ship?"

Shen Mu shook his head and answered honestly: "I'm not too sure either. I was just guessing..."

"You!"

Lizheng was exasperated and said: "Let's keep moving."

Suddenly a lantern drifted down from the mast and flew before Shen Mu and the others. The lantern was round and plump, and it circled the three of them a few times. Alert, Lizheng rested his hand on his sword and narrowed his eyes, studying the lantern, ready to strike at any moment.

Creak.

A sound of a door opening came from within the lantern. Lizheng was astonished to see that the lantern actually had a pair of doors set opposite each other. A strange being with a bird's head and human body, about an inch tall, pushed the doors open from inside the lantern and looked them over a few times. Brilliant light, extremely dazzling, shone from behind this tiny figure. The three looked inside the lantern and saw that behind this inch-tall person was a blazing sun!

"Lin Xiao, Lieutenant General of the Yulin Army, pays respects to the Lord of the Command!"

The tiny figure bowed before the door, quite properly, and said: "The Lord of the Command has grown younger again."

Shen Mu blinked and said vaguely: "Mm. Lead the way."

"As you command."

The tiny figure sat on the threshold, wings buzzing behind him, and the lantern illuminated the road ahead as it flew forward.

Lizheng was suspicious. His divine sense rippled as he said: "Shen'er, what's going on?"

"I don't know."

Shen Mu was bewildered: "Maybe he mistook me for someone else..."

Ahead, a cluster of buildings came into view. Before the terrace grew a huge dragon head. The dragon head was actually alive, grown as one with the entire building, flesh and blood joined with wood. The dragon head's face was contorted, crazed, seemingly in unbearable agony. Seeing them, it cried out: "Heaven and earth may change, but the thirty-six unchanging constants do not! What does it mean? Tell me, what does it mean?"

"This is another ancient deity joined to this ship by a creation divine ability—though it seems to have gone mad."

Huanlong Jun said, trembling with fear: "This divine dragon's strength is far greater than mine..."

"I'm not mad."

The crazed divine dragon suddenly lowered its head to look at them and said with a chuckle: "Sooner or later you will be like me, fused with this ship, becoming part of it... the unchanging constants, the unchanging constants—only by unraveling the unchanging constants can you leave..."

"Someone left records here!"

A voice came from within the buildings. Shen Mu and the others hurried over. Many people had already gathered in the building—the Crimson Bright Divine Son, the visitors from the Heavenly Court, Feng Qiuyun, and others were all there, looking at the wall.

Shen Mu also looked at the writing on the wall and was startled: "Eldest Senior Brother's handwriting!"

On the wall, the writing left by Wei Suifeng, founding patriarch of the Heavenly Sage Sect, spoke not of the ghost ship, but of another matter.