Chapter 90: The Decaying Body Fears Vitality

“Descending into the Mortal World is not merely a feeling. It is a stage that every cultivator of the Twelvefold Stages of Longevity must inevitably experience.”

“When one's qi descends into the mortal world, it becomes entangled with countless karmic threads. According to the accumulated experiences of Great Qian's cultivators, from this stage onward, one becomes increasingly prone to being drawn into the karma and tribulations of others.”

Only after regulating his breathing for a long time did Li Shun gradually adapt to this body that felt as though it had been reborn.

Noticing that Elder Mu seemed to glance in his direction, a thought stirred within Li Shun's mind. He cupped his hands and asked, “Elder Mu, this Imperial Mausoleum's sealed earth is completely isolated from the outside world. Then by common reasoning, if one remained hidden here indefinitely, wouldn't it be possible to avoid the Heaven's Reclaiming Lifespan Tribulation?”

After ten years of rest, Elder Mu appeared to have recovered some of his strength.

He lazily replied, “You brat are quite sharp. That's right. When Mu Wujiu built this mausoleum, he indeed intended to use it as a refuge from calamity. But later...”

“Perhaps he simply became so powerful that he no longer needed this Imperial Mausoleum.”

Elder Mu let out a cold chuckle.

“In the beginning, he attached tremendous importance to this place. He even paid an enormous price to obtain a design map from a Daoist Sage.”

“To construct the ideal tomb he envisioned, heaven knows how much manpower and material wealth were expended.”

“And yet, after all these years, this mausoleum has never welcomed its true master. It has remained empty the entire time...”

The old man suddenly looked toward Li Shun.

“Brat, when you traveled through the sealed earth before, did you notice anything unusual about this world?”

After a moment's thought, Li Shun answered,

“This junior only felt that although time flows much faster within the sealed earth than in the outside world, nothing actually changes. It feels as though the entire world has been completely frozen and fixed at a single moment.”

Elder Mu neither agreed nor disagreed.

“Then do you still remember what happened when you obtained Lu Tinglan's armor?”

Although more than twenty years had passed since then, every detail of that day remained vivid in Li Shun's memory.

He nodded.

“Of course I remember. The moment I stepped into Zhanghua City, the entire city seemed to come alive. Though no people could be seen, I could hear all the sounds from that day as if I had personally returned to that moment. However, such a phenomenon only occurred in Zhanghua City.”

“Have you ever wondered why echoes from thousands of years ago could remain preserved so completely within the Imperial Mausoleum? And why they just happened to help you obtain the Wu Peng Armor so smoothly?”

“Was it only that single day, or...”

Before Elder Mu could finish speaking, he suddenly fell silent.

His tone abruptly changed.

“The rats have finally arrived.”

Without warning, his body swelled once more, transforming back into that towering ancient tree.

This time, however, the few remaining leaves upon its withered branches began to fall frantically.

It was as though autumn had descended in an instant. Amid the killing chill, vitality rapidly faded away. The leaves spiraled through the air, only to dissipate before they even touched the ground.

“Brat, take care of yourself.”

Elder Mu's voice echoed once more within Li Shun's soul.

Yet this time, it carried unmistakable weakness.

A withered branch suddenly shot forward, wrapping tightly around Li Shun before dragging him directly into the trunk.

Darkness engulfed his vision.

Li Shun felt as though he had once again fallen into the secret passage hidden within the ancient tree.

Within the absolute darkness, two faint voices reached his ears.

“Chongguang, move faster!”

“I've temporarily sealed this tree demon's vitality using the Shoushan Copper Seal. Follow closely behind me and enter through its body.”

“This tree demon is the only way in and out of the Imperial Mausoleum's sealed earth!”

Li Shun immediately recognized the second voice.

It belonged to Han Sushu.

The first voice sounded somewhat irritated.

“Sushu, couldn't you have told me sooner? Every time it's the same. You only start rushing when we're already at the critical moment.”

It was none other than Jiang Chongguang.

Han Sushu gave a bitter laugh.

“There are some things that can only be revealed immediately before they happen. If they're disclosed too early, they lose their effectiveness.”

Jiang Chongguang sounded unconvinced.

“How can something be that mysterious?”

Han Sushu did not explain.

Instead, he continued urging him onward.

“The Shoushan Copper Seal can only suppress this old tree demon for three days. We must find the Great Xiang Shaman Soul and safely withdraw within that time.”

“Otherwise, we may be trapped inside forever.”

Understanding the severity of the situation, Jiang Chongguang merely grunted in acknowledgment.

In the darkness, the two men brushed past Li Shun.

Thanks to the many layers of withered branches wrapped around him by Elder Mu, neither noticed Li Shun despite him being only inches away.

Thus, as Jiang Chongguang and Han Sushu infiltrated the Imperial Mausoleum's sealed earth, Li Shun was simultaneously carried out of it.

A sliver of light pierced through the darkness.

When Li Shun finally saw daylight again, he felt as though an entire lifetime had passed.

The world before him suddenly seemed to come alive.

After enduring so many years within the lifeless sealed earth, his senses had become extraordinarily sensitive to every disturbance in the outside world.

The rustling of wind through treetops.

The faint crunch of leaves beneath the paws of wild beasts.

Every sound was magnified hundreds, even thousands of times, like thunder exploding beside his ears.

“Urgh...”

An intense sense of rejection surged through him.

The world spun violently.

Li Shun immediately doubled over and retched.

It wasn't just the sounds.

The vibrant vitality overflowing throughout heaven and earth also stirred waves of nausea deep within his soul.

His physical body seemed to have been assimilated by the eternal stillness of the sealed earth.

Compared to this living world, he felt fundamentally out of place.

Like someone recovering from a grave illness, Li Shun collapsed against the wall of the sealed earth and gasped for breath.

Only after a long while did the discomfort finally ease.

“When trapped within it, I noticed nothing.”

“Yet without realizing it, I was influenced to such an extent.”

Li Shun slowly raised his arms and examined them carefully.

The healthy color that had once filled them had long since vanished.

In its place lingered a sickly yellow hue tinged with decay and death.

Fortunately, now that he had returned to the mortal world, that corpse-like coloration was gradually fading.

“If I had remained in there for another thirty years, even if I managed to leave alive, I probably wouldn't have been able to adapt to the outside world anymore.”

A chill ran through Li Shun's heart.

Struggling to his feet, he looked toward Elder Mu.

The ancient tree appeared completely dead.

Before he could lament its condition, the sealed tree suddenly sprang back to life.

Two figures burst out of the trunk one after the other.

“Run!”

Although Han Sushu's voice remained calm, Li Shun could clearly hear the panic hidden beneath it.

A magnificent neigh resembling a dragon's roar echoed through the forest.

At the same time, an exceptionally divine black horse appeared out of thin air.

Faint crimson flames coiled around its body.

A small protrusion rose from its forehead, as though scales and horns were on the verge of emerging.

The black horse cast a disdainful glance toward Li Shun and snorted.

Then, carrying Jiang Chongguang and Han Sushu upon its back, it transformed into a streak of light that tore across the sky and vanished into the horizon.

In that fleeting instant when light and shadow crossed, Li Shun distinctly heard a cry of extreme astonishment escape Jiang Chongguang's lips.

“How are you here?!”

Unfortunately, before Li Shun could answer, the black horse had already disappeared into the distance with Jiang Chongguang aboard.

“Although only an instant passed in the outside world, three days should have elapsed within the sealed earth.”

“I just wonder whether they actually succeeded in finding the Great Xiang Shaman Soul...”