Spirit Vessel

The underground palace has been frozen for ten thousand years with a beauty inside. Her body didn't decay and her flesh had a vibrant shade. One could still see each of her eyebrows.

A period of ten thousand years was truly long - more than enough to grind away any regular cultivator, more than ample to destroy an eternal kingdom, more than sufficient for an ocean to turn into a mulberry field, more than plenty for generations of heroes to appear.

These years accumulated on the river of time flowing towards the unknown.

Even an Enlightened Being at the Nirvana realm couldn't live more than ten thousand years. In fact, many experts at the Heaven's Ascension realm couldn't do so either. They eventually failed to withstand the test of time and returned to the earth.

Alas, this woman still looked like a goddess, seemingly able to open her eyes and break through the ice to get out at a moment's notice.

Unfortunately, life in her had ended long ago back during her own generation. The perfect condition of her corpse was because the ice here was colder than the ice essences outside.

Feiyun wielding the three evil Buddhist treasures glanced at the woman for a split second before issuing a long roar.

The three treasures attacked the ice layer above the woman's head at the same time, resulting in a deafening explosion.

The tough ice layer here was thicker than five meters. These treasures failed to break through.

"Die! Die! Die!" Terrible screams came from Feiyun. If one were attentive enough, they would notice that the screams came from his spine, not his mouth.

These three were all fifth-ranked spirit treasures with enough power to annihilate an entire domain. The continuous onslaught finally left a crack in the ice layer. As the assault continued, this crack became increasingly larger.

Feiyun's eyes seemed to be burning with a divine flame as he glares at the woman. He issued a chilling command and the waves of attack intensified.

His forty divine intents have been pushed to a corner by a plume of black energy. It took over Feiyun's body while carrying great bloodthirst and desire.

'There is really a soul hidden in the spine, it took over me now.' Feiyun could see, hear, and even feel everything. The only thing he couldn't do was control his own body.

Plenty of nerves gathered at the spine so one could control the four limbs, the integument, and internal organs. Feiyun's spine was being controlled by Yama's spine right now, so there was nothing he could do. Moreover, a black plume of energy was beginning to invade his brain.

'Why did it wake up? And so irritable too. And why do those three Buddhist treasures obey Yama as if he was their master?' Feiyun thought of a possibility.

'Could it be that Yama was the one who ended the golden age of Buddhism? Then his blood would be on those weapons. The strand of soul hidden in the spine felt the presence of the weapons that have pierced through him before and woke up?

This thought frightened Feiyun but it was the most plausible explanation.

However, there were some holes. For example, Yama's corpse was taken out from a Heaven's Ascension tomb in Grand Southern by the ancestors of Violetsea Corpse Cave. On the other hand, these weapons were located in Endless Land. These two locations were extremely far apart.

Moreover, who was this woman? Yama was hellbent on killing her. It seemed that great animosity existed between these two.

"Die!" Yama continued to use Feiyun's body to control the three treasures.

The explosions were louder than mountains collapsing. The entire spatial area was shaking.

Feiyun carefully looked at the woman. Yes, she had no life force left but still had auspicious clouds around her. There was clearly a divine tree growing in there.

Feiyun had seen the tree inside Luo Yu'er before. It was identical to this one.

"So she's the goddess from the previous generation?" He recalled the old tablet carved by the previous goddess depicting the disaster long ago.

If the woman trapped in ice was indeed a witchcraft goddess, all of this would be explained.

She must have been a supreme cultivator who fought alongside the three monks against Yama. That battle must have been incredible but ended with the decline of Buddhism. Virtually all Buddhist sects were destroyed. These four eventually fell too.

The tree inside her was still alive, teetering on the edge. Because of this, Luo Yu'er couldn't wake up her own tree since two divine witchcraft trees wouldn't appear in the same generation.

Feiyun felt as if he has understood nearly everything outside of a few things. For example, why Yama was dug out from the grave of a Heaven's Ascension cultivator while this goddess was buried in Endless Land.

***

A recent development has shocked the world.

"An ice palace has flown out from the Heaven's Ascension tomb. It's floating right now and looks so bright, freezing the air in a radius of several thousand miles. One-third of Grand Southern is affected by this cold wave so snowstorms are everywhere there."

"Damn, that's more than the last time it came out six years ago."

The ice palace has shown itself previously and floated for two years. It only brought down a snowstorm in one county but now, the scale was much more impressive.

The disciples, treasure masters, and experts from Wanxiang Pagoda went to train there. Alas, Feiyun's cultivation was too low back then and didn't participate.

The ice palace returned to the ground later so numerous masters wanted to dig up the area. Alas, they couldn't catch a single glimpse of it.

The second coming of the palace naturally attracted these masters again. Everyone immediately ran for Grand Southern Prefecture.

"I heard massive explosions coming from inside, loud enough to be audible from thousands of miles away."

"Its appearance is not normal this time. There might be two terrible existences fighting inside."

People thought that there would be wondrous treasures inside. Just any random one would be exceptional. However, Grand Southern belonged to the Evil Woman now and her army of corpses.

This lifeless land made people hesitate. The Evil Woman had massacred 300 million troops from the dynasty before along with three Heavenly Marquises. The dynasty no longer dared to take action.

Who knows how strong she is now? Entering her territory might result in a swift death.

Of course, some were still courageous enough to sneak in.

***

The Vajra, Bell of Nature, and Magnificent Buddhist Drum once threatened the evil of this world. Alas, they have turned evil after being stained with Yama's blood. Evil affinity has overwhelmed their Buddhist affinity.

One blow from them could annihilate an area of a thousand miles instantly.

Feiyun was tough physically but from being the same as an Enlightened Being so he suffered backlashes from using the three treasures. He had wounds all over with blood dripping out.

'Shit, I need to regain control right now or the three treasures' power will be the end of me.'

Even if his body collapsed, Yama's spine would just leave and fly away.

What about Feiyun then? He would need to cultivate his soul and become a specter by that point?

This situation resembled a child trying to use a saber weighing several hundred pounds. The child could handle a tiny dagger, not the former. It would crush him to death.

Yama's power was the thing controlling the treasures but Feiyun's body was the vessel suffering the pressure.

'This strand of soul is so strong, enough to suppress my forty divine intents. That's the thirteenth failed attempt to take back control.' Feiyun's intents were forced into a corner, unable to move.

Feiyun also saw something resembling a crimson jewel or a fireball floating inside his mind with a terrifying aura. This thing was the phoenix soul.

However, he didn't dare to use it right now since it belonged to a ninth-level Heaven's Ascension expert. He could only borrow one strand from it at best. Using the entire thing would result in an implosion.