Dragon head, lion body, deer antlers, fish scales, goat beard, eagle claws, ox eyes, horse hooves, and a dragon tail.
Cheng Xinzhan was certain he wasn’t mistaken—this was a qilin.
This qilin had a green face and green scales, but its antlers, beard, fur, mane, and fins were a dazzling golden color.
The contrast between the green and gold was striking.
But what caught Cheng Xinzhan’s attention more than the qilin’s fur and scales were the countless scars covering its body.
Some scars had torn through its scales and fur, while others were so deep that the bones beneath were visible.
Many wounds pierced through its massive, mountain-like body.
Yet, beneath these wounds, not a single drop of blood could be seen.
Instead, there was golden flesh and jade-like bones.
Looking at the qilin’s belly and nostrils, there was no sign of breathing.
Combined with the wounds, it seemed as though the qilin had been dead for many years.
But the overwhelming aura of dominance, pride, and unyielding spirit emanating from its massive corpse, majestic scales, and numerous scars left a deep impression on Cheng Xinzhan’s mind.
He steadied his shock and slowly stepped back.
When he turned around, he noticed everyone was staring at him.
The look in their eyes conveyed the same question:
“Can you see it?”
Cheng Xinzhan nodded.
“Qilin.”
He silently mouthed the word.
Everyone read his lips, and their expressions turned complex.
“Has someone from the Zhu family finally arrived?”
At that moment, a deep, resonant voice echoed through the air.
Everyone’s expressions changed, and Cheng Xinzhan was even more shocked.
A qilin in such a state—was it still alive?
“Why are you hiding so far away? If you have the guts to come, don’t you have the guts to face me?”
The voice spoke again.
Zhu Jianmo’s round face turned pale.
From the sound of it, could their ancestors have harmed the qilin? Could they have caused it such injuries?
“Still not coming forward? Has the Zhu family lost its courage? Or have you all gone mute?”
The voice grew increasingly impatient.
Zhu Jianmo was on the verge of tears but still managed to shuffle forward.
When he reached the end of the passage, he peeked out and tremblingly replied, “Descendant of the Zhu family, paying respects to the senior.”
“Why are you closing your eyes?”
The qilin asked.
Zhu Jianmo thought to himself that even in its near-death state, the qilin’s eyes were still sharp.
He slowly opened his eyes.
“Huh?”
He let out a surprised sound.
The terrifying qilin corpse was gone.
Beneath the fiery net stood a man, suspended in mid-air.
A man clad in green scales, with golden hair, exuding an imposing aura.
“Fat and round, truly a descendant of the Zhu family. And the other one? Why is he hiding behind?”
Zhu Jianmo was puzzled.
Although he had guessed something, he pretended not to understand.
“Senior, I am the only one here with the surname Zhu. The others are my fellow disciples, not from the Zhu family.”
The man sneered, “That person may not have a physical body, but his essence, energy, and spirit are one. Bloodline isn’t just flesh and blood. He used a soul-returning technique, thinking I wouldn’t notice? I’m not that blind.”
Everyone was even more shocked.
Sun Miaoshu and Xu Jishen even started looking around for a hidden seventh person.
Cheng Xinzhan whispered, “No need to look. It’s me. I’ll explain the body situation later.”
He walked to the edge of the passage and, like Zhu Jianmo, was stunned.
The qilin corpse was gone, replaced by a man.
“Senior, I don’t know my origins and didn’t mean to hide anything. The surname Zhu is now a royal surname, and after centuries of peace, the royal bloodline has spread far and wide. I only learned today that I might have some Zhu blood.”
The man stared at him silently for a moment, then suddenly laughed. “Do you think just any bloodline can see me? You look exactly like his eldest son. How could you have a diluted bloodline? At the very least, you’re more legitimate than this little fatty.”
Cheng Xinzhan and Zhu Jianmo exchanged glances.
The latter asked, “Senior, who is this ‘he’ you’re referring to?”
“Who else? Zhu Chongba. Though he later took a grander name, I’ve forgotten what it was.”
Cheng Xinzhan felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
Zhu Jianmo stared at Cheng Xinzhan in shock, his mouth wide enough to fit a fist.
“The eldest son of the Founding Emperor… Xinzhan, you… you’re a descendant of Crown Prince Yiwen!”
There were more things Zhu Jianmo didn’t say, but all the disciples present knew.
The first crown prince of the Ming Dynasty had died young from illness.
Among his descendants, only Emperor Jianwen and Prince Wu had heirs.
But these descendants either disappeared with Emperor Jianwen or lived under the watchful eyes of the Yongle lineage.
It was unclear which line Cheng Xinzhan belonged to…
Cheng Xinzhan’s breathing, which had been steady since he began cultivating, became unusually rapid.
But after a few moments, it calmed down again.
He said, “I am an orphan, raised by adoptive parents. My surname is Cheng. The only connection I have to the Zhu family is that my mother’s surname was Zhu. Beyond that, it has nothing to do with me.”
The golden-haired man’s gaze shifted between Zhu Jianmo and Cheng Xinzhan.
He didn’t press the matter further and instead said, “Both of you have cultivation. Come down. I don’t like looking up when I talk.”
Cheng Xinzhan and Zhu Jianmo exchanged glances.
Cheng Xinzhan asked, “Senior, the Zhu family’s dragon vein has been tainted with death energy and is withering. Was that your doing?”
The man impatiently replied, “Yes. Come down and talk. As long as you don’t cross this net, I can’t do anything to you. If Zhu Chongba could do what he did, didn’t he tell his descendants?”
The two exchanged another look.
A being of such power likely wouldn’t deceive them.
If he wanted to harm them, and if the fiery net was ineffective, he would have acted already.
So, they summoned clouds and descended into the cavern, stopping above the fiery net.
The man floated up slightly, and the red net above him bulged with his movement until his eyes were level with Cheng Xinzhan and Zhu Jianmo.
Cheng Xinzhan could now see the man more clearly.
His face was sharply defined, as if carved by a knife, exuding a heroic aura.
“How many years has it been since Zhu Chongba founded the dynasty?”
The man asked.
“Four hundred and forty years.”
Zhu Jianmo answered.
“It’s been that long. You both have cultivation, so you’re not ordinary mortals. How did you find this place?”
Cheng Xinzhan replied, “We are disciples of Mount Sanqing. We noticed that the spring thunder in this area has decreased over the past decade, suspecting an accumulation of yin energy in the earth’s veins. Fearing some disaster, we followed the veins and found a nearly dead dragon vein. Tracing it led us here, to the source beneath the imperial tomb.”
“Mount Sanqing?”
The man seemed surprised. “The lineage of Immortal Ge?”
Hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
If he recognized it, that was good!
Zhu Jianmo nodded. “Yes, Immortal Ge is the founding patriarch of Mount Sanqing. Have you heard of him, senior?”
The man nodded. “Back then, I discussed the path to the Golden Immortal with Immortal Ge. Many of his insights were enlightening.”
Everyone was shocked again!
They had thought the man had only heard of Immortal Ge, but it turned out he was from the same era—six thousand years ago!
“I thought the Zhu family’s dragon vein was withering, and their descendants had come to investigate. I didn’t expect you to stumble in by accident.”
Hearing this, Zhu Jianmo couldn’t help but ask, “Senior, what exactly is the grudge between you and the Zhu family?”
Cheng Xinzhan was also curious.
A qilin, hidden beneath the Zhu family’s imperial tomb, seemingly sealed—it was too bizarre.
No matter how wise and powerful Emperor Hongwu was, he was still a mortal.
How could he have done this?
This qilin was clearly not an easy opponent.
Even sealed, it could manipulate the dragon vein.
The man looked at Cheng Xinzhan and Zhu Jianmo and said, “Since you’re his descendants and have inherited Immortal Ge’s lineage, I suppose it’s fate. I’ll tell you the story, so you know what kind of scoundrel your ancestor was.”
Cheng Xinzhan and Zhu Jianmo didn’t dare to speak.
“I am known as Jin Mingzi, of the Golden Qilin clan. I attained enlightenment during the Jin Dynasty but never grasped the essence of the Golden Immortal. Stuck in the mortal world, I eventually ascended to the Heavenly Realm during the Tang Dynasty, continuing my pursuit of the Golden Immortal path. However, I made enemies in the Heavenly Realm and was hunted down by nineteen Heavenly Immortals. I died and fell back to the mortal world.”
Seeing the stunned expressions on their faces, Jin Mingzi smiled and continued, “Perhaps it was fate. My corpse fell into the Flaming Mountains in the northwest. The earth’s fire refined my remains into a golden corpse, and my lingering resentment, which even the earth’s fire couldn’t burn away, allowed me to walk the path of the undead. After seven hundred years of cultivation in the Flaming Mountains, I became a Corpse Immortal and remembered the events leading to my death.”
Everyone unconsciously held their breath.
An immortal in life, a corpse immortal in death—he had achieved immortality twice?
“The hatred of being killed and having my path destroyed cannot be forgotten, even across lifetimes. The memories of my death were clearer than those of my life. I thought over and over about the origins of those nineteen people, but the more I thought, the more complicated it seemed. However, my cultivation as a Corpse Immortal in this life was not as strong as in my previous life, so I didn’t rush to ascend. Instead, I stayed in the mortal world to strengthen my cultivation and carefully plan my revenge.”
“I roamed the world, searching for places to nurture my corpse. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, I arrived in Fengyang, intending to nurture my corpse there. While searching for a suitable location, I encountered Zhu Chongba.”
Jin Mingzi paused. “He was a general at the time, returning home in glory to repair his ancestral tomb. We met by chance on the road. He was impressed by my extraordinary aura and wanted to recruit me as a subordinate.”
The man chuckled, as if recalling that day. “I scoffed and was about to leave, but I took a second glance and noticed Zhu Chongba had the aura of a dragon. Fengyang was a land destined to give rise to an emperor, and the dragon vein of Huaixi converged here.
It was clear that Zhu Chongba was the one destined to rise. “I calculated that the Yuan Dynasty’s virtue was aligned with metal, so I made a deal with Zhu Chongba.
I taught him the Iron Skin Dao Soldier technique and the ‘Qilin Devours Metal’ formation.
In return, after he seized the throne, he would build a tomb and formation for me to absorb the Yuan Dynasty’s metal virtue to nurture my corpse.
He agreed.
“I chose this cavern, located at the ‘Dragon Spits Pearl’ position, near the throat of the Zhu family’s dragon vein. He used the excuse of moving his parents’ and siblings’ graves to start construction here. After seizing the throne, he kept his promise and built the Central Capital using the ‘Qilin Devours Metal’ formation on the Zhu family’s dragon vein, gathering the world’s metal energy here.”
So that was the reason!
Everyone now understood why Emperor Hongwu was so determined to build the Central Capital.
“In the eighth year of his reign, I sent him a message to come see me. I told him that the formation was already in place, and whether the capital was built or not wouldn’t affect it.”
Everyone realized this was why, after inspecting the Central Capital in the eighth year of the Hongwu era, Emperor Hongwu immediately ordered construction to stop.
“I also made another deal with him. With the world’s metal energy converging here, I would enter seclusion to heal the old wounds on my corpse. But I was worried my enemies might find me, so I asked him to use the Ming Dynasty’s fortune and royal blood to shield me from heaven’s gaze.
In return, when I awoke, I would do something for the Zhu family within my power. “He agreed again.
I taught him the ‘Blood Lock Net of Heaven,’ which required the royal blood of the Zhu family to activate.
However, his blood alone wasn’t enough.
He needed to return to the palace and gather blood from all his descendants.
I also taught him how to perform the ritual remotely.
A few days later, the blood energy descended here, forming the fiery net that shielded me from heaven’s gaze.
Only descendants of the Zhu family could see this net and my corpse beneath it.
“At that time, I still believed he was a man of his word.”
Jin Mingzi spoke calmly.
“What happened after that?”
“Later, I entered a deep slumber, only to be forcibly awakened ten years ago.”
Jin Mingzi’s voice changed slightly. “I noticed the metal energy entering my body was decreasing. The metal energy that reached the cavern would vanish, and even my own metal energy was being drained.
But I had calculated that the Yuan Dynasty’s metal virtue should have been far greater. Tracing the direction of the disappearing metal energy, I examined the Central Capital’s foundation formation and discovered it had been altered into a formation that devoured metal to strengthen fire. The metal energy had become nourishment for the Zhu family’s dragon vein.
“And when the Zhu family’s dragon vein had absorbed all the metal energy in the cavern, it began to drain the metal energy from my golden corpse, forcing me to awaken.”
“I wanted to go out and investigate, but I found that the ‘Blood Lock Net of Heaven’ had been altered into a sealing net, trapping me.”
Zhu Jianmo was skeptical. “Senior, you’ve achieved immortality twice.
The ‘Blood Lock Net of Heaven’ was a formation you taught.
How could a mortal like our ancestor alter it? Even if he did, how could it suppress you?” Jin Mingzi looked at him and said,“An ordinary ‘Blood Lock Net of Heaven’ wouldn’t hold me.
But this one was personally taught to Zhu Chongba, linked to the royal bloodline, the Central Capital’s formation, and the underground dragon vein.
If I forced my way out, the Zhu family’s bloodline would perish, the Central Capital would collapse, and the earth’s dragon would stir, causing countless deaths.
I didn’t want to sacrifice thousands for my own sake.
“As for why he altered the formation, I don’t know. But you say it’s impossible? I doubt it. Zhu Chongba had a man named Liu Bowen by his side. Though a mortal, he had the ability to read the stars and command spirits.”
Zhu Jianmo fell silent.
He had heard of Liu Bowen’s deeds, such as severing dragon veins.
“So, senior, you released the yin corpse energy?”
Cheng Xinzhan asked.
“Correct.
I fed the Zhu family’s dragon vein with corpse energy. But I didn’t intend to destroy it—I could do that at any time. I only wanted to gradually corrupt the dragon vein.
Since the dragon vein is tied to the Ming Dynasty’s fortune, the royal family would suffer from illness and eventually come to see me. Then, I could get some answers.
“But instead of the emperor, you found me first.”
End of Chapter.
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