Chapter 465 - 412: You Are Not Allowed to Leave

The four shadowy figures carrying the coffin stopped, and the instant their cold "gazes" swept over—

An indescribable, overpowering sense of dread—like an invisible tide of cold—erupted without warning, flooding the already chaotic void.

This dread was neither killing intent nor oppressive might.

Rather, it was something more fundamental, a mixture of decay, deathly stillness, the forbidden, and the unknown that seemed to touch the very roots of the Dao.

It was formless and without substance, yet it caused every True Monarch present, along with Qi Yun inside the cocoon of light, to feel a cold tremor deep within their Dao Heart.

The source was none other than the Ancient Coffin wreathed in shadows!

At almost the same instant.

A crack silently opened between the lid and the body of the Ancient Coffin—which, until now, had been deathly still, like a mere dead weight.

The crack was hair-thin, yet it seemed to be a gateway to an immeasurable abyss.

HSSS...

A faint, almost inaudible sound drifted from the crack.

Then, a viscous, grotesque, ink-green mist—one that seemed to be the very sediment of countless ages and endless death—began to slowly seep and spread from the crack.

Wherever the mist passed, even the deep shadows that swallowed light seemed to be stained with a sickening color of decay.

The next instant!

A hand slowly reached out from the crack in the coffin, now wreathed in ink-green mist, and rested upon the cold, ancient rim.

It was a hand that could be called perfect. The skin possessed the pallor of the unliving, a bluish-white that nevertheless held a faint, jade-like luster. Its fingers were long and slender, with clearly defined knuckles.

And on those bloodless, pallid fingertips was a touch of startling crimson.

It was an unnatural, jarring red.

It was as if the fingertips had just been dipped in immortal Divine Blood, or perhaps they were the very embodiment of an ultimate Curse and ill omen.

The moment this hand appeared, the ominous aura that had spread earlier suddenly intensified a hundredfold!

It became a tangible wave of terror that crashed violently against the Heart and Spirit of every True Monarch!

’Flee!’

Without any communication, not even a hurried exchange of Divine Thought, the same thought exploded in the minds of the six True Monarchs at once!

It was an ultimate warning, born from their very sensitivity to the Dao.

’Must not be tainted!’

’Must not be touched!’

’Must not be perceived!’

The True Monarch of No Dao Extreme Law reacted fastest.

The million-li Annihilation Black Lotus that spanned the void instantly contracted, transforming into an extremely condensed, dark Escape Light.

The black-robed figure at the lotus’s heart took a step, merging with the Escape Light and tearing through the void to flee!

The Four Great Bodhisattvas acted with even greater unison. Their Dharma Aspects, which had formed a mutually supporting formation, suddenly collapsed inward. Their four brilliant Buddha Lights merged into one, becoming a Twelve-Grade Golden Lotus that enveloped their four miniature Golden Bodies. The golden lotus spun.

A single thought sent it a hundred million li away!

The perpetually calm and gentle face of the Great Sun Purple Extreme True Monarch was now incredibly grave.

Without any hesitation, the cocoon of light enveloping Qi Yun abruptly shrank, transforming into an extremely condensed point of protective light that merged into Qi Yun’s brow.

At the same time, he erupted with Infinite Light.

This radiance wasn’t blinding, but it carried a supreme Dao Rhyme that seemed to ’fix the present moment’ and ’extend protection everywhere.’

He forcibly carved out a channel that was absolutely safe and eternally ’in the present,’ preparing to escape with Qi Yun.

And just as the True Monarchs were about to escape!

The four pallbearing shadow True Monarchs once again stepped forward in unison.

Their steps remained slow and unhurried.

But with every step, the deep shadow beneath their feet spread forward like a tide, covering the path ahead of the six True Monarchs’ Escape Lights with absolute precision.

No matter how the six True Monarchs changed direction or what peerless Escape Technique they used—whether shattering the void, merging with time, or traveling at the speed of thought—

the four pallbearing figures, with just a single step, could catch up in an instant, clinging to them like maggots to bone.

Once again casting their shadow and terror over them!

They tried several times, and were easily caught every time.

The ink-green mist seeping from the Ancient Coffin seemed to grow thicker, and the crimson on the fingertips appeared even more jarring.

The six True Monarchs—beings who usually looked down upon the Profound Yellow realm and whose words were law—thrashed about in the shadow-shrouded void, yet they could not break free.

"Great Sun."

In the midst of this suffocating, almost hopeless chase, Qi Yun, who was being protected by the Great Sun Purple Extreme True Monarch, suddenly spoke.

His voice was calm, even carrying a hint of contemplation.

"Send me to the other side."

His gaze swept over the relentless pursuers—the Ancient Coffin and its pallbearers—who, he noticed, seemed to be maintaining a certain "distance" from the True Monarchs.

"This grotesque Ancient Coffin... its target seems to be locked only on you ’True Monarchs.’"

Hearing this, a light flickered in the Great Sun Purple Extreme True Monarch’s gentle eyes. He instantly understood Qi Yun’s intention.

He didn’t hesitate in the slightest, nor did he have time for questions.

"Be careful!"

With a low cry, the Dao Rhyme of fixed, protective light in the Great Sun Purple Extreme True Monarch’s palm suddenly changed. It transformed into a gentle but firm push that he lightly pressed against Qi Yun’s back.

Qi Yun’s figure instantly transformed into a barely perceptible streak of Flowing Light, shooting off into the void to the side—a direction completely opposite to the six True Monarchs’ escape path and away from the front of the Ancient Coffin!

The process was smoother than imaginable.

The Ancient Coffin, the four pallbearing shadow figures, and even the pallid hand resting on the coffin’s rim showed no reaction whatsoever to the departure of Qi Yun’s wisp of "faint light."

Just as Qi Yun had predicted—the Ancient Coffin and the existence behind it had a clear target. It was only after the "True Monarchs"!

Once he left the core area shrouded in shadow and terror, the heart-pounding sense of dread and the feeling of stagnant space diminished greatly.

Qi Yun stabilized himself, hovering in the relatively "safe" void far away. A faint light flashed on his brow as he cautiously activated a sliver of the [Six Realms Heaven]’s profound power to remotely lock onto and sense the battlefield.

He didn’t flee immediately. Instead, his eyes narrowed, his gaze like lightning, as he closely followed the horrifying scene of ’True Monarchs carrying a coffin, chasing down great powers.’

In the vast, chaotic void, six Escape Lights of different colors and immense auras were frantically changing directions at unimaginable speeds, trying to break free.

Behind them, the four shadowy figures carrying the Ancient Coffin moved unhurriedly. With each step, their shadow clung to the escapees, always covering the path ahead, maintaining a despair-inducing "pursuit."

The chase continued, the shadow-shrouded area constantly moving through the chaos.

However, Qi Yun’s brow furrowed ever tighter.

’Something’s wrong.’

’With the terrifying power the Ancient Coffin has displayed—easily twisting space and rendering six True Monarchs helpless—if it truly wanted to kill them, it wouldn’t just be ’chasing’ them like this.’

’The owner of the hand in the coffin feels unfathomable to me. Their level is likely far beyond that of a True Monarch.’

’If they were to attack with their full strength, I’m afraid...’

"It... It doesn’t seem like it actually wants to kill or capture them."

Qi Yun’s thoughts raced, and a sharp light flashed in his eyes.

"It’s more like... it’s herding them!"

Once this idea took root, many details became clear.

’The Ancient Coffin always keeps its distance, unhurried, only chasing and never killing.’

’The shadow covers and distorts space, seemingly blocking their path, but it always leaves a ’crack’ for them to escape through, forcing the True Monarchs to change their route toward a certain general direction...’

’And that direction is...’

Qi Yun’s gaze suddenly focused. He looked into the depths of the chaos, toward the source of the faint, familiar, and vast worldly fluctuations—the Profound Yellow Origin Realm!

He no longer hesitated. Keeping a great distance, he relied on the concealing and sensing abilities of the [Six Realms Heaven] to cautiously follow the grotesque and terrifying chase.

In the tense pursuit, time seemed to lose all meaning.

Finally, after being forced to change direction by the shadow once more, the six True Monarchs’ Escape Lights all plunged into an invisible border, from which the familiar and resonant Heaven and Earth Laws could be faintly felt.

The void domain where the Profound Yellow Origin Realm was located!

The instant the six Escape Lights fully entered this domain—

A sudden change occurred!

The four pallbearing shadow figures that had been clinging to them like their own shadows, as if they would never stop until their goal was met, and the Ancient Coffin that exuded endless dread and terror,

abruptly... stopped!

They stopped just outside the border of that domain.

The shadows roiled, and the Ancient Coffin fell silent.

The ink-green mist seeping from the crack in the lid also seemed to freeze for a moment.

The pallid, slender hand with crimson fingertips resting on the coffin’s rim paused slightly, and then, slowly, very slowly... it withdrew.

It disappeared into the mist that filled the coffin.

A muffled sound, so faint it was almost nonexistent, seemed to come from another dimension.

The crack that had opened sealed itself shut perfectly.

The four shadow figures stood silently in the chaos outside the border, "gazing" toward the Profound Yellow domain for a moment.

Then, within Qi Yun’s remote senses, empowered by the [Six Realms Heaven],

the four figures, along with the Ancient Coffin and the deep, heavy shadow, began to slowly fade, growing transparent as if melting into the chaos itself.

In the space of a few breaths, they vanished completely without a trace, as if they had never been there at all.

Only a lingering, gossamer trace of the ultimate dread and the Dao Rhyme of deathly stillness still drifted in the chaos beyond the border, proving that everything that had just happened was not an illusion.

In the distance, Qi Yun watched this scene unfold. Deep within his pupils, a sharp light flared like a flame ignited on a field of ice.

At this moment, his suspicions were confirmed in an almost cruel fashion.

"As I thought..."

"It wasn’t a hunt... it was herding them back."

"There is some kind of power, or rather, a will..."

Qi Yun’s gaze became incredibly profound. He looked toward the domain of the Profound Yellow Origin Realm, which appeared calm but seethed with undercurrents, then glanced back into the chaotic depths where the Ancient Coffin had vanished.

"...that is restricting the True Monarchs... from leaving the Profound Yellow Origin Realm!"

...