Chapter 418: The Ninth Level Tomb Opens, You Are My Inheritance

In an instant, a vast surge of power condensed wildly from all directions, transforming in a flash into a massive, illusory palm print that floated in the sky.

The palm print was so immense it seemed to cover this entire star domain. Daoist Master Miaoyin’s body immediately stiffened, and he looked up at the palm print.

The Demon Venerable of the Nine Heavens’ brow furrowed almost imperceptibly, and he likewise stopped.

Beneath the palm print, wisps of black mist appeared out of nowhere, intertwining to form a blurry black silhouette. This was a figure shrouded in a black robe, its appearance indiscernible…

Palace Secret Manifestations and Inheritance Anomalies

The moment Lin Che’s foot stepped into the spatial rift, a roar suddenly echoed in his mind. The ninth map, which had previously always floated deep within his Sea of Consciousness,

now rapidly dimmed as if its mission was complete. The intricate patterns on it vanished at a visible rate, eventually turning into a wisp of green smoke and completely dissipating.

Clearly, this map, which had guided him to this place, no longer served any purpose.

Just as the map disappeared, an ancient and沧桑 voice, as if transcending countless eons, slowly entered Lin Che’s mind.

The voice carried a hint of weariness and a trace of reluctance, each word echoing clearly.

“The Ninth-Rank Tomb opens; you are my inheritor… You may step through the Reincarnation Gate and enter this Dao’s Heavenly Abode… However, the Heavenly Abode is sealed by this Dao’s mortal enemy. Entry requires sufficient cultivation and immense fortuitous encounters…”

The voice paused slightly, as if recalling the past, and its tone grew heavier.

“My life held only one defeat… yet I have no regrets… That Dao Gate cultivator, Zuo Xuan, blocked my retreat. Dao Yi Li Guang shot out my left eye. Within that left eye lies half my life’s memories and my longing for my homeland…”

“Inheritor, if you can become ancient, if you can… if you can…”

The last two sentences grew increasingly vague, as if worn away by the sands of time, eventually dissipating completely into the void.

Lin Che felt a blur before his eyes, and a strong sense of spatial dizziness vanished in an instant. When his vision cleared again, he was already inside a palace so vast it defied imagination.

This palace was like an entire star-filled sky compressed within it; his gaze couldn't reach its end. The ceiling was embedded with countless dazzling crystals,

reflecting resplendent golden light. It exuded an awe-inspiring, boundless majesty, yet also a chilling, bone-deep gloom.

The source of that gloomy aura was directly in front of Lin Che.

Four rows of cultivator corpses, arranged in a line, stretched along the central axis of the palace into the distance, their end out of sight.

Each row contained nearly a thousand cultivators. They stood perfectly upright, black blood congealed in their seven orifices,

their eyes wide open, pupils still holding the ferocity and immense killing intent of their final moments, as if they would break free and pounce at any second.

The attire of these cultivators was extremely peculiar, completely unlike any clothing Lin Che had ever seen before.

The fabric of their clothes was like flowing water, reflecting a soft sheen under the crystal light, and surprisingly, it subtly undulated as if alive.

Lin Che’s heart stirred; he wasn't entirely unfamiliar with such garments.

Previously, when he collected the Indestructible Lightning in the Blazing Thunder Clan, an illusory scene had flashed in his mind. The invaders in that scene, who attacked the Blazing Thunder Clan, wore precisely this strange attire.

Even more bizarrely, a cluster of pale green flames quietly burned above each cultivator's head. The flickering flames emitted no heat, only a faint “crackle,” perfectly illuminating the entire hall in a play of light and shadow.

“Are these human lamps?”

Lin Che stood with one hand behind his back, suspended in mid-air in the great hall, his gaze sweeping over these cultivators. He understood instantly.

These people had long since died. The flames burning now were special candles formed by the fusion of their corpse oil and remnants of their primordial spirits, refined by secret arts to become lamps illuminating the palace.

Gazing at this chilling spectacle, the eerie atmosphere within the hall grew even thicker.

Lin Che suppressed the shock in his heart and followed the four rows of corpses forward. In the distant front, a towering stone platform reached into the clouds.

The stone platform was crafted from dark gold rock, its surface covered with ancient runes. A faint energy fluctuation lingered among the runes, clearly containing unknown mysteries.

At the very top of the stone platform, a massive chair was placed.

The chair was cast from an unknown black metal, its armrests carved into ferocious beast heads, and its back inlaid with dozens of fist-sized, multicolored gems that still emitted dazzling light despite enduring countless eons.

However, in front of the chair, the stone platform, from its base to beneath the chair, was abruptly split by a huge chasm. The edges of the chasm were remarkably smooth, retaining a terrifying sharpness that had not yet dissipated.

It was as if, in the distant past, someone wielding a divine weapon had arrived with a sword or an arrow, piercing through the void, ignoring all obstacles, and aiming directly at the entity on the chair, leaving this eternal mark on the stone platform.

At this moment, the majestic chair was empty, with only an oval-shaped light cluster suspended directly in front of it.

The light cluster emitted a soft, white glow, without any energy fluctuations leaking out, yet it exuded an aura that calmed the mind, forming a stark contrast with the gloomy atmosphere inside the hall.

Lin Che’s gaze continued to move, and he discovered that in the very center of the four rows of cultivator corpses, there also stood a giant bronze cauldron, approximately several hundred zhang tall.

The cauldron's body was inscribed with patterns of mountains, rivers, birds, and beasts, the lines as clear as new. From its mouth, a wisp of burning incense slowly rose.

The incense smoke condensed into a slender white ribbon, floating straight upwards, eventually merging into the crystals on the palace ceiling and disappearing.

Lin Che was silent for a moment, his spiritual energy subtly circulating within him as he slowly ascended.

As his altitude continuously increased, his vision gradually widened. He gradually overlooked the massive stone platform ahead and saw a portion of this palace’s landscape.

Behind the stone platform, there was another giant cauldron, identical to the one in the middle, and around this giant cauldron were also four rows of cultivator corpses.

They, too, maintained their ferocious postures, with pale green human lamp flames burning above their heads, echoing the corpse formation in front.

Looking further, Lin Che suddenly discovered that there was a giant cauldron in each of the eight directions—front, back, left, and right—around this stone platform.

Each giant cauldron was surrounded by several rows of cultivator corpses, and countless pale green flames intertwined, illuminating the entire stone platform area like a ghost domain.

“What kind of battlefield is this…”

Lin Che’s mind was shaken. Gazing at the scene before him, it was a long time before he took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the turmoil in his heart.

At this moment, Lin Che knew clearly that what he was seeing was merely the tip of the iceberg of this boundless hall.

Lin Che’s eyes narrowed, and he abruptly waved his right hand forward. His spiritual energy surged out, transforming into a fierce gust of wind that swept through the entire hall.