Just as Meng Fan was about to leave the grand hall for good and meet up with Li Xuerou, he glanced back inadvertently and his gaze suddenly caught a mural in the corner of the hall.
This mural seemed no different from the others, but Meng Fan happened to notice a protrusion on it.
Feeling that there was something odd about the mural, he returned to the center of the hall and stood before it.
After studying the mural closely for a while, Meng Fan couldn't make heads or tails of it.
He tentatively extended a finger and pressed it against the protrusion.
One breath.
Two breaths.
***
After seven breaths, the ground of the grand hall trembled.
A staircase leading underground appeared not far from where Meng Fan stood.
"There really is a secret mechanism!" A hint of surprise flashed across Meng Fan's face.
After a moment's thought, he headed straight down the stairs.
In such a situation, it was hard to control one's curiosity; he was bound to go down and take a look.
Meng Fan took out a Night Pearl and held it in his hand for illumination.
The staircase leading underground indicated there must be a special space below, and it was likely man-made.
Meng Fan was curious about what kind of "good stuff" might be hidden in such an underground space.
***
Moments later, Meng Fan reached the end of the staircase.
With the light from the Night Pearl, he could see the space below clearly.
It was a vast square, even larger than the one outside the grand hall above.
Though the square was large, it was extremely empty with very few items.
To be precise, there was only one thing.
Coffins!
But there were a total of eight coffins.
Seven of them were arranged in the pattern of the Big Dipper, encircling the most unique coffin.
Seeing these coffins, Meng Fan's brow furrowed, and his eyes narrowed into slits.
If they were boxes, he would have been ecstatic, for boxes surely contained treasures.
But coffins…
That was a bit more mysterious.
Indeed, many coffins also contained precious burial items.
However, coffins were often associated with words like "supernatural" and "ominous."
Facing such things, Meng Fan instinctively felt a sense of dread.
Even knowing there might be treasures inside, he would hesitate to open the coffin.
Moreover, he didn't even know if there were treasures inside the coffins.
After all, coffins could contain not just treasures but also ghosts and specters.
Having slain many demons, Meng Fan no longer held any reverence for monsters.
But ghosts and the like, such as zombies, truly made him anxious.
Meng Fan approached the first coffin near the staircase and examined it closely.
He tapped on the coffin with the scabbard of the Hong Qi Sword.
The sound was dull, with a faint echo.
To open the coffin or not?
Such hesitation was meaningless.
Opening the coffin was inevitable.
After all… he had come this far.
No matter how long he hesitated, he would ultimately choose to open it.
No one could resist such curiosity and temptation.
In the end, Meng Fan chose to open the coffin.
Leaving a treasure mountain empty-handed was something he could not do!
Even if opening the coffin revealed a reanimated corpse, so what?
A disciple of the Shu Mountain Sword Sect, adept at slaying demons and exterminating evil, would not fear a mere corpse.
Even if the corpse turned into a zombie, Meng Fan believed he could… run away.
The legendary zombies were impervious to weapons, with invincible flesh.
But in the Demon Realm, their cultivation levels were sealed, making it difficult to unleash their full strength.
In such a situation, relying solely on sword techniques, he indeed feared encountering such tough zombies.
Of course, Meng Fan had never seen a zombie, nor had he found any records of zombies in the Scripture Pavilion.
These were all scenarios in his imagination.
In fact, even if zombies truly existed in this world, they might not be like the ones he imagined…
Meng Fan mustered his courage and placed his hand on the lid of the coffin in front of him.
He pushed hard.
No response.
It wouldn't budge!
With a body nearing the fourth level of the Supreme Dominance Body, even a thick iron coffin lid should have been easy to move.
But the lid before him remained immovable.
Just as he was about to exert more force and try to push the lid open by force…
A terrifying presence appeared out of nowhere.
A fear unlike any other suddenly surged in Meng Fan's heart, causing his soul to tremble in terror!
Even the Primordial Dao he had comprehended seemed to quiver.
It was too terrifying.
There was something immensely horrifying here!
Meng Fan immediately lost all desire to open the coffin and quickly used the Willow Fluff on the Wind movement technique to leave the underground space.
He felt as if he had touched something he shouldn't have.
There was great terror within these eight coffins!
If he had truly opened one, death was certain, inevitable, with no other possibility.
For even the Demon Locking Tower of the Shu Mountain Sword Sect had never instilled such terror in him.
The waters of this Demon Realm were deeper than he had imagined, much deeper than what the three great sword sects had anticipated!
Meng Fan rushed up the stairs and returned to the ground floor of the grand hall.
Then he pressed the protrusion on the mural again, restoring everything to its original state.
The coffins underground were undoubtedly mysterious, but he had completely lost the desire to explore further.
Often, curiosity is normal.
But curiosity that clearly exceeds one's abilities is seeking death.
In this regard, Meng Fan was quite prudent; he did not like courting death!
"That demoness might have known something, too bad she's been blasted to bits," Meng Fan said with a wry smile, shaking his head.
He felt no regret; given another chance, he would still obliterate the demoness without hesitation.
Because he didn't even have the ability to capture the demoness alive, let alone force information out of her.
One must always prioritize absolute safety!
Meng Fan couldn't wait to leave the grand hall, unwilling to get any closer to it.
***
Soon, Meng Fan arrived at the battlefield where the disciples of the Shu Mountain Sword Sect were fighting the demons to the south of the grand hall.
By this time, the demons in the forest had been nearly wiped out.
With the demoness blasted to bits by Meng Fan, it was only a matter of time before the rest of the demons were exterminated.
Meng Fan blended into the crowd and began to help wrap things up.
"Meng Fan, brother, you're back. Did you find anything in the grand hall?" Li Xuerou asked with a sigh of relief upon seeing Meng Fan return.
Although she knew Meng Fan was strong, she couldn't help but worry when he went to the grand hall alone.
Meng Fan smiled and said, "There was only a female fox demon in the grand hall, and I've killed her. Once we clean up these remaining demons, our mission will be pretty much complete."
Proofreader & Editor: Peter Pan