Han Yuelin stood frozen before the coffin, her gaze locked on the ancient chains of lightning that bound the Thunder Lord's final secret. Her expression, usually unreadable, had shifted-something darker lurked beneath her eyes now. Hunger. Curiosity. Destiny.
Shadow stood in silence, ten feet away, watching her with wariness.
Yuelin turned to him slowly. "Speak."
So he did.
He told her everything. From the remnant's voice to the sealed corpse. From the Thunder Lord's warnings to the aura of heaven's curse that surrounded the timeless body.
"I believe this body carries one of the Ten Supreme Physiques," Shadow concluded. "But what type? Even the Thunder Lord didn't know."
Yuelin nodded slowly, her gaze returning to the sealed coffin. Her voice was soft but strange-distant.
"Something inside me... wants it. Craves it. It's like it's calling me."
Shadow frowned. "Yuelin-this corpse is cursed. The Thunder Lord himself was struck down when he tried to inspect it. This thing could destroy your path permanently."
She shook her head.
"I could care less," she said, her tone brittle with defiance. "I'm already dead. My original dantian was shattered. My fate was sealed in that tomb. This is my final chance."
Shadow wanted to argue, to stop her-but he could see it in her eyes.
There was no changing her mind.
Without another word, Han Yuelin stepped forward.
She raised her hand.
And touched the coffin.
Nothing happened.
No curse. No backlash. No divine punishment.
The lightning seals dimmed, flickering gently like fireflies in the rain.
Then, with a slow creak, the coffin lid slid open.
Shadow felt it instantly-the shift in pressure, the hum of ancestral power that radiated from the corpse within. It was young in appearance-no older than twenty-but the body emitted a force unlike anything he'd ever known.
Yuelin's body shuddered.
Her own aura surged, the Nine Heaven Devouring Physique reacting violently. Dark mist coiled around her like serpents. Her veins pulsed visibly through her skin, each one glowing faintly with strange, shimmering patterns.
She glanced over her shoulder.
"Protect me," she said simply. "If I die... bury me. That's all I ask."
Then she reached inside the coffin.
Her hand pressed against the chest of the Supreme Physique.
And the world changed.
---
A scream tore from her throat as the devouring began.
The formation below them roared to life, thunder sigils spinning wildly to contain the outburst. Energy poured out of the corpse like a river of starlight, colliding with Yuelin's body like a crashing sea.
Her knees buckled. Blood leaked from her eyes, nose, and ears.
Shadow rushed to reinforce the boundary seals. He strengthened the lightning chains and flooded the floor with Qi, keeping the ancient power contained.
Yuelin arched backward, hair whipping around her like a cyclone. Her eyes glowed with radiant frost and void-light. Cracks formed along her arms-fractures of energy, not flesh-as her physique strained to contain the endless torrent.
> "GRAAAAHHHHH!!"
Her screams grew hoarse. Her body convulsed as her meridians expanded, tore, and reknit in the span of seconds. Her very soul vibrated with pain. This was not absorption-it was annihilation and rebirth clashing within her.
She vomited blood. Her fingernails split. Her bones creaked and popped.
Sometimes, her skin glowed like gold.
Other times, it looked like it might shatter into glass.
Shadow poured more of his own energy into the barrier. His teeth clenched. His limbs trembled. He had never seen someone willingly endure this level of torment.
Each second stretched into eternity.
And still she endured.
---
One day passed.
Then two.
Then five.
Yuelin's screams turned to whispers. To growls. To silence. Her body was wrapped in a cocoon of swirling mist and lightning, and the coffin's corpse continued to decay.
By the end of the **first week**, its limbs had blackened and shriveled. By the **ninth day**, it was barely a husk.
Yuelin's body, however, had become something else entirely.
Runes now moved beneath her skin. They danced in beautiful, terrifying rhythm-thunder script and devouring glyphs pulsing in harmony. Her presence was still human... but touched by something ancient and eternal.
Her aura surged with every heartbeat. The Nine Heaven Devouring Physique was absorbing not just power, but memory. Lineage. Destiny.
And then came the **final night**.
Shadow sat in lotus position, eyes fixed on her form. He was pale from exhaustion. His Qi had been depleted and replenished dozens of times.
Suddenly, a crackling sound filled the air.
The corpse disintegrated into golden dust.
The coffin shattered.
The lightning sigils flared, then faded.
Silence.
Floating above the ruined platform was Han Yuelin.
Her robes were burned and torn, her skin glowing faintly with silver lines. And then-
She opened her eyes.
They were no longer violet.
They were **golden**, glowing like divine fire, like the sun reborn in human form.
And as she breathed, the air around her seemed to bend in submission.
---