Flaming corpsefire blazed on the zombie tree, the gray flames dying this shadowed world a ghastly shade of monochrome.

The zombie tree was so large that it was bigger than even the snake outer-coffin, and there was a human face on it. When Lu Yun saw it, his heart skipped a beat. He was very familiar with this face—it was one he’d almost forgotten.

Qing Hongchen! [1]

Qing Yu’s fifth brother, a son by way of adoption from Patriarch Qing Taxian. The Treasurefall Coin in Lu Yun’s hand had once belonged to the young man.

Back in the Myriad Formation Summit, Qing Hongchen had left that enormous burial mound through a transportation formation without a...