This coffin had once been a poisonous tumor in the Tomb of the Hallowed Emperor—the biggest tumor, rather. Instead of placing it there to lure others into his schemes, however, Yun Zhongzi had set it up to counter the tomb.

The Tomb of the Hallowed Emperor was meant to manifest that of the emperor of the original Hongmeng and entice the Imperial Seal to reveal itself in the Broken Primeval Plane. Yun Zhongzi himself knew that once the tomb began to shift into the one for the original emperor, everything within would break free of his control.

He didn’t know if that would be good or bad. Thus, he’d left the coffin at the most important site of the tomb—its entrance—for the...