"Be careful, Your Majesty! Don't get too close," Lucy Luan said worriedly.
The Celestial Emperor stood about a meter from the well's edge, tiptoeing to peer inside.
Apparently unable to see anything, he floated up to look from above.
But from above, the coffin blocked his view again, so he landed back on the ground, edging carefully closer to the well mouth.
"Don't get too close!" Lucy called out, still uneasy.
The Celestial Emperor waved her off to show he was fine, then paused about thirty or forty centimeters from the well, craning his neck to look inside.
Lucy, still anxious, walked a few steps closer and tiptoed to peer in. From her angle, all she could see was a wash of white light—nothing else.
But then she noticed the coffin beginning to descend.
"Your Majesty, the coffin is lowering—it's about to close!" Lucy said.
But the Celestial Emperor stood frozen, as if turned to stone.
"Step back a little," Lucy urged again. "Otherwise, if the coffin drops, it could hit you."
He still didn't move.
Lucy finally went over and reached out with both hands, trying to pull him back.
But just then, an irresistible force erupted from the well, dragging both the Celestial Emperor and her inside.
The Celestial Emperor was pulled straight down.
Lucy tumbled in after him, headfirst.
At that moment, he seemed to snap out of it and shouted, "Let her go back!"
He struck Lucy's shoulder with his palm.
A surge of immense power hit her.
She was blasted out of the well and landed on the ground.
At the same time, the coffin quietly closed, as if it had never opened at all.
What just happened?
Where was the Celestial Emperor?
The Celestial Emperor had fallen in...
Lucy hauled herself up by the well's edge, frantically pushing at the coffin, but it didn’t budge.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!" She pounded the coffin and the well’s rim. "Can you hear me? Your Majesty!"
No response at all.
Her mind went blank for a moment before she could think, then she hurriedly contacted Sean Shaw.
Sean carried some Otherworldly Power—maybe he could force the coffin open and rescue the Celestial Emperor.
A whole crowd arrived in no time.
Everyone from Peach Blossom Haven had arrived.
After hearing Lucy's account, Sean Shaw threw himself against the coffin, but his Otherworldly Power clearly wasn't strong enough.
"The Fish! Use your Fish!" Lucy transmitted to him.
Sean spoke to the Fish using Divine Sense.
The Fish told him the Spatial Tide had already passed; even if they opened the coffin, the Celestial Emperor was long gone.
Besides, it couldn’t open it anyway.
"Isn't there nothing you can't do in this world?" Sean protested. "This coffin needs Spatial Power to open—that's your specialty! How come you can't do it?"
"Don't act like you know everything," the Fish retorted. "If I could open it, I’d do it for you and chalk up another task."
"You really can't open it?" Sean asked, voice full of helplessness, eyes reddening.
Seeing this, the Fish sighed. "Listen, I'll be honest: external realms have different grades. My Spatial Power is a bit low-level—I can't crack this one."
Sean said, "Then do you know where the Spatial Tide took my father?"
"Congratulations, he's gone to reunite with your mother," the Fish said. "He probably won't ever come back."
Sean snapped, "If you keep joking around, I'll tear you to shreds."