Into the City of the Dead

Liu Mu murmured to himself, “Legend says the Space Spiritist reigns supreme, overwhelming all cultivators of the same level. But there is a precondition: that no cultivator who controls the power of time appears. The law of the Time Spiritist is called the Divine Law. Even a cultivator a full realm higher may not be their match.”

Xiao Chen had only a limited understanding of this world, but from their words he grasped it all: a cultivator who could command the power of time seemed to possess the potential to rule over all.

The monk Yizhen had not seen the final result of the battle between the woman who wielded the Divine Law and the terrifying man shrouded in black mist, for they had moved their battlefield as they fought.

In the dark sky, bolts of lightning like rivers of blood continued to split down, and the rain of blood fell without cease, growing heavier. The ground was already covered in blood past the ankles, the stench overwhelming. Any who witnessed this scene would feel their scalp crawl.

Yizhen looked toward the nearby captive—the peerless beauty Yan Qingcheng, held by Liu Ruyan—and felt a jolt of surprise.

“She is my slave now,” Xiao Chen said unsparingly, dealing a blow to the city-toppling beauty.

“Hmph!” Yan Qingcheng let out a cold snort, but there was nothing she could do. Severely wounded, escape was impossible.

Just then, a disturbance broke out not far away. Beneath the curtain of blood, white bones began to rise from the ground. Their eye sockets were utterly empty.

“Heavens, what is happening?”

“Is the sovereign of the Death Realm truly about to descend upon this world?”

“Dreadful…”

Everyone was stunned. Some had even begun to tremble. This place had always been a sea of bones. The appearance of the ancient city and the falling rain of blood had made people gradually overlook the endless white bones underfoot, but now the bone sea was no longer calm.

Fortunately, not all of the fearsome skeletons rose. Only those completely intact stood upright, facing the ancient city within the blood curtain. But the massive remains of primordial beasts, as large as hills, also began to tremble, as if they might awaken at any moment.

“This place is unsafe. We need to find a way out,” Xiao Chen said, sweeping his gaze over the eerie, evil ground.

But the endless dead-silent forest had cut off their retreat, and ahead lay the mysterious and terrifying ancient city. There was simply no escape.

“What are they doing?” asked the peerless enchantress Liu Ruyan, who was guarding Yan Qingcheng. Her face had turned pale as she pointed a jade finger toward the commotion ahead.

Amid the general terror, a group of practitioners was actually advancing toward the ancient city, as if intending to delve into that ancient and frightening stronghold.

“They are going for the Buddha’s Dharma Wheel,” Liu Mu said softly, coughing lightly. His eyes blazed with a strange light. His handsome but sickly cheeks flushed red from excitement.

“The Buddha’s Dharma Wheel…” Yizhen gazed into the distance at the ancient city. His mind was already deeply drawn to that giant Buddhist artifact, as if his very soul had drifted over to it.

Greed seemed to be inherent to humanity. That team of practitioners had already neared the ancient city. Facing the rows of armored nether soldiers and celestial soldiers within, they felt their hearts tremble with fear. Yet they still could not suppress the desire to seize the Buddhist treasure.

Fortunately, the armored soldiers within the city treated them as if they did not exist, as if they had not seen them at all.

But no one dared to enter the city.

The black city walls, made of an unknown material, gleamed with an eerie dark light. The team of practitioners began trying to climb up. The ancient city seemed to have weathered endless ages; the black walls were covered in pitted sword scars and claw marks, just enough for them to find footholds.

Before long, they had climbed over a hundred meters up the wall, and the Buddha’s Dharma Wheel on the gate tower was now less than ten meters away. That giant wheel was as large as a house, deeply embedded in the wall, with great cracks spreading far outward.

At last, one man followed a crack and climbed close to the wheel. But at that moment, from the fissures, streams of fresh red blood began to flow.

“Ah…”

The man at the top gave a miserable shriek and fell. His body underwent a terrifying transformation in midair, turning into white bones in an instant, all flesh vanishing in the blink of an eye.

At the same time, the black city walls flickered with eerie light. The evil radiance swallowed up the rest of the team. Cries of agony rose one after another. They fared even worse than the first man. Through the curtain of rain, one could clearly see their bodies splitting apart, then utterly shattering, finally dissolving into motes of light that merged into the wall. Everyone was annihilated without a trace.

At that moment, the Buddha’s Dharma Wheel issued a metallic clang. It trembled continuously, radiating a brilliant, resplendent light. A serene, peaceful aura pushed back the evil darkness, and the ancient wall gradually calmed.

With the appearance of the Buddhist light, the skeletons that had risen near the city slowly lay back down. The trembling giant beast skeletons also ceased their quaking.

But then—a hair-raising, mournful howl erupted from deep within the ancient city, changing everything. Not only did the skeletons struggle back to their feet, but the colossal beast skeletons also stood up.

That soul-shaking, miserable shriek lingered only a moment before fading. But disaster seemed already beyond stopping.

From the endless primeval forest in the distance came roars that shook the earth itself, as if countless primordial beasts were charging this way.

At the same time, the bones on the ground rose from beneath the practitioners’ feet, beside them, and behind them. A sea of white—the army of the dead—sent chills down every spine. The smaller skeletons were bad enough, but the hill-sized primordial beast skeletons moved like enormous millstones. If a cultivator were stepped on by one, they would be crushed to pulp.

It was clear that these skeletons were not undead beings; they were shrouded in a true baleful aura with no spark of soul. They were genuine dead things. Yet they could still move, bringing a terror of the unknown.

As the bone army surged forward, casualties mounted instantly. Some cultivators were crushed directly under the dozens-of-meters-long colossal beast bones.

Screams of terror echoed without end across the bone sea. No one could remain calm. Fear swelled in every heart. And in the distance, the sound of beast roars drew nearer at a terrifying speed.

Before long, the thunder-like howls had reached the vicinity. Vaguely, more than twenty enormous dragon silhouettes appeared above the dead-silent forest, spitting blinding beams of light through the blood curtain at the bone sea.

Each boom was like a clap of thunder, leaving everyone’s ears ringing. The fearsome dragon arts annihilated great swaths of the death-bone army in an instant.

All the practitioners were stunned with terror. Clear as day, they could see Storm Dragons, Lion King Dragons, Eight-Armed Malignant Dragons, Sword Dragons—all the powerful dragon clans—soaring through the air!

Hadn’t the dragons been sealed? Why had they regained their divine powers? And why were they bombarding this area? Every person felt both fear and confusion.

The dragons were unmatched in combat and peerless in magic arts.

The divine lights that tore through the air were indestructible. Swaths of the white bone army crumbled to dust, and many cultivators did not even have time to scream before they were utterly annihilated, body and soul.

“Roar…” The dragons roared, the earth trembled, blood rain poured down in torrents, terrifying divine lights kept smiting the land, and countless bones shattered. The eerie dark radiance from the ancient city grew even stronger. All of it wove together into a scene of utter horror.

The dragons—today they had recovered their ancient great powers! The dragon shadows in the distant sky had already grown from more than twenty to thirty, and the number was still increasing.

With so many powerful savage dragons that could contend with gods gathered in one place, their baleful aura was peerless in the world. But they seemed wary of something and did not dare approach the ancient city, only bombarding it from afar.

For all the cultivators, this was like the end of the world.

None of the behind-the-scenes manipulators among the practitioners had foreseen today’s upheaval. If they had known such a calamity would occur, they would never have started the great duel or pushed their way here. Now it was too late for regrets. This place had become a living hell. The cultivators’ casualties were heavy.

Xiao Chen was astonished to see that the three undead beings—King Qin Guang, King Yan Luo, and King of Reincarnation—actually made a few comical hand gestures at him. Then they turned and moved toward the gate of the ancient city.

With no retreat possible, the dead-silent forest blocking their way back, Xiao Chen hesitated only a moment before making a bold decision. He said to Liu Mu and Yizhen, “We have no retreat now. Let’s enter the ancient city—there may yet be a chance for life.”

“Good. I agree,” Liu Mu nodded. The area they were in had not yet suffered the dragons’ destructive attacks, but terrifying divine lights were falling not far away and would soon reach them.

“It’s the only way,” Yizhen also concurred.

“How can that be? That is the Nether Capital! The dead city where the sovereign of the Death Realm dwells! Going there is walking into death!” Liu Ruyan’s face had lost all color; she was terrified.

“No one is forcing you,” Xiao Chen said, then dashed toward the dead city. Liu Mu followed closely, and Yizhen went with him.

“Madmen! You’re all madmen!” Liu Ruyan stamped her foot in fury. But a terrifying divine light struck down right before her, blasting a bottomless black pit into the ground. She was struck speechless with fear, and hastily pushed Yan Qingcheng forward to give chase.

“Xiao Chen, you can’t leave me behind! I’ve given myself to you!”

Xiao Chen looked back at her and said, “In the depths of death there is always a thread of life. I am not walking to my doom. If you want to survive, you can follow. But why are you still bringing her?” He glanced at Yan Qingcheng. Under these circumstances, it was no time to be burdened with a prisoner; the best course would be to kill her immediately.

The peerless enchantress Liu Ruyan gave a seductive smile. “Isn’t she your slave? I plan to train her well in the future and offer her to you.”

Boom!

Another blinding divine light struck, blasting a massive crater not far away, making Liu Ruyan shriek in terror.

Xiao Chen gave a cold snort. He had no desire to discuss certain topics with this enchantress. His eyes shone with divine light as he said, “I authorize you to kill Yan Qingcheng immediately if she makes a wrong move.”

Liu Ruyan undid part of Yan Qingcheng’s restraints, giving her legs enough strength to keep up. The group advanced toward the dead city, narrowly dodging each blow. Strangely enough, all the divine lights struck near them but never directly hit them, as if they were being deliberately herded toward the city.

Xiao Chen, Liu Mu, and Yizhen exchanged glances in an instant. They had all arrived at the same thought.

“Along with their restored great powers, the dragons’ divine nature has awakened, suppressing their bestial instincts.”

“Yes. Their intelligence has awakened. They seem to be forcing us into the city, using us as pathfinders.”

Despite realizing this, they had no choice but to charge toward the dead city. If they wanted to survive, that might be the only hope, especially now that the dragons were deliberately driving them.

Xiao Chen and his group made it to the foot of the dead city without further incident. King Qin Guang, King Yan Luo, and King of Reincarnation had already entered the gate and were confronting the nether soldiers and celestial soldiers within.

“Are we… really going in?” Liu Ruyan’s voice trembled. But another divine light struck, cutting off her words and making her scream.

The group dashed forward without hesitation, disappearing into the city’s maw.