The Peacock King's Splendor

“Keke, tell me, how can I save you?”

At this moment, Xiao Chen’s heart surged with emotion. The little beast had not vanished from the world forever. There was still hope, still a future.

“I miss you too… but I want to eat another ginseng fruit…”

Hearing this innocent, childish voice, the Demon beside him felt a strong urge to vomit blood. He bowed deeply to Xiao Chen and said, “Please, ask it to show mercy.”

Now, the matter was clear. The purple diamond yin wood had indeed been a distress signal, but not from Keke. Rather, a ghostly official once subordinate to King Chu Jiang had been begging for help.

In the dark domain, the various powers often clashed. A ghost general of the underworld, trapped by circumstance on the other side, had been having a very hard time, constantly at war with others.

And then this world-defying little beast, Keke, had suddenly invaded his territory and refused to leave. The ghost general was at his wit’s end—unable to kill it, for Keke’s soul could not be extinguished!

Vaguely, he had even deduced the beast’s racial identity, which so terrified him that he dared not strike again.

What made Xiao Chen’s heart ache was that Keke’s physical body was truly gone. This time, only its soul had been driven into the dark domain, unlike when it faced the Golden Lion King earlier—that time, both body and soul had entered together.

Though young, the little beast was brimming with spirit. Its instinct told it that only by accumulating boundless spiritual energy could it return. Otherwise, the yin forces of the dark domain would hinder its journey back to the yang world.

So it could not be said that Keke was staying in the Nine Abyss Eighteen Hells purely out of gluttony.

Purple diamond yin wood ginseng fruits were rare and precious, the only spiritual essence in the dark domain that could gather all types of elemental energy. Keke had already eaten eight of them. If this were known, it would frighten anyone to death. The ghost general himself was already terrified.

Without a body, how would Keke return? Xiao Chen’s face showed worry.

The snow-white little beast itself did not care. It even yawned and mumbled drowsily, “I’m sleepy… I miss you… I’ll come back soon… stepping on a seven-colored auspicious cloud…”

Faintly, the sound of soft snoring rose.

As Xiao Chen departed, his emotions were complex. Knowing that Keke truly still lived filled him with joy, but the thought of the lively, adorable little beast being reduced to a soul without form made him grieve.

“Wuwu…”

Millions of souls writhed and cascaded down like a flood.

Coming down had been easy, but climbing back up was truly difficult. Had it not been for the sacred tree’s light enveloping him, Xiao Chen would have died instantly. Thousands upon thousands of souls, like moths to a flame, surged toward him unceasingly. The indistinct, boundless sea of wraiths and the piercing screams set one’s teeth on edge.

But to Xiao Chen, it had become nearly numb. These past ten-odd days in hell, he had seen so many souls that he had passed through terror to a kind of habituation.

“So noisy!”

Before Xiao Chen could encounter danger, the two murderous artifacts slumbering within him grew enraged. They had been awakened. Killing intent burst through Xiao Chen’s palms, instantly scattering many yin souls into the void.

To them, anything outside themselves was killable. Ruthlessness was their nature, cruelty their essence. Yet, just as the two ancient relics released their ferocity, they abruptly restrained themselves, becoming quiet and subdued.

Xiao Chen keenly sensed that the stone drill in the small stone figure within his chest was emitting faint, rippling waves of soft light, seeping out from his chest. The surrounding souls, as if hearing a spirit-calming song, gradually calmed from their frenzy into stillness.

It was the first time Xiao Chen had seen the stone drill display such extraordinary power.

The millions of souls seemed to fall asleep. In the endless darkness, motionless shadows packed every space. Xiao Chen unfurled his Undying Wings and shot upward at great speed, passing through the region they had sealed.

More than two hours later, Xiao Chen successfully ascended to the Nine Abyss Platform, and the stone drill once again became ordinary and unremarkable.

When Xiao Chen next saw Niu Ren, he was stunned into near disbelief. The little fat man Niu Ren, on the verge of tears, had been forced to fuse with the Bull King War Soul, and as a result, a pair of small bull horns had grown from his head.

“Waaah… Old ancestor, you weren’t lying to me, were you? Is this really one of the strongest war souls? I’m not going to turn into that legendary ox-head uncle, am I?”

“Gagaga…” The old woman cackled heartily. “Rest assured, you are my descendant. How could I harm you? From now on, your path of cultivation will be smooth and broad. The sea is wide enough for fish to leap; the sky is high enough for birds to fly. Your achievements will be limitless.”

“Won’t people mistake me for a demon? Demons are the ones who have horns.” The little fat man was deeply depressed.

“Don’t worry, no one will suspect you’re a demon. However you look at it, you resemble a little calf.” The old woman was delighted with her laughter.

“I can’t go on living!” The little fat man Niu Ren banged his head against the stone wall, creating a booming crash. His own skull was unharmed, yet those two horns shattered a millstone-sized rock. Stunned at first, he then felt a fresh wave of blood rising in his throat. If not for the thought that the old woman might be his ancestor, he would have charged at her.

“I was teasing you. Don’t worry; as your cultivation improves day by day, this pair of horns will slowly disappear. Be content—this is a true ancient Bull King Sacred Soul!”

At last, it was time to bid farewell to the underworld. The old woman sent Xiao Chen, Niu Ren, and the Black Dragon King to a desolate stretch of Gobi. With a sinister wave, she vanished.

According to the old woman, if they walked deep into the endless Gobi, regardless of whether they lost their direction, as long as they marched steadfastly in one direction, they would leave the underworld and emerge on the sacred mountain of the Barbarian race.

This was the only exit not yet sealed.

Boundless and vast, the Gobi stretched to the horizon. Xiao Chen and his companions walked for thirteen straight days before finally glimpsing a glimmer of dawn—a faint light flickering ahead.

“We’re at the edge of the underworld! We’re about to enter the yang world!” Niu Ren shouted in excitement. But then he touched his two horns in dismay and sighed. “They’re definitely going to mock me. My glorious reputation!”

“Quiet!” Xiao Chen cut off the little fat man’s complaints.

At that moment, an endless surge of yin fog billowed behind them. A hurricane swept across the Gobi, raising dust and sand into the sky, even lifting millstone-sized boulders high into the air.

A phenomenon like this in a dead, silent desert was extremely eerie.

Then, an immense pressure flooded down from the direction behind them, sweeping over heaven and earth. That overbearing, hegemonic aura was utterly undisguised, as if the one being alone dominated the world, as if the entire cosmos was under its control.

An ancient ancestor manifesting in the world! That was Niu Ren’s first thought.

Xiao Chen’s expression was grave. He knew that this must be a supreme giant of unimaginable origin.

In the distance, five streaks of divine light sped forward like a massive meteor shower crossing the sky, their might shaking heaven and earth. And beneath the five-colored radiance, a mountain several thousand meters high was flying along, its immense shadow floating across the heavens.

“Five-Colored Divine Light?!” Xiao Chen could not help but cry out.

Niu Ren was even more shocked, unable to speak. He muttered, “This journey through hell… has truly opened my eyes. Could we really be seeing the legendary demon sage who roamed the world invincible in ancient times, brushing away all things and breaking all defenses?”

The five-colored divine light, carrying a mountain thousands of meters high, flew directly over Xiao Chen and his companions. A powerful divine thought swept down, but did not linger on them, and in an instant it was gone in the distance.

Xiao Chen said to himself, “Is this the ancestor of that little Peacock King from the Southern Wastes beast-fighting tournament? Didn’t he leave his Chaos Azure Feather to his descendant? Why are all five feathers present now? Has his cultivation broken through again?”

Kong Xuan, a peerless powerhouse who dominated heaven and earth in ancient times!

The five-colored divine light—azure, yellow, red, black, and white—was called the nightmare of the gods, sweeping through the realm with hardly an opponent able to withstand it. Later, he suffered a great loss in the central western lands, but after escaping that calamity, he grew stronger through battle. There were almost no beings left in this world who could kill him, and he had even extinguished three Buddhas in succession.

In a certain sense, the name Kong Xuan was synonymous with “man” and “strongman.”

Brilliant light streaked across the sky, illuminating the entire Gobi.

Xiao Chen and his companions were now close to the exit of the underworld, and it seemed Kong Xuan was also heading out from there. They could clearly see that on the mountain he had swept away, there were dozens of darkly purple trees, radiant with purple light. Two of those trees bore two dark purple ginseng fruits.

“My goodness, diamond yin wood is a sacred treasure, and he’s found this many! This ancient demon sage is so powerful he’s nearly defying heaven. When he needed yin wood, he just casually rolled up a whole mountain from the underworld…” Niu Ren was utterly at a loss for words.

For ancient, invincible behemoths like this, it seemed there were no obstacles in the world that could stop them.

Although the passage between the underworld and the yang world was wide, letting a mountain pass through was still a bit narrow. With a swoosh, a red light flashed, and half of the mountain was sheared off, shaking the ground violently. The five-colored divine light wrapped around the other half and rushed out of the underworld in an instant, vanishing from sight.

“Sigh…” Niu Ren let out a long sigh. “I want to get stronger! Look at that kind of style…”

Get stronger. I must get stronger! Xiao Chen had seen the heaven-piercing Sword of Zhuxian, and now the five-colored divine light of a legendary demon sage. His heart could not settle. A severe sense of crisis pressed upon him. Legendary beings were appearing one after another. The world was likely about to stir with wind and clouds!