The Most Evil Place

The mysterious Ancestral God on the Heaven-Reaching Death Bridge had purified the entire sea of corpses with radiance. That one being could be so powerful—it left the dozen or so Half-Ancestors deeply shaken.

The Heaven-Reaching Death Bridge, which had spanned tens of thousands of li across the sky, had long since vanished. Yet the Half-Ancestors present still trembled in their hearts. The power of an Ancestral God filled them with genuine awe.

'He's trying to escape! Stop him!'

At that moment, some Half-Ancestors noticed that Babra had been teleported out as well and was attempting to slip away.

Boom!

Babra shattered the void and escaped through space.

Boom!

More than ten Half-Ancestors struck out together, trying to smash the spatial passage and blast him out. But Babra had clearly prepared this time; all their attacks fell short. He manifested his form a hundred li away, then crossed space once more and vanished completely.

The Half-Ancestors wore grim expressions. An Otherworldly powerhouse escaping right under their noses was no small matter. Although Babra no longer possessed Ancestral God-level combat power, he was still a considerable threat.

'Since that Ancestral God released him, there must be a deeper purpose. We need not worry overmuch.'

Hearing these words from one of them, the others felt relieved. That being had been released by an Ancestral God—if the powerhouse on the Heaven-Reaching Death Bridge had wanted to kill him, a single finger would have sufficed.

They said no more, but each understood in their hearts that the Ancestral God likely intended to use Babra for some purpose.

The battle between Ancestral Gods was an endless temptation for Half-Ancestors. Nearly a dozen of them moved at once, flying toward a point tens of thousands of li away.

A dozen beams of light streaked across the sky, dazzling and brilliant, advancing side by side. From atop the Soul World's great dike, the sight was exceptionally radiant and beautiful.

Yet when the dozen Half-Ancestors arrived at the place suspected to be the 'most evil place,' it was utterly silent. Those who had come seeking the Eternal Light had long since vanished without a trace.

Moreover, the great formation laid by the Skeleton King and the others had been completely flattened.

The underground river of corpses had vanished entirely, leaving only a stinking riverbed. As for the corpse-sea space, it seemed to have evaporated, disappearing without a trace.

The group searched for most of a day and found only a clear underground stream flowing—nothing else.

Two days later, the Half-Ancestors left one after another.

They had come seeking the Eternal Light, hoping to achieve the Ancestral God's throne through a great opportunity. Instead, they had encountered such a massive upheaval, nearly being completely annihilated.

Some among them had already expressed a desire to withdraw, while others remained unwilling to give up, continuing to explore the Soul World in hopes of finding the Eternal Light.

They felt that the place suspected to be the 'most evil place' was not the true one; it was likely another location altogether.

Since ancient times, the Soul World had contained many legends about the most evil place.

In the distant past, an Ancestral God had made a speculative judgment about the most evil place based on various pieces of information: 'The most evil place is so evil it defies imagination, so evil it tests the limits of one's mind!'

One could imagine how uncanny it was.

However, as time passed, the legends about the most evil place gradually faded into the river of history. Almost no one knew exactly where it was—they could only speculate based on certain clues.

Xiao Chen felt that the search for the Eternal Light was hopeless—it was most likely the Martial Ancestor's True Scripture, that big mouth, spouting nonsense. That fellow was truly vexing and detestable.

Yet he was in no hurry to leave the Soul World. This was his first time in this wondrous realm, and he wanted to tour various places.

Over the course of a dozen days, he found the Soul World to be truly desolate. Ancient battlefields were everywhere; barren mountains and wild lands stretched endlessly. Although large patches of green covered the earth, this realm remained deeply oppressive with yin energy. Even at noon, a chill ran through one's bones.

White bones were the most common thing in the Soul World—scattered across plains and amid mountain forests. No one knew from what age they came; digging a random hole would unearth several cold, stiff corpses.

Though the Soul World had some human towns and cities, compared to the bustling Nine Provinces, this world was rather cold and desolate. Its population was small, and its cultivation methods resembled those of fire-seed beings—all directly cultivating the soul.

Certain great cities, like pearls studded across the desolate land of the Soul World, were surrounded by smaller towns. Compared to the mortal realm, the lands these towns occupied were truly limited.

Xiao Chen arrived at a city called Mangzhe, where he enjoyed a Soul World specialty feast and then inquired in detail about the legends of the most evil place.

'Many people inquire about the most evil place, but young man, I advise you to drop that thought. What is the most evil place? It is what an Ancestral God personally called the most sinister place in the world. Once someone enters, no one has ever come out again.'

'That extreme?'

'Of course. Through the ages, countless brilliant talents have vanished that way. But fortunately, no one knows where this place actually is anymore.'

...

A few hundred li outside Mangzhe was a vast mortal zone.

A thousand li further on, Xiao Chen came across several ancient castles, each owned by fire-seed beings, undead spirits, and the like.

This world truly had much in common with the Death World.

Thinking of this, Xiao Chen's heart tightened. He had once heard that among the Hundred Races, the Skeleton Clan, the Wraith Clan, the Zombie Clan, and others had risen to power in the Soul World long ago.

Moreover, he had learned a secret: the Skeleton Clan and others had originally escaped from the Death World. This he had discovered when he first entered the Hundred Races' sacred lands beyond the seas of the Nine Provinces, from information gathered on Skeleton Island.

Now, reconsidering this, Xiao Chen was startled. The Soul World and the Death World shared many similarities. Could there be a complete passage connecting them?

Legend said that after the ancestors of the Skeleton Clan and others escaped, they still remembered the secret path. But as generations passed, all secrets became unsolvable historical mysteries.

'The most evil place... could it be...'

Xiao Chen was shocked by his own thought. If his guess was correct, then the Eternal Light might well be in the Death World.

Yes, he speculated that the reason the most evil place was so hard to find was that it wasn't in the Soul World at all, but rather in the Death World, which was connected to the Soul World.

It was a bold guess, but Xiao Chen felt it was extremely plausible.

Boom!

At that moment, fierce energy fluctuations erupted from the desolate mountains ahead. Several great fissures stretched from afar, extending over twenty li, and with a rumble, several low hills ahead split apart.

Xiao Chen drew in a sharp breath. Such a commotion could not have been caused by an ordinary cultivator. He soared into the sky and flew forward.

Ahead, blazing radiance filled the sky, like golden grains scattered across the heavens, dazzling to the eyes.

Amid the desolate hills stood a magnificent ancient castle, but it was now tottering on the verge of collapse. Though a light curtain blocked the energy waves in the sky, it could not avoid taking damage.

Two figures were locked in fierce battle in the sky.

'Eh?'

Xiao Chen felt a familiar aura. He opened his heavenly eye and saw through the blazing light. One of the combatants was actually a Heaven-Soaring Halberd—a weapon, not a person.

'Golden Divine Halberd...' Xiao Chen was quite astonished. After the final battle of the False God Catastrophe, his body had shattered, and with the broken Stone Man, the War Swords, the Dark-Iron Seal, and the rest had all flown away.

He had not expected to see the Golden Divine Halberd here today.

That demon-like divine halberd was locked in a fierce, evenly matched battle with a young man.

The young man had sword-like brows and starry eyes, and murderous aura soared to the heavens. Around him swirled countless war souls, making ghosts cry and gods wail.

The Golden Divine Halberd, possessing its own consciousness and having recovered its power, was fighting a true Half-Ancestor. It howled, 'So what if you slaughtered four hundred thousand? Do you think I was raised on threats? Want me to be your divine weapon? Go cultivate for another thousand years! Bai Qi... pah! From now on, I'm changing my name to Hei Qi! You'd be better off being my little brother!'

'Golden Divine Halberd!' Xiao Chen shouted, charging over.

The old fiend instantly sensed Xiao Chen's presence and flew several hundred zhang away, avoiding the handsome youth. After looking at Xiao Chen, it cried out, 'You... actually came back to life?'

What kind of words were those? It almost sounded like it hoped he hadn't come back. Xiao Chen felt the urge to beat it senseless, even though it was a weapon.

'Damn! I don't know you!' With that, the Golden Divine Halberd tore through the void and fled.

The young man immediately gave chase, and Xiao Chen followed closely. But the Golden Divine Halberd was fiendishly clever—once it had put enough distance between them, it crossed space and vanished in an instant.

Xiao Chen cursed at the accursed Golden Divine Halberd.

'Are you Xiao Chen?' The imposing young man across from him asked.

'Yes. Are you... Bai Qi?'

'Correct.'

Hearing this, Xiao Chen was startled. This figure before him was a legendary presence, famous throughout history.

Not to mention his exploits in life, the fact that he had reorganized his war soul after death and returned as a top-tier powerhouse was enough to shock anyone.

Bai Qi and other soul cultivators had once trained in the Heaven-Earth Furnace before breaking out.

Back in the World of Immortality, Xiao Chen had seen him from afar. During the struggle for the treasures of the Heavenly Palace of Youchao, Bai Qi had appeared but had not made a move. Now, years later, he had come to the Soul World. Indeed, this was a suitable place for him to cultivate.

'That Golden Divine Halberd shows signs of evolving into an Ancestral God weapon,' Bai Qi said.

This statement stunned Xiao Chen speechless. The Golden Divine Halberd might evolve into an Ancestral God weapon? That was almost inconceivable.

'I've been entangled with it and the Dark-Iron Seal for nearly a hundred and eighty years. We've fought several times. I've watched their power grow day by day. In just over a hundred and seventy years, they've risen from the Second Heaven of the Half-Ancestor realm to the Sixth Heaven.' Bai Qi's expression was extremely grave. 'This should be impossible. Even for sentient half-ancestor spiritual treasures, such a rate of evolution is unheard of. At this rate, they will eventually evolve into Ancestral God weapons. You once controlled them—did anything special happen during that time?'

Xiao Chen listened, momentarily speechless. This was truly bizarre. Half-ancestor spiritual treasures typically evolved as their masters' cultivation increased. The Golden Divine Halberd and the Dark-Iron Seal had nearly shattered completely back then. What had happened to give them such a rate of evolution? If this continued, they might indeed evolve into Ancestral God weapons, as Bai Qi said.

'Nothing special happened,' Xiao Chen shook his head.

'Then these two strange weapons must have found some mysterious power source.' Bai Qi paced in the sky a few steps. 'The Golden Divine Halberd and the Dark-Iron Seal come to provoke me every so often, as if testing their power.'

'You've been living here all this time?' Xiao Chen asked.

'Yes, I've been cultivating here in seclusion.'

Xiao Chen asked further, 'Have they gone to provoke others?'

'I haven't heard of any other Soul World experts being challenged. Only once, a friend was on his way to visit me when the Dark-Iron Seal struck him and made him spit blood.'

'Then those two spiritual treasures might be hiding nearby...' Xiao Chen made this inference.

Bai Qi nodded. 'I think so too, but I simply cannot find their hiding place.'

'This place...' Xiao Chen paused, then spoke without concealment, voicing another inference, 'Could it be that the widely rumored most evil place is right here?'

He believed that Bai Qi must have already had this suspicion.

Bai Qi was a soul cultivator; choosing to cultivate here in seclusion must have been deliberate.

'Yes, I do have that speculation. Legend has it that in the distant past, a half-ancestor spiritual treasure accidentally fell into the most evil place. After several hundred years, it emerged and had evolved into an Ancestral God weapon.' Bai Qi paused, 'But I have never been able to discover where they ultimately end up.'

'Ah, such a legend exists?' Xiao Chen was greatly surprised. He had searched for the Soul World for a long time, asking many people, and knew almost all the legends, but had never heard this one.

'That was from a previous era. I found a record in a certain ruin. It said that an ancient shield—a half-ancestor-level spiritual treasure—fell into the most evil place, and after several hundred years, it evolved into the Imperishable Heavenly Shield and emerged. Later, that Imperishable Heavenly Shield was seized by an Otherworldly Ancestral God.'

Xiao Chen was startled. 'That means the Otherworldly Ancestral God might be able to find the most evil place?'

'That Imperishable Heavenly Shield had no autonomous consciousness. The Otherworldly Ancestral God did not know the secret behind it and would not know how it was forged.'

Xiao Chen was genuinely astonished. He was now fifty percent certain that the Eternal Light lay within the most evil place.

Knowing was one thing; finding it was another.

Bai Qi had waited here for over a hundred and seventy years without any discovery, showing just how well hidden the most evil place was.

'Since you once controlled the Golden Divine Halberd and the Dark-Iron Seal, and have now come here, how about we join forces?' Bai Qi had been serious all along, and now he made this proposal.

Xiao Chen immediately understood what joining forces meant and nodded. 'Yes!'

'With the two of us working together, trapping even a single divine weapon will be enough!' Bai Qi's eyes shot forth brilliant divine light. The most evil place might be incredibly sinister, but it also held immense opportunity.

Returning to Bai Qi's ancient castle, the two conferred in secret for a long time.

Xiao Chen had not expected such a startling discovery in these desolate mountains. This news absolutely could not leak out, or else every Half-Ancestor would come swarming.