The Otherworld Descendants Arrive

The Killing Light coiled around the Dead City, guarding it within its grasp. Its cold, murderous intent pierced the soul, chilling the heart. Born from the will of heaven and earth to slay, this light could pierce even Ancestral God-level experts. Even Half-Ancestors changed color at the sight of it and dared not touch it.

What was the connection between the Dead City and the deepest depths of the Death World? Bai Qi and the others had to ponder this.

Xiao Chen strode forward and patted Bo Shi on the shoulder. He could not neglect this brother of Yizhen. Years ago, when Yizhen fell, Xiao Chen had seen Bo Shi's grief and brought him into the Ancestral Dragon Village to let him fall into a deep sleep.

Bo Shi was tall and imposing, with a face as if carved by a knife—sharp, angular, exuding a fierce aura. Light blazed from his eyes. The Ancestral Dragon Village was no ordinary place. After sleeping for nearly two hundred years, Bo Shi had undergone a startling transformation. He now seemed unfathomable, as if a living volcano churned within him, his divine power surging so vehemently that even Xiao Chen could not easily grasp his full measure. The great relic in his hand blazed with brilliant light, drawing all eyes. That was the relic left after Yizhen's nirvana. Xiao Chen felt a hundred emotions at the sight of it.

The monk Yizhen, in his white robes, had been a man of extraordinary talent, with a transcendent aura, like a Buddha holding a flower, smiling. He walked through the mortal world, capable of expounding Buddhist principles with subtlety and also bold enough to eat meat. But his life was cut short far too soon.

Jin Sanyi sidled up and tried to tap the great relic. Bo Shi's eyes shot out two rays of purple light, forcing Jin Sanyi back.

"Bury the second monk, then," Jin Sanyi said, embarrassed.

"My elder brother has passed away, but his Buddha root has not been extinguished. The relic I hold in my hands is already a Buddha, one that can stand shoulder to shoulder with the Buddha himself," Bo Shi said solemnly, with complete seriousness.

Everyone was taken aback by these words.

Bai Qi was moved. After a moment of thought, he said, "A great Buddha of this world once said, 'The Dharma is in the world; do not leave the world to seek enlightenment. To leave the world and seek bodhi is like searching for a rabbit's horn.' Could it be that he... vanished for ages, his true body rising and falling within the world?" One of the great Buddhist masters, the only one besides the Buddha himself whose words and deeds had become Buddhist scripture.

Everyone looked at the relic with changed expressions. Perhaps it truly was a Buddha above Buddhas.

Only the two little girls were unconcerned. Linglong and Tutu had rosy little faces, tender enough to drip with water. They skipped over, very interested in circling around Bo Shi. Clearly, Bo Shi's very masculine appearance made him seem different to them.

"Handsome uncle... drool..." The two little girls were truly incorrigible.

Though they appeared innocent and carefree, they were actually very alert. They had memorized the Yellow Emperor's words and, when the False God Calamity shook heaven and earth, had run into the Ancestral Dragon Village ahead of time. Not only were they untouched by the disaster, but after sleeping for nearly two hundred years, their cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds.

Xiao Chen questioned Bo Shi and the two little girls carefully. They had remained in slumber all those years, dreaming of hearing some sounds but unable to recall them, and could provide no useful information.

"Wow! Keke!" The two little girls finally noticed Keke, who had been hiding in the distance. Abandoning their handsome uncles, they rushed toward the little beast.

Xiao Chen was deeply excited that the Ancestral Dragon Village was about to reappear.

But after waiting a full half month, the village still did not manifest. It remained suspended between reality and illusion, elusive. Xiao Chen and the others could only wait, unable to enter.

"Boom!" Suddenly, the Dead City shuddered, and the Killing Light that wound around it blazed with overwhelming radiance. A dragon cry pierced the Nine Heavens, shaking the earth. At the distant horizon, an Ancestral Dragon broke through clouds and mist, crossing the sky like a colossal mountain range.

"That's not a Dragon King—it's the legendary Ancestral Dragon!" "Heavens, it's a true Ancestral Dragon!" Not only Xiao Chen and his group, but also cultivators far away who were observing all changed color. Although no one had ever seen a true Ancestral Dragon, they were deeply familiar with the legends and had seen stone carvings. They could not be mistaken.

The Ancestral Dragon's vast might shook the entire land of Yongzhou and made the Half-Ancestors of the Nine Provinces change expression. Many powerful cultivators shot into the sky, using their heavenly eyes to gaze in this direction.

The colossal Ancestral Dragon stretched across the sky, flying in an instant to the airspace above the Ancestral Dragon Village. A dragon cry spread through Yongzhou, trembling the earth.

"It's not an Ancestral Dragon—it's that divine ship!" In the sky, divine radiance blazed in all directions. The colossal Ancestral Dragon suddenly transformed into a divine ship, floating in the sky with blinding light. It was the Ancestral Dragon Ship that had once floated above the Forbidden Sea. Years ago, it had rushed into the heavens beyond, so no one expected it to fly here today.

The Heaven-Reaching Death Bridge extended from the divine ship down into the illusory Ancestral Dragon Village. A hazy figure turned into a beam of light, walked down the stone bridge, and entered the ancient village.

"It's him!" "It's that powerful being who fought Li Huiyou!" Many cried out in surprise.

"Boom!" At the far end of the distant horizon, a vast black vortex appeared—the divine gate had reappeared!

Xiao Chen and the others instantly changed color. Was an Otherworld Ancestral God about to descend so quickly? And why had they chosen this place?

"Rumble!" Heaven-shaking thunderbolts rocked the Nine Provinces. Great black lightning bolts, each as thick as a mountain, split the sky above Yongzhou. The sound was terrifying, chilling the hearts of all.

The colossal black lightning bolts intertwined, forming a terrifying black web, and in the center was that dark, gaping divine gate. It felt as if the most ferocious beast of the Primordial Age was about to emerge. A dreadful aura flooded the world.

What was happening? First, the Ancestral Dragon Ship had arrived with a mysterious Ancestral God, and now an Otherworld divine gate had appeared—both seemingly drawn to the Ancestral Dragon Village.

Light flashed within the village. After a short time, the hazy figure walked out calmly, returned to the Ancestral Dragon Ship along the Heaven-Reaching Death Bridge, and then pointed a finger at the colossal black divine gate in the sky.

"Boom!" The power of an Ancestral God surged between heaven and earth. That finger shattered the sky. The mountain-thick black lightning bolts writhed wildly, trying to block the finger's force. At the same time, from within the black gate at the center of the lightning, endless divine light erupted, and vast blood-colored mist surged forth.

"How long can you hold out? Before long, we will descend upon this world en masse." An icy, bone-piercing voice came from within the black gate. It was clearly a powerful Otherworld Ancestral God.

"I, Li Huiyou, will be the first to descend into this world!" A familiar voice rang out, equally cold and merciless. It was Li Huiyou, who had been repelled not long ago.

Two mighty Otherworld Ancestral Gods, within that mysterious divine gate—the mere thought made the cultivators of the Nine Provinces tremble. If they truly crossed over one day, who could stop them?

This age was far weaker than those of the past. Ancestral Gods were nearly all gone. How many could that Ancestral God on the ship hold off alone? The future seemed utterly hopeless.

"Boom!" The hazy figure on the Ancestral Dragon Ship suddenly flicked his hand, sending the Heaven-Reaching Death Bridge hurtling into the center of the black lightning, straight into the divine gate. With a rumbling roar, all the black lightning collapsed, and the divine gate shattered.

"Very well! We will settle accounts with you in the future! Now, since we cannot establish a stable passage and our true bodies cannot descend, let our descendants come to this world first and drill their troops here!"

Black light blazed. That expanse of sky completely shattered, and the two powerful Otherworld Ancestral Gods were repelled. But a sense of foreboding rose in everyone's heart. Troubled times were coming again. The Otherworld Ancestral Gods had not yet come, but their descendants were about to appear in this world.

A dragon cry rang through the clouds. The Ancestral Dragon Ship soared into the sky and vanished in the blink of an eye. The Killing Light that had been coiled around the Dead City gradually calmed, its blinding radiance subsiding to its normal state.

An Ancestral God had appeared abruptly and left just as quickly. Clearly, the Ancestral Dragon Village was no ordinary place. What would happen here in the future?

"Though this place is called Ancestral Dragon Village, in the distant ancient ages it was named the Primordial Ancient Village. Perhaps it has some connection to the Primordial Celestial Realm," the Golden Divine Halberd, that fiendish weapon, suddenly said.

"What a pity... At that time, we didn't yet have true sentience and souls. Otherwise, we would surely know." The Dark-Iron Seal also spoke.

These were two ancient evil weapons, once shattered Ancestral God weapons. They would not speak idly. Hearing this, everyone present changed color.

The Otherworld and the Primordial Celestial Realm were too distant and obscure even for the old-timers among the Half-Ancestors. But as time passed, these mysterious, unknown places seemed to be drawing closer to humanity.

"And this Dead City beside the Primordial Ancient Village is certainly connected to the deepest depths of the Death World. The Martial Ancestor charged into those depths, and perhaps..." Bai Qi fell silent there.

The deepest depths of the Death World, the Otherworld, the Primordial Celestial Realm—they seemed unconnected, yet they made one think of them together. In the future, the three would likely clash violently. All of this seemed to have only just begun, only a corner of the veil lifted.

The more anxious Xiao Chen grew, the more the Ancestral Dragon Village refused to manifest, always wavering between reality and illusion, elusive. He longed to rush inside but could only wait.

A month later, a sudden upheaval occurred. In the skies of the Nine Provinces and the Four Worlds, many black divine gates appeared. Though far less enormous and terrifying than the gates manifested when the Otherworld Ancestral Gods descended, these black passages still pulsed with heart-stopping energy. The words of the Otherworld Ancestral Gods had come true. Their descendants had first come to the Nine Provinces and the Four Worlds to "drill their troops." Turmoil was inevitable.

The cultivators of the Nine Provinces and the Four Worlds were filled with dread. Ancient memories were pried open. The wars of antiquity would continue into the present, and the cruel cycle would begin again.

The Otherworld Ancestral Gods had not come, but their descendants had appeared. This time, the Ancestral God who controlled the Heaven-Reaching Death Bridge did not stop them—perhaps he could not. These black passages were too scattered, not concentrated in one place, and far easier to open than the passages needed for Ancestral God descent. Thus, many were opened.

That very day, nine divine gates appeared in succession above the Ancestral Dragon Village, making it a disaster zone. Clearly, this would become the main battlefield.

This touched Xiao Chen's bottom line. Without a word, he soared into the sky. Thirty intact War Swords swept across the horizon in a colossal sword formation, cleaving one divine gate to pieces. From within came a furious roar: "I am the grandson of Li Huiyou! Whoever blocks me will be annihilated, body and soul, in the days to come!"

Jin Sanyi rushed up as well, hearing this. With no lack of bravado, he shouted, "Go, go, go! Your granddaddy Li Huiyou's Doomsday Heavenly Halberd was collected by me! His incarnation was smashed to bits by me! Go back and tell him to wash his neck clean—next time I'll cut off the head of his true body!"

"Roar..." From within the shattered divine gate came a final roar of fury, and then it vanished completely.

The snow-white little beast Keke, Bai Qi, the Golden Divine Halberd, and the Dark-Iron Seal also rose into the air and struck at the other divine gates. That day, rumbling echoes filled the sky above the Primordial Ancient Village. All nine divine gates were shattered, and not a single Otherworld expert emerged.

"What a pity!" Fatty Zhuge was filled with regret. He had been hoping to eat some Otherworld experts to advance his cultivation. But before the various powers could even show themselves, they had all been driven back.

The same thing happened in other parts of the Nine Provinces and the Four Worlds. But in some regions, the divine gates opened wide, and Otherworld experts poured out without hindrance.

"No, this is too passive. Even if the Otherworld Ancestral Gods cannot descend, if a single Nine-Heaven Half-Ancestor appears, they could annihilate us all," Xiao Chen said, sensing the extreme gravity of the situation. "We must find several powerful Half-Ancestors to take a stand here."

He wanted to summon Xing Tian, Chiyou, and Laozi, but he did not know where they were. If they happened to be in seclusion, it would be a catastrophe.

"I will go to the God Village in the Death World and invite Tianwaitian and the others. They must go and persuade Chiyou and Xing Tian to come out," Xiao Chen said quickly, then turned to Bai Qi. "You should go into seclusion immediately. If you truly manage to merge the Eternal Light into your soul, there may be hope for other powerful Half-Ancestors as well."

Though Half-Ancestors speculated that merging with the Eternal Light might allow evolution to an Ancestral God, no one had ever actually done it. Moreover, if that were the case, why had the Martial Ancestor and Keke's father not created a few Ancestral Gods in the Nine Provinces? There must have been a reason.

For now, Bai Qi was a living experiment. They would see whether he could achieve a breakthrough.

Xiao Chen dispersed all his power and quickly vanished before the Dead City. A moment later, he arrived in the Death World and emerged from the Bone Well. The God Village was safe, still as peaceful as ever. Xiao Chen's arrival roused Tianwaitian and the other five Half-Ancestors. Thanks to the Ancestral God's blood, they had nearly recovered.

After hearing Xiao Chen's account, Tianwaitian immediately nodded. "It seems the great war is about to begin again. I will go find Xing Tian and Chiyou."

Demon Yingxiong also sidled over. "How can such an exciting affair lack me? I must go see that colorful world too!"

Including the three Tree-Man Sovereigns, Renwairen, Yingxiong, and the others—six powerful Half-Ancestors accompanied Xiao Chen back to the Nine Provinces the next day and appeared before the Dead City.

In just one day, the atmosphere before the Ancestral Dragon Village had grown extremely tense. A cold, heroic woman in silver battle armor, holding a heavenly sword, led a host of powerful experts and surrounded the Ancestral Dragon Village. Bai Qi, Jin Sanyi, Bo Shi, and the others had all retreated into Keke's Paradise Lost, confronting these people from in front of the village. The land around the village had been cut away hundreds of feet deep—clearly, they had bombarded the village, creating this terrifying scene.

The flames of turmoil had begun here.