102. Chen Huangpi Returns to the Team

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“These things absolutely aren’t immortals!”

The Brass Oil Lamp spoke with utter certainty. “If they were, wouldn’t that mean that every immortal in the mortal world had turned into an evil aberration, been suppressed, and then had their corpses chopped up and thrown into the Yellow Springs?”

The Temple Master had brought only three thousand Daoists from the Great Qian Immortal Dynasty.

Those Daoists, like Yi Qingzhou, were all immortals.

However, immortals such as Yi Qingzhou and Xu Qingshan were not particularly powerful among their kind.

But an immortal was still an immortal.

Although Great Qian was an Immortal Dynasty, aside from the hidden old monsters belonging to the various sects, great religions, and certain ancient clans, there were only a little over ten thousand immortals openly known to exist.

Other than the Great Qian Immortal Dynasty, the immortals under the command of the various factions at that time could be counted on one hand.

If these black-robed, bamboo-hatted things really were immortals like Yi Qingzhou’s corpse, then it was likely that every immortal in the mortal world had already perished.

“But they really do look very much like the Slender Evil Aberration.”

Chen Huangpi touched the strip of cloth hanging before his face and said, “Look. This bamboo hat was given to me by the Slender Evil Aberration, and the tattered black robes they’re wearing are exactly the same as its robes.”

“Ghostie, do you know what those things are?”

Although the Life-Reaping Ghost had been cut off and could not hear Chen Huangpi and the Brass Oil Lamp’s earlier conversation, it could still see the scene outside.

Now, seeing those things dressed exactly like the Slender Evil Aberration, even the Life-Reaping Ghost was completely bewildered.

“Contract Master, I’ve never seen these things before.”

“They probably appeared after that sun fell into the Netherworld Yellow Springs and gave birth to them as evil entities, right?”

The Netherworld Yellow Springs had already undergone a mutation.

It was no longer the same as the place preserved in the Life-Reaping Ghost’s memories.

Naturally, its former experiences and knowledge could not simply be applied as they were.

Chen Huangpi thought for a moment before saying, “These things give me a very bad feeling. If they truly are immortal corpses and intend to attack me, I’ll certainly die. And if they aren’t, I still don’t want to run into them.”

“I’m going to avoid them and climb higher.”

With that, Chen Huangpi really did grab hold of Soulfall Mountain and began climbing along one side.

There were simply too many things resembling the Slender Evil Aberration.

There were even more than ten thousand of them.

They moved one after another up Soulfall Mountain, packed tightly together, like ants carrying food back to their nest.

Chen Huangpi did not know why they could walk while he had to climb, but he had no desire to follow behind them.

After all, he was climbing Soulfall Mountain merely to scout the way in advance, so that he would know what to expect when he returned to climb it later.

As for the Brass Oil Lamp’s suggestion that they deceive the Life-Reaping Ghost and Golden Horn, one could only say that the schemer had met his match in the unsuspecting.

But just then, the Brass Oil Lamp suddenly said nervously, “Climb faster! It seems the things above have noticed you.”

Hearing this, Chen Huangpi hurriedly pressed himself against the mountainside, curling his body into a ball beneath a protruding rock.

At the same time, a cold, sinister gaze swept downward.

High on the mountain, among the long procession climbing upward, the last figure wearing a bamboo hat was looking down.

Fortunately, Chen Huangpi had reacted quickly.

After looking for a moment without finding anything, the figure withdrew its gaze and continued following the great procession up the mountain.

“Whew…”

Chen Huangpi breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness it didn’t discover me.”

As he spoke, he continued climbing along the side of the mountain.

Perhaps his luck had finally turned.

After circling Soulfall Mountain for only a short while, the steep mountainside before him suddenly became extraordinarily level.

Looking upward, he saw a mountain path appear before him.

He hurried over and immediately felt incomparably relieved.

“I never imagined my luck could be this good.”

Chen Huangpi could not help saying, “Could it be that I’m truly one of the Netherworld Yellow Springs’ own—that I’m one of its favored children?”

There was no mountain path beneath the feet of those bamboo-hatted things.

Yet they walked as though on level ground.

Chen Huangpi could not do the same, but a mountain path had suddenly appeared before him.

If that was not luck, then what was?

The Brass Oil Lamp was dumbfounded. “How strange. I’ve patrolled the mountains with you for so many years and never encountered anything good. Yet after coming to this Netherworld Yellow Springs, you’ve actually gone from utter misfortune to supreme fortune.”

“It really is like returning…”

“Returning where?”

“Returning to your mother’s family!”

“Don’t say that. It really does feel a bit like it.”

As he spoke, Chen Huangpi hurried up the mountain.

The farther he went, the smoother the path became.

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It grew straighter and straighter, almost as level as a plain.

“I wonder whether this path leads to the summit. If it does, I feel I won’t even need to come back again. I could obtain the Soul-Returning Jade today.”

At this thought, Chen Huangpi mused inwardly, “Master used to say that there is immense terror between life and death. It seems he’s just like Ghostie—he hasn’t visited the Yellow Springs for too long and doesn’t realize that times have changed.”

However, the path did not lead to the summit.

Chen Huangpi stopped before reaching its end.

Because he saw a door.

A great red door, so bright and vivid that it stabbed the eyes.

It looked as though an entire basin of blood had been splashed across it.

No—it was actual blood flowing out from within the door.

More and more blood poured forth, like a mountain flood bursting its banks. The great red door suddenly swung open, and countless severed limbs and shattered corpses were swept out by the blood.

“An evil entity! It’s an evil entity!”

The Brass Oil Lamp shrieked, “Chen Huangpi, you’re no favored child! Run, run!”

Before it could finish speaking, Chen Huangpi had already turned around and fled the moment he saw the great red door.

His face was deathly pale, and panic filled his movements.

No wonder those bamboo-hatted things had not taken this path.

There was an evil entity here.

Could it be that this so-called path had been deliberately created by that evil entity?

Although every evil entity in the Netherworld Yellow Springs was collectively called an evil entity, there were still differences in strength among them.

The great red door did not feel as powerful as the Calamity Eye to Chen Huangpi, but it possessed an indescribable eeriness.

Most importantly, the river of blood was mixed with yellow mud.

It was as if the middle of Soulfall Mountain were hollow, with a passage below leading directly to a tributary of the Yellow Springs.

It could not be touched.

It could not be approached.

All he could do was run…

Yet the farther Chen Huangpi ran, the more his scalp prickled.

It was easy to climb a mountain but difficult to descend one. The ease he had felt on the way up had become equal torment on the way down.

Splash, splash…

That was the sound of the river of blood surging across the mountainside. Chen Huangpi did not need to look back to smell the reek of blood and mud mingling together.

“Climb to the side!”

The Brass Oil Lamp shouted, “If we don’t get out of the way, we’ll either be swallowed by the yellow mud or swept down the mountain and smashed into paste!”

“Do you think I don’t want to get out of the way?”

Chen Huangpi’s face was pale. “It’s this path that’s following me!”

Whether he moved left or right, he remained directly in the middle of the path.

The mountain road was clearly only wide enough for two people, yet he could not escape from it no matter how hard he tried.

Most crucially, this path had an end.

A hundred paces ahead, it simply stopped.

“I’m done running!”

Chen Huangpi abruptly halted and turned to look behind him.

A river of blood, like a mudslide, came crashing toward him, mixed with severed limbs and yellowish mud.

Chen Huangpi slapped the Soul-Seizing Register.

The Void-Piercing Divine Sword appeared in his hand.

“Whatever kind of evil entity you are, I’ll cut you down first and ask questions later.”

Gritting his teeth, Chen Huangpi gripped the hilt and drew the sword with sudden force.

Accompanied by the Calamity Eye’s agonized wail, a sword beam of unparalleled brilliance slashed toward the river of blood.

The sword beam was not broad. It resembled a white line, descending vertically from above and cleaving toward the river.

The river’s downward momentum halted instantly.

Then, with a great splash, the river of blood split apart down the middle, as though Chen Huangpi had forcibly carved a path through it.

“You were the one who attacked first!”

After the blood river parted, Chen Huangpi saw the great red door at the end of the mountain path.

His expression turned cold, his killing intent fierce.

He killed in order to survive.

Unless absolutely necessary, he did not want to use the Void-Piercing Divine Sword. If he overused it, the Calamity Eye would be consumed to death by the sword’s shadow.

The sword left behind a shadow. Once the Calamity Eye died, the sword shadow would naturally cease to exist as well.

But since he had already drawn the sword, he might as well see where the Calamity Eye’s limit lay.

“Die!”

Chen Huangpi held the Void-Piercing Divine Sword in one hand, his momentum surging like a rainbow, and charged directly toward the red door above.

With the river of blood no longer obstructing him—

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His speed reached its absolute limit.

The sword beam was even faster!

With a single slash, the Calamity Eye’s wail grew even more anguished. The eye at the point where the scabbard met the hilt shed tears of blood.

Pain…

Pain beyond measure.

But something else was suffering even more.

With a thunderous boom, the red door was struck by the sword beam and instantly exploded into dust.

Even the body of Soulfall Mountain began to tremble.

“How laughable!”

Chen Huangpi sneered. “I thought the evil entities of the Netherworld Yellow Springs were supposed to be terrifying. In the end, they still fell to a single sword from me…”

Before he could finish saying “die,” Chen Huangpi froze.

Because after the great red door had been destroyed by his sword, what was revealed behind it was a pitch-black, sinister cavern.

The cavern expanded before him.

No—more precisely, it was rushing toward him.

“Good! Come and take another sword!”

As soon as he spoke, he unleashed another sword beam.

But this time, it was ineffective.

The sword beam vanished into the cavern. Its dazzling light illuminated the darkness, allowing Chen Huangpi to see a passage that connected to the opposite side of Soulfall Mountain.

It was as though the sword had bored straight through the mountain.

The sword beam moved with unimaginable speed. In less than a breath, it reached the other side.

There was another red door there.

It too was cleaved into dust by the sword beam.

“Soulfall Mountain is alive…”

Chen Huangpi recalled the words he had spoken when he first saw the mountain.

Now, how could he fail to understand?

If Soulfall Mountain were treated as a person, then the red doors he had cut down were merely its front teeth.

He had just knocked out two of its front teeth.

Naturally, he had enraged it.

“I’m sorry! I was wrong!”

Chen Huangpi shouted as he ran, “Soulfall Mountain, oh Soulfall Mountain! I’m one of the Netherworld Yellow Springs’ own too. I’m an evil entity as well. We’re family! I’m just a child—please don’t hold it against me!”

But the pitch-black cavern showed no sign of stopping.

In the blink of an eye, it shifted through space to appear behind Chen Huangpi. It was as though it had stretched out its mouth, opening a vast maw and lunging down to swallow him whole.

“Second Huang, save me!”

“What use is calling me? Call your master!”

“Master, save me!”

Chen Huangpi’s face flushed red as he used every ounce of strength in his body to shout toward the sky.

But the one who answered him was not his master.

Instead, it was one figure after another clad in tattered black robes, wearing bamboo hats with green strips of cloth hanging down.

Those figures stood atop Soulfall Mountain and suddenly turned their heads.

Pairs of eyes with pale pupils and pitch-black whites stared down in perfect unison.

More precisely, they were staring at the bamboo hat atop Chen Huangpi’s head.

Then, as though they had confirmed Chen Huangpi’s identity, their gazes shifted simultaneously toward the pitch-black cavern.

The cavern’s entrance opened to an enormous size.

Yellow mud bubbled within it, but beneath the scrutiny of those countless icy gazes, it could do nothing but remain there, unable to spurt forth.

With a rush of air, the cavern rapidly retreated.

The mountain path beneath Chen Huangpi’s feet retreated as well.

He lost his footing and nearly fell. But at that moment, a pale, slender arm reached down from above and seized him by the shoulder.

Chen Huangpi looked up.

The long procession had appeared before him.

And he had been placed at the very back of the line.

It was as though he had returned to his proper place.

Even stranger, after entering the procession, Chen Huangpi suddenly discovered that the steep stone wall of Soulfall Mountain beneath his feet had changed.

It had become a staircase leading straight to the summit.

Looking around, he saw countless souls floating in the air.

As far as the eye could see, the area extending hundreds of yards around Soulfall Mountain was filled with innumerable souls.

Chen Huangpi suddenly understood. “So these souls were holding me down. That’s why I couldn’t fly.”

“Wait. They’re going to take me up the mountain?”

End of Chapter.