Chapter 74: The Edge of the Netherworld

  The underground river channel was getting narrower and narrower, and Bai Qi's escape method was also getting slower and slower. He had not been studying this water escape technique for many days, and he was far from being able to do it at will, let alone with Zi Hong in tow.

  At this point, the only benefit of the Water Escape Technique is that it can sense the danger in the underground river.

  "There." Zi Hong pointed to the right with a strand of green silk, and Bai Qi quickly turned around. In front of them, a whirlpool appeared in the river. This whirlpool was abnormally cold; under normal circumstances, water at this temperature should have frozen long ago.

  However, because the whirlpool was spinning too fast, the ice that formed was immediately churned up by the whirlpool and the small ice particles were imperceptible. Bai Qi's divine sense swept over it, and he instantly understood the situation.

  Bai Qi and Zi Hong searched among the talismans distributed by their sect, and took out two strips of xianwen paper armor. As soon as they were activated, Bai Qi and Zi Hong each had an additional set of azure-colored armor on their bodies. This armor was not heavy at all, looking just like ordinary military attire.

  However, this armor is a real talisman, with a mysterious pattern on it that even a cultivator in the Nascent Soul stage cannot destroy. This talismanic paper armor can only last for one minute, and after two people put it on, they will be sucked into the whirlpool regardless of what happens.

  Bai Qi and Zi Hong were still in the midst of the Escape Light, which couldn't isolate the cold. If they hadn't used their talismans, it was likely that the two people's vital energy would be depleted at a rapid rate.

  All the way down, Bai Qi calculated the depth of this whirlpool, and it had descended a distance of more than three thousand zhang. There were also several places where there was a feeling of spatial displacement, and only then was he sucked into a huge space.

  The gloomy sky, the land burning with flames, in the distant mountains, a group of skulls, zombies, and people and beasts with incomplete bodies are walking. On the edge of the group, soldiers wearing black armor are driving them away, and the group is heading towards a river, some of whom still wear shackles, colliding with rocks and making a heavy sound.

  Bai Qi and Zi Hong, the two of them in this dark world, their bodies' yuanqi could not be suppressed, as if boiling over, two golden pure yang auras shot up into the sky.

  Behind them, a team of black armored cavalry rushed over suddenly.

  Bai Qi and Zi Hong stood there, motionless. The black armored cavalry held long knives, with thick iron armor hanging from their horses, the leading officer pointed at Bai Qi with his knife and shouted: "Who are you people, trespassing on the Netherworld!"

  Bai Qi didn't think that he was originally looking for a place to hide in the Yin River, but instead stumbled into the Underworld. However, he didn't know that the Underworld originally had many paths connected to the Yang world, but the cultivation of Qi was heavily restricted here, and there were no benefits to be gained, so nobody would willingly come to the Underworld to roam around.

  Bai Qi said: "I am a Yang realm cultivator who mistakenly entered the underworld and now I don't know how to leave."

  The officer of the underworld took a look at Bai Qi, thinking to himself that these cultivators from the mortal world were all so troublesome. He was only responsible for escorting prisoners and wasn't one of the ghostly soldiers on patrol duty, so there was no need to fight with this cultivator.

  The officer shouted: "Where did you come from? Go back the same way. If you wander around, you'll run into the King of Ghosts and that will be troublesome."

  Bai Qi took a step forward, speaking in a low voice: "Can we make an exception and leave from somewhere else? This road has already been lost." As he spoke, Bai Qi took out a pellet of medicinal dan, which was a common Convergence Dan from the Yunmeng Sect. However, this Convergence Dan was refined by Zi Mei Zhen Ren, with extremely powerful medicinal properties. After releasing a thread of medicinal energy, a cluster of moonlight appeared on his fingertips, wrapping around the dan to prevent its energy from dissipating.

  The officer was overjoyed, for the elixir of this mortal alchemist was priceless to him. After the Nine States were broken, the connection between the Netherworld and the other eight major states was almost cut off, and it was extremely rare for an alchemist to come to the Netherworld.

  He stiffened his face and said, "Sorry, this is official business."

  Bai Qi's fingertips trembled slightly, and two more elixirs were taken out, wrapped in moonlight. This moonlight was transformed from the sword energy of his Moon Wheel Sword. It could be retracted or released at will. The ghost general wanted to snatch it, but couldn't; Bai Qi could crush the elixir into powder at any time.

  Zi Hong saw his junior brother bribing the ghost general with elixir, and found it amusing. However, this matter cannot be forced, as the underworld is different from the mortal world, with ten palace lords and three thousand ghost kings. These people are not easy to reason with. Even cultivators dare not act rashly here, because those ghost kings and palace lords can control the underworld space, and if they seal off the space, it would be difficult for the cultivator to return.

  Having stayed in the underworld for a long time, without absorbing the primordial energy of heaven and earth, the realm of the cultivator will continue to decline, unless you have an immortal artifact to protect your body.

  The ghost general glanced at the ghost soldiers under him, and they didn't even dare to glance sideways. Bai Qi thought that this ghost general was insatiably greedy. However, he still secretly took out a pellet of Dan medicine, pinched it into sixteen pieces with his fingertips, and then divided them apart with his sword light. This time, he simply stretched out his hand and handed them over, saying: "Of course, the general's subordinates also have benefits."

  This statement is not tactful, but it allows the ghost general to have a way to explain things to his subordinates. He happily accepted the elixir and put it away, saying: "Immortal elder, if you're not in a hurry, you can follow me to the front line's Luocheng. There are spatial rifts left over from the great wars of ancient times. With your abilities, you can return to the world of the living."

  "Thanks a lot." Bai Qi raised his hand in salute, thinking to himself that he had finally escaped the pursuit. Returning to the mortal world, he didn't know where he would end up, as long as it wasn't the Night Emperor's gate.

  The demon general didn't think much of it, this was still the outer rim of the underworld, and Bai Qi refused to leave, he also had no way to deal with him. He couldn't attack Bai Qi and let the other party kill himself. Although the Ten Halls' ruler would avenge him, what's the point of that? This Refining Qi cultivator understood the general idea, gave him benefits, and his ghostly subordinates wouldn't speak out of turn, it was better to cover up this matter quietly.

  "You two, get off the horses and give them to Xian Chang." The ghost received the bribe and had the soldiers clear out two horses for Bai Qi and Zi Hong to ride. Bai Qi and Zi Hong were also unwilling to drive away the swift light. They both felt that in this underworld, the yuanqi was lost quickly, and using magic here would consume more than ten times as much as on earth.

  Riding on the horse, both people felt that the warhorse was icy cold and devoid of vitality. Moreover, it emitted a thick aura of death, which overshadowed the two people's clearly visible yang energy like the sun and moon.

  The demon took out two black tokens and handed them to Bai Qi, saying: "You have too much yang energy, being discovered by people is not beautiful, sticking it on your body can temporarily cover it up."

  Bai Qi and Zi Hong's divine sense swept over, this paper talisman was flawless, the two people stuck it to their chest, the last wisp of yang energy was also covered by this ghost talisman, no longer any loopholes.

  A troop of cavalry returned and continued to drive the offenders forward towards a large river ahead.

  Bai Qi said on horseback: "General, I want to ask you about someone."

  "Oh? Does the Immortal have acquaintances in this Netherworld as well?" The ghost general suddenly became cautious, fearing that if the cultivator knew someone important, he would demand benefits and bring about his own demise.

  His name is Bai Jian.

  "What's that?" The ghost general thought for a moment, shocked in his heart, and exclaimed: "That is the great general under the Lord of the Tenth Palace, who controls one state of the underworld."

  Bai Qi listened and was somewhat skeptical. When his own father passed away, he probably only had the power of a weak immortal. After arriving in the underworld, could it be that his powers would rapidly increase? Controlling one state in the underworld, the area under his control was probably even vaster than the Great Jin Dynasty. The power of the Ten Palace Lords was absolutely on a level above that of the Immortal Kings.

  "What's his full name?"

  "Bai Jian, also known as Chong Feng, was a general who fell from the Yang realm just a few years ago. He is the first fierce general under the command of the Tenth Palace Lord."

  "Hmm, it's not someone I know." Bai Qi nodded and said lightly.

  Yin and Yang are separated, if I were to go see my father, in the dark, I'm afraid it would damage my father's good fortune. Since my father has become a great general of the underworld, I can also put my mind at ease. When I can cultivate into an imperforated true immortal, I won't be affected by the invasion of yin energy from the underworld, and naturally, I can come to find my father.

  By then, he can make his father a ghost immortal as well, free from the rule of the Ten Kings.

  That ghost heard Bai Qi say this and felt relieved in his heart. If this Refiner and Bai Jian were familiar with each other, he could only pray to heaven for an open eye, leaving a way out for himself.

  The demon general said that Luocheng was a huge prison. Bai Qi looked far away and saw that above Luocheng, the evil spirit rushed to the sky, and the originally gray sky above Luocheng showed a crimson color.

  Thousands of banished prisoners saw Luoyang and suddenly wailed, with ghostly soldiers whipping them but unable to stop them.

  Bai Qi couldn't help but say: "These prisoners will be sent to Luocheng, I'm afraid they won't live for much longer?"

  The demon general nodded, somewhat helplessly saying: "Luocheng is doomed. The aura of death has congealed here and there are still the remnants of an ancient war's damage. It will soon collapse in space. Those who are sent to this place are all serious offenders, unforgivable."

  Bai Qi said: "The ruler of the ten temples is so neglectful?"

  "Xian Chang, who would have thought that this malignant energy has been condensing for tens of millions of years. The Ten Palace Lords have come to take a look, but they can only prevent it from coalescing into a demon. As for eliminating it, it's impossible."

  Ineradicable evil spirit? Bai Qi felt that the inverted scales spear in the strange space was rapidly rotating, its scales opening up, as if it was very interested in this evil spirit.

  Bai's heart stirred, and he said, "The cultivation method I practice can actually absorb evil energy."

  "That demon said: 'Xian Chang, this is one of the six absolute killings in the world, and it has been over 128,000 years old. It's very dangerous to absorb it.'"

  He dissuaded Bai Qi, fearing that if Bai Qi were to die in front of him, another cultivator would still have a terrible outcome if he were to fly into a rage.

  "No harm done, I have my own ways. As a Qi Refiner, I value my life more than ordinary people do. Why would I take unnecessary risks? This evil energy elimination will benefit you as well, won't it?"

  That ghost will start thinking, and this evil energy won't be eliminated. Luocheng will collapse sooner or later. There are many ghosts in the underworld, and it's hard to say whether they'll be transferred elsewhere or directly dismissed at that time. Moreover, this evil energy is getting more and more serious, and if things go wrong, I might also be contaminated next time. This Refiner said so confidently, let him try it out.

  The ghost said, "Are both of you immortal elders going to take action?"

  "Not bad." Bai Qi replied on behalf of Zi Hong.

  "Many thanks to both of you, venerable ones." The ghost general replied with a courteous tone.

  Thousands of prisoners were driven into Luocheng, and the ghost made a gesture with his hands: "Xian Chang, the place that goes back and forth to the Yang world is sixty miles behind Luocheng. The killing energy condenses in the high air, I don't know..."

  "I can handle it myself." Bai Qi waved his hand, the Inverse Scale Spear in his mysterious space was already somewhat restless. It seemed that this evil energy was a great tonic for it, and Bai Qi had never seen the Inverse Scale Spear so excited before. His heart was also filled with anticipation for this evil energy.

  When that devil brings his ghostly soldiers into the city, Zihong will start to complain.

  "Junior brother, this is a malevolent spirit, even true immortals cannot dispel it. Are you really going to go and help this ghostly general?"