NOVPUB788: Chapter 14: The Realm of the Dead_2
788 -14: The Realm of the Dead_2
He thought it was very likely the case.
The judges would not go to the Sin Snatching Territory in the past.
It was only after hearing the news of the Child of Eden from the Chameleon Deity that the judge finally rushed to the Sin Snatching Territory, and even then, he brought the entire Sacred Mountain with him.
The reason for such caution might have been that the Sin Snatching Territory harbored an existence that not even the judge dared to provoke.
In its lifetime, the Nether Phoenix was the master of the Spiritual Purgatory.
Therefore, even after its death, the Spiritual Purgatory might slowly dissipate but would not be completely destroyed so quickly.
If the Spiritual Purgatory still exists, then despite being dead, the Nether Phoenix is still its master in a sense.
“What sustains the Spiritual Purgatory?”
[Naturally, it’s life force, by absorbing the life force of others.]
“If that’s the case, then the statement that your master is not far from here got to be almost certain.
It is said that the Sin Snatching Territory was once fertile with rich vegetation and full of life but gradually became as desolate as it is now, over the past few centuries.”
Tang Xian analyzed.
Perhaps this time, he was about to enter the most immense world of the Spiritual Purgatory.
With this thought, he suddenly furrowed his brows and asked:
“Of course, when a creature dies, how much intelligence does its obsession retain when it becomes a ghost?”
[That depends on how deep the obsession is and how powerful its owner was in life.] said the Xuan Bird.
Tang Xian shivered slightly; this was not good news.
According to this, the Nether Phoenix might now be an extremely terrifying ghost.
And according to Bai Shuang, there are things to the extreme west that are hard to explain.
Even the Xuan Bird didn’t know about these things.
Such as General Bone, skeleton warriors.
Why would the image of these legendary undead creatures appear to the extreme west of the west?
Do these creatures really exist?
What classification do they belong to?
How do they reproduce?
What is their combat power?
As they approached that place on the Xuan Bird’s flight, even Tang Xian, Tang Xiaojiu, and the others, who didn’t have a direct perception of the Netherworld, felt an extremely strange aura.
The flight and exploration continued for three days; the Sin Snatching Territory was just too vast.
If it weren’t for the Xuan Bird’s special perception of the Netherworld’s aura, Tang Xian believed that if he was searching alone, it would take half of ninety days.
On the fourth day, they finally arrived at the correct entry point.
At that moment, instead of continuing to fly deeper, the Xuan Bird landed on the ground, bowed its body, and let Tang Xiaojiu and Yuan Wu get down from it.
“What’s happened?”
[The death fog is thick; we must have found the right place.] The Xuan Bird looked solemn.
Tang Xian looked ahead, indeed a faint green fog was spreading, which looked very similar to his own poison fog.
At the same time, there was an extremely strong smell of decay in front of them.
[Apart from that little creature, it’s best if your two companions stay here.
If they continue forward, the death fog will consume their life force bit by bit.] The Xuan Bird had never seen such a large expanse of ghost fog outside the Spiritual Purgatory.
Tang knew these fogs; he had seen similar mists when entering the Xuan Bird’s Spiritual Purgatory, but that was nothing compared to what he was seeing now.
Stroking his chin, Tang Xian thought about Yuan Wu’s Mirror Eyes, which were an incredibly powerful offensive method.
In a sense, even a calamity-level being couldn’t withstand being stared at by the Mirror Eyes for too long.
After weighing his options, Tang Xian still nodded and said:
“Yuan Wu, Xiaojiu, you two stay here and wait for my message.
Yuan Wu, also keep an eye out for any news from Baichuan City.”
“My lord…
it’s dangerous ahead; I can be of help to you.”
“No need.
It’s not the time for you two to be of use yet.” Tang Xian waved his hand dismissively.
He then gave some instructions to Yuan Wu and Tang Xiaojiu and was ready to enter this “Land of the Dead” with Tang and the Xuan Bird.
From the outside, the death fog was thick, but when they walked into it, their vision was not obstructed.
It seemed like the boundary of a domain, warning outsiders to enter with caution.
If the Sin Snatching Territory was like a barren land with a strong sense of desolation, then it was picturesque compared to the world in the death fog.
Within the death fog, the world was not just barren, but a real white bone hell.
There were fragmented bones and skeletal remains scattered everywhere, with flesh long dissipated, leaving only the enduring stench.
These bones, skulls, lay scattered without order everywhere.
The whole scene looked deeply shunning.
For Tang Xian and Tang, having been to the Spiritual Purgatory, such scenes didn’t elicit too much feeling. 𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙥𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
The Xuan Bird need not be mentioned, almost feeling like a return home.
Nevertheless, they did not let their guard down and maintained enough vigilance, moving forward at what could be considered a slow pace, inspecting the source of any slight rustle of wind or grass.
Tang Xian had already firmly believed that there were no living creatures here, but in the dead mist, he needed to be wary of more than just the living, so he was not careless.
Suddenly, he thought of a certain question and said:
“Do the obsessions left by powerful beings after death share the same character as their owners when they were alive?”
The Xuan Bird shook its head and said:
[Obsessions do not make sense; they are paranoid, crazy, twisted.]
“Are there none that are rational?”
[Of course, there are those too.
As I’ve said before, the depth of an obsession’s wisdom depends on how powerful its owner was in life.
But even if it possesses wisdom, it is still an obsession, and it will be frantically driven to fulfill that obsession.]
“What is the Nether Phoenix’s obsession?”
[I don’t know…
I do not know what my master’s obsession is.]
“To save the world?”
[What does saving mean?
To keep all creatures in the world alive?
In my master’s eyes, there is no distinction between life and death, even if all living beings die, it makes little difference to it.]
“Then what was its reason for waging war against the Order Keepers?”
[The Order Keepers wanted to kill my master, and my master did not want to be killed by them.]
“Double standards.
Negative review.”
[What did you say?] The Xuan Bird glared at Tang Xian.
Tang Xian thought for a moment, realizing he still depended on the Xuan Bird to lead the way, so he didn’t provoke it further.
However, his own statement just now might indeed have been inappropriate.
Perhaps the Nether Phoenix was simply unwilling to lose to the Order Keepers, nothing more.
But from the words of the Xuan Bird, Tang Xian could somewhat sense that the Nether Phoenix’s obsession might not be easy to deal with.
The Sea God’s obsession was merely a catastrophe-level strength.
But the Nether Phoenix’s obsession was different, perhaps not yet reaching apocalypse-level, but definitely above catastrophe-level.
And Tang Xian was also unsure of what the Nether Phoenix’s methods were.
Looking at the mist ahead and listening to the inexplicable sounds of bones scraping against each other.
Tang Xian suddenly found himself missing the ocean.
If there were a sea nearby, his weapon would be of use.
He was, after all, somewhat nervous; once a person was uncertain, they couldn’t help but fantasize about an advantageous situation.
No advantage.
Tang Xian cast aside his stray thoughts and continued forward, saying:
“I’m sure the distribution of the smells has changed.”
[What do you mean?] asked the Xuan Bird.
“There aren’t things like General Bone or skeletal warriors inside your Spiritual Purgatory, right?”
[Bone is material, obsession is ethereal, it only materializes inside Spiritual Purgatory.]
“But the shattering of Spiritual Purgatory has never happened before.
If the spirits and obsessions were to coexist with creatures of the real world in a special dimension, could they possibly undergo a mutation, or even merge?”
[What are you trying to say?] The Xuan Bird couldn’t understand Tang Xian’s words.
Tang Xian couldn’t explain clearly either because the feedback from his sense of smell was very unscientific.
Because—the scattered white bones on the ground began to move.
“What I’m trying to say is, get ready for battle, we are surrounded.”
After Tang Xian finished speaking, the trajectory of the white bones’ movement became even more apparent.
This time, not only Tang Xian, but the Xuan Bird and Tang as well felt it.
The dead mist had also become much denser, and an invisible force seemed to gush out from a low valley somewhere far away, then scattered around—
This force appeared to be pulling the countless animal skeletons, and the sounds of bending and joining bones sent shivers down the spine.
Battalion after battalion of bone soldiers, which one would only expect to find in hell, were being assembled.
This assembling was crude, for instance, elephant bones, deer bones, dragon bones from clearly different creatures were not separated; they were mixed together, making these bone creatures look terrifyingly bizarre.
Tang Xian looked over and estimated that there were probably tens of thousands of these creatures.
“It seems I guessed right, there are no undead here, it’s just that the obsessions have found bodies.”
