Chapter 17 - The Underworld Invades
Xu Ying snorted, exasperated by these two crazy demons. They were actually trying to trick him into rebelling against humans and overthrowing their rule to establish a demonic kingdom on land!
They shouted, “You be the king. Both of us will follow you without question!”
Demonic qi permeated the cave, turning the air murky. So, Xu Ying got up and stepped outside. It was pitch-black. The heavy downpour had eased, yet a fine drizzle lingered. There was no telling when it would clear.
He fell into thought.
Exorcists used the Dragon Tracking Technique to pinpoint the location of their Secret Trove, unlock it, and harness its power to refine Radiant Vestige. Qi Cultivators, on the other hand, gathered and refined qi to break through the mystic gateways within.
These were two entirely different cultivation systems, with no overlap.
He was puzzled. If harvesting and refining qi is a human cultivation technique, then why does it not share any similarity with the exorcism techniques?
The two demons’ whispers drifted from the cave.
“We demons must have had a civilization before humans. We must’ve established a glorious empire, even divided the mortal realm and the underworld! Afterward, the humans defeated us with schemes and plots, wiping out our civilization.”
“Humans are too despicable!”
“But Great Demon King Xu will lead us to restore the glory of the demon race!”
“Long live Demon King Xu!”
......
Xu Ying rolled his eyes. Their imaginations surpassed his.
He tried moving his left shoulder. Pain lingered, but the sword wound had healed considerably.
The giant god’s flying sword had pierced his left hand and chest and exited through his shoulder blade. He had not been able to move his arm at all. However, after achieving Five-Qi Origin Convergence and refining the five qi into primordial qi, his regenerative abilities had become much stronger.
In the past, this injury would have taken half a year to heal.
“Still, the Zhou clan’s Mud-Pill Secret Trove’s regenerative ability is even more astonishing. No, it’s heaven-defying!”
Xu Ying couldn’t help but feel envious when he recalled Zhou Yihang’s terrifying physique. After unlocking the Mud-Pill Secret Trove, one’s regenerative ability became almost mythical. They became undying!
Even if he couldn’t match Zhou Yihang’s physique, getting to Ding Quan’s level would already be extraordinary.
Xu Ying sighed with a hint of melancholy. Unfortunately, he still didn’t know the Dragon Tracking Technique. Even if he found it, it would be useless without a Great Exorcist to unlock it.
More importantly...
“Am I human or a demon?”
Xu Ying looked toward the brightening horizon. He murmured, “I must be human, for sure! I come from Xujiaping Village. I have a father and a mother, both humans. My father is Xu Shaoping, and my mother is Miao Yuemei, from Miaotianpu Village. I still remember the road to both villages.”
Behind him, Yuanqi suddenly stopped mid-celebration and looked at Xu Ying’s back in confusion.
Xiong Qianli asked, “What’s wrong, Brother Qi?”
Yuanqi replied in a whisper, “Something’s off. I clearly remember Ah Ying saying that his father’s name is Xu An and his mother’s name is Tian Ruijun from Tianjiaping Village. How did his father become Xu Shaoping, and his mother Miao Yuemei? Even her hometown changed.”
Xiong Qianli chuckled. “He must have knocked his head silly when he fainted earlier! If he stays muddle-headed, wouldn’t we become a pair of treacherous officials pulling the strings from behind?”
The two demons exchanged glances and cheered heartlessly.
Finally, the rain stopped, the sky cleared, and it gradually brightened. Xu Ying suddenly grew wary. He looked up and into the distance. Earlier, the dark sky and the rain had limited his vision, so he didn’t notice that the Hell River was just ahead.
This river surged turbulently, flowing from the direction of the rocky mountain and passing through Mount Xiao and Mount Wuwang!
Its presence meant it was still night. If its course had changed, would it return to its original path?
Puzzled, Xu Ying looked into the distance.
The Hell River invaded. Ghostly flames floated everywhere in the mountain forests. Even further away was a graveyard. It was also affected. It glowed brightly as skeletons crawled out of their graves, setting up decorations and hosting a grand banquet.
Some skeletons even wore fine silk, their robes left unfastened, baring their chests as they danced on the graves to liven the mood.
Suddenly, a rumble echoed as the ground shook, and Xu Ying’s cave swayed violently.
Yuanqi and Xiong Qianli hurriedly came out of the cave. Xu Ying murmured, “Is the Hell River returning to its original course?”
The trio looked toward the source of the sound. Their faces paled in shock. The riverbanks had once been formless, without substance. Now, they were gradually taking shape.
The riverbanks grew increasingly clear and tangible as they forced their way into the mortal realm from an unimaginable world!
Mountains and valleys of varying sizes rose along the riverbanks, materializing out of thin air. They pressed against the original peaks of Lingling County. The earth shook and trembled continuously, producing deafening roars!
The scene was truly terrifying. Mountains erupted in succession from the shores of the Hell River, pushing the original mountains back.
Even Mount Xiao beneath their feet trembled violently! It had once stood only a few li from Mt. Wuwang, where Qinyan Cave was located. Now, the new formations had pushed it back by more than thirty li.
Across these thirty-some li of land, several mountains and riverbanks of the underworld appeared out of nowhere.
Yuanqi cried out in despair, “Is there no one to stop this invasion of the underworld? Humans have so many capable people and Exorcists. Why aren’t they doing anything? Is there no law and order? It pushed away my Qinyan Cave! When can I return home?”
Qinyan Cave, once only four or five li away, was now more than thirty li distant. Moreover, they had to cross the Hell River and those underworld mountains.
A chill ran down Xu Ying’s spine. Demons and mountain gods filled the mountains of the mortal realm. Who knew what lurked in the mountains of the underworld?
Even if he were a Demon King, forcing a path through would be near suicide.
More light appeared at the foot of the mountain. Those were the eyes of gods, glowing eerily in the dark. The light could illuminate more than ten zhang away.
Xu Ying’s heart sank. The rain had just stopped, and dawn had yet to arrive, yet the gods had already begun searching the mountain!
He called out, “Yuanqi, we need to go!”
The east was gradually lighting up as the sun rose. Mist still lingered in the air. The underworld still invaded the mortal realm. Deafening roars rang out where the two worlds collided, the space unstable.
However, as the morning sun rose, the Hell River gradually faded. Everything seemed to return to normal. Yet the mountains and valleys along its banks remained, not retreating to the underworld.
The Hell River slowly receded. The mountains were still somewhat dim. A god spread both hands open and used them to illuminate his surroundings.
Eyes the size of an ordinary person’s fist grew on his palms. Divine light radiated from them, illuminating the surroundings.
Wind whistled. It was the god of Yong’an Town: a human body with bird wings, soaring through the air. His gaze was like a torch, casting two beams of light downward.
A figure silently flashed by and arrived before the god with eyes in his palms.
It was a youth. He held a great bell taller than an adult as if it weighed nothing.
The hand-eye god had no eyes on his head, only those in his palms. He was vigilant, however. Sensing something wrong, he turned his palms in that direction.
But it was already too late!
The youth unleashed a punch with his free hand. Thunder rumbled with the punch as it slammed into the god’s chest.
The punch was incomparably heavy. The force sent him flying before rushing into him. It shredded everything in its path to dust.
The thunder followed, tearing through him and scattering his divine soul. Before he hit the ground, the essence of his divine soul had already disintegrated!
Xu Ying killed the hand-eye god with a single punch. He was much stronger than when he battled the giant god yesterday, though his left arm still felt somewhat uncomfortable.
To prevent the bronze bell from dragging against the ground and alerting others, he had no choice but to hold it up with his left hand.
Fortunately, he practiced the Elephant-Bull Demon Fist, which granted him immense strength. Holding the bell up was nothing to him.
Without stopping, Xu Ying leaped up. He kicked off a tree trunk to change direction midair, charging toward the Yong’an Town’s god.
As a town god with a pair of wings, he held the advantage in the air. If Xu Ying couldn’t bring him down at once, escape would be impossible even if he broke through the encirclement.
Unfortunately, the god had already noticed the commotion when Xu Ying moved to kill the hand-eye god. His gaze locked onto Xu Ying, divine light falling on Xu Ying.
Xu Ying was midair, still several zhang away from him. His momentum spent, Xu Ying could no longer threaten him, so the god breathed a sigh of relief.
He smiled. “Brat, you’re even carrying a trumpet with—”
A slender figure flashed through the air. A large snake lunged into the air and landed under Xu Ying’s feet.
Using that large snake’s back as a foothold, Xu Ying soared into the air once more and unleashed a punch.
The god of Yong’an Town had received two hundred years of incense offerings. Even though his physique was inferior to the giant god, he was not to be trifled with. He condensed incense qi into a flying sword as he flapped his wings in retreat.
His wings granted agile movement, while Xu Ying had no foothold in the air. As long as he dodged this strike, he could kill Xu Ying with ease.
However, as Xu Ying unleashed his punch, an elephant king’s divine avatar manifested behind him, radiating divine light and mirroring his punch. The surrounding air collapsed into a vacuum, trapping the god of Yong’an Town despite his frantic wingbeats.
Boom!
A thunderous explosion rang in the air. Xu Ying’s punch shattered the flying sword. Two centuries' worth of mystical power, refined from incense qi, was pierced through in an instant. It failed to defend him.
His head burst into wooden splinters that scattered in all directions. The headless corpse kept flapping its wings frantically for a few more beats before plunging diagonally from the sky.
Stepping on the headless corpse of the Yong’an Town’s god, Xu Ying glided down. In the distance, a god cried out, “Xu Ying is over there!”
Xu Ying jumped off into the mountain forest, rolling a few times to dissipate the force before springing back up and racing down the mountain.
Nearby, Yuanqi slithered swiftly, acting as his support.
Whenever the duo encountered any god blocking their path, they would charge straight at them and finish them off as soon as possible.
Even Yuanqi had reached the peak of the fifth level in the Elephant-Bull Demon Fist. He was most skilled in the White Elephant’s Trunk Sweep technique. When he executed it with his tail, the tip would break the sound barrier, often seizing victory with a single strike.
Of course, if Yuanqi failed to end the fight in one strike, he would be in danger. After all, he was a snake demon with no limbs. He could not execute all the techniques of the Elephant-Bull Demon Fist as Xu Ying could.
Fortunately, he and Xu Ying supported each other. If his strike missed, Xu Ying’s attack would follow immediately to help him eliminate his opponent.
As the sun rose, the Hell River faded completely. The black bear stood at the cave entrance, looking into the distance. In the distant mountain forests, figures of gods surged and fell like a tide, all racing in the same direction.
In that direction, the sun essence in a certain area seemed strange. The sunlight was unusually concentrated there. From afar, the light particles in the air formed both a small and a large vortex.
There, Xu Ying and Yuanqi were racing forth, fending off enemies. Simultaneously, they were practicing their breathing techniques to refine away the impurities within and raise their vital energy, to increase the speed of their recovery.
Xiong Qianli murmured, “Demon King Xu, Brother Qi, I wish you safe travels!”
Xu Ying and Yuan Qi raced more than ten li and entered deep into the Hell River’s left bank, entering the mountains of the underworld.
Those ten li were a series of non-stop battles, but they finally shook off their pursuers.
Several more wounds covered Xu Ying and Yuanqi, but they didn’t continue practicing their cultivation techniques. Here, even the sunlight turned cold and gloomy. One could hardly feel any warmth.
Channeling their cultivation techniques now would only draw in chilling qi that seemed about to freeze their blood. Such chaotic energy couldn’t raise their cultivation and could instead harm them!
The mountains of the underworld were eerie and terrifying. They were black, and some peaks even had unknown, thick, black fluid flowing down them.
Xu Ying advanced with his right hand holding up the great bell. At the foot of a cliff, he saw a path paved with piled-up bones. Following the road with his eyes, he saw a house at the end.
The house was built entirely from bones, stacked into crude bricks for its walls and laid into jagged tiles across the roof. Strips of human skin hung like banners, and skulls were set into the structure as grim decorations.
A chilling wind blew against the human skin banner. Across the stretched skin, the word “tavern” had been carved in crude, deliberate strokes.
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