The pack of Bone-Piercing Crocodiles
escorted the Bone-White Crocodile Demon,
plunging ever deeper, ever deeper.
The main channel of the Nether-Dragon River
was bottomless, a vast expanse of black.
As they dove deeper,
the Bone-White Crocodile Demon’s apprehension
grew more intense.
Many Bone-Piercing Crocodiles by his side
were already faltering, unable to keep pace.
Bone-Piercing Crocodiles were not creatures
of deep-sea habit.
Were it not for the Bone-White Crocodile Demon’s
direct command,
they would never have descended to such depths.
After descending a while longer,
the Bone-White Crocodile Demon
beheld a swirling vortex of Yin energy.
Within the vortex, numerous Water Ghosts
were crowded and piled upon each other,
forming a strange and unnerving formation.
The Bone-White Crocodile Demon
was accustomed to such sights.
He transmitted a thought with his divine sense,
speaking with considerable worry:
“Military Advisor Xie,
the matter was not accomplished.
How shall we two report to our Lord?”
From within the battle formation,
came the voice of Xie Sichao:
“We were on the verge of success,
but Wen Ruanyu suddenly appeared,
causing our efforts to fail at the very last moment.”
“Hold on…”
Xie Sichao suddenly stopped speaking.
After a few breaths, he spoke again:
“Strange.”
Bone-White Crocodile Demon: “What is strange?”
Xie Sichao said: “Intelligence from the river’s surface
reports that Wen Ruanyu returned,
searching for outsiders among the fleet.
And indeed, she found one,
a merchant from Feiyun Country named Yang Weida,
and personally took him away.”
Bone-White Crocodile Demon: “Could it be
that this Yang Weida has some background,
causing Wen Ruanyu to personally greet him?
Our luck was poor,
and we happened to encounter Wen Ruanyu.”
Xie Sichao said: “This is precisely the strangeness.
Xie Sichao clearly does not recognize this person,
and after taking Yang Weida away,
she did not immediately return to White Paper City,
but continued northward.”
The Bone-White Crocodile Demon mused for a moment:
“That is indeed quite peculiar.”
The two speculated for a while,
gaining no clear understanding,
and continued deeper into the water,
journeying side by side.
Upon reaching a certain depth,
the Bone-White Crocodile Demon
heard the roar of a flood dragon.
Suddenly, the water around him vanished,
transforming into a gloomy space.
At this moment, he had officially
entered the Netherworld from the mortal realm!
This was the peculiar nature of the Nether-Dragon River channel.
The Nether-Dragon was a flood dragon
dwelling in the Netherworld,
desiring to advance further, and thus undergoing tribulation,
suffering the most potent Yin-Yang lightning tribulation.
It was no ordinary Nether-Dragon;
it held a divine position!
Therefore, after transforming into the Nether-Dragon River channel,
this river naturally connected to the Netherworld,
becoming a bridge between the mortal realm and the Netherworld.
And the ghost tide that swept through the entire
Nether-Soul Black Marsh wetland
every so often came precisely through this passage.
The Bone-White Crocodile Demon and Xie Sichao
entered the Netherworld together,
stepping into a teleportation array.
The teleportation array activated,
sending them into a luxurious and solemn mansion.
“Greetings, Lord!”
Led by an attendant, the two arrived at the grand hall
and both knelt in worship.
“Your humble servants were ineffective in our task, and thus guilty.”
Xie Sichao, in his capacity as military advisor,
apologized and recounted the details.
The Bone-White Crocodile Demon remained silent,
exceedingly deferential.
The mysterious Lord was seated upon a throne,
his entire form shrouded in a layer of black mist.
After hearing the report, he was silent for a while,
before speaking in a heavy, profound voice:
“Wen Ruanyu is a disciple of the Myriad Forms Sect,
possessing exceptional strength.
Your timely retreat was exceedingly wise.”
“When the enemy is strong and we are weak,
retreat is proper, preserving our useful selves;
this is a fundamental principle of military strategy.”
“However, Wen Ruanyu’s current journey
was undertaken upon receiving a flying message
from the Funereal Music Spectre Maiden.
The latter is the right-hand of the White Paper City Lord,
skilled in divination.”
“Wen Ruanyu’s actions this time are indeed strange,
likely due to the Funereal Music Spectre Maiden
having divined something.”
At this point, the Lord paused, and continued:
“This ghost tide is the result of our accumulation
and guidance over many years.
And to use it to eliminate the White Paper City Lord
and occupy this Immortal City,
we must naturally go all out,
leaving the opponent no opportunity.”
“Since the opponent possesses a divining cultivator,
we too must consult a divination.”
“Take my token, the two of you,
and go to the Water Burial Valley
to seek an audience with the Greybone Elder,
and have him divine how to proceed
in this situation to prevent any turn of fortune
for the opponent.”
The Bone-White Crocodile Demon and Xie Sichao
hastily agreed.
The two left the mansion
and, using the teleportation array,
arrived at the Water Burial Valley.
With the token, they quickly and successfully
met the Greybone Elder.
The Greybone Elder’s eyes were like cold stars,
covered by a mask of grey bone.
Upon the mask were countless characters,
the forbidden formations depicting
the content of his primary cultivation technique,
the ‘Six Yin Bone Inquiry Scripture’.
The Greybone Elder put away the token
and immediately began his divination.
He took out a clay pot, filled with bones.
The Greybone Elder activated his magic power,
cut his fingertips, and dripped out three drops of ghastly green blood.
The blood fell into the clay pot
and immediately ignited.
Silent, Yin-cold Qingling flames
burned the bones into bone dust.
The Greybone Elder flipped his wrist,
circling it above the tongues of flame,
and summoned a gust of Yin wind.
The Yin wind swept up the bone ash,
scattering it in the air.
The Greybone Elder chanted softly,
forming hand seals, and activated his cultivation technique.
The Bone-White Crocodile Demon and Xie Sichao
watched attentively, and saw the bone ash
condensing in the wind,
gradually forming characters.
They carefully distinguished:
“Behead the Spectre Maiden, the city gates open,”
“Burn the paper effigy, beckon the malevolent.”
“Wen Yu spills ink, defiles the white scroll,”
“Myriad Forms…”
The next moment, the Greybone Elder
waved his sleeve, disturbing the Yin wind
and scattering all the bone ash.
“Senior Greybone, why have you stopped divining?”
The Bone-White Crocodile Demon
questioned with surprise.
Xie Sichao also held the same query.
The Greybone Elder snorted softly:
“How can heavenly secrets be so easily revealed?”
“Each divination requires a cost,
not merely in treasures and magic power.”
“But also in my personal fortune!”
“One cannot calculate everything.
Calculating every secret,
revealing heavenly secrets,
is a great损for my own fortune.”
“The favor I owe your Lord
is only sufficient for this level of divination.”
“Begone.”
Saying this, the Greybone Elder
waved his sleeve once more.
The Bone-White Crocodile Demon and Xie Sichao,
both Golden Core cultivators,
felt the world spin at that instant.
When they steadied themselves and looked closely,
they were astonished to find that they had both
been teleported to the entrance of the Water Burial Valley.
The two were helpless and began to discuss.
“Is the Greybone Elder in the Nascent Soul or Soul Transformation stage?”
“Hard to say. His cultivation realm has always been a mystery.”
“What shall we do about this?”
“Naturally, we cannot force our way into the Water Burial Valley,
nor do we have the ability.
We shall report the current outcome to our Lord.”
“This…”
“Worry not. Although the prophecy is incomplete,
it can勉强serve as a report.
Did it not say to first eliminate the Funereal Music Spectre Maiden?
This female cultivator is indeed a hidden danger to our hearts.
What’s more, if she has divined and guided Wen Ruanyu’s actions,
her fortune must have greatly declined by now,
making it an excellent time to act.”
The two conversed as they hurried back.
White Paper City, Listening Spectre Pavilion.
This was the music room of the Funereal Music Spectre Maiden.
The Nether Bamboo Sea outside the window
was utterly silent,
even the blue-green phosphorescence
that usually traveled through the forest
was now dormant deep within the bamboo grove.
The scent of decaying, moldy leaves
pervaded the music room through the window gaps.
The Funereal Music Spectre Maiden
reached out to adjust the bronze lamp wick.
The clear green flame suddenly twisted into a human form,
struggling incessantly and displaying signs of pain.
The Funereal Music Spectre Maiden
also frowned slightly.
She took a deep breath,
gently stretched her ten fingers,
and placed them on the zither strings.
The Sound of Nine Springs’ Peace and Joy!
The first harmonic note was like a spring
breaking through ice.
The prayer flags hanging from the four walls of the room
moved without wind.
The zither’s sound brushed against the bronze lamp,
and the twisted human-shaped candlelight
was immediately soothed and healed,
no longer struggling, but gasping for breath.
The silent bamboo sea outside the window
also saw slight swaying of bamboo leaves;
even the decaying bamboo leaves
were miraculously turning green again.
The zither music continued through six转,
and when the Shang note was played,
the smoke from the incense burner on the table
condensed into an Udumbara flower,
falling down and adhering
to the Funereal Music Spectre Maiden’s forehead
between her eyebrows.
The Funereal Music Spectre Maiden’s
slightly furrowed brows
also relaxed accordingly.
But when the Jiao note was played for the seventh time,
the human form of the bronze candlelight dissipated,
returning to its normal appearance.
The bamboo forest swayed,
and a large number of decaying leaves turned green.
As the music progressed to the latter half,
whenever the Zhi note grew strong,
the candlelight became soft and round, emitting warmth.
The bamboo sea swayed comfortably,
and the scent of decay was barely perceptible.
The Udumbara flowers condensed from smoke
had become a sparse rain of flowers,
bathing the Funereal Music Spectre Maiden within it.
Just as this sound therapy was about to achieve great success,
the zither string suddenly snapped.
From the deep bamboo forest,
countless hidden weapons suddenly shot out.
The Funereal Music Spectre Maiden’s heart ached,
and blood welled up, which she forcefully swallowed.
Her entire aura flared greatly,
activating her protective treasure armor.
Her sleeves suddenly grew large and long,
forming cloud sleeves.
The cloud sleeves danced,
catching all the hidden weapons,
and sealing them completely.
Nine assassins surged out from all directions,
shattering window frames, breaking through walls,
and smashing down the door,
almost simultaneously attacking the Funereal Music Spectre Maiden.
A trace of panic flashed in the Funereal Music Spectre Maiden’s eyes.
Her healing had failed at this moment,
her state was poor, and her combat power
was less than thirty percent of her usual strength.
In a life-or-death crisis, she immediately
reached into her bosom, about to crush
an emergency jade pendant.
But in an instant thought,
she stopped this idea,
and instead drew out a backup instrument, a pipa,
emitting a tearing, rasping sound wave.
The sound wave swept out,
carrying the full might of the Funereal Music Spectre Maiden,
sharply piercing.
The two assassins rushing at the forefront
were directly cut in half at the waist.
Their scattered internal organs bizarrely
transformed into a puddle of putrid black water.
From the putrid black water,
eight-legged ghost spiders condensed
and continued their assault.
The Funereal Music Spectre Maiden
spun and leaped onto a beam,
dodging the combined attack of the remaining seven assassins.
But the plain silver hairpin,
a defensive magic item at her temple,
shattered, and a strand of her black hair floated down.
The Funereal Music Spectre Maiden bit her tongue,
spitting out essence blood onto the pipa.
Golden-red forbidden formations immediately appeared on the pipa,
and the mournful ‘Nine Springs Burial Song’
exploded through the air.
Bang, bang, bang…
The sound waves swept everything away.
All forty-eight bamboo blinds in Listening Spectre Pavilion
exploded, and the massive dust and air currents
were extraordinary, spreading outwards.
Such a massive commotion immediately
attracted the support of the guards.
By the time the dust settled,
only three assassins remained.
They looked at the Funereal Music Spectre Maiden,
who was poised for battle and hovering in mid-air,
their fighting spirit having plummeted to rock bottom.
“This Funereal Music Spectre Maiden is truly formidable!
We had made arrangements in her treasure zither
and music room,
yet she faced fatal crises multiple times
and resolutely did not utilize any of them,
causing our traps to fail.”
“Even more terrifying is that she did not crush the jade pendant
and escape through the void.
Had she done so, she would have surely
failed the teleportation,
and her body would have been torn into countless fragments.”
“Let’s go. Although the primary mission failed,
we still have a secondary objective.”
The three assassins summoned black smoke,
leaving behind a large number of eight-legged ghost spiders
to cover their retreat, while they themselves fled.
The guards hurried to the scene.
After the Funereal Music Spectre Maiden
confirmed her safety, she could no longer hold on,
spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood,
and her aura completely withered.
In another location,
the three warships commanded by Qingyan
had already docked early.
He himself personally led several male consorts,
walking the entire way,
approaching the city gate.
White Paper City was entirely pale in color.
The city wall material was neither stone nor wood,
but surprisingly close to paper.
The city gate was towering and extremely thick.
The forbidden formation of the ‘Heavy Water Great Law of the Yin Tide’
on the gate emitted layers of water light,
sounding like the rising and falling of tides.
The city guards were mostly composed of ghost races,
with only the leaders or elite members being human.
Their armor and weapons were also very unique,
like being folded from white cardboard.
“State your names.”
The official guarding the city gate,
holding a book in one hand and a brush in the other,
also had scholarly aura surrounding him,
clearly a human Confucian cultivator.
Upon seeing those entering the city,
he would raise his eyes to look
and record their names in the book.
Led by Qingyan, Ning Zhuo and the others
each stated their names.
Sun Ning and the other still felt a slight unease,
but their假名假姓 landed in the book smoothly,
and they were not exposed.
Passing through the city gate, the group
officially stepped into White Paper Immortal City.
Here, buildings rose layer upon layer,
the walls resembling old book pages
揉皱 and then flattened by an invisible giant hand.
From the cracks in the window frames,
drifted the charred aroma of bone glue
boiled by裱糊匠.
Ink marks and various fragmented phrases
occasionally appeared on the white stone road.
The owner of the papermaking shop
stood at the entrance, soliciting business
from passersby:
“Come and see, come and see!
This is the new Underworld Cloud Umbrella
made in our shop,
it can shield you from the soul-destroying rain
for a quarter of an hour!”
Sun Ning and the other looked up to observe
and saw that the items sold in this papermaking shop
were almost all paper umbrellas.
Continuing down the long street, the two discovered
that there were many papermaking shops.
Besides selling paper umbrellas,
they also sold paper weapons,
as well as paper figures, paper horses, paper houses, and so on.
In addition to paper shops,
there were also many talisman shops.
Passing through the long street of paper shops,
the group followed the scent of ink,
turning towards the West Market.
The sound of flowing water came from ahead,
and soon after, a city river
was revealed before the group.
The inky black river water flowed,
shimmering with dark, glossy ink light.
Upon the river were paper boats of various sizes and heights.
An old man steered a乌篷 paper boat,
holding a long bamboo pole,
and boat girls sang on colorful paper pleasure boats.
Qingyan led the group across four bridges in succession,
getting closer and closer to the city center.
Sun Ning and the other beheld a novel sight.
This unique appearance of an immortal city
was also their first time witnessing it in person.
Zhu Xuanji had only told Ning Zhuo to go here,
given him a token, and said no more.
Sun Ning and the other had originally intended to gather intelligence,
but unexpectedly, after impersonating Jiao Ma and Tie Tuo,
they lost this opportunity and were directly brought in.
The two looked ahead and saw,
among the layers of pavilions,
several tall buildings that were particularly conspicuous.
One was a tall paper figure located in the south,
facing the south gate,
its back towards Qingyan and the others.
A black tower, emitting billowing Yin energy,
with hundreds and thousands of brushes
hanging from each of its seven eaves.
And a cloud pavilion, relying on white clouds,
suspended in mid-air.
Boom, boom, boom…
After a series of explosions,
flames immediately shot up into the sky,
igniting the paper figure statue in the south.
The alarm bell for enemy attack
sounded throughout the entire city.
Sun Ning and the others exchanged startled glances.
Even within a grand Immortal City,
such turmoil could occur?
Qingyan’s face was solemn.
He turned and instructed Ning Zhuo and the others:
“You all proceed to the City Lord’s Mansion on your own.
I will go and see the situation
and assist as much as possible!”
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