Chapter 466: The Great World Upon the Xiang Linger Emperor

Within the basin, the towering trees into which the Wood Xiang Linger clansmen had merged all opened their eyes, gazing at the arriving Xu Qing.

On the leaves, most of the young clansmen were filled with sorrow; in the wind and rain, this grief permeated the air, shrouding the entire basin.

They did not block Xu Qing, allowing him to bring the old man as they sped forward, heading straight for the towering tree at the center.

There, the gates of the temple had already opened for him.

The moment he stepped into the temple, Xu Qing saw the statue enshrined within, but he had no energy to observe it closely. Guided by the old man, they headed straight for the secret passage, following the stairs downward.

The sound of Ban Quanlu's rapid breathing echoed through the pitch-black passage. He had been running at full capacity, but Xu Qing felt the speed was too slow. Grabbing the old man, Xu Qing surged forward; under the burst of his speed, it was as if they were traversing the void, arriving directly at the end of the stairs, upon the altar that seemed to hang over the abyss.

The moment he appeared on the altar, Xu Qing looked around, and at a glance, he saw a white figure sitting cross-legged in meditation, thousands of feet away, within one of the countless cave openings.

It was a very beautiful young girl with a flawless little face, bearing a trace of peace and innocence. Only, at this moment, her eyes were closed, her complexion incomparably pale, and she was motionless.

Yet, the dried blood on the corners of her mouth and her dress caused unprecedented waves to rise in Xu Qing's heart. His expression revealed a complexity that had reached its extreme.

He recognized that she was indeed the innocent and lively young girl who had appeared on Mermaid Island.

He remembered how she had once hopped and skipped happily before him, asking a question.

"Senior Brother, do you like snakes, or do you like eating snake gall?"

Xu Qing was silent. He thought of the words Ban Quanlu had spoken on the way. According to him, this girl was also the white snake he had once seen... Xu Qing remembered the last time he saw her, at the Seven Blood Eyes, beneath a tavern.

The little white snake had flown out and coiled around his right wrist.

"Right wrist... golden thread... life-bound thread..." Xu Qing muttered. Looking at the white-clad girl who had no signs of life, his heart was first moved by her sacrifice for him, and then a strong sense of guilt arose.

This debt of gratitude was too great.

But he did not understand; he had only met her a few times and had little contact with her, so why could she do this much for him?

In his life, all the beauty he had encountered, while real, had existed for a reason.

The kindness of Captain Lei was because, in the flames of that cremation, he had seen a glimmer of warmth in the world, and following the subsequent life-saving grace, he had come to treat him like a son.

Master Bai's kindness was due to his persistence in the Dao of plants and vegetation, as well as his earnest desire for knowledge, which had given him the intention to pass on his craft.

As for Seventh Master, it was because of his own actions that he had gained appreciation and been given opportunities, until he watched him walk all the way to the present, earning recognition.

But with Linger, Xu Qing did not understand.

Such a person was someone he had never encountered in his life.

"Why?" Xu Qing looked at the girl in the white dress and muttered softly.

Ban Quanlu stood by Xu Qing's side, looking sorrowfully at Linger in front, and spoke.

"Because she likes you."

Xu Qing was silent.

Ban Quanlu sighed, the wrinkles on his face bunching together to form bitterness.

"Xu Qing, many things in life do not have just one answer or one standard. I know your confusion, but if you always believe that all the beauty encountered in life must have a reason, then Xu Qing, your thinking has hit a dead end."

"Love actually has many forms; there is no fixed standard or method. Some love is sacrifice, some is care, some is admiration, some is tragic, some is attraction, and some is remembrance."

"There are all kinds of people in this world, and all kinds of things will happen. If a person can only accept the path they recognize, then they are narrow-minded. Only by accepting paths from different directions can one call it growth."

Ban Quanlu whispered softly. No matter how urgent he was, he had to make this clear. He wanted Xu Qing to understand that many things in this world have no 'why,' nor must they have a reason.

And this concerned whether Linger could truly be saved within that special Xiang Linger Abyss.

Listening to these words, a string deep in Xu Qing's heart trembled at this moment, and the resulting ripples spread throughout his body and mind.

"Tell me, how do I save her?" Xu Qing took a deep breath, gazed at Linger in the distance, and spoke softly.

"You only have seven days!" Ban Quanlu suppressed the anxiety in his heart, his gaze falling on Xu Qing.

"After Linger's inheritance failed, her soul fell into the Xiang Linger Abyss, and her body's flesh and blood would have withered, becoming bones. I used my own Dao of Sealing to seal her body so it wouldn't dissipate, but I can only seal it for seven days."

"Within seven days, you must find Linger's soul from within the Xiang Linger Abyss!" Ban Quanlu's gaze fell into the abyss beneath the altar.

"Unless one possesses a Xiang Linger Abyss Talisman, outsiders cannot enter this Xiang Linger Abyss. But the last talisman was taken down by someone many years ago, and that person never came out."

"And I am not Linger's true father, nor am I of the Ancient Xiang Linger Clan, so I cannot enter. Only the Ancient Xiang Linger Clan and those entwined with their life threads can step inside."

"This is also the reason why I found you." Ban Quanlu said hoarsely.

"Ancient Xiang Linger Clan? Xiang Linger Abyss?" Ripples rose in Xu Qing's heart. He had heard of the Ancient Xiang Linger Clan, but he did not ask at this moment.

Because of the seven-day limit, one day had almost passed, so he looked up at Ban Quanlu.

"Do you have information jade slips about what is below?"

"Give them to me; I will look at them later."

The old man immediately took out several jade slips. After handing them to Xu Qing, his expression revealed a plea.

"Please, for the sake of Linger taking your place in death, you must... you must save her."

Xu Qing looked up at Linger in the distance. Memories of his three brushes with death surfaced. He nodded silently, and at the edge of the altar, without any hesitation, he took a step out toward the abyss.

The next instant, his figure plummeted, falling rapidly toward the abyss.

Icy air currents whistled around him, assaulting his entire body, as if his flesh and soul were about to be frozen at this moment.

Xu Qing lowered his head, gazing at the abyss below. As his cultivation base spread out, his shadow also expanded in all directions, and the power of the poison prohibition permeated the air. Subsequently, his perception merged into the jade slips given by Ban Quanlu.

As segments of information flooded into his mind, Xu Qing, in the process of his continuous descent, gained a clear understanding of Linger and everything about this Xiang Linger Abyss.

Countless ages ago, in an era even more distant than the Xuanyou Ancient Emperor, there was a clan that had also unified the Wanggu Continent.

That was the Ancient Xiang Linger Clan.

In the later years of their Xiang Linger Emperor, they gathered the strength of the entire clan, converged their destiny, and did something that shocked the entire Wanggu Continent.

This matter was related to the Heavenly Dao.

But the Xiang Linger Emperor was different from the later Calamity Immortal Clan, and different from the three thousand clans before him. He did not want to create; he wanted to replace, to seize the Heavenly Dao with his own body.

Creation is merit.

Seizure is a great rebellion.

In the end, the Xiang Linger Emperor failed and suffered the backlash of all the Heavenly Daos of Wanggu. The clan's bloodline was cursed. At the critical moment, the Xiang Linger Emperor, relying on his own terrifying cultivation base, brought most of his clansmen into his Great World.

He attempted to avoid the clan's catastrophe, but even so, they could not escape the curse in the end.

The Xiang Linger Emperor fell.

His Great World withered, turning into a Dead World. All the Ancient Xiang Linger clansmen within perished instantly, and the horror of this curse was not as simple as mere extinction.

Under that curse, all the dead Ancient Xiang Linger clansmen turned into wailing, suffering ghosts day and night.

Thus, this withered Dead World became the Ancient Xiang Linger Dead Kingdom, eternally enduring the torture of the curse, eternally buried deep beneath the Wanggu Continent.

This Wood Xiang Linger Clan's Xiang Linger Abyss was one of the entrances to the Ancient Xiang Linger Emperor's Great World.

There were many such entrances across the Wanggu Continent.

And although the Ancient Xiang Linger Clan was cursed, there were still some bloodlines scattered across the Wanggu Continent, sporadically continuing. In these long years, they would occasionally appear.

Like the bones Xu Qing had seen on the abyss stone wall earlier, they were descendants of the Ancient Xiang Linger Clan who had come here wanting to receive the inheritance but failed and died.

The reason they came here was that after the Ancient Xiang Linger Clan transformed from snakes into humans, due to the bloodline curse, it was difficult to maintain, and they were in a state where their bloodline could collapse at any moment.

Therefore, they had to head toward the entrance near the world where the Ancient Xiang Linger Dead Kingdom was located, using the power of the Ancient Xiang Linger Dead Kingdom's Great World to suppress the cursed bloodline within their bodies.

Only then could they truly transform into human form.

But the Ancient Xiang Linger clansmen were tragic. Every once in a while, they had to use the power of the Ancient Xiang Linger Great World to suppress the curse, and the process of suppression also carried huge risks, like a catastrophe.

Once they failed, their souls would be swallowed by the Ancient Xiang Linger Dead Kingdom, becoming part of the wailing ghosts.

Xu Qing silently put away the jade slips. As his body continued to sink, he glanced at his right wrist. After a soft sigh, his expression revealed decisiveness, and his body's speed burst forth once more.

His whole person was like a meteor, whistling as he grew faster and faster, getting closer and closer to the icy source below.

Waves of repulsive force also came from below the Xiang Linger Abyss at this moment, but as the possessor of the Ancient Xiang Linger Clan's thread of fate, this repulsion dissipated quickly after appearing around Xu Qing.

And Xu Qing, under this extreme speed, delved into the pitch-black darkness.

Until, after a long time, a behemoth appeared within the mist.

It was a rotting giant snake, its entire body wreathed in thick intent of death.

This snake was buried in the mist, and while its body was permeated with rot, it also carried a Great World upon its head.

This Great World was blurry, and waves of wailing sounds emanated from within, heart-wrenching. In the void and mist, they fell into Xu Qing's ears, and his body was suddenly pulled by a huge suction force, heading straight for the Great World.

Getting closer and closer, the giant snake's body grew larger and larger. Soon, Xu Qing could no longer see the full picture of the giant snake; only that blurry Great World from which the wailing came became increasingly clear.

Until finally, a boom echoed, and Xu Qing's body slammed heavily into this Great World.

As the loud noise spread in all directions, a crater appeared on the ground that looked like rotting flesh.

Xu Qing's figure walked out from within, immediately checking his surroundings.

The sky here was shrouded in mist, with no sun or moon, only ghost fires like stars, flickering in the mist. The pale, dim light turned the world into a blur.

The earth here was all rotting flesh, with no mountains or trees. While desolate, it emitted an endless aura of death.

This aura was extremely icy, and at this moment, it was constantly assaulting Xu Qing's body, as if it wanted to corrode his flesh and blood. Clearly, this place contained thick malice toward all living beings.

In the blink of an eye, under the shroud of this death aura, a large number of black spots appeared on Xu Qing's body.

"The Ancient Xiang Linger Emperor's Great World." Xu Qing looked around, and the poison prohibition power within his body instantly spread out.

Immediately, a sizzling sound came from his body. Tiny existences, like maggots with ferocious ghost heads and long, thin bodies, were forced out from the black spots on him, falling onto the ground. As they twisted, they turned into black mist and dissipated.

After they dispersed, the spots no longer formed, gradually recovering.

"But how should I search here?" Xu Qing felt the malice of this Great World. His eyes revealed contemplation as he lowered his head to look at his right wrist.

"The Ancient Xiang Linger Clan is related to destiny..."

Xu Qing's heart stirred. The Sixth Tiangong within his body instantly vibrated, and the Canglong Heavenly Dao within it emitted a trace of aura that surged into his wrist.

There was no change to his wrist.

Xu Qing did not give up, continuously merging his own Heavenly Dao aura. After half an incense stick of time, his right wrist suddenly grew slightly hot. The golden thread that had originally delved into his bones actually began to emerge on his flesh.

Xu Qing's eyes narrowed.

Looking at the golden thread as it permeated countless cracks, he sighed in his heart, his sense of guilt deepening.

At this moment, he raised his hand and sensed his surroundings. Soon, Xu Qing turned around and suddenly looked to the right front.

When his wrist moved to this direction, the heat was significantly stronger.

"In this direction!" Xu Qing's eyes revealed decisiveness. Even though this Great World was dangerous, he could not care about too much now. His body flickered, and he suddenly rushed out.

His cultivation base erupted fully, his speed operated at full capacity, and the poison prohibition power spread out. Wherever he passed, the world roared, setting off waves of sonic booms.

After an incense stick of time, Xu Qing, who was speeding along, suddenly raised his left hand and pressed it downward. Immediately, the Jin Wu appeared behind him, letting out a roar and emitting flames. While illuminating the surroundings, it headed straight for the ground below.

Just as the Jin Wu rushed down, a huge ghost hand suddenly formed beneath Xu Qing. It was originally going to grab him, but at this moment, it collided with the Jin Wu.

This ghost hand was entirely cyan-black, covered in pustules. Within each pustule permeated countless souls wailing miserably. They stared fixedly at Xu Qing, revealing madness and greed.

As the booming sound echoed, the ghost hand collapsed directly under the impact of the Jin Wu. After it scattered, the souls contained within gathered together, swarming toward Xu Qing in dense numbers.

But before they could get close, as the Jin Wu swept across, sheets of flames spread. Miserable sounds came from the mouths of those souls; like moths to a flame, they all dissipated.

Xu Qing did not pay attention, following the guidance of the golden thread on his wrist, and continued to speed along.

But not long after, a huge, ferocious ghost face suddenly appeared before him, opening its huge mouth as if to swallow him.

Xu Qing was anxious to find Linger. As he flickered to avoid it, the shadow behind him twisted and appeared beside the ghost face, swallowing it greedily. But soon, the shadow shook all over, retching as it spat it out.

Xu Qing frowned. He could feel that the reason for this was that the wailing souls here possessed a curse. But now was not the time for contemplation. Xu Qing's speed did not decrease, and he rushed out.

Until half an hour later, when the heat from the golden thread on his wrist grew increasingly intense, something that caused Xu Qing's heart to shake occurred.

A sound of snapping came from his wrist!

Xu Qing's expression changed, and he lowered his head abruptly.

The golden thread shattered at this moment, falling off Xu Qing's wrist.

A sense of loss rose instantly in his heart.

It then turned into intense unease, becoming a heart-piercing pain.

Xu Qing's breathing was rapid. He raised his hand, wanting to grab those scattered golden threads, but these threads were dissipating rapidly after shattering.

They could not be kept.

Vaguely, it was as if a blurry figure was drifting away in his memory...

At the critical moment, Xu Qing's eyes revealed a sharp light. The Canglong in his Sixth Tiangong appeared abruptly above Xu Qing's head, spitting out a large amount of Heavenly Dao power, which surged toward that sheet of golden threads.

The Canglong also felt Xu Qing's anxiety, and with all its might, it crazily emitted its own Heavenly Dao power.

This method was indeed useful, but some things were not so simple to reverse. Even with the Canglong's Heavenly Dao power merging in, causing the dissipation of the golden threads to slow down, it still could not stop them from dissipating.

Clearly, the Canglong's power alone was not enough to stop the golden threads from scattering.

Looking at the continuously scattering golden threads, while the heart-piercing pain in Xu Qing's heart continued to intensify, he closed his eyes. Three breaths later, when he opened them, his left eye had become purple, and within the pupil, a purple moon was incomparably intense.

And his right eye changed as well, becoming black, containing endless poison. At the same time, a purple moon materialized behind him, and behind the purple moon, a pair of black, indifferent eyes emerged blurrily.

The surroundings immediately blurred, the world twisted, and the power of divine authority erupted on Xu Qing. After his status continuously elevated, Xu Qing gazed at the dissipating golden threads and spoke.

"Stay!"

Once this voice came out, the sky echoed with booms, and the earth trembled.

This was the method of using divine power that Xu Qing had learned from the whispers simulated by Chu Tianqun after their battle. By borrowing two types of divine authority, he made himself like a new god, so the words he spoke were divine sounds.

Xu Qing felt that since the power of the sky was not enough, then what if he added divine sound...

At this moment, once the divine sound came out, the dissipating golden threads shook violently. Under the dual power of the divine sound and the Canglong, the dissipation slowly stopped!

Although most had already dissipated, a portion was ultimately left behind.

Xu Qing raised his hand nervously and grasped them. Feeling the scorching heat emanating from within, he felt endless anxiety in his heart and sped along at full capacity in the direction guided by the heat.

He had to find Linger's soul here. As for how to leave after finding it, Ban Quanlu had also informed him. Among the several jade slips given, one was quite special.

Once this jade slip was crushed, Ban Quanlu, with the help of the entire Wood Xiang Linger Clan's power in the outside world, could unfold a technique to assist their return.

"Six days left..."

Xu Qing's speed was even faster. Wherever he passed during this sprint, the world roared, and his existence, to this world of death and to those wailing souls, was like an extremely bright torch.

Thus, soon, wailing souls emerged from all directions, carrying infinite malice, roaring and pouncing toward Xu Qing.

The ground even burst open, and withered hands reached out, revealing rotting corpses, carrying greed and madness as they rushed toward Xu Qing.

"Get lost!"

Xu Qing's status was extremely high at this moment. Once the divine sound words came out, the surroundings twisted, and a large number of wailing souls dissipated in misery.

These dead souls, because they contained a curse, could only be shattered by the invasion of foreign substances, not made to worship. And more souls were constantly forming. Soon, as Xu Qing flew, a sea of souls formed in front of him.

Xu Qing's expression was ugly. He could not maintain the status formed by the superposition of the two divine powers for long. At this moment, he temporarily dispersed the purple moon and fully catalyzed the poison prohibition pill within his body to spread.

At this moment, the release of his poison pill was even more intense than when he faced Chu Tianqun.

And this place... as a closed Great World, was also suitable for Xu Qing's poison prohibition to erupt.

So the next instant, under the spread of this poison prohibition, a storm formed around Xu Qing, spreading in all directions with a rumble—ten feet, a hundred feet, five hundred feet, until finally reaching a thousand feet!

Within a thousand-foot range, it was all Xu Qing's poison prohibition power. Wherever it covered, those wailing ghosts that appeared all emitted even more miserable wails, their soul bodies twisting instantly as if being corroded.

The corpses that rushed out from the ground were the same. Even if they were not living beings, Xu Qing's poison could still turn them into fly ash.

After all, this was power from the Divine Domain, a divine curse!

Killing intent permeated Xu Qing's eyes, and his speed did not decrease by even a bit. As the poison prohibition spread as never before, he headed straight forward. Behind him, besides countless wails, there was also the generation of foreign substances belonging to him, which flew back rapidly to return to him, circling around him and causing the power of the poison prohibition to become even stronger.

The range of the spread also extended from the previous thousand feet to thirteen hundred feet.

It was just that there were too many wailing souls here, constantly appearing, as if this world of death had come alive at this moment.

Although the lethality of a single soul was average, after there were many, they still formed a terrifying pressure.

Seeing that he was being blocked, Xu Qing gritted his teeth fiercely. The purple moon power he had suppressed within his body erupted once more. Endless purple mist spread from his body. Under Xu Qing's press, this purple mist fell onto the earth, spreading with a rumble in all directions, turning the ground purple!

On the ground, corpses that had just crawled out shook, invaded by the purple mist and becoming fly ash. The quantity was too large, so much so that in the end, the dust and mist on the ground were astonishing.

Subsequently, Xu Qing's body flickered, and the Jin Wu materialized once more. His body stepped onto the back of the Jin Wu. The Jin Wu roared at the sky, and amidst the spreading sea of tail-flame fire, it carried Xu Qing and rushed forward rapidly.

Looking from afar, this scene was shocking.

The earth was shrouded in purple mist. As Xu Qing moved, he continuously dissipated corpses. But outside the purple mist, in endless directions, the number of ferocious corpses was infinite.

And the sky was full of crazy evil souls. Even though Xu Qing's poison storm spread, causing countless evil souls to dissipate, more evil souls crazily filled the gaps.

Boundless.

In the dim world, only the fire emitted by the Jin Wu was incomparably dazzling in the sky. Amidst the churning sea of flames, it continuously rushed out.

Like a beam of light.

Around this light, evil souls and corpses covered the sky and earth. Their roars were even more miserable and wailing, carrying madness, carrying greed, carrying hatred for life, attempting to extinguish the flames and cover that beam of light.

Time passed.

This beam of light, in this dim world, kept rushing forward rapidly, streaking across the horizon.

Until one day later, with blood spilling from the corners of Xu Qing's mouth and his Daoist robe soaked in blood, he dragged his scarred body and finally rushed out of this sea of souls. His eyes, filled with bloodshot veins and fatigue, saw a large black river ahead.

The river water was vast and churning, like the River Styx.

Countless bones floated within, and even more faces rose and fell in the river amidst weeping.

And at the end of the river, Xu Qing saw a red sedan chair carried by eight people.

On the front and back carrying poles of the sedan chair, a jar was placed on each, of different colors. Amidst the rising and falling of the sedan chair, they were as if grown onto it, motionless.

At the same time, around the sedan chair, there was a long procession. Most of the figures within had snake heads and human bodies. They were wearing bright red robes and were moving forward.

Even more ear-piercing, scream-like suona sounds came from the front of the procession.

At this moment, the gloomy wind blew on the River Styx, setting off ripples while also blowing up a corner of the sedan chair's curtain, revealing the figure of the young girl sitting blankly inside, her complexion pale, wearing a wedding dress.

Xu Qing's expression narrowed. His gaze did not look at the young girl in the sedan chair, but at the white one among the four jars on the front carrying pole of the sedan chair!

The shattered golden thread in his palm emitted unprecedented scorching heat at this moment!

No longer separating, continuing to merge two into one! ===== CHAPTER 467 =====