Chapter 347: The Battle Beyond the Ghost Gate

During Yu Lei and Mu Yi's conversation, the battle on the other side also reached a conclusion.

"Break it!"

Shen Tu's long spear, bearing the might that no ten thousand men could match, struck the Ming God's head.

The death aura, previously invisible to the naked eye, instantly burst from the Ming God's body, and the dense necrotic energy imbued the Underworld's ground with the very notion of "death."

"This... what?" Mu Yi looked at the scene with surprise.

This technique could be considered a form of self‑detonation; if a deity of another pantheon were tainted by this death aura, even surviving would likely leave them battered and bruised, perhaps even provoking the Five Declines of Celestial Beings.

But the item meant nothing to Shen Tu; he even had leisure time to reach out and seize the divinity hidden within the death aura.

"Heh heh heh, you ran fast!"

Shen Tu snatched a soul fragment radiating divine light and sneered, "Heh."

Such a trash deity, if not relying on a Divine Artifact to disgust him, could never be put at a disadvantage.

"That was fun enough; here's the thing for you, kid Mu, it should be useful!" Shen Tu casually tossed the soul fragment to Mu Yi.

【Ming God's Soul Fragment】

Item Type: Divine Item

Item Level: 30

Description: A soul fragment imbued with divinity; wielding it may provoke a deity's wrath.

"Thanks, Shen Tu, Ghost Emperor!" Mu Yi did not refuse.

"Fine, next time it'll be my turn!" Yu Lei glared at Shen Tu, giving a mildly admonishing reminder.

"Hey, we're brothers—who's with whom? No need to keep score so precisely!" Shen Tu said with a grin, licking his face.

"…" Yu Lei looked at Shen Tu with contempt.

"Alright, alright, I'll give you the next opponent!"

Shen Tu, unnerved by Yu Lei's stare, could only reluctantly concede, even though it was already part of their agreement.

"What a pity, you didn't keep that Divine Artifact!"

Shen Tu dispersed his weapon, and the Book of Life and Death and the Judgment Pen returned to Mu Yi's side.

Mu Yi tried to combine the two as Shen Tu had, but found it impossible; even shaping a Divine Artifact eluded him.

"Stop thinking about it, kid Mu, it's a matter of raw power; once you reach my current level, you'll naturally master it!"

Shen Tu waved his hand at Mu Yi upon seeing this.

"A demigod, then?"

Mu Yi nodded; he had hoped that mastering this move would spare him the need to seek weapons, but it still fell short—he had only just become a Legend and was far from attaining demigod status.

While the three chatted, the Underworld experienced another upheaval; deep within, a fissure trembled and began to widen.

"Go!" Shen Tu and Yu Lei's expressions changed instantly; they lifted Mu Yi, turning him into a comet that leapt away from the Ghost Gate fragment.

When the Ghost Gate fragment was about to seal, a Ming God in a black robe, wielding a sickle, appeared at the spot.

"Click!" The sickle jammed the closing seam of the Ghost Gate fragment.

The Ming God, having lost some of his divine power and nature, plunged straight into the Ghost Gate fragment.

On the other side, Shen Tu and Yu Lei, who had taken Mu Yi back to the Yellow Springs Road, continued to joke.

"Ha, that furred deity is really stingy; after destroying one of its avatars, it even fled from its own lair to clash with us."

Shen Tu roared with laughter, saying that fortunately it ran fast; otherwise, with just two demigod avatars, not only protecting Mu Yi but even their own avatars would struggle to survive.

The gap between demigods and true deities is incalculably vast.

Even the strongest demigod, armed to the teeth with Divine Artifacts, has less than a thirty percent chance against a bare‑fisted, weakest deity.

"Indeed stingy—lose is lose, and still wants to reignite the fight; it's downright laughable," Yu Lei nodded at Shen Tu's teasing.

Shen Tu's battle with the Ming God was truly fair and impartial, a fight on equal footing.

In the end, the Ming God not only self‑detonated in death but also tried to use its true form to find a venue.

"Hm?" Shen Tu, mid‑laugh, suddenly froze, looking bewildered behind him.

Yu Lei was the same, his face bearing an incredulous expression.

Following their gazes, Mu Yi saw that the passage opened by the Ghost Gate fragment had not healed, and a familiar aura was streaming out from it.

"Alright, alright! Shen Tu, you said it—don't fight me over it!" Yu Lei's disbelief turned to amazement as he addressed Shen Tu.

"Are there such idiots in this world?" Shen Tu's face twisted.

Mu Yi's mouth twitched slightly; the Ming God truly seemed enraged and desperate.

Considering the opponent's tyrannical domination of the Underworld, it was clear it had lost its mind; daring to chase through an uncertain spatial portal, it seemed to think itself invincible.

Yu Lei reached toward the Ghost Gate, summoning a flash of light infused with dense divine power that surged into his body, his strength climbing step by step until, in an instant, it surpassed what Mu Yi could perceive.

By Mu Yi's estimate, it possessed at least the tier of formidable divine power, comparable to the Beast God previously slain by the armies of Huo Qubing and Wei Qing.

Shen Tu's face was twisted; he had only faced a demigod, whereas Yu Lei was confronting a deity of overwhelming power—the disparity dwarfed even that between an immortal and an insect.

"Damn it!" Shen Tu's face twisted, his displeasure reaching the extreme.

Who could have imagined such a reckless fellow would storm the main base of the Jiuzhou Underworld.

A being with such formidable divine power would rank among the notable in Jiuzhou, at least a third‑rank or higher, sufficient to hold a Ten Courts Yama position in the subordinate worlds of Jiuzhou.

Under normal circumstances, Shen Tu and Yu Lei, who guard the Ghost Gate, even if they hitch a ride on Mu Yi to go out for a spin, would at most send out an avatar to cause a little commotion, essentially at the level of a weak deity.

A Ming God with such overwhelming divine power would be impossible for Shen Tu and Yu Lei to handle under normal conditions, which is why they fled with Mu Yi at the first opportunity.

Therefore, Shen Tu thought that a peak‑level demigod avatar was already the limit, so he agreed to Yu Lei's plan, taking turns to go out and fight for enjoyment.

"Yu Lei, you schemed against me!"

Only now did Shen Tu realize why Yu Lei was willing to hand over the demigod's battle to him.

"Hahaha, I feel it, I feel it!" Yu Lei laughed heartily.

Summoned by Mu Yi, they could only fight demigods and weak spirits at most—how could that compare to facing them here in the Underworld?

In the Underworld, they could even use their true forms to fight—this is what a real battle is.

"Just honestly guard the Yellow Spring Road for me!"

Yu Lei's words left Shentu nearly vomiting blood, but having come this far, it could only wear a grim face, reach into the Ghost Gate to draw forth some power, and, as Yu Lei said, set up barriers around to prevent the battle between Yu Lei and the Nether God from affecting the officials and wandering souls on the Yellow Spring Road.

Beneath the Ghost Gate, numerous vague shadows began to whisper quietly.

"Now someone dares to storm the Underworld? Is that real?"

"Who knows? Even those little lackeys dared to barge in before."

"Isn't this a great opportunity?"

"Let's see, let's see—Shentu and Yu Lei aren't easy to deal with; maybe they're just playing at law enforcement again."

"I don't want to be caught and tortured by them again—if it weren't for those little lackeys diverting their attention, who knows how we'd be tormented. Shentu and Yu Lei don't realize they can't leave the Ghost Gate because they've both become perverts as well."

"Heh heh, you dare say that? The one who dared say that last time already went to Avici Hell for rebirth—do you dare?"

"The Ten Courts Yama, the Five Direction Ghost Emperors, and the Four Great Judges haven't shown up lately—maybe this really is an opportunity..."

"Let's see, let's see—if we get a chance, we'll charge together; even a few days would be good! The mortal realm—I can barely remember what it's like anymore!"

Amidst the eager gazes of all, the Nether God tore open space and emerged from the spatial passage left behind at the Ghost Gate.

"Just a hair god, dare to intrude into my Underworld realm without cause!" Yu Lei shouted loudly, his voice brimming with undisguised excitement.

Although this is still outside the Ghost Gate Pass, it hardly counts as being inside the Underworld.

But on this Yellow Spring Road, this is already the farthest place he and Shentu can reach within their duties; at such a time, it's natural to pin a charge on him first and settle the blame later.

A duck about to be eaten cannot be allowed to run away.

The Underworld God was dazed, having just emerged from a spatial passage, only to see the two demigods that had been as insignificant as ants moments ago suddenly transform into powerful deities matching his strength, leaving his mind unable to react.

"Give back my soul fragments!" the Underworld God blurted out instinctively.

"Just a hair god, dare to spout nonsense here, unforgivable!" Yu Lei roared and struck directly.

In an instant, Yu Lei's figure swelled with the wind, reaching a height of tens of thousands of feet in the blink of an eye.

Just a moment ago his aura was as heavy as the earth, but in an instant it turned violent and ferocious.

Likewise, when his enlarged spear came down, it was as if countless strikes had fallen, and any matter in the path of the spearhead was pulverized into fine dust.

The next moment, the Underworld God swung his scythe in a counterattack, the thick death aura howling like waves as it swept over Yu Lei, who loomed like a mountain range of ten thousand feet.

Mu Yi held his breath and focused, staying within Shentu's protection, his eyes fixed on the clash of the two powerful deities; only now did he grasp what the words "ancient war general" truly meant.

Yu Lei's martial prowess is certainly not inferior to Shentu's; the power he displays now exceeds the demigod level by an unknown margin.

It's a pity he can't fully comprehend it; he can only tell that every gesture of theirs holds the power to destroy heaven and earth.

If this were another world, the sky might already be collapsing and the earth splitting apart; but this is Jiuzhou, and the clash between Yu Lei and the Underworld God is still not enough to shake heaven and earth.

Nevertheless, his ability to stand here unharmed is also thanks to Shentu's protection; without Shentu maintaining it, the Yellow Spring Road that connects all realms would inevitably suffer some impact.

The two overwhelming auras collided in the void, and the invisible shockwave swept outward, annihilating all matter within its range into fine powder.

"What a thankless task!" Shentu glared, his face dark as he watched the barrier constantly trembling from the residual shock, his expression growing even grimmer.

Yu Lei was having a blast; isolating space here was a huge hassle for him.

With equal strength, trying to seal off the battle between two equally powerful deities is nothing short of a fantasy.

Left with no choice, Shentu sighed, his true form emerging from within the Ghost Gate Pass, merging with his avatar and transforming into his peak condition to sustain the barrier.

"Shentu has left!"

"Shentu actually really left the Ghost Gate Pass!"

The multitude of hungry ghosts suppressed beneath the Ghost Gate Pass boiled over—a sight not seen in millions of years; with one of the two gate gods gone and the other seemingly still fighting a person, and no trace of the other great gods in the Underworld, this was practically the perfect jailbreak opportunity for them.

Although the ghost troop legions near the Ghost Gate Pass had risen Cloud Energy, intending to suppress disturbances nearby, in most cases they were merely for show, standing guard, and the evil ghosts suppressed beneath the pass paid them no heed.

"Wait a bit longer; now is not the best moment!"

All the evil ghosts stared eagerly, began cheering for the Underworld God, hoping he could drive Yu Lei out of the Ghost Gate Pass.

Yet the Underworld God, upon whom great hopes were placed, now fled in panic beneath Yu Lei's long spear.

The Underworld God possesses great divine power only because that is all he has, whereas Yu Lei's great divine power is merely a part of his own strength.

Their upper limits differ, their perspectives differ; even if they possessed the same amount of power, the effects they could exert would be worlds apart.

Especially, deathly divine power is useless against Yu Lei, making the Underworld God's situation even worse.

As Yu Lei swung his long spear, its violent aura surged upward.

"Boom!"

The world trembled, the Underworld God wailed.

Even with all his might trying to stop it, Yu Lei's long spear still left an unhealable wound on the Underworld God's body, a domineering will covering the wound and preventing any power from healing it.

Mu Yi this time discerned a hint of the way; Shentu and Yu Lei truly live up to their title of war generals, even having some connection with the Military Strategist school.

The Underworld God terrifiedly wanted to escape; after several exchanges, he nearly ended in a crushing defeat, losing even faster than a demigod's form.

Realizing he might be sealed, suppressed, or even killed, the Underworld God's heart also gave rise to fear.

He tore through space, withstood a blow from Yu Lei, and intended to flee at all costs.

However, the Underworld is not a place where one can simply come and go as they please.

The Ghost Gate Pass standing between heaven and earth suddenly radiated light; Yu Lei's true form emerged from within the pass, the two merging as one as they lunged to seize the Underworld God.

And at that very moment, the evil ghosts suppressed beneath the Ghost Gate Pass erupted in an instant.

Hundreds of figures struggled to crawl out from beneath the Ghost Gate Pass, burning their souls as the price, transforming into a streak of blood light that fled far along the Yellow Spring Road.

Seeing the figures ahead seemingly escape successfully, even more figures broke free from beneath the Ghost Gate Pass, turning into blood light that fled onward along the Yellow Spring Road.

However, the dense yin evil condensed by the ghost troop legions formed a great net that enveloped them.

Even those lucky few who slipped through the net were also caught by a giant hand of Shentu that appeared out of nowhere.

「You evil ghosts, how dare you flee! 」

Mu Yi raised his eyebrows, Shentu and Yulei's clumsy acting was simply unbearable to watch.

Even he could see that the two had deliberately let the evil ghosts escape.