Chapter 299: Yin Soldiers Borrow the Path, Waging War in Distant Lands

Two lines of tears slid down the white-clad man's cheeks, soundless and silent, yet in his heart they stirred up a thousand layers of waves, violently rising and falling.

"I'm sorry..."

He stood frozen like stone for a long time, speaking softly, but the woman he loved most, who had awaited his invincible return, gave no reply this time.

……

This was left by the Demon Emperor Xue Yueqing before he proved the Dao; after he proved the Dao, an indelible mark was left upon it, allowing it to survive to this day.

"A generation of Demon Emperor... what a pity."

After the image faded, Yang Zhu couldn't help sighing; the peerless Demon Emperor had dazzled that era, yet when he looked back, his beauty was gone, leaving only him alone.

After gaining insight here for half a day, Yang Zhu had many realizations; as he was leaving, the ancient characters flashed, and a segment of ancient law entered his mind.

That was a heart technique capable of refining the primordial spirit to ultimate perfection and repelling evil, possessing boundless power.

"Even a generation of Demon Emperor paused here; this ancient place must have significance."

After leaving, they traveled forward tens of thousands of li, finally arriving at a divine land.

Strange trees and odd stones covered the ground, divine waterfalls poured down, their height unknown—thousands of zhang—like a silver river hanging upside down.

"Bold, who dares intrude upon the forbidden land?"

They had just arrived when a loud shout rang out; a silver fox with nine tails appeared, blocking Yang Zhu and the others' path, refusing to let them go further.

"Forbidden land? What exactly lies ahead?"

Black Emperor grew interested and asked.

"Saint..."

Seeing this, the silver fox was slightly startled, discovering that the great black dog before them actually possessed Saint-level cultivation, while the dragon horse likewise radiated terrifying power, its strength boundless.

As for the man on the horse, he was utterly unfathomable; though no aura leaked from his body, he somehow inspired an inexplicable reverence.

"I'm asking you."

The dragon horse glared at him; just that look made the silver fox's body go limp, and it collapsed in fright, truly terrified.

"I am the nine-tailed silver fox guarding this land; ahead lies the forbidden ground, extremely perilous—I advise you not to go further..."

Soon the silver fox readjusted its mindset and explained cautiously.

From him they learned that ahead lay a forbidden land; when it formed is unknown, but recorded records show it has existed for over two hundred thousand years.

As for what lies inside, no one knows or has seen it, because those who entered never came out again.

At that time, even a Great Saint‑level powerhouse tried to enter, yet never emerged; days later someone found fragments of his Saint Weapon at the forbidden land's edge.

"How does it feel so mysterious?"

Black Emperor couldn't help shivering, muttering softly, that even a Great Saint had perished inside—one can imagine how dangerous it is.

"Let's go in and have a look."

"When things go awry, there must be a monster; since Yang Zhu has come, he won't leave so easily."

"Moreover, how could even greater danger compare to the Seven Great Life Forbidden Zones of the Eastern Wasteland?"

"You come with us too."

Seeing this, the big black dog forcibly dragged the silver fox along, thinking that if they were being deceived, it could also take the chance to give that creature a good beating.

"No… I don't want to go; inside there are terrifying things, one would die…"

The nine-tailed silver fox's face turned white in an instant, shaking its head like a rattle, its eyes revealing unhidden fear.

He was only at Half-Saint cultivation; if he truly stepped onto that place, he would leave no corpse, ten deaths and no life! "Tch."

But this was not up to him; the big black dog extended its palm‑sized black paw, firmly gripping the silver fox as easily as holding a chick.

After Yang Zhu and the others passed through the valley, the scene before them suddenly changed drastically.

What should have been a divine land with rising spiritual energy, lush vegetation, and rare herbs spread everywhere was instead divided by an invisible barrier.

Leaving the valley's boundary, what met the eyes was a strange world of odd rocks, perilous cliffs, everywhere exuding an eerie aura.

On the black earth lay a bare expanse; even the occasional sparse vegetation was a rare dark black hue.

Here everywhere reeked of death, devoid of any vitality, as if they had arrived in the netherworld, where a soul‑seizing Yama dwelled.

"My goodness, you really shouldn't say that—indeed it has that flavor."

The dragon horse spoke, its eyes showing more excitement than doubt.

After years of battling the ancient roads, what sights had he not seen? Mountains of corpses and seas of blood, bones littering the ground, even several brushes with death—yet he had endured them all.

"Look at you, inexperienced with the world..." Black Emperor sneered, giving him a sideways glance.

"If you sent him on a trip to a Life Forbidden Zone or to assault the ruins of the netherworld, he'd know what true terror is."

"Those few years of campaigning amount to nothing compared to a Life Forbidden Zone—a place even an Ancient Great Emperor would dread!"

"I… we really have to go in?"

The nine-tailed silver fox gazed at the scene before it, nearly bursting into tears; it had always dwelled here, firmly believing those legends.

"What are you scared of? We're here with you."

The dragon horse let out a loud snort, pounding its chest in firm assurance.

"This place is unlike the ordinary; better to stay cautious."

After giving that reminder, Yang Zhu led the way into this so‑called forbidden zone.

Now his cultivation had broken through to the eighth layer of Saint, utterly terrifying; even a casual gesture could easily detonate stars.

Upon entering, he did not hesitate but surged forward, covering hundreds of li in a single step, like a Heavenly Emperor on patrol.

"An ominous aura..."

Yang Zhu could sense that an ominous aura was spreading here, profoundly strange, giving him a dazed feeling as if he had arrived at Saint Cliff.

Yet that ominousness, perhaps fearing Yang Zhu's bloodline, dared not approach even a hair's breadth, yielding wherever it passed.

Clearly a perilous forbidden zone, yet within a radius of several tens of zhang around Yang Zhu it was like a divine land, where no evil could intrude.

"This is simply... too unbelievable!"

The nine-tailed silver fox was stunned, unable to believe its eyes at this scene.

The deathly aura swirling around—even if the Holy Beast King got a bit of it, would likely be near death, thus perishing.

But at this moment, he was in awe of that peerless divine figure before his eyes.

"An Imperial Prince has arrived; what's a mere forbidden zone to him..." the big black dog muttered.

"What... he's an Imperial Prince? The one who pacified several years of warfare, that Chaos Holy Fetus?"

The silver fox's eyes widened, then it reacted, involuntarily sucking in a breath of cold air.

No wonder he always felt Yang Zhu had an otherworldly temperament, unmatched from ancient to modern times, astonishing talent and extraordinary beauty, with an indescribable dignity that inspired confidence.

Hearing that, the Black Emperor ignored him, instead scanning the surroundings, trying to detect any abnormality.

Soon, Yang Zhu discovered several crystal stones embedded in the ground.

The stones were no larger than a human head, yet brilliantly radiant, with vast starlight flowing across them, falling from beyond the realm and gathering on their surface. "What a grand handiwork."

Yang Zhu was astonished to discover that these stones were all refined from extraterritorial meteorites, and someone had used unparalleled divine ability to bring them here.

"Here, together with the stars beyond the realm, they gradually form a great formation."

The placement of the meteorites was extremely particular, faintly forming a pattern that connects heaven and earth, vast in scale, astonishingly grand in design.

On the ground, there were forty-nine such meteorites, while beyond the realm there were nine stars serving as guides, with an invisible brilliant divine belt connecting them.

"It seems to be a teleportation grand formation, moreover extremely complex, at least the work of a Great Sage!"

The Black Emperor was quite knowledgeable in formations; after observing for a while, he couldn't help but exclaim, deeply shocked.

Hearing that, Yang Zhu fell into deep thought: what person or power would need such a massive teleportation formation, and what would it be used for?

"Boom—!"

Suddenly, a tremor shook heaven and earth; the formations on the ground and beyond the realm reacted, slowly recovering! The next moment, angry howls of yin wind, yin mist shrouding, a huge gate appeared, almost as high as the heavens, incredibly wide.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

A muffled sound came; rows of soldiers in heavy armor walked by, holding iron halberds and spears, etc., yin qi blowing toward them, chilling to the bone.

"The yin troops have borrowed the path, to wage war in distant lands."

Yang Zhu slightly furrowed his brows, his body flickering with runes, enveloping everyone, then instantly vanished from the spot, his breath fully retracted, merging with the void.

The Netherworld, a superpower that has existed since ancient times, can be called an extremely terrifying inheritance, its history so long it's hard to trace.

Such legends have existed from ancient times to the present, yet few know their secrets.

This is clearly mobilizing troops across star domains; how terrifying! Just thinking about it makes one's scalp go numb.

"Damn! We actually ran into this!"

The Black Emperor's hair instantly stood on end; he was all too familiar with this scene—it was exactly the yin troops borrowing the path!

Yin qi permeated the air, a deathly aura spreading, tens of thousands of yin soldiers wielding long halberds and spears, filled with a deadly solemnity.

They patrolled this place, the cold air grim; on their bodies there was not a trace of life fluctuation, like cold killing machines.

"Damn, is this the Netherworld...?"

The Dragon Horse had once heard the Black Emperor mention it a few times; supposedly it was an extremely terrifying ancient inheritance.

Only upon seeing it today did one realize how shocking and awe-inspiring it was, enough to make one's face pale at the mere mention.

"Source Master..."

Soon, Yang Zhu noticed a direction, and couldn't help but startle.

It was a terrifying figure, covered all over with strange red hair, standing there like petrified, eyes vacant, escorting the yin troops across.

Yang Zhu could be certain that the person was definitely a Source Master, though perhaps not yet at the level of a Source Heavenly Master, but at least at the level of a Source Earth Master.

"Hum!"

His palm was crystal clear, intertwined with chaos, and in one grasp he seized that red-haired figure, then instantly traversed tens of thousands of li, temporarily leaving this place.

"Who... who are you?"

When escorting the yin troops across, an ominous Source Master would temporarily regain a bit of reason, and the one before him was no exception.

At this moment, the red-haired figure looked at Yang Zhu in surprise, wanting to break free, but was tightly bound by the Order Divine Chains, unable to move.

"Who are you? What are these yin troops resisting? And why are you appearing here?"

Yang Zhu's gaze was like a torch, carrying a compelling intimidation, as he spoke to inquire.

"I... I don't know... I... I am only responsible for escorting this segment..."

Although the red-haired figure had regained a hint of consciousness, perhaps having not spoken for a long time, when it opened its mouth it sounded extremely stiff, almost word by word.

"Gou... Gou... ah!"

As it spoke, it seemed an intangible substance was eroding its consciousness, making its face incredibly ferocious, as if enduring unbearable pain.

In the other's eyes, red light blazed, an ominous aura seeping out; the terrifying red hair grew wildly, as if soaked in blood, scarlet and dazzling.

"Pfft..."

Yang Zhu's fingertip shot out a divine light, Holy Spirit Flawless, instantly sinking into the other's brow.

The next moment, the other immediately calmed, the red hair on its body falling off in strands, cleanly cut off.

"I... I come from Gouchen; in the past I repeatedly probed the heavenly secrets, ultimately inviting... disaster."

This time, the red-haired figure regained more consciousness, speaking intermittently, somewhat clearly.

"Why do the yin troops choose to borrow the path here?"

"This place... was once an ancient battlefield, the ground littered with bones, the corpse qi extremely strong... they... they have what they need..."

The Netherworld excels at collecting powerful corpses; after refining them, they become formidable yin soldiers and yin generals, for its use.

Therefore, Yang Zhu was not surprised by this result; he just didn't think that an ordinary outpost could move the Netherworld.

"The terrain here is your layout..."

Afterward, Yang Zhu inquired about some matters; indeed, as he had thought, the terrain they had just seen was the work of this Source Master.

Moreover, from him they learned that in that battle long ago, even a Quasi-Emperor had fallen, and the fighting was extremely brutal.

After the Netherworld recovered the corpse, over these years they have been trying to refine it, and success is now not far off.

"Their ambition is indeed great; if they manage to add another Quasi-Emperor, that would be disastrous."

The Black Emperor's face turned grim; the Netherworld's people dare to handle even an emperor's corpse, let alone a Quasi-Emperor.

"Please… strike me down; I don't want to linger in this muddled state any longer……"

Finally, the Source Master asked Yang Zhu to kill him; he had long ceased to want to linger as neither human nor ghost, merely having no choice……

"I grant you five days; go back and have a look."

Yang Zhu, for a moment unsure of his feelings, used the Slay Immortal Sword to cut off all of the opponent's red hair, then left a killing intent within his body.

Thus, the opponent can gain five days of clarity; after five days, the killing intent will revive, at which point he will perish and cease to exist.

He was a middle-aged man, fairly handsome, now lowering his head and staring blankly at his restored body, with crystal‑bright tears glimmering in his eyes.

"Thank you! May I ask your esteemed name?"

"Yang Zhu."

"Chen Xiaogu of the Chen clan; I will never dare forget you for all eternity."

He bowed deeply to Yang Zhu, his gratitude overflowing, then immediately spread a heavenly net of Source Heaven Patterns across the sky and traversed toward his homeland.

"Come, let's go seize the Quasi-Emperor's corpse."

Shortly afterward, Yang Zhu also traversed back; he paid no heed to the vast army of dark soldiers, but began to search.

He believed there must be an ancient ruin here, serving as the Netherworld's foothold.

Indeed, after half a day, an ancient city came into view.

(End of chapter)