Chapter 484: Arriving Before the Gate, Striking with Force

Rumble, rumble...

Du En and the others had just left the boundary node when they heard the sounds of collapse and shattering in their ears.

The boundary, the node, all of it vanished.

Immediately following, even the surface mine area seemed to be affected, beginning to collapse and cave in.

Of course, that was not actually the reason; rather, it was because the Profound Dust of Scraping that Du En had previously deployed, which had been whipping up sandstorms and pouring them into the mining area, had finally reached the deep underground, found an anomaly point it could not scrape away, and from that depth, began to cut through the space of the entire area.

And so, the secret buried deep underground was finally about to see the light of day.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

The sound of the wind grew even louder, naturally because its master had returned, continuing to exert force and strengthen it once more.

Du En did not delay for even a moment; despite the fighting and actions he had just engaged in, he remained full of energy.

When it came to endurance, he possessed both soft and hard methods and had always been extremely proficient.

Under his urging here, the entire mining area for hundreds of miles around was completely excavated, reaching a depth of over ten thousand fathoms underground, forming a massive, deep basin.

As the sandstorm swallowed more matter, it became even more violent. Following his mental command, it converged into a single mass, thick and dark like dense storm clouds. After flying out of the basin, it paused slightly—he was considering—before finally flying north toward Nine Clouds City.

The sandstorm over there had already been blowing and had not completely dissipated; now, with the arrival of these reinforcements, it became even more relentless, delaying the time it would take to vanish as it passed through.

There was no need to worry about any riots or disturbing the men, women, and children living in the city, because the moment the first wave of the sandstorm enveloped them, they had already been knocked unconscious on the spot by the pressure carried by the Daoist arts.

Du En naturally would not injure or kill people without cause, so he merely knocked them out; for those whose postures were particularly awkward, he even moved them to lie flat.

Under these circumstances, if anyone was not lying down obediently, then there was definitely something wrong, and they would inevitably face his thunderous assault.

Of course, there were also exceptions.

For example, Zhu Qing.

When An Shen and Sheng Zhaoshui had finished recasting the Upper Realm Secret Key and were rushing over here together, they had sent a message to him, who was still lost and at a loss, telling him to follow them here.

After all, it concerned Zhu Yi, his younger sister, so perhaps he could still be of some use.

Upon learning that his sister had met with trouble again, Zhu Qing naturally did not stop for a moment and acted immediately.

Relying on the protective puppet Du En had previously given him, he was able to walk through the wind and sand, which was why he was still riding the monkey forward at this moment.

He never expected that this monkey puppet, which looked the most plain, was actually the most special item of all, reaching the fifth rank. It was also because it glowed in response that he did not pass out like the others and was able to traverse the wind and sand at this moment.

"He will need some time to get here; let's go down and check the situation first."

Du En said this, and because the one person and one god had already arrived, there was no need for him to relay the dying words of Xu Tianci.

Receive the heavenly mandate, build the stairs, and arrive before the gate.

Xu Tianci had leaked this key information, which was why he provoked a reaction from Chaos; in other words, the person behind the scenes wanted him to shut up, so they removed his authority to control Chaos and attempted to use the power of Chaos to kill both the leaker and the seekers.

Now that the leaker Xu Tianci had been beaten to death by Du En, and the fierce beast Chaos had also been beaten to death by Du En and the others working together, naturally, they could only continue to explore on their own.

"Although it is for the sake of caution, holding back a little previously wasn't actually impossible, wouldn't you agree?"

"I don't have any methods to preserve a remnant soul; if you want to blame someone, blame True Monarch Cheng Ru for not providing the corresponding treasure, or perhaps, you were unwilling to give it."

"Haha..."

The words, casual yet carrying a hint of goading, turned into a boomerang, leaving Sheng Zhaoshui with nothing to say other than a bitter, awkward smile; he could only tactfully stop talking nonsense and stop probing.

In the silence, they moved quickly and soon reached the bottom.

As the sandstorm departed, the clouds in the sky were also swept away, and the bright moonlight now spilled over the earth, falling silently onto this place. One could only see, in the middle of the flat, smooth bottom ground, a jagged area that looked completely out of place.

Various rocks, bare as bone, were piled up and leaning against each other to arch over a stone gate.

The three of them circled around to look, watching carefully, but could only see the front of the gate; the back and sides were just an arched pile of stones, like a tomb. Even when they used divine fire to burn it, they could not leave a single mark, clearly possessing some kind of extraordinary power.

"No need to try again; it is embedded in the strange space here in Qingxuan and exists as one with it. Unless our strength reaches the level of a True Monarch, it is impossible to leave any marks on it."

An Shen, who was most proficient in the Dao of Space, made a calm judgment, his tone faintly carrying a hint of admiration. The other two stopped their attempts to strike again and instead returned to the front of the gate, either staring calmly or rubbing their chins, all lost in thought.

The so-called Gate of the Upper Realm had been found, but where did it lead? The most likely place was the back of Qingxuan, but would that not be somewhat redundant? After all, the front and back were not absolutely rigid and stable; people here could find a way over, and monsters over there could also temporarily link through.

So, could it really lead to the Upper Realm, the place they came from?

Let's hope that after opening the gate, it doesn't lead directly to the cultivation grounds of the Supreme Luoyu.

Besides that, where were the stairs?

Receive the heavenly mandate, find the gate, build the stairs—was this the correct order? The gate in front, the stairs behind; did Xu Tianci use Zhu Yi, along with all the previous bloody experiments, even sacrificing his own son, just to build the stairs—a staircase of flesh and blood?

With so many questions, Du En's previous decisive killing of Xu Tianci seemed perhaps not so appropriate.

"Having said that, what happened to that human skin?"

Du En asked about this at this moment. The reason he had acted without hesitation previously, besides being cautious, was that Xu Tianci was not the only one in the know; before him, there was also Jian Yi.

Jian Yi had left behind a fragment of the key, as well as that human skin that seemed alive; it had many influences and even stranger methods. From this, they should have been able to glean some information.

If they couldn't, then keeping Xu Tianci alive would have made no difference.

Because either it could be done, or it could not; for the three of them, matters in the Qingxuan Star Realm only had these two possibilities.

Just as an opponent was either one they could finish off in the blink of an eye, or an enemy they could only fight in a bitter, desperate struggle, there was simply no middle ground for maneuvering.

To this inquiry, An Shen's gaze shifted directly to Sheng Zhaoshui. His expression immediately became somewhat stiff, and then, as if resigning himself to fate, he sighed and pulled something out of his sleeve.

It was that human skin, but it was now tattered and broken, as if it had been thrown into a brazier and scorched; it was full of holes and burn marks, emitting an unpleasant odor.

When tossed to Du En for a look, there was still a bit of evil nature left inside, but it was already withered and listless, sparse and scattered, no longer a whole, and it exuded a sense of being dead.

So, the reason you were pestering me just now was because you had already ruined this and were laying the groundwork, right?

The gaze Du En raised seemed to carry this interrogation.

Sheng Zhaoshui smiled bitterly and spoke awkwardly: "Everything was going quite smoothly, but just as the secret key was about to be forged, this thing suddenly lashed out. I had no choice but to subdue it, and then, thinking we had already reached that point, I thought I might as well be thorough and further explore the information of its existence. The result is what you see." "Its lashing out was something we had anticipated; Fellow Daoist Sheng was already prepared to further extract information, and I also lent a hand at that time, but the result was still like this. It only shows that we, after all, do not have the qualifications to read the script."

An Shen also spoke at this time, supplementing the situation and stating his own thoughts.

In short, the human skin was ruined, and nothing had been found.

So there was no need to keep it and leave a hidden danger; Du En casually burned it to ashes completely.

Immediately following, silence fell.

The current situation is truly difficult to advance.

Du En was pondering whether to use the bone whistle to open the door again, to search for a breakthrough from the back side, and to see if there was an identical or similar Gate of the Upper Realm there.

But before that...

"Waaaaah!!!"

A scream rang out at this moment; it was Zhu Qing riding a puppet monkey, leaping down from the edge of the basin. Because it was so sudden and so fast, he couldn't help but scream.

The two people and one god turned their heads to look, and saw the puppet monkey, which did not stop after landing and was running extremely fast, finally delivering Zhu Qing to the spot.

"Lo, Lord? Ugh! Th-three, uh!"

Zhu Qing, having been set down by the puppet monkey, was walking unsteadily and could barely stand; he could only rely on the puppet to barely remain upright. He looked ahead with stars in his eyes, then saw two people and a mirror, and it seemed there was also a person inside the mirror. In short, their appearances were inconsistent, all were their true faces, no longer hidden, and suddenly he felt even more confused.

After all, his current state was already very poor, so it was normal that he couldn't grasp the situation for a moment.

However, there was one point he understood very clearly, was very urgently concerned about, and it was almost instinctive.

"My sister, my younger sister, where is she? Did something happen to her? Lords, can you please go save her, lend us a hand once more, I beg you, I beg you!"

Zhu Qing cried out, while incessantly shaking his head, trying to make himself regain clarity, and then knelt down to plead; his anxiety was truly written all over his face.

"..."

However, Du En and the others only remained silent, a silent silence, as if they felt that Zhu Yi could no longer be saved, clearly carrying a heavy solemnity.

Facing such a situation, Zhu Qing was even more subconsciously anxious and impatient; he pushed away the puppet monkey that was still trying to support him, suddenly threw himself onto the ground, and wailed.

"Lords, I truly beg you!"

"I only have one sister, we have relied on each other for survival, she is my only close relative, please hurry and go save her, ev-even if she can no longer be saved, at least, at least let there be a complete corpse, no, as long as she can be laid to rest, that is enough!"

"I beg you, I beg you!"

Bang! Bang! Bang! Zhu Qing kowtowed continuously, using such great force that even droplets of blood splattered out.

But at this moment, Du En and the others acted as if they did not see it, appearing quite strange.

Even Sheng Zhaoshui continued to speak: "In this current situation, it seems we only have two courses of action: one is to find a way to open this inexplicable door, and the second is to attempt to detour from the back. With our preparations, breaking through that swarm of vengeful spirits is not a problem."

His expression was somewhat cautious and ingratiating, as if he were afraid that Du En would hold a grudge over the previous matter, and the action plan he proposed did not involve Zhu Yi at all. He did not know that Zhu Qing had arrived, and simply continued to speak on the matter at hand.

Du En and the God of Darkness each expressed their views on this; the God of Darkness leaned toward the detour strategy, while Du En was pondering the traces of Zhu Yi, looking back at the Gate of the Upper Realm, appearing somewhat inclined to take a risk.

Zhu Qing did not know what was going on here; after all, his mind had not been clear since just a moment ago. At this moment, he vaguely judged the attitudes of the three, and immediately could not help but continue to beg Du En: "Lord, Lord, I know you are the most kind-hearted, I hope you will act, please act, I beg you, I beg you!"

As he spoke, he moved forward step by step.

Then, he was blocked by an invisible barrier.

"Squeak squeak!"

The puppet monkey also realized something was wrong at this time; amidst its squeaks, it darted forward and grabbed at Zhu Qing, intending to take him away.

"You, you! Damn it! Why won't you go save her, why won't you go save her!!!"

Zhu Qing immediately misunderstood and could not help but roar loudly.

"Squeak squeak squeak!"

The monkey puppet became anxious, accelerated its movements, grabbed Zhu Qing, hoisted him up, and was about to burst into a run.

Zhu Qing stretched out his hand, reaching out from afar, and roared ferociously: "Move and save her, why aren't you moving, why aren't you saving her, don't you already have the ke—ugh..."

Du En turned his head abruptly, the God of Darkness looked up, and Sheng Zhaoshui clapped his hands.

Little brother, you finally showed your true colors! Amidst the gazes that were either calm as before, or seemingly mocking but actually cold, Zhu Qing's expression stiffened, and then he sighed lightly.

With a casual wave, the monkey puppet quietly vanished into dust, and he landed on the smooth ground, brushed off his clothes, his expression appearing lighthearted: "There really is no other way; since I have already been exposed, then I don't need to..."

Before he could finish his words, the two people and one god here had already struck ruthlessly.

Solar Divine Fire!

Mirror Crow Divine Fire!

Abyss Sorrowful Shadow!

The sun brought daylight, hanging high and overriding, descending from above.

The moonlight was bright and cold, suddenly transforming into a mirror, enveloping the center.

The reflection on the ground was sorrowful and pitiful, with a mournful face, climbing up as a shadow from below.

Above, middle, and below, from all directions, with nowhere to escape, they struck with full force.

Before Zhu Qing could even finish his nonsense, he had already been beaten into a pile of powder.

The main point was being prepared, striking first to gain the advantage, and leaving no room for anything else.

No, don't you guys need to leave a living captive to question?

At the moment of death, Zhu Qing tasted the flavor of death, his eyes filled only with astonishment and confusion. He never expected that these three fellows were each more ruthless than the last, especially Sheng Zhaoshui; usually, he was the one who talked the most, and just a moment ago he was still muttering that Du En had dealt the killing blow too quickly, but now he hadn't left any room at all, which could be called extremely vicious.

(End of this chapter)