Chapter 149

Although the Nether Realm of the Dead is dark all year round, the vegetation is dense, with many giant trees a hundred meters high. The trunks, branches, and leaves are all dark gray, growing by absorbing the unique yin energy of the Nether Realm.

The mountain range is towering, and the terrain is steep. Even near the foot of the mountain, there are many cliffs and deep valleys; a moment of carelessness would lead to being smashed to pieces.

Along the way, Li Youyi discovered a large number of battle traces.

Axes and knives swept away trees, and battle swords split mountain walls.

Many places had bloodstains left behind, as well as fragments of robes and magic artifacts.

The time of the battles was different, and one could deduce backward based on the dryness of the bloodstains. The earliest battle occurred a month ago. The latest was already twenty days ago.

Li Youyi said: "It seems our judgment is correct. The young martial cultivators of the major forces in Burial Immortal Town did indeed take this road to leave Li Prefecture. But why is there fighting all the way? Is it a slaughter between major forces, or have they encountered unknown dangers in the Nether Realm?"

Li Ling sat in meditation on the Zouwu's back, with the copper Nether Lamp placed on the tiger's head, the blue lamp light wrapping the person and the beast.

She reminded: "Have you noticed anything strange?"

Li Youyi nodded: "In these dozens of miles, we have walked all the way and found traces of more than ten battles, but we haven't seen a single corpse. It's impossible that all the corpses were taken away by their companions; there should always be some left behind."

Li Ling said in that unique, clear, and quiet tone of Chan Hai Guan Wu: "Many martial cultivators who die in the Nether Realm of the Dead turn into confused departed spirits. The dark power of the Nether Realm will erode their corpses and pollute their souls."

"This dark power is right beside us, everywhere."

"You mean, all the martial cultivators who died here have turned into departed spirits?" Li Youyi was horrified in his heart and hurriedly mobilized his magic power, his five senses released, fearing that a pile of terrifying humanoid fierce things would pounce out of the darkness.

Li Ling said: "It seems there is something wrong again! Logically speaking, dead bodies turning into departed spirits have very low intelligence and weak consciousness in the early stages, and they will stay in place. But we haven't seen a single one all the way here. It's too clean!"

Li Youyi was made to feel very uneasy by her, always feeling a cold wind blowing behind his back. After returning to the Zouwu's back, he took out the high-grade magic artifact Green Yin Banner and propped up a piece of green array light gauze.

Dozens of departed spirits wearing armor flew out from the banner, guarding the surroundings.

Using departed spirits to deal with departed spirits.

The Mang Mountain range is long, and wanting to walk out of the Nether Realm along this road to head to Zhi Prefecture is a journey of more than a thousand miles.

While on the road, Li Youyi had been mobilizing magic power to nourish his lungs and drinking from the Golden Spring to forge his bones, not daring to waste time, actively preparing for the impact on the second realm of the Five Seas.

Only by stepping into the second realm of the Five Seas, cultivating third-grade Qi, and achieving the manifestation of battle intent can one truly be called a top expert of the younger generation.

Only then, when competing with experts of the younger generation, would he have enough confidence in his heart.

Beside him, Chan Hai Guan Wu was absorbing a bottle of fresh blood she had just gotten from him.

Her physical body had already condensed.

She didn't need much blood to deceive the order of the Yang Realm and could arrive in this world in a living state during the yin time of day and night.

The two walked another ten miles.

From afar, Chan Hai Guan Wu heard sounds in the darkness, looked toward the dense forest ahead, and separated by several miles, saw five figures walking in the forest, appearing and disappearing.

With a flick of her finger, the Nether Lamp brilliance turned dim, covering the surrounding several zhang into darkness.

Li Youyi opened his eyes and looked in the direction of her gaze: "What's wrong?"

The darkness of the Nether Realm seriously affected the vision of martial cultivators.

Li Youyi employed the Heavenly Eye between his brows to barely see the figures several miles away. It was normal that he couldn't compare to Chan Hai Guan Wu; her body of an Son of Heaven alone was something even those in the Longevity Realm couldn't reach.

Moving forward quietly to within one mile of those five people, Li Youyi could finally see clearly: "Three elderly men wearing iron-cloth battle suits and holding broadswords should be experts of the Five Seas in the Iron-Clad Army of the Three Chen Gong. That young woman wearing a white martial robe should belong to the Sui Sect according to the style of the martial robe."

Li Ling's voice sounded: "It is the young expert of the Sheng clan, the second largest family of the Sui Sect, Sheng Tianyin, who can be ranked in the top twenty of the younger generation of the entire Sui Sect."

"The fifth one is powerful; he is the second expert of the younger generation of the Red Li tribe, Chi Yongsheng, with a cultivation of the fourth realm of the Five Seas."

Li Youyi glanced at her, focusing on observing her eyes: "Strange, how could these five people get together? Logically speaking, the young martial cultivators of the major forces had already passed through and left twenty days ago. Why are there still people lingering?"

"Instead of asking me, you might as well go and meet them yourself," Li Ling said in a faint tone, unable to tell who was speaking.

"I'll go then."

Li Youyi himself was a person with extremely strong curiosity and desire to explore, so he activated the stealth power of the high-grade night-traveling clothes, hid the two magic artifact battle soldiers in his robe, and touched up quietly.

Approaching to within a dozen zhang, he stopped and observed again.

The five people in the forest walked around holding magic artifact battle soldiers, without any communication, very quiet.

This was too strange; normal people in the dark Nether Realm shouldn't be in this state.

"Could it be that they have turned into departed spirits?"

Li Youyi's curiosity was even heavier, so he picked up a stone on the ground, wrapped it with magic power, and swung it out.

"Bang!"

The stone hit the chest of one of the Three Chen Gong elders, exploding on the iron-cloth battle suit. But the powerful impact force contained in the stone was like a cannonball, shaking the Five Seas elder along with his broadsword and throwing him away.

The other four shouted coldly in unison, their eyes falling on the position where Li Youyi was standing in stealth, looking for the attacker.

Their eyes were sharp, their essence, energy, and spirit were flourishing, and they didn't look like the confused state of departed spirits.

At the signal of Chi Yongsheng, who had the highest cultivation, two Three Chen Gong elders exuding the aura of the Five Seas stepped forward quickly holding broadswords. They couldn't see Li Youyi, but they knew from what position the stone flew out.

The two elders swung their swords randomly in all directions, the sword energy was several zhang long, and the sword light was lit by magic power, like flashes of lightning in the darkness.

Li Youyi observed for a moment, no longer dodging, took out the Iron Book from his robe, and flew it out.

"Swish swish!"

Thirty-five pages of the book, wrapped in magic power, were like thirty-five light clusters, blasting the two Three Chen Gong elders away.

Their physical bodies were severely damaged, and sparks that looked extremely eye-catching in the darkness flew out of the wounds. This made Li Youyi's eyes widen, very surprised.

Chi Yongsheng and Sheng Tianyin were very fast, arriving one after another.

One was burly and robust, the other was delicate and graceful, their auras were both thick and powerful, and the killing intent in their eyes was biting.

Before they arrived, the magic power storm had already swept onto Li Youyi.

Both magic powers were earth-shattering, almost shaking Li Youyi away, and he had to go all out to stabilize his body and take root on the ground.

"Roar!"

Chi Yongsheng roared, the sound no different from thunder, and Li Youyi's eardrums were about to shatter.

Facing a character of the fourth realm of the Five Seas, Li Youyi didn't dare to be half-careless, immediately drew the high-grade magic artifact Sky Flame Knife, and poured a method of magic power into it.

The knife body turned into a piece of scorching fire clouds, slashing toward Chi Yongsheng's waist and abdomen.

Chi Yongsheng didn't fight the knife edge hard, but leaped and dodged in the air, then struck a palm print, pressing down on Li Youyi's head.

He wore armor, and his palm was covered by armor, like a five-fingered metal iron seal.

"Bad! He has combat wisdom; could it be that he is not a departed spirit?"

It was too late to change moves to resist at this time. The other party was a character of the fourth realm of the Five Seas, not comparable to those cats and dogs of the same realm. Li Youyi immediately employed the Clear Void Cicada-Catching Step, his feet moved, his figure was like a phantom, rushing out of the magic power cage of Chi Yongsheng's palm power, dodging it dangerously.

If he had taken this palm solidly, even an iron man would have been smashed.

Sheng Tianyin and Chi Yongsheng cooperated incomparably tacitly.

She followed closely, having already prepared a waterfall of sword energy for Li Youyi, wanting to cut his body into pieces, or chop him into meat paste.

Li Youyi had many protective treasures, all of which were activated, then he rushed into the sword energy waterfall fiercely, slashed out a knife with incomparable domineering power, and performed the Taiyi Sea-Opening.

"Boom!"

The knife light briefly tore the darkness, like a bright moon standing on the ground.

Sheng Tianyin resisted with all her might, but her power couldn't compete with Li Youyi's, the battle sword in her hand broke, and her graceful body fell away. The arm holding the sword was cut off at the shoulder.

She was a top-twenty expert of the younger generation of the Sui Sect, and her combat power was not comparable to ordinary martial cultivators of the third realm of the Five Seas.

Slashing such an expert into serious injury with one knife, Li Youyi didn't have any happy emotions at all.

Because Sheng Tianyin didn't use the strongest combat power state of a martial cultivator of the third realm of the Five Seas at all—"Battle Intent Manifestation."

She didn't seem to know how.

What spilled from her severed arm was not blood, but countless bright sparks.

After she fell to the ground, she made a strange sound from her mouth, completely unaware of the pain, and suddenly turned over and stood up. The severed arm on the ground turned into a long snake of sparks and flew back, growing into a new arm.

In an instant, the severed arm was reconnected.

"This..."

Li Youyi stared at the flames in Sheng Tianyin's pupils, and a familiar feeling arose in his heart.

"Taptap."

The footsteps were dense, and they ran to surround him quickly.

Sheng Tianyin and the three Three Chen Gong elders attacked together, magic power energy vented, and broadswords fell continuously. Li Youyi fought four alone, the more he fought, the more frightened he became. They didn't seem to be able to get hurt at all, and the wounds from the Sky Flame Knife slashing on them healed quickly.

Chi Yongsheng, who had the highest cultivation, wandered on the edge of the battlefield, his eyes like a poisonous snake, looking for an opportunity to kill with one blow.

At this time, the Zouwu beast walked over.

Chan Hai Guan Wu, sitting on its back, had already seen what was going on. Her slender and beautiful fingertips, spirit light flowing, drew a rune and waved it out.

"Swish! Swish..."

Every rune struck could suppress one person, making them fall to the ground.

Chi Yongsheng's pupils flashed with surprise, perceiving that it was not good, glanced at the girl on the Zouwu's back, and two pieces of flame appeared under his feet, rushing toward the depths of the Nether Realm at extreme speed.

"Fleeing now, is it too late?"

Li Youyi stepped on the Wind-Riding Boots, his figure moved horizontally, fast as a ghost, blocking his way.

"Get lost!"

Chi Yongsheng roared, spitting out a large amount of sparks from his mouth, and threw a punch with all his might.

The brilliance erupted from his fist illuminated several miles around, energy boiling, the energy breaking mountains and rivers, which was the combat power height only possessed by an expert of the fourth realm of the Five Seas.

Li Youyi had long wanted to fight happily, fearless, and slashed out with both hands holding the knife.

"Boom!"

The knife edge hit the iron fist, and the clanging sound was like two iron mountains colliding.

Li Youyi exploded backward six or seven zhang, his ten fingers painful and numb, a bit difficult to hold the battle knife steadily.

"Very good, come again."

Li Youyi's physical body recovery speed was extremely fast, magic power and Immortal Mist flowed around his arms for a circle along the meridians, and the pain and numbness disappeared for the most part. After the second circle, he had completely recovered.

This recovery speed was his confidence to cross three realms to fight back.

Not giving him another chance, Chi Yongsheng was hit by the rune struck by Chan Hai Guan Wu, as if he had been fixed, standing there without moving.

Chan Hai Guan Wu flew and landed in front of him, punching him in the chest at the Tanzhong acupoint.

"Bang!"

Punch energy magic power surged in, and countless cracks appeared on Chi Yongsheng's body.

A monster covered in sparks flew out from his body and fell heavily to the ground behind.

The monster still couldn't move, because the rune was aimed at it, not Chi Yongsheng. It finally panicked: "Who are you? What is this rune?"

"The Ash Spirit can actually speak?"

Li Youyi had seen Ash Spirits in the ash region under the Hidden Sect, so he could recognize it at a glance.

(End of chapter)