Chapter 939

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Protagonist:

Xu Zhangqing

The ferry boat proceeded all the way, and the deeper it went into the Deep Yin River, the darker the surrounding light became.

Especially the river water, which became turbid once again.

Looking from above down, one discovered it was unfathomably deep, as if a giant Black Hole.

The hull cut across the water surface; the water traces smoothed in an instant, not even a single ripple able to remain.

The rock walls on both banks had long since disappeared without a trace.

All around only boundless darkness remained; Xu Zhangqing and the others seemed to be in a chaos-before-creation place, with no distinction of up or down, left or right, no distinction of light and shadow, bright and dark.

Only the ferry boat's light shield emitted a faint spiritual light.

It looked like a star suspended alone in the night, becoming the sole bright spot in this heaven and earth.

Time passed bit by bit; perhaps it was one hour, perhaps even longer; Xu Zhangqing and the others in this boundless darkness had long since lost the concept of time.

At this moment, the originally steadily sailing ferry boat trembled slightly.

Although the amplitude was not large, it could be clearly felt.

As if the boat bottom had touched something, or as if vibrations came from underwater.

"What's going on?"

Fenglong straightened his figure, thunder power circulating around his body, lightning arising at his fingertips, his gaze alertly scanning the surrounding darkness.

Xu Zhangqing pointed a fingertip; a wisp of pure Taiyin Power transformed into a thread and probed into the water, carefully investigating; a moment later he said in a deep voice: "There is Earth Qi, and it is getting thicker and thicker.

This trembling should be triggered by an Earth Vein Abnormality."

Hearing this, everyone concentrated their perception.

Especially the female cultivator, who even more thoroughly spread out her Divine Sense.

Although Divine Sense could not penetrate deeply into the Yin River, perception of the surroundings remained keen.

Sure enough, everyone detected a heavy Earth Qi surging up from the depths of the river bottom.

This Earth Qi was completely different from the heaviness of ordinary earth veins; it carried a rotten, turbid breath, and was mixed with a faint Yin Evil Power.

Though not fierce, it was like a gangrene attached to the bone.

Once it drilled into the nasal cavity, it quickly invaded the Divine Soul.

Making one feel intense discomfort, for example stuffiness, Qi Blood not flowing smoothly.

"Deep in the Yin River, the Water Qi has not flooded; why has Earth Qi begun to surge up?"

"Ever since the Dongting Xian Zong Jiu Zhi's Disaster Mist spread, the Earth Qi has also been corrupted!"

"The problem is, the position we are at should not be in the Dongting Old Site, right?!"

Facing this situation, everyone was very cautious.

As they continued forward, the Earth Qi grew thicker and thicker; the surrounding air became sticky, as if wrapped in a layer of invisible mud slurry; even magic power circulated sluggishly.

Seeing this situation, Xu Zhangqing gradually lowered the ferry boat's speed bit by bit.

Initially, this trembling was very slight.

But as they kept going forward, the trembling turned into jolting.

The ferry boat at this moment seemed to be sailing on a violently surging sea surface.

Xu Zhangqing frowned slightly, hurriedly mobilized Taiyin Power to reinforce the hull's light shield, and simultaneously said in a deep voice: "Something's wrong; this Earth Vein Abnormality is getting stronger and stronger; it doesn't look naturally formed, but rather as if pulled by some powerful force……"

The words just fell, and a sudden change occurred!

The Yin River underfoot suddenly churned violently.

The river water instantly turned turbid; countless black turbid waves sprayed out from the river bottom, fiercely striking the ferry boat's hull, emitting loud "bang bang" sounds.

The light shield trembled violently, rippling with layer upon layer of ripples, as if it would shatter in the next second.

Not long after, a rumbling sound came from the deepest part of the river bottom, like an ancient giant beast roaring, shaking everyone's Divine Souls numb, and magic power all fell into disorder.

The female cultivator's complexion changed slightly; earth-element magic power erupted, transforming into a thick earth-yellow barrier, superimposed on top of the ferry boat's light shield; only then did she speak: "This is not an ordinary Earth Vein Abnormality; someone or something is controlling the earth veins!"

She cultivates the Earth Great Dao as her main path, and is most sensitive to earth veins and Earth Qi.

At this moment she could clearly feel that at the deepest part of the river bottom, a terrifying Earth Qi was surging, like a volcano dormant for ten thousand ages, about to erupt.

Everyone looked down, only to see in the turbid river water countless fragmented bones floating up.

There were Yin Beast sharp claws, cultivators' severed limbs, and also some unknown giant beasts'.

The quantity was dense and numerous, rolling along with the turbid waves, like a floating sea of corpses.

Moreover, these bones were covered with a thick layer of silt, emitting a pungent rotten stench; smelling it made one want to vomit.

Even stranger, these bones were actually glowing, their surfaces rippling with gray-yellow spiritual light.

"The river bottom's bones have floated up?"

Tai Bai's Golden Sword left its sheath, magic power operating to the extreme: "The aura on them is exactly the same as that Earth Qi!"

Zhu Rong's red and white flames surged violently; the flames' light illuminated the surrounding darkness; then he shouted angrily at the bones in the water: "No matter what it is, daring to block us, I will definitely make them vanish into smoke and ashes!"

Speaking, he was about to mobilize flames to burn these bones.

"Wait!"

Xu Zhangqing hurriedly stopped him: "Don't be impulsive; these bones are just the surface phenomenon.

The real danger comes from the deepest part of the river bottom.

These bones are merely vassals of that power.

"Burning them would only waste mana; it serves no other purpose."

Moreover, although these skeletons look strange, they possess no aggression.

Suddenly, the entire Yin River trembled again, and more violently than before.

The ferry boat tossed to and fro in the turbid waves, as if it would capsize at any moment.

The rumbling from the riverbed grew louder and nearer, as though that thing had already reached the riverbed and was about to burst through the water's surface.

The Earth Qi in the air had grown dense to the utmost, forming a gray mist that permeated the area around the ferry boat, constantly eroding the light barrier.

Xu Jiuyou and Xu Zixiao guarded Xu Changqing's side, and the dozens of Spirit Patterns all over their bodies lit up.

Fenglong's body crackled with noise; bolts of Thunder Light slashed out, attempting to disperse the surrounding mist, but it was a mere drop in the bucket.

Even if the mist scattered, it would surge back rapidly, as if endless.

Just as everyone was shocked, the Yin River's turmoil reached its peak.

The rumbling from the riverbed came to an abrupt halt; immediately after, a pressure even more terrifying and heavier enveloped the entire area in an instant.

This was several times more terrifying than the previous Spiritual Vein abnormality and mist.

The pressure was like Mount Tai pressing down on the crown, making everyone's bodies stiffen, even their breathing stagnating.

The ferry boat's light barrier, under this pressure, made a "Crack!" sound as a huge fissure appeared; immediately after, the fissures grew more and more, spreading out like a spiderweb.

The mist took the opportunity to surge in, making everyone's bodies turn cold, their Divine Souls trembling.

The skeletons in the river water all stopped rolling, facing the darkness ahead in worship, as if welcoming their Master; the scene was strange to the extreme.

Xu Changqing's whole body tensed; the Creation Dharma Aspect manifested behind him: "Everyone guard yourselves; no matter what appears next, do not panic!"

Tai Bai, Zhu Rong, Nu Tu, and Fenglong all released their Dharma Aspects.

Tai Bai's Lujie Dharma Aspect:

Handsome features, yet utterly lifeless.

Draped in the Starlight White Gold Robe, wearing the Seven Feather Severing Tribulation Crown.

Seven White Killing Stars rotated at his left fingertips.

Behind him the White Tiger Constellation unfurled; every star was transformed from Sword Intent.

Zhu Rong's Bian Ge Dharma Aspect:

Beast body, human face, draped in the Li Fire Robe, fire snakes hanging from the ears as pendants.

Riding two Fire Dragons, holding a candle that might go out at any moment yet never extinguishes.

Behind him the phantom of the Civilization Long River rushed on; the lanterns within flickered, representing the rise and fall of civilizations.

Nu Tu's Cheng Tian Dharma Aspect:

Human body, snake tail, seven hands each holding a different divine artifact phantom — respectively Seal, Tripod, Ruler, Jade Tablet, Drum, Plow, City.

Above the head nine layers of Sky; beneath the feet eighteen layers of Spiritual Vein; mountains and rivers manifested in the chest and abdomen.

Holding a Xuanhuang Great Seal heavy as a mountain.

Fenglong's Pu Hua Dharma Aspect:

Majestic Emperor Lord form, wearing the Twenty-Four Thunder Emperor Crowns, each face corresponding to a type of Divine Thunder.

Clad in the Ten Thousand Thunder Cloud Robe; the Thunder Patterns on the robe automatically evolve scenes of the birth and death of the myriad worlds.

Left hand a Thunder Pool, right hand a Heavenly Hammer; the Kui Ox he sits upon treads thunder and roars.

The five Dharma Aspects joined together, like five Root Gods descending to the world; not only did they block the mist's erosion, the Earth Qi's oppression, and the pressure's deterrence, they even let them all recover to normal.

Abruptly, a sudden change arose!

In the boundless darkness ahead, a wisp of strange gray-yellow light suddenly rippled up.

This light was dim and turbid, yet carried a heart-palpitating pressure, and was more terrifying by countless times than the previous pressure, as if space itself had been solidified by this light.

Immediately after, that wisp of gray-yellow light slowly expanded, growing brighter and brighter, like a huge yellow Sun suspended in the darkness.

Xu Changqing and the others fixed their gaze; the next second their hearts contracted sharply, a chill rushed from the soles of their feet straight to the crown of their heads, and all the blood in their bodies congealed.

What Sun was that? It was clearly a gigantic eye!

This eye floated in the void ahead, occupying most of the field of vision.

The pupil was a turbid gray-yellow, like rotting soil, filled with dense dark Blood Traces — no, accurately speaking, countless Rolling Earth Dragons.

These Rolling Earth Dragons struggled in the pupil, trying to escape, but only sank deeper.

The white of the eye was a dull earth-yellow, and covered in cracks.

As if it had endured the erosion of ten thousand ancient years, it had already lost all vitality.

Around the eye, dense Turbid Qi coiled.

The Turbid Qi roiled like boiling mud; within could be seen countless broken skeletons — some of Yin Beasts, some of Human Cultivators, and some of ancient giant beasts.

These skeletons rose and fell in the Turbid Qi, emitting a pungent stench of rot, intertwining with the Yin Cold Qi of the Yin River to form an even stranger, even more terrifying aura.

The whole eye had no eyelids; it just floated quietly in the darkness, the turbid pupil slowly rotating, its gaze sweeping over the ferry boat, sweeping over Xu Changqing and the others.

That gaze held no anger, no joy, only endless indifference, as if looking at a group of insignificant ants, and also as if scrutinizing something.

The whole eye exuded a decayed, dead-silent aura that made one's Divine Soul tremble.

The powerful oppressive feeling even compressed the Dharma Aspects of Xu Changqing and the others by a large margin.

Zhu Rong's red and white flames surged violently, attempting to resist this terrifying pressure, but were tightly suppressed; the flames' light was like a guttering candle in the wind, about to go out at any moment: "Th-this... what exactly is this thing?

Such strong pressure, even a hundred times more terrifying than a Spirit Transformation existence!"

The most rational Nu Tu, her voice now carrying a trace of trembling: "If I haven't guessed wrong, this is the eye of the Tu Soil God!"