Chapter 657: Reincarnation

Looking at the two people before him, Zhang Nuo felt an indescribable sensation in his heart, as if a bottle of the five flavors had been overturned—sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy, all at once!

"Senior Martial Brother, did you not advance to the Spirit Severing Stage? How could you have fallen?"

Finally letting his gaze fall upon Gao Dakuan, Zhang Nuo truly did not know how to face Zhuge Qing, so he could only choose to evade!

"Sigh! It's a long story!"

Looking at the Zhang Nuo of today, Gao Dakuan was happy for him from the bottom of his heart, but then thinking of himself, he let out a long sigh and said:

"Back when you were in the Human Realm, you once helped me improve my cultivation, but my aptitude was still too dull, and in the end, I failed to make any further breakthroughs. I fell during an accident! I have been in the Underworld for some time now, and I miss Chenhou and the others dearly!"

The Chenhou that Gao Dakuan spoke of was his son, Gao Chenhou! Zhang Nuo's heart also felt a pang of sorrow. In the days since he had left the Human Realm, Gao Dakuan had actually ended up in this state. Although some things were within his expectations, when he saw it with his own eyes, he still did not want to accept the fact!

"Junior Martial Brother! Do not worry! People are destined to die; perhaps for me, death is the best release! If there is a chance, go back and see Chenhou; this child's aptitude is far better than mine!"

Gao Dakuan was an honest man and did not want to cause trouble for Zhang Nuo, but Zhang Nuo could still hear the meaning behind his words!

"Rest assured, Senior Martial Brother. As soon as I have the chance, I will bring Chenhou to the Immortal Domain and keep him by my side! I will care for him carefully!"

"Hehe! Then I can rest easy! Alright, I won't disturb you anymore! Since I have already broken free from the control of Qin Guang Wang, I must go to be reincarnated! I wonder what kind of family I will go to this time! I hope I will be a bit smarter in my next life!"

With a helpless, bitter smile, Gao Dakuan's ghost drifted away into the distance! Because Gao Dakuan was kind-hearted, there was no turbid Qi within his soul. Had he not been bound by Qin Guang Wang, he could have very smoothly entered the Six Paths of Reincarnation!

Only after watching Gao Dakuan's ghost disappear did Zhang Nuo turn his face around to look at Zhuge Qing, who had been standing to the side without speaking!

At this moment, the young woman had long since returned to the appearance of a ghost, her body in a soul state, yet those blinking eyes were still the same as before!

"You... you also fell in the Human Realm?"

The two gazed at each other silently for a long time before Zhang Nuo finally spoke a sentence!

"Hehe! Although you did much for me before you ascended, fate is hard to defy! In the end, the Nanxuan Sect still perished due to a lack of talent! I also died in a great battle! But to be able to see you again, even if I were to die once more, it would not matter!"

Zhuge Qing's words were like a steel blade, fiercely piercing Zhang Nuo's heart! Although this woman had always been adept at using schemes, at this point, all schemes were useless! The words she spoke actually carried a bit more genuine feeling.

Zhang Nuo pityingly wanted to reach out and touch Zhuge Qing's face, but at this moment, the young woman was only a soul, and his hand passed directly through her face!

Revealing her signature smile, the young woman looked at Zhang Nuo's dazed expression and said faintly:

"You! You are already a cultivator at the Great Accomplishment Stage? Why are you still the same as before? I spent my whole life intoxicated by conspiracies and calculations, never treating others with sincerity! Only you made me truly lose my heart, but things are unpredictable; a single mistake by the ancestor caused me to lose you completely! Perhaps this is heaven's punishment for my scheming nature!"

"Qing'er! Actually, I..."

Zhang Nuo looked at the smile the young woman was forcing, and his heart was breaking! This was the first woman he had ever felt affection for, yet heaven's will was unfathomable, and in the end, it had come to such an outcome!

"Alright, you don't need to say anything. Qing'er understands everything in her heart, but everything is in the past! Since it is a bond that could never have a result, let it go with the wind! I still have some turbid Qi on me and must cleanse it before I can enter the Six Paths of Reincarnation! I hope in my next life, I can be a simple woman! I don't want to be so strong anymore!"

After saying this, Zhuge Qing's figure retreated, slowly leaving Zhang Nuo!

"Qing'er!"

Zhang Nuo reached out, wanting to grab Zhuge Qing, but he grabbed at empty air. He truly did not want to watch the young woman go to be reincarnated, for if that happened, everything that had occurred between them would be forgotten forever! Not even a shred would be remembered!

"You can stay by my side! I will find a way to restore your physical body!"

Watching Zhuge Qing drift away bit by bit, Zhang Nuo said loudly, tears even welling in his eyes! The young woman merely shook her head slightly; she knew that even if everything could start over, the things hidden in their hearts before could never be erased!

It was better not to let them disappear completely along with her reincarnation! Perhaps only in this way would her heart not feel the sting of pain!

Only after watching Zhuge Qing's figure disappear completely into the dark night did Zhang Nuo look up and let out a long howl, followed by a forceful punch; a small mountain not far away collapsed instantly! The rolling rocks splashed far away, yet even so, there was still an unventable hatred in Zhang Nuo's heart!

The Heavenly Dao is vast; when will it ever end? Why do endless battles and suffering seem to have no finish? Is this the Heavenly Dao? Is this fate? Is this the cultivation that people spend their whole lives chasing?

Even if one reaches the Great Accomplishment Stage, what of it? The deep-seated feelings in one's heart will still erupt at some moment! That is the part that can never be forgotten! Even after experiencing countless things and living for a long time, the things in the deepest part of the heart will still be unearthed!

"Why? Why? I thought that by living as long as heaven and earth, I could sever all emotional ties, but in the end, I have forgotten nothing! Everything is still so real! What is this all for?"

Zhang Nuo's wild roar traveled far through the Underworld, which was shrouded in darkness; the crescent moon in the sky seemed to feel his sorrow and was weeping silently!

After venting hysterically, Zhang Nuo felt much better. He reached out to wipe the tears from his face and looked up again, gazing in a certain direction—that was the depths of the Underworld, and the further one went, the closer one would get to Fengdu Cheng! Perhaps that was the root of all evil!

After calming down for a while, Zhang Nuo sat on the ground and began to meditate and regulate his breath, recovering his magic power while trying to make himself forget about Zhuge Qing.

His state of mind eased after several days. Zhang Nuo stood up again, his gaze regaining its former luster, and with a flash of light, he flew toward his next target!

Behind the palace of Qin Guang Wang was the territory of the Five Senses King. This king presided over the Combined Great Hell, also known as the Peeling Blood Pool Hell. According to the information provided by Jiufang Yi, this Five Senses King was much harder to deal with than Qin Guang Wang, and he did not know which of the nine had gone to face him!

From what Zhang Nuo knew now, one of the nine had already fallen. If a few more died, by the time they reached Fengdu Cheng, they would likely be even more short-handed. By then, let alone killing the 'Chaos Insect King', even Zhuanlun Wang and the others would be very difficult to deal with!

Thinking this, Zhang Nuo increased his speed. He had to reach the Five Senses King as quickly as possible; perhaps only in this way could he reduce the number of cultivators on his side who fell!

After more than a year, what appeared before Zhang Nuo was a sea of blood. In the center of the sea of blood sat a blood-colored palace, but there was not a single ripple of Spirit Power inside this palace, just like the palace of Qin Guang Wang that Zhang Nuo had encountered before!

It seemed that the cultivators on his side had won! When he arrived inside the blood-colored palace, Zhang Nuo was stunned by everything before him. He saw the corpses of Underworld cultivators everywhere, and in the center of the palace, two stone steles stood tall. These steles were over three zhang high and over one zhang thick, their surfaces seemingly wrapped in some kind of Restriction!

Coming before the steles, Zhang Nuo glanced at the handwriting on them and saw that the first stele read:

'Yu Zhi Guang, a great power of the Zhenliang Realm! Fought the Five Senses King and fell here!'

He drew a slight breath of cold air. Zhang Nuo had not expected that another one of the nine had fallen. Before he even looked at the second stele, he had already guessed that this was also a cultivator who had fallen from some realm! Turning his head to look, he saw that it was also inscribed with a few large characters:

"Gang Dangxi, a great power of the Fugu Realm! Fought the Five Senses King and fell here!"

Judging by the handwriting on the steles, it should have come from the hand of a third person. This meant that three cultivators of the Great Accomplishment Stage had fought the Five Senses King, but the result was that two had fallen!

This forced Zhang Nuo to re-evaluate the strength of the Five Senses King! Three against one, and although they fell, they still took two down with them! Truly an extraordinary figure!

Now, of the nine, three had already fallen, leaving only six. Zhang Nuo felt even less confident, but since things had come to this, he could only bite the bullet and fight!

Hardly stopping in the blood-colored palace, Zhang Nuo flew directly toward the next target!

Looking at the battle here with the Five Senses King, it had been over for a long time; perhaps the battle on the side of the Underworld's fifth king, the Yama Son of Heaven, had already been decided!

The Yama Son of Heaven had reigned in the Underworld for the longest time, presiding over the Calling Great Hell and the Sixteen Heart-Punishing Small Hells, and had always been the most upright. He wondered who would be facing him this time!

During his flight, Zhang Nuo discovered many powerful wandering ghosts. These ghosts were extremely cruel, constantly devouring weaker wandering ghosts to increase their own strength!

When he came from the territories of the previous kings, Zhang Nuo had not discovered any overly powerful wandering ghosts. Thinking carefully, it was possible that in the previous battles, someone had opened the hells they controlled, allowing the powerful wandering ghosts that had been imprisoned to escape! If one were to calculate based on this, the Underworld would become even more chaotic!

Things were developing toward an extremely severe point. Zhang Nuo felt vaguely that if the Underworld fell into chaos, the Six Paths of Reincarnation would also be affected! Even if they killed the 'Chaos Insect King', the common people of the many realms would still face a catastrophe!