Chapter 258: Lingering Ghosts

"Roar~~"

Just as the two were standing upon an abrupt mountain ridge discussing how to find a way out, a long, drawn-out roar suddenly echoed from the towering mountains and ranges behind them.

The two could not help but change color simultaneously.

Youtong Demon Lord turned his head for a moment, a murderous aura appearing on his face as he said, "Heitian is actually like a lingering ghost, chasing all the way to the Minghuang Boundary."

Xu Chen was startled and hurriedly asked, "Is it the true form of Heitian Demon Lord?"

Youtong Demon Lord shook his head: "No, it is a Nether Beast of Demon King rank dispatched by him. It should have already discovered our tracks and aura and is chasing us down rapidly."

Upon hearing it was only a Nether Beast, Xu Chen felt slightly relieved and said, "Nether Beasts are a bit easier to deal with!"

Youtong Demon Lord frowned and said, "The aura seems to be that of a Three-Headed Dog. This demon is a demon beast under Heitian's command specifically tasked with guarding the entrance to the Underworld; it is skilled at identifying auras and tracking. My current strength is insufficient to kill it, let's go quickly!"

After Youtong Demon Lord finished speaking, his blood-red wings suddenly spread wide, flapped once, and transformed into a streak of red light that wrapped around Xu Chen and vanished into the Void.

"Woo-ang~~"

Seemingly sensing the aura of the Void's disturbance, another long, drawn-out roar sounded. A moment later, a pitch-black giant wolf with three heads appeared out of thin air where the two had just departed.

Its body was a full hundred zhang long, its four paws treading on the air. On its three huge, ferocious heads, three pairs of eyes sprayed golden, red, and white light, illuminating a radius of tens of thousands of miles like giant candles. Thus, a moment later, the three-headed giant wolf roared at the sky once more, its four paws galloping as it broke through the Void and left.

Within the labyrinth-like strange peaks and ridges, dead silence returned in the blink of an eye. Even the beasts roaring in the vast, strange Dark Forest below were now completely dormant, afraid to move. Only on the pitch-black Cangming could one or two faintly flickering stars be seen.

……

By the time Xu Chen and his companion appeared after this flight, they were already ten thousand miles away.

However, a faint murderous aura was still rapidly closing in from behind. Youtong Demon Lord dared not be the least bit careless; he changed direction and broke through the Void once again to leave.

Not long after the two left, the three-headed Nether Dog appeared again, stood in the air to survey the surroundings for a moment, and then quickly vanished.

For a long time afterward, Youtong Demon Lord led Xu Chen to dash about in these vast mountains that acted like a boundary wall at the Minghuang Boundary.

But no matter how far or fast the two ran, the three-headed demon dog always chased them down quickly, as if it were a lingering ghost. Youtong Demon Lord was injured, so he felt increasingly unable to keep up, and the distance he could travel grew shorter and shorter.

The mountains before them were no longer just mountains, but like a high wall connecting heaven and earth, standing at the end of the world. The dense forest of giant peaks was packed together, hanging upside down like a waterfall from the nine heavens; there was simply no path to be found to cross through.

The two hid here and there within the crevices of the rocks, which resembled a frozen waterfall, but they could never find a gap to pass through, and thus they were gradually caught up to by the three-headed demon dog.

Youtong Demon Lord stopped his figure, turned to look behind him, and said to Xu Chen, "I remember now, I seem to have been brought to the Mortal World by cultivators from the human realm near this high wall. There might be a passage nearby; you go look around first, I will hold it off for a while."

Xu Chen thought for a moment and nodded, saying, "Very well, but be careful. If you cannot win, flee immediately. The terrain here is complex; although we cannot shake it off, there is still a chance to hide!"

"I know, go quickly!" Youtong Demon Lord raised his hand and waved. Xu Chen felt as if he were riding the clouds and mist as he was pushed to the edge of the Void, disappearing into the far distance in the blink of an eye.

And the moment Xu Chen vanished, a three-headed giant dog over a hundred zhang in size appeared out of thin air and pounced down upon Youtong Demon Lord like a small mountain.

"Boom~"

Amidst an explosion of red light, a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering loud noise erupted. The endless, towering mountain wall trembled, and a large amount of rubble collapsed.

"Roar-ang~"

Within the sound of the explosion, the angry roar of the three-headed demon dog rang out. The sound vibrated and penetrated tens of thousands of miles, causing Xu Chen's scalp to tingle as it reached his ears.

Demon King rank, which is the realm of a Combined True Immortal. This level of strength would almost never appear in the Mortal World, but in the Underworld, it was merely a gatekeeper.

From this, one could see that the Underworld and the Mortal World were simply not on equal footing.

However, fortunately, experts of this strength seemed unable to cross the Minghuang Boundary to enter the Mortal World, which was the only reason the Mortal World remained stable.

But how long this stability could last, no one knew, because as the Nether Rift was opened and a large number of powerful Nether Beasts poured in, Xu Chen had no idea what the current Mortal World had been ravaged into.

But for now, he still had to worry about his own life, because he knew Youtong Demon Lord could not hold out for long.

With that push from Youtong Demon Lord, Xu Chen did not know how far he had been pushed. By the time he tumbled out of the Void, the surrounding environment had actually changed slightly.

Although there was still a pitch-black mountain wall connecting heaven and earth before him, there seemed to be signs of collapse and fragmentation in many places. In the far distance, he could even see a huge gap where a large number of giant, pillar-like mountain peaks had collapsed and snapped, lying scattered on the ground like broken spears.

But Xu Chen knew that was just an illusion; once he got close, they were each a tremendously huge mountain.

Xu Chen dared not delay in the slightest. A pair of Shell Light appeared behind him, flapping like wings a few times before transforming into a flickering phantom and vanishing.

The crevices on the steep mountain wall were like a spider web, but it was an even more complex labyrinth with no path to follow, so Xu Chen headed straight for the collapsed gap.

As far as his Divine Sense could reach, there were collapsed and shattered giant rocks everywhere, like mountains.

Between the giant rocks, dark forests were dense and layered, completely obscuring his Divine Sense so that it could not penetrate through at all.

Occasionally, in the clearings that were revealed, one could see some huge Demon Beasts and Nether Beasts running and roaring, and there were even giant bird-beasts soaring and screeching, engaging in fierce combat in the air.

This strange world appeared full of vitality.

Yet it was filled with sharp, murderous intent.

It seemed that all the living beings here were constantly killing each other, including many plants similar to Demon Beasts. Dense roots and vines lay dormant like dragons and snakes; once there was any movement, they would transform into terrifying giant beasts to strangle everything within their range.

Previously, Xu Chen only thought those colorful plants that appeared in the Medicine Garden were demonic and strange.

But it was not until he reached the Minghuang Boundary this time that he realized this was a cognitive bias of his. In reality, plants similar to Demon Beasts were everywhere between heaven and earth. The various plants and flowers in the Mortal World were practically no different from dead objects. Those so-called demon plants like the Blood Demon Vine could not even be considered small fry compared to these plants.

Here, not only were animals killing each other, but these plants were also killing each other to compete for territory.

Just in the distance he had traveled, he saw that within an area of over a hundred miles, only one strange, large tree grew. It did not have a single leaf on it, its branches were dense like giant snakes, and its huge roots were exposed, each one seven or eight miles long, constantly crawling and wriggling. Its entire body emitted a misty red light, and it actually carried a terrifying fluctuation of Soul and Spirit Qi.

Judging by the aura emitted by the large tree, this strange tree had at least the strength of the Shenling Realm.

Even when Xu Chen passed by, thousands of branches on this large tree actually rolled and danced wildly in the sky, rushing ten thousand zhang high to try and entangle him. At the same time, several blood-colored phantoms appeared in Xu Chen's Sea of Consciousness, emitting heaven-shaking roars filled with violence and murderous intent, shaking Xu Chen's Soul until it hummed.

However, it was a pity that these branch phantoms, which resembled giant snakes, were all blocked by the misty light when they approached the Heaven-Suppressing Divine Stele, and were then torn apart and swallowed by the rotating starlight vortex.

Seemingly sensing that Xu Chen was not to be trifled with, the large tree went silent after a bout of blustering, wild dancing. Xu Chen flashed past the area covered by the large tree like lightning, disappearing into the distance in the blink of an eye.

Closer... even closer...

Xu Chen knew time was tight and used all his strength to teleport toward the huge gap.

The closer he got, the more he felt the enormity of this gap; it was at least a hundred miles wide. The huge mountain peaks that had collapsed were scattered for thousands of miles around. Within the range of his Divine Sense, there were collapsed and tilted mountain peaks and giant rocks everywhere.

"Roar~~"

"Ang~"

In the forest below, chaotic and terrifying beast roars rang out. The depths of the dark, dense forest shook violently, as if a large number of giant beasts were running and killing each other.

Xu Chen had intended to sweep past quickly and enter the gap to find the passage, but suddenly, an urgent, long howl shot into the sky, the sound deep and filled with incomparable urgency.

"Human race!?"

Xu Chen was suddenly startled and stopped his movement, instantly landing on top of a giant boulder hundreds of zhang in size, releasing his Divine Sense to observe.

However, it was a pity that the gloomy and eerie forest strongly obstructed his Divine Sense, and he could not see the situation below clearly at all.

At this moment, another long howl rang out, shaking the area for a thousand miles, and then it continued to sound all the way toward the direction of the gap, while following the direction the howling left, the roars of a large number of wild beasts also followed behind.

"Boom~" Deep in the dense forest, a violent fluctuation of Spirit Qi appeared, and a bright, piercing cyan lightning flash manifested.

Xu Chen no longer hesitated, flapped the Shell Light, turned into an afterimage and vanished from where he stood, diving headlong into the dense forest where the explosion had occurred.

Once he entered the dense forest, his Divine Sense immediately felt as if it had fallen into thick mire, instantly shrinking from a distance of hundreds of miles to less than ten miles.

Moreover, even within those ten miles, it was fragmented and shattered by the intense aura emitted by these gloomy and strange plants, making it almost impossible to see anything beyond a hundred zhang.

(End of this chapter)