Chapter 260: Cold to the Core

A name flashed through Xu Chen's mind like lightning and thunder; he excitedly grabbed the young man's shoulders and shook him, saying, "Your name is Chen Yang, isn't it?"

The young man nodded excitedly and said, "Yes, my name is Chen Yang!"

Xu Chen was suddenly so excited he became incoherent and laughed loudly, "Hahahaha, Fourth Senior Brother, I never expected you to actually still be alive. You've caused Seventh Senior Sister to worry about you for eight years, always saying you weren't dead. So you really were alive after all; she will definitely be very happy when we go back."

"You, are you talking about Seventh Junior Sister Qu Mei?" The young man was even more agitated, his voice trembling.

"Yes, it is Senior Sister Qu. Eight years ago, when you went to the Yelang Ancient Kingdom and the accident happened, everyone thought you were dead after you went missing, but Seventh Senior Sister never forgot you, saying you must still be alive. Not long before I fell into Minghuang, she and Eldest Senior Brother set off for the Yelang Ancient Kingdom to look for you. By the way, I am the youngest disciple Master Xuanhe Zhenren took into the Taiyuan Sect six years ago, named Xu Chen, ranked fourteenth. You can call me Junior Brother."

"Junior Brother, wuu wuu... I really never thought I would be able to see someone from the sect here..." The young man hugged Xu Chen tightly, weeping with excitement.

Xu Chen also felt a surge of emotion, feeling hot tears slide from the corners of his eyes. The two fellow disciples hugged each other, while the old man and the remaining man and woman stood to the side, also feeling moved and tearful under the influence of the moment.

Meeting an old friend in a foreign land is one of the four great joys in life.

Yet here in Minghuang, far removed from the Mortal World, where one might not see another human for decades or even a lifetime, being able to meet a fellow sect member was no longer just a simple matter of luck; it required the heavens to open their eyes.

"By the way, Fourth Brother, let me introduce you to a few companions. This is Senior Guilingzi. Because he is also a great cultivator from Yuqing Hall, he recognized the Yuqing Hall Magic Spell you were using!" After the fellow disciples embraced for a moment, Chen Yang hurried to introduce his three companions to Xu Chen.

Upon hearing this, Xu Chen was stunned and deeply shocked; he looked the old man up and down and bowed, "So the senior is True Monarch Guiling. It is rumored that you went missing while traveling seven hundred years ago; to think you also arrived in the Minghuang Di Jie!"

The old man was equally astonished, his face full of joy as he said, "The little friend actually knows my name?"

Xu Chen nodded and in a few words explained how he had gone to the Scripture Pavilion at Yuqing Hall and seen the Ghost Pill recipe. Upon hearing this, the old man suddenly realized, sighing with emotion, "So that's how it is. I never expected you to have been to Yuqing Hall. Does that mean your Qinglan Shadow Technique was also learned from Yuqing Hall?"

Xu Chen nodded and briefly recounted how True Monarch Chixia and the other two great cultivators of Yuqing Hall had gifted him treasures and passed on techniques. The old man and the others were even more excited, then they asked about the current situation in the Mortal World, and Xu Chen briefly introduced what he knew.

After listening, the expressions of the group changed, and True Monarch Guiling sighed for a long time, "I never expected such a major event to have occurred in the Mortal World. It seems this disaster will not be easy to survive!"

Xu Chen nodded earnestly, "That is indeed the case. However, after I fell in, I didn't know what happened afterward. I imagine it is even more chaotic and complicated now. I was just worried about the safety of the sect, so I was anxious to find a way out everywhere, but I never thought I would meet you and Fourth Senior Brother here. It seems this is truly a great stroke of fate."

The old man smiled bitterly and nodded, "It is indeed fate, no doubt. But it is a pity that I have been stuck at this Minghuang Boundary for over seven hundred years and still haven't found a way to leave. Except for Chen Yang, these others were also suddenly swept in by an array from the Yelang Ancient Kingdom. Because we cannot leave, we have banded together to live here. Also, you should have already felt that Minghuang is not suitable for normal cultivation; not only is there a lack of abundant spirit items and Spirit Medicine, but various demon beasts are incredibly fierce. Fortunately, the aura of Minghuang matches my unique cultivation technique, so I taught them Ghost Cultivation, which is why we have managed to survive; otherwise, we would have all been dead long ago!"

Xu Chen was startled and said, "So that's it. I was wondering why I felt a cold, yin-like aura similar to the Nether Beasts from you and the others; it turns out to be your unique Ghost Cultivation technique."

After a brief exchange, Chen Yang introduced the other man and woman.

The middle-aged man was named Lu An, a rogue cultivator from the Shu Kingdom, who had been here for forty years.

The slightly younger woman was named Zhong Hui, originally a cultivator from an indigenous tribe in the Southern Border, who had also fallen in over ten years ago.

True Monarch Guiling sighed, "Including Wang Daolin, who fled alone just now, all four of them have fallen in one after another within the last fifty years. I suspect that the heavens have undergone a strange change, which is why people have been falling into Minghuang one after another from the Mortal World. Now, based on what you said, it seems the Nether Rift has indeed developed a problem."

Speaking of this, True Monarch Guiling looked at Xu Chen with confusion for a few moments before continuing, "Although you have decent strength, your cultivation is only at the Zhenyuan Realm. Being able to survive and travel here from the depths of Minghuang is simply a miracle. You must know that even near this Minghuang Boundary, there are countless powerful Demon Beasts, not to mention that Minghuang is filled with Underworld Qi, cold and pitch-black, and the powerful Nether Beasts hidden within are as numerous as the hairs on an ox. I don't even dare to venture deep inside; did you not encounter any?"

Xu Chen thought for a moment and decided to tell the truth, "To be honest, with my own strength, I certainly could not have reached here. I had a companion with formidable strength, but we were tracked by a Demon King-level Nether Beast, and my companion stayed behind to block it, which is how I managed to escape here."

"What level is the Demon King level?" True Monarch Guiling and the four others looked at Xu Chen with full confusion.

Xu Chen thought for a moment and explained, "It is roughly equivalent to a True Immortal in the Chongxu Unity Realm."

The four of them instantly turned pale and looked at Xu Chen in extreme terror.

Xu Chen quickly comforted them, "Everyone, rest assured, my companion is not weak either; he was formerly a Demon Lord..."

"Jun... Junior Brother, what level is a Demon Lord?" Chen Yang asked, stuttering.

"A Demon Lord is equivalent to a Great Vehicle Golden Immortal!"

"Thump~" The four of them almost fell to their knees at the same time as their legs trembled.

Chen Yang and the others were one thing, but even True Monarch Guiling, who had lived for nearly a thousand years, felt his whole body go weak, his soul spinning and turning black, and cold sweat rolling down his forehead.

Although he had fallen into Minghuang seven hundred years ago, he had never dared to venture deep into the Minghuang territory, always circling this border area. Of course, he had also been searching for a way out nearby, as those who fell in from here would surely have an exit nearby as well.

As for those other pitch-black, cold places where humans could not survive, he had also gone to the edges to scout a few times, but every time he went, he was terrified. The powerful auras hidden deep in the black fog were like giant demons from a bottomless abyss, and each one was enough to make him feel terrified; he hadn't been back in two hundred years.

He dared not go deep, let alone encounter humans from the nine ancient clans.

As for those powerful Nether Beasts, he dared not provoke them even more, so he had spent over six hundred years alone here, only becoming a bit livelier in the last few decades when people started falling in.

Therefore, upon learning that Xu Chen had also befriended such a powerful Underworld Clan expert, True Monarch Guiling and the others were both surprised and delighted.

If this Demon Race expert, equivalent to a Great Vehicle Golden Immortal, were willing to help, perhaps everyone would still have a chance to escape the Underworld.

But unfortunately, according to Xu Chen, this Demon Lord was injured and currently had at most the strength of a Demon King, and it was highly probable that he would lead that Demon King-level Nether Beast away; whether he could still find them remained an unknown.

The subsequent in-depth conversation, however, quickly made Xu Chen's heart turn cold.

Because according to True Monarch Guiling, he had never found any traces of a passage left behind by the ancient human race, so Xu Chen speculated that this passage must have been completely destroyed along with this huge gap.

Of course, that was not entirely the case, because Chen Yang and the others had also fallen in from nearby, right in the vast white fog outside the gap where Divine Sense could not penetrate at all and where too much was unknown.

The four people before him had varying levels of cultivation.

True Monarch Guiling had the highest cultivation, but his aura was chaotic. Because he was a Ghost Cultivation, his soul emitted a cold, yin-like aura. Although there were fluctuations of Spirit Qi, it was actually very weak; he seemed to be barely maintaining his Spirit Transformation Realm cultivation, but his special cultivation method made his soul very powerful, reaching at least the strength of a Level 5 Nether Beast, no worse than Tu Jiu and the old Witch Master.

The remaining three, including Chen Yang, also had strong soul auras, but their vital energy fluctuations were weak. Judging from the battle with the fierce wild beasts just now, their cultivation was not weak, at least at the Danyuan Realm, but like the old man, their soul auras were cold and yin-like, not at all like normal cultivators in the Mortal World.

When Chen Yang went missing eight years ago, his cultivation was only at the Kaiyuan Realm mid-stage, but after falling in, he practiced the special Ghost Cultivation technique in this unique environment, and his strength had advanced by leaps and bounds; this speed of advancement was terrifying.

Lu An and Zhong Hui were in a similar state to Chen Yang, with very obvious progress.

But to survive in this harsh environment of the Minghuang Boundary where demon beasts ran rampant, their bit of strength was completely insufficient.

Even Xu Chen, who now had cultivation comparable to the Danyuan Late Stage, was still a nobody in Minghuang. Without Tu Jiu and the old Witch Master to protect him, and without the help of Demon Lord Youtong, he dared not run around at all.

Moreover, he had now lost the Blue Light Treasure Bottle, and in his Sea of Consciousness, only a mysterious, head-scratching Heaven-Suppressing Divine Stele remained; his greatest reliance had been completely lost.

Therefore, for the moment, he could only wait for news from Demon Lord Youtong.

(End of chapter)