Chapter 504

Hearing Hua Changxi's provocative words, Lady White Bone paused briefly, then, as if she had heard the funniest joke in the world, let out a silvery string of giggles.

"Quite the big talker."

She leaned languidly back in her sedan chair, casting a casual glance at the mindless ghost tribes scattered around. "Since you're unwilling to act, I'll take care of these 'leftovers' on the ground for you."

Before the words had even faded, Lady White Bone slowly extended a hand as pale as jade from within the sedan chair.

The hand was exquisitely beautiful, yet utterly bloodless, its nails an eerie, translucent bone-white. She lightly tapped the void with her fingertip.

"Whoosh~"

An overwhelmingly terrifying suction force erupted abruptly, centered on the white sedan chair!

Those ghost tribes who had collapsed, mindless and limp, found their bodies involuntarily floating upward.

Like withered leaves swept up by a gale, they flew helplessly toward the white sedan chair.

"No~"

A few ghost tribe leaders who still retained their senses, terror filling their eyes, desperately tried to grasp the rock ground, their nails scraping sparks across the hard black stone, yet they still could not resist that overbearing pull.

Hua Changxi stood in place, watching the scene expressionlessly, inwardly on high alert. The ghost fire in his white bone lantern flickered unsteadily, as if it too felt the terror of that power.

The ghost tribes flying midair—as they approached within three feet of the white sedan chair—their bodies began to rapidly shrivel.

The soul force, essence, and even their ghost bodies within them were forcibly stripped away at a visible speed, transforming into streams of black light that flowed ceaselessly into the palm of the woman in white, following the invisible suction.

In just a few breaths, the dense throng of ghosts before the Chongyuan Pass had vanished without a trace, as if they had never existed.

This battlefield, once filled with slaughter and plunder, instantly fell into dead silence, terrifyingly clean.

Lady White Bone languidly withdrew her hand, as if she had merely done something trivial. "Tastes average—too many impurities."

She wrinkled her nose in distaste, then turned her gaze back to Hua Changxi, her formerly lazy eyes now glinting with amusement. "You're an interesting little ghost."

Clearly your aura is weak, yet you can control ghost fire, and you even have a soul tool refined from the throat bone of the great monster Guiche."

As her words fell, the air around seemed to congeal, and an invisible pressure descended upon Hua Changxi.

Hua Changxi's expression did not change; she silently locked eyes with Lady White Bone, though the ghost fire within her white bone lantern flared a few degrees brighter.

Lady White Bone stared at her, her fingertips lightly tapping the sedan chair's rim, producing a crisp "thump thump," as if deliberating.

This female ghost before her had a soul too fragrant—if she devoured it, her own spirit body would surely grow a bit stronger.

But...

Lady White Bone glanced at the male ghost clearing the way in front of the sedan, and the four ghosts carrying it, then sighed helplessly and gave a light chuckle. "Forget it. I won't bother with you today."

She leaned back lazily into the sedan. "Let's go."

As her words ended, the white sedan rose into the air again.

The path clearer and the sedan bearers moved in perfect unison, carrying that grim white sedan toward the Chongyuan Pass. Without a moment's hesitation, they leaped and vanished into the surging black sea of clouds like phantoms.

After a moment of weightless descent, when their feet touched solid ground, Chu Junyi and his four companions, along with the white sedan, had landed safely in a darker territory.

Lady White Bone's languid voice came from within the sedan: "No need to rush off just yet."

Chu Junyi, hearing this, turned to look at the white sedan. "You want to ambush that black-clad female ghost from just now?"

The sedan curtain did not stir; only a faint, light laugh came through, which was taken as confirmation.

Ye Jingzhou, who had been silently carrying the sedan all along, spoke up at this moment, his voice steady: "I advise you to think twice. I secretly cast a divination just now, and the hexagram shows that if we go up against that female ghost, we're likely to suffer a huge loss."

At these words, Lady White Bone's languid smile instantly vanished. Even her posture straightened a few degrees, and her tone carried a hint of surprise. "Is that true?"

She had always trusted the abilities of Chu Junyi and his four companions.

If it weren't for that, she wouldn't have been willing to be held hostage by them and taken wandering around the Nine Nether.

Ye Jingzhou's tone was firm: "Though I am not skilled in divination, I can still glimpse the basics of good and bad fortune."

At this, Lady White Bone furrowed her brows, a flash of reluctance in her eyes. "What a pity..." A soul so pure and fragrant was rare in the Nine Nether!

Seeing this, Chu Junyi interjected in a low, serious voice: "The Nine Nether has been unsettled lately. You'd better avoid provoking those powerful ones with unclear backgrounds. Don't forget, the clone of Lady of the Spider Lily was killed by a nobody little ghost."

These words were like a bucket of cold water, completely extinguishing the flickering flame of restlessness in Lady White Bone's heart.

She let out a soft sigh, her tone growing heavier: "The news that the Nine Serenity Soul Realm is about to appear has stirred up all sorts of shady characters."

After a moment, she leaned back into the sedan, resuming her earlier languor: "Enough, let's continue on. The chasm passage from the third to the fourth layer of the Nine Serenity is not easy to find."

"And you all be careful—those who can set foot in the third layer of the Nine Serenity are no ordinary people. Don't let anyone discover your identities."

Only after the white sedan had been gone for a quarter of an hour did Hua Changxi's figure drop down from the chasm entrance.

The moment she landed, she released her divine sense outward. Detecting no ambush, she lifted the bone-white lantern again and quickly moved away from the chasm entrance.

The third layer of the Nine Serenity felt even more suffocating.

If the first layer was a hazy gray that still allowed one to see the path ahead, and the second was an oppressive black that could be illuminated by ghost fire, then this third layer was a dead, eerie gloom—where even the darkness seemed to have weight, wrapping heavily around every inch of perception.

There was no wind, yet a bone-piercing chill seeped in from all directions, like countless icy needles burrowing through the pores into flesh and straight to the marrow.

The ghostly flame of the bone-white lantern was compressed here to the size of a thumb, its halo shrinking to her feet, barely illuminating a few dozen zhang.

Beyond the circle of light was not pure darkness, but countless huge shadows standing vaguely—some like beast bones magnified a hundred times, jagged and protruding; others like remnants of ancient gods' limbs, twisted and grotesque.

The most hair-raising thing was this absolute silence.

No ghostly wails, no wolf howls, no screams of battle, not even the sound of insects.

This stillness was like an invisible net, wrapping around a person, making even their heartbeat unusually clear—every beat hammering against taut nerves, causing an inexplicable panic.

A sharp pain shot through the back of her right hand. Hua Changxi looked down and saw black fish-scale patterns emerging on her skin. She immediately knew that, under the influence of the environment, the black flames on her Nascent Soul were flickering.

The black flames flickering meant her emotions were fluctuating—and negative emotions at that.

Silently reciting the Heart-Cleansing Mantra, Hua Changxi moved swiftly through the darkness, relying on the vibration of the broken blade to guide her way.

Not long after, there was movement in the fog ahead.

Hua Changxi stopped, held her breath, and stared fixedly ahead, her gaze piercing through the thin layer of ghost fire.

Soon, the mist slowly parted, and over a dozen black figures emerged from the shadows.

They were burly, with muscles knotted, exuding a wild and fierce aura completely different from that of ghost clans.

Their eyes held none of the gloom typical of ghosts; instead, they burned with naked ferocity and brutality, as if ready to tear apart everything in sight.

Most striking were the black patterns carved on their foreheads.

They were not ordinary totems, but vicious jagged cracks—like lines left on a perfect piece of porcelain after being violently struck by a heavy hammer, just before it shatters.

The cracks burst wildly from the center of the brow to the hairline, radiating an extremely unstable and violent aura. Just looking at them sent a tremor through the heart.

Seeing the patterns on the newcomers' foreheads, Hua Changxi's gaze sharpened, and memories left by Lady Crimson Nightmare quickly surfaced in her mind.

Those patterns were called Abyssal Marks.

In the Nine Serenity, by observing the shape, color, and number of Abyssal Marks, one could accurately identify the race and cultivation level of the bearer.

At this moment, Hua Changxi was facing the most battle-loving race in the Nine Serenity—the Devil Race!

The Abyssal Marks on the foreheads of these devils were all clearly visible, and each had exactly four.

Four Abyssal Marks represented the rank of Devil General.

In other words, all of these dozen figures were Devil Generals!