Chapter 1312: Dark Currents of the Nether Realm

He forced a tear in space to flee, and for Yan Buji, whose life‑death fusion was still nascent and his condition extremely unstable, the burden was enormous. The newborn, gray‑hued Chaos Force enveloped him as he struggled through the layered, unusually solid fissures of space in Youming Jie, and finally, exhausted, it spat him out of the void.

Plop!

He fell into a river that was ice‑cold, bone‑piercing, and dim‑colored. The water was no ordinary water; it was condensed from pure Yin qi and diffused soul energy, exceedingly heavy and highly corrosive. If an ordinary being fell in, their flesh would melt away in an instant and their soul would shatter.

Yan Buji let out a low hum, and his Chaos body began to operate autonomously, sealing off the corrosive Yin qi and soul energy, yet he could still feel the bone‑piercing cold and the sense of sinking. He struggled to break the surface and looked around.

It seemed to be a vast underground Nether River basin, with an endless ceiling of flickering, ghostly light emanating from the Youming Rock Strata, and black, jagged rocks lining both banks. The air drifted with faint phosphorescence and ceaseless whispers from countless dead souls. The light was extremely dim, and only the Nether River itself emitted a weak, death‑laden glow.

"Cough…" he coughed out a few breaths of Chaos blood tinged with Nether River steam, feeling the hollow power inside his body and the still‑aching core of his will. The High Priest Chang Wu's "Nether River Death Verdict" strike, which summoned the Nine Abyssal Origin, had nearly driven him to the brink; though he had luckily forced a sliver of the Silence Extinction source to fuse through the Chaos's accommodating nature, completing a crucial metamorphosis, the price was extremely heavy.

At this moment his strength was less than one‑tenth of a percent, and he urgently needed to find a safe place to heal and to stabilize this newborn Chaos Force that contained the meaning of life‑death cycles.

"Lao Gui… this grudge will be repaid!" Yan Buji's eyes flashed with cold light, then he suppressed the surging blood qi, forcing himself to stay calm. He carefully sensed his surroundings.

The Nether River seemed to flow deeper into Youming Jie, and occasionally twisted, resentful water ghosts bobbed in the water, but they instinctively feared the faint, higher‑level Chaos Death aura on Yan Buji and dared not approach.

"We must leave the surface as soon as possible and find a place where Nether Death Qi is dense yet relatively concealed."

He drew a strong breath of Chaos air and swam toward the nearest riverbank. After reaching the shore, he immediately suppressed all his qi; the newborn Chaos Force circulated slowly within him, mirroring the dead‑silence fluctuations of the surroundings, making him seem like an ordinary black rock on the riverbank, almost merging with the Youming environment.

He slipped along the bank, heading downstream. From his lingering, vague memories of his last journey through Youming Jie, the Nether River usually passes several key areas of the realm and may even lead near the legendary "Reincarnation Core." Though that place is dangerous, the Youming essence there is most concentrated, aiding his recovery, and it would also be easier to evade Chang Wu and the Shura Tribe's hunts in the surface zones.

After an indeterminate amount of travel, faint energy ripples of conflict and a mournful soul howl drifted from ahead.

Yan Buji's heart stirred, and he slipped closer. Hiding behind a massive Nether Rock, he looked ahead to a relatively open riverbank where two groups of Youming creatures were locked in fierce combat.

One side comprised dozens of Youming Ghost Soldiers clad in tattered standard armor, wielding soul blades, with strict discipline; their battle formation invoked faint Youming laws, delivering a fierce onslaught. The other side consisted of hundreds of varied, wrath‑filled ferocious soul spirits, numerous and chaotic in attack, yet fearless, relying on pure resentment strikes and self‑detonating soul bodies, making the fight with the ghost soldiers indecisive.

In the center of the battlefield, a Soul‑Gathering Pearl emitting a soft white glow and continuously absorbing stray soul energy floated slowly, clearly the focal point of the contest.

"Patrolling ghost soldiers… and spontaneously gathering wild souls…" Yan Buji's eyes flickered, and he understood instantly. This Soul‑Gathering Pearl is a treasure that boosts soul power and stabilizes the soul body for Youming creatures, so its contest is unsurprising.

He had no intention of creating a side issue and was about to skirt around, when he suddenly noticed that behind the ghost soldiers, a seemingly commanding ghost general whose soul body was far more solid than his comrades wore a dark pendant at his waist, engraved with an ancient Youming character "Relay."

"Youming Relay Token?" Yan Buji's heart stirred. According to fragmented ancient memories, the holder of this token can travel on certain official roads within Youming Jie, and even use ancient relay stations for rapid movement or shelter, avoiding many unnecessary troubles and dangerous zones.

His condition was extremely poor; if he could seize the token, it would undoubtedly make his movements in Youming Jie far easier and help him locate an ideal healing spot more quickly.

A plan instantly formed in his mind.

He waited patiently, like the most cunning hunter, suppressing all his qi and observing the battle's development.

The ghost soldiers were well‑trained and their formation stable, but the ferocious souls were too many, including some powerful elite spirits, causing the fight to stall with heavy losses on both sides. The ghost general also intervened personally; as his soul blade swept, he slashed several charging elite spirits, though his soul light dimmed noticeably.

Finally, at the moment the ghost general's strike repelled several powerful elite spirits, and the old force had just left while the new force had not yet arisen—

Yan Buji moved!

He darted from behind the rock like a specter, without earth‑shaking momentum, only an extreme, restrained gray shadow! His aim fixed on the ghost general's waist pendant.

"Enemy attack!" the ghost general reacted instantly, sensing the dangerous aura within the gray shadow that made his soul shudder, and immediately issued a warning while his soul blade swung back toward the gray shadow!

However, Yan Buji's speed far exceeded his expectation! The gray shadow seemed unhindered by space, easily evading the soul blade, and a hand formed from condensed Chaos Death air already reached for the token!

"How audacious!" the ghost general shouted, both shocked and angry, his soul power erupting as he tried to blast the hand away.

But the instant the Chaos hand touched his soul body, the ghost general jolted violently, extreme terror flashing in his eyes! He felt his refined soul power become sluggish and trembling, as if confronting a sovereign, even trending toward self‑collapse and merging into the hand—an absolute suppression at that level!

Crack!

A faint cracking sound rang out—it was not the token but the ghost general's soul armor! Yan Buji's finger had already brushed the edge of the token!

At that moment, the anomaly rebirthed!

Perhaps the trace of high‑grade Chaos Death air leaked when Yan Buji struck, stimulating the ferocious souls on the battlefield, or perhaps the Soul‑Gathering Pearl sensed the threat; the chaotic melee's center saw the pearl suddenly blaze with white light, unleashing a powerful suction!

The nearest few powerful elite spirits were the first to be sucked in, screaming as they were drawn into the pearl! Yan Buji and the ghost general were also affected, their bodies freezing in place!

Roar—!

Seizing the chance, a massive, multi‑headed serpentine Nether‑Demon Water Serpent that had been lurking in the Nether River burst out, gaping its huge maw, and simultaneously lunged at the runaway Soul‑Gathering Pearl, the nearest Yan Buji, and the ghost general!

It intended to swallow the pearl, which contained pure soul energy, together with the two "food" emitting alluring auras.

Ahead the uncontrolled pearl's suction, to the side the Nether‑Demon Water Serpent's ambush, and behind the reacting ghost soldiers and ferocious souls were about to encircle!

In an instant, Yan Buji found himself beset on three sides.

A fierce glint flashed in his eyes, and he acted decisively! He jerked back the hand that held the token, while his other hand, finger like a blade, infused with newborn Chaos Death, struck hard at one of the serpent's biting heads!

"Silence Extinction Finger!"

Where the finger's wind passed, space seemed to hit a pause button; the ferocious aura on the serpent's head instantly solidified, then, like weathered rock, silently began to crumble and dissipate!

At the same time, using the pearl's suction and the serpent's impact, his body floated backward as if weightless, narrowly evading the encirclement, and the "Relay" token fell into his hand!

"Got it! Retreat!"

Without lingering, Yan Buji crushed a battered talisman stone he had hidden in his sleeve, a relic from the Demon Abyss used for short‑range random teleportation; a chaotic spatial ripple exploded, disrupting the area's energy field.

Amid the Nether‑Demon Water Serpent's roar, the ghost soldiers' shouts, and the ferocious souls' shrieks, his figure merged once more into the dark corners of Youming Jie and vanished.

Only the battlefield littered with wreckage remained, and a Soul‑Gathering Pearl that had become unstable from absorbing excessive violent soul power, its light flickering erratically.

Moments later, a powerful Shura Tribe divine perception swept the area, bearing icy wrath—it was a pursuit force sent by High Priest Chang Wu. Yet they only saw the chaotic battlefield and the soon‑to‑explode pearl; where was Yan Buji's trace?

Holding the Youming Relay Token, Yan Buji, who had begun to grasp the Youming Jie's law of the strong preying on the weak, was like a drop of ink falling into the sea, silently sinking deeper into the darker reaches of Youming Jie. His arrival was destined to stir unprecedented undercurrents in this realm of the dead.