Chapter 773: The Pale Kingdom

Amidst the heavy tearing sound of the wooden boards not having moved for a long time, that brownish-brown massive door opened slowly outward.

The first thing that reflected into Lu Mian's eyes was the dim light, different from the other areas of the Netherworld's depths that were pitch-black.

This didn't come from the human streetlights cast from gold, but was emitted jointly by everything in front.

Immediately following, Lu Mian saw the scene outside clearly.

That was a palace complex that seemed to be half-sunk into the void; it had a towering main hall, multiple high towers, and aerial corridors connecting various palaces and high towers.

The deeper this palace complex went, the more it seemed to sink into nihilism, while the edge area stood quite realistically on a wilderness.

And even so, the main hall in the core area was still much, much higher than the other buildings in the palace complex.

Nowadays, most of the buildings here had completely collapsed, leaving only broken walls and ruins; the few relatively intact palaces and high towers were mainly concentrated in the edge area, and the only building in the core area that could be seen standing high was the main hall and the four spires attached to it.

At this very moment, whether it was the broken palace complex, the surrounding wilderness, or the sky high above, they had all faded from other colors, presenting a dim paleness, a paleness that shrouded and infected the entire world.

They brought light.

In this pale world, there were still a few other colors remaining, which were the gold embedded on the surface of each building and the black representing the void at the bottom of the palace complex.

The latter also had two other sources: one was the illusory, pitch-black River of the Netherworld falling silently from the high altitude, which poured like a waterfall behind the main hall, and the other was a monster crouching between the four spires on top of the towering main hall, whose length could be described with the quantifier of a hundred meters.

That was an exaggerated giant bird; it spread its wings woven from pale flames and mysterious patterns, quietly crouching on the roof of the main hall, and quite a few of the pale flames on the surface of its body had peeled off and fallen, revealing pitch-black, rotten skin.

Even though it was separated by a considerable distance, even though he only looked two or three times, and even though he saw it very unclearly, Lu Mian couldn't help but feel that he himself was accelerating his "death".

He lowered his head, looked at his own hands, and discovered that his skin, which was already pale, dim, dry, and lusterless because of turning into an undead creature, had quite a few blue-black rotten traces.

These traces wriggled slowly, constantly deepening.

In addition, his clothing had also been initially "infected" by the paleness of this world, and all the colors had become dim.

"What kind of monster is that exactly?" Lu Mian didn't dare to look at the giant bird in the distance again and could only look straight at the palace complex itself.

After a few seconds, the voice of "Knight of Swords" Malic, which was becoming increasingly ethereal, rang out:

"It might be the corpse of Greigali."

Greigali? The ancestor of the Phoenix, the ancient Death, among the eight ancient gods of the Second Epoch? Lu Mian was stunned and blurted out:

"How could His corpse be here?"

After asking this question, Lu Mian felt that this seemed to be a question without much meaning:

This is the Netherworld; it's not strange for the corpse of any dead person to appear here, and the fall of the Phoenix ancestor, this ancient Death, was before the mutation of the Netherworld.

On the contrary, the corpse of that "Death" of the Aigris family didn't appear; I don't know where it's hidden, which belongs to an abnormal phenomenon. Lu Mian had some associations.

Lu Mian didn't expect "Knight of Swords" to actually answer his question:

"It might have been placed here by the ancestor of the Aigris family, the former 'Death'."

Uh... meaning the "Death" of the Aigris family not only acquired the Beyonder characteristics of the Phoenix ancestor Greigali, but also brought the corpse of the Phoenix ancestor back to the Netherworld and hid it somewhere in the palace complex? He, no, it, how did it run to the top of the palace by itself? It's just a corpse! Was it placed like this back then? Or, was the mutation of the Netherworld brought about by this ancient god's corpse? With the fall of the current "Death", the ancient Death's corpse has turned into a monster? Lu Mian suddenly had some associations.

At this time, he heard "Knight of Swords" add:

"Sharon saw that egg just now."

That egg? The egg the goat-faced devil wanted? Sharon refers to the Temperance Faction demigod within my body? Lu Mian felt a stir of joy in his heart and asked in turn:

"Where is that egg?"

"It is beneath the abdomen of that corpse suspected to be the Phoenix ancestor; it has a pitch-black shell, burning with pale flames, and is about a meter in diameter." "Knight of Swords" described the situation of that egg simply.

Protected by the corpse of the ancient Death? Lu Mian's scalp suddenly went numb.

How can this still be taken?

This is no different from going to kill the Demon King Fabuti!

Of course, for high-ranking beings, an ancient god who is still alive and an ancient god who has lost Beyonder characteristics and only has a rotten corpse left are clearly not on the same level; the difficulty of the two tasks has a difference like heaven and abyss, but for Lu Mian, they are all the same, all in the category of "cannot be completed even if I sacrifice myself".

Mother pig-raised, that goat face is really a devil turned into an undead creature!

Fine, if it can't be completed, then it can't be completed; killing the client will be as if this mission never existed!

Just as the malice in Lu Mian's heart was spreading to all parts of his body, "Knight of Swords" spoke again:

"It's not impossible to get that egg; the state of the Phoenix ancestor's corpse is a bit strange."

The state of the corpse is strange? A corpse only has two states, eternal sleep and turning into a monster, right? Lu Mian didn't dare to use his eyes to observe the rotten corpse of the ancient Death, Greigali, and could only ask the only person present who could observe the ancient god's body to a certain extent, which was that Temperance Faction demigod Sharon:

"How is it strange?"

The one answering was still "Knight of Swords":

"It is sleeping, a sleep that is very difficult to wake up from.

"This does not conform to the current situation of this pale kingdom."

Sleeping? It's already dead, it's already turned into a monster, and it still needs to sleep? Lu Mian frowned slightly and said:

"Why do you say it doesn't conform to the current situation here?"

"Knight of Swords" explained after a few seconds:

"From the current situation, one of the reasons for the mutation of the Netherworld back then was the Phoenix ancestor turning into a monster; it destroyed the palace of 'Death', killed all the followers of 'Death' present, and turned this place into a pale kingdom.

"We have contacted several demigods in the 'Death' domain; after the mutation of the Netherworld, they could actually utilize the Netherworld to complete some things, or even enter directly, but none of them dared to go deep into the Netherworld to find the treasures left in the palace of 'Death'. Their intuition told them that this place is very dangerous and absolutely must not be approached.

"And just now, Sharon didn't have such a premonition of danger, which is why she agreed to come here."

In other words, for a long time after the mutation of the Netherworld, the Phoenix ancestor's corpse still wandered in this pale kingdom, making the high-ranking beings of the "Death" domain not dare to approach, but now, it has fallen asleep... Lu Mian found that strange point from the description of "Knight of Swords" Malic.

"When was the last time a high-ranking being of the 'Death' pathway approached the depths of the Netherworld and felt danger?" Lu Mian tried to determine the approximate time range.

"I don't know." "Knight of Swords" answered very quickly.

I don't know... Looking at it this way, the Phoenix ancestor's corpse falling asleep must have been something that happened in the last few years; otherwise, high-ranking beings of the "Death" pathway entering the Netherworld would have discovered that this place wasn't that dangerous and could have attempted exploration, and it wouldn't have left no traces, nor would it have had no news spread out... What happened in the last few years? Lu Mian, while thinking, couldn't help but complain:

"Why did the 'Death' of the Aigris family bring back the Phoenix ancestor's corpse and leave such a massive hidden danger? As a true god, He should have been able to destroy this corpse directly!"

"Knight of Swords" responded to Lu Mian's complaint:

"The Netherworld was established by the ancient Death Greigali in the Spirit Realm, and as an ancient god, He didn't only possess the power of the 'Death' pathway; the power used when creating the Netherworld wasn't only the power of the 'Death' pathway.

"It might not have been easy for the 'Death' of the Aigris family to control the Netherworld at the very beginning; He needed to utilize the corpse left behind by the Phoenix ancestor. By the time He truly controlled it, His state might have already been not quite right, no longer paying attention to such small matters."

Does this mean the "Death" of the Aigris family went insane later? So the Netherworld wasn't naturally formed, but created by the ancient Death Greigali... This ancient god is truly powerful; no wonder she could turn into a monster... Lu Mian sighed in his heart.

"Knight of Swords" seemed to feel his sigh and said simply:

"It is said that even among those insane ancient gods, the Phoenix ancestor Greigali was the one who liked to stir up trouble the most and stirred up quite a few things, quite similar to the 'Blood Emperor' Alista Tudor of the Fourth Epoch."

If you compare it like that, I can understand it very well... Lu Mian's gaze moved back and forth between the pale sky, the wilderness, and the collapsed palace complex, thinking about whether to take advantage of the opportunity of the ancient Death's corpse sleeping to steal that pitch-black giant egg burning with pale flames.

Suddenly, he discovered a figure that could still move.

That was a monster with a human head but a giant bird-like body.

The monster's hands and feet were curled, extending sharp nails that shimmered with cold light, and its back spread wings covered in half-pale, half-brownish-brown feathers; the development of its head seemed incomplete, like several infants' heads slowly merging.

"Oseto's premature child? It really is here!" Lu Mian recognized the monster's identity.

That was the target he and the Temperance Faction members were tracking!

At this moment, Oseto's monster child was flapping its wings, constantly circling and hovering, quietly approaching the sleeping ancient god's corpse bit by bit.

Its goal seemed to be that pitch-black giant egg pressed beneath the corpse!

"Must stop it!

"Sharon is responsible for cursing it and controlling it, and we are responsible for attacking!"

"Knight of Swords'" voice rang in Lu Mian's mind.

"Alright." This time, Lu Mian didn't hesitate and ran out of the bottom of the pitch-black church.

The moment he stepped into that pale kingdom, his entire person was dyed pale, without any extra colors.

This made his body and mind tremble, only wanting to kneel to the ground and crawl motionless.

Silently, Lu Mian drew the "Sword of Courage".

The blade, which had been eroded by paleness, ignited with scorching white and cyan flames.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 774 =====