Chapter 1018: Chapter 61: Preparations Complete, Entering the Netherworld (3)
Without a word along the way, about an hour later, Xiao Jie had already flown back to the vicinity of the Kongtong Mountain area remembered in his memory.
To avoid unnecessary attention and commotion, Xiao Jie had early on used the Invisibility Technique to completely conceal his traces, then pressed down on the clouds, quietly landing.
He landed at the very spot by the clear river where he had once had the final showdown with the Red Dust Taoist. Choosing this location to enter the Netherworld had its reasoning. According to the “Dark and Mysterious Record,” the Jiuzhou World and Netherworld are not completely isolated separate worlds, but rather like two sides of a mirror, overlapping each other yet existing on different dimensional planes. The “Nether River” that traverses the Netherworld, cleansing souls, has projections intricately linked to the rivers, lakes, and seas of the Jiuzhou World, with interconnected water veins and air flows.
When a mortal dies, their soul sinks into this overlapping interface, falling into the tributaries of the Nether River, carried and washed by the Netherworld River Water, drifting until finally reaching the “Yellow Springs Destination,” only then able to enter Reincarnation.
Therefore, opening the entrance to the Netherworld by this river that witnessed the demise of his teammates is most suitable and easiest to locate the area where his teammates’ souls might be.
Xiao Jie held his breath and focused, recalling the Magic Skill recorded in the “Dark and Mysterious Record” to open the passage to the Netherworld. He formed hand seals with his hands, circulating the Immortal Spirit Qi within his body along a specific trajectory.
“Netherworld, open wide, Yellow Springs guide the way; Yin and Yang reverse, the border connects to Tongyou!” Read complete version only at novel-fire.ɴet
With the final spell sharply recited, Xiao Jie pointed with his fingers like a sword, drawing fiercely through the air ahead!
Instantaneously, where his fingertips passed, the space tore apart silently like the finest silk! It was not a simple black crack, but a spinning vortex channel composed of deep darkness and scattered phosphorescent flames appeared out of thin air! Eerie blue runes flickered on the edges of the channel, a chilling Yin wind and faint, spectral wails emanated from within, a powerful suction emerged, pulling in surrounding light and even space.
Xiao Jie took a deep breath, without a hint of hesitation, stepped into that rotating dark vortex!
As he stepped in, it was as if passing through a layer of cold, sticky water film, the surrounding scenery instantly transformed! The fragrance of plants and sound of flowing water from the Mortal World vanished in an instant, replaced by an absolute silence and bone-chilling cold. The sense of time and space became blurred and twisted, gliding through a tunnel of flowing light composed of fragments of countless deceased memories, countless blurred faces and shattered scenes whizzing by and annihilating around. In just a brief moment, yet seeming like enduring a long epoch, when he felt his feet on firm ground once more, he was already in a completely unfamiliar gray world.
Is this the Netherworld? Completely different from what he experienced through the game screen!
Playing the game, through the screen, all perceptions were dampened and transformed, the Netherworld was merely a grayscale adjustment accompanied by an “Yin Energy Corrosion” debuff status bar. Now, having personally stepped into this realm, he could truly feel the omnipresent, suffocating silence and chill.
This was a cold not simply caused by low temperatures, but an eerie ghostly energy capable of penetrating the Immortal Body, reaching deep into the Primordial Spirit, capable of freezing thoughts and eroding vitality. The air was filled with a faint mist like ashes, inhaling it carried a scent of decay and despair. The light here was extremely dim, like an eternal dusk with no discernible source of illumination. The land was a desolate wasteland of black and gray, cold and hard, occasionally showing twisted, bizarre dead trees and jagged rocks. In the distance, an intermittent wailing wind from ancient times and the sound of dragging chains added to the desolation and terror.
If an ordinary human were to enter this world, they probably couldn’t survive for even a few minutes, their flesh instantly eroded into a walking corpse.
Fortunately, he had already achieved Ascension to Immortality, long abandoning the physical body, this eerie illusion of the Netherworld only caused him slight discomfort, unable to inflict any harm.
Xiao Jie concentrated his sight and scanned around, only to see a vast river with murky dark yellow water flowing slowly yet possessing an intimidating eroding force not far away, that being the Legendary main course of the Nether River. And the place he appeared was right by a small tributary feeding into the main course.
Looking further afield, the gray sky hung low, no sun, moon, or stars were visible, only a chaos stretching across. The desolate land stretched in all directions, reaching the limits of sight, occasionally revealing some ruins of ancient buildings or giant, unidentified creatures’ pale bones half buried in the ground. The world’s hue consisted only of gray, black, and white, filled with a sense of despair and finality.
Feeling the dark and oppressive environment and the pervasive chilling ghostly energy surrounding him, even as an Immortal, Xiao Jie’s heart couldn’t help but tense up, a trace of anxiety surfacing.
He once again used the Cloud Soaring Skill, cautiously floating a few feet off the ground, flying along the tributary ahead, soon the tributary merged into the vast Nether River main course, as if containing all the world’s sorrows. Flying above the Nether River, looking downward, countless indistinct, transparent souls drifted with the waves, rising and falling, as far as the eye could see, dense like a sea of thousands! Trying to find specific souls among them seemed as arduous as finding a needle in a haystack!