Chapter 422: 幽都酆都

The great sun rose in the west, its sunlight and fire flowing along long chains and spreading throughout the Sun Ship. This enormous land vessel dispelled the darkness of the Great Ruins, illuminating its surroundings. In the darkness, numerous demons sizzled and emitted plumes of black smoke as they were bathed in the sunlight.

In nearby villages, the awakened outcasts of the Great Ruins stared blankly as the towering, mountain-like Sun Ship, with its twelve legs resembling colossal pillars, walked past their village. The dazzling sunlight caused them no discomfort; instead, it felt very warm. However, the demons in the darkness fled in panic.

Such a scene had been rarely witnessed since the end of the Kaihuang Era.

In the later period of the Kaihuang Era, when darkness descended, dozens of such Sun Ships in the Great Ruins automatically traveled westward, dispelling the darkness and bringing light to the people.

However, after the Kaihuang Era, the last Sun Ship became dilapidated, its sun extinguished. Only the Sun Wardens, the Sun Herders, remained, silently guarding the Great Ruins by dragging the dark sun. The ship no longer possessed its former glory and fiery brilliance.

And now, this Sun Ship had been resurrected, piercing the darkness with its scorching sun and leaving a trail of light in its wake.

On the Sun Ship, tall giants bathed in golden light stood. As the enormous ship continually lurched, it journeyed toward the Divine Disconnect Mountain Range.

"Sun Warden, something is moving toward us!"

On the Sun Ship, the Sun Herder chieftain was extremely tense, sensing an enormous entity approaching. A chill ran down his spine as he immediately reported to Yan Jingjing, who was controlling the ship at its center.

Yan Jingjing, as mighty as a deity at that moment, immediately looked into the darkness. She also sensed a terrifying tremor. The approaching entity was rapidly closing in from behind the Sun Ship, moving much faster than the ship itself!

Her gaze was like two immense pillars of light, tearing open the darkness and allowing her to perceive the truth within.

She saw mist surging in the darkness, and within the mist, towering mountains appeared and disappeared. Yan Jingjing was slightly startled; these colossal mountains were composed of countless white bones. Illuminated by the divine light from her eyes, these bones were still writhing, screaming, and constantly trying to hide, as if terrified of her gaze.

Behind the bone mountains, the mist grew even denser. There was a sea of mist with endless mountain ranges, and beyond the mist lay two colossal, gate-like mountains, revealing a deep and gloomy world.

Fengdu, the Ghost Gate.

The world of Fengdu approached with incredible speed, quickly catching up to the Sun Ship. The mist surged past the Sun Ship with a howl. Those on board immediately realized that the laws of heaven and earth had drastically changed; their flesh and blood peeled away, turning them into skeletons.

The bone mountains and rivers in the mist passed through their bodies, followed by vast, boundless mountains, land, and rivers, which surged through them like a tide. Even the sun above the Sun Ship grew dim, turning green and hazy.

Yan Jingjing extended her hand. The rules of Fengdu's world did not transform her body; she was now too powerful, no longer subject to Fengdu's control.

She saw that the world of Fengdu seemed incorporeal, as if it wasn't in the same world as them. She couldn't touch anything in Fengdu.

Then she saw Fengdu itself, a majestic ghost city. Colossal underworld deities stood on its walls and towers, as if facing a formidable enemy.

At the center of Fengdu, a demon god, seemingly composed of darkness, had a cloak draped diagonally downwards, spreading out in all directions. It was taller and more imposing than the Sun Ship. The Sun Ship passed right through its body, and Yan Jingjing did not see its face, only two fiery red eyes in the darkness beneath the cloak.

Whoosh—

The world of Fengdu flashed past. The mist surged forward and vanished into the darkness, and the sun gradually regained its brightness. Those on board looked down in unison, seeing that their flesh and blood had returned, leaving them bewildered about what had just happened.

"The mist from Fengdu's world is heading towards the Divine Disconnect Mountain Range…"

Yan Jingjing looked up toward the Divine Disconnect Mountain Range. That was where the village chief and others were intercepting and battling the gods of the High Heavens. The battle was fierce; some peaks of the Divine Disconnect Mountain Range suddenly grew taller, while others instantly sank into the ground. From time to time, flashes of sword light and saber light sliced through the sky, startling people, and various sounds echoed, like demons roaring and gods whispering.

"Cowherd Brother rode the Dragon King God to borrow the Moon Ship," she murmured. "He said the Moon Ship is very far from here, and he needs to pilot it from the Moon Well into the Star Sea. He told me to hold them off for a while. I wonder if he will make it in time… What is that?"

Yan Jingjing pressed on with all her might. Suddenly, she froze again, for on the side of the Divine Disconnect Mountain Range facing the Great Ruins, wisps of ghostly flames were surging, appearing out of nowhere.

"Pleiades Astral Ring!"

Layers of fiery light in Yan Jingjing's eyes transformed into astral rings. She looked toward the ghostly flames, only to see paper boats drifting from the endless darkness within them. Horse lanterns hung from the prows of the ghost boats, illuminating the darkness, and many paper figures rode paper horses, galloping wildly into the mist.

On each paper boat, old men in tattered black robes sat beneath the horse lanterns, piloting their boats into the mist. Within the mist, one could faintly discern towering figures like gods and demons, battling the old men on the boats.

Eerie light occasionally pierced through the two worlds. But strangely, these fluctuations did not transmit from those two worlds into the real world, causing no impact on the Great Ruins or reality itself.

"Those are… the legendary Underworld Envoys of Youdu!"

Yan Jingjing was utterly astonished. The Underworld Envoys of Youdu were fighting Fengdu? What was happening?

She didn't have time to think further. The Sun Ship rumbled forward, heading toward the Divine Disconnect Mountain Range. It drew closer to the battlefield between Fengdu and Youdu. And above this battlefield was the conflict between the village chief, Imperial Advisor of Yankang, and others against the gods of the High Heavens. This battle was also extremely magnificent, but it paled in comparison to the war between Fengdu and Youdu.

All those fighting on the mountain were immensely powerful, each comparable to gods and demons, possessing vast divine abilities. However, they seemed completely unaware that another magnificent battle, even larger in scale and more startling, was unfolding beneath their feet.

As the Sun Ship traveled below the Divine Disconnect Mountain Range, before it even drew close, Yan Jingjing suddenly felt an inexplicable palpitation.

Wisps of ghostly flames drifted from another dark world, and paper boats swarmed toward the world of Fengdu. The old Underworld Envoys on the paper boats seemed identical, cold and silent. But upon closer inspection, their faces were invisible; their faces seemed shrouded in mist, their true forms hidden. One could only vaguely sense that they possessed the most ordinary of faces.

Countless paper boats, like sharp arrows, swiftly darted and surged into Fengdu. Behind the ghostly fire paper boats, Yan Jingjing witnessed an extremely terrifying sight: a pair of flaming, burning ox horns were slowly rising from the darkness!

"Earth Count!"

Yan Jingjing was incredibly tense. She knew full well that these two worlds were at war, and the situation was extremely perilous. However, the battle above the Divine Disconnect Mountain Range was also in full swing and had reached a critical stage. Thus, she had no choice but to brace herself and pilot the Sun Ship toward the Divine Disconnect Mountain Range.

"Batu… Spartu—"

A roar echoed from the darkness. This sound seemed not to transmit to the outside world; the powerful individuals fiercely battling on the mountain heard no sound and perceived no anomaly. They only saw the approaching Sun Ship.

The Sun Ship, however, brushed past the world of Fengdu. Yan Jingjing on the ship heard the obscure and incomprehensible language of Youdu, though she couldn't understand its meaning.

In Fengdu, the garments of Yama, beneath his dark cloak, fluttered. The dark cloak swirled and roared around Fengdu City, and deities of varying sizes stood beneath it, appearing minuscule in comparison.

In the sea of mist, paper figures and paper horses fiercely battled the gods and demons within the mist. The old men on the paper boats stood up, holding their horse lanterns, whose light shone. Skeletons rushing forward fell in swathes, dissolving into plumes of black smoke.

Yama raised his hand. The entire world of Fengdu suddenly seemed to freeze; everything was fixed in place, and time itself seemed to stop.

Yama raised his hand, and a divine sword appeared. He swung it toward the ox horns in the other world. Wherever the black sword light passed, space was compressed into a tangible substance, and layers of space shattered beneath the sword.

Yan Jingjing's scalp tingled; she paid no heed to anything else. She fully propelled the Sun Ship toward the Divine Disconnect Mountain Range. Half of the Sun Ship entered Fengdu and Youdu, advancing with extreme difficulty, until it suddenly broke free from the constraints of the two foreign worlds and emerged.

Yan Jingjing breathed a sigh of relief. She looked back again, only to see that the two eerie worlds of Fengdu and Youdu had completely vanished. The scene of the two worlds battling was no longer visible.

"How strange!"

On the Divine Disconnect Mountain Range, the village chief and others were fiercely battling the gods of the High Heavens. Each mighty deity had either four heads and eight arms or three heads and six arms, their bodies appearing forged from gold. Various divine treasures unleashed endless power, causing the heavens to collapse and the earth to crack.

Those on the mountain were embroiled in a bloody battle. Even the village chief, an old Sword God, struggled immensely and was covered in wounds.

Their vitality was exceptionally vigorous; the surging blood energy emanated a crimson light that soared into the sky, dyeing half the heavens red.

Bang—

A colossal figure crashed down from the sky, landing before the Sun Ship. It was the spirit of the Imperial Advisor of Yankang, violently struck down. Even a sage, famed for initiating reforms once every five hundred years, suffered a great loss when faced with absolute power!

The Imperial Advisor of Yankang ascended into the air, his sword light filling the sky. With unpredictable swordsmanship, he slashed toward the head of a one-eyed deity.

The one-eyed deity lowered its head and opened its eye, unleashing an eruption of endless divine light that engulfed the Imperial Advisor of Yankang!

The sound of continuous critical hits echoed as the Imperial Advisor of Yankang's sword light spun, breaking through the one-eyed god's divine light. It pierced through its pupil and emerged from the back of its head. But the next moment, the one-eyed deity's fist slammed into the Imperial Advisor of Yankang's body, smashing him onto a mountaintop with such force that he and the mountain were driven into the ground.

The back of the one-eyed deity's head split open, and a large eye emerged, rolling once. Its other fist lifted, ready to smash down fiercely upon the Imperial Advisor of Yankang!

"How sinister…"

The Imperial Advisor of Yankang coughed up blood. He looked up at the descending fist, as the one-eyed deity's head inexplicably twisted around, its back-of-head eye looking at him with a mocking expression.

"But I'm not bad myself…"

The Imperial Advisor of Yankang revealed a faint smile: "Sword Realm, First Chapter: World Sealing."

The one-eyed deity was slightly stunned as the sword light hidden within its head erupted with a roar!