Chapter 144: The Realm of the Dead Encounters Jiang Ning

Li Wei mused, wondering if Zen Sea Mist's current power would be enough to reactivate the Governor's official robe and seal. If so, the capabilities of those two items were truly remarkable. The official robe, in particular, contained a sealed dragon soul and apparently possessed the power to open spatial passages.

"The Land of the Departed must be exceedingly perilous; we shouldn't proceed any further!" The dead-black sky ahead was too eerie. The Land of the Departed had once swallowed over two hundred prefectures from the Lingxiao Realm, and the terrifying entities and colossal spirits within were far beyond anything they could currently imagine.

Li Wei asked, "Can your mother find us, or will she truly risk coming to look for us?"

"What do you mean?" Li Ling retorted, displeased. She added, "My mother and I are connected by blood. With her exceptionally high cultivation, she can certainly find me through our shared senses."

Li Wei explained, "I'm not doubting her cultivation. What I mean is, the depths of the Dragon Mountain Range are treacherous, and your family has many children. You're the fourth, aren't you? Your mother manages the entire situation for the Cangli Tribe in Yao Pass City. Would she disregard the big picture for the sake of one child?"

Li Ling's confidence wavered. "Even if my mother doesn't come, my brother surely will."

"Alright then," Li Wei conceded. "The view here is good. We'll rest and regroup for now, and quietly wait for reinforcements to pick us up."

Li Wei sat cross-legged, not truly resting. A constant sense of urgency and crisis gnawed at him, so he activated his Qi Tempering Art, refining the spiritual energy within his Qi Sea. The ten springs surged, continuously producing spiritual energy, while he simultaneously imbibed the Golden Spring to temper his bones.

His prior battle with the elderly Third-stage Five Seas Realm anomaly had made him realize that his greatest current weakness was the purity of the spiritual energy within his body. First-stage Five Seas energy would be instantly overwhelmed when facing Third-stage energy. Fortunately, he could compensate for this disparity with the advantage of his combat artifacts.

However, casually using powerful artifacts like the Yellow Dragon Sword, Evil Camel Bell, or Black Iron Seal was akin to a child carrying gold through a bustling market—it would inevitably lead to major trouble. True confidence stemmed from strong personal cultivation.

For him, the quickest way to enhance his strength was through Qi tempering. Even at the Ten Springs cultivation level, his spiritual energy, when combined with immortal aura, was already comparable to First-stage Five Seas energy. After breaking through to the Five Seas Realm, the quality of his spiritual energy was, in fact, quite close to Second-stage energy.

Li Ling cast a complex gaze at him. It wasn't as she had imagined; there was no furious storm after the truth was revealed, nor a decisive break-up after the deception. He seemed to care, yet also not so intensely. How should she approach this accidental relationship next? Should they part ways after escaping the Mang Mountain Range, or continue to maintain a warm friendship? She didn't know where the future would lead; perhaps a resolution would only emerge after Zen Sea Mist had truly spoken with him.

If Zen Sea Mist truly became his wife, wouldn't she have to call him "Master" in the future? Li Ling's thoughts drifted into peculiar territory. She slapped her forehead, jolting herself back to reality.

"This place is dangerous; I can't afford to be as carefree as he is." Li Ling released psychic energy light points from between her eyebrows, sending them throughout the forest. Each point acted like an eye, enabling a Great Psionic Master to perceive areas invisible to the naked eye.

Half a day later, a blur flashed. Chen Lian ascended the cliff, landing on the open vantage point halfway up the mountain. He meticulously surveyed his surroundings before his keen eyes focused on the ground. Appearing around twenty years old, he was competent and spirited, wearing Gale-Stepping Boots, and possessed a cultivation of the Fourth-stage Five Seas Realm.

"Swish! Swish!" Two elderly Third-stage Five Seas Realm cultivators, clad in black iron-cloth battle attire, successively flew up and landed on either side of Chen Lian. Each wielded a plain blade nearly two meters long, vigilantly guarding the surrounding mountain forest.

After investigating, Chen Lian stated, "They stayed here for a long time and just left; their vigilance is extremely high. It's Li Ling; that's her aura. No wonder she can control the Zouwu."One of the elders, a bear-like anomaly with an unparalleled sense of smell, quickly detected a faint scent lingering in the air. His gaze swept down the mountain, across the vast, dense, dark forest, and then fixed on the towering mountains a hundred miles away. "How audacious! They've gone into the Land of the Departed!"

Chen Lian, gripping his seven-pronged trident, declared, "The road back to Yao Pass City is cut off. War has erupted there, with powerful individuals clashing and armies warring. We can only pursue them. If we can capture Li Ling, even if the experts from the Nine Li Tribe catch up, I will have sufficient leverage."

Another elder, a monkey-like anomaly, hesitated. "Is that woman truly Cangli's sister? Some soldiers claim she's exceptionally powerful, that she shattered our army's runic mist domain with a single seal."

"My judgment is never wrong. Let's go!"

Chen Lian, stepping on his Gale-Stepping Boots, leaped from the cliff. Clouds of spiritual energy and a torrent of swift wind materialized beneath his feet, followed by a flowing mist bridge in the void. In mere moments, he had covered several miles in pursuit.

Li Ling, using her psychic power, had detected Chen Lian and his group in advance, which is why she and Li Wei had already fled ahead.

Standing twenty miles away in the forest, the two looked back at the three figures on the open mountainside. Li Ling's pupils glowed with spiritual fire, forming foot-long beams of light. "That's Chen Lian, the third strongest young expert of the Three Chen Palace, a supreme master only surpassed by Chen Wenwu and Chen Dao. He used to frequently follow my brother, eagerly seeking cultivation advice. His elders even wanted him to marry me, but my father politely declined."

Li Wei asked, "Compared to the Third-stage Five Seas Realm elder we killed earlier, who is stronger?"

Li Ling replied, "To be that old and only cultivate to the Third-stage Five Seas Realm, it's highly likely that elder broke into the Five Seas from Seven Springs. Chen Lian, however, broke through from Eight Springs, and I heard he's already reached the Fourth-stage Five Seas Realm in Immortal Burial Town. Their combat power is incomparable."

"Strange, logically, he should be in Immortal Burial Town right now... Wait for me..."

Li Ling and the Zouwu chased after the rapidly fleeing Li Wei.

Li Wei stated, "It's been so long. With your mother's cultivation, she would have arrived by now!"

Li Ling, knowing what he was about to say, quickly interjected, "She must be held up; my mother cares for me deeply."

"What I mean is, the battle that erupted in the valley might have already triggered a widespread consequence," Li Wei explained. "Yao Pass City itself is a powder keg; the situation is tense, and our actions have naturally ignited it, causing it to fully explode."

Li Ling didn't know what a "powder keg" was, but she understood his meaning. "That must be it, then. My mother and brother are merely held up, not abandoning me to my fate."

"So fast!" Li Wei glanced back, just catching sight of Chen Lian traversing the mist bridge. His internal pressure intensified, and he pushed his speed to its absolute limit.

The towering mountains on the horizon grew ever closer. Most parts of the range were barren, devoid of vegetation. Rows of hanging coffins were affixed to the sheer cliffs, and tombstones stood in abundance. This was the burial ground of countless heroic spirits from the great war a thousand years ago!

The closer they drew, the more they felt the grandeur of the mountain range before them. Li Wei had initially planned to head to Mount Sovereign Taiqing's Tomb to meet Yin Shisan and Yao Yin, but now stopping was out of the question. He leaped, climbing the steep cliff face. Regardless of what awaited them on the other side of the mountain range, halting their progress was simply not an option.

Li Ling continuously released trails of fiery light, moving like a leaping, swaying spider, her speed barely trailing Li Wei's.

An hour later, they entered the snowy, windy zone at the summit of the mountain range. Frigid winds howled like roaring specters; without using spiritual energy to stabilize one's body, they could be blown away. The cold seemed to freeze blood, seeping into flesh and bone, causing extreme discomfort even for Five Seas Realm cultivators.

Both of them experienced significant depletion of their spiritual and psychic energy. With knee-deep snow, their speed became increasingly sluggish, forcing them to have the Zouwu transform into a giant beast to carry them forward.

The dead-black sky hung low, seemingly within arm's reach, creating an infinitely oppressive atmosphere.

On the Zouwu's back, Li Ling curled up in Li Wei's embrace. They unfurled a ghost banner to shield themselves from the frigid wind.

Her petite body shivered from the cold. Holding the Underworld Lamp for warmth, she asked, "Chen Lian seems to have been shaken off. Is he afraid to enter the Land of the Departed?"

"I believe his Gale-Stepping Boots consume a massive amount of spiritual energy, more than even four Qi Seas can sustain. He wouldn't dare pursue us in a weakened state, fearing an ambush from our side. How could he possibly underestimate us, given that we can instantly kill a Third-stage Five Seas Realm cultivator?" Li Wei analyzed.

After killing Chen Song, Li Wei had acquired a pair of mid-tier magical Gale-Stepping Boots, and thus understood their properties.

Li Ling suggested, "How about... we ambush him here?"

Li Wei was surprised by her audacity. "Has Zen Sea Mist recovered already?"

"I... we are actually quite strong, and with the Zouwu and seven Phoenix-Wing Moth Emperors, we have a chance of victory," Li Ling asserted.

Li Wei wasn't surprised she recognized the Phoenix-Wing Moth Emperors, as the Zen Sea Mist within her granted that ability.

"The risk is too great; there's no need," Li Wei replied. "It hasn't reached the point where we must fight to the death."

He lifted a corner of the ghost banner. In the snowfield behind them, only a long trail of enormous footprints remained, soon to be erased by the wind and snow.

They had reached the mountain ridge, where peculiar rock formations formed peaks, ancient prayer flags fluttered, and colossal steles, dozens of feet high, were inscribed with thousand-year-old texts. Skeletons and rusted armor were embedded in the rocks, creating an epic atmosphere that recounted history to those who passed by.

"Whoosh!" A perfectly uniform army materialized out of thin air in the snow. Clad in heavy armor and wielding long halberds, their faces were pale and lifeless, devoid of any vitality, as they advanced toward the Zouwu beast.

"It appears to be an army of departed spirits..." Li Ling was considerably frightened and prepared to unleash spiritual light flames to drive them away.

Li Wei stopped her. The ancient army of departed spirits, sensing a certain aura on the Zouwu beast's back, swiftly retreated and vanished into the wind.

"They must be the heroic spirits from that great war a thousand years ago," Li Ling suggested. "They've become ghosts and are still patrolling the ridge. I suppose it was Master's aura that deterred them."

They crossed the ridge, fully entering the perpetually dark world of the Nether Realm. From their high vantage point, they gazed upon the former lands of Yunzhou. The mountains were dim, the expanse vast and desolate. On the horizon, clusters of blue flames formed what looked like a ghostly city-state. A large river flowed below the mountains, reflecting faint white shadows.

As they left the snowy region at the ridge's summit, the intense cold dissipated, and Li Wei put away the ghost banner. The air remained chilly, entirely unlike the Living Realm, but it was bearable.

Li Ling, holding the Underworld Lamp, suggested, "We shouldn't descend to the mountain's base. We absolutely must not enter the Land of the Departed. If we head directly north along the mountain range, we can reach Zhizhou, one of the Seven Southern Provinces. Beyond Zhizhou lies Qiuzhou, one of the Ten Central Provinces."

Li Wei's ears twitched. He looked up at the ridge they had just crossed, where snow blanketed the sky. Amidst the howling cold wind, a low, mournful flute sound grew increasingly clear.

"It's him! Quick, hide..." Li Wei was no stranger to the flute's sound and was deeply wary. He immediately activated the stealth power of his Night-Wandering Robe and quickly crouched.

The Underworld Lamp in Li Ling's hand dimmed, and she lay down beside him.

"Boom!" On the snowy ridge of the mountain peak, two figures were locked in a fierce duel. Sword clangs echoed, and dragon roars erupted intermittently. The mountaintop repeatedly exploded, triggering avalanches, and the booming sounds shattered the silence of the Land of the Departed.

Li Wei stared, seeing the dazzling, feathered light on Jiang Ning's back. He felt surprised. "She's still hunting the Dragon Gate successor, fighting all the way from Immortal Burial Town to the Land of the Departed?"

From beside him, Li Ling's cold voice resonated: "A dignified Luan Terrace Angel can't even subdue one Dragon Gate boy? It seems the Lingxiao Palace has indeed fallen into significant decline." Her tone was completely different!