Chapter 422: Nether Capital Fengdu
The great sun rose in the west, sunlight and fire surging, flowing along the long chains to cover the sun ship. This enormous land-going vessel drove back the darkness of the Great Ruins, illuminating the surroundings. Countless demons and monsters in the darkness, touched by the sunlight, sizzled and hissed, emitting streams of black smoke.
In nearby villages, the abandoned people of the Great Ruins, awakened from their sleep, stared dumbfounded as the sun ship, towering like a mountain, strode past their village on twelve legs like mountain pillars. The dazzling sunlight shone on them without any discomfort, instead bringing warmth, while the monsters in the darkness fled in panic.
Since the end of the Kaihuang Era, such a scene had rarely been seen.
In the later period of the Kaihuang Era, when darkness fell, dozens of such sun ships traversed the Great Ruins from east to west, driving back the darkness and bringing light to the people.
However, after the Kaihuang Era, the last sun ship had become tattered and broken, its sun extinguished, leaving only the Sun Guardians, the herders of the sun, dragging the dark sun as they silently protected the Great Ruins. This ship no longer possessed its former glory and flames.
But now, this sun ship had been revived, carrying a blazing sun that pierced the darkness, leaving a trail of light wherever it passed.
On the sun ship stood towering giants bathed in golden light. As the great vessel lurched and swayed, it made its way toward the God-Breaking Mountain Range.
"Sun Guardian, something is moving toward us!"
On the sun ship, the chieftain of the Herding Sun Tribe was extremely tense. Sensing some colossal entity approaching, his heart tightened, and he quickly reported to Yan Jingjing, who was at the center of the ship controlling it.
Yan Jingjing, now as majestic as a deity, immediately looked into the darkness. She too sensed a terrifying tremor approaching. The entity was closing in from behind the sun ship at a speed far greater than the ship itself!
Her gaze, like two immense pillars of light, tore through the darkness, allowing her to see the truth within.
In the darkness, mist churned, and within the mist, towering mountains loomed faintly. Yan Jingjing was momentarily stunned, for she saw that these massive peaks were composed of countless bones. Illuminated by the divine light from her eyes, these bones were actually writhing, screaming, and constantly hiding, as if terrified of her gaze.
Behind these bone mountains, the mist grew even denser—a sea of fog with endless mountain ranges. Beyond the fog sea stood two gate-like mountains, leading to a deep, shadowy world.
Fengdu, the Ghost Gate.
The world of Fengdu approached with incredible speed, quickly catching up to the sun ship. The mist howled past the ship, and everyone on board immediately felt a drastic change in the laws of heaven and earth. Their flesh and blood sloughed away, leaving them as skeletons.
The bone mountains in the mist passed through their bodies, followed by vast, boundless mountains, ground, and rivers surging through them like a tide. Even the sun above the sun ship dimmed, turning a hazy green.
Yan Jingjing reached out her hand. The laws of the Fengdu world did not alter her body. She was now too powerful, no longer subject to Fengdu's control.
It seemed that the Fengdu world was not substantial, as if it existed in a different dimension from theirs. She could not touch anything in Fengdu.
Then she saw Fengdu itself—the majestic ghost city. Towering netherworld deities stood on the city walls and towers, on high alert.
And at the center of Fengdu, a demon god-like figure, seemingly made of darkness, had its cloak draped diagonally, spreading out in all directions. It was even taller and more imposing than the sun ship. The sun ship passed through its body, but Yan Jingjing did not see its face—only two fiery red eyes in the darkness beneath the cloak.
Swish—
The Fengdu world flashed by, the mist surging forward and disappearing into the darkness. The sun gradually brightened again, and everyone on the ship looked down to see their flesh and blood restored, leaving them bewildered about what had just happened.
"The mist of the Fengdu world is surging toward the God-Breaking Mountain Range..."
Yan Jingjing looked up at the God-Breaking Mountain Range, where the village chief and others were intercepting the gods of the Upper Firmament. The battle was fierce. Some peaks of the God-Breaking Mountain Range suddenly rose higher, while others sank into the ground. From time to time, sword lights and blade lights split the sky, awe-inspiring, accompanied by various sounds—like demons roaring and gods whispering.
"The cowherding brother went to borrow the Moon Ship on the Flood Dragon King God. He said the Moon Ship is far from here, and he needs to sail it from the Moon Well into the Star Sea. He asked me to hold out for a while first. I wonder if he'll make it in time... What is that?"
Yan Jingjing was pushing forward with all her might when she suddenly froze again. On the side of the God-Breaking Mountain Range facing the Great Ruins, clusters of ghost fire surged. The ghost fire appeared out of nowhere, materializing instantly.
"Pleiades Star Ring!"
Layers of flames in Yan Jingjing's eyes formed star rings as she looked at the ghost fire. She saw that within the ghost fire were paper boats drifting from the endless darkness. On the prows of these ghost boats hung horse lanterns, illuminating the darkness. Many paper figures on paper horses were galloping wildly, charging madly into the mist.
On each paper boat, an old man in tattered black robes sat beneath the horse lantern, steering the boat into the mist. Within the mist, vaguely discernible figures as imposing as gods and demons were locked in battle with the old men on the boats.
Ghostly light occasionally pierced through the two worlds, but strangely, these fluctuations did not transmit from those worlds to the real world. The shockwaves did not impact the Great Ruins, nor did they affect reality in any way.
"Those are... the legendary Netherworld Emissaries!"
Yan Jingjing was astonished. The Netherworld Emissaries were fighting Fengdu?
What was going on?
She had no time to ponder further. The sun ship rumbled forward, charging toward the God-Breaking Mountain Range. The sun ship drew closer and closer to the battlefield between the Fengdu and Netherworld worlds. Above this battlefield was the clash between the village chief, the Yan Kang National Teacher, and the gods of the Upper Firmament—equally fierce, though somewhat less grand in scale compared to the war between Fengdu and the Netherworld.
All the fighters on the mountain were extremely powerful, each comparable to gods and demons, with vast supernatural abilities. Yet they seemed completely unaware that another magnificent battle was raging beneath their feet—one even larger in scale and more awe-inspiring.
The sun ship reached the base of the God-Breaking Mountain Range. Before it could approach, Yan Jingjing suddenly felt an inexplicable dread.
Clusters of ghost fire drifted from another dark world. Swarms of paper boats rushed toward the Fengdu world. The old Netherworld Emissaries on the paper boats all seemed identical—cold and silent. But upon closer inspection, their faces were invisible, shrouded in a layer of mist, their true features hidden. One could only vaguely sense that they wore the most ordinary of faces.
Countless paper boats, like arrows, sped through the air, charging into Fengdu. Behind the ghost fire and paper boats, Yan Jingjing saw a terrifying sight—a pair of ox horns, burning like flames, slowly rising from the darkness!
Those ox horns were enormous, composed of dying world continents. Countless souls screamed and struggled, constantly falling from the nine-curved ox horns!
"Tu Bo!"
Yan Jingjing was extremely tense. She knew full well that the war between these two worlds was perilous, but the battle above the God-Breaking Mountain Range was also at a critical juncture. Thus, she had no choice but to grit her teeth and steer the sun ship toward the God-Breaking Mountain Range.
"Ba Tu... Si Ba Tu—"
A rumbling sound came from the darkness. This sound seemed not to reach the outside world. The powerful fighters on the mountain, locked in fierce combat, heard nothing and noticed nothing unusual, only seeing the approaching sun ship.
But the sun ship grazed the Fengdu world. On board, Yan Jingjing heard the obscure language of the Netherworld, though its meaning was unclear.
In Fengdu, the King of Hell beneath the dark cloak stood with his garment rustling. The dark cloak howled and swirled around Fengdu City. Countless deities of various sizes stood beneath the cloak, appearing extremely small.
In the sea of mist, paper figures and paper horses fought madly against the gods and demons within the fog. The old men on the paper boats stood up, raising their horse lanterns. The light shone, and the galloping skeletons fell in droves, turning into wisps of black smoke that dissipated.
The King of Hell raised his hand. Suddenly, the entire Fengdu world seemed to freeze—everything was stilled, even time itself appeared to stop.
The King of Hell raised his hand, and a divine sword appeared, slashing toward the ox horns in the other world. Where the black sword light passed, space was compressed into solid form, layers of space shattering beneath the blade.
Yan Jingjing's scalp tingled. She had no time to think further. She drove the sun ship with all her might toward the God-Breaking Mountain Range. Half of the sun ship entered the Fengdu and Netherworld worlds, advancing with great difficulty. Suddenly, it broke free from the constraints of the two alien realms and emerged.
Yan Jingjing breathed a sigh of relief. She looked back again, but the two bizarre worlds of Fengdu and the Netherworld had vanished completely. She could no longer see the scene of their battle.
"How strange!"
On the God-Breaking Mountain Range, the village chief and the others were locked in a desperate battle with the gods of the Upper Firmament. Majestic deities, some with four heads and eight arms, others with three heads and six arms, their bodies as if cast in gold, unleashed endless divine power from their various treasures, causing heaven and earth to shatter.
The people on the mountain were engaged in bloody combat. Even the village chief, the old Sword God, was struggling mightily, covered in wounds.
The blood energy of the group was extremely intense. The crimson light from their surging blood rose straight into the sky, dyeing half the heavens red.
Bang—
A massive figure crashed down from the air, landing in front of the sun ship. It was the primordial spirit of the Yan Kang National Teacher, forcibly knocked down. Even he, the sage of reform and transformation said to appear once every five hundred years, had suffered greatly in the face of absolute power!
The Yan Kang National Teacher soared into the air, his sword light filling the sky. His sword techniques were unpredictable, slashing toward the head of a one-eyed deity.
That one-eyed deity lowered its head and opened its eye, unleashing endless divine light that engulfed the Yan Kang National Teacher!
A continuous clatter of violent impacts rang out. The Yan Kang National Teacher's sword light spun, piercing through the one-eyed divine light, entering through the deity's pupil and exiting through the back of its head. But the next moment, the one-eyed deity's fist slammed into the Yan Kang National Teacher, pressing his body against a mountain peak and smashing both him and the peak into the ground.
The one-eyed deity's skull split open, and a large eye emerged, rolling around. Its other fist raised, ready to smash down hard on the Yan Kang National Teacher!
"So treacherous..."
The Yan Kang National Teacher spat blood, looking up at the descending fist. The one-eyed deity's head twisted stiffly, its rear eye glaring at him with a mocking expression.
"But I'm not bad either..."
The Yan Kang National Teacher revealed a faint smile. "The First Chapter of the Sword Realm: Defining the Realm."
The one-eyed deity was momentarily stunned. The sword light hidden within its brain exploded with a roar!
—I broke my promise. Zhai Zhu broke his promise and indulged himself. I stayed up late last night and wrote a chapter. I can't confirm whether I can update two chapters today, but one chapter is guaranteed! Please vote for monthly tickets. I'm aiming for the monthly ticket rankings this month!