# Chapter 4040: Nether Soldiers and Nether Generals
"This is the last mark. All traces of heavenly secrets disappear here."
Zhang Ruochen stood within the beacon tower, gazing at a peculiar inscription on the wall.
The inscription was the character "Tu" (屠).
It was a divine script that Blood Butcher had personally created after reaching the Infinite Realm, belonging solely to him.
The beacon tower was quite large, its interior space measuring thirty zhang in both length and width, spanning three floors.
This "Tu" character was located on the uppermost third floor, carved into the side of a crenellation, quite concealed.
Although the North Marsh Great Wall was exposed to the cosmic void, it possessed an atmosphere containing thin traces of heaven and earth spiritual energy.
In the distance, Xiu Chen Heavenly God's figure flickered rapidly across sections of broken walls, searching for more traces. Each displacement covered at least a million li of space.
Since arriving at the North Marsh Great Wall, Zangjin Baihu had become extremely restless, constantly pacing back and forth along the wall.
Chi Yao stood atop the beacon tower, saying, "The reason you had to come to the North Marsh Great Wall is actually for Feng Caiyi?"
During the ancestral land worship, the others hadn't heard the conversation between Zhang Ruochen and Mu Lingxi.
Even Wen Tianjun didn't know Zhang Ruochen's true purpose for coming to the North Marsh Great Wall.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God returned, saying, "Why couldn't it be for Blood Butcher?"
Chi Yao said, "If Blood Butcher had met with trouble at the North Marsh Great Wall, those who came here would be the various geniuses of the Hell Realm—either the Undying Blood Clan or the Destiny Temple. For Imperial Dust to personally come, it could only be for Feng Tian, who has just been promoted to Hall Master."
Xiu Chen Heavenly God observed Zhang Ruochen's expression, saying, "Feng Caiyi is now a Hall Master. For her to come to the North Marsh Great Wall, it must involve something concerning the entire cosmic structure. If Blood Butcher was traveling with her... that's not right. Feng Caiyi has Heavenly Venerable-level cultivation and countless trump cards. Who could make her disappear without a trace?"
"Then we need to see what purpose Feng Tian had in coming to the North Marsh Great Wall."
Chi Yao said, "Chen Ge, you should know the inside story, right?"
Zhang Ruochen waved his hand, erasing the "Tu" character on the wall, his gaze shifting toward that planet-sized black war city in the distance. Pointing at it, he asked, "What place is that?"
Viewed from the beacon tower, the war city was only the size of a fist.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God had gone to investigate earlier, saying, "The ruins of a prehistoric ancient city. If it were still intact, it could accommodate tens of billions of cultivators. But it's already severely damaged."
"Shua!"
Zhang Ruochen's form flickered, crossing the void and entering the black war city.
The war city was so vast that its full scope couldn't be seen with the naked eye. Spatial structures were chaotically arranged, and the heaven and earth rules differed from those of the Heavenly Court Universe and the Hell Realm.
Within the city was black soil, growing a type of deep purple tree, all over a hundred meters tall.
"Crack."
Zhang Ruochen walked slowly forward, the ground covered with broken bricks, fallen leaves, and branches, giving a desolate and ruined feeling.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God appeared atop a broken building, saying, "There are traces of battle, but they're from an eon ago, left when the Heavenly Court and Hell Realm fought against the chaotic ancient demon gods."
Zhang Ruochen gently shook his head, saying, "No. The heavenly secrets here have been altered, the technique masterful. They directly changed the heaven and earth rules, thereby covering up the heavenly secrets and erasing the traces."
He slowly raised his right hand, his palm filled with Truth Divine Radiance.
Turning his palm over, the Truth Divine Radiance shone like a rising sun, dispelling illusions.
Space shook, and a hidden black soil territory slowly revealed itself, continuously extending into the void.
Within the black soil territory, thunder and lightning flashed, magma oceans rose one after another, demonic energy condensed into clouds, and demonic aura enveloped hundreds of thousands of li of land...
The residual divine energy was powerful, indicating both the strength of those who had fought and that the battle had occurred not long ago.
"This..."
Xiu Chen Heavenly God considered himself knowledgeable, but even he was shocked by the sight before him, muttering to himself, "No wonder the North Marsh Great Wall has remained indestructible for billions of years. So the hidden territory world is this vast. Could it be that every war city hides a world?"
"If so, the material contained in the North Marsh Great Wall is comparable to the Heavenly Court and Hell Realm."
Zhang Ruochen said, "You've cultivated for over a million years. Have you never come to the North Marsh Great Wall before?"
"What would I do here? It's far and dangerous," Xiu Chen Heavenly God said.
Zhang Ruochen said, "For ordinary gods, there might be many dangers. But for those at the Infinite Realm, these dangers can be completely avoided."
Xiu Chen Heavenly God finally had the chance to instruct Zhang Ruochen, saying, "Have you forgotten about the chaotic ancient demon gods? They were able to sleep at the North Marsh Great Wall for over ten million years without anyone knowing. Is that normal?"
"Furthermore, throughout history, those gods from the Heavenly Court Universe and Hell Realm who offended the various heavens could only flee to the cosmic frontiers. The North Marsh Great Wall was one good place to escape pursuit. Over time, how many descendants of gods gathered at the North Marsh Great Wall? I've heard that when their power was at its peak, they even surpassed the Hundred Clans Royal City."
"Unfortunately, in that battle an eon ago, they were almost completely wiped out."
Zhang Ruochen passed through an active spatial zone about three zhang wide, entering that black soil territory filled with residual battle energy. Carefully sensing, he detected multiple powerful auras.
"Que, Bore, Hai Shang You Ruo, Yan Ju, Qing Fei Wei, Hai Shang Ming Gong..."
Zhang Ruochen's expression grew increasingly grave, his worry intensifying.
He hadn't expected Feng Tian to be so desperate, bringing all the new-generation God Venerable-level figures of the Destiny Temple to such a dangerous place.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God's voice rang out: "There are traces of Chongming Ancestor and Ba Er. This is a big problem. Could the North Marsh Great Wall be the lair of the Nether Ancestor Faction? That's right—the chaotic ancient demon gods originally awakened at the North Marsh Great Wall."
Her tone carried unease, and she very much wanted to leave immediately.
"Zhang Ruochen, we need to go quickly. Feng Caiyi is definitely dead this time."
Zhang Ruochen remained silent, walking deeper into the black soil territory.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God was anxious inside, knowing she couldn't persuade him. She could only turn back and return to the black war city, preparing to tell Chi Yao about their discovery and let Chi Yao persuade him.
It was too dangerous.
Staying even a moment longer could mean death here.
On the wall outside the black war city.
The "Zang" character on Zangjin Baihu's forehead flickered continuously. It lowered its head, motionless, in a very abnormal state.
Chi Yao had tried multiple times to communicate with its divine soul but received no response.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God walked over quickly, saying, "Forget about it for now. Go deal with Zhang Ruochen. There's a major discovery in the war city. The North Marsh Great Wall is an extremely dangerous place. We must leave immediately."
Chi Yao was about to ask what had happened when she saw Zhang Ruochen walking out of the war city, standing at the city gate, holding a broken formation flag in his hand.
The flag surface had been burned by divine flames, leaving holes everywhere, very tattered.
"This is one of the formation flags of the Destiny Twelve-Phase Divine Formation. I participated in its refinement. This formation has been broken. The gods within it are likely in grave danger." Zhang Ruochen spoke in as calm a tone as he could manage.
Chi Yao could feel the worry in his heart, saying, "Can you see the past?"
Zhang Ruochen shook his head: "The heavenly secrets of the battlefield have been erased. More than one Half-Ancestor made the move. The projections of the past and the traces of the future have all been cleaned away completely."
Chi Yao said, "We haven't seen any corpses yet. There's still a chance for a turnaround."
Xiu Chen Heavenly God said, "Forget about turnarounds. Since more than one Half-Ancestor made the move, we have no chance at all. I keep feeling that danger is getting closer. Maybe the Corpse Nightmare has already set its sights on us."
"Chen Ge won't leave, and I won't leave either. No matter how great the danger, since we've already come... I can ignore others, but I must take care of Bore," Chi Yao said.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God said, "The situation now is that you don't know how many enemies there are, nor where they are. How can you take care of anyone?"
"In my opinion, we should first send a message to Wen Tianjun and the several Half-Ancestors of the Hell Realm. Dealing with this together is the rational approach."
"It's too late!"
Zhang Ruochen gently shook his head, quickly calming his chaotic emotions. His gaze fell on Zangjin Baihu, and he asked, "What's going on with it?"
"One is a prehistoric creature, the other is a prehistoric civilization relic. I speculate it might have some connection to the North Marsh Great Wall," Chi Yao said.
Zhang Ruochen looked up at the sky, spreading his palm, and said, "It's snowing. Golden snow. Maybe there really is a connection."
The snowflakes were as large as goose feathers, falling thickly, bitterly cold and bone-piercing, with a layer of golden halo on their surface, as if the heavens were scattering gold coins.
The golden "Zang" character on Zangjin Baihu's forehead grew increasingly bright.
With each flicker, the surrounding heaven and earth rules formed a ring of ripples, spreading outward.
Zhang Ruochen set up a fire at the city gate, using the Earth Cauldron to cook divine beast leg meat stored in his space treasure, using melted golden snow as water.
The Earth Cauldron shrank to only a foot in length. Soon, the golden broth inside was boiling, the aroma of meat spreading everywhere.
Zhang Ruochen placed one Confucian scripture after another into the fire to burn, his gaze introspective, his thoughts drifting to who knows where.
"At a critical moment like this, you still have the mood to cook meat and eat." Xiu Chen Heavenly God had never been this anxious before. She had already sighed more than ten times, her million-plus years of patience exhausted by Zhang Ruochen.
"The more critical the moment, the more you need to find a way to calm yourself down. This is his method of quieting his mind."
Chi Yao sat cross-legged, the firelight reflecting red on her cheeks. Her eyes, however, gazed into the distance toward the eastern part of the wall. Sensing something, she smiled and said, "Chen Ge, the people you've been waiting for have arrived!"
Zhang Ruochen's eyes quickly regained their vitality. He said, "Miao Li, go capture them all. I want them alive. Remember, all of them. Not one can escape."
Xiu Chen Heavenly God had naturally also sensed cultivators approaching. She asked, "Who exactly are they? How did you know someone would come this way?"
Chi Yao said, "The 'Zang' character on Zangjin Baihu's forehead has been flickering, the waves spreading farther and farther, also triggering the celestial phenomenon of golden snow. How could no one come to investigate?"
"I see. I thought you were being particularly clever."
Xiu Chen Heavenly God rose, breaking through space and disappearing.
Before long, "bang bang" sounds of falling echoed on the wall.
Dozens of cultivators fell from space.
They wore nether armor, and within the armor there was no physical body—only a cluster of flames.
Some flames were in skull form, some had disheveled hair, some had three wolf heads...
Xiu Chen Heavenly God personally suppressed a nether-armored cultivator shaped like an octopus, huge in size, five or six meters long. The nether flame on its body was extremely solid, its emitted aura reaching the mid-level god level.
"What strange undead beings. They resemble the Fire Ghost Clan, but have a strong nether clan aura, and also a kind of indescribable strange power," Xiu Chen Heavenly God said.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Don't you know how to perform a soul search?"
"No need to search. I know what they are."
Xu Tian, his long hair hanging down on both sides of his face, walked step by step along the wall, coming to sit by the cauldron. He used divine energy to materialize a bowl and chopsticks, picking up meat from the cauldron.
"Xu Feng Jin, where did you pop out from?" Xiu Chen Heavenly God asked in surprise.
Xu Tian snorted coldly: "I've been following these fellows for half a month, waiting for them to return to their lair. You've ruined everything with this disruption. Not bad—jade qilin leg meat, tender and white, melts in the mouth. Zhang Ruochen, you know how to enjoy yourself."
He ate heartily, as if he wanted to swallow his own tongue.
"Following them to find the lair? Why not just perform a soul search?" Xiu Chen Heavenly God said.
"You try a soul search. Aren't you afraid the Ancestor left some means in their nether souls? If you perform a soul search, you might expose yourself."
Xu Tian added, "When you suppressed them just now, did you notice what they were doing?"
Xiu Chen Heavenly God thought for a moment, then said, "They were hauling sections of the North Marsh Great Wall."
Zhang Ruochen looked toward the distant starry sky, where sections of the wall floated, the longest reaching over thirty thousand li.
Each section of wall was tied with dozens of iron chains.
"What exactly is going on?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Xu Tian said seriously, "These fellows are nether soldiers and nether generals. Where exactly they came from, I don't yet know. The broken sections of the North Marsh Great Wall are too numerous, scattered across infinitely vast cosmic void. One person alone simply cannot collect them all in a short time."
"These nether soldiers and nether generals have been widely dispatched, all hauling wall sections. They're heading in one direction, clearly having an ultimate destination. Now do you understand?"
Chi Yao said, "One question: what are they transporting the North Marsh Great Wall for?"
Xu Tian held a meaty bone in his hand, saying, "You ask me? How would I know?"
Zhang Ruochen grabbed Xu Tian's arm, preventing him from eating the meat that was already at his mouth, saying, "I want to know all your plans."
Zhang Ruochen simply didn't believe that Xu Tian would come to the North Marsh Great Wall to take risks with Feng Tian, unless he thought this trip was safe and the returns substantial.
"What plans could there be? Feng Caiyi has little lifespan left. She planned to make a desperate gamble before dying. I couldn't bear to let her come alone to die, so I decided to help her once. After all, we're all cultivators of the Destiny Temple—we have to value loyalty!" Xu Tian said righteously.
Zhang Ruochen threw out the broken Destiny Twelve-Phase Divine Formation flag, saying, "The gods of the Destiny Temple may have all fallen. If you have time to keep spouting nonsense, I can play along, but they can't wait on their end!"
Xu Tian's eyelid twitched. He said solemnly, "Isn't this all your fault? Who told you to let Gai Mie take the Desolate Moon to the Eternal Heavenly Kingdom?"
"You're blaming this on me?" Zhang Ruochen said.
Xu Tian said, "If you hadn't used this tactic of diverting trouble, how would I dare come to the North Marsh Great Wall? If I hadn't come, would Feng Caiyi have dared to bring the entire Destiny Temple's gods to take risks? It's all your fault."
"I understand. You thought the Nether Ancestor Faction's experts would definitely attack the Eternal Heavenly Kingdom, so you thought there was an opportunity here," Zhang Ruochen said.
Xu Tian didn't deny it, saying, "Feng Caiyi's plan was to come to the North Marsh Great Wall, lead the Destiny Temple's gods on the surface, and draw out all the Nether Ancestor Faction experts hiding here. I would be in the shadows, taking the opportunity to seize the Demon Ancestor Ridge."
Zhang Ruochen said, "Where is the Demon Ancestor Ridge?"
"It hasn't been found yet. The Demon Ancestor Ridge is likely in the lair of these nether soldiers and nether generals."
Xu Tian added, "I always thought this plan was very risky, but I didn't expect Feng Caiyi to be exposed so quickly. She was completely wiped out just after arriving at the North Marsh Great Wall."
Zhang Ruochen said, "Someone must have leaked her whereabouts."
"Who?" Xu Tian said.
In Zhang Ruochen's mind, the figure in green Confucian robes appeared. He said, "It no longer matters. Since Feng Tian dared to lead the Destiny Temple's gods together as a decoy on the surface, she must have a backup plan."
"Of course there's a backup plan—self-destructing the divine source. Against the Nether Ancestor Faction, any plan, any backup, is futile. From the start, this was like throwing an egg against a rock. She said it herself: if the operation failed, she would self-destruct her divine source to buy time for the Destiny Temple's gods to retreat. Anyway, she has little lifespan left. If she could take a Half-Ancestor with her before dying, that would be worthy of her position as Hall Master," Xu Tian said.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God immediately interrogated that octopus-shaped nether general, but the other party was unafraid, not saying a word.
She had just begun to use illusion techniques to lure these nether soldiers and nether generals into speaking when they all exploded, turning into clusters of flames.
As the flames extinguished, all the nether soldiers and nether generals disappeared, leaving only dozens of empty, cold suits of armor on the ground.
(Chapter End)