Chapter 29: No Sight of Each Other Under the Netherworld and the Azure Sky

Existing in the deepest reaches of the Nine Netherworlds, a place that serves as the threshold between life and death, the Gate of Hell had unexpectedly appeared in the world of the living!

With this, the explanation for the thick fog that had failed to dissipate finally became clear. The mist was not man-made, but a natural condensation of the laws of heaven and earth.

Because the Netherworld and the Azure Heavens must never meet, the appearance of the Gate of Hell in the mortal realm necessitated a shroud of concealment.

The wandering souls gathered here—far numbering more than the living population Xiaolin Town had ever possessed—suddenly had a reason for their presence. The souls were drawn toward the Gate of Hell by an instinct devoid of consciousness. It seemed that nearly all the wandering souls within the entire Fenglin City region had converged here. Furthermore, it was foreseeable that as long as this Gate of Hell remained, the gathering souls would only grow more numerous and increasingly powerful!

But how could the Gate of Hell appear here?

Without a moment's hesitation upon realizing the meaning of those three words, Wei Yan drew a crimson, ancient-styled incense stick from his robe and thrust it toward Zhao Lang. "Quick!"

—He naturally carried flint on him, and was not unfamiliar with fire-element Daoist arts himself. But he could not match Zhao Lang's speed.

Having partnered with Wei Yan for many years, their tacit understanding was beyond question. As the crimson incense was handed over, Zhao Lang snapped his fingers, a burst of flame leapt onto the incense, and in an extremely short time, the not-so-small stick was burned to nothingness.

Only then did he say, his expression grim, "That was the only red incense you had on you."

In the Zhuang military, incense sticks were divided into three colors—black, red, and yellow. Only those of a certain status could possess them; they were rare strategic assets. If a black incense was lit, it meant the entire nation would fight to the death; very few in all of Zhuang were qualified to burn black incense.

If yellow incense burned out, it meant the bearer was in a desperate situation.

The red incense, positioned between the two, represented the peril of a city being destroyed and territory being lost!

Once the red incense was lit, the entire Fenglin City would tremble, and it would inevitably alert Wei Quji.

Currently, the City Guard and the Criminal Investigation Bureau within Fenglin City were both tied down, and with Wei Quji stationed at the City Lord's Manor, any move he made would affect the entire city. Was Xiaolin Town—a place that, until now, had seen no enemies other than wandering souls—worth Wei Quji making a personal trip for? Or rather, if Wei Yan made a mistake and Wei Quji's deployment caused problems for Fenglin City, could he bear the responsibility?

But there was no need to dwell on these questions in the face of those three words.

Because... it was the Gate of Hell.

Appearing in countless legends, it was a faint microcosm of the age of myth.

In fact, the moment the phantom image of the red incense flared up before him, the dignified Lord of the City, Wei Quji, rose from the ground without hesitation!

He surged into the high sky, his entire body enveloped in a whirlwind, roaring as he sped toward Xiaolin Town.

Almost simultaneously, Dong A, who was in deep meditation, abruptly opened his eyes. No matter the circumstances, a powerhouse of this level had to be stationed within Fenglin City; since Wei Quji had left, he could not leave either.

Though he did not move, his majestic voice drifted outside the room, "Pass the order to all disciples who can be notified: regardless of what mission they are executing or what cultivation they are performing, they must cease immediately and return to Fenglin City!"

Admittedly, the Dao Academy cultivated the hopes of the Zhuang nation, a process involving a long period of growth. But when the nation faced peril, everyone had to fight.

Meanwhile, the current Vice Dean of the Dao Academy, Song Qifang, sat cross-legged before an alchemy furnace, lightly waving a palm leaf fan to tend the fire. He let out a very low sigh. "I'm getting old."

...

In Xiaolin Town, Wei Yan did not pause after lighting the red incense. Instead, he immediately swung his long saber in a horizontal slash. A sharp blade-light nearly sliced through the air before dissipating against the memorial archway.

Yes, it vanished silently, without a single ripple.

The subsequent attacks were the same. Whether it was raging fire or violent wind, any Daoist art thrown at it sank like a stone into the sea. Ling He even threw his own sword at it, but it too vanished without a trace.

It was as if it did not exist. Not only did it not exist, but everything that touched it also ceased to exist.

Huang Azhan hesitated before the Gate of Hell for a long time. He possessed an obsessive confidence in his "childhood urine," but after seeing Ling He's sword vanish as well, he regretfully chose to give up.

"This vortex... must be connected to the Netherworld. Using the countless wronged souls here... our attacks are all falling into the Netherworld instead of the mortal realm," Wang Changxiang analyzed with a furrowed brow. "What has appeared before us is likely a reflection of the Gate of Hell, and even the reflection hasn't fully coalesced."

Hadn't fully coalesced?

Jiang Wang had seen the characters on that plaque in the Great Void Illusion and knew they were Daoist script, the language used to explain the laws of heaven and earth. He had been wondering what the appearance of the Gate of Hell in Xiaolin Town signified, and only now, hearing Wang Changxiang's analysis, did he feel a sudden chill of horror.

Then, when would the true reflection of the Gate of Hell coalesce, and in what manner? And what would it ultimately bring to this place?

People soon had their answer.

It was the countless wandering souls permeating Xiaolin Town, which could not be killed or cleared away no matter how much effort was made. At this moment, they swarmed toward the center.

The group could no longer attend to anything else. They could only repeat their previous tactic: retreating a distance and using fire-element Daoist arts to draw a circle, defending themselves within their perimeter.

If someone could pierce through the mist and look down from the sky, they would see countless wandering souls rushing toward the center under the attraction of some force—a vast, surging river of souls, flowing like a hundred rivers into the sea!

And the disciples from the Fenglin City Dao Academy, along with Wei Yan and Zhao Lang, were like bitter rocks being washed over by the river.

They could not move, they could not resist, and they did not know where the end was!

"The wandering souls of the entire Fenglin City region have been drawn here. Perhaps, we are to die here?" Wang Changxiang gave a bitter smile.

These souls were not inherently powerful; previously, they had moved freely within the formation. But that was because those souls were merely wandering without consciousness, only attacking instinctively when living beings approached. Now that these souls were congregating in one place, they happened to be standing right in the path.

There were too many; it was seemingly endless!

At least within the field of vision that Wang Changxiang had managed to clear, they saw no end to the souls.

What they did not know was that while previously only the souls of Xiaolin Town's deceased over the years had gathered here, occasionally attracting souls from further away, now, every unscattered soul in the entire Fenglin City region was converging on this spot, moving at a speed far exceeding their own natural capacity.

Those dense lines of souls cutting through the sky formed a web-like spectacle in spiritual vision that spanned the entire Fenglin City region, a sight that would move even the most powerful experts.

"No," Wei Yan's voice was cold, as was his heart. "The City Lord will arrive soon."

No one knew how much he had hated lighting that red incense, how much he had hated letting that person see him in such a state of weak desperation. But he had no choice. Faced with a legendary existence like the Gate of Hell, he could not gamble the safety of all of Fenglin City for the sake of his own pride.

Jiang Wang similarly watched the wandering souls that roared past the "rocks," circling the Gate of Hell only to be absorbed and digested in an instant. His emotions were complex and indescribable.

These souls likely lacked consciousness. Thus, there was no struggling, no wailing; it seemed there was neither regret nor pain.

But they had all once been living people. They were the souls of living beings who should have been at rest!

Among them, perhaps there was someone who had once brushed past him, or someone he knew, or his neighbors, his grandparents, or... his father.

His eyes widened as he searched through the dense throng of souls for his father, who had died of illness in bed. That man who was not tall, yet had always been the sky that supported him.

Those souls flashed by like lightning, coming from all directions. He stared only toward the direction from Fengzhen Town, his eyes turning red, but he simply could not take them all in.

Having lived alone for so long, he did not want to show vulnerability. Later, while living with An'an, he had to be even stronger as an older brother. He had almost never said it, but truly, he missed him so much!

Jiang Wang wanted to see him one more time, yet he was also terrified of seeing him.

Terrified of the helplessness he felt before the Gate of Hell.

Suddenly, as if reaching a breaking point, the vast river of souls was emptied in an instant by some force. And the phantom image of the Gate of Hell above the vortex became incredibly clear and concrete.

In the very next breath, the Fenglin City Lord, Wei Quji, descended from the sky enveloped in a whirlwind. But at that same moment, the phantom of the Gate of Hell flashed and vanished!

Vaguely, Jiang Wang felt a slight breeze brush against his cheek, but after a momentary daze, everything before his eyes had changed.

The massive vortex was gone, and the mist gathering over Xiaolin Town immediately dispersed.

Everything had vanished; the Netherworld and the Azure Heavens were nowhere to be seen!

(End of Chapter)