Chapter 105 - 96: Punishing the Rebellious
Mei Zhaozhao reached the front of the Royal Palace at the fastest speed of her life.
Xiao Qingfeng had already blasted the place open. Mei Zhaozhao had to command her Servant Spirit to clear the rubble from the entrance before she could slip into the Sin Prison.
With the Nether Monarch’s permission, she proceeded without a care, and soon saw the dim, empty prison cells.
With a wave of her hand, Mei Zhaozhao threw open all the cell doors, then headed straight for the deepest part of the prison.
Here stood a stone sculpture of an hourglass. The center of the sculpture was completely empty. Xiao Qingfeng had already stolen the Sun and Moon Gnomon, so naturally, nothing was left.
But Mei Zhaozhao hadn’t come for anything here.
She was here to open the door to Death’s Path.
The Nether River flows from the heavens, but where does it go?
The answer: to Death’s Path.
It flows from the heavens and exits via Death’s Path. When the Nether River departs along this path, an exit from the Netherworld will appear.
With Xiao Qingfeng holding the Nether River back in the sky, Death’s Path was sealed, and the exit from the Netherworld could not manifest.
But if she opened the door to Death’s Path and commanded the Nether River to fall with the Nether Monarch’s authority, she could truly make the Ghost Gate open and the Nether River appear.
Mei Zhaozhao pushed over the hourglass sculpture. A bone-chilling cold and a gush of Nether Qi burst forth, quickly filling the entire Sin Prison.
"Cough!"
She waved away the Nether Qi.
’...It’s actually real?’
Lu Changyuan had told her that beneath the hourglass was a symbol belonging to the Nether Monarch. Her task was to awaken it.
Mei Zhaozhao didn’t recognize the symbol, yet she could mysteriously understand its meaning.
’Netherworld!’
With no time to react, she bit her finger open.
"Ghost Gate open, Nether River appears, Death’s Path connects, the Monarch returns!"
Blood dripped onto the symbol. The blood of her Spirit Communication Body instantly stained the symbol crimson.
Mei Zhaozhao was going to force open the door to Death’s Path.
RUMBLE!
The violent tremor made Mei Zhaozhao feel unsteady, and the entire Sin Prison began to shake.
"Open... for me!"
An ethereal blue light instantly flooded the entire Sin Prison.
Behind the stone sculpture, in the spot corresponding to the character for "Netherworld," space ripped open with a tearing sound.
The sound of chewing echoed. Soon, the space around it began to ripple, and a door, suffused with a dreadful Ghost Qi, materialized.
The door to Death’s Path.
To enter this door is to see Death’s Path. Those who walk it to the end may receive the Nether Monarch’s pardon.
Only then did Mei Zhaozhao let out a sigh of relief.
She had completed the task Lu Changyuan had given her.
"Is this place collapsing? I’ve got to get out of here, quick!"
The Sin Prison was still shaking as if it was about to collapse.
Mei Zhaozhao had no intention of walking Death’s Path; that was a path with no hope of survival.
So with a flash, she was back in front of the Royal Palace, where she finally let out a long sigh of relief.
It was then that she witnessed a sight that would stun her for the rest of her life.
A river descended from the heavens, rushing toward the Royal Palace.
Its power seemed capable of destroying everything, enough to make anyone tremble in terror. Mei Zhaozhao knew she would never forget this scene for the rest of her life.
The river of the Netherworld, flowing from the heavens, passed through the line between the East and West Cities, all the way to Death’s Path. This was its complete course.
The door to Death’s Path was calling to the Netherworld itself, and so Xiao Qingfeng could no longer hold back the Nether River.
’Good luck, Physician Lu.’
When the Nether River appeared, the exit from the Netherworld also appeared. On the edge of West City, space twisted and warped, and a huge black gate, its inside invisible, materialized.
Entering the gate now would allow one to leave the Netherworld and return to the Sea of Void.
But now, the only ones who could leave through the gate were Mei Zhaozhao, Su Youwan, and Lu Changyuan. Everyone else had been turned into Xiao Qingfeng’s Spirits.
Xiao Qingfeng was occupied with Lu Changyuan and had no time to spare for her. Furthermore, she could temporarily command the Spirits of the Netherworld. This was the perfect chance to escape.
Mei Zhaozhao didn’t hesitate for a moment and headed straight for West City.
’I haven’t completed Master’s orders yet. I can’t die here.’
As she was thinking this...
"Saintess!"
’Is someone calling me?’
Mei Zhaozhao turned her head and saw it was Wang Lian, who was now staring at her, baring his deathly-white teeth at her.
Wang Lian said, "Take me with you."
"You’re already dead, Wang Lian."
Mei Zhaozhao waved her elegant hand, and a powerful gust of wind sliced Wang Lian into several small pieces. The twisted black chunks of flesh still screeched, "Take... me... with... you... Saintess."
This Wang Lian seemed to have recovered a sliver of his consciousness from before he died.
This meant the Nether Monarch’s Dao was taking effect again, allowing the Thoughts of the dead to be preserved instead of being transformed by Xiao Qingfeng.
Mei Zhaozhao didn’t pause for an instant. Soon, West City was right before her.
No one stood in her way. It was suspiciously easy.
As long as she passed through the gate, she would be back in the Sea of Void, out of mortal danger. In the future, as long as she was careful, even Xiao Qingfeng wouldn’t be able to do anything to her.
But...
Mei Zhaozhao gritted her teeth, standing before the gate, yet she couldn’t take a single step through it.
After just a few moments...
Her voice suddenly transformed. It was several times more captivating than when she spoke with Lu Changyuan. This voice was so achingly sweet, its soul-snatching charm was enough to shatter the reason of any man, making their blood surge.
Just hearing this bewitching voice was enough to imagine what kind of peerless beauty lay beneath the black robes.
Mei Zhaozhao let out a soft huff. "So what if she’s the Nether Monarch! Is that supposed to be so impressive?"
She ground her teeth, then shot off once more, heading for the stone stele in the center of the East and West Cities.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the same moment Mei Zhaozhao used her Spirit Communication to light up the Netherworld’s sigil...
...a brilliant light flared up from beneath Lu Changyuan’s left hand.
The character for "Netherworld"!
This was a fragment Lu Changyuan had intercepted when Xiao Qingfeng shattered the stone stele. And on this very fragment was the main part of the character for "Netherworld" from that stele.
This place was already on the Nether River’s destined path. No, to be more precise, any place with the character for "Netherworld" was on the Nether River’s destined path.
The long-suppressed Nether River was now moving faster than ever before. In the span of a breath, it was hanging suspended above Lu Changyuan.
It plunged.
The all-destroying river was reflected in Lu Changyuan’s eyes, its dark waters nearly merging with the color of his pupils.
In the instant the Nether River came crashing down, Xiao Qingfeng abruptly retreated.
Leaving Lu Changyuan lying on the ground, to be instantly swallowed by the torrent.
In Xiao Qingfeng’s eyes, Lu Changyuan was as good as dead. The Nether Qi carried by the Nether River, combined with its impact force, was enough to unnerve even him. For a Fifth Realm Cultivator, it meant certain death.
Xiao Qingfeng didn’t understand. ’Why would Lu Changyuan unleash the Nether River, only to wait here for it to kill him?’
’Doesn’t Yu know that his death will allow me to ascend to Yao Guang?’
’Right. He asked if I had no feelings. Could it be that Yu is a sentimental fool? That he opened the exit just to let his two little lovers escape?’
Xiao Qingfeng scoffed, filled with utter disdain for Lu Changyuan.
He closed his eyes and spread his arms, embracing the sky. From a distance, it looked as if he were embracing the Nether River itself.
The ominous, surging river seemed to have become the anthem for his coronation.
’The moment of my Dao’s completion is at hand!’
And yet.
After a long moment.
There was nothing. The Heaven-Ascending Ladder did not appear, and Xiao Qingfeng couldn’t sense the Dao Star of the Transformation Dao.
’What’s happening?’
~~~~~~~~~~~
It seemed the only sound between heaven and earth was the roar of the Nether River.
[You are about to die]
Lu Changyuan remembered many, many things.
The first time he came to the Netherworld, he was still an extremely green Cultivator.
That year, many geniuses had entered the Netherworld.
The Wild Cultivator from a mountain village, Lu Changyuan, had nothing about him worthy of anyone’s attention.
Lu Changyuan’s initial plan was to enter the Netherworld, not try for the Three-Life Fruit, and just lie low until he could see the Nether River. After all, watching the Nether River was free.
But opportunities often come to those who are unprepared.
Opportunity favored Lu Changyuan. He found an empty house and, in a bizarre turn of events, made it his own.
The scene was still vivid in his mind.
Lu Changyuan offered his blood to a Spirit of the Netherworld. The Spirit accepted Lu Changyuan’s blood, opened the door, let Lu Changyuan inside, bowed twice, and left.
Lu Changyuan later learned that this Spirit had been reborn. From its rotting flesh, it had used his blood to become a new life, then entered Death’s Path. Lu Changyuan never saw it again.
So what about the house that was left behind?
The ownership of the house thus fell to Lu Changyuan.
Unlike those who only temporarily occupied empty houses, Lu Changyuan, a living person, had bizarrely come to own property in the Netherworld.
Lu Changyuan thought his luck was good, but he never expected even better luck to come his way. He stumbled upon a fight where someone had snatched the Three-Life Fruit, but was too busy being besieged by everyone to pay attention, allowing him to sneakily swipe the fruit.
That person was a disciple of a Major Sect.
He was absolutely livid.
But because of the Nether Monarch’s laws forbidding trespassing in private residences, he couldn’t enter Lu Changyuan’s house to drag him out.
So, when the Ghost Gate emerged, the Nether River flowed, and the exit appeared, the disciple blocked the way out.
Fortuitous encounters are won by those who can seize them, but his opponent was simply bullying him for being a Cultivator without a sect.
Such was the way of the Cultivation Realm.
And so, Lu Changyuan had no choice but to remain in the Netherworld.
Later, he often thought that perhaps these dying Spirits were much easier to communicate with than people. At least in the Netherworld, there wasn’t the constant backstabbing and deceit found among Cultivators.
Thus, Lu Changyuan began to learn the language of the Netherworld. It wasn’t the manipulative, purposeful approach of Xiao Qingfeng’s Transformation Dao; he wanted to truly become a subject of the Netherworld.
Although most of the Spirits spoke illogically and without consciousness, Lu Changyuan slowly pieced things together and gradually managed to fit in.
Lu Changyuan thought.
At the time, he had only felt oppressed in the Netherworld, but looking back now, his memories of it weren’t painful at all. They were, in fact, rather heartwarming.
Whether it was Luo, or any of the other Spirits.
Lu Changyuan actually remembered them all clearly.
Back when he first came to the Netherworld, before he became Supreme, Lu Changyuan still had feelings.
He remembered the names of many, many Spirits: Luo, Qi, Jue... so very many Spirits.
His question to Xiao Qingfeng had also been a question to himself.
He had lived in this place for a hundred years, longer than all his time spent on Cultivation before. Did he himself feel no attachment to the Netherworld?
In a daze, Lu Changyuan seemed to hear the story Su Youwan had once told.
The Buddha asked the maiden, "How much do you love that scholar?"
The maiden replied, "I am willing to turn into a stone stele, to endure five hundred years of wind, five hundred years of sun, and five hundred years of rain, just for the chance that he might occasionally walk past and see me."
Later, the maiden became a stone stele and, in exchange, gained the chance to see the scholar.
The Netherworld has a Stone Bridge, and also a stone stele.
The bridge is a bond that connects, while the stele is proof of the living.
Not only that, but the bridge and the stele also symbolize the male and female, yin and yang.
And the Nether Monarch had not died, and was also a woman. If something were hidden, it would have to be hidden within the stele.
This was why Lu Changyuan had to be here.
Xiao Qingfeng had been in the Netherworld for nearly four hundred years. In his time as a Spirit, he must have passed this stele countless times, yet he never knew anything was buried within, nor did he ever sense the slightest trace of the Nether Monarch’s aura from it.
This was only natural.
Because what the Nether Monarch had left behind was not some Magical Artifact or decree.
What she had left in the stele was the legitimate right of succession, like an Imperial Decree of investiture left behind by a deceased monarch.
The one recognized by the Spirits of the Netherworld could bathe in the Nether River at this spot, ascend the throne, and be crowned. They could then serve as the Acting Nether Monarch until the true Nether Monarch’s return.
And so, Lu Changyuan emerged from the Nether River, clad in a black robe and wearing a gilded crown.
He looked at Xiao Qingfeng and said, "The power of the Nether Monarch belongs to the Nether Monarch alone."
The Netherworld shook.
By accepting the position of Crown Prince and inciting the Nether River to wash down, Lu Changyuan finally stripped Xiao Qingfeng of the magic that straddled the line between life and death. His aura plummeted to the Sixth Realm, and the authority over the Netherworld that he held was completely reclaimed.
To walk the Dao of the Nether Monarch.
Is to smite the unloyal!