Chapter 29 - Netherworld
"Young Master, are you alright?"
"Senior Sister Gu, this place is..."
The sword light from the Lu Lan Sword and the Autumn Maiden Sword was like fireflies in the night within this terrifying darkness.
Surrounded and engulfed, it seemed as if they could be extinguished at any moment.
At this moment, they were no longer in the Star Moon Pavilion; what they were stepping on was also a stretch of hard ground with a slightly moist feel.
This space seemed like a giant cavern; the sword light could not penetrate this heavy-as-iron black curtain at all. As far as the eye could see, there was only a stretch of void.
"I'm afraid this place is not the current world... It should be like the Black Copper Gate that Young Master previously went to with Luo He, another dimension."
Gu Jing said while looking around.
Can't see above, then let's look below...
Gu Jing placed the Autumn Maiden Sword beneath her. She saw that beneath their feet at this moment was an incomparably wide road paved with bronze, leading to an unknown destination.
On this bronze road, bright red blood was flowing.
The Autumn Maiden Sword in her hand was considerably dimmer than the radiance of Luo Hongyu's Lu Lan Sword.
Gu Jing brought it to her chest and said to it softly:
"I know you think I am unworthy to be your master, but at this very moment... I need you, and the Young Master also needs you."
"Please."
"......"
"Thank you."
Gu Jing murmured a word to the Autumn Maiden Sword. Afterwards, she mobilized all the spiritual energy in her body, infused it into the Autumn Maiden Sword, and fiercely thrust upwards towards the sky.
The skyward-rushing, pure spiritual energy exploded above their heads, like countless fragments of starlight scattered towards the mortal world.
Luo Hongyu raised her head and saw this sword strike from Gu Jing that pierced the darkness.
She also saw, on the dome constructed from this bronze sarcophagus, one after another, countless evil ghosts obscuring the sky above, with mutilated limbs in their mouths, sprawling there and silently watching them.
Gu Jing's skyward-rushing sword light quickly dissipated in the darkness; this world within the coffin also returned to silence.
It was as if everything seen just now didn't exist, and nothing had happened.
"Living people?"
Suddenly, a hoarse, rough, distorted, and twisted voice, as if pieced together from multiple people, sounded.
"Gagagaga..."
Afterwards, a mixed and piercing laughter that set one's teeth on edge sounded from all directions.
"Where is this place, and what things are you?"
Luo Hongyu's face remained unchanged; tightly gripping the Lu Lan Sword in her hand, she questioned the source of the voice.
"Me? I am the master of this Netherworld..."
"As for this place, this is a dining table, and you will soon become our main course!!"
"Living human blood food, I haven't tasted it for several hundred years! Hahahahahaha!"
Accompanying this frenzied shouting, terrifying sounds of ghosts wailing and wolves howling surged from all directions.
The ghost creatures previously sprawling on the dome jumped down one after another; a dense aura of death instantly enveloped Gu Jing and Luo Hongyu.
"Young Master, stand behind me."
Facing these evil ghosts, which were like mist that had converged into substance, Gu Jing's Dao Comprehending Realm cultivation was fully displayed.
A sharp sword qi cage bloomed around her body, annihilating all approaching evil ghosts completely.
But how could already dead souls be slain by the sword of a living person? Those evil ghosts, slashed into mist, after only a short while, would re-condense into form and pounce over again with strange cries.
In less than a moment, Gu Jing and Luo Hongyu were completely surrounded by dense shadows of evil ghosts; even her sword light could not penetrate half a bit out of this ghost wall.
"Eat them for me!!"
The voice of the Master of the Netherworld still echoed here.
"Senior Sister Gu, our sword arts cannot kill them; we cannot waste spiritual energy here."
In the area Gu Jing had cleared out, Luo Hongyu was carefully examining the ground. Afterwards, she turned her head to look at Gu Jing and said.
"There is a path here that leads downwards. Senior Sister Gu, follow me."
Hearing these words, Gu Jing quickly withdrew the Autumn Maiden Sword, not forgetting to thrust a silent yet incomparably sharp sword strike towards the source of the Master of the Netherworld's voice.
"Ah!!! Haha, well struck, well struck!"
A sound of pain came from over there. A trace of doubt flashed in Gu Jing's eyes; afterwards, she followed Luo Hongyu towards the depths of the darkness.
...
Gu Jing and Luo Hongyu fought while retreating along the way. They forcibly used spiritual energy to strike some ghost creatures until they almost completely dissipated; only now did they barely manage to get a moment's respite.
And along the way, they also discovered that many heavily injured ghost creatures would mercilessly pounce on their companions, tear out their souls and swallow them into their own stomachs, to re-solidify their bodies.
This place full of evil ghosts absolutely could not be the Underworld that belongs to the Three Realms.
Ghosts eating people, ghosts eating ghosts—this 'Netherworld' spoken of by the Master of the Netherworld, what on earth was it...
"Young Master, you regulate your breath first; I will guard the surroundings."
"Mm."
At this moment, the two were in a small thatched hut.
In this world within the coffin, it was obviously impossible that some evil ghost would have the leisurely interest to build a thatched hut, so the two deduced this was something left by some unlucky living person who, like them, had been drawn in here.
Around the thatched hut, there was a still-effective concealment barrier; if not for Gu Jing having considerable research on such things, they probably would have missed this place.
Luo Hongyu sat cross-legged in the center of the thatched hut, adjusting her state.
Of course, where this place was at this moment wasn't particularly important; what was important was how to get out.
Regarding this, the two were still completely baffled.
That Master of the Netherworld seemed to be one who could speak human language. But to get information from him... he wasn't as easy to talk to as Su Huanhuan.
And to just waste time consuming resources here was no different from seeking death.
Although those little ghosts were individually weak, and the aftershocks from a sword slash could disperse their bodies, no matter how strong they were, there would always come a time when their spiritual energy was completely exhausted.
What on earth should be done…
"Young Master, presumably that group of people who came to our door today were manipulated by Huoxin to come and set up a formation."
"Mm."
"When I killed the first person at that time, I sensed it. That formation wasn't to transfer us in here, but rather used the formation as a passage, merely letting us temporarily enter this place."
"If we can hold out until the formation caster can no longer sustain it, we would naturally be able to leave here."
"But that would be too late."
Luo Hongyu opened her eyes and replied slowly.
By now, that Huoxin's purpose was very clear.
She hadn't used the Demonic Seed to kill me earlier; what she probably wants to do now is to delay, to make me miss the Immortal Ascension Assembly and remain at the Golden Core stage.
Afterwards, to follow up with other killing moves.
Therefore, she still had to get out quickly.
Luo Hongyu stood up and looked at Gu Jing.
"Senior Sister Gu's Autumn Maiden Sword seems somewhat more powerful than usual."
"...Because I pleaded to it."
"Is that so?"
Luo Hongyu looked at the Lu Lan Sword in her hand; the Lu Lan Sword also brightened for an instant in accordance with her thoughts.
"...Young Master, we can't stay here long, quickly..."
Gu Jing's expression suddenly froze; she hurriedly turned back and grabbed Luo Hongyu's hand.
At the same time, the ground beneath their feet began to tremble; a giant silhouette, clearly visible even in the darkness, appeared in the distance.
"Gaga, stop running, you two. Living people have entered a place of death... Hahaha, just obediently resign yourselves to fate."
The Master of the Netherworld's hoarse, mocking voice came again; at the same time, that silhouette also revealed its true appearance.
It was a giant mountain of flesh, pieced together from the bodies of countless evil ghosts, emitting yin winds and wails.
"In the past, cultivators even stronger than you have come to my Netherworld territory."
"Hehe, not just Golden Core, not just Dao Comprehending..."
"But, his bones are all buried here now."
"You, you, will be no exception either..."
The Master of the Netherworld's intermittent voice came through. Gu Jing looked at the behemoth before her, formed from countless painful faces twisted together, and let out a breath.
"Young Master, what he said might be true. This monster's skeleton... seems to indeed be refined from the skeletal remains of a Spirit Transformation cultivator."
"Senior Sister Gu, are you confident?"
"...Gu Jing, as one of the Tianchen Seven Swords, although I am already unworthy of my position, cannot tarnish its reputation."
"This kind of evil creature naturally cannot be allowed to touch even half a bit of the Young Master."
The momentum of the Autumn Maiden Sword in Gu Jing's hand surged greatly; she walked towards that mountain of flesh.