novelraw Chapter 78 : Heaven and Earth Reversed in an Instant
Chapter 78 : Heaven and Earth Reversed in an Instant
Chapter 78: Heaven and Earth Reversed in an Instant
The Sea Demons were an exceedingly strange species. If one were to classify them, they could be counted among the Demon Race.
They lived in groups and fed on fish.
Ordinarily, Sea Demons would never attack humans. Yet today, this swarm seemed to have gone mad, surging forward to bite and devour a whale.
The sea waves receded.
What appeared before them was a horde of blue-skinned, humanoid monsters with twin fins growing from their backs.
They clutched bone forks in their hands, shrieking in an incomprehensible tongue as they lunged onto the whale’s back.
Soon, the Sea Demons and the cultivators were entangled in chaotic battle.
In the midst of the turmoil, Xiao Hai, clutching the memorial tablet, hid in panic. He could feel it trembling in his arms and let out a bitter laugh. “Ancestor, stop moving. I’m about to die here.”
The whale let out a pained cry and turned over abruptly.
Those riding on its back either fell directly into the sea or hastily summoned their magic tools to stand upon the water.
No one knew when it began, but a milky-white fog had spread all around.
Lu Changyuan frowned. “These Sea Demons... have they been corrupted by the Desire Demon?”
The Desire Demon did not only taint cultivators.
Once a demon beast gained intelligence and developed desire, it too had to beware of such corruption.
The Sea Demons that came charging had eyes glowing scarlet, clearly stained by the Desire Demon’s taint.
If it were only one or two, it would not have mattered. But hundreds—thousands—of them had all been corrupted?
Lu Changyuan lifted Severed Thought, cleaving one Sea Demon cleanly in half. Blue blood dripped upon the whale’s back, corroding its flesh. “No,” Lu Changyuan said, “it’s not the Desire Demon. It’s the Nether Kingdom. The aura of the Nether enters the body and makes all beings yearn for death.”
The Nether Kingdom was a realm formed by the Lord of the Nether through the gathering of the “death,” “spirit,” and “resentment” of all living beings.
Those whose will was not strong enough would be devoured by its aura and become one of the Nether’s “spirits,” forever trapped between life and death.
Rip—
Not far away, a cultivator clutched his head, then drew his sword and sliced it off himself.
The remaining half of his body swayed in the air before collapsing with a heavy thud.
Yet that was not the end.
From within his corpse sprouted countless fleshy tendrils, which soon crawled out, merging into the fog.
Another whale’s cry echoed.
The Swallowing-Heaven Whale of the Beast-Taming Palace closed its eyes forever and sank beneath the sea.
It was said that whales were the oldest beings in the world, their voices etched into the Dao of Life and Death itself. Some legends claimed that if one could hear a whale’s death cry at the moment of its passing, they could glimpse the bygone ages of the world.
Boom!
Heaven and earth seemed to reverse for an instant.
A hazy pillar shot skyward from where the whale had died. In the mist, something began circling the pillar, vast and shadowy, resembling an enormous bird that blotted out the sun.
“Fall back!”
Lu Changyuan grabbed Su Youwan’s hand and dashed backward over the water.
Before long, where they had stood moments earlier, countless bones emerged—human bones, demon bones, even the skeletal remains of a colossal serpent stretching for miles.
The bones were rising from the sea to pave the surface?
Lu Changyuan had no time to ponder. He lifted his sword once more, beheading another Sea Demon, and leapt back swiftly.
“Something’s not right.”
This Nether Kingdom was not the same.
Lu Changyuan had only entered it once before—at the beginning of his cultivation path, when Daoist Chang’an had entered the Dao at fifty years old and was cast into an opened Nether Kingdom.
He had remained within for a full hundred years.
Yet that time, the Nether’s opening had been far less grand than this.
No—
Even in all records of the Nether Kingdom’s openings, none had ever shown such scale.
Lu Changyuan remembered that the entrance to the Nether should appear at the center of the sea.
When the sun split in two—half black, half white—a phantom gate would appear between heaven and earth. Stepping through that gate meant entering the Nether Kingdom.
Though each opening differed slightly, all shared this core feature—the gate must appear.
But this time, there was no gate at all. Instead, the all-encompassing mist made it impossible to discern any direction.
The Third Princess said, “Young Master Lu, this mist is draining our life force.”
“Keep retreating!”
Through the thick white fog came an eerie howl, as if some ancient creature from the primordial ages had left behind its voice, echoing across time to manifest in this very moment.
“Don’t let go of my hand.”
The mist persisted—Nether energy condensed into fog that filled the sea, swallowing everyone within.
The Third Princess softly replied, “Alright.”
Suddenly, Lu Changyuan felt as though he was stepping on solid ground.
He lowered his gaze.
White bones.
A path built from white bones stretched beneath their feet, lined on either side by flickering blue flames, faintly lighting their way.
The mist abruptly cleared, and when they looked up again, the sun was gone. Only a black-and-white sphere hung in the sky.
The heavens were completely devoured by darkness—as though smeared with black dye. The original sky was forcibly covered over, and even the sword mark of Sword Solitary Sun had vanished without a trace.
Between life and death—there lay the Nether Kingdom.
“Young Master Lu, don’t move.”
“Hm?”
The silver-haired girl suddenly leaned closer, examining Lu Changyuan carefully, then lifted her hands to cradle his face.
“Third Royal Highness?”
“I thought I just saw... red light in Young Master Lu’s eyes.”
Lu Changyuan couldn’t help but chuckle. “Red light? Are you saying I’ve become like Your Highness?”
Red eyes meant corruption by the Desire Demon.
Su Youwan shook her head. “Perhaps I saw wrong.”
“Come, Third Princess. Let’s see where this White Bone Path leads.”
The Nether Kingdom had two roads—
One was the Road of Life.
The other, the Road of Death.
Lu Changyuan had once walked the Road of Death and turned it into life. And now, the Road of Life was the one beneath his and Su Youwan’s feet.
A flicker of interest lit his eyes.
The Road of Life had long been rumored, but never recorded. This, then, was something new.
“Young Master Lu seems quite familiar with this path?”
“Not exactly,” he replied. “But within the Nether lies a stone stele that reads: Those who walk the Road of Life are the guiltless and may pay audience to the Lord of the Nether.”
The silver-haired girl hesitated. “Since there is a Road of Life, what of the Road of Death?”
Lu Changyuan smiled faintly. “Those who walk the Road of Death are the guilty. Should they complete it, they shall earn pardon. Of course, the Nether Kingdom has long been shattered—those two roads no longer serve their original purpose.”
Su Youwan had also heard some stories of the Nether Kingdom. “But the Lord of the Nether should already be dead.”
“No,” Lu Changyuan said, “most likely, the Lord of the Nether still lives.”
He continued, “The citizens of the Nether have waited between life and death for a thousand years. In the end, they will welcome back their king.”
“Young Master Lu sounds like a storyteller now. How can the dead be revived?”
Between life and death lies the Dao.
Death, too, could be called returning to the Dao.
No being in this world had ever truly returned from death.
Lu Changyuan spoke softly, “At the very least, I believe it. The Dao that the Lord of the Nether proved—was called... Death.”