novelraw Chapter 86 : Lu Changyuan’s Imminent Death
Chapter 86 : Lu Changyuan’s Imminent Death
Chapter 86: Lu Changyuan’s Imminent Death
In the sky, that cultivator of the Fourth Realm had already lost all semblance of a human form.
He was merely violent—recklessly tearing apart everything before him with all his might.
Most of the cultivators who had entered the Nether Kingdom this time were still below the Fifth Realm. There weren’t many who could stop him. Adding to that his strange condition, he became even more terrifying.
From behind his back, bloodied flesh burst forth—hands pushing through the skin, dripping with fresh blood, spreading frenziedly at a speed visible to the naked eye, until they transformed into bronze-colored wings.
He was no longer human.
“Monster!?”
Someone shouted, but amidst the chaos, no one cared to notice what was wrong with that Fourth Realm cultivator.
He flapped his sky-covering wings, darted before someone, and directly tore out that person’s heart and liver, all the while murmuring incomprehensible incantations.
When all the lanterns turned pale white, the cultivator’s wings trembled again, and he flew into the distance.
The mist rose once more, obscuring all vision.
He ceased flying and landed, stepping forward—each step heavy and numb.
Around him, rhythmic sounds echoed suddenly, like the grinding of teeth, yet he paid them no mind and plunged into the fog, becoming one with the invisible colossal beings that lurked within.
He walked on, step by step.
The mist began to gnaw at his flesh. Within moments, a pale skeleton replaced the strange body he once had. The discarded flesh that fell to the ground swiftly gave birth to clusters of black spirits.
Those spirits howled and fled into the mist.
Flames silently ignited in the skeleton’s eye sockets. He still walked forward, flesh all gone, and now even his bones began to vanish. The solid ground beneath his feet turned into a swamp that devoured bone.
With every step he took, his foot bones quietly sank an inch into the ground—his leg bones, his torso—shortening, inch by inch.
Clang.
With a crisp sound, only a lonely skull remained. Losing its support, it fell to the ground, rolling forward still.
Clang, clang.
The skull rolled toward the depths of the mist.
When it finally stopped, the flames in its eye sockets extinguished completely—or more accurately, the flames floated upward, drifting into the depths of the mist.
With a soft boom, the skull turned into ash, dispersing into the fog.
After a long while—
A deep, drawn-out, and contented sigh came from within the mist.
“So then? What will Young Master Lu do? Go look for those people from the Pleasure Sect?”
Su Youwan held the birdcage, asking curiously.
The two had already returned to Lu Changyuan’s small house. Everything was as before, except for the two spirits peeking in from the doorway, wanting to reenter the house.
The silver-haired girl naturally placed the birdcage down, then sat on the bed. Her delicate little feet, clad in white cloth shoes, hung in the air.
Before Lu Changyuan could respond, she continued, “That old man carrying Xiao Qingfeng’s memorial tablet—if Xiao Qingfeng isn’t dead, he must have some grand motive. Perhaps that tablet he carries is not ordinary.”
Lu Changyuan nodded, his expression calm, as if unconcerned about his impending death. “So I’m going to find that Xiao Hai, and take a look at that tablet’s true nature.”
When the memorial tablet had moved on its own back at the Welcoming Wind Inn, Lu Changyuan hadn’t paid much attention to it. He hadn’t touched it carefully, so he hadn’t seen the mystery hidden within.
Who could have thought he’d meet the very person from that tablet in the Nether Kingdom?
The silver-haired girl lowered the blindfold over her eyes. Her red pupils fixed upon Lu Changyuan—not with malice, but with a faint, invasive sharpness.
The supposedly emotionless Bodhisattva now seemed aggressive because of that pair of red eyes.
“Young Master Lu knows far too much about the Nether Kingdom.”
“They’re all old memories. Once you’re old enough, you know all sorts of things,” Lu Changyuan said, waving his hand. “I’ll go see Xiao Hai now. Your Highness, you’d best stay here and not go out.”
Seeing Lu Changyuan about to open the door—to go out into the Nether Kingdom’s night—the silver-haired girl couldn’t help but say, “It’s already night. It would be better to wait until morning.”
White lanterns already lit the streets, and mist swirled thickly. Any living person who went outside would be devoured by the fog.
“No matter. It won’t harm me.”
Lu Changyuan pulled open the door, took Severed Thought in hand, and stepped into the mist.
He cared deeply about the words he had seen.
‘I’m going to die?’
‘How could I die in this place?’
The gray fog outside the door billowed, veiling his sight.
The Nether Kingdom was indeed hostile to outsiders.
In truth, the Nether Kingdom’s manifestation in this world was meant to lure the Lord of the Nether’s return. For those who came seeking the Nether River and the Three-Life Fruit, the Nether Kingdom naturally had no kindness.
The night fog served as its way of expelling foreign intruders.
That was why outsiders could not leave their dwellings at night.
Hmm.
Outsiders.
And what did that have to do with Lu Changyuan?
He waved his hand toward the fog. “Don’t bother me. And don’t plant flowers on me either.”
A shadow of a massive being moved past him in the mist, pausing briefly—as if acknowledging him—before slowly departing again.
Lu Changyuan was the only one who could clearly see these colossal, walking entities.
Such enormous, upright creatures no longer existed in the cultivation world today. As far as Lu Changyuan knew, the largest beast now was the great tortoise of the Imperial Beast Palace—and even that creature walked on four legs.
Bipedal giants—there weren’t even records of them in the White Domain Dao Sect’s annals, only occasional bones unearthed from deep within the ground.
Perhaps they were beings from tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Lu Changyuan withdrew his thoughts and continued walking east through the Eastern City. Between East City and West City stood a massive stone stele, upon which was carved a great symbol.
Any intelligent being who came here and saw that symbol would, from the depths of their heart, comprehend its meaning.
“Nether.”
The monarch standing amidst chaos within the resting place of souls.
Lu Changyuan didn’t linger before the stele. Instead, he casually seized a wandering spirit on the street.
He spoke faintly, “Out so late and not home asleep? Roaming about the streets?”
The spirit, mind already incomplete, was startled. Turning and seeing Lu Changyuan, it first grew large in fear, then shrank again, retreating several steps.
Lu Changyuan narrowed his eyes slightly. “I’ve been wondering—your group of spirits has changed entirely, and yet you still recognize me?”
The spirit let out a hoarse screech.
Lu Changyuan smiled gently. “So, the name of Feather still follows me even to death? Forget it. Do you know of a black-robed human—an outsider—where she lives?”
The spirit gave another shriek, then ran off in panic, seemingly terrified either of Lu Changyuan or of something within the mist itself.
In the thick fog, the buildings of the Nether Kingdom appeared faintly illusory when viewed from the outside.