novelraw Chapter 96 : Campaign Against the Defiant
Chapter 96 : Campaign Against the Defiant
Chapter 96: Campaign Against the Defiant
Mei Zhao Zhao rushed toward the royal palace at the fastest speed of her life.
This place had already been blasted open by Xiao Qingfeng. Mei Zhao Zhao could only command the spirit soldiers to clear away the rubble at the gate before flashing into the Sin Prison.
Having received the Nether Lord’s permission, she naturally acted without hesitation, soon catching sight of the dim, hollow prison cells.
With a wave of her hand, Mei Zhao Zhao unlocked all the prison doors and went straight to the deepest part of the prison.
There stood a sandglass-shaped stone sculpture, empty at its center—Xiao Qingfeng had already stolen the Sun-Moon Sundial, leaving nothing behind.
But Mei Zhao Zhao was not here for the artifact.
She was here to open the Gate of the Death Path.
The Nether River came from the heavens—where did it flow to?
The answer was: toward the Death Path.
Descending from the heavens, exiting through the Death Path—when the Nether River flowed along that path to depart, it would create the exit from the Nether Kingdom.
Xiao Qingfeng had blocked the Nether River in the sky, sealing the Death Path, thus preventing the exit from appearing.
Yet if she opened the Gate of the Death Path, and, with the Nether Lord’s decree, commanded the Nether River to descend, the true “Ghost Gate Opening” could be completed—revealing the Nether River.
Mei Zhao Zhao pushed over the sandglass. A wave of bone-piercing cold and dark energy instantly flooded the entire Sin Prison.
“Cough!”
She waved her hand, scattering the miasma.
“So it… really exists?”
Lu Changyuan had told her that beneath the sandglass lay a symbol belonging to the Nether Lord. Her task was to awaken it.
Though Mei Zhao Zhao did not recognize the symbol, she could strangely comprehend its meaning.
“Nether!”
She had no time to think further and bit open her fingertip.
“Ghost Gate opens, Nether River appears, Death Path connects, the Monarch returns!”
Blood dripped onto the symbol, and the Spirit-Communing Body’s blood instantly dyed it crimson.
Mei Zhao Zhao was forcing open the Gate of the Death Path.
Boom!
The violent tremor nearly threw her off balance—the entire Sin Prison shook.
“Open… for me!”
A ghostly blue light filled the prison in an instant.
Behind the stone sculpture, corresponding to the symbol of “Nether,” the space split open with a tearing sound.
A crunching noise echoed. Soon, ripples spread through the air, and a door wreathed in chilling ghostly energy emerged.
The Gate of the Death Path.
Through this gate lay the Death Path—one who traversed it completely would gain the Nether Lord’s pardon.
Only then did Mei Zhao Zhao exhale in relief.
She had completed the task Lu Changyuan had entrusted to her.
“Is this place going to collapse? I’d better get out of here!”
The Sin Prison still quaked violently, as if it were about to cave in.
Mei Zhao Zhao had no intention of stepping onto the Death Path—there was only death awaiting there.
So, in a flash, she returned to the front of the royal palace and finally breathed deeply.
And then, she witnessed a sight she would remember for the rest of her life.
A river descended from the heavens, surging toward the palace.
That power—capable of destroying everything—was enough to make anyone tremble in fear. Mei Zhao Zhao felt that she would never forget this scene for as long as she lived.
The Nether River from the heavens flowed along the line dividing East and West City and then continued to the Death Path—that was its full course.
With the Death Path’s gate calling the Nether Kingdom, Xiao Qingfeng could no longer restrain the Nether River.
“Hope you’re lucky, Lord Lu.”
When the Nether River appeared, the exit of the Nether Kingdom appeared as well—on the edge of the West City, the space twisted and coiled, forming a vast, black door whose interior could not be seen.
Anyone who entered it now could leave the Nether Kingdom and return to the Sea of Nothingness.
But now, only Mei Zhao Zhao, Su Youwan, and Lu Changyuan could leave through that door. Everyone else had already become Xiao Qingfeng’s spirits.
Xiao Qingfeng was being restrained by Lu Changyuan and had no time to deal with her. She, in turn, could temporarily command the spirits of the Nether Kingdom—making this her perfect chance to escape.
Without a moment’s pause, Mei Zhao Zhao sped toward the West City.
She still had her master’s command left unfulfilled; she could not die here.
With that thought—
“Saintess!”
Someone called her name.
Mei Zhao Zhao turned and saw Wang Lian, baring her ghastly white teeth in a sinister smile.
Wang Lian said, “Take me with you.”
“You’re already dead, Wang Lian.”
With a graceful wave of her hand, Mei Zhao Zhao sent a gust slicing Wang Lian into several pieces. The twisted black flesh still shrieked, “Take me too… Saintess.”
Wang Lian had seemingly regained a sliver of consciousness from her former life.
That meant the Nether Lord’s Dao was once again in effect—the thoughts of the dead could now remain, rather than being transformed by Xiao Qingfeng’s Transformative Life Technique.
Mei Zhao Zhao did not linger for a moment. Soon, the West City appeared before her eyes.
No one stopped her—it was almost too smooth.
Once she crossed that door, she could return to the Sea of Nothingness, escaping mortal danger. As long as she acted cautiously afterward, even Xiao Qingfeng could not harm her.
But—
Having not stopped once along the way, Mei Zhao Zhao halted in front of the gate.
Leave alone?
She gritted her teeth, standing before the door, yet unable to take a single step forward.
Just a few moments later—
Her voice suddenly changed. Compared to when she had spoken with Lu Changyuan before, it was several times more alluring—soft and sweet to the extreme, carrying a charm that could shatter all masculine reason, enough to make one’s blood burn.
Just by hearing that enchanting voice, one could imagine what kind of peerless beauty hid beneath her black robe.
Mei Zhao Zhao let out a light, bewitching hum. “This lady won’t leave—might as well sell you a favor instead!”
Biting down on her silver teeth, she moved again at full speed—rushing straight toward the stone stele in the center of East and West City.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Mei Zhao Zhao, through spirit communion, lit up the mark of the Nether Kingdom—
A fierce light also burst forth beneath Lu Changyuan’s left hand.
“Nether!”
This was the fragment Lu Changyuan had taken when Xiao Qingfeng shattered the stone stele earlier, and on that fragment lay the central portion of the character Nether (冥) inscribed on the stele.
This was, by its very nature, the path the Nether River must traverse—no, more precisely, wherever the character 冥 appeared, that place was destined to be crossed by the Nether River.
The river, suppressed for far too long, now surged faster than ever—within mere breaths, it hung upside down above Lu Changyuan’s head.
It fell!
In Lu Changyuan’s eyes was reflected that river of annihilation, its dark waters merging with the darkness of his pupils.
At the very instant the Nether River plunged down, Xiao Qingfeng swiftly retreated backward.
He left Lu Changyuan lying upon the ground, only to see him swallowed by the waters in an instant.
In Xiao Qingfeng’s view, Lu Changyuan was undoubtedly dead. The nether aura carried by that river, coupled with its crushing force, was terrifying even to him—a cultivator of the Fifth Realm had no chance of survival.
Xiao Qingfeng could not comprehend—why would Lu Changyuan open the Nether River, only to await his own death beneath it?
Did that fool not realize that if he died, Xiao Qingfeng would be free to ascend to the realm of Jade Radiance?
Ah, yes—he had asked Xiao Qingfeng before, did he have no feelings? Could it be that Lu Changyuan was one of those sentimental fools—opening the exit merely so his two little lovers could escape?
Xiao Qingfeng let out a mocking laugh, full of scorn for him.
Closing his eyes, he spread his arms wide, as though to embrace the sky—from afar, it looked as if he were embracing the Nether River itself.
The roaring, restless river seemed to become the hymn of his coronation.
The moment of Dao attainment—was now!
Yet—
Time passed.
Nothing happened. The Heavenly Ladder to Ascension did not appear, and Xiao Qingfeng sensed no trace of the Dao Star of the Transformative Life Dao.
What was going on?
Heaven and earth seemed to hold only the sound of the Nether River.
【You are about to die】
Lu Changyuan thought of many, many things.
The first time he came to the Nether Kingdom, he had still been a very young cultivator.
That year, many geniuses had entered the Nether Kingdom.
Among them, Lu Changyuan, a humble village cultivator, was of no note to anyone.
At first, Lu Changyuan only planned to enter the Nether Kingdom—not to seize the Three-Life Fruit, but simply to stay alive long enough to glimpse the Nether River. After all, watching the Nether River didn’t cost anything.
But fate favors the unprepared.
Opportunity smiled upon Lu Changyuan. He found an empty house—and, strangely, managed to claim it as his own.
He could still vividly recall that moment.
Lu Changyuan had offered his blood to one of the Nether spirits. The spirit accepted it, opened the door for him, bowed twice, and departed.
Later, Lu Changyuan learned that this spirit had been reborn—its decayed flesh transformed into new life through his blood—and afterward, it had entered the Death Path. He never saw it again.
And as for the house left behind?
Its ownership naturally became Lu Changyuan’s.
Unlike those who merely borrowed empty houses, Lu Changyuan, a living man, had mysteriously come to own property within the Nether Kingdom.
He thought himself fortunate—yet, as fate would have it, someone even luckier crossed his path. He stumbled upon a battle—someone had snatched a Three-Life Fruit but, besieged by others, failed to guard it. Lu Changyuan quietly stole the fruit amid the chaos.
That man had been a disciple of a great sect.
Enraged beyond measure—
But because of the Nether Lord’s decree forbidding trespass into private dwellings, he could not storm into Lu Changyuan’s house to drag him out.
So, when the Ghost Gate opened, the Nether River flowed, and the exit appeared, that man waited at the threshold.
Fortune favors the strong—but some use that strength only to bully the weak.
Such was the way of the cultivation world.
And so, Lu Changyuan was forced to remain in the Nether Kingdom.
Later, he often thought—perhaps the dying spirits were easier to communicate with than humans. At least in the Nether Kingdom, there was no scheming or betrayal among cultivators.
Thus, Lu Changyuan began to learn the language of the Nether Kingdom—not for manipulation, as Xiao Qingfeng had done through the Transformative Life Technique—but to truly become one of its citizens.
Though most spirits spoke incoherently, without true thought, Lu Changyuan pieced their words together little by little, gradually integrating into their world.
He thought to himself—
Though the Nether Kingdom had once felt suffocating, looking back now, his memories of it were not painful—perhaps even warm.
Whether it was Luo, or other spirits—
Lu Changyuan remembered them all clearly.
When he had first arrived, not yet transcending into the realm of the Supreme, he still possessed emotions.
He remembered many, many spirits—Luo, Qi, Jue… so many names.
When he questioned Xiao Qingfeng, he was, in truth, questioning himself.
He had lived here for a hundred years—longer than he had cultivated before entering. Could he truly say he felt no attachment to the Nether Kingdom?
In that moment of clarity, Lu Changyuan seemed to hear again the story Su Youwan once told him—
*The Buddha asked a young girl, “How much do you love that scholar?”*
The girl answered, “I am willing to become a stone stele, to endure five hundred years of wind, five hundred years of sun, and five hundred years of rain—only so that he may occasionally pass before me and glance my way.”
Later, the girl became that stele, gaining her wish of meeting him once more.
In the Nether Kingdom, there was a stone bridge—and there was a stone stele.
The bridge served as the link of connection; the stele, as proof of life.
Moreover, they respectively symbolized yin and yang—woman and man.
And the Nether Lord, though not dead, was a woman. If she had hidden anything, it must have been within the stele.
That was why Lu Changyuan had to be here.
Xiao Qingfeng had dwelled in the Nether Kingdom for nearly four hundred years. In his countless times passing this stele as a spirit, he had never perceived anything hidden within, nor sensed the slightest trace of the Nether Lord’s aura.
Naturally so—
For what the Nether Lord left behind was not a magical artifact, nor a decree.
What she had sealed within the stele was the legitimate inheritance of authority—like a monarch’s edict of succession upon death.
Whoever was recognized by the spirits of the Nether Kingdom could, here, be bathed in the Nether River, crowned in its current, and before the Nether Lord’s return—act in her stead.
Thus, Lu Changyuan emerged from the Nether River, clad in a dark robe, crowned with a gilded diadem.
He looked at Xiao Qingfeng and said, “The power of the Nether Lord belongs to the Nether Lord alone.”
The Nether Kingdom quaked. Xiao Qingfeng’s control over life and death was severed, his aura collapsed entirely, and the authority of the Nether Kingdom returned completely.
'To walk the path of the Nether Lord—'
'Campaign Against the Defiant!'