Chapter 321 The Nine Netherworlds, the Demonic Darkness

Nine Serene Yellow Springs.

The water was deep black, emitting a bone-chilling cold.

A layer of gray mist shrouded the water's surface year-round; within the churning mist, eerie hisses could be faintly heard.

Shen Wen stood on the bank of the Yellow Springs, his gaze falling upon the pitch-black, ink-like water.

Qing Lin stood by his side and said softly: "This is the place. Yao Ming is sealed at the deepest part of the Yellow Springs."

Shen Wen nodded, took out the map from his robes for another look, and then stored it in his storage ring.

"Wait for me here."

Qing Lin was slightly startled, then shook her head: "I want to go down with Brother Shen Wen."

Shen Wen looked down at her; those emerald-green eyes were full of seriousness and determination.

He smiled and rubbed her head again.

"Be good," he said. "The situation below is unknown. If there's danger, I might not be able to look after you."

Qing Lin pursed her lips, wanting to say more, but Shen Wen raised his hand to stop her.

"Keep watch on the perimeter here," he said. "If anyone comes, send me a message in advance."

Qing Lin looked at him, remained silent for a moment, and finally nodded.

"Then Brother Shen Wen, please be careful."

Shen Wen gave an 'en' in response and turned to face the pitch-black underground river.

With a thought, silver-gray light surged from his body, condensing into a thin spatial barrier around him. That was the power of the space ancestral talisman, sufficient to isolate most of the chilling erosion within the Yellow Springs.

The next moment, he leaped and plunged directly into the pitch-black river water.

The icy river water instantly enveloped him.

That chilling power was extremely overbearing. Even with the space ancestral talisman's isolation, Shen Wen could still feel that bone-piercing cold.

If it were an ordinary Dou Zong, they would likely be frozen into an ice sculpture the moment they fell into the river.

But he was different.

Ice Ancestral Talisman.

Shen Wen's mind moved again, and a deep blue light surged from within his body, intertwining with the silver-gray light of the space ancestral talisman.

The oncoming chilling power, upon contacting the Ice Ancestral Talisman, not only failed to erode him but was instead directly swallowed, turning into pure energy that surged into his body.

devouring ancestral talisman.

A pitch-black vortex emerged in his palm. The powers of the three ancestral talismans operated simultaneously. Those chilling forces that were originally lethal now became his continuous source of nourishment.

Shen Wen dove all the way down at a very fast speed.

The deeper he went, the blacker the river water became, and the richer the chilling power. However, with the support of his three ancestral talismans, these powers not only failed to harm him but instead made his aura slightly stronger.

Suddenly, an eerie hissing sound came from ahead.

Shen Wen's gaze narrowed, and his Soul Power surged out like a tide, instantly seeing the newcomers clearly.

They were countless strange snakes that were pitch-black all over.

Each was about the thickness of an arm and about a zhang long, covered in fine black scales, with a pair of snake pupils that were an eerie grayish-white, emitting a cold light.

These strange snakes were numerous and densely packed, almost completely blocking the river channel ahead.

While they were still a long distance from Shen Wen, they all opened their hideous mouths at the same time.

The next moment, countless deep black water arrows shot out from their mouths!

As soon as those water arrows met the river water, the water automatically split apart, yielding an unobstructed path. Consequently, the speed of the water arrows soared instantly, and the whistling sound of breaking wind caused the surrounding river water to emit low-pitched explosions!

Shen Wen's expression remained unchanged.

He raised his hand, and a deep blue light surged from his palm.

Ice Ancestral Talisman.

That light instantly spread out. Wherever it passed, the river water condensed into ice at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Those flying water arrows were frozen into icicles before they could even get within ten zhang of him, suspended in the pitch-black river water.

Following that, those strange snakes were not spared either.

The deep blue light spread to them, freezing them along with the surrounding river water into ice sculptures of various poses.

Shen Wen passed between those ice sculptures and continued to dive.

After an unknown amount of time, the surrounding river water finally became more open.

Shen Wen looked down, and a pitch-black ground was faintly visible below.

The bottom of the Yellow Springs had been reached.

His feet landed on the ground, and his gaze swept around.

This was an extremely vast underground space, pitch black all around, with only a faint glimmer of light filtering down from above. The ground was covered with black sand and stones, crunching underfoot.

But Shen Wen's gaze soon landed on a certain spot ahead.

There, he clearly sensed an extremely subtle Soul fluctuation.

Although that fluctuation was suppressed by some kind of Seal and was extremely weak, it still carried a majesty belonging to a Dou Sheng.

The corners of Shen Wen's mouth curled up slightly.

Yao Ming, found him.

Just then, an extremely weak transmission suddenly sounded in Shen Wen's mind.

"Save... save me... This seat is the Nine Serene Earth Nether Python Clan Chief... Save this seat, and there will be a great reward..."

That voice was intermittent, filled with an undisguisable urgency and hope.

Shen Wen's expression remained unchanged as his gaze fell upon that patch of pitch-black mud.

The transmission continued, but soon, the voice stopped abruptly.

Because Shen Wen moved.

The Soul Power of the Heavenly Realm Great Perfection surged out like a tide, invading in reverse along the direction of that transmission, instantly touching that cluster of Soul Origin that was so weak it was almost about to dissipate.

A warm golden light lit up in his Sea of Consciousness.

Great Universal Salvation Technique.

Yao Ming didn't even have time to react before he felt a vast and overbearing will rush directly into the depths of his Soul.

He wanted to resist.

He was a Clan Chief, a Dou Sheng of the Nine Serene Earth Nether Python. Even after being sealed for hundreds of years, the pride in his bones did not allow him to be enslaved.

But that power was too strong.

If he were at his Peak, he might have been able to resist a little. But now, having been eroded by the yellow springs yin stone for hundreds of years, his Soul was already weak to the extreme, and even maintaining consciousness was incredibly difficult. How could he possibly resist this will that was like heaven and earth?

The struggle lasted only for a moment.

The golden light completely submerged his consciousness.

Shen Wen withdrew his Soul Power, sensed the Soul that had just been imprinted, and nodded with satisfaction.

It was done.

He stepped toward that patch of mud, his gaze falling on the black sand and stones beneath his feet.

With a thought, a gentle gust of wind surged from his palm, blowing away all the sand and stones on the ground.

As the sand and stones rolled away, a black iron chain as large as a hundred zhang was suddenly exposed to Shen Wen's sight.

That iron chain was pitch black all over, emitting a bone-chilling cold, and was densely inscribed with countless eerie runes. Every rune was slowly flowing, echoing the surrounding power of the Yellow Springs to form an extremely complex sealing array.

Shen Wen's eyes narrowed slightly.

He raised his hand and made a grasping motion from a distance, and that iron chain was slowly pulled out by him.

As this iron chain was pulled, the surrounding ground suddenly shook violently. Three more equally massive iron chains rose from the mud, each connected to the huge surrounding mountain and deeply embedded in the rock.

Shen Wen tried pulling once, but it didn't budge.

These four iron chains formed a complete Seal, firmly locking something at the bottom of the Yellow Springs.

His gaze fell on the largest pile of mud.

With a wave of his hand, the mud was shaken away.

As the mud dissipated, the scene within was revealed—

A person.

A person whose whole body was as withered as a skeleton.