571: Lu Xueqi (48)

Su Han focused his Divine Sense to perceive the Netherworld Mark within his Sea of Consciousness.

As expected, the blood-colored rune glowed faintly, transmitting a vague directional intent. It wasn't a map visible to the eye, but rather an intuitive pull, guiding him toward the stone tablet in the center of the platform, which had now returned to stillness.

"The guidance points... to this stone tablet itself." Su Han walked to the stone tablet and reached out to touch its cold, smooth surface.

The moment his fingertip made contact, a new change occurred!

The Netherworld characters flowing across the stone tablet suddenly accelerated, then violently contracted inward. The entire tablet seemed to transform into a black mirror of water.

Ripples spread across the mirror surface, revealing a dark and profound interior that emitted strong spatial fluctuations.

"The entrance... is actually inside the stone tablet!" Bi Yao exclaimed in surprise.

Su Han took a deep breath and glanced back at Lu Xueqi and Bi Yao, seeing the same resolve and determination in their eyes.

Having come this far, there was no turning back.

"Stay close to me."

After speaking, Su Han circulated his spiritual power to protect his body and stepped forward, his figure disappearing directly into the rippling black mirror surface.

Lu Xueqi and Bi Yao hesitated not at all, flashing forward almost simultaneously to follow closely, plunging into the stone tablet mirror.

After the three figures vanished, the ripples on the stone tablet's surface gradually calmed down. It returned to being hard and smooth, and the Netherworld characters on it faded away, reverting to its original blank state.

Only the netherworld token in the groove flickered almost imperceptibly.

The circular platform fell silent once more, as if no one had ever set foot upon it for millions of years.

...

A brief, dizzying sensation of the world spinning washed over Su Han.

He felt as if he had passed through a cold, damp tunnel, surrounded by blurry lights and shadows flashing past rapidly, interspersed with countless fragmented whispers that were impossible to make out clearly.

Fortunately, this feeling did not last long.

His feet landed on solid ground again, and a thick, pervasive Death Qi, mixed with a faint musty odor and a strange floral fragrance, rushed toward him.

Su Han stabilized himself and immediately looked around warily.

Lu Xueqi and Bi Yao appeared beside him almost at the same time, each holding a Magic Treasure, their expressions grave.

They seemed to be in a massive underground corridor.

The corridor was wide enough to accommodate several carriages running side-by-side. The surrounding walls were not made of rock, but of a dull, bronze-like material, intricately carved with ancient patterns similar to those on the outer pillars and platform, but much more detailed and complete. These carvings depicted various scenes of the Netherworld: ghost officials guiding the way, judging the Souls of the dead, crossing the Yellow Springs, and Reincarnation.

The ceiling of the corridor was very high, lost in the darkness, making its exact height impossible to discern.

Beneath their feet was a rough flagstone path that extended forward, disappearing into the deep darkness.

Most striking were the sparse, blood-colored flowers growing at the base of the walls on both sides of the corridor.

The petals were slender and alluringly vibrant, emitting a faint, cold light—they were spider lilies!

Their presence provided a weak source of light, casting the dim corridor in an eerie glow.

The strange floral fragrance permeating the air came from these spider lilies.

"Is this... the interior of the Seal's core?" Bi Yao lowered her voice, looking around curiously. "It feels like... a tomb passage?"

Lu Xueqi felt the dense Netherworld Death Qi in the air. Her tianya divine sword emitted a low hum, automatically adjusting her Sword Qi to help her resist the erosion of the Death Qi. She said in a deep voice, "The Death Qi is extremely heavy; my spiritual power circulation is sluggish by nearly thirty percent. This place is far more perilous than the outside."

Su Han nodded; he felt it most acutely.

The Netherworld Mark in his Sea of Consciousness became much more active here, and the sensation of being pulled grew clearer, explicitly pointing toward the depths of the corridor.

At the same time, through the Mark, he vaguely sensed that at the end of this corridor existed a massive, chaotic energy body filled with greedy and tyrannical consciousness.

That should be the remnant Soul of the sealed Soul Devouring Beast!

But strangely, the state of this energy body was very unstable, alternately raging and weak, as if it were being interfered with by something.

"Follow me, stay alert."

Su Han whispered, taking the lead and cautiously proceeding along the corridor in the direction indicated by the Mark.

The corridor was extremely long and not perfectly straight, featuring occasional curved Fork in the road (forks).

However, with the guidance of the Netherworld Mark, Su Han always made the correct choice.

Along the way, they saw more Netherworld-style murals and carvings, as well as more self-illuminating spider lilies.

They even saw some scattered, decayed weapons and armor in front of certain murals, along with some dust-covered vessels that seemed to be used for sacrifices.

It was as if this place had seen frequent activity in the distant past.

After walking for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the sound of rushing water could faintly be heard ahead.

The further they walked, the louder the sound of water became, and the moisture in the air grew denser, mixed with an indescribable fishy smell, as if mud, sand, and decaying matter were combined.

Turning a massive corner, the scene before them made the three instantly stop in their tracks and gasp.

The corridor had reached its end.

Before them was an underground space so vast it defied imagination.

In the center of the space, a murky, immense river flowed silently, its waters emitting a strange yellow light. Countless blurry, painfully twisted phantoms floated on the surface, emitting faint wails.

Along the riverbank stretched an endless, blazing sea of blood-red flowers—a sea of spider lilies!

Within the sea of flowers, a winding dirt road led into the depths of the mist.

At the start of the road stood a massive stone tablet, upon which were carved three ancient Netherworld characters—Yellow Springs Road!

All of this was exactly the same as what Su Han had seen with his Divine Sense and what had appeared on the stone tablet outside!

"The River of Forgetfulness... the Yellow Springs Road..." Bi Yao's voice trembled slightly. "Have we... truly arrived at the Underworld?"

Lu Xueqi gripped her tianya tightly, the tip of her sword pointing forward, her entire body tense.

The scene before them was too real. The aura of death and annihilation contained within the river made her Soul tremble.

This was absolutely not an illusion!

Su Han's spirit was also greatly shaken, but the burning sensation of the Netherworld Mark in his Sea of Consciousness reached its peak, and the direction of guidance was precisely that Yellow Springs Road!

Through the Mark, he could clearly sense that the chaotic energy source representing the remnant Soul of the 'Soul Devouring Beast' was at the end of the Yellow Springs Road, deep within that mist!

"The core of the Seal is at the end of that road," Su Han said in a deep voice, his gaze falling upon the massive stone tablet at the beginning of the Yellow Springs Road.

He noticed that this stone tablet was almost identical to the one he had 'seen' with his Divine Sense when examining the netherworld token at the edge of the deep pit.

The only difference was that this stone tablet was older, its aura more ancient and vast, and there seemed to be some subtle, recently formed cracks on its surface!

Threads of black Qi, originating from the same source as the demonic energy in the deep pit but purer and more terrifying, seeped out from the cracks!

"The Seal... has indeed loosened!" Su Han's heart sank.

Those cracks were proof of the disturbance! (End of Chapter)