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Ghost fire dotted their path, and the spirits of the dead wandered about. Everything was silent and eerie.
The spirits of the dead came in all shapes and sizes, but all were insidious and vicious. Even the weakest were comparable to Spiritual Revolution Realm cultivators, while the strongest were comparable to Profound Illumination Emperors!
This made Yuan Linning understand on a visceral level just how terrifying the Little Necropolis, one of the nine most perilous places in the City of the Wrongfully Dead, was. If she weren’t accompanying Su Yi, there was absolutely no way she would have risked coming here.
However, Yuan Linning was reassured to discover that as Su Yi casually led the way ahead, the departed souls cleared a path. They seemed terrified, and none of them dared approach.
So, the Dark Laws of Purgatory are this wondrous, she thought to herself.
Before long, they reached the towering ancient gates of the Little Necropolis.
The gates were fully one thousand feet tall with a black stone statue on each side. The left statue was of a nine-headed hellhound, while the right statue was an enormous three-legged toad.
They were so hideous that just looking at them was enough to make one tremble.
“Something happened in the Little Necropolis,” Su Yi said suddenly.
He scanned the two stone statues and furrowed his brow.
Each of the hellhound’s nine heads had a cut between its eyes. The three-legged toad’s eyes were also completely shattered.
The two statues were connected to the source of the Laws beneath the Little Necropolis. They could manifest a mighty defensive formation to prevent external foes from entering.
Yet now, someone had destroyed them both!
In other words, without the statues guarding the city, anyone could enter as they pleased.
“It seems someone broke into the Little Necropolis before we arrived. Ordinary Profound Serenity Emperors couldn’t possibly have broken through the Laws covering this place, unless… they used some sort of powerful secret treasure.” Su Yi’s eyes flashed. “Strange. Who exactly did this?”
Yuan Linning was bewildered too.
“Come on, let’s go in and have a look,” said Su Yi. He was already approaching the city gates.
Yuan Linning was stunned. He knows something happened here, so why is he still going in? Does this guy seriously not know the meaning of the word ‘fear’?
After a moment’s hesitation, she bit her lip and chased after him.
The Little Necropolis was strewn with the ruins of ancient buildings. It was long abandoned, with no sign of life. Black, baleful yin smog lingered in the air, lending the place a strange, mysterious air.
“It really has changed,” muttered Su Yi.
He thought back to his last visit, when this place had been a gathering point for intelligent and terrifying evil spirits. Each had an enormous army of lesser evil spirits under their banner.
Like the spirits of the departed, yao souls, and demonic spirits.
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The Little Necropolis was extremely lively then, like a true ghostly domain.
Back then, practically none of the Emperors who entered the City of the Wrongfully Dead dared enter the Little Necropolis.
Far too many terrifying evil spirits had gathered there, each stronger than the one before.
But when Su Yi explored the Little Necropolis, he cut down thirty-three Imperial-level evil spirits and helped a Heavenspan Yao Vine occupy the city’s most central location: Stargazing Tower.
The Heavenspan Yao Vine had been the ruler of the Little Necropolis ever since.
Yet now, the Little Necropolis was utterly bleak!
Never mind those terrifying evil spirits; there wasn’t so much as a single minor ghost haunting the place.
Su Yi didn’t stop. He simply proceeded further into the Little Necropolis. Before long, the thousand-foot-tall Stargazing Tower entered his field of view.
It was octagonal and black as ink throughout. It towered over the city’s other buildings, like a crane amongst chickens.
Stargazing Tower.
The most important location in all of the Little Necropolis.
The base of the tower was connected to a portion of the City of the Wrongfully Dead’s source, and it was nourished by the frigid, baleful energies of the Nine Serenities year-round.
As a result, the tower had become a first-rate “blessed” ground in the eyes of heretical cultivators!
Back in the day, Su Yi slew a terrifying evil spirit known as the Lord of Blood and Souls, allowing the Heavenspan Yao Vine to take over the tower.
But this time, when Su Yi arrived, he discovered numerous shocking scars all over the massive tower’s surface. It seemed as if it had suffered a devastating onslaught.
And the ground within a thousand-foot radius was covered in cracks, scattered corpses, and bloodstains.
Su Yi stared intently at the fragmented corpses, his frown gradually deepening.
He could tell at a glance that the corpses belonged to Imperial Realm heretical cultivators!
Furthermore, the lingering bloodstains and traces of aura told him that they’d died just last night.
Then, when Su Yi re-examined the tower, he discovered something new: the invisible power of Laws had sealed the ancient tower off completely!
“The Laws of Burning Silence? That’s the power of the Grand Dao contained within one of the Netherworld King’s Nine Taboos, the Burning Silence Ruler…” Su Yi’s gaze was solemn. “Don’t tell me the forces of the Mysterious Netherworld Court attacked this place last night?”
As he pondered, he walked toward Stargazing Tower.
……
At the base of Stargazing Tower, in an overcast hall.
The only source of light was a single dim bronze lamp.
Blood pooled on the floor, and the furniture had long since been destroyed. The hall lay in ruin.
A blood-soaked, delicately handsome youth knelt on the floor, weeping in grief. “Master, no matter what, I’ll help you get back your body and your cultivation! No matter what! I’ll kill those bastards too. I won’t spare a single one of them!”
His voice was raspy, and his eyes were bloodshot. Grief and rage were written all over his face, and despite his best efforts, his tears flowed uncontrollably.
A charred, battered piece of green vine lay on the floor. An illusory male figure hovered above it.
The man was thin, and his illusory body shifted erratically, as if he might split and dissipate into nothingness at any moment.
“How old are you? Don't act like a child. What’s there to cry about?” The man shook his head in exasperation. However, his eyes were full of sorrow.
The young man wiped away his tears, but when he saw how close the man’s soul body was to falling apart, his grief overcame him once more, and his eyes reddened.
The man took a deep breath. “Mu’er, there isn’t much time. Listen carefully: in a moment, I’m going to use the last of my power to send you out of Stargazing Tower. Once you’ve escaped confinement, take the section of vine I left behind and flee the Little Necropolis, the faster the better.”
The young man shook his head. “I’m not leaving! I have to protect you, Master!”
“That’s an order!” The man’s tone was suddenly harsh. “I’ll only rest at ease knowing that you’re alive. Numerous experts from the outside world have entered of late. If you see one of them, ask them to take you away from the City of the Wrongfully Dead. Once you’ve left, you’re not to step foot in the City of the Wrongfully Dead until you’ve proven your Dao and become an Emperor!”
The young man’s expression shifted, and his gaze filled with bewilderment. “But if I leave, what will you do, Master?”
When he looked at the apprentice he’d raised all by himself, the man’s gaze softened. “Mu’er, haven’t you always wanted to leave the City of the Wrongfully Dead and see the world beyond its gates?
“Over the years, I’ve already helped you refine the evil power within your body, and you’re no longer subject to the restrictions of the city’s Laws. When you enter the outside world, with your foundation, you’ll be able to join a powerful faction and continue your cultivation there.
“If no sect is willing to accept you, go to the Ghot Serpents. Say you’re Qing Teng’s disciple. They’re sure to take you in,” the man instructed. His voice was warm but increasingly weak. “Also, whatever you do, don’t even think of avenging me. Even if you prove your Dao and become an Emperor, you’ll be no match for them, unless…”
The young man asked frantically, “Unless what, Master?”
The man’s expression was complicated, and he let out a deep sigh. “Unless His Excellency the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force still lives. Perhaps then, there will be hope of preventing the Netherworld King from re-entering the world.”
The young man was instantly disappointed, and the light in his eyes dimmed.
A few years ago, one of the experts who’d entered the City of the Wrongfully Dead told him that the man his master practically worshiped like a god, the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force, had died five hundred years prior.
When his master learned what had happened, he practically went insane. He went mad with fury, agitation, and grief before sitting silent and still for ten days, as if he’d lost his soul.
No one else knew how grief-stricken and despondent his master had been.
Afterward, the young man discovered that his master had changed; he had a newfound fondness for wine, and he frequently stared into space. From time to time, he’d lose his temper for no apparent reason.
That was when the young man realized that, in his master’s heart, the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force was like a teacher, or even a father!
But he still didn’t understand why his master was so overcome with grief. Wasn’t death just another part of life?
Yet now, when he saw his master meet with disaster and realized that they were about to part ways forever, the young man suddenly understood why word of Su Xuanjun’s death had affected his master so badly.
Grief, agitation, indignation, hatred, mania…
It was as if his heart had been ripped into countless pieces. The sheer agony left him on the verge of breaking down.
The young man took a moment to calm himself before suddenly recalling something. “Master, last night, before they attacked, those Mysterious Netherworld Divine Court bastards were dead set on getting you to tell them who’d helped you take over the Little Necropolis. Do you think… that they found information about His Excellency the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force, but they’re unsure of its legitimacy? Is that why they attacked out of nowhere and tried to get you to tell them what happened back then?
After a moment’s silence, the man let out a long sigh. “Why discuss all that now? Mu’er, don’t drag this out any longer. Pick up that section of vine, and I’ll send you away.”
Grief was written all over the young man’s face. He clearly didn’t want to leave.
But it was then that a sigh reverberated throughout the dim, bloodstained hall.
“Little Vine, I’m the one who dragged you into this.”
The young man stiffened, and he leaped to his feet, instantly on guard. “Who is it!?”
The man, however, reacted as if he’d been struck by lightning. He looked completely dazed. Little Vine…? In this world, only His Excellency Su calls me that!
Don’t tell me…?
The man shook from head to toe. Then, with great difficulty, he raised his head to look at the entrance to the hall.
There, beneath the light of the bronze lamp, he saw a tall, upright figure walking amidst the wreckage.
It was an unfamiliar young man with a handsome face and an indifferent air.
The man was stunned, and his excitement evaporated. He lowered his head in dejection, and he silently mocked himself. Am I hallucinating because I’m on the verge of death?
“Stop right there! Otherwise, don’t blame me for my poor manners!” When he saw Su Yi approaching his master, the young man shouted and prepared himself for battle.
When Su Yi saw the youth’s bravery, he couldn’t help but sigh. “Is this your disciple? His disposition is much like yours was back then.”
This sentence left the man stunned, and he raised his head to look at Su Yi once more. “You… Who exactly are you?”