Chapter 1597: Collecting the Black Water
The red-haired man was definitely using some kind of divine ability to forcibly hold back the black mist. However, based on appearances, doing so was very taxing to him.
Only now did the old man realize that the reason this black lake didn’t seem as frightening as the blood-colored lake was thanks to Long Chen’s black soil. It isolated them from the mist.
The two of them continued forward. There were no surprises or dangers, but they didn’t dare to be careless. After all, there was no need to take any risks. Stability was the most important thing here.
The two of them eventually reached the end of the floating logs, and the whirlpool of nine different colored pools appeared.
When they personally witnessed it, this sight was even more stunning. They felt majestic energy gathering. It was like all the Daos of the world were concentrating here, as if this was the pinnacle of the world.
When he saw the nine-colored whirlpool, Long Chen felt his 108,000 stars slowly circulating.
“As expected, my senses weren’t wrong. These nine lakes have some kind of connection to the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art,” muttered Long Chen.
Through Qu Jianying’s vision, he had immediately felt an urge to come here when he had seen these lakes. That was the main reason why he had decided to take this risk.
Or rather than saying that the nine lakes were related to the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art, perhaps there was some aspect of them that was based on the same concept as the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art.
The two of them stood on the edge of the whirlpool. The flow of the nine liquids was like the cycle of life. There was joy, sorrow, anger, the cycle of birth and death. It was all in an endless cycle.
“How regretful. Once I return to my true body, all these memories regarding the Netherworld will disappear. I really don’t know how Qu Jianying managed to seal a portion of her memories of this place,” sighed the old man.
For most Netherpa.s.sage experts, their final memory would be going into the gate. Everything that happened in the Netherworld would be erased.
It was unknown what technique Qu Jianying had used to retain a portion of her memories. Even the old man had no choice but to admit that her abilities were amazing.
The old man had originally wanted to tell what he had seen in Qu Jianying’s memories to Boss Bao and the others. However, he was stunned to find that whenever he wanted to say it, his memories of it would vanish.
Then when he no longer wanted to say it, his memories returned. The secrets of the world of the dead could not be spoken.
Although the two of them knew some of the secrets of this world, only they could know it. They were unable to transmit it to others.
Regretfully, once the old man left the Netherworld, his memories of the Netherworld from Qu Jianying would probably also be erased along with these new memories.
“These nine lakes are a manifestation of the Heavenly Daos. They contain the principles of life, death, and reincarnation, the mysteries of the universe’s rise and fall. If I could comprehend them, wouldn’t I be able to ascend in the future?” said the old man emotionally.
However, that was impossible. No matter how much he comprehended here, that comprehension would vanish once he left. It would be like a dream that he couldn’t remember.
“Let’s go.”
The old man looked on for a while before turning to leave. It was nice to dream, but looking was useless. He had to get to work.
Long Chen nodded without saying anything. He didn’t know that it was impossible to tell others about the Netherworld. The main thing was that he hadn’t tried.
However, even if he did, it wouldn’t be useful. Although he had seen the memories Qu Jianying had left behind, the feeling was not as strong as experiencing it in person.
Long Chen went down the whirlpool with the old man. There was a straight staircase that the two of them went down.
With the nine-colored waterfall around them, Long Chen felt the turning of the cosmos within the water. It was like he was lost in the river of time. Time seemed to be speeding by yet also standing still. That feeling was very difficult to describe.
“d.a.m.nit, is my realm too low to understand it?” cursed Long Chen. Right now, all he could feel was shock. He was unable to understand the true meaning behind this.
Long Chen and the old man continued downward. When they were still some distance from the bottom, the waterfall began to slow down and flow back upward. It was a shocking sight.
When they arrived at the ground, they saw a giant castle with giant gates.
When Long Chen saw these Gates of h.e.l.l, there were already dozens of other figures in front of it.
Amongst them was the red-haired man. He was sitting lotus-style in a corner.
Although he looked calm, Long Chen knew he was faking it to not appear weak. He was definitely in the midst of recovering. The black mist should have exhausted a great deal of his energy.
Although they saw through his act, Long Chen and the old man didn’t expose him. They looked toward the other people.
Perhaps they shouldn’t be described as people. Many were not fully humanoid.
Some were humanoid with wings. Some were covered in scales. Some had long tails. There were all kinds of lifeforms. There were some giant beasts amongst them as well.
Long Chen’s heart shook. Was the Martial Heaven Continent truly so powerful? There were this many experts attacking the Netherpa.s.sage realm?
“These fellows aren’t from the Martial Heaven Continent, or there’s no way I wouldn’t recognize any of them. They came from other domains,” transmitted the old man to Long Chen as they sat down to rest.
The Yellow Springs Path might have pa.s.sed without any surprises, but the old man needed some time to recover from that state of high tension.
“Other domains?” asked Long Chen.
“The universe isn’t composed of just the Martial Heaven Continent. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the Martial Heaven Continent is just a speck of dust in the universe. Due to the battle of the immortal era, the world was fractured, and our path to ascension was severed. The Martial Heaven Continent also lost its connection to the rest of the world. However, this is the Netherworld, the place where people come when they die. It’s possible to encounter existences from the outer world here,” said the old man.
These lifeforms were all silent and maintaining a respectful distance from each other. However, many of them looked over at Long Chen and the old man in shock. They were shocked at Long Chen’s cultivation base and the old man’s staff.
However, they weren’t as foolish as the red-haired man, and they didn’t attack the two of them.
“These fellows are all harboring some evil thoughts. How about I send you back to the Yellow Springs Path?” said the old man.
Long Chen was about to refuse as he didn’t fear these people. However, he didn’t want the old man to worry either and have that affect his mental state. He nodded and turned back, but when they saw the place the staircase had touched the ground, the old man’s expression changed.
“Where is the staircase?”
Long Chen was startled. He could still see the staircase, but the old man couldn’t. Could it be that after crossing the Yellow Springs Path, the experts attacking the Netherpa.s.sage realm could not go back?
“Old man, the staircase is still present for me. You can keep going forward, and I’ll go back. I’ll wait for your good news,” said Long Chen as he climbed back up.
Seeing that Long Chen was capable of going up, the old man relaxed. He walked over to the Gates of h.e.l.l. In front of all those strange lifeforms, he walked right through them, vanis.h.i.+ng behind them and beginning to truly attack the Netherpa.s.sage realm.
Long Chen returned to the original black lake. He waved his hand, and a pillar of black water soared toward him.
At the same time, a large vortex appeared behind him, sucking in the black water.
Long Chen’s primal chaos s.p.a.ce had grown along with his cultivation base. It was now as large as the entire Grand Xia Ancient Nation.
The central black soil was also tens of thousands of miles wide. With just a thought, it formed a giant hole, and the black water poured into it.
“Hahaha, success!” Long Chen laughed. This black water contained an air of absolute death, and it was stronger than the strongest of poisons. It was the best killing tool.
Although the black soil also possessed the power to kill, it was only effective against vegetation. On the other hand, this black water was effective against anything living. Anything touched by it would quickly be destroyed.
Even experts attacking the Netherpa.s.sage realm couldn’t bear it. Then killing Life Star experts should be easy, especially if they didn’t have a divine item to protect themselves. After all, based on his previous test, not even Ancestral items could block it.
If he had had this black water during the Dragon Slaughtering Convention, then wouldn’t he have been able to slaughter his enemies to the last with just a p.i.s.s?
As Long Chen sucked in the black water, the world suddenly began to shake uneasily. Long Chen instantly felt a grave sense of danger and stopped.
Long Chen looked around and didn’t see anything. Once he stopped, the terrifying sensation of danger slowly faded.
“What, it’s this stingy? I can’t even take a bit of water?” Long Chen realized that taking this black water had touched one of the laws of the Yellow Springs Path. If he continued taking it, he might be killed by those laws.
Looking inside the primal chaos s.p.a.ce, he saw a thirty-mile lake inside it. There was already quite a bit of the black water.
“If this black water represents death, then the white water must represent life. Since I only took the black water, it caused a disbalance. Let me see if I can take the life water and then some more black water.”
Long Chen took out more black soil, and mixing it with the branches of the World Tree as a foundation, he made a small boat. He roasted it with fire and then made a paddle from the black soil as well. He began to speed along the water in a boat.