Chapter 299
Chapter 299
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Translator: Ace
Chapter:
Chapter Title: The Immortal Bridge Crashes into the Underworld
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Outside the West Capital, the crowd gazed up at the Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge in the sky. The scenes within the blessed land underwent subtle changes, which was nothing out of the ordinary.
This blessed land was a great realm left behind by a half-immortal. After the half-immortal perished, it was refined into a treasure. The sun, moon, mountains, and rivers inside were never fixed in place. However, as time passed, people noticed something off about the blessed land—the scale of changes to its sun, moon, mountains, and rivers was growing larger and larger.
"Did the commander of the Five Armies Camp cheat?"
Murmurs gradually spread through the crowd.
Chen Tang stared intently at the Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge and suddenly said, "Lord Feng, the blessed land's transformations are too extreme. It looks like it's spiraling out of control! The left and right commanders of the Five Armies are trying to manipulate the blessed land to scheme against my son, but their cultivation is only at the Void Returning Realm. Forcing a half-immortal's great realm is incredibly taxing! Something's going to go wrong!"
Eunuch Feng also looked skyward, his expression growing grave by the moment. He suddenly shoved aside his wheelchair and stood up. "It's already gone wrong! The underworld portion of the Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge has collided with something and is tilting toward the underworld!" Chen Tang shot into the air first, charging toward the Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge.
Eunuch Feng followed close behind, shrieking, "Xia Fanghe, Xia Shouying! The Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge is out of control and crashing into the underworld—stop it now!" At the same time, in the West Capital, the ancestors of the great families were jolted awake by the anomaly in the Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge.
Their nascent souls spanned the boundary between yin and yang, instantly observing the blessed land from the underworld. They saw that its position in the underworld overlapped partially with Qixia Temple!
Qixia Temple and the Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge hadn't overlapped before—there had been a vast distance between them. But Xia Fanghe and Xia Shouying had altered the sun, moon, mountains, and rivers to plot against Chen Shi, throwing the yin-yang balance of this void great realm into disarray. The blessed land plummeted toward the underworld. The two Five Armies commanders had focused solely on the movements inside the blessed land, oblivious to the changes in the underworld, resulting in the partial overlap with Qixia Temple.
"The Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge has encountered the White Jade Path in Qixia Temple! If the blessed land collides with that Ghost God Domain, it might drag the ghost immortal into the mortal world! That ghost immortal is going to use the Immortal Bridge—spanning yin and yang within the blessed land—to return to the yang world! She's going to resurrect!"
The ancestors of the great families felt their scalps go numb. Though they had lived over two hundred years, they weren't truly ancient. The truly ancient one was that white-clothed immortal at the end of the White Jade Path!
Compared to the white-clothed immortal, they were mere newborns.
Legend held that the White Jade Path was a remnant from prehistoric times, with the white-clothed immortal buried at its end.
She had used a secret art to persist in the world when she should have died, taking the form of a ghost immortal sealed within her own Ghost God Domain.
To sustain this form, however, she needed to replenish yang energy. That's when she would lure cultivators onto the White Jade Path and into her Ghost God Domain. Anyone who entered would have every last bit of their yang energy drained, turning them into desiccated corpses.
The ancestors of the great families had grown up hearing these tales.
Legends always mixed truth and fiction, but after taking control of their families, they accessed deeper secrets. That's when they learned that even during the era of the True King, explorations of the White Jade Path had occurred. The Ghost God Domain at its end had erupted several times in shocking bursts, killing countless people in the West Capital.
Later, Moon-embracing Hall was built atop the White Jade Path, and the white-clothed female immortal at its end vanished. But guests staying at Moon-embracing Hall reportedly had one or two disappearances per hundred—true vanishings, with no body or soul to be found.
Some guests who had stayed there claimed that when they rose at night to relieve themselves, they found themselves in another world—not in the West Capital, not in West Ox Continent, not even in the yang world or underworld.
The storyteller vividly described this bizarre experience: he seemed to stand amid incomparably gorgeous ruins, beholding shattered skies, fissured earth, countless broken immortal weapons, enormous ones piercing the corpses of immortals. But people from the Thirteen Families dismissed it as a dream from Moon-embracing Hall, not a real journey to another world.
Yet many guests at Moon-embracing Hall had the same dream of a torn, ruined, gorgeous wasteland. Their accounts matched so closely that it made one wonder if sleeping there granted entry to that strange world. The white-clothed female immortal had always been a taboo since ancient times—even beings like them wouldn't provoke her. As long as she couldn't enter the yang world, what did it matter if a few unlucky cultivators got eaten?
Seeing this scene, the ancestors of the great families turned pale, cursing inwardly, "Those two bastards Xia Fanghe and Xia Shouying have caused a catastrophe! The Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge connects yin and yang—the ghost immortal can cross the bridge from another world into the yang realm!" Old Ancestor Ma Yu of the Ma Family rose, his voice deep. "Fellow Daoists of the West Capital, let's join forces to stop the ghost immortal from entering the world!"
To deal with Creation Little Five this time, most ancestors of the Thirteen Families had come. Little Five had left just days ago, and they hadn't departed yet when this happened. They immediately rose, their nascent souls entering the underworld and flying toward the Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge. At the same time, the two commanders, Xia Fanghe and Xia Shouying, finally sensed something amiss. Noticing the overlap with Qixia Temple in the underworld, they halted their manipulation of the blessed land, trying to separate the two realms.
But the White Jade Path had transformed into a white jade arching bridge, embedding itself like a nail deep into the Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge, impossible to pull free. The white-clothed female immortal's figure appeared, her aura instantly overwhelming the blessed land, accelerating its plunge into the underworld!
The two commanders acted decisively, ordering the Five Armies soldiers to rescue the candidates inside the Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge while officials from the Ministry of Rites evacuated.
But in that instant, countless officials and Five Armies soldiers burst apart under the white-clothed female immortal's aura! A canopy of blood mist formed in the sky.
The white-clothed female immortal stepped through the blood mist, heading toward the Immortal Bridge. The other side of the Immortal Bridge belonged to the yang world.
Xia Fanghe and Xia Shouying each activated their void great realms, slicing into the Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge to intercept the white-clothed female immortal from above.
Both were at the peak of the Void Returning Realm, having entered over a decade ago with little hope of reaching the Great Vehicle Realm in this lifetime. But their strength was formidable. In the underworld, they had battled Granny Sha, Azure Goat, and Heavenly Fox for half the night and still retreated intact without dying.
Now, they invoked the Royal Ming State-Governing Art. Their two void great realms bolstered their nascent souls, while the heavenly power of the Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge surged toward them! Each unleashed divine abilities. The Royal Ming State-Governing Art established human laws and morals, fixing the world's order—a sacred technique of the Confucian scholars, forging vast righteous qi.
As their palm strikes unleashed, scrolls filled the sky, each word gleaming brilliantly. Sun and moon took form, the five elements manifested, mountains and peaks hovered midair, manifesting the might of words becoming law as they bore down to suppress!
The spectacle shook heaven and earth. The white-clothed female immortal had already descended from the white jade arching bridge. She raised her hand and flicked her sleeve, shattering the heavenly scrolls. Xia Fanghe and Xia Shouying spat blood, sent tumbling backward!
Their void great realms shattered, their realms plummeting straight from Void Returning to Soul Refining!
Rolling head over heels, they smashed out of the Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge, appearing in the skies above the West Capital before plummeting down.
The West Capital had no shortage of experts rushing toward the Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge. Leading the charge were Chen Tang and Eunuch Feng.
The other great Void Returning experts of the West Capital trailed them, attempting to rush in and save people. But seeing the commanders' injuries, they couldn't help but feel alarmed. Chen Tang and Eunuch Feng plunged into the Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge first.
The massive blessed land was tilting into the underworld.
The female immortal's pressure was forcing it downward!
Gigantic figures a thousand zhang tall flew in from the underworld into the Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge, attacking the white-clothed female immortal. "It's the ancestors of the Thirteen Families!"
Many of these ancestors were still recovering from wounds inflicted by Creation Little Five, but they knew that if the white-clothed female immortal broke free, it would spell unimaginable calamity. They charged forward without hesitation.
Dozens of thousand-zhang nascent souls swarmed the white-clothed immortal in fierce combat, the scene earth-shattering. Their void great realms had been refined tiny, forming halos behind their heads brimming with boundless power. But in a single clash, Old Ancestor Xu Zhendong of the Xu Family was gravely wounded—his thousand-zhang nascent soul nearly scattered, the halo of his void great realm on the verge of shattering!
The force rippled through the Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge, shaking it violently. In an instant, mountains rose and fell, seas turned to mulberry fields! The stars and sun-moon in the sky wheeled rapidly, as if centuries passed in a blink!
Chen Tang and Eunuch Feng's hearts quaked. They beheld a power beyond even their comprehension. Immortal power!
This woman was likely no mere ghost immortal from legend! A ghost immortal couldn't possibly be this strong!
Could it be that at the end of the White Jade Path, that man-eating white-clothed immortal was truly an immortal?
Chen Tang and Eunuch Feng immediately felt the terrifying aura radiating from the white-clothed female immortal—even they experienced intense discomfort, as if countless blades sliced their bodies. Only by manifesting their void great realms did it ease somewhat. Looking over, they saw the white-clothed female immortal fending off the Thirteen Families' ancestors while advancing toward the Immortal Bridge. Her ethereal, dust-free poise imprinted in their eyes, shaking their Dao hearts.
The immortal was utterly pristine.
Not just outwardly pristine—her Dao heart was too, and so was her cultivation.
She seemed a perfect being, without a speck of filth anywhere, not even in her Dao heart!
The Young Master was often called flawless, but before this female immortal, he paled, covered in filth, repulsively dirty.
Eunuch Feng urged, "Lord Chen, hurry and find Chen Shi—rescue the other candidates!"
The two dove downward. At the same time, numerous Five Armies soldiers carried candidates upward, trying to flee.
In mere moments, six more ancestors suffered heavy blows from the white-clothed female immortal. The shockwaves spread, and Eunuch Feng moved at once to shield the Five Armies soldiers and candidates—without his intervention, they couldn't withstand the aftermath. Seeing this, Chen Tang flew downward alone, straight toward the Immortal Bridge.
The female immortal pressed on toward the Immortal Bridge even as she fended off the Thirteen Families' ancestors. "Lord Chen, don't go over there!"
Suddenly, Eunuch Feng's anxious voice rang out. "Look up quickly! No time!"
Chen Tang looked up to see the nine great treasure halls suppressing West Ox Continent's destiny—Wenhua Hall, Wuying Hall, Huagai Hall, Wenyan Hall, and the others—blazing with light. These were the True King's nine supreme treasures, meant to suppress calamity-level forces! Now, their power had reached its zenith, on the verge of erupting!
When Creation Little Five had rampaged through the West Capital earlier, laying the Three Ghost God Shocks and challenging dozens of ancestors from the great families alone, these nine halls had stirred but not acted to suppress Little Five. For Little Five had fallen just short—not worth their intervention.
But now, with the white-clothed female immortal emerging to step into the mortal world, they were finally triggered! Chen Tang gritted his teeth, ignoring Eunuch Feng's warning, and charged toward the Immortal Bridge below.
Wenhua, Wuying, and the other nine halls erupted, blinding radiance slamming into the Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge. The brilliance engulfed everything in Chen Tang's sight!
A violent quake hit. He channeled his cultivation to block the impact. When all settled, a massive hole gaped in the West Capital's sky, its other end the gray haze of the underworld. The Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge trailed streams of light as it smashed into the underworld's depths!
The Thirteen Families' ancestors steadied themselves. In that brief span, they had suffered successive wounds from the white-clothed female immortal! Their old injuries from Creation Little Five hadn't healed, and now new ones piled on!
Chen Tang plunged into the underworld. At that moment, a massive black dog rode gales and thunder in a howl, slipping through the space rift before it sealed and charging into the underworld too. Chen Tang was startled. "Blackie Pot, get back quick—the underworld is danger—"
His eyes widened in disbelief at the colossal beast charging to his side. "The underworld... doesn't seem that dangerous after all," he thought.
By then, dozens more figures had rushed into the underworld—officials from the West Capital. They looked around, but the Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge was gone. Someone in the West Capital shouted, "Has the Young Master come out?"
"Is the Young Master safe?" another asked with concern.
The Young Master's voice came: "I'm here. Everyone, rest easy."
Many more officials shouted inquiries about their own children escaping the blessed land—some got replies, some didn't.
The Minister of Rites, Yan Guzhi, immediately ordered all escaped candidates gathered and counted. It took half an hour of chaos to tally.
"My lord, six hundred and forty-four candidates are still trapped in the Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge!"
Minister Yan's brows furrowed deeply—nearly half the candidates were lost inside. He paused, then asked, "Among the trapped candidates, any noteworthy figures?"
"In reply to my lord: Guo Daozi of the Celestial Master Mansion, Jade Spirit Child of Taihua Qing Palace, Golden Stupa Daoist of Supreme Haoyuan Palace, and Zhang You of the Zhang Family are all trapped inside. Also, Little Lord Chen of Lord Chen Tang's household hasn't emerged... " Yan Guzhi's brows knitted tighter. He glanced at the gravely wounded Five Armies commanders Xia Fanghe and Xia Shouying, clenching his fists.
"Those two bastards!"
He badly wanted to go over and beat the commanders senseless, but with the Thirteen Families bound by blood, it might sour relations.
"Summon officials from the Shanglin Garden Supervisor at once to call the souls of the candidates and pinpoint their locations in the underworld!"
Minister Yan issued the order loudly. "No matter what, we must rescue them!"
In the underworld, Chen Tang stood atop Blackie Pot's head. The dog had revealed its true form. Chen Tang looked around—no trace of the Blessed Land of the Immortal Bridge.
The underworld stretched endlessly; for the moment, he had no idea where to search.
"Little Tang, I tried calling Little Ten's soul—it's still intact, so he's reasonably safe!"
Granny Sha's voice reached him. "Don't worry too much!"
Chen Tang looked over to see Granny Sha standing on a bluestone path, now present in the underworld.
Granny Sha looked puzzled. "But the place he's in now is a bit strange..."
Chen Shi sat on a rock by the Immortal Bridge, chin in hand, immersed in the Wind-Thunder Transformation. He faced the other side of the Immortal Bridge, eyes vacant as the white-clothed female immortal entered his view. Her figure battling the Thirteen Families' ancestors seared into his mind, myriad profound Dao arts gradually verifying against those immortal scriptures in the True King's Tomb library that made him dizzy just looking at them.
Suddenly, the Wind-Thunder, Water-Fire, and Mountain-Marsh Transformations merged seamlessly. Chen Shi snapped from his daze, body shuddering as his eyes flew wide.
"I get it! I've comprehended it!"
He cheered, leaping to his feet!
At that moment, a blood-soaked woman tumbled down from the Immortal Bridge beside him, her head smacking the rock at his feet with a thud. Her head lolled, and she passed out cold.