Chapter 326
Chapter 326
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: [Number]
Chapter Title: Encirclement in the Void Realms
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Chen Shi stepped outside and discovered that night had already fallen—it was precisely the hour when the Three Corpses Gods stirred to activity. He paid it no mind, stomping his foot as a clear breeze arose. The wind bore him up, and Chen Shi rode it forth, his speed growing ever faster.
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Blackie Pot caught up from behind. In the Underworld, it moved like a fish in water; no matter how swiftly Chen Shi rode the wind, he couldn't shake it off in the least.
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The Immortal Capital's nights gradually grew lively as the Three Corpses Gods from each Yuan Chen Palace emerged for their revels. Even the masters of the Yuan Chen Palaces could scarcely resist their temptations, plucking incense money from their respective Treasure Trees to squander on wine and women.
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The Heavenly Street teemed with people and ghosts coming and going, while the skies above buzzed with activity as countless ghost chariots streaked through the air at breakneck speeds.
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Some ghost chariots were pulled by skeletal dragon-phoenix frames, others by strings of massive skulls ablaze with flames drifting ahead, and still more by colossal Underworld insects serving as mounts—every grotesque variety imaginable.
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Red sedan chairs drifted through the air as well, borne by ghostly attendants treading paper coins, racing onward.
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Lazy ghost gods harnessed阴风 for hasty travel, careening wildly through the skies.
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Chen Shi and Blackie Pot darted swiftly, weaving to avoid the aerial chariots.
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"Meng Banshan has already been gone for some time. With the Immortal Capital so vast and labyrinthine, where could he have headed?"
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Chen Shi frowned slightly. For now, his only lead was the Young Master Wei Yue's Yuan Chen Palace.
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Young Master Wei Yue surely wouldn't tolerate Meng Banshan and would likely dispatch men to eliminate him.
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"But even if we hurry there, the pursuers have probably already set out. Huh?"
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Riding like the wind and lightning, Chen Shi suddenly spotted flocks of Heavenly Listeners flapping their ears as they soared over the rooftops of the various Yuan Chen Palaces.
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"Are these Heavenly Listeners heading in the direction Meng Banshan fled?"
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He immediately veered to pursue them.
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Abruptly, the Heavenly Listeners vanished one after another into thin air.
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"These Heavenly Listeners have gone to the Mortal Realm! Blackie Pot!"
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No sooner had Chen Shi spoken than Blackie Pot charged from behind, demonic qi roiling as it engulfed him.
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In the next instant, Chen Shi and Blackie Pot appeared high above an endless icy tundra. North winds howled, whipping up vast snowstorms, blanketing everything in silvery white.
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This was the Mortal Realm, and night held sway. A bright moon hung slantwise in the sky—the eye of a true god from beyond the heavens.
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In Xinxiang, the moon lay north.
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In Xijing, it hung northeast, while here on the Northern Frontier Ice Plains, the moon gleamed in the south.
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Though night cloaked the tundra, the ice and snow reflected light enough that it wasn't truly dim.
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Heavenly Listeners flitted across the tundra, and Chen Shi followed them, eyes flickering.
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"Heavenly Listeners record major events across the lands, so an Underworld Marshal like Meng Banshan suffering an assault and assassination would undoubtedly qualify as one! These must be rushing here for that very purpose."
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Clanging and clanking echoes drifted from ahead. Chen Shi glanced toward the sound and saw, amid the midnight snowstorm, a quarry still active. An old man had lit a bonfire and was mining stone in the ice and snow, splitting it with ax and chisel.
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"Working through the night?"
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In his hasty glimpse, Chen Shi noted the stones were for tombstones, with many already erected nearby.
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He pressed on after the Heavenly Listeners, flying for about half an hour when suddenly they halted, scattering across the snow and arranging themselves in a broad arc.
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Chen Shi started. He'd assumed they entered the Mortal Realm from the Underworld because the Underworld's domains spanned thousands or tens of thousands of times the Mortal Realm's breadth, allowing swifter transit.
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Yet these Heavenly Listeners hadn't returned to the Underworld!
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"Young Master Wei Yue's subordinates must be intercepting Underworld Marshal Meng Banshan in the Underworld—why are these Heavenly Listeners eavesdropping here in the Mortal Realm? Have I trailed the wrong ones? Is this not about that incident?"
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Chen Shi was about to have Blackie Pot take him back to the Underworld when his expression shifted slightly.
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He sensed presences in this tundra besides himself, Blackie Pot, and the Heavenly Listeners—others lurked here.
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Chen Shi had cultivated the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art since childhood, tempering his spirit far beyond his peers. Now practicing an immortal-grade technique like the Cloudwave Emperor Scripture, his spirit was incomparably resilient.
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His spirit radiated outward, revealing everything within ten li as if seen with his own eyes.
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He detected forty-two people hidden in the icy wastes... and twelve "voids."
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Yes, voids.
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His spirit swept over those spots, sensing nothing—as if his awareness simply vanished.
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It felt utterly empty, devoid of anything—hence, voids!
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Such an odd sensation arose only against beings vastly stronger than himself!
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"The forty-two I can sense aren't necessarily weaker than me—they might even be far stronger.
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I detect them because they fall within my comprehension.
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Yuan spirits, whether in Refining Void Realm, Body Integration Realm, Three Corpses Severed, Pure Yang achieved, or God Refinement spanning a hundred zhang—all remain understandable.
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Only those transcending God Refinement lie beyond my grasp.
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Such beings are voids."
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Chen Shi mused silently. "This tundra hides twelve voids, meaning at least twelve Void Returning Realm experts."
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These twelve supreme masters, like the other forty-two, made no sound or movement.
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Clearly, they waited.
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They had laid an ambush, awaiting their prey to enter the encirclement.
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And these Heavenly Listeners had come to eavesdrop on the battle.
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The ambush perimeter spanned just ten li—a trivial distance for cultivators, mere inches for God Transformation Realm experts, and nonexistent for Void Returning Realm beings.
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Chen Shi's eyes flickered as he quietly withdrew.
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Within the ten-li perimeter, a white-robed elder sat motionless amid wind and snow, seemingly awaiting something.
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"Sixth Uncle, Heavenly Listeners have arrived!"
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A middle-aged man hurried over, whispering, "There's also a yaksha nearby, accompanied by a black dog."
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The white-robed elder sat unmoving, puzzled.
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"A dog and a yaksha?"
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As a Void Returning Realm existence, his Void Great Realm could sunder yin and yang, rendering Underworld ghosts visible even to him and exposing the ambush. Thus, he refrained from using any cultivation here, unaware of Chen Shi and Blackie Pot's arrival until the middle-aged man's warning.
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The middle-aged man continued, "That black dog is from the Chen family. The yaksha must be Chen Shi. What should we do?"
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"Chen Shi?"
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The white-robed elder frowned, murmuring, "Does this Chen Shi bear a grudge against us? Why does he always show up whenever we're about to act? He can meddle in Xijing all he wants—this place isn't for him to stir trouble!"
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He was about to issue an order when the middle-aged man's expression shifted.
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"That yaksha and dog are retreating."
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The white-robed elder secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Unless forced, he had no desire to provoke Chen Shi.
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Chen Shi wasn't strong; any one of them could slay him effortlessly. The trouble lay in the demons sealed within him—they'd break free upon his death, wreaking havoc that would be hard to contain.
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"As long as he doesn't provoke us, let him be."
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The white-robed elder said.
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Chen Shi withdrew several li before realizing these experts hadn't struck at him directly, finally relaxing.
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"This battle is crucial for them—they can't act rashly. Since I didn't enter their perimeter, they let me leave."
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He thought to himself.
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Even several li away remained unsafe. Chen Shi continued retreating, pulling back twenty or thirty li to escape the encirclement.
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This distance was still perilous, even for returning to the Underworld.
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Void Returning Realm spells could pierce straight to the Underworld.
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He needed to go farther for true safety.
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"This should be far enough. Blackie Pot, let's go!"
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"Hoo—"
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Yin wind blew, and Blackie Pot bore Chen Shi plummeting back into the Underworld.
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As Chen Shi fell from the sky, Blackie Pot's body rapidly expanded, swelling in moments to the size of a mountain range. The sight stirred him; he looked up at the heavens.
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"Those lying in wait in the Mortal Realm have a ten-li perimeter—immense in the Underworld, perhaps spanning a hundred or even a thousand li! Their target isn't mortals, but Underworld ghost gods! They... must be Yan Clan experts, right?"
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Blackie Pot bounded toward the Immortal Capital on hooves of demonic fire.
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Chen Shi's eyes gleamed.
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Did the Yan Clan truly boast so many Void Returning Realm powerhouses?
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Twelve of them—far too many!
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"The one they're ambushing... could it be Underworld Marshal Meng Banshan? No, something's off. If they're from the Yan Clan, how would they know he'd take this route? How would they predict he'd pass here?"
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His mind raced when yin winds howled, scattering paper money everywhere—coins and ingots clipped into shape, forming a road that danced forward in the gales.
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Two fiery oxen with massive heads and compact bodies drew a chariot rumbling from afar, thundering along this paper-money road high in the air.
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Smoke jetted from the oxen’s nostrils, their eyes flashed like lightning, majestic beyond measure. They bellowed now and then, thunderous roars echoing.
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Their speed was astonishing, as if galloping on thunder itself.
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A canopy crowned the chariot, beneath which sat a ghost god—not blue-faced and fanged, but humanoid, wreathed in incense smoke. Flanking the chariot stood four more ghost gods: ox-headed and horse-faced bailiffs.
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Banners hung from the chariot: "Underworld Marshal Meng Banshan!"
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Emblazoned with the character "Meng"!
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Chen Shi opened his mouth to speak but held back.
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Underworld Marshal Meng Banshan sat within, turning to glance at Blackie Pot with surprise before paper money enveloped him, hurtling into the distance.
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But the chariot didn't stop. Abruptly, a massive wheel-blade whirled forth, slicing with a screech to cleave the fiery oxen and chariot asunder in one stroke!
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Meng Banshan and his four bailiffs leaped skyward as the blade struck, evading it.
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The wheel-blade spanned four or five mu, like a gleaming new disk—razor-sharp on the rim, jagged sawteeth within.
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It whirled howling past Chen Shi, clanging as it embedded in a bank of阴云.
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That阴云 raced toward them from behind at phenomenal speed, pallid and bleak, trailed by a long river surging through the air. Small boats plied the river downstream, manned by horse-faced bailiffs radiating murderous intent—the pursuers of Underworld Marshal Meng Banshan!
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One bailiff gripped a bizarre weapon, the wheel-blade impaled on its shaft.
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He swung the weapon, and the river accelerated wildly in the sky, surging ahead of Meng Banshan. Boats skimmed the surface as the lead bailiff seized the wheel-blade and hurled it whistling toward Meng Banshan and his escorts!
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The other six or seven bailiffs ignited Child Spirit Lamps in unison, their lights pinning their foes' spirits immobile, trapping them.
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"You dare kill even me? Lawless fiends!"
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Meng Banshan roared, erupting with peerless might. He raised a hand to block the wheel-blade, shielding his four bailiffs as he burst from the river's encirclement, sneering.
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"Where is Wei Yue? Think slaying me will silence the murmurs of ghosts across the realms?"
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His prowess was staggering; with a flick, he sent the wheel-blade rebounding, jolting the lead bailiff's boat backward into another.
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Then two Underworld Marshals charged laughing from the flank, assailing him together.
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"Meng Banshan, you refuse to yield to the times—hand over your Marshal's seal and let us install an obedient replacement!"
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These two Marshals were immensely powerful, forcing Meng Banshan into steady retreat under their onslaught.
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His four ox-headed and horse-faced bailiffs fell under siege by the others as well.
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Meng Banshan fought desperately when yet another Marshal arrived with reinforcements, laughing.
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"Meng Banshan, your ambitions run wild—rebellion, usurpation, murdering Lord Azure Sky! Today your plot unravels; we execute you to set the record straight!"
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Already faltering, Meng Banshan could only take blows now. The four Marshals clashed in the sky, hurtling toward the distant ambush circle.
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Blackie Pot eyed Chen Shi, who remained unmoved, murmuring.
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"Wait a bit longer. Something feels off here."
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Suddenly, an ox-headed bailiff blocked a lethal strike for Meng Banshan, bones shattering as it plummeted from the sky, crashing not far from Chen Shi.
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"Woof!" Blackie Pot barked at Chen Shi.
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Chen Shi replied, "Wait a bit longer. I still sense something strange about this..."
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Before he finished, the wheel-blade flew in, slicing across the ox-headed bailiff's neck and severing its head.
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"Woof woof!" Blackie Pot barked furiously.
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Chen Shi hesitated, then said, "I keep thinking the Mortal Realm ambush isn't aimed at Meng Banshan. Am I overthinking...?"
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Meng Banshan and his remaining three bailiffs fought retreating, Chen Shi following at a leisurely pace without intervening, merely observing from afar.
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They battled a thousand li, two more bailiffs perishing to shield Meng Banshan. The last horse-faced one was covered in wounds, on the brink of death; Meng Banshan bore dozens of gashes, his lamp all but extinguished.
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Blackie Pot glared at Chen Shi, who muttered, "Could I truly have misjudged him? I can't let him blunder into that encirclement..."
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Blackie Pot perked up, poised to act, when a mighty aura surged from afar. A resonant voice boomed.
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"Brother Meng, fear not! Soulchaser Judge Wang Fu comes to rescue this righteous hero!"
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Chen Shi's spirits lifted, signaling Blackie Pot to hold.
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Three ghost gods charged under a red-robed ghost god's lead!
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Another excited voice rang out from afar.
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"Brother Wang, I thought you long dead—that Yama's old guard dwindled to me alone! To think you're still among us! Splendid, truly splendid!"
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Four more ghost gods escorted a green-robed ghost god flying in, killing intent blazing. The green-robed one declared.
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"Righteous Meng, fear not! Sin Judge Jia Yuan comes to aid!"
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Soulchaser Judge Wang Fu brimmed with shock and joy when another voice laughed.
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"Brothers, who'd have thought after the cataclysm we'd meet again! Righteous Meng, Knife Mountain Judge Zhu Shun comes to aid!"
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The three Judges led their forces charging in, startling the three Marshals into dragging Meng Banshan back.
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The Judges converged, old comrades laughing heartily in exhilaration.
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Soulchaser Judge Wang Fu said, "Lord Azure Sky sensed peril and hinted we flee to bide our time. I lived in hiding, hearing tales of Judges slain, wounded, or vanished—my heart burned with anxiety. I thought myself the last remnant of the Underworld, never dreaming I'd reunite with two brothers!"
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The three Judges pressed the Marshals step by step. Sin Judge Jia Yuan laughed.
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"Were it not for news of Marshal Meng, I'd still cower in hiding, afraid to emerge.
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Marshal Meng's righteousness shines; I cannot stand idle as petty villains slay him!"
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Knife Mountain Judge Zhu Shun laughed.
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"Today, we save Marshal Meng—then we drink till we're senseless!"
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Just then, as they advanced, a voice laughed from ahead.
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"You three are walking right into their ambush circle. Then you won't be drinking till senseless—you'll be dying till dead!"
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Jia Yuan's face changed slightly. He looked over to see a massive yaksha perched on a giant hound's forehead in the distance.
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An unfamiliar face—they didn't recognize him.
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"Little brother, what do you mean by that?"
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Jia Yuan asked patiently.
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The massive yaksha was none other than Chen Shi. He smiled.
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"Why not ask Marshal Meng yourselves?"
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The three Judges turned to Meng Banshan as one. Wang Fu said.
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"Brother Meng, what's troubling you? Speak plainly!"
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Meng Banshan struggled.
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"Brothers, don't save me! Preserve your strength for Lord Azure Sky's return!"
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Soulchaser Judge Wang Fu, hot-tempered, charged forward roaring.
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"Fear not—I won't let them take you!"
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Jia Yuan yanked him back, smiling.
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"Brother Wang, first hear what this yaksha brother has to say."
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Chen Shi smiled.
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"Why hear me? Why not hear your good brother, Marshal Meng?"
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Meng Banshan shouted.
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"Go, quickly!"
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Sin Judge Jia Yuan and Knife Mountain Judge Zhu Shun stood firm.
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Wang Fu yearned to charge and rescue him, but Jia Yuan held him fast.
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Meng Banshan cried.
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"Forget me! For Lord Azure Sky, I'd brave boiling soup and fire... Haha! They aren't fooled anymore!"
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He burst into laughter, and the three Marshals dragging him released him, joining in the hilarity.
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"This bitter ploy has indeed lured out three Yama remnants! Without eradicating you, how could Lord Wei ascend safely as the new Yama King?"
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Meng Banshan straightened, eyes falling on Chen Shi atop Blackie Pot's head.
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"So you're Chen Shi? Think the ambush circle can't move to find them if they don't enter?"
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Chen Shi's face fell. He blurted.
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"Blackie Pot, run—now!"
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At that moment, twelve Void Great Realms tore through the skies, severing yin and yang to enclose them all!