The World Gates!

Yueshen had mentioned the name more than once, a testament to how important it was to her.

Hell possesses the Gates of the Abyss, so it’s not surprising for the world of immortals to have something called the World Gates, Lu Yun thought to himself.

The past was a tangled mess that only grew knottier the more one tried to unravel it. He’d thought that all the enmities and grievances of that long-gone era would have returned to dust after the end of those times, but it seemed that things were far from simple.

In the Primordial Era, there’d existed an Abyss of Divine Burial to seal away the divines. It was now split into four parts scattered across different regions of the world, while a new Abyss of Divine Burial had emerged in the underworld.

Despite generally accepted history, the divines had actually protected the world of immortals eighty thousand years ago. Certain people had continuously plotted their downfall—the likely culprits now seemed to be the shamanic divines.

……

“What about Mount Exalted? You divines didn’t protect it only because it was the divine emperor’s Last Repose, did you?” Qing Yu asked while Lu Yun was lost in thought.

Yueshen stayed silent and glanced again at Lin Yu, Lin Xuan, and the little fox. She was aware that Lu Yun was the master of hell and had long pledged herself to his cause, so much so that she refused to be brought back to life and would rather remain an immortal ghost.

Subconsciously, the only ones she trusted were Lu Yun and Qing Yu.

“Speak your mind, everyone here is one of our own.” Qing Yu smiled gently.

Lin Yu and Lin Xuan beamed with joy. This was a clear sign that Lu Yun and Qing Yu had well and truly accepted them. Inside the Scroll of Shepherding Immortals, Empress Myrtlestar and the Dragon and Tiger Princes were all ears, also eager to learn the secrets of Mount Exalted.

“It’s the Exalted Divine Emperor’s true spirit.” Yueshen heaved a sigh. “Since the beginning of the divine court, the divine race constantly strove to revive our emperor of the Exalted Divine tribe. Year after year, generation after generation... we finally succeeded in the end.”

“What?!” Lu Yun jumped in alarm. “The Exalted Divine Emperor’s true spirit… has been resurrected?” His eyes grew round as he naturally understood the implications therein. “Let’s get this straight—do you mean that the demon fetus inside the Exalted Divine Tombs is the emperor’s true spirit?!”

Yueshen stayed silent, but that was a form of acknowledgement in itself.

Deep powerlessness flooded Lu Yun’s heart and mind. That the emperor’s true spirit had come back to life as a demon fetus… that spelled terrifying doom for them all! Even in its current state, the demon fetus wasn’t something that contemporary immortals could contend with. Qi Hai... had probably identified it a long time ago, but he’d kept the truth to himself.

If he’d been upfront with the Exalted celestial emperor, the latter likely would’ve abandoned Exalted Major and taken all his citizens to Witherdew Major. He would gain a short reprieve in doing so, or perhaps even a chance of survival, slim as it were. To stay in Exalted Major was equivalent to forsaking one’s life.

“It would be a world-ending disaster for our realm. Whatever the case may be… we have to stop it from happening!” Qing Yu’s eyes gleamed with resolve.

“Yes.” Lu Yun nodded as well. The birth of the fetus would lead to the destruction of the entire world and its transformation into a demonic land.

Currently, the world of immortals was the lone sanctuary left in the multiverse. Even if one wanted to flee from the demon fetus, there was nowhere one could go.

Earth?

Humanity’s ancestor planet? Lu Yun had a feeling that Earth existed somewhere in the realm of immortals. When he’d first arrived here, he’d noticed that the positions of the celestial bodies in the sky were identical to those observed on Earth. Therefore, there was no guarantee that Earth would escape the advent of such a monster.

“The demon fetus hasn’t been born yet, so our chances aren’t totally nil. Empress Vastspace’s true spirit was wiped out before she came back to life, wasn’t it?” He glanced sideways at the little fox. The bell hanging on her neck glinted with a golden luster that was barely perceptible.

All of a sudden, Lu Yun thought of Ge Long.

There was a certain treasure hidden inside the divine mausoleum. This treasure… might very well provide a way to keep the emperor’s true spirit in check. After all, it was a true spirit and nothing more. Until the fetus arrived in this world, it wouldn’t wield the strength that the emperor had once possessed in life.

……

Numerous serpentine creatures twisted within the bloody swamp’s boundless expanse, somehow presenting an eerie and uncanny sight.

Lu Yun’s group hastily rushed forward on the Path of Ingress. Space was extremely strange in this area. Here, the Path of Ingress could only sustain flight at best, not pierce through the space’s confines.

Boom!

A deafening roar came from the swamp below as a great hand stretched out of the morass to grab at the Path of Ingress. The hand of bloody mud was more than sixty meters wide, and the fresh blood dripping from it created a harrowing sight.

“Oh no you don’t!” Without undue panic, Lu Yun brandished Violetgrave and unleashed a dazzling ray of violet sword light that cleaved the hand in two.

Screech!!

A great number of scarlet serpentine creatures hissed when the great hand was cut apart, then scuttled away in every direction. Impressively, the hand had been formed by a pile of the creatures.

Glug, glug, glug!

Their retreat was followed by a strange sound from the gory bog. Pockets of scarlet gas wafted out of the swamp’s air bubbles to fill the surrounding air.

Hum!

Under Lu Yun’s feet, the Path of Ingress shook as it glowed with a vast expanse of white light and repelled the scarlet gas. It was a lethal poison, something even more toxic than corpse poison.

“Be careful, there must be foreign presences inside the mausoleum,” Yueshen suddenly said. “The divine emperor’s true spirit was born from a divine fetus. His transformation into a demon fetus must be the doing of certain people.”

She couldn’t help but worry, as anyone who could transform a divine fetus into a demon one would hardly be weak. If they’d stayed behind, not even Lu Yun would be their match. Her master nodded gently, but there was also a glimmer of hope deep in his heart. Princess Zhao Qing was also here!

If the divine emperor’s true spirit had indeed been demonized, she wouldn’t sit back and do nothing. Moreover, she was someone who owned a corner of hell. By coming here, Lu Yun wasn’t only after the treasure Ge Long had mentioned, but Zhao Qing as well.

He had no idea what would happen once he assembled all ten Envoys of Samsara, but according to Ge Long, he could solve the issue of the akasha ghosts invading hell when all ten seats were accounted for. Needless to say, the envoys had to be far more than simple subordinates to the master of the netherworld. So, for his final envoy, Lu Yun had settled on Zhao Qing!

……

Like a giant curtain suddenly whisked open, the world of blood and gore abruptly vanished from their line of sight, only to be replaced by darkness without end.

“Did any of you notice something just now?” Lin Yu’s voice betrayed his trepidation. “I think I saw an eye… I think we just flew out of an eye!”

He looked back behind him, but there was only darkness as far as he could see.