The Ghost King pondered, but truly could not come up with any other clues, leaving him somewhat helpless. “Immortal Lord, why not put this matter aside for the time being?”
Three hundred souls were no trivial matter, especially since these were not ordinary commoners whose spirits could be lost without consequence.
These were souls that had previously accumulated merit and needed to be accounted for in the netherworld ledger.
Yet since they genuinely could not be found, he could not simply hang himself over this single incident.
Oh right, he was already a ghost, so even hanging himself was impossible.
The Ghost King felt his head throbbing with excruciating pain.
Of all people for this to be discovered by, why did it have to be Chi Changye!
This Immortal Lord was not someone easily fooled.
He didn’t even have time to fabricate false evidence now.
Chi Changye glanced at the Ghost King, his expression impossible to read beneath the mask. “When all is said and done, departed souls are managed by you in Fengdu. If the Lord Envoy isn’t worried, I have nothing to worry about either.”
Though he was already a ghost, the Ghost King still felt cold sweat slicking his brow. “That is not what I meant. It’s just, with no leads for the moment, please allow this lesser king time to investigate further.”
“I mean nothing by it either.”
Chi Changye’s tone was detached. “Trouble the Lord Envoy. Since there is no leakage of demonic breath, I won’t waste any more of my energy on this. Farewell.”
As Chi Changye turned to leave, a glance at the boiling, foul-smelling bubbling liquid in the blood pool made him halt his steps once more. “Pardon me, Lord Envoy, but grant me a flask of blood pool water.”
The Ghost King stared in wide-eyed shock, the fog swirling around his form momentarily scattering. “Immortal Lord, this.”
“What? Can it not be given?” Chi Changye frowned.
He didn’t recall any rule in the netherworld prohibiting blood pool water from leaving its borders.
Starlight flickered within Chi Changye’s palm, looking ready to seize it by force the moment the Ghost King uttered a single negative syllable.
The Ghost King wiped away invisible cold sweat from his forehead and forced a sheepish, awkward dry laugh. “It can be given, it can be given, only… this substance is foul, tainted with corruption, and mixed with the molten lava of Jiuyou. It is truly, truly difficult to gather. Might I ask what the Immortal Lord requires it for?”
Chi Changye cast a look at the Ghost King.
The Ghost King offered an embarrassed smile, his laughter hoarse and grating. “If it’s inconvenient to say, then never mind.”
Chi Changye lowered his eyes, and a pristine white jade purifying bottle appeared in his hand.
With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the bottle above the open expanse of the molten lava blood pool.
A cascading waterfall of golden light poured from the bottle.
The moment the golden light touched the blood pool, the crimson liquid instantly surged upward along the beam of light, rapidly filling the bottle to the brim.
The purifying bottle flew back and landed neatly in Chi Changye’s grasp.
The azure-clad immortal offered a brief cupped-fist salute to the Ghost King, murmuring, “Thank you for the gift,” before turning on his heel to depart.
The Ghost King let out a long breath of relief, dissolving into black mist and vanishing from the edge of the blood pool.
He needed to hurry back and confer with the judge on how to balance this ledger.
For the vast majority of immortals, Jiuyou was an unbearable place to endure.
Within Jiuyou, most immortal arts became unusable; one could neither ride flying swords nor employ the Five Elements concealment or spatial-shrinking techniques.
It was even impossible to summon spiritual power for self-defense.
The rift at the absolute extreme of the Abyss of Demons was also located here, extending straight upward to connect directly with Mount Yuxu, where the Xiaoyao Sect resided.
Behind Peak Chiyue lay the Abyss of Sealing Demons of which Yue Qianfan often spoke.
In the past, Chi Changye would descend to Jiuyou every hundred years to reinforce the seal on the Abyss of Demons.
Barely a dozen years had passed since the last reinforcement, so theoretically, there was no cause for concern.
Yet the Ghost King had just confirmed that they had verified it moments ago.
Still, Chi Changye simply could not set his mind at ease.
The azure-clad immortal walked at a leisurely pace across the desolate earth of Jiuyou.
The soil here radiated an ominous, bloody stench, stained in a bizarre, bruised crimson that caused sticky, foul-smelling dark brown liquid to seep upward whenever one stepped upon it.
Even the Manjusri flowers blooming along the banks of the River Styx refused to blossom in this place.
Ignoring the suffocating aura of death and stench entirely, Chi Changye arrived before the seal marking the extreme depths of the Abyss of Demons.
The seal of the Abyss of Demons did not resemble the traditional barrier woven from immortal spiritual energy.
Instead, it looked far more like a spring of water.
Only, this spring flickered with blue and purple lightning, while the flowing, brilliant immortal power condensed into a nearly transparent, iridescent golden lotus.
The moment Chi Changye drew close, the golden lotus affectionately leaned toward him, unfurling its petals.
Chi Changye poured a fresh surge of immortal power into the spiritual spring until he choked up a mouthful of blood, at which point he finally came to a halt.
Casually wiping away the streak of blood staining the corner of his lips, he cast a web of talismans into the seal and stood rooted to the spot for a long while before turning to walk away.
It wasn’t that he didn’t wish to walk faster; he simply lacked any surplus strength remaining.
Every time Chi Changye reinforced the seal at the extreme of the Abyss of Demons, it exhausted his entire reserve of spiritual energy.
Even so, he could never find true peace of mind.
Upon stepping out of Jiuyou, Chi Changye swallowed another medicinal pill.
A moment later, his nearly withered dantian and spiritual meridians began to channel a fresh flow of spiritual power.
He casually cast down a teleportation array and stepped inside.
The array erupted in a blinding flash of golden light, and the azure-clad immortal vanished from the spot.
Refusing to surrender to failure, Chi Changye made one more trip back to Shangjing.
Once again, he returned with absolutely nothing.
After a brief thought, Chi Changye conjured a dragonfly that burned with a brilliant golden light.
The golden dragonfly circled him twice before beating its wings and flying directly into the towering imperial city, disappearing from sight.
The azure-clad immortal’s figure vanished from the spot once more.
Up on Mount Yuxu, Geng Xinghe reported to the main peak every day at the third quarter of the hour to practice forms alongside the senior brothers, returning to Peak Chiyue at the middle of the hour.
For a full month, Peak Chiyue remained completely empty, inhabited by him alone.
Geng Xinghe spent entire nights keeping vigil outside the doors of the Lotus Breeze Pavilion, watching the skies transition from a star-studded expanse to the pale glow of dawn, only to wait all over again from sunrise until the stars and moon shone bright once more.
Yet his master still had not returned.
Panic gnawed at the youth’s heart.
Why has Master been away for so long?
Could Master be in danger while traveling alone in the mortal realm?
Noticing Geng Xinghe’s emotions growing visibly gloomier day by day, Yue Qianfan found it rather peculiar.
Taking advantage of a training break, Yue Qianfan pulled Geng Xinghe aside and asked with genuine concern, “Xinghe, is something on your mind? Your spirits haven’t looked well lately.”
Geng Xinghe managed a forced smile. “Thank you for your concern, Master Uncle. This disciple is fine, only, my master has been gone for over a month, and I find myself somewhat worried.”
“Worried?” Yue Qianfan furrowed his brow in incomprehension.
“You’re worried about Chi Changye? What on earth is there to worry about him?”
Geng Xinghe pressed his lips together, sighing after a moment. “Still… my master is all alone. What if he encounters some formidable peril.”
Yue Qianfan didn’t catch the tail end of Geng Xinghe’s sentence, nor did he care to listen.
Yue Qianfan was already burning with envy.
Seriously, on what grounds? Chi Changye that severe sufferer of living-creature phobia managed to land a disciple this exceptional?
Look at his own disciples, not a single one gave a damn whether he lived or died when he went out traveling.
Yue Qianfan offered a cold, mocking snort. “You needn’t worry yourself over him. In the three realms today, no matter what peril your master runs into, that man Chi Changye is always the most terrifying hazard of all!”
Geng Xinghe stared at Yue Qianfan in blank bewilderment, completely uncomprehending.
Suppressing the jealousy burning in his chest, Yue Qianfan explained to Geng Xinghe, “Do you think your master’s feat of splitting peace with three sword strokes three hundred years ago was merely a myth?”
“When all the demons emerged in a swarm back then, none of them could withstand a single stroke of your master’s blade. In today’s three realms, who else is even worthy of making Kunwu leave its scabbard?”