817 The Second Corpse River

The minute Ghost King Bloodmoon entered Scroll World, she noticed that something went wrong. She had left netherworld and was now in a totally unfamiliar place.

"Not good."

Ghost King Bloodmoon made a quick retreat, wishing to get out of this unfamiliar world.

But the spatial door had already closed.

Ghost King Bloodmoon paused in midair and observed the surroundings with eyes that showed alarm. She detected no danger, then went on chasing Zhang Ruochen.

With her Ghost King Level's cultivation, even if the young man from Fish-Dragon Realm really conspired against her, she would not be hurt by him.

Surprisingly, having entered this unfamiliar world, Zhang Ruochen stopped running. He turned back, and stared at Ghost King Bloodmoon.

"Why? Don't you wanna run?"

Ghost King Bloodmoon landed from mid-air, standing opposite Zhang Ruochen. She released her Ghostly Qi, and its strong corrosion withered all surrounding grass and trees with noticeable speed.

Even the earth turned black and was covered with a layer of icy frost.

A mere stare from Ghost King Bloodmoon raised two strands of ice spikes. They kept bursting out from the icy frost and sprawling to Zhang Ruochen and Han Xue.

Only about thirty meters away from Zhang Ruochen and Han Xue, the ice spikes were stopped by a strand of invisible power, and they collapsed and broke into ice particles.

Zhang Ruochen shook his head. "We don't have to run."

"What do you mean?" asked Ghost King Bloodmoon.

Ghost King Bloodmoon was very confident about her strength. Even if Zhang Ruochen had plotted against her, she had absolute confidence that she could crack down on him.

But when she saw the ice particles falling to Zhang Ruochen's feet, she was a little alarmed.

Zhang Ruochen put on a gentle smile, and said, "Don't you want to know where you are?"

"No need to know."

The eyes of Ghost King Bloodmoon stared at Han Xue. With little patience she said, "Give me the Void Sword, I will let you go."

"You should dare to boast without shame inside Universe Spiritual Map! What a laugh! Haha!"

Blackie shook his body with laughter, and rolled on the ground, holding his stomach.

Ghost King Bloodmoon had regarded Zhang Ruochen's cat as an eyesore for a long time. Naturally she was inflamed by his words. She stretched out a slender finger and pointed to the void.

Ghostly Qi came out of her fingertip, condensing into a chain as wide as an arm.

The chain flew to the cat with loud noises, as fierce as a dragon and as swift as a snake.

Blackie hummed with indifference, held out his sharp claw, and hit his front.

A ball of flame rose above his claw. Then the flame grew into a burning cloud, heating and breaking the chain into parts and ghost fog.

Even Ghost King Bloodmoon was pushed by a strong strand of strength and flew backwards, overwhelmed by Blackie.

"How's that possible?"

Ghost King Bloodmoon looked at her right arm, and saw densely splitting lines appearing on her palm, wrist and arm. With just a little push, her ghost form would break into pieces.

In netherworld, the cat's strength was about the same as that of a Third Level Half-Saint. How could he become so powerful here?

Did he conceal his actual strength before?

Ghost King Bloodmoon gave a thought to this and immediately denied it. If the cat was unconquerable, why did he surrender to a Fish-Dragon Realm human?

Zhang Ruochen stepped forward, and said in a mild tone, "Ghost King Bloodmoon, your strong cultivation has no advantage inside Universe Spiritual Map. Were it not for your remaining value, that last hit from Blackie could have brought your existence to an end."

"Really?" Ghost King Bloodmoon said coldly.

Apparently, she was not convinced.

"You don't believe it? Fine, I have a special treatment for doubts."

Blackie smiled gloomily, rubbed his claw, and gathered all the Spiritual Qi inside Universe Spiritual Map to his body.

In an instant, a strong air of power burst out. Behind it was the shadow of beast, which was as giant as a mountain.

Just the air had intimidated Ghost King Bloodmoon to retreat continuously.

She was well aware that the enemy was extracting Ghostly Qi from her. She wanted to fight back, but had no strength at all.

"Damn it. How's that possible?"

Ghost King Bloodmoon's ghost form became more and more fragile. Her strength had dropped to the lowest, even lower than a First Level Half-Saint.

Blackie stopped at last, and handed a ghost marble over to Zhang Ruochen. "This is the marble condensed by her Ghostly Qi, which I've extracted from her."

The ghost marble was about the size of a pigeon egg, but very weighty, giving out icy coldness and bone-biting power.

Zhang Ruochen took the ghost marble, stared at Ghost King Bloodmoon, and said, "Now can we sit down and have a nice talk?"

Ghost King Bloodmoon appeared to be super frustrated. With low spirit she slowly dispersed the remaining Ghostly Qi from her hand, then raised her head and laughed at herself. "You win, I lose. What's left for a nice talk?"

Zhang Ruochen played with the ghost marble as he held it in his hand, and said, "I've said this before. If you are honest with me, I will spare your life."

"For real?" asked Ghost King Bloodmoon.

Meanwhile, Han Xue took out a white gown, and walked to Ghost King Bloodmoon. She gave the gown to her, and said, "Ghost, here you are."

Ghost King Bloodmoon looked at Han Xue. Her eyes shrank a little.

After hesitating for a while, she finally took the gown and put it on. Her flawless body was all covered by the gown, except for the bottom half of her legs and a pair of little feet.

"Han Xue, come back here."

Zhang Ruochen asked Han Xue to come right back, in case Ghost King Bloodmoon would struggle to fight in desperation.

And then he said, "It will do me no good to kill you. The information I want from you is of great importance, and you have no reason to doubt me. But, if you really want to die, I will not stop it."

The Ghost King Bloodmoon delicate hands pinched at her clothes. She stood up straight, and glanced at Zhang Ruochen. "Ask! If I really know, I will tell you."　　

Zhang Ruochen revealed a happy color. So long as she was willing to speak, it would be nice. He said, "Tell me: do you know where Thousand-bone Empress is?"

Ghost King Bloodmoon pondered for a moment, and slowly said, "In fact, there aren't many things I know about Thousand-bone Empress."

Blackie wanted to know the news of Thousand-bone Empress, so he immediately urged her on. "Come on, say it."

Ghost King Bloodmoon stared at Blackie, revealing an unpleasant look. She said, "There is indeed a legend of Thousand-bone Empress in netherworld. Even the ghost kings respect her. It is said that in ancient times, Thousand-bone Empress once killed a god, and the god's dead body fell into Ghost God Valley. Only after she killed the god did she leave Netherworld Periphery, crossing the Second Corpse River and disappearing into the Netherworld Depths."

Zhang Ruochen's eyes shrank, and he said, "What does Second Corpse River mean?"

"If you go all the way to the Netherworld Depths, and keep walking until the end of the universe, you will get to Second Corpse River. We are now in the area between First Corpse River and Second Corpse River, which is also known as Netherworld Periphery."

Zhang Ruochen asked, "How many corpse rivers are there in netherworld?"

Ghost King Bloodmoon shook her head, and said, "I don't know. I've crossed Second Corpse River before, but retreated immediately. It's too dangerous over there. Many old ghost kings are nestled there, along with some very terrible unknown living creatures. If I move on, I will probably die there."

The cultivation of Ghost King Bloodmoon was already quite powerful, comparable to a Saint.

But the Netherworld Depths had still made her this scared. It was all too hard to image. What kind of place could it be?

Zhang Ruochen changed his look. "Unknown living creatures? You mean, across Second Corpse River, there are living creatures?"

There was an essential difference between dead souls and living creatures.

For example, all humans and wild beasts are living creatures.

Although, there are also some living creatures in Netherworld Periphery, most of them are intruders from Kunlun's field, neither born nor raised there.

Ghost King Bloodmoon was caught in memories. After a long pause, she said, "They are indeed living creatures, and quite powerful. However, those creatures are very different from those of your world, which is what you call the Kunlun's Field. Or rather, they are very weird kinds of creatures, like the mixtures of the dead and the living.

"Those living creatures that live in the netherworld can't simply be common creatures." Zhang Ruochen frowned, feeling a strong sense of crisis.

He could tell that Ghost King Bloodmoon was not lying, which showed that the Netherworld Depths was a really special and mysterious place.

"Why was the gate to the upper world opened?" Zhang Ruochen asked. "What happened?"

Ghost King Bloodmoon shook her head. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Zhang Ruochen found it hard to believe her words.

Ghost King Bloodmoon stared at Zhang Ruochen, and said, "Maybe it is about the Void Sword! There is a legend spreading on Netherworld Periphery. After Thousand-bone Empress killed the god, she used the Void Sword and the god's dead body to block the passageway between the netherworld and the upper world. For that reason, no one ever stepped out of netherworld during the past several thousand years."

"About a year ago, someone--no one knew his identity--said that the Void Sword had been taken out of the netherworld, and that the passageway between the netherworld and the upper world would soon be opened."

"The news was so ridiculous that I didn't take it seriously. Until recently, Ghost King Shenchu issued a decree that ghost kings of the netherworld would lead shadow soldiers and ghost generals to wage war on the upper world. Only then did I realize that the passageway between the netherworld and the upper world was really opened."

After he heard this, Zhang Ruochen fell into silence and began to think.