Chapter 328 - Snake Metamorphosis

“The General of Soul?”

Even someone like Xiao Chen who was knowledgeable had never heard of the General of Soul. But as the Chinese idiom said, “It is a blessing that it is not a curse, if it is a curse you can’t run.” Guifeng was so powerful that it was comparable to a master in Nirvana Realm. To him, it was a blessing and not a curse.

Bai Yushu nodded and smiled. “The General of Soul could be the soul of the deceased, the demon spirits of the elves, the soul of the ancient beast and even the ancient gods. If the General of Soul is strong enough, it can even be merged with its master. Brother Xiao, this General of Soul should be in the first category, presumably, this General Guifeng was a Huben general when he was alive.”

The rest did not know much about the General of Soul. But they were all relieved that they made it out alive. Only Ling Fei was seen gloomy, gnashing in hatred. His cultivation was damaged and even his family Immortal’s Sword heirloom was destroyed. The Xiao family conquered Guifeng, and he shifted all these resentments onto Xiao Chen.

Su Zimu said, “Well, the ghost general said that the Devil Qi begun more than 100 years ago. This news is useful to the Immortals’ League. The sun is about to rise. We should think of how to get out first.”

Zhiluan flew up and said, “Kiddo, summon your General of Soul to lead the way! This is his territory, no demon and ghosts will dare to approach us if he leads the way.” It seemed like now he could speak with more confidence.

Xiao Chen looked into the darkness ahead and said, “No hurry, let’s walk first and see how it goes.”

They walked for about two and a half hours before a faint glimpse of light was seen. Qingyu said joyfully, “An exit!”

Xiao Chen stretched out his hand and said, “Wait! Why do I feel like I’m stepping on nothing…”

Just as he finished speaking, the whole space suddenly shook violently, and then the ground began to collapse. Everyone was terrified. They quickly rushed towards the bright light on their magic treasure flying sword. However, they did not make it in time, and the whole space collapsed.

Before Xiao Chen could react, his body was in the air. He was falling rapidly. Zhiluan held onto his shoulder with all its strength and shouted incoherently, “I’m going to die! I’m going to die! I’m so going to die from falling! Okay, I’m going to fly! Fly! I can’t fly!”

Xiao Chen felt like he had fallen into a bottomless pit. No matter how much they were falling, they were not falling onto the ground. He tried calling the rest but no one answered. Finally, ‘splash’, a human and a cat fell into what was like a pond after god-knows-how-long.

It took a while before Xiao Chen emerged out from the water. He shouted, “Brother Yifeng! Qingluan! Ziyun’er!” However, there was not a single echo, and he was surrounded by dead silence.

The place was arctic cold. Xiao Chen immediately climbed onto the shore and cast a light spell. Zhiluan clutched his shoulders tightly, its fur stuck to its body, making him look thin.

“Meow! I Holy meow! We’re doomed! We were falling for so long, so we must have fallen into Hell!” Zhiluan said as it quivered. Then he jumped and yelled and pointed at Xiao Chen angrily, “I told you that we can’t come here! See what you got us into! Fine, that silly girl didn’t listen to me. But even you didn’t! Listen to me!”

Xiao Chen could not be bothered with him. He focused himself and looked around alarmedly. Indeed, this place gave him a strange vibe. Zhiluan was still nagging, “It’s over! There are ten temples in Hell, there are Black and White Generals, and there are Yin and Yang Judge. Also, not to mention the scariest Nether Emperor. We’re doomed; we’re so going to die…”

Xiao Chen gave him a stare and said, “Can you be braver? You have at least the level of Core Forming Realm. Can you not be as timid as a mouse every time? Let’s go and see if we can find an exit. I don’t know if the rest has landed yet.” Then he started to lead the way.

Zhiluan followed closely behind, and could not stop trembling. It held its paws together and blabbered, “Jade Emperor, Queen Mother of the West… Hundreds of ghosts leave us alone, and evil spirits don’t attack us… Jade Emperor, Queen Mother of the West…”

Along the way, Xiao Chen was getting irritated by it. Then he finally could not help but stop walking. Zhiluan jumped with fright and asked, “Wh-why did you stop! Kiddo, did you see something!”

Xiao Chen lowered his head and felt powerless. He pleaded, “Immortal Zhi, could you please? Could you please stop nagging? The way you’re doing it, even if there aren’t any ghosts, there will be. Didn’t an old man give you purplish gold bell the other time in the Abyss of Spirits? Well, shake it twice or something to ward off the evil spirits.”

“Oh yea, I totally forgot about this.”

Then Zhiluan remembered that the old man in the Silent Hall said something about compensating it. He gave him his glass purplish golden bell. This bell had been hanging around his neck. Just that it had a spell cast on it so that it would not ring as it walked. The ringing had made him embarrassed.

At this time, it lifted the spell off the bell and shook it twice with its paw. The bell rang, and it seemed that the evil spirits did not dare to come near them anymore.

“Holy meow! It’s not that scary anymore after shaking it!”

And so, an hour later.

Xiao Chen walked on the path. One moment, the bell rang on the left side of him and then the next moment on the right side of him. Finally, he got a little mad and yelled, “Immortal Zhi! Can you please not shake that bloody bell of yours right next to my ear!”

“Oh, oh.” Lying on his shoulder, Zhiluan finally kept its bell.

“Wait, there seems to be a sound of water in front.” Without the bell, Xiao Chen felt that his sense of hearing was a lot sharper. There was a faint sound of water coming from not far in front.

“Holy meow! I can hear it too! Could it be that river of Hell in legends, the Forgotten River!” There is a bridge on the river. There is an old woman who sells soup at the bridge. If you tell her to not put chopped spring onions in the soup…”

“Soup your head!” Xiao Chen knocked on its forehead and said, “Go, let’s go and take a look.”

After 30 minutes later, a man and a cat came to a river. The river was murky and rushing. It was about 30 meters wide. On the shores, there were many of the Hell Flowers they had seen before. Zhiluan yelled, “Holy meow! It is the Forgotten River! We’re dead, we have really fallen into Hell!”

Xiao Chen’s eyebrows tangled in a frown. He had heard from Fengxi before that the connector of the gaps of the Six Realms, the connector of the Ghost Realm, was called Nieqing Hai. He could not possibly be under this valley. Furthermore, although the Negative Qi was dense here, there was still some human world aura. It should not be the Ghost Realm here. Besides, a faint Devil Qi that could be felt from the bottom of this river. Could it be…

“Doom, doom, we’re doom! If we bump into an old woman who sells soup, don’t drink her soup. If you drink it, you will forget everything, and you will inexplicably go to reincarnation…”

“Reincarnation your head! Stupid cat, you only know how to sprout nonsense!”

Xiao Chen gave him a stare again and walked towards the river. The splashes of water quickly soaked his robe hem.

“I think I probably know the reason for the Devil Qi in this place. The people of the Devil Clan. Not bad. They hid it from the heaven and the seas. Ha. I have to go down and confirm my guess.”

Zhiluan jumped with fright and yelled, “Kid… kiddo, are you crazy! This Dragon Boat Festival has not arrived yet, what for you want to jump into the river!”

Xiao Chen turned and glared at him and said, “Stay put on the shore! I…” Before he could finish his words, Zhiluan jumped up and down. It pointed at the river and shouted, “Ri-rising! The water is rising! Kiddo, come back! It must be the Black and White Generals coming to catch us!”

Xiao Chen felt a chill beneath his feet, he looked down and found that the water rose up a lot higher to the height of his legs. Then the river surged as if it was raging. The water rose three feet above the ground. Xiao Chen stepped back hastily and caught a glimpse of a large creature in the water swimming towards them with speed.

The creature was getting closer and closer, the river flow was getting more and more rapid. It had already stirred up a thousand feet of waves. Zhiluan exclaimed, “Holy meow! It is not the Black and White Generals! It is a snake metamorphosis!”

The monster in the upstream had shown itself. It was a black snake that measured a length of several hundred feet. Its whole body was wrapped with shiny scales. It had wings on its back and its head was like a flood dragon. Its two eyes shone like a lantern.

“Rarrr!” The Snake Metamorphosis growled loudly. A more than 30-meter-long water pillar rose up from the ground and headed towards them at lightning speed. Xiao Chen could not avoid it in time. He quickly cast a Barrier shield to block the attack.

“Bang!” Unexpectedly, the Barrier was shattered into pieces. Xiao Chen’s breathing was disrupted by the aftershock and flew straight out.

“Go!” Xiao Chen did not stop to think. This Snake Metamorphosis was a ferocious beast that was proliferated in ancient times. It was not something he could fight against at the moment. He grabbed Zhiluan and spread out the Phoenix’s Wings and fled to a distance afar.

However, the Snake Metamorphosis pursued. One after another water pillar came at them. Zhiluan was terrified and screamed, “Left, left! Right, right! Almost hitting us! Go down a little!” Xiao Chen was struggling, for this speed of the Snake Metamorphosis was on par with him.

Suddenly, the Snake Metamorphosis made a dash. In an instant, it was only 30 meters behind him. It swept its tail and the dirt flew. Even he was still a few meters away from the ground, Xiao Chen felt how scary the force was. If they were hit, they would be half-dead.

“Kiddo! Didn’t you just receive a General of Soul! Call it out!”

Xiao Chen did not think more and shouted, “Guifeng!”

The moment his voice fell, the Snake Metamorphosis swept its tail again, and there was a loud bang. The whole space violently shook and the ground instantly split. Countless gaps were formed and the river-water splashed into midair. However, under the impact of this world-destroying power, Xiao Chen was unscathed. A tall figure appeared in front of him, blocking off all the attacks for him.

“Here!”