Transcending two realms to become an earth immortal

Chapter 78 Bloodline Awakening

The faint light from the Kunlun Mirror faded, and Fang Chen suddenly opened his eyes.

However, he discovered that he did not wake up in the secret room of the Fang family manor, but instead found himself in an indescribable... bizarre place.

The surrounding area was desolate and lifeless, with a thick gray fog hanging like a curtain over the sky, swallowing up the sun, moon and stars. Only the silent and colorless eternal darkness permeated the entire wilderness.

"Where...where exactly is this place?"

Fang Chen muttered to himself, swallowed up by the thick gray fog around him. He could not see the sun or the moon, only a deathly silence and chilling coldness that seeped into his bones.

Fang Chen was not surprised; on the contrary, a strange feeling quietly crept into his heart.

Unfamiliar, yet... inexplicably familiar.

It was as if this place was not some dangerous and treacherous land, but a homeland that had been away for thousands of years...

Suppressing the strange feeling in his heart, he took a step forward. The gray mist flowed and thinned slowly as he moved forward, revealing the scene behind him—

A desolate, lifeless land.

The ground was a sickly dark brown, cracked with countless deep fissures, like a riverbed dried up for millions of years. And on this desolate, lifeless expanse, countless tiny creatures walked—

"Man"

Some were like wisps of smoke, draped in pale white burial clothes, drifting about; others had missing limbs, black blood seeping from their seven orifices, their intestines dragging along; still others were swollen and festering, their corpses overflowing with fluid; but the most numerous were those emaciated, withered like skin and bones, their eye sockets empty, their lips opening and closing, yet utterly silent…

Densely packed, endless.

Even in the vast, desolate landscape, such figures could be seen.

There was no conversation...

No words were spoken...

Only forward...

Never-ending... forward

The surrounding area was deathly silent, as if the world had fallen into a silent abyss, and even thoughts and ideas were swallowed up by this thick silence.

Fang Chen suddenly realized something, but the thought was quickly forgotten; in this place, even his inner voice seemed noisy.

After some time, a faint sobbing sound suddenly began to rise in my ears.

At first, it was like a deep mountain ravine, but gradually it turned mournful and shrill, like the wailing of thousands of ghosts at night, which was terrifying to hear.

In an instant, the surrounding scenery changed drastically—

A dark, yellow river stretched out before us.

The water was still and calm, yet it shimmered with a deathly gray light, like a corpse's pus and blood congealed together.

Its stillness was terrifying, utterly silent, and chilling to the very bone. There was no light in the water, yet it reflected countless distorted images, and countless pale arms reached out from the murky current, dragging the falling souls downwards.

With each inch they sank, their souls grew weaker. Their eyes were hollow, their mouths gaping as if in silent wailing, as they mingled with the corpses in the river in endless descent, gradually dissolving into the turbid current and disappearing into eternal silence.

Drifting downstream, into a darker, more secluded place, one comes across a majestic gate.

Its height was unknown, perhaps thousands of feet, seemingly forged from the corpses of countless living beings. Faintly, the wails of ten thousand ghosts could be heard emanating from within the gate, mournful and piercing to the soul. Fang Chen followed the crowd inside in a daze, and suddenly a high platform appeared before him.

The platform soared into the dark sky, with countless figures standing on it. Those at the highest point gradually lost their numbness, revealing the myriad aspects of human nature: some wept bitterly, some looked around blankly, some beat their chests in regret, and some smiled with relief... But in just a moment, they were pushed off the platform by an invisible force and continued on their way.

After traveling several more miles, they came to another river.

The river water was a dull, viscous yellow, as if it had been settled by millions of years of dust.

A stone bridge spans the river, its surface slippery as if soaked in blood and tears, the stench of decay permeating the air.

A hunched old woman stood at the bridgehead, her figure indistinct, offering a bowl of murky soup to passersby. Those who drank it gradually lost their obsession, turning into emptiness, and crossed the bridge.

In Fang Chen's eyes, this scene was like the moon in the water or a flower in a mirror, hazy and unreal, his mind clouded, as if in a dream, indescribable and intangible, as if separated from this mortal world by a layer.

But as he passed through the Gate of Hell, climbed the high platform, crossed the turbid bridge, and entered the darkness... as he went deeper and deeper, Fang Chen's senses slowly returned.

The stench of rotting corpses, the wailing of vengeful ghosts, the chilling stillness of death... a myriad of sensations surged forth.

Finally, the barrier shattered, and all the scenes receded like the tide, revealing a magnificent palace.

Its grandeur and solemnity are beyond description.

The pillars of the palace were cast in bronze, so thick that ten people could encircle them. Countless grotesque and twisted ghostly faces were bound atop them. Green will-o'-the-wisps floated in mid-air, illuminating the surroundings in a ghastly blue light, their flickering glow sending chills down one's spine.

Around the corners of the palace stood countless ghostly guards, all with blue faces and red eyes, their fangs bared. The soul-reaping chains in their hands were strung with wailing souls, the clanging of the iron chains ringing out incessantly, particularly jarring in the deathly silence.

At the end of the main hall stood nine steps of black jade. Atop the steps sat a colossal throne, forged from Netherworld Iron, carved with ferocious demonic figures, their claws outstretched as if poised to pounce. Behind the throne sat a figure shrouded in darkness, its face obscured.

At that moment, a cold wind suddenly rose in the hall.

Suddenly, two tall figures appeared below the steps. The one on the left had the head of a bull and the body of a human, his nostrils spewing out chilling white air; the one on the right had a horse's face and a dark blue hue, his hooves pounding the ground... It was none other than Gou Niu Tou Ma Mian!

Two more figures, one black and one white, emerged from the shadows. The white figure's smile was ashen, his grin stretching to his ears. The black figure's face was contorted with rage, his eyes wide and bulging. The soul-reaping ropes in their hands jingled eerily, and green flames flickered in the empty eye sockets of the skulls on the ropes—they were none other than the Black and White Impermanence!

The stone statues of ghost messengers on both sides, which had been still, suddenly lit up with eerie green flames in their eyes. These statues, with their indistinct faces and holding various instruments of torture such as knives, oil cauldrons, saws, axes, and millstones, were now lifelike, as if they were about to come to life and carry out torture and soul-torture at any moment.

On the main seat in the hall, the figure slowly emerged from the darkness.

He wore a dark crown with tassels, twelve jade ornaments hanging from the front and back, their beads clinking together with a sound like ice. He wore a dark official robe embroidered with incantations of the underworld and depictions of dark mountains and rivers. His face was shrouded in black mist, except for two points of red light shining from where his eyes were, like the fires of purgatory.

He is none other than the judge of this netherworld, who holds the power over life and death and reincarnation!

Upon appearing, his gaze was fixed on Chen below the steps, and his voice, like iron grinding against stone, echoed throughout the hall:

"Who's next at the station? State your name!"

Fang Chen's mind was in a state of confusion, half-asleep and half-awake, as if sleepwalking, and he was unable to answer.

However, the judge, in judging cases, did not need to respond. With a touch of his vermilion pen on the ink book, the Book of Life and Death turned its pages with a whooshing sound without any wind, and then stopped.

"Fang Chen, a mortal whose lifespan has not yet ended, has trespassed into the sacred realm of the underworld and disrupted the order of the netherworld." The judge's voice was cold and carried an unquestionable authority. "According to the law, his record in the mortal world should be revoked, and his soul should be cast into the animal realm of the six paths of reincarnation to suffer a hundred lifetimes of reincarnation, to atone for his transgression!"

As the verdict was pronounced, the entire hall shook violently.

The green flames in the eyes of the stone statues of the ghost messengers on both sides blazed brightly, and the instruments of torture in their hands hummed with longing. The Ox-Head and Horse-Face roared and stepped forward, causing the ground to crack; the figures of the Black and White Impermanence swayed in the shadows, and the soul-snatching ropes moved without wind, their skulls baring their sharp teeth.

The oppressive force that bound and crushed everything descended like Mount Tai, locking Fang Chen firmly in place.

The animal realm! A hundred lifetimes of reincarnation!

If this judgment is made, one will be condemned to eternal damnation, reborn as pigs, dogs, cattle, or sheep for all eternity, with no chance of liberation!

At this critical moment, Fang Chen suddenly raised his head and spoke.

His voice did not sound like his own, and it carried an inexplicable indifference and majesty:

"The [Laws of the Underworld] state: Those who mistakenly enter the netherworld shall be sent back to the mortal realm and punished by having their lifespan reduced. When did such a law come into being for those who enter the animal realm? Judges of the Underworld, you are—judging arbitrarily!"

"Hmm?" On the high platform, the black mist churned like boiling water. The judge's voice turned sharp, tinged with sarcasm, "Making a judgment? I am the righteous judge of the underworld, in charge of the cycle of reincarnation in this realm! My words are the laws of the underworld, the very rules! You, a mere mortal, dare to defy fate?!"

The vermilion brush touched the Book of Life and Death again, the ink turning into blood-red light:

"How dare an ant defy the laws of the underworld! His crime is compounded! Ox-Head and Horse-Face, Black and White Impermanence, kill this mortal on the spot, seize his soul, and throw him into the Avici Hell for eternal torment, never to be reborn!"

"mortal?!"

Faced with this trial that turned black into white, confused right and wrong, and abused power to suppress the law, a surge of anger from the very depths of Fang Chen's mind, originating from his very bloodline, suddenly erupted!

"The judge acted out of personal favoritism, violated the laws of the underworld, reversed right and wrong, and disrupted the order of the yin and yang... According to the law, he should be executed!"

"How dare you!"

The judge flew into a rage, causing the entire hall to tremble violently, and the demonic faces on the beams and pillars wailed in unison:

"How dare you, a mere mortal, speak such arrogant words! I will annihilate your soul and condemn you to eternal damnation..."

"Ordinary?"

At this moment, Fang Chen felt a tremor in his bloodline within him.

In an instant, a dark black crown with drooping tassels silently materialized, with twelve jade ornaments hanging from the front and back of the crown, their light flowing and embroidered with mountains and rivers, the sun, moon and stars, exuding a majestic and awe-inspiring presence that could not be looked at directly.

"I am... no ordinary person!"

"I am..."

"I am..."

"I am—"

At this moment, Fang Chen raised his head, his gaze opening and closing as if ten thousand ghosts were paying homage, the cycle of reincarnation reversed, his voice indifferent, yet resounding throughout the hall:

"【The Heir Apparent of Heaven, the Young Lord of Fengdu】!!!"