Chapter 603: The White Bone Cave and the Secrets of the Three Realms |
The Dark Realm had no airflow, or rather, the stability of this space was far superior to the Ice Abyss world. Ordinary movements could hardly stir air currents. Even when Xia Hong had unleashed his full power before breaking through to the Tribulation Body Realm, the resulting commotion had only covered a dozen or so meters.
Without airflow, there was naturally no wind to speak of.
In this windless environment, everything felt utterly silent. Paired with the dominant shade of ghostly blue, it was hard not to feel an unsettling strangeness.
If the Misty Marsh Forest, with its towering, dense trees, had partially concealed that strangeness—so long as you weren’t inside it, you couldn’t sense it—then White Bone Mountain stripped away all pretense, flaunting its eeriness in plain sight. Even from afar, just looking at it sent chills down your spine.
Viewed from a distance, White Bone Mountain was a sinister forest of razor-sharp, bone-white blades, piled high from unknown creatures. The exposed parts alone were at least five to six meters long, some reaching dozens of meters. The bone tips pointed skyward, and the edges on both sides seemed polished by craftsmen, sharp to the extreme. One glance, and an uncontrollable chill gripped your heart.
Up close, the bones weren’t just sharp—they were packed with alarming density. Beneath those five- to six-meter blades lay countless more bones, one meter or even half a meter tall. Even if a normal person tried to navigate around them slowly and carefully, they would barely find a place to set foot.
In truth, forget about navigating—anyone with even slightly weak mental fortitude, upon seeing this forest of bone-white blades, would feel their legs go weak. Who would dare recklessly enter such a death trap?
But this was the Dark Realm, the world of souls. Normally, no humans could ever reach this place. Human fear of white bones mostly stemmed from their association with death, which made people anxious. At its core, it was the dread of death itself. For spirit-life beings without physical bodies, death was far less terrifying. To them, this blade-like bone forest was hardly intimidating.
At the outer edges of White Bone Mountain, several Demon Soldiers were patrolling together through the bone forest. After walking for a while, one in the center spoke with a frivolous tone.
“It must not have gone well. Maybe those three from the Great Abyss in the Misty Marsh Forest were drawn here by the Madam. The new living souls from the Great Abyss smell so good. Even if I only devoured one, my soul body would definitely jump up by a huge margin.”
“Nonsense. Those three are so strong. How could their soul bodies be weak?”
“You’re dreaming big. Didn’t you just see the Crimson Flame Lord get cut in half? Even he couldn’t handle them. What makes you think you can?”
“It’s really strange. How did people from the Great Abyss manage to come to the Dark Realm? Their physical bodies are so filthy. Why didn’t the Void Sky Screen dissolve them?”
Hearing the words “Void Sky Screen,” all the Demon Soldiers looked up at the sky. When they saw the deep blue barrier covering the heavens, deep fear spread across their faces.
One Demon Soldier, who clearly knew more, lowered his head and spoke gravely. “The Void Sky Screen can’t dissolve everything. Take the Great Abyss humans, for example. As long as the Five-Element Tribulation Qi in their bodies is harmonized and they condense a perfect-level revered form, they can resist dissolution by the Void Sky Screen.”
Of course, that didn’t mean humans at the Revered Form Realm from the Great Abyss could freely travel between the two realms.
The End Dark Realm and the Great Abyss Realm corresponded vertically. The first step to crossing between them was to fly high enough, at least to touch the dome. That alone was no easy feat for any living being in either realm.
The second step was to pass through the Void Sky Screen. It had two functions: one, to dissolve physical bodies, and two, to purify soul bodies. The former targeted Great Abyss humans, while the latter targeted the spirit-life beings of the Dark Realm. This essentially blocked ninety percent of the pathways for inter-realm travel.
After surviving the Void Sky Screen came the final step: the swarms of soul-devouring worms dwelling within the dome. If the second step only blocked ninety percent of beings, then the third step completely sealed off the remaining ten percent.
With these three obstacles in place, the number of beings who could truly travel freely between the two realms was virtually negligible.
After speaking at length, the Demon Soldier continued, “Of course, that’s the legitimate, aboveboard method for crossing between realms. Another way is to go through spatial rifts. But the spatial rifts in the Dark Realm are all controlled by those Ancient Demon-level beings. Normal people can’t even get close to them...”
“Ar-are you saying there isn’t one near the Madam’s cave?”
The Demon Soldier was abruptly interrupted. He turned to look at the speaker, a cold smile curling on his face. “What, getting ideas? That rift was gifted to the Madam by the Patriarch of the Sea of Ten Thousand Bloods. If you’ve got the guts, go try it!”
For advanced spirit-life beings in the Dark Realm, there were two best paths forward:
The first was to find a powerful backer. Like themselves—though they served under Madam Jade in the White Bone Forest, strictly speaking, they were soldiers under the Blood Sun Realm of the Sea of Ten Thousand Bloods. This path meant living under someone else’s roof, but at least they had a patron. They wouldn’t be randomly captured by other powerful soul bodies, devoured or suppressed, or used as building materials by the Demon Lord on Qishan Mountain like the billions of soul bodies there.
The second path was to find a way to sneak into the Great Abyss Realm. The Great Abyss was filled with newborn soul bodies, an endless supply for them to absorb. Rumor had it that a day of cultivation in the Great Abyss was worth a year in the Dark Realm. The top existences currently in the Dark Realm had all cultivated in the Great Abyss at some point.
This was basically common knowledge in the Dark Realm.
But when that Demon Soldier suggested they try sneaking through the Madam’s cave, the other Demon Soldiers all shook their heads. Not a single one dared to speak.
“The Patriarch hates nothing more than subordinates overstepping their bounds. The Madam hasn’t been with the Sea of Ten Thousand Bloods for long, but rumor has it she’s deeply favored. Look at her these past few days—even the Crimson Flame Lord doesn’t dare approach her cave half a step. If we go, it’s suicide!”
As the Demon Soldiers got caught up in their heated discussion, they failed to notice a faint, almost imperceptible ripple of spatial energy passing by them.
Of course, given their strength, such fluctuations from interacting different spaces were beyond their detection anyway.
“Miss Hong, do you know the names of the seven Demon Generals under Madam Jade?”
Within a gray, alien spatial dimension, Xia Hong, Xu Ning, and their group had just dodged the group of gossiping Demon Soldiers. Barely a few dozen meters out, Xia Hong couldn’t hold back his confusion anymore. He turned to ask the Hong Yu beside him.
His confusion stemmed from a sentence he’d overheard from those Demon Soldiers:
“Why did the Madam suddenly come back? Didn’t she go down to the Great Abyss with the Gold Armor, Forbidden Master, Thousand Faces, and the other six lords to help the Patriarch?”
He hadn’t heard of Gold Armor or the Forbidden Master, but he knew Thousand Faces. He remembered clearly—back in Caiqiu, he had followed the commander of the Zhenyuan Grand Camp and Fan Qinghu, the Admiral of the Caiqiu Silver Scale forces, into the Blood Mire Plains. In a Manluo Flower Sea area, they had been ambushed by an Abomination.
That Abomination had transformed into his own likeness. It had been a horrifying scene. Later, through the Four Feudatories, he learned the creature’s name was Thousand Faces.
He also knew two other Abominations from the Blood Mire Plains: Profound Ice and Black Wind. That was why he could ask this question now. Setting aside the name duplicate of Thousand Faces, the other names—Profound Ice, Black Wind, Gold Armor, Crimson Flame, Forbidden Master—all sounded like they belonged to the same group.
And as expected, Li Longyu’s reply confirmed his guess.
“Gold Armor, Forbidden Master, Bi Lin, Black Wind, Crimson Flame, Profound Ice, Thousand Faces!”
They really were one and the same.
So Madam Jade Skull was the leader of the Abomination forces in the Blood Mire Plains. And the Blood Pool Patriarch backing her was the powerful Abomination beneath Yanze Lake, the one capable of altering the flow of time, currently in the process of reviving.
“The Abominations of the Ice Abyss are beings from the Dark Realm and the Holy Yang Realm. The difference is that the latter focuses on powerful physical bodies, while the former emphasizes strong souls. Both types have a huge demand for human soul bodies in the Ice Abyss. The year Dajue Temple was destroyed, Master Wusheng saw the Yin Yang Mirror and guessed that the Qishan Demon Lord had also descended into the Ice Abyss. So every being from both realms has its eyes on the Ice Abyss...”
Understanding this point, Xia Hong felt a surge of gravity. He looked at the White Bone Mountain before him and soon fell into another confusion. He turned to ask Hong Yu, “Miss Hong, that Demon Soldier just said the Great Abyss Realm and the Dark Realm correspond vertically. What does that mean?”
This girl named Hong Yu really did know a lot. And more importantly, she answered every question he asked. With such a good source of clarification right in front of him, Xia Hong asked whatever came to mind.
Li Longyu, upon hearing the question, answered without hesitation. “That Demon Soldier wasn’t wrong. To be more precise, it’s a three-realm correspondence. Lord Xia, you can think of the Ice Abyss, the Dark Realm, and the Holy Yang Realm as three independent planes arranged in an upper, middle, and lower stack. The Holy Yang Realm is at the top, the Ice Abyss is sandwiched in the middle, and the Dark Realm is at the bottom...”
She paused for a moment, then added, “Of course, that’s just a preliminary assumption. It could be the reverse order. But the three-realm correspondence is definitely correct. For example, the Qishan Mountain we’re on now corresponds to Mo’ao Mountain in the Ice Abyss.”
Three realms, three independent planes arranged vertically—this immediately shattered Xia Hong’s previous understanding of stars, the universe, and planets from his past life.
This world was so incredibly wondrous!
Xia Hong’s eyes trembled. His worldview had been reshaped once again.
But after spending so many years in the Ice Abyss, his ability to accept new concepts had greatly improved. He temporarily pushed aside his confusion, turned his gaze toward the direction of White Bone Cave to the west, steadied his mind, and slightly quickened his pace.
The Abominations of the Blood Mire Plains could freely travel between the two realms, and they had even brought several Demon Generals down with them. A single Blood Pool Patriarch had already pushed the Four Feudatories of Mo’ao Chuan and Great Xia of the Southern Foothills to the brink of collapse. If the Qishan Demon Lord behind him were to come, wouldn’t the billions of people in the southern domain of Mo’ao Mountain all have to bow their necks for the slaughter?
A sense of urgency!
Suddenly learning so much overwhelming information, Xia Hong felt as if he had been transported back over twenty years ago, to when he had first arrived in the Ice Abyss, living in constant danger. A powerful sense of urgency surged within him.
And it was true. Never mind the Qishan Demon Lord. Even facing the Blood Pool Patriarch’s ability to alter the flow of time, the difference between himself and that entity was not much different from when he had first arrived in the Ice Abyss and faced the Frost Beasts.
“Let’s hurry to White Bone Cave! My Spirit Evil Pearl can only hold out for about half an hour. We’re already here—if we miss the time limit, we’ll have no way out.”
“Alright, let’s speed up!”
Xia Hong nodded firmly and took the lead, quickening his pace. Then he couldn’t help reaching into his Yellow Mustard Bag. He felt that Jiang Yiqing and Xiahou Yong inside were still breathing, and he let out a slight sigh of relief.
They hadn’t come directly here. As soon as they reached the outer area, he had Li Baobao lead the way to find the two of them.
Unfortunately, both had lost most of their soul bodies. Though they barely maintained vital signs, they had no consciousness—basically on the verge of death.
Still, Xia Hong had put them into his Yellow Mustard Bag and brought them along.
As for soul body injuries, if he remembered correctly, Xu Ning, who had fused with Master Wusheng’s organ, had a way to treat them. As long as Jiang Yiqing and Xiahou Yong could maintain their vital signs, bringing them back to Great Xia should mean they could be saved.
Under the protection of Hong Yu’s Spirit Evil Pearl, the three of them pressed deeper into the White Bone Forest. The number of Demon Soldiers patrolling along the way was high—they had set a post every few dozen meters and a checkpoint every hundred meters. Seeing this, the three of them naturally wore grim expressions.
Clearly, the enemy had guessed they would come. Otherwise, the defenses wouldn’t be this tight. Even though the Spirit Evil Pearl helped them stay hidden, who knew what the situation was like in the White Bone Cave stronghold?
Since the enemy was certain they would come, they must have prepared. It definitely wouldn’t just be these patrolling Demon Soldiers at the outskirts. The cave itself had probably become a dragon’s den or a tiger’s lair.
“We’re already here. Worrying is useless. Lord Xia, don’t worry. I’m really not lying to you. That Madam Jade has a deep connection with Great Xia. With you here, she probably won’t make things hard for us.”
Xia Hong still didn’t know why Hong Yu was so certain. On the way to White Bone Mountain, he had asked her again. She had just brushed him off with the excuse that it was hard to explain.
Since Hong Yu didn’t want to say, he couldn’t force her.
But at this critical moment, there really was no turning back. White Bone Cave had already come into their sight.
About three kilometers to the west of the bone forest, a massive shadow slowly came into view. Xia Hong didn’t use the Soul Summoning Lamp. After his breakthrough, his field of vision only extended to about two hundred meters. And since he still couldn’t use Tribulation Qi flexibly, he could only vaguely make out the outline of a giant human head.
Both Hong Yu and Li Baobao were at the Tribulation Body Realm, with far better vision than Xia Hong. They saw at a glance that it wasn’t a human head but a giant skull, fifty to sixty meters tall.
“Is this human bone? Can humans grow this big?”
It was Li Baobao’s first time seeing such a huge skull. The key point was that the skull looked human in shape. The question was, what kind of human head could grow to over fifty meters tall?
A skull over fifty meters tall meant the body had to be at least three hundred meters. This wasn’t some Battle Body Golden Body—it was simply a human skull. How could a normal human’s body ever grow this big?
“This isn’t a human skull. It’s the skull of a Transcendent Being from the Holy Yang Realm. And he was likely at the Revered Form Realm before his death...”
Li Longyu provided an explanation at the right moment. Unlike Xia Hong and Li Baobao, who looked confused after seeing the skull, her face clearly showed disgust. She seemed to loathe the Holy Yang Realm Transcendent Beings she had just mentioned.
“Transcendent Beings from the Holy Yang Realm?”
Xia Hong’s curiosity was piqued again, and he quickly asked.
Li Longyu paused to think for a moment, then said, “The Holy Yang Realm also has a group of humans. Though they left the Ice Abyss a long time ago, they never call themselves humans. They arrogantly call themselves Transcendent Beings, ally themselves with the other beings of the Holy Yang Realm, and see Ice Abyss humans as an alien race. To cater to the other races in the Holy Yang Realm, they’ve also developed methods of cultivation using living souls. They’re an extremely evil and hateful bunch of shameless bastards!”
From this one speech of Hong Yu’s, Xia Hong could roughly tell what kind of scum these Transcendent Beings were. He didn’t even need to ask further—he could guess by inference.
He shook his head and didn’t press for details.
Not because he didn’t want to ask, but because they had already reached the entrance of White Bone Cave.
Unlike the outer edges of the White Bone Forest, which were crawling with patrolling Demon Soldiers, White Bone Cave was eerily empty. Not a single Demon Soldier was in sight. There wasn’t even a guard at the door. The five-meter-tall, bone-carved gate stood wide open, as if welcoming them in.
“Loose on the outside, tight on the inside. Are they so sure we can’t make it here, or is this a deliberate setup to lure us in?”
Xia Hong frowned, pondered for a moment, then still took the lead and walked toward the cave gate.
The spatial rift inside the cave was their only hope of returning to the Ice Abyss. No matter what the enemy was plotting, since they had made it this far, they had to go in.
“Stay behind me. Be careful!”
Xia Hong softly warned Hong Yu, then led the way inside.
Hong Yu nodded and immediately followed behind him.
As for Li Baobao, who was last in line, she was once again ignored by Xia Hong. She gritted her teeth in anger, but there was no use in getting mad now. She clenched her jaw and hurriedly followed the two toward the cave gate.