Aspiring to the Immortal Path
Aspiring to the Immortal Path - Chapter 707: Nether River Crossing

"Hong Yuan!" Xu Miaoran paled.

Although Hong Yuan was her maid, she had grown up with her and had long regarded her as a sister. In turn, Hong Yuan was devotedly loyal to Xu Miaoran.

Seeing her held hostage by Sang Hongmei had her going red in the eyes, and she almost charged out. Fortunately, He Songxu was able to pull her back in time. "Young Lady, calm down!"

But how could Xu Miaoran possibly calm down? At this moment, Hong Yuan shouted, "Young Lady, save me! Save me!"

Her voice was shrill and miserable.

If she had openly confronted death and shouted, "Forget about me!" Xu Miaoran really might have lost her head and charged out.

But the panicked and weeping Hong Yuan who was begging for her life actually made Xu Miaoran calm down.

Xu Miaoran took in a deep breath, suppressing her agitated emotions and gradually regaining her composure.

Looking over at the wailing Hong Yuan, Xu Miaoran shook her head. "Hong Yuan, my apologies. I can't sacrifice everyone else just for you."

Sang Hongmei sneered, "Xu Miaoran, if you don't want to come out, that's fine too. If you hand over the teleportation formation, this fairy will turn around and leave right now. Aren't you two like sisters? Sisterhood is priceless, and no price can be put on a human life. To sacrifice your own sister for material goods doesn't seem like something someone as benevolent and righteous as you would do."

Xu Miaoran raised her head and said, "Sang Hongmei, don't try that on me. You have the nerve to talk about sisterhood and human life being priceless? How many people have died at your hands in these last few years? You want the teleportation formation? Fine, then come and get it. Don't rely on these lowly tricks!"

Sang Hongmei heartily laughed. "Of course I will get it, but not from you. Instead, I'll get it from this little girl. You think there are questions that Soulscour can't answer? It's just that a pretty little thing is going to be turned into an idiot, quite the pity. Xu Miaoran, why be so stubborn? Hong Yuan is in my hands, and you're locked up in a cage, so the secret of the teleportation formation is basically already lost. The only difference is that if you say it yourself, you can protect this little beauty's life, and if you don't, I'll use Soulscour, and you'll lose both."

Xu Miaoran snorted. "Hah, this is the first time I've heard of the Blood Fairy trying to be reasonable and analyzing pros and cons. I didn't think a butcher would have such a silver tongue! These words of yours have even me tempted. But if Soulscour was that good, why even waste the energy wagging your tongue? You must be afraid that the scouring will be incomplete, causing you to miss something big, no?"

"In the end, it's only a possibility. If I use Soulscour, there's no telling if I'll succeed or fail, but this girl of yours will most certainly be done for. Are you really not concerned about her?" Sang Hongmei sinisterly said.

"This… hmm." Xu Miaoran put a hand on her forehead, seemingly in deep thought.

Sang Hongmei thought that Xu Miaoran was really thinking it over, but when she saw Xu Miaoran's eyes roving around, she realized what was happening. "Xu Miaoran, don't even think about trying to buy time!"

She placed a finger on Hong Yuan's forehead. "I'm counting to three! If you keep trying to stall, I'll do it!"

Xu Miaoran scowled. Her attempt to stall had been seen through, and she couldn't think of any good plan at the moment.

Hong Yuan cried out in fear, "Don't! Young Lady, save me!"

"One!" Sang Hongmei shouted.

"Young Lady, please!"

Xu Miaoran shook her head.

"Two!" Sang Hongmei bellowed.

Xu Miaoran looked apologetically at Hong Yuan.

"Three!" Sang Hongmei was about to jab her finger down when Hong Yuan shouted, "Wait! If she won't say it, I will!"

What?

Everyone was aghast. But Sang Hongmei was delighted.

Hong Yuan howled, "She refuses to save me, so why should I acknowledge her as my master? Release me, and I'll tell you where the teleportation formation is!"

Sang Hongmei didn't expect this development, and she laughed. "You should have done this earlier! Your young lady casts you aside, so there's no need to follow her to the end."

She released the seal on Hong Yuan.

Sang Hongmei wasn't worried at all that someone as weak as Hong Yuan could do anything to her.

With her seal undone, Hong Yuan stood up, but she said nothing, only looking at Xu Miaoran.

She was no longer wailing in fear. Instead, her eyes shone with fearless resolve.

Upon seeing those eyes, Xu Miaoran realized something and cried out in shock, "Hong Yuan, don't!"

"Goodbye, Young Lady," Hong Yuan muttered, and then she thrust out a finger. "Die!"

A sharp blast of energy stabbed into Sang Hongmei's eye.

"Seeking death!" Sang Hongmei roared in fury, lashing out with her palm.

But as she struck with her palm, she realized the mistake she had made. Hong Yuan rushed right in, letting the palm strike her, caving in her chest and shattering all her bones.

"NO!" Sang Hongmei and Xu Miaoran cried out in unison.

Sang Hongmei grabbed at Hong Yuan, still hoping to save her.

But then Hong Yuan turned her hand around and thrust her finger at her own forehead.

Plush!

Her finger pierced through her forehead.

Everyone was so dumbfounded that time seemed to stop.

Hong Yuan firmly declared, "Fiend granny, you won't get a thing."

And then she fell from the sky.

"HONG YUAN!" Xu Miaoran wailed in despair.

She watched as Hong Yuan's body vanished into the clouds.

"Awoooo!" Sang Hongmei also howled in despair.

She had lost her final card.

Hong Yuan's death made everyone feel great sorrow, so nobody noticed that when Hong Yuan's body passed through the clouds, it bizarrely froze.

The shore of the Nether River.

Little Three was traveling upstream along the river.

It didn't know how long it would have to walk, but the Karma that was guiding it told it that this was the best direction.

The black river waters passed through the vast Nether soil, constantly delivering new souls, spirits, and corpses.

From these, ghosts were born with an intense resentment, fierce and powerful. Some of them even instinctively attacked everything around them.

A resentful spirit that had clearly entered the Nether River just recently rushed over to Little Three. Lacking intelligence, this resentful spirit acted purely on instinct. Little Three turned to glance at this resentful spirit, and its one glance made the resentful spirit feel an immense danger. With a shriek, it tried to run, but Little Three simply opened its mouth and sucked it into its belly, where it turned into a black ball of smoke and dissipated.

Little Three closed its eyes and quietly digested the energy from this resentful spirit.

As a newborn ghost, the resentful spirit didn't have an ability of its own, which was why it could be used to improve Little Three's Nether River Crossing ability.

Nether River Crossing was a most mysterious power of the Nether Domain.

Everyone knew that the Nether River linked life and death.

It originated in the plane of the living and flowed toward the Wheel of Samsara, its course taking it through the home of the dead, the Nether Domain.

One could say that the Nether Domain existed only because of the Nether River. The Nether River existed between life and death, as the destination of all life and the passage to Samsara.

Nether River Crossing meant traveling to and fro on the Nether River.

It could allow the living to enter the plane of the dead, and the dead to get back to the plane of the living.

Resurrection!

Of course, Nether River Crossing had its limits. Each time it was used came at an immense cost.

The Nether River flowed from the living plane to the Wheel of Samsara, so achieving resurrection meant going against the current, which was no ordinary burden.

Three years of experience had made Little Three very strong.

It was able to freely travel through the spatial barrier, hide itself within the Great Chiliocosm, touch souls, and control ghosts. The only thing it had never done was perform the Nether River Crossing, not even once. The vast force behind that ceaseless yellow torrent left even Little Three feeling helpless.

But as it was digesting this resentful spirit, Little Three suddenly felt a strange throb.

After a momentary daze, Little Three realized that it had come from the Thread of Karma in its body.

That long-gone sense of familiarity had finally returned.

Little Three was shaken.

The Thread of Karma began to extend, leading straight to the horizon.

Little Three ran along the thread.

The source of the Nether River could not be traced, for it existed in every domain of the Great Stellar Chiliocosm and was technically everywhere. But one could travel against its current, and at the moment a deceased soul entered the Nether Domain, one could find an exit leading to the other side.

Little Three followed that Thread of Karma upstream, across the flowing torrents of the river and past countless ghosts, until it reached a part of the river from which fog billowed. This was the sign that a ghost was about to be born. Little Three saw that the Thread of Karma was leading straight into the fog. Suddenly, the ghost forming in the fog let out a miserable screech.

"AAAAAH!!!"

It was a screech brimming with anger, unwillingness, and deep loathing.

The fog was obsession.

The power of the Nether River rapidly congealed this obsession that was filled with so many negative emotions, turning it into a ghost.

"Hong Yuan!" A voice rang out in Little Three's mind.

It was Tang Jie, shocked and uneasy. Through the Thread of Karma, Tang Jie had seen the ghost and realized who the deceased was.

"Little Three, save her!"

"Understood, Father." Little Three charged in and gave the fog a strike.

As its fist struck the fog, the fog formed from obsession broke apart.

Hiss! The resentful soul once more angrily screeched.

Little Three grabbed this wispy soul and charged forward.

Crossing the Nether River, traveling against the current!

This was the power of Nether River Crossing.

Waves raged on the river, surging toward Little Three.

But Little Three evaded the waves and continued to charge forward. Empowered by the Nether River, the remnant soul twisted in its grip, attempting to take form, but Little Three crushed it up every time, refusing to let it turn into a ghost.

If it turned into a ghost, it would be another form of existence and would lose any chance of resurrection. The only choice then would be reincarnation.

Taking the soul, Little Three charged forward, guided by the Thread of Karma. It could sense that the exit was just ahead.

The exit to the Rosecloud Domain!

The Nether River seemed to be enraged by Little Three's actions, the surging river waters threatening to engulf it.

Going against the current required passing the trial of the Nether River. Only one who persisted through the frightening waves of the river could truly cross the Nether River.

The vast power of the waves pressed on Little Three's body, threatening to crush it.

But Little Three was unmoved, fearlessly and stubbornly moving against the current.

In truth, if it let go of this soul, it could have used its spatial leaping ability to find the exit, for after finding this remnant soul, the Thread of Karma had managed to find the exit. But Little Three didn't want to do this.

It wasn't because the Nether River Crossing could control life and death. It was because this was Father's order.

Little Three's eyes shone with resolve, and it bravely pressed forward with that soul in hand.

At the end of the Thread of Karma, it saw a light growing brighter and brighter.

It was the other side of the passage!

Rosecloud Domain, I'm coming!

It cried out in its mind, and as another fierce wave slammed down, it blinked away, vanishing with that soul it had stolen from the Nether River.