Immortal of the Nine Realms-Chapter 1429: Weakening Soul

White mist filled the air, and a narrow, seemingly abandoned path appeared before Fang Chen and Huang Wuji. It was overgrown with thick, lush weeds.

Clearly, it had not been walked for many years.

"Lord, this stretch of the Yellow Springs Road has been abandoned for many years. Even the Yin energy within these weeds is extremely dense." Huang Wuji sighed. "I wonder whether the Underworld City corresponding to this place lies in the Floating Pagoda Realm or the Lesser Underworld."

Fang Chen let the Yin energy within his body spread outward, like an invisible hand parting the weeds along the road.

Soon, the two reached the end of the Yellow Springs Road, and a stretch of the Forgotten River appeared before them. Compared to other regions, this one felt even more deathly still.

Fang Chen's gaze pierced through layers of void, landing on the riverbed. There, he saw countless souls.

Fang Chen's expression flickered. "These wandering souls..."

Wang Chongsong had just unsealed this place using a Formation Heart. Before that, no wandering soul here could have opened the Yellow Springs Road, much less sink into the Forgotten River.

This meant that these souls belonged to humans! People who had died before the Upper Three Realms were sealed. Unable to enter the Underworld, they sank into the Forgotten River, trapped.

"Lord, why are you smiling?" Huang Wuji asked in confusion.

He rarely saw Fang Chen smile like this, as if he had encountered something that genuinely delighted him.

Fang Chen pointed at the Forgotten River. "Do you see those wandering souls? They are seeds."

Before Huang Wuji could express his confusion, Fang Chen was already walking across it.

Zhu Long's massive body slowly emerged, lifting Fang Chen upon its head the moment he set foot over the river.

Huang Wuji had seen Zhu Long only once or twice before. Seeing it again, he was shocked by its aura. He faintly felt that if he had to fight this creature, his chance of victory might not even be thirty percent.

"You can all wake up now," Fang Chen murmured softly while looking down at the Forgotten River.

As his words fell, the river churned, and pairs of eyes snapped open beneath the surface, filled with confusion.

Then... countless wandering souls floated upward from the depths.

"Someone has come to fetch me?"

"How many years has it been...?"

"I can finally reincarnate. I thought I had turned into a stone."

"Wuuuu... wuuuuu..."

There were joyful cries, delighted laughter, and sorrowful weeping.

Anyone ignorant of the situation would think they were hearing ghosts wailing. It was utterly terrifying.

Huang Wuji still did not understand what was happening.

"Lord, what are you doing?"

He couldn't understand why Fang Chen was showing favoritism to these particular souls. Didn't the Forgotten River house countless souls within its depths in every region of the Underworld?

"I share fate with these souls. This time, they'll come with us." Fang Chen smiled. "You too, get on."

Huang Wuji immediately flew to Fang Chen's side.

Zhu Long seemed rather displeased by Huang Wuji's presence, but it calmed down after Fang Chen soothed it.

Under Fang Chen's instructions, the Zhu Long began receiving the wandering souls, letting them board its massive back.

Using the Zhu Long to carry them saved a huge amount of Yin Lifespan normally needed to ferry souls.

The Zhu Long's body expanded larger and larger until it was big enough to carry all the souls Fang Chen had brought with him.

Fang Chen didn't know how many souls there were, but a rough estimate placed them in the tens of millions. It was a staggering figure, but for the Nine Mortal Realms, it was only a drop in the ocean.

These wandering souls had just awakened from the Forgotten River, ending the endless cycle of torment. Most lay quietly, resting and nurturing their spirits.

As for the Zhu Long, Fang Chen, and Huang Wuji... those souls saw them but dared not ask questions. Half out of fear of being thrown back into the Forgotten River, half out of fear of Fang Chen and his companion's origins.

The Zhu Long swam steadily toward the depths of the Forgotten River.

After the time it took to brew a cup of tea, a group approached Fang Chen.

The leader stopped about a hundred feet away and cupped his fist. "Thank you for rescuing us. If not for you, Senior, we would've remained trapped at the bottom of the Forgotten River for many more years, with no chance at reincarnation."

"There's no need for such courtesy," said Fang Chen, looking at the leader. "Were you all cultivators in your previous lives?"

The one speaking—the leader—was an elderly man. He nodded lightly and answered, "In my previous life, I was a seventh-transformation Ancient Immortal."

"I was a sixth-transformation Immortal." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"I was—"

These had all been immensely powerful cultivators. And among the tens of millions gathered, there were surely many more like them.

The seventh-transformation Ancient Immortal, named Tang Mingde, explained that he had failed to find his path's corresponding eighth-transformation herb before his lifespan reached its limit. Even immortal crystals could no longer keep him alive, and he passed away while in meditation.

He had lived far too long. By the time he died and arrived in the Underworld, he had no one to escort him. Unwilling to become a lonely wandering soul, he chose to fade away, sinking into the Forgotten River, awaiting reincarnation.

"Lord, are we heading to the Underworld now, to undergo reincarnation?" Tang Mingde asked.

At once, countless hopeful eyes turned to Fang Chen. They had endured the Forgotten River for that chance at reincarnation, for the faint hope of walking the immortal path again.

But Fang Chen shook his head.

"The Underworld now is not what you imagine. The Reincarnation Division has long disappeared. Rebirth has become a luxury."

"How is that possible!?" Tang Mingde exclaimed.

"The Reincarnation Division vanished? Not long ago, I even drank tea and discussed Dao with one of its Ghost Gods in the Mortal Realm!"

"You have been dead for many years. The world has changed drastically since then," Fang Chen said calmly.

He briefly described the current state of the Underworld.

The more they heard, the more dazed the souls became, fear faintly flickering in their eyes.

"What kind of existence... could shatter the Underworld into so many pieces..." Tang Mingde murmured in disbelief.

Seeing that they did not question how the Nine Mortal Realms still had living humans despite the Underworld being broken, Fang Chen could tell their memories had also been altered.

Not long after Fang Chen and the souls departed, another figure cheerfully walked down the Yellow Springs Road toward the Forgotten River. He held a gourd, similar to the World Gourd, but with a distinctly different aura.

Humming a tune, he stood at the edge of the Forgotten River, pointed the gourd at the river, and chanted a few incantations before calling out:

"Come, souls!"

A burst of invisible wind swept from the gourd, making the surface of the Forgotten River surge. But after quite a while, not a single soul rose.

Unwilling to believe it, he shouted again, "Souls, come!"

Still nothing.

"That's impossible."

The man stared down into the Forgotten River, and a brilliant golden light flashed in his eyes. The entire depth of the Forgotten River became visible to him.

"Damn it..." he muttered. "Where did all the wandering souls go? Who beat me to it? That's impossible! The seal was only just removed..."