Secret Buyer-Chapter 321 - 246: Falling into the Yellow Springs, the Bridge of Helplessness Returns
Martial Mansion, inside the hall.
"Feed this sesame cake to Zhang Fusheng."
The old woman brought a steaming hot sesame cake, and, as usual, she gently lifted the curtain and respectfully bowed before the shrine.
She recited—"Praise, Central Pole Sect Leader, Emperor of the Underworld, Nine Netherworlds Sin-Extinguishing Celestial Venerate."
Chen Shishan obediently followed her in bowing to the shrine.
He gazed at the newly sculpted small divine statue in the shrine and asked softly:
"Master, the previous statue wasn’t like this."
"Everything has changed."
The old woman stood up, staring at the statue of the Central Pole Sect Leader. The face of the statue was somewhat blurred because she hadn’t seen the great being clearly, just a fleeting glimpse.
She softly said:
"Of the Tomb Guardian families, the Yuan Family is skilled in divination of fortune and misfortune, the Wei Family masters the art of life and death, as one lineage of tomb guardians, and our Wu Family, despite being suppressed, is the most special."
"We uphold the [Passing Ghosts]."
Chen Shishan listened quietly, somewhat understanding.
The old woman continued:
"Our branch can perceive the Nine Nether, communicating with it. This is the position bestowed upon us by the Emperor, and I heard the Nine Nether tell me."
"The Lord of the Nine Nether is the Central Pole Sect Leader."
After a pause, she gently exhaled and continued:
"Alright, have that young lad outside enter the underground, and turn him into a little ghost. We’re almost reaching a thousand ghosts, almost reaching a thousand ghosts..."
Chen Shishan nodded heavily, watching as the old woman closed the veil and re-secured the shrine.
According to the Master’s words,
this ancestral shrine of the Wu Family comes from the old world, and entering it, one stands apart within the [Great Heaven and Earth].
He couldn’t understand what it meant.
He only knew that those who died in the Martial Mansion would retain their complete souls.
"What if Brother Zhang doesn’t eat it?"
Chen Shishan held the sesame cake and asked.
The old woman replied indifferently:
"Then break him down and force-feed him."
After a pause, she continued:
"Don’t feel guilty; you’ve met him a few times, that’s all. This person has an innate level of cultivation, yet hides his identity, with great schemes in mind."
Chen Shishan silently nodded, holding the sesame cake, about to turn and leave the hall.
’Rumble!!’
The ground suddenly shook violently, and a deafening roar echoed from far away,
The old woman’s face changed, and she led Chen Shishan to open the door and walk out of the hall. The young lad standing at the innate level was quietly standing, gazing into the distance.
Chen Shishan also looked over, his expression filled with horror, seeing a massive wave of earth carrying immense dust rise thousands of meters into the sky,
The soil and rock and mud formed a giant curtain spanning several kilometers in width, and a thousand meters high!!
Something there.
Something massive had fallen outside Chang’an Town.
From the horizon came a dragon’s roar, a flash of sword light,
toward the rolling falling rock and mud outside Chang’an Town, all were blocked by this sword light outside the town!
"Wei Bushi..."
The old woman’s expression slightly tensed, softly saying,
Not far away, Zhang Fusheng quietly watched this shocking scene.
Jingpeng Ship.
Just now, the Jingpeng Ship broke through the sky but suddenly halted and fell the moment it entered Chang’an Town’s perimeter,
Baili Jingpeng crashed outside the town, thus causing the thick wave of earth to surge skyward—a massive earthquake capable of tearing Chang’an Town apart ought to have followed.
But the earthquake was forcibly stopped.
Moments ago,
Zhang Fusheng could clearly sense, just before the earthquake erupted, as if someone stomped their foot, precisely stepping out with a force equal to the earthquake, canceling each other out.
In other words, someone in Chang’an Town stopped the earthquake with a stomp.
Most likely Yuan Tiandao or Wei Bushi.
This was somewhat terrifying, although I could also stop an earthquake,
But most likely only by severing the cause and effect of the earthquake, or solely suppress it with divine thought,
Stopping an earthquake with a stomp alone?
Even if I had such force, I wouldn’t be able to precisely control it to perfectly cancel with the earthquake.
"What... what happened?"
Chen Shishan murmured in a daze, looking at the sword light still lingering on the sky curtain, listening to that faint dragon’s roar.
"A giant ship arrived, and then fell."
Zhang Fusheng said in a low voice, turning his head, taking the sesame cake from the hands of the dumbfounded Chen Shishan.
One Thought Enters the Divine Realm, sits in the Eight Sceneries Palace.
Then, Celestial Calculation.
Great fortune.
Zhang Fusheng’s thoughts returned to himself, in the bewildered gazes of Chen Shishan and the old woman, took a few bites and swallowed the sesame cake.
"The taste is indeed good."
He smiled as he faced the towering curtain of rock and mud, saying:
"Is there more?"
After a pause, Zhang Fusheng praised:
"I never thought that eating Yin World Wood Marrow could actually taste this good. How did you come up with adding Yin World Wood Marrow into the sesame cake?"
The clear voice echoed in the small courtyard, outside were the noises of chaos, cries of alarm, running footsteps, and weeping sounds, intertwining,
while within the courtyard was a dead silence.
Chen Shishan stepped back two steps.
The old woman fixed her gaze on the young man, speaking in a low voice:
"You recognize Yin World Wood Marrow?"
"Yes, I do."
Zhang Fusheng answered with a smiling face:
"I have seen it before."
The Yin World Wood Marrow was initially extracted by him from Chen Nuanyu’s mother,
This thing, in some sense, sparked many events.
Because of the strange illness caused by the Yin World Wood Marrow, Chen Nuanyu went to rob the Chai Gate, and it was because of this that he came to know her, and later traded for the Six Ding Divine Fire...
At that time,
Zhang Fusheng only knew that the Yin World Wood Marrow was related to the Nine Nether, but didn’t know its exact origin and use,
Later, he used the Yin World Wood Marrow to create a human body—a grayish hue in the third eye of Zhou Muniu’s forehead today.
’Burp～’
He rubbed his belly, giving a long-awaited burp, Zhang Fusheng said with a smile:
"But this thing seems indigestible, once it enters my belly, it begins to root and is spreading to my limbs and bones... it’s very marvelous."
The old woman’s expression grew grimmer, as she raised her hand to shield Chen Shishan, staring intently at Zhang Fusheng:
"Since you know it contains Yin World Wood Marrow, you still dare to eat it? Who are you really?"
Zhang Fusheng smiled peacefully:
"I know some divination, I foretell this encounter will be thrilling but safe, even a bit auspicious. Of course, the main thing is..."
His limbs began to show a grayish, decaying color, with wood-like patterns appearing on his skin. His speech started to become intermittent:
"Of course, the main thing is I’m very curious—curious about what effect the Yin World Wood Marrow will have if ingested? And what do you intend to do with me?"
Actually, there was one more thing Zhang Fusheng didn’t mention.
This old woman was clearly scheming against him, yet his Spiritual Sense didn’t warn him—there was even a slight... affinity?
This feeling of affinity wasn’t strong, but it was very real,
like walking in a neighborhood and a little cat runs up to nuzzle its head against your leg.
Not quite fond of it, but not disliking it either, feeling an affinity.
This was very strange.
The old woman squinted her eyes, glancing at the distant rocks and dust soaring into the sky, and said coldly:
"You seem confident... but you should know, divination, may not always be precise."
Zhang Fusheng shook his head sluggishly, the gray-decaying wood color climbing up his neck:
"I’m a bit different; at most, I can’t foresee something—but I won’t miscalculate it—at least not on such trivial matters."
Using a Position of Infinite Height to perform divination, how could he easily ’miscalculate’?
The old woman remained expressionless, staring intently at Zhang Fusheng, then suddenly smirked:
"Quite an interesting person, it’s just unfortunate... stay down below."
She gently raised her hand.
Zhang Fusheng looked around with difficulty, seeing Little Ghosts crawling out of the soil one by one,
Little Ghosts were already surprising, and yet each had four flames of Furnace Fire and varying degrees of a Grotto Heaven!!
All were Innate Level Little Ghosts!
Zhang Fusheng was astonished,
Watching these ghosts grinning fiercely as they rushed forward, ghostly hands grabbing his ankles, dragging him down into the earth!
He began to sink, most of his body already turned to wood, and the Yin World Wood Marrow he swallowed seemed different, the ’infection’ spreading very swiftly.
The old woman quietly watched the young man sinking into the ground:
"Once you enter the Yellow Springs, no matter how capable or proficient in Divine Techniques you are, this is where it ends."
"Below... is the Yellow Springs?" Zhang Fusheng’s voice was hoarse, yet his eyes were bright,
At this moment, his whole body had turned to wood—except for his left eye.
The gray-decaying color could not penetrate his left eye.
The old woman did not answer, knowing this young man was undoubtedly doomed, softly reciting:
"Infinite Netherworld."
"Another Human Coffin added, just need to find the Bridge of Helplessness..."
The old woman seemed lost:
"The day a thousand ghosts lift the bridge, the Emperor will return to the mortal realm...."
The woodified Zhang Fusheng was both surprised and delighted, dragged entirely into the mud, his vision turning dark, and then he was sinking, further and further down.
A hundred meters, a thousand meters.
Little Ghosts laughed sharply beside his ears, his speed of descent growing ever faster, faintly hearing the sound of flowing water, the rushing of a great river.
The extreme darkness before his eyes dispersed.
He fell into a river.
An indescribable river, only a short section, buried underground,
The water held extremely dense Death Qi, and his Divine Thought emitted from his only unwooden left eye was instantly corroded away!
The river was full of blood, overwhelmingly foul, the dirtiest and most filthy torrents rushing, Zhang Fusheng’s left eye rotated,
seeing within the river, one by one, ’Wooden Men’ similar to himself floating up and down!
All were Innate.
At a glance, this small section of the Yellow Springs River housed nearly a thousand Human Coffins, nurturing nearly a thousand Little Ghosts.
Or, rather, Innate Fierce Ghosts. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚
"Change, change, change! Change, change, change!"
The Fierce Ghosts called, laughing merrily:
"Quickly change to be like us, then you can become Yin Soldiers, enter the Nine Netherworld, ascend the bridge, welcome the Emperor!"
"Change, change, change! Change, change, change!"
Hundreds of Little Ghosts advanced, letting out piercing laughs that stabbed at the soul, extending sharp claws, frantically tearing at Zhang Fusheng’s body!
This made him feel as if he had returned to when he first entered the Hongji Martial Arts Dojo, back to the first time he heard his master explain the Contemplation Technique.
At that time, he was drawn into a phantom cast by the Divine Realm, gnawed by countless eerie skeletal remains.
"Enough."
The ’Human Coffin’ suddenly spoke up in reprimand, releasing a Pure Divine Sun behind its head.
The Little Ghosts wailed, screamed, fleeing madly, crawling into their respective Human Coffins,
The Divine Sun illuminated, the Yellow Springs were temporarily bright, and all things filthy and foul retreated, within this small foul section of the Yellow Springs River,
unexpectedly, a stream of pure water appeared!
The woodification on Zhang Fusheng’s body was also suppressed by the Pure Divine Sun, sitting cross-legged on the stream within the river, looking around.
"A section of the Yellow Springs River, cut out..."
He murmured, seeing the banks of the river were actually Yin Soil—but without the Other Shore flowers.
He also saw,
there were deep marks and indentations corresponding on the Yin Soil on either side, gray mist flowing within,
as if a bridge once connected the two shores.
"So that’s it... so that’s it!"
Zhang Fusheng felt his scalp tingle, suddenly realizing!!
No wonder.
No wonder the Nine Netherworlds were set in the future ten thousand years from now, yet the Bridge of Helplessness could appear in the present—
Obviously, someone had cut out the section of the Yellow Springs River that carried the Bridge of Helplessness, along with the bridge, placing it in the mortal world!!
He could even guess that countless years ago, some upheaval might have occurred, causing the Bridge of Helplessness standing on the banks of the Yin Soil to be lost,
perhaps the bridge had been controlled by many, ultimately ending up in Lin Yusheng’s hands, and then falling into his own!
"The day a thousand ghosts lift the bridge, the Emperor will return to the mortal realm..." Zhang Fusheng recalled the old woman’s words.
He stood up, the Divine Sun behind his head radiating light, the Little Ghosts hiding in the Human Coffins shivering, not daring to surface to the ground to report.
They couldn’t leave the Human Coffins at all.
The Yellow Springs beneath Zhang Fusheng’s feet turned into a small stream of pure water,
The filth within the Yellow Springs seemed to fear the radiant light of this Pure Divine Sun, avoiding it within a mere inch around him.
Deliberation, thought, decision.
Zhang Fusheng reached out, lightly supporting.
An ancient bridge emerged and slowly descended.
Precisely balanced, exactly resting on the Yin Soil banks of the Yellow Springs.
The forever hovering gray mist on the ancient bridge,
slowly rolled, rolled.
As if,
dispersing.
