Chapter 231: Contention for the Underworld Boats (1)
At this moment, both the dead and the living were competing for the Underworld Boats. As the battle became more heated, more and more people died pitifully in the Underworld River; even Earth Immortals and Treasure Lords were no exceptions.
Many experts — including Treasure Lords — fell into the Underworld River. This river was very ghastly; not everyone could do what Li Qiye did with his green hair taking root in the Underworld River. Some experts no longer came out once they fell into the river, they simply floated downstream until they disappeared in the layers of fog.
The Earth Corpses had a great advantage in this regard. It was as if they were especially blessed by the Heavenly Ancient Corpse Burial Ground. They could climb up from the Underworld River much easier compared to other cultivators and Treasure Lords. At the end of the day, they were the dead and thus, they had a much higher affinity with the river.
One peerless Treasure Lord channeled the entire universe in his palm. He wanted to use this invincible momentum to pull an Underworld Boat towards his direction. However, the moment the boat became separated from the Underworld River, it became the size of a palm. In addition, it was only a rotten wooded plank! There was no resemblance of a boat at all! Moreover, when this piece of rotten wood left the water, it immediately turned into dust and floated along the breeze down into the Underworld River.
Such a scene surprised everyone, including the undying old men, Treasure Lords, and even the unbeatable Earth Immortals. They all had one question on their minds — just what on earth are the Underworld Boats?
There were more than 10,000 Underworld Boats floating on the vast Underworld River. In the end, Earth Corpses were the most successful in boarding these boats. At this place, they had the numbers advantage along with powerful strength. And not to mention, they did not fear the Underworld Water. As the dead, they had an advantage that cultivators and Treasure Lords could not compare to.
The great powers within their coffins suffered the heaviest losses. However, not all undyings inside the coffins were actually dead. In fact, many of these undyings buried in dust still had one remaining breath, and they were extremely heaven-defying. Once they were near a boat, they would exert one last blow. To simply put it, they would kill gods if gods blocked their way and slay devils if devils deterred their path.
There were also a few great powers who were invincible during an era who actually brought their dead ancestors here. They wanted to bury them on the Underworld Boats, hoping that their ancestors would have a chance to come back to life and regain their supreme prestige.
This type of the dead found it even harder to board an Underworld Boat. It required numerous experts from the sect to make a path in order to bury the coffin on a boat! Unless this great power was extremely formidable, it would be even harder to bring the dead onto a boat compared to reaching the heavens! This was why, within this grand battle, countless experts from these powers fell and ultimately died in the Underworld River.
After waves and waves of killing cries amongst endless merit laws in the sky and ringing universal laws, one treasure after another rode the wind. A bunch of legendary characters crawled out of their coffins, causing many spectators by the ferry to be lost in this spectacle.
“Seven Celestial Heavenly Monarch, War God of the Stone Golem Race, Demon Emperor of Long River, Evil Saint Flood-Dragon, Sacred Lord Myriad Poison…” Seeing a bunch of undyings coming out of their coffins made many people lose their minds. The old Turtle Monarch from the Flying Dragon Lake possessed extensive knowledge and, after seeing so many legendary undyings who had been dead for a long time coming out, he lost his colors as if he was bleached white. These characters were all unbeatable during their own eras!
Today, all of these undying old men climbed out of their coffins contrary to the rumors of their deaths. Since the immemorial times in the Nine Worlds and Eight Desolaces, no one actually knew how many undyings were holding on to their life using the blood-halting property of the Era Blood Stones.
For these invincible old men, the main reason why they chose to prolong their life was to protect their descendants and sects. Of course, there were some who buried themselves in the blood stones for the hope of staying alive as well!
Li Qiye’s gaze was fixed on the Underworld Boats the moment they flew out from the fog. At this time, his eyes became as bright as divine torches; he didn’t let go of a single intricacy from the boats.
In this world, outside of hell itself, no one understood the Underworld Boats better than him. One could even say that because he had lived from the Desolate Era until now — as the Dark Crow floating through time, he had lost count of how many times he had observed the Underworld Boats. It would not be an exaggeration to state that he had come to see the Underworld Boats every generation when they made their appearance. He even went as far as to use a heaven-shattering treasure to seize quite a few Underworld Boats and sealed them for his own investigations!
His mind concealed a great secret of knowing how to detect life-boats and death-boats! This was his biggest accomplishment after collecting many Underworld Boats throughout the years.
“Which Underworld Boat is right?” In contrast to Li Qiye’s calmness, an elder of the War God Temple couldn’t maintain his composure. After seeing different people climbing on the boats as they floated downstream through the layers of fog, he couldn’t help but frantically urge Li Qiye for an answer.
“Don’t bother me, do you want to go on a death-boat?” Li Qiye angrily replied as he gazed towards the Underworld Boats.
His reply annoyed the War God Temple’s elders, but they could only acquiesce with silence. This burial trip was too crucial for them and only success was acceptable!
“You, pick that one over there.” Suddenly, Li Qiye shouted at Princess Zhong Zhou and pointed towards an Underworld Boat that had just arrived at the ferry.
At this time, there were more than one thousand Underworld Boats and all of them were basically identical. The one Li Qiye pointed at had no discernible characteristic compared to other boats from the spectators’ perspectives.
Princess Zhong Zhou stayed silent and simply stared at Li Qiye. Meanwhile, Li Qiye immediately raised his voice again: “Hurry up, it will be too late if someone else takes it!”
At this time, even the ancestors of the War God Temple were moved with their own thoughts. There were so many floating boats yet Li Qiye picked this particular one; there must be a reason why. However, their Forefather had warned them against underhanded actions. Even though they were tempted, robbing this boat was outside of their audacity.
However, Princess Zhong Zhou still emotionlessly stood there while staring at Li Qiye with a cold demeanor.
“Time is running out, hurry and go!” Li Qiye roared at Princess Zhong Zhou. At this moment, it seemed as if he had turned into a different person with a divine dignified expression not to be questioned by anyone. However, Princess Zhong Zhou still wouldn’t budge.
Li Qiye couldn’t help but become flustered as he angrily shouted: “Would I lie to you in this life? Hurry up and get the hell up there!” At this time, there were so many people who wanted to board this ship, how could Li Qiye not became insane from the rush?
In the blink of an eye, Princess Zhong Zhou shifted her body and stepped towards the Underworld Boat. With a loud detonation, everyone who tried to seize this ship all exploded. No matter whether they were the undyings invincible in their own eras, the Treasure Lords who were reigning over their own generations, or the fearless Earth Corpses, in the blink of an eye, everything that approached this ship all burst into nothingness without a trace remaining.
Her heaven-defying power caused everyone to take a deep breath, including the ancestors from the War God Temple. They all shuddered at the strength of this woman.
“Just who on earth is she!?” A Demon Monarch murmured as he gazed at Princess Zhong Zhou’s compelling might.
At this time, another person took action. He was the last gate master of the Thousand Emperor Gate! With a quick maneuver and just a flash, he aimed for the same Underworld Boat as Princess Zhong Zhou. Compared to the other Earth Immortals and Treasure Lords, the last gate master was very lucid. He had always been staring at this Underworld Boat. After seeing Princess Zhong Zhou attempt to board this ship, he became determined to also seize it.
“Zhanggg—” In a split second, Princess Zhong Zhou opened her eyes as two bloody rays shot out. With an unbelievable speed, the two bloody rays turned into two supreme divine spears that god-killingly pierced the sky and the six dao. The sharp gleams of the two divine spears chilled everyone’s hearts. These are truly monstrous divine spears!
The approaching divine spears shocked even the last gate master of the Thousand Emperor Gate. He immediately dodged and returned to his initial place.
“Pooof!” The divine spears struck the air and created a black hole. The fabric of time and space was shattered by the divine spears and became a void. If struck by these spears, even the old invincible undyings would turn into nothingness without a chance to even become ashes.
Such a mighty display rendered everyone speechless. This person was too monstrous and could even annihilate time and space. She was simply an existence at an abnormal level!
After returning to his spot in a flash, the last gate master no longer took action for that Underworld Boat. Without a doubt, he was very dreadful of Princess Zhong Zhou.
At this point, even the War God Temple’s elders were amazed. Even though the Thousand Emperor Gate fell at the hands of Empress Hong Tian, its power was beyond the imagination of mankind. The last gate master of the Thousand Emperor Gate was absolutely an unparalleled paragon; however, he was still so cautious against the princess like this!
After the princess boarded the ship, she did not immediately enter and simply stood at the bow. Standing there, she opened her beautiful eyes — with flashing glimmers — to look at Li Qiye at the far distance.
Looking at the princess from afar, Li Qiye gently sighed and finally mustered his voice: “The heaven and earth is eternal. One day we’ll meet again!”
After watching Li Qiye for a while, Princess Zhong Zhou eventually went inside the boat as it floated downstream.
Meanwhile, Li Shuangyan and Chen Baojiao were puzzled and thought that their young noble and this Princess Zhong Zhou seemed to be former acquaintances.