“I love befriending smart people. Miss Qing Cheng, it looks like you understand how I deal with things. One day, if I grow strong enough to influence the battle between the Ghost Monarch and Ghost Empress, I will definitely pay a visit to the Ghost Domain.”
Xiao Chen carefully put away the Soul Returning Grass. He did not mind Qing Cheng’s candidness. In fact, it did not repulse him.
There was no benefit in straddling the fence. Ghost Empress Xi Xun was considered one of the world’s peak experts, equal to the Holy Masters of the Three Holy Lands.
Furthermore, Xiao Chen really needed the Soul Returning Grass in his hand. The most important thing was that he did not regret what he had done.
Whether was it forcing Xie Zixuan to retreat or using the will clone to kill Mo Lian, these were both decisions he made himself.
Even if Xiao Chen could do things all over again, he would not hesitate to make the same decisions. A bladesman never hesitated.
After hearing Xiao Chen’s answer, Qing Cheng also heaved a small sigh of relief in her heart.
Qing Cheng’s experience with Xiao Chen above the Underworld River in her Eight Ghost Palanquin allowed her to understand what Xiao Chen’s temper was like. She should never try to threaten him. On the other hand, by using unexpected methods, she might be able to achieve what she wanted.
Yuan Xu asked calmly, “Since Miss Qing Cheng is here, can you now tell us what you know about the Yellow Springs Road?”
Qing Cheng glanced at Yuan Xu. Then she smiled and said, “To your group, the Yellow Springs Road is actually not really dangerous. As long as you do not turn your head back, you will definitely be able to walk to the Bridge of Helplessness.”
This was not the first time Xiao Chen heard Qing Cheng advise not to turn one’s head back on the Yellow Springs Road. However, why?
“Don’t ask me why. Those who dared to turn their heads back are all dead.” Qing Cheng shrugged her shoulders to show that she did not understand, either. “This matter is very strange actually. This saying did not exist ten thousand years ago. The Yellow Springs Road was a famous and popular experiential training ground in the Nine Layers of Purgatory. Ghost Race disciples would come here to hunt for Yin Soldiers.
“This saying only appeared in recent times. Too many strange things happened in there. Over time, people stopped coming to the Yellow Springs Road.”
Xiao Chen kept this phrase in mind. Then, he turned around and did not hesitate to step through the Gates of Hell.
Going through the Nine Layers of Purgatory, entering the Gates of Hell, traveling on the Yellow Springs Road, no matter what danger it was, no matter how great the peril, as long as Ao Jiao could be revived, it was all worth it.
When the others saw Xiao Chen enter, they muttered for a while and then entered as well. They were all very curious about the Yellow Springs Road.
The scene before everyone’s eyes changed jarringly. Aside from the red Paramita Flowers blooming at the sides of the Yellow Springs Road, there were only two colors—black and white. Everything was either black or white, including themselves; they were assimilated into this world.
Everyone’s body only had two colors, black and white. When Xiao Chen checked his own body’s condition, he did not discover anything wrong. It was just that the other colors all disappeared.
Xiao Chen’s Vital Qi was still there, as was his Law Energy.
He calmed down and bent over to pick a few red Paramita Flowers at the roadside.
Xiao Chen needed three things to bring back Ao Jiao: the Paramita Flower, Soul Returning Grass, and Three Life Stone. Now, he only lacked one—the Three Life Stone.
The Three Life Stone was located at the end of Yellow Springs Road, at the Bridge of Helplessness. He only needed to break off a small piece.
“Let’s go. Be careful. This place has Yin Soldiers. Before the Yellow Springs Road changed, the experts of my race liked to hunt for Yin Soldiers here and refine them, turning them into powerful assistants,” Qing Cheng said as she looked around carefully.
The Yin Soldiers made up the army of the underworld. When they were alive, they were all warriors who had been through fierce battles. After they died, the Kings of Hell trained them further to strengthen them.
The Yin Soldiers were extremely strong existences used to defend against intruders or open up new territory.
Xiao Chen stood up and put away the Paramita Flowers. The sky was gray, and the end of his sight appeared hazy. It was like there was no end to this road.
Remembering Qing Cheng’s warning, Xiao Chen always kept his Law Energy circulating. Rings of lightning-attributed light appeared behind him as he quickly walked forward.
After walking for a while, a headless corpse that had fallen over on the ground appeared before the group.
Xiao Chen flipped the corpse over and found that the rest of the corpse’s body was perfectly fine. The five exchanged glances with each other, wondering how this person died.
From here on, every now and then, they would see headless corpses lying on the ground, their cause of death unknown.
The interminable Yellow Springs Road, the black-and-white world, and the countless headless corpses—all these gave the Yellow Springs Road an eerie atmosphere.
“Qiang! Qiang!”
Suddenly, metallic clangor sounded in front. A group of Yin Soldiers wearing heavy armor and holding weapons roared by on war chariots flying quickly in the air.
“Yin Soldiers passing! Minor ghosts of the various places, quickly make way!” a Yin Soldier standing on a war chariot cried out loudly.
These Yin Soldiers had lost their spirituality long ago. Their memories stopped at the time before the underworld shattered and reincarnation stopped existing.
Every day, at every moment, these Yin Soldiers repeated the same action, protecting the endless Yellow Springs Road.
“The Reincarnation Lamp is useless against these Yin Soldiers. Just kill them. There are no high-ranking Yin Soldiers among them, so they won’t give you any trouble,” Qing Cheng suggested directly when she saw Xiao Chen take out the Reincarnation Lamp.
With a flip of his hand, Xiao Chen put back the Reincarnation Lamp. Then, he executed the Kun Peng Fist. An enormous Kun Peng appeared, flickering with electricity. Using the force of this punch, he overturned the war chariot.
The others sprang into action. Although this group of Yin Soldiers was difficult to deal with, as Qing Cheng said, there was no real danger.
After about seven minutes, all the Yin Soldiers on the war chariots had died. Until they died, they kept repeating, “Yin Soldiers passing! Minor ghosts of the various places, quickly make way!”
“Xiao Chen…”
Xiao Chen, who pulled back his fists and stood upright, preparing to continue down the road, heard Xiao Bai calling for him. Out of habit, he turned his head back to ask what was the matter.
He had only turned his head halfway when his expression changed drastically, reacting quickly.
This indeed sounded like Xiao Bai. However, Xiao Bai always called him Elder Brother Xiao Chen and never just Xiao Chen alone.
However, it was already too late. The moment Xiao Chen started turning his head, he saw a hair-raising scene.
A headless Buddha descended from above, filling the sky with scarlet light. This Buddha stretched out its hand, which expanded infinitely, and pressed two fingers towards Xiao Chen’s head like they were scissors.
“Ka ca!”
The two fingers gently snipped together, and Xiao Chen’s head fell off. Then, he turned into a headless corpse, falling to the ground.
Now, Xiao Chen’s body was no different from the other corpses that the group had seen.
“Not my head, it’s not my head. Who took my head…”
The headless Buddha gently placed Xiao Chen’s head on as it should be and repositioned it a few times. The Buddha’s belly wobbled about, giving off a depressed demonic sound before he flung the head away in a rage.
However, the Buddha did not realize that before the head landed on the ground, it dissipated in midair and disappeared.
Xiao Bai and the others were extremely horrified. They could not help but want to turn their heads around to see what was happening.
“Quick, go. Don’t turn your heads back!”
A figure appeared in front—it was Xiao Chen, who supposedly died. Rejoicing in her heart, Xiao Bai quickly ran over.
The headless Xiao Chen on the ground slowly turned into air and disappeared with a ‘bang.’
Only after the group had gotten far away did Xiao Chen stop. The rest immediately stopped to ask what had happened.
Xiao Chen had not calmed down yet; his heart still pounded loudly and heavily. It had been a long time since he had run into such a situation. His mental state was currently a mess.
Earlier, he had felt like he could not dodge at all and would die in the next instant. Even a great grandmaster-level Martial Sage or a quasi-Emperor would not have been able to block that snip from the Buddha.
At the critical moment, Xiao Chen had executed the Life Bestowal Spell and made a replica of his body out of thin air. Then, his true self quickly fled, barely managing to escape that danger.
Had that headless Buddha continued to pursue him, Xiao Chen would have died for sure.
After fleeing for a long time, Xiao Chen did not see that huge headless Buddha making a move again. Perhaps it had something to do with his not completely turning his head.
“What exactly did you see?” Qing Cheng asked anxiously.
Everyone knew that one should not turn their heads back on Yellow Springs Road. However, the curiosity of men was forever the strongest. Everyone wanted to know what one would see after doing so.
Xiao Chen calmed himself down as he breathed and replied, “I saw a huge headless Buddha. However, I only saw its side and did not see it in its full glory.”
Yuan Xu had the broadest knowledge in the group. He immediately said, “In hell, there is only Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva that is related to Buddhas. His ability equals that of the Lord Buddha, but he is not a Buddha but only a bodhisattva.”
As the peak of Buddhism was long ago, most people could no longer differentiate between Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Yuan Xu could not explain it clearly, either; he could only provide a simple analogy. A Buddha was like an Immortal Lord during the Immortal Epoch while a bodhisattva was like a Great Multiplication Immortal Cultivator that had not undergone tribulations yet.
This Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva was rather special. He was very powerful and much stronger than ordinary Buddhas.
However, the Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva made a great vow: “If hell is not empty, I will not become a Buddha.” Because of this, he never became a Buddha and remained a bodhisattva.
[TL Note: There is a Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva in Buddhism, and this vow is something that he did make. This is one of the famous Buddhist sayings, along with “If I don’t go to hell, who will?”]
Qing Cheng muttered, “I have heard about this Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva before. However, since he was so powerful, why was his head chopped off?”
The expressions of the others changed slightly as well. According to what Qing Cheng said, the Yellow Springs Road changed only around ten thousand years ago.
Which was to say, ten thousand years ago, this bodhisattva that was stronger than an Immortal Lord existed in Hell with his head still intact.
According to the timeline of the Kunlun Realm, ten thousand years ago was when the Azure Emperor was in power and sweeping his way everywhere, the time when he was unrivaled.
If Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva really lost his head ten thousand years ago, it was very possible that the Azure Emperor did it.
Who else could chop off the head of the Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, who was stronger than an Immortal Lord, after the Ancient Era of the Martial Epoch? The group could not think of anyone else but the Azure Emperor.
However, had the Azure Emperor actually been that strong?”
Xiao Chen shook his head, not wanting to think about this problem. He said, “We should walk side by side for the rest of the way. No matter what we hear, we cannot turn our heads back.”
With Xiao Chen’s close brush with death as precedent, the group did not dare doubt the saying of never turn one’s head back on the Yellow Springs Road.
In this black-and-white world, the only color came from the red Paramita Flowers at the sides of Yellow Springs Road, blazing like a flame and looking beautiful.
During the journey after Xiao Chen’s brush with death, the group met with several strong Yin Soldiers, some even equal to great grandmaster-level Martial Sages.
The five used their full power and fought with all their might before barely managing to kill them.
This seemingly endless Yellow Springs Road was an excellent place for experiential training, especially with the headless Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva occasionally testing the group’s mental state from behind.