“Bai Hu!” Lu Wu suddenly roared.
Everyone was startled.
Lu Wu’s face was full of anxiety. “Listen to me! Bai Hu is going to open a new realm!”
Neither Ye Yang nor Teng Hua understood. Shen Ming’s expression turned stern, more serious than ever before. “A new realm? Can you elaborate?”
Lu Wu told them that back when his divine power had waned, he was not only useless to Kunlun but could no longer withstand its extreme weather. So he simply went to the demon realm.
The spiritual energy there wasn’t great either, but it was enough for him to fall into a deep sleep. He slept for several thousand years, only to wake up and discover the strange place that was the underground floating city.
Lu Wu, confident in his divine power, found the abyss strange and went down to investigate. To his surprise, he discovered someone was trying to open a passage between the human realm and the combined human-demon realms!
His first reaction was to stop it. But he didn’t have the ability back then. He had thought that, as a divine beast, no matter how down on his luck he was, he wouldn’t be so useless… Never mind, he didn’t want to talk about it. “Anyway, I eventually found out about this organization called YCG and thought they might be able to stop it, so I wanted to get word to them. Who knew that while I was inquiring about YCG, Bai Hu’s men would discover me? They chased me all over…”
Later, Lu Wu had a stroke of genius. The most dangerous place is the safest place. He hid directly at Baodu Mountain and hadn’t been discovered ever since.
“Back then, I didn’t know that Bai Hu was behind all of this, or that opening the passage between the Underworld, the human realm, and the demon realm wasn’t the goal, just a byproduct of his real scheme.”
Ye Yang grew more and more nervous as he listened. “So what exactly is he trying to do?”
“I just told you. Bai Hu’s real goal is to create a new realm. He wants to become the new Heavenly Emperor!”
During the time Lu Wu had been hiding at Baodu Mountain, he hadn’t just been waiting around. He had gathered a lot of information, even discovering something terrifying: “The so-called Divine War back then wasn’t caused by some external force at all. It was Bai Hu! At some point, he set up traps all over the upper realm, absorbing the spiritual power of all mid-to-low-level living beings there.”
“He had been quietly accumulating power without being noticed. Then, during the Divine War, when everyone was completely defenseless, he used that terrifying power, accumulated over tens of millions of years, to kill everyone in an instant.”
“Aside from a few of the most powerful ones, none of the living beings even had time to react!”
As Lu Wu recounted this again, he couldn’t help but shudder. To slowly absorb power from all the gods, demons, immortals, spiritual plants, and spiritual beasts at an imperceptible pace, then use that power to instantly kill all living beings in the upper realm—how much time and what kind of perseverance would that take? Even a immortal like Lu Wu couldn’t fathom it.
To achieve his ambition, Bai Hu had expended an unimaginable amount of time and effort. He had probably been plotting this since the very beginning of the upper realm. What was even more terrifying was that he had almost succeeded!
“The way Bai Hu killed all the living beings was by draining all their spiritual power and life force, instantly turning their bodies into empty shells. Only the power of the soul couldn’t be drained. The power he absorbed, along with the power he collected through evil magic and the residual power from Zhu Que, was all used to open the new realm.”
Ye Yang still hadn’t grasped the concept of the “new realm.” “Where exactly is this new realm? The upper realm?”
Lu Wu: “Sigh, you still don’t get it. The human realm and the Underworld being connected, the upper realm being opened—those were accidents… No, not accidents. They weren’t the real goals, just side effects. His real goal is to carve out a brand new realm between the human realm and the Underworld! He just didn’t expect the power to be so strong that it simultaneously broke through all three realms!”
Ye Yang’s mind raced, and suddenly it clicked: “So, Zhu Que’s self-destruction wasn’t meant to break open the upper realm, but to create the new realm… Instead, it accidentally broke the seal on the upper realm and exposed Bai Hu!”
Shen Ming and Ye Yang exchanged a glance and realized at the same time: “There’s another force at work.” “Someone else has been helping us from the shadows!”
Who could that be, secretly weakening the seal on the upper realm?
Shen Ming thought for only a few seconds before saying, “Regardless of whether that person exists or why they did it, we have to deal with the situation in front of us immediately.”
Ye Yang and Teng Hua both looked confused (⊙_⊙)
Shen Ming explained briefly: “Creating a new realm isn’t that simple. The human realm, demon realm, upper realm, and Underworld form a stable structure. The emergence of a new realm will disrupt that balance. All living beings will be harmed, and in severe cases, the entire world could be destroyed.” So their most important and urgent task was to stop Bai Hu.
Lu Wu: “Right! I’ve been investigating for a long time, and I’m sure Baodu Mountain is Bai Hu’s stronghold, where he and all his minions are based. The missing Ghost Emperors must have been captured by him. We need to rescue them first, then we can use the power of Baodu Mountain to fight back. Otherwise, with just the few of us, we won’t be able to do anything.”
Ye Yang immediately pulled out his message-delivering little fish. “I need to tell Elder Li about the situation here.”
Lu Wu: “Find more help. The more, the better. This concerns every living being that exists—gods, ghosts, demons, immortals, humans, animals. The message I had someone deliver to Luoyang City should have arrived. Hopefully, the city lords can come quickly.”
“We won’t wait for them for now. We’ll move first.” Shen Ming was in a hurry.
After hearing Lu Wu’s intelligence, he had already prepared himself for the worst. The power Bai Hu now possessed was absolutely terrifying. Even if opening a new realm required an immeasurable amount of energy, Bai Hu had schemed for so long—he definitely wouldn’t be unprepared or off guard.
But the situation at Baodu Mountain couldn’t wait any longer. As the most powerful person present, Shen Ming could see farther and sense more keenly than the others. Baodu Mountain wasn’t just isolated from the rest of the Underworld; its western border was also dissolving bit by bit. It was being absorbed into the new realm!
They had to free this region before Baodu Mountain was completely merged.
To do this, they had to rescue the two Ghost Emperors, Ji Kang and Zhou Qi, who could mobilize the power of this land.
“The operation must be stealthy. The entire Baodu Mountain is under Bai Hu’s control now. Little ghost, you come back here—it’s too dangerous for you out there.” Lu Wu took Teng Hua back into the Soul Union lantern. This way, even if Teng Hua couldn’t control her ghostly energy, her location wouldn’t be exposed.
Shen Ming: “Let’s go.”
Ye Yang clenched his fists. “Let’s go!”
·
The wind at Baodu Mountain carried a complex mixture of energies—the power of Zhu Que, along with the residual power of other gods, ghosts, demons, and immortals. These were the energies of the living beings Bai Hu had killed.
The wind carried these energies through every corner of Baodu Mountain, silently or dramatically reshaping the terrain and clearing away the remaining souls.
The group advanced quickly and stealthily toward the western border. Soul Union concealed their presence well.
Soon, they reached their destination.
No one actually knew where or what the place they were looking for looked like. They were relying solely on Ye Yang’s perception, following the area with the densest concentration of malice.
But the moment they saw the scene before them, they knew instantly—this was it.
It wasn’t so much that Baodu Mountain was merging with the new realm Bai Hu was creating, but rather that the new realm was devouring Baodu Mountain.
Beneath a distorted, pitch-black sky, the ground had disappeared. Underfoot was an unknown substance like black tar, flowing slowly along strange paths. The area was expanding bit by bit. Wherever it flowed, all ghostly energy vanished. Rolling black fog carried an energy that made one’s heart tremble.
Looking closer, there were many figures within the tar—the missing yin officials!
Periodically, ghostly figures drained of all their energy would rise from the tar and dissipate. Not die, but dissipate completely, ceasing to exist altogether.
“Look over there! The two Ghost Emperors!”
Ji Kang and Zhou Qi were in bad shape. They were imprisoned together, their Ghost Emperor powers flowing continuously into the tar, providing it with the energy to imprison the other yin officials.
“How vicious. What do we do? Can I just go in there?” As Ye Yang spoke, he had already extended one leg.
He only wanted to test it, not actually make contact. But the moment he reached the edge of the tar, the tar, which had been flowing steadily, suddenly came to life and transformed into a massive wave that surged toward them.
Not knowing what the substance was, the three of them dared not touch it and retreated rapidly. Only after they had backed up more than ten meters did the tar wave reluctantly recede.
Amidst the churning of the wave, the imprisoned figures shook. Suddenly, from within the black fog, a tall figure emerged.
He walked atop the tar—no, the tar itself had carried him out!
The three immediately went on guard. The figure reached the edge of the tar and slowly stepped down, walking toward them one step at a time, as casually as if he were strolling through his own home. He even greeted them leisurely: “Long time no see.”
Ye Yang recognized him instantly. This was the Great King of Biancheng, the former lord of the underground floating city.
“No, something’s wrong.” Shen Ming sensed a familiar spiritual power. This wasn’t the original Great King of Biancheng. This was Bai Hu, possessing the Great King of Biancheng’s body!
No wonder. So that was it.
Since he had already been recognized, there was no need to keep up the disguise. The Yan King’s appearance dissolved into black fog and merged with all the surrounding black fog. Bai Hu’s human form appeared.
Bai Hu’s human form was an extremely burly figure over two meters tall, with the features of a man, a woman, a man… Ye Yang was a bit dumbfounded. He couldn’t tell anymore. The voice was clearly male, but that build, that chest, that pregnant belly…
Shen Ming and Lu Wu clearly hadn’t expected Bai Hu to look like this either. They only snapped out of it when Bai Hu spoke again.
“Shen Ming, I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”
Shen Ming hesitated, which was rare for him. “…You are?”
Bai Hu laughed. “Don’t recognize me anymore? I suppose that’s understandable. I’m not the same as I used to be.”
“It’s normal that you don’t understand. I have already created a new realm and become its master. Once I give birth to this child, conceived entirely by myself, I will be the true creator.” As he spoke, he stroked his belly, a look of utter fascination on his face.
Ye Yang didn’t understand what there was to be proud of. “Humans have already achieved parthenogenesis.” It was just that the ethical issues hadn’t been resolved.
Bai Hu looked like he wanted to lose his temper, but then decided it would be beneath him to argue with a mere few-hundred-year-old demon. He took a breath, pretended nothing had happened, and continued looking at Shen Ming. “You’ve come at the perfect time. This child needs you.”
Shen Ming: “…?”
Ye Yang, Lu Wu: “????????” What the hell???
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