The Lord of Void and Real
Chapter 978

Chapter 978: Chapter 975: Yellow River Crossing Chapter 978: Chapter 975: Yellow River Crossing Shen Luo recalled for a moment and then suddenly remembered that back in the Western Regions, Little Monk Jiang Liu had talked about how the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva had made the great vow, “Not until the hells are empty will I become a Buddha,” and afterwards took up residence in the Underworld, to redeem the ten thousand ghosts there.

At that time, he had mentioned that the Underworld has ferry points for guiding lost souls scattered across the Four Great Continents, and those established within major State Cities are namely the City God Temples.

Those distributed in remote mountains are called “Ghost Mountain Gates,” under the jurisdiction of some minor mountain gods, while those located in the Rivers and water areas are under the control of the Water Deity and are called “Yellow River Crossings.”

However, because there are fewer people who die in the mountains compared to those who perish in rivers, it's hard to find Ghost Mountain Gates, whereas Yellow River Crossings are easy to locate.

After burying the unfortunate dead from Wuzhuang View, Shen Luo soon left.

Now with the lands broken apart, the major state capitals and city walls have almost all been completely destroyed. Even those that remain have long been occupied by demons and the temples related to the Heavenly Court and Underworld have also been taken over.

Instead of searching for a City God Temple, Shen Luo directly found a Yellow River Crossing a hundred li away from the Wuzhuang View.

This place called Yellow River Crossing was not actually a ferry, but rather the mouth of a bend in a river.

When he arrived here, from a distance he could see the riverbank densely packed with “shadows,” roughly amounting to thousands, nearly ten thousand in number.

Without getting any closer, Shen Luo already saw black fog enveloping the riverbank and resentment piercing the sky.

The dense crowd lining the river was not humans, but ghosts–wandering ghosts without anyone to guide them.

After the Underworld was breached, the cycle of the Six Paths of Reincarnation had been disrupted long ago. There were no more emissaries from the Yinning to lead ghosts from the Yang Realm. Those departed souls with incomplete divine senses had gathered here simply because they felt the aura of Yinning coming from the Yellow River Crossing.

The moment Shen Luo descended, attracted by the vitality emanating from his body, a massive number of ghosts immediately revealed ferocious expressions and swarmed toward him. For a time, the resentment stirred, like a Ghost Tide's invasion.

Shen Luo's body radiated light, and as he raised his sleeve, a formless pressure brewed. With just a light sweep, he could eliminate nearly ten thousand ghosts along both banks of the river.

However, after a slight hesitation, he lowered his sleeve and casually waved forward.

Immediately, a blood light shone, and a huge Ghost Banner stood before him, from which countless streaks of blood light shot out, sweeping around in all directions. Within a few breaths, it had rolled up all the ghosts along the river and pulled them into the banner.

Inside the Ghost Banner, ten thousand ghosts screamed, their voices reverberating to the heavens.

Shen Luo sighed, waved his hand, and sealed the Ghost Banner before putting it away.

He did not refine these ghosts, just collected them, intending to bring them all to the Underworld together.

Otherwise, if he let these ghosts accumulate here, it was only a matter of time before resentful spirits converged and devoured each other, and a Ghost King would be born.

The Human World was already chaotic enough. It was better to keep it as serene as possible.

In an instant, the ghosts that had filled the riverbanks were cleared, and the accumulated resentment began to gradually disperse with the blowing of the river wind.

Shen Luo reached the bend in the river and looked around but did not see any ferry.

His eyes brightened, and as his gaze shifted to the center of the river, he noticed an inconspicuous vortex in the rushing current of the river bend. The water was turbid, but faint traces of Yinning aura were seeping out.

“It seems this is the place.”

Moved by a thought, Shen Luo suddenly caught sight of something at the river bottom near the shore.

He gestured gently with his hand, and a cluster of green flames suddenly lit up from the river bottom and began to rise slowly, reaching the water's surface.

“A ferryboat?” Shen Luo was slightly surprised.

What emerged was an ancient wooden boat, pointed at both ends and curved upward.

The boat was riddled with cracks, and repair marks were visible everywhere. At the front of the boat stood a long pole, atop which hung a lamp burning with green flames.

Shen Luo boarded the wooden boat, which creaked and sank a bit under his weight.

“Good, it's not as fragile as it looks.”

Shen Luo casually took the long pole, removed the lamp from it, and discovered that inside was a clump of yellow, greasy fat–the corpse oil extracted from a human body.

With some distaste, he hung the lamp dripping with corpse oil on the sharp tip at the bow of the boat and pushed off the river bottom with the pole, steering the boat slowly toward the vortex at the heart of the river.

The boat, though seemingly shabby, was not affected by the river water at all and steadily reached the edge of the vortex.

First, the bow dipped downward, followed by the whole boat wobbling and plummeting below.

Shen Luo stood upon the boat, his form unwavering, not moving an inch.

As he and the boat continued to descend, there was a “splash” noise, and Shen Luo, along with the boat, plunged into the water. But the moment he hit the water, not a droplet splashed upon him; instead, it felt as if he had penetrated through some kind of array.

The next instant, the boat that had dived into the water flipped out of nowhere and appeared on the surface of another river.

Shen Luo was slightly surprised and looked down at the river beneath him, only to see dots of green light shimmering up from the river bottom, signaling that he had entered the Netherworld.

After observing for a moment, he withdrew his gaze and released his divine sense to survey the surroundings while pushing the pole with one hand, moving along with the direction of the river currents.

At that moment, his eyebrows knit together slightly as he turned to look behind him.

Behind him in the river, the green lights blinked rapidly as shadows of something unseen floated up from the depths.

“Water ghosts…” After a brief inspection, Shen Luo found they were just a few water ghosts, not even of the Nascent Soul Stage, and thus paid them little mind.

He maneuvered the bamboo pole, hastening the boat's speed.

Ahead, the terrain seemed to change as the water flow grew more and more rapid.

Meanwhile, the few water ghosts from behind suddenly sped up and, within moments, approached close to Shen Luo.

As they got near, the water ghosts seemed to sense the strong aura emanating from Shen Luo. They dared not make any aggressive moves, but instead, hurriedly glancing at him, they swiftly floated toward the front.

Shen Luo, noting their behavior, suddenly scowled and raised his hand, thrusting it forward vigorously.

A streak of golden light shot from his hand, transforming into a curved blade that sliced into the water.

With a loud “boom,” a hundred-foot-high wave exploded on the surface of the river. The river water stopped flowing momentarily, revealing a stretch of riverbed covered in white bones, while the shadowy figures of the water ghosts were instantly cleaved by the golden light, turning to ashes.

With a casual gesture, a small hand formed from condensed river water emerged from below the boat and handed him a dark red talisman.

“Blood Explosion Talisman… should be enough for an early True Immortal…” he sneered.

Clearly, a Ghost King of True Immortal Stage had set his sights on him and sent these water ghosts to test his depth, uncertain of Shen Luo's cultivation level.

Shen Luo turned to look behind again but detected no unusual qi.

“Your ability to conceal your presence is impressive, but stop testing me. If you know what's good for you, get lost quickly, or else…” Shen Luo paused and did not finish his threat.

But within just an instant, the Netherworld river stretching nearly a thousand li behind him froze over.

Hundreds of li away, in the midst of the river, a man in blue robes with a snow white complexion–clearly a demon–was following the river in a Nether Ship made from a great demon's skull and found the water beneath him suddenly frozen solid.

Sensing something was wrong, he had just leaped up when the Nether Ship below was completely sealed in ice.

The man's figure was somewhat ethereal as he stared directly at Shen Luo, his ghastly pale face showing a hint of hesitation.

However, it was soon resolved as he reached a hand into the ice layer, a green ghostly flame burning past, quickly thawing the frozen Nether Ship and dragging it onto the ice.

He boarded the Nether Ship again, not bothering to melt the surrounding river, and simply chased down the ice flow.