Chaotic Melee

"I will go and open the secret realm. There might be abnormal disturbances around here, so please protect me!" said the South Route Guide, leaping forward.

Beneath his feet, the thick fog of the Abyss of Slumbering Dreams drifted, while the Peach Blossom Wonderland on the opposite side appeared both real and illusory. A faint black shadow slowly approached, finally blocked by an invisible barrier.

His figure seemed to crash into the surface of water, sending ripples spreading outward.

"Open!" shouted the South Route Guide with a sudden roar, pushing his hands forward and exerting force against the invisible barrier in the air. A rumbling noise echoed like thunder across the earth!

Rumble, rumble, rumble—

The ripples in the air intensified, sending undulations rippling away. At the same time, the abyss below began to churn with towering waves!

"Roar—"

A dragon roar that shook the heavens!

From within the rolling, dense fog, a pitch-black, menacing dragon head poked out, its huge skull bearing blood-red eyes that looked ferocious and terrifying! Following it out of the abyss, its winding body was already tattered and broken, reduced to incomplete flesh, bones, and spirits.

A ghost dragon?!

A dragon was still a dragon. Even though it had fallen and turned into a ghost, it still possessed supreme might, causing even these Underworld Sect demonic cultivators who kept company with spirits year-round to tremble.

No, there were two... No, one after another, a total of six ghost dragon figures poked out from the abyss!

"Roar—"

The South Route Guide's attempt to open the opposite secret realm seemed to provoke these slumbering spirits, and all the ghost dragons roared and charged toward him.

At this moment, the Southwest Guide shouted loudly, "Fall back!"

Boom, boom!

With one hand, he hoisted up a tomb-suppressing stele, lifted it high into the air, and smashed it down heavily! The stele expanded in mid-air, instantly stretching across the sky like a small mountain, firmly suppressing those few ghost dragons beneath it!

Bang, bang, bang—

Continuous impacts came from beneath the stele, and each impact caused the Southwest Guide's body to shake.

He shouted at the top of his lungs, "Step forward and assist me!"

All the Earth-Slaying Envoys and Soul-Detaining Envoys behind him obeyed the order and stepped forward, pressing their palms onto the tomb-suppressing stele. Gathering all their true qi, they helped him press the stele downward, tightly covering the six flailing ghost dragons.

Chu Liang and the other two were naturally among them, but whether they were truly exerting any effort was known only to themselves.

However, the situation did not stabilize just like that.

Then, another faint chanting suddenly came from the air, "The Nine Provinces are about to tilt, the nation will collapse and sink, oh vast heavens, alas..."

As soon as this voice sounded, an endless sense of desolation arose, naturally stirring up an inexplicable grief and heroism within one's heart.

Looking up, they saw the ghost of an old man in gray robes stepping over from the distant sky, holding a scroll of archaic books in his left hand. With every step forward, that powerful spiritual contamination grew a fraction stronger.

"Is it the ghost of a former dynasty's prime minister?" Pushan immediately guessed the old man's identity.

"Stop him! I'm about to open the secret realm!" shouted the South Route Guide ahead.

Before he could finish, the old man's ghost had already spotted him, and then anger erupted in his tone: "Audacious thieves! How dare you trespass upon my Dragon Court! Do you really take all my civil and military officials for dead?!"

With a furious roar and a wave of his right hand, sounds of battle rushed out from the fog. Scattered ghost soldiers and ghost generals riding skeleton war-horses charged in from all directions.

Seeing this, the Southwest Guide commanded, "Earth-Slaying Envoys, follow me to meet the enemy! Soul-Detaining Envoys, continue to suppress this stele!"

At the order, the four remaining Earth-Slaying Envoys stood up to intercept the ghost generals and soldiers from four different directions, while the Southwest Guide flew forward to meet the old man's ghost.

"Kill the thieves!" roared the old man. Lifting his left-hand scroll, phantom archaic characters emerged from it and struck toward the Southwest Guide.

The Southwest Guide raised both palms, summoning a string of nine skulls. Boom!

These nine oversized skulls soared into the wind, collided with a phantom archaic character, and were instantly shattered, scattering in all directions with a clatter.

"Such a powerful ghost! I am no match for him, hurry up!" shouted the Southwest Guide immediately.

Simultaneously, he slashed his left palm, squeezing out a stream of blood that flew evenly onto the nine skulls. In an instant, these skulls seemed to gain souls, leaping up frantically and biting toward the old man with wide-open jaws.

The old man merely walked forward leisurely, casually waving away archaic characters to easily beat back these fierce and malevolent skulls.

"Right away!" shouted the South Route Guide in reply.

...

They were not the only ones in a critical situation; the Soul-Detaining Envoys left behind on the tomb-suppressing stele were equally miserable. As everyone joined forces to suppress the six ghost dragons, the stele began to heave violently, and blood spilled from some people's mouths from time to time!

"I can't hold on..." a Soul-Detaining Envoy vomited blood, "We won't be able to suppress them much longer..."

"Brothers, put your backs into it!" Chu Liang shouted. "As long as we hold on for this short moment, the Guide Envoys and Earth-Slaying Envoys will be able to take us to find treasures!"

"Grind your teeth and hold fast! If you have ten parts of strength, pull out eleven! The time to serve the Underworld Sect has come!" Monk Pushan also shouted loudly.

"Right!" Chu Liang chimed in, "Do you want to be cowards for a lifetime, or heroes for this one moment?"

"Even if it means burning away our remaining lifespan and overdrawing our Golden Cores, we must hold on for this moment! Never give up easily!" shouted Monk Pushan.

With the two of them egging each other on, full of passion and high-spirited zeal, they greatly boosted the morale of the Underworld Sect's Soul-Detaining Envoys present. Willing to overdraw their lifespans and potential, they operated their Golden Cores at overload to pin down this moment.

Luo Yao glanced coldly at their act, feeling a lump of words in her chest begging to be spoken. These two...

They really could talk the dead back to life without paying for it.

Anyone watching would think they were the most loyal to the Underworld Sect and contributed the most effort; in reality, if the stele had handles, they would definitely be pulling it upward.

Up above, a loud cracking sound echoed.

The South Route Guide actually used his hands to open a crack in the void. The invisible barrier of the secret realm was torn apart, revealing dazzling heavenly light.

"Opened!" he shouted loudly. "I'll come to assist you!"

Before his voice faded, his figure had already drifted to the side of the Southwest Guide. At that moment, the Southwest Guide was struggling fiercely against the ghost of the former dynasty's prime minister, leaving him almost no time to turn back.

Puff—

The South Route Guide arrived behind him, but instead of offering assistance, he drove a claw straight through his heart.

"Ugh..." The Southwest Guide turned his head, his eyes beneath the hood filled with fury. "You actually..."

"Thank you for escorting me all the way here, but now that we've reached the place, surely I couldn't really give you the battle soul?" The South Route Guide sneered.

But the next second, his sneer abruptly stopped.

Because he saw a trace of mockery in the Southwest Guide's eyes, and his keen awareness told him something was wrong.

Fall back!

He instantly withdrew his heart-gouging hand and prepared to retreat, but alas, it was too late.

The Southwest Guide's body exploded with a loud bang, transforming into a cloud of blood mist on the spot! This explosion, carrying intense baleful qi, enveloped a radius of dozens of meters!

An unlucky Earth-Slaying Envoy over there was caught in the blast, accidentally tainted by a trace of blood qi, and immediately wailed as his entire body burst into pus and blood!

"Hhahaha!" Another Earth-Slaying Envoy burst into loud laughter, suddenly flipping back his hood to reveal a face identical to the Southwest Guide who had just exploded!

"I knew long ago you wouldn't sincerely let me refine the battle soul, but unfortunately, you didn't know I had long since mastered the Avatar Technique!" he laughed triumphantly.

Immortal magic, Avatar Technique!

There were many so-called clone techniques in the cultivation world, but they were merely illusions creating similar puppets, unable to replicate one's own power. As for genuine immortal avatar magic, once mastered, it could manifest a true clone identical to oneself!

He had used this trick to outmaneuver the South Route Guide.

These two had been harboring treacherous thoughts against each other all along!

The self-explosion of the blood mist possessed terrifying power. Amidst the sky-filling blood mist, a phantom suddenly bolted out, shooting straight toward the crack in the sky.

"Trying to escape?"

The Southwest Guide had long known a sixth-realm expert could not be killed so easily. His divine sense locked tightly onto the blood mist, waiting for him to flee so he could pursue.

Seeing the phantom escape, he immediately followed closely behind, summoning the nine skulls once more. They opened their jaws wide, converging into a powerful vortex of suction!

Both of them practiced authentic Underworld Sect techniques, having achieved the Heavenly Star Nether-Connecting Body upon reaching the sixth realm. This physical form possessed a unique supernatural trait: once heavily injured, it would transform into an illusory body, rendering all attacks targeting physical entities ineffective.

Anyone else might have let him escape using this method, but the Southwest Guide practiced the same technique and naturally had a countermeasure. Forming this large array with the nine skulls, he specialized in restraining spiritual phantom bodies!

"If you want me to die, I won't let you off easy either!" The illusory-bodied South Route Guide could not escape, turning around to roar in rage.

He formed hand seals and raised them high toward the sky.

Rumble, rumble—

Instantly, the sound of chains being broken echoed through the sky. An illusory, pitch-black giant door suddenly appeared and was shoved open!

With a deafening rattle, a massive black hand wrapped in countless iron chains reached out!

"You actually dared to sacrifice your lifespan to summon the Nether Earth-Treasuring Ghost!" The Southwest Guide roared in fury as well. Facing that massive black hand as if confronting a formidable enemy, he raised his right hand and summoned the tomb-suppressing stele that had been suppressing the ghost dragons below!

Bang—

The tomb-suppressing stele blocked the massive black hand. It stalled for just a fraction of a second before being pushed forward by the giant hand and crashing into the Southwest Guide.

"Puff!" Blood spurted wildly from his mouth. Straining with both palms against the tomb-suppressing stele, he finally managed to deadlock for a brief moment.

...

At this very moment.

Having summoned this strike of the massive black hand, the South Route Guide had also suffered severe damage to his vitality. No longer lingering, he turned around and plunged straight into the crack leaking seven-colored heavenly light.

Visible to the naked eye, the crack was rapidly shrinking.

Below, having lost the suppression of the tomb-suppressing stele, the six infuriated ghost dragons regained their freedom at last. The Soul-Detaining Envoys, who had been struggling to hold on via the stele, suddenly lost the barrier between them and stared face-to-face with the ghost dragons.

We're doomed.

Despair rose in everyone's heart.

Only the three Soul-Detaining Envoys who had been shouting slogans earlier without exerting any effort still retained their full cultivation. Seeing this situation, they immediately fled far away into the sky.

They slipped away.

As for those Soul-Detaining Envoys who had already overdrawn their strength, before they could fly far, they were torn apart and devoured by the roaring ghost dragons! Almost none of them escaped!

Bang—

At the cost of sacrificing numerous Soul-Detaining Envoys, the Southwest Guide finally caught the palm with the tomb-suppressing stele. Watching as the massive black hand was pulled back into the door by countless chains and eventually vanished into thin air.

Yet, no time was left for him to catch his breath before the ghost of the former dynasty's prime minister struck again. Shouting "Thieves!" at the top of his lungs, an illusory archaic character struck heavily into the Southwest Guide's back.

"Ah!" He screamed, slammed hard against the tomb-suppressing stele as blood splattered across it.

Seeing the crack ahead about to close, he knew he was no match for the old man's ghost. Once the crack closed, he would surely die here.

Thus, enduring the old man's attacks from behind, he threw his body onto the tomb-suppressing stele and charged fiercely toward the closing crack!

As long as he rushed in, the heavily injured and dying South Route Guide would certainly be no match for him. Any potential treasures in the secret realm and the seventh-realm battle soul would all be his for the taking! After recovering, he would slaughter his way back out, and by then, a seat among the Underworld Sect's upper echelons would be his!

The heavenly light seeping from the secret realm seemed to transform into his bright future.

Just as the tomb-suppressing stele was about to cross the crack, with its front end already poking inside, the Southwest Guide's right eyelid twitched inexplicably.

An unspeakable sense of crisis gripped his heart. Having roamed the jianghu for many years, he knew this was a premonition of danger.

Who is it?

His heart skipped a beat, and his divine sense immediately spread outward.

But it was already too late. In the secret realm on the other side of the crack, a handsome young man who had just swallowed a Concealed Origin Pill slowly raised his long sword...