Immortal Creation.

Chapter 677 Message
The sky in the underworld is always dark.

The Qingjiao Army marched swiftly across the gray-black plains.

On the back of the black-blooded paper horse, Ross interrupted his healing, opened his eyes, and looked towards the horizon.

A hint of doubt flashed in his eyes.

"That's the Valley of Water Burial!" Ning Zhuo knew the location, after all, Sun Lingtong had been there before, but was intercepted nearby.

Ning Zhuo also showed a look of doubt—the scene before him was very different from what he remembered.

A thick, dark gray fog rose from the valley and condensed into a heavy, oppressive leaden cloud in the low sky.

Two black hills, like the crouching skeleton of a giant beast.

Ning Zhuo frowned: "Why do these two black hills seem much lower than I remember?"

The hills resemble two giant beasts facing each other, tearing a relatively narrow but bottomless rift in the middle—that is the entrance to the Water Burial Valley.

“There has clearly been a great battle here!” Ross said in a telepathic message.

Both he and Ning Zhuo showed expressions of worry.

The former was worried about the elderly man with ashes, while the latter was concerned about the Buddhist physician Meng Yaoyin.

As the distance decreased, the details of the gray-black fog became clearer.

Countless tiny, grayish-white, fluffy particles floated and drifted in the mist. They resembled the ash of burnt paper or the spores of some kind of fungus, spinning silently and emitting an odor mixed with mold, the stench of corpses, and a strong, watery smell.

"This is the unique burial water of the Water Burial Valley. Normally, it flows like a stream within the valley," Ross explained, his voice tinged with a somber tone.

Sun Lingtong had never been inside the valley, but Luo Si had been in and out countless times and was quite familiar with the valley's layout.

Ning Zhu remained silent, his anxiety growing, wishing he could immediately dive into the valley to find his mother.

But he ultimately held back and instead issued an order for the entire army to be on high alert and proceed slowly.

This action earned him an approving look from Ross.

Having experienced several major events, Ning Zhuo's military skills have far surpassed those of ordinary people.

"You all set up camp around here and keep a close watch on Qing Chi. Make sure she doesn't get hurt again," Ning Zhuo ordered. "We'll be right back."

Qingchi remains unconscious.

Unlike Ross, he recovered quickly and was able to ride a horse on his own long ago.

Ning Zhuo made arrangements for the Qingjiao Army to temporarily encamp near the entrance to the Water Burial Valley. He himself went to the Water Burial Valley with Luo Si to investigate.

We finally arrived at the entrance.

The intense stench felt like a solid fist slamming into Ning Zhuo's nose.

Ning Zhuo almost suffocated.

Ning Zhuo quickly held his breath, letting Luo Si walk in front while he followed closely behind, and together they entered the Water Burial Valley.

The mountain surface in the valley is covered with honeycomb-like holes, thick greasy moss, and slippery traces of snakes and insects crawling across it.

“This place used to have distinct mountains and rivers, and the air was at least very fresh,” Ross sighed.

With the situation unclear, both chose to walk rather than fly into the air—which would make them easy targets.

There were no rocks or mud underfoot, but a smooth road.

It was a swamp formed by the bone fragments of some unknown ghost, rotting water plants, sticky silt, and pale fragments of talisman paper.

The burial water was still being pumped into the sky, turning into gray-black mist—the residual power of the magic was still affecting the surroundings after the fierce battle.

As for what kind of magic it was, Ning Zhuo could only tell that it wasn't water-based.

"A terrifying clash of spells must have taken place here!"

The further you go in, the more rugged and precipitous the mountain walls on both sides become. Enveloped in swirling black and gray mist, they resemble all sorts of ferocious monsters, ready to pounce at any moment.

The two had already released their divine senses and activated detection spells.

After carefully making their way forward for several hundred steps, the distance between the mountain walls on both sides became increasingly wider.

After turning a corner, a wide battlefield lay before them.

The ground was flat, half of it covered with thick frost, chilling to the bone, and the other half was charred black, as if it had been scorched by flames.

At the foot of the mountains on both sides, cracks crisscross like a spider web. On the mountain walls, there are many twisted lines and scars, making it hard to imagine what kind of impact they had suffered.

"What are these?" Ning Zhuo narrowed his eyes slightly, his heart sinking.

On the edge of the battlefield opposite, he found many paper figures' remains and fragments!

As the two traversed the battlefield and drew closer, the big-headed boy easily recognized that these paper figure fragments belonged to the paper figure army of the White Paper Immortal City.

The two continued on their way and noticed a significant increase in the amount of paper figure fragments on the mountain path.

Torn paper arms, paper legs, shattered paper armor, and fragments of deformed paper weapons... mixed with the soil and gravel, forming a terrifying paper graveyard.

A moment later, the two arrived at the middle section of the Water Burial Valley.

This place has changed dramatically!

The once wide mountain path was buried and blocked by a large number of broken rocks, forming a pile of boulders.

And in this pile of rubble, lay several enormous, broken bodies.

Most of the body of the hundred-armed demon was covered by rubble, and most of its hundreds of giant arms had been severed at the root! The remaining dozens of arms were also mostly twisted and broken, hanging limply.

Its massive body was covered with huge claw marks that revealed the bone, as well as charred holes that pierced through its chest and back.

Its ferocious head, with its enormous horns, had been severed from its body and was left far away.

Ross said in a deep voice, "This is the Hundred-Armed Demon."

He stared at the distant head of the ghost, his gaze fixed on its twisted expression.

The ghosts and gods who died in battle were not just one.

A ghost, whose lower body was made of tree roots and whose upper body was that of a woman with full breasts, was embedded in the stone wall.

His robes were tattered, and he was surrounded by many broken black glass lanterns.

Ross continued, "This is a master of the Yin Soul Lamp."

After walking several hundred steps, the two found an empty skull throne, upside down on the ground.

The throne was enormous.

Not far from the throne, a pile of rubble almost completely buried the body of the third demon.

Only his right forearm was visible.

His arm was covered in cracks, from which beams of blue light shone outwards. The blue light was eerie and quite unsettling.

Ning Zhuo and Luo Si were deeply shaken.

Of these three demons, the third one's origin is unknown, but the first two are demons with outstanding combat power.

Judging from their aura, they are all at the Nascent Soul stage!

But they all paid the price with their lives.

Even if they are ordinary and inferior to top Nascent Soul cultivators like the Lord of the River of Oblivion and the Silent Ghost Monk, they are still Nascent Soul level combat power.

"The battle that takes place here must be extremely fierce!" Ross exclaimed.

Ning Zhuo's gaze was deep and mysterious. He naturally thought of the three paper puppets that summoned gods in the paper puppet army.

"The paper doll army led by Mother encountered a formidable enemy in the valley. The vast majority of the soldiers were lost at the front, leaving behind a trail of paper scraps."

"Upon arriving here, she had no choice but to use the three paper puppets used for summoning the gods to subdue these three great demons." "In the end, the demons all perished, but Mother was able to continue her journey!"

Ning Zhuo reconstructed the battle in his mind, and his worries grew: "Every time Mother fights, it greatly damages her spiritual energy. Her condition is limited, and she can't hold on for long."

Thinking of this, Ning Zhuo felt not only heavy-hearted but also burning with anxiety.

The same is true for Ross.

The two quickened their pace without prior arrangement and finally reached the deepest part of the Water Burial Valley.

The sight before them struck Ning Zhuo and Luo Si like a thunderbolt, leaving them speechless!
The terrain at the bottom of the valley has been completely rewritten!

A giant pit, tens of feet in diameter and more than ten feet deep, occupied the core!

The pit walls were as smooth as a mirror, with traces of high-temperature melting remaining.

The viscous lava flowing inside the pit reminded Ning Zhuo of Fire Persimmon Mountain.

At the edge of the giant crater, the earth presents a strange, undulating shape, with all the rocks pushed to the sides, filled with frost, scorch marks, corroded pits, and so on.

The two continuously expanded their divine senses, and their detection spells permeated in all directions.

Ross was the first to discover: "There is a rudimentary magic circle hidden in the magma."

The magic array had reached the Golden Core level, but it was too crude, so much so that Luo Si easily broke through it and created a hole.

The two followed the opening and entered the array space.

"Mother!" Ning Zhuo's body trembled violently, his Adam's apple bobbed, and he almost uttered his innermost thoughts.

"Senior Gray Bone!" Luo Si exclaimed in surprise.

The old man with gray bones was dressed in a large gray robe. His body was emaciated. He lay flat on the ground, motionless, and had no breath left.

His head looked as if it had been torn off by some kind of sharp claws, leaving a small portion of it intact.

But his eyes were closed, and his body was hastily disposed of.

Buddhist Physician Meng Yaoyin sat cross-legged beside the old man with gray bones.

She held a large serpent sickle in one hand, the bottom of which was deeply embedded in a giant rock slab.

She lost half of her body, half an arm, and a left leg. From the massive damage, the internal mechanisms could be seen to be completely twisted and deformed.

At the wound, the vital energy channels were severed, hanging like silk ribbons.

The chalcedony liquid, imbued with a faint Buddhist light, dripped down from the crack.

The charred holes, the cracks formed by the freezing ice, and the horrific through wounds.

The Buddhist healer, Meng Yaoyin, bowed her head, stained with blood and grime. Her left eye was a black hole, its internal mechanisms completely destroyed, leaving only a few broken spiritual veins.

She should have collapsed, not sat upright in a cross-legged position. The giant serpent sickle on the ground provided her with her only support.

Ning Zhuo keenly noticed that the Buddhist physician Meng Yaoyin's only remaining right hand was gripping the long handle of the sickle tightly with its five fingers like iron clamps.

Her knuckles were even twisted and deformed from the extreme force, as if she wanted to become one with the weapon, revealing a fighting will to fight to the death against a powerful enemy and protect her loved ones!
Ning Zhuo's eyes were red, and he finally couldn't help but whisper, "Mother!"

The call immediately drew Ross's attention.

Overwhelmed by grief and boundless terror, Ning Zhuo staggered to the feet of the Buddhist healer, Meng Yaoyin.

Buddhist Physician Meng Yaoyin showed no reaction; all was silent.

Ning Zhuoqiang suppressed his almost collapsing mind, his fingertips trembling uncontrollably as he carefully examined the condition of the broken immortal puppet.

The spirituality of Buddhist healer Meng Yaoyin has completely disappeared!
This shattered Ning Zhuo's heart and soul, almost causing him to collapse.

He suddenly realized that he, too, had paid an extremely heavy price to thwart the century-old scheme of the Lord of the River of Oblivion.

He simply could not accept this price!
despair.

Just then, a barely audible sound, like a mechanism spring coming loose, was heard.

Then, a jade slip slid out from the body of the Buddhist physician Meng Yaoyin. Ning Zhuo subconsciously reached out and caught it in his hand before it hit the ground.

Rose's eyes also reddened, and she knelt down beside the old man with gray bones.

He was temporarily drawn to the strange noise and looked at Ning Zhuo with a sorrowful yet inquisitive gaze.

Ning Zhuo immediately immersed his consciousness into the jade slip.

The next moment, he was terrified.

This is because the contents of this jade slip were specially left to him by his mother.

“My dear son, do not despair. Your mother has not truly perished, but has preserved a breath of life through unorthodox means. In the future, you will go to the Myriad Manifestations Sect, open your mother’s cave, and take everything from it. When the Great Serpent Scythe trembles, the time will come. Please cremate your mother’s belongings from her lifetime, and they will regain their spiritual light.”

"At that time, Mother might even be able to turn misfortune into blessing and master more of the mysteries of the strange arts."

Upon seeing this content, Ning Zhuo immediately stopped crying, as if she had returned to the mortal world from hell.

"Mother!" He collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted, feeling even more tired than he had been on the battlefield at the altar not long ago.

Fortunately, thankfully, there is still room for redemption.

The jade slip contained a considerable amount of information, and Ning Zhuo, after regaining his composure, immediately began reading it.

"Water Burial Valley has become a dead end. Alas, although we joined forces with Senior Gray Bone to kill the powerful enemy, we ultimately could not save him."

"My dear child, the Lord of the River of Oblivion will never give up! You must leave this place immediately, leave the underworld! Do not linger for even a moment!"

……

"The Lord of White Paper Immortal City...this person...must be treated with caution. Regardless of victory or defeat, the situation is different for White Paper Immortal City now."

"Therefore, you must properly settle the Qingjiao Army."

“They should be kept in the damp, dark swamp, but they should also be allowed to enter the underworld frequently.”

"With the guidance of the senior Gray Bone, I have discovered many of the Mysterious Scholar's hidden tricks. We can use these tricks, in coordination with the military, to allow them to traverse between Yin and Yang and continue to exert influence in the swamp."

……

"You need to take care of Qingchi yourself! I believe you have some doubts about her. These doubts will be answered in the future."

"We must not let her stay in the Qingjiao Army, nor can we leave her in the Baizhi Immortal City. Both of these will endanger her life."

"Take her with you, let's go to the Myriad Manifestations Sect together."

……

"Before you died, Senior Gray Bones allowed me to pass on the 'Water Burial and Accumulation of Virtue Sutra' to you."

"You must diligently cultivate this Taoist scripture, accumulate merit, and dispel the hatred of the underworld and the heavens for you..."

……

“When you arrive at the Myriad Manifestations Sect, you can go and find her… She is my mother’s closest friend; you can try to trust her.”

“I still own a business in the Myriad Manifestations Sect, dealing in talismans. If you reveal your identity, you can inherit it.”

"Do you remember what your mother told you? Don't try to explore the Chaotic Fate Gate; your strength is far from sufficient right now."

……

Ning Zhuo stood there, momentarily frozen in place, like a clay or wooden sculpture.

His mother's message struck him like a heavy hammer.

All these arrangements, and the words themselves, reveal a mother's love and worry for her son...

(End of this chapter)