Da Zaojun

Chapter 198 Two Swings on the River of the Dead

The Yellow Springs Pearl is guarded by soul-sucking leeches. These ebony chopsticks won't last long; not only will they be corroded by the Yellow Springs water, but they will also be gnawed by the soul-sucking leeches.

but……

Song Wuji used his magic to transform the flames into threads and caught a soul-sucking leech.

[Soul-Sucking Leech] A cleaner in the River of the Dead, it feeds on the souls and remains of those in the River of the Dead. It is delicious and favored by ghosts and gods.

"Good, good, good!" Song Wuji previously only had one item, "Mothworm," which was also described as something favored by ghosts and gods.

Song Wuji thought to himself, "Have the tastes of these underworld ghosts and gods become so discerning and eccentric?"

Song Wuji didn't understand that ghosts and spirits have the opposite speech patterns to the living, especially the ghosts and spirits of the underworld. If Song Wuji could turn his father's pufferfish and gecko artifacts into food, these ghosts and spirits might like them even more.

Although food from the mortal realm is offered as sacrifices, it may not stimulate the taste buds of ghosts and spirits. On the contrary, things like toad urine and centipede excrement may be more stimulating to them.

Seeing that this creature was favored by ghosts and gods and tasted delicious, Song Wuji thought of a way to get more soul-sucking leeches so that he could have an extra layer of preparation for the feast for ghosts and gods.

In addition, Song Wuji's Good and Evil Jar also requires Yellow Spring Mud, but he doesn't know how to obtain it. If there is a way to control these soul-sucking leeches, each of them can peck at a mouthful of Yellow Spring Mud, and little by little, it would be enough for Song Wuji to refine the Good and Evil Jar.

Next, Song Wuji continued picking up pearls along the Yellow Springs River, while also observing the Soul-Sucking Leech's abilities to move freely within it. He wondered if he could find other monsters that could survive in the Yellow Springs River and refine them into something else...

But after thinking it over, Song Wuji gave up on this suicidal idea. If all else failed, he could invite the ghosts and gods to a banquet and ask them for some resources. After so many years in the underworld, they must have been mining resources from the Yellow Springs River.

So he focused solely on finding ways to collect more soul-sucking leeches.

Song Wuji tried using some metal objects, but these metal objects rusted as soon as they entered the Yellow Springs River, as if they had passed through endless years and then decayed and died.

Using silk threads or similar materials would only cause them to wither and rot instantly. Only these ebony chopsticks could withstand some of the damage. After picking up three lost pearls and capturing seven or eight soul-sucking leeches along the way, the ebony chopsticks broke.

Helpless, Song Wuji could only take the pearls and go to rent chopsticks again.

But then the boatman said, "You borrowed the chopsticks on credit, not bought them. Those Yellow Spring Ebony Chopsticks are worth five Yellow Spring Pearls. You have to compensate me for the price."

Song Wuji only retrieved four beads in total, so he still owes them!
Then Song Wuji narrowed his eyes and began to recite his true name: "Ferryman of the Yellow Springs. Gui!"

The boatman was a seventh-rank supernatural being, not an ordinary ghost or god. He had mastered a trace of the power of rules and possessed a remnant of the Netherworld within his body. His Yin spirit was powerful, but even he couldn't help but lose his focus for a moment.

Then, three balls of Samadhi Fire surrounded it from the three directions of Heaven, Earth, and Man.

The boatman's expression instantly changed: "Samadhi True Fire!"

He then adopted a fawning expression: "So you're a disciple of the Three Heavens Sect? Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Song Wuji thought to himself: How could they judge me to be a disciple of the Three Heavens Sect based on just a wisp of Samadhi True Fire? But indeed, little devils are troublesome.

"You strange creature? You even acknowledge three disciples?"

The ferryman chuckled and said, "I wasn't originally a ghost. I'm just a ferryman at the Yellow Springs Ferry, specializing in ferrying the dead across the river. Although my position is lowly and my job is insignificant, I still enjoy a place in the underworld... It's just that after the great changes in the world..."

The next moment, he swung the oar, stirring up the waters of the Yellow Springs. A strange fish emerged from the water, resembling a large catfish, but covered in bone armor, and lunged at Song Wuji.

[Yellow Springs Horizontal Fish]

Song Wuji was worried that there would be no one to ferry him back, but he didn't expect that there would be such a difficulty before passing through the five passes, comparable to Tang Sanzang crossing the Tongtian River.

As the saying goes, even innocent people like drivers, boatmen, innkeepers, and peddlers should be killed. People are already dead, and the cycle of reincarnation is still there. Yet you still extort money from these dead souls, refusing to cross the river without giving them benefits. You are simply parasites on the path of reincarnation!
Whatever!

Although Song Wuji didn't know how to row a boat, he would learn after trying.

With a surge of killing intent, Song Wuji used the White Tiger Instant Kill Technique, the first time he had used it since forming his Golden Core.

With a single slash, space was torn apart, forming a visible silver-white spatial crimson blade that cleaved through the Netherworld, causing the Yin energy to surge and swirl into a horizontal tornado, resembling a raging python.

The water from the underworld was originally splashed out, but it was sucked into this vortex.

These changes happened in the blink of an eye. The next moment, the giant catfish was cut in two with a clean cut. It was dead beyond any doubt, and even its soul and consciousness were swept into the turbulence within the spatial dimensional blade.

The boatman was terrified. In the next instant, he was about to plunge into the Yellow Springs River. His black clothes transformed into a wisp of black mist to protect him from the corrosive waters of the Yellow Springs River, but it was no match for Song Wuji's killing intent.

In another instant, the blade flashed, and this guy was also cut in two by Song Wuji. The Binghuo Divine Power was revealed, and the strong yang energy, like the sun, instantly turned him into ashes.

[Original Evil Qi] *30
[Yellow Spring Pearl] *1
[Henggong Fish Essence] *1
[Swimming in the Underworld]
[The Ferryman's Remnant]

Song Wuji put the items away and wondered to himself, "What's the difference between this eerie energy and ghostly energy? Can I try consuming it?" He did just that, but as soon as he tried to absorb a wisp of eerie energy, his vision went black, his stomach churned, and his entire body felt like it had ingested pesticide. His magical power was being corrupted and assimilated by this eerie energy.

At the same time, the stove shone brightly, and the Fire Talisman Golden Elixir commanded the Samadhi True Fire to intercept this wisp of evil energy and completely refine it.

Then Song Wuji felt as if something had been added to his body.

[The Primal Divinity of the Netherworld]
"The power of the Netherworld's origin can be used to obtain Netherworld divine office or upgrade one's position in the Underworld."

Song Wuji never expected that this strange primordial energy was actually caused by the corruption of the original divinity of the Netherworld.

I almost got contaminated after tasting a little bit. It has an extremely vicious and domineering power that even the supernatural power of ingestion cannot refine. Only the stove can exert its power and combine it with the Samadhi Fire Talisman Golden Pill to purify it.

"Is the great change in the world related to this matter?"

Song Wuji cautiously stored away these primordial, strange energies. If the ghosts and gods of the underworld were also corrupted, Song Wuji could use these strange energies to make dishes to complete his banquet for them. If they were not corrupted, he would ask them what was going on. If they didn't know, then Song Wuji would have to wait until he returned to the mortal world to ask the Iron Pillar Palace. Perhaps the Iron Pillar Palace could answer that question.

Then I looked at a few items.

Among them, the Yellow Spring Pearl was refined by the Yellow Spring Horizontal Fish. It contains the Yellow Spring True Water, one of the nine True Waters, and also contains a trace of the true meaning of the law, which allows people to slightly control the Yellow Spring River water.

After refining the essence of the Henggong fish, one can acquire the Earthly Fiend Transformation Technique, transforming into a Henggong fish, which allows one to cross the Yellow Springs.

The Yellow Spring Swimming Robe can block the waters of the Yellow Springs and prevent them from corroding it.

Song Wuji immediately put on the Yellow Springs Swimming Robe, held the Yellow Springs Pearl in his hand, and tentatively stepped onto the Yellow Springs River. After discovering that it was indeed immune to corrosive substances, he began his great undertaking of catching the soul-sucking leeches and retrieving the Yellow Springs Pearl.

This pearl left behind by the Yellow Springs is definitely a valuable commodity in the underworld.

They retrieved at least seventeen or eighteen pounds of soul-absorbing leeches and hundreds of Yellow Springs Pearls. However, Yellow Springs Pearls were basically no longer available in the shallow waters, and Song Wuji was hesitant to search further into the deeper waters.

As for Yellow Spring Mud, Song Wuji also scooped some up, but none of it was genuine Yellow Spring Mud. He was afraid the quality was too poor to refine into a Good and Evil Jar.

So Song Wuji simply boarded the bottomless ferry and started rowing himself.

However, this bottomless boat did not listen to Song Wuji at all. Even with the help of the Yellow Spring Pearl to control the water flow, it only spun around on the surface of the river.

"No wonder there's a special position here. It seems that professional things should be done by professionals. I, a kitchen god, am not qualified to do the job of ferrying people across the river."

However, in the end, we still had to go to the other side.

Song Wuji looked at the boatman's fragments. The stove fragments could not be devoured or refined at all. If they were taken to the mortal world, even if a living person refined them, it would probably be useless. The limitations were too great. They would only be effective on the banks of the Yellow Springs River.

Song Wuji then looked at the bottomless boat and the essence he had just obtained from the Henggong fish he had killed.

He already possessed the Crimson Dragon Transformation Technique. Since dragons are the masters of scales and armor, having another fish transformation technique wouldn't be of much use. Besides, Song Wuji wasn't fond of water.

With this in mind, Song Wuji used the stove fire to fuse the spirit of the Henggong fish, along with the broken piece of the boatman's vessel, into one with the bottomless boat.

The fragment was refined into the boat and merged with the essence of the Henggong fish, replacing the original boatman. Moreover, it was an automated magical artifact. A boat shaped like a large fish was seen floating on the Yellow Springs River, blowing bubbles.

Is this a magical artifact? Or a divine beast? Or perhaps a deity itself?
That's good, though, since this new boatman won't extort money from you.

So, without Song Wuji having to row, the spirit of Heng Gong fish led the boat to the ferry on the other side.

When they reached the other side, there were only a few empty boats, and no boatmen in sight.

Song Wuji instructed the spirit of the Henggong Fish, "Now that you have become a righteous god of the underworld and have been refined into a magic weapon by me, you need to do good deeds to help people cross the river, accumulate merit, and wait for the order of heaven and earth to be restored. Or rather, you yourself are restoring the order of heaven and earth right now."

"Never follow the example of your former master."

The Henggong fish had already been killed once, and even refined by the stove fire, so it had no memory of anything, let alone fused with the fragmented skill. At this moment, it was just nodding.

After Song Wuji gave the order, the fish turned back and went to the other side of the river to continue ferrying souls across.

Song Wuji did not leave the ferry. He took out a fishing rod, which was the same fishing rod that the boatman had used earlier. It was not a magic weapon, but it could make him fearless of the Yellow Springs water. Song Wuji planned to fish here.

As for the bait, use the Soul-Sucking Leech. Song Wuji slightly prepared it, and it had a peculiar fishy smell, but it should be very attractive to fish.

He hung the hook on the fishing line, and Song Wuji, sitting on the ferry, cast his line.

That can be considered an achievement, the fisherman on the Yellow Springs River.

(End of this chapter)