Undying Life

Chapter 974: Chapter 974: The Fox Realm Opens, the Curse Unleashed!

"The Star Pearl?" Master Shenxiu looked thoughtfully in the direction where the Dark Emperor had departed.

"Master Shenxiu, do you recognize that artifact?" Sima Qing asked, puzzled.

"The Star Pearl is one of the Ten Ancient Treasures from the Xiaoqian World where Da Qiong once existed. It is said to be refined from a star of the Grand World!" Master Shenxiu replied truthfully.

"A star?" The crowd was stunned.

"No wonder!" The elder in the purple robe nodded in understanding. "So it's refined from a star; no wonder it withstood two powerful strikes without being harmed. That star must have been enormous."

"Whoosh!"

A figure descended from the sky; it was King Zhongyong, who had just been fighting the Chess Saint of Demons and Spirits, returning to the square.

Noticing the wound on King Weiwu's throat and the presence of Cheng Baiyi and others, King Zhongyong was slightly surprised.

"Your Majesty!" King Zhongyong called out.

"Is the Chess Saint of Demons and Spirits dead?" Sima Qing asked with a frown.

"Not yet, but he's gravely injured. He managed to escape, though!" King Zhongyong replied.

"Hmm!" Sima Qing nodded.

"Brother Cheng, what do you think?" Sima Qing looked at Cheng Baiyi.

Cheng Baiyi's face was dark, but he suppressed the anger boiling within him.

"Elder Ma, can you still activate the Celestial Net?" Cheng Baiyi asked, turning to the elder in the purple robe who had fought the Dark Emperor earlier.

Elder Ma shook his head, "The Celestial Net was bestowed upon Elder Huang by the Ancestor; no one dares to tamper with it. If we were to reforge it, it would take at least half a year!"

"The Ancestor of the Ancient Immortals?" Sima Qing and the others were slightly surprised.

Cheng Baiyi's face grew even darker. Without the ability to activate the Celestial Net, how could they coerce the two women inside? Instead of being suppressed, they were now under the greatest protection!

"Brother Cheng, does this mean that apart from Elder Huang, no one else can activate the Celestial Net?" Sima Qing asked in astonishment.

Cheng Baiyi was speechless but nodded in confirmation.

The atmosphere became awkward. After all the effort spent capturing the Sacred King of Taichu, had it all been for nothing?

"Bring the traitors from the former dynasty!" Sima Qing ordered immediately.

"Boom!"

The officials of Taichu, whose cultivation had been sealed, were thrown onto the square.

"Sacred King of Taichu, speak! How do we open the Fox Realm? For every five breaths of silence, I will kill one person. The moment you speak, I will stop!" Sima Qing demanded viciously.

Inside the Celestial Net, the two women widened their eyes and seemed to say something, but there was no sound.

"Time's up, kill!"

"Ahhh!"

A scream echoed as an official was beheaded in front of everyone.

"Sima Qing, you will die a horrible death!"

"Sima Qing, you demon!"

The officials roared in fury, but Sima Qing ignored them, focusing instead on the Celestial Net.

Inside, the Nine-Tailed Princess was furious, her face filled with anger. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but no sound emerged!

"Continue killing!"

"Wait!" Elder Ma suddenly called out.

Everyone turned their gaze towards Elder Ma.

Elder Ma's expression was somewhat peculiar as he looked at the Celestial Net and said, "It seems that while we can speak and they can hear us, their voices cannot reach us."

The crowd was stunned into silence.

"Forget it, there's no need to question further. I have a way to open the Fox Realm," Master Shenxiu spoke up after pondering for a moment.

"You have a way, Master?" Sima Qing's eyes lit up with hope.

"Indeed. Over the years, I have studied the feng shui of Qingqiu and have devised a crude method, but it will require some sacrifices," Master Shenxiu replied thoughtfully.

"What kind of sacrifices?" someone asked.

"I can use a feng shui formation to open the entrance to the Fox Realm, but it will consume all the fortune of the heavens in this area, as well as the lives of everyone in the city," Shenxiu said calmly.

His words were spoken with eerie tranquility, but the crowd was anything but calm. Consuming the fortune of the heavens was one thing, but the lives of all the city's inhabitants?

Everyone frowned deeply and ultimately looked towards Sima Qing.

Sima Qing's expression fluctuated between hesitation and resolve. After thinking it over, he finally said, "Very well, Master, we'll rely on you then."

"Understood," Shenxiu nodded in agreement.

Three days later, outside Qingqiu, Zhong Shan and Tian Lao arrived at the fastest possible speed.

However, as they reached the outskirts of Qingqiu, both Zhong Shan and Tian Lao came to an abrupt halt. The sight before them filled their eyes with horror.

Was this really the Qingqiu of the past?

Even from a great distance, the sounds of endless wailing and agony could be heard, echoing with unbearable misery.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Save meeeeeeeee!"

"Uuuuuuuuuuuu!"

The entire Qingqiu was shrouded in a dense, blood-red mist, which seemed to be continuously churning and roiling, spiraling upwards into the sky. Within the blood mist, one could vaguely see countless blood-soaked corpses and tormented spirits unable to reincarnate.

The entire Qingqiu had become a veritable hell. Above, the sky was thick with ominous clouds, and streaks of lightning flashed through the darkness, casting an oppressive and sinister atmosphere over everything.

This...?

Zhong Shan stared in disbelief at the scene before him. Who could have done this? The audacity! Qingqiu must have had a population of at least eighty million, and they were all used to power this formation? What an unimaginable sin!

"Tian Lao, do you recognize this?" Zhong Shan asked.

Tian Lao's face was a mix of shock and confusion. Finally, he said in astonishment, "Sacred King, are you certain that the feng shui master inside is Shenxiu?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Something's not right. It doesn't make sense!" Tian Lao shook his head, his voice tinged with doubt.

"What doesn't make sense?"

"This is indeed a feng shui formation, but it shouldn't be one set up by Shenxiu. Or rather, this formation should be an ancient deadly array—the Great Twenty-Four Heavenly Gods Killing Formation!" Tian Lao explained.

"The Great Twenty-Four Heavenly Gods Killing Formation? An ancient deadly array? How ancient are we talking?" Zhong Shan asked, his curiosity piqued.

Tian Lao hesitated before continuing, "This formation is recorded in the annals of my Tian family. It appeared back when the Tian family was still prominent in the Grand World. However, when my family declined, this formation also disappeared and was rumored to have been lost to time. How could Shenxiu possibly set it up now?"

Zhong Shan nodded thoughtfully.

"What do you see?" Zhong Shan asked in a voice transmission to Huan Ji, noticing the solemn expression on her face.

"The presence of intense malevolence," Huan Ji replied.

"Malevolence?"

"Let me think... I've encountered this kind of malevolence before," Huan Ji said, frowning in concentration.

Suddenly, her eyes widened in realization. "I remember now!"

"What is it?" Zhong Shan asked.

"It's a curse—a powerful curse! When Hao Meili cast her curse long ago, this was the same malevolent energy I felt. But this time, it's even more potent, even more sinister! This is an incredibly powerful curse!" Huan Ji said, her voice tinged with shock.

While Zhong Shan was processing what he had just learned, back at the Qingqiu Palace, everyone watching Shenxiu's ritual was utterly stunned.

The courtiers were filled with dread, and even Cheng Baiyi showed a hint of astonishment. He exchanged a grave look with Elder Ma, both recognizing the severity of what was unfolding before them.

For three days and nights, the swirling currents of fortune and blood mist gradually converged, compressing together in the void to form an entrance.

The entrance grew larger, consuming more and more of Qingqiu's fortune, as well as the flesh and souls of its people. The endless fortune and blood mist continued to press towards the entrance.

The moment the entrance fully opened, Sima Qing's eyes lit up with excitement.

As the entrance emerged, a strange black mist erupted from within. The moment the black mist appeared, the surrounding blood mist retreated, as if the black mist possessed an overpowering force.

"A curse? Could this be the ancient curse of the Fox Clan?" Shenxiu muttered in mild surprise.

"The legend is true—so it's true after all!" Sima Qing said, swallowing hard.

"What legend?" Cheng Baiyi asked, puzzled.

"It's said that long ago, the Fox Clan somehow offended a powerful curse master. That curse master, at the cost of their own life, cast a curse that would haunt the Fox Clan for generations. It was during this time that the Fox Clan began to decline from their era of prosperity. Even the supreme power of the Fox Clan, no matter how formidable, could not overcome the curse. Eventually, they sacrificed their lives to seal the curse away. Who would have thought that the curse was sealed within the Fox Realm? Now that the Fox Realm is open, this curse will once again descend upon the Fox Clan across the world," Sima Qing explained, his voice trembling with a mix of fear and excitement.

To read the manga version, please click the YouTube link https://youtu.be/GnU613H6xm8