Chapter 494: Misery and Suffering

On an island in the South Sea, the world of immortals.

The South Sea Gourmet, who resembled a meatball more than a human, carefully turned a freshly killed beast on a spit over a bonfire. Suddenly, a shudder ran down his spine.

“Dammit!” He turned to the Azure Province in shock. “The body of the eyes escaped and ate the body of the ears! The crack leading to the outer world has been opened!

“This won’t do, I must go to Crimson Province. If the eyes eat my body and open up the crack there, the world of immortals will be doomed!”

The South Sea Gourmet abandoned his meal and rushed to Crimson Province in Nephrite Major.

At the same time, the two Wayfarers in the world looked up in unison toward the direction of Azure Province.

“Where did the demonic nature of the body come from? I only wanted to devour the old man and take his place, but he… he wants to destroy every living thing!” Art Saint Wayfarer shuddered. Next to him, Zhao Changkong observed the situation with knitted brows.

“Attention, Nephrite Imperial Army!” commanded Zhao Changkong after three breaths of hesitation.

“Wait!” the Art Saint hurriedly stopped him. “The yin spirits from outside the realm are not to be trifled with. No amount of low-level immortals will be able to stop them! Numbers alone mean nothing.

“Allow me!” Lifting the veil shrouding him, Art Saint Wayfarer threw out the portrait of a beautiful woman and made his way to Azure Province. “If I don’t return, Your Majesty, find the South Sea Gourmet in Crimson Province. He will protect you for a century in my stead.” With that, he disappeared into the distance.

Letting out a deep sigh, Zhao Changkong brooded. Gravely, he bowed to the air. “Please take the Ingress Path to Azure Province, royal uncle.”

Hum.

Amid the fading hum, the pristine white path disappeared from Xiankan.

Following Wayfarer, Wanfeng arrived at Azure Province as well, with her emerald bamboo stick. A hazy green light had enveloped the province, keeping the swarming yin spirits firmly confined within. Those who hadn’t been able to make it to the immortal cities or larger settlements had all been devoured by the terrifying spirits.

Unlike other large provinces, however, Azure Province was highly experienced in dealing with swarms of enemies like these. Immortals and cultivators alike moved to their appropriate places in an orderly manner and activated all of the great formations in the cities and settlements, made sturdy by the Azure Province Seal.

The spirits weren’t breaking into the cities any time soon. With their continuously increasing numbers, though, it was only a matter of time before the defenses of the cities failed.

The governor of the Azure Province was a peerless immortal. He could enter heaven and earth to search for aether dao fruit and become a dao immortal at any time. However, he currently felt like he was being suffocated to death.

Terrifying waves of yin spirits came with great ferocity, and a battle formation of a million golden immortals and their bearers were completely destroyed after only a little more than ten breaths. The Azure Governor felt a stabbing pain in his chest.

“Die!!!” he snarled. The seal in his hand shook violently as he drew upon the power of Azure Province to blast the spirits back. Every one of his attacks disintegrated a great number of enemies.

“The power of heaven and earth!” Inspiration struck Lu Yun. “The vast power of the world is these spirits’ greatest bane!”

Bam!

He made a move following his observation of the governor’s actions, retracting his combat arts and tapping into the world’s power with his nascent spirit. Great energy of the land rippled out like water, creating immense waves in the air that swept over many of the yin spirits and rendering them into ashes.

But there were simply too many of them, and an endless supply of yin spirits continued to emerge from the ancient tomb. Although Lu Yun had killed tens of millions of spirits with a single attack, their casualties were quickly replenished.

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

“There’s no end to this. The key to it all is the ancient tomb... I must seal it!” Hellfire burned around him as he changed course and struggled to make his way to the tomb.

Although the yin spirits were afraid of hellfire, their sheer numbers prevented Lu Yun from moving about freely. It felt as if he was wading his way through a marsh, each step slow and ponderous.

Other than the immortal cities, ordinary settlements like mortal towns and cultivator cities were falling, losing countless residents to the invasion of the yin spirits. In fact, even the larger immortal cities were struggling as well.

Bam!

A slight tremor passed through Azure Province, followed by the descent of a white path. Its great heavenly power destroyed countless yin spirits with a casual shake, and a wizened peak arcane dao immortal stood upon it.

“Governor of Azure Province, why did you not request help from the heavenly court when the province was struck by such a calamity? You are an official of the imperial court! Is this meant as a challenge to the court’s authority?!”

The nine-fruit arcane dao immortal destroyed yin spirits as easily as flipping his hand. The path under his feet landed within the province and extended in thousands of different directions like an enormous dragon, protecting the immortal cities teetering on the edge of annihilation.

The arrival of the Ingress Path lifted a great amount of pressure from Azure Province, and many more elites had traveled upon it to stem the tide of evil.

The flood of spirits was innumerable, but most of their strength fell between peerless immortals and normal cultivators. With the newcomers’ concerted efforts, half of them were immediately decimated.

“Ancestor!” the Azure governor suddenly wailed in sorrow.

A skeleton lay crouched over the crack in the ancient tomb at the center of the province, its flesh and essence all devoured. It was the origin dao immortal serving the province—or rather, his remains after failing to seal the tomb with his own body and being eaten by the endless tide.

“What happened here?!” Zhao Changkong’s royal uncle gazed gravely at the skeleton. “He’s an origin dao immortal. Even with his dao injuries, he shouldn’t have been killed and eaten by mere yin spirits… No, watch out!!”

Scarlet shadows emerged from nowhere and lunged at the elites coming to the province’s rescue. A dao immortal was consumed before he could even react, falling helplessly to the ground as a withered, dried husk.

“Waughh!!” Piercing screams rang from the tomb, and from the crack swarmed a horde of scarlet shadows. A pungent, metallic smell permeated the air.