Chapter 818: Seeing Is Deceptive?

The one calling for help was Husi. This elite from the Mythic Mercenary Group was now thrashing wildly in the murky waters of the Heavenly River. He flailed with desperate strength, trying to rise out of the river, but it was all in vain.

The true terror of the Heavenly River didn’t just lie in its monstrous aquatic beasts; the water itself possessed a sinister suction and sinking force. According to ancient legends, the waters of the Heavenly River were said to be capable of drowning even immortals and demons.

While such tales might have been exaggerated, escaping from the depths of this river was undeniably near impossible for the average cultivator.

The only reason Li Xiaofei had been able to rescue the old Chancellor before was because he had been near the riverbank. If they had been any deeper into the river, even that might not have worked.

Now, Husi’s flesh was dissolving rapidly in the river water, like wax melting in fire. His lower body had already been reduced to glistening white bone. Yet he didn’t seem to notice, still crying out for help in blind panic.

Li Xiaofei’s eyes narrowed. He quickly threw out a rope and tried to save him. But before the rope could even reach him, Husi’s flesh completely vanished, leaving only a pristine skeleton which quickly sank beneath the waves.

The scene was deeply unsettling. Although Husi wasn’t as powerful as the old Chancellor or others, he was still a seasoned combatant. He was practically half a stage away from Black Hole level. And yet, he had died just like that.

“How did he fall in?” Li Xiaofei turned to the Youming Ferryman, voice laced with suspicion. There was clear wariness in his tone now.

“I don’t know,” the ferryman replied calmly, still pushing the long bone pole through the water. “I dropped him off at the riverbank. How he ended up in the water, I don’t know.”

Li Xiaofei didn’t quite believe it. There was a saying, ‘Seeing is believing, hearing is not.’

Could it be that Husi lost hope and threw himself into the Heavenly River to die? But who would cry for help if they truly intended to commit suicide?

That thought alone put Li Xiaofei on alert. If the Youming Ferryman made even the slightest suspicious move, he was prepared to summon the saints from the Cemetery of the Ancestors.

The bone boat drifted forward like a leaf caught in a raging current. It swayed and rocked, but never capsized. It carried its passengers steadily ahead. A few minutes later—

“Help me!” Another cry for help rang out.

Li Xiaofei’s heart clenched. He turned toward the sound again, only to see, this time, the one struggling in the waters of the Heavenly River was none other than Song Yu. This high-ranking powerhouse from Eden met an end nearly identical to Husi’s.

She flailed in the murky waves, her clothing rapidly dissolved by the river’s strange properties, revealing pale, flawless skin. Then her skin and flesh began to melt away at an alarming speed.

Soon, only her head remained, still intact. Her eyes locked onto Li Xiaofei and the others. For a moment, a spark of hope flashed across her gaze as she desperately waved and screamed for help.

But the Youming Ferryman made no move to save her. He continued to row the boat steadily forward, eyes fixed on the path ahead. Before Li Xiaofei could react, Song Yu had already been dragged under by the surging waves.

Cold sweat broke out all over Li Xiaofei’s body in an instant. If it had only been Husi, he might have dismissed it as coincidence or confusion. But now Song Yu had met the same fate...

Li Xiaofei couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps the old Chancellor and the others had already fallen victim to the Youming Ferryman’s hand. Beside him, Xia Zi remained unnervingly calm, unmoving on the bone boat like a sculpture of stone.

His massive companion, the burly giant, stood still as well. He was still silent and composed, like a statue carved from iron.

“Seeing doesn't always mean the truth.” The Youming Ferryman spoke slowly, in that same half-dead, lifeless tone.

Li Xiaofei forced himself to remain calm, his thoughts racing for a plan. If Song Yu had truly perished, wouldn’t that make it nearly impossible to find his wife and daughter? He could only hope Lin Yi, that troublemaker, had survived, and perhaps knew something.

After about forty minutes, the bone boat actually reached the far shore. The moment the riverbank came into view, Li Xiaofei felt no relief but only greater tension. His wariness only grew.

Thud.

The bone boat bumped gently against the bank.

“We’ve arrived,” the Youming Ferryman announced.

“Woof!” Black Emperor barked once and leaped ashore without hesitation.

Li Xiaofei reached out instinctively, but couldn’t stop him in time. Yet when the dog landed on solid ground and nothing strange occurred, Li Xiaofei finally let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Then Xia Zi and his massive companion disembarked, also without incident. Only then did Li Xiaofei, gripping the jet-black jade ornament tightly in his hand, step onto shore.

The Youming Ferryman raised his long bone pole and began steering the boat back into the Heavenly River once again.

His movements were slow, almost unnatural, and he began to chant in a low, eerie voice as he drifted away, "The world sings praise of gods and immortals, yet cannot forsake fame and name! Where now are ancient emperors gone? Lost beneath weeds in forgotten graves.

"The world sings praise of gods and immortals, yet cannot forsake immortal wealth! Each day they grieve for time too short, till time enough when their eyes shut tight.

"The world sings praise of gods and immortals, yet cannot forsake wife and child! Alive, they vow eternal love. In death, how many truly follow? The world sings..."

The bone boat and its straw-bodied ferryman faded into the turbid waves of the Heavenly River, slowly swallowed by fog and distance, until they vanished from sight.

That eerie, unsettling singing voice seemed to resonate with the crashing waves, echoing across the surface of the Heavenly River in a haunting harmony. Though the voice itself was grating, the melody it carried was strangely beautiful. There was a bizarre resonance in the strange tension between dissonance and rhythm. It was almost as if the very laws of Dao were rippling through the air.

Li Xiaofei stared off into the distance, lost in thought,

The Youming Ferryman’s song, was it meant to convey something?

He seemed like a prisoner, bound eternally to the Heavenly River. Yet the lyrics were so serene, almost transcendent. There was a story there. But Li Xiaofei didn’t have the time to ponder its depths now.

The fog hung thick in the air, obscuring all sight. Yet unlike the bank they’d come from, this shore wasn’t just muddy terrain, it was a vast field of ruined palaces.

Once, this place must have been adorned with jade towers, celestial halls, and flowing pavilions. But now, all of it lay in utter ruin. There were crumbling walls, collapsed archways, and broken remnants of structures long since fallen. Only ancient traces remained. The grandeur of its past was impossible to imagine from what little was left.

There were clear footprints on the ground left behind by those who had crossed before. Li Xiaofei tallied them silently. Two were missing. The missing ones were Husi and Song Yu.

“Why is it like this?” Li Xiaofei frowned, thoughts spinning.

The presence of footprints confirmed that the others had all made it here.

If the old Chancellor and the others had all arrived safely, then why, why did only Husi and Song Yu perish in the waters of the Heavenly River?

Random misfortune? Or something deeper?

Li Xiaofei turned the question over and over in his mind. The only plausible explanation he could come up with was that the items Husi and Song Yu had offered the Youming Ferryman, those so-called beloved objects, had, in fact, been fakes. Worthless.

"Woof woof!" Black Emperor sniffed around the area where the footprints lay, then suddenly perked up as if he had found something. He turned his head and motioned for Li Xiaofei to follow.

Li Xiaofei glanced toward Xia Zi and asked, “Are you coming with me?”

Xia Zi shook his head and said, “I have my own matters to attend to. Farewell.”

With that, he turned and left, his ever-silent giant of a companion following him. They walked in the opposite direction of the footprints, toward something else entirely.

Li Xiaofei hesitated briefly, then followed Black Emperor’s lead. The mute girl followed close behind, her eyes scanning the surroundings with growing intensity. Her expression gradually shifted and became more and more agitated.

This place... We have been here before. Dog Bro must be close.

The two of them followed Black Emperor as they picked up the pace and pressed forward swiftly.

Before long, sounds of a fight suddenly echoed from up ahead. Shouts. Curses. The clash of force. Li Xiaofei’s heart skipped a beat. He quickened his pace and moved closer, drawn by the noise.