Talisman Emperor

A blood red moon hung in the sky while crimson red and gorgeous moonlight stretched out from it like a tide, and it formed a horrifying fluctuation that enveloped the heavens and the earth.

In merely an instant, the entire world was filled with an aura that instilled an unhappy, restless, and oppressed feeling in all. It terrified the soul and struck one’s mind in waves.

The expressions of Gu Tian and the other guard became extremely heavy at this moment. They held various magic treasures while protecting Cui Qingning at their center, and they held their breaths in concentration will seeming as if they were faced against a great opponent.

No one made a sound and all movements were completed soundlessly. Obviously, they’d gone through countless scenes as the one before them on their journey, and they seemed to be rather experienced.

When he saw this, Chen Xi puckered his lips and kept silent while carefully taking precautions as well.

Even though his cultivation hadn’t recovered yet, his soul was still there. So his peerless Immortal Perception instantly and clearly sensed that at the instant the blood red moon appeared in the night sky, a monstrous aura of evil and resentment that was accompanied by violent Netherworld Energy had suddenly suffused the air.

The force that caused their souls to be oppressed came from the blood red moon.

What dense and terrifying aura of resentment. Why does this blood red moon emanate such a horrifying aura as soon as it appeared? It’s simply as if the gates of hell have been opened… Chen Xi frowned and was surprised and bewildered in his heart.

He was within a dense forest at this moment, and he was clearly able to see through the layers of branches and leaves that the moonlight from the blood red moon in the pitch black sky seemed material as it drifted down and enveloped the world. It seemed as if it covered the entire world in a bloody veil that was gorgeous and evil.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

When the night grew darker, the glow of the blood red moon grew brighter. Suddenly, nine figures appeared beneath the veil of the night. All of them wore robes that were deep red like blood, and their icy cold faces revealed a green hue, while their eyes and mouths were suffused with a bright blood red sheen.

When he saw the appearance of these nine figures, a single word appeared in Chen Xi’s mind — spirits!

Moreover, they weren’t ordinary spirits, but ferocious evil spirits!

Their auras were strange, gloomy, and completely devoid of vitality. Their entire bodies were enveloped in dense vicious ghost qi that was peerlessly ghastly.

An especially terrifying aspect was that those nine figures were holding a pitch black and icy cold coffin that was 90m in length, covered in dense and warped patterns, extremely gorgeous, and revealed a noble aura.

A gorgeous blood red moon!

Nine spirits carrying a coffin!

This scene beneath the deathly silent and pitch black night was filled with a shocking force that caused even Chen Xi’s eyes to focus unconsciously.

He was able to clearly sense that the pitch black and icy cold coffin contained a terrifying force that was at the 5th level of the Earthly Immortal Realm or above. It was obscure, icy cold, and faintly emanated an indescribably monstrous evil aura.

Dong!

A muffled bang resounded in the heavens and the earth.

The coffin opened by itself before a pair of slender and tender white hands stretched out from within it. The fingers on the hand pressed together and wove together to swiftly form a strange seal.

Swish!

When this seal was formed, the blood red moon in the sky suddenly surged with a vast blood red torrent, and it was like a waterfall that descended from the sky and gushed into the coffin.

Obviously, the existence within the coffin was executing a secret technique to absorb the energy from within the blood red moon.

“It’s actually the phenomena of a ‘fierce ghost swallowing the moon.’ Looks like the order in the Netherworld is in complete chaos, and the source of the chaos is either from the Netherworld Blood River, or the Hell Path and Ghost Path of the Six Paths of Hell, or an unexpected change occurred in the City of the Wronged…” The tiny cauldron spoke via voice transmission.

Chen Xi was shocked in his heart. The order of the Netherworld is in chaos? Could it be a sign of the upheaval of the three dimensions as well? Looks like it isn’t just the Mortal Dimension, the situation in the Netherworld seems to be in a state of upheaval as well.

“But it’s an opportunity to you.” The tiny cauldron said, “Once your strength recovers, you’ll be entirely capable of slaughtering these spirits to replenish the Netherworld Register’s energy.”

Chen Xi was stunned, and then he seemed to be lost in thought.

Earlier, he’d clearly sensed that the blood red moon was filled with violent Netherworld Energy. But it was extremely impure and was mixed with a material aura of evil, ferocity, and resentment, causing it to be utterly unsuitable for absorption.

However, all of this seemed to be unable to cause any difficulty for the spirits, and they’d obviously taken the energy of the blood red moon to be the best method to obtain energy. In this way, so long as he slaughtered these spirits and seized the energy within their bodies, he might be able to repair the Netherworld Register.

At this moment, when he obtained the verification of the tiny cauldron, Chen Xi instantly confirmed this thought of his.

“Of course, if you possessed the strength of the Third Netherworld Emperor, then you’d be entirely capable of charging into the sky and absorbing all the Netherworld Energy within the moon. In that way, all the living beings in the Netherworld would probably be grateful to you.” The tiny cauldron made a rare joke.

Chen Xi was stunned, and then he seemed to be lost in thought as he said, “If I have the chance in the future, I really can give it a try.” 

    …

After the time for an incense stick to burn.

The coffin in the sky closed once more before the nine spirits carried the coffin while swaying and drifting beneath the pitch black night sky and vanished out of sight.

At this moment, Gu Tian and the others heaved sighs of relief, and their expressions became much more relaxed.

“Big Brother Chen Xi, that scene of nine spirits carrying a coffin before is very common in the Bloodbasin Hardlands. So long as you don’t disturb them, then there would normally be no need to worry about facing any danger.” Cui Qingning walked gracefully to Chen Xi’s side before she said with a smile, “That didn’t scare you right?”

Chen Xi shook his head and said, “I’m just curious. The moon in the Netherworld is different from the Mortal Dimension.”

“Actually, it was the same in the past.” Cui Qingning said in a light voice, “There have been truly too many vengeful spirits in the City of the Wronged in the recent years, and there would be thousands of vengeful spirits appearing every single day. The resentment and evil qi in them couldn’t be dispersed, so it was swallowed by the moon instead.”

When she spoke up to here, she couldn’t help but sigh faintly. “This can’t be helped. The exalted Kṣitigarbha that manages the City of the Wronged suddenly vanished, causing the order in the city to fall into chaos. The vengeful spirits can’t be delivered for reincarnation, causing them to accumulate and start to bring calamity to the entire Netherworld.”

Something has really happened to the City of the Wronged! Chen Xi instantly recalled the inference of the tiny cauldron from before, and he couldn’t help but frown. “Could it be that the great figures of the Netherhell aren’t doing anything about it?”

“Them?” A wisp of disappointment appeared on the corners of Cui Qingning’s mouth as she shook her head and said, “They only care about seizing power and engaging in internal strife. Who would care about the fate of the living beings in the Netherworld?”

Chen Xi said to himself, Looks like a storm is raging and undercurrents are brewing in the Netherworld now.

Right at this moment, a wisp of throbbing suddenly arose in his heart without any indication, and his combat instinct that had been tempered for many years caused him to instinctively and abruptly flash towards the nearby Cui Qingning.

Cui Qingning felt her gaze go black and wasn’t even able to react before she was embraced by Chen Xi and brought to dodge towards the side, and they knocked down a few enormous trees along the way.

This sudden and unexpected event shocked her to the point she suddenly let out a shrill cry.

Hiss!

A wisp of sword light that was like a silver stream of water seemed as if it appeared out of thin air as it barely scraped past her temples, and it caused a string of blood that was fine like a thread to spray into the air.

Thump!

In the next moment, she felt the world spin as she started rolling on the ground.

Chen Xi’s reaction at this moment was extraordinarily swift like a bolt of lightning, and he acted instinctively as soon as he noticed the trace of throbbing. If it wasn’t for his strength having not recovered, this moment was sufficient for him to teleport Cui Qingning a few tens of thousands of kilometers away with him.

Unfortunately,  his strength was only equivalent to the Golden Core Realm at this moment, so he could only destructively knock down numerous trees with Cui Qingning and dodge this assault that caught him by surprise.

“Hmm?” A soft exclamation suddenly sounded out in this dense forest, and it moved indeterminately within the forest.

Meanwhile, Gu Tian and the other guards had noticed something was off as well, and they roared furiously and seemed to have made a move. 

Unfortunately, all of this didn’t give Chen Xi any sense of safety. Conversely, the feeling of danger in his heart grew even stronger, and it stimulated him to the point all the hairs on his body stood on end.

Because at this moment, the wisp of aura that was like a bright light still locked on firmly to him.

Om!

The sound of that wisp of fine sword light tearing through the sky had sounded out once more.

Chen Xi didn’t hesitate to bend his body before the Talisman Armament in his hand lightly stabbed towards a point in space before him. A black figure suddenly flashed at that area of space that was originally empty, and Chen Xi’s Talisman Armament just happened to point towards the figure’s throat.

It felt as if Chen Xi possessed foresight and seemed to have expected the movements of the assassin and where he would appear. Moreover, Chen Xi’s sword strike seemed as if it was just waiting there for the assassin to knock onto it, and a light stab of it was already before the assassin’s weak point, allowing him to disrupt the attack of the assassin.

Bang!

A sharp sound of the air being torn apart flashed by the side of Chen Xi’s face, and it struck open a finger sized bottomless hole in the ground behind him.

On the other hand, Chen Xi’s expression hadn’t changed at all from the beginning until the end, and even his eyes hadn’t blinked. This was the reason that he’d bent his body, it was because he’d precisely captured the traces of the assassin’s sword light since the beginning. 

“Eh!” Another soft exclaim sounded out because the assassin was extremely surprised. But his reaction was extremely swift as well, and he flashed before launching an attack towards Chen Xi once more.

This time, Chen Xi didn’t counterattack at all, and he embraced Cui Qingning while retreating explosively without end. He didn’t pay any attention to the extremely dangerous sword light that was approaching him from behind.

Clang! 

A deafening sound of collision resounded out behind Chen Xi.

At this point, Chen Xi stopped moving and turned around to look. Sure enough, he saw Gu Tian was already in battle with the assassin.

From the beginning until the end, Chen Xi’s expression was exceedingly composed and calm while his movements were resolute and carried out without the slightest hesitation. Every single move he made seemed to carry a sense of foresight, so he didn’t seem to be in a sorry state.

The reason was that even though his strength hadn’t recovered, his terrifying combat awareness had already exceeded the scope of the Earthly Immortal Realm, so how could an assassin easily succeed against him?

“It’s fine now, you can open your eyes.” Chen Xi narrowed his eyes and observed the situation of the battle for a moment, and he was clearly aware that it was already extremely difficult for that assassin to succeed.

At this moment, Cui Qingning had already turned pale from the terror she felt from this sudden event, and she’d utterly not noticed that she’d nestled her petite body up tightly like an octopus on Chen Xi’s body…