Yefutidaolu

Chapter 423 The Chain
The source of the eerie light is none other than the slumbering Ghost King, Gāzālī.

His body was enormous, and his ferocious appearance with a blue face and fangs was enough to terrify ordinary yakshas, ​​but there was a strange calmness in that ferocity. His green hair was spread out like silent vines, and his huge ghostly body sat cross-legged, holding a mysterious hand seal in his hand. His aura was extremely restrained, like a stubborn rock that had survived countless tribulations.

He simply existed there, completely unresponsive to everything around him, including the intrusion of Gao Jian.

Gao Jian was terrified and dared not be careless in the slightest.

He took a deep breath.

In the heart's lake, the lamp of the heart, obtained from the realm of desire, suddenly lit up, its light clear and bright, illuminating the space within.

At the same time, he gripped the rusty knife in his hand tightly.

Driven by his will, the seven-inch blade of the rusty knife silently flickered, not for attack, but as a trigger, a more sensitive "tentacle," to sense and touch the vast, ocean-like divine aura emanating from the Ghost King.

"Om-"

Just as Gao Jian's divine will and the sharpness of the rusty knife touched the invisible boundary around the Ghost King, a sudden change occurred!
It was not the awakening of the Ghost King, but rather a vast amount of information, fragments, and insights into cultivation that had been dormant for a long time, like a flood bursting its banks, or like sleeping stars being instantly illuminated, transforming into a massive and magnificent "divine essence," surging towards Gao Jian!

If it were an ordinary seventh-realm martial artist, or even a grandmaster who had not yet opened his divine gate, his sea of ​​consciousness would probably be instantly burst under the impact of this scale of divine energy, turning him into an idiot.

But we have different opinions!
Beneath the sharp edge of the rusty knife, the heart's lake is as clear as a mirror.

The moment that vast amount of divine essence rushed into his heart, it did not stir up any turbulent waves. Instead, it was reflected, broken down, and contained by the mirror-like surface of his heart.

This state endowed Gao Jian with unprecedented insight and resilience, allowing him to "observe" every drop of water in this torrent from an almost absolutely calm perspective.

He saw a boundless sea of ​​suffering, where all beings were adrift, their resentment and karma intertwined—

He saw how Gātāri struggled in the Avici Hell, enduring a sea of ​​suffering, before finally being able to transcend it.

He saw a unique method operating in a way that was not the meridians and true qi familiar to martial artists in the mortal world, but a method that used karma as fuel and cause and effect as fire to temper the ghost body and soul, and was finally condensed.

He saw countless fragments of rules, the system of "retribution" in hell, how to manipulate and utilize the karma of all beings, and how to keep one's true spirit from being obscured during a long slumber.

The amount of information is unimaginably vast, and every wisp of divine charm contains the state of the Ghost King Gāzāli and his profound traces.

However, these pieces of information are fragmented and scattered, allowing experts to know a lot, but they do not form a systematic whole.

A vast amount of divine essence is reflected in the lake of the heart. Next, Gao Jian needs time to digest it and find the key he seeks.

To be honest, Gao Jian originally wanted to find a way to break through to the seventh rank, but now that he has the Heart Lamp Illuminating Shadow Scripture, he doesn't really need it anymore.

So now, what we are mainly looking for in these divine images is the current state of hell.

Gao Jian knew that even the Ghost King did not know why Hell had fallen.

However, he should know the current state of Hell, the relationship between Hell and the human world of the Divine Dynasty, and that the day and night wandering gods helping the Water Family Ancestor must have some means of communication. It could even be said that the upper echelons of the Divine Dynasty might actually have some relationship or even an alliance with the underworld. What he needs to find now is this information.

Within the lake of the heart, the scenery changes.

Takami perceived a chain that originally ran from top to bottom, running through the entire hell system.

This chain was once incredibly clear and strong, maintained by the authority of the Ten Kings of Hell, ensuring the precise execution of good and evil karma.

But now... it's broken.

The overall outline of the chain remained, especially in Iron City and the surrounding area under the jurisdiction of Gazhali. The ends of the chain were still relatively clear, barely maintaining the basic operation of "retribution," punishing evil spirits and maintaining order. But as the gaze followed the chain upwards, beyond a certain boundary, everything began to blur and distort!
The once strong chain links became dull and lifeless, and even showed many obvious signs of "breakage", as if they had been forcibly torn apart by some indescribable and enormous force.

Higher-level instructions, feedback, and the very forces maintaining the chain have all been severed. This is a complete "loss of connection," not a physical damage, but a paralysis at the level of rules. Gao Jian cannot directly discern the "cause" of the break with his rusty knife, but he can clearly sense a profound, bone-chilling fear emanating from the depths of the Ghost King Jiazhali's divine aura!

To be honest, if Gao Jian hadn't been protected and had to bear this fear directly, he might have died.

No wonder even the Ghost King had to fall into a deep sleep, fearing that this fear would devour his heart and cause his Dao heart to collapse and die.

“No wonder…” Gao Jian thought with a chill, “Even a sixth-rank ghost king dares not face the great terror behind him? He can only escape by sleeping, to avoid being swallowed by this fear and going completely insane… What exactly caused the cycle of reincarnation to break down?”

I just don't know.

The Ghost King certainly doesn't know, and even Gao Jian can't help it.

Following this information, Gao Jian continued his exploration.

Due to the vacuum created by this event, the various hellish regions have effectively entered a semi-autonomous state.

Ghost kings like Gāzāli became the de facto rulers of their own territories.

However, after Gatha fell into slumber, Hell and the demons below still instinctively enforced the basic rule of "retribution," because this was the foundation of Hell's existence. But the "scale" and "method" of enforcement had become extremely flexible.

"No wonder……"

With this loophole, it's no wonder that the day and night wandering spirits dared to collude with the Shui family in the mortal world and even the Divine Dynasty.

The King of Ghosts is asleep, Yama is nowhere to be found, and Hell has transformed from a highly centralized judicial and enforcement agency into a loose alliance of numerous ghost messengers, filled with power struggles and unspoken rules.

Then, in the next moment, Gao Jian's expression suddenly became excited.

He found the information he was looking for in these divine expressions!

Gao Jian clearly observed that Jia Zha Li knew that the barrier between the Yin and Yang realms was not absolutely closed!
Under the ancient rules, there are extremely strict legal channels for communication, which usually involve extradition due to significant causes or special permission from higher beings.

However, with the top-level disorder, the management of these channels has also become chaotic.

More importantly, the spirit of the Garatri vaguely points to some "gaps" or "secret paths" that have only appeared in the last tens of thousands of years.

From this perspective, the fact that the Day and Night Wanderer could contact the Water Clan Ancestor suggests that the Water Clan Ancestor was able to openly enter Hell was most likely due to utilizing such a "gap".

Furthermore, if one were to master a secret method of communication that bypasses normal rules, then... it might not be impossible for hell and the mortal realm to communicate directly.

But this connection is probably not that simple...

"Just as I suspected!" Gao Jian suddenly understood. "The collusion between the Shui family patriarch and the Day and Night Wanderers was most likely achieved by exploiting such a 'gap.' If they also mastered certain secret techniques, it would be entirely possible to establish a clandestine connection between the mortal world and hell, bypassing the normal rules!"

The scheme behind this is chilling to contemplate. The powerful families of the Divine Dynasty have managed to extend their reach into this chaotic hell through such a loophole! What they're plotting is probably unimaginable.

It was no accident that the patriarch of the Shui family could summon the day and night wandering gods.

What's behind this is likely that the upper echelons of the Yang world's divine dynasty are able to get involved in the affairs of Hell... Under the leadership of the divine dynasty, the aristocratic groups are colluding with the ghost messengers of Hell, and their ambitions must be enormous.

He slowly withdrew his divine sense, and the ripples in his heart gradually subsided. His gaze fell once more on the sleeping Ghost King, now with a deeper meaning.

The ripples in my heart have gradually subsided, the vast amount of spiritual essence has been clearly sorted out, and I have obtained most of the key information.

"Well, I've got the location of the gap," he muttered to himself, his fingers unconsciously stroking his chin.

The information is in hand, but the real obstacles are still clearly in front of us—a wandering spirit day and night.

These two seventh-rank Earth Immortals are far superior to the likes of Wang Gang and Shui Wuyai. As officials of Hell, their positions are high, and their cultivation methods are likely not simple either, especially since they also possess combined attack techniques.

Although Gao Jian is a Grandmaster of two realms, his true combat strength far exceeds that of the Seventh Realm, and he also has the trump card of the Rusty Blade. However, if he were to face two well-coordinated and solidly rooted Seventh-Rank Earth Immortals head-on, it would inevitably be a bitter battle, and he might even attract more unnecessary trouble.

Forcing your way in is not the best strategy.

However, Gao Jian's gaze swept over the sleeping Ghost King Jiazhali again, and an idea quickly formed in his mind.

"It's not like there's no way out..." he thought to himself.

With his mind made up, he no longer hesitated to offer his insightful opinion.

With a thought, the rusty knife, reflecting his spirit, trembled slightly, and its agile sharpness receded back into the blade like a tide.

The continuous sensing and analysis consumed a lot of energy, and the manifested length of the blade eventually stabilized at only about one inch. Although the spiritual aura was slightly dimmed, the core dormant power remained stable.

Leaving an inch is enough.

"Om..."

As the spiritual energy of the rusty knife receded, the delicate balance that had been stirred within the iron house returned to normal.

Takashi steadily retracted the rusty knife. Even though it directly reflected the spirit of the Demon King, it was as if the rusty knife had just completed a routine investigation.

This treasure is really...

He took one last look at the sleeping Ghost King, then turned and walked out of the iron house.

Now that we know where the "gap" connecting us to the mortal realm is, let's head straight there.

Whether it's finding a way back to the mortal world, investigating the deeper secrets of the Shui family's collusion with Hell, or even having a "communication" with those greedy day and night wandering gods, that place is a crucial juncture.

As for the bargaining chips, the response plans, and even the potential conflicts... there's no need to rush to finalize these things here and now. The time on the road is enough for him to secretly plan and think things through carefully.

About fifteen days later, following the directional information in Shen Yun, Gao Jian arrived at his destination.

The scene before us was quite spectacular.

This is not a hidden cave or a twisted spatial node, but an incredibly open flat area.

However, despite its open appearance, this place is actually a canyon.

Yes, it appears to be a canyon on a plain.
A canyon so vast that it makes you feel like you're in a vacuum.

It stretches across the land, hundreds of miles wide and hundreds of thousands of miles long!
Standing on the so-called "cliff edge," looking out, there is not a steep cliff face opposite, but a hazy, distant horizon. The terrain beneath your feet gently slopes down, merging into a vast, bottomless "plain."

This doesn't feel like looking down into an abyss at all; it's more like standing at the starting point of a plateau, gazing at a much lower and more expansive basin in the distance.

Only when you realize the depth of this "plain" and the unreachable "opposite shore" on both sides can you barely construct the outline of this canyon in your mind.

It was so wide that it exceeded the limits of conventional visual perception, so that individuals standing on the edge could only perceive the continuously sloping terrain and the cold, biting wind blowing from the "bottom" through their bodies.

One can imagine that only from the highest point in the sky can one take in the full view of this magnificent terrain and see how abrupt and vast that huge rift valley, like a hideous scar on the skin of hell, is.

He composed himself and scanned the vast, sloping area with his eyes.

Gao Jian took a deep breath and then jumped down.

My body fell like a meteorite, with howling winds in my ears. The canyon has a height difference of tens of miles!

The elevation difference of tens of miles is a dead end for ordinary people or even low-level cultivators, but for Gao Jian, it is just a journey of free fall.

After all, the speed of freefall is the limit, and his physical body is capable of withstanding this impact.

"Boom!"

With a dull, loud thud, the incredibly hard ground at the bottom of the canyon was smashed into a deep crater, and spiderweb-like cracks spread outwards.

Before the smoke and dust had even cleared, Gao Jian leaped out like a ghost, landing lightly on the edge of the pit without even getting a speck of dust on him.

He had barely stood still when his gaze sharpened.

Above, about a hundred feet in the air, two figures, one black and one white, quietly appeared, like silhouettes suspended on the dark sky.

They were wandering the gods day and night.

The white-robed wandering god's voice was deep and had a metallic, scraping quality: "You... have come looking for me."

Gao Jian remained calm, as if he had only encountered two ordinary passersby.

With a backhand motion, he drew the seemingly rusty longsword with a soft clang and pointed it diagonally at the ground.

The last inch of the blade's edge flickered uncertainly in the dim light, emanating a chilling aura.

"Yes, I've come looking for you." Gao Jian's tone was calm, yet carried an undeniable resolve. "Shall we take action?"

Almost the instant his words fell, the day and night wandering gods in the air stiffened almost imperceptibly, and in unison floated backward, instantly creating a distance of a full mile!

After standing still, the black-clad Night Wanderer slowly spoke, his voice like that of a night owl: "Fighting will not benefit us."

"Benefits?" Gao Jian sighed. "Are the Hell and the aristocratic families the same? They only talk about benefits?"

(End of this chapter)