Primordial Era: Starting with slaughtering all the gods and Buddhas in the sky

After Huang Chen crossed the icy slope, he did not immediately flee.

He scurried swiftly along the ground amidst the weeds and pebbles, using the black wind to scour his body, circled halfway, and then slipped back into a eroded water cave downstream from Hanpo Ferry. It was less than three miles from the main ferry crossing. Outside, he could hear intermittent bone whistles and shouts, but inside the water cave, only the hollow sound of black water crashing against the rocks could be heard, chilling like a knife piercing into his bones.

He crouched down, pressed his hand against the stone wall, and listened.

The watercourses are in disarray.

It wasn't a complete loss of control; it was the noise generated by the simultaneous interruptions to patrols, cargo inspections, ship mooring, and shift changes. The more panicked the higher-ups became, the more chaotic things became below.

This is exactly what he wanted.

Huang Chen exhaled a breath of white air, raised his hand to brush away a thin layer of frost in front of him, and focused his mind on the system panel.

Peak of the early stage of Earth Immortal.

His injuries had mostly healed, his qi and blood were still sufficient, and his magical treasures were all on him.

However, if they were to directly confront the entire Cold Soul Ferry, they would still be unstable. This place is not a half-ruined stronghold like the Broken Pulse Camp. The ferry connects to the Northern Sea trade route, and the Blackwater sorcerers still have the Tide Mirror, Soul Jar, Ice Coffin, and a whole team of water demons. Once they completely form an array, even if I can break out, I may not be able to protect those who are being transferred.

Huang Chen stared at the panel, tapping his fingers lightly twice on his knee.

Save lives first.

Later, it was out of stock.

Beheading again.

The order cannot be changed.

He put away the panel, took out the Ice Bone Token and the related item he obtained from the Northern Tide Mirror from his pocket, and reviewed the ship's location, prison cell, and the whereabouts of the secret letter that he had just noted down at the post station.

After the chaos in the central warehouse, the first things to be guarded are the account books, secret letters, and travel stamps; what is most easily overlooked is the live cargo in the hold that has already been loaded onto the ship and is waiting to be shipped out under the cover of night.

To rescue people, you need to cut from under the boat.

Huang Chen looked up and gazed outside.

The wind picked up.

Dark clouds pressed down along the frigid plain, causing the bone lanterns at the ferry crossing to sway wildly in the wind, flickering on and off. In the distance came the muffled thud of wooden wheels hitting the planks, and the grating scraping of some heavy iron hook dragging across the stone surface.

Occasionally, a child's suppressed whimper would escape, only to be shattered by whips and curses.

Huang Chen's eyelids twitched, and his body had already slid off the edge of the water cave.

He doesn't go ashore.

The black water is too cold; even ordinary cultivators would experience a significant slowdown in their spiritual energy circulation if they went down there.

With the support of his intermediate-level Wu Clan battle physique, Huang Chen suppressed his qi and blood, causing him to sink directly into the water, leaving only a blurry shadow beneath the black waves. Ice shards grazed his face like a string of tiny iron filings.

He moved along the shadow of the ship's hull, avoiding the two patrolling bone boats, and finally stopped beneath a secret vessel with an exceptionally deep draft.

The hull of the ship is engraved with the Northern Sea pattern.

The texture is inlaid with bone powder, and it has a slight sheen when wet.

that's it.

Huang Chen pressed his five fingers against the bottom of the boat, listening for any sounds inside. There were footsteps on the upper deck, and two water demons were cursing, but the lower deck was sinking, sinking more like a grave than a cargo hold.

A moment later, he heard a very faint cough, as if a frozen throat was being forced out from behind a layer of ice.

Huang Chen's eyes turned cold, and the Wind-Stabilizing Pearl in his palm silently lit up.

The next instant, the previously undulating black waves around them suddenly stopped.

It wasn't completely still, but rather it was forcibly flattened for half a breath by an invisible force.

This half-breath is enough.

Huang Chen pushed off with both legs, his Mountain and River Boots exploding against the hull of the ship, and he charged diagonally upwards along the wet wooden planks. Without even drawing his Asura Blood Blade, his right fist, enveloped in the heavy blood light of the Witch Clan Battle Body, slammed into the wooden wall of the lower deck!

boom!

The ship shook violently.

Ice shards, wood chips, and cold mist exploded together.

The lower deck was dimly lit and chilly.

A dozen semi-transparent ice coffins were chained to the cabin, inside which curled up young children, their lips purple, their wrists and ankles bound with black ropes. Next to them were three rows of cages, crammed with unconscious or semi-conscious humans, including old people, women, and several emaciated boys, their bodies covered in salt frost and black mud, their breathing frighteningly weak.

Before the two water sprite helmsmen guarding the bottom hatch could react, they saw a dark figure burst into the hatch.

"who--"

Huang Chen didn't even bother to let it finish speaking. He raised his hand, grabbed the water demon on the left, pressed its face down, and smashed its head into the cabin wall with a crack.

Just as the other end raised the bone fork, Huang Chen snatched it away, pierced its throat, and twisted it hard, throwing half of its neck, along with black blood, onto the ice coffin.

Screams erupted inside the cabin.

The person inside the cage huddled together, staring at him with terror in their eyes.

Huang Chen raised his hand and waved it, and the Twelfth Grade Karmic Fire Red Lotus (a replica) emerged from his palm. The crimson-gold flames spread out and first covered the entire prison area.

The flames didn't burn anyone; they acted like a warm curtain of light, keeping out the surrounding chilling aura and shattered ice.

"Don't run around."

'

Huang Chen's voice was low, short, and harsh.

"Stay close to the fire, and help those who can't move."

'

He strode to the ice coffin at the very front and punched it.

boom!

The coffin lid cracked.

The child inside twitched, as if he had been frozen for too long, and couldn't even cry.

Huang Chen ripped off the black rope binding him and casually stuffed it into the curtain of fire. The second punch, the third punch, the fourth punch—

One by one, the ice coffins exploded.

Icy water mixed with streaks of blood was splashed all over the floor, and a chill seeped out wildly. In a corner of the lower deck, an elderly human with white hair crawled forward, his hands trembling, his voice hoarse: "Little...little child...save the little child first..."

Icy water mixed with streaks of blood was splashed all over the floor, and a chill seeped out wildly. In a corner of the lower deck, an elderly human with white hair crawled forward, his hands trembling, his voice hoarse: "Little...little child...save the little child first..."

Huang Chen didn't even turn his head, and directly smashed the last ice coffin to pieces.

"Save them all."

The moment the words were spoken, the entire secret ship shuddered.

A furious shout came from above.

"The lower deck!"

There's been an accident in the lower deck!

"Stop him!"

'

"Someone's robbing us!"

The sharp bone whistles instantly merged into one.

Outside the ship, black water churned, and several demonic auras pressed towards them. Huang Chen kicked open the sealed door of the small compartment next to him. Inside, instead of salt, there were more than a dozen cold jade soul jars. The jars were semi-transparent, with blurry human faces floating inside, sealed with strips of dampness, and emitting soft weeping sounds as the ship rocked.

Huang Chen glanced at it, his brows furrowing.

It really was there.

The Crimson Lotus of Karmic Fire is most effective against Yin and filthy soul artifacts, while the Cold Jade Soul Jar is most afraid of pure fire intent. Once broken, the remnant souls and resentment stored inside will immediately backfire on the surrounding casters.

He raised his hand and pressed it against the wall of the jar, and the crimson gold flames crawled into his five fingers.

boo.

The first soul jar cracked.

The blurry human face inside slammed against the jar wall, then exploded into a cloud of black and white mist that surged towards the deck above. Then came the second, the third—

Bang bang bang!

More than ten soul jars exploded one after another, and the entire lower deck seemed to be blocked by a cold, angry tide. Several shaman servants who were rushing down from above screamed and fell down, their faces as if scratched by countless ghostly hands, their eyes bulging out of their sockets.

"Ah—my face!"

"The soul...the soul has rebelled!"

'

Huang Chen didn't stop.

He smashed the right-side shelf with a punch, then kicked through the bulkhead, opening up the adjacent cargo hold.

The wooden barrel, salt box, bone bottle, and soul-sealing bag rolled out together, and crackled and popped as soon as the karmic fire touched them. The entire ship was instantly engulfed in a vast expanse of crimson-gold light from the inside out.

"Walk!"

Huang Chen gave a low shout to the prisoners inside the curtain of fire.

Several middle-aged people who still had the strength finally realized what was happening and hurriedly helped the elderly and children around them to crawl out of the hole. A little girl was so cold that she couldn't bend her legs and fell as soon as she took a step out. Huang Chen picked her up and put her in the arms of the white-haired old man.

The old man gritted his teeth, hugged the child tightly, his eyes red-rimmed, and opened his mouth as if to say something.

Huang Chen had already turned around and rushed onto the deck.

The wind and snow outside were slapping my face.

The entire Hanpo Ferry was in complete chaos.

Bone lanterns dangled haphazardly on the dock, and a dozen large ships simultaneously lit up their warning lights. Chains in the black water stretched taut, dragging the ships as they crashed against the shore. The ferry crossing was teeming with running witch servants and water demons, a cacophony of shouts, cries, and the cracking of planks.

Dozens of laborers were still locked in the canal on the shore. When they saw the burning secret ship, they were first stunned, then some cried, and some struggled to break free of their chains like madmen.

"Let me out!"

'

"Help! Help me!"

'

"The ship is burning! The ship is burning!"

'

As soon as Huang Chen stepped onto the deck, two black water crocodile demons guarding the hold pounced from the bow, their foul stench assaulting his face. One wielded a serrated bone knife, the other swung an iron stake, their scales adorned with strings of wet human bones.

"You suicidal human slave!"

"Chop him up and feed him to Chao Ling!"

'

Huang Chen shifted his feet to avoid the first strike, then grabbed the crocodile demon's wrist and twisted it downwards.

click!

The bone knife slipped from his hand.

Huang Chen then plunged the blade into its lower jaw, all the way to the back of its head.

Another iron stake came crashing down, and he raised his arm to take it head-on. With a dull thud, the deck trembled. The crocodile demon was stunned, not expecting a human to withstand its attack with his bare hands.

Huang Chen rammed into its embrace, his fists like hammers, striking its chest and abdomen three times in succession.

boom!

boom!boom!

Black scales shattered and flew away, flesh and blood collapsed.

The final punch sent the crocodile demon flying backwards, crashing through the mast and tumbling into the burning cargo hold.

The system notification sound echoed in my mind.

Karma enters the account.

Huang Chen didn't even look at it; his gaze was already fixed on the center of the ferry crossing.

The Blackwater witch peddler has arrived.

He wore a heavy, wet leather cloak, his face darker than the night. In his hand he held a bone fork from the Cold Tide, its tip wreathed in three wisps of pale water vapor. In his other hand he held the Northern Sea Tide Mirror, its surface a deep blue, which was slowly pulling the churning black water around him into the air.

The tall, thin sorcerer he had kicked over earlier knelt behind him, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, his hand trembling as he pointed at Huang Chen.

"grown ups!

That's him! That's the bastard!

'

Blackwater witch squinted at Huang Chen, forcing out through gritted teeth, "It's you again."

Huang Chen stood on the burning deck, surrounded by broken ice and corpses, his hands dripping with the black blood of the crocodile demon.

"You have a good memory."

Blackwater witch twitched his face, then laughed angrily: "You really dare to come back."

"The tents of the Broken Pulse Camp, the goods of the Cold Soul Ferry, we'll settle everything tonight."

"OK.

Huang Chen shook the blood off his fist. "You'd better keep your life safe first."

As soon as he finished speaking, the surrounding demonic energy pressed in simultaneously.

Three patrolling bone boats docked, and more than twenty water demons and witch servants formed a semi-circle, their weapons gleaming coldly under the bone lamps. Further away, a Northern Sea passenger ship draped in black cloth also lit up its talisman lamps. At the bow stood a Northern Sea envoy wearing a dark blue robe, his face covered by half a fishbone mask. He simply watched coldly, without rushing to speak.

Huang Chen's gaze swept over the ship, and a thought struck him.

The secret letter is most likely over there.

The Blackwater sorcerer clearly didn't want to delay any longer. He flipped his mirror, and the light shone on the deck beneath Huang Chen's feet. The black water instantly transformed into dozens of icy, icy waves that coiled around Huang Chen's limbs.

At the same instant, the bone fork also pierced out, and three wisps of cold water vapor at the tip transformed into a shrill white python, heading straight for Huang Chen's chest.

Huang Chen did not retreat, but raised his hand and summoned the Karmic Fire Red Lotus.

A curtain of crimson fire suddenly appeared, first shattering the wave lock beneath its feet, then forcefully clashing with the three wisps of icy white pythons. The clash of water and fire sent a cloud of white mist billowing across the entire deck.

Wood chips, ice powder, and blood droplets were all shaken into the air.

"Press him down!"

'

The Blackwater sorcerer shouted angrily.

The remaining water demons rushed in while the fog was blowing.

Huang Chen stomped his foot, his Mountain and River Boots cracking the deck, and smashed into the demon horde like a cannonball. He grabbed a water demon by the neck with his left hand, swung it over, and smashed down two others behind it; his right arm swept across, piercing the sternum of another witch servant.

Someone attacked from behind. Just as the bone hook fell, Huang Chen turned around and punched, sending the man and the hook flying over the railing.

Black water churned up.

The scream stopped.

But Hanpo Ferry has too many enemies.

There were still laborers chained up on the shore, and people still waiting to be released from the ship's hold. Huang Chen couldn't let the battlefield drag on too far. With a sudden thought, he turned around abruptly, not attacking the Blackwater Witch Traders, but instead rushing towards the row of cargo holds on the other side that were not yet fully burned.

The Blackwater witch's expression changed drastically.

"Stop him!"

quick!"

It's too late.

Huang Chen had already clearly seen the talismans pasted on the warehouse doors. They were for sealing souls, storing items, and suppressing evil spirits.

This place mostly contains a mix of Cold Jade Soul Jars and live goods, usually used to conceal their presence. What's a dead end for others is the perfect powder keg for him.

He rushed to the first warehouse door and punched it.

boom!

The door shattered.

The flames of karma poured in.

Inside, more than twenty soul jars hummed simultaneously, and the countless human faces on the jar walls all opened their eyes. The next instant, Huang Chen's second punch slammed into the load-bearing pillar, causing the entire warehouse to tilt violently, and two adjacent warehouses collapsed in half.

bang bang bang-

Soul Jars keep exploding!

The backlash from the human soul was like an invisible black tide, sweeping out along the ground.

The several witch servants who were rushing towards him immediately bled from their seven orifices and rolled around clutching their heads. The black water in the diversion channel on the bank was also agitated by this resentful energy, and it surged back against its original direction, crashing against the stone embankment and making a loud rumbling noise.

The situation quickly spiraled out of control.

The chains of the sacrificial altar rattled loudly.

Several laborers seized the opportunity to tear their wrists apart, causing them to bleed profusely, and desperately tried to squeeze out. A middle-aged woman with a face covered in frostbite rushed out from the broken wooden fence, her voice hoarse: "Child!"

My child is still on the boat!

Which one?

"Huang Chen asked sharply.

The woman pointed to the second, smaller gray boat to the north, her hand trembling violently.

Huang Chen memorized the location and casually snapped the lock at her feet with a slap: "Run behind the fire!"

The woman staggered a few steps, glanced back at him with tears in her eyes, and then turned to pull her companion aside.

A system notification suddenly sounded.

【Ding!

A large-scale crime trafficking operation has been detected.

[Side Quest Triggered: Crossing the Frozen Souls]

[Mission Objectives: 1. Slay the Blackwater sorcerers; 2. Rescue the humans being transported; 3. Seize the secret letter for the Northern Sea trade]

[Task Rewards: 18000 Karma, 8000 Merit]

【当前进度：1\/3未达成；2\/3部分完成；3\/3未达成】

Huang Chen glanced at it, then continued walking, leaping across the broken wood towards the gray ship.

Along the way, two more water monsters guarding the warehouse pounced from under the bridge planks. One had barbs on its back and the other had a mouthful of fine teeth. They moved as fast as two black arrows shooting across the water. Huang Chen twisted his body in mid-air, first kicking the former's neck and breaking it. When he landed, he grabbed the latter's head and slammed it hard against the side of the boat.

boom!

He didn't die immediately.

Kneel again.

boom!

The sound of bones cracking exploded, and black blood flowed down the ship's deck.

Huang Chen threw the corpse aside and cleaved open the hatch at the bottom of the gray ship with a single stroke.

Sure enough, there were dozens of humans locked up inside, crammed together like a pile of frozen firewood, the stench of blood, vomit, and cold salt all mingling together. Behind the wooden planks at the very back, there was even a separate, sealed-off small compartment.

Huang Chen first severed the outer chains and shouted, "Those who can move, come out first and go to the fire curtain ahead!"

The people inside were still trembling, moving as slowly as puppets.

An elderly human, his lips bluish-purple, struggled to the front and kowtowed twice to Huang Chen: "Benefactor... there are more maps at the back... they say they're altar guides, very valuable, and they won't let anyone else touch them..."

Huang Chen's eyes narrowed, and he immediately kicked open the partition.

The compartment was small, containing three moisture-proof bone boxes and a half-rolled-up animal hide map.

The map was covered with icicles, indicating it had just been viewed. Huang Chen picked up the tattered map and glanced at it. The terrain lines on the map were rough, but the area on the northern foothills of Buzhou Mountain was marked very clearly. One area was circled with dark blue bone powder, and next to it were four crooked ancient characters: Hanming Altar.

It really was it.

Huang Chen put the fragmented map into his pocket and then casually opened the bone box.

It was empty inside, as if it had originally contained letters or seals that had just been removed.

The confidential letter has been transferred.

Outside, the Blackwater witch traffickers' roars almost pierced the night wind.

"Open the gate!"

Please send an envoy to assist!

The envoy from the Northern Sea, who had been standing motionless at the bow of the passenger ship, finally raised his hand.

He had somehow acquired a pale bone whistle in his hand, which he held to his lips and slowly blew.

woo-

The voice wasn't loud, but it traveled extremely far.

The wind above the entire Cold Soul Ferry seemed to be grabbed and suddenly sank. In the distance, from the direction of the Black Sea, the dark currents that had been churning suddenly collapsed towards this place.

The next moment, the light from the Northern Sea Tide Mirror surged, shining towards the sky.

High in the sky, the dark clouds parted.

A colossal, almost overwhelming, skull of a ferocious whale gradually materialized from between the clouds and the tides. Its eyes were hollow, yet its mouth seemed to swallow an entire icy sea. As soon as it emerged, all the bone lamps of the Cold Soul Crossing dimmed by a third.

On the shore and on the boat, all the water demons prostrated themselves, their voices trembling.

"Beihai...the Dharma of the killer whale..."

Huang Chen stood at the breached hatch and looked up.

A cold wind, carrying sparks, hit my face.

The edges of the tattered map in his arms fluttered in the wind.

I'm currently reading Chapter 53, "Burning Soul at the Ferry Crossing," on the novel by Cola, completely engrossed and unable to tear myself away.