Then, Witch warrior commander Lan Qi ordered another attack, intending to completely shatter Ji Xiuning’s energy and bloodline, crush her entirely, and capture her alive.
However…
At that very moment!
A layer of transparent crystal suddenly grew over Ji Xiuning’s body, gradually wrapping around her entire delicate figure.
“Crack, crack…”
It was almost as though she were being frozen, or perhaps turned to stone.
After only two minutes, her entire body was completely encased in a special energy crystal.
No one knew what this energy crystal was made of. It could not be penetrated or damaged in any way.
The attacks of the witch warriors could no longer break through it!
“Take her back!” Witch warrior commander Lan Qi ordered.
…
During the past five days, Lan Ling had been wandering around the ruins of the Demon Capital of Doom, but had found absolutely nothing. He had not discovered even the slightest trace of the Ghost King.
Or rather, he had not discovered any trace at all, not just of the Ghost King.
The entire ruin was completely silent. There was not even the slightest energy fluctuation.
Lan Ling and Gou Li searched aimlessly, but found nothing.
Even though Ji Xiuning and the Heavenly Guardian Knights were outside, Lan Ling still took the risk of using the vision of the Ghost King’s Eye, hoping to provoke some kind of response from the Ghost King.
Yet there was still no response.
Lan Ling therefore began to suspect that the Ghost King might not be here at all.
He stopped his pointless exploration and closed his eyes to think.
If the Ghost King was here, where would it be?
Could it have felt that even hiding within the independent spacetime of the Demon Capital ruins was still not safe enough, and that the Divine Dragon Temple might eventually find it?
If so, where would it hide?
Lan Ling had already explored almost the entire Demon Capital ruins. There was not the slightest energy fluctuation anywhere.
If this had been the outside world, Lan Ling would certainly not have been able to search such a vast area so thoroughly.
But there was truly nothing inside these ruins. There was no energy fluctuation whatsoever, almost as though the entire place were an energy vacuum.
Therefore, even the slightest energy fluctuation would immediately be detected by Lan Ling.
“Gou Li, if you were the Ghost King, where would you hide after entering the ruins of the Demon Capital?” Lan Ling asked.
Gou Li remained silent for a long time. Instead of answering, she asked, “Master, do you think there is a hell in this world?”
Lan Ling fell silent for a long time.
Yes.
Was there a hell in this world?
There should be, surely. Otherwise, how could there be Hell Knights?
However, Lan Ling had never seen a genuine Hell Knight. Ashura did not count.
But Gou Li’s words had indeed reminded Lan Ling of something.
The Ghost King certainly was not a living being. Perhaps it was some kind of accident originating from the Netherworld?
If so, would the safest place for it be the Netherworld?
When faced with danger, could it return to the Netherworld?
But if it wanted to go to the Netherworld, why had it come to the Sea of Doom?
At the very least, it had been to the Sea of Doom. The final image seen through its eyes had been the Sea of Doom.
Could it have merely come to the Sea of Doom as a decoy?
Could it have left its eye here so that the Divine Dragon Temple forces pursuing it would believe that it had disappeared into the Sea of Doom, while it had actually gone to the Netherworld?
If that were true, Lan Ling would really have been completely fooled.
But…
Another thought suddenly emerged.
If the real world represented the realm of the living, while the Netherworld represented the realm of the dead, then could the ruins of the Demon Capital of Doom exist somewhere between the two?
This place was completely silent, without any energy, existing in a state of absolute balance. It was an independent space.
Moreover, its entrance was in the living world. When Lan Ling and Gou Li had been in a soul state, the ruins of the Demon Capital had immediately appeared before them.
It coexisted with the real world.
So could this plane be directly connected to both the realms of life and death?
“Master, when a force of energy exceeds a certain limit, it can tear open the boundary between planes,” Gou Li said. “For example, the entrance to the Netherworld that everyone knows about is located in the Land of Fallen.”
The Land of Fallen was said to be the place where the ancient gods, demons and the Divine Dragon had fought to the death, ultimately perishing together.
It had now become a forbidden zone of life and energy. No lifeform could cross it, including energy-based lifeforms.
Thus, the Northern and Southern Wilderness had been forcibly separated.
Neither the Motuo Empire nor the eight great Demon Kings could cross it.
Gou Li’s meaning was already very clear.
The ruins of the Demon Capital of Doom had been created when the power of the stars from outer space struck it.
Although the force was nowhere near as enormous as the energy released when the ancient gods, demons and the Divine Dragon perished together, it had clearly still exceeded some kind of limit.
So could the ruins of the Demon Capital also be one of the entrances to the Netherworld?
If these assumptions were correct, then without a doubt, the Ghost King would have escaped into the Netherworld.
That should be its homeland.
After sorting out his thoughts, Lan Ling began deliberately searching for the hypothetical entrance to the Netherworld.
If it really led to the Netherworld, what would it be?
A spatial gate?
Or a rift leading to hell?
Of course, this was not the same hell rift used to search for the Starry Sky Demon Power Meteorite.
Previously, when Lan Ling had entered the ruins of the Demon Capital from reality, he had almost come directly through the centre of the seabed.
So where should the entrance to the Netherworld be?
At the centre of the ruins of the Demon Capital?
Or at the edge?
Lan Ling first searched the centre of the Demon Capital ruins.
Again and again.
But he found nothing.
Then he mounted the three headed Chimera Beast and searched along the edge of the ruins.
Yet he went around once, then again, and again.
He flew for three whole days and three nights, but still found nothing.
Ten days had now passed since the forty five day deadline for his duel.
During this period, Lan Ling not only had to find the Ghost King’s tomb and devour the Ghost King’s energy, he also had to comprehend the Hell Lightning.
Neither could be omitted.
Otherwise, defeating the Black Demon Flag Lord would be completely impossible.
The Blood Star flashing six times was extremely serious. It had even overturned the existing balance of the world.
But for now, it had nothing to do with Lan Ling.
The only thing before him was to defeat the Black Demon Flag Lord in the duel.
Otherwise, he would lose everything.
…
Three days and three nights later.
Lan Ling had no choice but to stop searching once again.
He sat down cross legged and closed his eyes in deep thought.
Suppose his previous theory was correct.
Suppose the ruins of the Demon Capital really were connected to both the realms of life and death.
Then why could he not find the entrance to the Netherworld?
He could not find it at the centre.
He could not find it at the edge.
Where exactly was it?
“Master, after our bodies were completely shattered at the bottom of the Sea of Doom, we could only see the ruins of the Demon Capital after losing our physical bodies,” Gou Li said.
“Does that mean that inside these ruins, we have to die before we can see the entrance to the Netherworld?”
Logically speaking, only genuine ghosts could enter the Netherworld.
Only those who had truly died could go to the Netherworld and discover its entrance.
But Lan Ling and Gou Li were both immortal.
Dying was extremely difficult for them.
Previously, Lan Ling’s physical body had been shattered, but that did not count as death.
He still possessed energy, a soul and a complete will.
If what remained after Lan Ling’s physical body was destroyed was a soul, then did that mean that entering the Netherworld and discovering it required becoming a ghost?
But how could Lan Ling and Gou Li become ghosts when they were immortal?
Besides, what was the difference between a ghost and a soul?
Lan Ling assumed that this theory was correct.
If becoming a ghost allowed him to discover the entrance to the Netherworld and find the Ghost King, then he had to find a way to turn himself into a ghost.
But how could an immortal become a ghost?
“Gou Li, when I drained your bloodline back then, did you feel as though you were close to death?” Lan Ling asked.
“Master, I was already dead at that time,” Gou Li replied.
“What exactly did it feel like?” Lan Ling asked.
In truth, he did not need to ask Gou Li because he himself had died before.
But he seemed to be different from everyone else.
He had never really felt anything when facing death.
Gou Li said, “When the soul loses its energy supply, it becomes a rootless soul. It naturally begins separating from the physical body. It was as though the Netherworld possessed a kind of attraction that pulled the ghost towards it.
“But because you injected demonic blood into my body, my soul was restrained by you. Once your demonic blood reconstructed my heart, my soul received an energy supply again.
“However, because it had remained outside the body for too long, it became cold and lost its warmth.”
Gou Li’s explanation completely explained why the Death Warriors were so cold and rigid.
After dying, their souls lost their energy supply. As a result, they gradually lost their emotions and became cold and rigid.
Lan Ling said, “So the difference between a soul and a ghost is whether it has an energy supply, whether it has a root?”
“It should be,” Gou Li replied.
With this, the principle behind entering a ghost state became very simple.
Cut off the energy supply to the soul, and the rootless soul would become a ghost.
Lan Ling’s energy core was his heart, his demonic blood.
As long as the demonic blood energy from his heart stopped supplying energy to his brain, Lan Ling would become a rootless soul.
Then how could he cut off the energy supply from his heart?
“Empty Meditation,” Gou Li said. “Master, use the Empty Meditation Technique. You can enter a state of false death and enter the vision of a ghost.”
After being injected with demonic blood, Gou Li had acquired many memories of ancient demons, which was why she knew so much.
Why did Lan Ling not possess these memories?
Because he was the master.
He controlled and created everything rather than passively receiving it.
Gou Li then taught Lan Ling the Empty Meditation Technique.
After learning the theory behind it, Lan Ling felt that it was very similar to the legendary death meditation and self-transcendence practised by ancient Buddhist monks on Earth.
Some monks could keep their bodies alive while spiritually extinguishing their own life force and cutting off their vitality.
Lan Ling closed his eyes and entered the world of Empty Meditation.
…
He emptied his mind of all mental defences and abandoned every memory.
Lan Ling’s mental realm entered a state of absolute emptiness.
His soul drifted through the endless void.
Drifting.
Drifting.
Drifting.
The process of drifting was a process of purification.
This purification did not mean cleansing the body or mind.
It meant purging the remnants of mental defences and the remnants of rational thought.
It was complete emptiness.
No one knew how long he drifted.
How long.
Suddenly, Lan Ling opened his eyes.
He was standing above the surface of the sea.
The flying vessels of the Divine Dragon Temple surrounded him from every direction.
His wife, Princess Zhi Yan, stood before him with an extremely complicated expression.
Huai Bingyi walked over and placed a precious sword into Zhi Yan’s hands.
“Zhi Yan, the million strong army of the Flame Empire is already approaching the border of the Kingdom of Raging Waves. The armies of the Western Liang Kingdom and the Northern Court Kingdom are also beginning to assemble…”
Ji Xiuning said, “Zhi Yan, as Soren’s wife, this is something you will never be able to wash away. As the woman of the World Destroying Demon Emperor, you will have nowhere to escape death.”
Huai Bingyi said, “There is only one chance now. You must kill Soren with your own hands. Only then can you completely clear yourself of suspicion and sever your connection with him.”
Ji Mengbai said, “If you want to save the Kingdom of Raging Waves and save the Zhi family, killing Soren is the only path.”
Zhi Yan held the sword and closed her beautiful eyes.
She remained silent for a long time.
Then she took a deep breath and looked at Soren.
“I’m sorry, my husband. Just as you said, I fell short by only a little. I never learned how to love. I’m sorry.”
With that, Princess Zhi Yan pointed the Dragon Gold Sword at Soren’s heart and slowly pushed it in.
Endless tears poured from her eyes.
“Cough…”
Soren coughed with difficulty as a large amount of blood flowed from his nose and mouth.
Yes.
The Empty Meditation Technique had once again recreated the scene of Soren being killed.
It was exactly the same as what had happened before.
It was even more realistic.
At this moment, Lan Ling had emptied his mind completely and removed all his mental defences.
Therefore, he did not know that this was a recreation of his memory.
He believed it was real.
So…
He believed that he had died.
The demonic blood energy in his heart gradually stopped supplying energy to his soul.
The Empty Meditation Technique had succeeded.
Lan Ling had successfully entered a state of false death!
Then Lan Ling’s soul floated out of his body.
His soul transformed into a ghost.
At that moment, Lan Ling clearly felt the world before him change.
The ruins of the Demon Capital of Doom disappeared.
In their place was a black and white world.
There were only light and shadows, with no physical substance at all.
This was another plane.
A void plane belonging to the dead.
After being destroyed by the power of the stars from outer space, this place had been completely torn into three overlapping planes.
When he was a complete living being, he existed in the real world.
When his physical body was shattered and only his soul and energy life remained, he existed in the ruins of the Demon Capital.
And after becoming an undead ghost, he entered yet another black and white void plane.
Every surrounding building could be seen, but none could be touched.
He could pass through everything.
It was exactly like the ghosts described in legends.
They could not be touched and could pass through everything.
The living and the dead could clearly exist in the same place, yet they could never see one another.
He wandered aimlessly.
He drifted through the void.
Even in the ghost plane, the ruins of the Demon Capital were still completely empty.
There was not a single ghost.
Everything was utterly silent.
Then, Lan Ling suddenly noticed a trail.
A long energy trail stretched far into the distance.
The energy trail had already become extremely faint.
Yes.
This must have been left behind by the Ghost King.
If he followed this energy trail, he would be able to find the Ghost King!
Immediately, Lan Ling followed the trail and drifted rapidly towards it.