đź“– Chapter 1188 - Departure
The Dao of Freedom was for the body to be free and the mind at ease.
Wang Baole could feel that although his current state wasn’t quite at that level, he was very close. With regards to this, he felt that the smile currently hanging on his face was pretty good, and he liked it a lot.
Thus, wearing this smile, he walked through the ancient ruins at the bottom of the Underworld River. These ruins had different architectural styles, obviously coming from the different eras of the universe.
Most of the ruins contained fierce evil spirits. These evil spirits were different from the souls of the deceased floating at the surface of the river. Aside from their ferocity, they also possessed rudimentary intelligence.
For example, they knew to devour others souls to sustain their existence. Moreover, although they wouldn’t leave their ruins unless hunting for food, they were extremely territorial. Any soul that entered their range would be attacked immediately.
In particular, the aura coming from Wang Baole seemed to be extremely attractive to these evil spirits. Their greed would be stoked even if he was just passing by, and their rudimentary intelligence wasn’t enough to know not to pick a fight, so… massacre after massacre erupted at the bottom of the Underworld River as Wang Baole walked along with a smile.
In fact, the current area of the Underworld River wasn’t the true riverbed; it could only be said to be close to the bottom. Here, the ruins floating around were all in the style of the godling era.
There were countless broken statues everywhere, as well as the remains of massive and formerly splendorous palaces. Most of the evil spirits in this place had the characteristics of godlings.
Reminiscence appeared in Wang Baole’s eyes, but his footsteps didn’t slow at all. The more evil spirits he killed, the more genuine his smile appeared to be. Moreover, each evil spirit turned into a mass of deathly aura when it died, causing Wang Baole’s divine soul to get closer and closer to the Star Domain Realm and his cultivation base to gradually approach the great circle of the Eternal Star Realm.
The star chart of his Star-Sealing Art was shining more and more brightly. Although it didn’t arrange itself into the divine ox projection, the rich mysteries of Dao within could almost be seen with the naked eye.
Just this alone was powerful enough to suppress an ordinary Star Domain Realm cultivator!
The ten thousand Special Stars in the star chart were transforming rapidly at the moment. By now, 70% had already become Eternal Stars, emitting powerful fluctuations that made Wang Baole seem like a volcano about to erupt.
The remaining 30% were also improving rapidly!
Meanwhile, Wang Baole’s steps were growing faster and faster. Almost as soon as he saw a ruin in front of him, his body would already appear inside. Then, his divine sense would sweep across it, suppressing any evil spirits and scanning the ruins for any hint of the World Ascension Disk.
After that, his body would flicker and disappear, and the evil spirits suppressed by his divine sense would abruptly collapse.
But not all of the evil spirits could be suppressed by Wang Baole’s divine sense alone. As he searched through almost all the godling ruins in the Underworld River, he encountered some more powerful spirits.
When that happened, Wang Baole’s smile didn’t change at all. With his current physical prowess, every part of his fleshly body was just like a divine weapon.
His every move gave rise to effortless slaughter!
Just like that, as time passed, Wang Baole finished searching through the ruins of the godling era. Moving deeper into the Underworld River, he soon entered the area dominated by ruins of the zombie era.
His divine soul at the pinnacle of the Eternal Star Realm and his identity as the Underworld Child meant that he felt no discomfort even at this depth. With the Underworld Fire burning within him, he was no weaker than in the outside world, and was even stronger in terms of lethality.
Smiling, Wang Baole suddenly grabbed the neck of a rotting zombie which had sneaked over. He clenched his hand, exterminating the zombie in body and soul before continuing to move forward.
But soon, for the first time in a long time, his footsteps… came to a halt.
The ruins in front of him at this moment were the place he had spent his past life meditating and searching for light.
“What a coincidence…” Smiling, Wang Baole shook his head. After sweeping the area with his divine sense, he turned to leave, but at that moment, a roar suddenly rang out. A rotting zombie flew out from the ruins, slaughtering all the zombies in its path as it shot straight toward Wang Baole.
Although this zombie looked nothing like Wang Baole, he felt a vague sense of familiarity from it. It was as if he was looking in a mirror, at another version of himself.
His smile became more genuine as he lifted his head. His gaze seemed to penetrate beyond the Underworld River and into the abyssal underworld outside as he spoke.
“Do not block, do not seal, do not disturb!”
Almost as soon as Wang Baole spoke, the zombie that had pounced toward him suddenly trembled. As if it had been frozen in time, it stopped motionless right where it was.
Even the Underworld River all around him was like this. It seemed like it was forbidden from flowing, like it didn’t have the right to flow at this moment. Everything had stilled, except for… Wang Baole’s clear, genuine smile.
After a while, a deep voice reverberated in Wang Baole’s surroundings.
“Do you want me to help you find the World Ascension Disk?”
“Alright.” Wang Baole’s smile didn’t change at all as he spoke emotionlessly.
A moment later, the entire Underworld River churned, and violent fluctuations rippled out from the bottom of the river. Faint roars could be heard as a ray of light shot out from the riverbed, passing through all obstacles and arriving in front of Wang Baole.
It was a compass.
One corner was missing, and overall, it looked a bit shabby. There was nothing impressive about it, even when scanned with divine sense, but when Wang Baole fused the Underworld Fire into his eyes, he saw… that this compass exuded an indescribable vitality. This vitality might have little impact on most living beings, but it would be incredibly useful for celestial bodies like stars and planets.
“Thank you.” Smiling, Wang Baole nodded. He took the compass and tried using it on his star chart. Although he could sense a connection forming between the compass and his stars, it was far from as useful as he had assumed.
In other words, this World Ascension Disk couldn’t be used to directly improve the cultivation base. Although it was an unfathomably mystical supreme treasure, it apparently could only be used to improve the level of a civilization.
Thus, Wang Baole tossed it in his storage pouch and didn’t pay it any more attention. Then, rather than leaving, he continued walking deeper into the Underworld River…
As he did so, the voice from before didn’t continue speaking. Instead, whatever divine will had descended to deliver that message seemed to gradually withdraw until it completely disappeared. The set of ruins that gave Wang Baole pause also became illusory and disappeared, along with the zombie that had frozen in time.
Although he had already obtained the World Ascension Disk, Wang Baole continued his descent through the Underworld River. After passing the ruins of the zombie era, he walked through the ruins of the life where he was a devil blade and the one where he had been a cultivator filled with hatred. Finally, he arrived in an area of the river with ruins that resembled the style common in his life as a little white deer.
By the time he arrived here, he could already see the silt of the riverbed down below. He stopped, not because he didn’t want to go further, but because the power of his Underworld Fire had already reached its limit.
Along the way, his divine soul had also reached its limit and almost broke through, but the urge was suppressed by Wang Baole. He didn’t want his divine soul to advance to the Star Domain Realm here in the Underworld River.
As for his cultivation base, it had also been improving constantly. 90% of his Special Stars had become Eternal Stars, causing his star chart to shine brilliantly. This level of cultivation base could already be considered the great circle of the Eternal Star Realm.
By now, the deathly aura in the Underworld River was of little benefit to him. What he needed was the power of the Never-Ending Heavenly Dao and the natural and magical laws of the world of the living. Only then could he form a balance when he broke through.
“It’s time to leave.” Wang Baole’s smile hadn’t faltered at all this entire time. With this smile, he turned around and walked step by step… toward the surface of the Underworld River. His speed became faster and faster until his whole body turned into a long arc of light, piercing the waters of the river at blinding speed and finally breaching the water surface with a splash.
He didn’t pause at all. Without waiting for anyone to open the passage to the world of the living, Wang Baole waved his hand, and a ray of sword qi shot out from his intrinsic scabbard. With this slash, the underworld rumbled, and a crack opened up in the void. Taking a step forward, Wang Baole disappeared through the crack.
From beginning to end, he had a smile on his face.
From beginning to end, he never looked at… the figure in the vortex staring at him from behind!
Their paths were different. There was no need for them to meet!