Chapter Sixty: The Grand Path of the Nether River

Dealing with the authorities was child’s play for them. Yet the Nether Sect took no lives, imprisoning their captives and suspending them from the Bone Trees, patiently awaiting the Celestial Gate’s arrival to attempt a rescue.

Though the Great Hong Empire and the Celestial Gate were at odds, the abduction of several hundred disciples was too grave to ignore. Qin Wu, Li Jingxun, and others could not sit idly by—they hurried to intervene.

The two branches of the Celestial Way cultivated purity and turbidity, respectively. Meeting upon the field, their enmity flared; not a word was exchanged before violence erupted.

Since Ji Feichen had switched to the path of vital cultivation, his temperament had become tranquil, no longer swayed by the contest of pure and turbid energies. Observing from the sidelines, he noticed many Nether Sect disciples entangled in threads of karma with their counterparts from the Celestial Gate.

His expression darkened. “A slaughter tribulation?”

Suddenly, clarity dawned on him: “The disciples sent by the Celestial Gate were not chosen at random. They were selected specifically, each one matched by karmic ties to a Nether Sect disciple.”

Although the thousand-and-five-hundred-year slaughter tribulation was meant to resolve karma, this was an opportunity—the chance to slay one’s adversary and so lighten one’s own burden of sin, lessening the weight of the coming tribulation. Moreover, this ordeal would accelerate the advancement of their disciples—a perfect confluence of benefits.

Li Jingxun bore three distinct karmic threads, each entwined with a Nether Sect disciple. Upon arrival, she struck with thunderous force, dispatching all three.

“So the girl is indeed a master of fate and divination,” Ji Feichen mused. “She must have foreseen this and seized the chance to escape her fate.” With those deaths, Li Jingxun’s karmic threads snapped. And as she slew these three demons—their accumulated power rivaling her own—the vital essence she had taken from the world over the years was repaid in full.

Her spirit now cleansed, her karma dissolved, Li Jingxun felt clarity descend upon her mind; in a half-dream she glimpsed the threshold of the Human Immortal realm. She retreated, taking no more lives, content with moderation. Quietly, she stood among her fellows, cradling the Jade Tome of Virtue, casting defensive and supportive arts in succession.

“To hold the great form is to draw all under heaven. And none are harmed, for peace prevails.” The Wheel of the Great Elephant rose above the Celestial disciples, its ancient and mysterious power protecting each from a single assault.

“The highest good is like water, nurturing all things without contention.” A clear, luminous stream bathed her allies, not to hinder the demons but to become a gentle rain upon her companions, forming a resplendent water-shield behind them.

“Nothing in the world is softer or weaker than water, yet nothing can overcome the strong as water does.” Torrents swirled at their feet, further fortifying the Celestial cultivators.

Three layers of Daoist defenses shielded their ranks. A Nether Sect disciple scattered Weeping Ghost Sand toward his foes, but the swirling waters washed it harmlessly away.

A disciple of the Supreme Purity Sect, seeing this, spun his immortal sword in hand; the boundless, formless sword-intent of Supreme Purity shredded the Yellow Branch disciples.

“That girl Li Jingxun truly has a multitude of methods,” Ji Feichen thought, performing his duties with minimal effort as he tangled with a disciple from the Sect of Virtue. Noticing a flaw in his opponent’s defense, he casually tossed a drop of Guishui Divine Thunder. The disciple, caught off guard and about to be struck, was saved by the descent of the Great Elephant’s Wheel above, which shielded him and allowed a retreat to Li Jingxun’s side.

Li Jingxun renewed her support, casting a glance at Ji Feichen from afar.

“This one…” Li Jingxun sensed something amiss, drew a sheet of golden paper, and recited, “The heavy is the root of the light; calm is the master of the restless.”

A white glow arose beneath Ji Feichen’s feet, gravity mounting to hinder his movement, while an inner fire ignited in his heart, scattering his focus and making his senses and emotions unruly.

“Was this how the Mother of Ghosts fell into her trap?” he wondered. As an ally, Li Jingxun was invaluable, but as an enemy…

Ji Feichen staggered, then unleashed a surge of Weakwater from behind, shattering Li Jingxun’s technique and countering with a sweep—a wash of black light erasing the water-shields of several Celestial disciples.

“Weakwater of the Netherworld?” The Supreme Purity disciple blanched, hastily warding himself with Supreme Purity Immortal Light—a luminous blue lotus blossoming around him as he retreated step by step into the crowd.

Ji Feichen had deliberately restrained his power, drawing upon only one of his nine Nether Rivers. Yet displaying Weakwater shocked both allies and enemies.

“To think this youth mastered Weakwater first!” The Black Branch disciples eyed him with envy. The Nine Nether Weakwater was one of the Nether Sect’s signature arcane arts—after perfection, it stood alongside the Nether Soul-Scattering Demonic Wind and the Nether Blue Phosphorus Annihilating Fire.

Spurred by Ji Feichen’s example, another Nether Sect disciple suddenly unleashed a storm of yellow sand.

“Die, all of you!” With a shrill cry, several Celestial disciples nearby were caught unawares.

“Yellow Spring Sand!” came the startled cries as the Great Elephant’s Wheel shattered for several, the yellow sand clinging to them.

“Don’t harm my fellow Daoists!” Qin Wu descended like a bolt of thunder, hurling a barrage of lightning at the Nether Sect disciple.

“Qin Wu, your opponent is me!”

A sweep of blue fire flashed before Qin Wu as Zheng Qiong appeared instantly, phantom-white bones looming behind and a demonic wind howling at his heels.

“Heavenly Demon Wind? Annihilating Fire?” Qin Wu recoiled, transforming into a jade thunderbolt and leaping into the clouds. Above him, three layers of thunder heavens roiled; clouds churned, lightning crackled.

Heavenly thunder shattered evil, pure and resolute as the sun. The sacred radiance of thunder coursed about Qin Wu as he gazed down upon the Nether River. “The supreme arts of the Nether Sect—do you intend to master all nine divine powers and forge the ultimate Dao-fruit of the Nether River in one stroke?”

A river of darkness—similar yet distinct from Ji Feichen’s—stretched across the sky, confronting Qin Wu from afar. Though not vast, it was complete in every respect. This river, thirty yards across, swept with the wind of the Netherworld, flickered with blue phosphor flame, churned with Yellow Spring Sand and demonic skulls, and was veiled in a faint silver moonlight.

“He’s mastered the core arts of all five branches?” Ji Feichen was startled, calculating furtively within his sleeve. Through Zheng Qiong, he began to fathom the source of the Nether Sect’s confidence in facing the Holy Land’s heirs, and what their ‘Great Unity’ secret truly was.

The Nether Sect boasted numerous peerless secret arts—such as Ji Feichen’s Nine Nether Weakwater, which could slaughter gods and immortals at mastery—but the Nine Nether Water was not the Black Branch’s fundamental secret.

Each of the five branches had its own supreme technique: the Yellow Branch with its Yellow Spring Extinguishing Demon Sand; the Black Branch’s Netherwhite Bone Demon Body; the White Branch’s Nether Moon Formless Incantation; the Red Branch’s Nether Soul-Scattering Demonic Wind; the Green Branch’s Nether Blue Phosphorus Annihilating Fire. To master the Patriarch’s 'Nether River Boundless Dao Scripture' and combine all five supreme techniques was to deduce the Dao-fruit of the Nether River and unlock the secret of Great Unity.

Yet Zheng Qiong was ambitious, cultivated deliberately as the Nether Sect’s champion against the Holy Land. He had learned not only the Patriarch’s three unique techniques and the five divine arts of the branches, but also the Black Branch’s Nine Nether Water. He had mastered all nine of the Sect’s supreme arts.

“The Nether Sect’s Great Unity secret must be akin to my own Ninefold Nether River—it requires mastery of all nine great arts, forming an embryonic Nether River before attaining the Human Immortal realm, and only then can one comprehend the ultimate secret.”

Ji Feichen felt a surge of relief—his own ‘Ninefold Formation Diagram’ had allowed him to forge nine Nether Rivers, aligning subtly with the Sect’s supreme doctrine. But he and Zheng Qiong had chosen opposite paths: Ji Feichen pursued purity, all his rivers formed from Weakwater; Zheng Qiong pursued breadth, merging all the Sect’s arts into a single, multifaceted Nether River.

Through Zheng Qiong, Ji Feichen suddenly grasped the final step to attain the Human Immortal state: “Next, I must merge my nine Nether Rivers into one grand river, and then establish my Dao-fruit upon it.”

In the sky, the Nether River clashed with the thunder heavens. Ji Feichen watched the contest languidly, calculating his odds of victory.

“Both have comprehended the secret of Great Unity, reaching the apex of the Mundane Transformation realm, yet there remains a gulf between them.” In terms of accumulated power, Qin Wu had the edge; but Zheng Qiong’s strength lay in his endless variations, wielding the arts of all five branches with equal ease.

Zheng Qiong scattered Yellow Spring Sand, its deadly haze devouring soul and spirit. Qin Wu barely blocked with Azure Firmament Thunder before Zheng Qiong shifted to Weakwater. If not, he would unleash poison fire or demon winds in turn, or employ Weeping Ghost Hooks, Nether Shadow Demon Light, and more. Beset by such variety, Qin Wu could only defend, relying on his three-layered thunder heavens to endure each assault, remaining invincible.

Majestic is the Dao of Thunder, subduing all eras. Within the triple thunder heavens stood palatial jade towers; there, Qin Wu sat, withstanding every attack.

In such a stalemate, Zheng Qiong could not defeat Qin Wu, but neither would he suffer loss. The battle above was locked, while in the encampment below, chaos and slaughter raged.

Ji Feichen glanced skyward, refraining from killing except in self-defense. Weakwater circled gently about him, its murmurs clear—no one dared provoke him.

Luo Qingyi appeared silently behind a Virtue Sect disciple, who was locked in combat with a Six-Armed Demon God disciple and failed to notice her approach. Just as the demoness raised her hairpin to strike, the Great Elephant’s Wheel sounded softly overhead, repelling her.

“No good, these are not easy foes!” As the Virtue disciple recovered, Luo Qingyi dissolved into azure mist. She called urgently to her peers: “Sisters of the White Branch, handle that wretched girl! The rest of you, act according to your branch’s strengths—combine your arts!”

At her words, the Green Branch gathered at her side, jointly summoning the Blue Phosphorus Fire.

The Blue Phosphorus Fire was the hallmark inferno of the Green Branch; at mastery, its Nine Nether Blue Phosphorus Annihilating Fire rivaled the Nine Nether Weakwater. Yet water and fire are natural foes—the Green and Black Branches had always been at odds, their leaders frequently clashing.

The blue ghostly flames raged through the bone forest, consuming skeletons and baleful energy alike as fuel.

He Wenxin’s heart gave a jolt: Had I not taken my parents’ remains, they too would be feeding these flames.

The White Branch, seeing the tide of battle, dispatched a group of female cultivators to attack Li Jingxun from behind.

“Protect Sister Li!” The Virtue Sect disciples rushed to her defense, clashing with the White Branch.

The White Branch, devout in their study of the Nether Moon, was composed mainly of women, but their power was not inferior to the other branches.

Amid the melee, a pale moon descended beside Li Jingxun. “Sister, you appear kind—might you gift me the tome you hold?” With sashes fluttering and bells chiming, the white moon devoured all light, drawing every gaze and focusing the attention of all present.

This formless, light-swallowing technique was Xiao Ying’s crowning art, able to seize an enemy’s attention and create an opening for attack.

Xiao Ying reached out for the Jade Tome of Virtue in Li Jingxun’s grasp.

“Demoness, prepare to die!” Li Jingxun remained unflinching. A figure darted from her side—Zhou Yan’er, sword in hand, intercepted Xiao Ying.

Yet Zhou Yan’er was no match for her.

The moonlit maiden flicked her gauzy sleeve, ripples of silvery light rolling forth, forcing Zhou Yan’er to retreat.

“Sister, your junior is inadequate. Why not hand over the book—” As Xiao Ying reached for the Jade Tome once more, a sword-light flashed from Li Jingxun’s sleeve.

Supreme purity, formless as the Taiji.

Sword and sleeve entwined the forces of yin and yang, reminiscent of Ji Feichen’s former ‘Dragon’s Beard of Yin and Yang.’

“Profound Virtue extends far, in harmony with all things—thus comes Great Accord!” Li Jingxun intoned softly, her sword shattering Xiao Ying’s moonlight shield. “Did you think all I had was a single book?”

Contemplating the heart of virtue, wielding the Supreme Sword, she swept her blade wide—not only Xiao Ying but several White Branch disciples around her were grievously wounded by that stroke.