"City of the Wrongfully Dead?"
Seeing the characters carved above the gate, Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly.
Earlier it had merely been a guess, but now, he was seeing it with his own eyes.
The inscription above the city gate could hardly be lying, could it?
Could this truly be the Netherworld?
He pondered this, unable to keep a twinge of shock from stirring in his chest.
In Huaxia mythology, the City of the Wrongfully Dead was a citadel created by Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva for the spirits of those who had perished from undeserved calamity.
And the one presiding over this city was none other than King Biancheng, one of the legendary Ten Kings of Hell.
However, in Huaxia lore, many myths were intertwined and blended together.
There was no truly singular orthodox account; such tales could only serve as corroborating reference rather than dogma to be blindly believed. Of course, with the City of the Wrongfully Dead standing right before his eyes, Lu Yuan had no reason to harbor excessive doubt.
"I'll know once I go in and look."
His speed was exceedingly swift; almost instantaneously, he arrived beneath the gate of the City of the Wrongfully Dead.
Yet he did not enter right away. Instead, he inspected the city walls and soon discovered that they were not naturally black. The color was due to being drenched in too much blood.
It was real blood, not an illusion, and across various sections of the ramparts, gouges and marks from spears, swords, halberds, and battle-axes were scattered everywhere.
What a horrific battle it must have been—and one that had unfolded right here, at the legendary City of the Wrongfully Dead of the Netherworld...
It looked like something left behind by the living.
Without overthinking it, Lu Yuan took a stride forward and stepped directly inside.
Within the city lay endless rows of ancient buildings, with great halls and palaces visible in the distance.
Unlike the exterior, the city within was remarkably clean. He could even see structures resembling ancient inns and shops...
It was like a genuine ancient metropolis, free of anything that felt unsettling—a stark contrast to the outside world.
Yet the streets were utterly empty; not a single figure could be seen.
Surprise stirred in Lu Yuan's heart.
Even so, he was still contemplating the ghosts that had been endlessly scaling the outer ramparts, as well as what lay at the core of this place.
Thus, he opened his Martial Dao Heavenly Eye.
Rays of light surfaced within his pupils.
Yet at the very instant Lu Yuan opened his Martial Dao Heavenly Eye, he discovered that an unprecedented aura had abruptly erupted across the entire city.
Still, he found nothing out of the ordinary beyond that, unable to glean any further clues.
Lu Yuan deactivated his Martial Dao Heavenly Eye and turned his gaze elsewhere.
However, just as Lu Yuan was pondering, circumstances did not seem inclined to let him ponder any further.
For right at that moment...
"Wait, that's not just one person. It's... a great many people."
A chorus of orderly footsteps sounded in his ears, rumbling like thunder.
Thump, thump, thump—
The entire city seemed to tremble beneath the sheer weight of an immense army.
There, figures clad in armor emerged.
Their forms were hazy, not solid flesh and bone, but condensed from a strange kind of energy.
Some brandished spears, some held broadswords, others gripped halberds or poleaxes—each differed in armament.
At the very front, several figures rode steeds forward, appearing to be commanders of this force.
An army of the underworld?
Individually, these entities were not particularly formidable, yet they were vast in number, packed in densely as far as the eye could see.
Could it be?
Could the army before him have been brought here by the Ancestral Dragon?
Jiang Ningxian had mentioned earlier that the Ancestral Dragon once led an army to this place to wage war across the starry skies.
"Dead things? Or do they possess sentience?"
Suddenly, the lead nether commander let out a loud shout.
His voice was harsh and grating, like grinding iron and bronze, scraping terribly on the ears.
"Kill!"
At the command, the nether army behind him surged forward without the slightest hesitation.
They rushed ahead with suicidal abandon, appearing just like soldiers upon a genuine battlefield, growing only fiercer under their commander's orders.
Yet Lu Yuan felt not the slightest fear. His gaze was resolute as he channeled the power within his body.
Rumble—
The golden vitality within him erupted in an instant.
Golden blood essence surged into an ocean, supremely unyielding and masculine, radiating an august, blazing brilliance.
Like a rising sun, it dispelled all darkness.
The all-illuminating Great Sun Furnace manifested once more.
The moment the Great Sun Furnace appeared, hundreds upon thousands of nether soldiers perished in an instant.
Any nether soldier that came into contact with it was instantly dispersed, their forms wiped out completely.
Soon, in less than half an hour, that vast army of unfathomable numbers was eradicated entirely. The streets returned to silence and vacancy once more.
Lu Yuan at present was truly formidable, practically invincible.
The five viscera and six bowels within him had already attained complete divinity, and the power he unleashed was all the more terrifying.
As Lu Yuan relaxed his focus slightly and prepared to advance deeper inside, he discovered that the unyielding, indignant aura had not dissipated at all.
In fact, it had grown even stronger than before.
This aura did not signal peril, but carried indignation, humiliation, and endless fighting intent.
Thump, thump, thump—
Before long, the army reappeared. Just like before, even their positions remained unchanged; the only difference was that their auras were distinctly stronger.
"Killed once, and they return even stronger than before?"
"This..." Seeing this, Lu Yuan was bewildered, unable to fathom it.
He knitted his brows slightly.
He felt this situation was far too similar to what had happened in the Mount Li Imperial Mausoleum.
During that incident at the Mount Li Imperial Mausoleum, the legions had been annihilated many times over before yielding such a result...
"Still playing this game? Then I'll just slaughter them again," Lu Yuan said with a smile. He wanted to see whether the phenomenon here was truly identical to the Mount Li Imperial Mausoleum.
He took a step forward.
This time, he subtly increased his power.
His internal organs resonated with a resounding roar, and the Great Sun Furnace manifested anew.
Boom!
In less than half an hour, the army of nether soldiers before him was wiped out once again.
Lu Yuan made no further move, remaining where he stood.
Sure enough, before long, the destroyed army reappeared in neat, orderly ranks right before his eyes.
Not even their positions had shifted in the slightest; the only distinction was that their auras had grown yet stronger.
Even so, this change posed no threat to Lu Yuan in the least.
The nether commander issued the attack order once more.
"Kill!"
Surrounded by golden vitality, Lu Yuan stood fearless.
Yet he was startled and deeply shaken, completely unable to fathom what had truly occurred here.
The scene stirred a sense of familiarity within him.
It seemed... he had seen this before.
Just as he was preparing to act, however, he sensed another powerful aura rapidly approaching.
At the same time, a crisp, familiar voice reached his ears.
"King Lu, don't strike! Let's get out of here first."
Turning his head, he saw Jiang Ningxian.
Unbeknownst to him when she had arrived, she leaped down from above and continued, "Find a quiet place first."
Before Lu Yuan could reply, he noticed another army appearing behind her. What made this force particularly startling was its sheer strength—every single warrior was at the Shackle Realm, strong enough to be hailed as a king in the outside world!
Clearly, Jiang Ningxian had made discoveries during her own investigation.
Moreover, from what she had just said, she seemed to have uncovered something.
Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes and, without another word, prepared to leave.
Chapter 177