Chapter 551: Envoy of the Hall of the Dead
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Lin Feng, with a virtual gesture, helped Wang Lin up from the ground as he looked at his disciple, smiling silently.
Wang Lin took a deep breath as unfamiliar warmth appeared on his perennially cold and severe face.
When his gaze landed on the purple clouds transfigured from the Celestial Small Worlds in Lin Feng's palm, he stared at the black-robed figure in the Small World, his gaze turning cold once again.
"No need to be hasty, he's not going to run," Lin Feng said calmly.
He turned to face the other cultivators, eyes calm as a still lake. Like sleepwalkers who just snapped out of their stupor, they hurriedly bowed towards Lin Feng in unison. "Thank you, Leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders, for your help in our time of need."
"No need for formalities," Lin Feng glanced at the Celestial Small Worlds in his palm before asking, "Is there anyone who has known this person previously, or anyone else who cultivates a similar mantra?"
The group of cultivators looked at each other; one of them, an Intermediate Nascent Soul elder, stepped out and bowed before answering, "I have once known a Nascent Soul cultivator in the Void Battleground. His mantra is rather similar to this man's."
"It's not a mantra of the soul, but it directly attacks the enemy's soul. Rather wicked."
A mantra of the soul could only be used with an astral projection of the cultivator's own soul. If your own soul was not projected, the mantra would not be effective – or at least its power would be greatly diminished.
Unless you're extraordinarily gifted like Shi Tianyi, being able to use polycoria eyes as the medium – not only was astral projection unnecessary, the strength of the mantra would be enhanced further.
This black-robed man's spell, however, was not one of the soul. It controls Mana and spiritual energy normally, but affects the target – the enemy's soul – directly, forcibly extracting their souls from the physical body with a single soul-sucking whirlpool.
The Intermediate Nascent Soul elder, after a pause, continued. "That Nascent Soul cultivator was dressed similar to this man, clad in a black robe."
Lin Feng nodded and did not speak further before leaving with Wang Lin.
That Heaven-Reflecting Stone that Shi Tianyi yearned so was already in his pocket since just now.
As Lin Feng travelled towards Xiao Yan and the others, Wang Lin, besides him, had his gaze fixed on the black-robed man inside the Celestial Small Worlds. "Master, what exactly is the background of this man?" He asked.
Lin Feng, in a composed tone, uttered the secrets that he pulled up in the System slowly. "In the Primordial Age, when the Emperors of Man ruled, there was a particular one of imperial greatness. The old titles were long since lost, but the later generations, by convention, referred to him as the Emperor of the Dead."
"The era when the Emperor of the Dead ruled the Divine Lands was one when the different traditions of cultivation grew and prospered. They rapidly expanded and flourished – and precisely because of this, the position of the Emperor was increasingly undermined, while the divisions and antagonisms intensified."
Lin Feng's tone grew dim and nebulous. "The Emperor of the Dead, was the first of the Emperors of Man to be dethroned."
"Because he incurred the wrath of all by attempting to completely control the Samsara with great power. To build a world of the Dead and be the absolute ruler of both worlds – the living and the dead."
A cold gleam was reflected in Wang Lin's eyes. "He wants to rule the living, even when they're dead?"
"That's right," Lin Feng said. "So the conflict was intensified further. The rule of the Emperors of Man was destined to go into the good night, but it was because of the Emperor of the Dead that the bell tolled for the Antiquity Age. He was eventually deposed; after him, the Emperor of the Ancients ascended to the Throne of the Emperors of Man."
In the Antiquity Age, before the Emperor of the Dead, the passing of the throne of the Emperors of Man has always been via meritocratic succession or acclamation. Of course, most transitions were caused by the death of the previous Emperor of Man in battles with the Demons; it was only since the Emperor of the Dead that the practice of dethronement started.
During the rule of the Emperor of the Ancients that followed, the situation gradually improved, but the conflicts persisted. In the following War of the Two Worlds against the Demons, the Emperor of the Ancients himself was gravely injured, and his own clan suffered great losses as well. A man seized the opportunity to rebel, dethroning and killing the Emperor of the Ancients and installing himself as the Emperor of Man – the last Emperor of Man, who the history books referred to as the Emperor of Violence.
The Emperor of Violence was savage as well as despotic, just like the Emperor of the Dead. The greatest cultivators allied to depose and destroy him, as well as ending the rule of the Emperors of Man permanently. With that, the Antiquity Age came to its end, and the Emperor of Violence became the last of the Emperors of Man.
"Although the Emperor of the Dead was dethroned and killed, but his line of disciples lived on – just extremely mysterious and rarely seen in the world," Lin Feng said quietly.
"This person's spells can directly attack the soul, as well as being incredibly intricate themselves. They bear great resemblance to the mantras of the lineage that the Emperor of the Dead passed on."
Lin Feng held the Celestial Small World, formed by purple gas, on his palm; inside, the black-clad man suppressed by his Mana remained silent.
Previously, he has heard the entire conversation between Lin Feng and Wang Lin.
Lin Feng, looking at him calmly, said with the same calm demeanor, "Previously, people mentioned that they have met other Nascent Soul cultivators that dress similarly, with similar mantras and Abhijnas. It can be inferred that this man is not an isolated case; he has his own background."
"It seems that the line of the Emperor of the Dead has already established itself."
The black-robed figure sighed. "People all say that the Leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders is an enigma. His rise was truly meteoric, but not even the tiniest wisp of information was leaked beforehand, as if he was an existence that descended on the Divine Lands only in the last year or two. It is only after this meeting today that I knew that the rumors could not be more wrong."
"To know so much and so deep about the Hall of the Dead…Sir, you are probably aware of many secrets of this Grand Celestial World, down to a single blade of grass in the wind. This, is definitely impossible to achieve within a short time…as expected, the rise of the Celestial Sect of Wonders is definitely not without cause!"
Lin Feng's expression did not show the slightest ripple. "My ways are beyond your prying."
"The Hall of the Dead that you speak of just now, that is the line passed down from the Emperor of the Dead?"
Since everything has already been said, the black-robed man now relaxed as he said calmly, "That's right, we are the inheritors of the line passed on from the Emperor of the Dead."
His gaze landed on Wang Lin. "Previously, there had been an Advanced Nascent Soul cultivator of the Hall of the Dead that fell foul of this disciple of yours. He was severely injured and even his Cosmic Form was destroyed. He was rescued by me; afterwards, I unintentionally discovered that this disciple of yours had escaped death, and so planned to have revenge."
"Who knows that the strength of his soul way exceeded his cultivation level, and so I planned to imprison his soul, but we ended up encountering Spatial Turbulence and let him escape – it was only today that we came across his trail again."
Wang Lin met the eyes of the black-robed man with his own cold stare. As he said, that day, it hasn't been easy for him to escape.
In the days afterwards, he had cultivated relentlessly, as well as ran into several lucky encounters. Finally, he was able to successfully reconstruct his body with the powers of the Avīci Undying Body; his own Tao and cultivation were also improving continuously as he started to attempt Advanced Aurous Core.
In the Void Battleground, the speed at which time flows differed from place to place, as well as differing from the Greater World outside. Wang Lin did not know how long he had cultivated for, but only just now, he finally attained success and emerged from cultivation.
He had not expected that right after he emerged, he would run into the one with polycoria, Shi Tianyi.
Lin Feng, looking at the black-robed man, asked, "Why imprison my disciple's soul? You seemed to be specifically capturing souls that are extraordinarily strong?"
"I am only following orders; I do not know about the rationale," the black-robed man answered quietly.
At this moment, Wang Lin suddenly said, "Master, the one who first attacked my hometown and was killed by me, he was only an Aurous Core cultivator. He was first collecting thousands of souls to cultivate his evil mantra, but later found that a member of my clan was particularly strong of soul and so wanted to capture and imprison him."
"That Advanced Nascent Soul cultivator after that, he also intended to capture me and imprison my soul."
With a cold gleam in his eyes, his stare remain fixed on the black-robed man. "That Advanced Nascent Soul dog, where is he now?"
That person slaughtered many in his clan, including those close to him and his parents, even relatives who watched him grew up.
After advancing to Advanced Aurous Core and confirming that he has the ability to kill Advanced Nascent Soul cultivators, the fire of revenge that he has been bottling up can be suppressed no longer.
"He is only an auxiliary member of the Hall of the Dead; an honorary guardian, not part of the core circle. I sent him out of the Void Battleground; I am unaware of his whereabouts." The black-robed man answered quietly.
Wang Lin did not speak further, but the ruthlessness and fury that surrounded him intensified further.
Lin Feng waved his hand; a big purple flag, glimmering with a rainbow glow, appeared in the air. With a wave of the flag, a great attractive force appeared and siphoned the black-robed man up.
The Immortal Soul Magic Treasure forged by Lin Feng, the Heavenly Gods-Sealing Flag. After Lin Feng advanced to Immortal Soul stage himself and re-forged the flag, it already could imprison Immortal Soul avatars of Immortal Soul cultivators, compelling them to answer to Lin Feng and Lin Feng alone.
Now, apart from the Xuanming Holy Man, Yu Xintao, one more Immortal Soul master was added.
With this, he was not much different from an Unholy Marionette. If Lin Feng wants to know something from him, no matter how unwilling, he has no choice but to spill his guts.
"The Hall of the Dead…not bad, not bad at all." After questioning the black-robed man, Lin Feng roughly understood the current situation of the Hall of the Dead.
The Hall of the Dead was inherited from the Antiquity Age, from the line of the Emperor of the Dead. Its leader was the Hallmaster; he was extremely strong and has under him the Hallmasters of many sub-halls, together known as the Ten Kings of Hell. Apart from them, the other high-ranking members would be the various Envoys of the Hall of the Dead.
This black-robed man was one of the Envoys of the Hall of the Dead as well. According to his testimony, the headquarters of the Hall of the Dead existed in an independent Middle World. This Middle World was not known by most, as it was not connected directly with the Greater World.
The inter-world passage connecting this Middle World with outside connected directly to none other than the Void Battleground.
"No wonder the Hall of the Dead is so mysterious," Lin Feng thought. "Although there was word in the outside world that the Emperor of the Dead has passed down his line, but no one has heard of them specifically. They have already grown and prospered to such an extent…"
The only unknown was the Great Void Sect, the Mount Shu Sword Sect, et cetera…did they know about the existence of the Hall of the Dead? If so, how much?
"There will be chance to find your enemies. You will have your opportunities to take revenge," Lin Feng looked at Wang Lin. Taking a deep breath, Wang Lin nodded. "I understand."
Keeping the Heavenly Gods-Sealing Flag, Lin Feng travelled through the Void Battleground with Wang Lin. Soon, a few figures appeared in their sight – none other than Xiao Yan, Shi Tianhao and the rest.
Xiao Yan and co., seeing Wang Lin, were first taken aback and then swamped by joy.
"Everything's good as long as you're back!" Xiao Yan punched Wang Lin's shoulder playfully, completely ignoring the cold demeanor of this white-haired teenager as he laughed vigorously. "Good that you're back!"
The perennial winterly chill on Wang Lin's face was defrosted by the first breeze of spring as a faint smile surfaced. "Yes, I'm back!"
Yue Hongyan, smiling, saluted in Wang Lin's direction. "Third Senior, congratulations on your safe return and progress in your cultivation."
Shi Tianhao, beaming as well, examined him from head to toe. "Third Senior, why did all of your hair turn white?"
"It's a long story," Wang Lin smiled faintly as he looked at Shi Tianhao, suddenly coming to realization. "Oh yes, just previously, I ran into that Shi Tianyi."
Shi Tianhao pounded his left palm with his right hand. "He entered the Void Battleground as well? I was just saying that I am going to duel him in less than a month. If I happen to encounter him, I'll fight him now!"
As he was speaking, Shi Tianhao suddenly realized that Wang Lin, standing before him, was displaying, subtly, an emotion never seen on him before.
Always cold and savage, Wang Lin, facing Shi Tianhao now, looked…somewhat embarrassed.
Shi Tianhao was perplexed. "Third Senior, what happened?"