Nine Netherworld Prisoner

Nine Netherworld Prisoner

The crimson world deep underground was utterly breathtaking.

Xiao Yan and his group stood dumbfounded at the tunnel exit, staring at the roiling sea of magma and the inverted flaming stalactites before them, forgetting to breathe for a moment.

Beast Region.

The Beast Region was smaller than the Central Plains, but it was not to be underestimated. Its overlapping mountain ranges seemed endless, enough to make anyone who set foot here feel the wild, alien nature of this land.

The Beast Region was said to have Ten Thousand Mountains, but that was merely an approximate number. If one truly counted them, the number would certainly far exceed that. These mountain ranges stretched into places beyond human reach, and the passage of time had left countless treasures within them, waiting for those destined to find them.

To the southwest of the Beast Region lay an area known as the Bone Mountain Range. It was quite famous throughout the Beast Region because it possessed an ocean of bones. For countless years, all manner of magical beasts had followed their instincts and come here when their lifespans neared their end, leaving their skeletons in this homeland.

As time passed, these beast bones gradually released the strange beastly power contained within them. This energy was of little use to humans, but it was an excellent tonic for magical beasts. Thus, the Bone Mountain Range had become a favored gathering place for many magical beasts.

At this moment, a figure in green robes was pacing back and forth in the sky above the Bone Mountain Range with some irritation.

"Something's not right..."

Han Feng stroked his chin, his brows tightly furrowed as he muttered under his breath.

He had been wandering this land of magical beasts for several days since arriving.

According to his vague memories, the Beast Region should have concealed the ruins left behind by an ancient Dou Sheng, the "Creation Saint." Not only did those ruins contain the Creation Saint's lifelong teachings, but they also hid quite a few good things.

Yet he had searched the Bone Mountain Range back and forth more than ten times with his Late Heaven Realm soul power. Let alone ruins, he had not even found a single hair.

"How strange. Could it be that the ruins won't appear until the right time? Or perhaps... the methods of ancient Saints were so profound that they would not reveal themselves except at a specific time?"

Han Feng scratched his head helplessly.

Knowing there was treasure yet being unable to find it was truly frustrating.

"Forget it."

After yet another fruitless search, Han Feng finally ran out of patience.

"If I can't find it, I'll stop looking for now. The important matter comes first."

He checked his bearings and looked toward the northwest of the Beast Region.

"I'll go to the Nine Netherworld Python Clan first and obtain the blood essence needed to reconstruct Teacher's body."

Having made up his mind, Han Feng no longer delayed. His figure flashed, turning into a streak of light as he sped toward that infamous forbidden land of the Beast Region.

A short while later, he arrived at his destination.

Before him, a massive, bottomless ravine stretched across the earth. No one knew how deep it was. It looked like a scar slashed into the land by a god, tearing the earth apart.

Black mist shrouded the ravine, and a grim, eerie chill filled it. A power of death that could make even ordinary Dou Venerables feel their souls sting slowly seeped out from within.

This was the forbidden ground of the Nine Netherworld Python Clan, and one of the Beast Region's deadliest places—the Nine Nether Yellow Springs.

Legend had it that the waters of the Yellow Springs were formed from gathered Nine Netherworld Aura. Their coldness penetrated to the bone. Dou Venerables would be injured upon touching it and die upon contact. It was a terrifying place that even members of the Nine Netherworld Python Clan greatly feared.

Han Feng stood above the Yellow Springs, feeling the soul-devouring chill rushing toward him, yet his expression did not change in the slightest.

With a thought, a phantom crimson lotus emerged behind him. The supremely yang and unyielding aura of the Red Lotus Karmic Fire was like the blazing sun overhead, instantly isolating the surrounding cold aura.

Once that was done, he did not hesitate. He leaped down like a meteor, plunging into the depths of the ink-black Yellow Springs.

The moment he entered the water, bone-piercing cold and dense death aura surged at him from all directions.

Then, tens of thousands of tiny black snakes condensed from pure yin aura rushed toward Han Feng like sharks that had caught the scent of blood.

These yin-aura black snakes were endless in number and fearless of death. Each possessed combat strength comparable to a Dou Wang, and they specifically attacked living intruders who entered the forbidden ground.

A trace of impatience flashed through Han Feng's eyes.

He could not even be bothered to use the Red Lotus Karmic Fire. He merely held two fingers together like a sword and slashed through the empty space before him.

"Sword One: Dust Opening."

A plain, unremarkable streak of azure sword aura burst from his fingertips, transforming into dragon-serpent sword light that circled around him once.

Wherever the sword light passed, the tens of thousands of yin-aura black snakes, along with the Yellow Springs water around them, dissolved silently like a sketch erased by a rubber eraser, unable to stir even a ripple.

Within this perilous forbidden land, Han Feng advanced unhindered, diving deeper toward the depths of the Yellow Springs.

Ten thousand zhang, twenty thousand zhang, thirty thousand zhang...

By the time he reached the bottom of the Yellow Springs, the surrounding pressure had reached its limit. Even ordinary Dou Shengs would have struggled to move here.

The bottom of the Yellow Springs was not mud, but a riverbed paved with countless strange fragments of stone that emitted a faint glow.

Han Feng stood at the bottom of the spring. His vast soul power spread out silently like spilled mercury, sweeping through every corner as if searching for something.

At that moment, a faint, intermittent plea for help, filled with resentment and unwillingness, entered his mind.

"Kill... kill..."

"Kill... kill all of you..."

"One day, I will... kill..."

Han Feng raised an eyebrow slightly.

Following the direction from which the faint voice came, his figure flashed, and he arrived before a massive underwater mountain.

With a wave of his hand, an invisible force swept away all the sand and stones covering the mountain's surface, and he finally saw the source of the voice.

Within the mountain, four pitch-black chains as thick as pillars supporting the heavens, engraved with countless profound runes, ran through it, piercing a withered human figure that was almost nothing but a skeleton!

The figure was imprisoned within the mountain in an utterly humiliating posture. Chains had pierced through every limb and bone, leaving him unable to move.

Even so, a lingering yet incomparably powerful aura still emanated from his withered body!

That aura had clearly reached the level of a Two-Star Dou Sheng!

"Yao Ming..."

Han Feng looked at the skeletal figure imprisoned before him and slowly spoke his name.

The former clan leader of the Nine Netherworld Python Clan, a genuine Two-Star Dou Sheng, had actually been betrayed by his own clansmen and imprisoned here through such vicious means, enduring centuries of torment.

As though he had sensed the presence of a living person, the skeletal figure, silent for centuries, suddenly opened his eyes!

There was not the slightest trace of life in those eyes. Only endless, monstrous resentment, as though it could burn heaven and earth to ashes, remained—along with a sliver of hope for survival that had burned amid despair for centuries!

When he clearly saw the spotless figure in green robes before him, so utterly out of place in this location, a beast-like, shrill, hoarse roar erupted from his withered throat!

"Save me!!!!!"

Using the last of his strength, he made the most solemn oath of his bloodline to Han Feng.

"No matter who you are! As long as you can save me and free me!! I, Yao Ming, swear here!!!"

"I am willing... to lead the entire Nine Netherworld Python Clan under my command and serve you as our master for all eternity!!!!"