They left the Underworld and flew toward the Eastern Sea aboard a flying artifact.
Having found Lu Qingchen's soul form, they no longer needed to linger in the Underworld. Every moment spent there inflicted another measure of damage on a cultivator's divine soul.
Before leaving the Underworld, Ning Xiang asked the Ghost Emperor whether the Book of Life and Death truly foretold what would happen. If she crossed Junior Brother's name out of it, could he escape death?
But the Ghost Emperor laughed at her naïveté.
Yu Tingchao would still die. And after his death, his soul would have nowhere to rest. He would eventually become a wandering ghost, and before long, his soul would scatter into oblivion.
Unable to stop worrying about Tingchao, she decided to go to Penglai Island.
It should have been daybreak, yet the sun had not risen. A blood-colored moon hung on the horizon, staining the lingering clouds and the sea crimson, eerie and bewitching.
Gradually, they realized something was wrong.
The stench of blood hung thick around them, too dense to disperse, cloying and nauseating.
As they drew closer to the Twelve Islands of the Eastern Sea, an endless, tightly packed mass of demon beasts came into view. Flying through the sky, swimming in the sea, and crawling over the land, they surrounded the Twelve Islands so tightly that not even water could seep through.
Their hearts trembled in silent alarm.
Lu Qingchen's divine soul was stored inside the Four Spirits Life-and-Death Fan. After a moment's thought, Ning Xiang handed it to Ning Chuan. "Third Brother, sorry for the trouble, but please take my master's divine soul to Tianxuan Island and help merge his soul form with his body."
"What about you?"
"I'm going to Penglai Island," Ning Xiang said.
No amount of panic