Chapter 305 — The Old Man in the Scroll

At the mouth of the Abyss, Ban Gongcuo arrived with his host of great shamans and shaman kings. Of the several hundred masters of supernatural power of the Man-Di Kingdom, fewer than a hundred still remained; all the rest had died in the strange and unfathomable forest of the Nether Valley. Countless waves of great shamans from the Loulan Golden Palace had explored this place before, and yet this great expedition had still cost them grievously in dead and wounded.

To Ban Gongcuo, how many died was of no consequence, so long as the dead did not include himself. The lives of these soldiers and great shamans -- even of the shaman kings -- had always been ready to be cast away at any moment; his purpose in bringing them was simply to have them shield him, to pile up a road to the heart of the Nether Valley out of their corpses.

As an old monster who had lived ten thousand years, he could already disregard and overlook the lives of all others; the only thing he cherished was himself. "At last, I have come to this place. " Ban Gongcuo stood at the edge of the Abyss, gazing down, his eyes somewhat entranced. It was sixteen years ago that the Nether Valley had first entered his sight -- the affair of the ship from beyond the heavens, when visitors from beyond the sky had piloted a treasure ship down into the Nether Valley, drawing the attention of three powers. The Loulan Golden Palace, the Youmo Cult, and the Great Thunderclap Temple had all fixed their eyes upon this place.

At that time the Youmo Cult had no leader, and the Tathagata of the Great Thunderclap Temple, though he knew certain secrets, had never ventured deep into it. And at that time Ban Gongcuo himself had already grown ancient and frail; cherishing his own life, he had not come in person, but had hidden himself away in the Golden Palace, awaiting his reincarnated holy child.

Yet the broken sword that a shaman king of the Loulan Golden Palace had brought back from the Nether Valley had made him realize that this ship from beyond the heavens was no small matter.

And now he had successfully reincarnated, and could at last come to this place. What was more, the Luandi Khan was preparing to send troops against the Kingdom of Jingping, so he could borrow the Luandi Khan's forces to enter here. "Gongmu, do you all feel it?

" Ban Gongcuo said in a low voice. "This place is filled through and through with the power of souls. The power hidden in shattered souls has bred these grotesque living things.

This is the finest holy ground for we great shamans to cultivate. " Beside him, the great shamans and shaman kings felt their souls shudder over and over; the breath of this place set their souls and primordial spirits alike rejoicing. It brimmed with the power of spirit and soul, and the spirit-power and soul-power here were so abundant that they far surpassed even the Loulan Golden Palace. Along the way they had already seen how bizarre the life of the Nether Valley was.

To the soldiers of the Man-Di Kingdom, the creatures of the Nether Valley were nightmares incarnate; to great shamans such as these, they were walking tonics of immense power -- though admittedly, such tonics were rather dangerous. A great shaman, by his very nature, cultivated through the souls of other living things!

Shaman King Gongmu breathed greedily of the air that drifted up from the Abyss, where spirit-power and soul-power were stronger still, and sighed in admiration: "If my Golden Palace could gain a foothold here, it would strengthen the might of our great shamans, and cultivation would yield twice the result for half the effort!

The spirit-power and soul-power here would greatly enhance the primordial spirit! " The Loulan Golden Palace had always excelled in matters of soul and primordial spirit; their attainments in soul and primordial spirit ran deep, and among the other holy grounds, even the Great Thunderclap Temple fell a notch short in the cultivation of the primordial spirit.

It was only that their methods of cultivation were grotesque, drawing upon the souls of living things, and so they were much reviled. But if they could take possession of this place and cultivate with its spirit-power and soul-power, the Loulan Golden Palace would surely grow to heights once beyond imagining!

Once this holy ground of the grasslands rose, it would surely contend for the Central Plains, and in one stroke overshadow the holy grounds of the Middle Kingdom! "The most important thing about the Nether Valley is not even this, but that ship from beyond the heavens.

" Ban Gongcuo's eyes were somewhat entranced as he said softly: "What draws me is not how to cultivate with the spirit-power and soul-power here, but how to break through -- to break through the boundary between man and god. This ship should hold what I want. It came from beyond the heavens.

.

. " He said no more, but leapt down. The other great shamans, the shaman kings, and the surviving soldiers of the Man-Di Kingdom leapt down after him, one after another, guarding him on every side. Ban Gongcuo was, after all, a being who had lived ten thousand years, and the secrets he knew were exceedingly many.

Other holy grounds, such as the Great Thunderclap Temple and the Daoist Order, relied on the texts and records within their holy grounds to chronicle history, and such records might well be biased. But he chronicled history through memory, and the things he had lived through were exceedingly many. Moreover, though his lifespan was not as long as the history of the Great Thunderclap Temple and the Daoist Order, Ban Gongcuo had once risen to high rank in both the Daoist Order and the Great Thunderclap Temple, and had even visited Little Jade Capital once, and seen the secrets recorded there.

"This ship may well come from that mysterious place -- perhaps the only place in the world where one can become a god. No matter what, I must obtain this ship and go there! " he thought to himself.

Midway down, they were set upon again by all manner of odd and monstrous creatures of the Abyss.

The soldiers, great shamans, and shaman kings struck out on every side, doing all they could to protect Ban Gongcuo, and left more than a dozen corpses behind before they reached the bottom of the Abyss.

Aboard the treasure ship, Shen Mu watched the demonic qi steadily retreat, hesitation stirring in his heart. Within that demonic qi there was surely a most terrifying being. He did not know whether it was a creature of Youdu, but its strength was exceedingly great -- greater even than that of the two white bats.

Yet at a single phrase of the Youdu tongue from Shen Mu, the being had withdrawn. There seemed something fishy in it.

After the demonic qi withdrew, the shrill and wretched screams that had haunted the place vanished all at once, and everything around grew incomparably still. The grotesque creatures that had poured in from the world of Youdu were now nowhere to be seen. And because of the stillness, it seemed all the more uncanny.

"That terrible being who worked the two eminent monks to death has likely already come aboard this ship!

" Shen Mu frowned. The ship was now frighteningly quiet. "Fat Dragon, Yuchun, Yuqiu, let us go in and take a look.

If we meet with danger, we withdraw at once! " Shen Mu said in a low, heavy voice, and stepped forward first. Fu Yuchun and Fu Yuqiu hurried forward and took wing.

The two white bats flew without a sound, heads below and feet above, ahead of Shen Mu, while the dragon qilin followed behind him, braced for battle. They advanced along the left side of the treasure ship. When they reached its center, they came upon the honeycomb seal, which was still very tightly knit here; demonic qi seeped faintly only from the cracks.

Suddenly the pavilions beside them gave out a creaking and groaning; a door swung open with a creak and a groan, and a faint, ghostly lamplight spilled from within.