Translator: BornToBe
There was a diagram on Long Chen’s chest. It looked to be a handprint. There were many lines just like a real hand had left a brand.
The handprint was very clear at the start, but then began to slowly fade until it vanished.
“Why did those lines look so strange? Didn’t they seem like a labyrinth? In my years of learning how to read the palms of ladies from boss, I’ve never seen such a thing,” said Guo Ran curiously.
“Big brother Long Chen, you know how to palm read? Why do you only do it for ladies?” Dong Mingyu giggled.
Guo Ran immediately realized he had misspoken. He glanced at Long Chen, only to see a murderous gaze that made him hastily retreat.
“Long Chen, the path ahead splits into five. We were still deciding which way to go when you fell from the sky. You should decide.” Meng Qi changed the conversation, pointing at the fork.
Long Chen looked at the path ahead. Other lifeforms were also at the fork, pondering which path they should take. No one knew where these paths led, and once they decided, they couldn’t go back.
Long Chen stood and asked Meng Qi and the others what had happened. Meng Qi said that they had come to forks before, but they had always been two-way forks. They had randomly chosen every time, and sometimes the path they took would be very easy, while sometimes they would face a hail of fire, lightning, or ice. There were all kinds of attacks that manifested.
Those attacks were spiritual attacks targeting the soul, and their weapons couldn’t help them against such attacks.
Fortunately, while the attacks hurt their Yuan Spirits, they weren’t fatal. Furthermore, after enduring those attacks, they sensed a mysterious energy strengthening their Yuan Spirits. Most likely, this was a kind of trial in the Netherworld.
However, the further they went, the stronger the attacks grew. Once, Guo Ran had almost died to a flame arrow.
Later on, they realized that each fork had one easy path and one hard path. However, none of them could tell which was which. They had seen many lifeforms perish along the way.
The handprint left on his chest appeared in Long Chen’s mind. Had Leng Yueyan left him a map? He waved his hand, indicating for them not to rush. The lines of the handprint appeared in his mind.
“Leng Yueyan really did leave me a map. Only this place splits in five. The color is a gradient, most likely indicating difficulty. In the end, the left and right paths converge. That place should be the exit. But what does that black and white mark mean?”
After memorizing what he needed to know, Long Chen pointed. “The middle path.”
He led everyone down the middle path. This was also the path that most of the other lifeforms chose.
Within the palace, Ming Cangyue frowned at the scene she was seeing on the Holders of Evil. “Did Long Chen not understand?”
Leng Yueyan smiled. “No, you don’t understand Long Chen.”
“Oh?”
“You were only with him once, while I did it with him many times. That’s why I understand him better.” Leng Yueyan chuckled, causing Ming Cangyue to blush. Even if Leng Yueyan was her other self, she wasn’t used to such words.
“Hahaha, the great Nethergod is blushing? Is being with the one you love something embarrassing?” laughed Leng Yueyan.
“Let’s not talk about that. If Long Chen does understand, why would he make that choice?” Ming Cangyue refused to talk about that subject.
Leng Yueyan became serious. “Long Chen isn’t someone you can control. Even if he knows the answer to the riddle, he’ll test out other possibilities to overthrow the original answer. He does not believe there is only one answer. I’m sure he understood the layout of the Netherpassage Path, but he has his own way of thinking. He won’t follow the path that I indicated. This fellow chose the middle difficulty of the five paths, most likely to test it. He’ll definitely show us an interesting, stubborn show.”
Just at this moment, Long Chen and the others entered the middle path. As Meng Qi had explained, the space behind them condensed so that they couldn’t look back.
After half an incense stick’s worth of time, Meng Qi suddenly cried out, “Long Chen, divine punishment from the Heavenly Daos is coming!”
Long Chen nodded, raising his hand to tell everyone to slow down. He then walked to the ground ahead of them. After just a few steps, a bolt of lightning crashed down from the sky, piercing toward his head like a sword.
Long Chen unleashed a punch, blowing that lightning away. It transformed into runes and dissipated. Long Chen grabbed some of those runes but quickly tossed them out.
He had been planning on giving these runes to Lei Long to feed on. But Lei Long said that this was Yin lighting, while it was Yang lightning. The opposing elements between them made it so that Lei Long couldn’t absorb it. Hence, Long Chen tossed it away.
“The lightning here deviates toward the Yin side. It doesn’t harm the physical body or soul. Instead, it targets the will, creating illusions. However, considering everyone’s will, this level of lightning shouldn’t be anything. Let’s go.” Long Chen started walking forward, allowing more bolts of lightning to crash down and strike him.
The Dragonblood warriors had powerful wills, but they weren’t so reckless. They protected their heads as they followed.
Although they were currently just Yuan Spirits, the pain was the same as if they were on the Martial Heaven Continent. When struck by the lightning, they felt like their bodies would be torn apart.
However, with Long Chen’s explanation, they found that this pain wasn’t true pain but a misperception. If they were tricked by this pain, it would easily lead to illusions.
Fortunately, Long Chen was present. He was the core of the Dragonblood Legion. Just seeing him invigorated the Dragonblood Legion. Even Guo Ran felt confident once more. Although he cried out miserably from the pain, he wasn’t afraid.
As they were walking, suddenly, one of the lifeforms ahead of them exploded into bloody mist, making them all jump.
Following the first lifeform, the nearby lifeforms also exploded. That was a horrifying sight.
“It’s nothing to be afraid of. Some people’s wills aren’t strong enough. When the illusions fill their minds, they are led to detonate as if they are fighting unbeatable enemies or experiencing unbearable pain,” said Long Chen.
Not all lifeforms had such powerful wills. Even among these experts of myriad worlds, the Dragonblood Legion was outstanding.
Many of these experts ended up having holes appear within their hearts when they saw the experts around them die, creating a chain reaction.
Long Chen continued forward and passed one human-shaped lifeform with violet hair. He was shouting something indecipherable, and his eyes were red.
Long Chen kicked him in the butt, sending him flying far away. When he finally crawled up from the ground, he kowtowed to Long Chen three times before continuing onward.
He had been on the verge of being lost within the illusions. Long Chen’s kick had returned him to reality and saved his life.
Guo Ran did the same thing as Long Chen, kicking someone who was standing motionless on the path. As a result, that person angrily gestured and shouted at him, seeming to be cursing him.
“Hey, what’s up? I just saved your life, alright? You don’t seem very grateful!” shouted Guo Ran back.
“You interrupted his comprehension. If we didn’t outnumber him, he’d probably be beating you up right now,” said Long Chen irritably.
Long Chen had seen it clearly. That lifeform had had their eyes closed in meditation while holding one of the lightning runes. Perhaps their core energy was related to this kind of lightning. As a result, Guo Ran’s interruption had broken the rune. Most likely, that lifeform already had an urge to kill him.
“Fine, sorry brother. You keep meditating. We’ll go first.” Guo Ran hastily plastered on an apologetic smile.
That lifeform might not understand Guo Ran’s words, but Guo Ran’s actions and tone gave them a general understanding, and they didn’t say anything more.
“Boss, most of these lifeforms are human. Doesn’t that mean that our human race is the strongest?” asked Guo Ran.
“That’s not necessarily true. Many of them might have only taken temporary human form because their original bodies are not as close to the Heavenly Daos. In this place, we have no idea,” said Long Chen.
“Then doesn’t that also indicate that the human race is the strongest? But why are there so many humans on the Martial Heaven Continent willing to lick the feet of the ancient races and the Xuan Beasts?” asked Guo Ran.
“They’re slaves.”
Long Chen was indifferent to this question. They had finally reached the end of this fork, and up ahead, the path once more split, this time into six.
“The right one.” Long Chen pointed. He knew that the path on the right was the most difficult one.
