Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Eh? General Yun is not going out to battle?”
Jiang Yi emerged from his Chaos Divine Boat and discovered that Yun Bing, the two Senior Commanders, and the thirty-six personal guards had not emerged. Confused, he turned back and scanned the surroundings. However, since he was not that familiar with Commander Hu, he dared not ask too many questions.
The Chaos Divine Boat was huge. Even after a thousand people boarded it, there was still extra space. Once Commander Hu boarded the boat, he walked straight into the front cabin. Jiang Yi and the others had no choice but to sit down cross-legged and begin cultivating. The other nine Senior Captains seemed to be uninterested in engaging with Jiang Yi in a conversation. All of them focused on their own training, their expressions cold and hard.
The Chaos Divine Boat advanced quickly. Jiang Yi soon realized that the Chaos Divine Boats in the Heaven Domain did not look that different from the ones in the Earth Domain. However, they did move several times faster. They were moving at about the same speed as Heavenly King Wu when he was going as fast as he could.
The ten Chaos Divine Boats advanced quietly. They traveled for ten whole Lower-Domain days, and the entire journey was peaceful. The only trouble that they met was the occasional spatial zone turbulence. There were also several Chaos Divine Boats on patrol, but none of them were threatening.
“We’ll arrive shortly!”
One of the Senior Captains suddenly announced. Jiang Yi and the others were jolted away. They looked through one of the transparent walls that the Senior Captain was looking through as well. After scanning the surroundings a while, Jiang Yi was astonished.
The void in front of them was no longer pitch-black. Instead, it looked dark red. Looking out into the horizon, Jiang Yi felt like he was looking at a dark red river in the sky, which flowed right across the void. It also resembled a huge divine dragon, hiding in the void and threatening to devour humans.
Jiang Yi did not know how long the red river in the sky was. From this distance, they could not even see where the river began or ended. In terms of width, Jiang Yi guessed that the river was at least five thousand kilometers. It almost covered the entire sky. The dark-red light gave off an evil, eerie feeling. Even from afar, the army felt uneasy.
Shh-shh-shh!
Commander Hu had an unkempt beard which made him look like a savage. At that moment, he walked out of the front cabin and addressed everyone in the boat in a low voice. “Among you, many people have been here on missions before, but there are also others who have never been here. I can explain the situation to all of you very briefly.
“The Dark Heaven River itself is not dangerous. However, if you stay there long enough, the evil aura within it might affect those with weak soul spirits. You might easily lose your sense of reason. The fact that the Netherworld Realm beings love staying here makes this place dangerous. Once you enter the river later on—if you find any of your fellow soldiers’ eyes turning red, immediately knock him unconscious and bring him back here.
“I am guessing that we have about one day here for every team to freely kill the Netherworld Realm beings. You are not to fight with one another; otherwise, you will be killed without question upon discovery. Any time you find yourself being overpowered by the enemy, retreat at once.”
Once Commander Hu finished speaking, he turned around and returned to the front cabin. The Chaos Divine Boat continued advancing and flew for another two hours before they arrived within the vicinity of the Dark Heaven River. Jiang Yi and the others could finally see things clearly. The Heaven River looked like it was glowing red because it was made up of red clouds. Their divine senses felt suppressed there as well.
Buzz!
The ten Chaos Divine Boats activated their doors. The army marched out of the boats and towards the red clouds like a school of fish. Jiang Yi waved his hand and led the ninety-odd people under his charge out of the Chaos Divine Boat and towards the red clouds as well.
“Bucket Formation! Zhang Danian, pave the way!”
Jiang Yi was standing in the middle of the army as he gave these instructions. The ninety-odd people immediately formed a circle. Eight Titled God Thearchs stood around the eight directions, equally spaced apart. Zhang Danian remained right in front, leading the way.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Creak-creak!
Jek-jek!
Before they even arrived at the red clouds, they heard explosions coming from inside. There were even Netherworld Realm beings making weird noises. The moment they entered the clouds, subtle black smoke began to envelop them. Jiang Yi’s divine senses swept the surroundings before he shouted in a cold tone, “It’s Netherworld Aura. Don’t bother about it; I am here. Keep charging forward and kill the Netherworld Realm beings!”
When they heard Jiang Yi say ‘I am here’, the entire army’s morale boosted. Jiang Yi could cleanse Netherworld Aura in a second. This gave the army all the security that they needed. There was no need for them to worry about the Netherworld Aura at all. Instead, they wholeheartedly focused on killing the Netherworld Realm beings.
At that moment, the entire group charged forward quickly. Zhang Danian, who was right in front, already found several Netherworld Realm beings hiding among the red clouds. He suddenly attacked, triggering a round of continuous attacks from the soldiers behind him as well.
“En!”
The Netherworld Realm beings were not considered of high levels. Jiang Yi went on many missions with the Demon-Buster Army before, and these Netherworld Realm beings were familiar to him. They were not as highly-skilled as the Netherworld Generals. The least of the soldiers in the Flying Feather Army were God Thearchs. Killing these Netherworld Realm beings would not pose any challenge to them.
“Switch to the Arrow Formation. Zhang Danian, you guys will lead the way. People behind, collect the corpses!” Jiang Yi observed the situation for a while and made a decisive call. It was no wonder that Yun Bing and the two Senior Commanders did not come here. The mission was way too simple. The strongest of the Netherworld Realm beings here would probably be Netherworld Generals. Zhang Danian alone could easily kill them.
On their left and right, they could hear battle noises. The various teams were probably killing off the Netherworld Realm beings at a rapid pace as well, trying to earn as many battle merits as they could. Since this was Jiang Yi and his team’s first mission, everyone was giving it their all so nobody would be able to look down on them.
Jek-jek!
After traveling hundreds of kilometers, six huge skeletal giants appeared in front of them. This was the first time they were meeting Netherworld Generals. What’s more, there were six of them. While Zhang Danian and the eight other Titled God Thearchs were unfazed, the other God Generals’ expressions hardened.
Buzz!
Xiaozhuan characters floated out of Jiang Yi’s head one by one, striking the skeletal giants ahead. After being hit by these Xiaozhuan characters, the skeletal giants’ auras weakened significantly. Zhang Danian and the others’ eyes lit up at once. They fully cooperated with Jiang Yi’s attacks.
Netherworld Generals were very powerful, but Titled God Thearchs would be able to defeat them if they fought hard. On top of that, Zhang Danian and the other Titled God Thearchs were no ordinary Titled God Thearchs. The weakest among them was comparable to Xiao Ming. With Jiang Yi’s support, the six skeletal giants were easily defeated.
Swish!
Jiang Yi steered the Xiaozhuan characters into Zhang Danian and the others’ heads. The characters made one round around their heads and cleansed them of the Netherworld Aura. The army’s morale was greatly boosted. Soldiers were the general’s guts, and the general was the soldiers’ soul. With such a strong leader who brought the team together, their combined combat abilities were significantly improved.
As they advanced, they kept clearing out Netherworld Realm beings. Everyone quickly realized something: Jiang Yi could also cleanse them of the evil aura in the Dark Heaven River. They remained inside for several hours without any effect whatsoever.
After clearing for eight to ten hours, the group found themselves in the deepest recesses of the Dark Heaven River. There were more and more Netherworld Realm beings appearing. They could no longer hear battle sounds on either side of them. Jiang Yi made the team stop advancing and remain there to clear out the Netherworld Realm beings in the area.
The battle was dull and exhausting. After a few Lower-Domain days, Jiang Yi began to split the team so that they could take turns to fight. Each time, he sent a fraction of the team into his spatial divine item to rest. Throughout this entire time, he did not fight at all. Instead, he focused on cleansing the team of the evil aura and Netherworld Aura. Still, it was exhausting work.
Yun Bing said that there were millions of Netherworld Realm beings hiding here, and Jiang Yi had no reason to deny that. After just half a day, their team had gotten rid of at least a million Netherworld Realm beings. By the end of the day, he guessed that they would have killed two million Netherworld Realm beings.
“Come, let’s return!”
The day was almost over. Jiang Yi suddenly shouted at the team in a low voice. At once, everybody turned around and headed back. After flying for several hours, the group successfully emerged from the red clouds. What stunned Jiang Yi and the others was that the ten Chaos Divine Boats had already left. At that moment, they were at least tens of kilometers away. All they could see were ten black dots in the distance.
“What’s going on?”
Jiang Yi and the others exchanged looks, at a loss as to what was to be done. The entire army did not bother waiting for them before they left. Were they planning to abandon them and make them fly back to camp through the void?
“Eh? You’re still alive?”
A strong set of divine senses swept past them, and they heard Commander Hu’s voice: “You did not emerge at all the entire day. I thought all of you died in battle. En… you remained in the Dark Heaven River for one whole day? Weren’t you affected by the evil aura at all?”
