Imperial God Emperor 985 - Sky River and the Orchid Saintess

Chapter 985 - Heavenly River and the Orchid Saintess
For a time, both Ye Qingyu and Hu Bugui could not figure it out.
Could the Apocalyptic Demon sect master’s strength really have skyrocketed?
But surely that would be a little too far-fetched.
Aware that his own cultivation had grown at an unreal speed, Ye Qingyu concluded that if the Apocalyptic Demon sect master was indeed the assailant, it would mean that the latter’s cultivation had grown way faster than his, and this would probably mean that the latter had gained some kind of extraordinary opportunity.
After all, the hundreds of corpses ahead which had been slain by the same sword qi were all Saint-level experts from various large races…
The duo remained silent for some time.
“The assailant has already left. Let’s go too, we’re just wasting time by remaining here.” Hu Bugui was badly discomforted by the scene of flesh and blood in the main hall, for everyone who had died here was higher in cultivation than him.
Ye Qingyu nodded. “Let’s go...” But just then, remembering something, he suddenly paused his footsteps and swept a glance across the more than four hundred corpses, his heart giving a jolt. After a brief hesitation, he opened his palm and summoned the [Blood Drinker Sword Pill]. As he worked up sword will, the Sword Pill turned into several hundred beams of incomparably-piercing red light that poured forth and radiated toward the corpses on the ground.
Whenever a corpse was streaked across by a beam of red light, it would be burned into ashes and disperse.
In only several breaths’ worth of time, the hundreds of bodies of Saint realm experts in the main hall of the Three Mountains Pavilion had been swept past by the bright-red sword will, turning into ashes and disappearing. The essence and flesh in their bodies were completely absorbed by the [Blood Drinker Sword Pill] and were gathered into a massive bundle of energy within.
At present, the [Blood Drinker Sword Pill] was a mix of blackish red and verdant green, bright and smooth to the maximum.
If released in one blow, the power contained within would be sufficient to kill an ordinary Great Saint.
“The dead have gone. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” Ye Qingyu kept the [Blood Drinker Sword Pill] and sighed inwardly.
As they say, life is but an empty dream.
These Saint experts were powerful and prestigious during their lifetimes, but unfortunately for them, they would die in a fight in the most hideous of ways. As time passed, the power contained within their bodies would have inevitably dissipated into the universe. Hence, by absorbing their power and turning them to ashes, Ye Qingyu had prevented them from the humiliation of becoming maggot food.
The main hall, which was piled full of bodies, became empty and spacious at once.
After the hundreds of corpses had been turned into ashes, all that was left lying silently on the ground were the tattered clothes and armor as well as the frosty and dull weapons.
Ye Qingyu stood on the spot as he swept a glance across the weapons strewn across the ground.
Although a portion of these weapons had been damaged during the battle and thus lost their might, there was also a portion which remained intact. Besides, even those damaged ones were made using extremely precious treasures and rare materials. As for the small portion of intact weapons, they could be used to expand the arsenal of the Heaven Wasteland Domain, and could be given as reward to suitable experts of the empire in the future.
Rather than leaving these weapons here to endure the corrosion and chaos of time and thereby grow rusty and dull, it was better to put them to use. After he had thought things through, Ye Qingyu collected all of the now-ownerless weapons on the ground.
“Let’s go.” After he was done, he turned his head and called out.
To one side, Hu Bugui twitched his lips and came over, grinning. “I say, brother, you’re truly an opportunist. The way you collect treasures is even more relentless than that of a chief bandit like me!”
Ye Qingyu blushed with shame a little.
Having spent a considerable amount of time with the two bandits that were the silly dog and Hu Bugui, he had unknowingly been taken by their bad habits.
While talking to each other, the duo together arrived in the transit space at the back of the Three Mountains Palace.
This transit space was similar to that of the [Seven Elements Relief Palace] and [Tusita Palace], albeit there were only two forked tunnels this time.
Under the secret guidance of the million-year-old soul, Ye Qingyu swiftly chose to enter the tunnel on the right.
After proceeding along for half an hour, the end was still not in sight.
This tunnel was much longer than the previous ones.
“I’ve sensed the presence of the Immortal Body. It’s indeed here in the Reincarnation Hall of the Chaos Demon Emperor,” the million-year-old soul’s voice rang out in a tone of pleasant surprise.
“Wonderful,” Ye Qingyu transmitted back, “Where is it? Do we have to turn back?”
“No, continue advancing forward.” The million-year-old soul’s voice was utmost certain.
The two humans and one dog continued to advance.
After two hours, they still had not reached the end of the tunnel.
At this time, Little Nine finally regained its ability to walk.
It could finally also straighten its tongue and speak up. “My pill… give me my medicinal pill, quick.” Still thinking about the divine pill which rightfully belonged to it, the first thing it said was to ask for its precious treasure.
Without even looking at it, Ye Qingyu said, “I’ll give it back to you when we’ve gotten out of the Reincarnation Hall.”
“Human, surely you aren’t thinking about keeping it for yourself?” The little rascal stared suspiciously at Ye Qingyu.
Ye Qingyu decided to ignore it.
“By the way, the Deathlike Pill tasted pretty good and just like roasted peas. It’s a pity its side effects are too strong. I still don’t know what effects it has other than feigning death.” The silly dog appeared deep in afterthought as the fur all over its body became increasingly shiny and smooth. “Zeze, it’s kinda filling as well. I haven’t felt so satiated, and in fact a little bloated, for a long time.”
Ye Qingyu's heart jolted when he heard this.
This rice-bucket of a dog, which used to still feel hungry even after it had eaten a mountain of meat, is actually full at this time? Could one of the Deathlike Pills’ effects be… uh, to fill one’s stomach?
This is too far-fetched.
The buffoonery of the silly dog helped time to pass rapidly.
Another two hours later.
The end of the tunnel was indistinctly approaching.
“Be careful, the Heavenly River is ahead. There should be many people by the riverside waiting for a ferry,” the million-year-old soul’s voice rang out.
Heavenly River?
What’s that?
Ye Qingyu was puzzled as the end of the tunnel drew near.
A black beach came into sight.
The million-year-old soul’s prediction was not wrong, for there were indeed countless figures standing on the black beach, appearing as if they were waiting for something. They were all powerful experts of various races, gathered in groups of two or three which were extremely vigilant against one another. A smell of blood pervaded the air while there were a considerable number of bodies strewn on the beach. These bodies had apparently not been dead for long, as evident from the pools of bloody mud caused by flesh blood soaking into the sand...
When the two men walked out from the tunnel, they immediately attracted the notice of many experts who turned their heads back to look.
Countless eye beams of various expressions swept back and forth across the duo unbridledly, but after discovering that the duo only had ordinary Saint realm cultivation, most of the experts unturned their heads and stared fixedly at a black river in the distance as if they were waiting for something, paying no further attention to the duo. There were a few, however, who laughed grimly as they carefully sized up the duo with hostile eyes.
Ye Qingyu, too, ignored these people.
His gaze swept across these people and fell upon the black river at the far end of the black beach.
The river was approximately a kilometer wide, resembling a pitch-black spatial rift which traversed from east to west and divided the entire stretch of black beach into two. The surface of the river was like a shiny mirror and the waves on it were mild. At first glance, there seemed to be nothing strange about it, but a closer look would lead one to discover that the river water flowed in from the eastern Void and out into the western Void by passing through this more than a thousand square meters of black beach, forming the very picture of a river flowing through the heavens.
He now understood what was going on.
This was the Heavenly River which the million-year-old soul had mentioned.
There were several thousand people stranded on the north shore of Heavenly River. Although the black river was only a kilometer wide, it served as a divine moat which all these experts were unable to cross. Seeing the looks of impatience and helplessness on the experts’ faces, Ye Qingyu realized that there was certainly something odd about Heavenly River, or otherwise such a scene would not have transpired.
He and Hu Bugui walked toward Heavenly River.
They were stopped by several figures after walking just a few steps.
“Humans?” The figures were led by an eagle-headed, human-bodied expert who was dressed in black battle armor and gave off a fierce aura. He looked with knife-sharp eyes at the duo, saying, “To think that a half-step Saint and a lower Saint would be lucky enough to reach the shore of Heavenly River. You must’ve picked up quite a few treasures along the way, eh?”
Beside him were six similarly eagle-headed, human-bodied foreign race experts who arched their postures to obstruct the duo’s advance. There were another four of them who had covertly gone around the back to cut off the duo’s retreat. As such, the duo had been subtly surrounded.
The experts in the distance who saw what was going on seemed as if they had been inured to such a scene.
A foreign race expert even said angrily, “Dammit, we waited so long for two Human Race cretins to arrive, only for the Eaglehead Race to be a step faster...”
“Forget it, let’s wait for the next wave of cretins. Anyway, these two humans are too weak and don’t seem to have any good stuff on them,” another expert said.
Many experts watched the commotion from the sidelines.
Among the crowd on the black beach in the distance, a masked figure whose entire body was wrapped in a black woolen cape turned his head toward this direction and took a glance, with a hint of a strange expression circulating in his eyes. However, he did not take any subsequent action. Beside him was a huge empty space which was caused by the fact that the other figures dared not get close to him and avoided him like the plague. Lying on the beach by his feet were a dozen or so foreign race experts who had only just died, as evident from the fresh blood flowing from them.
“You all…are going a bit too far,” a voice sounded.
It belonged to a middle-aged female human Saint who could not refrain from speaking up upon seeing the perilous situation which the duo had fallen into. Beside her were a dozen or so Human Race experts who were all faintly wounded, apparently because they had relied on huddling together in numbers to keep a foothold on the black beach. Had they not done so, their circumstances would probably have become extremely dire too.
The weakness of the Human Race had been completely shown up during this scramble for opportunities in the Reincarnation Hall of the Chaos Demon Emperor.
“Hoho, Orchid Saintess, you can barely even save yourself, yet you still dare to stick up for others.” The eagle-headed, human-bodied foreign race expert laughed grimly, a cruel and dark glimmer like that of a hawk flickering in his eyes. “I advise you not to be a busybody, otherwise, heh heh...”
A few other experts guffawed as well.
This worried several experts beside Orchid Saintess.
“Orchid, keep your mouth shut.”
“Words will invite trouble.”
“That’s right, we have to keep ourselves safe.” A fairly handsome middle-aged human Saint hurriedly reached out a hand to tug Orchid Saintess. “Orchid, don’t concern yourself with them anymore or you’ll bring trouble onto yourself. These two younger-generation humans have courted their own deaths by coming here without being strong enough. These kinds of idiots who don’t know their limits deserve to die.”