Chapter 1511: Parting Words

Chen Ling was also looking at Gu Youzhi.

Unlike the other ghosts in the Ancient Ghost Path Treasury, Gu Youzhi’s eyes were deep and clear. In his eyes, Chen Ling saw his appreciation, emotion, and... pity?

"Senior, can you be more specific?" Chen Ling knew Gu Youzhi must have calculated some specific things. He didn't want to play riddles with the other party anymore and asked directly.

"It’s not that I don't want to remind you... If the Path of Divination could reveal the future at will, this world would have been in chaos long ago." Gu Youzhi smiled bitterly,

"What’s more, your own fate hasn't been determined yet. If I speak rashly, it will instead affect your judgment."

Chen Ling felt some regret, but only "some."

He wouldn't pin all his hopes on divination. Compared to those ethereal things, he trusted what he saw before his eyes more.

The River of Oblivion flowed continuously beneath their feet, and the outline of the opposite bank slowly emerged on the other side of the river.

Gu Youzhi slowly stopped walking.

He gently raised his hand and bowed to Chen Ling:

"Little friend Chen Ling, the River of Oblivion has been crossed... I can only see you off to here."

Chen Ling looked at the opposite bank, which was close at hand, knowing that Gu Youzhi couldn't cross the River of Oblivion, and couldn't help but ask:

"Senior Gu is a demigod of the Path of Divination. Have you never thought about finding a way to be resurrected? Staying in this River of Oblivion for a thousand years must be quite painful and lonely, right?"

"Haha, I naturally have ways to be resurrected..." Gu Youzhi pointed to the ground beneath his feet. "Ordinary people cannot be resurrected after death because their souls fall completely into the Ghost Path and cannot be escaped.

But for a Ninth-Order demigod, the soul splits into two after death—one part falls into the Ghost Path, and the other part is collected into the corresponding God Path Treasury. If one finds a way to combine the two into one, one can complete the 'Soul Return'."

Chen Ling was a bit surprised. This was the first time he had heard the claim that a demigod’s soul splits into two after death. He immediately followed up:

"Then why doesn't Senior Gu find a way to 'Soul Return'?"

"There are two difficulties in 'Soul Return'." Gu Youzhi held up two fingers,

"First, as a demigod who has attained the Dao of Heaven and Earth, the soul after death will inevitably become the foundation stone of the corresponding God Path Treasury. Trying to bring it out from there is as difficult as ascending to heaven."

Second, even if the "Soul Return" is completed, one lacks a physical body. Staying in the world of the living for too long will cause the soul to dissipate... Unless one finds a body that perfectly matches their former divine path and has an extremely high compatibility, then performs a soul possession, only then can they be considered truly resurrected... However, during this process, the original owner's soul is highly likely to tear the remnant soul to shreds instead.

Moreover, returning from the dead is a true act of defying the heavens; it will not be tolerated by the Ghost Path or the Heavenly Path. Even if one is briefly resurrected, they will ultimately not meet a good end."

Gu Youzhi stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the void above, and sighed leisurely:

"In this life, I have no regrets. Why should I defy the heavens?"

Chen Ling was lost in thought.

Looking at it this way, the difficulty of returning from the dead is indeed quite immense... And Chen Ling was inclined to believe Gu Youzhi's claim that it "would not end well." After all, when it comes to fate and the future, the perspective of a Divination Path Demigod should be the most authoritative.

"Little friend Chen Ling, before I leave, I have one last thing to say to you." Gu Youzhi's expression gradually turned serious.

Chen Ling stood on the bank, slightly startled, then looked solemnly at the aged figure in the Underworld River, waiting quietly for him to speak.

"Heaven dazzles and earth dims, the common people fall by their own hand;"

"A thousand killings are not evil, the red boat ferries the suffering."

After speaking these sixteen characters, Gu Youzhi's figure gradually faded within the Underworld River, as if returning to the surging waters... He bowed slightly to Chen Ling:

"Little friend Chen Ling... until we meet again."

Gu Youzhi's voice grew ethereal. As his form completely faded, only the surging Underworld River remained before Chen Ling, emitting a hazy glow in the deathly darkness.

Chen Ling muttered the sixteen characters to himself, a flash of confusion in his eyes.

Gu Youzhi could not provide specific information, so he could only leave a hint in this relatively vague manner. Chen Ling could not understand the content now, but when the time was ripe, perhaps it would provide him with some guidance.

Perhaps these sixteen characters were the main reason Gu Youzhi had come to find him.

Chen Ling carefully committed the words to memory, turned around, and prepared to cross the Ghost City to head toward the Temple of the Dead.

Just then,

An ancient, sky-piercing killing intent erupted from another section of the Underworld River!

Chen Ling’s steps, about to depart, paused slightly. He immediately looked toward that direction... his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.

……

A figure clad in black armor of killing intent was struggling to move forward through the Underworld River.

Towering waves crashed one after another, constantly battering the figure. The number of souls washing over him was in the tens of thousands—nearly a hundred times the scale Chen Ling had faced!

Chen Ling’s journey through the latter half of the Underworld River had been calm, not because the Ghost Path truly couldn't do anything to him...

But because the Ghost Path had shifted all its attention here.

It had sensed the remnant soul that should not exist here!

Chen Ling had killed a Ghost Path Envoy, making him a primary enemy of the Ghost Path; but compared to that, the Ghost Path could not tolerate a remnant soul sneaking in here, kidnapping its envoy, and attempting to complete a "Soul Return" right under its nose!

Towering waves of "Karma" surged in the Underworld River, so massive that they could be seen from any part of the river...

That was the terrifying "Karma" of having killed hundreds of thousands of people!

Compared to this, the "Karma" triggered by those Chen Ling had killed was as gentle as a lamb; it was not even on the same magnitude as what Bai Qi had caused. Under such a scale of scouring, it seemed as if even the existence of a Demigod would be directly erased.

"You actually dare to step into the Underworld River." Da An, who had been reduced to a human trunk, spoke calmly.

"Even for you, it is absolutely impossible to withstand the baptism of hundreds of thousands of deaths... This is not a matter of willpower; both you and the soul of this body's original owner will be completely erased, like stones worn away by water droplets."

Black-eyed Jian Changsheng... no, or rather, Bai Qi.

Bai Qi seemed not to hear Da An’s voice, or perhaps his soul was so deeply mired in the "Karma" killing trap that he couldn't hear him at all.

Jian Changsheng’s body moved mechanically and stiffly, as if truly stuck in a quagmire. His Thunder-Grip fingers were locked tightly around Da An’s neck, and the killing intent, seemingly possessing a will of its own, constantly devoured the other’s flesh, preventing his body from regenerating.

Looking at Jian Changsheng’s eerie black eyes, Da An seemed to realize something:

"So that’s it..."

"You stepped into the Underworld River, not to cross it..."

"You want to use your own 'Karma' to solve the soul of this body's original owner first?"