Chapter 1522: Debate

Chen Ling hadn't expected that the tributary of the River of the Underworld Xiao Ji had brought in would actually include Yao Qing’s soul.

It made sense; these envoys loved to control the remnant souls of demigods to enhance their combat power. As a modern demigod of the Green God Path, Yao Qing was naturally on their "special attention" list.

Not just Yao Qing; Chen Ling scanned the surrounding section of the River of the Underworld and saw several familiar figures.

Besides other hall members of the Floating Life Painting, there were ordinary members, and even people from the chambers of commerce in the Red Dust Domain were swept up in the torrent... If he looked further into the distance, there were figures from other domains as well.

This tributary was undoubtedly a very new branch of the River of the Underworld.

He didn't know if it was because there were too many ghosts, causing Chen Ling to feel dizzy, but in a trance, he saw a graceful figure in a yellow dress flash through the rushing torrent of ghosts.

Chen Ling couldn't care about that anymore. He poured his mental energy frantically into the red paper umbrella, and a powerful gravitational force enveloped the tributary of the River of the Underworld!

A large number of ghosts deviated from this tributary. Except for those already entangled by Xiao Ji’s chains, the other ghosts in the tributary were forcibly sucked away by Chen Ling, rolling and surging under the spinning red paper umbrella!

He was trying to cut off the River of the Underworld!

Splitting and splitting again, it sounded like there weren't many ghosts, but in reality, Chen Ling was absorbing nearly ten thousand ghosts every second. The River of the Underworld itself was simply too vast; even a tiny branch possessed a terrifying number.

Moreover, although Xiao Ji was using ghost-driving techniques, his targets were only those Divine Path practitioners who could provide him with combat power buffs, so he was only holding onto about a hundred ghosts. Aside from the Divine Path practitioners "filtered" out by Xiao Ji, all the other ghosts in this tributary poured into Chen Ling’s red paper umbrella.

"Damn it..."

Chen Ling felt his mental energy being consumed at an exaggerated speed.

Although there was no upper limit to the number of souls the red paper umbrella could contain, this process would constantly consume Chen Ling’s mental energy. At this rate, he would be drained in a dozen seconds at most, or even have his spirit completely pierced. At best, he would be in a coma for a dozen days; at worst, he would end up like Dr. Han, suffering direct brain death.

But he couldn't close the red paper umbrella. Once he did that, the power holding back the hundred ghosts Xiao Ji was controlling would disappear, and Xiao Ji’s combat power would reach a terrifying level.

Bang——bang——bang!!

While Chen Ling was frantically restricting the River of the Underworld, the duel between Jiang Xiaohua and Xiao Ji had also reached a fever pitch.

A small part of Xiao Ji’s body had been cursed into blood, and his other arm had been slashed with bloody marks by flying bandages. Even though embroidery threads kept blocking Jiang Xiaohua for him, Jiang Xiaohua was fighting with a completely suicidal style. He didn't even blink as the sharp threads pierced his body; he just kept attacking!

Most of the ghosts Xiao Ji controlled were held back by Chen Ling, so his own combat power was extremely limited. In this situation, he had almost no way to parry Jiang Xiaohua’s suicidal attacks.

"Madmen! You are all a bunch of madmen!!"

The disheveled Xiao Ji looked at Jiang Xiaohua, who was attacking like a madman, and Chen Ling, who was cutting off the River of the Underworld by himself, and couldn't help but speak,

"You are defying the Ghost Path! Destroying the balance of life and death! You will suffer karmic retribution!!"

Jiang Xiaohua had no intention of answering him; he just buried his head and attacked frantically.

Only Chen Ling’s voice sounded from above:

"Ghost Path?"

"Is the Ghost Path correct?"

"No... you don't care about the balance of life and death at all. What you care about is this world of the dead."

"You don't care how many people die in the world of the living; otherwise, you wouldn't have sent Kong Wang, nor would you have tried to make the human domains wipe out their respective Nine Lords to prevent the descent of the Red Star!"

"You know full well that once the Nine Lords die, the human domains will cease to exist. At that time, the world of the living will be almost completely wiped out, and your world of the dead will just have a faster-flowing River of the Underworld... You just want to preserve the Ghost Path under the Red Star; you don't care how many people die outside..."

"Is this the 'balance of life and death' you pursue??"

Chen Ling’s questioning wasn't just aimed at Xiao Ji... His gaze was constantly fixed on the void above.

The one he truly wanted to converse with was the Ghost Path itself.

Xiao Ji was startled, then said angrily:

"Death is a fate that all living beings cannot escape!"

"From the moment the oldest life was born until now, how many species have gone extinct due to natural disasters? Dinosaurs, mammoths, trilobites, archaeopteryx... So many life forms that were once prosperous have disappeared from the world of the living. Why can’t humans be the next?"

"If the Nine Lords die and humanity perishes, this world will not be destroyed under the Red Star. Perhaps millions of years later, new life will be born, and the balance of life and death will be restored. The world will still be a world with order..."

"The only thing that changes is the form of life."

The red paper umbrella cutting off the River of the Underworld trembled constantly, and Chen Ling’s mental energy was overdrawn.

His complexion gradually turned pale. He instinctively raised his hand to grab the umbrella handle... Almost simultaneously, a terrifying demigod-level aura drifted out from his palm!!

Xiao Ji’s expression changed instantly!!

Demigod aura? Why did demigod aura suddenly appear in this guy’s hand?!

This Seventh-Rank skill, the red paper umbrella, could not only contain souls but also burn the souls within, erupting with destructive power equivalent to the sum of all the souls inside!

Chen Ling’s umbrella now contained over a hundred thousand souls. If he burned them all until they vanished, turning them into nourishment for the red umbrella, the power erupted would definitely be at the demigod level!

A demigod’s strike was enough to kill the exhausted Xiao Ji in seconds, and it was enough to shake the Ghost Path’s Dao-foundation!

But...

Those familiar faces that had just flashed before his eyes and flown into the red umbrella appeared in Chen Ling’s mind.

The demigod aura only brewed in Chen Ling’s hand for an instant before disappearing as he loosened his grip on the umbrella handle... Chen Ling chose not to release this strike.

"The cycle of life and death and the succession of species are indeed eternal laws of the world."

"But this does not mean that we must accept death without a fight... Life will always find a way."

"Everyone has a chance to pursue life. They want to live; this is instinct. But the difference between humans and other life forms is that some among them are willing to overcome instinct for a higher belief."

"The owner of the breakfast shop, the waiter in the theater, the daughter of the chamber of commerce, the rat in the sewer..."

"Humanity is great because of their existence."

"You, the Ghost Path, claim to be the rules and consider yourselves righteous. Then why do you actively intervene in the world of the living and try to exterminate humanity before life and death are decided? When you sent Kong Wang to the surface, where were your rules?"

"Humanity has not surrendered yet; too many people are fighting for this. By what right do you... sentence humanity to death penalty?!"