Spirit Realm

“Help! Chu Li, save me!”

He Wei’s shouting could be heard coming from a region outside of the thunder lagoon, growing louder and more urgent.

At that point, Chu Li had only just begun to move.

“We’re here!” Qin Lie exclaimed in a deep voice.

They could see He Wei several kilometers in the distance, rushing toward them hysterically.

Even considering the distance, they could see that her eyes were grim and and listless, her clothes were torn to shreds, and blood was soaking through what remained of her sleeves and collar.

The sight enraged Chu Li as he worriedly called out, “He Wei!”

Light appeared in Chu Li’s eyes as He Wei flew toward him the moment she saw him, mad with joy.

“Swoosh!”

At the very same moment, a spirit-energy-propelled arrow blinked into existence behind her. The amount of force behind it made it resemble a meteor.

Electrical rays of spirit energy coursed through that arrow, manifesting the exquisite, malevolent appearance of a mythical dragon.

Said dragon even moved in lifelike ways, tearing, biting, and roaring as it flew.

“Puk!”

The arrow struck He Wei, piercing the center of her back and protruded from her chest.

Her frantic figure came to an abrupt halt.

The light in her eyes gradually faded as she looked at the frenzied expression on Chu Li’s face, despair creeping onto her own.

“Bang!”

The arrow exploded with a dull rumble, creating a fist-sized hole of gore in He Wei’s chest. In that instant, the feeble light in her eyes went out.

He Wei died right in front of Chu Li!

“No!”

Chu Li unleashed a beastial roar, tears in his terrifying eyes as he desperately rushed to her side.

The sight froze Qin Lie’s group in place.

Everyone who had questioned Qin Lie earlier immediately took out their spirit artifacts, their expressions taking a drastic turn for the worse.

All of them took up defensive positions and formations as if they were about to face a terrible enemy.

“Zzzzz! Oooo! Aooo!”

The tokens at every martial practitioner’s waist emitted shrill noises, indicating that a large number of people were heading in their direction.

Qin Lie’s expression was icy as he quietly looked into the distance far behind He Wei’s still figure.

“Whoosh!”

A tan, formidable man nearly two meters tall was the first to appear. Sinister tattoos covered his body, and his long hair was braided into long ropes. He brandished a huge, curved bow, chuckling menacingly.

The man was barefoot and wore armor made from beasts, giving him a rugged appearance. An immense thirst for blood and battle flooded from his eyes.

Strung from his waist were multiple tokens of different kinds. There seemed to be at least one token from each of the nine Silver ranked forces of the Land of Chaos.

This signified that he had killed numerous Land of Chaos martial practitioners scattered throughout the Graveyard of Gods.

Soon enough, men garbed similarly to the first came into view with ominous spirit birds and beasts by their sides.

All of these men held curved bows comparable in size to the first man’s, radiating a torrent of bloodlust. Each also had tokens strung to their waists.

One person stood out among the rest. They were more than two meters tall, had skin was the color of granite, and looked as tough as stone.

That person carried an enormous basket on their back that was filled to the brim with human heads.

Blood occasionally dripped from the basket, soaking the vines it was made from.

At the top of the basket were the faces of Ren Peng, Hu Ping, and Wei Liang, the three Terminator Sect martial practitioners that had been with He Wei. Blood dripped from their disembodied heads.

“Feng Qiang! That’s Feng Qiang’s head!”

“I see Liu Yan’s! They killed Liu Yan!”

“They also killed A’Hai and Meng Zi!”

“……”

Many people screamed in shock as time went on, killing intent gushing from their eyes. Among their number were Ye Yihao, Yu Men, and Feng Yiyou. Even Luo Chen and Xue Moyan were screaming.

Many martial practitioners belonging to the nine great Silver rank forces of the Land of Chaos had entered the Graveyard of Gods. Every single one of them who hadn’t been at the thunder lagoon were killed by this unexpected enemy, heads severed and carried around as trophies of war.

“Eastern barbarians!” Du Xiangyang exclaimed, eyes red with fury.

“Accursed eastern barbarians that deserve to die a thousand deaths!” Pan Qianqian exclaimed softly, gritting her teeth.

“Chu Li!” Xue Moyan barked in a low, gruff tone.

Hearing her call his name, Chu Li forcefully suppressed his desire to kill, took He Wei’s corpse into his arms, and turned away. His glittering, starlit spirit armor materialized and he flew back to Qin Lie’s side. Upon arrival, he sank to the floor in despair.

“Who are they?” Qin Lie asked with a frown.

“They’re savages that inhabit the tens of thousands of islands east of the Land of Chaos. We call them eastern barbarians! The Land of Chaos has always clashed with them because they occasionally invade us, pillaging and razing our territories. Most of the time, however, we of the nine great Silver rank forces meet them in battle to wipe them out.”

Du Xiangyang wore a facade of calm as he explained things to Qin Lie. “A strange mist shrouds the islands of the eastern barbarians, all tens of thousands of them. Much of their domain contains forbidden lands that only they know how to navigate in. These barbarians are unified and are familiar with their territory. As a result, our forces have not been able to keep the upper hand against them on their home turf. They hate us just as much as we hate them. We don’t know how many battles we’ve fought over the years, big or small, and there will always be more.”

“How did they enter the Graveyard of Gods?” Qin Lie asked in astonishment.

“God knows!” Du Xiangyang shook his head.

As they were speaking, the people of Black Voodoo Cult, the three great families, Celestial Artifact Sect, and Ten Thousand Beast Mountain wore grim expressions as they sized up the eastern barbarian forces, communicating in secret.

Opposite them, the formidable man who was clearly the leader of the eastern barbarians just chuckled to himself in a low, sinister tone. He didn’t seem to be in a hurry to take action as he surveyed the Land of Chaos martial practitioners.

He was waiting for more of his forces to arrive.

“The eastern barbarians are divided up into three tribes: the Black Barbarian Tribe, the Scarlet Barbarian Tribe, and the White Barbarian Tribe. That man is Sen Ye, the leader of the Black Barbarian Tribe’s young generation. The Black Barbarian Tribe is currently the strongest force of the eastern barbarians and rules over them. That eastern barbarian, Sen Ye, is incredibly famous among those savages. His strength is terrifying,” Xue Moyan said in a low voice.

Her explanation made Qin Lie stare at her in shock.

“The eastern barbarians inhabit the eastern side of the Land of Chaos, while the Heavenly Slaughter Continent that Illusory Demon Sect and Black Voodoo Cult reside just happen to be in the east as well,” Du Xiangyang continued. “Whenever those savages invade the Land of Chaos, they first need to go through the regions controlled by Illusory Demon Sect and Black Voodoo Cult. That’s why Xue Moyan is familiar with them.”

“Black Voodoo Cult may openly cause conflict and maneuver in the shadows, but they’re able to coexist with Illusory Demon Sect in the Heavenly Slaughter Continent,” Luo Chen interjected. “They never wage truly irreconcilable, bloody wars against Illusory Demon Sect because of the threat that the eastern barbarians represent.”

As this discussion took place, Chu Li simply sat there hugging He Wei’s corpse, head lowered in silence. The spirit energy around his body grew increasingly unstable.

Nobody in Qin Lie’s group felt anything for He Wei, Ren Peng, Hu Ping, or Wei Liang. After initially consoling Chu Li, they went straight to talking about the eastern barbarians.

“There are more than two hundred of them?” Du Xiangyang asked with a grim expression on his face.

“That’s right.” Qin Lie frowned deeply.

“What are their realms?” Luo Chen asked.

“All of them are in the Netherpassage Realm, same as us. It seems that the restricting force of the Graveyard of Gods affects them as well, which is probably why they don’t have any higher realm martial practitioners with them,” Qin Lie answered.

“The entrance that we used to get into the Graveyard of Gods… probably isn’t the only one.” Song Tingyu sighed.

Everyone in their group immediately understood what she was saying.

If there were another entrance that led to the Graveyard of Gods, and said entrance just happened to be in domain of the eastern barbarians, all of this would make sense.

“Tap tap! Tap tap tap!”

As they spoke, more and more eastern barbarians emerged from behind Sen Ye.

Sen Ye, the leader of the Black Barbarian Tribe’s young generation, dictated orders to someone behind him, and the eastern barbarians approaching the front suddenly began to spread out.

These barbarians spread to the left and to the right, slowly forming a ring shape that would surround the surrounding area.

They were planning to besiege the thunder lagoon!

Qin Lie’s group, Black Voodoo Cult, the three great families, Celestial Artifact Sect, and Ten Thousand Beast Mountain consisted of Land of Chaos martial practitioners, all of which just happened to be gathered at the edge of the thunder lightning pond.

If the thunder lagoon were surrounded, all of them would be trapped in the middle of over two hundred eastern barbarians!

The color drained from everyone’s faces as they realized what the eastern barbarians were doing. Their faces twisted into ugly expressions, and a sinking feeling filled their chests.

“It’ll be infinitely more difficult for us to escape if they surround us. They have over two hundred men in the Netherpassage Realm, and that Sen Ye… as the young leader of the Black Barbarian Tribe, he definitely won’t be an easy opponent.” Du Xiangyang’s face twitched, his expression one of pain. “However, if we leave, they’ll probably acquire the Pure Soul Springs and the soul crystals.”

This was a tough decision for Du Xiangyang to make.

Everyone else found it equally hard to make a decision..