Chapter 577: White Paper Immortal City
The Spine-Piercing Crocodile Swarm escorted the Bone Crocodile Demon as they continued diving, deeper and deeper.
The main channel of the Nether Flood Dragon River was bottomless, a pitch-black abyss.
As they descended further, the Bone Crocodile Demon felt his apprehension grow heavier. Many of the Spine-Piercing Crocodiles around him were already reaching their limits and could no longer keep up with his pace.
Spine-Piercing Crocodiles were not creatures that habitually dived deep. If the Bone Crocodile Demon had not personally controlled them, they would never have descended to such depths.
After another stretch of descent, the Bone Crocodile Demon saw a vortex of Yin energy.
Within the vortex, countless Water Ghosts crowded together, compressing and stacking upon one another to form a strange and unsettling formation.
The Bone Crocodile Demon was not surprised. Using spiritual sense to transmit a message, he said with concern, “Military Advisor Xie, the task was not accomplished. How should the two of us report this to our lord?”
From within the battle formation came the voice of Xie Sichao.
“We were about to succeed, but Wen Ruanyu suddenly appeared. That caused our effort to fail at the last moment.”
“Wait a moment…”
Xie Sichao suddenly stopped speaking.
After a few breaths, he spoke again.
“How strange.”
The Bone Crocodile Demon asked, “What’s strange?”
Xie Sichao replied, “Intelligence has arrived from the river surface. Wen Ruanyu returned after leaving and searched the ships for an Outsider. She actually found one—a merchant from Flying Cloud Country named Yang Weida—and personally took him away.”
The Bone Crocodile Demon pondered. “Could it be that this Yang Weida has some background that made Wen Ruanyu personally come to receive him? Our luck must have been bad, encountering Wen Ruanyu at exactly that moment.”
Xie Sichao said, “That is precisely the strange part. Wen Ruanyu clearly did not know this person. After taking Yang Weida away, she did not immediately return to White Paper City but instead continued heading north.”
The Bone Crocodile Demon thought for a moment. “That really is quite strange.”
The two speculated several times but gained no insight. Traveling side by side, they continued descending deeper underwater.
When they reached a certain depth, the Bone Crocodile Demon suddenly heard the roar of a flood dragon. In the next instant, the water around him vanished, replaced by a sinister space.
At that moment, he had officially passed from the living world into the Underworld.
This was precisely the special nature of the Nether Flood Dragon River.
The Nether Flood Dragon was a flood dragon that lived in the Underworld. Seeking to advance further, it had undergone tribulation and endured a supreme Yang thunder tribulation.
It was not an ordinary Nether Flood Dragon—it possessed a divine position.
Thus, after transforming into the Nether Flood Dragon River, the river naturally connected to the Underworld, becoming a bridge linking the living world and the Underworld.
And the ghost tides that periodically swept across the Yin Soul Black Marsh wetland came precisely through this passage.
The Bone Crocodile Demon and Xie Sichao entered the Underworld together and stepped into a teleportation array.
The array activated, sending them into a luxurious yet austere mansion.
“Greetings, my lord!”
Led by an emissary, the two arrived at the grand hall and knelt in unison.
“We failed in our task and are guilty…” Xie Sichao confessed in his capacity as military advisor and reported the details.
The Bone Crocodile Demon remained silent, maintaining utmost respect.
The mysterious lord sat upon the throne, his entire body shrouded in a layer of black mist.
After hearing the report, he remained silent for a moment before speaking in a deep and heavy voice.
“Wen Ruanyu is a disciple of the Myriad Phenomena Sect and possesses formidable strength. Your timely retreat was very wise.”
“When the enemy is strong and we are weak, retreating to preserve one’s strength is also a principle of military strategy.”
“However, Wen Ruanyu’s journey this time was carried out under a flying message command from the Funeral Music Nether Performer.”
“She is the White Paper City Lord’s right-hand assistant and excels at divination.”
“Her actions this time are indeed strange. It is very likely that the Funeral Music Nether Performer has divined something.”
At this point, the lord paused before continuing.
“This ghost tide is the result of many years of our accumulation and guidance. If we are to use it to eliminate the White Paper City Lord and seize this immortal city, we must give our full effort and leave the opponent no opportunity.”
“The enemy possesses a cultivator skilled in divination. We must also conduct our own calculation.”
“You two will take my token and go to Water Burial Valley to seek the Gray Bone Elder. Ask him to calculate how we should act under these circumstances in order to eliminate any chance for the opponent’s turnaround.”
The Bone Crocodile Demon and Xie Sichao immediately accepted the order.
The two left the mansion and, using the teleportation array, arrived at Water Burial Valley.
With the token, they soon gained an audience with the Gray Bone Elder.
The Gray Bone Elder’s eyes were like cold stars, and his face was covered by a gray bone mask. Countless characters were inscribed upon the mask—spell prohibitions depicting the contents of his primary cultivation method, the Six Yin Bone Inquiry Scripture.
The Gray Bone Elder put away the token and immediately began the divination.
He took out a clay urn filled with bones.
Circulating his mana, he cut his fingertip and let three drops of miserable green blood fall.
The blood fell into the urn and immediately ignited.
A silent, cold, azure-scaled flame burned the bones into bone powder.
The Gray Bone Elder rotated his wrist above the flame, conjuring a gust of Yin wind.
The wind swept up the bone ash, scattering it through the air.
The Gray Bone Elder began to chant softly, forming hand seals as he activated his technique.
The Bone Crocodile Demon and Xie Sichao focused their attention and saw the bone ash gradually condense within the wind, forming characters one after another.
They carefully read them:
“Behead the Nether Performer and the city gate will open,
Burn the paper effigy and calamity will be drawn.
Wen Yu splashes ink to stain the white scroll,
Myriad Phenomena…”
In the next moment, the Gray Bone Elder waved his sleeve, scattering the Yin wind and sending the bone ash flying.
“Gray Bone Elder, why did you stop calculating?” the Bone Crocodile Demon asked.
Xie Sichao shared the same confusion.
The Gray Bone Elder snorted coldly.
“Heaven’s secrets are not so easily revealed.”
“Each act of divination costs more than materials and mana.”
“It also consumes my personal fortune.”
“One must not calculate everything. To exhaust all calculations and reveal heaven’s secrets would severely damage my fortune.”
“I owed your lord a favor, and this calculation already repays it.”
“You may leave.”
With another wave of his sleeve, the two Golden Core cultivators suddenly felt the world spin.
When they steadied themselves and looked again, they were shocked to find that they had already been moved to the entrance of Water Burial Valley.
The two could only discuss matters among themselves.
“Is the Gray Bone Elder at the Nascent Soul stage or the Soul Formation stage?”
“Hard to say. His cultivation realm has always been a mystery.”
“What should we do now?”
“There is no way we can force our way into Water Burial Valley, nor do we have that ability. Let us simply report these results to our lord.”
“Well…”
“Don’t worry. Although the Prophetic Poem is incomplete, it should still suffice. Didn’t it say to first eliminate the Funeral Music Nether Performer? That woman is indeed a serious threat. Even better—if she performed divination and guided Wen Ruanyu’s actions, her fortune must now be greatly depleted. This is the perfect opportunity to strike.”
While discussing, the two hurried back.
White Paper City, Listening Pavilion.
This was the zither chamber of the Funeral Music Nether Performer.
Outside the window, the sea of Nether Bamboo was silent. Even the usual blue-green ghost lights wandering through the forest had retreated deep into the bamboo grove.
The moldy scent of rotting leaves seeped through the window cracks into the chamber.
The Funeral Music Nether Performer reached out and adjusted the bronze lamp wick. The clear blue flame suddenly twisted into a human shape, struggling and revealing a look of agony.
The Funeral Music Nether Performer slightly frowned. Taking a slow breath, she stretched her ten fingers and placed them upon the strings.
“Music of Joy from the Nine Springs!”
The first overtone sounded like a spring breaking through ice. The hanging scripture banners along the chamber walls fluttered though there was no wind.
As the zither music brushed past the bronze lamp, the twisted human-shaped flame was immediately soothed and healed. It stopped struggling and panted heavily.
Outside, the silent bamboo sea stirred slightly, and the rotten bamboo leaves even began to turn green again.
The music continued through six turns. When the Shang note sounded, the smoke from the incense burner on the table condensed into Udumbara flowers, falling gently and settling upon the space between the Funeral Music Nether Performer’s brows.
Her previously furrowed brow gradually relaxed.
But when the seventh movement reached the Jue note, the human-shaped flame dissipated and returned to its normal form.
The bamboo forest swayed, and countless rotten leaves turned green.
As the melody reached the latter half of the score, whenever the Zhi note strengthened, the candlelight became round and warm.
The bamboo sea swayed comfortably, and the rotten stench nearly vanished.
The Udumbara flowers formed from incense smoke had turned into a sparse rain of blossoms, bathing the Funeral Music Nether Performer within it.
Clang!
Just as the musical healing was about to succeed, a string suddenly snapped.
From the depths of the bamboo forest, countless hidden weapons shot forth.
Pain struck the Funeral Music Nether Performer’s chest, and blood welled up—but she forcibly swallowed it down.
Her aura surged as she activated her protective treasure robe. The sleeves suddenly lengthened and widened, forming cloud sleeves.
The cloud sleeves danced through the air, catching every hidden weapon and sealing them all.
Nine assassins burst forth from different directions, smashing through window frames, breaking through walls, and destroying the door as they charged her almost simultaneously.
A flash of panic appeared in the Funeral Music Nether Performer’s eyes. Her healing had failed, and her condition was poor—she could only wield less than thirty percent of her usual combat strength.
Facing a life-or-death crisis, she reached into her robe, about to crush a jade pendant for emergency escape.
But a thought flashed through her mind, and she halted.
Instead, she pulled out a spare instrument—a pipa—and produced a tearing metallic vibration.
The sound wave swept outward with the full force of her attack, razor-sharp.
The first two assassins were instantly cut in half at the waist. The organs that spilled onto the ground strangely dissolved into foul black water.
From the black water emerged Eight-Legged Ghost Spiders, which continued attacking.
The Funeral Music Nether Performer spun and leapt onto a beam, dodging the combined assault of the remaining seven assassins. However, the defensive magical ornament in her hair—a pure silver hairpin—shattered, and a strand of her hair drifted downward.
She bit the tip of her tongue and spat a mouthful of vital blood onto the pipa.
Golden-red spell prohibitions immediately appeared upon it, and the piercing melody of “Nine Springs Funeral Requiem” exploded through the air.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound waves swept through everything. All forty-eight bamboo curtains of Listening Pavilion exploded, and massive clouds of dust and shockwaves surged outward.
The enormous disturbance immediately triggered the guards’ reinforcements.
When the dust settled, only three assassins remained.
They stared at the Funeral Music Nether Performer hovering in midair, fully prepared for battle, and their fighting spirit collapsed.
“This Funeral Music Nether Performer is terrifying! We set traps in both her treasure zither and this chamber, yet she refused to use either even when facing mortal danger, ruining our plans.”
“Even more frightening—she did not crush the jade pendant to escape through the void. If she had, the teleportation would have failed and her body would have been shredded into countless pieces.”
“Let’s go. Even if this mission failed, we still have a secondary objective.”
The three assassins released black smoke, leaving behind large numbers of Eight-Legged Ghost Spiders to delay pursuit while they fled.
The guards rushed in. After confirming safety, the Funeral Music Nether Performer could no longer endure—she spat out a mouthful of blood, and her aura completely collapsed.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, the three warships under Qing Yan had already docked.
He personally led several Male Consorts on foot toward the city gate.
White Paper City was entirely pale in color. The city walls were made of a material neither stone nor wood, but something astonishingly similar to paper.
The city gate towered high and heavy. The spell prohibitions of the “Heavy Water of the Yin Tide Great Method” on the gate emitted layer upon layer of waterlight, producing sounds like rising and falling tides.
Most of the city guards were Ghostfolk, while the leaders and elite members were Human.
Their armor and weapons were also unusual, appearing to be folded from white paper boards.
“State your name.”
The official guarding the gate held a book in one hand and a brush in the other. Literary Qi surrounded him, clearly marking him as a Confucian Cultivator of the Human race.
Each time someone entered the city, he glanced at them and recorded their name in the book.
With Qing Yan leading the group, Ning Zhuo and the others reported their names one by one.
Sun Ning and the other felt slightly uneasy, but their false identities were recorded smoothly in the book without being exposed.
Passing through the gate, the group officially entered White Paper Immortal City.
Layer upon layer of buildings filled the city. The walls resembled old book pages that had been crumpled by an invisible hand and then flattened again. From cracks in the windows drifted the scorched fragrance of bone glue used by paper artisans.
From time to time, ink marks and fragments of phrases appeared on the white stone streets.
At the entrance of a paper workshop, the shopkeeper called out to passersby:
“Come take a look! Our shop’s newest creation—the Yin Cloud Umbrella! It can shield you from the Soul-Draining Rain for a quarter hour!”
Sun Ning and his companion looked closely and saw that the shop’s merchandise consisted almost entirely of paper umbrellas.
Continuing along the long street, they discovered numerous paper workshops. Besides umbrellas, they also sold paper weapons, paper people, paper horses, paper houses, and more.
Apart from the paper shops, there were also many talisman shops.
After passing through the Paper Shop Street, the group followed the scent of ink and turned toward the western market.
Ahead, they soon heard the sound of flowing water.
Before long, a river running through the city appeared before them.
The river water was ink-black, gleaming with dark radiance. Upon its surface sailed paper boats of all shapes and sizes.
An old man stood upon a black-canopied paper boat, guiding it with a long bamboo pole, while a boat maiden sang upon a colorful paper pleasure boat.
Qing Yan led the group across four bridges in succession, drawing closer and closer to the city center.
Sun Ning and his companion looked around in amazement.
Such a distinctive immortal city was something they had never seen before.
Zhu Xuanji had only told Ning Zhuo to come here and given him a token—he had said little else.
Sun Ning and the other had originally intended to gather intelligence, but after impersonating Jiao Ma and Tie Tuo, they no longer had the chance and were brought directly inside.
Looking around, they saw several towering structures among the many buildings.
One was a gigantic paper statue in the south, facing the southern gate with its back toward Qing Yan’s group.
There was also a black tower emitting rolling Yin energy, with hundreds and thousands of writing brushes hanging from each of its seven eaves.
Another structure was a cloud pavilion, suspended in midair atop a mass of white clouds.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A series of explosions suddenly erupted.
Flames shot skyward as the giant paper statue in the south was set ablaze.
The alarm bells for enemy attack rang throughout the entire city.
Sun Ning and the others stared at each other in shock.
Even in a grand immortal city, chaos could erupt like this?
Qing Yan’s expression turned grave. Turning back, he instructed Ning Zhuo and the others:
“You proceed to the City Lord’s Mansion on your own. I will go see what is happening and render assistance if possible!”