Chapter 421: Necropolis
Li Qiye reminisced a bit as he stood on top of a high mountain while gazing at this monstrous obelisk that towered into the sky.
He needed a key to enter the Prime Ominous Grave. His gaze then shifted towards a different direction amidst the rolling mountain ranges beyond the grave.
There was quite a scene right outside, one that had wondrous natural landforms. It was a vast area and was referred to by others as the City of Ghosts.
One would find collapsed walls that spanned for millions of miles around this stretch of mountains and rivers. It was an ancient yet broken city with the words “Necropolis” engraved above its gate.
Necropolis was famous in the Nether Border and even the entire Sacred Nether World. However, many people liked to call it the City of Ghosts instead.
It was the largest city right outside the grave. Those who stood atop these walls and looked towards the far distance would find rivers and mountains everywhere, along with closely-packed structures. Some pavilions and temples were built with clay to form a town while other buildings towered above the mountain ranges. There were also inhabitants along the riverbanks and valleys.
It was easy to see that this place was prospering with life. The city was completely lit up and the streets were filled with shouting vendors.
However, if outsiders were to think of Necropolis as a peaceful city where all races congregated, then they would be completely mistaken.
All of these inhabitants that resembled cultivators were not alive, they were ghosts.
Talking about ghosts in the Sacred Nether World was absurd because it was a world filled with ghost tribes since this was their homeland. External races would view the ghost tribes as ghosts.
However, the truth was that the ghost tribes were not actually ghosts, they were existences with flesh and blood just like the human race. They were just a different ethnicity.
However, Necropolis’ inhabitants did not have flesh or blood. They were things without life — simple sentiments. If there were actually ghosts in this world, then the inhabitants of this city would be them.
Necropolis was more of a country rather than just a city. The geography right outside the grave was extremely abundant with countless ghosts as its citizens.
No one knew when Necropolis was established, but it had existed for a very long time. The ghosts here looked just like those outside; they took on the form of humans, demons, ghost tribes, cultivators, and citizens. They even had their own dao lineages.
The residents here seemed no different from those outside, but they just had no trace of life. They were only never-dissipating sentiments.
They did not know that they were dead and went on living in a similar fashion to those outside.
Necropolis was always vibrant with excitement regardless of whether it was day or night as if it was just a mortal city; it was nothing like a city of the dead.
However, one would be frightened to death if they knew that all of the street vendors, the young children that were learning how to speak, and the cultivators passing on their dao system were all people who had died and turned into sentiments.
No one knew why there were so many sentiments that lived at this location, and no one knew why it was so difficult for them to move on.
In short, Necropolis was a mysterious land of the dead. Some people who were on the verge of death would choose to die at Necropolis because this was a different way of life. Of course, these sentiments that continued to live at Necropolis had nothing to do with real people since they would lose their memories of their past life.
A dead person in Necropolis would turn into a trail of sentiment that continued to live in the city, but this sentiment no longer resembled their original self; it didn’t have the memories nor any marks — it was a completely different being.
People, or rather ghosts, that lived in the city never left. They would stay here until the day they disappear.
Everyone knew that the inhabitants that lived in this city were not ghosts but merely sentiments. Despite this, many cultivators still came here in order to live on after they died.
Of course, there were also different reasons why other cultivators chose to come. There were numerous treasures here, such as divine weapons, rare king medicines, and ancient scroll manuals. Second, it hid something craved by all — the key to open the Prime Ominous Grave. Third, it also had a treasure mountain that could allow others to obtain immortality.
Because of these reasons, many came to Necropolis. However, whether it was the treasures inside Necropolis or the Prime Ominous Grave, very few managed to see them. As for the legendary treasure mountain, even fewer had seen it.
Many young people came to risk their lives for these treasures, but people haven’t heard of many successful cases. Some did find some treasures, but they were very far from mythical weapons.
Of course, the key to the Prime Ominous Grave was found. Because of this, the grave was opened several times, leaving behind the tales of Immortal Emperor Di Yu that people never seemed to get tired of.
It was unknown whether the emperor was the one who found the key, or if it was someone else who successfully went into the grave. Nevertheless, Immortal Emperor Di Yu was the one who obtained the creation; it didn’t matter whether he went in with someone else or not.
Only one thing was confirmed by future generations, that there were several generations when the key was found to open the grave. Thus began the hunt for the key at Necropolis.
Li Qiye gently sighed while looking at the city in the distance. It indeed contained the key, but obtaining the key was not easy. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been so many people leaving empty-handed for millions of years.
At this moment, Li Qiye was facing a problem. If the lost mythical island didn’t enter the grave, then there was no reason for him to find the key.
After thinking about it for a bit, he left this place. He needed to gather information to confirm the island’s whereabouts before finding the key. Around ten thousand miles away from Necropolis was another citadel — an ancient city named Crossing City. Now this was a place where the other races gathered. But of course, this was the eastern Nether Border, so there were more ghost tribes here.
It was not strange at all; outside of the southern Distant Cloud, all the other locations were territories that belonged to the ghost tribes because they were the primary inhabitants of this world.
Since Li Qiye was human, he maintained a very low profile after entering Crossing City since he only wanted to hear about the news from the Prime Ominous Grave.
The majority of the cultivators here were members of the ghost race. Keep in mind that the ghost race contained many different branches. Some of them carried a deep nether aura, but not all of them. Some branches were very bright, such as the Sun Ghost Tribe. Its members exuded a sun’s ray like the sun itself so, from their external appearance, it would be difficult to classify them as part of the ghost race.
The only unifying characteristic of all of these different ghost tribes was that their blood was of a purple color.
In the past several days, Li Qiye inquired about the Prime Ominous Grave with no success. It was because the grave would not change unless it was opened; it would remain the same in a unchanging manner.
Li Qiye was quite disappointed with his lack of information. Could it be that the lost mythical island was not inside the Prime Ominous Grave?
Li Qiye thought of a different possibility. However, if the island was not inside the grave, then that would not be good news.
Right when he was about to give up due to disappointment, one day, he went inside a diner to listen to conversations and was just in time for a particular message.