Chapter 124: The Opening of the Nether Dragon Palace

In the darkness, I suddenly snapped my eyes open, sensing something amiss. The Eye of the Nether Dragon was glowing with a faint, scorching heat, and wisps of chilling aura permeated the air. I gripped the hilt of my blade and sprang to my feet, my gaze piercing through the gloom like twin bolts of cold lightning.

The aura was coming from outside the cave!

At that moment, Millie also sensed it and jolted awake. "It’s a Nether Soul," she whispered, her body tense as she drew her bone sword.

A Nether Soul? Surely she meant a ghost. Aren't ghosts the sentient beings of the Netherworld? That would be perfect—I could negotiate with them and have them lead us out.

That was my thought, but Millie quickly added, "They are not the naturally occurring spirits of the Soul Hall. They are Nether Souls formed from the remains of ancient Nether-cultivators. They are incredibly cruel and will hunt you until you are dead."

I understood. In other words, they were the ghosts of the human world, only much more malevolent.

Just then, the Nether Souls approached, drifting into the cave. Millie and I stood on opposite sides, and we launched our attack toward the entrance in unison.

*Swish! Swish!*

Blood-red light and azure light intertwined. A shadow clad in pitch-black armor flickered at the entrance, and within the eye sockets of its helmet, blood-red flames danced.

The attack had little effect. The Nether Soul let out a shrill roar, wielding a long, black blade that swept toward me. My pupils contracted—it was a soul-based attack. I instantly formed a shield with my mental energy, blocking the blow. Millie, however, let out a muffled groan and stumbled back two steps.

Pure physical attacks were ineffective, and if I used my true arcane arts, Millie would immediately realize what I was. I had no choice but to counter with mental energy. I condensed my mental power into several sharp spikes and thrust them at the Nether Soul.

Struck by the mental spikes, the creature was riddled with holes, from which soul energy leaked out. As the Nether Soul shrieked, Millie stepped forward, her bone sword glowing with azure light as she formed a green runic array and slammed it into the creature. In an instant, the Nether Soul dissipated.

But not far away, more than a dozen others were rushing toward us.

"Move!" I hissed. We couldn't stay in this cave.

We charged out, and I focused my mental energy into the shape of a massive mountain, suppressing one of the oncoming Nether Souls. *Boom!* The creature was sent reeling, and in that split second, Millie’s bone sword shredded it to pieces.

We quickly reached the edge of the water pool. Millie asked anxiously, "What now?"

"What else?" I kicked her in the backside, sending her plunging into the water.

A second later, the dozen remaining Nether Souls lunged at me with guttural roars. My eyes glowed with a faint white light, and in an instant, my mental energy coalesced into a magic sigil.

*Boom!*

The energy exploded, transforming into ten thousand arrows of mental force that shot out in every direction. Four or five of the Nether Souls vanished instantly, while the rest were blasted away. My head spun, and I quickly bit the tip of my tongue to stay focused. Damn it, using mental energy to manifest a sigil was incredibly taxing.

Seeing the remaining Nether Souls rushing back, I didn't hesitate and jumped into the pool. Once submerged, a powerful suction pulled me down—no wonder Millie hadn't surfaced. I didn't resist, letting the force drag me deeper. There was no way out of the valley, so perhaps the depths of this pool held a secret path.

A point of light shone at the bottom, and I was quickly pulled into it. After a dizzying blur, my head broke the surface, and I gasped for air. I looked around and found myself in a square pool in the center of an eerie hall.

Where was Millie?

I climbed out and saw a trail of damp footprints leading forward. I followed them, moving through chamber after chamber, each identical to the last. Suddenly, I slowed my pace, feeling that something was wrong. I tightened my grip on my blade, stopped, and whirled around.

The hall, which had seemed empty, was suddenly filled with corpses in various states of decay—a terrifying sight. I channeled energy into my eyes and scanned the room, seeing a faint, ghostly green aura radiating from the bodies. My heart skipped a beat. With such dense corpse-aura, how had they not undergone a "corpse-mutation" after all these years?

Just as the thought crossed my mind, the entire space began to tremble. Simultaneously, a low, muffled roar echoed through the hall. I felt like I was standing on a turbulent wave, barely keeping my balance by using the Nether Ghost Step.

After a long while, the tremors stopped, but my heart was still pounding violently.

*Click, clack...*

The surrounding corpses began to move; they were coming back to life. I gritted my teeth and bolted. Rows of corpses stood up, converging from all directions toward where I was running. Soon, my path ahead was completely blocked by the living dead.

I had no choice but to fight my way through!

However, I suddenly realized that these corpses weren't paying me any mind; they were all marching in one direction. I was swept along by the tide of corpses, my initial terror slowly giving way to a strange sense of calm.

The space ahead suddenly opened up, and I gasped as I looked forward. It was a colossal hall. Suspended in mid-air in the center was the body of a giant, over ten meters long. Millie stood on the giant's chest, her hands pressing into the air, drawing dark, glowing energy from the giant's heart into her own body.

I licked my lips, overwhelmed with shock. Could this be the legendary Nether Demon King?

Just then, a massive, shadowy figure appeared. With a single stride, it swept away the tide of corpses in its path.

"You've got to be kidding me, the Nether Soul of the Demon King?" I muttered to myself. The Eye of the Nether Dragon on my chest felt searingly hot. I pressed my hand against it, smiling bitterly. I wanted to absorb the shadow into the Eye, but even a Ghost King like Red Dress hadn't given me this level of dread.

The giant shadow reached its own corpse and suddenly raised a hand, striking at Millie. At that instant, a blue runic mark flashed on Millie’s forehead, and a beam of azure light shot out, forcing the shadow's hand to recoil.

The next second, Millie’s form began to distort. She seemed to vanish, leaving only the glowing blue sigil behind. The shadow, seemingly losing its lock on Millie, turned its gaze toward me.

Suddenly, it reached out, and I felt myself lifted into the air.

"Roar..." The shadow opened its mouth, and a terrifying suction force emerged. My soul wavered, feeling as if it were being torn away. I "saw" my own body, watching it grow smaller and smaller.

"Damn it!"

In sheer terror, I cursed, my soul transforming into a sharp blade as I thrust it into the shadow's gaping maw. The shadow roared, and its terrifying soul-power wrapped around me, attempting to tear my spirit to shreds. I fought with everything I had, spinning my soul-blade, desperate to shred the entity apart. My consciousness began to blur, and in the moment before I slipped into darkness, I thought I heard the roar of a dragon.

I don't know how much time had passed when my consciousness slowly returned.

I opened my eyes and looked around, stunned. This was... the entrance to the Nether Dragon Hall. I stood up, staring blankly at the great doors.

They were already open!

Beyond them lay a deep, dark void, occasionally illuminated by flickers of ghostly green light. I stepped forward and entered the Nether Dragon Hall. As I went inside, the scene revealed itself: a path paved with dark stone, flanked by pillars carved with coiling dragons.

I walked slowly until I reached the end, where two oval, glowing green portals appeared—one on the left, one on the right. In the center stood a dragon stele.

Suddenly, a dragon's eye opened on the stele and stared at me. My head rang with a boom as a piece of information flashed through my mind:

"The Trial of the Nether Dragon has begun. Pass through the nine levels of the trial to obtain the complete legacy of the Nether Dragon."

Each level of the trial consisted of a Trial of Cause and Effect and a Trial of Rebirth. The green portal on the left was for the Trial of Cause and Effect, and the one on the right was for the Trial of Rebirth.

What did that mean?

Did I have to enter to begin these so-called trials?

I pondered for a moment before stepping into the portal for the Trial of Rebirth.

In an instant, I was transported to a gloomy land. The ground was covered in strange, greyish grass that reeked of death. Suddenly, a hand shot out from the ground and grabbed my ankle. I was startled, but I swung my Blood-Slayer Blade downward.

The hand was severed, and dark red blood seeped out. I continued forward, but suddenly a chilling wind picked up, and a malevolent ghost appeared, its hands tightening around my throat.