MMORPG: War God, You are Invincible Again-Chapter 600 - 88: The Underworld Without Roots (Part 1)

Following Bai Shaoze, it had been merely an hour since they left the Northern Territory when violent fluctuations of a battle appeared outside the City Lord Mansion. Two women with graceful figures were seen fighting fiercely, neither willing to yield.

Upon hearing the commotion, Duke Nuoshan hurriedly went out to investigate. His guard also stepped forward and said, "Duke, the visitors are Danni, the master of the Green Tower of the empire, and the other woman is Lando, the Vice Sect Hierarch of the Infernal Sect. Both are closely related to the Duke of Divine Might, and thus we did not dare to stop them."

"I understand," Nuoshan nodded. "Order everyone to withdraw; this battle is not merely for spectating."

These two beauties should have arrived at the Second Town of the Northern Territory much earlier, but coincidentally, they met on the road, and Lando was unwilling to let this old woman disturb her time with Lu Hong, hence she began to taunt her.

After Lu Hong’s ordeal of death and revival, Danni finally confronted her feelings for Lu Hong. This time, she gave a substantial retort to Lando’s continuous taunts.

Lando, unable to swallow the insult, started fighting with Danni. The two women were not much different in strength, and since it was not a battle to the death, they caused a lengthy delay, fighting all the way to the Second Town.

"Both of you, could you stop for a moment and listen to an old man?" Nuoshan raised his voice and spoke to them.

"What do you want, you old coot? Speak up!" Lando did not even glance at Nuoshan.

Danni was even more direct, "Call Tu-Ku-Lu out."

Nuoshan shook his head regretfully, "I’m afraid that’s not possible. The Duke of Divine Might just left the Second Town an hour ago."

"What?!"

Hearing this news, both women immediately lost the desire to continue their fight, and they asked in unison, "Where did he go?"

"To the Netherworld!"

Danni: .....

Lando: .....

They could not go to the Netherworld; did this mean they had made a wasted trip?

Lando glared fiercely at Danni, "If it weren’t for you bothering me, how could I have missed him?"

"Blame me?" Danni sneered coldly, "As if someone’s mouth isn’t foul!"

"Hmph! Anyway, you won’t be able to see him either." Soothing herself with a breath, Lando smirked, "I can wait here for him indefinitely. Can you? With the battle situation critical in the East, surely your Seven Towers need to head to the battlefield, right?"

Lando was right; Danni needed to hurry to the Eastern Victory. She could afford to be slightly late but could not fail to go.

"Go ahead, the Eastern Victory needs you." Lando chuckled, "In any case, the person who will meet Tu-Ku-Lu first will definitely be me."

Danni disregarded her and bowed to Nuoshan, "Duke, please convey a message to Konstantin for me. If the Duke of Divine Might returns, please tell him to proceed to the Eastern Victory at once."

"Alright." Nuoshan nodded with a smile, agreeing.

Lando couldn’t accept it, "You... you... you!"

Danni glanced at her, snorted coldly through her nose, and then soared away.

"Don’t leave! Old woman, have the guts to fight me another three hundred rounds!" Lando shouted and was about to chase after her but was stopped by Duke Nuoshan.

"Old man, dare to pass on her message and see what happens!" Knowing the importance of Danni’s departure, Lando didn’t push Nuoshan away after all.

Nuoshan, chided, touched his nose and then chuckled, "Miss Lando, even if the message reaches Konstantin, there’s no guarantee that the Duke of Divine Might will receive it upon his return."

"Fine then." Lando nodded and continued, "Do you know where the entrance to the Netherworld is? I’ll go find him."

"You can’t." Nuoshan hurriedly discouraged her, "Living people cannot enter the Netherworld unless they can defeat the Gatekeeper."

"The Gatekeeper?" Lando raised her eyebrows, "Roughly what level of strength?"

"At least a demigod," Nuoshan conservatively estimated.

Lando: .....

Having left the Second Town, Lu Hong finally arrived at the entrance to the Netherworld located in the southeast corner of the Star Sea, after a series of intense transfers arranged by Bai Shaoze.

The entrance to the Netherworld is said to be mysterious, yet when seen with one’s own eyes, it seemed nothing out of the ordinary.

Lu Hong stood on the banks of the Stygian river, gazing towards the chaotic void on the other side.

"Duke, once you cross this river, you will have entered the Netherworld’s territory."

Upon hearing Bai Shaoze’s words, Lu Hong immediately took a step forward, ready to cross the river.

Frightened, Bai Shaoze hurriedly stopped him, "Duke, Duke, you cannot cross recklessly. The waters of this river possess the power of rebirth, mysterious and unpredictable. If even a bit touches you, your flesh will rot, turning to white bones."

"What about flying over then?"

"That won’t work either. There’s a mysterious force protecting the Stygian river, forbidding all flight, including within the Netherworld itself. The sky is off-limits, unless your power reaches the peak of the Third Transition, only then will you have the capability to traverse the air. Moreover, there is a gatekeeper hiding within the river, even if you can fly, the gatekeeper would strike you down."

Hearing Bai Shaoze’s words, Lu Hong frowned and asked, "Then how should one cross this river?"

"You still need the gatekeeper," Bai Shaoze said, standing by the river bank. "Only by summoning the gatekeeper and using his aid can you safely cross."

As he spoke, Bai Shaoze activated a small amount of Netherworld magic power within his body and called out loudly towards the calm black Stygian river, "Gatekeeper, where are you now?!"

In a moment, the Stygian river surged with rolling waves, and a colossal shadow emerged from within the Netherworld.

"Who wishes to cross?"

The giant spoke, and his voice was like thunder, with the power of a single word equalling the full force of a Second-Transformation Peak strike.

Lu Hong felt a slight trembling in his lungs and became more cautious towards the gatekeeper. This gatekeeper was definitely beyond the realm of a demigod!

Bai Shaoze also resisted the giant’s pressure, cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "We wish to cross the Stygian river and enter the Netherworld, we ask the gatekeeper to grant us this convenience."

The giant looked down at Bai Shaoze, his thunderous voice booming again, "The people of the Nether can pass."

After speaking, he turned to Lu Hong, "Warlord, with the respect due to a Heavenly God, you may also pass."

Having finished his words, the giant thrust his hands into the depths of the Stygian river, and with a mighty shout, lifted a steel bridge engraved with mysterious divine runes from beneath the water’s surface.

Once again, Bai Shaoze bowed in gratitude to the giant, "Thank you!"

The gatekeeper, clearly straining to hold up the bridge, bellowed, "Hurry across!"

"Right away!"

Shortly afterward, the two of them had crossed the long bridge and set foot on the Netherworld’s domain.

"Duke, this is only the outer perimeter of the Netherworld. Apart from the souls of the dead, there is nothing else here. We must head to the heart of the Netherworld. The journey is long; we must hurry."

Bai Shaoze led Lu Hong through the Netherworld Continent shrouded in grey mist, surrounded by the spirits of the dead from the Star Sea, who had neither retained their memories from their previous lives nor their former appearances. They transformed into semi-transparent faces of specters, constantly swirling within the fog.

Along the way, Bai Shaoze provided Lu Hong with a thorough explanation of the Netherworld.

First, the Netherworld indeed housed all the fallen spirits from the Star Sea battles, but not every spirit had the chance for rebirth. Furthermore, even if a spirit were lucky enough to be reborn on the Netherworld Continent, it wouldn’t retain memories or appearance from its past life. However, their souls’ essence remained unchanged.

Simply put, if someone was fierce in life, once reborn, they would still be fierce, only unrecognizable from their past appearance.

Looking back at the history of the Star Sea, since the Era of the Gods rose with many a hero, countless distinguished figures have died and undergone transmigration in the Netherworld Continent, starting anew. Equal in caliber to their former selves and now without memories of their past, they inevitably pledge allegiance to the Netherworld. Such an accumulation over countless years has resulted in a tremendous wealth of talent—overflowing within the Netherworld!

If all these people were to join the Star Sea, who could stand against them?

However, there’s no need for excessive worry; the Star Sea has its own rules, and most of the excessively powerful spirits can’t cross the Stygian river to return to the Star Sea.

The gatekeeper not only blocks the living from entering the Netherworld but also provides shelter to the Star Sea.

"Then how do I see Heavenly Gods from the Netherworld in the star domains?"

Lu Hong conveyed his experiences from the Eternal Continent and asked Bai Shaoze.

Bai Shaoze explained, "The Netherworld itself nurtures living beings, and they aren’t spirits, thus unaffected and can cross the river freely."

It turns out there were two major strata within the Netherworld: one consisted of native Netherworld inhabitants, with the four supreme rulers including all the Heavenly Gods being pure Netherworld residents, and the other consisted of spirits reborn as half-Nether beings. In the eyes of the native Netherworld beings, these half-Nether individuals were only fit to be their servants. However, the growth rate of these half-Nether beings is much quicker than that of the locals, and thus, there are frequent outbreaks of rebellion within the Netherworld. Native strata utilize warfare to perform purges on the numbers of half-Nether beings, while the half-Nether beings look for ways to overturn the Netherworld rule, attempting to establish independence.

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