Chapter 1: The Void Spirit Realm

  When the formation method exploded, Qing Kuang only felt dizzy and swollen. The strong external force continued to press her down, and then it seemed to tear her apart, constantly pulling her body back and forth. In this repeated process, she was completely exhausted and lost consciousness.

  Suddenly, another strong external force struck, and it felt like Yu'er was being pulled away. Qing Kuang's heart panicked in an instant - no, no, no, nothing could happen to her Yu'er, absolutely nothing could happen.

  However, things went against her wishes, and that force seemed to be opposing her, desperately pulling Xi's small body outwards.

  "Mother~ Mother~" Xuan Xi tightly grabbed Qing Kuang's arm, his body already being pulled and suspended in mid-air, behind him seemed to be hiding a terrifying giant beast, its merciless big mouth open wide, ready to swallow him whole.

  "Xī ér, xī ér......" She tightly grasped his small hand, not caring even if it turned bright red. Now she didn't know what had happened, but she must protect Xī ér!

  It's not just the crazy mother and son, even the people around them are being stirred up in a daze, waves of screams come and go, then dissipate into the surroundings. As the formation disappears, the eerie dark energy is invading them, and Qing Kuang also feels more and more powerless, watching as Huier's small hand is slowly pulled away, her entire heart is being stirred to ache.

  "Ah..." Along with the ear-piercing scream, Qing Kuang suddenly lost all consciousness, as if he had fallen from the sky and crashed to the ground, making a dull thud.

  There was not a sound around, as if even the wind had disappeared, and an eerie stillness prevailed. When she finally came to, her head was throbbing with pain, and as soon as she sat up, she realized that her son, who had been in her arms all along, was nowhere to be seen. Panic set in instantly, and she struggled to get up, waiting until the dizziness passed before taking stock of her surroundings.

  The sky was a dull gray, with dark clouds that seemed to weigh heavily on one's heart. The desolate landscape stretched out before them, devoid of even a single blade of grass, the cracked earth scarred and barren. The gray sky and gray earth seemed to match the turmoil in their hearts. Where were they, exactly? Weren't they supposed to be heading to the Rocky Desert? What was going on here? Was this the work of the Demon Clan?

  She couldn't care less about the doubts in her mind, and was forcing herself to quickly regain her strength. She was now almost blaming herself to death - why hadn't she grasped onto Ye Er? Why had she let go? Where was Ye Er now? Would she encounter danger? It was all her fault...

  She wandered aimlessly, and at this moment she didn't even know where to look. The withered tree trunks grew crookedly in all directions, and Qinglang could only search along this direction.

  "Xiao'er! Xiao'er!" she cried out anxiously, but no matter how far and wide she searched, not a single person was in sight. She had shouted for so long that her voice was hoarse, half from shouting and half from anxiety. She pounded the ground fiercely, why hadn't they caught up? Why? They had all come together, so why couldn't she find them?

  The face that was once calm and gentle now wore a look of anxiety. Liang Ke squatted down, took a deep breath, and suddenly had an idea, hastily calling out Pang Yu and Lan Ling.

  "Master, master~" Gluttony saw her and rushed up excitedly, but looking at the master's face, he stopped in his tracks, tilting his head to look at her, "Master, what's wrong with you?" Looking left and right, huh? Someone was missing!

  "Gluttony, try and see if you can sense where Xi'er is."

  Upon hearing her words, the rotund Glutton closed its eyes, its consciousness covering the entire surrounding area. There was a large city nearby with many people, but there was no sign of Young Master's aura! The Glutton shook its head, hanging it low.

  "Tanuki, Blue Spirit, You'er, now that Xi'er is gone, can you help me find her?" Her own power was really too small, she knew nothing about the situation here, and it was really hard to find Xi'er. At this time, Qingkuang's heart was filled with a sense of powerlessness, her pale face, and her eyes were also gradually turning red.

  "Glutton will help you find it, master ~ don't be sad ~" Glutton patted her lightly with his paw to comfort her.

  "Blue Spirit, go!" The blue bead spun rapidly, with a flash of blue light in the middle.

  "Young girl didn't rush to express her opinion, the atmosphere here always made her feel uneasy, since there were those two going to find, she decided to stay by master's side. 'Master, I want to stay and protect you.'"

  "Alright, thank you. If you find it, notify me immediately. And be careful too, got it?" No matter how far apart they were, as long as there was a contract beast between them, they could communicate with each other in their spiritual consciousness. Alas! She should have contracted a few more back then.

  As soon as the words fell, Gluttony and Blue Spirit darted off in opposite directions. They were their master's contract beasts, and through their bond, they could feel her worry, heartache, and anxiety even more intensely. Since their master usually doted on Little Master, they had to help their master find him back as soon as possible.

  Let them go and look for it, there's really no other way.

  After resting, the madwoman set out again, searching endlessly, unable to see the sun above her head, she had no idea how much time had passed, the irritable breath in her heart gradually rose, forcing her to want to burn everything around her to ashes.

  It was at her most frantic moments that some meddling fools would come to make trouble for her. Along with the rustling sounds, a large patch of unknown creatures crawled over, accompanied by a rotten bloody smell.

  Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a large group of ants, each about the size of a palm, with their bodies shrouded in a cloud of black fog. The fact that they were called ants was merely due to the shape formed by the black fog. Innumerable red lights flickered within the fog, which seemed to be where their eyes should be, and just looking at them made one's heart feel apprehensive. The antennae on the ants' heads twitched back and forth as if sensing something, before they rapidly advanced towards Leng Lie. Looking at this group of ants, Leng Lie didn't sense any benevolence from them. Originally, his heart had been feeling stifled, but now he seemed to have found a way to vent his emotions.

  The fire-type spiritual power in his hand was all thrown at them, and with a loud noise, it exploded among the ants. Light thought that he could solve it in an instant, but unexpectedly, the dispersed ant group reassembled again, and their speed even increased. Not believing in evil, he threw another fireball over, but the result was still the same. What kind of ghost thing is this?

  At this moment, a lightning bolt struck the middle of the black fog, and the ants shook. The black fog also slowly dispersed.

  For this man who suddenly appeared and was covered in wounds, she looked at him with a mixture of suspicion and caution, a hidden guard against the fifth-level strongman Huang Qianjing!

  "Are you new here?"

  "Where is this?" As she watched the man approach her, she cautiously retreated a few steps back, keeping distance from him.

  Seeing the man's cautious appearance, he wisely stopped and didn't get any closer. "As expected, you're new here. The people around here know how to deal with corrupt ants, but looking at you, it seems like your first time." The man's eyes rippled with thoughts, which were eventually all hidden away.

  "Where is this place?"

  "Welcome to the Void Ghost Realm!" The man wiped away the blood from the corner of his mouth, wanting to smile, but the pain froze the smile on his face.

  "Void Ghost Realm?" Isn't this Spirit Hidden Continent? Qing Kuang's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

  "Hey, I'm talking to you, newbie! If you want to know something, you have to exchange it for something of equal value. Do you understand this principle?" The man sat down on the ground with a thud, looking at her with a half-smile.

  "What do you want?"

  "Is there anything to eat? Bring some out first." That bastard, Wolf, will one day be hunted down like this too. Sooner or later, he'll chop those people into pieces, but for now, I need to "take care of" this little girl first.

  "How do I know what you're saying is true?"

  "Believe it or not, I don't care. I'm not that patient." He gritted his teeth in pain and tore off a few strips from his clothes to roughly bandage himself up.

  He took out a piece of cake and threw it at him, and asked again with a light tone, "What is the Void Ghost Realm after all?"

  "Wow, it's really something! This Void Ghost Realm is a space that exists alongside the Human Realm, Demon Realm, and Divine Realm. However, everyone here has been forgotten, abandoned, discarded, or hunted down by humans, demons, magical beasts, and even gods. There's no sunlight, no plants, no wind - nothing at all! It's because every living being in this realm is shunned by the world, and they've all been forced to come here!" The man ate his scallion pancake with a look of indignation, finishing it off in just two or three bites. Then he stopped talking, clearly waiting for Leng Qian to give him something else.

  Again, several pieces of cake appeared in front of him, and the man unceremoniously threw them into his mouth. With unclear articulation, he continued to say, "So-called... void... void ghost realm... is where all living beings are not like humans, demons are not like demons, gods are not like gods. In this ghost realm, all living beings live for the sake of living, slowly becoming brutal, bloody, and losing their nature. They are shameless and greedy, burning, killing, looting, bullying the weak, and trampling on human life..."

  She saw him again and stopped, lightly handing him some food once more.

  "Then it becomes lost in itself, eventually becoming a numb puppet until death, of course, it's possible to be suicidal, or murdered, or buried in the belly of beasts. Even after death, the soul cannot rest, the body is completely corroded, not even leaving a single bone fragment behind. Ahahahaha... Of course, this is still not the end, because even after death, there will be no liberation. The soul will slowly fade away, forever unable to find its place, until it becomes nothingness, turns into dust, and merges with the air... Ahahahahaha... Welcome here, hehehe..."

  Facing the man's sinister gaze, she thought about his words calmly and asked, "How did I end up here?"

  "Who knows? You're not the first one either. Lately, the Void Ghost Realm has been very unstable, and many newcomers like you have been appearing out of nowhere. Hehe, with you guys keeping us company, our lives have become a lot more interesting! Hehehe... Why was he abandoned here as soon as he was born? Just because of his ambiguous body? Why is he destined to die? Now that there are so many "normal" people coming to keep him company, what a wonderful thing!"

  So this is the Void Spirit Realm forcibly drawing them here?

  "Continue."

  "Is there medicine?" Here, not a blade of grass grows, no hair is left, if injured, one can only rely on oneself to get through it, and if unable to endure, there's only death. But now that so many newcomers have appeared, they'll probably become objects of everyone's scramble to seize. Thinking this, a glimmer of brutality flashed in the man's eyes.

  "First tell me what I want to know, and then you'll get what you want."

  "Hey, hey, why so cautious? I'm not going to eat you!" The man changed into a more comfortable position and continued, "The Void Ghost Realm is also known as the 'Gates of Hell', do you know about the eighteen layers of hell? This place has vast territories, but there's not even a fart here! Can you imagine how we lived before? It was dog-eat-dog! Just like in the ocean where big fish eat small fish and small fish eat shrimp. Those with strong power can treat anyone as food, and bloodily stuff them into their mouths... that's truly the most delicious thing!" The man spoke with a hint of nostalgia, but his expression revealed a thread of disgust. He thought the girl would be disgusted to the point of vomiting after hearing this, but unexpectedly she remained calm and continued listening.

  "How can I find someone?"

  "Heh heh heh, looking for someone? You'd better hurry up, or who knows if they're still alive now and become someone else's meal in the next instant..."

  "I don't want to hear nonsense!" A cold glint flashed in his eyes, and the temperature around him seemed to drop along with it.

  "Give me the medicine first! Otherwise, I won't say anything."

  Qingkuang stared at him, but this place was desolate and uninhabited. It wasn't easy to meet someone like her, and she wanted to know more information so that she could find where Hui'er was. She threw the golden wound medicine from space to him, but didn't ignore the greed in the man's eyes.

  Hehe, not bad, today he actually caught a big fish, there's food to eat, and there's even medicine for treating injuries? What should he do next? Should he torture her slowly bit by bit or give her a quick death?

  "The void ghost realm is divided into nine cities, each city is divided into inner and outer cities. This 'one city' is 'one layer', a total of eighteen layers of hell, hehehe, I guarantee that if you go through one layer, your skin will be peeled off one layer too!" The man laughed loudly, speaking as if it were a tongue twister.

  Nine cities? Then where will her Yu'er be?

  "Don't underestimate these nine cities! Each city has a city lord, and if someone with insufficient strength enters a place they shouldn't be, it'll be easier than stepping on an ant - they'll be torn apart in an instant, not even leaving behind any scraps to be divided..."

  "Let's talk about the castle owner." This person is ill, and it's a mental illness. Even his tone of voice when speaking is abnormal.

  "This is not just the disparity in strength between the inner and outer cities, but also the gap between each city. The general of Huangqian's nine cities are all in the Red Su City. Ah, right, you asked me about the city master, look at my brain, it's really stupid! How could I forget? Listen to me, the name of each city is the name of the city master, and the levels from low to high are Red Su, Black Jian, Double Soul, Ghost Fork, Xiu Luo, Old Cui, Ming Huang. As for the last two... Buddha said, cannot be said, cannot be said..." The man sprinkled medicine on his wound and immediately saw its effect, his heart's abacus ringing loudly as he looked at Light Crazy with an even more "gentle" smile.

  "Strength distribution." Huang Qianjing's talent was at the lowest level of Red Su City, and she was only a three-star Spirit Emperor. Wasn't her strength still something that others could bully?

  "Hmph, I think you shouldn't ask anymore." The man stood up, his brutal aura directly pouncing on the young girl, "Because you won't have the chance to see it for yourself." He had already seen that this girl was only a three-star Spirit Emperor, going there would be seeking death? Then he might as well play the good guy and help her escape!

  Qingkuang was always on guard against him at all times, so when the man made his move, he quickly jumped to the back, and the purple-black lightning bolt did not hit his own body.

  "Haha, don't hide! Considering you gave me food and medicine, I won't make you suffer too much." The man said as he attacked again. If this girl died, her spatial ring would become ownerless, and at that time, he wouldn't hesitate to take it for himself. He thought today was his unlucky day, but unexpectedly, he could still slaughter a fat sheep.

  "A crack" of lightning, dodging too late, all sleeves were burned black.

  "Haha, haha, if I were you, I would have run away from the start. Ah, no, it's not right, even if you ran, I can still catch you. Do you think what I said about being shameless and greedy, without any humanity was all nonsense? Now look where you're going to run! Go... die!"

  The power difference was not just one or two levels, and in an instant, the surroundings were surrounded by countless purple-black lightning bolts. The crackling sounds of the explosions competed with each other, and Qingkuang raised a shield to resist, but still couldn't withstand it. Under the attack of the purple-black lightning, the fire-red shield shattered completely, and the pain transmitted to her bones, causing her to shiver in agony.

  "Heh heh, don't resist, I'll make sure you don't die too miserably since you helped me." The man walked step by step towards him, like a devil's messenger from hell, with an eerie smile.

  "Hmm..." She almost fell to the ground, but managed to prop herself up. She had never felt such an urgent desire to be promoted, or else how would she find out what happened to her son? Did they think it was that easy to get rid of her?

  What about Huang Qianjing's strength? You don't believe that you still have a body of copper skin and iron bones, an indestructible body like Vajra!

  He poured out a handful of explosive pellets, and all the light cavalrymen threw them at him. The fire-type spiritual power also rushed over. Dare to use lightning to strike her? Then let's see who dies first!

  A loud crash was heard, kicking up countless dust and dirt. When the smoke finally cleared, the man was badly injured, his clothes in shreds, bleeding profusely, staring at her with an expression of utter disbelief on his face.

  "You... you... pffft..." Covering his chest wound, the man was filled with regret.

  "Oh, right. I forgot to tell you, I'm also an alchemist. I thought you'd figure it out." The arrogant one said with a tone that could kill someone, just as he was about to kick the person aside, but then thought better of it, since getting new shoes again really wasn't worth it.

  "Cough, cough... you..." The man was so angry that he couldn't stop coughing. This person didn't look very old, but was indeed not easy to deal with. Those rotating eyes were obviously still brewing up sinister plots.

  But would he be given this opportunity?

  "Alright, I'll give you back what I said earlier. You'd better not resist! Considering you helped me, I won't make your death too difficult... You're welcome, little demon!" The man who had become fertilizer would never dare to look at her again. Whoever dared to shift their attention to her would be smashed into smithereens.

  "Yes, master!" The demon girl said happily, she hadn't eaten for a long time! The thick roots directly wrapped the man inside, constantly tightening, and then tightened again. At first, the man's painful cries and pleas could still be heard, but in the end, everything disappeared into thin air.

  After resolving the trouble, her mood didn't improve at all. This man's words were also unclear how much was true and how much was false. What should she do? How to find her precious son, and Ximen Qing and others were also missing, alas, what to do?