allonlinenovel Chapter 323 The Boundary Between Life and Death (2)
Chapter 323 The Boundary Between Life and Death (2)
"Seven seven!"
Hu Tao exclaimed in surprise, but before she could go forward to check the situation, the captain stopped her with a gesture.
Seeing the captain's solemn expression, Hu Tao realized that things were not as simple as she had imagined.
Hu Tao took a deep breath and asked, "Captain Qi Qi... is there any hope for her?"
The captain also gave his own answer.
"It's hard to judge, but what is certain is that Qiqi was not affected by the erosion for long."
Is this good news or bad news?
The captain twitched his lips but didn't answer. After all, in his view, as long as Kiana wasn't dead, she could be rescued; there was no bad news. However, Kurumi seemed to have misunderstood something. She silently drew her Staff of Protection and pointed it at Qiqi in front of her, the trembling tip of the spear revealing its master's inner thoughts.
"Don't worry, Qiqi, I will make sure you have a proper burial."
Seeing this, the captain quickly stopped him, saying, "Wait! Have you misunderstood something?"
"Does the captain mean that Qiqi is beyond saving?"
"Why do you insist on assuming the other person is beyond saving? You don't actually want to send them to their grave, do you?"
Hu Tao didn't say anything, but silently put away the staff of homa. However, judging from the other party's micro-expression, he seemed to be a little disappointed.
“e=(′o｀*))) Sigh, okay, Captain, what do you think we should do next?”
"It's simple, just rescue her, and leave the rest to Kiana."
After speaking, the captain took out the Heavenly Fire Judgment. Although no monsters appeared around him at this time, the captain knew that this was just a facade.
If Abyss wanted to, he could summon a large number of monsters instantly, but he also knew that these summoned monsters would be no match for the three of them. It was better to find a way to summon them himself than to summon these small monsters. However, these small monsters were not entirely useless.
For example, by slightly restricting the opponent's movements, the Abyss successfully corrupted Qiqi through such delaying tactics. However, unfortunately, the opponent still possessed her own consciousness, and there wasn't enough time for the Abyss to proceed slowly. As a result, Qiqi only became a pseudo-Herrscher before the Abyss had to forcibly control the opponent's body to launch an attack against the Captain and the others.
Thanks to Qiqi's zombie identity, she has an extremely high adaptability to death energy, which allowed her to successfully touch the power of death after becoming a pseudo-Herrscher.
But this also caught the attention of the ruler of death, Ronava, who then took action.
Through the incomplete death authority within Qiqi's body, Jonathan possessed Qiqi. Upon seeing Jonathan's arrival, the Abyss knew that its invasion plan had failed and thus chose to retreat.
However, the retreat of the Abyss did not mean that its influence had disappeared. On the contrary, because it no longer needed to hide its hiding place, an unprecedented Abyss invasion occurred within the life-and-death boundary of Liyue.
A large number of abyssal monsters emerged from the void left behind when the abyss retreated, and a large amount of abyssal power was even overflowing from that void.
The first to be affected was Qiqi, who had already been corrupted into a pseudo-Herrscher. A large amount of abyssal energy surged into her body, and Ronawa also had to divert her attention to deal with the abyssal energy within this body. Otherwise, if she were to accidentally let this abyssal energy flow through her consciousness and infect her original body, it would be a serious problem.
As a result, the pressure on the captain and his crew increased dramatically. At the same time, due to the major problem that had arisen within the boundary of life and death, strange phenomena also began to appear in Liyue outside.
First, some people unexpectedly saw their deceased relatives appear in front of them, but before they could go forward to confirm, these dead people turned into vengeful ghosts and began to slaughter.
Because the incident happened so suddenly, Ningguang could only hastily organize the Thousand Rock Army to go to various places to rescue civilians, but due to the lack of means to deal with the monsters, the Thousand Rock Army suffered heavy losses.
In the end, it was the intervention of the immortals that temporarily quelled the chaos. Now, the immortals of Liyue are discussing countermeasures with Ningguang in the Jade Pavilion.
"So what exactly happened?" True Monarch Xiaoyue Zhuyang questioned. "The boundary between life and death in Liyue has always been maintained by you mortals together. How could such a huge oversight have occurred after we immortals had only let go for a short time?"
"This……"
Ningguang was speechless for a moment. After all, she originally thought that only the seal of Taodu had been loosened, and the worst case scenario was that the Eight Gates and Seven Gates Formation would be used to reproduce the deeds of refining Taodu.
But who could have imagined that the situation would deteriorate so quickly? Most importantly, not only did Hu Tao and the others lose contact, but Bu Bu Lu also reported Qi Qi's disappearance.
The situation changed far faster than Ningguang had predicted in just two days. Now, not only she, but even the immortals were helpless.
The questioning by the True Lord of the Moon-Cut Sun was intended to torture the Seven Stars; he was merely speaking in anger. He knew that the current situation was no longer a crisis that Ningguang and the other mortals could resolve on their own.
"Alright, Xiaoyue, you should say less."
It was Xianyun who spoke, which made True Lord Xiaoyue Zhuyang glance at Xianyun with some surprise.
After all, he didn't expect that Xianyun would start to side with Ningguang and the others after only living in Liyue Harbor for a year. Was this still the Xianyun he knew who always wanted to take back the power of the Seven Stars?
“Liu Yun is right. The most urgent thing now is to find out what happened at the boundary between life and death.” Grandma Ping also stepped in as a mediator.
“What you immortals say is all correct, but Ningguang never expected things to deteriorate so quickly,” Ningguang said. “Just two days ago, Master Hu Tao, Master Lan Yan, and that captain entered the Boundary Between Life and Death to investigate the situation, but they have disappeared since then.”
Upon hearing this, the immortals exchanged glances, and in the end, it was True Lord Xiaoyue Zhuyang who stepped forward.
"So, those three people haven't come out since they entered the boundary between life and death?"
"Yes, and I'm afraid there were more than three people who went in."
"What do you mean?"
“Just now, Bubulu reported Qiqi’s disappearance,” Ningguang said.
"Qiqi?"
The immortals looked at each other, vaguely recalling the name. They felt they had heard it somewhere before, but it was Granny Ping, who had lived in Liyue Harbor the longest, who was the first to recognize it.
"Is it that child?"
Ningguang nodded, and then Grandma Ping began to explain Qiqi's identity.
"So that's the child. But wouldn't that put the child in great danger?"
The concerns of the True Lord of the Moon-Shaping and Sun-Building Sect were not unfounded. After all, Qi Qi had died in the aftermath of the battle between the immortals and the enemy while gathering herbs. If it weren't for Qi Qi's amazing will to survive and the immortals' ability to drive away the enemy, she wouldn't have been able to survive in the world afterward by being pitied by the immortals and having her transformed into a zombie using their immortal power.
However, because Qiqi could not withstand the power of the immortals and went berserk, she was eventually sealed in amber until Baishu came to Mount Hulao and accidentally broke the seal.
Zombies are creatures that are naturally very sensitive to death energy and are excellent containers for it; however, they will die once they absorb too much death energy.
Grandma Ping knew Hu Tao's personality; it was definitely not Hu Tao who forced Qi Qi to absorb the overflowing death energy. Besides, she had seen Qi Qi carrying a herb-gathering basket to gather herbs just two days ago.
It's highly likely that Qiqi discovered a large amount of death energy when she passed through Wuwangpo, and then went to absorb the death energy herself with the idea of helping. As for whether she met Hu Tao, we don't know.
The important thing now is to find a way to rescue everyone trapped on the edge of life and death, but this has also put the immortals in a difficult position.
Although maintaining the balance between life and death is also one of the duties of immortals, they know very little about what happens inside the boundary between life and death.
The maintenance of this area has always been handled by the Wangsheng Hall. Even if you let them in, they would be completely in the dark and it's hard to say whether they could find the trapped people.
Ningguang noticed the immortals' predicament and suggested, "Why don't we let Kong go in and save them?"
"how do I say this?"
"When Kong and Master Hu met in the past, they solved a problem related to the balance between life and death together. At that time, Kong and Paimon crossed the boundary between life and death under Master Hu's guidance. Moreover, they came out without any impact. I think there is no more suitable candidate than them."
As for why she didn't choose to notify Kiana directly, Ningguang believed that the current situation hadn't deteriorated to the point where Kiana's intervention was necessary to resolve it.
Furthermore, Ningguang deduced Kiana's current identity through her exchanges with high-ranking officials from other countries, making it even less necessary for such a being to intervene. Kiana is likely already aware of the crisis currently unfolding in Liyue, and her lack of intervention suggests that everything is still within her expectations.
“Agreed.” True Monarch Xiaoyue Zhuyang also agreed to Ningguang’s proposal. “In that case, let Kong go to Wangshu Inn to find the Great Sage Subduing Demons. There is no one more suitable than the Great Sage Subduing Demons to deal with the death energy. As for the demons on Guili Plain, we can leave them to us.”
So, Kong and Paimon were summoned to the Jade Pavilion. After learning the whole story, Kong naturally accepted the commission.
After all, this concerns the safety of Liyue and even his friends, so he naturally has no choice but to do his duty.
With the help of the immortals, Kong quickly arrived at Wangshu Inn and met Xiao. After understanding the situation, Xiao realized that now was not the time to make excuses and took Kong to Wuwang Slope immediately.
With Xiao's help, Sora quickly found the entrance to the cave where the captain and the others had entered. Looking at the sign in front of him, Sora instantly realized that Kurumi and the others had entered from there.
Just as Sora was about to venture deeper into the area alone, Xiao called out to him and drew a mark on his forehead.
"This is the Kapilavastu Seal, which allows you to share the Yaksha's vision and help you see the death aura. Because of my own reasons, rashly entering the boundary between life and death will only worsen the situation. Once you find them, call my name, and I will open an exit to escort you away from the boundary between life and death."
Kong nodded and then led Paimon into the boundary between life and death, searching for everyone's traces along the way by following the nodes where death energy gathered.
During this time, they also unexpectedly discovered Lan Yan's vine people. Under the guidance of the vine people, Kong successfully broke through the barrier that Lan Yan had set up along the way, and finally found the traces of everyone in front of the big tree they had come to before.
However, they were not in good condition. Both the captain and Hu Tao had some injuries and looked quite disheveled.
The captain was fortunate to have only suffered some minor injuries. He was now vigilantly surveying his surroundings to prevent any more abyssal monsters from suddenly appearing from nowhere.
Hu Tao's condition was much worse. Her body was covered with wounds of all sizes, and purple lines were visible on the wounds. Her pupils were dull and lifeless. If it weren't for her faint breathing, one would have thought that Hu Tao was already dead.
As for Qiqi, she sat on the ground with her eyes closed, resting. Seeing that there were no obvious external injuries on her body except for some traces of Honkai erosion, Kong subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, Lan Yan was taking care of the seriously injured Hu Tao. After sensing that the barrier she had set up had been dispelled, she showed a flustered expression. However, after seeing who it was, her expression relaxed for a moment, but then became tense again.
After all, the residual power from the abyss had just conjured up familiar figures to try and trick them. Lan Yan almost fell for it. If Hu Tao hadn't saved her life in the nick of time, it wouldn't be Hu Tao lying on the ground now, but Lan Yan.
Paimon was about to go up and ask what was going on when he was forced back by Lan Yan's attack. Fortunately, the captain realized that the two people in front of him were not hallucinations, which prevented the conflict from escalating.
"So that's how it is. I didn't realize you'd been through so much on the edge of life and death..."
From the captain's words, Kong and Paimon understood the specific situation they were now in, which was on the verge of life and death.
Simply put, although the abyssal monsters have been repelled and the voids left by the abyss invasion have been sealed, the power left behind by the abyss continues to erode the boundary between life and death.
The large tree behind them is the remains left behind after Peach Capital was refined, and it also symbolizes the boundary between life and death in Liyue. Once this tree withers, it means the collapse of the boundary between life and death, and at that time, the balance between life and death in Liyue will be completely destroyed.
"So what should we do now?" Kong asked.
“I’ll stay here and guard the border,” Hu Tao said, struggling to her feet.
"But Hu Tao, your body..."
"Isn't that why I stayed? I was born at the moment of my birth, and I will die at the moment of my death. I have long since become indifferent to my own life and death, and now it seems that my time has come."
Before Hu Tao could even get up, she was knocked unconscious by the captain. Lan Yan quickly stepped forward to support Hu Tao as she was about to fall.
"Captain, what's going on?"
"Take Hu Tao away, leave this to me."
"But!"
“There are no buts. Someone has to protect the boundary between life and death from being completely eroded by the abyss. Hu Tao is the key to rebuilding the boundary between life and death. She can’t die here. Until then, leave this place to me!”
Before Paimon could speak, a voice called out from the side, "Seven Seven."
“He’s right, this human can’t die here. The most urgent thing is to get people out of here first.”