Chapter 883 - The good old traditions… and then a surprise attack
If Lady Onion’d had had the possibility to call another number, she would have never called Song Shuhang—not even if she was beaten to death!
After all, calling Song Shuhang implied giving up the ‘freedom’ she had obtained with much difficulty on her own initiative.
Someone that could already enjoy freedom had no idea of how valuable it was.
On the other hand, Lady Onion had been locked up for 300 years by Nine Lanterns right after she’d completed her training and descended from the mountain… After that, she ended up in Song Shuhang’s size-reducing purse because she sought death, and stayed in there until recently.
As such, in Lady Onion’s eyes, not even a mountain of gold was as valuable as her freedom.
She had finally managed to get rid of Song Shuhang and obtain her precious freedom… but now, before she could even properly enjoy it, she was forced to hand it over on her own initiative.
Did you now understand how she felt?
“Lady Onion? It’s you!” Song Shuhang said. “Where are you now?”
“Save me, quickly come to save me! I’m currently in the underground area of the 250th branch of the [All the Monsters of the World Should Unite and Become a Family] organization. The whole place is filled with the evil energy of the Netherworld Realm. This energy is very pure and resembles black oil. It has already flooded the whole pyramid at this time. The area outside our room is also filled with evil energy, and the barrier outside won’t last for long… therefore, quickly come to save me! If you are one step late, you won’t be able to see this adorable green onion anymore,” Lady Onion said anxiously. In the end, she had submitted to the enemy; thus, she was a bit depressed.
“The evil energy of the Netherworld Realm? Just what is happening?” Song Shuhang said with a serious expression on his face. At the same time, he waved his hand at the nearby Fairy Dongfang Six.
Actually, there was no need for him to wave his hand at the fairy maiden, because Fairy Dongfang Six had already heard the content of their conversation after Song Shuhang picked up his phone.
Fairy Dongfang Six had already contacted the branch elder via secret sound transmission.
The branch elder quickly ran to where Song Shuhang and the others were.
“What’s happening here?” the branch elder asked.
“Some problems arose in the underground area of the branch,” Fairy Dongfang Six said. “The underground area was flooded with the evil energy of the Netherworld.”
“Impossible! From where has this evil energy of the Netherworld come?” the branch elder said.
Lady Onion’s voice was transmitted from the other end of the phone. “I’m not too clear about the details, but the evil energy of the Netherworld Realm is continuously gushing out from the bottom of the pyramid. My guess is that the patients that were moved to the bottom of the pyramid were contaminated with the evil energy of the Netherworld Realm. Their condition should be similar to that middle-aged man and that other big fellow we met in Wenzhou City. Anyway, quickly come over and save me! The barrier outside the room is about to collapse. If you are even a second late, we’ll never meet again,” Lady Onion said in a hurry.
When it came to dealing with the evil energy of the Netherworld, Song Shuhang was even better than a Fifth Stage Spiritual Emperor.
The tentacles of that lotus flower that the nucleus in Song Shuhang’s Heart Aperture could project outside could absorb the evil energy of the Netherworld and transform it into nourishment regardless of its quantity. This was the reason Lady Onion believed that Song Shuhang could definitely save her.
“Wait for me,” Song Shuhang replied.
“You have to come and save me. Don’t abandon me!” Lady Onion added, somewhat worried.
“Don’t worry, I’m going to save you,” Song Shuhang said with a smile.
After hanging up the phone, Song Shuhang looked at Fairy Dongfang Six and the branch elder of the 250th branch.
The branch elder was a monster of the Fifth Stage, and he already had the ability to assume human form.
However… his human form was rather peculiar. While in human form, he was around three meters tall and had seven hands and eight feet.
He literally had hands and feet flying every which way!
Anyway, his human form was simply too weird, and he might as well use his monster at this point.
Just as though he had guessed what Song Shuhang was thinking, the branch elder explained, “I’m the current branch elder of the 250th branch of the [All the Monsters of the World Should Unite and Become a Family] organization—Gu Wu. My human form is something that came into existence when I went to a small island abroad during my younger days. Back then, I used an illusory technique to assume this form with seven hands and eight feet so that I could pretend to be an aboriginal deity and fool the local population. But as time passed by, I slowly got used to this form… Ahahaha.”
Leaving the country during their younger days, making a trip to another country, and having fun pretending to be a local aboriginal deity… it seemed that the current elder of the 250th branch was someone that liked following the good old traditions.
However, with science and technology quickly progressing, people slowly stopped believing in gods and demons. For this reason, it was very difficult for the current elder of the 250th branch to head to another country and pretend to be an aboriginal deity.
The branch elder from 3000 years ago could still head to Egypt and pretend to be a local aboriginal deity, but the current branch elder Gu Wu could only look for a small island abroad to pass off as an aboriginal deity.
“…” Song Shuhang.
Gu Wu also added, “We indeed moved several companions to the bottom of the pyramid. Those companions were small monsters that have been contaminated with the evil energy of the Netherworld recently. For this reason, I decided to move them to the ‘purifying pond’ at the bottom of the pyramid, preparing to slowly purify the evil energy in their bodies by borrowing the power of a formation. But little did I expect that something like this would happen… I’m sure that the energy of the Netherworld in their bodies was nowhere that powerful when I moved them there. According to my calculations, the strength of the purifying formation would have been more enough to get rid of the evil energy that had infected their bodies. As such, why did the amount of that evil energy suddenly increase to the point that it filled the whole pyramid…?”
Song Shuhang said, “This matter is a long story. Senior Dongfang Six should have already guessed a few things. This incident is related to the matter I’ve mentioned in the group some time ago, the one about ordinary people and animals getting contaminated with the evil energy of the Netherworld Realm.”
Fairy Dongfang Six nodded her head. She also knew that Senior Skylark from the Xuan Nu Sect had sought death big time while investigating this matter and decided to test the poison on her own body. As a result, her body was contaminated with the evil energy of the Netherworld Realm, and she was forced to seal herself in ice.
“Some time later, I discovered that those people hadn’t been contaminated by accident, someone had lured them into wearing finger rings or other similar items. Next, the evil energy of the Netherworld Realm poured into their bodies and modified them, strengthening them. During the whole process, the energy of the Netherworld Realm would keep getting stronger and stronger.” Afterward, Song Shuhang also added, “Branch Elder Gu Wu, can I get into the underground area of your branch? I would like to save Lady Onion as soon as possible.”
“Are you capable of it?” Gu Wu asked. After glancing at him, he had noticed that Song Shuhang was only a cultivator of the Third Stage.
“If we are dealing with the evil energy of the Netherworld, I can. I have a special method to deal with it,” Song Shuhang said with a smile.
Just as they were discussing, the place where the Human-Morphing Feast was hosted was thrown into chaos.
The various monsters had panicked and created a mess.
Song Shuhang didn’t even need to turn his head to sense the evil aura of the Netherworld.
Part of the evil energy filling the underground pyramid had already seeped into the various passages and spread where the feast was held.
Black mist gushed out of the ground. This black mist was emitted by the evil energy of the Netherworld below.
In the end, the mist condensed in the main hall and turned into a monster made of mist.
“A demon of the Netherworld!” some weak monsters called out in alarm.
“That’s not a demon of the Netherworld… it’s just a mass of pure energy of the Netherworld that has condensed together and formed an evil beast,” Song Shuhang said after glancing at that monster made of mist.
It was the same as that ferocious beast made of evil energy he’d encountered in the Jade Lake Realm the last time. Still, this evil beast that had just condensed didn’t have any intelligence, and it was rather easy to deal with.
“An evil beast, and a weak one at that!” Next to Song Shuhang, the small monk Guoguo sprang to his feet as he rubbed his butt.
After the mist condensed into an evil beast, the resulting creature only had the strength of the First Stage. If not for the fact that they were afraid of getting contaminated with the evil energy of the Netherworld Realm, all the monsters there present would have been able to take care of it.
“It’s time for us to get into action,” the small monk said.
Shi and Zhu quietly glanced at Song Shuhang, their eyes full of expectations.
“Are you sure you can deal with it?” Song Shuhang asked.
“We can easily deal with a creature of this level,” Shi said after pondering for a moment.
“In that case, I’ll leave this place to you three,” Song Shuhang said. Fairy Dongfang Six and the others were still there. Therefore, nothing would happen to the three children.
“Branch Elder Gu Wu, can you tell me about the passage that leads to the underground area?” Song Shuhang asked.
The seven-armed and eight-footed Branch Elder Gu Wu forced a smile, and said, “I’ll lead you there. I didn’t think things would escalate to this point.”
The underground branch was supposed to be a secret area, and those that weren’t members of the organization weren’t allowed to get there.
But now, he had no way of preventing Song Shuhang from entering it.
As soon as they got into the passage, the aura of the evil energy of the Netherworld blew in their faces.
Branch Elder Gu Wu was a monster of the Fifth Stage, and he could resist the corrosive properties of the evil energy of the Netherworld with the help of a barrier.
On the other hand, a half serpent and half stickman entity had appeared around Song Shuhang’s body. The light of virtue was protecting his body, preventing all kinds of evils from approaching him.
Branch Elder Gu Wu gazed at the light of virtue around Song Shuhang’s body in astonishment. That light of virtue was so powerful and dense… Was it possible that this young human was the reincarnation of a powerful buddhist expert?
Very soon…
The duo arrived in front of the underground pyramid.
Ye Si borrowed Song Shuhang’s senses and kept on guard.
At this time, the whole underground area had become pitch-black, and the oil-like black energy of the Netherworld had submerged most of the pyramid, with only the tip being visible. In addition, just as though there was a flood going on, the level of the evil energy of the Netherworld was continuously increasing as time passed.
“How did the situation escalate to this level?” Branch Elder Gu Wu’s expression was getting uglier and uglier.
The quantity of evil energy in that place far surpassed his imagination. Given his strength of the Fifth Stage, it would be impossible to disperse and purify such a huge amount of evil energy of the Netherworld.
“Little friend Shuhang, let’s advance and save the people trapped there… but after saving them, we have to evacuate immediately. We can’t stay here.” Gu Wu’s expression became serious.
After getting out of this place, he would have to activate the formation of the 250th branch as soon as possible and seal the whole underground area.
Otherwise, if such tyrannical energy was allowed to leak out into the Jiangnan area, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Song Shuhang nodded his head and headed toward the summit of the pyramid through that bridge made of chains.
When the duo was halfway past the bridge, a huge fist silently shot upward from below.
This fist was purely made of evil energy, and it was giving off a faint metallic luster. It was somewhat similar to the metallic hand that had attacked the world of the golden lotus of the scholarly faction. However, its strength was much, much weaker.
With Ye Si’s reminder, Song Shuhang managed to detect this surprise attack just in time.
On the other hand, Branch Elder Gu Wu wasn’t able to detect it.
“Careful!” Song Shuhang shouted.
At this time, the fist was only ten meters away from Branch Elder Gu Wu…