Under the increasing cover of dark clouds and mist, the Zhou Family Fortress's Yellow Springs Domain grew progressively darker.
Yet, deep within this dark, ghostly Realm, lay an even darker, bottomless chasm—the Fish Plate Abyss.
Once, it was a mountain, with trees, grass, slopes, and streams, but now, under the eerie power of the Yellow Springs Domain, it had inexplicably collapsed into a dark abyss shaped like an inverted conical hat.
If one stood at the edge of this abyss and looked down, they would see layers of rock slopes on its pit wall, like endless steps of Hell, continuously sloping downwards, with no end in sight, leading to an unknown destination, and an unknown number of layers.
Each of these steps was hidden in deep darkness, with only faint outlines visible, as if even light had been completely corroded by the darkness within the abyss.
Finally, only chilling, gloomy winds, carrying countless screams, shouts, cackles, howls, and cries of men, women, old, and young, roared out from the depths of the abyss.
They fiercely swept across the barren land outside the abyss, which was covered in murky yellow rivers and cracked ravines, striking the heads of the countless ghosts, numbering in the thousands or tens of thousands, that roamed day and night around the abyss.
This caused all the ghosts to howl fiercely, further disturbing the thick black mist above, making this heartland of the Yellow Springs Domain, where the Fish Plate Abyss lay, even more eerie and sinister.
But at a certain moment, hundreds or even thousands of dazzling bolts of lightning suddenly struck the barren ground around the abyss, tearing through all darkness and blasting the area into a blinding white, obliterating hundreds to thousands of ghosts, causing their Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, leaving behind countless bone-like soul remains.
Then, in an instant, these nearly a thousand charcoal-black, spine-like soul remains flew up into the sky in unison, swirling and converging into a stream, all flying into the deep sky, into the palm of Li Hai’s right hand, which glowed with the words “hell.”
Whoosh whoosh whoosh~
After a series of blurry sounds of air being torn, all the soul remains were collected by Li Hai.
“Although there are many, they are all only at the level of departed souls.”
Li Hai put away his right palm and said indifferently, “They’re just trash.”
He then slowly lowered his head, looking down at the dark abyss from above, and sneered:
“Chong Long, it’s morning, time to get up.”
After speaking, thunder rumbled around his body, flashing with dazzling white electric light.
And at the same instant, Li Hai, carrying these blinding lightning serpents, rapidly plunged into the Fish Plate Abyss from top to bottom, sparking and flashing all the way.
At the same time, as he flew, all the thick black mist obstructing his path was completely shattered by him, forcefully blasting open a narrow, clear, mist-free ‘cavity’ connecting the sky above to the abyss below, which was only refilled by dense mist surging from all directions after a long while.
Just an instant after this ‘cavity’ was filled, a group of lifelike paper birds, made of yellow talismans, flew from the distant, vast black mist, flapping their yellow paper wings and swiftly flying towards the dark abyss below.
And as they flew, this group of talisman birds became increasingly blurry and transparent, eventually disappearing entirely into the dense mist of the abyss.
Dozens of miles away, in the temporary stronghold of the Demon Slayer Division.
“Commander Gai, I remember that the Shadow Talisman Array can ignore mist obstruction, right? So why isn’t Brother Li’s figure in the picture?”
Outside a holographic screen suspended in mid-air, Gong Shuo Hong asked Gai Fu with confusion, “Is it because the spell is unstable?”
“Don’t worry, the spell is stable.”
Gai Fu, also looking at the screen, said calmly with his arms crossed, “It’s just that the evil aura in this ghost abyss is too dense, so it slightly affects the image transmission of the Talisman Array. Just wait a little longer.”
After hearing his explanation, Gong Shuo Hong nodded and stopped asking, quietly looking at the screen with the other Demon Slayer Commandants.
After Li Hai flew into the abyss, he sped fearlessly towards the bottom of the abyss.
As he flew, many ghosts hidden on the layered rock slopes around him, dazzled by the blinding electric light and startled by the rumbling thunder, all roared and lunged at him from all directions.
But as the rapidly moving Li Hai quickly scanned his surroundings, these many seemingly ferocious and eerie ghosts, enough to be protagonists in horror movies, were immediately suppressed and suspended in mid-air by his immense Martial Dao Will, then, like melting candles, quickly blurred, dissolved, and vanished into nothingness.
Thus, throughout this entire process, which spanned the entire abyss, Li Hai did not make a single move, yet he completely annihilated all the ghosts on every level and step within the abyss.
This was the terrifying Divine Might of a Void-Reality Grandmaster, fully unleashing the restraints on his own Martial Dao Will, allowing it to manifest completely in the external world.
And this Divine Might was completely ‘filmed’ by the Shadow Talisman Array that followed closely behind him.
“Terrifying, terrifying! Is this the strength of a Grandmaster?”
In the Demon Slayer Division stronghold dozens of miles away, Zeng Ying shook his head and sighed, “He doesn’t even need to speak or move his hands. Just by looking, he relies on his Martial Dao Will manifesting externally to completely kill thousands to tens of thousands of departed ghosts, equivalent to Wood Rank Commandants. Alas, it’s truly terrifying.”
“Hiss~ Honestly, I can’t even imagine what kind of bloody, tragic scene it would be if a hundred thousand troops besieged Brother Li, what those soldiers would end up like…”
Pi Shangzhi, standing nearby, hissed, “It would be a bloody and tragic sight.”
“Ordinary soldiers? Don’t be ridiculous.”
Quan Xiangxun, standing around him, said disdainfully, “Don’t bother with ordinary people. Even if you replaced them with Wood Rank Commandants of the Ten Directions Strength Body level, they would be suppressed into brain death by Brother Li’s spiritual might and completely annihilated.”
Listening to their discussion, Gong Shuo Hong turned to look at Gai Fu, who had been staring at the screen, and asked:
“Commander Gai, I have a question. Can Steel Grade Martial Artists withstand a Grandmaster’s Martial Dao might?”
“They cannot withstand it at all; they would die with a single glance.”
Commander Gai said directly, “Let alone Steel Grade, even Thousand Army Grade can only resist a small part, at most for a few breaths, and then their souls would be shattered. Even if they don’t die then, they’d be cripples for the rest of their lives.”
“Hiss—” Gong Shuo Hong gasped, “Is it truly that terrifying?!”
“Yes, it is that terrifying.”
Gai Fu said in a deep voice, “A Void-Reality Grandmaster has permeated their Martial Dao Will into every drop of their blood, every piece of their flesh, every inch of their skin.
So, if a Grandmaster does not restrain their own might, then whether it’s their speech, their actions, or their every move, it will cause severe impact on the minds and thoughts of those in lower Realms around them. And this is only the illusory spiritual aspect. If you add the Grandmaster’s thousands of pounds of force projected through the air, it can only be described as boundless terror.
In short, there is simply no such absurd thing as someone below a Grandmaster being able to defeat a Grandmaster in this world. No matter how many Thousand Army Grade or Steel Grade Martial Artists besiege them, a Grandmaster can easily kill and slaughter them all, unless the number of people is truly too great, so much so that it could exhaust a Grandmaster to death.”
Gai Fu’s words immediately silenced all the Demon Slayer Commandants in the entire tent.
Everyone exchanged glances, and finally, with immense reverence, they continued to look at the screen.
And on the screen, Li Hai had already reached the bottom of the abyss.