Journey to the End of the Night
Chapter 145 - 145 144 City of Darkness

145: Chapter 144: City of Darkness 145: Chapter 144: City of Darkness “How can it be this formidable?” Baili An exclaimed.

Wen Hanwei had a bit of a headache, “It’s not a matter of being formidable or not.

If you like rabbits, I can buy you ten of them after we get out.

However, to keep such a creature as a pet, not to mention whether it will bite you back, Afu Tu is the target of extermination by the Righteous Immortal Sect.

If you bring it into the Mortal World with you, naturally, you’ll also be subjected to the ill will of the Hundred Immortal Sects.”

Baili An pulled the dangling ears of the rabbit in his arms upright and waved them in front of Wen Hanwei.

“Wen sister, the way you talk, it seems like if I didn’t keep it, I wouldn’t be targeted and treated with hostility by the Daoist Immortal Sect.

Me…” He smiled slightly, “I am a corpse demon, after all.”

In the Mortal World, not everyone is as fortunate as Wen Hanwei.

Before entering the valley, Su Jing of the Taixuan Sect, her hostility was sharp and direct.

Even though he came to protect Li Jiujiu, after her father learned he was a corpse demon, his gaze also quietly underwent complex changes.

Baili An, being clever, wasn’t hard-pressed to guess what those changes meant.

He saved this rabbit and wanted to keep this rabbit, not out of kindness, nor was it out of pity to let such a seemingly weak creature die at the hands of brutal beasts.

The law of the survival of the fittest, he understood better than anyone else.

It was just that an inner resonance and pulse told him, he wanted this rabbit.

There was something familiar in the rabbit’s eyes.

Seeing Baili An’s smile and that look, Wen Hanwei’s years of calm Daoist heart felt inexplicably bitter, she took a slow breath and ceased insisting on anything.

“Fine, have it your way, but I have to warn you in advance, Afu Tu is tame and quiet before it undergoes demonic transformation.

There will be signs when it happens, its eyes turn blood red and gleam.

Afu Tu is a creature that survives on instinct and doesn’t possess human emotions; its emotions are even sparser than those of common spirit demons.

It has no sense of loyalty or submission, so don’t delude yourself into treating it as a companion.

Thus, once its eyes shine, immediately kill it without hesitation.”

Even though it was a concession, Wen Hanwei’s voice and demeanor were extremely stern, leaving no room for refusal.

Baili An helplessly nodded and then asked, “Wen sister, how goes the pathfinding?

Have you found a way out of the valley?”

Wen Hanwei shook her head, “I have traversed every direction of Chaotic Netherworld Valley, and all are dead ends.”

Baili An showed no trace of disappointment or loss, calmly stating, “In that case, there’s only one path left to take.”

He gazed towards a direction, Wen Hanwei wordlessly but tacitly also cast her gaze over.

There lied the land of absolute darkness, silent and soundless.

That space was shrouded by visible dark clouds, so black that it seemed even more profound and deeper than other places.

So much so that it was unmistakable at a glance that there lay the silhouette of a towering ancient black city.

Above the city was the lofty sky, below were the continuous mountains, and within such a mountain valley hid a majestic city, an exceedingly abnormal and unnatural sight.

Whether it was the land, rivers, or the sky and floating clouds, all were enveloped in darkness, befitting the name ‘Cursed Land.’

The silent ancient city, the absolute darkness, the vast space, all silently conveyed that it was a world vastly different from ours, as well as the might of the Monarch behind it.

Baili An looked up very calmly, gazing there for the first time.

The next moment, his blood felt as if frozen, and the cold soul within his body seemed to be watched by a pair of mysterious eyes.

Fear uncontrollably spread throughout his body, causing his already pale complexion to turn even more ghostly.

Wen Hanwei’s gaze followed his, and as she averted her eyes for an instant, she hesitated markedly, but determination soon replaced it, and together they looked towards that Different Dimension.

Her complexion may not have been as pale as Baili An, yet it was notably strained and tense.

She was silent for a moment, then said, “For a thousand years, no one has entered Chaotic Netherworld Valley.

It’s easy to enter the valley, but extremely hard to leave.

The only way is to keep delving deeper, searching for an exit.

This place is abandoned by the gods, naturally, because it suppresses a terrifying evil that is not known to man…”

“My vision can cover a thousand miles in this Chaotic Netherworld Valley, not at all hindered by the black fog, yet I can glimpse not a trace of what lies there.”

A place even an Immortal at the Tribulation Realm cannot probe, naturally harbors a terror that threatens her life.

Wen Hanwei did not choose to enter alone to scout, because she also lacked the confidence that, upon recognizing danger, she could still return by the same path.

Baili An understood her candidness, nodded, and said earnestly, “Hmm, so this time I will go with you.”

While his body uncontrollably shivered in fear because of that Different Dimension, his expression remained calm and resolute.

Wen Hanwei forced a smile, “Two hundred years of seclusion, and upon re-entering the world, it’s a test of life and death.

Fate really holds me in high esteem, doesn’t it?”

Baili An was also well aware that if not for coming to the valley to find him, she would never have fallen into such a dire situation.

Without him, she would still be that cultivator of the Taixuan Nine Classics, roaming freely and revered by thousands, a peerless powerhouse of a century in the Mortal World.

Baili An refrained from saying any trite words of apology or gratitude.

He stood up with his umbrella, slightly tilting it to shield Wen Hanwei, who was crouching on the ground, from the assaulting wind and rain.

He looked down at her, lips pressed into a sharp line, and said seriously, “Baili An is willing to stake everything to protect my dear friend.”

When an Immortal in the Tribulation Realm heard a newly initiated Cultivator of the Open Yuan Realm corpse demon declare he was willing to gamble everything to protect her.

How laughable, how overconfident such words were.

Wen Hanwei crouched on the ground, looking up at him with a smile as mild as spring water.

The aura emanating from that eerie Black City made even her feel palpitations of fear, and without using the power of cultivation, she could scarcely look straight at the might of the Black City.

Yet, facing an existence as horrifying as the Abyss itself, he, who was only of Open Yuan Realm, still dared to gaze directly at what was beyond the capacity of ordinary men.

A human and a corpse demon, with an injured Afu Tu wrapped in their arms, advanced towards that ancient city enveloped in seemingly eternal darkness.

Their two figures, disappearing into the darkness, appeared to the outside world as if they had been swallowed whole by that ancient city.

Only upon fully entering the world of the ancient city, did Baili An unexpectedly discover that the world inside vastly differed from the Chaotic Netherworld Valley on the outside.

In the outside darkness, they needed Array Light to navigate and see.

Here, despite also being engulfed in darkness, Baili An found that, in this darkened world, he could see more clearly than in the daylight of the Mortal World.

However, the view before him was enveloped in a shade of ghastly green, and only a few breaths, swift as lightning and nearly undetectable, flickered through the space, occasionally allowing him to catch a glimpse of a red silhouette contour.