Three days later, the long-anticipated Nine Nethers Feast arrived.
As Tang Jie walked out of Nightdark City, he saw flags snapping in the wind, seven giant Ghost March Ships arrayed in front of the city.
Each ship had a white throne on which a Yaksha sat, attended by two Nether Attendants.
Only the third Ghost March Ship was empty. This was Maraju’s.
When Tang Jie boarded his ship, the Yakshas on the other six ships scoffed in disdain.
A voice rang out: “Maraju, you’re late.”
Tang Jie turned to the first ghost ship, where the Yaksha atop it was speaking to him.
He was Marasheng, Marahai’s eldest son and the Mara sibling who wielded the most power.
Tang Jie bowed. “Hail, Elder Brother.”
The Yaksha on the fourth ghost ship spoke.
He was Marali, the most sinister and cunning of the seven.
“At the Nine Nethers Feast, it doesn’t matter that he has no Nether Attendants or fief. Only strength is important!” another voice said.
This was the sixth son, Marasha. He had a brutal and bloodthirsty personality, and he was also the most talented of the seven. It was said that he had already surpassed Marasheng and Marashan, the second son.
“Sixth Brother is correct. Nether Attendants are no longer important. What is important is your performance at the Nine Nethers Feast. Brothers, take heed and don’t lose your life at this feast over your negligence.”
Tang Jie didn’t even need to look to recognize Maraji’s voice.
The ghost tribes of the nether Domain were mostly savage and ruthless, even holding nothing back when fighting their own family members. This highly competitive Nine Nethers Feast was the perfect occasion to fight. Even the nobility of the Nether Domain, the Yaksha princes, could lose their lives if they weren’t careful, so Maraji’s words were perfectly reasonable.
Tang Jie ignored the jeering of the Yaksha princes and boarded his ship.
The moment he boarded, there was a great rumbling.
The giant ghost head that served as the gate of Nightdark City gradually began to transform into the face of a Yaksha—none other than that of the city lord, Marahai.
A rumbling voice came from its mouth:
“My sons, on the grand occasion of the Nine Nethers Feast, do your utmost to fight and bring glory to my Mara clan. The one who achieves the most will become the successor of my Nightdark City…”
As the Yaksha ghost head changed back to normal, the seven Mara brothers were in chaos.
One of them shouted, “What are you waiting for? Set off!”
His ship charged off.
This was the seventh son and the youngest, Marafeng. He had the most impatient and explosive personality of his siblings.
The other Yakshas had their ships follow, and they vanished into the wilderness.
Tang Jie’s Ghost March Ship was naturally the last to move.
Seated on his throne of white bone, he calmly watched the other six ghost ships go before tapping the bone armrest. “Go.”
A hundred ghosts raised the ghost ship aloft and carried it forward.
Around an hour later, the Ghost March Ship arrived at a cliff. Howling winds blew down below, and there was no bottom to be seen, only darkness.
The ghost ship stopped and quietly waited.
A few moments later, there was a boom in the distance as if something had penetrated through the fabric of space, and a yellow streak appeared on the horizon.
It started as a mere point at first, but it grew larger and larger, brighter and brighter, into a magnificent band that rumbled across the heavens.
This was a mighty yellow river surging over like a dragon, rushing beneath that cliff and adding a little color to this black wasteland. But after traveling for some distance, it once more disappeared into the void.
Emerging from the void and disappearing into the void!
The most impatient Marafeng laughed. “The Nine Nethers is here, and the Yellow Springs are right there! Hurry up already!”
He slapped his throne, and the Ghost March Ship dropped from the cliff into the yellow river below, soon to be followed by the others. Tang Jie had already found out from Maraju’s memories how the Nine Nethers River was entered, and he knew that this river was actually only a tributary of the Nine Nethers River, and it was by this tributary that they could reach the Nine Nethers River. Thus, he had his ghost ship also descend, but as his ghost ship was about to land, the fifth ghost ship fired off a black beam that transformed into a cloud that held Tang Jie’s ghost ship aloft.
It was Maraji.
“Hahaha, Maraju, rest here for a while. The rest of us will go on ahead!” Maraji laughed, and his ghost ship landed in the river and vanished.
Tang Jie wasn’t surprised, simply snorting, “That saved me some strength. I didn’t intend to go with you lot in the first place.”
He blew at the ghost cloud.
This ethereal ghost cloud was not that easy to break, and the Yaksha, who were famed for their physical strength, would have found the task even harder.
But for Tang Jie, this ghost cloud was a minor trick that could break with a snap of his fingers. It was just that since his and Maraji’s intentions just happened to coincide, he decided to act like he was being slowed, and only when the rest of the ghost ships had disappeared into the river did he act.
With one thrust of his finger, the cloud dissolved, and the ghost ship fell into the river.
Rather than falling into the water, it fell more like he had entered some sort of strange and fantastical world.
This world was one of yellow light, with no waves or currents, only intersecting threads.
Having comprehended Space, Tang Jie understood that these lines were spatial refractions.
So this tributary of the Nine Nethers River is actually a spatial tributary? Tang Jie thought to himself.
Only the power of Space could allow it to freely travel through the Nether Domain, connecting all of its cities. But there were some other things mixed in as well. There was Life, Reincarnation, and then there was also a substance that Tang Jie didn’t recognize at all.
As they floated within this river, the Ghost March Ship suddenly began to rapidly rise.
In this sort of spatial tributary, it was almost impossible to have any sense of direction, but as Tang Jie had comprehended the Dao of Space, even though he couldn’t use its power, he could at least sense what was going on around him.
He knew that they were about to reach their destination.
A boom resounded in his ear, and light erupted before him as the river gave way.
Tang Jie found himself transported into another dimension. Above him was a hazy yellow sky, and below the ship was a yellow ocean. This was the Nine Nethers River.
Despite being called a river, it was as vast as an ocean, and many ghosts floated within this ocean, howling and screaming. But most of them were the mindless sort.
There was still some time until the Nine Nethers geyser eruption, which everyone would use to search the Yellow Springs and plumb it for its secrets.
Tang Jie didn’t waste time and ordered his ship to go full speed ahead.
On the water, the ghost hands transformed into oars. Ghosts floated on the deck, ragged banners snapped in the wind, and a black fog engulfed the entire thing, all of it matching the image of an underworld ship.
The ship floated along the surface of the river as Tang Jie sought out any opportunity.
Rather than opportunity, he ran into trouble.
A ghost ship suddenly erupted from the waters, appearing right in front of Tang Jie.
Tang Jie immediately gave the order to attack. In any case, he would have to kill ghost tribes to protect the humans, so there was nothing wrong with killing whoever he saw.
This ghost ship was rather unlucky to be attacked the moment it had emerged, and before it could react, Tang Jie had dealt it a heavy blow.
The force on the ghost ship was weaker than Tang Jie’s, and this paired with a sneak attack meant that it was quickly destroyed. The soldiers and generals were slain, and the ship itself was plundered and then made to sink into the Nine Nethers River. Alas, the captain was stubborn and refused to hand over his Life Flame.
Tang Jie had also lost a few soldiers in this battle.
Thus, he caught a few mindless ghost soldiers from the Nine Nethers River to replenish his ranks before continuing his journey in search of new prey.
Any ghost ship he encountered immediately met with disaster.
It had to be understood that in the Nine Nethers River, fighting among ghosts was commonplace, but there needed to be a reason, like treasure or old rivalries. Fighting without reason was generally not seen.
But Tang Jie was fighting entirely for the sake of fighting.
For this reason, many ghost ships were attacked out of the blue, some of them sinking into the river and being sent straight into the cycle of Reincarnation.
But there were a few that managed to escape.
As these ghost ships escaped and spread the word, Tang Jie’s Ghost March Ship soon became known for its bloodthirsty nature.
Tang Jie didn’t mind, but the other Yakshas from Nightdark City suffered as a result. They used the same kind of ship, and as a result, they inadvertently bore the consequences for Tang Jie’s decision.
When the other ghost ships spotted them, they either avoided them or joined together and attacked.
The Yakshas didn’t understand why this was happening and took it as a normal occurrence in the Nine Nethers River, so they accepted these battles. But after experiencing successive battles, they began to grow tired and wonder why the competition this time was so fierce. As expected, the increased number of ghost tribes weren’t friendly, and just the warm-up battles before the feast were already quite intense. They couldn’t replenish their forces like Tang Jie, so their progress slowed.
Tang Jie continued advancing at his own pace, killing any ghosts he saw, avoiding the strong and striking at the weak.