Li Hao walked along the damp gravel path for several miles and arrived at another deep pool beside a waterfall.
"Strange, I think I just heard a flute," he said to himself, looking around. Was it just his imagination?
Ahead, the waterfall cascaded down like a curtain, and through the gaps in the water, he seemed to see a small temple.
Surprised, Li Hao quickly moved, using his advanced movement technique, the White Phoenix Step, to glide through the water curtain like a bird flying through trees, not getting wet at all.
Earlier, he had saved up three skill points and spent two on this movement technique, making it easy for him to grasp this high-level skill.
As Li Hao entered the water curtain, two slender figures stood on a moss-covered stone platform in the distance.
"Hey, Yue Yao, did someone just walk by over there?" Lin Feifei asked in surprise, pointing toward the waterfall.
"It seems so," Song Yue Yao replied, noticing too, but the figure had vanished quickly, wearing what looked like outer palace robes.
"Looks like I wasn't seeing things. What are outer palace disciples doing here? The new student exam isn't even here yet," Lin Feifei wondered. "It looks like he entered the main temple. Could he be going to the Death River?"
Song Yue Yao turned her gaze away, shaking her head slightly. She wasn't interested in such matters. Instead, she picked up her flute and gently played a tune.
Behind the waterfall, Li Hao looked at the small temple in front of him.
It was quite small, about half a person's height, but it was beautifully crafted. Inside were two statues, one male and one female, their features somewhat blurred by time. If one looked closely, they could see that they had once appeared kind and gentle.
However, due to the crumbling dirt, their faces had decayed, making their half-smiles look a bit eerie and grotesque.
On either side of the temple, there was a couplet:
"The earth can give birth to all things,
The soil can bury all beings."
Above it was a horizontal inscription: "Ruler of One Side."
As Li Hao examined the temple, suddenly a small booklet flew out from inside and opened right in front of him.
Then, a piece of paper shot out like divine light, speeding toward Li Hao's head.
Li Hao was startled and tried to dodge, but with his fifteen-mile cultivation level, he couldn't react in time and was hit by the divine light.
In an instant, the surroundings seemed to be submerged in water light, which soon faded, revealing another world that felt both real and illusory.
The dim cave became blurry, as if covered by a barrier of flowing water within three feet of him.
At the same time, golden words appeared before Li Hao:
"You have entered the Death River."
"Your registered residence has been confirmed: Dayu Dynasty, Qingzhou."
"Please leave your name in the Death River."
Li Hao was stunned. Had he really entered the Death River?
He looked around, seeing a flowing membrane-like barrier surrounding him. Outside the barrier, the light was dim, and he could faintly see some broken mountains, which felt extremely vast, unlike the narrow cave he had just been in.
Was this the mysterious and dangerous place from legends?
It was truly extraordinary!
Even though he had learned some things about the Death River, experiencing it firsthand was still awe-inspiring. This was beyond ordinary martial arts.
But he wondered, what level was the Death River he was facing?
Li Hao remembered hearing his second uncle talk about the Death River while fishing. There were five types, and even his second uncle and the Wind Elder wouldn’t dare to step into the Yudu level of the Death River, which contained great terror.
At that moment, the golden light that had entered his forehead gathered in his hand, forming a piece of golden paper.
The paper was blank.
At the same time, a stream of information flooded into his mind. Understanding the situation, he thought for a moment, bit his finger, and wrote his name in the Death River on the golden paper:
"Er."
As he finished writing, the golden light burst forth from the paper, covering and absorbing his blood name, then transformed into golden light and disappeared into Li Hao's body.
Meanwhile, the surrounding water membrane barrier gradually faded, revealing the broken mountains and desolate land outside.
In his mind, a message automatically appeared:
"Region: Fengshan Death River."
"Death River Completion: 0%."
Li Hao looked up to see a crimson sky, the setting sun like blood, half of it submerged behind the earth.
Before him was a desolate mountain, with a village and smoke rising from cooking fires inside.
Li Hao's gaze shifted, and he released his spirit to scout ahead.
He saw a spirit that looked just like him fly out from above his head. Suddenly, it darted forward like a gust of wind, soaring above the village and looking down at the entire mountain.
At the same time, the spirit's vision quickly zoomed out to see further, wanting to get a clear view of the entire Death River battlefield.
But as he looked further, Li Hao saw that at the end of the Death River, it was surrounded by a mass of darkness. When the spirit's vision penetrated it, he felt a chill run down his spine, as if something unspeakable lurked within that darkness!
Li Hao quickly retracted his spirit's perception, limiting it to the village and its surroundings.
In the village, people of all ages were walking about, men farming and women weaving, appearing very harmonious.
... As long as you could ignore their faces.
Every person looked withered and dry, the elderly like mummies, the children's eyes like black holes, their tongues hanging down to their chests. Women at the windows were weaving, their nails sharp as knives, teeth pointed, wearing creepy smiles.
What a truly strange place... Li Hao sighed.
Having seen all kinds of fish demons, he didn’t find these spirits of the Death River that frightening.
"Do I need to deal with all of them to complete this?" Li Hao thought. He considered retreating, but first, he needed to enter the corresponding temple in the Death River.
Through his spirit's exploration, he had already found the temple, located right in the center of the village, on a stage-like area.
What a nasty spot...
"That person seems to be the leader here, right? A Soul Continuation Realm. Can the dead still have their own spirits?"
Li Hao's gaze fell on the back mountain of the village, where a scholar in a black robe sat, with a dark, smoky female spirit draped over his back, creating an eerie feeling.
After checking the situation, Li Hao didn’t linger. Once his spirit returned, he strode into the village.
Soon, the villagers wandering at the entrance spotted Li Hao.
"Hello, hello..." Li Hao smiled and waved.
The elderly man who had been holding a child suddenly let out a fierce roar and charged at Li Hao with a twisted expression.
And the child, who had looked "innocent and silly," also changed his expression to one of rage, showing sharp teeth as he rushed toward Li Hao.
"Such enthusiasm," Li Hao said helplessly.
He casually snapped off a dry branch and gave it a light flick.
Snow began to fall, and before the approaching elderly man and child could reach Li Hao, their bodies suddenly stiffened, their heads snapped off, the wounds surprisingly sharp and clean.
Then, Li Hao casually held the dry branch and walked along the ancient path into the village.
Along the way, villagers planting rice in the fields suddenly turned violent upon noticing Li Hao, roaring as they rushed toward him.
Some farmers wearing straw hats also picked up their burdens and charged at him.
"Do you also dream of conquering the sea?"
Li Hao's steps didn’t stop. He waved the dry branch, and it seemed like snowflakes fell, landing on the villagers, freezing their bodies in place.
As Li Hao moved deeper into the village, more and more villagers came, including women carrying pots and bowls, and long-tongued women weaving.
"All at the Zhou Tian level, tsk, and a few at the Zhou Tian completion level."
Li Hao casually waved the dry branch as he walked along the wide path, leaving behind a trail of broken bodies.
These spirits looked like ghosts and monsters, and normally, they wouldn't have a physical form, but in this Death River, they had bodies, flesh, and blood. When their limbs were severed, black blood would spurt out.
"Could this be the Death River that will be tested a year later?"
Li Hao murmured.
He felt that the intensity of the Death River wasn't that high.
The only major danger he saw was the black-robed scholar behind the village, a Soul Continuation Realm.
Using a Soul Continuation Realm to test the disciples of the outer palace was indeed reasonable.
As each villager fell, Li Hao glanced at the golden paper in his palm, which displayed the message:
"Death River Completion: 89%."
It seemed that every time he killed a villager, it added about 1% to the progress.
"Given the nature of the Death River, even if I deal with all of them, it seems I can't reach 100% completion and completely dissolve it."
Li Hao muttered to himself.
The difficulty of suppressing the Death River lay here; it had to be completely resolved to disappear.
He heard that some had tried to kill all the spirits in the Death River and destroy everything, but still failed.
The Death River couldn't be destroyed or erased; as long as it wasn't resolved, it would restore itself and reappear anywhere in the world.
Li Hao passed by the temple next to the stage and glanced at it but chose not to leave just yet.
Since he was here, he planned to see how far he could go, after all, this was his first time experiencing it.
(End of Chapter)