22: A fleeting glimpse in Chapter 22 of the dungeon

There were no flashy skills.

Fan Wujiu simply waved his hand.

The black iron chain wrapped around his arm, like a waking black python, instantly pierced the void with a screech that tore through space.

"Bang!"

The A-rank mutated Red-Skinned Yaksha, which had driven countless players to despair, was hit directly on the spine by the chain without even letting out a scream.

It was like an adult kicking away a mangy dog blocking his path.

The massive body of the Red-Skinned Yaksha shot backward like a cannonball, smashing violently into a pile of rubble by the roadside. All its bones were shattered, and it lay trembling on the ground, burying its head deep into the dirt, not daring to even glance at that army.

A-rank BOSS?

Before the Ten Great Underworld Marshals, it wasn't even a roadblock.

Immediately afterward, a luxurious carriage, entirely black with swaying tassels, drawn by four bone horses, drove out of the fractured void and passed directly through the central avenue of the instance.

A gust of cold wind blew by.

A corner of the expensive shark-gauze curtain by the carriage window was slightly lifted.

Yellow Prawn's live broadcast camera happened to capture the scene inside the carriage at that moment.

For that second, time seemed to freeze.

The tens of thousands of viewers in the live stream clearly saw:

Inside that carriage filled with eerie imperial aura, a young girl wearing a modern hoodie was holding a porcelain bowl, looking awkwardly out the window at the crowd of bizarre creatures kneeling on the ground.

And beside her, the legendary soul-reaping White Impermanence Xie Bi'an was gently reaching out with a benevolent expression to close the window for her.

"Your Highness, it's dirty outside, don't look."

The curtain fell.

The wheels rolled on.

The black torrent, like a passing gale, pierced from one end of this B-rank instance to the other in just over ten seconds, sweeping away.

It only left behind scattering whitejoss paper (underworld paper) and the ruined wreckage of the instance.

The wind stopped.

Yellow Prawn, having survived the disaster, slumped on the ground, looking at the Red-Skinned Yaksha that had been crippled by a single whip strike, his brain completely short-circuited.

And his previously silent live stream completely exploded at this moment.

[ (IP: Dragon Country) Holy crap!!! What did I just see?! Is that Pei Duo?! ]

[ (IP: USA) My God! Was that the carriage from the s-rank instance that disappeared? They didn't die?! ]

[ (IP: Japan) Idiot! Impossible! That was a mutated A-rank BOSS! Whipped into scrap by that dark-faced guy? Just like whipping a dog? ]

[ (IP: Dragon Country) They flattened an A-rank instance just by passing through... ]

[ (IP: Sun Never Sets) Did you hear the phrase 'Your Highness'? White Impermanence closed the window for her! ]

That night, the forums of the Thriller World were in an uproar.

And the legend of the 'Underworld's Beloved' and the 'Eldest Princess of the Underworld' was completely cemented at the top of the Thriller Game's history, unshakeable, thanks to that mere dozen-second screen recording.

An Hun Yu passed through the last layer of thick haze that smelled faintly of rust, and the originally bumpy carriage body slowly stabilized.

"Your Highness, we have arrived."

As White Impermanence Xie Bi'an's gentle voice fell, the black shark-gauze curtain automatically rolled up.

Pei Duo leaned out the window to look, and what met her eyes was a majestic black mountain floating above an endless sea of netherworld clouds.

The mountain body was like a sword, piercing straight toward the blood moon that would never set.

And atop the black mountain were tens of thousands of palaces, layered upon one another.

These structures were not made of human brick and wood, but were entirely crafted from cold, black-gold obsidian, with streams of dark gold light flowing on every roof tile.

Between the dougong brackets and sweeping eaves, coiled ink-black dragon shadows—not carvings, but actual entities—flickered in and out of the clouds and mist, exhaling yin-evil energy that twisted the void.

This extreme sense of oppressive Chinese imperial aesthetics instantly crushed the worldviews of Lin Sa and Xu Mo like an invisible giant hand.

The so-called S-rank English Manor from before, in the face of this behemoth named 'Luofeng Mountain,' was simply like an illegal structure molded from mud by a country bumpkin, exuding an indelible air of vulgarity.

Xu Mo stared at the black palace complex outside the window, his heart pounding wildly against his ribs, feeling like it was about to jump out of his throat.

As a seasoned veteran in the Thriller Game, he knew better than anyone what everything before him meant.

This wasn't an instance? This was the descent of mythology!

He felt increasingly like an ant that had blundered into the Heavenly Palace. The sliver ofwishful thinking (fluke mentality) he had left in the carriage about 'grabbing some rewards' was completely thrown to the dogs, replaced instead by a deep fear of the unknown.

He subconsciously straightened the collar of his already wrinkled shirt stained with dried blood, even though he knew such an action was meaningless before deities, he still wanted to make himself look slightly more 'decent.'

At least, to die with some dignity.

"Hooo—"

As the four bone horses neighed in unison, the convoy slowly stopped on a massive white jade plaza.

This plaza was ridiculously large; the ground was paved not with stone, but with a kind of translucent, warm jade, beneath which golden runes could be vaguely seen flowing, as if equipped with top-tier underfloor heating.

"Your Highness, please."

Xie Bi'an was the first to step out of the carriage. He produced a small footstool made of black-gold nanmu wood as if by magic, placed it under the carriage shaft, then bent over and extended his arm in a gesture of support.

Pei Duo carefully stepped onto the footstool to dismount.

The sensation underfoot was warm and moist, and a warm current rushed straight up her spine from the Yongquan acupoint, not only dispelling the negative energy but also making her feel more energetic than she had ever been in her life.

"Come down, both of you." Although Black Impermanence Fan Wujiu still wore that dark face, his tone was much gentler than when he had whipped the A-rank BOSS to death. "Don't keep His Majesty waiting."

Lin Sa and Xu Mo exchanged a look and cautiously climbed out of the carriage.

However, the moment their feet touched the ground...

"Boom!"

Lin Sa felt as if two Mount Tais had been slammed onto her back. Her knees instantly went soft as noodles; if she hadn't desperately held herself up for the sake of final dignity, she probably would have kowtowed to this floor tile on the spot.

Xu Mo had it worse.

He was already suffering from internal injuries. At this moment, he felt that the air was not filled with oxygen, but with 'Imperial Might' as thick as mercury. Every breath caused immense stinging pain in his lungs—this was the innate rejection reaction of a lower-ranking soul facing a top-tier mythical domain.

Every breath caused immense stinging pain in his lungs—this was the instinctive rejection reaction of a lower-ranking soul facing a top-tier mythical domain.

And this was just at the edge of the plaza.

If he entered that main hall...

Xu Mo's face was ashen white as paper; he felt like he was already lining up at the Bridge of Helplessness (Naihe Bridge).

"Wait a moment."

Just as Black and White Impermanence were about to lead the way, the bronze hall door ahead—which was a hundred zhang high and carved with a design of the Taotie devouring the heavens—suddenly let out a thunderous mechanical explosion without any warning.

"Rumble—"

The heavy bronze doors slowly opened to both sides, and a gust of strong wind carrying a dense scent of iron, blood, and smoke roared out from within.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The sound of uniform armor clashing surged like a tsunami.

Two rows of guards wearing Qin Dynasty standard black armor and holding long halberds rushed out from the doors.

They quickly lined up on both sides of the imperial path, slamming their halberds into the ground, their killing intent soaring to the heavens.

Black Impermanence Fan Wujiu's expression sharpened. The simple and honest look he only wore in front of Pei Duo instantly vanished, replaced by the solemnity of an Underworld Marshal.

He immediately pulled Pei Duo back to the white marble railing on the side of the imperial path and lowered his voice: "Your Highness, please wait a moment. The 'Northern Emperors Chief Minister' is returning to his residence after concluding his meeting. According to the etiquette of the Underworld, even King Yama must yield to this person by a margin of three points."