55: Chapter 55, Level 7: The Realm of Flying Flags

Rumble—!

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The massive stone gate crashed down, cutting off the roar of the River Styx.

Before they could even catch their breath, a smell like an old morgue wafted toward them.

The world before them was dominated by a suffocating deathly gray.

There was no sky; above them were oppressive, pitch-black rock layers.

The ground was filled with countless withered trees, like myriad dried ghost hands reaching out from hell.

The trunks were the color of blood-drained cured meat, making one feel nauseous just looking at them.

Hanging from the branches weren't leaves, but dried human skins and translucent wraiths stretched into strips.

They swayed silently with the invisible yin wind; at a glance, it was a desolate wasteland filled with hanging "cured meat."

The seventh level of Mictlan—the "Wasteland of Fluttering Flags."

"Cough..."

Stepping into this territory, Xu Mo felt as if his head were filled with lead; his thoughts slowed by half a beat, and even lifting his eyelids was a struggle.

This was the aura emitted by the withered trees in the Wasteland of Fluttering Flags, a rot that acted directly upon the soul.

"Something's wrong with this place." Lin Sa bit the tip of her tongue, using the pain to force herself awake. "My perception is suppressed; the range is no more than five meters."

The others in the team were even more disheveled; two members were even gasping with wide mouths as if deprived of oxygen, making "he-he" rattling sounds in their throats.

Only Old Ghost, walking at the very front, had a steady gait. He even had the leisure to pull a snuff bottle-like object from his pocket, take a greedy sniff, and show a strangely intoxicated expression.

"Everyone, pull yourselves together!" Old Ghost turned around with a righteous look. "This level tests willpower. As long as you hold on, you won't die. Follow me, the exit is just ahead!"

Xu Mo narrowed his eyes, staring at Old Ghost's back through his blurred vision.

This old geezer is overacting a bit.

Thump.

Just then, the ground suddenly jumped, followed by the entire crust trembling.

From deep within that deathly silent forest of corpse trees in the distance, a horrific grinding sound like a train derailing suddenly erupted.

"What is that..."

A team member pointed forward in terror.

Hundreds of pale giant trees were violently snapped like dominoes. Amidst billowing dust, a behemoth over fifty meters long smashed through the darkness and barged into everyone's sight.

It was a giant lizard.

It was covered in brilliant turquoise scales, each engraved with intricate Aztec death divine patterns.

It had no eyelids; within those murky, massive eyeballs, there were no pupils, only two gray vortices.

Mythical Creature—Xiuhtecuhtli.

The gatekeeper of this level of hell, and the incarnation of despair.

"Roar—!!"

The giant lizard opened its maw, large enough to swallow a tank, but what came out wasn't a beast's roar, but the sound waves of tens of thousands of souls screaming simultaneously.

Wherever the sound waves passed, the pale corpse trees along the way instantly lost their color and turned into death-gray stone.

"Soul Petrification!" Xu Mo's pupils constricted. A monster of this level was simply not something current players could contend with.

"Split up and run! The target is too big!"

Old Ghost shouted almost at the same time as Xu Mo.

Without any hesitation, he chose a direction away from the giant lizard and bolted.

At the same time, he pulled a handful of gray powder from his breast pocket and tossed it backward without looking.

The powder followed the wind, coating Xu Mo and Lin Sa's faces.

A pungent, fishy stench instantly exploded from the two of them.

"Holy shit!"

Xu Mo instantly realized he had been sold out.

The giant lizard in the distance had been hesitating on which target to hunt, but the moment it caught the scent, its gray eyes locked onto Xu Mo, and it let out an extremely excited roar.

Its limbs clawed at the ground like an out-of-control high-speed train. Ignoring everyone else, it charged straight toward Xu Mo and Lin Sa!

"Old bastard!" Xu Mo cursed inwardly.

"This way!"

Lin Sa grabbed Xu Mo by the collar, her dagger in a reverse grip, and led him into the dense corpse forest to the side.

"Help... Help!"

At this time, the burly man in the team named Sturdy was caught by the "corpse flags" hanging from the surrounding trees because he ran too slowly. Those human skins seemed alive, tightening frantically and making his ankle bones creak.

Everyone else was running for their lives, and Old Ghost had long since vanished.

Lin Sa paused.

"Leave him! There's no time!" Xu Mo roared, the fishy wind behind them already close at hand.

Lin Sa gritted her teeth, a hint of struggle flashing in her eyes.

She suddenly fished a rusty copper coin from her pocket—a life-saving item she hadn't been willing to use in the Midnight Mansion instance.

"Break!"

Lin Sa turned and threw it.

The copper coin turned into a golden light, precisely severing the corpse flags entangling Sturdy.

"Scram!" Lin Sa barked, not giving Sturdy another look as she pulled Xu Mo into the darkness.

Sturdy fell to the ground, tears and snot flowing from his narrow escape. Without even time to say thank you, he scrambled and crawled away in another direction.

...

"Huff... huff..."

Inside the corpse forest, Xu Mo's lungs felt like they were on fire.

The roar behind them grew closer. Xiuhtecuhtli's massive body rampaged through the forest, turning everything in its path to dust.

What was even more lethal were the trees.

As they went deeper, the human skins and wraiths hanging from the branches seemed awakened by the scent of the living. Countless withered arms dangled from above like an inverted jungle of tentacles, frantically grabbing at their hair and shoulders.

The blood kiss in Lin Sa's hand danced into a red light, severing countless ghost hands, but those severed limbs turned into black smoke the moment they hit the ground; they were impossible to finish off.

The rotting aura stuck to them like glue, and Lin Sa's movements slowed visibly.

"Xu Mo... I can't go on..."

Lin Sa stumbled, her back torn open by a ghost hand. Before the blood could even flow, it was corroded black by the deathly energy.

Xu Mo reached back to support her and glanced behind.

The giant lizard had caught up to within a hundred meters. Its maw, carrying a heavy sulfurous stench, was slowly opening, and gray petrification light was gathering deep in its throat.

It's over.

We're really done for this time.

"Old Ghost... even as a ghost, I won't let you off..." Xu Mo pushed his glasses up, a trace of desperate ruthlessness flashing in his eyes.

His hand reached for Cain's Protection at his waist, preparing for a final life-and-death struggle. Even if he died, he would knock out a few of this beast's teeth!

Just then.

In the darkness ahead, a light interwoven with black and white suddenly lit up.

Pei Duo, in her invisible state, held a simple octagonal copper mirror, standing at the edge of the dense, ghost-realm-like blocking corpse forest.

The back of the mirror was engraved with Yin-Yang twin fish, and the surface flowed with a brilliance that could shine through the Nine Netherworlds.

Underworld Secret Treasure: Yin-Yang Mirror.

"A bunch of filthy things that won't rest in peace even after death, how dare you block this Palace's path?"

Pei Duo held the mirror with both hands and shone it fiercely at the dense, blocking corpse forest below!

Buzz—!!

A black-and-white pillar of light swept out.

This light had no physical lethality, but it carried the Laws of Rebirth blessed by the Eastern Underworld.

Before the majesty of the Eastern Yin Laws, these Western spirits, who had turned into resentment because they couldn't find their way home, were like snow meeting a blazing sun.

"Ah—"

Countless sighs of liberation rang out.

Wherever the pillar of light passed, those hideous corpse flags and twisted wraiths instantly returned to their living forms, bowed deeply toward Pei Duo, and then dissipated into green smoke.

That original dead end turned into a broad thoroughfare!