95: Chapter 87 The Boundary Shatters! Next Stop: Yomotsu Hirasaka!

After three rounds of drinks, the air on the Deer Terrace had grown stiflingly thick.

Pei Duo pushed herself up, steadying herself on the bronze railing. Her eyes were noticeably clearer.

"I want to go up high for some fresh air and sober up."

"A fine idea, Your Highness."

Daji immediately set down her jade chopsticks, her face adorned with an impeccable, gentle smile.

"The peak of the Deer Terrace is called the Star-Plucking Tower; the view is unparalleled. I shall lead the way for you."

Saying this, she waved away her attendants, personally lifted the hem of her skirt, and led the three of them past the group of thoroughly drunk nobles, stepping onto the coiled dragon jade steps leading to the highest point.

As soon as he stepped onto the stairs, Xu Mo’s pace faltered slightly.

He looked down at the white marble floor beneath his feet.

The residual wine in his cup was forming extremely fine ripples, and his soles could clearly sense a heavy, rhythmic vibration.

This vibration did not come from the earth’s crust, but rather from... deep underground.

"This tower..." Lin Sa, walking at the rear, unconsciously placed her hand on the railing, her knuckles turning slightly white from the pressure.

As a top-tier assassin, her environmental feedback was sharper than radar.

"The foundation is moving," Lin Sa murmured, her voice tinged with disbelief. "And the frequency is steady, as if it’s... driving."

"Driving?" Pei Duo was momentarily stunned and subconsciously quickened her steps.

A few minutes later, the three reached the open-air terrace on the top floor of the hundred-meter-high Star-Plucking Tower.

The view instantly opened up, and a biting cold wind, mixed with clouds, rushed toward them, instantly sweeping away the lingering scent of alcohol.

However, when Pei Duo clearly saw the scene before her, her pupils instantly shrank to pinpricks.

"Holy crap..."

Even the usually composed Xu Mo couldn't help but curse under his breath.

This was hardly a stationary palace outpost! This was clearly a colossal steel beast rampaging across the land!

At this very moment, the magnificent Deer Terrace beneath their feet was hurtling backward at an astonishing speed.

A massive roar echoed from the base of the platform a hundred meters below, like ten million giant beasts roaring simultaneously.

Pei Duo gripped the railing and glanced down, her entire worldview instantly shattered.

The very bottom of the Deer Terrace wasn't a foundation buried in earth and stone, but thousands of giant bronze rollers, each over ten meters in diameter!

These rollers were cast with ferocious Taotie patterns, resembling countless wildly spinning meat grinders, mercilessly crushing the rocks and trees in their path.

"Rumble—"

A few ancient trees, thick enough for three people to encircle, were as fragile as toothpicks before the massive wheels. They were instantly sucked into the hub, turning into a cloud of wood chips and dust amidst a teeth-grinding crackle.

"This... is this the yin-shang dynasty's 'Imperial Tour'?" Pei Duo felt her worldview being ground to dust by those rolling wheels.

"Your Highness is startled."

Daji fanned herself with a five-colored feather fan, her hair whipping wildly in the wind, yet her face remained perfectly serene.

She walked to the edge of the railing, pointed at the rolling dust cloud below, and spoke with the pride of a citizen of a great nation:

"This Deer Terrace is the Imperial War Chariot, built at the cost of the entire nation's strength. It serves as both a temporary palace and a mobile fortress for conquering the world."

As she spoke, she turned to look at Pei Duo, her eyes flowing with charm.

"Now that the world belongs to the Underworld Son of Heaven, this Deer Terrace naturally becomes Your Highness's carriage. We are merely strolling through our own back garden, inspecting the magnificent rivers and mountains of the Eastern Netherworld."

Pei Duo listened, momentarily stunned.

Although she felt something was amiss, thinking about her older brother's tendency to 'never play by the rules,' it seemed... somewhat reasonable?

"The atmosphere is wrong."

Xu Mo turned around, looking directly into Daji's devastatingly beautiful face, his tone aggressive.

"The Eastern Netherworld values 'order within a square, with earth virtue as paramount.' The terrestrial energy here should be yin, damp, and heavy. But the yin energy here is viscous like glue, the vegetation resembles skeletons, and there's a strong smell of the sea."

He took a step forward, and the oppressive aura of a top strategist instantly erupted.

"This is absolutely not the climate of the inland Netherworld. Royal Consort, hasn't this carriage... taken a wrong turn?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Sa silently let her hand drop from the dagger hilt she had been holding near her waist.

Faced with Xu Mo's questioning, which practically screamed 'You are lying,' Daji showed no panic. Instead, she let out a soft laugh.

She covered her mouth with her feather fan, her fox-like eyes filled with mockery, as if looking at an ignorant country bumpkin.

"Military Advisor, you have read your books too rigidly."

Daji sighed lightly and turned to Pei Duo, displaying an expression of helplessness.

"Your Highness, your Military Advisor probably doesn't know the grand vision of His Majesty, the Underworld Son of Heaven."

She pointed at the strange dark-red land below, her voice filled with fanatical admiration.

"This is indeed not the traditional Central Plains Netherworld. This place is called the 'Ghostly Floating Coast,' a barbarian exclave that the Underworld Son of Heaven conquered just half a month ago!"

"A conquered exclave?" Pei Duo's eyes lit up.

"I see.", Pei Duo nodded, and the last shred of doubt in her heart was dispelled by this 'humblebragging' explanation.

Xu Mo: "..."

He opened his mouth but found himself utterly speechless.

Any unreasonable phenomenon could be explained away with, 'That’s what the Underworld Son of Heaven did.'

This was practically a patch that struck down dimensions.

Lin Sa released the hand gripping her dagger, shrugged, and gave Xu Mo a look that said, 'You worry too much.'

"Since Your Highness is interested in the structure of the Deer Terrace, perhaps you should look at this as well."

Daji countered his move. To completely divert their attention, she walked to the center of the terrace and stepped on a hollow jade disc on the floor.

"Buzz—"

The sound of machinery echoed, and the jade disc slowly moved aside, revealing a bottomless 'Heaven-Penetrating Well.'

A wave of heat instantly washed over them.

The three peered down.

They saw that directly beneath the Star-Plucking Tower, at the core depths of the Deer Terrace, massive bronze gears, tightly interlocked, were spinning wildly.

And what drove these gears was not the green ghost fire or vengeful souls Xu Mo had anticipated.

It was a surging, roaring blaze interwoven with dark gold and blood red!

The flames roared in the furnace, and every exhalation released terrifying kinetic energy capable of shaking mountains.

"This is..." Lin Sa felt a stinging pain in her eyes after just one glance.

"This is a perpetual motion furnace fueled by 'Karma Fire,'" Daji explained casually. "Only the purest sins can propel the war chariot of the Great Yin."

Everyone's attention was captured by this spectacular power core.

"Royal Consort," Xu Mo’s voice was somewhat dry, "isn't the speed of this Deer Terrace a little too fast?"

"Rumble—"

As if to confirm his suspicion, the vibration beneath their feet intensified again.

The giant bronze hubs emitted a grating sound of metal friction, and the speed was actually increasing!

"Fast?"

Daji smiled and walked over, naturally draping a white fox fur cloak over Pei Duo to block the wind.

She stood with her back to Xu Mo, the angle preventing him from seeing the fleeting coldness in the depths of her eyes.

"Since Your Highness has made the effort to visit, I naturally must make this Deer Terrace run faster so Your Highness can see more sights."

Daji’s voice was so gentle it seemed ready to drip water. "The scenery ahead is something you absolutely cannot see anywhere else."

Pei Duo pulled the fur cloak tighter around herself, gazing at the surging sea of clouds ahead, her eyes full of anticipation.

And in the blind spot where no one could see,

At the very front of the Deer Terrace, the massive bronze front wheel, covered in mud and shattered wood, was mercilessly crushing an ancient stone tablet standing in the wilderness with the kinetic energy of billions of tons.

Two ancient, mottled seal script characters were carved on the tablet—[Boundary Gate].

"Crack!"

The stone tablet instantly disintegrated into powder, sucked under the rolling wheels.

As this boundary marker shattered, the grayish mist ahead abruptly changed.

It was not the Netherworld fog of the East.

It was a sea fog reeking heavily of sulfur and churning with scarlet, blood-red light.

This speeding bronze demon tower, carrying three completely unsuspecting 'VIP guests,'

Like a runaway war chariot, it roared out of the Chinese Underworld,

Plunging headlong into the abyss of a foreign pantheon—the Land of Yomi in Japanese mythology!