Chapter 551: Ancestral Land, Divine Continent

"The Ming Dynasty... has fallen?"

The people on the ship were all somewhat dazed, at a loss for what to do.

The Longevity Emperor, Emperor Jiajing, had died just like that?

Chen Tang was the first to snap back to his senses, and said in a deep voice, "The Western Ox New Continent is a vassal territory of the Divine Continent of China. I, the special envoy Chen Tang, have been ordered by the True King of the Western Ox New Continent to return to our ancestral homeland and request an audience with the Great Shun Emperor."

That great general hesitated for a moment, then said, "I dare not act on my own authority. This matter must first be reported to the Great Shun Emperor before your fates can be decided. I ask that you all first sail into the harbor to take shelter from the strong winds at sea, but until the imperial decree arrives, you must all remain on the ship and not set foot on the Divine Continent."

A small boat came sailing over, towing the Ming treasure ship into a sheltered harbor.

The people stood on the ship and looked out at both sides. They could see that the city walls were manned by formidable soldiers and warriors, each one radiating a vigorous aura and possessing profound cultivation.

The warriors of the Great Shun saw them and were also taken aback. Most of the people on the ship were corpses, yet they still stood erect on the deck, their bodies tall and straight, their fighting spirit high.

Whispers broke out all around. That great general coughed once, flew over to the ship, and carefully observed the group, frowning involuntarily.

He could sense that the people carried varying amounts of Demonic Energy within them, which was somewhat different from the righteous aura of the cultivators of the Divine Continent.

"Please, everyone, remain on the ship. Within ten days at most, word will arrive."

The group waited quietly. After more than ten days had passed, a messenger indeed hurried over to read out the decree of the Great Shun Emperor: "Summon the envoys of the Western Ox New Continent to the capital for an audience!"

Chen Tang led the group off the ship, preparing to follow the messenger to the capital.

At that moment, a commotion broke out behind them. Chen Tang and the others turned to look and saw the corpse of the True King, who had been sitting in command aboard the Ming treasure ship, suddenly stand up and walk off the ship. The civil and military officials, who had been dead for over six thousand years, followed behind him one after another, with the armored warriors bringing up the rear.

They walked down from this treasure ship of the Ming Dynasty and set foot on this land where their ancestors had once lived.

The Great Shun warriors around the harbor, who had been on guard against them, saw this and each summoned their magic treasures and readied their divine abilities.

Chen Tang hurried to the side of that great general and said in a low voice, "Sir, that is the former True King. He has been dead for a very long time. Over ten thousand years ago, they set out from the Divine Continent and came to the Western Ox New Continent, where they died. Their obsession was to return to their ancestral homeland. I beg you, sir, to be lenient..."

That great general raised his hand and did not order an attack. He said, "They are corpses. If they parade through the streets, I fear it will cause unnecessary panic."

Chen Tang said, "It won't, sir. It won't."

The True King set his feet firmly on the ground, knelt down, and gathered up handfuls of fresh soil in both hands, lifting them to smell the scent of the earth.

He prostrated himself, embracing the earth, kissing this land. His rigid body had long since died, yet tears flowed from the corners of his eyes, falling onto this very ground.

"Homeland..."

He said in a low voice. His obsession scattered, and his body rapidly withered away.

"Crash-"

His body collapsed like mud, turning to smoke and dust as it fell, merging with the earth.

Behind him, the civil and military officials and the armored warriors all collapsed one after another, turning into handfuls of dust that settled to the ground.

A hundred centuries of separation, and today they finally returned to their ancestral land, their long-cherished wish fulfilled.

"Sir, we are setting off now." Chen Tang said to that great general.

"The innocence of a child's heart. Truly admirable."

That great general was deeply moved and saw them off, saying, "I wish you all a smooth journey and the fulfillment of your goals!"

Chen Tang expressed his thanks and led the group to follow the messenger, embarking on the journey to the capital for an audience with the emperor.

On the sea off the Xinxiang Imperial Capital, the passenger ship carrying Chen Shi and the others came to a stop. The celestial fox cried out in alarm, "Something's wrong! Something's wrong! Blue Goat and the others' ship has sailed into the darkness!"

The people on the ship were thrown into a panic. Du Yiran immediately prepared to activate his divine ability of creation to enter the Dark Sea and search for them, but Chen Yindu coughed once, the sound shaking everyone's eardrums with a dull buzz. He said in a deep voice, "No need to look for them. They have been sent by Little Ten to the Earth Immortal Realm."

The people on the ship were each stunned for a moment. Sha Qiutong laughed and said, "Sent them to the Earth Immortal Realm? To go fetch reinforcements? That's wonderful!"

She was overjoyed: "The Earth Immortal Realm is full of powerful experts. Surely someone there can deal with the Celestial Venerable! We're saved! Eh, Old Man Chen, why do you look so glum? Say something!"

Chen Yindu remained silent. Creation Little Five said, "The Earth Immortal Realm is too far away. By the time the golden ship reaches it, we'll probably all be dead already. Hey, that golden ship should have been given to Little Ten by the Empress of Earth. It can only carry eight people. Only eight people can survive..."

Chen Shi walked over to Sha Qiutong, knelt down, and kowtowed heavily to her.

"Granny Sha, Little Ten was selfish. I have failed your teachings. I did not let you board the ship and leave!"

He knocked his head against the ground several times with a thud. Granny Sha was caught off guard, but suddenly came to her senses. She helped him up, wiped the tears from the corner of her eye, and said with a smile, "You are the True King. How could you kneel to me? Old Man Chen didn't leave, so how could I?"

Chen Shi walked over to Du Yiran, knelt, and kowtowed: "Little Ten has let you down, Uncle. I am ashamed before you!"

Du Yiran helped him up and said with a smile, "Child, you've done nothing wrong. Why should you feel ashamed? Don't blame yourself."

Chen Shi knelt before the celestial fox. Hu Xiaoliang quickly helped him up and said with a smile, "At least you sent away A Zhuo and Blue Goat. Now that the two of them are gone, we can rest easy. Little Ten, why did you stay behind?"

He sighed: "You could have sent Blue Goat down and taken his place on the ship. He's already died once before!"

His relationship with Blue Goat was the closest, and he couldn't bear to be separated from him.

Chen Shi walked over to Creation Little Five, who quickly jumped aside and said with a laugh, "Don't bow to me! I could have left, but I chose to stay of my own free will. You're not to blame! If you dare bow to me, I'll bow right back!"

Chen Shi looked at Chen Yindu: "Grandpa..."

Chen Yindu said, "No need to say anything more. Prepare for battle with everything we have. The Celestial Venerable should be about to walk out of Despair Slope."

Chen Shi nodded gently, and the passenger ship returned to the Xinxiang Imperial Capital.

Chen Yindu and Creation Little Five continued to ritual-refine the Recreate Heaven-and-Earth Furnace. Chen Shi went to Qianyang Mountain, where he summoned the Purple Heaven Vine and refined the Grand Supreme Purple Qi to increase his cultivation.

The Great Wilderness Ming Dao Collection was also gradually spreading. Cultivators everywhere were studying it, trying to cultivate this technique of cultivating both immortal and demonic paths. Sha Qiutong, Mu Daozi, and others were also delving into this technique. Some had already begun to cultivate it with modest success.

On this day, the Empress of Earth finally finished ritual-refining her own Purple Heaven Vine to perfection, merging it with the cycle of reincarnation and transforming it into the spiritual root of the Earth Spirit lineage. She had just let out a breath of relief when suddenly she looked up and saw a streak of blood-red color appear in the sky of the underworld.

This blood-red hue spread rapidly outward like a red glow, growing larger and thicker, transforming into a grey cloud of flesh that extended in all directions.

The flesh spread at an incredibly fast pace. Tendril after tendril stabbed outward in all directions, piercing through the void, and then membranes of flesh grew, covering everything with bloody tissue. Soon it had expanded to a thousand li in size!

The Empress of Earth looked around and saw that in the sky of the underworld, patches of blood-red were spreading out one after another, covering the entire underworld like giant flowers, gradually obscuring the sky.

"Your Ladyship!"

Daoist Willow also noticed this sight and hurriedly rushed over.

The Empress of Earth raised her hand to stop him, gazing up at the scene.

The flesh in the sky squirmed and writhed, slowly filling the vast expanse of the underworld sky.

"Is its true body really this big?"

Even the Empress of Earth couldn't help but draw in a sharp breath.

The underworld of the Western Ox New Continent stretched roughly millions of li across, with layers upon layers of hells and various void realms besides. But all of the sky was covered by this monster's body.

And this was not even the monster's full body.

The surface of the sun, the surface of the moon, and each and every star in the starry sky of the Western Ox New Continent were all covered in flesh.

The monster's true body had not come to the Western Ox New Continent. Only its tentacles had reached it.

Rolling waves of Demonic Energy surged out from the flesh, filling heaven and earth, causing the concentration of Demonic Energy in the world to grow higher and higher!

Many living creatures were unable to resist the invasion of Demonic Energy and began to demonize. Ghosts and monsters became even more twisted. Ghost clan members living in the underworld would immediately demonize if their cultivation was even slightly weak, turning into mindless monsters of flesh.

"The Celestial Venerable is called Xun Jiangmu. That being the case, you should be called Xun Jiang..."

The Empress of Earth raised her head and looked at the grey clouds of flesh in the sky. "The Celestial Venerable is really just an immortal responsible for herding. Commanding Gold Immortals to herd, destroying the starry sky, devouring the sun and moon, harming countless lives. Over the years, he must have refined you into something quite powerful. You're meant to be a treasure used to deal with Opening the Calamity, aren't you?"

Her voice seemed to carry an endless gentleness, enough to plunge any consciousness into the cycle of reincarnation, forgetting who they were, leaving them at her mercy.

"Your master must be a great figure in the Earth Immortal Realm. His calamity's fate is too powerful. He has no confidence in surviving Opening the Calamity, so he chose this method that defies heaven and earth, destroying one world after another, using these worlds to refine you and make you grow, hoping that you can help him survive the calamity."

The Empress of Earth said softly, "Xun Jiang, tell me, who is your master?"

The flesh spreading across the sky squirmed slowly. It seemed that the consciousness within the flesh had become somewhat hazy and blurred under the voice of the Empress of Earth.

That consciousness came into contact with the Empress of Earth's thoughts, and a obscure voice came through: "Xun Jiang is not my name... Xun Jiang is a place name. This place is the Xun Jiang Star Region..."

Suddenly, it snapped back to its senses and flew into a rage. A meat spike descended from the canopy of flesh in the sky, stabbing toward the Empress of Earth!

An obscure consciousness came from within the flesh, forcing back the Empress of Earth's mental intrusion.

"A deity daring to interfere with the affairs of an immortal. You have some nerve!"

The upper end of that meat spike was massive, like a mountain, while the lower end was extremely sharp, like a fine needle. In an instant, it crossed dozens of li and arrived above the Empress of Earth's head.

The leaves of the Purple Heaven Vine expanded to an enormous size, blocking this strike. Then, countless flesh tentacles in the sky transformed into various strange weapons-spears, sabers, swords, halberds, axes, battle-axes, hooks, and forks-attacking from all directions with extremely bizarre onslaughts.

Around the high mound, the Purple Heaven Vine danced in circles, with large and small vine leaves growing out in all directions, blocking all these attacks without a single gap!

The Empress of Earth continued to look up at the sky, a thoughtful expression on her face. She said in a low voice, "When my avatar descended, this person dared to ambush and kill me on the way. Truly audacious beyond measure. I'll keep this debt in mind! You've offended this palace, and you will not survive this Opening the Calamity! This palace will settle accounts with you properly!"