Above the Great Dao

Fortunately, Chen Shi was a skeleton who didn't need to breathe, or he would have drowned in the water long ago.

"Granny is that powerful?"

Chen Shi was extremely surprised. Granny Sha looked just like a little old lady from the countryside, skilled in summoning souls to make a living. He never expected her to be so formidable!

A bluish stone path bridged the Yin and Yang worlds, and even marched upon it to slay her way to the River of Oblivion in the underworld to rescue him!

Could such a feat be achieved by a little old granny from the countryside?

"Grandpa said that when I was injured years ago, she went everywhere, trying by every means to summon my soul."

Chen Shi suddenly thought, if Granny Sha were to use her full power to summon his soul, what a spectacular scene that would be?

But he didn't remember anything.

All memories from two years ago had turned into mere bubbles of dreams, a complete blank.

Chen Shi tried to swim towards the bluish stone path but was overturned by the surging rapids time and again.

The water here flowed more and more rapidly, becoming fiercer as he approached the surface. The strength of those grotesque figures on wooden boats was not to be taken lightly, and more troubling was their increasing number!

More wooden boats sped from afar, each carrying a tall, bizarre figure, joining the battle to besiege Granny Sha!

Even though the Supreme Trigram Protection Technique was extremely potent, Granny Sha was struggling tremendously.

Looking up from below, Chen Shi could see bluestones continuously flying off and exploding, shortening the path connecting the two realms.

The number of these towering grotesque figures was so great that Granny Sha might not hold out for much longer!

The drumming became more and more urgent, clearly revealing Granny Sha's inner desperation.

Chen Shi grew increasingly agitated, as the tall and thin skeletal figure rolling with him in the rapids was closing in fast, and soon, might catch him.

Suddenly, Chen Shi spotted a Bone Fish, Big Gun, over thirty feet long in the raging current, and felt a stir in his heart. He stopped fighting against the current and swam with the flow towards Big Gun.

Big Gun, though reduced to bones, with its fins and spikes still retaining the shape of a fish, swam much faster than Chen Shi and the tall, thin bones.

As Big Gun charged toward him, Chen Shi immediately grabbed onto a fin with one hand, while holding onto the copper lamp with the other. He instantly felt a tremendous force pulling him as the violent bumps were transmitted, and Big Gun carried him at an extremely fast speed through the water!

Chen Shi was both startled and delighted, when suddenly Big Gun's speed slowed a bit. Glancing back, he saw the tall, thin skeleton grasping onto Big Gun's tail, interlocking its hands as it climbed upward.

"Relentless spirit!"

Chen Shi gritted his teeth, threaded his arms through the goat horns, and strapped the goat-horn copper lamp onto his back, then crisscrossed his hands to climb forward as well.

The tall, thin skeleton was faster, and given that Big Gun's body was only about thirty feet long, it wouldn't take long for it to catch him.

Chen Shi buried his head and climbed forward, but the fish backbone was too thick, and nearly slipped down. He had to climb strenuously to the spine, using both hands and feet, and stepped on the big bones on the fish's belly in a struggle towards the gills.

The tall, thin skeleton pursued from behind, its white bony hands, four times larger than that of a normal human, reached out towards his hind legs.

Chen Shi retracted his legs in a hurry, avoiding the grab, and finally reached the gills and swiftly dove in.

The tall, thin skeleton also reached the gills, but was too large to squeeze in and could only stretch its long arms, desperately reaching inside to grab.

Chen Shi hid in the fish mouth, doing his best to dodge the huge bony hands.

The white bone hand's sharp bone tips were extremely lethal—if touched, they would easily slice through his bones!

Suddenly, Chen Shi's gaze fell on the fish hook and iron chain that were on Big Gun's throat bone, the very ones he encountered when he first entered the River of Oblivion.

Chen Shi immediately took down the fish hook and wrapped the iron chain around his somewhat frail right arm bone, then smashed it towards the white bone hand.

That white bone hand had many deep wounds—if he could shatter it, he would face much less of a threat.

But as soon as his fist wrapped in the iron chain touched the hand's arm bone, the shock caused his entire skeleton to feel as if it were falling apart, an extraordinary discomfort.

Sensing the touch, the large hand immediately bent towards Chen Shi, reaching out to grab him.

At the same time, Big Gun swam faster and faster, when suddenly a pale blue light surged from nowhere, engulfing Chen Shi, the gaunt white skeleton, and Big Gun all at once!

Simultaneously, Granny Sha's blue stone path also collapsed with a thunderous crash, and standing at the end of the path, Granny Sha let out a sigh that seemed helpless to reverse fate, her form being pulled by an invisible force, retreating towards the living world.

"Buzz!"

Beside the River De, the altar vibrated intensely, and Granny Sha's figure abruptly appeared on the altar, her energy rapidly declining.

The tumultuous waves stirred by the spatial tremor unsteadied the Five Ghost Kings, sending them sliding backward, and the altar too groaned under pressure, collapsing!

Granny Sha, however, stared straight ahead, where the river surface had dark energy dispersing, and the blue stone path had completely collapsed, vanishing from sight.

Her body trembled, and she couldn't help but let old tears fall.

She had failed to save the child once again.

Just like that year.

At that moment, the river surface suddenly split open as a large fish, emitting a dark blue light, leapt out of the water. It opened its wide, tooth-filled mouth and, with a spray, spit out a dark mass.

That dark mass unfolded in mid-air, small and indeed Chen Shi, still carrying a ram-horned bronze lamp on his back that was nearly his height, and it was still lit, casting a faint light.

Chen Shi stretched out in mid-air, heading towards the shore, and in his hand, he still held a piece of the iron chain, its end now a large fish hook.

It seemed that the fish hook had gotten stuck in Big Gun's throat, preventing it from being swallowed, so it had no choice but to spit him out.

On Big Gun's gills, there shockingly perched a creature with a horse's head and human body—emaciated and tall, towering three to five times the height of an adult, but it was covered in blood, riddled with wounds, and missing a leg.

This horse-headed creature was the tall, gaunt white skeleton that had been pursuing Chen Shi, an envoy of the underworld, who due to severe injuries, had to hide under the River of Oblivion to save its own life. Now, having its ram-horned bronze lamp stolen by Chen Shi, it ignored its own severe injuries and followed Big Gun to the living world.

Just like Chen Shi and Big Gun, in the instant it crossed over, it too regained its flesh and blood body.

With the restoration of its physical body, its injuries also returned.

Its wounds were much more severe than the ones it had sustained nine years ago!

The horse-headed creature would by no means allow the theft of the ram-horned bronze lamp to go unchallenged, and with a jump on its single leg, it lunged towards Chen Shi from behind.

Granny Sha watched, dumbfounded and completely unaware of the reasons behind all this.

Then with a booming sound, Chen Shi crouched down on bent knees and landed steadily.

But behind him, Big Gun once again breached the water's surface, opened its wide, gaping mouth, and swallowed the horse-headed creature that had lunged at Chen Shi in mid-air, before plunging back into the water with a splash, raising waves several feet high.