I transmigrated to a chaotic world and became the sole player.

The decaying fog deep within the "Deadly Wasteland" was as thick as ink, severely obstructing vision and relentlessly eroding the protective aura and devouring life force. For ordinary cultivators, every moment spent here was an ordeal.

Using the [Return to Emptiness and Concealed Breath Technique] and the [Flowing Cloud Step], Lu Zhao moved like a shadow blending into the mist, swiftly traversing the jagged rocks and cracked earth. The bone map in his hand clearly marked a relatively "safe" path—not without danger, but avoiding several areas marked with skulls on the map, representing extremely dangerous zones.

Behind them, the pursuit of the "Qingfeng Squad" did not stop, but the distance between them and Lu Zhao had gradually increased. In this environment, which was like a quagmire to them, Senior Brother Chen and the others had to resist the erosion of the fog and be wary of possible dangers (not marked on the map), which greatly affected their speed. They could only keep up with the faint trace of Lu Zhao's presence from afar and grit their teeth to keep up.

"This kid seems to know this godforsaken place better than we do!" The short, stocky disciple panted heavily, swinging his axe to cleave aside a tentacle formed from mist that attacked from the side, his face grim.

"He must have gotten the map from the monument!" the tall, thin gunman said angrily. "Senior Brother Chen, if we keep chasing him, we'll exhaust ourselves too much."

Senior Brother Chen's face was ashen. The strange gray aura within him had not been completely dispelled, causing his spiritual energy to circulate poorly. Now, running through this gloomy place, his condition was deteriorating. But as he looked at the figure that was faintly visible in the mist ahead, seemingly familiar with the terrain, his eyes burned with even greater greed and resentment.

"Chase him! He's only at the fifth level of Qi Refining, so his energy expenditure is no less than ours! Besides, the benefits he gains are worth the risk!" Senior Brother Chen gritted his teeth and swallowed another Qi-restoring pill. "Be careful, don't let us be caught off guard."

On the other side, Lu Zhao also felt the pressure. Although he had temporarily created some distance, the continuous consumption of the [Return to the Void Concealing Breath Technique] and [Flowing Cloud Step] was considerable, and his spiritual power was slowly decreasing. More importantly, as they went deeper, the surrounding aura of decay and death grew stronger, and even some more bizarre phenomena began to appear.

For example, pale green phosphorescence, like will-o'-the-wisps, occasionally drifts from the cracks in the ground, emanating a chilling aura. Once approached, it actively draws in, attempting to erode spiritual power and the soul. Lu Zhao has to distract himself by using the [Refining Spirit Technique] to disperse it, or by using a wisp of annihilation energy to drive it away.

For example, within the mist, distorted, human-shaped silhouettes began to appear. They drifted silently, without any physical form, but being "watched" by them caused a sense of unease and dizziness. Lu Zhao guessed that these might be more refined resentment or remnant souls, more dangerous than the previous misty shadows. He tried to avoid them, and when he couldn't, he attempted to interfere with them using the [Soul Gathering Technique] of the *Nine Nether Soul Control Technique*, or by drawing upon a wisp of annihilation energy to force them back. These "things" seemed quite wary of the annihilation energy, often drifting away on their own when Lu Zhao approached.

Following the map, we hurried along for nearly an hour. Suddenly, the fog ahead thinned, and the suffocating sense of decay in the air reached its peak. Then, as if it had broken through a certain critical point, it suddenly weakened considerably.

Lu Zhao burst out of the thick fog, and the scene before him made him slightly taken aback.

Ahead, the endless wasteland was no longer visible. A vast, silent river, its dark gray waters flowing slowly, stretched across the edge of the wasteland. The water was viscous, like mercury, its surface shimmering with a faint phosphorescence. The opposite bank was invisible, as if connecting to the underworld. A deathly, gray-black aura, even denser than that of the wasteland, permeated the river, forming a low-hanging, oppressive "mist."

On the riverbank, not far from Lu Zhao, there was a simple dock consisting of a few crooked black stone pillars and a square boulder covered in moss. On the boulder, three ancient characters were engraved in gray runes of the same origin as the Nine Netherworld Path: "Soul River Crossing".

This is the "Soul River Ferry" marked on the map.

A deathly silence fell before the ferry crossing. There were no boats, no people, only the slowly flowing, awe-inspiring gray river of souls. Scattered along the riverbank were fragments of decaying boat planks and rusted anchors, indicating that a ferry service might have once existed here, but had long been abandoned.

"The River of Souls... what a fitting name." Lu Zhao could sense that what flowed in the river was not ordinary river water, but a highly condensed, eerie energy mixed with the resentment of countless remnant souls and the aura of annihilation! Just standing on the bank, the cold, deathly aura emanating from it, which seemed to freeze the soul, slowed down the circulation of Qi and blood in his body's "Sleeping Dragon" technique, while the aura of annihilation became unusually active.

"The map indicates that we need to cross this ferry to reach the 'Nine Nether Altar.' But... how do we get there?" Lu Zhao frowned. Swim across? That would be suicide. Fly across? The deathly aura and unknown restrictions above the River of Souls would likely be even more dangerous.

He approached the ferry crossing and carefully observed the black stone pillars and square boulders. The runes carved on the pillars were similar to those on the "Nether Tomb" and the "Broken Stele," but they seemed to form a rudimentary teleportation or summoning array. The three characters "Soul River Ferry" on the boulder were written with vigorous strokes and faintly emitted spatial fluctuations.

"Could it be... that a specific token or incantation is needed to activate the ferry's array and summon the ferry?" Lu Zhao pondered. He tried pressing the fragment of the Nine Nether Token close to the boulder. The fragment warmed slightly and resonated with the boulder, but the ferry's array did not react.

He tried injecting spiritual power and even summoning a trace of annihilation energy, but still nothing happened.

"It seems that either the formation is damaged, or a more complete token is needed, or... a special 'ferry fee' is required?" Lu Zhao recalled that in some strange tales, crossing the River Styx required paying a "ferry fee," which was often the "memory," "emotions," or... "soul" of the living?

Just as he was pondering, thick fog rolled behind him, and four slightly disheveled figures rushed out one after another—it was the "Qingfeng Squad"!

When the four saw Lu Zhao standing in front of the ferry and the eerie River of Souls, they were all stunned for a moment, then a sinister smile appeared on their faces.

"Kid, can't run anymore? Let's see where you run to!" The short, stocky disciple, panting heavily, carried his two axes, but his eyes still held a murderous intent.

"Hand over what you obtained from the monument! And I might leave you a whole corpse!" The tall, thin man pointed his long spear at Lu Zhao, the tip gleaming coldly.

Senior Brother Chen and the petite female disciple also surrounded Lu Zhao, blocking his retreat. Although the four of them were quite exhausted, they believed they had victory in their grasp against Lu Zhao, who was in dire straits (blocked by the River of Souls).

Lu Zhao slowly turned around to face the four people. His face showed no panic, but rather a strange calmness.

"Senior brothers, are you really going to kill them all? This place is strange. Why don't we find a way to cross the river first, and then make a plan?" Lu Zhao said calmly.

"Crossing the river? Hmph, once we capture you and search your soul, we'll know how to cross!" Senior Brother Chen sneered, already convinced that Lu Zhao had obtained all the secrets, including the map, from the monument.

"Since that's the case... then there's nothing more to say." Lu Zhao's eyes suddenly turned cold. He knew that this battle was unavoidable. Moreover, at this Soul River ferry, the environment might be more favorable to him.

"Attack!" Senior Brother Chen shouted, and the four of them attacked simultaneously! Sword energy, axe light, spear shadows, and lightning beads bombarded Lu Zhao from four directions! They had learned from their previous mistakes and were no longer underestimating their opponent. They went all out from the start, aiming to kill or severely injure him in one blow!

Faced with this overwhelming attack, a glint flashed in Lu Zhao's eyes, and he instantly activated the [Flowing Cloud Step], his figure retreating rapidly like a ghost, directly towards the slowly flowing River of Souls!

"He wants to jump into the river?!" The short, stocky disciple was taken aback.

"You're courting death!" The tall, thin gunman sneered. The eerie aura of the Soul River made even them feel uneasy; jumping in would surely mean certain death.

However, Lu Zhao did not jump into the river. Just as he reached the edge of the riverbank and was about to touch the dark gray water, he suddenly stopped and simultaneously raised both hands!

This time, he no longer used the "talisman sword". Instead, he scattered all the remaining first-tier mid-grade and high-grade attack and control talismans on his body like a celestial maiden scattering flowers, aimlessly at the four people rushing towards him, as well as... the ground beneath their feet and the surrounding mist!

"BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—!!"

Violent explosions, flames, ice spikes, golden light, vines, and ground spikes... instantly transformed the area dozens of feet in front of the ferry into an elemental inferno! Although the power of a single talisman was not as great as that of a "talisman sword," the quantity made up for the quality. Moreover, such dense and indiscriminate bombardment instantly disrupted the "Azure Edge Squad's" offensive, forcing them to scramble to defend and dodge.

Amidst the cover and chaos of the exploding talismans, Lu Zhao did three things.

First, he quietly mixed the last bit of controllable annihilation energy he had accumulated in his body with a large amount of spiritual power and injected it into the Soul-Silent Pearl (a high-grade first-tier pearl) in his arms. Then, he used all his strength to throw it into the Soul River, into the area where the four of them were relatively close together!

Second, he suddenly bit his tongue, spitting out a mouthful of blood essence mixed with spiritual power, and sprinkled it on the three characters "Soul River Ferry" on the square boulder at the ferry crossing! At the same time, he pressed the fragment of the Nine Nether Order hard into the center of the boulder!

Third, the instant he completed the first two steps, he leaped without hesitation into the seemingly doomed River of Souls! However, he did not leap into the center of the river, but rather sideways along the bank, attempting to land in the shadows of an explosion and fog downstream.

"burst!"

Lu Zhao silently shouted in his heart. The Soul-Silent Pearl, which he had activated with a special method to unleash all its annihilating energy and soul power, exploded with a bang as it fell into the Soul River and approached the surface near the "Azure Edge Squad"!

"Buzz—!!!"

There was no earth-shattering roar, only a muffled hum that seemed to come from the depths of the soul! A pure, rich, and desolate shockwave of annihilation soul power, filled with annihilation and wailing, suddenly spread out from the point of explosion! Gray light instantly illuminated the dim ferry crossing!

"Not good!" Senior Brother Chen was the first to be hit. He felt a cold, deathly, soul-piercing force crashing into his protective aura and the gray aura he had just suppressed. The two clashed violently in an instant! He groaned, his face turned deathly pale, and black blood seeped from his seven orifices! His soul had been severely injured!

The short, stocky disciple and the tall, thin spearman were a little further away, but they were still struck as if by a heavy blow. Their protective spiritual light fluctuated violently, their minds buzzed, and their movements instantly froze. The petite female disciple screamed even more miserably, as the lightning bead in her hand went out of control and exploded in front of her, blasting her backward and causing her to be seriously injured and cough up blood.

However, the power of the Soul-Silent Pearl's explosion was far more than that! Its pure annihilating soul power, like a spark thrown into boiling oil, instantly stirred up the vast and chaotic soul power and resentment that had been dormant in the River of Souls for countless years!

"Waaaaah—!"

Suddenly, countless mournful, painful, and resentful wails echoed from within the River of Souls! The dark gray river surface churned violently as if boiling! One after another, more solid and ferocious gray-black ghostly figures, formed from pure resentment and soul power, surged wildly from the river and the mist like sharks smelling blood, rushing towards the four members of the "Azure Edge Team" who were closest to the riverbank and whose souls were unstable and their auras disordered by the impact of the Soul-Silent Pearl!

These ghostly figures are far stronger than the misty shadows in the wasteland. Some of them even exude terrifying fluctuations of late-stage Qi Refining! They ignore physical attacks; only attacks containing masculine, thunderous, purifying, or homogeneous annihilation power can cause them effective damage.

"ah!!"

"Help me!"

"Get out of here!"

Screams, shouts, and the roar of spells instantly filled the air in front of the ferry! The four members of the "Azure Edge Squad" were suddenly surrounded and attacked by countless ghostly figures! They were already in poor condition, and this sudden and terrifying attack, far exceeding their previous attacks, put them in grave danger!

Just as the Soul-Silent Pearl exploded and ghostly figures surged forth, the essence blood and spiritual power that Lu Zhao sprayed onto the "Soul River Crossing" boulder actually reacted under the resonance of the Nine Nether Order fragment!

The three ancient characters on the boulder suddenly glowed with a dim gray light! Immediately afterward, the several crooked black stone pillars also trembled slightly, and the runes on the pillars lit up one by one! A simple gray light array, about ten feet in diameter, slowly appeared and rotated in the sky above the river in front of the ferry.

Within the array of light, a dilapidated phantom boat, made of some kind of black wood, could be vaguely seen slowly emerging from the mist deep within the River of Souls! The boat had no oars or sails, with a lantern emitting a ghostly green light hanging at its bow, and a hunched boatman, his face obscured, sitting at the stern.

The ferry was summoned! But clearly, Lu Zhao's meager essence and spiritual power, along with the tattered Nine Nether Token, could only barely activate the array and summon the ferry phantom. Moreover, it was extremely unstable, with the light array flickering and the small boat arriving at an extremely slow speed.

"We must get on the ship!" Despite the weakness caused by the loss of his essence and spiritual power, as well as the backlash from the Soul-Silent Pearl, Lu Zhao exerted his strength again the moment he landed (he jumped horizontally and landed on a protruding rock downstream), and desperately leaped towards the ferry light array that had just appeared and was not yet fully solidified!

"Stop him! Don't let him board the boat!" Although Senior Brother Chen was surrounded by ghostly figures and unable to protect himself, he was filled with rage when he saw that Lu Zhao had actually summoned the ferry. He roared hoarsely. He knew that once Lu Zhao boarded the boat and left, they would completely lose the chance to track him down and seize the opportunity, and they would have to face countless terrifying ghostly figures!

The short, stocky disciple, who was closer, roared in anger upon hearing this. Ignoring the ghostly figures rushing towards him from behind, he hurled his double axes, which transformed into two sharp beams of light that crossed and slashed at Lu Zhao, who was leaping in the air! This was a mutually destructive fighting style, and he himself was immediately struck by several ghostly figures, letting out a shrill scream.

Lu Zhao was suspended in mid-air, with nowhere to gain leverage. Seeing the two axe beams about to strike him, a ruthless glint flashed in his eyes. He neither dodged nor evaded, but merely twisted his body to avoid vital points, simultaneously striking his body with the last [Golden Light Talisman]!

"Pfft! Pfft!"

Two axe flashes, one shattering the golden light shield, the other slamming into Lu Zhao's left shoulder! Blood spurted out, the wound deep enough to expose bone! A sharp pain shot through him, and Lu Zhao groaned, his momentum slowing as he faltered.

However, in that life-or-death moment, the illusory boat in the ferry light array seemed to sense the "fare" (the essence of Lu Zhao's blood and the aura of the fragment of the Nine Nether Order). The eerie green lantern at the bow of the boat flashed, and a soft, pulling gray light shot out, instantly enveloping the injured and falling Lu Zhao and pulling him violently towards the light array!

Lu Zhao felt his body lighten, and before his eyes blurred, he had passed through the flickering gray light array and crashed heavily onto the cold deck of the dilapidated boat!

"Set sail..." A hoarse, dry voice, like two stones rubbing together, rang in Lu Zhao's ears. It was the illusory figure of the boatman in a straw raincoat at the stern.

The small boat moved automatically without wind, slowly changing direction and heading towards the depths of the River of Souls, into the endless gray-black mist. The light array quickly dimmed and dissipated after Lu Zhao boarded the boat.

"No—!" Behind them came Senior Brother Chen's desperate and unwilling roar, as well as his companion's even more mournful screams, which were quickly drowned out by the surging ghostly wails and the sobbing of the River of Souls.

Lu Zhao lay on the cold deck of the small boat, blood gushing from the wound on his left shoulder, with excruciating pain and weakness constantly assaulting him. He struggled to take out the [Healing Pill] and the last drop of [Life and Death Liquid (diluted)] and swallowed them, then used his spiritual power to seal the wound.

He struggled to sit up, looking at the silent, statue-like silhouette of the boatman in his straw raincoat at the stern, then at the ferry crossing receding into the distance, shrouded in countless ghostly figures and gray mist, and at several figures vaguely visible, struggling in despair.

Surviving the ordeal brought no joy, only coldness and exhaustion.

"The Soul River Ferry... truly lives up to its reputation."

He withdrew his gaze and looked in the direction the small boat had traveled. Ahead lay an even denser, seemingly all-consuming gray-black mist, and... from the depths of the mist, a faint, chilling, ancient, and malevolent aura emanated.

Is that the direction where the "Nine Nether Altar" is located?

Lu Zhao clenched his fists, letting the small boat carry him toward that unknown, possibly more dangerous, other shore.