Stranger Danger-Chapter 1772: Myriad Beast Forest Ascension Heaven

“As tall as the sky, as vast as the earth. Its name hangs like the sun and the moon, visible to all gods and demons. This is the description of the Southern Heaven Gate of the Divine Court,” Feng Qingyou said.

In ancient times, the Divine Court boasted four gates: east, west, north and south. Of the four gates, the Southern Heaven Gate was the most famous. Whenever the Divine Court held a grand feast, countless gods and demons would enter through the Southern Heaven Gate, celestials and palace maids would dance in welcome, heavenly soldiers and generals would stand at the ready, and wondrous music would soothe the ears without end. Celestials, Buddhas, gods and demons; all were invited. It was impressive to say the least.

Usually, the Southern Heaven Gate was guarded by heavenly soldiers and supervised by Four Heavenly Kings. No evil dared to get close to it.

The Southern Heaven Gate was still present, but the so-called heavenly soldiers and Four Heavenly Kings were nowhere to be found. It was also desolate and empty.

Ye Qing unleashed his demonic thought and probed around for a bit. He did not sense any danger. The space behind the Southern Heaven Gate was unscannable because it was a patch of distorted space.

“The Divine Court is probably behind the Southern Heaven Gate. Let’s go!”

They had already come this far, so of course they weren’t going to stop now. They both stepped through the Southern Heaven Gate.

As soon as they passed the threshold, spacetime warped, and a strange and tattered world appeared before their eyes.

Auspicious light illuminated their surroundings, and auspicious qi filled the air. They were surrounded by countless trees and grass.

Something was wrong though. The trees were tall and massive, but their branches were bare, their trunk was withered, and the floor was covered in dead leaves.

Not only that, the bodies of countless rare and valuable beasts also littered the forest floor.

In the outside world, every single one of these beasts were rare. In fact, the large majority of them had already gone extinct in the outside world. For example, they saw the Pixiu[1], Manman[2], Gadflies, Nine Infants, Mountain Children, One Eye and more.

They weren’t just rare, they were extraordinarily powerful. Despite being dead for heavens-know-how-long, their bodies remained intact, and they gave off powerful presences.

The farther the duo flew forward, the more bodies they encountered.

There were no wounds on the beasts’ bodies, but they were all dead almost as if some sort of intangible yet irresistible force had ripped out their souls.

Every single beast had died this way.

“Can you tell how they died, Qingyou?” Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou landed in front of a beast and examined the body closely.

A short while later, Feng Qingyou shook her head and said, “No. However, I believe that these beasts had all died at the same time.”

“At the same time?” Ye Qing frowned deeply. Just what kind of power could kill all these powerful beasts at the same time and leave no wound on their bodies?

“If I’m not mistaken, we are currently in the Myriad Beast Forest Ascension Heaven of the Thirty Six Heavens.”

Feng Qingyou flew back into the sky and looked at the endless forest around her. “Legend has it that the Myriad Beast Forest Ascension Forest is endlessly vast, and it nurtured countless precious beasts and rare animals in its belly. This heaven is ruled by the Myriad Beast Divine Lord.”

“Myriad Beast Forest Ascension Heaven? Myriad Beast Divine Lord?”

Ye Qing said thoughtfully. He could tell from the name alone that the Myriad Beast Divine Lord was probably an impressive god. “So, where should we go from here?”

Feng Qingyou pondered for a moment before answering, “There exists a tree called the Hanging Tree that leads to a palace. It is the residence of the Myriad Beast Divine Lord. The Hanging Tree also leads to other heavens.”

“Got it. Let’s pay the Myriad Beast Divine Lord’s residence a visit.”

Their minds made up, the duo flew across the forest and spread their spirit as far away as possible. They were searching for the Hanging Tree, scouring for suspicious places, and checking for White Robe Demon Master’s tracks all at the same time.

As the legend said, the Myriad Beast Forest Ascension Heaven was massive. Despite flying for an incense stick, the forest showed no signs of ending. Just the same, they did not find a single living creature. It was as if the entire heaven had perished completely.

In fact, they could not find the three Sages who went in ahead of them—Taoist Gu, White Bodhisattva or the Southern Sea Dragon King—either.

They were right behind the three Sages, so they couldn’t be too far ahead of them. Besides, they should have left some traces behind no matter how fast they were.

There was only one answer. The three Sages had not appeared in the Myriad Beast Forest Ascension Heaven.

“It looks like the Southern Heaven Gate transports people to different heavens.”

Ye Qing’s expression turned grave. This made it much harder to find White Robe Demon Master.

“I believe so.” Feng Qingyou agreed. “The Thirty Six Heavens of the Divine Court is split into the Upper Nine Heavens and Lower Nine Heavens.”

“The Upper Nine Heavens is where the lords and sovereigns, gods and demons, celestials and Buddhas live, whereas the Lower Nine Heavens—which encompass the remaining twenty seven heavens, but is called the Lower Nine Heavens for some reason—is where the ministers, soldiers, celestial maidens, palace maids, strange beasts and more reside.”

“The Myriad Beast Forest Ascension Heaven is one of the Lower Nine Heavens.”

On the way, Feng Qingyou educated Ye Qing regarding the Divine Court. Frankly, Ye Qing’s knowledge about ancient secrets and legends was inferior to Feng Qingyou, so he could only play the obedient listener and interject from time to time.

“Is that the Hanging Tree?”

A while later, they duo arrived at a massive tree.

The tree was sky high and shaped like a willow tree. It had thin, long branches that were suspended high, high up in the air and swayed gently to the wind.

Unlike the other trees, the gigantic tree wasn’t completely dead. Its branches were mostly withered, and its leaves were sickly yellow. However, it was still emanating faint wisps of spiritual light. Clearly, it still possessed a bit of vitality.

“To think that even the Hanging Tree can wither!”

The Hanging Tree was one of the natural spirit trees. Legend had it that it was many kilometers tall. It was eternally green and did not wither even after ten thousand years. Its scent could supposedly purify one’s spirit and bring good fortune. Its leaves were said to contain a rich amount of vitality, and consuming it would eliminate illnesses and extend one’s lifespan.

Right now though, the Hanging Tree was dying.

It wasn’t dead yet, but it would be very soon.

“I don’t see the Myriad Beast Divine Lord’s palace anywhere. Is the legend wrong?” Ye Qing looked up at the Hanging Tree but could not find anything resembling a building.

“Watch this.”

Feng Qingyou smiled and landed back on the ground. First, she bowed three times to the Hanging Tree. Then, she spun anti-clockwise three times, and clockwise three times. When she was facing toward the Hanging Tree once more, she stomped the ground with her right foot and declared, “Appear!”

As soon as she said this, the dying Hanging Tree shook dramatically. The next moment, the space before them slowly unfolded itself like curtains and revealed a magnificent palace.

The palace was located at the crown of the Hanging Tree and held up by its branches. It looked tall, massive, and luxurious.

Clearly, that was the mythical palace of the Myriad Beast Divine Lord.

“What is this?” Ye Qing exclaimed in surprise. He had not detected the palace at all until it revealed itself.

“According to the Youyang Miscellaneous Notes, the magical Hanging Tree can create a space of its own. One can only open its door and reveal its form through a key of yin and yang. In this case, turning three times anti-clockwise represents yin, and turning three times clockwise represents yang.”

Feng Qingyou looked at the palace and said, “Try flying up to the palace, Joyless.”

Ye Qing did not understand why, but he did it anyway. When in doubt, just follow dem orders!

Something incredible happened then. No matter how long or fast he flew toward the palace, he could never reach it. It was as if the distance between them was fixed. There was nothing he could do to change this.

1. Pixiu is a Chinese mythical hybrid creature. Pixiu are considered powerful protectors of the souls of the dead, xian, and feng shui practitioners, and resemble strong, winged lions. ☜

2. The Manman is a creature in Chinese folklore described as a half-duck that requires another Manman to conjoin with before it can fly. ☜