Chapter 2 - Blood sword slashes the dome of the heavens
Standing below the platform, Jiang Han could see many ghosts standing above, crying and weeping, not wanting to leave. This was the last moment where they would still have the memories of their present lives. However, regardless of how unwilling they were, an invisible force would always push them towards the 6 bridges of reincarnation.
Present right before him was the overlap of space and time. Only the Home Viewing Pavilion could withstand the descent of ghosts from the myriad of life forms, with Jiang Han being one of its ordinary guests.
"It's said that one can observe the multitude of heavens and myriad of realms from here. It's the number 1 seeking type treasure in the nether realm. God knows if its able to see the shade of azure present in across the endless night sky." small slivers of ripples surfaced within Jiang Han's heart.
It's a pity that all he could see on the Home Viewing Pavilion was an endless stretch of darkness. In this darkness, not a single glimmer of light could be seen.
"After sinking into hell for 90 thousand years, all of my close people would have already reincarnated thousands of times over!" As Jiang Han focused his eyes towards the endless darkness, an ambiguous expression appeared on his face before whispering out, "That's also okay. In this life, I'll be alone!"
Without a sliver of reluctance or hesitance, Jiang Han turned his body around, before proceeding to walk to a location not far away.
A river, named the source of forgetting: A bridge, named the source of regret: A road, named the Yellow Springs: A old lady, named grandmother Meng.
"Gold, Silver, Jade, Stone, Wood, Black. The 6 bridges of reincarnation!" Jiang Han stood quietly as he looked towards the bridges.
Walking over the bridge, he would step into another world, and start a new life incarnation!
"I don't want to drink! I want to go back! I don't want to drink!"
"I also don't want to drink! I've yet to accomplish my great revenge! How can I forget?!"
As Jiang Han looked around, he could see countless ghosts present around him. There were those who were sad, those that were crying, those that were dejected, those that were angry, those that were unwilling, showing all facets of human emotion.
A life of love and hate, a lifetime of floating and sinking. A single bowl of water from the River of Forgetting. Upon drinking, one's past would just be an unfamiliar path.
"Have a drink?" the lady raised the notched bowl in her hand.
"Of course I'll drink. However, from what I know, Grandmother Meng is an elderly woman, and not a young lady." replied Jiang Han with a faint smile.
The ghosts by his side continued to struggle. Nonetheless, smiles were still present on the 2 as they chatted, while time and space seemed to overlap, appearing exceedingly strange and mysterious.
"Whether I appear as an elderly woman or a young lady, I'm still a form of life. I'm still me." the young lady aged rapidly, returning back to her form as an elderly woman. Nonetheless, she still retained the absolute beauty that cannot be concealed by age.
"You are you, I am I." said Jiang Han in a soft voice. "My things, should be returned to me."
With a laugh, grandmother Meng replied, "When people live, the seeds of their karma will take root in the presence of the 7 affections and 6 desires. The unseen power of fate would condense into a long river. Afterwards, there was the River of Forgetting. Walking on the Bridge of Reincarnation, and drinking this soup, regardless of one being an immortal, saint, man, or demon in one's past life, all of one's karma in this lifetime would be severed. Even the so-called material or secular world would be severed. Jiang Han, your 90 thousand years of waiting, your 90 thousand years of unwilling, what exactly are you waiting for? Is there anything else that you're not willing to let go? Since you're destined to meet your what you're waiting for, yet are not fated to be together, why force the issue?"
"During that year, I've already said that I will not regret, and not forget this life!" Jiang Han gave a happy laugh with his reply.
Extending his hand out, he took the notched bowl of soup over. Feeling the warmth coming from it, he raised his head and drank it down.
"Truthfully speaking, it tastes pretty good!" said Jiang Han with a laugh as he looked towards grandmother Meng, who had turned back into a young lady.
"While you can remember, go and carve the name of your most beloved, as well as the people you want to meet the most. When you reincarnate once again, you'll be able to see your previous life." said grandmother Meng in a soft voice.
While she was saying those words, a vortex appeared in the space beside him. Out of it came a rock, with the 4 words "Nirvana is like flowers".
"Is that the legendary Nirvana Rock? The treasure that can record one's past, present and future lives?"" curiosity surged within Jiang Han as he asked with a faint smile. "I've seen the Stone of 3 lives. Only in this life did I see the Home Viewing Pavilion, yet I can't see the past. Do you feel that I need to write anything?"
"Even though you believe that your thoughts are able to transcend space and time, the power of fate in the secular world would wipe and erase everything." replied grandmother Meng in a monotonous voice.
"There will be a fissure whenever I am at! Fate will, never, ever erase me!" said Jiang Han with a smile. Placing the bowl in his hands down, he raised his head to look towards the horizon.
At this moment.
All of a sudden, the ever-present blood moon within hell, was sliced into 2, with not a single bit of noise ringing out from it. The ground and the sky started to vibrate, while a terrifying storm swept across all directions. In an instant, countless ghosts floating in the air were destroyed into smithereens, their souls dissipating into thin air.
At this moment, the golden scroll in Jiang Han's hand started to radiate with golden light, which transformed into a light barrier that protected him firmly within.
"Looks like I'm pretty lucky. The power of fate's still not enough to wipe me out." said Jiang Han with a smile.
As for grandmother Meng, a pained expression had already appeared on her face as she raised her hands to shield herself from the energy storm sweeping over. "Damn it! Who's attacking the Nether realm! How can the blood moon shatter apart like that!"
The blood moon was born from the Nether Realm, and has lasted since the ancient antiquity. Its name was born from the heavens, and existed among the myriad of realms. It was also a source of energy for the lower to higher levels of the Netherworld, and shared the same title of supremacy as the sun, moon and astrological bodies.
In the next moment, a frightening blood sword appeared in the sky. Cleaving through space and time, it slashed the defence of the Nirvana Rock apart. Smashing the barrier of the Home Viewing Pavilion, it slashed towards the bridge of reincarnation, before chopping down onto grandmother Meng!
A drop of blood, rushing to the sky, an Immortal God, falling from the sky!
"You have your 90 thousand years of unwillingness! I'll give to you some good luck! This is a drop of purple blood, in hopes that you'll remember the vow that you've made that year!" a soft voice rang in Jiang Han's ear.
Holding the golden scroll in his hand, Jiang Han looked at the purple drop of blood essence floating right before his eyes.
Despite how indifferent Jiang Han had become towards everything, slivers of emotion surfaced within his heart.
Before ghosts reincarnate, their talents and ranks for their next lives have already been determined. Although there might be some alterations, they were always slight ones. However, when Immortal Gods reincarnated, even if they had to lock the memories of their spiritual soul up, they are still able to bring along their bloodline and blood essence through their reincarnations.
The bloodline and blood essence of Immortal Gods possessed a mysterious power within them. When immortal gods pass the reincarnation cycle, they have a certain level of possibility to be brought along. Although the chances of this happening aren't high, they possessed an extremely high likelihood of increasing the qualifications and talent of the owner.
Jiang Han understood that if he did not accept this drop of purple blood, he would only have an 8th rank bloodline, as what the black armoured general had said. However, if he were to bring this blood essence and reincarnate, his talent would no longer become a problem for him.
The Immortal God bloodline was categorised into 3 grades. The lowest being red, the middle being gold, and the peak being purple!
Across the myriad of heavens, purple was the sole possession of Sovereigns! Purple was the colour representative of the most respect of gods and saints!
"Thank you senior for the bestowal of this fortune! Jiang Hao will step onto the Saint's path in my next life, and will repay senior a 100 times over!" said Jiang Hao as he bowed forward in respect.
He was clear that a sword that was able to slice apart the defences of 2 great treasures and kill grandmother Meng could only be possessed by the Sovereigns in the King's Palace, or the Bodhisattva of the Yin Mountains. Those were frightening existences that stood at the peak amongst the Immortal Gods.
Despite being separated by innumerable overlapping layers of space-time, Jiang Hao was still able to see it.
Across the horizon, frightening spears howled out in succession as they pierced through the vault of heaven, streaking across the shattered blood moon. Accompanying them were blood coloured swords, howling as they sent sword brilliance sweeping out. Smashing the skies and rending the earth, fissures appeared across the nether realm, revealing the endless surging fog of chaos outside.
Clearly, 2 exceedingly frightening existences were duking it out!
No longer hesitating, Jiang Han grabbed the purple blood and swallowed in it down. Holding onto the golden scroll tightly, he turned around and walked towards the 6 splendid rainbow coloured bridges of reincarnation in the distance.
Even if the heavens collapse, there will be someone up there to shoulder it. What he needed to do is to properly reincarnate. Anything else was of no concern to him.
There are 6 different entrances for the Bridge of Reincarnation, all of them sparkling with the radiance of different colours. These were precisely entrances to the 6 bridges that dictate the height of one's status in one's next life. However, at this moment, the Bridge of Reincarnation had suffered some damage from the previous strike of the sword.
"The golden and silver bridges are destroyed. However, the other bridges seem to be just fine." without any hesitation, Jiang Han headed towards the best bridge among the remaining ones, the Jade Bridge.
He did not wish to delay his reincarnation, as, after all, the Home Viewing Pavilion and the Bridges of Reincarnation were essential locations within the Nether Realm. With grandmother Meng being murdered, experts from the King's Palace would descend to this place in short notice. At that time, that senior might not be able to take action a second time.
Gently treading forward, surges of brilliance flashed out, as endless jasper coloured mist enveloped him, before he disappeared from this jet black Nether realm.
At the dome of heaven, above the blood moon.
An azure robe fluttered about, as radiance withdrew into the blood red long sword. Stepping on an endlessly vast and might sea of blood, shockwaves rippled out through the endless space-time. Looking down to the earth tens of thousands of kilometres below, he noticed a jasper colour light flashing in the mist below, causing a sliver of a smile to appear on his face.
"Song Chuyu, what the hell are you doing!" a majestic figure smashed through the endless waves, as his sound resounded across the entire heaven and earth of the Nether realm, reverberating across the vast and spacious space and time.
"To kill of course! Kill till the heavens and earth overturn!" the azure robed figure gave a hearty chuckle, before raising his hand and sending his blood red sword smashing through the endless space-time continuum.