(The Gates of the Dead, the beginning of all ghost stories.
However, for our greatest adventurer god, Kellen the Great, the Ghost Gate was the starting point of his life's journey to immortality!
From the moment he stepped into the gates of the dead, Kellen the Great, in his youth, wields divine weapons and slaying demons with his sword, thus beginning the glorious chapter of his legendary life.
Whenever people talk about the netherworld, vivid stories and characters seem to fly over from the distant Ming Dynasty.
Many people have a dream in their hearts, a dream to follow in the footsteps of Kellen the Great as a young man and forge ahead step by step!
What is hateful to later generations is that the era of gods and demons, the warlords of the chaotic world, has long passed.
Only the tales that once happened to Kellen the Great are still sung daily by the most popular troubadours of the present age.
- Excerpted from Arthur's classic work "Kellen the Great, the Lord of the Frontier")
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Midnight, Ningxiang Valley.
When Kellen woke up, there was still a mottled pink light before her eyes, like twinkling stars, like fireflies. Beneath her, she felt soft and soft, surrounded by a rich fragrance, as if she had fallen into a sea of flowers. Then there was a misty veil of red and green, swirling and surging into my body. It looks as if Kellen's body is sucking in the spirit of the lotus house, and indeed it is.
"Midnight has come! "Big lazybones, we're about to set off!" Then there was a cute little face, of course Ningxiang. The tone was indeed like that of a little grown-up.
"Set off? Where to? Back to the Alchemy furnace?" Kellen was puzzled. But there was a great sense of clarity in her mind. These streams of red and green energy did not stop flowing into Kellen's body, and Kellen did not refuse. Because of Kellen's extraordinary innate constitution, along with the immortal body characteristics of the Immortal Golden Body, her ability to consume spiritual energy on her own comes entirely from the summoning and absorption of spiritual energy by the immortal spirit body, which is not something Kellen herself can control. Therefore, at this moment Kellen simply cannot refuse to absorb the gurgling spiritual energy.
"The Gates of Hell!" Ningxiang pouted her delicate lips and gave Kellen a fright.
"What?" Kellen was really stunned. "You just said it was midnight?" Kellen could hardly believe her ears and asked again.
"Sure!" If it weren't for the hour of midnight, how could one enter the gates of death? Of course it must be the hour of Zi!" Ningxiang's delicate little lips pouted high and did not come down. "Hurry up, don't waste time! "Big lazybones!"
"At midnight, how dare you go to the gates of hell? Are you kidding?" Kellen could not believe such a childish voice, for she had only heard of the gates of hell, never seen them. The little girl was so serious about going to the gates of hell -- and then thought, yes, the child is playing around again.
You're so clever! Anyway, I'm very awake and can't sleep at the moment, so I'll go and play with her and see what tricks this ghost can come up with!
"Hurry up! It will be too late if you don't go soon!" Ningxiang actually pulled Kellen up in one go. Kellen exclaimed in astonishment:
"Great strength!"
Listen was already waiting at the door. Midnight is quiet, Flower valley is bright. The specks of light, twinkling with a riot of colors, like flocks of twinkling fireflies, quietly illuminated the still vibrant valley of flowers. Seeing such a sea of flowers and stars, Kellen realized that this was not the human world, but a fairyland.
A bunch of round flowers and plants was handed over to her delicate little hand. It looked red all over, as if it were the handle of something. But on closer inspection, it's not clear what kind of handle it is. Kellen couldn't help asking, "What is this?"
"Protect my artifact! Borrowed, don't lose it, return it!" Ningxiang was serious and had already directed Kellen onto Diting's back.
"Protect your artifact? Why hand it over to me? I don't need protection." "Kellen laughed. She thought to herself, Ningxiang is a big kid and has thought it through. Even so, I couldn't believe that she was lying at such a young age... To the Gates of death? Um... She has to change her habit of lying this time!
"Of course I'll give it to you to protect me! I've eaten and drunk, I can't fail to repay my kindness, can I?" With Ningxiang's "giggle, giggle," a string of silver-bell-like laughter, the white smoke, like clouds and mists, was already rising beneath my feet. Gradually, the white smoke rolled up, the wind blew, and there was a rumbling sound in the ears, but Kellen felt herself floating and lost in the milky white mist.
Kellen could no longer laugh. Because Ningxiang had said before that Diting came from the ancient netherworld. Now it seems that it is indeed true.
Midnight listening seems to have a mysterious and enigmatic aura! With this ability to soar through the clouds and make the illusion invisible, Kellen couldn't do it!
Just now Ningxiang said she was going to the gates of the netherworld. Isn't the gates of the Netherworld the entrance to the ancient netherworld? If you drive around the Ghost Gate, you'll be very familiar with the route and it will be a very easy thing! Besides, Ningxiang is so young and childish, and if she were to go to the gates of hell, she would surely go and have some fun there.
A child speaks without restraint and dares more than heaven. Even if she were to bring about a great disaster, a little girl like Ningxiang would probably not even blink an eye. Moreover, it seems that this Lord of the valley, Ningxiang, is not only famous but also possesses many extraordinary abilities that ordinary people do not have!
For example, transforming into a wooden immortal, a skill that ordinary people can't master! Another example: To land a dragonfly or a butterfly on the tip of your finger, this move is probably something only immortals can learn. Another example: thousand-year-old petals, ten-thousand-year-old dew, magical listening, strange and ancient redwood handles... None of them is not a magical mystery.
For now, Ningxiang doesn't even care about a place like the Gate of Hell. What else is there that she dares not go to? What else do you dare not do?
When the smoke eased and the pace slowed down, Kellen was shocked to find that Diting had actually led them to the exit of the Wooden Valley - the "Concave" mountain pass! Behind them was the "Eight Arrays Subduing Demons", eight black, lacquered and strange "great swords" still stuck there obediently.
But it was too dark to see your hand in front of your face. The moon that was supposed to be above is now veiled in the dark clouds. The twinkling stars in the sky could not escape the dark clouds at midnight and vanished along with the moon. The eight treasures, as black as ink, were, of course, as black as ink as the night.
But the "convex" mountain peaks in front of him were glowing with a faint blue light. Under the glow, in the broad mountain belly, there stands a facade archway. What remains on the archway are the ancient characters: Ghost Gate! Although Kellen did not recognize the three odd characters, she had intuitively guessed the meaning of the big characters.
Intuition, the intuition of sensing the gods and demons!
It seems like an ordinary hill during the day, but at midnight when it is desolate, it gives off a wild, cold and desolate air from within. This coldness is not the coldness of the deep mountains and old forests, but the coldness of the lament of the wronged souls, the coldness of the dead that will never come back to life. This chilling coldness is not the icy coldness of the snow-capped mountain, but the chilling coldness of the evil spirit and the soul of the demon!
A faint blue light that appears and disappears. Dark ghosts, thick smoke.
Both Kellen and Ningxiang have a special ability to see the ghosts and spirits of the netherworld. One after another, the ghostly figures, like smoke and mist, dark and gloomy, paid no attention to the two of Feng Ning under the archway, but seemed somewhat wary of the divine beast Diting. They darted around Diting, going in and out of the great archway of the "Ghost Gate" like light and lightning, not daring to stop for a moment.
The Ghost Gate archway is ancient and solemn, with a green dragon coiled around the four pillars and dark clouds swirling around the eaves. The reincarnation of the nine Kings of Hell is engraved on it, with pairs of sharp and upright eyes that never leave the souls coming and going. They may be examining, may be watching, may be fairly interrogating the merits and demerits, grudges and wrongs of each person's life.
Kellen looked up at the four green dragons, and the four green dragons were looking at Kellen in the dark. The forest was cold and desolate, and it was icy to the heart. Kellen was startled! Hurry and bow your head. But, out of curiosity, he looked up again at the Nine Kings of Hell, only to find that the Nine Kings of Hell were also looking at Kellen with a menacing look, and Kellen was startled again! My heart shuddered, and I hurriedly lowered my head, not daring to look any more.
Even if a man is very bold, he is not afraid of monsters, sword arrays, scale-faced feathered spirits, and cruel killings. Who would not be horrified and frightened when he truly faced death, when he faced the nine fiercess faces of the King of Hell, when he faced pairs of lifeless, blood-cold eyes? Death is one thing; Fear is another thing. Who doesn't die? If one is not afraid of the threat of death and can still laugh before the nine Kings of Hell, then this one is surely not a human, nor a ghost, unless it is a god, a higher god.
Kellen certainly did not laugh, nor did Ningxiang laugh. Not only that, Ningxiang seemed even more timid than Kellen, her petite body already firmly leaning against Kellen's arms. Kellen clearly felt Ningxiang's petite and tender body trembling. But it was still giving off a scent that was unrestrained, a scent that was fresh, a scent that was enough to purify the soul.
"Don't be afraid. Since we don't want to go in, we can go back." Kellen hugged Ningxiang tightly, hoping that the little girl would change her mind at once. The gates of death were at hand, and they stopped and did not enter. That's why Kellen said so. In fact, not only did Kellen not want to go in, but Ningxiang seemed even less so than Kellen. Looking back, she raised her little face, her pupils dilated for no reason, staring blankly at Kellen as if she were looking at a savior, whispering sweetly:
"No, such a dark night comes only every fifteen days, and I happened to catch it. I can't miss it! Let's go through the border." Ningxiang's cold words were actually intended to make Kellen fall. Kellen had thought Ningxiang would change her mind at once, but the little girl was even more persistent than Kellen.
"Must go through the border? Kellen reminded Ningxiang again.
"Yes." Ningxiang nodded without a doubt, as if the decision had already been made and no one could change it. "Protect me!" At this point, Ningxiang was like a pitiful little girl, completely at a loss, having placed all her life bets on Kellen.
"All right." Kellen couldn't say much more, just helplessly. Because Kellen has discovered that no matter how terrifying the threat is, it seems unable to stop the decision that Ningxiang has already made, even if it's the gate of death, so what?
The mass of black gas that crossed through the gates of the netherworld was the black gas of the souls of the deceased, the black gas of the curse of wronged ghosts. Feng Ning and the other just sat on Di Ting's back, shivering, and swaggered into the gates of the dead! Diting was not as afraid as the two of them; instead, he felt a sense of joy at home. So, Diting was full of energy and vitality. Among the gods and demons of the netherworld, there are some that Di Ting is not familiar with, but none that Di Ting does not recognize. The nine Kings of Hell are just friends of Diting. When you count them up, it seems that the King of Hell's position is no higher than Diting's.
As for the reenactment of the nine Kings of Hell at the gates of the netherworld, after all, it is just a reenactment, and I don't care about it. For the truth and falsehood of the three realms and five domains cannot be concealed by Diting's huge palm-leaf fan ears. Even the nine Kings of Hell, who govern life and death, are no exception! So, heaven and earth, gods and immortals, demons and monsters, all have some fear of Diting. Not to mention souls and spirits.
Kellen, dazed by Ningxiang, never imagined that the first time she entered the gates of death would be like this. What Kellen never expected was that this trip to the gates of Hell would be the beginning of a strange twist of fate on her long journey of immortal cultivation! The beginning of this twist of fate, when Kellen recalled it many years later, still felt that it was really off the mark!
When one enters the gates of death, one acquires the eyes of the netherworld, for one is no longer a human. Feng Ning and the other two have not only the eyes of the netherworld, but also the eyes of the immortal spirit. They were no longer human beings, each having already cultivated different types of immortal spirits, so this pair of eyes was brighter than the demons and ghosts.
A mass of black gas had completely dissipated before the eyes, and the whole person was immersed in a cold and gloomy dark world. The world before him was strange and magical - the ancient Netherworld!
Blue light, purple light, green light, cyan light, all float in the distance. In this eerie and ethereal curtain of light is a vast, closely connected palace of the King of Hell. The Yama Palace is not for people to admire, but for ghosts to be judged and punished. So, under the eaves, upside down are not wind chimes, but corpses that have been torn apart for a thousand years! Such thousand-year-old corpses are not found anywhere else but in the palace of King Yama.
These corpses are mostly evil spirits who have committed heinous SINS and will never pass away. After being refined by the magic of the King of Hell, even after millions of years, the bones remain unmelted and cracked like skeletons, but are tightly wrapped in a layer of hard human skin. The skin has blurred its original appearance, and no one knows whether this person had a glorious or bitter life, and hangs here after death, and all the past events are no longer important.
Looking around, there are no less than a thousand such mummies. They were all hanging from the high corners of the eaves. It looks not just scary, but disgusting, truly disgusting! Ningxiang couldn't hold it any longer, buried her head in Kellen's arms and threw up Kellen all over. Diting didn't care at all, because Ningxiang didn't spit on Diting. Kellen was not so. She had to endure it.
In fact, Kellen felt like vomiting, and several times she was forced to swallow her stomach, a stream of sour water welling up and wetting her eyes. The feeling was even more unbearable than eating stinky tofu!
"Listen, why are these dirty things hanging high up there? Could there be any symbol?" Kellen couldn't help asking.
"Yes, that's the symbol of the ghost Prison. Now you see the Path to the afterlife. The palace of the Path to the afterlife is the most magnificent, and all those who become ghosts after death pass through here. The mummies are hung high, as a warning and punishment." Listen to the words of the jar.
"Isn't it a great spoiling to have these disgusting mummies hanging on the eaves of these grand palaces?" "Kellen asked.
"Hehe..." Diting laughed. Kellen never expected Diting to laugh. "The scenery here is not to be seen with the eyes, but experienced with the heart!"
"Experience it with your heart? Disciples do not understand." "Kellen said.
"It seems I'm going to save you today!" Diting looked back at Kellen and said in a deep voice, "The magnificent palace symbolizes a brilliant life. The thousand-year-old mummy represents the never-transcendent sin. Some people live a life of luxury and power, but still die! The path of rebirth is naturally reserved for those who can be reborn. As for what remains, it can only be ghosts!
All ghosts passing by here will see these magnificent palaces, which inevitably remind people of the glory of life. But at the same time they will also see these mummies, disgusting mummies whose bones have remained unmelted for millions of years, right?" Diting glanced back at Kellen.
"Not bad." "But why?" said Kellen, puzzled.
"Because those who commit heinous crimes will never pass away, just like these mummified corpses, they will hang there forever. Those who have passed away will still come out of the path of rebirth and leave the gates of the dead. When they pass by, they will see these palaces and these mummies.
It was a special kind of warning.
This warning is a constant reminder that no matter how glorious one's life is, one cannot escape death! If one has committed many evil deeds, one will not be reborn after death. Since it is possible to release people from the gates of death, let them imprint this last dreadful impression in their minds. Live, whether rich or poor; Death, no matter high or low status.
Since you are alive, only by being a good person can you enjoy the pleasures of life. If you become a villain, you'll end up with mummified corpses! You know, who wouldn't want to have a magnificent palace? Who wouldn't want a life of luxury? Who would want to hang his body here with his soul, never to pass away?
So the living have to cry. Cry out of fear. Not the fear of others, but the fear of oneself, the fear of committing a great mistake, the fear of hanging in the eaves of the palace. Receiving the same admiration, but the despised admiration. A specimen that will be infamous for all eternity, a model of disgrace, a paragon that will never pass away!
The dead are at peace. This peace is only through reflection, reflection on the faults of life, reflection on the SINS of death.
Such admonitions, though silent, are better than words! Though cold-blooded admonitions and punishments, they are colder than blood, they are harsher! Who is not afraid? Why rush?"