Chapter 1534 1446: Elusive as Ghosts and Gods

Lady Qi was almost driven mad with anger, leading the Nether Realm's grand army in hot pursuit, yet after pursuing through six gates, she hadn't managed to kill a single Demon Cultivator.

Instead, in these six gates, the forty million strong army she led had suffered the loss of thirty million.

Although the Evil Ghosts were undead, with some recovering to follow Lady Qi, they barely made up the number to twenty million.

However, the restored Evil Ghosts had their cultivation levels drastically drop, greatly diminishing her strength.

Especially after passing through the various traps of the six gates, the remaining twenty million Evil Ghosts had become like frightened birds, perpetually on edge.

Lady Qi was even more infuriated, as within these six gates, despite her every effort to avoid the traps and attack arrays inside the city, the arrays were so peculiarly set up: sometimes inside the city, sometimes outside, and even sometimes up in the air, making it truly impossible for Lady Qi to anticipate.

Every time Lady Qi thought she had evaded the traps, they would inevitably lay in wait at the most unexpected places for the Nether Realm's army to take the bait.

After the battles through these six gates, Lady Qi was nearly mad with anger; she had completely lost the leisurely appearance she had at the start, glaring with wide-open eyes, almost like a madwoman, sitting atop the White Jade Flying Chariot, constantly shouting, "Accelerate the attack, accelerate the attack, only one gate remains, break through the last gate, and they'll have no route of retreat. I want to see where they can hide!"

The last gate was indeed the first gate of the Eighteen Gates of Hell — Black Sand Pass.

Upon rushing to Black Sand Pass, they saw it shrouded in a massive array, enveloping the entire Black Sand Pass beneath it.

Just like the previous gates, under the shroud of this array, it was impossible to see the situation inside Black Sand Pass.

But Lady Qi didn't even take a glance because she knew that after the entire Nether Realm retreated here, there was no other path of retreat, so Wu Ancestor Li and the others must be holed up inside Black Sand Pass.

Recalling the humiliation suffered in front of the previous six gates, Lady Qi held back a breath, eager to break open Black Sand Pass immediately to vent her earlier wrath.

An hour passed, and the entire array above Black Sand Pass suddenly fell, revealing the bare Black Sand Pass.

Yet, to everyone's surprise, the entire Black Sand Pass was still empty of people.

Eight million Demon Cultivators seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving no trace.

Lady Qi's face darkened, and she let out a cold snort, shouting, "Search for them, dig three feet into the ground if you must, find them for me."

Upon hearing Lady Qi's words, the twenty million Evil Ghosts did not rush forward as they had before, but cautiously inspected every part of Black Sand Pass inside and out, only moving forward after confirming there were indeed no traps.

As a result, it took them a full day and night for the twenty million Evil Ghosts to completely enter Black Sand City, and another day and night to search every corner of the city.

However, they not only failed to find anything, but they didn't even find a single footprint.

Lady Qi was nearly driven mad, having held back for so long, only to be left with nothing at Black Sand Pass, like drawing water with a bamboo basket.

Lady Qi stomped her foot, sitting on the White Jade Flying Chariot, and fiercely said, "Search for them, inch by inch for a hundred miles. If we don't find a single Demon Cultivator, I'm not leaving here."

Seeing Lady Qi's outburst, the Seven Great City Lords had no choice but to lead the twenty million Evil Ghosts, searching bit by bit.

Yet after searching for seven days and nights, they still couldn't find any trace of the Demon Cultivators.

At this, the Seven Great City Lords were also perplexed; how could eight million Demon Cultivators simply vanish into thin air?

Just then, suddenly a wounded Asura was seen flying from a distance, wobbling in the air, leaving a trail of blood as he flew.

"City Lord— help—"

Hearing this voice, the Seven Great City Lords simultaneously looked up, and the Ice Mountain City Lord frowned because he recognized the approaching Asura as one of his subordinates.

Except, this subordinate hadn't accompanied him on the campaign, but was left to guard Ice Mountain City.

The flying Asura also spotted the Ice Mountain City Lord, and immediately flew over and knelt down with a thud, crying, "City Lord, Ice Mountain City has fallen, and the defending army has been completely wiped out."

Upon hearing this, the Ice Mountain City Lord's eyes widened, and he cursed, "Impossible? Isn't Ice Mountain City guarded by a million Evil Ghosts?"

The Asura cried, "But the attacking force was eight million human Demon Cultivators, we were outnumbered and couldn't hold them off."

"What? Where did eight million human Demon Cultivators come from?" The Ice Mountain City Lord immediately widened his eyes, disbelief filled his gaze.

The conversation between the Ice Mountain City Lord and the Asura had already caught everyone's attention, and Lady Qi also heard it loud and clear.

At this moment, Lady Qi couldn't help but let out a cold snort, ordering, "Cunning humans, send my orders, assemble the army immediately, and advance toward Ice Mountain City."

Hearing Lady Qi's words, the Ice Mountain City Lord immediately understood.

The eight million Demon Cultivators that had invaded Ice Mountain City were the very human army they had been desperately searching for; however, he didn't know when that human army had gotten around behind them.

The twenty million Nether Realm army immediately assembled and hurriedly marched toward Ice Mountain Pass.

All the way, they successively passed the second, third up to the seventh gates, at each checkpoint, recalling the unexpected terrifying traps they had encountered, their momentarily calm hearts quivered with fear once more.

It felt as if freshly healed wounds were being ripped open again, even more painful than when they had first been injured.

After much difficulty passing through the seven gates, they reached the Ninth Gate, Ice Mountain Pass.

There they saw Ice Mountain Pass had become a ruin, plumes of smoke rose toward the sky, indicating a battle had just recently concluded there.

Seeing the Ice Mountain Pass, which he had painstakingly crafted, turned into a heap of rubble, the Ice Mountain City Lord couldn't help but be both furious and frustrated, hatred and anger surging; he burst forward a few steps to the city front, furiously shouting, "Damn it, where are the human Demon Cultivators?"

But just then, another severely wounded Asura flew in from a distance, landing before the Oil Pot City Lord, wailing, "City Lord, Oil Pot City has fallen, the defending army has been completely wiped out."

Before the Oil Pot City Lord could respond, another Asura came flying from afar, shouting even before he got close, "City Lord, bad news, Cow Pit City has been breached."

For a moment, Asuras continued flying in from a distance, bringing terrifying news one after another.

"The Twelfth Gate, Stone Pressing Pass, has fallen."

"The Thirteenth Gate, Chongjiao Pass, suffered a major defeat."

"The Fourteenth Gate, Blood Pool Pass, the Fifteenth Gate, Injustice Pass, the Sixteenth Gate, Volcano Pass, all have been breached."

Including Lady Qi, the faces of the Eight Great City Lords were all pale; up to now, they hadn't killed a single Demon Cultivator, and instead had lost eight of their own gates.

These eight million Demon Cultivators, what skills did they possess to vanish so insidiously without a trace?