Chapter 359 - The Devil on the Ninth Floor (Part 1) (2/2)

“Brother Koo-chee! Leave now! I don’t want to hurt you… Leave now!” Xiao Chen said before once again letting out a howl. A great force emerged from him, hitting the straw shed that he built more than half a year ago so hard that it turned into dust.

“Arghhhhh—” Xiao Chen held his head as if he was in tremendous pain. He felt like his body was about to explode when a fierce power suddenly rose from within him. It quaked the entire space, alarming the old monsters imprisoned on the few floors above. Countless monsters, deep in their slumber, slowly awakened after sensing his strong power.

Finally, Xiao Chen could no longer withstand the violent force surging within him and fainted. He didn’t know how much time had passed by the time he woke up again. All he could feel was dampness and warmth on his face. When he opened his eyes, he saw the Koo-chee beast licking his face.

“Brother Koo-chee…”

“Koo-chee! Koo-chee!” The Koo-chee beast appeared thrilled to see him awake and started running circles around him.

Xiao Chen sat up and tried circulating his energy. To his surprise, not only did his cultivation had returned to the Nascent Soul Realm, but it was even a level higher. Even his Divine Sense had become much clearer. He suddenly recalled what the Apostate of Heaven XVII, Great Devil Heaven’s Bane said. Dying was for the sake of reaching nirvana. Only when one died once, could one genuinely enter the Nirvana Realm and forever break away from the life-and-death restrictions of the Natural Law.

Could he… Could he have genuinely entered the Nirvana Realm?!

The thought was fleeting because, in the next second, the entire Devil Repressing Tower began to shake violently. He felt like he could hear a terrifying voice coming from deep within the ground. “Devil? Inner Demon? Whence come the Immortals, Demons, Buddhas, and Devils?!”

The quaking worsened, and space threatened to collapse. Overhead, quite a few crushed stones were beginning to fall. The group of demons was so frightened that they scrambled to run, all looking for a refuge. Xiao Chen stretched his hand, pulled the Koo-chee beast into his embrace, and shrouded it with a gentle power. He then put up a Barrier of True Energy above his head to protect himself from the stones.

Shortly after, he heard a wizened voice sighing outside. “The heart is born with all kinds of devils. When the heart dies, all kinds of devils perish too. Why bother clinging onto your obsession?” The moment the voice resounded, tranquility fell on the space and ended the quaking. The voice underground vanished along with it.

It took a long while before Xiao Chen recovered his senses. He gently put down the Koo-chee beast. There were as many experts in this world as there were clouds in the sky, he thought. The mysterious existence underground and the old monk speaking earlier were likely incredibly powerful cultivators that shouldn’t remain in the Human World.

But the existence of such a terrifying old monk at Wuyin Monastery also meant that it would be even harder for him to leave this tower.

For some reason, he had an inexplicable feeling about the faint voice from deep underground. He looked in the direction of the Barrier opening. He wanted to go down there and take a look at himself.

“Koo-chee, Koo-chee!” The Koo-chee beast kept shaking its head and ran up to Xiao Chen with his sword. “Koo-chee! Koo-chee, Koo-chee!”

Xiao Chen chuckled. So the Koo-chee beast had gone down to the sixth floor to recover his sword while he was unconscious. He laughed and said, “Thank you, Brother Koo-chee.” However, he was determined to go down there and take a look.

“Koo-chee! Boohoo… Koo-chee! Koo-chee!” The beast continued to shake its head. It was beginning to get angry.

Xiao Chen squatted down and chuckled. “Relax, Brother Koo-chee. My cultivation is back. I’ll be fine. Why don’t I wait a few more days before going down?”

“Koo-chee…” The Koo-chee beast contemplated this for a long while before nodding.

The next few days saw Xiao Chen interrogating the Siberian weasel demon about the kind of demons and monsters being imprisoned on the floors above. The weasel demon was so frightened by his cultivation that he shivered all over. He slapped himself on the face and cried, “It’s this lowly demon’s fault for not recognizing your greatness. Please forgive me for offending you before, Great Immortal…”

“Spare me the nonsense. I’m asking you a question. What kind of demons and monsters are imprisoned above?”

Seeing that Xiao Chen appeared to have let him off, the Siberian weasel demon whispered, “Great Immortal Xiao, those demons and monsters up there are simply formidable. On the eighth floor is a thousand-year-old Tree Demon, on the ninth is the Old Demon of the Black Mountain.”

Xiao Chen fell silent while Koo-chee beast ran circles around him. When the Siberian weasel demon saw the creature, he bowed with his hands in front of him and said with a laugh, “It’s this lowly demon’s fault for not recognizing your greatness. Please forgive me for offending you before, Great Pig Immortal…”

“Koo-chee! Koo… Koo-chee! Koo-chee!” The Koo-chee beast appeared furious.

Xiao Chen glanced at the group of trembling demons behind the weasel demon and said loudly, ‘I’ll find a way to split open the mystic domain here in a few days. When you get out, you cannot harm people, understand?”

The group of demons was elated when they saw that not only was he not killing them, but he was also letting them out. They immediately replied, “Understand! Understand! We won’t ever trouble people again!”

Xiao Chen turned around and returned to his spot. Before leaving, he said coldly, “If you want to trouble, trouble those so-called Orthodox sects and families!”

Back under the stone wall, Xiao Chen began falling asleep after six hours. He couldn’t when it was day or night here, nor could he determine if he was dreaming or if his Divine Sense was dissociating from him. Before he knew it, he was already at the ninth floor of hell: the Avici level.

He saw a cyan-robed prisoner with hair hanging over his face, making it impossible for Xiao Chen to see his face. There appeared to be a sea of Asura evil spirits surrounding him. However, Xiao Chen was unafraid and slowly made his way over to him.

“Don’t come here! Don’t come here even if it’s a dream! Your soul will disintegrate! Leave this place! Leave this place…”

The man’s warning suddenly woke Xiao Chen from his dream. When he regained consciousness, he found himself covered in cold sweat. That dream was so vivid that he felt that he was there. Moreover, he continued to have an inexplicable feeling about the man that he saw.

He made up his mind: today, he must personally go down there and check things out!