Chapter 7: The River of Forgetfulness

　　The two calmed themselves on the back of the giant turtle monster, the cold wind whistling past their ears with a deadly chill. The two did not say a word, their gazes still held by the weird moving stone under their feet.

　　Leng Yunchuan was silent for a moment, and finally broke the silence, "Have you ever felt ... that this place is a little too similar to the Yellow Springs in the rumors of the Yang world?"

　　Ling Hao turned back, frowned slightly, and asked, "What do you mean?"

　　"Those rumors in the yang world about the Yellow Springs, the Ghost Gate Pass, and the Three Life Stones ... that we saw with our own eyes are almost exactly the same as the legends. But these places, by definition, only the dead can personally experience them, so how do the people in the Yangworld know in such detail?" Leng Yunchuan's voice was thick with doubts, even with a hint of unexplainable fear.

　　Ling Hao also fell into deep thought. Indeed, these scenes they had seen, whether it was the Ghost Gate Pass or the Yellow Springs Road, were almost indistinguishable from what was described in the rumors of the Yang world. But this precisely made him feel incomprehensible. "Could it be that ... some people went back to the Yang world after death?" He tentatively guessed.

　　Leng Yunchuan shook his head, a cold light flashing in his eyes, "The possibility is very low. The Yang and Yin worlds should have been two completely isolated worlds that no one should cross easily. What's more, those rumors about the Yellow Springs have been circulating for thousands of years, it's impossible for them to be so detailed with just a few people's recollections."

　　"Then this is strange." Ling Hao frowned slightly and said in a deep voice, "If we really follow the legends in the Yang world, shouldn't we be the first to cross the Ghost Gate after we die, but we are the first to arrive at the Yellow Springs Tavern?"

　　After Leng Yunchuan heard this, the corners of her mouth pursed, her heart had similar doubts, she remembered the two dead souls on the Yellow Springs Road that looked exactly like them "If those two dead souls on the Yellow Springs Road are really us, then what is our current state? This state of ours now is not much different from the Yang world, unlike the real dead souls ..." She suddenly glanced at Ling Hao and said "Is there a possibility that we are not dead at all?"

　　Ling Hao froze after hearing this, his gaze locked onto Leng Yunchuan's eyes, seemingly waiting for an explanation, "You mean ..."

　　Leng Yunchuan stroked his chin, his gaze cold and deep, "Your and my current bodies are out of place with these dead souls, don't you think it's strange?"

　　Ling Hao's gaze sank slightly, his mind racing as if he was trying to digest this assumption of Leng Yunchuan's, and before he could think of a solution, a mournful scream suddenly came from the front, interrupting their thoughts. The two of them unanimously looked forward, only to see a flickering red light appearing faintly in the mist in the distance.

　　"What is that place?" Ling Hao frowned, his gaze locked on the river in the distance. That river glowed with a dark red color, and a few dead leaves occasionally floated across the surface of the river, as if they had drifted from the distant other side. The river flowed extremely slowly, as if every drop of water contained endless resentment and pain.

　　Leng Yunchuan gazed at the surface of the river, her brows knitted slightly, and she whispered, "It might be ... the River of Forgetfulness." There was a slight uncertainty in her tone, after all, she had never really seen these sights either.

　　As the giant turtle continued to fly forward, they gradually approached the bizarre river. The River of Forgetfulness, as legend has it, is the path that the dead of the netherworld must pass through before they lead to reincarnation, and the river's waters flowed with the memories of those who had forgotten everything. On the river bank, low stone statues lined up, their faces blurred, as if their original appearance had been erased by the years, leaving behind only endless sighs.

　　Ling Hao gazed at the river, and the dark red river water seemed to be flowing with the whispering voices of countless dead people. Those voices were intermittent, if anything, chilling the heart. He tried to distinguish the content of those whispers, but the more he listened, the heavier he felt in his heart.

　　A pitch-black plant grew in the grass by the river, its blades swaying gently in the cloudy wind, as if some unknown creature was wandering in it. Occasionally, a faint rustling sound would come from the grass, like some kind of reptile slowly traveling through it.

　　"Look over there!" Leng Yunchuan suddenly pointed to the center of the river, a hint of alertness flashing in her eyes.

　　Ling Hao followed her gaze and saw a huge black shadow emerge from the river, a creature shaped like a giant snake, its entire body covered with ebony scales, the scales reflecting an eerie cold light in the river water. The giant snake's eyes were like two green flames, staring at the surface of the river, as if it would rush out from the bottom of the river at any time, devouring all the creatures that approached.

　　"This is ..." Ling Hao's throat tightened, and his heartbeat couldn't help but speed up a few points.

　　Leng Yunchuan frowned and whispered, "The River God of the Netherworld? It might be a creature that specializes in guarding the Forgotten River, preventing the souls of the dead from sneaking across."

　　As the giant turtle flew, the figure of the River God gradually blurred and eventually disappeared into the depths of the river. The river once again regained its eerie tranquility, leaving only the soundless whisper still lingering in their ears.

　　Ling Hao let out a sigh of relief and muttered in a low voice, "It seems that the legend of this Oblivion River isn't all false."

　　Leng Yunchuan nodded gently, but his gaze was still wary. The blades of grass on the banks of the Forgotten River swayed gently, as if they were speaking of some unknown danger. A layer if mist floated in the air, slowly gathering as the cloudy wind blew, obscuring their vision.

　　"Something is very wrong here, quickly leave." Leng Yunchuan's voice carried a hint of urgency.

　　As soon as the words fell, a violent sound of water came from behind them, like the roar of a giant wave lapping at the shore, shaking the entire back of the giant turtle slightly.

　　"What's going on?" Ling Hao quickly turned his head, followed by Leng Yunchuan, his gaze fixed dead center on the direction of the River of Forgetfulness.

　　They realized that the river surface, which was calm just a moment ago, suddenly began to roll violently, as if something huge was rapidly rising from the bottom of the river. Water splashed everywhere, and the entire river began to shake violently, as if a monster that had been sleeping for millions of years was awakening in the depths of this River of Forgetfulness.

　　"Look over there!" Leng Yunchuan's eyes flinched, and his voice was filled with tension.

　　In the center of the river, a huge black shadow slowly emerged, the outline of the behemoth was gradually revealed, and as a huge wave rose, it rushed straight up from the bottom of the water, as if it was about to leap into the sky.

　　The behemoth's body was like an ancient python, yet it was even more massive than any creature they had ever seen. Its body was hundreds of feet long, covered in dark black scales that shone with an icy luster like metal, each scale was the size of a palm, tightly arranged, and as it moved it rubbed slightly making ear-piercing sounds. Between the scales, purple light could be seen flowing, as if there was some kind of mysterious power surging in its body.

　　Its head was extremely bizarre, both resembling a python and carrying the characteristics of some sort of dragon-like creature. There were two curved horns on top of its head, and the surface of the horns was covered with mottled cracks, as if it had gone through the baptism of countless storms and battles. The two eyes were like ghostly flames, translucent with a green ghostly light, and wherever its gaze reached, the air seemed to freeze.

　　The behemoth's mouth was unusually huge, enough to devour a mountain peak when it opened. Its teeth were sharp and irregularly arranged, like some kind of scavenging beast, with specks of blood on its teeth. The most terrifying thing was its tongue, which was not only the forked shape of a snake, but also had countless tentacle-like elongated objects, as if it possessed an independent consciousness, constantly twisting in the air as if it was searching for prey.

　　The beast's tail was extremely long and thick, and the end of the tail was like a huge spike with countless sharp barbs. Its tail swung rapidly in the air, and every time it swung, it brought up a gust of wind, and one could even hear the sound of the air being torn apart. Structures similar to scales and feathers grew between each section of the tail's bones, and these feathers looked soft, but each one of them reflected a cold light like sharp blades, and seemed to be able to easily slice through any creature that stood in its way.

　　"What kind of monster is this?" Ling Hao cursed in a low voice, his hand already subconsciously gripping the hilt of his sword.

　　Leng Yunchuan's gaze was always locked on the giant beast, his face slightly gloomy, "I don't know ... but it's clear that we're not its match at all"

　　The giant beast's body was still hovering in the water, and a part of it had already leapt high out of the water, towering like a dark mountain in the center of the River of Forgetfulness. Its huge claws slapped the water surface violently, stirring up monstrous waves, splashing and splashing onto the back of the giant turtle, and Ling Hao and Leng Yunchuan were almost overturned by that tremendous force.

　　"It's coming at us!" Ling Hao loudly reminded Leng Yunchuan.

　　The giant turtle's back shook violently, obviously it also sensed the threat of this huge beast. The giant turtle began to frantically flap its pairs of bat-like black wings, wanting to get out of this dangerous area. However, the speed of the giant beast was faster than they thought, its body was too flexible in the water to resemble its huge size, and the huge snake tail was quickly drawn out of the water, fiercely flung towards the giant turtle.

　　Ling Hao and Leng Yunchuan hugged the bulge on the giant turtle's back at almost the same time, holding on tightly to prevent themselves from being thrown down.

　　The behemoth's tail whistled past with a strong air current, almost grazing the giant turtle's armor and making a piercing friction sound. The strength of that force was so strong that it even left a long mark on the giant turtle's back, scales flying apart under the impact of the airflow.

　　"Be careful," Leng Yunchuan clenched his teeth, his gaze still fixed on the giant snake-like beast.

　　Ling Hao gripped the hilt of his sword with one hand and whispered, "We must think of a way to leave this area as soon as possible."

　　The behemoth's eyes locked onto them once again, carrying a green ethereal light that seemed to be able to penetrate the soul. It opened its bloody mouth, as if it was going to swallow the giant turtle into its stomach along with Ling Hao and Leng Yunchuan. An unspeakable sense of oppression filled the air, as if death was approaching them step by step.

　　The giant turtle turned around violently at this moment, its wings flapping madly. Accompanied by a strong vibration, the giant tortoise rushed high into the air at an extremely fast speed, attempting to escape the range of the giant beast's attack.

　　The behemoth did not give up easily either, its body was incredibly flexible, its tail fluttering once more, bringing a gale-like force straight in the direction of the giant turtle.

　　"It's too late!" Ling Hao clenched his teeth and drew his sword, ready to meet the giant beast's attack. However, the giant turtle let out a low roar at this moment, fiercely accelerating and flying higher, narrowly avoiding the giant beast's deadly attack.

　　The behemoth's tail slapped heavily on the water surface, stirring up a huge curtain of water. The entire River of Forgetfulness seemed to be stirred by its fury, and the river water surged wildly as if it wanted to swirl all living beings into it.

　　And this action of the giant turtle seemed to have angered the beast even more, only to see it let out a deafening roar, and once again, violently rushed towards Giant Ling Hao and the others...