Nine Paths of Asura-Original Wuxia

Chapter 146-The Nithos Region

Hehe, I wish the weather were so kind here. Hopefully spring will come back soon.

"Thank you for saving my idiot family!" Yu Li said as Lineir looked at him suspiciously.

"Who?" Lineir said, not lowering his guard. The youth smacked his forehead.

"Of course you wouldn't know. I am Yu Li, the eldest child of the Li Clan. You helped my family out in the 1000 Chosen Cups Trial quite a bit. Our side told us that you would be joining us in the battle for the Pillar." He said and Lineir eyes lit up with recognition. 

"OH! You're the eldest brother of the Li trio. Now I see it." Lineir grinned as he enthusiastically shook Yu's hand. In the 1000 Chosen Cups Trial he had sparred with one of the families younger Chosen and gained some insights into his Madness Rain technique. Afterwards, as repayment for allowing him to meditate on his insights, Lineir had saved the 3 young members of the Li family and actually allowed them to win the tournament in the end. 

"So what's going to happen here? The Bladelord was...very brief in his explanation." Lineir asked. Yu Li first led Lineir back to his camp while introducing the others in the squad.

"Well, we are going to participate in a battle for the Pillars. You'll be fighting alongside myself as well as our squad. This is my fiance Ting." He introduced Lineir to an elegant young woman with a rainbow short sword at her hip. She waved gently and giggled. 

"So this is out secret weapon? He seems a bit...young?" She said. Lineir felt a bit at a loss. It was quite obvious that everyone in this squad was at least at the Late Celestial Realm. Meanwhile he was only at the beginning of the Divine Realm. He shrugged. The girl quickly patted his hands,

"I'm just kidding, just kidding. There is definitely a reason if the higher ups are sending you alongside us. Don't worry, you can just stay in the back and we'll protect you in a fight." She said and Lineir blushed a little bit.

"Ugh...that damn Bladelord. I knew he was going to screw me over again." He thought as Yu introduced him to the other members of the crew.

"This is Jed, Ming, Xi, and Chu..." he said as ten other members of the squad all came up to introduce themselves. Afterwards, in the light of the nighttime campfire Yu explained the Pillar.

"Alright, now that you're familiar with the team, let me tell you what we are here to do. Tomorrow, we are going to descend into the Nithos region. Have you heard of it?" Yu peered at Lineir curiously. However, Lineir simply shook his head, eager to learn more about the task ahead.

"Well then, I'll explain. Nithos is an ancient kingdom. It is very old and was once quite powerful in its age. However, those days are long past. Now...it is a place of the Undead." He said and Lineir nodded his head.

"I see. How dangerous are the Undead here?" He asked as the shadows around the campfire seemed to loom larger and become thicker. Myriad shapes danced with the light of the flames as outside the sounds of insects and animals continued to sound gently. For all intents and purposes it seemed like an ordinary forest of the mortal plane.

"Don't worry, we are not in Nithos just yet." Yu Li caught sight of Lineir's edgy gaze and grinned.

"This area is quite safe, tomorrow though we will descend deep into Nithos. As the story goes, one of the royal family of Nithos committed a great sin against the Heavens. As punishment he was hung by the neck by an angel. However, instead of dying gracefully, he...came back. It turned out that he had been practicing an evil art so dark it defied death. With trembling fingers, he grasped the noose around his broken neck and pulled himself up and out of it. Then to hide himself from Heaven's gaze he unleashed a terrifying plague amongst his own royal family. It quickly spread from the royal family to the regular citizenry and the entire kingdom grew infected." Yu said as he sliced off a chunk of roasted meat with a knife. Gradually the campfire rustled with the wind and sparks flew off into the sky. Smoke curled over the camp as someone added some pine quills to the flames and a pleasant incense-like smell fell over the night.

"Why would he do such a thing? Wouldn't the Heavens simply eradicate the entire kingdom then?" Lineir asked wide eyed. He was particularly interested in this story as it reminded him of the Old City of Undead where he had once found Mei.

"Ahhh but that's where it gets interesting. First of all, the Heaven's do not truly care about the kingdoms of humanity anymore. Ever since a great war at the beginning of the last age, they stopped encroaching on our territory for the most part. Second, when they do they only come for their own interests. The only reason they cared about this man at all was that he had greatly sinned somehow and incurred their wrath. After hanging him they left him out to dry and did not keep too close of an eye on him." The youth's heavyset features curled in disgust. 

"His ploy worked in any case. Once surrounded by the kingdom of the Undead, the Heaven's were unable to track his individual aura and they assumed he was dead. So it is said he faded away from history and with him, he took the secret of his sins with him. Now all that remains is a terrifying kingdom of the dead. How dangerous are they? Many of them were commoners and are fairly ordinary Undead in death. However, there are great numbers of them, millions of them. Additionally, the noblery and royalty, especially the bloodline of the crown were extremely strong cultivators once. Though an extremely long time has passed, and their power has crumbled away with their bones, it would be best if we avoided any of the royal blood." Yu said as he turned away. 

"Anyways, we will be descending into that region. The Pillar has appeared deep behind the main city and we will need to cross through to get to our entrance. Once there, I've heard you've experienced the battle before. It's quite simple. The first to reach the top will have the best chance of winning the battle. However, since this is a minor Pillar it's not just about getting to the top. To be precise, our other objective is to slay other important members of the junior generation! Normally, they would be protected by seniors but in this battle our seniors will also be watching so we will be free to go at each other! They will be trying to kill us or failing that, stop us from reaching the top, and we will be doing the same. However, we have you, our secret weapon. With your secret technique, held in reserve we intend to assassinate the greatest genius's of the other side!"