Mister White explained, âThat bird is called the Death Crow. It leads the living through the cycle of death. It might seem like a dead-end, but it is certainly a road we will be able to survive. This is the only bridge, out of the thirteen of them, that can lead us safely to the other side. Going through life and death, yin and yang, the Sacred Leader was a very unique individual. If I hadnât researched the Sacred Leaderâs life and learned that he was reborn nine times, I would have never have assumed that this was the correct path to take.â
âYou are very smart, Mister White. Even the Sacred Leaderâs secrets are known to you,â murmured a womanâs voice. Han Sen and Mister White both jerked in surprise.
They turned around and saw Fox Queen approaching from behind. She had caught up to them very quickly.
Mister Whiteâs face looked glum. Clearly, he had never imagined that Fox Queen would catch up with them so quickly. If she didnât possess Mister Whiteâs skill at calculating the correct path, it shouldnât have been possible for her to simply guess the correct way each and every time. There was no way she should have been able to follow them.
Suddenly, Mister White seemed to understand something. He looked down at his own body.
Fox Queen laughed. âYou donât need to look. I left a spray on you, a specific scent that only a Shapeshifting Fox could follow.â
Fox Queen then ignored Mister White, who was now looking green in the face. She stared at Han Sen. âGood brother, we meet again! Did you miss your big sister? I sure missed you!â
Han Sen was gripping the birdâs nest tightly as he started to step away. He was next to the hell bridge. He smiled at her. âI missed you, big sister, but I would have been happy never seeing your face again.â
Fox Queen smiled and said, âIn that case, you must be disappointed. But since weâre both already here, shouldnât you do something nice for your big sister who cares so much about you?â
âYou want this, you mean?â Han Sen pulled out the stone plate. He held it comfortably in one hand.
Fox Queenâs eyes brightened, and she smiled. âLittle brother! You really do understand your big sister so very much. You are so cute! I really didnât want to brutally murder you. If you give it to your big sister, how about I keep you alive?â
âSure, but if you want it, you will have to chase me. If you catch me, I will give it to you,â Han Sen said, then he stepped onto the hell bridge with the blood kirin.
The muscles in Fox Queenâs face tensed, but it was too late to stop Han Sen now. She flashed forward to the bridge, but she didnât have the guts to step on it.
Mister White was shocked, and he shouted, âCome back! You cannot go across the hell bridge!â
Mister White knew he was wasting his breath, though. The hell bridge meant hell power, and just like he had explained, it was a force from a different dimension.
The moment Han Sen had stepped onto the bridge, he had entered a new dimension. No matter how loudly Mister White shouted, he knew Han Sen couldnât see or hear him anymore.
âMister White, is there any way we can walk this bridge?â Fox Queen was staring at Han Sen and the blood kirin.
âEven deified elites might die there. Do you really think he can pull through?â Mister White had a wry smile.
âWhat a shame.â Fox Queen looked at Han Sen and sighed. She didnât know if she was feeling remorse over the loss of Han Sen himself or the stone plate she coveted.
âMister White, you can go on ahead,â Fox Queen sad distractedly, gesturing dismissively at him.
Mister White felt glum. He looked at Crime, then at the black bridge of life and death.
Fox Queen watched Han Sen for a while longer, then stepped onto the life and death bridge.
When Han Sen had stepped onto the hell bridge, his vision changed almost immediately. He had been able to see the end of the bridge clearly, but once he set foot on it, things changed.
The bridge stretched on and on without an end in sight. Aside from the bridge and the lake, nothing else occupied his vision.
Han Sen couldnât see the other twelve bridges or any of the teleporters. He couldnât see Fox Queen or Mister White. It was as if the bridge was residing in a plane of existence, all on its own.
Furthermore, the Hell Ghost statues on the bridge came alive, and they all looked like real devils. They hunched atop the rails, and their purple eyes glared at Han Sen as if they were going to swallow him alive.
Their bodies were wreathed in purple fire, and there were so many of them that the whole bridge was wreathed in a chain of purple flames. It was an unsettling sight.
Han Sen held up the birdâs nest as he went along. He looked as far down the bridge as he could, but he couldnât see the grand Hell Ghost statue and Yisha in the middle anymore.
Han Sen gritted his teeth. He clutched the birdâs nest tight and moved forward with the blood kirin.
Han Sen believed Yisha must have had a reason for selecting the hell bridge. Plus, Fox Queen was there. That meant Han Sen didnât really have a choice in the matter. Walking across another bridge with her on his heels might have been more dangerous.
Han Sen moved slowly down the bridge, holding the birdâs nest defensively. The Hell Ghosts atop the rail continued to stare at him, their eyes following him as he walked. They leered at Han Sen and the blood kirin.
Perhaps they were scared of Han Senâs birdâs nest, and that was why they had decided not to follow. They simply stared at the pair.
Han Sen walked along the bridge for a while, but he soon started to feel poorly.
Han Sen had the birdâs nest protecting his body, but he noticed that something ominous was still happening to him.
âThe birdâs nest is unable to block the hell bridgeâs power?â Han Sen looked down at his body, and also the body of the blood kirin. He frowned.
He and the blood kirin were dyed purple. The further he walked, the deeper the color became across his skin.
The blood kirin had previously looked red, but not even it could block the dyeing effect of that purple color.
Although Han Sen couldnât tell how the purple air might affect their bodies, it obviously wasnât something that boded well.
Han Sen stopped. He used his Blood-Pulse Sutra and his Jadeskin, but he couldnât remove the purple air from his skin. And although they had stopped, the purple air continued to grow stronger.
Han Sen summoned his gold Demon Bug King Bai Sema, but that proved to be useless, too. The purple air was still able to penetrate the gold Demon Bug King Bai Sema and dye him and the blood kirin.
Han Sen looked at the egg that the little red bird had turned into. There was no purple air permeating it, and that made Han Sen feel a little relief.
If the little red birdâs egg wasnât infected, then that meant there might be a way to deflect the force. It wasnât invulnerable.
Han Sen looked back and noticed that he could no longer see the way he had come. There was no end, and Han Sen gritted his teeth.