Daoist Jin Lu hurriedly stopped him, shaking his head and said, "We cannot leave! The Western Capital will certainly send experts to search for us. The underworld is too vast; if we leave the Immortal Bridge Blessed Land, they will never find us!"
Chen Shi shook his head and said, "There are many cultivators who know the Soul Summoning Technique; once they summon souls, they can pinpoint our location. You haven’t seen the underworld’s ghost gods; I have! Staying here is certain death; we must leave!"
He called out loudly again, sending messages to everyone in the Immortal Bridge Blessed Land, and with a wave of his hand, a flame flew out, burning endlessly, pointing the way for everyone.
Daoist Jin Lu frowned.
Chen Shi lifted the unconscious woman, thought for a while, and simply summoned the small temple behind his head, placing the woman inside the temple.
In this Imperial Examination martial arts battle, he had not brought any Spiritual Medicine, Spirit Pill, nor any Magical Treasure or talisman treasure. All he could do now was place this woman on the Divine Shrine and activate the Cultivation Technique himself to suppress her injuries.
As for when the woman’s injuries would heal, he did not know.
Inside the small temple, only Chen Shi’s Nascent Soul sat on the Divine Shrine; Stone Rock Lady was not in the temple. Chen Shi threw the unconscious woman onto the Divine Shrine where Stone Rock once sat, slightly stimulated his Qi-Blood, and found that his Qi-Blood circled around the woman several times and became exceptionally pure.
Chen Shi was greatly surprised, not daring to ponder further, and immediately set off towards the exit of the Immortal Bridge Blessed Land following the direction indicated by his flame.
Daoist Guo caught up with him quickly, smiling, "I will travel with Chen Jieyuan! Brother Jin Lu, what about you?"
Daoist Jin Lu hesitated for a moment and said, "I will stay here and wait for the Court’s rescue!"
Daoist Guo had no choice but to let him.
Soon they encountered the first group of Scholars, more than ten people, both men and women, but they were all far apart from each other, probably because this was the examination field, and earlier they had attacked each other mercilessly, making it difficult to trust others.
However, several of them saw Chen Shi, showed joyful expressions, and hurriedly quickened their pace to greet him.
These people were precisely the Scholars who had traveled west to the capital with Chen Shi. Chen Shi had taught them Daoist Skills, various Spells, Arrays, and Talismans, so to them, Chen Shi was their mentor, and they trusted him completely, without any suspicion.
Seeing this, the other Scholars also stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Greetings, Chen Jieyuan!"
There was also someone who called Chen Shi a Scholar, and Chen Shi asked, "Have you seen me before?"
The person shook his head and smiled, "I have heard your story. I originally thought you died in Xinxiang, but I didn’t expect you to rise again."
Chen Shi laughed heartily, "The Daoist Embryo is but a divine gift; what does it matter if I have no Daoist Embryo? Even without it, I am still a Scholar!"
They continued forward, and gradually many Scholars gathered, forming a team of dozens.
Daoist Guo looked at Chen Shi in surprise, thinking to himself, "This person has great charisma, unlike those who fake it. He treats people as if he turns his heart inside out from his belly, shining brightly."
"Friend over there, this place is not suitable for lingering!"
Chen Shi called out loudly to six or seven Scholars in the distance, "The underworld’s ghost gods will follow the traces and come; follow me! I will lead you out!"
Those few shook their heads and said, "This is the underworld; it’s full of ghost gods outside. We will stay here waiting for the Court’s rescue!"
Chen Shi did not insist and continued forward, and unconsciously, there were already over two hundred people in the group.
As they walked out of the Immortal Bridge Blessed Land, they checked the footprints on the ground; there should be another group who had left before them. Judging by the number of footprints, there were over a hundred people.
Next to the footprints, there was a fox paw print.
"It’s Sister Feifei."
Chen Shi sighed in relief, thinking to himself, "It turns out she was the one who led these Scholars."
Hu Feifei had experience escaping through Demon Transformation, with strong survival skills, able to lead these Scholars to avoid certain dangers.
"Instructor, there should be over a hundred people who haven’t left yet inside."
Hu Guanghan came to Chen Shi’s side, whispering, "Some people should have left but don’t trust us, and many have gone alone."
Chen Shi shook his head and said, "Everyone has their own fate; we don’t need to concern ourselves with them. We have already done our best. From now on, preserving our own lives is the primary task... ghost gods are coming!"
Everyone felt a chill in their hearts as they saw in the distance rolling fog advancing towards the Immortal Bridge Blessed Land, a few miles away from them.
Soon, the fog engulfed the Immortal Bridge Blessed Land.
Chen Shi’s eye twitched slightly and said, "No need to look; those inside are doomed. Let’s go! Follow me; don’t fall behind!"
Everyone fell silent and quickly followed him.
The surroundings were dark, their sight couldn’t reach far, only able to see the looming shadows of the giant mountains towering between heaven and earth, majestic and grand.
After a long while, Chen Shi followed the fox paw prints left by Hu Feifei to the first giant mountain.
They were still eight or nine miles away from the mountain range, but they could barely see the entirety of the giant mountain.
"This mountain looks like a giant Buddha." Someone whispered.
Chen Shi heard it, paused slightly, raised his head to look closely, and was startled to realize the mountain indeed resembled a seated Buddha.
The great Buddha sat cross-legged, one hand raised, making a gesture of illuminating the human world.
"How can the underworld have such a vast Buddha statue?" He wondered in his heart.
They walked forward, and the distant mountains gradually became clear, revealing that they were not mountains, but towering Buddhas sitting in the ash-covered underworld.
From afar, they looked like a series of undulating mountain ranges.
Passing through the Buddhas, red eyes lit up on their bodies, watching them with a ghostly glow.
— End of the Chapter, asking for votes!