Rodney quietly sighed to himself.
So much ti had passed that the clansn no longer recognized the forr High Priest.
That was fine; if even the clansn did not recognize him, then the God Clan guards would be even less likely to notice him.
Rodney reached forward, and a plum blossom-shaped death imprint blossod in the palm of his hand.
Upon seeing the imprint, the eyes of the two Dark Clan mbers imdiately widened in shock. They stared at it intently, and an impulse of submission rose in their hearts.
Both of them bowed before Rodney in unison.
"Greetings, Nether Emperor."
Rodney had received a temporary imprint from the Nether Emperor while in prison.
Seeing the imprint was like the Nether Emperor himself had arrived.
It was a mory inscribed in the bloodlines of all Dark Clan mbers, passed down through inheritance.
"Rise. How is Sores? Take to see him."
"Yes!"
...
Three hours later.
The Dark Clan priest Sores led several Dark Clan squads toward the mountains.
"Ever since you were captured, life for the Dark Clan has eased sowhat. Over the years, the God Clan's managent of the Death Vortex has gradually slackened. Only three teams guard it daily. Sneaking in should be no problem."
Sores sighed in emotion. He had been startled upon hearing that Rodney had actually escaped from the prison. After clarifying the circumstances, he imdiately sought a way to bring Rodney into the Netherworld Vortex domain.
Through the inspection passage ahead, they formally entered the mountains.
The Dark Clan guards at the mountain entrance saluted Sores. "Priest Sores, why did you co in person?"
"The vortex has beco sowhat unstable. I ca to check and ensure safety."
"Yes."
Two God Clan mbers monitoring from high above observed Sores and his group below but paid no attention.
Over the past ten thousand years, Sores had lost count of how many tis he had been here.
In their view, all Dark Clan mbers looked roughly the sa, and they would not notice Fang Heng and Rodney in the group.
Entering the holy barrier, a strong aura of death hit them.
Looking up, a vast concentration of undead power gathered atop the distant mountain peak, forming a massive dark vortex.
The vortex flowed slowly, continuously emitting a substantial undead aura.
From the midsection of the mountain, soul bodies began to rise from the ground, guided upward toward the top, gradually being drawn into the central vortex and completely dissolved.
Compared with the Death Vortex of the death realm, this vortex was hundreds of tis larger.
On both sides of the Netherworld Vortex, two other distinct vortices existed.
If Fang Heng's guess was correct, these two vortices were passages connecting hell and the divine realm.
Fang Heng's God's Eye in his right eye rotated as he carefully observed the two vortices.
The surface of the Hell Vortex was covered with fine divine lock chains, sealed and completely stopped. The divine realm vortex, however, continued rotating slowly and orderly.
Souls continuously passed through the divine vortex passage.
Fang Heng stared at the two vortices, feeling an indescribable oddity, as if sothing was off, though he could not pinpoint what.
Looking below the divine vortex, he saw that the mountain peak area directly beneath it had been cleared into a platform. The platform was densely covered with large magic array runes.
At the center of the magic array, a giant pillar rose high.
Most of the power overflowing from the Death Vortex flowed into the magic array's core below, absorbed by the central pillar.
Fang Heng frowned and quietly asked, "What is the magic array? What is the purpose of this pillar?"
"The pillar can conduct energy. It absorbs the energy released by the Death Vortex and transmits it back to the Netherworld," Sores explained.
Unaware of Fang Heng's true identity, Sores assud he was a Dark Clan mber accompanying Rodney on the Nether Emperor's mission. "The Netherworld needs Death energy to maintain normal circulation."
Fang Heng understood.
No wonder the Netherworld still had various temples even though it had been sealed.
The God Clan had left the Netherworld Vortex in place, continuously supplying energy to it.
Yet this made things stranger.
Previously, when the God Clan penetrated hell, they had chosen to completely seal and destroy it. Why, in the case of the Netherworld, did they rely seal it?
What purpose did leaving the Netherworld intact serve?
Fang Heng asked, "Why? Why would the God Clan go to such lengths to maintain the Netherworld? Wouldn't it be better for them to destroy it?"
Sores looked at Fang Heng, finding the question unusual.
"Why destroy the Netherworld? The Netherworld is a part of the world's operation. If it were destroyed entirely, the divine realm would also be affected."
"Affected? How exactly?"
"Uh..."
Sores was montarily at a loss for words.
They had grown up infused with the idea that the Netherworld was a crucial part of the world's operation.
It just so happened that the God Clan's reluctance to destroy the Netherworld confird this notion.
As for what exact consequences would occur if it were destroyed, they did not know.
Sores descended silent for a long mont before finally saying, "I suppose the world would be destroyed."
Fang Heng sensed there was more to it. Even the Dark Clan probably did not know the God Clan's true purpose in this.
He turned his gaze to the rows of stone pillars standing on the mountains and asked, "What are these smaller outer pillars for?"
Sores replied, "I'm not sure. We weren't present when the mountains were first constructed. I assu they were the God Clan's design. But we have observed them up close. Each pillar is engraved with alchemy magic arrays."
"I have a guess about this," Rodney said. "I think these pillars are used to guide souls."
"What do you an?"
"Lost souls are drawn by the Death Vortex into it and reincorporated into the cycle. But since this is the divine realm, souls entering here require guidance. The stone pillars serve that purpose."
Fang Heng looked at the undead creatures gradually drifting toward the Netherworld Vortex under the influence of the soul vortex.
Upon careful observation, the soul bodies condensed from the mountain ground and rose slowly.
In other words, the source and condensed strength of the soul bodies ultimately belonged to the Netherworld.
The God Clan only firmly controlled the conversion step.
Looking up at the sky, several God Clan guards were gathered near the Netherworld Vortex, watching closely.
"Let's go. We'll get a little closer."
Sores led the group steadily toward the soul vortex atop the mountain.
As they approached the soul vortex, they saw countless Dark Clan mbers kneeling on one knee, facing the vortex along the way.
Huh?
Fang Heng noticed sothing unusual about the Dark Clan. He withdrew his God's Eye, and a layer of gray-white appeared over his eyes.
From the kneeling Dark Clan, threads of dark-colored energy were drawn out.
The threads were not very strong individually.
But at this mont, more than a hundred thousand Dark Clan mbers had gathered around the mountain.
Looking up, Fang Heng saw countless threads connecting to the Netherworld Vortex above.
"So the Dark Clan relies on this strength to guide the Death Vortex to operate normally..."
Fang Heng murmured, "Could the source of the cycle's strength actually co from the Dark Clan?"
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