The Netherworld Ghost Lord looked at Hong Yu intently.
As he spoke, a chilling aura surged from his body, like countless ghostly claws from Netherworld Hell clutching at Hong Yu's.
It rendered him immobile!
Under the Netherworld Ghost Lord's chilling gaze, Hong Yu frowned slightly but showed no sign of panic. He said calmly, "Senior, if you wanted to possess my body, wouldn't you have made your move when I first obtained the Luo Rune Seal?"
"Hm?"
The Netherworld Ghost Lord was taken aback.
The chilling, ghostly aura between them vanished without a trace.
The ominous black glow on his face faded, revealing his pale complexion. He gave Hong Yu a strange look. "You've known about my existence all this ti?"
Hong Yu shrugged. "If soone hadn't been pulling the strings from the shadows, I wouldn't believe my luck was so heaven-defying as to let find the Luo Rune Seal that easily!"
In fact, after Hong Yu absorbed the Luo Rune Seal and used Rashomon to break through to the Celestial Soul Realm, he had faintly sensed a guiding hand behind the scenes, manipulating him into discovering Rashomon.
He had even discussed it with Little One.
After spending ten million Gold Coins, Little One had given him an answer: the solution to the mystery lay on the Championship Platform.
Because of this, Hong Yu hadn't been overly worried, even when he saw Zheng Tian ascend the Championship Platform.
He had always believed the mastermind behind it all would eventually appear.
And just as he'd expected, the Netherworld Ghost Lord had appeared.
The Netherworld Ghost Lord sized up Hong Yu intently. After a long mont, he suddenly burst out laughing. "Excellent, excellent! Truly, the one destined for Rashomon. Since that's the case, I'll stop beating around the bush... It was indeed I who secretly manipulated the Luo Rune Seal to find you. However, if you weren't fated to have it, it wouldn't have chosen you as its new master."
"New master?"
At Hong Yu's prompting, the Netherworld Ghost Lord began his explanation, going into great detail.
As it turned out, he was the previous master of Rashomon.
In his youth, with the help of Rashomon, the Netherworld Ghost Lord's cultivation had progressed with incredible speed. The imnse power Rashomon granted him allowed him to quickly build a formidable reputation.
His progress was unstoppable, breaking through the Primordial Spirit Realm to reach the Yin Yang Realm!
Once a person reaches a certain level, they inevitably seek even higher realms. The Ghost Lord was not satisfied with the Yin Yang Realm, so he began to travel the world, seeking the secret to breaking through to the Mystic Realm. In order to break past his limits, the Ghost Lord even left his holand, crossing an untold distance to arrive in the Southern Border.
And his holand was the very place that interested Hong Yu the most—the Desert North Wilderness.
Hong Yu asked excitedly, "Senior, you're from the Desert North Wilderness? Then you must know a way to travel from the Southern Border to the Desert North Wilderness, right?"
The Netherworld Ghost Lord paused, then shook his head. "I do not. I originally ca to the Southern Border because I placed in the top one hundred at the Desert North Holy Assembly. This earned a spot to use a Shuttle Array, which brought here from the Desert North Wilderness. I had planned to return ho in glory after reaching a higher realm, but I never expected that I would be unable to go back."
"Only with a Shuttle Array?"
Hong Yu was disappointed, but he quickly composed himself.
He clenched his fists and murmured to himself, 'Placing in the top one hundred at the Desert North Holy Assembly grants the right to use the Shuttle Array, so it should be similar for the Southern Border. Dad, Mom, Yaoyao... you have to wait for !'
His parents and Yaoyao were all in the Desert North Wilderness.
If Hong Yu wanted to reunite his family, placing in the top one hundred of the Five Domains Holy Assembly was an absolute must.
It was a goal he had to achieve!
The Ghost Lord noted Hong Yu's serious expression and paused. Not dwelling on it, he said calmly, "Little fellow, I want to ask you to do sothing for . Of course, if you can help accomplish it, I naturally have a trendous reward for you!"
"Oh?"
Hong Yu paused.
The Ghost Lord began to explain, "I was born in the Desert North Wilderness and was the Mansion Lord of its Netherworld Mansion. My family is incredibly powerful, the undisputed number one faction in the Netherworld Mansion. I never thought I would be trapped here forever, so when I left, I brought our ancestral Secret Technique, the Heaven-Swallowing Divine Technique, and the Mansion Lord Order with ..."
He sighed sorrowfully. "Without the Heaven-Swallowing Divine Technique, my family has lost its strongest Martial Dao legacy. Without the Mansion Lord Order, my family is only guaranteed six thousand years of Shelter, safe from outside invasion. Now, only ten years are left. If I can't get the Mansion Lord Order and the Heaven-Swallowing Divine Technique back to them in ti, my family will likely..."
"Senior, you want to take the Heaven-Swallowing Divine Technique and the Netherworld Mansion Lord Order to the Desert North Wilderness for you?" Hong Yu asked, frowning.
The Ghost Lord nodded. "And you must arrive in the Desert North Wilderness within ten years and deliver these items to my family. Of course, while you have many strange things about you, kid, it will be extrely difficult for you to distinguish yourself at the Southern Border Holy Assembly with your current strength and talent."
"Based on my knowledge of your Southern Border, you probably rank sowhere around the 100,000 mark among the young geniuses of the Xiahuang Ancient Kingdom. Getting into the top one hundred of the Southern Border Holy Assembly will be monuntally difficult. However..."
The Ghost Lord said, "As long as you agree to help , in return, I will let you study and cultivate my Heaven-Swallowing Divine Technique. In addition, I will teach you the thod to master Rashomon, as well as the secret to controlling the Celestial Essence Secret Realm. With these, I believe you'll have a much better chance of competing!"
Hong Yu was montarily stunned.
He recalled how, when he left the Cyan Nether Sword Sect, his master had warned him, predicting that within the vast Xiahuang Ancient Kingdom, he would only rank sowhere around the one million mark.
But now... after more than half a year of hard work, he had already climbed from the one million mark to around the one hundred thousand mark.
This was already a huge improvent.
It could even be called a miracle!
However, for Hong Yu, who was determined to stand out at the Xiahuang Ancient Kingdom's Martial Dao Holy Assembly, represent the Ancient Kingdom at the Southern Border Holy Assembly, and win the right to use the Shuttle Array, there was no real difference between a rank of one hundred thousand and one million.
'I must obtain the right to use the Shuttle Array.'
Hong Yu clenched his fists.
His face grew solemn as he said, "Senior, I am willing to do everything in my power to fulfill your last wish!"
"I am very glad you agree, but you'd better think this through, little fellow!"
The Netherworld Ghost Lord's voice grew sinister and grave. "If you are willing to help fulfill my last wish, these benefits will naturally be yours. But it would be impossible for not to leave so asure of insurance against you."
"Go on," Hong Yu said.
The Netherworld Ghost Lord said calmly, "Once you accept my task, all the Treasures I've left behind will naturally belong to you. However, a Curse I've prepared will also fall upon you. This Curse was created with an oath on my very Soul. Unless a Venerable-level expert intervenes, it will follow you until you are tornted to death by it."
A chill ran through Hong Yu's heart. 'For a powerhouse like the Netherworld Ghost Lord to take it so seriously, this Curse must be anything but simple.'
If he had any other choice, Hong Yu would never accept.
But alas... this was about his only chance to get to the Desert North Wilderness. He had to risk it all. "I accept!"
"Good!"
The Netherworld Ghost Lord nodded in satisfaction. A crimson light shot out from between his eyebrows, enveloping Hong Yu.
A strange Rune was branded over Hong Yu's heart before quietly vanishing.
Hong Yu felt as if sothing had been added to his heart, yet he couldn't perceive its presence.
The Netherworld Ghost Lord said calmly, "This is a unique Soul Curse of my Netherworld Race. If you fail to complete the task I've entrusted to you within ten years, the Curse will slowly activate. It will devour all of your cultivation, turning you into a cripple. Then, it will cause your insides to rot, and you will die after enduring the world's greatest agonies. Of course, if you complete my final wish, the Curse will naturally disappear and might even grant you a trendous boon!"
As he spoke, a Spiritual Plate flew out of the Netherworld Ghost Lord's sleeve. "This is the core Spiritual Plate of the Celestial Essence Secret Realm. Refine it with a drop of your blood, and you'll be able to control the Celestial Essence Secret Realm. You can even use it as a personal storage space!"
Hong Yu looked at the Spiritual Plate in his hand and asked, astonished, "Refining this Spiritual Plate will let control the Celestial Essence Secret Realm? Then what about Zheng Tian?"
"Zheng Tian? You an that little brat?"
The Netherworld Ghost Lord grinned, a mysterious smile on his face. With a wave of his arm, a mirrored image appeared before them.
In the image, Zheng Tian—the one everyone thought was receiving the trial's inheritance and about to take control of the Celestial Essence Secret Realm—was lying on the ground. Huhu, he was fast asleep, clearly having been tricked by the Ghost Lord.
The corner of Hong Yu's eye twitched. "..."
Recalling Zheng Tian's earlier smug expression, Hong Yu's face turned strange. 'I wonder what kind of face he'd make if he knew he was actually being played by the Ghost Lord, and that all the real rewards ca to ?'
The Netherworld Ghost Lord continued to pile on the rewards. "Here is that little Celestial Beast's Dragon Fire Fla Beast Technique, and also the thod for refining Rashomon. It's all yours!"
He paused, his expression growing complicated before he sighed. "Little fellow, you must be careful with Rashomon. Before you have gathered the Luo Rune Seal, the Life Rune Seal, and the Death Rune Seal, you must never attempt to open it. Otherwise, my fate will beco your own!"
"Senior Ghost Lord, what exactly is Rashomon?" Hong Yu asked, frowning.
'Rashomon is too terrifying, too mysterious!'
The Netherworld Ghost Lord looked pensive. After a long while, he sighed faintly. "No one truly knows what Rashomon is. Legend has it that it was once the gate of a great city, and it fell into our world during a cataclysmic war..."
HISS!
Hong Yu sucked in a cold breath.
'Rashomon, a structure as large as dozens of Forbidden Cities, is really just a city gate?'
'Then just how big must that city have been?'
'It's simply impossible to imagine!'
The Netherworld Ghost Lord shook his head. "This world is vast, and what we can perceive is but the tip of the iceberg. Little fellow, my energy won't last much longer. Rember, before you reach the Primordial Core Realm, you must not attempt to claim ownership of Rashomon!"
"I will keep it firmly in mind!" Hong Yu nodded.
The Netherworld Ghost Lord laughed heartily. "Destinies rise and fall, all is cause and effect. What is fated to be will be, and what is not, one must not force!"
"Fade away, Championship Platform, my final resting place... Fade away..."
The Netherworld Ghost Lord's form began to dissipate.
The entire Championship Platform also began to crumble.
The gathered experts were all involuntarily lifted into the air. In a flash of light, they vanished completely from the Celestial Essence Secret Realm.
Hong Yu glanced at the fading Ghost Lord, dripped his blood onto the Celestial Essence Spirit Plate, and instantly felt the entire Celestial Essence Secret Realm fall under his control.
As his eyes glinted, he sensed Zheng Tian sleeping soundly sowhere in the Secret Realm. The corners of his lips curved up slightly as a rather devious plan ford in his mind...
'Zheng Tian, you're in for so bad luck!'
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