On the Path to the Great Dao Chapter 274: Six Paths of Reincarnation

"The boat girl and her father, two rotten eggs!"

On Black Pot's back, Granny Sha was hopping mad, but she soon couldn't hop anymore. Her injuries were severe; while in the state of Primordial Spirit and Body Unification, she had been struck so hard that her Primordial Spirit separated from her physical body. Her Eight-Trigram furnace had also been broken. She needed to focus on healing her wounds urgently, otherwise, there would be lasting consequences.

Blue Goat's injuries were even more severe than hers. Hu Xiaoliang's injuries were sowhat lighter, but not by much.

Zhong Kui was simply too powerful. With just one encounter, all three of them were wounded. Even the ticulously prepared iron caltrop hadn't hard him in the slightest.

Black Pot's speed was extrely fast. Treading upon the land of the underworld, a fleeting blur of light, it charged into the distance. However, Zhong Kui's face above their heads kept following them, its speed of movent not a bit slower than Black Pot's.

His face was enormous, blotting out the sky, even larger than Black Pot's body. Looking up from below, it gave a feeling of despair-inducing oppression.

His coarse face bore sideburns like coiled dragons, and his beard grew so robustly it resembled clusters of black trees. Flas burned around his visage. A palm descended from the sky, capable of grasping them all in its hand and crushing them into pulp!

His strength in the underworld was even greater than in the mortal world!

Black Pot ran for its life, constantly swerving left and right across the desolate plain to avoid the descending palm from above. When it truly couldn't dodge, Granny Sha and the other two would muster all their remaining strength to resist that giant hand.

But the three of them were already at the end of their rope. They could only hold out for a brief mont before being crushed by Zhong Kui's power.

Black Pot fled for thousands of miles, yet Zhong Kui still pursued relentlessly. Just then, the ground beneath Black Pot's feet trembled and cracked open. The lung of the earth's qi erupted outward, scalding hot air currents rushing straight into the high sky.

The earth cracked and split with a cacophony of sounds. Black Pot leaped up, only to see the ground beneath its feet had already split open into a massive chasm. From within the chasm, crimson magma and earth fire surged outward.

Black Pot jumped to the opposite bank. Chen Shi stood on Black Pot's head, looking back. He saw a majestic Ghost and God figure, mightier than mountains, erge from the earth's fissure and the magma. It grabbed a long river of magma, refined it in an instant, and used the crimson magma river as a whip, lashing out at Zhong Kui's face in the sky!

With that lash, countless droplets of magma also scattered, falling to the ground and transforming into massive black stones that rumbled and rolled.

Before the stones could co to a stop, they leaped up, turning into lava imps, each over ten feet tall, running wildly all over the place, exceptionally fierce.

Black Pot trampled countless lava imps that couldn't dodge in ti along the way. Many imps even grabbed onto its dog fur, swiftly climbing up its legs and feet, preparing to climb onto the dog's back and finish off everyone.

Chen Shi summoned the Dark Spring Swimming Dragon Sword, piercing through one lava imp after another.

Granny Sha and the others also stirred their remaining strength, knocking these lava imps down.

At the sa ti, Yin winds howled all around. Mist surged toward them, rolling in thickly. Only when it arrived before them did they realize it wasn't mist, but countless white-boned skeletons entangled together, crawling forward rapidly. Because there were so many, from afar, it looked like mist was churning.

They crawled too fast; Black Pot couldn't change direction in ti.

"Boom!"

The tide of white bones swallowed Black Pot's form. The demonic fire shrouding Black Pot's body burned the white-boned skeletons that got too close, but those were just patches of demonic fire around its body, not covering it entirely. Still, countless skeletal hands danced wildly, pouncing at them from the air.

One skeleton after another excitedly opened and closed their jaws rapidly, making biting motions.

Chen Shi urged the Swimming Dragon Sword. Its sword light flickered like a swimming dragon, swirling and flying around them. White-boned skeletons struck by the sword light exploded with banging sounds.

Zhuge Jian also urged the Wind-Thunder Yu-Step Divine Mantra, fighting desperately. From ti to ti, he drew the Bowl-Mouthed Blunderbuss from his back. With a thunderous roar, he blasted dozens of white-boned skeletons flying through the air into dust.

However, the Bowl-Mouthed Blunderbuss could only be used once before the barrel had to be cleaned and gunpowder refilled.

At this critical juncture, there was simply no ti to stop and reload.

Just as they were about to be subrged by this tide of bones, at the critical mont, the small temple behind Chen Shi's head materialized. A large-headed woman was summoned by Chen Shi. Imdiately, the white-boned skeletons surging toward them from all sides shattered with a clattering sound, turning to dust.

Stone Ji Your Ladyship was ecstatic. These white-boned skeletons were extrely dangerous to others, but for her, they were supre nourishnt. She imdiately began absorbing the stone essence within the bones without restraint!

Her body was originally that of a normal woman, but her head was as big as a dining table, very disproportionate. Now, absorbing thousands of skeletons, her body began to grow again.

Suddenly, white-boned skeletons danced wildly as they were flung backward, their skeletal arms still struggling and grasping randomly, trying to grab onto sothing.

Earlier, the tide of bones had blocked Chen Shi and the others' vision. Black Pot could only advance with difficulty through the tide. Now that the bones were flying away, their field of view instantly broadened.

They saw that beside them, a Ghost and God figure, many tis larger than Black Pot, grabbed a long whip made of white bones and lashed out at Zhong Kui's face in the sky!

"The underworld's Fire and Earth Judges!" Granny Sha exclaid in shock.

In the mortal world, she was considered law-abiding, but in the underworld, she was a habitual offender with a long record of cris. Therefore, she had so understanding of the underworld's Ghost and God figures.

These two Judges were the underworld's Fire Judge and Earth Judge, usually inseparable. She hadn't expected to encounter them here.

The Earth Judge held the bone whip, his gaze sweeping over Granny Sha. However, the criminal Granny Sha was clearly not as attractive to him as the criminal Zhong Kui.

The two underworld Judges were experts of the Yin Law Departnt. One used a long river of magma as a whip, the other used the tide of bones as a whip. They coiled around Zhong Kui's arms, trying to drag him from the mortal world into the underworld.

The Fire and Earth Judges pulled with all their might, actually dragging half of Zhong Kui's body from the mortal world into the underworld.

Zhong Kui roared angrily and exerted force violently. Instead, he began dragging the two Judges toward him.

The two Judges roared in turn. The hells they presided over materialized with a rumble. Black Pot was still madly running forward. Chen Shi looked behind the two Judges and couldn't help but stare, eyes wide.

He saw boundless space erge, forming the terrifying spectacle of two layers of hell. Countless souls of living beings struggled and sank within the hells!

The Ghost and God Domains of the hells were expanding outward, their area of influence growing larger and larger!

Black Pot's running speed was too fast; even the two layers of hell couldn't catch up to it.

Chen Shi also didn't have ti to see clearly what kind of hells they were before Black Pot had already fled thousands of miles away.

He looked up and saw Zhong Kui actually pull the Earth Judge before him, open his huge mouth, and prepare to stuff the Earth Judge inside!

The Earth Judge's long whip had been slurped up by him like noodles, most of it gone, with only a small portion still wrapped around the Earth Judge's arm, thick as a mountain peak. The Earth Judge pushed against Zhong Kui's upper jaw with his hands and his lower jaw with his legs, struggling to resist being eaten.

"Is he really this capable of fighting?" Seeing this scene, everyone felt sowhat despairing.

In the distance, the earth shook and mountains trembled. Yin energy rolled in thickly. More underworld Ghost and God figures erged, pouncing toward Zhong Kui in the sky.

Black Pot ran faster and faster. That spectacular scene beca increasingly blurred.

"Black Pot, no need to go so all-out anymore!" Chen Shi shouted loudly. "You can slow down!"

Black Pot gradually slowed its speed. Everyone on its back also breathed a sigh of relief. Granny Sha relaxed, and her injuries imdiately flared up. She hurriedly suppressed them and said with a bitter smile, "We really took a fall this ti, tricked by the boat girl and her father! Once our injuries are healed, we must definitely get our revenge!"

Hu Xiaoliang said, "How do we get revenge? Even if we fully recover, we're definitely no match for Zhong Kui."

Granny Sha said, "The revenge I'm talking about isn't fighting Zhong Kui. Of course, it's giving the boat girl and her father a beating!"

Zhuge Jian steadied his breathing and suddenly exclaid in shock, "Senior Blue Goat is dead!"

Chen Shi's heart jolted. He hurried forward to check. Indeed, Blue Goat was already stiff, dead beyond doubt!

His heart filled with great sorrow, tears about to fall. Granny Sha's voice ca: "Don't worry about him. He'll co back to life after basking in the moonlight. He was originally dead anyway."

Chen Shi's tears stopped.

Granny Sha sighed and muttered, "With these injuries, who knows when they'll fully heal…"

Hu Xiaoliang recalled the encounter with Zhong Kui and shook his head. "Can't beat him. Simply can't beat him!"

Zhuge Jian inquired, "What about increasing the dosage? If we increase the gunpowder in the iron caltrop tenfold, could it blow Zhong Kui up? The Ministry of Works has so talisman masters who are from Red Mountain Hall, and so craftsn from the Lu Ban Sect. They should be able to make such super-large iron caltrops."

Hu Xiaoliang shook his head. "Zhong Kui's cultivation is too high; he's already unafraid of thunder and fire. Using ten tis the dosage won't work against him either. It needs to be multiplied by ten again."

Zhuge Jian was startled. Gunpowder at the level of a heavenly tribulation?

At that mont, a huge iron pillar ca into their view.

This iron pillar was pitch-black throughout, hanging down from the sky as if piercing through both the Yin and Yang realms. Many strange, ancient patterns were imprinted on it, resembling writing or talismans. Chen Shi was proficient in various talismans, but he didn't recognize the patterns on the pillar.

"We've now reached the vicinity of the Western Capital."

Granny Sha compared the Topographic Map of the Yin and Yang realms and said, puzzled, "There's no such black iron pillar near the Western Capital. Is it a remnant?"

Remnants was a collective term for the incomprehensible giant objects left behind by civilizations on the Western Ox New Continent before the True King's Era.

These things were often massive, eternal, spanning heaven and earth, incomprehensible, and their purpose unknown.

Who would have thought there were remnants in the underworld as well.

They circled around this black iron pillar, sensing the aura of a bygone era.

Chen Shi examined the iron pillar, thinking, "When I return to the mortal world, I'll find this place and see if such an object exists there too?"

At that mont, streaks of gorgeous halos ca into their view. These halos abruptly appeared in the underworld, large and small, with soft light, forming clusters.

Outside each halo, tens of thousands of ghosts stood guard, as if the halos were very important to them.

Apart from these halos, there were also grand, large-scale palaces, like celestial palaces, inverted and standing in the sky.

Additionally, there were deities stationed in the sky above, their physical bodies vast, with mysterious, unfathomable halos behind their heads. From ti to ti, they opened their eyes and looked down.

"This is Western Capital City."

Seeing Chen Shi and Zhuge Jian's confusion, Granny Sha explained, "The magic treasures you see are treasures that suppress the Western Capital's fortune. The nine palaces possess supre power. Wenhua, Wuying, Huagai, Wenyuan, Dongge, Zhengyi, Zhongji, Jinshen, Jianji. These nine palaces are treasures left from the True King's Era. With these nine great halls present, forget demonic transformation; even disasters and calamities can be suppressed!"

Chen Shi looked toward those palaces. In the mortal world, one couldn't see how powerful these palaces were. Only by coming to the underworld did one realize how terrifying the Western Capital's foundation was!

"Then, what about these deities?" he inquired.

"Primordial Spirits within the Realm of Emptiness."

Granny Sha said, "They are the Primordial Spirits of Return to Emptiness realm and Great Ascension Realm experts. Their Primordial Spirits can penetrate both the Yin and Yang realms, so their figures can be seen in the underworld. They can also see you. The halos behind their heads are the manifestation of the Realm of Emptiness in the underworld."

Chen Shi gazed at these incredibly powerful deities, his heart shaken.

The Western Capital had far too many powerful beings!

A full fifty or sixty Return to Emptiness and Great Ascension realm existences!

"And these halos?"

"The halos are the Six Paths of Reincarnation. The masters of the Six Paths of Reincarnation are pregnant won, not just humans, but also including livestock."

Granny Sha caught her breath, suppressing the pain of her injuries, and said, "When they are pregnant and about to give birth, their wombs manifest as halos of the Six Paths of Reincarnation in the underworld. In the center of the halo is the placenta, an innate ditation cushion containing innate primordial qi."

Chen Shi looked at those Six Paths of Reincarnation and indeed saw placentas within the cycles, nurturing innate primordial qi.

"Ghost and God figures cannot approach these Six Paths of Reincarnation. If they get close, they might be sucked in and reincarnated."

Granny Sha said, "For those of you who have cultivated to the Nascent Soul stage, when near pregnant won, never project your Nascent Soul out of your body. It's very easy to get sucked into the cycle of reincarnation and not co out. If you force your way out, both the pregnant woman and the fetus will die, and you won't escape calamity either, often dying an unnatural death."

She laughed. "Look at those ghosts. They guard the Six Paths of Reincarnation, waiting for them to mature so they can enter and be reborn at the first opportunity. This is the Western Capital. The pregnant won here are either wealthy or noble, so every Six Paths of Reincarnation is crowded with ghosts fighting for a spot.

"But the Western Capital not only has many noble ladies; these noble ladies also keep many dogs, cats, and the like. In the underworld, one can't distinguish whether the master of a Six Paths of Reincarnation is human or a cat, dog, or livestock. Often, many ghosts fight desperately to be reborn, only to end up in the body of livestock. So, rebirth still depends on luck."

Chen Shi knew a little about this, but not much. Hearing this, he said, "Then, can a cultivator, before death, be reborn through the Six Paths of Reincarnation?"

Granny Sha said, "Yes, but not for long."

Chen Shi was puzzled.

"No matter how profound one's cultivation, entering the womb brings the confusion of the womb. Once you open your mouth, your last breath dissipates, and mories of past lives gradually blur and scatter. Even if you keep your mouth shut, the first reincarnation is fine; you can still retain mories of your past life. But if you die in this life and go for a third life, mories of the first life will fade even more."

Granny Sha said unhurriedly, "After three cycles of reincarnation, even a Great Ascension Realm cultivator's mories of the first life will completely dissipate, ceasing to exist. By then, the mories of 'you' are gone. You've fused with the mories of other 'yous'. Are you still you?"

Chen Shi fell into deep thought.

Granny Sha said, "Back when my cultivation realm was stuck, the thod I thought of was to find the Three Lives Stone, awaken mories of three lifetis, so I could retrieve the cultivation of my first three lives and help break through my bottleneck."

Her expression darkened, and she said no more.

Black Pot carried them along, leaving this place. Even though it had slowed down, it was still extrely fast.

Chen Shi suddenly saw dozens of Six Paths of Reincarnation halos, large and small, crowded together. To break the silence and pull Granny Sha out of her sorrow and self-bla, he smiled and said, "Sister Sha, can you see anything fishy?"

Granny Sha was still thinking about her son Xiang Tianyu, lost in the underworld. Hearing this, she looked at those Six Paths of Reincarnation and smiled. "These Six Paths of Reincarnation must belong to many pregnant won, or pregnant livestock. They're crowded together, definitely because soone has evil intentions, planning to use pregnant won or livestock to ambush soone else."

Chen Shi smiled. "The person this one wants to deal with is a Nascent Soul realm cultivator. I've used this thod to ambush soone before."

Granny Sha corresponded with the mortal world's geography and said, "They are ambushing soone outside Western Capital City, not far from Guangji Treasury."

Chen Shi's heart stirred slightly, growing more curious. Guangji Treasury was full of firearms everywhere. Ordinary people, fearing danger, wouldn't dare go near Guangji Treasury. Who would ambush soone here?

Granny Sha directed Black Pot to travel from the underworld toward Gaoshan County.

Seeing that Zhong Kui hadn't caught up, Chen Shi gradually relaxed. He thought, "Granny Sha and the others are injured. We definitely can't let them go capture Zhong Kui again. So, who else can we find to deal with Zhong Kui?"

Suddenly, a figure flashed through his mind. He laughed and said, "I have a way to deal with Zhong Kui!"