In the underworld, rumbling thunder echoed. The ghost god with a blue face and fangs that Chen Shi had transford into climbed up from atop Black Pot's head and looked around. He saw thick smoke billowing, and a massive pitch-black volcano spewing magma and demonic flas.
The flas illuminated his face, casting a dark red hue over his blue complexion.
A wave of heat washed over them. Even though they were far from the ground, the heat could still steam a person alive.
This volcano was simply too massive, far larger than Black Pot, almost completely blocking his view. Within the rolling smoke, lightning crackled and intertwined—it was Yin Lightning, not the thunder of the mortal world.
The thunder of the mortal world is called Yang Lightning, pure Yang, suprely rigid and strong, capable of destroying anything. A single bolt can eradicate all Yin energy.
But this Yin Lightning was different.
The lightning contained a sinister, malevolent energy. If it struck a living creature, their flesh and bones would dissolve. If it struck a cultivator, it would damage their Dao foundation and erode their cultivation!
Cultivators with insufficient cultivation would have their souls severed and their spirits snatched away, dying an untily death!
The most insidious aspect was that Yin Lightning could also harm one's innate talent and comprehension. Even soone of peerless intelligence, struck by Yin Lightning, would beco dull-witted. Their comprehension and mory would beco as terrible as a block of stone.
Chen Shi glanced at the boat girl beside him. The ghost god she had transford into was also a yaksha, with a blue face and fangs, a bald head, red hair only growing near the neck, and red whiskers on the cheeks and around the mouth. She was a head taller than the yaksha he had beco, and more robust.
The boat girl was a female yaksha, wearing a black bellyband covering her chest, and a large, tattered black pair of shorts at her waist, frayed into countless threads. In her hand, she held a three-pronged fork, with a ragged cloth bag hanging from it.
Chen Shi looked down at himself. He was bare-chested, wearing only a pair of red shorts at his waist, equally tattered and worn, looking no better than a refugee.
Chen Shi touched his chin, finding a flowing red beard. He reached up to feel his forehead—completely bald, clean and smooth.
"In the future, when combing my hair, I'll only need to comb the back of my head and my beard, saving the trouble of tying up my hair," he thought to himself.
The boat girl tugged at her bellyband, pulling it up a bit, and pointed into the distance, saying, "Top Scholar Master, the Immortal Capital is to the north. If we travel for about a month, we should be able to reach the Immortal Capital."
The human speech from her mouth turned into a gibberish ghost language. Chen Shi originally thought he wouldn't understand, but surprisingly, he could.
Chen Shi looked in the direction she pointed. Rows of massive volcanoes ca into view, countless in number, spewing billowing demonic energy and rolling magma that converged into long rivers flowing northward.
"This volcanic region corresponds to the Huangshi Mountain Range in the mortal world. It's extrely vast. Crossing it, even at Pot Master's speed, would take over twenty days. After that, we'd enter the northern borderlands ice plains."
The boat girl continued, "Once we reach the northern borderlands ice plains, we'll be close to the Immortal Capital. But this journey is incredibly perilous. The yaksha ghosts we've transford into are low-ranking ghost gods in the underworld, easily conscripted as laborers. If we encounter powerful bullies, they might even capture and eat us."
She warily looked around, saying, "These volcanoes are ho to many ghost gods that feed on yaksha."
"No need for all that trouble."
Chen Shi laughed. "Let Black Pot perform a spell to take us directly to my Primordial Palace. That will save us a month of travel and avoid danger. Black Pot, I've prepared a stove for you."
He leaped down from Black Pot's head, landing on the bank of the magma river. From the small temple, he took out a rural cooking stove and looked at Black Pot expectantly.
Black Pot's body was majestic, but the stove was pitifully small. Black Pot couldn't help but doubt whether he could fit inside.
The boat girl also jumped down, saying, "Go to your Primordial Palace? You're a fugitive. Your Primordial Palace is probably guarded by ghost gods! Better to go to Pot Master's Primordial Palace."
Chen Shi shook his head. "There would be even more ghost gods at Black Pot's Primordial Palace."
The boat girl looked at Black Pot, her eyes sparkling.
She hadn't expected Pot Master to also be a major achievent.
She thought to herself, "Heaven have rcy, ever since my father and I borrowed corpses to return our souls, we've been achieving great rits one after another! When Little King of Hell returns in the future, we'll definitely be promoted three ranks in a row!"
Black Pot chanted incantations, and his massive body began to slowly shrink.
However, judging by Black Pot's expression, it was quite strenuous. He probably wasn't proficient in this spell yet.
Chen Shi and the boat girl waited quietly nearby.
A rumbling roar ca from the distance. A huge ghost god erged from a volcanic crater, rising from the magma. It appeared many tis larger than Black Pot.
It stepped on fiery clouds and soared away, leaving trails of flas rolling across the sky.
Further away, there was another strange ghost god. Its upper body was massive, while its lower body was fused with the volcano. It had three arms—two on the sides and one growing from its navel. Using a mountain peak as a basin, it scooped magma from the volcano and splashed it everywhere, cackling sinisterly as it did so.
The magma splashed by this ghost god ford a long river of magma, glowing red. Many red-skinned, fanged imps ca to the riverbank, using iron pots and pans to scoop up the magma, then tilting their heads back to pour it into their mouths.
They drank it like strong liquor, staggering drunkenly, then used their iron pots and pans to bash each other's heads, making loud clanging noises.
So of the drunken imps were bitten by a group of six-legged, sneaky-looking creatures with heads sowhat resembling dogs but appearing very rough. These creatures carried the imps on their backs and scurried up to the volcano.
These creatures then offered the drunken imps as sacrifices to the three-ard ghost god, praying for its protection.
Chen Shi saw even further away a strange flower, spanning several hundred li, its petals blooming in all directions, spewing demonic energy.
Its demonic energy even corroded the barrier between the Yin and Yang realms, causing the mortal world to beco visible.
Many ghost gods waited nearby, seemingly ready to charge into the mortal world as soon as this entity corroded the barrier.
Chen Shi looked around and saw several thick tentacles erge from a volcanic crater, sweeping chaotically across the ground.
The tentacles were covered in mucus. Any imp touched by the mucus would be unable to break free and would then be pulled into the volcanic crater. Chewing sounds and eerie giggles ca from within the crater.
"Crossing this vast volcanic region, we might not make it out alive," Chen Shi thought.
The ghost gods here seed more powerful than those elsewhere. Even an underworld officer like the boat girl would likely face near-certain death trying to pass through this place!
Black Pot shrank to his limit, still about four or five zhang in length, which was still too large compared to the stove.
But he could shrink no further.
Chen Shi took out so salt. Black Pot stood up on his hind legs beside the stove, performing the spell while muttering low incantations.
He grabbed the salt and sprinkled it into the stove. Imdiately, green flas ignited beneath the stove.
Chen Shi and the boat girl jumped onto Black Pot's back. Chen Shi wrapped his arms around the boat girl's thick waist, while she hugged Black Pot's neck. Black Pot leaped down toward the stove opening. As his massive body touched the stove mouth, it began to shrink rapidly, as if being swallowed like a whale inhaling a rainbow, sucked into the stove!
A few red-skinned imps saw them disappear and boldly ran over, peering into the stove. Below the stove, flas blazed fiercely. A black dog carried two people, running wildly through the fire!
The red-skinned imps were quite mischievous. They picked up stones and threw them down into the stove.
Suddenly, a three-pronged fork flew out from the flas, impaling one of the imps. The other imps saw this and scattered in panic, not daring to approach.
The three-pronged fork shook off the imp's corpse and retracted back into the flas.
Chen Shi retrieved the three-pronged fork, one hand tightly gripping the boat girl's muscular, steel-hard waist, his fingers digging into her abdon, which was tougher than steel, to avoid being thrown off by Black Pot's frantic run.
Flas roared and burned as they raced through the sea of fire. Countless massive volcanoes flashed by on either side, along with towering ghost gods, sky-reaching demonic trees, and demon gods perched atop mountain ranges, establishing palaces and sects—all passing by in a fleeting glimpse.
Chen Shi looked back through the flas. To his astonishnt, the stove opening was right behind them.
"This is a kind of escape technique!"
He couldn't help but be amazed. This escape technique was even faster than his travel using the minor heaven!
In a short ti, the scenery around the stove flas transford from a forest of volcanoes to an ice plain, but the sea of fire continued to burn, with no sense of coldness at all.
Suddenly, a blinding light shone from ahead. Chen Shi and the boat girl couldn't help but raise their hands to shield their eyes, but the light still made their eyes water.
Black Pot also hurriedly used his ears to cover his eyes, continuing to run through the fire.
Then, a strong sense of weightlessness hit them. The feet of the two humans and the dog t empty air, and they plumted diagonally downward. They crashed to the ground, tumbling and rolling. Chen Shi's head hit a pillar, making him dizzy and disoriented, before he finally stopped.
The boat girl's head was stuck in a flower bed, with her two legs sticking out. Black Pot landed on his rear, sliding all the way into a palace hall.
Chen Shi shook his head, taking a mont to regain his senses.
The terrifying surroundings had vanished, replaced by a soft divine light filling his vision. Before him was a small, pointy-eared, indigo-skinned imp, its large head leaning close to his face, looking at him with concern.
"You're awake?" the imp said happily upon seeing him wake up.
Chen Shi was startled and quickly got up. The imp was a young yaksha, wearing only tattered shorts, a towel draped over its shoulders, and a small, worn gray round cap on its head. Its two pointy ears poked through two holes in the cap, standing upright.
"Who are you?" Chen Shi asked in surprise.
"Master, have you forgotten?"
The round-capped imp said, "I'm your servant. Master, I've worked for you for three years without receiving a single penny. About that salary..."
Chen Shi shook his head, ignoring it, and looked around.
The pillar he had just hit turned out to be a semi-transparent jade pillar, flawless and without a single blemish.
He looked down. The floor was paved with white jade, each tile pure white and warm to the touch.
The palace was also made of jade. The red walls were red jade, the tiles were glassy glaze, the brackets were gold, the rockeries were silver. The garden was filled with immortal plants, birds sang, and flowers blood. In the pond, dragons swam leisurely and contentedly.
Chen Shi was stunned. "This is my Primordial Palace?"
The round-capped imp took off its hat, looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to pay its three years' wages.
The boat girl pulled her head out of the flower bed, patted the dirt off her beard, and said, "How can you prove you've worked here for three years?"
Hearing this, the round-capped imp thought for a mont but couldn't produce any evidence. It fell to its knees with a thud, clutching its small round cap tightly, utterly despairing, crying tears and snot.
The boat girl ca to Chen Shi's side and whispered, "Don't bother with such little things. They're small yaksha, just errand-runners in the underworld, found everywhere. They often don't live to adulthood. Don't pay it its wages yet. Let it work for another two years, and it'll work itself to death."
Chen Shi hesitated. "Is that okay? Since I hired this small yaksha, I should at least pay it its wages. But what currency is used in the underworld?"
"Paper money."
The boat girl said. "Paper money infused with the energy of incense offerings. This is hard currency in the underworld. Imps absorb the energy of incense offerings from the paper money to live longer and grow stronger. However, they are underworld creatures who haven't lived in the mortal world, so they have no living relatives to burn paper money for them. To earn money, they can only work for the ghosts in the Immortal Capital. The employers give them a bit of paper money to keep them fed."
Chen Shi said, "I see. So how can I check how much paper money I have?"
"Every Primordial Palace has a treasure tree, hanging with the paper money your relatives and friends burned for you. Only those infused with the energy of incense offerings can hang there; those without cannot."
Upon hearing this, Chen Shi imdiately walked toward the courtyard of the Primordial Palace.
This Primordial Palace was like a temple, divided into front halls, rear halls, and side halls. In the courtyard of the rear hall, Chen Shi indeed found his treasure tree.
The treasure tree glittered with golden light, with nurous branches hanging with sheets of golden-yellow paper money. Indeed, the energy of incense offerings swirled around the paper money. So sheets had such dense energy that they had ford into golden ingots, hanging from the tree!
"This is the treasure tree. You really have a lot of money."
The boat girl said in surprise. "It seems dying young has its benefits. Over these ten-plus years, Chen Tang must have burned a lot of paper money for you. So people die, and no relatives or friends burn paper money or offer incense for them."
Chen Shi asked, "What happens to ghosts who have no one burning money or offering incense for them?"
The boat girl tilted her head upward, gesturing with her chin toward the sky.
Chen Shi looked up. He saw streets crisscrossing the sky, lined with magnificent Primordial Palaces everywhere.
Those Primordial Palaces were splendid, but many had dimd, becoming ethereal and faint.
So were even collapsing, bit by bit turning into nothingness.
And the streets connecting those Primordial Palaces had also beco transparent, gradually disappearing!
"Those Primordial Palaces belong to ghosts forgotten by the living world. Without the energy of incense offerings, they gradually die. Humans die to beco ghosts, ghosts die to beco Jian, Jian die to beco Xi, Xi die to beco Yi. Xi and Yi represent emptiness."
The boat girl explained. "The Primordial Palace continuously disintegrates and collapses during this process, eventually vanishing along with them. The oil runs out, the lamp goes dry, plunging into complete darkness."
Chen Shi looked up. The celestial streets of the Immortal Capital stretched endlessly, and Primordial Palaces were too nurous to count. At every mont, people were being forgotten, and their Primordial Palaces collapsed and turned to nothingness.
These Primordial Palaces often had small yaksha working as servants. Whenever this happened, they would pack their belongings, carry their bundles on a stick over their shoulders, and leave their employers dejectedly, walking along the celestial streets in search of their next employer.
Chen Shi saw a vast army of small yaksha on the celestial streets, going door to door looking for work opportunities.
And those Primordial Palaces that already had small yaksha would block their doors whenever they encountered newcors, preventing other small yaksha from entering.
"So even the underworld isn't free," Chen Shi murmured.
He reached out, plucked a few sheets of paper money, and paid the teary-eyed small yaksha.
The small yaksha was overwheld with gratitude, kneeling and kowtowing to him several tis with loud thumps, then went off to work happily.
"Why pay it? In a few years, when it works itself to death, wouldn't that save money?" the boat girl complained.
Chen Shi laughed. "It works, I pay. Isn't that natural? How can we go against that? We are big yaksha now; we are, after all, its kin. Miss, how do we find my mother's Primordial Palace?"
Just then, the small yaksha hurriedly ran over, pulling Chen Shi and the boat girl, dragging them into a rear hall.
Black Pot ran over. The small yaksha cried, "Quick, co inside! Co inside! Night is falling, the monsters are coming out!"
Black Pot hurriedly ran into the main hall. The small yaksha struggled to close the doors, then nervously pressed against the door crack, peering outside.
Chen Shi also moved over, pressing against the door crack to look out.
Outside, the sky suddenly darkened. A blood-red moon hung in the sky, and a Yin wind blew, signaling ill ons.
Noises ca from the front hall and the side halls. Chen Shi looked carefully and suddenly saw a huge eyeball erge from the front hall, almost as large as the hall itself, rolling around.
Then the eyeball squeezed outward, actually pushing through the hall door. Another eyeball followed, then a nose, a mouth, a forehead. When the entire face squeezed out, Chen Shi saw it clearly.
It was his face.
However, the center of the head bulged upward sharply, giving a sowhat villainous appearance, with a cunning, evil aura.
Behind this head was a worm-like body with multiple legs and feet, fat and large, covered in armor-like bony plates.
The boat girl moved closer. She was taller, looking over Chen Shi's head.
Black Pot also moved closer. He was even taller, his eye pressed against the door crack to peek out.
"Top Scholar Master, it's your Three Corpses God!"
The boat girl exclaid in surprise. "That one across is the Lower Corpses God, nad Peng Qiao, in charge of lustful desires. Master, your Peng Qiao is terrifyingly strong!"
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