Wei Lingzhu’s heart skipped a beat, and he asked in a deep voice:
"Old Fisherman, did sothing happen?"
"Yes."
The old fisherman’s breath was slightly heavy, and he spoke in a low voice:
"The boatman is up to sothing again. Just now, his n brought a Nine Refinent Cultist from the Divine Sect and ca to our tent area several tis."
"They took away everyone who witnessed the celestial vault battle with their own eyes during the dayti the day before yesterday."
Wei Qingshan was startled:
"Did they just take our people away like that?"
Wei Lingzhu glanced at his brother and said in a deep voice:
"Didn’t the old fisherman say that they were accompanied by an official follower of the Divine Sect—if we resisted, it would an resisting the Divine Sect, and that’s quite a serious accusation."
The old fisherman rubbed his temples and nodded wearily:
"Little Lingzhu is right... By the ti we reacted, more than a dozen people had already been taken away."
"To be safe, you three should sleep in the building tonight. As for those who were taken away..."
The old fisherman ground his teeth, but then sighed lightly.
Everyone knew that they were unlikely to survive.
He glanced at the honest young man:
"And you, boy, were innocently dragged into this."
Zhang Fusheng said nothing, just smiled simply,
seeing this, the old fisherman said no more, waving his hand tiredly as Wu Shangpin led the three out of the room, laying out bedding for them near the window.
"Make do for the night." He casually pushed open the window, letting in a cool night breeze, snow still falling outside.
Zhang Fusheng thanked them, then sat with the slightly flustered Wei siblings on the bedding, leaning against the wall, all silent for a mont.
He looked up, unable to see the moon— the world was pitch black.
"Get so sleep."
Zhang Fusheng murmured softly, closing his eyes as if he were asleep.
Wei Lingzhu and Wei Qingshan exchanged a glance, the latter smiling wryly:
"Brother Bo Yang only slept for so long this afternoon... lucky to be able to sleep so easily."
"Such a big heart."
He sighed anxiously.
At the sa ti.
A faint Divine Thought flowed quietly out through the open window, spreading towards the hastily built manor in the distance.
In the hastily built manor.
Cui Wenda, draped in a black coat, stood quietly forming a strange gesture, as if in cultivation.
Wang Changhuan approached at this ti, speaking in a steady voice:
"Wenda..."
The young man opened his eyes, looked at him, and spoke coldly:
"What is it, my dear little uncle?"
Wang Changhuan choked, murmuring:
"Qingyi and I have been apart for a long ti."
"I know."
Cui Wenda’s expression remained indifferent:
"The leader of your Pantheon in this minor world is that Pseudo-Innate, right? Why hasn’t she co to see yet?"
Wang Changhuan looked troubled, lowering his voice:
"Wenda, that senior t with an accident, was slightly injured, and is currently recuperating. The main reason is still to investigate the problem of the black grievances in the sky."
Cui Wenda’s face showed irritation:
"Then don’t disturb . Also, go back and report, within ten days, I want to see her."
Wang Changhuan was silent for a mont. This grandmaster, who had lit three spirit fires and held a high status, cautiously agreed like a subordinate.
Then, bowing his head, he backed out of the room and gently closed the door.
Upon leaving the manor.
"My lord, the Cui Family’s edge is too sharp recently," a grandmaster approached, speaking softly.
Wang Changhuan sighed quietly:
"The Cui Family..."
The grandmaster pondered for a mont before continuing:
"My lord, once that Old Celestial Being passes away, the Cui Family’s days may not be so good. They are likely to beco the target of all."
Wang Changhuan gave him a sidelong glance:
"Do not lightly discuss the high families. Go, guard the manor well. If Young Master Cui encounters any accident, even a thousand lives would not be enough."
The grandmaster opened his mouth, reluctantly agreeing.
To beco a grandmaster, one must be considered a genius of sorts, possessing their own pride, yet they had to serve a little kid?
Naturally, he was displeased.
Watching the grandmaster return to the manor, Wang Changhuan shook his head:
"The target of all?"
He chuckled to himself:
"Both Wenda and Qingyi have the qualifications to beco the Book Holder. If they truly get transferred to the Qinghe Main Family, that would indeed be a teoric rise, a teoric rise indeed..."
He mused to himself, taking flight into the air, speeding off into the distance, intending to et with that senior, his thoughts swirling.
But as he flew.
Wang Changhuan suddenly felt sothing was amiss.
He abruptly stopped, looking around in all directions. It was still a desolate wasteland, the sky above still dark, but the sound of a rushing river seed to co from nowhere.
The sound of the river was faint and indistinct at first, but grew clearer, as if it was flowing right before him!
"Go ahead, go ahead..."
"Ahead lies the destination, the Other Shore."
It seed as though a voice was constantly whispering in his heart.
Wang Changhuan’s eyes glazed over, staring dazedly ahead, in the distance, there was a continuous glimr of faint light,
which seed like a cluster of blooming flowers, yet even more like a destined Other Shore resting place.
One step, two steps.
He walked forward on the celestial vault, drawing nearer.
The sound of the river grew more tumultuous.
Sothing’s wrong!!
The spirit furnace fire swaying behind him suddenly flared up, and Wang Changhuan snapped out of it, his body tingling all over,
he struggled in shock, shouting fiercely:
"Who is it, the august being!!"
The hoarse shout echoed, and the world was dark, with no response, only the sound of flowing water.
He couldn’t see, couldn’t find.
Wang Changhuan felt a chill in his heart, wanting to turn back imdiately, to return to Cui Wenda’s side,
he had the qualifications to beco the Book Holder, he could communicate with that legendary Cui Family Supre Treasure!
But...
Wang Changhuan was horrified to realize.
No matter what, he couldn’t turn back.
It felt as if so unspeakable, indescribable, unimaginable terror was heavily pressing down on his shoulders.
He lowered his head.
It was a bridge.
Underfoot lay a bridge filled with the aura of decay, extinction, and ruin. The bridge deck was mottled and dilapidated, and a layer of gray mist had unknowingly enveloped the surroundings.
As if inspired spiritually,
Wang Changhuan suddenly lifted his head, and the mist surrounding the bridge seed to thin slightly.
He saw it.
He saw a colossal divine statue that reached towards the celestial vault,
The statue, towering thousands of feet high, wore an imposing robe with a crown adorned by twelve hanging tassels, half its face benevolent, the other half furious, turning slightly toward him,
Yet its head was turned, gazing.
Cold sweat drenched him.
The mist roiled, and dozens of overlapping chanting voices pierced through, transmitting with the fog.
"Nine Netherworlds Sin-Extinguishing Celestial Venerate, the Emperor of the Underworld from Central Pole Sect..."
"Positioned in the Netherworld, overseeing Youdu, holding the balance of life and death in the mortal realm, administrator of the ledger of right and wrong..."
The overlapping voices seed both distant and right beside his ear.
Wang Changhuan trembled, three flas blazed simultaneously behind his head, and the chanting reverberated, each word a piercing stimulus to his nerves.
Nine Netherworlds Sin-Extinguishing Celestial Venerate.
Master of life and death, administrator of right and wrong.
And, the ledger.
The divine statue suddenly drew away, further and further, until it disappeared, and even the layered chanting diminished, becoming a faint, ethereal background noise.
’Thud, thud, thud’
From the depths of the mist ahead, footsteps sounded, and Wang Changhuan stood on the decaying, ruined bridge, staring intently into the deep fog.
Soone erged from the dense mist, strands of fog trailing from his form, flowing among his garnts.
It was a three-eyed child.
The third eye of the child swirled with a dismal hue, hands clasped behind the back, walking through the void.
"Who dares to trespass in the Netherworld’s Youdu?"
The light, ethereal voice pierced Wang Changhuan’s ears, arousing a chill within his heart.
The Netherworld Youdu??
"What is your na?" The three-eyed child spoke in an ancient tongue, questioning from a lofty position,
As he spoke, Yin Qi erupted from his mouth and nose, nearly extinguishing the three flas behind the grandmaster.
Wang Changhuan, drenched in sweat, his mind completely seized, could muster no will to resist and mumbled:
"My na, my na is Wang Changhuan..."
"Wang Changhuan."
The three-eyed child calmly stated:
"You carry the aura of the Book of Life and Death upon you, suggesting entanglent of cause and effect, did you inadvertently enter the Underworld?"
"Yes, yes! Inadvertently!"
Initially nodding hurriedly, Wang Changhuan’s expression suddenly froze.
Book of Life and Death?
He didn’t know what it was, but the na sounded straightforward, reminding him of the Cui Family’s Supre Treasure.
Qinghe Cui Family.
Zhang Fusheng secretly manipulated the body of Zhou Muniu, the latter being his own creation, a Subordinate Soul. Pulling it into the Divine Realm was but a simple thought.
As for Wang Changhuan.
He had initially intended to directly kill him, to test his current capabilities, perhaps even take him to the Eight Sceneries Palace,
extracting his qualities by force from a higher position—unlikely, but, what if?
Only.
Hearing the recent mutterings from Wang Changhuan altered Zhang Fusheng’s plans.
Book Holder, Cui Family...
The book they hold was undeniable.
Now, standing on the Bridge of Helplessness where even divine spirits cannot turn back, Wang Changhuan licked his lips and tremblingly spoke:
"Wh-what is the Book of Life and Death?"
The three-eyed child replied indifferently:
"It oversees all mundane mortals of the human world, recording rit and derit, dealings, birthdates, and lifespans."
Wang Changhuan’s knees gave way.
He saw the three-eyed child shrouded in mist, speaking with interest:
"Judging by your appearance, have you seen it before?"
"Doesn’t matter, this seat shall pull out your soul, take it through the Eighteen Hells, and you’ll understand it all."
Upon these words, the mist churned, revealing glimpses of the vast Eighteen Layers of Purgatory behind the boy,
with mountains of knives and seas of fire, cauldrons of oil and iron trees, where countless soul spirits drifted, enduring punishnt, their piercing wails echoing!!
Wang Changhuan was scared out of his wits, prostrating on the ground, pleading for rcy.
Though Zhang Fusheng possessed a thousand-year position, his Divine Realm soaked in the incense of centuries, tempered by hundreds of years of Six Ding Divine Fire,
yet to speak truly, it was not genuinely the Underworld. If Wang Changhuan cald his mind and scrutinized carefully, he might see through it.
But his mind had long been captured by the wooden bridge beneath him, the earlier divine statue, and the Other Shore flower cluster!
How could he possibly calm his mind to observe?
After all, he was among the few who had attempted to understand the [Netherworld].
Now Wang Changhuan was kowtowing fervently:
"Venerated God, spare , spare , I have no entanglent with the Book of Life and Death, it’s the Cui Family, the Cui Family!!"
This grandmaster, lighting three spiritual furnace fires, poured out his story like beans from a bamboo tube.
"It’s those Cui Family from the human world, unlawfully keeping the Book of Life and Death! I once befriended a woman nad Cui Qingyi, inadvertently learning of this, getting marked by that book, life and death at their whim!"
His forehead repeatedly struck the mottled bridge deck,
each collision seed to flicker with past mories in his mind, only to vanish swiftly—frightening Wang Changhuan further.
Past mories, not from this life but from the previous ones.
He was consud by extre fear, his mind utterly broke down, and the spiritual furnace fires behind him began to wane.
"Further words are of no use."
The three-eyed child spoke coldly:
"Go to Hell."
Upon those words, the scene of the Eighteen Layers of Purgatory behind him in the dense fog began to solidify,
The eerie winds howled, the souls wailed in despair!
Wang Changhuan’s thoughts shattered.
He was in despair.
Suddenly, at this mont.
"The Underworld hasn’t manifested in the human world for countless years, why intervene now?"
A distant voice spoke from imasurably high above, causing Wang Changhuan to jerk his head up, seeing the light, seeing the radiant glow!
He saw the overwhelming radiance descend, the glow shrouding an indescribable, mind-transcending Taoist Palace,
In this brilliance, before the Taoist Palace, stood a dignified old man with an unexpectedly familiar presence.
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