The generous conditions offered were mere bait, and the Underworld's goal was even deeper, wishing to take the opportunity to refine all external cultivators.
It was just unclear whether this had any connection to the contention for the Demon God Flower.
Zhang Huan thought of a great many things in an instant, vaguely feeling that he was only a hair's breadth away from stringing all the incidents together and obtaining a complete truth.
The Prison Suppressing Emperor had his original body as a certain Celestial Honored One of the Mythological Era, having once participated in the battle that besieged Imperial Venerable while holding a supreme-Dao artifact of the Nether Emperor, and had survived.
No one could know his background, not even leaving behind a title, and his identity was mysterious and bizarre, later falling into the Underworld and, together with several self-slain supremes, becoming the masters of the baleful land.
The master of this Little Demonic Box had actually followed such a mysterious Imperial Dao Figure.
Zhang Huan asked it many questions, and although he failed to learn the secrets among the Imperial Dao Figures, he gained a deeper understanding of this Underworld.
The rulers of the Underworld were subdivided into three branches, all related to Imperial Dao Figures, with ancestors who had entered the Underworld together with supremes in the distant past and obtained such glory.
Their duties were solely to be good household slaves of the supremes, managing on behalf of the supremes and wielding authority, making their status unshakable as a result.
The master of the demonic box belonged to the Prison Suppressing Emperor's branch, leaving behind descendants to share worries for the supremes, and had obtained countless power and generous emoluments.
According to the demonic box, although the rulers of this Underworld had three branches, their numbers were scarce, hovering between several hundred people, usually residing in the core of the depths of the netherworld, rarely known to outsiders.
Unlike the nether soldiers and Yin Generals below, these people were true "imperial relatives," intimately connected in their internal dealings and would never be treated as an endless supply of consumable materials.
It seems I dug up an extraordinary tomb this time.
Zhang Huan did not expect that his first major heist would be so lucky, unearthing the tomb of a former high-ranking executive of the Underworld.
This Quasi-Emperor Artifact was not lying and indeed knew a great deal, with many details matching Zhang Huan's impressions.
Fortunately, this individual was unconventional and had buried himself in a remote corner. If he had stumbled into the depths of the baleful land by mistake, I'm afraid it wouldn't be as easy to talk so relaxedly as he was now.
"Although I have already refined you, I must still give you a reminder. If any disloyalty is discovered by me, I will by no means spare you lightly then."
Zhang Huan warned the demonic box coldly, although the other party was extremely cooperative and exchanged it for all kinds of useful news, which made Zhang Huan temporarily abandon the thought of destroying it.
Still, a beating and a warning were necessary. Artifacts had spirits and shared the same thoughts as people; with Zhang Huan forcing a refinement like this, though the deity submitted for the time being, there was no guarantee it wouldn't secretly slack off in the future and trip him up.
To prevent future trouble, it was best to make it recognize the situation right now. If it didn't want to die, it had only to actively exert itself, and it could also suffer fewer hardships.
"Master, from now on you are my lord."
"This one has not the slightest attachment to that dead ghost. Ever since he treated me like a teapot, I've wanted to seek out another enlightened master. Now that I've met you, this one will definitely look to you as the head and obey every command."
"..."
The Little Demonic Box started ingratiating itself right then, completely lacking shame, with endless flattery of all sorts, almost lifting Zhang Huan up into the heavens.
Unable to bear this chattering Quasi-Emperor Artifact, Zhang Huan spoke to interrupt it.
"What you said earlier about being able to take away the stone wall, can such a thing really be done?"
"Of course I can, Master. When the dead ghost carved it back then, I was watching right beside him, and I'm entirely clear on which divine pattern is used for what."
Without paying attention to the demonic box's altered form of address, Zhang Huan brought it before the stone wall, telling it to undo the restriction on the spot and take away this rare treasure.
As for Zhang Huan himself, he left this mountain range and stared at every move it made from afar with his spiritual sense. If there were any abnormalities, Zhang Huan would immediately manipulate the demonic box to stop and control the deity's mind.
This stone wall was also a priceless treasure, otherwise it could not possibly have withstood the Quasi-Emperor imprint and stood for countless years without changing its color.
Watching the demonic box guide the strands of divine patterns, Zhang Huan stared at the restriction and felt the sense of crisis in his heart abruptly diminish by quite a bit. He immediately felt relieved—this demonic box really had a way to unlock it.
The stone wall gradually loosened, and before long it rose from the ground and fell into the interior of the demonic box.
"Master, look, I wasn't wrong, was I?"
The demonic box turned into a streak of light and flew over, landing in Zhang Huan's hand while continuously claiming credit with its divine sense.
Zhang Huan did not argue with it, taking out the stone wall and stuffing it into the Heaven Swallowing Demonic Jar.
The demonic box trembled, feeling that Zhang Huan was biased. It was clearly its own merit, but after taking one look at the Imperial Weapon, it silently submitted to fate.
Suddenly, Zhang Huan's brow furrowed as he looked into the distance, sensing that there was some unusual movement at the mansion.
Putting away the demonic box, Zhang Huan wore a solemn expression. Connecting with the restrictions in the mansion via his spiritual sense, he actually saw a long-unseen nether general.
The other party called out multiple times to no avail, perhaps realizing that Zhang Huan was not there, and shook his head with a blank expression, throwing an imperial edict into the grand array before turning and leaving.
Closing his eyes and gathering his focus, Zhang Huan sensed that a date was written upon it, indicating that by the deadline, Zhang Huan should respond to the Underworld's summons and go to the main hall to converge, needing to make preparations shortly to rush to that battlefield where Great Saint Kun was located.
Is the Underworld so short of people now? Zhang Huan felt puzzled. Previously, he didn't know much, feeling that the Underworld might indeed be hollow in this era and needed people to hold down the fort, but now he only felt that there was a conspiracy in his heart.
Calculated by time, there are still over twenty years left until the fifty-year period.
Zhang Huan had the protection of the fifty-year term for new recruits, temporarily not needing to risk his life for the Underworld, whereas Great Saint Kun had already been conscripted some time ago, with his life and death unknown.
Such a situation, coupled with hearing from the demonic box that the Underworld would refine all recruited forces into war slaves, and piecing the two together, doing this on the battlefield seemed somewhat difficult. Could it be after the battle?
If that were the case, Zhang Huan would have run away long ago and wouldn't need to worry about this problem either.
However, were they not worried about the attrition of external sages on the battlefield? According to Great Saint Kun, several Great Saints had even perished on that battlefield.
Meticulously planned arrangements, only to end up obtaining a meager few surviving war slaves in the end, unable to even recoup the capital paid out—was it worth it?
Zhang Huan felt that there was an even more crucial scheme within it, and concerning his own life, he dared not be careless.
"Little Demonic Box, don't you know where other people's cemeteries are? Lead the way."
Unable to sort out his thoughts, Zhang Huan suppressed his distracting thoughts with a breath. He knew very well that enhancing his strength was the top priority; regardless of what tricks the Underworld had, if he wanted to break away, powerful strength was definitely indispensable.
In order to quickly form the demonic fetus, he had already entered the Underworld's game, and worrying now was useless. Only by continuing to swallow origins and waiting for a suitable opportunity to break away in one fell swoop was the best method.
The Underworld had roamed various starry skies since antiquity, searching for divine corpses, and therefore treasures were everywhere to Zhang Huan.
If he swallowed for another twenty-odd years, his Heaven Swallowing Demonic Art might not fail to reach great accomplishment.
Following the coordinates given by the demonic box, Zhang Huan tore through the void and flew off. Another ancient tomb entered his sight, though the danger this time was much less, and Zhang Huan quickly found the burial chamber.
The corpse lying inside the coffin wore ancient attire similar to that of the demonic box's former master.
Before you continue