The Great Terror of the Third Layer of Hell

"Heh heh... so this is the Third Layer of Hell."

Yang Heyi kept his expression under control, refusing to let any flaw show. The terror of the deep truth had nearly shattered his Dao heart. Even the resentment borne by the corpses earlier had never affected his Dao heart.

He stood before the side room's door. The standing water from the First Layer of Hell had already risen past his knees.

Compared to the horrifying sight of the Third Layer of Hell, the demons and monsters seemed utterly unremarkable, and even the fishy stench in the air no longer felt so pungent.

Yang Heyi looked into the distance. The low mountain ranges surrounding Peibai City were undergoing a drastic transformation.

In his spirit sight.

The mountains still retained their original shapes, but the structure of their rock and soil had become entirely different.

All the mountains in the Third Layer of Hell had turned into flesh-and-blood masses, like flower buds waiting to bloom. He could see petals wrapping around every side of the mountains.

"Lotuses?"

"Fuck, the mountains in the Main World are actually lotuses of flesh and blood?!!"

The winding veins across the mountain bodies twisted grotesquely. Every petal seemed woven from countless fibers of flesh, with sinews and blood vessels bulging out.

Yang Heyi had the illusion that, in the next moment, the mountains would... bloom!

His premonition was correct.

Yin energy erupted from the mountain peaks, drifting down like pollen. The density of yin energy in the Third Layer of Hell was likely enough to rival Qing Lake.

Yang Heyi lowered his head, forcefully suppressing the urge to vomit as his nails dug into his flesh.

He had already made thorough preparations in the Lore World. Even if the air of the Third Layer of Hell had been filled with floating corpses, he would not have lost his composure like this.

But he had never imagined that the mountains themselves were transformed ghostly deities!!!

"Then what about everything else? Don't tell me all things are ghostly deities? No wonder the information from spirit sight warned me that everything is real!!"

The Divine Name of the ghostly deity represented by the lotus mountains revealed itself.

Great God of the Three Altars' Sea Assembly

Yang Heyi inwardly thought that it was as expected. He might know little about the other Divine Names in Investiture of the Gods, but he had indeed heard of the Great God of the Three Altars' Sea Assembly.

The Great God of the Three Altars' Sea Assembly was Nezha—his senior brother, whom he had met not long ago.

"Senior brother, senior brother, why exactly have you become like this?"

Yang Heyi wanted to weep without tears, but an actor's self-cultivation still gained the upper hand.

The Main World was different from the Lore World. If he exposed a flaw and was discovered by the ghostly deities, then no matter how high his cultivation was, he would still die and vanish from the world.

Yang Heyi slowly mended his shattered Dao heart.

"I need to raise my cultivation as soon as possible."

"I also have to find a way to deal with those Hungry Ghost cultivators plotting against Peibai City. I can't let disaster keep appearing in Jialiang Water Town."

Yang Heyi made up his mind that he would absolutely not reveal his cultivation in the Main World.

Once he became an immortal and attained the Dao in the Lore World...

No!

Even becoming an immortal and attaining the Dao would not be safe enough.

I'll lie low in this remote place, Jialiang Water Town, until I uncover the truth of the Eighteen Layers of Hell, until the Main World poses no threat.

Yang Heyi's gaze flickered, faintly revealing a trace of killing intent.

Without drawing attention, he swept the courtyard clean, clearing away the weeds in the corners before returning to the side room to inspect his gains from the Lore World.

"Blackie."

Meow~~

The black cat darted out from a corner and silently lay down before the door as a warning.

Yang Heyi swept his awareness through his Numinous Palace. The dharma seal had appeared within it without needing to be exchanged, while the Shoushan stone was engraved with, "Second-generation disciple of Golden Light Cave, Yang Heyi."

He then summoned the panel. The Lore World's rewards appeared one by one as phantoms, and the most conspicuous among them was unexpectedly the Daoist acolyte.

The Daoist acolyte had appeared in the form of a reward.

After calming himself, Yang Heyi first inspected the other phantoms.

Obtained 'Child Ghost's Eyeball'

Yang Heyi exchanged it into the Main World and stuffed it into his pouch alongside the Hungry Ghost's eyeball from before, to serve as materials for Pupil Ghost's future advancement to the Hungry Ghost stage.

Obtained 'A Bundle of Progeny Ghost's Hair'

Progeny Ghost's Hair

A yin object derived from a Progeny Ghost. It can be refined through the 'Progeny Ghost Path' and is one of the yin objects needed for a Progeny Ghost to advance into a vicious ghost. Bury it in soil for half a year to harvest a female corpse.

"How wicked."

The black hair should have been residue left behind on the Daoist acolyte earlier. Unlike ordinary yin objects, it was connected to Madam Yin, and was clearly of a higher level.

Yang Heyi carefully brought it into the Main World, ready at any moment to exchange it for spirit sight.

The black hair had become like a dead thing, most likely because Madam Yin was not in the Main World.

Yang He put away the black hair. Then the copper coin sword refined by Grandmaster Taiyi landed in his hand, and upon touching it, he no longer felt that bone-piercing chill.

Strange Copper Coin Sword

A Low-grade Yin Artifact refined by Grandmaster Taiyi. It had already developed a faint spirituality. After being damaged, it could devour Yin energy to repair its blade on its own, fully bringing out the effects of one's own ghost.

The copper coin sword was still a Low-grade Yin Artifact, yet it felt completely different.

Every copper coin emitted Yin energy. They were linked together by black cords, and though their arrangement seemed unchanged, they concealed a unique charm.

"Grandmaster Taiyi must have considered that the Dao Child's cultivation was insufficient. If he rashly raised the copper coin sword's grade, the Dao Child would have been unable to control it."

"What does it mean by fully bringing out the effects of one's own ghost?"

Yang He held the copper coin sword and activated Pupil Ghost. Amid the clinking of copper coins, thirty-two coins opened eyes upon their surfaces.

With a light swing, the Yin wind spilling from the blade nearly blasted through the room's door.

A thin layer of frost formed across the wall.

"As expected of an immortal. The means he used to refine artifacts are beyond anything I can imagine."

Yang He had consumed twenty to thirty percent of his Yin energy. He would run dry after using it a few times, but that did not stop this Yin Artifact from being exceptionally suited to him.

"If I use Potential Ghost, the copper coin sword will likely undergo another change."

"The black hair can also be refined into the copper coin sword later."

"Let's take a look at the Dao Child."

Only the Dao Child's item phantom remained before Yang He's eyes. When he focused on the Dao Child, a line of information appeared on the panel, revealing the special nature of a Resident Character.

Would you like to inherit the Dao Child's gains? You will receive the following benefits:

Pupil Ghost's Four Yin Meridians

Potential Ghost

Potential Ghost's blood vessels

Potential Ghost's flesh and blood

A severely incomplete Corpse Liberation Immortal Body

First of all, the Dao Child was not an exchange, but an inheritance.

The greatest difference between inheritance and exchange was that inheritance would not affect the Dao Child's cultivation.

The previous exchange for Yin Meridians had directly stripped the character's Yin Meridians away.

"Hiss."

Yang He sucked in a sharp breath.

The other options were easy enough to understand. It was equivalent to making his true body's cultivation match the Dao Child's.

Only the Corpse Liberation Immortal Body had caught him by surprise. It was most likely the Corpse Immortal Creation Grandmaster Taiyi had mentioned. Since it bore the words "immortal body," no matter how incomplete it was, it still represented something beyond the mortal world.

Yang He hesitated slightly, as the pros and cons of the Corpse Liberation Immortal Body were hard to judge.

He focused his consciousness on the Corpse Liberation Immortal Body, and precise information appeared.

Severely Incomplete Corpse Liberation Immortal Body

Once mastered, body and soul will become more compatible with Yin energy, and the ghosts housed within the body will grow faster. When Yang fire dies, Yin fire is born; the body becomes corpse-like without dying. Remember well: corpse transformation reduces one's lifespan.

The severely incomplete Corpse Liberation Immortal Body can be stripped away at the cost of Spiritual Sight.

Yang He recalled the Dao Child's experiences. The three Yang fires had indeed turned black, and at the time, the Dao Child had transformed into a strange half-ghost, half-corpse state.

As for its advantages, the boost Yin fire gave to one's strength could be ignored. Its main purpose was locking one's health in place.

"The Corpse Liberation Immortal Body can temporarily prolong life when the Yang fire goes out. The true body in the Main World should not use it, after all—I can't afford to burn away my lifespan."

"Yet a Resident Character can revive even after death. The Corpse Liberation Immortal Body is a perfect match for them."

Yang He no longer hesitated and chose to completely inherit the Dao Child. In any case, the Corpse Liberation Immortal Body could be stripped away, and he truly did need to improve his aptitude.