Heavenly Realm

The moon was dark and the wind was high, by a desolate ancient temple.

In front of the long-abandoned mountain god temple, crows suddenly took flight, as if startled by something, circling and cawing.

Two figures slowly emerged, as if from another time and space, appearing before the mountain god temple without any warning.

One was in green robes with white hair, spirited and vigorous, though he walked with a slight limp. The other wore black robes and had a jade-like face, with a heroic and upright bearing.

Both the old and young man possessed extraordinary presence, though they were somewhat travel-worn, their faces showing signs of fatigue.

"Master, are we leaving the Yin-Yang Road now?"

Even though it was his second time traveling this mystical path, Zhou Sheng still looked around in surprise.

After the Judge left, Master had led him along the Yin-Yang Road for another half an hour before pulling him off a cliff.

There was no sense of falling, nor did they suffer broken bones upon impact. Instead, their vision blurred, and they found themselves in front of this dilapidated mountain god temple.

This must be one of the exits of the Yin-Yang Road, but no matter how he looked, he couldn't see where it connected.

"No need to look. You haven't graduated yet and don't have the right to 'borrow' this path. Unless someone guides you, or you cultivate to the level of a Yin spirit manifesting, you won't find this road."

Yu Zhensheng massaged his right leg. "We'll be in Jiangzhou Prefecture soon. Let's rest in the temple for the night and continue our journey at dawn."

"This leg, it hasn't been moved in too long. When I suddenly moved it, it really hurt."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Sheng quickly helped his Master towards the mountain god temple.

At the same time, he was secretly astonished. Qinggu County was in Bing Prefecture, over a thousand miles from Jiangzhou, and they had somehow already reached Jiangzhou.

Stepping over the rotten threshold, the two entered the temple.

Cobwebs covered the four walls, weeds grew profusely on the ground, and the clay statue of the god was missing almost half its body. Yet, it still glared ferociously, appearing extremely eerie in the darkness.

An ordinary person would naturally not dare to come to such a desolate temple in the middle of the night. Even without demons or ghosts, they would be scared half to death.

But for these master and disciple, this was nothing.

Yu Zhensheng sat down on the ground, unbothered by the dirt, and leaned against a pillar to rest, gently rubbing his right leg.

"Master, let me help you."

Zhou Sheng crouched down and massaged the acupoints on his Master's right leg. Seeing his Master's expression ease slightly, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

From the beginning until now, his Master's brows had been unconsciously furrowed. Zhou Sheng knew his Master was enduring the intense pain in his leg.

In his past life, he had read similar stories in the Taiping Guangji. It spoke of an Underworld Official traveling at night whose carriage reins suddenly broke, preventing him from moving forward. He took out the Book of Life and Death and found that he should replace the reins with the back sinews of a nearby woman.

The Underworld Official ordered his subordinate to extract the woman's back sinews, use them as reins, and continue his journey.

That night, the woman cried out in back pain all night and died the next morning.

If a person's bones and sinews were pulled out by Ghosts and Gods, although there were no external wounds, the inside would already be rotten.

Master had his leg sinews pulled out by King Yama, yet he could still walk without issue after all these years. This was already a sign of profound Dao cultivation. However, if he were to fight, it would likely feel like steel awls piercing his bones, or knife tips cutting his flesh.

"Master, that Exploring the Underworld Mountain—"

Zhou Sheng wanted to learn more about the play that could anger King Yama, but before he could finish, his Master interrupted him sternly.

"Don't even think about that play!"

Yu Zhensheng warned, "If you don't want to follow my old path, then never mention those three words again. It's best to forget them, the cleaner the better!"

"I was momentarily distracted back then; I shouldn't have told you..."

Yu Zhensheng's attitude was unprecedentedly firm. Zhou Sheng even saw a hint of... nervousness on his face?

As if hearing those three words, his Master's emotions immediately tensed up. It was an almost instinctive reaction.

He stopped asking questions and simply made a mental note of the play Exploring the Underworld Mountain.

Come to think of it, since childhood, Master had taught him almost all the Lord Bao plays, except for Exploring the Underworld Mountain.

He naturally knew what Exploring the Underworld Mountain was, but Master's version of Exploring the Underworld Mountain was undoubtedly extraordinary.

It was a play that Master obtained by entering the illusion of Unity of Person and Role, interacting with and merging with a deity.

This play had directly changed Master's fate.

The Judge of the Underworld's expression instantly changed upon hearing this play. King Yama was furious because of this play, and Master lost the use of his right leg because of it.

What kind of magic did this play possess?

"You brat, instead of thinking about those unrealistic things, you'd better think about how to survive the Ghost Festival in two months!"

"Lu Pan definitely won't miss that opportunity."

Speaking of this, even the usually carefree and composed Yu Zhensheng's eyes flashed with solemnity.

He frowned in thought, picked up his water flask, and took a sip. Then, he heard his disciple's voice by his ear.

"Master, then we can only strike first and take care of Lu Pan!"

"Pfft!!"

Yu Zhensheng spat out his water directly and looked at his disciple exasperatedly. "Then, my mighty and powerful disciple, tell me, how do you plan to take care of a Judge of the Underworld?"

Zhou Sheng, however, said with a serious expression, "Master, I think that since we can't defeat him, we should reason with him according to the rules. Doesn't he always represent the Underworld Law? Then let's use the Underworld Law to deal with him!"

A murderous glint flashed in his eyes. Even if the other party was an Underworld Official, a deity of the underworld, since a deadly feud had been forged, it would be a fight to the death.

"The case of the head transplant has caused the deaths of so many innocent people. If only there was a way to inform the gods of the upper realm about this matter, specifically those who hate evil as much as they hate their enemies, like Lord Guan, Patriarch Huaguang, Wang Lingguan..."

Zhou Sheng listed several great deities one after another, his gaze fervent and his voice resounding.

"The Patriarch of our Ghost Opera lineage is King Ma. Master, do you have a method to report to the Patriarch?"

Yu Zhensheng shook his head.

"Then can we go to the Taoist temples on Longhu Mountain or Maoshan and ask the Taoist priests to convey our message?"

Zhou Sheng continued to ask.

Since this world had an underworld, judges, and King Yama, it meant there was also a heavenly realm and various gods.

If this case could reach the ears of heaven, then the one who should be afraid would be Lu Pan.

However, to his surprise, Yu Zhensheng shook his head again and sighed softly.

"The method you thought of is not bad, but unfortunately... it's outdated."

"Outdated?"

Zhou Sheng was stunned, unable to understand for a moment.

Yu Zhensheng slowly raised his eyes, looking through the dilapidated roof at the star-studded night sky and the eternally unchanging bright moon.

"If this were nine hundred years ago, your method would have worked. You wouldn't even need to find other gods. Just based on His act of striking the statue of Huaguang with underworld lightning today, the Patriarch could have caused trouble in the underworld again and scattered His soul!"

"Unfortunately, ever since Huang Chao declared himself emperor, the response from the gods and Buddhas in the heavenly realm to the human world has become less and less, until now..."

"Except for a faint trace of divine aura felt when casting holy cups, there have been no other responses. Even the Taoist priests on Longhu Mountain burning incense and submitting memorials are useless."

"It is said that Celestial Master Xujing, Zhang Jixian, the thirtieth Celestial Master of Longhu Mountain, once used his unparalleled Dao cultivation to force open the heavenly gate, peek into the heavenly realm, and try to find out the truth."

"And the result?"

Zhou Sheng quickly asked.

Yu Zhensheng sneered and said, "The result was that Celestial Master Xujing disintegrated his body that very day."

He paused and sighed, "That was Dao cultivation that had survived eight heavenly tribulations, a grandmaster who shook the past and present, who could kill Lu Pan without a second sword, yet at just thirty-six years old, he ascended and disintegrated his body."

"Since then, no one has ever attempted to communicate with the heavenly realm."