So-Called Cause, Effect, and Karma

Three days later, Maoshan, Patriarch Hall.

The hall had already been cleared. Only Lin Yan, Zhou Qing, Long Aotian, and three Maoshan elders with white hair and beards and deep, settled auras remained.

On the floor, cinnabar mixed with demon blood had been used to draw an extraordinarily complex giant array that covered the entire hall, its patterns flickering with a dim, eerie glow.

"This array can temporarily strengthen this poor Daoist's Yang Spirit and protect all fellow Daoists' Yin Spirits while we attempt to connect yin and yang," Lin Yan said, sitting cross-legged at the eye of the array, his expression solemn.

"Sect Leader Lin," Zhou Qing suddenly asked, "where exactly is the underworld? My Yin Spirit has also roamed a thousand li, yet I have never sensed this so-called Netherworld Underworld."

Lin Yan looked toward Long Aotian, as if he felt this mysterious fellow Daoist might know more.

Sure enough, Long Aotian spoke, his tone carrying a detached indifference, as though looking down from above. "The underworld is everywhere, and yet nowhere."

"Across the Myriad Worlds, wherever living beings reincarnate, there is an underworld projection—or rather, a 'branch'—manifesting there to guide departed souls and maintain the order of reincarnation."

"You cannot sense it because this world of yours was previously a terminal land of the Dharma-ending age. The barrier between yin and yang was so thick it was almost severed entirely, so the underworld branch naturally remained hidden. With that meager little Yin Spirit of yours, how could you communicate with it?"

"The true underworld is only responsible for the operation and management of the most fundamental rules."

A trace of complexity flashed through Long Aotian's eyes.

"For example, maintaining the Six Paths of Reincarnation, updating the Book of Life and Death, and supervising whether the countless 'branches'