Taking That Step

"Return home..."

"What do you mean, 'should be able to'?"

"Why bring up returning home all of a sudden? I'm clearly still..."

"...No, it really is time."

"..."

Standing on the Bridge of Helplessness and looking down at the Underworld Hall, Hu Ma heard the National Teacher's voice behind him, and suddenly everything became clear.

Before entering the Underworld Hall, he had already gained a single stick of incense beyond the world. That was the Non-Human Realm.

After entering the Underworld Hall, he had gone a step further, making his body into a bridge and merging with heaven and earth. He could borrow the calamity of slaughter that belonged to the mortal world. That was the Non-Ghost Realm.

And after he had slaughtered the Eight Hall Imperial Ghosts, eating and drinking his fill... No, after reclaiming the purple qi and devouring the Imperial Ghosts, he had rapidly advanced, despite having only just entered the Non-Ghost Realm.

From the first hall to the eighth, he had slain countless evil ghosts, and Lifespan had continually accumulated upon him. By the time he reached the second hall, he had already attained the pinnacle of the Non-Ghost Realm.

The only thing separating him from the Non-God Realm was that final step across the threshold.

Then the National Teacher had arrived.

He had used the Bridge of Helplessness to break Hu Ma's deadlock, sending billions of evil ghosts from the Yin Mansion. That immense force had opened a passage between the Underworld Hall and the Yin Mansion. Borrowing the Bridge of Helplessness, Hu Ma had shouldered the Yin Mansion in an instant—and with that single step, entered the Non-God Realm.

The Yin Mansion was also part of the mortal world, only the part that belonged to yin, hidden in the depths of the mortal world.