Douluo's Reverse Side, the Underworld, Extreme Ice Demon Lilith

"Mu En, old man, I have to admit your strength... You really almost dragged me down to hell with you..."

In the darkness, Qian Jue coughed up a mouthful of blood. His voice was weak, yet carried a lingering chill born of terror.

In that world-shattering clash, the ultimate light Mu En had unleashed by burning his life force had completely suppressed his Demon Domain.

Had an incredibly domineering, bizarre beam of dark light not forcefully torn through the laws of space and dragged him away at the critical moment, this body of his would likely have been buried alongside that old man.

"Fire."

Qian Jue's throat bobbed as he hoarsely uttered a single syllable.

The power of the Word Spirit Demon's rules silently flowed, and a cluster of dark violet demonic fire ignited out of thin air, barely dispersing the dense darkness around him.

By the flickering firelight, Qian Jue looked around, and his pupils immediately contracted.

The architectural style here was exceedingly bizarre. The ground beneath his feet was paved with dark red netherstone and broken, withered bones, while in the distance stood towering black spires hung with inverted spikes.

The air was permeated with decaying deathly aura and bone-chilling gloom. Above, a crescent moon emitting an eerie purple radiance even hung in the sky.

This was absolutely not a sight that should exist on the Douluo Continent.

Yet strangely, the deathly aura that would have been fatal to ordinary people felt to him like rain after a long drought.

The incomparably dense, pure darkness and Demonic Power in the air were wildly pouring into every corner of his body.

The horrific wounds that had been scorched by the ultimate light were actually sprouting new flesh at a visible rate, rapidly rebuilding themselves.

This feeling... was simply like returning to his true home.

Just as Qian Jue was filled with doubt, an ethereal, icy voice that seemed capable of freezing the soul slowly sounded from the depths of the darkness:

"After merely passing the fourth trial, you dared to directly confront a Demigod Rank Soul Master who had exhausted his entire foundation and entered his twilight years.

You truly have no small amount of nerve.

If I hadn't intervened just now, not even ashes would remain of you."

"Who?!"

Qian Jue's gaze sharpened abruptly as he fiercely looked toward the source of the voice.

At the end of the darkness stood a throne sculpted from enormous obsidian and bones.

Leaning lazily against it was a woman of unparalleled beauty.

She wore an elaborate black gown as deep as the night sky. Her skin was pale as snow, and an utterly suffocating chill surrounded her entire body.

With merely a glance exchanged across the distance, Qian Jue felt the blood that had just warmed within him instantly freeze. His entire body, along with his soul, seemed as though it would be completely frozen solid at that very moment.

An extreme chill that transcended the physical plane directly ignored his defenses and viciously pierced deep into his soul.

This pressure... Qian Jue clenched his teeth, trying to drive away the cold seeping into his marrow.

This pressure was hundreds, even thousands of times more terrifying than Mu En, who had burned every last bit of his life force!

This was absolutely not power a human Soul Master could possess. This was... the might of a true deity!

"Who exactly are you? And where is this place?"

Suppressing the instinctive trembling of his soul, Qian Jue slowly straightened his battered body, his scarlet eyes fixed on the woman atop the throne.

"This place? By the impoverished understanding of your Douluo Continent, this is the end of all things—the true Underworld."

The woman gave a soft, cold laugh. Slowly raising a finger as pale as jade, she lightly flicked it.

"Pfft—"

The wisp of flame Qian Jue had just summoned using the Word Spirit laws was instantly covered by a layer of black ice, then shattered into icy fragments and vanished into the air.

The Word Spirit laws had actually been effortlessly erased unilaterally before this woman!

"As for who I am..."

The woman slowly rose from the throne. As she moved, the entire space of the Underworld seemed to faintly tremble.

"You may call me the ruler of this abyss, or... you may call me Extreme Ice Demon Lilith, the demon who also issued the second trial."

Qian Jue's heart jolted. "You are... the god behind the trials?"

"A god? Don't disgust me with such a hypocritical title."

The woman slowly descended the steps. With every step she took, the temperature around Qian Jue dropped by dozens of degrees, until she stopped ten paces away from him.

"Word Demon Zagred's fourth trial was completed horribly by you.

If it weren't for the fact that the compatibility between your Fallen Angel shell and Demonic Power is still barely acceptable,

I would never have used the laws of the Underworld to forcibly tear apart that old man's spatial lock and fish you out."

She bent forward slightly, her breathtakingly beautiful yet icy face carrying a trace of mockery as she examined Qian Jue.

"However, since I saved you, you should understand... in this Underworld, your life no longer belongs to you."

Upon hearing the word "Underworld," Qian Jue froze in place.

He had always believed that the so-called Demon Trials in his mind

were merely illusory constructs fabricated by the system he had gained through transmigration, tools meant to help him grow stronger.

Who could have imagined that such a terrifying real plane truly existed behind them?

He studied the woman before him with uncertainty.

Though he had never truly fought a deity, judging solely by this pressure capable of freezing even his soul, her strength was absolutely above that of a second-level deity—perhaps even far more terrifying.

"So... this place is no longer part of the Douluo Continent?"

Qian Jue took a deep breath and asked in a low voice.

Hearing this, the peerlessly beautiful woman called Lilith slowly turned around. Her unfathomable eyes looked at him without the slightest ripple. "Of course.

This is the reverse side of the Douluo Continent—the Underworld.

It governs the souls of all the dead and maintains the order of the deceased."

Lilith's voice echoed through the vast obsidian hall:

"The living cannot set foot here.

If you had not carried the Demon Trials bestowed by us and been tainted by the aura of the abyss, the instant you entered the Underworld, your body and soul would already have been completely erased by the deathly aura."

"The reverse side of the continent..." Qian Jue's heart churned with stormy waves.

"The deities stand high above, governing the God Realm and wielding supreme authority, but they are constrained by the laws and cannot easily interfere in mortal affairs.

The Underworld lies within the subterranean abyss, governing departed souls, and likewise cannot casually interfere with the world of the living."

As Lilith spoke, a trace of icy mockery suddenly entered her tone.

"However, in order to pull you out from beneath the Golden Tree just now, I forcibly tore open space.

That rash intervention has already drawn the attention of a God King from the God Realm."

At the words "God King," Qian Jue's pupils abruptly contracted, and his heart seemed to miss a beat.

Considering the current timeline of the Douluo Continent, the identity of that lofty God King who constantly watched over the lower realm was obvious.

The Sea God and Asura God, Tang San!