Life-Reaping Soul-Hooking Lock, First Runner of the Nine Netherworlds

The stars were cold, and all was silent.

The Heavenly Frost Immortal Sect's hundred-odd starships blotted out the heavens, yet now they hung in space like iron tombs. Tens of thousands of cultivators stood aboard them. Even the elders, usually so lofty, felt as though they had fallen into an icy abyss. Their bodies shook, and none dared breathe too loudly.

Before that boundless aura of death and destruction, the cultivation they took pride in and their refined immortal arts were as fragile as paper.

"No... impossible! I'm at the peak of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage! One more step and I would have attained immortality! How could my lifespan be over?!"

In the void, True Lord Kurong's powerful, half-transparent soul twisted wildly as he roared.

His body had crumbled to dust, but the terrifying power of his Tribulation Transcendence Stage soul still surged like a tsunami. He refused to accept it! After ten thousand years of bitter cultivation, with his goal one step away, how could he become a mere wandering ghost?!

"Heavenly Frost Soul, hold the void for eternity! Break open!"

True Lord Kurong's spectral face contorted. He formed a seal with both hands and forcibly ignited the light at the core of his soul. A ten-thousand-mile ice manifestation blazed into being behind him, trying to tear through the Netherworld Laws that had him locked in place and escape into the depths of space.

That last, desperate strike from a soul at the peak of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage was powerful enough to wipe away the Canglan Realm's entire atmosphere in an instant!

And yet...

Facing the world-destroying spectral manifestation, the two towering figures beside the Ghost Gate showed not the slightest change of expression.

On the left stood White Impermanence in a white robe and a tall hat bearing the words "A Glimpse Brings Wealth." He lowered his head slightly. His cold, lifeless eyes swept over True Lord Kurong with nothing but indifference and mockery for a fool clinging to the mortal world.

"Your allotted years are over, yet you dare defy the decree?"

White Impermanence's voice was sharp and ethereal, carrying an ancient eeriness that pierced the soul:

"Foolish child, all the mortal world is but an illusion. Who could escape the Book of Life and Death?"

On the right, Black Impermanence wore a black robe and a tall hat bearing the words "All Under Heaven at Peace." His face was fierce, and he let out an impatient snort.

That snort struck True Lord Kurong's spectral manifestation like an ancient warhammer!

Boom!

True Lord Kurong's ten-thousand-zhang ice manifestation, powerful enough to devastate heaven and earth, could not withstand the sound for even a microsecond. It shattered like brittle glass, scattering useless motes of soul-light across the sky!

Clatter—!

Before True Lord Kurong could recover from the terrible backlash, Black Impermanence shook his thick arm. One of his pitch-black Soul-Reaping Chains, steeped in the aura of the Netherworld's Yellow Springs, shot through the void like a venomous serpent spanning the stars!

The purest order of death wound around the chain.

It ignored space. It ignored time. It even ignored every defensive ability True Lord Kurong had cast around himself!

Thud!

A dull, grating impact rang out.

The black Soul-Reaping Chain pierced the void and struck straight through True Lord Kurong's spectral shoulder blades!

"Aaaaaah—!!"

His agonized screams swept across the stars like a gale.

In that moment, True Lord Kurong felt as though his soul had been hurled into the depths of the Yellow Springs, where endless cold Netherworld flames seared every shred of his consciousness. The Tribulation Transcendence Stage soul power he had taken such pride in melted and collapsed before that chain like snow beneath boiling water!

"No innocent soul is taken by the soul-reaping chain."

Expressionless, Black Impermanence gave the chain a shake and tugged with his mountain-sized spectral body.

"Get over here... now!"

Clatter!

Even at the peak of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, True Lord Kurong was dragged along like a dead fish hooked through the gills. Powerless to resist, he slammed onto the Yellow Springs Road before the Ghost Gate!

"No... no! Spare me! Exalted Immortal, spare me! I'll submit to the Netherworld! I'll serve as a slave for all eternity!"

True Lord Kurong's soul trembled as he lay on the Yellow Springs Road. He stared at the blood-red Othershore Flowers beneath him and felt the utter darkness emanating from the Ghost Gate ahead, a darkness that could crush his soul to nothing. The supreme old monster who had ruled the Ziwei Star Domain for ten thousand years finally broke.

He cast aside every shred of dignity and pride. Consumed by terror, he kowtowed frantically to Black and White Impermanence and begged for mercy.

But what room was there for mercy in the Netherworld's law?

"The Ghost Gate opens, and you enter the Six Paths of Reincarnation. Your deeds in life shall be judged before the Mirror of Karma."

White Impermanence gave the Mourning Banner in his hand a gentle shake.

At once, the towering doors of the Ghost Gate slowly parted with a heavy creak like the collapse of the universe!

Beyond the narrow opening lay no immortal light, no promised land. There were only the soul-freezing Yellow Springs, mountains of blades and seas of fire, and the despairing howls of countless ancient, wicked souls under torment!

This was the ultimate order of the world of the dead!

Black Impermanence flicked his right arm. The dark Soul-Reaping Chain coiled around True Lord Kurong's soul like a giant python. Ignoring his desperate screams and pleas, he hurled him into the Ghost Gate's endless depths!

Boom!

The Ghost Gate closed.

Every trace of True Lord Kurong—his presence, his marks upon the world, even the fluctuations of his soul—was utterly erased from the living realm.

He had returned to the Nine Netherworlds.

The silence among the stars was maddening.

Aboard the Heavenly Frost Immortal Sect's hundred-odd great starships, countless elders and disciples went deathly pale. Some could not bear the shock that shook them to the depths of their souls. They collapsed to the deck and wet themselves.

Dead.

A supreme ancestor at the peak of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, just one step from ascending to immortality, had been hooked like a dead dog before their eyes. Two black chains had dragged out his soul and thrown him into that mysterious Ghost Gate!

He had not even had the chance to resist a single move!

"So... this is the Netherworld?!"

Deep in the stars, the three Demon Emperors of the Heavenly Demon Great Realm and an ancestor of the Nine-Tailed Celestial Foxes from the Primordial Demon Realm watched from hiding. Every hair and scale stood on end, and fear nearly spilled from their eyes.

They had believed the highest rule in the universe was survival of the strongest, and its highest realm belonged to Great Emperors and Immortals.

But now this "Netherworld," appearing out of nowhere, had taught every mighty being across the myriad worlds a lesson in the coldest, cruelest way possible—

The Heavenly Court ruled the living world, and the Netherworld ruled the dead!

Whether you had been an old monster whose power shook heaven and earth or a supreme Demon Emperor who ruled a star domain, once your allotted years were spent and your name appeared in the Book of Life and Death...

When the Netherworld came for your soul, not even the mightiest could keep you here!

"Retreat! Hurry!"

One of the Heavenly Frost Immortal Sect's few surviving grand elders, a cultivator at the peak of Dao-Slaying, shrieked until his voice nearly broke:

"Back to the Ziwei Star Domain! Seal the mountain! Seal it completely!"

"The Canglan Realm has the attention of the Heavenly Court and the Netherworld! No disciple of the Heavenly Frost Immortal Sect shall ever set foot in the Canglan Realm again—!"

Rumble!

The hundred-odd starships that had arrived bristling with murderous intent wheeled about like a flock of headless, panicked flies. They even burned the spirit stones at their cores as they raced one another toward the rift in space!

And the Heavenly Frost Immortal Sect was not alone.

The Nine Netherworlds demon warships of the Heavenly Demon Great Realm and the Myriad Demon Imperial Palace of the Primordial Demon Realm also suppressed their baleful auras. They tore open the void and fled in disgrace!

What fortune left by True Lord Erlang? What immortal arts of longevity?

Before a Netherworld that could seize souls and command life and death, all greed and ambition turned to pure fear!

Within moments, the space surrounding the Canglan Realm, so recently crowded with hostile forces and fraught with danger, was deathly still again.

Only the fading Ghost Gate suspended in the void and the blood-red Othershore Flowers lining the Yellow Springs Road remained to proclaim to the myriad worlds—

Myth had truly returned.

At the Primeval Holy Land, beside the Sword-Washing Pool.

Ji Changkong, the Heavenly Sword Guest, and Perfected One Ten Thousand Laws, three mighty Dao-Slaying cultivators, stared at the fading image of the Ghost Gate among the stars. They stood as still as statues.

Even they felt a numb, trembling chill deep in their souls.

"The Book of Life and Death... the Six Paths of Reincarnation..."

Ji Changkong murmured. His once-piercing eyes were now filled with awe and disbelief:

"I understand... I finally understand!"

"What the Myriad Heavens Mythic Rankings showed us last night was the Ancient Heavenly Court's glory and bloodshed as it ruled the nine heavens and swept through the world of the living."

"But the Netherworld is the order governing the dead beneath the Heavenly Court! The Heavenly Court rules life; the Netherworld rules death! Heaven and earth, yin and yang—all are under the Heavenly Court's command!"

"So this was the true face of the Ancient Era!"

Ji Changkong shook with excitement. He turned to Lin Qiye, his eyes burning with fervor and a profound reverence for the heir to that legacy:

"Holy Son Qiye! Did you see that? That is the vast empire behind the divine legacy you've inherited!"

"Above the nine heavens, war gods such as True Lord Erlang fought bloody battles against their enemies; deep in the Netherworld, Underworld Emissaries such as Black and White Impermanence presided over reincarnation!"

"And those fools from the Heavenly Frost Immortal Sect dared try to seize the mythic inheritance... They had no idea what they were up against. They were seeking their own deaths!"

Hearing Ji Changkong's words, Lin Qiye took a deep breath, the Broken Sword strapped to his back.

He had sensed a violent resonance from the Golden Mark deep within his forehead the moment Black and White Impermanence appeared and took True Lord Kurong's soul.

It was the resonance of Heavenly Dao Laws born of the same source!

Lin Qiye clenched his fists, resolve hardening in his eyes. "The Holy Lord is right. The return of myth cannot be stopped. Whoever dares stand in the way of restoring the path to immortality will be crushed by the order of the Heavenly Court and the Netherworld!"

After this, the Primeval Holy Land's faith in and reverence for myth reached an unsurpassable peak!

Meanwhile, at the edge of the Primeval Holy Land...

Inside the quiet, peaceful Library Pavilion...

Su Chen sat beside a green-shaded lamp. As system notifications exploded through his mind like a roaring flood, a satisfied smile slowly spread across his face.

[Ding!] The manifested Ghost Gate and Yellow Springs Road have successfully slain True Lord Kurong, a mighty Tribulation Transcendence Stage cultivator! The concepts of the Netherworld, the Six Paths of Reincarnation, the Book of Life and Death, and Black and White Impermanence have triggered a reality-shattering shift in perception across the Three Great Star Domains!

[Myth transmission surges explosively!] Desolate Ancient Heavenly Court/Netherworld system transmission in the Canglan Realm: 60% → 90% (approaching a fully real imprint)! In the Ziwei Star Domain: 15% → 55%! In the Heavenly Demon Great Realm: 12% → 48%! In the Primordial Demon Realm: 10% → 42%!

[Karma Points skyrocket!] Feedback from the death of a Tribulation Transcendence Stage old monster: +80,000! Feedback from the despair and terror of tens of thousands of mighty beings across the Three Great Star Domains: +198,100! Feedback from the myriad beings' awe of life, death, and reincarnation: +190,000!

[Congratulations, Host. Total available Karma Points: 530,000!]

"Five hundred thousand Karma Points!"

Su Chen studied the long string of numbers on the panel. A deep light glimmered in his gentle eyes, as though he were looking down over a game board.

Not only had he recouped everything he had just spent, but his reserves had swelled to an unprecedented level!

More importantly, from this moment on, no one across the myriad worlds would dare lightly question whether myth was real.

With its ruthless seizure of a soul, the Netherworld had used the life of an old monster at the peak of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage to seal his lie behind the strongest lock of truth!

"The first stage—establishing authority and planting the concept—is complete."

Su Chen rose and walked to the window, watching the last trace of deathly Netherworld aura fade from the sky.

"Now that the Netherworld has made its name, it's time for the myriad worlds to see a true mythic sanctuary and a sage's place of teaching."

Su Chen extended a fingertip and swept it lightly through the air. In the fourth-tier exchange section of the system panel, he selected the next supreme entry that would shake the heavens—

[Zixiao Palace: Hongjun Preaches the Dao]!