Underworld Emperor Rebirth Domain, the Tricks of Beasts Only Invite Laughter, the Underworld's Gatekeeper: the Three-Headed Hellhound (4K)

"Humm-"

The Underworld Gate faded away, its dim glow dissipating. The Plane Divine Artifact altered the rules, and the world of reincarnation, where dead souls were reborn, welcomed its first living creature.

Delighted to return home, the Nether Emperor Sword spilled ethereal gray mist from its blade, setting off Lin Qing's tall, slender figure like an emperor of reincarnation slowly emerging from the River of Forgetfulness.

He knew there was a tiger on the mountain, yet headed straight for that tiger-haunted mountain!

So what if the invader was a legendary Soul Master whose might had shaken the world ten thousand years ago?

A truly fearless super-brave warrior was like a little kitty. To find the soul of his beloved kin who had died unjustly, even against an enemy ten, a hundred, or a thousand times stronger, he would activate his Spinosaurus form and bravely hiss!

"What a beautiful world..."

Electrolux hovered in midair, gazing across the boundless gray earth, endless emotion surfacing in his eyes.

During his years roaming the Saint-Demon Continent, the Holy Necromancer had once attempted to create a plane.

His ideal design had worked exactly like the Netherworld: decay and renewal intertwined, each containing the other, their two great laws cycling without end. Unfortunately, he had only completed the first half. Undead death energy had run rampant, leaving the plane devoid of life.

"No, the Netherworld is different from before..." Lin Qing frowned slightly.

Whenever he meditated at midnight, Lin Qing's consciousness would get dragged into the Netherworld every few days to serve time. He knew this place intimately and keenly sensed the drastic changes that had swept through the plane in just a few short days.

Climbing a barren hill, Lin Qing looked toward the distant souls lined up for reincarnation. Countless spectral glimmers rose like tiny candle flames, gathering into a long river of souls. Drawn by an unseen force, they flew into the depths of the Netherworld.

"Stripping away spiritual essence. What a cruel method." Electrolux's voice was low.

"Elder Yi, what is that?"

"With the Netherworld fallen, those invaders must have laid down a grand formation that rewrites its fundamental rules. From now on, every soul undergoing reincarnation will lose a trace of the spiritual essence at the core of its soul, which will be used to feed something.

"The realm of reincarnation and the Douluo Continent are the yin and yang sides of the same whole. Stripping away spiritual essence means drastically lowering the ceiling of those who are reborn.

"Suppose the strongest beings your Douluo Continent can currently produce are gods. From now on, unless the Douluo Plane ascends to a higher level, the newborns it nurtures will never become gods. They will forever be confined to a realm one step short of divinity.

"This method could never have been set up in a short time. It merely reached every corner of the Netherworld in recent days. Before that, some souls were fortunate enough to escape its punishment, such as you, whom the Netherworld chose. But in the future, no fish will slip through the net..."

"That's vicious!"

Lin Qing sucked in a breath of cold air. This severed the path to godhood at its very roots. The Douluo Continent would no longer produce peerless prodigies like the Sea God or the Angel God, who had attained divinity at level one hundred.

After failing again and again to break through to godhood, the creatures of Douluo would still stubbornly blame themselves for not working hard enough, unaware that everything had been ordained by heaven from birth. The curse would persist for ten thousand years, until the moment the ten-thousand-year plan was completed.

Seeing that the Netherworld's plight was so dire that its very foundations were collapsing, Lin Qing's expression grew grave. Saving the Netherworld was even more urgent than saving the Douluo Continent. At least the latter appeared safe on the surface.

The atmosphere instantly turned solemn and grim. Lin Qing raced in the direction the army of souls was moving. Before saving the world, he would first save one person. He had to find Lin Lan's soul.

At the end of the procession stood a gray gate. The inherited memories of the Nether Emperor Sword told Lin Qing its name and purpose.

The Reincarnation Gate.

Souls entered the Reincarnation Gate, then underwent a cleansing under the Netherworld Rules. Their spiritual cultivation and treasured memories from their previous lives were slowly washed away, leaving fresh souls as tender as shelled eggs, all equal in strength regardless of race, ready to be reborn.

The time required to restore them to their factory settings depended on the strength of their souls in life. The stronger the creature, the longer the cleansing took.

Lin Lan had died in the Star Dou Great Forest half a year ago, with the cultivation of a level-sixty Quasi-Soul Emperor. Considering that ninety percent of the Douluo Continent's humans possessed trash martial souls and zero innate soul power, her soul's memories would not be so easily erased.

However, the Reincarnation Gate was not the door of the Shaobing shop next door. No alluring married woman deliberately left it ajar. Instead, a pack of vicious guard dogs blocked the way.

Dark shapes crowded the gloomy wasteland. Each wild hound was powerfully built, the bulging muscles along its back looking cast from bronze and iron. Their ghastly faces were hideous, their huge jaws gaping to expose two rows of white fangs, while two balls of spectral green fire danced in their eye sockets.

A species native to the Netherworld: hellhounds.

The fierce aura radiating from each hellhound was no weaker than that of the three-thousand-year Diamond Bear Lin Qing had encountered in the Star Dou Great Forest. Their brutal, murderous intent mingled with the death energy unique to the Netherworld, enough to make any living creature recoil in fear.

An uninvited guest entered their field of vision. The Netherworld's hellhounds rose together, like black peaks thrusting up from the ground. Their spectral green eyes instantly turned bloodthirsty scarlet. Their nostrils flared violently, greedily catching that trace of a living human's scent, so out of place in this deathly silent world.

To hellhounds, life force was an irresistible forbidden temptation.

Battle erupted in an instant. A hundred hellhounds leaped high, the ground shaking and trembling beneath them. Their thick claws shattered the earth, and the flying rubble formed a gray sandstorm.

Hellhounds were pack animals, and seamless cooperation was a hunting instinct etched into their blood. They communicated through howls, pinning him down from the front and encircling him from both flanks. A few agile, lean hounds even concealed themselves, searching for a chance to land a fatal sneak attack.

The hundred charging hounds shook the earth and mountains, but Lin Qing stood firm. He gently exhaled a white breath. The hellhounds had arrived at just the right moment. He had wanted to test the power of the Netherworld's super divine artifact!

The crystal at the center of the Nether Emperor Sword's crossguard began to shine, refracting a cold, dim gray radiance. A domain halo burst outward in every direction, centered on Lin Qing!

The deathly silent Netherworld churned like boiling water. Gray mist surged and rose wildly, and the reincarnation energy floating through the air erupted with boundless excitement, welcoming the return of the Netherworld's emperor!

The earth split apart. Huge gray phantoms burst from beneath it, their massive forms blurred as though shrouded in thick fog. Only their outlines could vaguely be discerned: great dragons coiled their bodies, mighty eagles spread their wings, and lions shook their manes. Their combined roars of fury surpassed even those of the hellhounds!

Innate domain, Underworld Emperor Rebirth!

Powerful Netherworld creatures that had perished in primordial times had, by chance, fused wisps of their remnant souls with the Plane Divine Artifact, becoming an ability of the Underworld Emperor Rebirth Domain. These loyal, valiant, undying nether souls would grow ever stronger alongside Lin Qing!

The reborn souls of the Netherworld and the vicious hellhounds collided like two torrents, neither dodging nor retreating!

Both sides obeyed the primal creed of fighting until death. A dragon-shaped nether soul clamped its jaws around a hellhound's neck, its teeth sinking viciously into flesh as beast blood gushed out.

A giant python opened its maw, lined with spiraling sharp teeth, and swallowed a hellhound's entire upper body. The hound had never expected a nether soul to be even more savage than its own notoriously vicious kind. Its hind legs kicked and struggled without stopping, digging a furrow like an electric fan, yet it could not keep the python from swallowing its body inch by inch.

The sight deeply comforted Electrolux's old heart. Back in his day, the Undead Calamity had fought an entire nation alone, the undead creatures under his command multiplying as the battle went on. Lin Qing was much like him, a destined ruler of the Netherworld. A ruler had no need to huddle with allies. As long as he held the Nether Emperor Sword, the Underworld Emperor Rebirth Domain would be its master's most steadfast support!

Flesh and blood flew across the battlefield. Hellhounds fell dead every minute. Lin Qing turned his head, his gaze locking onto one direction.

One hellhound was far larger than its fellows, its fur gleaming with a deep, dark red sheen like magma. Its aura was every bit as powerful as that of a ten-thousand-year Bronze Hellfire Dragon. Rather than charging blindly with its companions, it crossed the main battlefield and headed straight for Lin Qing, fully understanding that to capture the bandits, one must first capture their king.

The giant hellhound attacked first. Its beastly body, over three meters tall, sprang toward him, displaying terrifying explosive power. The ten claws on its forelegs resembled vicious scythes, glinting with a chilling light!

The Nether Emperor Sword slashed down. Its sword energy was sparse and solitary, like a gray morning star. Within the hellhound's bloodthirsty eyes, the gray sword light rapidly swelled. Every hair on its body stood on end, and its soul instinctively sounded an urgent alarm. This was the Netherworld's very origin passing judgment on its death!

The hellhound opened its enormous jaws and spewed a thick pillar of black-and-red fire from deep within its throat. Bearing the dual destructive powers of searing heat and corrosion, the hellfire became a demonic dragon resurrected from the depths of hell, roaring as it swept toward Lin Qing to devour him!

"Sss-"

The sword energy sliced straight into the oncoming hellfire. With a crisp, clean sound, it cleaved the destructive stream of flame down the center of the black-and-red pillar. The fire split and flowed to either side. The scorching gust stirred his long silver-gray hair but could not harm Lin Qing in the slightest.

The sword energy continued its forward charge, striking the hellhound squarely.

Before the Nether Emperor Sword's seemingly effortless slash, the hellhound's thick hide and fur might as well not have existed. A chill reaching deep into its marrow spread through it.

Skin, muscle, bone—everything froze into gray crystal like the Nether Emperor Sword itself. The hellhound's posture was fixed at the instant of its greatest terror. Gray daylight shone through the crystal, and an eternal flower of death bloomed upon the Netherworld's earth.

At the same time, a stream of pure energy flowed into the blade, feeding the Nether Emperor Sword as it cried hungrily for nourishment.

Divine artifact talent, Death Grant.

Reincarnation was the cycle of life and death. The Nether Emperor Sword's attacks carried the will of Death Grant, magnifying the path of death, stripping away life force, reducing lifespan, and inflicting wounds that would never heal, stopping only at death.

The lives of creatures granted death by the Nether Emperor Sword would be converted into reincarnation energy, nourishing the sword in return and hastening its growth into a super divine artifact at its peak.

It was worth mentioning that the Nether Emperor Sword differed significantly from the Underworld King Sword of ten thousand years later in Lin Qing's memories.

Pluto Douluo Ha Luosa represented death and destruction, through which the Netherworld vented its rage. The Nether Emperor Sword, however, housed the orthodox laws that had evolved from the Netherworld's very beginnings. The cycle of life and death was an indispensable law governing the world, sacred and inviolable, untainted by the filth of evil soul masters.

The difference between the two was that between a mere tool and a legitimate eldest son. A tool only needed to be developed quickly and work well in the hand. The legitimate eldest son had pure, proper roots, ruling the Netherworld and stabilizing the Reincarnation Law. The Nether Emperor and the Underworld King were clearly distinct from top to bottom, inside and out.

Lin Qing swung his sword toward the sky. An exquisitely graceful arc swept across the heavens, and Death Grant sword energy howled into the clouds, piercing the gray void.

"Bang!!!"

The sword energy shattered among the clouds, bursting into countless tiny gray sword rays. A torrential downpour fell from the sky. Death Grant sword energy poured down, dense and overlapping, hanging a gray curtain between heaven and earth that covered the entire Netherworld battlefield.

The undying nether souls within the Underworld Emperor Rebirth Domain howled in excitement, basking in the Nether Emperor Sword's supreme gift. The hellhounds, by contrast, were utterly terrified. Whimpering, they joined forces to spew hellfire, raising a barrier of flame in an attempt to withstand the deadly downpour.

"Crack... crack... crack!"

A Plane Divine Artifact was its plane's own beloved child. The Nether Emperor Sword naturally countered every Netherworld creature. The flame barrier groaned under the unbearable strain, and in just a few blinks, the Death Grant sword energy broke through the hellfire. Howls of agony rose one after another, then abruptly ceased a few seconds later.

The rain of swords dispersed. The pack of hellhounds had become a forest of gray crystal. The Nether Emperor Sword had feasted until its mouth dripped with grease, and it let out a satisfied ring.

The Nether Emperor Sword should have remained in the Netherworld's womb, but its fusion with Electrolux had caused it to emerge early. It was still an embryo, far from transforming into a true super divine artifact. Killing these Netherworld creatures was equivalent to helping it condense its origin and reach its peak sooner.

In the future, when Lin Qing bestowed soul rings upon the Nether Emperor Sword, he would likewise be helping sharpen its edge, shortening the long, dark night required for a super divine artifact to grow.

"Boom-"

Behind Lin Qing, a claw suddenly burst through the gray-black ground. Rubble and dirt exploded outward, and a black shadow shot forth!

This was a patient hellhound. At the beginning of the battle, it had run to a corner and hidden underground, suppressing every trace of its aura. Like a venomous snake lurking in the shadows, it had waited patiently for the perfect moment.

Once all its companions aboveground were wiped out, the hellhound decided Lin Qing would surely lower his guard. It silently approached from behind, then burst out of the earth in a sneak attack!

Such was the hellhound's world-shaking wisdom!

Its claws shot straight for his heart from behind!

Lin Qing did not look back, nor did he even bother turning around. Pivoting on his left foot, he swept his right foot in an arc. As his body rotated with the momentum, the Nether Emperor Sword slashed diagonally upward from below. Then he quietly withdrew the sword and stood still.

The sword light was like a clear, cold moon. The hellhound remained in its pouncing posture, its ghastly face frozen in the wild joy of a successful ambush, fangs bared and pupils blazing with the frenzy of devouring a living human's life.

"Crack."

A hair-thin line of blood, almost impossible to see, appeared from its lower jaw all the way down to its abdomen.

The Nether Emperor Sword's Death Grant effect activated. Gray crystal enveloped its entire body at a visible pace, preserving the hellhound's mighty pounce in eternal crystal. Obeying gravity, the crystal sculpture fell to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"How much cunning can beasts possess? Their tricks only invite laughter." Lin Qing shook his head.

That stupid dog actually thought it could ambush me. What a joke!

Having cleared out the hellhound pack, Lin Qing looked toward the Reincarnation Gate. Just before he lifted his foot to step forward, Electrolux suddenly appeared beside him, laid a hand on his shoulder, and swiftly took him away from the gate.

"Roar-"

A hoarse roar shook heaven and earth. Ripples spread across the Reincarnation Gate as three vicious canine heads pushed through it. Their sharp teeth scraped against one another, producing a teeth-grating creak. Thick, foul-smelling saliva dripped from their mouths, corroding pits in the ground that billowed with white smoke.

All three heads locked onto Lin Qing and Electrolux. Then the monstrous hound slowly stepped through the Reincarnation Gate, its three heads joined to a towering beastly body like a black fortress!

The Netherworld's gatekeeper, the Three-Headed Hellhound!