Tianxuan Sacred Umbrella

"Hiss! A Mighty One has spilled his blood!"

"How is there any way to survive this?!"

At the sight, everyone froze where they stood, their expressions filled with utter terror.

It was too terrifying.

That had been a Mighty One of the Immortal Platform Realm.

The last of the Five Great Secret Realms of the Human Body.

In the outside world, he would have stood almost at the pinnacle, on par with the holy masters of the great holy lands.

That gourd-shaped treasure had been extraordinary as well, suffused with Dao resonance and containing the profound truths of heaven and earth, yet it had still been destroyed beneath that terrifying lightning.

He had met his end here, his glory extinguished.

"The lightning filling the sky is targeting the central divine mountain!"

"What do we do? The central divine mountain is a deathtrap too!"

"Which way are we supposed to go?"

"No! I don't want to die here!"

"..."

A clamor of terrified voices rose without end.

Even a Mighty One had spilled his blood on the central divine mountain. What chance did they have of surviving?

"Huh? What's going on? Why has your hair turned white?"

Suddenly, a startled cry rang out not far from Li Qingyue.

It came from a young man, who was staring at the person beside him in disbelief. They were clearly close in age, yet the person beside him now had a head of white hair and wrinkles covering his body.

He looked like an old man on the verge of death. Only his eyes remained clear.

At the sight, the young man backed away in inexplicable terror.

But just as he retreated a few steps, a wisp of smoke drifted past without a sound.

"Ah!"

The young man screamed in terror, his eyes filled with fear as he watched half his body disappear.

"Save me! Save me!"

The young man roared, his voice steeped in despair, but no one dared approach.

Not even the companions who had come with him.

"No!"

With that unwilling cry, the remaining half of his body dissolved little by little, until he fell silent.

"This is bad! We can't stay here!"

At the sight, someone shouted in panic, "These graves can devour even the essence of the stars filling the sky. They must be able to devour our vitality too!"

"If we stay here... we'll die!"

As he spoke, that figure stepped forward, his expression intensely wary.

"Save me!"

The white-haired man spoke, trying to scream, but the voice that emerged from his mouth was terribly weak.

He had thought he was unharmed. Who could have known that all his vital essence had been sucked away without a sound?

Now he could not muster even a trace of strength or divine power.

Yet no one dared approach. They could only watch as his body withered little by little, until it finally turned to dust and fell.

Even the treasures he carried lost all their luster, as though the grave mound beside him had sucked away every scrap of their essence.

"Go!"

"There must be a sliver of hope on the central divine mountain. Hurry!"

"Whoosh..."

Figure after figure charged forward madly.

Yet apart from those with exceptional luck, very few could cross this field of graves.

More than half fell beside the graves, their flesh shriveled, their hair withered, every last bit of their essence gone.

Beside the graves lay treasures that had fallen there at some unknown time, many of them still perfectly intact.

Yet they possessed no divine radiance. Like dust, they crumbled at a touch.

"I've remembered..."

Suddenly, another startled cry drew everyone's attention.

It came from an old man in the Dragon Transformation realm. He was extremely old, nearly at the limit of his lifespan.

Pointing at the grave mounds scattered across the ground, he said in a trembling voice, "Netherworld soil. This is netherworld soil!"

At those words, everyone was instantly seized by terror.

Netherworld soil was said to be a divine substance found in the Underworld.

The dead could return to life within it, but any living person who touched it would have all their vitality drained away until they died.

That was how netherworld soil had earned its name.

"Heavens... is this the Underworld?!"

Someone cried out, their expression filled with terror.

According to legend, the Underworld and the Heavenly Court had been the most powerful forces during the Mythical Era.

Yet for some unknown reason, the Heavenly Court had fractured and the Underworld had been destroyed, vanishing completely from the eyes of all living beings without leaving a trace.

But now, this great tomb was filled entirely with netherworld soil.

The densely packed grave mounds covering the land were all heaped from netherworld soil.

"Th-there's a stone stele here!"

Someone pointed in a direction, trembling.

Everyone looked over. At the sight of the exceedingly ancient writing upon it, they all froze.

"At the end of reincarnation, all things shall meet their curtain call. The Underworld is the final resting place of all beings!"

At the sight of that stele, everyone's heart trembled.

"No! This definitely isn't the Underworld!"

"Impossible! I don't want to die!"

"We can get out. We definitely can!"

Countless people were terrified beyond measure.

They scrambled toward the central divine mountain, each desperate not to fall behind. Almost as though by tacit agreement, they all skirted around the decaying stone stele.

"The Underworld!"

A trace of frightened trembling entered the Tianquan Saint's voice as well.

The Seven Great Holy Land of the Eastern Wasteland had almost all inherited their legacies from the primordial age.

After the rise of the human race's Solar Saint Emperor and Lunar Saint Emperor, they had relocated here from various Ancient Life Stars.

Though they possessed no Extreme Dao Emperor Weapons, their legacies had endured for hundreds of thousands of years, leaving them with no shortage of Saint Weapons and Quasi-Emperor Weapons.

Naturally, they had also heard the legends of the Underworld and the Ancient Heavenly Court.

The same was true of the Tianxuan Saintess and the Yaoguang Holy Son behind him, as well as Yan Wushuang and Yang Wuwei.

Only Li Qingyue remained calm.

Protected at the center of the group, she gazed into the distance, taking in everything within this small world.

Waves surged through her heart as well.

Others did not know, but she understood all too clearly.

Hadn't Duan De founded the Underworld in his second life, calling himself the Netherworld Venerable and ruling all beneath heaven alongside Emperor Venerable?

They had even laid down countless Source Formations.

The Starry Sky Ancient Road, the Ninety-Nine Dragon Mountains on Earth, the Immortal Ascension Cauldron, and the Myriad Races Trial Ancient Road had all been the handiwork of those two.

For Duan De, who had been the Source Emperor back then, arranging such a small world had probably taken no more effort than blowing away dust.

This is probably the burial place of Duan De's second life, isn't it?

Such a conjecture arose in Li Qingyue's mind.

Duan De's third life had appeared far too quickly. Not long after the Netherworld Venerable passed away in meditation, the Netherworld Emperor had been born, once again ruling the Underworld.

It was tantamount to living a second life, making countless powerful figures of the Underworld bow before him.

And this small world within Flying Dragon Ridge should have been where the Netherworld Emperor emerged.

The Tribulation-Transcending Heavenly Art!

At the thought of that cultivation art, Li Qingyue's heart jolted.

Reversing fortune, transforming a site of supreme feng shui into a small world, nurturing endless death energy and Tribulation Qi.

This had undoubtedly been prepared specifically for the Tribulation-Transcending Heavenly Art.

Only amid endless tribulations, life, and death could the Tribulation-Transcending Heavenly Art continue to transform.

The Netherworld Emperor's ability to attain the Dao again so quickly and assume control of the Underworld might well have been deeply connected to this place.

"Go! I can feel my vitality slipping away. We can't linger here either, or we'll die!"

"Everyone, use whatever means you have!"

The Tianquan Saint spoke as he took the lead, advancing with utmost caution through the gaps between the grave mounds.

He feared disturbing the surrounding graves and unleashing something uncanny.

"Be careful!"

Yan Wushuang and Yang Wuzheng moved closer to Li Qingyue, their voices more solemn than ever.

This was a deathtrap. Even they had no confidence whatsoever.

Suddenly, a streak of black light erupted from a grave mound ten zhang away and surged straight toward them.

At the sight, everyone's expression changed drastically.

These graves were all heaped from netherworld soil and had absorbed all the fortune of Flying Dragon Ridge.

They had also devoured the vital essence of heaven and earth and the essence of the sun, moon, and stars, nurturing countless strange things filled with death and destruction.

Almost anyone who touched such things would die.

"Hum!"

Suddenly, a small umbrella radiating seven-colored light flashed out of the Tianxuan Saintess's body.

At first, it was only the size of a thumb. It swelled in the wind, and in the blink of an eye, it hung like a grand canopy over everyone's heads.

"That's the Tianxuan Sacred Umbrella, a Saint Weapon!"

At the sight of the great umbrella, everyone was shaken, staring at the Tianxuan Saintess in disbelief.

A Saint Weapon was a weapon forged by an ancient Saint.

The Tianxuan Sacred Umbrella?

Li Qingyue instinctively examined the great umbrella overhead, which resembled a grand canopy.

She did not know what its fabric was made from. It was a vast azure expanse, like the heavens.

Dao patterns covered it densely, like revolving stars.

Three hundred and sixty-five ribs supported the entire celestial sphere.

They then converged into one, forming the umbrella's shaft, suffused with Dao resonance like a small world.

A seven-colored golden thread hung from the handle, with a piece of precious jade suspended from it.

The jade was square, like a great land bearing all the heavens.

This Saint Parasol was rich with Dao resonance, containing the profound truths of heaven and earth.

"Hum!"

Just as Li Qingyue was examining it, the streak of black light suddenly struck the Tianxuan Sacred Umbrella.

"Rumble..."