Netherworld City atop Netherworld Mountain, Ying Gou, One of the Nine Great Mountain Ghosts

No one who entered Netherworld Mountain had ever returned.

Thus, everyone feared Netherworld Mountain deeply. For hundreds of miles around it, no living creature dared to wander.

Not even a single village could be seen.

All that was visible was desolation and deathly silence, along with the dead mountain at the center.

Chaos's figure descended from the void.

The moment Xu Zimo set foot upon this land, endless death qi surged toward him.

It sought to destroy his entire body.

His body aged at a speed visible to the naked eye; before long, he would likely be reduced to white bones.

A leaf drifted down from the Tree of Life within Xu Zimo, blocking all the death qi.

Only then did he proceed toward Netherworld Mountain without concern.

After walking for more than ten minutes without seeing a single soul, the loneliness was so profound that one could almost feel like a wandering ghost.

At the foot of the mountain, Xu Zimo raised his head and looked at Netherworld Mountain.

The mountain was not particularly tall, but it stood like five fingers, steeped in an ancient aura.

"Amid mournful, desolate white bones,

The road of life and death leads to the Netherworld."

The words, written as though in splashed black ink, were carved into the Stone Tablet ahead.

"Seek not solace in the mortal world,

For beneath the illusory sea, souls reunite in the heavens."

No one knew who had carved those words. The path up the mountain consisted of irregular stone steps.

The instant Xu Zimo stepped onto them, a powerful force suddenly flung him away.

"Only the dead may tread the Netherworld," a majestic voice rang out from all directions.

Immediately afterward, endless death qi rose like drifting mist, shrouding the entire world.

The death qi grew increasingly