Dao Lord Longxin's feigned unconsciousness was eventually exposed.
"Hey, fellow Daoist, why are you doing this?" Dao Lord Longxin, feeling quite aggrieved.
"Forget it, looking at your shabby appearance, you don't seem like someone who has a family to support." Xiao Tian curled his lip, letting Dao Lord Longxin off the hook.
Upon hearing this, Dao Lord Longxin nearly died of anger.
"Fellow Daoist, you're mistaken!"
"What? You want to fight my master?" Xuanlong's expression was icy.
Dao Lord Longxin immediately cowered; he couldn't afford to offend him.
"Fellow Daoist, where is the fellow who came in with you?"
Upon hearing this, Dao Lord Longxin frowned and said, "You mean Daoist Hun? Daoist Hun crossed this bridge with me, so you must have succeeded."
"Oh wow, you're really lame."
Dao Lord Longxin's lips twitched; he wanted to curse, but he held back.
After a long while, Xiao Tian and the others crossed the bridge and arrived at a patch of Kitsuchi. A boundary marker stood a hundred meters ahead of them.
" The Nether Realm!"
Big Black Bull almost burst out laughing when he saw it.
"Could it be that what we crossed before was the Naihe Bridge?"
"Good heavens, we've actually arrived in the Nether Realm! This is outrageous!"
Dao Lord Longxin was also shocked. The Nether Realm existed in legends and was also known as the Nine Netherworlds Hell or the Underworld.
I don't know if this is true or false.
"Is this some kind of hoax? Although the characters on this boundary marker have an ancient feel, this place is definitely not the Nether Realm. If it Nether Realm, how could we, the living, cross the Naihe Bridge?" The Immortal in Wine said with disdain.
Suddenly, a plume of black smoke appeared at the stone tablet above the Nether Realm, followed by a figure—a mysterious being dressed in eerie attire, with dead fish eyes, a tongue a meter long, and a black feather duster in hand.
"Brother, look, could this be Black Wuchang?" Big Black Bull exclaimed in surprise, looking at the newcomer with amusement.
"Could this really be the Nether Realm?" Dao Lord Longxin asked in surprise.
"This guy has a mysterious aura; he shouldn't be underestimated," Xiao Tian said seriously.
A mysterious being, resembling the Black Wuchang, scanned the crowd with dead fish eyes, its voice somber and lifeless. "This is the Nether Realm, a forbidden land for the living. If you wish to continue, you must be prepared to assimilate into the creatures of the Nether Realm, never to leave this realm again."
"Damn it! Bro, looks like we should just leave! We're better off not staying here!"
"Master, shall we go or not?" Xuanlong didn't care at all whether or not he transformed into a creature of the Nether Realm.
Xiao Tian sized up the fellow and chuckled, "You have some nice treasures on you. Hand them over, and we'll spare your life."
Big Black Bull, Xuanlong, Dao Lord Longxin, and the others were stunned. What had Xiao Tian discovered?
Upon hearing this, the being resembling Black Wuchang's dead fish eyes suddenly flashed with a ferocious, cold light, and he said icily, "You mortal have some nerve! You truly don't know what's good for you!"
"You little rascal, I don't know how many people you've fooled with this trick, but in my eyes, you're finished." Xiao Tian curled his lip and rushed forward.
As Xiao Tian unleashed his punch, the power of the Visualization Realm erupted, instantly distorting the space around Black Wuchang, threatening to explode at any moment.
"My lord, spare my life!"
The mysterious figure, who resembled Black Wuchang, never expected Xiao Tian to be serious. He immediately dropped the Wuchang Staff in his hand, and his figure instantly transformed into a 1.2-meter-tall blue-faced man.
"Damn it! This guy actually fooled me!" The Big Black Bull was furious; it had completely misjudged him.
"Hey bro, get out of the way! Let me punch that thing! How dare it deceive us!"
" Brother Niu, just don't kill him." Xiao Tian withdrew his fist, and the distorted space quickly returned to normal. He then took the Wuchang Staff.
The blue-faced man's previous abilities were entirely due to the Wuchang Staff in his hand; Xiao Tian noticed the key to this at a glance.
The blue-faced man was brutally beaten by the Big Black Bull, who was suppressing his power. His face turned even more purplish-blue and he looked even more miserable.
"Hey, where did you get this thing? And where is this place?"
The blue-faced man trembled as he looked at Xiao Tian and the others, his eyes filled with tears.
"My lords, this... this is indeed the Nether Realm, but only a small part of the Nether Realm. Also, what I said before was a lie."
"I know you're lying, of course. Where did you get this thing? Tell me now." Xiao Tian curled his lip, his eyes fierce.
The blue-faced man, who had suffered a loss at Xiao Tian's hands, glanced at the Big Black Bull swaggering towards him out of the corner of his eye and couldn't help but say in fright, "Reporting to my lord, this item in your hand is called the Wuchang Staff. It was once a Wuchang weapon used by the official envoy of the Nether Realm, Impermanence. I found this gem in a dilapidated ruin and only managed to master some of its abilities after many years of research."
"Interesting. Hey, so you were born in this Nether Realm? Besides, how many other people have been here?"
The blue-faced man said respectfully, "I am a native creature. My clan is called the Blue-Faced Nether Tribe. Before you esteemed lords, I have seen at least tens of thousands of people come here. Ninety percent of them were frightened away by me, and the remaining ten percent are wandering in the Nether Realm. I do not know what became of them."
"How strong is your Blue-Faced Nether Tribe member? What other interesting places are there in the Nether Realm?" Xiao Tian continued to ask.
The blue-faced man said, "My clan was once a low-level race in the Nether Realm, but in this shattered Nether Realm, we are considered a large clan. There are many powerful beings in our clan, like you, sir. There are many dangerous places in the Nether Realm now. I can't go into the specifics, but there are three places that I have often heard the elders of our clan mention."
The first place is called Youdu Mountain. Legend has it that it was once part of the largest Youdu Mountain in the Nether Realm, where the corpses of many terrifying beings are buried. It is perpetually shrouded in deathly aura and a terrifying cursed mist. Our clan chief once ventured there but did not emerge.
The second place is called the Sea of Bitterness, which was once a branch of the Yomi in the Nether Realm. Corpses there turn into zombies, and living beings that enter it either become demons or immortals or die completely. It is even more dangerous than Youdu Mountain.
The third place, not far from here, is called Yin Mountain. Legend has it that in the ancient times of the Nether Realm, a queen of the underworld died there with resentment and injustice. Any living being who enters will lose their mind and be unable to escape. In addition, eerie and miserable screams are sometimes heard from the vicinity of Yin Mountain. The closer one gets, the more easily one is affected, and one's negative emotions will be amplified. The danger level is even more terrifying than the Sea of Bitterness and Youdu Mountain.
Big Black Bull frowned and said, "That sounds so interesting, but I don't know if what you're saying is true or not."
The blue-faced man said fearfully, "My lord, everything I've said is true. If even one word is untrue, you may simply kill me."
" Brother Niu, what this kid is saying seems to be true." Xiao Tian stared at the blue-faced man and continued to ask, "Kid, do you know that there is Underworld here?"
"My lord, the Underworld is an official institution of the Nether Realm. Since I haven't explored the entire Nether Realm, I don't know if there are any branch ruins that exist."
Dao Lord Longxin then asked, "Little brat, how many people entered this place before? Within a day or two?"
"Thirty-five, I think, five of them managed to get in," the blue-faced man replied honestly.
"So many people?" Dao Lord Longxin asked in surprise.
"You don't seem to be lying, kid. Only about ten people came in here before, so there must be other entrances coming in from other places." Xiao Tian couldn't help but laugh; this was good news.
The blue-faced man said weakly, "My lords, the entrances to the Yin-Yang Bridge are distributed in various areas, but strangely, very few people entered in the past three hundred years; only recently have more people entered."
Xiao Tian understood that the previous three hundred years or so were an era of great global change and technological prosperity. Now, with the emergence of folding spaces, the world has changed drastically, and ancient species are gradually reviving.
"Let me ask you, do you want to die?" Xiao Tian Xiao.
This question completely baffled the blue-faced man!
The blue-faced man inwardly cursed and swore a ton of vulgarities, but outwardly remained respectful, saying, "My lord, of course I want to live. Please, my lord, don't kill me."
"Then lead the way to the place where you obtained this Wuchang Staff."
"Yes, sir." The blue-faced man was overjoyed. That was a dangerous place that it hadn't mentioned. Obtaining that treasure was a matter of chance. The number of the Visualization Realm cultivators who died there was far more than a handful.
"Brother, we need to be careful. This Nether Realm is really eerie; the atmosphere here is really unsettling."
Xiao Deva Path, "Although this is a broken Nether Realm with incomplete rules, it won't impose too many restrictions on the living. But it was once part of the Nether Realm, so let's make the best of it. If things get awkward, I'll take you inside to hide."
Big Black Bull and the others naturally knew where to hide.
The blue-faced man led the way, but at that moment, he also had many ulterior motives (insidious and vicious thoughts).
After walking for a long time, for two or three days, they encountered no living creatures; the places they passed through were nothing but desolation and ugliness.
"My lords, this is it!"
Following the direction pointed out by the blue-faced man, Xiao Tian and the others looked in that direction and saw a dilapidated ruin shrouded in black mist. They could vaguely make out that it had once been a palace in its complete state.
"My lord, that place is very dangerous. Even someone of your level must be careful. Although the danger level there is not as high as the three I mentioned before, it is still not a safe place. In addition, that place has been developed too many times by some forces in the Nether Realm. I'm afraid there are no treasures left, only strange things."
"Past."
The blue-faced man exclaimed in terror, "Sir, are you really going in? Can I not go with you?"
"That won't do. Since you were able to get the Wuchang Staff from there, even though your cultivation is only average, you must still have some skill. I'll need you to lead the way." Xiao Tian Xiao, the glint in his eyes making the blue-faced man feel as if he had been seen through, sending chills down his spine.
"Yes, sir, I understand."
A moment later, they arrived at a point 300 meters from the ruins.