As the voice from the sky resounded, the vast scene suddenly changed.
A sinister wind howled, and ghostly Qi filled the air.
A Soul-Summoning Banner, black from end to end, stood in the wind. Countless strange patterns flickered across its surface, as though it bore the endless resentment and sins of the world.
Beneath the Soul-Summoning Banner, a figure clad in the black robes of an Impermanence slowly emerged.
Black Impermanence Ghost Douluo held the Soul-Summoning Banner, his face cold and stern, a chilling presence that made hearts tremble coiling around him.
Even through the sky, countless experts on Douluo Star felt a chill rise from the depths of their souls.
At that moment, imperial families, sect leaders, Soul Master clans, and even reclusive experts turned their eyes to the sky.
Everyone wanted to know just what power this former Spirit Hall elder possessed after becoming the Underworld's Black Impermanence!
For ordinary people and Soul Masters at the bottom of society, Black Impermanence Ghost Douluo's appearance kindled fresh hope in their hearts.
The terrifying strength White Impermanence Yue Guan had displayed earlier was already etched deeply into their minds.
Tang San, the mighty Asura God, had wielded the Asura Sacred Sword and had the entire Divine Realm behind him, yet he still hadn't gained the slightest advantage over Yue Guan.
Such a scene was enough to shatter countless people's long-held beliefs about the Divine Realm.
If White Impermanence was so powerful, just how strong was Black Impermanence, a fellow Yin God of the Underworld?
More importantly, Yue Guan and Ghost Douluo had both been core members of Spirit Hall.
Now that the two had reappeared as gods of the Underworld, did it mean Spirit Hall had never truly perished?
Would that great institution, which had once protected countless commoner Soul Masters and given ordinary people a chance to awaken their Martial Souls, one day return?
At the thought, the look in many people's eyes changed.
"Spirit Hall... there's really still hope for Spirit Hall!"
"Back when Spirit Hall was still around, at least ordinary people like us had a way to survive. Did those lofty sects ever truly give us a second glance?"
"Now White Impermanence has appeared, and Black Impermanence has followed. Since the Underworld has so many experts, maybe Spirit Hall really can be rebuilt!"
"Wonderful! If Spirit Hall truly returns, we won't have to let others bully us anymore!"
Discussions rang out across the continent.
Some were red-faced with excitement, some clenched their fists, and others gazed at the sky with tears glimmering in their eyes.
For ordinary people born without backing or resources, who could only struggle to survive in the cracks between the powerful, Spirit Hall meant far more than the rise and fall of a single organization.
It was hope they had once touched.
And now, that hope seemed to have returned!
Meanwhile, in the scene in the sky, Ghost Douluo had arrived at his own battlefield.
Dark clouds churned, and heaven and earth lost their color.
Tens of thousands of evil souls occupied the heavens, their densely packed ghostly forms blotting out the sun.
Some had hideous faces, some had mangled bodies, and others were wrapped in pitch-black chains, letting out bloodcurdling wails.
Resentment surged like a tide, and evil thoughts spread like a sea.
These evil souls had long since lost their minds. They devoured one another and slaughtered each other in a frenzy, and wherever they went, even the void seemed stained an ominous black.
If they were allowed to run rampant, countless living beings would likely suffer in the blink of an eye.
Yet faced with a terrifying sight enough to scatter a mortal's soul, Black Impermanence Ghost Douluo's expression did not ripple in the slightest.
He merely raised the Soul-Summoning Banner in his hand.
The next moment, the voice from the sky rang out again.
[For Black Impermanence Ghost Douluo, wielding the Soul-Summoning Banner and suppressing the world's evil souls was his lifelong mission.]
[To punish evil and promote good, to seize souls and suppress spirits.]
[This was not only the duty the Underworld had bestowed upon Black Impermanence, but also a skill he, as a Yin God of the Underworld, had to master!]
[Before the Soul-Summoning Banner, evil souls had nowhere to hide!]
[Once the Soul-Summoning Banner locked onto a being burdened with grave sins who had become an evil soul, they could not escape being suppressed. Suppressed evil souls would become part of the Soul-Summoning Banner, to be commanded by Black Impermanence, while constantly increasing the banner's power!]
Boom!
As the voice from the sky fell silent, the Soul-Summoning Banner in Black Impermanence's hand shook violently.
The banner's surface, originally no more than a zhang or so across, suddenly unfurled, as though swallowing all of heaven and earth in an instant.
Pitch-black patterns spread out from its surface, turning into countless chains that plunged straight into the evil souls filling the sky.
In an instant, piercing ghostly cries rang through the clouds!
"Roar-!"
The evil souls seemed to sense a deadly threat and began struggling frantically.
They tried to flee, only to find that the space on every side had long been sealed by an invisible force.
No matter how they threw themselves against it, they could not escape the area covered by the Soul-Summoning Banner.
Ghost Douluo's expression was indifferent as he gently turned his wrist.
The Soul-Summoning Banner swayed with it.
In an instant, the Yin Qi between heaven and earth seemed to boil!
Pitch-black chains shot through the air, precisely wrapping around the evil souls and forcibly dragging them into the Soul-Summoning Banner.
Some evil souls struggled desperately, trying to devour others of their kind to strengthen themselves; others battered the chains in a frenzy, letting out deafening roars.
But no matter how they resisted, they could not change their ultimate fate.
The evil souls drawn into the Soul-Summoning Banner lost their original consciousness in an instant, becoming ghostly figures on its surface.
And the evil souls newly added to the Soul-Summoning Banner turned around under Ghost Douluo's control and pounced on their former companions!
Evil souls against evil souls!
Ghostly figures against ghostly figures!
The already chaotic battlefield descended into an even stranger slaughter.
Ghost Douluo did not even need to act personally. With a gentle wave of the Soul-Summoning Banner, he suppressed and subdued swathes of evil souls.
As more and more evil souls were taken into the banner, its might rose higher and higher.
The pitch-black banner seemed to become a ghostly domain of its own, breathing in and out Yin Qi and suppressing evil spirits.
One man and one banner had left the evil souls filling the sky utterly unable to fight back!
On Douluo Star, countless people watching the sky were utterly dumbfounded.
They had thought that even if Ghost Douluo became a god of the Underworld, he would at most be a powerfully strong being.
But the scene before them completely overturned their understanding.
It turned out that after people died, their souls did not all dissipate.
Some souls, because of their obsessions, resentment, and sins, actually became such terrifying evil souls!
Even more astonishing, these evil souls were not impossible to deal with.
At least before Black Impermanence Ghost Douluo, they could not stir up the slightest wave!
"Th-this is what the Underworld can do?"
"Heavens! He suppressed all those evil souls by himself?"
"With someone like that guarding the world, won't those things that still want to do evil after death be unable to plague the living anymore?"
"Lord Black Impermanence is mighty!"
A young Soul Master could not help shouting excitedly.
Soon, more and more people joined in the cries.
They knew nothing of the laws of the Great Dao, nor did they understand what profound power the Soul-Summoning Banner contained.
But there was one thing they could see.
Evil souls ran rampant, and Black Impermanence took action.
Evil spirits ran wild, and the Underworld suppressed them!
For ordinary people who had suffered much bullying at the hands of the powerful, such a being was far more reassuring than those lofty gods who knew only how to enjoy the faith offered to them.
After all, the truly frightening ones had never been limited to living evildoers.
There were also those evil souls who refused to stay quiet even after death, and who even wanted to pour out their resentment on the innocent!
And Black Impermanence seemed to exist precisely for dealing with such things.
To the people of Shrek Academy, however, the scene felt very different.
At that moment, Yu Xiaogang had received Tang San's instructions and was preparing to leave the academy for the Divine Realm.
When he had first learned that Tang San needed him, Yu Xiaogang had felt a trace of indescribable excitement.
After all, in his view, though his strength was lacking, he possessed theoretical knowledge no one could match.
As long as he could reach the Divine Realm, his research into Martial Souls might well help Tang San turn the situation around.
But when Yu Xiaogang saw Black Impermanence suppressing the countless evil souls with his own eyes, it was as though a bucket of ice water had been poured over the confidence that had just risen in his heart.
He stared blankly at the sky, the expression on his face gradually stiffening.
Yu Xiaogang did not know just how frightening those evil souls were.
But he could tell that ordinary Soul Masters were no match for them.
What Yu Xiaogang found even harder to accept was that Ghost Douluo handled such terrifying evil souls with ease!
That was Ghost Douluo, one of Spirit Hall's former elders!
As Yu Xiaogang understood it, Ghost Douluo had not been weak, but he should never have reached such an inconceivable level.
Yet the facts lay before his eyes.
Ghost Douluo had long since transcended the mortal realm, becoming a Yin God of the Underworld who wielded the Soul-Summoning Banner.
And just how many beings like Ghost Douluo were there in the Underworld?
Yue Guan, Ghost Douluo, Ning Lingxiao...
And on top of them, the unfathomable Great Emperor of Fengdu, Chen Yuan!
The more Yu Xiaogang thought about it, the colder his heart grew.
If the Underworld truly had so many experts, could Tang San really stand against it, even as the Asura God?
A question quietly surfaced in Yu Xiaogang's heart.
Can we really win?
Once the thought appeared, it grew like a wild vine, quickly winding around his mind.
Yu Xiaogang opened his mouth, only to find that he could not utter a single word.
Even Liu Erlong and Flender, standing beside him, were struck speechless by the scene in the sky.
Liu Erlong's brows were tightly furrowed, and a hint of unease showed in her eyes.
Flender instinctively adjusted his glasses, trying to conceal his loss of composure.
They had once considered themselves well traveled and knowledgeable.
But the Underworld now on display before them had already gone beyond anything they could understand.
They even began to wonder whether Tang San could truly protect Shrek Academy.
Just as the people of Shrek were shaken, the voice from the sky rang out again.
[However, for Black Impermanence Ghost Douluo, the evil souls in the Soul-Summoning Banner were not merely a source of power for suppressing other evil souls.]
[They had an even more important destination!]
[That was-the Eighteen Levels of Hell!]
Dark clouds churned once more across the sky.
The Eighteen Levels of Hell?
The words seemed to hold an indescribable power, causing the people of the Divine Realm, who had just finished recuperating, to raise their heads.
Inside the Asura God Temple, the Shrek Seven Devils looked at one another.
Oscar was the first unable to hold back.
"The Eighteen Levels of Hell? What kind of place is that?"
Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun exchanged a glance, their faces equally puzzled.
Even Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing could find no clues in the unfamiliar name.
There had never been any record of it in the Divine Realm's inheritances.
Even the once far-ranging and well-informed Sea God Inheritance had never mentioned the so-called Eighteen Levels of Hell.
But Tang San, who lay slumped to one side, still healing his injuries, suddenly changed expression when he heard those words.
A look of barely concealed shock appeared on his already pale face.
"The Eighteen Levels of Hell?"
Tang San repeated the words under his breath, as though he had thought of something inconceivable.
The next instant, Tang San abruptly raised his head and stared fixedly at the sky.
"It can't be..."
Tang San's breath caught slightly, and his clenched hand even aggravated his injuries.
But at that moment, he could no longer concern himself with them.
A name buried in ancient legends was slowly surfacing in the depths of his mind.
Could it really be...