Immortal of the Nine Realms-Chapter 1403: New Underworld
Hearing the words "Underworld" on Enlightenment Star—the territory of the Enlightenment God Palace—stirred a rather absurd feeling in Fang Chen's heart.
Lin Yuan and the other two had only a vague understanding of traversing the Underworld. Since they began their cultivation, they had never left Langgui Constellation. Later, they spent decades in the Ancient Forbidden Zone passing tests, but had never ventured into the Lower Six Realms.
They had only heard that a method of walking the Path of Yin and entering the Underworld did exist, but had never had the chance to see it for themselves.
This first-transformation immortal was a member of Li Shanzi's team and wore a bronze jade token at his waist. He had clearly passed his trial with outstanding results back in the day.
Lin Yuan asked cautiously, "May I ask your name, Senior?"
Zhou Quan smiled. "My surname is Zhou. Just call me Daoist Zhou. No need for 'senior' or anything like that. I'm actually not much older than you, just that I became an Enlightenment God Palace cultivator three cohorts earlier."
Everyone was slightly taken aback.
"Three cohorts earlier..."
They had been cultivators of the Enlightenment God Palace for decades now. According to the rule of one examination every thirty years, the next batch of candidates had already completed their tests.
Counting the years, he had been a cultivator of the Enlightenment God Palace for just over a hundred years but had already reached the first transformation. It was an impressively fast pace.
"Daoist Zhou, we want to ask about this 'walking the Path of Yin.' I heard that cultivators from the Lower Six Realms like to do it a lot. It seems that the Underworld has something that can substitute for spirit stones? Mainly because resources in the Lower Six Realms are too scarce. I guess our Enlightenment God Palace wouldn't have such problems, right?"
"Walking the Path of Yin isn't only about that. There are other factors too. I'll explain as we go," said Zhou Quan.
He began, "Our Enlightenment God Palace controls the cycle of life and death for all mortals on Enlightenment Star, including yourselves. As long as you pass away on Enlightenment Star, you can enter the cycle of reincarnation."
"The Enlightenment God Palace has established an Underworld. From Monarch Yan to the Nether Guards, all are managed by Enlightenment cultivators. This requires a large number of personnel to meet the needs of the Underworld."
Lin Yuan and the others found this fascinating and were already beginning to look forward to seeing the Underworld. Fang Chen, however, was more shocked than anything, with several questions already brewing in his mind.
The Enlightenment God Palace... controls the means of reincarnation?
If that was the case, could the cultivators of the Enlightenment God Palace sense that in other parts of the Upper Three Realms, no living beings could enter the cycle of reincarnation?
From the conversation between Hong Zhi and Ji Tianjun, it can already be concluded that the true divine object of reincarnation was long ago taken by their ancestors. The Enlightenment God Palace likely only controls a similar method. Since the higher-ups here consciously allow the mortals to reincarnate, someone here must know the truth of the world.
Now there were only two possibilities. Either someone within the Enlightenment God Palace knows, like him, that an external race intends to plunder the Nine Mortal Realms without shedding a single drop of blood, so they let the beings here keep reincarnating. If those beings are demons, after countless cycles of reincarnation, the demon memories would be negligible.
Or the Enlightenment Divine Palace was already under the control of demons, and the reincarnation method they hold might be based on the Reincarnation Mirror, a copied divine artifact.
Letting the beings here reincarnate would then be a way for their own kin to live multiple lives, rather than living only one.
Fang Chen sighed inwardly. "In the short term, there's no way to clarify their true motives."
His cultivation was still too low. If he were a seventh-transformation Ancient Immortal, he might be able to reach the true higher-ups of the Enlightenment God Palace and obtain more useful information. The only thing he could do now was to see whether Daoist Zhou knew anything about the current situation of the Upper Three Realms.
Fang Chen asked suddenly, "Daoist Zhou, I come from the Lower Six Realms and have also walked the Path of Yin, so I have some understanding of the Underworld. But I noticed it seems that the Upper Three Realms have no access to the Underworld?"
Zhou Quan had witnessed the duel between Fang Chen and Nanming Shaoze and knew the close relationship between Little Immortal Honglian and Fang Chen, so his attitude was especially warm.
Zhou Quan smiled broadly and said, "I haven't been to the Lower Six Realms yet, but some Daoists who have been there said that cultivators there do frequently walk the Path of Yin. The Underworld is divided into the Lesser Underworld and the Floating Pagoda Realm. The former is insignificant—just a broken, incomplete domain. The latter is the true Underworld from ancient times. The Underworld where our Enlightenment God Palace resides is the New Underworld."
New Underworld? Corresponding to the Ancient Underworld?
He said all this but did not answer the question about why the Upper Three Realms could not walk the Path of Yin.
Fang Chen asked again, "If the Upper Three Realms truly cannot walk the Underworld, does that mean the souls of the dead there cannot..."
He couldn't bring himself to say the words "reincarnate." That sense of dread welled up again. It felt as if some unseen force had locked onto him.
Back in the Underworld, when facing Senior Brother Pitu, he had wanted to tell him everything he knew. But a chilling sensation would always find its way to his heart. It was as if speaking the words would cause some terrifying event to occur.
Fang Chen suspected that perhaps this mysterious force would once again seal off his cognition, making it impossible for him to perceive the truth. If that happened, it would be incredibly difficult to uncover the truth later.
With one's cognition blocked, it's like a puzzle missing its most crucial piece. No matter how many fragments one had, they could never form a complete picture.
Sure enough, Zhou Quan completely ignored the topic Fang Chen brought up. He was not deliberately ignoring it, but naturally shifting the conversation elsewhere, as if he hadn't heard the question at all. Looking at Lin Yuan and the others, their expressions showed no hint of unease either.
This meant their cognition was still sealed; that mysterious force did not allow them to recognize the matter. No matter how obvious Fang Chen's hints were, as long as the key words weren't spoken, their cognition seal wouldn't be broken. Instead, they would be influenced by this force to overlook the matter entirely.
Soon, the four were brought before a clean and tidy cave dwelling. This dwelling consisted of several small courtyards and seven or eight buildings, with its own spiritual spring and exclusive fertile spiritual fields.
"The four of you will stay here for the time being. If there's any notice, I will come here to inform you," said Zhou Quan with a smile before leaving.
"Daoist Zhou is really approachable. As a first-transformation immortal, his attitude toward us is quite kind," remarked Lin Yuan.
"After all, we are members of Daoist Hong's team," said Yu Wuxia calmly. "She is a core disciple, so he would naturally treat us politely."
"That may be, but the feeling is still quite nice," Lin Yuan chuckled and then lowered his voice, "What do you think the Underworld looks like? Are the dead there really green-faced and fierce?"
Yu Wuxia replied coolly, "How would I know without going? If you want to find out, it won't be long. We might be assigned to serve in the Underworld."
"However, the Radiant Divine Dao Sect does have some ancient texts that mention matters related to the Underworld."
Lin Yuan and Meng Qingling immediately stepped forward, eager to hear about it.
Seeing that, Fang Chen's expression suddenly shifted. Smiling at the three, he said, "You want to know? I happen to have the method for walking the Path of Yin and a Soul Guiding Lantern. How about we go take a look?"
