Invincible Dad-Chapter 496 Netherworld_1

"Director Xu, could this be colored sea sand?" Liu Nanwei asked curiously.

"It’s not sea sand. It’s river sand."

Xu Lai took the bottle, a hint of surprise and confusion in his eyes. How could something like this appear on Earth?

"Which river?" Zhou Feng asked.

"The Netherworld."

"..."

Zhou Feng and Liu Nanwei felt the temperature in the school infirmary instantly plummet by dozens of degrees, and they shivered involuntarily. When they looked at the liquid in the bottle again, it no longer seemed stunning but rather deeply unsettling.

Liu Nanwei forced a smile. "Director Xu, you must be joking. The Netherworld doesn’t exist."

Xu Lai didn’t respond. The Netherworld, he knew, was a river.

In Hua Country’s culture, the Netherworld Road was the path the dead walked to reach the underworld. In the Immortal Domain, countless powerful entities throughout the ages had sought this Netherworld Road. An Ancient Great Emperor had once even believed that the Samsara Sea was the Netherworld.

But Xu Lai knew that wasn’t true. The ancient texts recorded something different. They said that beneath the Netherworld flowed exceedingly beautiful, mesmerizing blue sand with a pleasant name: Yunmeng Blue Sand. It accompanied the Netherworld from the path of death to the path of life, witnessing the entire cycle of reincarnation. In contrast, there wasn’t a single grain of sand in the Samsara Sea.

Although it was the first time Xu Lai had seen Yunmeng Blue Sand, he recognized it at a glance. The sand was imbued with the laws of life and death, a concentration several times greater than that of the Samsara Sea and imperceptible to anyone below the Immortal Venerable Realm.

"How did Dr. Li get this?" Xu Lai asked.

"I think one of our students found it on an archeological dig. I didn’t ask for the details."

Zhou Feng then asked cautiously, "Director Xu, what’s the story behind this? Is it really sand from the Netherworld?"

"I’m going to have a chat with Dr. Li," Xu Lai said, feigning calmness. "I was just joking earlier. I’ll be going now."

As Xu Lai left the infirmary and walked toward the school’s medical laboratory, his gaze turned icy.

The Netherworld... The ancient texts said that only Great Emperor Youming, thirty-six epochs ago, had ever found it. Or rather, that Emperor Realm expert had achieved his ascension within the Netherworld itself. Wherever the Netherworld surged was a cycle of life and death, and the beginning of disaster. During Great Emperor Youming’s epoch, 380 million clans in the Immortal Domain were exterminated, and the casualties were countless. Xu Lai had to treat this matter with the utmost seriousness.

When he reached the medical research lab, before he could even speak, Li Shouzhong, Yan Gui, Lin Qiu, and a group of other elderly men and women surrounded him, excitedly chattering about their recent research findings. Xu Lai listened patiently, resolving their doubts and difficult questions. Only when he saw looks of dawning comprehension on their faces did he state the purpose of his visit.

"Ah, the sand," Li Shouzhong said. "One of the school’s students dug up a small spoonful during an archeological dig. It was quite beautiful, so he gave it to me as a souvenir. I wasn’t sure what it was myself, so I figured I’d have Zhou Feng pass it to you, Director Xu, to take a look."

"Can you take me to that student?" Xu Lai asked.

"Of course," Li Shouzhong readily agreed.

The two went to the school but discovered the student had requested leave and wasn’t in class. When they asked his teacher, they learned he had been absent for two full days.

After getting the address, Xu Lai and Li Shouzhong went to the student’s home to look for him. Fortunately, he was a local, so the journey wasn’t long—only about half an hour. Unexpectedly, the person who opened the door was the mother of the student, Li Yuan.

"Who are you..."

The middle-aged woman looked haggard. Keeping the door only partially open, she regarded them warily.

"We’re from Dongli School," Li Shouzhong introduced. "My name is Li Shouzhong, and this is Director Xu Lai. We came to ask the student, Li Yuan, a few questions."

"Dr. Li, how did you know my son was sick?" 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The middle-aged woman let down her guard. She had heard of Li Shouzhong; the former director of the emergency department at the city’s People’s Hospital was quite famous in East Sea City.

"Li Yuan is sick?" Li Shouzhong was startled. "He seemed just fine a couple of days ago."

Li Yuan’s mother said bitterly, "Ever since he came back from the school’s archeological trip, he hasn’t been right in the head..." At this, she struggled to continue. Wiping away her tears, she said, "Just go in and see for yourselves."

Xu Lai remained silent. He could faintly sense a very dense Yin energy permeating the spacious, luxurious apartment.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.

In the first-floor bedroom, Li Yuan’s mother knocked on the door. "Son, your teachers from school are here. I’m opening the door now."

When the door opened, Li Shouzhong’s pupils constricted. The room’s pristine white walls were covered in scratch marks, many of them still dripping with blood.

The student, Li Yuan, was huddled in a corner. His face was gaunt and pale, and he looked frail to the extreme. His ten fingers were a bloody, mangled mess. Clearly, he was the one who had made the scratch marks on the walls.

"My son hasn’t been right since he came back," Li Yuan’s mother explained, tears welling in her eyes. "He’s constantly talking nonsense. We tried to take him to the hospital, but he starts banging his head against the wall if we try to get him out of this room. He hasn’t eaten or slept in three days and three nights. Dr. Li, Director, you have to save my son!"

"Dead... they’re all dead..." Li Yuan suddenly clutched his head and began to tremble, his bloodshot eyes filled with terror. "They’re coming! They’re here!"

"Don’t take me away! I didn’t see anything! I don’t know anything!"

Li Yuan kept shrinking back, but he was already pressed into the corner. Where else could he hide? His panicked and terrified state made Xu Lai frown deeply.

"Li Yuan," Xu Lai asked, standing by the door, "you saw a yellow river, didn’t you? A river with mesmerizing blue sand flowing at the bottom, and beautiful yet sinister flowers blooming on its banks."

Li Yuan’s head snapped up to look at Xu Lai. His gaze held none of the purity and vigor expected of a twenty-year-old; instead, it was filled with the excitement of seeing a kindred spirit. Yet, this excitement was laced with sorrow. "You’ve been there too? You saw it too? You’re going to die too?"

The string of questions made Xu Lai chuckle softly. "Now that I’m here, everything will be fine."

"You two can go outside," he said to Li Shouzhong and Li Yuan’s mother. "I’ll talk with him. It’s nothing serious."

Li Yuan’s mother looked like she wanted to say something, but Li Shouzhong guided her out.

Xu Lai closed the door and got straight to the point. "I’m Xu Lai. You might recognize me. That river was the Netherworld, and you... you crossed a line you shouldn’t have."

"So it really was the Netherworld..." Li Yuan’s expression was dazed. "Back then, all I thought was how beautiful the river was... the flowing sand was so pretty. I took a little of it. But after I got home, the more I thought about it, the more terrified I became. Because... none of the others saw that river."

Xu Lai nodded.

Only one student saw the Netherworld... Interesting.

"Also, as I was leaving the archaeological cave, I heard someone whisper in my ear. I looked back and saw an old man poling a boat on the river." Li Yuan began to tremble. "He smiled at me... and said he’d be back for me."