Chapter 364: Breaching the Underworld
Jiang Li understood. While the Nine Provinces world flourished, all other realms beyond it had fallen into the schemes of the Outer Realm Demons, continuously diminishing the human population. Though he had saved several worlds, it was still insignificant compared to the countless worlds out there. Too many realms had fallen, some even reduced to lifeless husks.
As more people died, fewer reincarnation slots became available, leaving ghosts with no place in the underworld. Since the Celestial Realm refused to act, Jiang Li would eventually have to settle accounts with them personally.
“You still retain vague memories of your past life after drinking Granny Meng’s Soup?” Du Ping was astonished. If souls couldn’t completely forget their past lives, wouldn’t that mean cultivators would retain their memories after reincarnation? This would create massive ethical disputes – something the underworld would never permit.
Xiaofang shook her head. “Granny Meng’s Soup isn’t the final step. We ghosts must pass through an immortal artifact called the ‘Six Paths of Reincarnation Stele’ to be reborn. This stele contains the Dao of life, death, and reincarnation – it purifies souls, completely severing us from our past lives so we may begin anew.”
“Though this is just what the kind ghost officials told us. We can’t verify its truth.”
“Originally, we were about to enter the cycle of reincarnation. The person before me had already been cleansed by the stele and successfully reincarnated – I was next. But then fighting broke out above us.”
“Fighting broke out?”
“I don’t know exactly. Everything was chaotic. We just sensed someone attacking from above, breaching the underworld’s defenses. Then the Black and White Impermanence arrived, activating the Six Paths of Reincarnation Stele to send us to rebirth. But the process was interrupted, and we fell unconscious. When we awoke, we found ourselves in your world.”
“Now it seems we didn’t successfully reincarnate, but exist in a state between spirits and living beings.”
“How do you conceal yourselves?” Du Ping wondered. The concealment methods of these ordinary ghosts seemed remarkably advanced, even eluding his spiritual sense.
“It’s a trace of the life-death reincarnation power left on us by the stele. This same energy has protected us until now.”
“Life-death reincarnation power?” Jiang Li’s ears perked up at the familiar term. He retrieved a book from his spatial ring. “Can you activate this?”
“Is that… a replica of the Book of Life and Death?” Several relatively lucid ghosts gasped. The underworld possessed several crucial immortal artifacts – the Stone of Three Lives, Naihe Bridge, Six Paths of Reincarnation Stele, and the Book of Life and Death among them. Due to the overwhelming number of spirits, the Yama Kings permitted limited replicas of the Book since even sharing one original proved insufficient. Yet how could a replica exist in the mortal realm?
Neither Du Ping nor Ji Kongkong had expected Jiang Li to possess such an item.
“I happened to meet the Black and White Impermanence and borrowed it for study. I meant to return it, but they left in too much of a hurry to take it back.”
Xiaofang’s expression turned strange. The realms of living and dead were strictly separated – the underworld couldn’t interfere with mortal affairs, and the Impermanence Enforcers would never lend out the Book. Moreover, the claim they “left in a hurry” sounded highly suspicious. Several ghosts eyed Jiang Li warily – had he perhaps taken the Book by force from the two enforcers?
“May I ask… what cultivation stage you’ve reached?”
“Mahayana Stage.”
The ghosts exchanged glances – none had heard of this realm.
“Activating the Book requires mastery over life-death reincarnation. What we know barely scratches the surface – we can’t operate it.”
“Do you know how to reach the underworld then?” Jiang Li found this strange. Holding the Book, he’d been waiting for the Black and White Impermanence to guide him to the underworld, but they never appeared.
“We don’t know the underworld’s location either.”
“Who breached the underworld – external forces or internal conflict?”
Xiaofang shook her head. “We don’t know. It was an immortal-level battle, far beyond our capacity to witness. We only focused on fleeing.”
Another ghost spoke up: “I suspect it was conflict between the Ten Yama Kings. Two or three of them believed too many ghosts were disrupting underworld order and wanted to send excess spirits to other worlds to establish new underworld branches.”
“But most Yama Kings opposed this, insisting there should only be one underworld to maintain its dignity.”
“When we first arrived in the Nine Provinces, I thought this was a newly established underworld branch. Only later did I realize it was the mortal realm.”
Xiaofang explained: “This ghost accumulated substantial virtuous karma and should have reincarnated into a wealthy family. But with fewer living humans and even fewer affluent households, he waited over a hundred years in the underworld – more senior than me.”
“I heard some Yama Kings proposed simply eliminating excess ghosts, causing conflict between them. Couldn’t this have escalated into violence that affected us?”
“Nonsense! The Yama Kings would never harm us no matter what. I believe external forces attacked the underworld.”
“Ridiculous! The ghost officials always said that across all realms, only the dead go to the underworld, and only the Celestial Realm equals its status. Who could attack it besides the Celestials?”
“Not impossible. Perhaps some Celestial bigshot’s beloved died, and in grief they stormed the underworld to reclaim them.”
The relatively lucid ghosts argued passionately while the dazed ones remained unresponsive, as if accustomed to such debates.
“I’ve been dead 120 years – you should listen to me!”
“Comparing seniority? I’ve been dead 180 years without bragging!”
“Acting so arrogant – one might think you’re bound for the Celestial Reincarnation Path!”
“We’re all destined for Human Reincarnation – why compete over who’s been dead longer?”
Only Xiaofang stood quietly aside, refusing to speculate beyond what she knew.
“You all seem quite familiar with the Celestial Realm?” Ji Kongkong found the ghosts’ arguments fascinating and novel. She’d assumed all ghosts would be terrifying, but their liveliness eased her fears – though the vacant-eyed spirits still unnerved her.
Xiaofang rolled her eyes. “The underworld makes us drink Granny Meng’s Soup precisely so we know less. What little we hear about Celestials or Yama Kings comes from ghost officials’ chatter – just idle gossip. We don’t even know all Ten Yama Kings’ names.”
Ji Kongkong was speechless – so these ghosts were just boasting.
After listening patiently, Jiang Li suddenly asked: “Did none of you consider the Outer Realm Demons might be responsible?”
“Outer Realm Demons? Never heard of them.” The ghosts were clueless.
Neither knowing the Mahayana Stage nor the Outer Realm Demons, Jiang Li stopped expecting useful information from these spirits.