Chapter 506: A Small Black Dot
The sensation of consuming the Heavenly Sun Calamity Poison Pill was truly peculiar. As the pill dissolved within his dantian, a surge of energy emerged, pulling Jiang Li’s soul toward the underworld.
However, this pulling force was extremely weak—even weaker than when the system had dragged Jiang Li’s soul to Ayla World to become a magician.
Jiang Li actively separated his spirit from his flesh, following the pill’s guidance as he drifted toward the underworld.
The Human Sovereign Hall, the Nine Provinces Continent, the Nine Provinces World, the void… This was Jiang Li’s first experience of what death felt like.
Jiang Li’s soul moved at astonishing speed, reaching the void in the blink of an eye.
“Even faster than tearing through space itself. And Commander Liu is right there but can’t see me. Is this what the Immortal Elder called the most mysterious Path of Life and Death Reincarnation?”
Legend said the underworld constantly employed the Path of Life and Death Reincarnation, guiding deceased souls to the netherworld.
As Jiang Li traversed the infinite void, he released his spiritual sense, observing everything around him.
On the journey to the underworld, Jiang Li wasn’t alone. An elderly man from Nine Provinces followed behind him, while souls from other worlds caught in disasters accompanied him on all sides.
Every minute, every second, living beings throughout the myriad worlds perished. Jiang Li didn’t know how things were before, but he felt that the number of dying creatures was truly excessive.
He saw pure, youthful souls swimming toward him from ahead, heading to various worlds. Compared to the deceased souls, the number of newborn souls appeared pitifully small.
“This is the perspective of a soul—truly different from what the living see.” Jiang Li found it novel. “And even those at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage cannot remain in the void for long, yet these fragile souls can traverse it freely.”
“Human Sovereign, could it be that even you…” The elderly man from Nine Provinces saw Jiang Li and burst into tears, overwhelmed by sorrow.
Previously, his family had wept heartbreakingly at his passing. Now, seeing Jiang Li’s soul, the old man cried even more bitterly than his family had.
Jiang Li felt somewhat awkward and could only patiently explain that he wasn’t dead—he was just making a trip to the underworld and would return to Nine Provinces.
Only then did the old man stop crying.
“Without you in Nine Provinces, I truly cannot imagine what would become of it.” The old man was merely a mortal. He never expected that while alive he had no chance to see Human Sovereign Jiang, but in death he finally met him.
Just as Jiang Li was about to respond, his eyebrows raised sharply as he noticed something strange in the void.
A small black dot.
Jiang Li’s spiritual sense saw it clearly—a small black dot appearing abruptly in the void without any apparent cause.
Everything eventually perishes in the void, but this small black dot seemed to be an exception, unaffected by the void’s influence.
The black dot underwent changes, splitting into two, then four, before all four dots abruptly vanished without any reason.
“What is this?” Jiang Li encountered such a bizarre phenomenon for the first time.
Jiang Li went to investigate but found nothing—not even a trace that it had ever existed.
…
Underworld, Nether Capital.
“Everyone is here. Let the meeting begin.”
“Can we please not do this routine? Meetings every single day. Do you know how many souls arrive at the underworld daily? How many are currently waiting in line? I’m swamped with work already.”
“King Yama, watch your wording. Meetings are tradition—how can you call it ‘this routine’?”
“What wording? I’m just speaking my mind. King Qinguang, you be the judge—aren’t you tired of these endless meetings?”
King Qinguang coughed and signaled King Yama with his eyes: “Today’s meeting is actually quite important.”
He didn’t mention what previous meetings had been like.
King Yama followed King Qinguang’s gaze and trembled with fear.
A graceful, dignified woman with gentle demeanor sat at the far end of the long table. She wore dark immortal robes, her jet-black hair styled in an elaborate and weighty bun. Her jade-like skin glowed, her beautiful eyes swept across the room, and a faint, almost imperceptible smile graced her lips as she quietly watched King Yama.
The ruler of the underworld, the only Primordial Chaos and Limitless Immortal in the netherworld.
Houtu Huangqi.
King Yama’s heart sank.
He had just been complaining as usual, but he never expected that Houtu Huangqi, who usually remained unseen and elusive, would attend this meeting.
Houtu Huangqi spoke slowly: “King Yama, the underworld currently suffers from ghosts overflowing the realm. Everyone is working hard—please be more understanding.”
“Of course, you also have a point. With everyone so busy, frequent meetings aren’t ideal. How about this—we reduce the meeting frequency to one-third of what it was before. Does that seem acceptable?”
How could King Yama dare to say no.
The Ten Yama Kings gathered in Nether Capital, all looking at Houtu Huangqi, realizing that today’s meeting must be extraordinary.
Only then did King Yama seriously review the day’s agenda and discovered it truly required the joint decision of all Ten Yama Kings and the underworld ruler.
King Qinguang presided over the meeting: “In Fengmo World, several billion deceased souls have returned to life. The Black and White Impermanence have already determined the cause. Someone obtained a fragment of the Celestial Ascension Ladder’s time shard, causing the entire world to reverse time by ten years. Countless people already registered in the underworld have been revived.”
“The Celestial Ascension Ladder fragment—again related to the Immortal Realm.” Everyone disliked hearing news about the Immortal Realm these days. After the Heavenly Dao gained sentience, how much extra work had it created for them? Destroying worlds that led to ghosts overflowing the underworld, and now attacking the underworld itself.
They hadn’t had a proper vacation in ages.
Being dead was more exhausting than being alive.
“How should we handle this matter?”
“Life and death are predetermined and cannot be reversed. I believe we should recapture all these souls,” King Pingdeng stated.
“But that would create an enormous workload for the underworld,” King Yama frowned.
“That’s not the main point. Managing the dead is the underworld’s fundamental duty. We can’t refuse to work just because there’s too much to do, leaving souls unaccounted for. King Yama, if you feel overwhelmed, I can share some of your workload,” King Pingdeng offered.
“King Pingdeng speaks reason—this is our fundamental duty that cannot be shirked. However, our duty originates from the Law of Life and Death Reincarnation, while the revival of billions of souls was caused by the Law of Time. The Law of Life and Death Reincarnation and the Law of Time hold equal rank, neither superior to the other.”
“Since this is a conflict between laws, it qualifies as force majeure. We should respect the Law of Time and allow the souls to continue living in Fengmo World.”
“Moreover, the underworld should not interfere with matters of the living world. Recalling these souls would cause massive disorder on that planet.”
“I agree with King Qinguang. Whether from respecting the Law of Time or maintaining order in the living world, we shouldn’t make those people die again.”
The Ten Yama Kings looked toward Houtu Huangqi—only she had the authority to make the final decision.
“There is no need to recall the souls.”
King Yama breathed a sigh of relief. Recalling the souls would require reassessing their hidden virtue, re-registering them, and rearranging their accommodations.
After so many years of revival, some souls had done good deeds while others committed evil—their previous hidden virtue would no longer count, requiring them to queue up all over again.
If that really happened, King Yama would rather seek reincarnation himself.
“Now moving to the next agenda item. The Black and White Impermanence mentioned a living person named Jiang Li who possesses vast amounts of hidden virtue. How should we treat him after his death?”
“King Yama, bring out the Book of Life and Death so everyone may see this person’s life record and hidden virtue.”
“Yes.”
King Yama threw the true Book of Life and Death into the air.