Chapter 507: How About We Put Up a Banner?

Golden radiant light illuminated the entire Nether Capital, dazzling all the ghost immortals until they couldn’t keep their eyes open.

“What kind of background does this Jiang Li have? His hidden virtue is so exaggerated?”

King Yama read the words from the Book of Life and Death: “Jiang Li, seventy-second generation Human Sovereign of the Nine Provinces, cultivation level unknown, lifespan… my eyes are blurry, how many zeros is this?”

The Ten Yama Kings fell silent. Even those claiming to have limitless lifespans as Primordial Chaos and Limitless Immortals still had finite lifespans, far shorter than this Jiang Li’s.

“Look, is his lifespan still changing?”

On the Book of Life and Death, Jiang Li’s lifespan continued increasing endlessly, meaning he was getting further and further from death.

King Yama continued reading: “At eighteen years old, Qi Refining fifth layer… at one hundred seventy years old became the Nine Provinces Human Sovereign, reached Tribulation Transcendence Stage on the same day… at one hundred eighty years old killed an Earthly Immortal… at two hundred eighteen years old became ‘Mahayana Stage’—what in the world is Mahayana Stage?”

“Don’t know, keep reading.”

“…at two hundred ninety years old killed a second Earthly Immortal… mapped the Nine Provinces, gained hidden virtue… at four hundred three years old killed a third Earthly Immortal…”

“Accelerated cooperation between spiritual treasures and cultivators, raised the average combat power of Nine Provinces cultivators, gained hidden virtue… saved worlds multiple times, gained hidden virtue… established world connection mechanisms, promoted world development, gained hidden virtue…”

“Gained hidden virtue… gained hidden virtue… killed the Executor of Honghu, gained hidden virtue…”

“Enough, I’ve seen so much I don’t even recognize the words ‘hidden virtue’ anymore.” King Yama rubbed his eyes, feeling dizzy. This person was practically a hidden virtue manufacturing machine, generating hidden virtue with everything he did.

“Where did this natural-born sage come from?” King Pingdeng stared dumbfounded, speaking the thoughts of his nine colleagues.

The Ten Yama Kings were all Golden Immortals, Golden Immortals with immeasurable hidden virtue at that, otherwise they wouldn’t be qualified to remain in the Underworld.

But looking at this situation now, their proud hidden virtue seemed worthless.

“Probably only the Confucius Sage who educated countless worlds could surpass this person.”

“King Yama, you refined the Book of Life and Death—quickly add a new feature. Why can’t the Book of Life and Death display personal hobbies? I want to see if this person’s hobby is accumulating hidden virtue or saving worlds.”

“Get lost.”

“Your Majesty Huangqi, what are your thoughts on this person?”

Houtu Huangqi looked at the terms “Jiang Li” and “Mahayana Stage,” remaining silent for a moment as if considering whether this was that person.

Finally she spoke slowly: “Do you remember what Dao Ancestor said—that his corpse kept moving after death, and his soul followed his corpse?”

“He said he encountered a mighty figure who didn’t belong to that era, possessing tremendous power and unfathomable cultivation depth that even he couldn’t see through.”

“Dao Ancestor said he knew how high the heavens were, but he didn’t know how powerful this person was.”

“He said with this person here, the Immortal Realm and Heavenly Dao were no match, and the Underworld didn’t need him to guard it.”

Houtu Huangqi and the Ten Yama Kings had always hoped Dao Ancestor would guard the Underworld to ensure the reincarnation cycle remained undisturbed, but Dao Ancestor said there would be a mightier figure than him in the future to oppose the Immortal Realm, making it impossible for the Immortal Realm to disrupt the Underworld’s order.

The ghost immortals pressed for information about this person, and only then did Dao Ancestor describe what he witnessed after death.

Houtu Huangqi said: “It was probably Ji Shun’s doing. Ji Shun jumped from the River of Time to the Nine Provinces, making him half a Nine Provinces native. Perhaps he brought this unknown mighty figure back to the past.”

Ji Shun was essentially a fish from the River of Time, and the River of Time had no concept of death, meaning Ji Shun was an unregistered entity in the Underworld that couldn’t be managed.

“This person’s realm is very strange. I’ve been dead for millions of years and never heard of any Mahayana Stage. Has anyone here heard of it?”

“Haven’t heard of it. Judging by his ability to kill the Executor of Honghu, he’s at least a half-step Golden Immortal.”

“That’s what’s strange. He went from Tribulation Transcendence Stage to Mahayana Stage in over forty years without crossing any realms in between, meaning Mahayana Stage follows Tribulation Transcendence Stage. Mahayana Stage is similar to Earthly Immortal Stage, but what kind of Earthly Immortal Stage can kill late-stage Celestial Immortals?”

“Maybe it’s a Nine Provinces specialty? Should we find a Nine Provinces cultivator to ask?”

“Agreed.”

“I say we don’t need to care so much about this person. He’s just a living person with an uncountable lifespan—what does it have to do with us…”

As King Lunzhuan was speaking, he saw Jiang Li’s name fading.

“He died?!”

How did he arrive just as we were talking?

If this person truly was the one Dao Ancestor mentioned, then the position of Underworld Ruler might need to change hands.

Houtu Huangqi didn’t have strong opinions about changing the Underworld Ruler—it didn’t matter who held the position since she hardly managed affairs anyway.

As the Nine Provinces Human Sovereign, this person should be capable of managing affairs and enjoy doing so, making him perfect for the role of Underworld Ruler.

Houtu Huangqi didn’t speak, rising and leaving while the Ten Yama Kings couldn’t discern her thoughts.

“Calm down, he’s still alive. This should just be his soul arriving—it counts as false death.”

King Qinguang scratched his chin: “Even if it’s false death, he’s still an extraordinary mighty figure. Shouldn’t we make a gesture, like putting up a banner?”

“What would the banner say?”

“Something like ‘Welcome Human Sovereign Jiang Li for Inspection Visit to the Underworld’?”

…

Jiang Li arrived in the Underworld and found everything quite novel. For example, in front of him was an elderly man from the Nine Provinces, ahead of that was a group of oxen—probably brothers from the same slaughterhouse—and behind Jiang Li were several people from different worlds.

He was patiently waiting in line for King Yama’s judgment to go through the reincarnation process.

With the Human Sovereign standing behind him, the elderly Nine Provinces man straightened his posture proudly.

“How did you brothers die?” Jiang Li asked the people behind him while waiting boredly.

The Underworld also used Immortal Realm Nine Provinces language. The Underworld had set up a great formation everywhere that allowed all deceased souls to learn how to speak Immortal Realm Nine Provinces language.

Otherwise, with deceased souls coming from countless worlds speaking diverse languages, the Underworld would have massive headaches.

“Don’t even mention it, such bad luck.” The man spoke pure Nine Provinces language. “No idea what happened, but our world suddenly developed a forbidden zone that occupied nearly half the continent. All sorts of strange monsters emerged from the forbidden zone.”

“After we killed the monsters, we discovered we could use the energy within them to evolve ourselves. We called ourselves evolvers, and I was a second-level evolver.”

“A thousand years passed, and we established a complete monster combat system—killing monsters, training evolvers, sustaining warfare through combat.”

“I died during a mission exploring the forbidden zone’s periphery when several monsters surrounded me. Only after death did I discover how vast the world is—there are worlds beyond worlds, and everyone goes to the Underworld after death.”

“Do you know your world’s location?”

The man shook his head blankly.

“How about you?” Jiang Li asked the next person in line.

This person sneered, looking down on Jiang Li with contempt: “Mortal, watch your tone. This venerable is the only Nascent Soul Stage expert in the age of declined spirituality, invincible in the current era. If we weren’t both dead, you wouldn’t even qualify to speak with me.”

The elderly Nine Provinces man heard this and desperately covered his mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

Jiang Li rolled his eyes—he’d never seen someone so full of themselves.