Chapter 83: The Six Realms (Part Two)
Arthas did not reply.
“Say something!” Qin Ye was sweating profusely. It had taken every ounce of his courage to admit that there were three remaining Lords of the Underworld left in the world.
What exactly were these Lords?
Back in Qingxi County, when Arthas revealed his spirit form, towering and imposing, his pressure crushed the entire province. A Lord governed an entire region...
Qin Ye couldn’t help but shiver.
Uncharacteristically, Arthas did not retort, “Little one... these suppressed Ghost Kings are true fiends. At least, as far as we know, there’s one in the west. Fortunately... fortunately, you left quickly. Otherwise, next time... it might be the Soul Reaper and his two guardians coming for you.”
“Are you sure it’s them?” Qin Ye felt his eyelids twitch. “What the hell is Kṣitigarbha doing?! He became a Buddha and took all the officials of the Underworld with him, but left several Ghost Kings at this level behind! And you’re still here causing trouble!”
Arthas sighed deeply, “To become a Buddha... how many Bodhisattvas have yearned for it? Even Bodhisattvas have selfish desires... What he said referred to ‘Hell.’ But ‘Hell’ isn’t the same as the Underworld. Hell means the Eighteen Minor Hells, the Ten Great Hells, and their associated officials. After all... every official of the Underworld is dead...”
“What I can be certain of is, all the fiends in ‘Hell’ and their corresponding officials were taken away. As for others... like the Six Path Ghost Kings, he managed to take three, exploiting a loophole in the heavenly order.”
Qin Ye felt his head splitting with pain, his fingers buried in his dark hair, nearly tearing it into a nest.
Only now did he truly become the first to clearly understand what the living world was up against.
The Lords of the Animal Realm, Hungry Ghost Realm, and Asura Realm—three Ghost Kings at the level of Underworld Lords!
If these three Ghost Kings ever decided to act, half of China would fall into chaos.
“Will this affect me?” He finally asked hoarsely.
There was no answer.
Qin Ye nearly exploded, “I’m warning you! Don’t keep anything from me! If rebuilding the Underworld is so dangerous, whoever wants to do it can do it! I’ll take the Yama Seal fragments and run as far as I can, damn the consequences!”
“You really do sound like yourself...” Arthas finally spoke, his voice faint, “Run away? Where would you even go?”
“Without the fragments, you’ll die. With them, sooner or later you’ll be discovered by the Lord of the Animal Realm in Sichuan. No matter how vast the world is, you cannot escape.”
Qin Ye rubbed his hair and stood up. He knew he’d just been venting.
“So what should I do now?” He tried to calm himself, exhaling deeply.
“Rebuild the Underworld!” Arthas replied with certainty. “The strangeness of the Lords is beyond your imagination... Remember the sixty years of scorched earth... But as long as the Underworld stands, it absolutely suppresses them!”
“The Underworld is order, sanctioned by the heavenly laws. Now, with its positions vacant, the world lacks a certain order. If you restore it, no matter how strong the three Ghost Kings are, they will inevitably be suppressed by the Underworld!”
Qin Ye fell silent.
His eyes flickered as he quickly organized his thoughts.
Arthas had left much unsaid, but it wasn’t hard to understand.
Once the Underworld is rebuilt, the three Ghost Kings will sense the suppression and immediately realize it’s being restored. They’ll stop at nothing to identify the one behind it and tear him to pieces.
“But... there’s one place they aren’t prepared to sever ties with the living world completely, and they absolutely won’t dare to come.”
He and Arthas exchanged a glance and spoke in unison, “Bao’an!”
The first cultivation university in China!
China’s first bulwark against the nether spirits!
A banner, a beacon—unless China is willing to lose this war, this flag will never fall!
Arthas continued, “Especially with the presence here of a thirty million unit source of nether energy. If it can become the perpetual engine for your Underworld... truly, there’s nowhere better.”
Who could have guessed that beneath China's first cultivation stronghold lay a new Underworld, waiting to rise from ruin?
Even if the three Lords scoured the nation, they would never imagine Bao’an to be the heart!
Qin Ye pondered for a long time, then looked at the crest and spoke in a deep voice, “Something extraordinary happened that night, making the three Lords sense this terrifying presence. The leaking nether energy triggered the mutation in the Fourth Predatory Zone. To prevent humans from discovering it, the three Lords sent their forces to set up a barrier here.”
With everything connected, the whole affair finally made sense.
Qin Ye sneered, “They thought everything would be buried that night, but unfortunately...”
Arthas looked at Old Huang, “Unfortunately, the master of this Predatory Zone is actually a corpse-fiend dog, and it seems fond of you. Perhaps dogs are naturally close to humans, and corpse-fiends that have fulfilled their wish are closer still to underworld messengers.”
Qin Ye raised his ghost-headed blade, aiming at the mirror, “Is this the heart of the barrier?”
He was not one to make rash decisions.
But once he decided, he would not turn back.
Since the Underworld must be built, he would give his all!
Step one: find that thirty million unit source of nether energy, and survey his future domain!
Right before him, the glass was rippling like water. Within the ripples, Lin Han, Su Feng, Li Runxue, and Zhuo Qinfen were surrounded by countless nether energy, entangled with fierce ghosts similar to those Qin Ye had just battled.
“Why are they so weak? Where’s the promised S-rank?” Qin Ye frowned.
“You think everyone’s an underworld messenger?” Arthas chuckled, then composed herself, “A barrier consists of a core and several hubs. Break the core here, and you and your companions will no longer be blinded by nether energy. Then break the mirrors in their rooms, and the barrier will be completely undone.”
She paused, her tone serious, “If there really is that terrifying thirty million unit source here, its location will be revealed!”
Crash!
Before she finished speaking, the ghost-headed blade swung down, shattering the glass in a crisp explosion.
At the same moment, the entire nursing home gave a faint ghostly wail—subtle, yet clearer than before. Now, as he looked around, the darkness seemed much less oppressive.
As the darkness vanished, the sounds of battle from the upper floors drifted down. Qin Ye wasted no time, gripping his blade and charging upwards.
...............................................
Fifth floor, Room 533.
Unlike Qin Ye’s restroom, this room was pitch black, the nether energy pooling like a river. A shadow hid within, attacking Su Feng at the center relentlessly.
Su Feng’s expression was calm. Floating at his side was a peachwood sword, an inch long. No matter which direction the enemy attacked from, the sword expanded in the wind, clashing with the nether energy and erupting in brilliant sparks.
“There’s a barrier inside the Predatory Zone?” Watching the shadow vanish into the nether energy once again, he was uncharacteristically irritable. As his hand reached for the inner pocket, suddenly, a voice sounded outside the tightly shut door.
“Need some help?”
Qin Ye?
Su Feng froze, his pupils dilating.
It was him?
How did he get out?
This barrier was exquisitely set; he hadn’t noticed when stepping in. Had Qin Ye found the core?
“Yes.” He didn’t even need to consider; he answered straightforwardly.
Boom!!!
As soon as the word left his mouth, the door exploded, and a dazzling blade flashed in with a fierce wind, hitting the shadow in the nether energy dead on.
Such speed... Su Feng took a deep breath, reaching for his copper bell, about to ring it when suddenly... the nether energy before him dispersed.
He was stunned.
Utterly stunned.
When Qin Ye entered, he saw Su Feng holding the bell, staring at him as if he’d seen a ghost. Then he saw...
A pair of green military gloves.
A green military helmet.
Green leather boots.
A red scarf, red goggles.
It was a humanoid Teemo...
He wanted to laugh, but couldn’t. After three seconds of silence, he finally spoke.
“One strike?” His voice was dry, disbelief thick in his tone.
Qin Ye blinked, “Did you expect it to take more?”
Bro... that’s brutal...
Su Feng coughed, putting away his bell, trying to keep his composure, but inwardly he was screaming: This makes no sense! This is way off! Both soul-catchers, both S-rank, yet the soul-catcher-level ghost he struggled with for dozens of minutes was slain in one stroke!
His worldview was overturned. Was this really a soul-catcher?
He followed Qin Ye down in silence, now Qin Ye’s shadow follower #1.
Ten minutes later, fourth floor.
With a loud crash, the door was slashed open, blade light like a celestial being descending. Lin Han stared in disbelief as all nether energy vanished in an instant with that single blow.
“Damn it...” He couldn’t help cursing, robotically turning to look at Qin Ye at the door, and the equally dazed Su Feng. His lips moved, but no words came.
The gap.
The gap was too wide.
He’d been fighting with all he had, but it wasn’t even close to Qin Ye’s casual strike.
His lips trembled for several seconds, then he watched as Qin Ye-Teemo shouldered his blade and left, raising a thumb, “Awesome. Real MVP.”
Qin Ye’s shadow follower #2.
At twelve forty-five, a bright blade carved deep fissures into the floor. Li Runxue’s knives clattered to the ground between her fingers, her lips parted, stunned as the three departed.
“It’s not that I disagree. I just don’t acknowledge it.” She had said this before.
What she hadn’t acknowledged was his strength.
That pride vanished to ashes in the face of that single strike.
“What kind of person is this... must be fake, right? Even S-ranks from Yanjing can’t do this.”
Qin Ye’s shadow follower #3.
At one o’clock.
The female ghost before Zhuo Qinfen evaporated. He looked at Teemo carrying the blade, then at his own, back and forth for a few seconds, silently raised his thumb, nodded in admiration, and followed without a word.
True strength needs no words.
Human Teemo, with four mushrooms in tow, now stood at the center of the first floor. As the barrier was shattered, the entire building seemed to tremble, followed by a continuous cascade of cracking sounds echoing in their ears.
Nether energy dispersed from all directions like a tide, whipping Qin Ye’s red scarf into a fluttering banner.
Fifth floor, fourth, third, second...
Deep darkness was gradually illuminated by moonlight, leaving only wandering nether spirits hidden in the shadows. The cold wind howled down the corridor. The moment the nether energy on the first floor fully receded, the whole space pressed downward!
“That’s it!!” Su Feng finally snapped out of his shock, shouting excitedly.
“What a terrifying sensation...” Qin Ye drew a deep breath, his gaze snapping to the ground below.
Right beneath their feet... only by standing here could one truly sense it, as if... standing atop a tyrannosaurus!
Nether energy.
Endless nether energy surged beneath their feet like a raging sea, a roaring ocean!
The true source of thirty million units of nether energy lay underground.