Chapter 3: The Sword Enters the Underworld!

The young Daoist recognized these two as the Black and White Impermanence, among the most renowned deities of the underworld. The chains in their hands were clearly no ordinary objects, but treasures of considerable power. Once a Daoist’s Primordial Spirit was bound by them, it became difficult to circulate at all, just as a mortal shackled would find both hands and feet restrained, unable to move freely.

Clearly, they were methods created specifically to deal with cultivators.

White Impermanence said with a cheerful smile, “Little Daoist, there is no need to keep trying. This is the true body of the Soul-Hooking Chain, corresponding to the Immortal-Binding Rope.”

“What cultivators refine is merely a spark of true Qi. Right now, your Xiantian One Qi remains in your physical body and has not yet reached the stage of [making two become one].”

“It has not entered your Primordial Spirit, so your Primordial Spirit does not possess any particularly great divine abilities. Besides, even if you had already made the two become one, this chain would still bind you tightly enough that you could not break free. A Primordial Spirit must not struggle recklessly—once it moves, it will feel as though it has plunged into a thicket of thorns, suffering unbearable pain.”

The young Daoist did not struggle rashly.

Black and White Impermanence continued forward, and he offered no resistance.

Yet his five fingers subtly curled together, and he faintly sensed that his Primordial Spirit had not been completely restrained.

His pure Innate Spirit still retained the strength to resist.

The suppression exerted on him by this divine weapon, the Soul-Hooking Chain, seemed far weaker than what Black and White Impermanence had described. Qi Wuhuo lowered his gaze and saw that his Primordial Spirit was still clothed in Daoist robes, with the Northern Emperor Mirror hanging at his waist, while within it was also the Evil-Repelling Token. These three objects seemed to have accompanied his Primordial Spirit directly.

Black Impermanence spoke in a solemn and indifferent tone: “There are still many souls to escort today. Do not delay any further.”

White Impermanence cheerfully agreed.

Holding the Soul-Summoning Guide and letting the golden bell hang downward, he merely gave it a slight shake, and in an instant, they arrived elsewhere. Just as Water Officials could travel wherever water flowed, and Earth Deities possessed the divine art of Earth Escape, the gods of the Underworld and Netherworld Courts possessed a secret transmission that allowed them, with a single thought, to let their spirits roam a thousand li. Even the Heavenly Officials and Earth Deities could not compare to it.

The young Daoist felt the surroundings become hazy and indistinct in color, as though he had stepped into another world entirely, one different from the mortal realm.

As though entering a reflection in a mirror, in an instant they had already arrived at another place, where the lifespan of an Earth Deity had likewise come to an end.

That Earth Deity refused to die so easily and hid within the mountain, saying: “I have governed this mountain for six hundred years, living free and at ease. My Primordial Spirit remains clear, the power of the earth veins flows through my heart, and the opportunity for a breakthrough is right before my eyes. By what right do you say my lifespan is exhausted and therefore it is exhausted?”

“You Impermanences of the Underworld, how overbearing you are!”

White Impermanence replied with a cheerful smile: “Mountain God, you should have died more than six hundred years ago. You merely borrowed the power of an Earth Deity to remain in this world for six hundred years.”

“You should be satisfied.”

“You—!”

Black Impermanence remained expressionless and waved his hand.

The chain plunged directly into the mountain.

Then he gave a pull with his right hand. The Mountain God’s soul was dragged straight out. The chain bound him tightly, and he was tossed behind Qi Wuhuo. He was an old man with a weathered face, his expression full of unwillingness, but once the chain wrapped around him, he could no longer struggle. Pulled along by Black and White Impermanence, he stumbled forward after them.

Afterward, they captured several more cultivators and a great demon. Among them were high-ranking figures from sects, as well as dragon descendants serving among the Water Officials.

In barely more than an hour, a large crowd of Primordial Spirits had gathered behind Black and White Impermanence. Every one of them was a cultivator.

Each cursed and raged, unwilling to accept their fate.

Black Impermanence said indifferently: “Silence.”

The great demon roared: “Silence your moth— AHHHHHH!”

Before the sentence could finish, a domineering bolt of lightning struck him directly. His Primordial Spirit was nearly blasted apart. Only then did the crowd finally fall silent.

They stared at Black Impermanence, an Underworld deity who had actually displayed such supremely yang and overbearing power, and muttered: “When all yin qualities have been completely shed, one becomes a Yang Spirit… the realm of an Earth Immortal…”

Black Impermanence said indifferently: “There are always some like this.”

White Impermanence replied with a cheerful smile: “If that were not the case, there would be no need for the two of us to come personally. Ordinary Soul-Hooking Envoys would have been enough.”

After that, the journey proceeded without incident.

At the very end, however, Black and White Impermanence rode clouds upward into the heavens and went to the Heavenly Court, where they directly hooked the souls of two Heavenly Officials. Seeing that even the Primordial Spirits of immortals could be bound and taken away, the cultivators from the mortal world finally turned deathly pale.

White Impermanence raised his eyes toward the sky and watched as Black Impermanence manifested a Dharma Image thousands of zhang tall, wielding his chain and fighting two Heavenly Officials alone, both unwilling to enter the underworld.

A white-haired old man of imposing bearing murmured:

“C-Could it be that even after becoming an immortal, one still cannot attain eternal life?”

White Impermanence replied: “Of course you can.”

“But longevity and immortality are not the same thing.”

“Longevity is easy enough—simply step onto the path of cultivation. Immortality, however, is difficult.”

“In the most ancient era, Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown was considered the realm of a True Person. One sought the word true, roaming freely without end. Yet even then, one had not truly stepped beyond. The Primordial Spirit had not yet become Pure Yang and could not withstand the erosion of time. Thus, there remained a limit to the lifespan of the Primordial Spirit. That limit does not mean the physical body can no longer survive—it means the Primordial Spirit can no longer endure the passage of the years…”

The Earth Deity said unwillingly: “You make it sound so noble. Isn’t it all just decided by your underworld?”

White Impermanence could not help but burst into laughter. “Decided by our underworld?”

“You think our methods are that great? That we can arbitrarily increase a cultivator’s heavenly lifespan?”

“Not so, not so.”

“It is not we who determine your lifespan. We merely know when your lifespan is about to end, and so we come in advance to deal with it. Put politely, we are Soul-Hooking Envoys. Put less politely, we are merely cleaners who sweep away unstable factors for the order of the Six Realms.”

“After all, when a Primordial Spirit can no longer bear the wounds of time, it collapses and is annihilated. That is true death.”

“Of course, to be honest, whether you live or die is none of our concern. But cultivators such as yourselves, before your Primordial Spirits are annihilated, often collapse into mindless madness. Unwilling to die, you commit all manner of frenzied acts. In ancient times, cultivators frequently seized others’ bodies. The living could not truly live, the dead could not truly die. Endless struggles and clashes arose, and the balance between life and death was lost. Those were the truly troublesome ages.”

The ever-smiling White Impermanence opened his eyes. His gaze lowered, and he said calmly:

“We merely follow the most ancient covenant, drawing the boundary between life and death.”

“Preserving the dignity and distinction between the living and the dead.”

“And bringing souls and Primordial Spirits such as yours, which may explode into chaos at any moment, into the lands of the underworld.”

The battle in the heavens seemed to have reached its climax. The physical bodies of those two immortals had already decayed, yet they had long since attained Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown. A spark of true Qi had entered their Primordial Spirits, and thus their Primordial Spirits were no different from physical bodies, able to wield weapons and engage in combat.

At last, one of the Heavenly Officials shouted in unwilling fury: “In my youth I was vigorous and strong, traveling throughout the world, accumulating eight hundred merits, subduing demons and exterminating devils. After three hundred years of cultivation, I ascended to immortality. How dare you people—!”

“My fate is mine to command; when has it ever been—”

With a miserable laugh, he was about to pay the price and burn his divine soul in a desperate struggle.

Yet in that moment, when his mind suddenly became crystal clear, he glanced instinctively in a certain direction.

He saw, behind White Impermanence, two strands of white hair and a pair of eyes so calm as to be nearly indifferent.

A young Daoist raised his gaze.

The white hair at his temples stirred slightly.

His eyes were peaceful and vast, as though embracing Heaven and Earth, yet at the same time detached, almost devoid of emotion.

The Heavenly Official’s Dao Heart suddenly froze.

An instinctive terror and dread surged forth.

T-That is!!!

In that instant, his Dao Heart lost its balance.

A chill exploded up from his spine, and all four limbs turned cold.

The next moment, the Soul-Hooking Chain expanded to immeasurable proportions, coiling across the void. The howling chain resembled a black dragon suppressing hell itself, blotting out all heavenly light and seas of clouds.

Then it suddenly contracted.

The Heavenly Official was bound directly.

Bound completely and thoroughly.

The Immortal-Binding Rope wrapped him up like a rice dumpling and hauled him back.

The gathered Primordial Spirits fell silent as cicadas in winter.

As for the Heavenly Official, what he now saw was merely an ordinary young Daoist. Judging by the purity of his Primordial Spirit, True Qi had not yet entered it; he had not reached the realm of [Planting the Lotus Within the Fire]. He was merely at the level of Innate One Qi.

The Heavenly Official could not help but smile bitterly. “Ah, truly…”

“Could it be that today is genuinely the day of my death, that even my true spirit has become clouded?”

“To think that I actually mistook you for that one…”

“The one I mistook you for was a True Lord of the Northern Pole Exorcism Institute.”

“One who has attained Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown and Five Qi Converging to the Origin.”

“How could it possibly be a little child like you?”

The old Daoist looked utterly dejected.

Black Impermanence tugged on the chain, slightly raised his eyes, and said flatly: “Mistook someone for another?”

“No wonder you offered no resistance in the end.”

“You were frightened?”

White Impermanence said curiously: “With your abilities, you are only a few steps away from Five Qi Converging to the Origin.”

“You can be considered a well-known Great Heavenly Official of Bestowed Blessings.”

“Let me see… your position is Seven-Spirit Flying-Step Immortal Official, Jade Heaven Cave-Scenery Dharma Master, promoted to Great Heavenly Official in charge of records at the Divine Firmament Palace.”

“To think that because you mistook someone for another, you were frightened to the point of not daring to fight.”

“Who exactly was it?”

The Great Heavenly Official of the Divine Firmament Jade Palace let out a sigh and said nothing further.

White Impermanence smiled, still wearing his ever-cheerful expression, and said: “Today, all of you are fortunate. We finished our duties early, so we can descend to the Yellow Springs ahead of schedule. That is actually a good thing. Come then, everyone, follow us to the underworld.”

In an instant, they traveled millions of li in spirit, descending directly from the Heavenly Court into the mortal world, then passing through layer after layer of earth veins before entering the land of extreme yin and cold—the underworld.

Qi Wuhuo vaguely felt the sensation of passing through a barrier.

They had already arrived in the land of the underworld.

Looking up, he saw dim yellow gloom everywhere, with no trace of sunlight. Everything was dark and oppressive. Only cold and lonely souls came and went. There was not the slightest vitality of the living. Not a blade of grass or a single tree grew upon the earth, yet yellow clouds and mist naturally drifted throughout the land.

Raising his eyes and looking into the distance, he could see only an endless realm of cold gloom.

Faintly, indistinctly, great palaces rose in the distance, carrying an overwhelming sense of oppression.

The underworld existed apart from the domains of the Heavenly Officials, Water Officials, and Earth Officials.

It possessed its own independent system. This was the Underworld Court.

From afar, the crowd could see groups of Soul-Hooking Envoys escorting souls inward.

Ordinary Soul-Hooking Envoys generally brought only mortal souls with no cultivation, but among their group was a Great Heavenly Official from the Divine Firmament Palace. That was why one of the Ten Great Yin Marshals of the underworld had needed to come personally, sparing them all manner of trouble.

The Great Heavenly Official let out a sigh. Looking at this scene before him, he said: “The Underworld Court…”

“Who would have thought that after cultivating the Dao for several thousand years, I would ultimately still arrive here?”

The young Daoist turned slightly and looked toward that Great Heavenly Official, asking: “The Underworld… do Heavenly Officials also come here?”

The Great Heavenly Official had already discerned that the youth before him was merely a Daoist at the Innate One Qi stage.

Furthermore, it was because he had been distracted by this very youth earlier that he had ended up captured.

Originally, he had been filled with resentment.

Yet when he saw the young Daoist’s white hair at the temples and his calm gaze, for some reason, his resolve weakened by three parts, and he could only sigh. Back on the third tier of the Heavenly Stairway, he had seen that Great True Lord Dangmo slowly ascending with sword in hand, battle robes stirring in the wind, white hair at his temples fluttering. How peerless had that bearing been? Yet today, he had actually been distracted to such a degree by a little Daoist whose cultivation had reached only Innate One Qi before his lifespan ended.

Still, he sighed and answered: “Yes, the Underworld.”

“In truth, the Underworld does not belong to the Three Realms of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity.”

“It has its own methods. It rarely concerns itself with affairs outside, its sole purpose being to maintain the boundary between life and death and preserve the order between the living and the dead. I understand that matters of life and death are of the utmost importance and that not the slightest sentimentality can be permitted, but… but I am not one of those madmen who would recklessly seize another’s body. There was no need to…”

Black Impermanence said indifferently: “Every Ghost King who committed monstrous crimes once said the same thing.”

“When you’re dead, you’re dead.”

“At worst, you reincarnate.”

The Great Heavenly Official sighed helplessly and ignored Black Impermanence. Looking at Qi Wuhuo, he gave a bitter smile and said: “What else can one do?”

“If one does not enter the realm of the Yang Spirit and attain clarity and purity, there will ultimately still be a limit to one’s lifespan.”

“It is said that the Underworld possesses a supreme treasure capable of determining in advance the extinction of a soul. The ghost envoys of the Underworld then go forth to bring those destined souls into the Underworld. After all, ordinary ghosts are scattered by the wind, collapse under the sun’s rays, and can even be trapped by water. For such souls, protection is the primary concern. As for people like us, vigilance is the priority.”

“Ah, this system that takes the maintenance of the Six Realms’ cycle of reincarnation as its duty.”

“At its core stand the Ten Palaces of the Netherworld. True Lord Taisu Miaoguang, True Lord Yinde Dingxiu, True Lord Dongming Pujing, and ten supreme True Lords preside over the Underworld. However, True Lord is merely a cultivation realm…”

The Great Heavenly Official sighed.

The young Daoist understood his meaning. The difference between one True Lord and another True Lord could be so vast as to leave one in despair.

White Impermanence smiled and said: “Those ten True Lords are merely True Lords as well.”

“They simply have the authority, here in the Underworld, to keep even an Great Emperor’s soul behind and then kick it straight into the Reincarnation Platform.”

“Would the Great Heavenly Official like to give it a try?”

The Heavenly Official smiled bitterly and shook his head repeatedly, mocking himself:

“I am merely a Heavenly Official. It is said that even when the Heavenly Emperor undergoes a tribulation, he must pass through this place.”

“If the Eastern Radiance Great Emperor had not…, his soul should have come through here as well.”

Black Impermanence said flatly: “I went there that day.”

“The Heavenly Court.”

“I watched that head roll to my feet.”

“Eastern Radiance.”

“His Three Souls and Seven Spirits were annihilated on the spot.”

“What a pity.”

White Impermanence laughed loudly and said: “Everyone, don’t be nervous. What he means is that opportunities to use the Soul-Hooking Chain on a Great Emperor are exceedingly rare. One might not encounter such a chance even once in tens of millions of years. He had actually gone there ahead of time and waited, but he never expected those butchers from the Northern Pole Exorcism Institute to be there as well. As always, they were competing with us for business.”

“They wanted to kill an Great Emperor.”

“We only wanted to send a Great Emperor to hell for three thousand years.”

“So, if you have to meet someone, it’s better to meet us brothers than the Northern Pole Exorcism Institute.”

Everyone wore dazed expressions.

The Great Heavenly Official forced a stiff smile. With the suppression of the Ten Nether Palaces, even if Eastern Radiance had his cultivation stripped away and was thrown down here, he would probably spend an entire kalpa being tossed back and forth through the eighteen levels of the underworld. He could only change the subject and sigh:

“Still, I have heard that the Underworld is extremely cold and never sees the light of day.”

“But having come here today…”

“It doesn’t seem so bad?”

That Earth Deity also said: “It does seem so. It’s actually rather warm?”

Black and White Impermanence did not find anything unusual about this. Yet those who had just been brought down here all discovered that the underworld was far better than they had imagined.

The young Daoist suddenly sensed that something was amiss.

Subconsciously, he turned his head to look.

He froze slightly.

He saw the Underworld, cold and imposing, with layer upon layer of nether palaces, the authorities of the Underworld governing all things.

And within this place that never saw the light of day, and was therefore called the [Netherworld]—

A sword was leisurely floating there.

It hovered not far behind the young Daoist.

Its blade was long and slender, and along its spine ran a streak of blood-red.

Having slain Eastern Radiance and drunk deeply of a Great Emperor’s blood, the sword’s body shone with brilliant golden radiance, like the rising sun at dawn.

Without making the slightest sound, it had followed him all the way here.

It drifted quietly not far behind Qi Wuhuo.

It seemed astonished by the sheer number of souls and fleshly beings in this place.

Too many!

So many that even the Blood River was shocked— How could there be so many?!

Then a line of text appeared within the sword intent inside the young Daoist’s Innate Spirit—

【Can I eat them?】