Chapter 120
Underworld Realm.
This place was called by many names in history.
The Land of the Dead, the Prison of the Spirits, and many more. Such names come from the fact that most of the dead spirits has the Underworld Realm as their next destination.
But it has not always been like that.
It was said that eons ago, the system of life after death was way different that today. Before, there existed a place where dead souls gather to be reincarnated.
Their next life will be determined by the virtues and sins they committed in their past life. This accumulates as their karma. The more good deeds were performed, the more good karma a person can have. The more bad deeds were done, the more bad karma sticks on the person.
The more good karma there is, the better life the person can have in his/her next life. A person that collected many bad karma might even be reincarnated as a plant or an animal on their next life.
As such, mortals and practitioners were taught to avoid committing sin to ensure a better life for the next reincarnation.
As for their memories, these souls were forced to drink Grandma Meng’s soup. This soup effectively wipes out any memory of the soul that drinks it. These ‘cleansed’ souls were then led to their next life.
Aside from reincarnation, the universe also produces countless new souls everyday. This ensures the increase of living beings in the universe.
How? The Underworld River was an omnipresent river that travels around the whole universe. Its flowing waters manages to gather almost all of the souls that were supposed to go to the cycle of reincarnation. The very few that gets past the river may not even choose to reincarnate.
This effectively ended the era of reincarnation.
Many of course were offended by what the Underworld Creator had done. Many of them had tried to destroy the Underworld Realm and the Underworld River. But to their dismay, they discovered that even the universe itself had accepted the existence of the Underworld!
This just means one thing:
The creator of the Underworld had reached the Tenth Stage! At this stage, the insights of a practitioner were practically equal or even greater than the laws of the universe itself. The creator of the Underworld used his power to force the universe to accept the Underworld!
Such was the might of the Tenth Stage!
Out of fear and respect for this person, everyone in the Universe gave him the title, ‘Yama’!
Yama was now considered to be one of the strongest beings in the Universe, with the Underworld Realm as his territory.
But there was one problem that the Underworld Realm was facing.
It was the lack of territory.
Everyday, more and more souls gather at the Underworld Realm. Even the large territory that Yama had carved out of the Universe was not enough to sustain all the incoming souls.
The only solution was to expand.
But before Yama could attempt gather more territories, he was prevented from doing so by other Tenth Stage Practitioners For them, Yama changing the rules of life and death in the Universe was still acceptable. But expanding his influence of power was a big no-no for them. At the end, they all agreed on one thing.
The Underworld Realm may still expand, but it must be done only by the practitioners below the Sixth Stage. All practitioners from Sixth Stage and above cannot participate in this territory expansion.
Once this rule had been made, the Underworld Realm experienced a slow, but steady rate of expansion. It was slow because the planets they invade usually fight back. Other influences also obstruct the activities of the Underworld Realm.
But with their numbers and powerful mantras, the Underworld Realm managed to clinch planets every time it expands.
Right now, a certain planet was set to be invaded next.
…………..
“Are the preparations done yet?” Two silhouettes were talking to each other in pitch darkness. The absence of light seemed to not hinder their conversation.
“Do not worry, we have successfully set the formation inside her body. We only need your permission to deploy it.”
“How far can it cover now?”
“Well, this formation of ours is enough to cover the whole Solstice Kingdom.”
“Wonderful! Then deploy the formation now! We shall start our invasion later. Our first target is to occupy the whole Solstice Kingdom. Its environment is suitable for us!”
“But how about the Forest of Death?”
“DO NOT MENTION THAT PLACE TO ME!!!” The speaker seemed to be greatly enraged as he continued. “That place is off-limits, you understand?”
“Yes, I understand.” The second silhouette said compliantly. “Then we shall deploy the formation now!”
………….
While Wang Hao and his teammates were walking towards the border of the Solstice Kingdom, they felt a sense of danger coming from the castle.
“Rooooarrrrr!!!!”
They heard a pained roar of a dragon as they saw ripples coming out of the castle. These ripples spread outwards as it stopped just at the border of the Kingdom.
Once the ripples stopped moving, Wang Hao saw a translucent dome perfectly covering the whole Solstice Kingdom!
Wang Hao’s eyes narrowed as he realized that this was a powerful formation.
“Ah!” Wang Hao heard Ling Tian’s surprised shout. He looked at Ling Tian to see what happened to him. What Wang Hao saw made him grit his teeth.
Ling Tian’s cultivation base was suppressed at the First Stage! He looked at the Generals with him, and he saw that their power was also sealed at the First Stage. As for Tang Ya, her power was still at the First Stage.
Upon seeing this, Wang Hao deduced that this formation suppresses the strength of a practitioner until the First Stage. As for what maximum stage it can affect, Wang Hao does not know yet.
But he clearly knew who were the perpetrators of this event.
“It’s the Underworld!”