513: Emperor Xuanming

Inside the God Burial Palace, the obsidian long table was laden with abyssal delicacies.

Slices of Nine Nether Demonic Dragon liver were crystal clear, served on a plate of ten-thousand-year-old cold jade.

Thick soup made from Blood Fiend Ganoderma bubbled in a skull bowl, emitting a deadly aroma.

At the center, a thousand-zhang-long roasted Abyssal Demonic Whale leg, its skin roasted golden and crispy, dripped oil onto the scorching magma, producing sizzling sounds.

"Master, this is the 'God Burial Brew' that your subordinate specially prepared!"

A Hui presented an ancient bronze cauldron like a treasure, filled with dark golden liquor.

Each drop of liquor contained the phantom of stars, apparently refined from the cores of a million stars.

The King of Hell took a sip, and the liquor transformed into a violent stellar force upon entering his throat, but it was easily suppressed by his Undying Dao Body, turning into a mellow, sweet aftertaste.

"Not bad," he nodded slightly, "It's much stronger than the liquor I drank back then."

A Hui's bronze ox horns immediately glowed red, and he chuckled as he served the King of Hell.

When the most succulent cheek meat of the roasted demonic whale was cut, he suddenly restrained his smile: "Master, over in the Netherworld..."

As he recounted, a murderous aura gradually filled the hall.

It turned out that after taking control of the hundred layers of the Abyss, A Hui secretly dispatched many Dao Lords from the Abyss to infiltrate the Netherworld, assisting Blood God and others in resisting the Nether Race's forces.

"But three hundred years ago..." A Hui's ox horns suddenly erupted with a dangerous black light, "Some scoundrels from the Upper Realm's Nether Race interfered."

A commotion suddenly came from outside the hall.

The King of Hell looked up, seeing through the palace walls that the Turbid River was flowing backward, and massive creatures were uneasily swimming at the bottom.

"Later, the existence beneath the Abyss warned me..." A Hui knelt on one knee, his armor clanking.

His huge head was bowed low, his voice rumbling like thunder: "Please punish your subordinate, Master!"

The King of Hell lightly tapped the edge of the table with his fingertip.

Dao energy circulated in the King of Hell's palm, gently lifting the kneeling A Hui. This overlord, whose fierce reputation awed the hundred layers of the Abyss, now hung his head like a child who had made a mistake, the ghostly fire on his bronze ox horns dimming slightly.

"This is not your fault."

The King of Hell's gaze pierced through layers of the Abyss, as if seeing the ancient existences lurking in the darkness below the palace.

The higher his cultivation, the more he could feel the terror of this Abyss—some of the auras sleeping in its deepest parts even made his heart palpitate.

There were remnants from the Nine Heavens era, taboos forgotten by time, and even unspeakable things personally sealed by that existence back then.

"Master, what about the arrangements in the Netherworld?" A Hui asked cautiously.

The King of Hell withdrew his gaze, and a jet-black ring suddenly appeared on his fingertip.

The ring face was inlaid with a constantly shifting Chaos crystal, inside which countless cultivation Jade Slips were sealed, each containing cultivation leading directly to the Dao Lord Realm!

"Since direct intervention is not possible, we will find another way."

He tossed the ring to A Hui.

The Abyssal Dominator's ox eyes immediately widened after sweeping it with his Divine Sense.

"Your subordinate understands!" A Hui's ox horns ignited with excited ghostly fire, "Those madmen from the Blood God Sect, once they get these, will surely turn the entire Netherworld upside down!"

The King of Hell smiled lightly and nodded.

Blood God and his followers were already lawless fanatics; now, with such assistance, they were bound to stir up a bloody storm in the Netherworld.

It was only because Dark Heaven had recovered and the Netherworld's will had revived that the Netherworld could withstand the assault of so many Dao Lord powerhouses.

With these cultivation Jade Slips, the Blood God Sect could produce a large number of Dao Lord powerhouses, and all these people would eventually become his subordinates, killing two birds with one stone.

"The matters here are entrusted to you. As for the matters below, there are many taboos, so remember not to inquire!"

The King of Hell instructed.

"Yes, Master!" A Hui nodded.

The King of Hell's figure slowly disappeared.

Only the ring in A Hui's palm shimmered faintly in the darkness.

In the deepest stretch of the Turbid River, the river water strangely stood still, forming a black, stagnant pool.

Deep beneath the riverbed, an ancient corpse, pierced by iron chains, suddenly trembled.

The corpse resembled a giant crocodile but had six pairs of decaying wings, and a turbid, grayish-white eye was embedded in its forehead.

At this moment, that eye, dormant for eons, slowly rotated, its pupil reflecting the King of Hell's departing afterimage.

"The aura of Netherworld authority..."

A hoarse whisper reverberated at the riverbed, causing the surrounding river water to flow backward.

The corpse's claw, pierced by iron chains, slightly lifted, and a wisp of gray mist seeped from its fingertip, condensing into eerie runes in the river water.

"What that Lord is looking for..."

"Has appeared."

The runes flickered for a moment, then vanished into thin air.

Meanwhile, on a white bone altar at the very bottom of the Abyss, a long-extinguished bronze lamp suddenly "hissed" and ignited a wisp of gray fire.

The King of Hell's figure vaguely appeared in the firelight, but it vanished in an instant.

The Turbid River resumed its flow, and the ancient corpse's eye closed once more, as if it had never awakened.

However, the mottled bloodstains on the iron chains quietly renewed, and as they dripped onto the riverbed, they corroded into patterns of miniature Reincarnation plates... At this time, the King of Hell had already stepped out of the Abyss.

He seemed to sense something and looked back towards the Abyss, gazing with some trepidation at the calm Turbid River.

Then he shook his head, his figure completely disappearing at the boundary of Yin and Yang.

As the King of Hell prepared to leave the Yin and Yang boundary and head to the Ancient Land of Dao, the surrounding world suddenly changed color!

The originally clear sky was instantly obscured by rolling ghostly Qi, and a clear sky spanning ten thousand li transformed into a Netherworld ghost Domain.

Space was kneaded by an invisible hand, compressing and twisting in layers, pulling an area of a million li into an independent ghost Dao Domain.

"Boom—"

A towering figure emerged from the Void Realm, and as his imperial robes unfurled, ten thousand ghosts wailed.

"Nether Palace, King Xuanming."

The King of Hell's eyes narrowed slightly, recognizing this Supreme existence from the Upper Realm's Nether Palace.

The newcomer wore a dark imperial robe, a Nine Nether crown on his head, his face hidden beneath a chilling ghostly mist, with only a pair of purple-gold pupils piercing the darkness like cold lightning.

He stepped on a phantom "Yellow Springs tributary," and behind him floated the eighteen phantom Nether Palaces, each suppressing countless struggling souls.

"Fellow Daoist, the storms you've stirred in the Lower Realm should cease."

King Xuanming's voice was bone-chillingly cold. As he spoke, countless bloody scenes appeared within the Domain: the Blood God Sect slaughtering the Nether Race, Abyssal races invading ghost cities, the Reincarnation lineage resurfacing... "Those ants you support have already affected the Nether Palace's plans."

The King of Hell stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes beneath the twelve-stringed crown glowing with a faint light: "When did the Netherworld become the private property of the Nether Palace?"

"Stubborn!"

King Xuanming snorted coldly, and with a raise of his hand, the eighteen phantom Nether Palaces roared down!

Each palace was as heavy as a star, and it contained the "Soul Burial Great Dao," specifically designed to counter ghost Dao existences.

However, the King of Hell remained motionless, only a book appeared in his hand, which he gently opened.

"Whoosh..."

As the pages turned, the descending Nether Palaces suddenly trembled violently.

The countless imprisoned souls within the palaces all rioted at once, furiously attacking the Seal!

"This is... the Book of Life and Death!" King Xuanming's purple-gold pupils contracted.

"What do you think? I control the Book of Life and Death, and I am the King of Hell!"

The King of Hell sneered, drawing a line with his fingertip on the Book of Life and Death.

Immediately, all the souls from the eighteen phantom Nether Palaces transformed into streams of light and flew out.

Just as these souls were about to be taken by the Book of Life and Death...

"Stop!"

A low voice suddenly rang out.