157: Chapter 157 The Thirteenth Son

Deep within the Heaven Burial Abyss, Li Xuan, in the name of the Heavenly Emperor, made a grand vow: "The Netherworld shall be established, and Reincarnation shall be restarted." Following this, the Luck of the entire Heavenly Court underwent a subtle yet profound transformation.

It was an indescribable sense of density and weight, as if a deep, dark undertone of ruling over endings and Reincarnation had settled beneath the magnificent and vast Luck of the Immortal Dao.

Deep within the Heavenly Court, a palace that was usually quiet and elegant was being enveloped by a thick, inseparable grey glow.

The master of the palace was the concubine who possessed the "Physique of Carrying Virtue and Sustaining Things." Ever since Li Xuan devoured the essence blood of Houtu in the Heaven Burial Abyss and the sensation was transmitted back, she had conceived a Dragon fetus.

The gestation of this child was completely different from any previous prince or princess.

There were no ten thousand rays of rosy light, no thousand strands of auspicious Qi, and certainly no lingering celestial music.

Inside and outside the entire palace, everything was solemn and grave.

What flowed in the air was not the Qi of Immortals, but an ancient Dao rhythm originating from the Origin of Heaven and Earth, concerning life and death, endings, and nirvana.

All the Immortal Maidens and guards who approached this place unconsciously restrained their minds and held their breath, a feeling of awe rising in their hearts as if facing a deity of Heaven and Earth; it was life's instinctive worship of its own final destination.

She had been pregnant with this child for only three months.

Ten months of pregnancy is barely enough for a Mortal, but for an Immortal, gestating offspring carrying great Luck often takes years, decades, or even hundreds of years; that is a common occurrence.

Yet this child grew at an unbelievable speed.

The spiritual light of life born from the sensing of that bit of Houtu essence blood, having received the blessing of Luck from Li Xuan's grand vow to establish the Underworld, seemed to have been thrown into a creation furnace, absorbing the invisible Laws of life and death from the Void Realm beyond reason and taking shape rapidly.

On this day, a supreme Divine Might of the Netherworld erupted from that palace, sweeping across the entire Heavenly Court and spreading to the Nine Heavens, the Ten Earths, and the Myriad Realms!

"It's time for the birth!"

Su Jiuer, Yue Chan, and a few other core concubines who had been waiting outside the palace, saw their expressions turn grave.

What they felt was not the joy of a new life arriving, but the solemn sanctity of the Heavenly Dao order being completed and the Laws of the Universe returning to their rightful places!

Boom!

Above the Heavenly Court, the firmament of the endless Immortal Domain did not descend with auspicious clouds at this moment; instead, it suddenly dimmed.

This was not darkness, but a deep, ancient silence, like the stillness before the opening of Chaos. All light and all sound were "absolved" by some supreme authority in that instant, returning to a primal silence.

A magnificent scroll that shocked all Immortals unfolded across the entire Immortal Domain.

In the wasteland of the Immortal Domain, above a Mortal city that had just experienced an invasion by dark creatures, thousands of aggrieved Souls who were unwilling to die wandered over the battlefield. They roared or wept, their resentment and baleful Qi soaring into the sky.

The moment the firmament dimmed, the roars of these aggrieved Souls came to an abrupt halt, as if their throats had been gripped by an invisible giant hand—no, it was as if their Souls had been soothed. They raised their heads in confusion, their hollow eye sockets reflecting the direction of the Heavenly Court. The next moment, all the aggrieved Souls bowed deeply in unison towards that direction, as if welcoming their destined King.

It was not just here; throughout the entire Immortal Domain, and even in the Lower Realm connected by Luck, all wandering Souls, ghosts, and spirits ceased their activities at this moment, offering their most humble respects towards the same direction.

This was the Worship of All Spirits!

Inside the Heavenly Court, several princes and princesses who were chasing and playing in the Dao field stopped in their tracks, all looking up at the sky together.

Li Changsheng carried a small wooden sword on his back, his innocent eyes surging with Sword Intent. From it, he sensed a kind of ultimate "ending" and "nirvana," which surprisingly shared the same purpose as his own Dao of the sword.

Lunar Power emerged around Li Qingyue, transforming into the phantom of a cold, bright moon. What she sensed was an authority of "Yin" that was of the same Origin, and even more ancient and primordial than her own Lunar Power.

The sixth child, Li Lunhui, felt his body tremble; the Reincarnation Dao Physique within him was fully stimulated, wanting to echo that power in the sky from afar and establish some kind of profound connection.

"What an overbearing authority..." The youngest, Li Yan, smacked his lips. His Physique of Will Manifests as Law could not cause the slightest influence on this spontaneous phenomenon of Heaven and Earth.

The phenomenon in the sky changed again!

On the dimmed firmament, a crack opened silently.

What flowed out from the crack was not turbulence from the Void Realm, but a vast, boundless, and ceaseless murky yellow river!

The river water was muddy and bottomless. Countless pale white lotus flowers drifted on the surface, blooming and fading, withering and flourishing, representing the cycle of life and Reincarnation for each individual. In the river, the phantoms of billions of spirits floated and sank, yet they could not make a single sound.

The entire river was deathly silent, cold, and filled with a sense of ultimate fate.

"The River of the Underworld! This is the manifestation of the legendary River of the Underworld!"

Within the Heavenly Court, those surrendered old Immortals, the Yuhua Immortal Lord, and the likes of the Ancestor of the Wang Family, seeing the phantom of the great river, were so frightened that their bodies went limp, and they nearly collapsed to their knees.

The River of the Underworld, also called the Yellow Springs, was the boundary river in the Mythological Era that separated Yin and Yang and carried all spirits toward their final destination.

When the ancient Underworld collapsed and the Heavenly Court fell, the River of the Underworld had disappeared into the long river of time and space, and no one had seen it since.

Today, for a baby yet to be born, it had cast down a phantom that spanned the Universe once again!

This phantom of the River of the Underworld did not bring destruction. As its aura brushed across the Heavenly Court, everyone's Primordial Spirit felt a moment of clarity, as if all the dust of Karma had been washed away, returning to the purest state.

This was a baptism from the Origin of the Netherworld!

Splash—in the center of the River of the Underworld phantom, the water suddenly churned violently, and a huge outline slowly rose from the bottom of the river.

It was a book!

An ancient giant volume made of unknown material, radiating a chaotic grey light!

On the cover, there was no title, only endless lines of Karma and patterns of fate intertwining and tangling.

"The Book of Life and Death!"

Li Xuan's true body appeared outside the palace, though no one knew when. He looked at the phantom of the giant volume in the sky, his eyes flashing with divine light. This was the projection of the complete form of that remnant page he had obtained through checking in.

The giant volume opened above the River of the Underworld, revealing pages as blank as paper, as if waiting for something.

"Waa—"

A cry sounded from within the palace.

The cry was not loud, even a bit weak, but it did not travel through the air; like the bell of the Dao, it rang directly in the depths of every living being's true spirit.

As the cry fell, all the Laws of Heaven and Earth concerning "death," "Reincarnation," "judgment," and "order" resonated with it!

On the blank pages of the phantom of the Book of Life and Death in the sky, golden divine blood condensed on its own. A primordial divine character, written with bold, flowing strokes and containing the supreme authority of the Netherworld, slowly emerged—[Nether]!

With this single character, the final destination of all living beings in the Universe was determined.

All phenomena reached their peak the moment the character [Nether] took shape, and then receded like a tide. The dimmed firmament returned to clarity, and the rushing River of the Underworld hid back into the Void Realm. Only the golden, shining character [Nether] remained in the sky for a moment, finally turning into a stream of light and merging into the palace below.

The palace gates opened silently.

Li Xuan stepped into the room and arrived before the birthing bed.

The concubine's face was rosy; not only was she not weak after childbirth, but under the baptism of that Netherworld Origin, her cultivation had improved significantly.

In her arms, a baby lay peacefully.

The baby did not cry or fuss, his skin fair to the point of transparency, and a natural cinnabar mole between his eyebrows matched the [Nether] character in the sky perfectly.

Most strangely, in his tiny hand, he was naturally clutching a small, grey, seal-like stone covered in natural Dao patterns of Reincarnation. It was the projection of the Origin of the [Underworld Core] that Li Xuan had previously obtained!

As Li Xuan approached, the baby slowly opened his eyes.

Those eyes were deep, ancient, and calm. There was no ignorance of an infant in them, only two pools of serene darkness like eternal abysses, reflecting the birth and withering of all life in the Myriad Realms.

[Ding! Congratulations to the Host, your thirteenth offspring, [Li You], has successfully arrived in the world!] [Innate Physique: Physique of the Lord of the Netherworld (Mythical Grade)!]

[Physique Trait: Innate Lord of the Netherworld, King of all ghosts and spirits, wielding the authority of life, death, and Reincarnation, capable of judging the Karma of all living beings in the Myriad Realms!]

[Congratulations to the Host! Obtained Mythical Grade reward: [Blueprint for Repairing the six paths of reincarnation disk (Elementary)]! Reward for the Host: Divine Ability: [Reincarnation Divine Eyes]!]

Li Xuan carefully picked up the child from the concubine's arms.

He extended his finger in front of the child. Due to his nature, the child's little hand immediately grabbed it, and those deep eyes finally held a trace of an infant's dependency.

A surge of heroic spirit arose in Li Xuan's heart. He leaned down and kissed the child on the forehead, whispering in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"My son, Li You."

"From now on, it shall be you who re-establishes the order of life and death for this Heaven and Earth."

In his mind, an incomparably complex and mysterious formation diagram unfolded; it was the method to repair the shattered six paths of reincarnation disk.

To rebuild the Underworld and restart Reincarnation—with this innate Lord of the Netherworld, everything would turn from fantasy into reality.

Although the phenomena in the Heavenly Court had dispersed, the fluctuation of the supreme Law that had ruled over the Myriad Realms and judged life and death was clearly perceived by all Grand Unity Golden Immortals and even Immortal King-level existences in the Immortal Domain.

In countless Forbidden Grounds and Immortal Dao lineages, countless existences that had slumbered for eternity opened their eyes simultaneously.

"Is this... the aura of Reincarnation?"

"No, it is a kind of judgment authority that is more overbearing and supreme than Reincarnation!"

"Above the Heavenly Dao, a new master has been born? What on earth is going to happen in this epoch?!"

"Investigate! At any cost, find out the source of this aura!"

These old monsters, who had lived for who knows how many years, felt a trace of unease in their hearts for the first time in a long while...