Chapter 96 - 91: Yu’s Honorific Title
In the skies of the Netherworld, Xiao Qingfeng gazed upon the city—or rather, the kingdom.
Many things crossed his mind.
Especially the several hundred years he had spent as a Spirit.
"Nether Monarch..."
At first, like most, he believed the Nether Monarch was dead and that the Netherworld was merely clinging to a fragile existence in the annals of history.
But during his centuries as a Spirit in the Netherworld, he discovered something was wrong.
The Nether Monarch was not dead.
The Dao of Death had always pervaded the Netherworld, and its Dao Star still hung in the sky. All the Spirits of the Netherworld relied on the Nether Monarch’s Dao to continuously die and be reborn.
For Xiao Qingfeng, the greatest obstacle to attaining the Yao Guang realm was the possibility that the Nether Monarch might suddenly reappear, strike him dead for being a thief, and sink his body into the Nether River.
Fortunately, that hadn’t happened.
His gamble had paid off.
Xiao Qingfeng had bet that the Nether Monarch must be trapped somewhere, unable to return to their kingdom.
"Become a part of me."
He stood in the sky as his Transformation Dao activated with frantic power, roaring as it surged toward the Nether Palace.
He devoured every last remnant of the Nether Monarch’s Dao Law that lingered there.
In some respects, Death and Transformed Life were remarkably similar. The Nether Monarch’s Dao was a potent tonic for him.
Xiao Qingfeng let out a satisfied breath. With a wave of his hand, he forcibly tore out the gates of the Sin Prison.
At that moment, all the Spirits within the Sin Prison exploded and were utterly annihilated.
In the future, the Netherworld would be his kingdom, and the Sin Prison would be where he punished the disloyal.
Xiao Qingfeng looked away from the Sin Prison, instead unleashing the full, unreserved aura of his Half-Step Yao Guang cultivation.
The colossal figures in the mist slowly revealed their forms, finally transforming into enormous, black Spirits.
Transformed Life.
Endless Transformed Life.
His subjects would appear one after another.
Giant pillars shot toward the sky, circulating around him like the mythological pillars that supported the heavens and the world.
"With these celestial pillars, today, I ascend to Yao Guang."
He walked into the Nether Palace.
No one had entered this place for thousands of years.
The entire Netherworld would briefly regain its color when the Ghost Gate opened, but this place was the sole exception.
For this was the Nether Monarch’s resting place. A Monarch had no need for clamorous colors, only the black and white that symbolized life and death.
"Insolent!"
The Nether Qi had coalesced into a wraith, but Xiao Qingfeng crushed it with ease.
The vast hall was filled with countless murals. Moreover, all sorts of never-before-seen monsters were immortalized as stone statues, kneeling before a throne of white bone at the center of the hall.
"Wings?"
Xiao Qingfeng frowned, spotting a pair of wings behind the bone throne.
’Why would there be wings behind the throne?’
"The Nether Monarch will return. Her Yu will one day illuminate the entire Netherworld, and the people of the Netherworld will give everything for their Monarch."
’So this is the Nether Monarch’s Yu?’
Xiao Qingfeng didn’t pay it much mind and walked step by step toward the bone throne.
He could feel the Netherworld already falling under his control. Its Spirits had all vanished—some killed by his own Spirits, others for some reason simply melting away into nothing.
’It doesn’t matter.’
Many of his own Spirits had already been generated. The Cultivators who entered the Netherworld this time had served as the finest nourishment, creating the first batch of powerful black Spirits.
Xiao Qingfeng planned to use his Transformation Dao to make the Netherworld’s current colorful state permanent, turning the entire city into a City of Life! This would serve as his Dao Foundation.
Of course, this was a shortcut—directly using the Nether Monarch’s authority to alter the Law, rather than achieving it step by step through Enlightenment.
’But who cares?’
’The last one standing is the victor.’
Xiao Qingfeng stepped on the heads of the stone statues, which were arranged from small to large, drawing ever closer to the throne of his dreams.
Only one final step remained.
His ambition of several hundred years, his perseverance through all that time, would be fulfilled the moment he sat on that throne.
The Sun and Moon Gnomon spun wildly in his hand. It was an artifact that resembled a Compass, divided into two layers: the outer layer was the Sun Gnomon, the inner was the Moon Gnomon.
Under the vibrations of the Sun and Moon Gnomon, the barrier set by the Nether Monarch slowly gave way. Xiao Qingfeng turned, his hand landing on the cold, bony armrest. He could hear his own heart pound, the blood rushing in his ears. In the eerie silence, he finally sat down.
Everything fell into place so perfectly.
’How could a plan centuries in the making possibly fail?’
He had met with no resistance.
"Hm?"
Xiao Qingfeng stared blankly at his hands, then whipped his head around.
He couldn’t feel the authority of the Netherworld.
’What’s going on?’
Abruptly, he shot to his feet, staring in astonishment at the wings behind the bone throne.
"Yu!?"
He roared in uncontrollable fury, "Who is Yu!?"
Xiao Qingfeng was not a true Spirit, so he naturally couldn’t see the traces of "Yu" on Lu Changyuan.
Soon, a Spirit gave him the answer.
It was a person who had arrived in the Netherworld long before him, who had walked the path of death and earned the Nether Monarch’s approval. The Monarch had even bestowed upon him the title of "Yu."
The Nether Monarch’s throne was composed of two parts.
First, the throne itself. Second, the Yu behind the throne.
To completely seize the Netherworld, one first had to strip away the title of "Yu" before they could claim the Nether Monarch’s authority.
It was like a kingdom whose monarch was absent. A usurper could naturally steal the kingdom.
But what if there was a Crown Prince?
As long as the Crown Prince lived, the usurper could never truly control the kingdom.
And the title of Yu was akin to the position of Crown Prince.
Xiao Qingfeng understood everything. He flew into a rage. "Why would the Nether Monarch give the title of Yu to someone else!?"
The entire sky of the Netherworld seemed to turn scarlet with his fury.
But there was no answer to his question.
"Find him! Find that Yu for me! I know he’s in this city!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lu Changyuan was thinking.
’Where could the Nether Monarch possibly have gone?’
He had asked this question seventeen hundred years ago.
None of the Netherworld’s Spirits knew.
’Then again, if they knew, the Spirits would have found their own Monarch already.’
Lu Changyuan refused to believe that the Nether Monarch hadn’t left behind some contingency in their own kingdom. He refused to believe the Monarch had abandoned their kingdom.
’Think carefully.’
’Where in the Netherworld is the most likely place to find a lingering Thought of the Nether Monarch?’
’The Nether River? The path of death? The path of life? Inside the Sun and Moon Gnomon?’
Lu Changyuan narrowed his eyes slightly.
Just then, the young woman beside him nudged him.
The Silver-haired Maiden said, "Scoot over a little."
The room wasn’t large to begin with, and the bed was small. Now, with three people crammed onto it, it was naturally crowded.
Mei Zhaozhao was on the inside, having fallen asleep at some point. Su Youwan was in the middle, leaning toward Lu Changyuan.
Lu Changyuan said helplessly, "She was the most panicked one just a moment ago, and now she’s fast asleep. Should I say she’s carefree, or that she just has too much faith in me?"
The Saintess of the Hehuan Sect had always believed that if Lu Changyuan could kill Su Wuxiang, a cultivator at the Peak of the Sixth Realm, then killing a Half-Step Yao Guang shouldn’t be much of a problem either.
But right now, Lu Changyuan definitely couldn’t kill Xiao Qingfeng. In fact, he’d be lucky not to be killed himself.
The Silver-haired Maiden said coolly, "Fortune favors the foolish."
Suddenly, a line of text appeared in his left eye.
[Xiao Qingfeng has learned that you received the title of "Yu"]
[You are about to die]
Lu Changyuan suddenly spoke up, "Third Prince, do you have a way to temporarily conceal someone’s identity?"
The Silver-haired Maiden looked at Lu Changyuan, pausing for a moment before speaking. "I do. I can temporarily change a person’s fate to that of someone connected to them."
At the Fifth Realm, her Destined Celestial Dao was already capable of obscuring a person’s fate.
"But it can only be maintained for one hour at most. I haven’t entered the Yao Guang realm yet."
Su Youwan said seriously.
~~~~~~~~~~
’Someone is talking.’
Mei Zhaozhao thought to herself.
She couldn’t open her eyes; her eyelids felt as if they were being crushed by an immense weight.
’Did I fall asleep?’
’How is that possible?’
’How could I fall asleep in a situation like this... But I did. Or rather, I passed out.’
Mei Zhaozhao felt like she was in a lucid dream. The dream was filled with a thick fog, and something within it was staring at her.
Countless colossal figures passed through the fog, surrounding a shadow whose face was obscured.
Mei Zhaozhao caught a wisp of a floral scent.
It was an extremely faint fragrance, one that certainly didn’t belong to this world. It was cloyingly sweet, yet tinged with the smell of decay. She felt as if she had smelled it somewhere before, but she couldn’t remember where.
Suddenly, the shadow rippled like a reflection on water.
Mei Zhaozhao couldn’t see it clearly.
The shadow’s silhouette was blurry, lacking any definite shape. It was merely a deeper shade of darkness.
But Mei Zhaozhao definitely heard the same words she had heard upon entering the Netherworld.
"Five hundred years of wind, five hundred years of sun, five hundred years of rain. The Nether Monarch will always return to grant all Spirits their final rest."
’This shadow... it’s the Nether Monarch?!’
’Is the Nether Monarch hiding in my dream?’
A chill ran down Mei Zhaozhao’s spine. "What do you want?"
The shadow’s appearance was indistinct, hidden under a black robe, just like her.
Not only that, but the shadow seemed to carry the unshakeable, cold scent of sandalwood incense from the mythical depths of the Underworld, mixed with the perpetually damp, foggy air of the Netherworld.
It was extremely unsettling.
Mei Zhaozhao flinched slightly.
She hadn’t told Lu Changyuan the whole truth. More accurately, she had only told him half of it.
Why would the Hehuan Sect send her, their Saintess, to the Netherworld? Did she not know that Red Robe wanted to kill her?
Of course Mei Zhaozhao knew.
But she was indeed the only one who could be sent to the Netherworld to find someone.
Because she possessed a "Spirit Communication Body."
It was a unique, heaven-sent talent. It wasn’t very useful for cultivation, but it allowed her to hear the last wisp of a person’s dying Thought.
The Spirits of the Netherworld were all the final Thoughts of the dead.
It was a talent that few, even among the Spirit Race, possessed.
That was why she was the obvious choice for the mission.
"Nether Monarch, I’m just a poor, helpless woman! I’ve never done anything wrong!"
Mei Zhaozhao pleaded pitifully. But in a daze, she seemed to hear the Nether Monarch speak. It was a woman’s voice, as charming and coquettish as her own.
’The Nether Monarch is a woman?’
Mei Zhaozhao straightened her back. "What guidance does Lord Nether Monarch have for me? Let me be clear, I am just a weak woman who hasn’t even reached the Fifth Realm. I can’t do much, and I certainly can’t defeat Xiao Qingfeng. If Lord Nether Monarch wishes to perform Possession on me, then be my guest."
She felt the Nether Monarch was probably just waiting for her to take the bait, so they could descend upon the Netherworld once more and return to their kingdom.
The Nether Monarch, shrouded in darkness, slowly walked toward Mei Zhaozhao. She immediately felt an immense pressure, so strong that she had the urge to kneel.
The voice seemed to emerge from the Nine Netherworld itself. It spoke in the language of Spirits, yet Mei Zhaozhao, strangely, understood it.
And so, she heard the Nether Monarch say:
"Help Yu. Punish the traitor."