This assassin is upright

Chapter 420 Reunion with the Underworld
Before a quiet portal on the thirty-third level of the Netherworld, Yu Zhun led ten thousand members of the God of Slaughter in silent formation.

"This is the gate to the ultimate place?" Looking at the magnificent gate before him, Yu Zhun felt a slight chill.

The interior of the portal was a deep, dark abyss, seemingly leading directly to an endless abyss, making it a place one hesitated to enter.

“This is it.” Helmod stood behind Yu Zhun and nodded. “The ultimate place. Even if you break through to the ninth level of divine transformation, you cannot teleport directly in. You need to go through this portal.”

"This portal is usually hidden and no one can find it. It only appears when a ninth-level godhood expert appears."

At this point, Helmod paused slightly, "Fortunately, seven years ago a demon entered the final place through this portal."

"So many of the demons here know the specific way to the ultimate place, otherwise we would have to go through a lot more trouble."

"Why all the secrecy surrounding a broken door?" Lu Wen muttered to himself. "I think we should just charge in."

“You…” Yu Zhun glanced at the other person helplessly, “You’ve been in the Netherworld for over twenty years, how can you still be so reckless?”

After saying that, Yu Zhun pointed to the portal in front of him and then said in a deep voice, "Everyone, follow me into the portal!"

After saying that, Yu Zhun was the first to step through the doorway.

The God of Slaughter followed closely behind, until only a single gate remained standing in the original spot.

And this portal, because no more ninth-level divine powerhouses appeared on the thirty-third floor, disappeared quietly back into the void.

As Yu Zhun entered the portal, he felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, followed by a cluster of eerie blue flames that quietly appeared before him.

This is…

Netherfire?
Yu Zhun felt a chill run down his spine. He tried staring at the flames, but saw them slowly descend and finally land in front of him.

"Bear--"

A cluster of dark blue flames appeared before Yu Zhun, leading down a staircase with an unknown number of steps, seemingly without end.

Yu Zhun's expression tightened, and he turned his head to look around.

The members of the God of Slaughter who had entered this place with him earlier had long since disappeared, and even Helmod and his group of four were not here.

He was all alone here.

If nothing unexpected happens, the situation of others should be similar to his.

So now, should we go down the stairs?

Yu Zhun looked at the flickering ghost fire, and without fear, stepped down and stood on the first step.

"Bear--"

The ghostly flames on the steps rose up in response, instantly enveloping Yu Zhun.

The power was not hot at all, only bone-chillingly cold. As the chill vanished in an instant, Yu Zhun's expression gradually darkened.

His power seemed to have been somewhat diminished by the Netherfire.

After a moment of silence, Yu Zhun immediately stepped down to the second level.

The Netherfire flared up in response, and Yu Zhun's power weakened once again.

Enraged, Yu Zhun laughed and suddenly quickened his pace.

"Deng deng deng-"

He instantly leaped across dozens of steps, but the Netherfire did not miss its target despite his speed. A strong sense of weakness suddenly surged up, a painful feeling caused by the loss of a significant amount of power at once.

Yu Zhun, who had originally broken through to the ninth level of divine transformation, has now fallen back to the peak of the eighth level of divine transformation.

Yu Zhun suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He stared at the seemingly endless staircase ahead and fell silent.

Is this... a way to strip myself of all my power?
"Do you really care what difference you make between a ninth-level divine powerhouse and someone who can't even kill a chicken?" He sneered. "I'd like to see what you're really up to."

With a soft hum, Yu Zhun's eyes hardened once more.

Step by step, one step at a time.

His figure descended the ever-falling stairs, step by step.

And his aura grew weaker and weaker.

Eight stages of deification... Seven stages of deification... Six stages of deification...

It was as if all the efforts of the past decades had been reduced to ashes in the Netherfire. When he finally saw something different beyond the steps at the end of the staircase, Yu Zhun's strength had fallen from the ninth level of divine transformation to the first level.

His expression had turned as pale as paper, and his body trembled as if even walking had become extremely difficult.

It wasn't because the first stage of divine transformation was so weak that he couldn't walk, but rather the intense weakness and discomfort caused by falling from the ninth stage of divine transformation to the first stage in a short period of time, with his power rapidly declining to less than one ten-millionth of his original strength.

But he still tried his best to keep his steps steady.

Because at the end of the stairs lies another doorway.

That is the exit from this journey, and also the true final destination.

The steps here are merely a path leading to the ultimate destination.

"Step~"

As Yu Zhun took another step, his remaining source power instantly dissipated, and an unprecedented sense of weakness nearly overwhelmed him.

At this moment, he fell from a divine level to the second level.

Once, it was a qualitative leap, a leap in the level of life.

Now, this is a precipitous fall, a desperate plunge into the abyss.

Feeling the inexplicable emotions welling up in his heart, a deep light surged in the depths of Yu Zhun's eyes, and he clenched his fists tightly.

"Is this all you've got?"

"Let me descend step by step from the first level of the Netherworld, gradually rising from a second-stage ant to a ninth-stage deity, just one step away from godhood, and then slowly strip away the power I gained, reminding me of the vast gap between my true self and my current strength."

He walked step by step to the doorway. "Youming, I've come!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Yu Zhun stepped inside.

He felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, followed by a ghostly blue flame that filled every corner of his vision.

Boundless Netherfire was the dominant theme of this space, and a majestic Netherfire palace, seemingly reaching the heavens and the earth, appeared before him.

On the only path leading to the palace, stood a figure with black hair and a black robe. It was none other than Youming, whom he had not seen since the first time he had met him in the first level of the Netherworld.

The other person merely glanced at Yu Zhun calmly, their indifferent eyes remaining devoid of any emotion, neither sad nor happy.

"You are the first person to come here by climbing the stairs."

"So... let's wait for the others."

Yu Zhun stood there, somewhat stunned by what he heard.

The first person to come here via the stairs…

Does the "first" in the Netherworld language refer to the first among the Gods of Slaughter, or the first from ancient times to the present?
If it's the latter...

"Could it be that others don't use the same steps to enter the final destination?" Yu Zhun asked in a deep voice, his fists clenching quietly.

“No, that’s not it.” Youming shook his head. “However, for a normal person to enter here, there should be two sets of stairs.”

"One path leads upwards, the other downwards." "As you ascend the stairs, your strength will gradually transform into real power. The demon who reaches the end will join my ranks and become one of my countless demon generals."

"As you walk down the stairs, your false strength will gradually disappear, leaving only the power you had before you came here. From then on, you will be unaffected by the Netherworld and free from all constraints."

Yu Zhun's expression shifted slightly. "So, the rest of the Killing Gods have two staircases, while the five of us only face one?"

Youming did not give an answer, but slowly shifted his gaze to the direction next to Yu Zhun. A door quietly opened, and Yu Zhu walked out with a pale face. He breathed a slight sigh of relief after seeing Yu Zhun, and then sat down on the ground weakly.

Next to emerge were Helmod, Udir, and Luwen.

The group exchanged smiles, then silently began to adjust their state. Once they had fully adapted to their original strength, they stood up again, their expressions solemn as they looked at Youming, who stood silently not far away.

"Where is the last Heavenly Demon Pearl?" Yu Zhun asked slowly.

Youming slowly raised one hand, and in the pale palm hidden beneath his sleeve, he was holding a Heavenly Demon Pearl.

“You have two choices,” Youming said calmly. “The first choice is for me to give you the Heavenly Demon Pearl directly.”

"But each of you, after you break through to the level of a false god, do one thing for me."

A false god?

Yu Zhun was stunned for a moment, then realized that the other party was referring to the actual third transformation.

only…

The fact that the other party gave away the Heavenly Demon Pearl means that they have successfully passed the level, which also means that the master of the Divine Demon Palace has won the bet. The 5A dungeon [Netherworld Land] will be opened to the Divine Demon Palace and become one of the training grounds for the Divine Demon Palace.

Paying such a high price in exchange for only five things from each other, one can imagine how difficult those five things must have been.

It might even be something that requires them to pay with their lives.

The being before them was a true god, and once they made their choice, the other party would have countless ways to force them to comply.

After a moment of silence, Yu Zhun slowly spoke.

“Name your second option.”

“The second option…” Youming paused for a moment.

Whether it was Yu Zhun's imagination or not, at this moment he actually saw a sly smile on You Ming's indifferent face.

“Take it from me fair and square.”

As Youming finished speaking, a health bar appeared above Youming's head, stretching across the entire world and repeatedly turning back and overlapping until it resembled a high wall with no visible boundaries.

A bead of cold sweat quietly seeped from Yu Zhun's forehead.

He could clearly sense the vast difference in strength between them; standing before him was an absolute god.

The gap between the two sides is like the difference between a vast ocean and a single drop of water.

How to snatch the Heavenly Demon Pearl from the hands of the Netherworld?
Even before descending the stairs, when his strength had temporarily reached the ninth level of divine transformation, he couldn't have done this. For him now, having recovered to the strength he had when he first entered the Netherworld, it was even more of a pipe dream.

A hand landed on Yu Zhun's shoulder.

“Yu Zhun, let’s choose the first one,” Helmod said in a deep voice. “What dangers may arise later is a matter for the future.”

"At least for now, our most important task is to clear the border."

The other three nodded in agreement, clearly sharing similar thoughts.

Upon hearing this, Yu Zhun took a deep breath.

"Okay." He suddenly looked up at Youming.

"We choose the first option."

"Hand over the Heavenly Demon Pearl!"

Youming's expression returned to indifference, and with a casual toss, the last Heavenly Demon Pearl landed in Yu Zhun's hand.

Immediately afterwards, with a wave of his hand, the five people disappeared from the spot.

Silently gazing at the spot where the five had stood, Youming sighed softly, "Never mind..."

"In the end, not everyone has the courage to draw their sword against the gods."

A cold laugh echoed through the space, followed by a golden radiance that appeared in this world filled with Netherfire, eventually transforming into a figure in golden robes before Youming.

He wore a mask that made him appear as both a god and a demon, and beneath the mask, his eyes gleamed with a hint of mockery.

"If Yu Zhun knew that he could kill your seemingly life-level clone with just one strike, and if he knew that this was actually your final test for him, and that if he passed it, he would be a being below even the Demon King of the Netherworld, I wonder what he would think?"

"What he thinks is no longer important." Youming glanced at the other party indifferently. "But you, you came even faster than I expected."

"The world is vast, there is no place I cannot go." The master of the God and Demon Palace spoke softly, "Youming, I am here to collect the bets."

"You've already lost this bet."

“A bet is a bet.” Youming casually tossed a pearl filled with Netherfire into the hands of the master of the God and Demon Palace.

The master of the God and Demon Palace played with the precious pearl, a satisfied look in his eyes. "Among the demonic forces, your Netherworld is the most orthodox."

"That's why I chose to work with you in the first place."

"With this great gift, I can speed up my progress."

"I should go now." The master of the God and Demon Palace put away the precious pearl. "I need to go and give these five little ones a good reward."

"Bear--"

The ghostly flames rose out of nowhere, as if to burn the world to ashes.

"Ha ha ha ha--"

With a long, gloating laugh, the master of the God and Demon Palace transformed into a golden ray of light and vanished from the spot in an instant.

Once the other's figure had completely disappeared, the Netherfire here slowly subsided. Youming stood quietly in the Netherfire, and after a long time, he slowly raised his other hand, which had always been hidden in his sleeve.

In that hand was a ball of dark purple power.

If Yu Zhun were still here, he would be astonished to discover that this mass of power was all the primal power he had obtained from the first level of the Netherworld to the thirty-third level. At this moment, this primal power had transformed from false to real, becoming a demonic primal power at the ninth level of divine transformation.

"Gods and demons, it is still too early to tell who will win this scheming battle."
-
"Om-"

With a dizzying sensation, Yu Zhun and his group of five quietly appeared in a sacred and magnificent hall. Looking at the countless mythological fragments embedded in the dome and the ground, the five quickly realized where they were.

This is…

The treasure hall of the Gods and Demons Palace!
The last time they came here was after they completed their conquest of the [Heavenly Ruins Sacred Realm], and now they have returned once again.

"welcome."

As a voice rang out, God 1 appeared before them after a long absence. Although his eyes were still devoid of joy or sorrow, a joy that anyone could clearly perceive surged around him.

“You did well this time.” God 1’s gaze swept over Yu Zhun and the other five, and then he slowly spoke, “So this time, each of you can choose any item from the treasure vault of the God and Demon Palace.”

"Only one?"

Lu Wen couldn't help but mutter to himself, but Yu Zhun suddenly pulled him back, his eyes filled with a strange light.

Are you sure you want to pick any item?

(End of this chapter)