Bitter Realm: My Feet Step Through the Flames of War

The Emperor looked at the large vats with curiosity.

"Hehe, come over if you want to see, don't scream in fright."

Ji Zhong lifted the wooden board covering one of the jars, and Luo Hou and Zun Huang bent down to take a look, their expressions immediately changing.

The jar contained a pile of white, wriggling maggots.

"Hahahaha~"

Ji Zhong laughed loudly: "You two are quite bold! These are maggots that I specially caught from around that lake for research. Since the Red Tide didn't eat these worms, perhaps these worms can restrain the Red Tide."

"Are these insects the pupae of the Red Tide?"

Ji Zhong shook his head: "It's not a pupa. These maggots have three mouths and eat very quickly."

He cut a piece of meat from some unknown animal off the cave wall and threw it into the jar. Sure enough, a "rustling" sound of gnawing could be heard.

"I never imagined that the Ghost Master had lived here for so many years in order to solve the Red Tide disaster. I am deeply impressed."

“Where… I originally came to investigate the ghosts of Nili Forest Hell, but I accidentally discovered this lake and these maggots.”

"ghost?"

"You two should know that the intermediate realm is where the souls of the dead are collected. The innocent are reincarnated, while the guilty are cast into hell."

"Ah."

"After so many years, the souls of criminals should be so numerous that they would burst the Nirvana Forest, but my father discovered a strange phenomenon: there are almost no souls in the Nirvana Forest, only ghosts and monsters, as well as red tides and maggots."

The Emperor asked, "Could it be that their souls devoured each other, turning into ghosts?"

"After my father took over as the head of the family, he came to the Great Wall of Despair and drew a new talisman. After that, he went deep into the Hell of the Netherworld and never returned. He only asked the previous city lord to send back a letter to the family."

"Letters from home must contain important information."

"I learned about this through a letter from home. After my daughter came of age, I came here, firstly to find my late father, and secondly to investigate the disappearance of her soul."

Two generations have been consumed by this place; one has vanished without a trace, and the other has exhausted his youth.

Luo Hou was moved: "Please continue, Ghost Master."

Ji Zhong sighed: "Decades have passed, and not a trace of my late father has been found. But I can confirm that the soul of Nili Senyu was not devoured by ghosts and monsters, but was sucked into that lake."

"Another lake."

"I used spirit control techniques to imprint the souls I had extracted over the years with the Ji family's chrome seal, and then threw them into the lake. Those souls were instantly sucked into the bottom of the lake and continued to fall until I lost contact with them."

"Since it concerns that lake, I shall go and investigate it."

Ji Zhong waved his hand repeatedly: "I see that you two are both noble people, so don't throw your lives away so easily."

Luo Hou made up his mind and said no more, waiting for night to fall.

There was a leaky hole somewhere in the cave, dripping water, a sound that was both unsettling and calming.

Soon after, a deafening flapping sound filled the air outside the cave; the Red Tide had flown away.

Luo Hou stood up and said to Ji Zhong and Wujie Zunhuang, "Let's go now."

"You, sigh!"

Ji Zhong couldn't stop him, so he had no choice but to follow the Emperor.

This lake is about two hundred miles in circumference, and its shores are barren, covered only with sand and gravel infested with maggots.

The moonlight was bleak, there was no wind or breath, and the miasma above the lake was as thick as clouds.

"Your Majesty, you stay here to protect the Ghost Master. If anything goes wrong, retreat back to the cave first."

"Don't you need me to accompany you?"

"No need."

Luo Hou plunged into the water.

In an instant, an extremely foul stench enveloped my body. This lake had no water at all; it was filled with filthy, foul air that had solidified into a liquid like water.

Luo throat blocked his mouth and nose, and he rapidly descended.

A hundred feet further on, this foul aura formed two tornado-like convection currents, one rising and one falling, containing enormous energy.

"It's a delivery pipeline."

The two gases squeezed Luo Hou at the same time, and Luo Hou felt as if he were a grain of wheat stuffed into a millstone, about to be ground into flour by immense force.

"Heaven-Shattering Star-Slaying Technique, drink!"

He drew his Cang Er Blade, gathered his true essence, and channeled the three-colored extreme essence throughout his body before slashing downwards.

boom!

Instantly, the two columns of wind exploded simultaneously, unleashing a massive energy surge that resembled a hurricane, a tsunami, or a nuclear explosion, causing space to warp, the universe to be turned upside down, and the world to look like the end of the world.

Just as the sword was about to strike, Luo Hou had already transformed into a Brahma demon body, and the golden phantom turned into a solid entity, withstanding the enormous impact brought about by the drastic change in space.

Then, like a shooting star, he plummeted thousands of feet into the sky.

What appeared before us was another concave landform resembling a lake, surrounded by blood-red waterfalls with dramatic drops.

Luo Hou sped past the blood waterfall and rushed toward the concave pit.

Just then, an extremely cold aura rose up, accompanied by a savage power resembling millennia-old ice.

"Such a landscape, such icy cold, could it be the Black Moon Heaven of the Black Sea Forest Hell?"

Sure enough, as Rahu continued to fall, he saw the black sun deep underground, quietly resting in the depths of the earth, resisting the scorching heat of the earth's core.

Luo Hou quickly figured it out: after Yama severed the passage between the Black Sea Forest Prison and the Bitter Realm, how could Yi Tian Da Mo, Shuo Tai Sui, Yi Zi Zhu Gu, and the others still sneak into the Bitter Realm? It turned out they had taken the small path of the Intermediate Yin Realm.

Those two pillars of wind, one above the other, must have been conduits for transmitting energy, with the soul of the intermediate-stage being drawn towards the Black Moon.

It is currently impossible to determine whether the souls were absorbed by the Black Moon, or whether the Black Moon was merely an energy transfer station that moved these souls to other places.

He did not forget the voice that called to him from the depths of the earth and gave him strength.

"Explore again!"

When the Brahma body was transformed to its limit, it became a giant hundreds of feet tall. Rahu stretched out his hands, wanting to push away the Black Moon and go deeper.

Unexpectedly, the moment they touched the Black Moon, their hands were frozen solid, and a thick layer of ice climbed up their arms, threatening to freeze their entire bodies.

Black Moon's ice magic deals quite a lot of damage.

Luo Hou shook his head violently, and the purple dragon shadow on the Cang Er Blade surged out, breaking through the ice layer and carrying Luo Hou straight into the sky.

Luo Hou glanced longingly at the Black Moon, then rode the wind, passing through the chaotic energy field once more, and returned to the lake in the Nili Forest Hell.

"Wu Jun, you've finally come out!"

"Ok?"

Ji Zhong said urgently, "Midnight has passed, the red tide is about to return to its nest, we must leave quickly."

The three returned to the cave, and soon a deafening roar swept past the cave entrance once more.

The Emperor asked impatiently, "What did you discover during your two hours there, Martial Lord?"

"Below the lake lies another realm, where energy flows between the two. I suspect that the souls of the intermediate state flowed to this other realm from there, and the filth of that realm rose up into the hellish realm, forming a red tide."

"I see."

Luo Hou had some vague ideas in his mind, but they were fragmented and difficult to connect for the time being.

He asked Ji Zhong, "Who controls the cycle of reincarnation in the intermediate state?"

"Who controls this? The souls of the dead automatically fly into the Alley of Life and Death in the intermediate realm. After forty-nine days, the alley will open two doors. One door connects to the River of Oblivion, flowing with the river water to the Netherworld; the other door connects to the Path of Reincarnation, leading into the underworld."

Life and death alley, the cycle of reincarnation.

Luo Hou secretly noted down these two places, hoping that the cycle of reincarnation connected to the true underworld.

Chapter 177 The Bitter Realm of the Little Garden (Settings)

Rahu and the Boundless Emperor returned to the Carefree Abode from the Nirvana Forest Hell.

There are a few things that require Duan Junheng's assistance.

"Spirit Hunter, can the spirit of the Taiyi Sword be extracted? I need the Taiyi Sword Qi, but I don't want to harm the sword spirit's life."

"Wu Jun, you've given me a real problem."

"Do you want to know the origin of the Demon Emperor's bloodline?"

Duan Junheng couldn't help but laugh: "Hahaha, Wu Jun's trading ability is no less than Ji Du Dao's! I can separate a small part of the sword spirit's soul and leave it in her original body to save her life."

"that's enough."

"Since your goal is the Five Swords, I will give you the Tai Su Sword after I have accomplished my mission."

"Lord Spirit Hunter is more generous than I expected."

"But I want to see that person."

“Yes, I will await Ling Shou’s arrival in Tiandu in three days.”

"Then, Lord Wu, you should prepare tea and water."

“Of course. Also, please have Spirit Hunter investigate the Alley of Life and Death and the Path of Reincarnation for me, as I am not a soul and cannot enter.”

Duan Junheng stared at Luo Hou with great interest: "I don't understand Wu Jun's request."

Luo Hou took out the azalea flower given to him by Lady Buxiao and placed it on Duan Junheng's desk: "The Yin Realm is about to be in chaos. If Ling Shou is concerned about the people, he should cooperate with Bibing Zengshi to preserve the royal bloodline."

The words were spoken very frankly. Luo Hou had a good grasp of Duan Junheng's character. Although he was disappointed in Zhou Wang, he had deep feelings for the people of Zhongyin Realm.

The King of the Universe can die, he deserves to die, he should die quickly, but the Crown Prince cannot be allowed to have any problems.

Duan Junheng should cooperate with the Empress Dowager and the Emperor's father-in-law to protect the Crown Prince's life. Once the royal lineage is destroyed, the entire Central Underworld will be destroyed.

Having accomplished his mission, Luo Hou bid farewell to the Emperor and flew away in a beam of light, heading straight for the Liu Yuan Boundless Realm.

Just then, Luo Hou felt dizzy and his heart surged. He plummeted to the ground.

"Ok?"

He quickly circulated his true energy, and the discomfort gradually disappeared.