I subdue demons and monsters, and cultivate immortality in hell to become a saint.

Because the cultivators and the authorities acted three days late, they failed to monopolize the opportunity, and many ordinary beings got what they wanted by luck and reaped enormous benefits.

But opportunities eventually come to an end. When the last opportunity is taken away, a bloodbath naturally breaks out!

No one was willing to hand over the opportunity they had obtained. Demons, cultivators, officials, and various forces attacked and fought each other, plunging the entire world into chaos!

Even more terrifying is that more and more mortals are awakening their talents and embarking on cultivation, joining the ranks of those vying for treasures and fighting for power. The era of the struggle for supremacy among all paths has officially arrived!

Many of the geniuses who were courted by the authorities chose to leave after recognizing the general trend of the times.

Or perhaps become a carefree, wandering cultivator, roaming freely across the world;

Or they could join a major sect and compete for core resources;

Even worse, some associate with demons and monsters, become mountain kings, and completely break away from official control!

In the midst of chaos, all laws are in turmoil, but the underworld remains deathly silent, especially in the Southern Ridge Province!

The reasons for this are simply twofold!

Firstly, the people of Nanling know that the gods of the underworld are in charge, so they wouldn't dare to be reckless even if they had a hundred times the courage!

Secondly, the opportunities in Nanling are extremely rare!

If there are ten thousand opportunities in other places, then Nanling might only offer a thousand at most, not even a fraction of that!

Actually, it wasn't that Heaven and Earth were biased; rather, it was because Zhong Jiu had already made his move when the opportunity first appeared, and had taken almost everything he could get!

Chung Kau isn't a saint; why would she let go of a good opportunity?

But after taking them, he realized that most of the so-called opportunities were completely useless to him!

The underworld system is complete, with everything you could need, and it lacks nothing!

Especially those Taoist books and techniques, in Zhong Jiu's eyes they weren't even worth mentioning as beginner's rubbish. How could a supreme deity possibly look down on such trivial things?

Fortunately, the lawsuit finally came in handy, with a huge pile of unused resources!

Of course, it's not entirely useless; spiritual roots and magical artifacts can come in handy.

Since spiritual roots cannot be planted in the underworld, Zhong Jiu transplanted them directly to the City God Temple and immediately set up protection with a wave of his hand!

The most eye-catching one is a fairy apricot tree, which can bear three hundred fruits a year. Each fruit can prolong life and greatly increase cultivation. It is now growing next to the City God Hall!

It is protected by divine power, and the pilgrims who come and go are envious, but they don't even dare to touch it. They can only treat it as an ordinary ornamental tree and dare not have the slightest greed!

As for those magical artifacts, Zhong Jiu casually bestowed them upon the officials of the City God's Mansion. To him, these were nothing more than scraps!

Apart from that initial sweep, Chung Kau never again had any opportunities in the mortal world.

Firstly, he looked down on it, and secondly, he knew perfectly well that his great opportunity was not in the mortal world at all!

With a thought, Zhong Jiu stepped directly into the underworld!

Upon entering the underworld, Zhong Jiu's pupils constricted instantly; the place had already been turned upside down!

A total of 99,999 yin acupoints were clearly visible!

That's right!

It was the Yin Cave that triggered the resurgence of supernatural phenomena and the surge of Yin energy. After the spiritual energy was revived, it was all transferred to the underworld!

Although the system detected the total number, it did not mark the specific locations. Zhong Jiu only found 13,000 of them by his own ability.

These thirteen thousand yin acupoints spewed out yin energy wildly, making the underworld even colder and more chilling, and the concentration of yin energy increased several times over!

Zhong Jiu walked to a dark cave, his eyes narrowed, and he saw that an unfinished funerary weapon was being nurtured in the cave!

Funerary artifacts are standard weapons of the underworld deities; ordinary soul messengers can't even touch them!

Further on, a terrifying aura suddenly erupted from another dark cave. Zhong Jiu's eyes turned cold: "There's the aura of a ghost!"

The world of the living has become an independent world; is the world of the dead the same?

It goes without saying that countless ghosts will emerge from these dark caves sooner or later!

However, they can only ravage the underworld and cannot step into the mortal world. With Zhong Jiu here, how can evil spirits be allowed to run rampant?

Zhong Jiu's lips curled into a cold smile: "So, to secure one's position in the Underworld, one must first rule this Netherworld?"

He tried to destroy the acupoints, but found it impossible. How many treasures and dangers were hidden in the nearly 100,000 Yin acupoints?

This only fueled Zhong Jiu's anger, and his fighting spirit surged!

If one day I can ascend to the position of the Emperor of the Underworld, I will surely dominate both the Yin and Yang realms, and no one will dare to stand in my way!

So what if there are ghosts in the underworld? Perfect for practicing!

Legend has it that the underworld is filled with millions of soul soldiers. If you don't even have a worthy opponent, wouldn't it be a waste of your cultivation?

With that thought in mind, Zhong Jiu turned around and returned to the mortal realm, directly taking charge of Xing Sha City!

"To be promoted to Grand Judge of Heaven and Earth, one needs ten billion believers and to bring great order to Nanling Province!"

After learning the promotion requirements from the system, Zhong Jiu calmly read them aloud.

What seemed like an insurmountable challenge to others remained completely unperturbed. His faith value had already surpassed 500 million!

Collecting faith is second nature to me; as long as I demonstrate the power of the underworld gods, faith points will naturally come rolling in!

Among all living beings in the world, there are strong and weak. The strong may stubbornly refuse to offer their faith, but the weak will truly submit with just a little intimidation!

Chung Kau had already planned out the path to collecting faith, but the "Great Governance" of Nanling was a bit of a challenge for him.

Back then, governing Guiling City took a lot of effort. Now, with the resurgence of spiritual energy, Nanling Province has expanded its territory more than tenfold, making it vast and much more difficult to manage!

What's even more troublesome is that countless people have risen to become cultivators by borrowing spiritual energy. Once they have power in their hands, they become restless and their mentality has completely gone astray. Even some of the talents that the authorities have recruited have left!

Cultivators are notoriously difficult to manage, and Zhong Jiu knew this better than anyone.

To bring order to the Southern Ridge, it is not a matter for him alone; the entire underworld and all the underworld gods must join forces and use an iron fist to suppress the rebellion in order to win over the people!

……

Time flies, and another year has passed in the blink of an eye.

Zhong Jiu was sitting in his home in the mortal realm of Xing Sha City, leisurely munching on chilled watermelon, seemingly oblivious to the chaos and turmoil of the world.

The Lord of the Underworld naturally possesses this composure and confidence!

Suddenly, a streak of light pierced the sky, and Zhong Yingmei landed directly in the courtyard, her demeanor completely transformed!

Her skin was as white as snow, her long hair cascaded down her shoulders, and she exuded a cool and aloof aura with a powerful presence.

As a prodigy infused with spiritual energy, she possessed extraordinary talent. With the support of official Taoist scriptures, she advanced to the Human Golden Core Realm in just three years!

In the past, this speed would have shocked the cultivation world, but in this era where immortals and gods are everywhere, he only deserves to be praised as a "genius"!

After all, opportunities are everywhere these days, and there are plenty of ruthless characters who can ascend to immortality in one step. The Golden Core Realm is really not enough to impress them!

Zhong Jiu glanced at her and said calmly, "Not bad, you've improved again."

His tone was casual, as if he were talking about a trivial matter. In his eyes, the progress of the Golden Core Realm was not worth mentioning!

Zhong Yingmei rolled her eyes at him, sat down, picked up a watermelon and took small bites, her tone tinged with helplessness: "No matter how much I improve, I can't compare to you, the Lord of the Underworld."

Back when she had just formed her core, she was too arrogant and wanted to test Zhong Jiu's strength. As a result, Zhong Jiu used only one finger to immobilize her, leaving her no room to resist!

Only then did she fully understand that there was an insurmountable chasm between herself and the gods!

"Is the power of the gods really that terrifying?" Zhong Yingmei murmured softly, her eyes filled with shock.

After embarking on her cultivation journey, she became increasingly aware of how difficult it was to become stronger. However, Zhong Jiu had never deliberately cultivated; her extraordinary strength was entirely bestowed upon her by the underworld.

Just how many terrifying secrets does the underworld hold?

For three years, the underworld has been lying low, its influence gradually waning. Those cultivators who have gained power have long since lost all reverence for it.

A rumor even circulated: "The underworld's fate is sealed; within a few decades, it will surely be surpassed by us!"

Nowadays, cultivators are breaking through realms at lightning speed, their confidence is overflowing, and quite a few people actually believe this!

Verification is simple: all you need to do is have someone in Nanling Province break the rules of the underworld and see if the underworld can still maintain order. That will reveal the truth.

But unfortunately, no one dares to be the fool.

Everyone understands the principle that "the nail that sticks out gets hammered down," and no one wants to risk their life to test the limits of the underworld!

Chung Ying-mei told Chung Kau about the current public opinion on the underworld.

Zhong Jiu merely sneered and dismissed it: "How dare these ants presume to speak of the majesty of the gods? These people, sitting in their wells, dare to speak recklessly about the underworld?"

He appeared calm on the surface, but his heart was already filled with murderous intent. These clowns had forgotten the power of Yin Si Zhen Shi three years ago!

The reason why the faith value has increased slowly over the past three years is this: this group of people feel that the underworld has lost its former deterrent power, so they are naturally unwilling to make sincere offerings!

In the past, the underworld gained faith by saving people; now, it must rely on an iron fist to subdue these scoundrels again and restore the divine power of the underworld!

Chung Kau had already made thorough preparations for this, just waiting for the right opportunity!