Douluo: Legend of the Holy Land

Chapter 196 The First Appearance of the Underworld

Inside the Yin-Yang Well of Ice and Fire, Xiao Yu sat cross-legged. As his soul power circulated, the surrounding spiritual energy seemed to be absorbed, frantically surging into Xiao Yu's body. It was continuously refined and devoured by Xiao Yu, transforming into his own soul power that circulated within his body.

"drink!"

In a sudden moment, Xiao Yu opened his eyes, and his surging soul power transformed into a wave of energy that surged wildly in all directions, scattering the immortal herbs within the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.

At this moment, Xiao Yu finally broke through the bottleneck of level 70. He only needs to acquire one more soul ring to become a true Soul Saint level powerhouse.

Soul Saint is a watershed moment in the world of Soul Masters. Reaching the Soul Saint level allows one to unlock the True Body of the Martial Soul, increasing their strength several times over.

As a god-level martial soul, Xiao Yu, with his martial soul true body, is capable of dealing with titled Douluo below level 95. Even if a titled Douluo above level 95 is not countered by him in terms of soul skills and attributes, he can still fight them. Even if he cannot win, he can still retreat unscathed.

As Xiao Yu's soul power broke through level 70, just as the system had told him before, his martial soul also changed at this moment.

A dazzling, seven-colored beam of light shot straight into the sky, causing the weather to change dramatically.

The originally clear weather changed in an instant; dark clouds, like giant black waves in the ocean, covered the sun, and the world was instantly shrouded in darkness.

The apostle of the underworld possessed him automatically, and six spirit rings—yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black—appeared one after another behind Xiao Yu, surrounding him in an extremely regular pattern.

The power of Hades, which had been dormant within Xiao Yu's body, began to revive. His long, jet-black hair danced without wind, and the soul power he released was completely free of any turbidity, only pure darkness and a fearsome presence. His power was vastly different from before, like that of an unattainable god.

puff!

Beneath the original pair of black wings, another pair of black wings burst forth, and all four wings grew at an extremely rapid pace, only stopping when they reached nearly three meters in length.

His pale green eyes gradually turned dark red, and his gaze was sharp as a knife, inspiring fear in those who looked upon him.

"The Realm of the Underworld!"

After breaking through level 70, just as the system had initially told Xiao Yu, the unique talent domain of the God-level Martial Soul was released, and an endless dark aura followed, making people shudder.

If Qian Renxue's Angel Domain is characterized by purifying the enemy's soul power, then Xiao Yu's Underworld God Domain is absolute death. Any enemy within the domain will be constantly devoured by death. Once injured within the domain, the wound will continuously worsen under the influence of the death aura until death. Without leaving the domain's range, even the most powerful healing martial soul, Sacred Heart Begonia, cannot heal the injury. At the same time, the Underworld God Domain will increase Xiao Yu's all attributes by 30% and reduce the opponent's strength by 10%.

"Um?"

Xiao Yu, who was experiencing the effects of the Underworld God's Domain, suddenly frowned. In the darkness, he seemed to sense something resonating with his domain. It was a very ethereal feeling, as if it came from the distant sky. No, that's not right, it was a call that transcended dimensions.

Xiao Yu activated his domain with all his might, trying to establish a connection with that distant resonance.

He didn't know how much time had passed when Xiao Yu suddenly felt that everything around him was becoming blurry, and everything around him was gradually fading in his eyes until it became completely unreal.

Whoosh!

A flash of black light appeared suddenly, and Xiao Yu's figure could no longer be seen within the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Eye.

"here it is"

Suddenly teleported away, Xiao Yu found himself standing on a high slope. The entire space was hazy and gray, and the sky was so dark that not a single star could be seen. The air was filled with a vast amount of dark elemental energy.

Xiao Yu looked closely and saw a huge black hole in the distance. Countless black figures were walking towards the black hole in an orderly manner and then jumping into it without hesitation.

"Yomi Hirazan!"

As a Saint Seiya fan, Xiao Yu recognized this place almost instantly. It was the entrance to the Land of the Dead. During the battle of the Twelve Palaces, Cancer Deathmask had once driven Shiryu into it.

How did I get back here?

Xiao Yu looked around, completely bewildered, and finally asked the system in his mind, "System, come out and explain, was this your doing?"

The system did not disappoint Xiao Yu and quickly gave him an explanation: "Ding, according to the system's detection, it is because the host's martial soul has evolved into the Underworld King Martial Soul. The power of the Underworld King mobilized has reached 10%, which resonated with the Underworld built into the system. When the host fully activated the domain, a strange connection appeared between the domain and the Underworld, which is why the host was teleported here."

"The underworld built into the system?"

Xiao Yu pondered for a moment and said, "Simply put, it's a new plane of existence, right?"

"That's right!"

The system gave Xiao Yu an affirmative answer.

"roar!"

Just as Xiao Yu was about to ask something else, a loud roar suddenly rang out, causing Xiao Yu's muscles to tense up instinctively as he looked in the direction of the sound.

What came into view was a huge skeleton, over two meters tall, with only white bones remaining on its body, except for two eerie green flames floating where its eyes should have been.

"roar!"

With another sharp roar, the skeleton moved, its right arm transforming into a bone blade. It leaped high into the air and slashed down at Xiao Yu with lightning speed.

"Holy crap, what's going on?!"

Having been attacked without warning, Xiao Yu couldn't help but swear. The Underworld Apostle—or rather, the upgraded Underworld Lord Martial Soul—possessed him, the Underworld King Sword in hand, its light radiating, as he charged towards the bone blade.

With a deafening roar, Xiao Yu and the giant skeleton each staggered back several steps.

"Hiss~"

Suppressing the surging blood in his chest, Xiao Yu couldn't help but gasp. This skeleton's power was already comparable to that of an ordinary Soul Douluo.

The skeleton seemed to be in considerable pain as well, letting out a deafening roar as it raised its bone knife high once more and slashed fiercely at Xiao Yu.

A burst of black light shot out from Xiao Yu's chest, quickly covering his entire body. This was one of the soul bone skills granted to him by the 100,000-year-old torso soul bone he had absorbed: Netherworld Emperor's Protection.

The bone blade slashed down, striking the light protecting the Underworld Emperor's body. With Xiao Yu's current soul power, unless it was a titled Douluo's fully charged attack, he wouldn't be able to break through his defense.

Xiao Yu seized the opportunity, his fifth soul ring lit up, and his chilling longsword, imbued with boundless power, slashed fiercely at the skeleton, instantly splitting the massive skeleton in two.

(End of this chapter)