I am Jinshan Youxia

No one has ever figured out how big the underworld is. It's an illusory world that can be as big as it wants. The gods and Buddhas of the past were too lazy to waste time cleaning up the wandering ghosts that were everywhere in the underworld.

“Master, let the sisters go, I’ll go with you.” Nie Xiaoqian’s voice wasn’t loud or forceful, but it was firm.

Zhang Chengyi didn't continue to persuade or force anything; he simply increased his speed and flew to the edge of the cycle of reincarnation.

The once bustling procession of ghosts has now come to a halt. Whether they are ghosts, yakshas, ​​or ghost messengers, they are all bewildered and unsure of what to do next.

More and more spirits are drawn to the underworld after death, causing severe blockages on the road to the Yellow Springs. Without yakshas or ghost messengers to maintain order, the scene is chaotic.

"Keep them running as usual, and I'll take responsibility if anything goes wrong."

Zhang Chengyi gave a brief instruction, then attempted to rush in, passing through as usual. No matter how he flew, the Yellow Springs Road ahead was always the same distance, and the Bridge of Helplessness was even more unreachable. He gradually ascended, arriving near the sea of ​​corpse energy and the Thunder Pool he had created. Just as he was about to summon heavenly lightning to pierce the space and see if he could open the turtle shell of the underworld, he suddenly realized something—

The sounds from the underworld and the time he wiped out 'Yi' seemed to be almost simultaneous.

With this thought in mind, he deleted another 'Yi' from his body.

"Boom!" This time the roar was closer and more obvious, and even the image of the underworld in his eyes began to ripple like water.

"boom!"

"boom!"

Zhang Chengyi deleted the 'Yi' character one by one, and the voices in the underworld never stopped. He breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that it wasn't that the gods and Buddhas had returned, but that deleting the 'Yi' character would cause problems for things in the underworld.

No, it means the ghost was completely destroyed. The deleted thing can't even be found by itself, so it's gone forever.

The things that record the dead are still in the Hall of Yama...

The Book of Life and Death?

Zhang Chengyi thought that he would not continue to harm the Yi within his body, but would keep them for now and consider whether to delete them after he found a way to enter the underworld.

He went down and discussed it with Nie Xiaoqian, without revealing the matter to anyone.

Just make up any excuse to get by. After all, all the ghosts want is to be reincarnated. What they want is order, at least not to cause chaos and disrupt the balance of the living world.

The roaring stopped, and under the watchful eyes of a large group of female ghosts who had previously stood on the top floor of the underworld, the yakshas and ghost messengers quickly brought the commotion to a halt, and everything returned to normal.

Zhang Chengyi flew up again and absorbed all the heavenly lightning into his body, gradually eliminating it. He then used the same method to dispel the sea of ​​corpse energy, and even the usual explosions disappeared.

Now we've completely returned to the peaceful days of the past few decades.

Since Zhang Chengyi knew that the problem lay in his own lack of strength, the solution was quite simple. Moreover, he realized that if the gods and Buddhas returned, everything he had now would be nothing but castles in the air. No matter how much he wreaked havoc in the underworld now, the gods and Buddhas might bully him in the future.

Then he has no time to relax.

Instead of worrying about gods and Buddhas, you should quickly strengthen yourself and then find a way to catch up with them and kill all the gods and Buddhas who are causing you worry.

What does it matter what I do all day about the underworld and the living world? I just want to sleep. I need to sleep until I can't evolve anymore, and then I'll go and kill the gods and Buddhas.

After Zhang Chengyi figured it out, he immediately became too lazy to dawdle any longer. He asked Nie Xiaoqian what troublemakers were in the underworld, and then killed all the troublemakers who had been jumping around in the past. He used absolute power to put the underworld under his terrifying rule, and then unhesitatingly abandoned power, found a cool place, dug a hole, and went to sleep.

This evolution took 120 years.

Chapter 274 Changes

The days after Zhang Chengyi fell into a deep sleep were rather uneventful.

Ghosts are not as active and changeable as living people, so the underworld is naturally much more dull and stable.

It would be true to say that nothing changes. In 120 years, the mortal world has experienced countless changes. On average, a dynasty lasts only 300 years. 120 years is enough for a dynasty to go from a time of stagnation to a time of prosperity, and it is also enough for a dynasty to go from being enlightened to being rife with corruption.

But the underworld has hardly changed from what it was 120 years ago.

Especially since all the troublemakers are dead, the remaining ghosts have no one to resist them, nor the ability to resist them. They just wait in line to be reincarnated.

Zhang Chengyi woke up the moment he opened his eyes and closed them again. His status bar hadn't changed much. When he crawled out of the electrified crystal underground cave and went back to the ghost city to find the female ghost, he almost thought he hadn't slept for that long at all.

The ghost town hadn't changed at all, and the female ghosts seemed to be the same as before.

Of course, many familiar faces couldn't endure 120 years and have already been reincarnated, while quite a few more have been recruited by Nie Xiaoqian to stay in the palace and wait for him to wake up.

After all, having experienced several deep sleeps, Nie Xiaoqian could easily deduce that the master's sleeping time was getting longer each time.

Zhang Chengyi and the female ghosts completed their soul union, raising the corpse energy to its maximum. After waiting for the female ghosts to fall asleep for two years, he went alone to test the Heavenly Thunder Channel.

They still failed to pass through. After 120 years of frantic fighting with the corpse energy, the heavenly lightning had become much stronger, making it easier to open spatial rifts. Correspondingly, their bodies were still not strong enough to withstand the bombardment of the enhanced heavenly lightning.

I reckon we'll have to wait until lightning resistance improves further before we have a chance.

However, Zhang Chengyi wasn't really thinking about returning to the mortal realm; he was simply testing his physical strength.

He then went to the sky above the underworld to test the explosive force of the clash between corpse energy and heavenly lightning. The progress in breaking through the power of gods and Buddhas was faster than he had imagined. If he could maintain the explosion for about eighty years, he should be able to take over the underworld.

But if you think about it, if it were blown up for eighty years, the underworld would probably have already fallen into the mortal world and crashed. At that time, it's hard to say whether the underworld or it will shatter first.

I'll go back to sleep.

Zhang Chengyi returned to the ghost city after making a round trip, only to be met with some unpleasant news from Nie Xiaoqian:

"Master, the speed of our descent into the underworld has increased."

"It will probably take another four hundred years before the underworld inevitably collides with the living world."

The reason is not hard to find: Zhang Chengyi's body has become so strong that it has affected the balance of the underworld. He is not a god or Buddha, and he has no special abilities. He is a stowaway who forced his way in through the bottom of the Valley of the Underworld.

The heavenly lightning he had released earlier was already dragging the underworld towards the mortal realm. Now that his body has become stronger out of thin air, the extra mass will definitely accelerate his fall.

Four hundred years is still a long time, but he will become even stronger, and his speed will increase by who knows how much.

"I see."

Zhang Chengyi nodded, then told Nie Xiaoqian to keep a close eye on things, gave her a lot of instructions, and then went to sleep.

He estimated that, based on his evolution speed, this should be his last evolution in the underworld. If he were to continue to grow stronger after waking up, he would probably have to withstand the pressure of the clash between Yin and Yang first.

As for whether or not to slow down evolution to prevent falling into the underworld even faster?

That was not even within his consideration. He couldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Evolution was a must. If he stopped completely, he would also fall into the underworld. He might as well take a gamble. His evolved body could withstand it. In any case, success or failure wouldn't kill the ghosts in the underworld. The only ones who would suffer would be him, who had a physical body, and the underworld.

Oh, and there are more and more Japanese yokai (supernatural beings)—

For 120 years, Japanese monsters have been mysteriously falling into the underworld by disappearing into the underworld.

Some of them, lacking common sense, served as mounts and pets for ghosts; some were too ferocious or had eaten ghosts and were imprisoned in dungeons; and others, because they were essentially no different from ghosts, successfully integrated into the ghosts' ranks.

The areas where Japanese monsters exist are relatively far from the main urban area and the underworld. Zhang Chengyi hadn't even seen many Japanese monsters before going to sleep; he had only heard that the area was a bit more interesting.

In order to become stronger, he ruthlessly gave up fun, which can be said to be a great sacrifice.

Thus, a new round of evolution began, and time jumped directly to two hundred years.

He probably couldn't have imagined how these two hundred years would change the underworld and him.

-----------------

One hundred and seventy years later, in the underworld, in a ghost town.

"Your Majesty, in three days, the clash between Yin and Yang will be imminent."

The ghost, dressed in a Taoist robe, knelt in the palace and said, "The location of the Zombie King is shrouded in lightning, making it impossible for any ghost to set up an array there. If the array is not activated soon, the Underworld and the Cycle of Reincarnation will collapse completely."

Nie Xiaoqian remained silent, her face grim.

Fifty years ago, the Observatory of Astronomy, which governs Ghost City, discovered that the descent from the underworld was accelerating, nearing a collision. They had been actively preparing, but the place where Zhang Chengyi slept was filled with thunder and the aura of corpses; let alone ghosts, even—

"Is the senior still not awake?"

Wearing an official robe and sporting a scraggly beard, Yan Chixia strode in.

"Lord Zhong Kui," the Taoist ghost greeted cautiously.

It's not like a hundred years ago anymore. Starting fifty or sixty years ago, the underworld deities selected for their positions have gradually returned to their places. Apart from Yama, who has long since perished, the reconstruction of the underworld has also been completed.

While the spirits of the underworld are not as powerful as the departed gods and Buddhas, they are not to be trifled with by ordinary ghosts and monsters.

Only Nie Xiaoqian, the Queen of Female Ghosts left behind by the former Zombie King, possesses the ability to contend with the Yin Gods. However, in the underworld, the Yin Gods, who hold power, still take the initiative.

However, due to the threat of the sleeping zombie king, and the fact that the underworld gods, after returning to their positions, knew exactly how the zombie king had wreaked havoc in the underworld and how he had resisted the power left behind by the gods and Buddhas, making them much weaker than usual, they tacitly accepted Nie Xiaoqian's position as the lord of the ghost city.

With Zhong Kui mediating between them, the underworld and the lord of the ghost city were barely able to coexist.

"It's too late."

Yan Chixia's expression was serious. "Even if you don't make a move here, King Chujiang and the others will definitely make a move. The other three judges have already gone to adjust their positions, in order to take advantage of the clash between Yin and Yang to dissipate the heavenly lightning of the underworld."

"In my opinion, your current body will not die from this clash of Yin and Yang. You should protect yourself first before considering seeing you again in the future."

The underworld deities were naturally unwilling to see the underworld shattered, so their strategy was to use their authority to temporarily reverse the illusory nature of the underworld, using the entire land of the underworld to share the damage and preserve the underworld. However, this meant that all the ghosts and ghost cities living in the underworld would be unable to escape.

Zhang Chengyi, who was sleeping far away, would be the first target to fall out and take the damage head-on.

Nie Xiaoqian lowered her eyelids and sighed softly.

What's the point of saying anything now that things have come to this?

Chapter 275 Where did the evil spirits go?

Three days later, in the mortal realm, in an open space, talismans were hung everywhere, and red ropes crisscrossed on the ground.

Hundreds of Buddhist and Taoist practitioners from different traditions were quietly waiting in their pre-arranged spots.

"Master, is it really possible that some demons will descend?"

The fat man, with prayer beads around his neck and a spiked club in his hand, looked somewhat nervous and asked in a low voice.

The old Taoist priest, dressed in a Taoist robe, looked up at the dimly lit sun and said, "When the celestial dog eats the sun, yin and yang clash, and evil spirits descend upon the world. This is a tradition passed down by the underworld deities. All Maoshan disciples will come to cooperate with the underworld deities to exorcise demons..."

"However, if something happens, Tianlong, you take Dagui and Mengmeng and run fast. We are a small family and we can't afford to suffer any losses."

The term "Maoshan disciple" does not mean that all of them learned their skills from Maoshan. Rather, it means that their ancestors cultivated in Maoshan and developed their lineage there. Even if they have no relation to Maoshan, they will call themselves Maoshan sect or Maoshan Taoists.

In reality, it's quite a mixed bag. For example, this small sect calls itself the Maoshan Sect, but they practice all sorts of Buddhist and Taoist practices together. Anyway, it's all about slaying demons and eliminating evil. They keep in mind the eight words: "Good and evil are opposed, and we will fight each other for life." They can say a few words to fellow Daoists wherever they go.

"Master, what exactly is the clash between Yin and Yang?" asked the young man, who was called Tianlong, carrying a sword on his back.

The old Taoist priest frowned and said, "I heard my ancestor say that it might be due to the date, causing the yin and yang to overlap."

“‘Perhaps,’ the patriarch’s words were also cryptic…” Fatty Da Gui muttered to himself.

"Slap!" The old Taoist slapped his disciple on the back of the head and said, "After you go back, kneel in front of the ancestral master's tablet and admit your mistakes for three hours."

"Yes, Master." Da Gui bowed his head and admitted his mistake.