Dao Ye is going to ascend

Chapter 742 The Underworld Traveler, Martial Arts Competition Approaching (Part 2)

"This place..."

Li Yuan tried to release a few demonic shadows to fly around, but with a few hissing sounds, the demonic shadows were wiped away by an invisible force the moment they left his body.

Even with his intense concentration, he couldn't detect how the demonic shadow disappeared.

"The Underworld..."

Li Yuanqiang calmed himself down and slowly walked towards the end of the bluestone path.

Quiet.

The place was eerily quiet; Li Yuan couldn't even hear his own footsteps. He reached for his waist, where the Underworld Token he had thrown away was now hanging there.

[Netherworld Traveler: Qi Zhili (First-Tier Traveler)]

【Great Virtue in Secret: Ten】

[Minor Virtue: 18,000]

"A traveler to the underworld?"

Clutching the token, Li Yuan quickened his pace, and soon he reached the end of the bluestone path.

Upon arriving at this point, the view suddenly opens up.

Beyond the path lies a plaza made of rammed yellow mud, covering an area of ​​about thirty or forty acres. In the very center stands an ancient and desolate bamboo building, resembling a tower.

All the light here comes from this bamboo house.

"The Underworld Tower!"

Upon seeing the bamboo house, a flood of thoughts rushed through Li Yuan's mind.

Underworld, Underworld Tower, Underworld Traveler...

All sorts of information flashed by, yet it seemed to be directly imprinted in his mind, allowing him to understand everything naturally.

The Underworld, an ancient force inherited from the Primordial Era, exists in the present world and the Ruins of Return. Only those who have successfully performed rituals can enter this realm and become Underworld Travelers.

Those who travel through the Underworld can enter various dimensional worlds, such as the Void Realm and the mortal realm, through the Underworld. Those who perform sacrifices for the Lord of the Underworld can obtain all kinds of blessings.

The Underworld Tower is where the traveler resides.

"A hidden force, its purpose is to bring back the Lord of the Underworld?"

Li Yuan gathered the information and roughly understood it.

only……

"With such a grand welcome back to the Lord of the Underworld, surely the Dao Lords and Heavenly Lords couldn't be unaware of it?"

With a sense of unease, Li Yuan approached the bamboo house.

This bamboo house is quite rustic, with a dark yellow color and a few starlight-like glimmers. The eaves curve upwards like phoenix wings, and bronze wind chimes hang at the ends. There are many patterns on the building.

Upon closer inspection, one can vaguely see the shadows of mythical beasts such as the phoenix, the azure dragon, the white tiger, and the candle dragon.

On either side of the main entrance of the bamboo house, there stands a stone tablet, each about three zhang tall, inscribed with various characters that shimmer with different colors of light and keep jumping.

"This is... a mission that can be accepted?"

Li Yuan looked at the stone tablet on the left, his expression somewhat strange.

[First-Tier Traveler: Qi Zhili]

[Tier 1 Quest: Perform a ritual in the present world. There is no limit to the number of times or the time. Each ritual will grant you 10 Great Yin Virtue and 13,000 Small Yin Virtue.]

[Tier 1 Quest: Guiding. Guide a person with a talent level of 7 or above to perform a ritual and join the Underworld. You will receive 10 Great Yin Virtue and 3,000 Lesser Yin Virtue...]

[Tier 1 Quest: Return to the Void for Sacrifice. No limit on the number of times or time. Each sacrifice grants 10 Great Yin Virtue and 18,000 Lesser Yin Virtue.]

Complete three Tier 1 tasks to advance to Tier 2 and receive 100 Great Yin Virtue and 100,000 Small Yin Virtue.

The inscription on the stone tablet on the left is relatively short.

There are only three tasks: performing sacrifices in the other world, performing sacrifices in the present world, and guiding others.

"If there's one level, then there are two or three levels..."

Li Yuan kept this in mind and then looked at the stone tablet on the right.

Unlike the left side, the stone tablet on the right side has dense text that keeps jumping and changing, and it is divided into two areas: tasks and exchanges.

"The mission on this stone tablet seems to have been issued by other travelers? Like a bounty from an assassin organization?"

Li Yuan carefully examined the information on the stone tablet. After only a few glances, he noticed a somewhat familiar bounty.

[Bounty: Assassinate Xu Xuanji, the current Grand Tutor of the Ziwei Divine Dynasty. 100,000 Great Yin Virtue, 200,000 Lesser Yin Virtue. Limited to cultivators of level two or above.]

[Note: Xu Xuanji has already reached the peak of the fifth realm and possesses the foundation to cultivate the Law of Heaven...]

"Xu Xuanji of the Ziwei Divine Dynasty, is he perhaps the father of Xu Xunyi?"

Li Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly and discovered that there were more than ten tasks offering rewards for this Grand Tutor Ziwei, ranging from at least ten Great Yin Virtue to as many as a hundred.

He scanned the area and discovered that the mission area could be further divided into 'present world' and 'return to the void'.

Yes, this stone tablet contains not only bounties for the present world, but also bounties for the various realms of Guixu, and the latter are far more numerous than the former.

Besides assassinations, there are also bounty items, powerful medicines, magical treasures, and so on, making it incredibly complex.

And the scope is enormous...

[Bounty: Pool of Reincarnation, reward negotiable]

[Note: The Pool of Reincarnation is the treasure used by the Mother of Ten Thousand Kun, one of the twelve witch gods of the Witch God Realm, to prove her Dao. Practitioners below the eighth rank should not seek their own death...]

"Good heavens, someone actually dares to covet the treasure that the Witch God used to prove his Dao!"

Li Yuan gasped.

The Void is vast and boundless, with countless dimensional realms as numerous as the stars in the sky. The Witch God Realm is one of the nine most powerful realms in the Void, and it was a colossal entity that dominated the depths of the Void as early as the Primordial Era.

He had seen the name of the Mother of Ten Thousand Kun before in the Divine Burial Coffin Secret Realm. She was an unparalleled giant who had attained enlightenment before the Sixth Era of Origin!

"Is the underworld really that powerful?"

Glancing at the clearly accepted mission, Li Yuan clicked his tongue in amazement. He then realized that these Netherworld Travelers were incredibly audacious.

Not only Wan Kun's mother, but also Yan Huang, Ju Cang, and even the legendary leader of the Twelve Witch Gods, Di Qiong, appeared in the mission area.

However, there was no bounty directly targeting the God of Witchcraft; at most, it was only related to the treasure he used to prove his Dao. Even so, it still made Li Yuan's scalp tingle.

It's not just a matter of keeping the names of the venerable ones secret; before this, he had never seen anyone dare to directly list the names of these giants anywhere.

[Bounty: The Mysterious World Tree, reward negotiable]

[Note: The Xuanhuang World Tree is the mother tree of the Xuanhuang Great World, bearing the three thousand worlds of Xuanhuang. It possesses unfathomable power, hence this bounty: obtain just one piece of its fundamental source wood.]

[Note: The Xuanhuang World Tree is nearing its revival; those below the sixth rank should not disturb it.]

"The Mysterious World Tree!"

Li Yuan memorized these mission annotations word by word, and he discovered that the mission area was of great value, with much of the information being very secretive.

There are thousands of quests related to the Xuanhuang World Tree.

From the trees and leaves of Xuanhuang to the cultivators of the Xuanhuang Realm favored by Xuanhuang, and even the Yellow Spring Water, it can be said to encompass everything.

Furthermore, many of these tasks show that someone has already completed them.

"The Realm of the Witch Gods, the Realm of Xuanhuang, the Realm of Heavenly Demons, the Realm of Immortal Yang..."

Li Yuan stood in front of the stone tablet for a long time, looking at each one.

Within it, he saw the 'Ten Realms of Wrath'.

[Bounty: Ten Fiends Sacrifice, no time or number of attempts required. For every fourth-realm cultivator sent into the Ten Fiends Realm, one Great Yin Virtue and ten thousand Small Yin Virtue will be awarded.]

[Note: The Ten Realms of Wrath are on the verge of destruction; cultivators of the Fifth Realm are forbidden from entering without permission...]

[Note: This task is posted regularly by the seventh-tier traveler 'Yuanming Daoist' and can be discussed in person...]

"Daoist Yuanming!"

Li Yuan memorized the name, knowing that this person was the powerful Netherworld cultivator behind the Ten Wrathful Realms:

"A seventh-tier cultivator?"

The rank of a traveler in the Underworld has nothing to do with their cultivation level; it is purely based on the number of sacrifices performed. However, those who can reach the seventh rank of traveler must be at least eighth- or even ninth-level cultivators.

[Bounty: Weitian Martial Arts]

[Note: The Zhuwei Heavenly Dao Sect's martial arts competition is approaching, but no one knows which otherworld will be chosen. A reward is offered for information leading to this event.]

"These bounties are truly all-encompassing..."

Li Yuan watched with great interest, and after going around in circles, he felt that his understanding of the Guixu Otherworld had improved significantly.

They also gathered a great deal of information, such as various kinds of great medicines, rare treasures, and exotic items, as well as information about their places of origin.

At the very back of this area, he saw the 'bounty assassination' sign.

Of course, this is aimed at the strong and talented individuals in the Guixu Otherworld.

Among them, the one who topped the bounty list looked very familiar to Li Yuan.

[Bounty: Fisherman on the Misty Waves]

[Note: This fiend originated from the Xuanhuang Realm and was once favored by the Xuanhuang World Tree. He is a Dao Lord-level giant...]

"That old geezer who's hated by everyone."

Li Yuan calculated that this old guy had tens of thousands of bounties on his head, and in terms of accumulated merit from these bounties, he was undoubtedly the number one.

Secondly, there are otherworldly giants such as the Five Decays Daoist, the Ancient Demon of Original Sin, the White Ginseng Elder, and the Dragon Tooth Dharma King.

"There are countless powerful beings from other worlds."

Li Yuan noted down all the annotations, then looked at the bounty interface in the real world and found that the tasks there were also terrifying.

[Bounty: The Great Luo Illustrated Catalogue]

[Note: This is a treasure used by the Great Luo Heaven Ancestor to prove his Dao. Those who are not at the ninth level of cultivation should not seek their own death...]

"..."

Upon seeing the Great Luo Record, Li Yuan's eyes twitched: "They're really bold. Someone's offering a bounty on the ancestor's Dao-proving treasure... Could a ninth-order cultivator be a Dao Lord?"

Among the wanderers of the underworld, there are Dao Lords.

Li Yuan was not surprised by this.

According to the message that appeared in his mind, the underworld has never perished, not in ancient times, not in the seventy-two epochs of origin, and not now.

He wasn't surprised that there were Dao Lord-level cultivators in the vast span of billions of years.

"There are far more bounties in the modern world."

As Li Yuan looked through them one by one, he discovered that the scale of the bounties in the present world was much larger, encompassing everyone from the Heavenly Lords to the Dao Lords, and even the ancient gods of the present world were on the list.

For example, the gods he was familiar with, such as the Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva, the Red-Haired Buddha, the Hundred-Armed Taoist, the Sword Spirit God, and the Thousand Yin Dharma Master.

[Bounty: Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva, reward negotiable]

[Note: This god is extremely ancient, and it is suspected that he lived an incomplete second life, which may have caused him to forget his past life. His Great Dao is damaged, and he could not make any progress when he reached the eighth realm. Therefore, he sought death to seek a complete third life...]

"Could he have lived a second life?"

Li Yuan was slightly startled.

There have been very few cultivators throughout history who have lived a second life after their lifespan has ended, and even fewer whose second life is incomplete.

According to the information he gathered, an incomplete second life will forget all memories of the past, just like being reborn without any memories. If one is unlucky, one may even die a violent death before entering the path.

Having reached the eighth realm in his incomplete second life, he still intends to live a third life...

"This old ghost is also dangerous..."

Li Yuan's gaze darkened slightly as he thought of the Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva.

The last time he fished for the Blood Phoenix, he caught a glimpse of this old ghost's whereabouts. He too was swallowed by the Blood Phoenix, yet somehow he managed to deceive the Spirit-Silent Old Monk, and even the Great Vajra didn't notice. He too had caught a glimpse of a similar figure while fishing…

Li Yuan continued flipping through the pages, and he even discovered his own bounty.

[Bounty: Dongxuan Liyuan, reward negotiable]

[Note: This person possesses exceptional talent and is highly skilled in both magic and martial arts. If he does not die young, he has a very high chance of attaining enlightenment and achieving true truth...]

[Note: This child is the beloved disciple of Daoist Tianyu. Those below the seventh rank should think carefully...]

"...You really think highly of me."

Li Yuan felt a chill run down his spine.

The person who offered the bounty was very cautious and offered a high price. If no one accepted, that was fine, but if someone did, it must be a traveler of the seventh rank or above!
At the very least, he should be at the level of Yuanming Daoist.

"Luckily, the Taoist priest was cautious and didn't go down the mountain after returning..."

Glancing at the task that had clearly already been accepted, Li Yuan secretly felt fortunate.

If a cultivator at the eighth or ninth level were to attack him, unless his master was constantly watching him, he would likely be killed in the blink of an eye.

The Dao Lord can respond to a call by name, but it is impossible for him to illuminate all realms at all times. Even if he could maintain it, the Dao Lord still needs to cultivate.

"It's really dangerous down the mountain."

Li Yuan was on high alert, memorizing all the information about the mission area before looking at the 'exchange' area.

"Om~"

For a moment, Li Yuan was distracted while focusing on the exchange area. When he came to his senses, he saw a vast and boundless 'starry sky'.

He looked around at the starry sky and discovered that the place was divided into nine regions.

These are: cultivation techniques, spiritual treasures, great medicines, rare treasures, supernatural powers, spirit beasts, resources, Dao body, and intelligence.

"Can Dao bodies be exchanged?"

Li Yuan was startled and looked at that area, where starlight intertwined, transforming into a huge light screen, on which various Dao bodies and their exchange prices were listed.

[The Five Elements Dharma Body: Ten Great Hidden Virtues, Thirteen Thousand Lesser Hidden Virtues]

[Wood Element Dharma Body: Three Great Hidden Virtues, Three Thousand Sixty-Six Small Hidden Virtues]

[The Golden Element Dharma Body: The Great Hidden Virtue Three...]

……

"Are they all Dharma bodies?"

Li Yuan glanced at it: "Is it only the Dharma Body, or is it because first-tier cultivators can only exchange for these?"

After a moment's thought, he looked around at the other areas and, after surveying them, he understood:
"First-tier cultivators are indeed very limited; they don't even have many major scriptures, let alone major medicines or rare treasures."

"That's true. If I were the Lord of the Underworld, I wouldn't allow a first-tier traveler to exchange for everything..."

"A radish hanging in front of a donkey's head."

Although his interest had greatly diminished, Li Yuan still glanced through it and found that the purchasing power of great and small acts of virtue was much higher than that of good deeds.

With his ten great merits, he could buy quite a few things, and many of them were of great interest to him.

[Secret Teachings of White Bone Mountain, Military Strategy of the White Bone Path]

[Exchange Price: One Great Merit Point, One Thousand Small Merit Points]

"The netherworld's reach is quite deep; it possesses many of the secret teachings of the Heavenly Dao Sect..."

Li Yuan felt a sense of unease. Not only from White Bone Mountain, but he had also seen many cultivation techniques and spells from Dongxuan Mountain. However, these were limited to first-level practitioners, and he was unsure whether they contained classic or fundamental techniques.

"It's very likely that..."

Looking at the vast starry sky, Li Yuan suppressed his thoughts and chose to exchange for the White Bone Secret Daoist Military Strategy.

This secret technique would be of great use to him, but he had never been able to find it before.

"Om~"

As Li Yuan uttered the words, a stream of light entered his mind and transformed into extremely complex scriptures, which were the secret methods for cultivating white bone soldiers.

He compared what he had learned with it and found that it was indeed more detailed and exquisite, especially the magic of the white bone man, which had a style quite similar to that of the White Bone Daoist.

"call!"

A moment later, Li Yuan opened his eyes and stepped into the underworld building.

This Netherworld Tower is a priceless treasure. The one he is in is just one of countless branch towers, and it is very likely the lowest grade branch tower.

Those who wander through the underworld can cultivate there. Even Dao Lord-level giants cannot deduce the secrets of heaven. It is a wonderful place to avoid disaster.

Furthermore, one can use this underworld tower to travel between the present world's Ruins of Return and even other dimensions deep within the Ruins of Return, of course, requiring good karma, even great good karma.

"This underworld is more like an underground platform."

Inside the Underworld Tower, Li Yuan sat cross-legged, sorting through what he had just seen and learned, and came to this conclusion.

Based on the information obtained from the mission area, he guessed that these Netherworld Walkers could be roughly divided into three categories.

"Among the Netherworld Walkers, demonic cultivators make up the vast majority, which can be inferred from the bounty assassination missions related to demonic cultivators in the mission areas..."

"Secondly, there are the sacred lands and grotto-heavens of the present world, and there might even be disciples and followers of the Weitian Dao Sect!"

"Finally, there are the cultivators from the Otherworld of Guixu!"

Master Li was a master at gathering intelligence; he could glean some information from the annotations in the mission area.

However, he didn't intend to delve deeper, as the Underworld Tower could isolate the secrets of heaven, and he couldn't possibly deduce it.

"This underworld is also of great use to me!"

This was what Li Yuan was most concerned about.

He still valued this massive 'killer platform' that encompassed both the present and the future.

Firstly, if something might lead to others making predictions in the future, the Shadow Demon can come to the Underworld Tower to do it.

Secondly, some 'fishing robberies' that are inconvenient to handle can be dealt with here.

In addition, it can also be considered a source of intelligence.

"Virtue and the rank of the practitioner are not that important. Those who issue quests that require a face-to-face meeting to discuss the bounty are generally those who do not perform sacrificial quests!"

Of course, Li Yuan would not perform a sacrifice for the Lord of the Underworld.

In fact, he had joined assassin organizations before, but he never actually carried out any missions.

Even if this assassin organization is called the Underworld, and its lineage dates back to ancient times.

"Intelligence points, stolen goods disposal points, underground black markets."

Before long, Li Yuan had categorized the uses of the Underworld, at least from his perspective.

"The creatures that govern the Otherworld of Guixu, including various rare treasures and great medicines, do not necessarily need to be exchanged in the Underworld. Other Underworld travelers can also trade with them."

Li Yuan had made up his mind.

Several days later, he spent a small amount of merit to leave the underworld.

……

……

"The Fisherman on the Misty Waves!"

Inside a dark tower, Daoist Yuanming's face was ashen, and his mood was extremely bad.

The Ten Realms of Fiends was one of the important places for him to obtain Yin Virtue. Over the years, he had performed many sacrifices with the help of the Ten Realms of Fiends. The most crucial item was that fiend!

He used the ferocity of the Devouring Qi Insects to refine his power; if anyone else were to refine it, they would inevitably become his insect slave.

The reason he sent that evil spirit to the disciple of the Nile monk was precisely this idea: to guide him into the underworld and gain some merit. Moreover, a slave insect refined by the Holy Body of Time and Space was even more valuable!
but now……

"That old bastard ruined my plans!"

The more Yuanming Daoist thought about it, the more confused he became. He couldn't help but take out the Underworld Token and add another reward to the old man's bounty.

However, he knew very well that with the supernatural powers and style of the Fisherman of Misty Waves, even a ninth-level cultivator would not be able to subdue him.

I'll settle this score with you sooner or later!

Yuanming Daoist calmed his mind and then discovered that he had gained ten Great Yin Virtues, which surprised him somewhat:
"That junior who cultivates the Shadow Demon Divine Art actually has a seventh-level talent?"

A genius with seventh-order talent actually cultivates such a demonic art that cuts off his own path to enlightenment?

"No! It's an incarnation!"

Yuanming Daoist realized what was happening and subconsciously began to divine with his fingers, but he forced himself to stop: "Even if he were to incarnate and join the Underworld, it would be difficult to predict his fate..."

"Qi Zhili."

Yuanming Daoist memorized the name, and then, sensing something, he took out the Underworld Token. A faint light flickered on it; it was a divine thought sent by one of his former employers.

"Brother Yuanming, shall we go to the Xuanhuang Great World?"

……

……

"No wonder Master said it was alright..."

Inside the bamboo house, Li Yuan composed himself, but a sense of realization dawned on him.

The Underworld of the Primordial Era was a colossal entity that once dominated the present-day Ruins of Return. It was once a great enemy of the Origin God Dynasty, but now it has degenerated into an assassin organization.

Moreover, the travelers in the underworld come from all over the world, and even if the true lineage of the underworld has not been broken, there is probably not much left.

"The Dao Sect may have always known about the existence of the Underworld, but they may not have cared about it."

Li Yuan composed himself and began to take stock of his spoils.

The Shadow Demon Body gained a great deal from his trip to the Ten Realms. He has now cultivated more than a million demonic shadows, each of which possesses at least one strand of magical power. As long as he breaks through to the fifth realm, the Shadow Demon Body can instantly ascend to the peak of the fifth realm!

Of course, this refers to magical power.

"The Shadow Demon Body is not lacking in magical power, but its spells and supernatural abilities are really lacking. If it were my true self, how would those demonic cultivators dare to chase after me?"

Li Yuan pondered the shortcomings of the Shadow Demon Body.

While the Xuan Yin Thunder Pool is certainly not bad, and its years of accumulation can unleash divine thunder that surpasses one's own realm, it can only unleash a few at most, making it merely a trump card.

Aside from the Thunder Pool, the Shadow Demon Body's methods are not very impressive, and it is difficult to threaten elite demon cultivators like Zhao Wangji, whose talent is actually inferior to that of geniuses like Xu Xunyi and Ding Yunjie.

Even with greater magical power, it's not certain that they could withstand one of his Five Extremes Divine Lights.

"The Shadow Demon Body is born from the extreme of Yin and generates Yang. Theoretically, it can cultivate major scriptures of both Yin and Yang. If it can be successfully cultivated, it can make up for its deficiencies..."

Having made this matter a memory, Li Yuan entered the divine realm.

After the Five Extreme Mountains stabilized initially, the divine realm's foundation greatly increased, and in his perception, it already possessed a greater sense of vastness and weight.

"Om~"

The Xuan Teng tree, as tall as Zhongji Mountain, swayed gently, its thousands of roots emerging from the ground to tightly wrap around a fist-sized jade toad, attempting to absorb it.

"That aura-devouring worm is really well hidden..."

Li Yuan focused his attention and sensed carefully that even with the threat of the Mystic Vine Tree, not a single one of the Qi-devouring insects showed itself.

"Woo~"

As if sensing Li Yuan's thoughts, the Xuan Teng Tree trembled violently and intensified its devouring power.

"Don't worry."

Li Yuan raised his hand and took out the toad, which was still as clean and new as ever.

This fiend is of too high a rank; even without the Devouring Qi Worm, the Xuan Teng Tree at this moment cannot devour it.

After calming the mother tree of the Xuan Teng, Li Yuan reached out and pulled a black stone from the vast ocean:
"The Five Emperors returned to the Five Extremes, and the Five Extremes gave rise to divine light. The Dharma Realm has begun to take shape and can now imprison and suppress the Second Fiend."

(End of this chapter)