Thanks for the invitation, I just entered the chat group after traveling through Under One Person.

Chapter 247 The upper limit of ability
From the outside, it appears to be a valley, but in reality, it's a hidden paradise. Inside lies an endless, deathly black sea. And on its vast surface, there isn't a single thing floating.

Without the starting signal from the goalkeeper, anyone attempting to rush into the former Fairy Valley would fall into this endless black dead sea.

Of course, that applies to ordinary cultivators. For a team like Su Yun, Jiang Mingzi, and Venerable Bai, whose strength is somewhat excessive, the Black Dead Sea is just an extra sight to admire.

"Fellow Daoists, I am injured and unable to greet you all. Please forgive me." Su Yun and the others arrived at the entrance of the valley. They did not see the pink fat pig guarding the entrance. A voice transmission entered their ears, which was obviously the voice of the owner of this place, the Thunder Pig.

The Thunder Pig was just using lightning to heal its injuries, or more accurately, to suppress the worsening of its injuries, when it sensed three people approaching. Upon closer inspection, it could tell that one of them was a seventh-rank Venerable, just like itself.

The other two were cultivators whose true nature he couldn't discern even from a seasoned seventh-rank Venerable like himself. Even that seventh-rank Venerable gave him an unusual feeling; he was definitely not an ordinary Venerable.

Before long, Su Yun and his two companions entered the secret realm and met the Thunder Pig. The Thunder Pig did not deliberately hide its injuries. In the original story, it could naturally conceal them when facing juniors like Jiu Deng and Song Shuhang, but the people in front of it were at least Venerables, so there was no need for it to hide them.

As for his own safety, Tian Lei Zhu didn't need to worry. After all, their Heavenly Island had a Tribulation Immortal guarding it, so they weren't afraid of three cultivators with malicious intent. If one of the three was stronger than a Tribulation Immortal and attacked with malice, it wouldn't matter whether he concealed his injuries or not.

On the other side of the Thunder Boar's massive body, near the base of its hind leg, a gruesome wound gaped open. It wasn't an ordinary scratch or puncture, but a deep tear that exposed bone.

The flesh was torn and rolled up by the violent force, with charred and curled edges, as if it had been burned by extreme heat or corrosive energy.

The wound was so long that it almost stretched across half of its abdomen; so deep that the outline of the broken, white ribs could be clearly seen below, and the shadows of the injured internal organs could even be vaguely seen pulsating beneath.

Dark, black bloodstains seeped into the surrounding dark skin, congealing into clumps and emitting a faint, metallic odor of rust and burnt blood. Deeper inside, viscous, almost black blood seeped out extremely slowly.

However, even more bizarre and deadly than this shocking physical injury was the black mist that lingered inside and around the wound.

This fog was no ordinary smoke or dust; it was as thick as ink that could not be dissolved, and it carried a chilling vitality. It was like countless tiny, living black maggots, wriggling and churning incessantly between the rolled-up flesh, in the cracks of broken bones, and on the bleeding wounds.

The mist didn't spread, but rather clung tightly to every inch of flesh, greedily devouring life like a living thing. It didn't emit heat, but rather a cold, filthy aura, like a curse from the abyss.

Lightning would erupt from deep within the Thunder Pig's body, like tiny blue electric snakes that flashed through the flesh and blood near the wounds, attempting to dispel the black mist.

But this feeble resistance was so futile in the face of the thick, viscous black fog. The moment the lightning touched the fog, it emitted a faint "sizzling" sound, like cold water being poured into hot oil. It was immediately swallowed up and annihilated by the fog, leaving only a deeper silence.

"I apologize, fellow Daoists. Welcome to Heavenly Island." Thunder Pig greeted Su Yun and his companions.

"Oh, you're too kind. Fellow Daoist Pig, but your injuries are indeed not to be underestimated," Jiang Mingzi said with a faint smile, glancing at the Thunder Pig's wounds. As for finding a way to treat it, that was out of the question for him, mainly because he wasn't skilled in that area. Inflicting such severe injuries was easy for him, but recovery was a different story. "The black mist around the wounds on Fellow Daoist Pig's body is a bit strange..." Venerable White looked at the black mist, feeling he should know what it was, but he had no recollection of it.

"Fellow Daoists, don't waste your energy. This is the power of the Nine Netherworld, tracing its source to the power of the Nine Netherworld Ruler. Even the immortals of our Heavenly Court are powerless against it. I'm already very lucky to be alive," the Thunder Pig said calmly. In the original story, his description of Song Shuhang's terminal illness was indeed accurate. If it weren't for Song Shuhang's plot hole, he really wouldn't have lasted much longer and would have died.

"Oh, so it's the power of the Nine Netherworld. No wonder it seemed so familiar." Venerable Bai suddenly realized. At their level of cultivation, how could they not know about the Nine Netherworld? There were cultivators from the Nine Netherworld on this Heavenly Island, although these cultivators were very low-level.

Venerable Bai was indeed aware of the situation in the Nine Netherworld. However, what he didn't know was that his feeling was actually due to the corruption on the Heavenly Thunder Pig originating from the power of the Nine Netherworld Ruler. After all, another Nine Netherworld Ruler was left behind by the previous Heavenly Dao, Bai.

"Impressive, fellow Daoist." Su Yun also gave the Thunder Pig a thumbs up. The Nine Netherworld Ruler is an existence comparable to the Heavenly Dao, and the Heavenly Dao is a level above the Longevity Realm. Although this power was already very weak when it was distributed in the Thunder Pig, it is indeed very impressive that a seventh-grade Venerable could survive so stubbornly.

It's not hard to guess that the injuries on the Heavenly Thunder Pig are related to the contingency plan left by the Heavenly Dao Fat Ball in the Heavenly Court, as well as the collapse of the Heavenly Emperor and the Heavenly Court.

The original work doesn't mention anything about this, so it's likely the author changed the setting later on. But in the world of cultivation, something major must have happened involving the Heavenly Dao Fat Ball, the Nine Nether Fat Ball, and the Heavenly Court.

This secret comes from a future timeline, and the Heavenly Emperor Yu Rouzi in that timeline that Bai and Song Shuhang couldn't transcend would likely know a lot of information. However, since the Heavenly Emperor Yu Rouzi hasn't appeared yet, it's quite difficult to find out. After all, even the "old officials" of the Heavenly Court, like Pavilion Master Chu, didn't know the truth.

Among this group, Song Mutou, the first-generation spirit ghost of Song Shuhang from the future, perhaps knows the most information that could lead to changes in the Heavenly Emperor.

Su Yun possessed the discerning eye to see through the very essence of things, but since arriving in the cultivation world, he had never misused this ability. The reason was that the cultivation world contained cultivators above the fifth rank, and more than one at that.

The upper limit of the cultivation world is not low. It is not a small world like the One Person World. Even the Heavenly Dao can't do anything to Su Yun in a small world like the One Person World. He can wander around the inner world at will.

But the world of cultivation is different; looking around recklessly can easily get you into trouble. Su Yun never seeks out trouble beyond his capabilities.

In terms of the chat group's level classification, the upper limit of the cultivation chat group's world is that Bai and Song Shuhang will become transcendent beings in the future, reaching the realm of celestial immortals.

The Celestial Immortals in the chat group are the only ones who have witnessed the passage of time, transcending heaven and earth, entering the dimension of spacetime, and preserving their own existence. Those who transcend to the Heavenly Dao and those who achieve immortality are extremely likely to be True Immortals.

As everyone knows, in the chat group he's in, the gap between each level widens as you progress. One might think there should be a level difference between immortals and the Heavenly Dao, but the Confucian sages of this world have proven with their immense power that the gap between immortals and the Heavenly Dao is not insurmountable; classifying them as one level is perfectly reasonable.

Whether it's him or Jiang Mingzi, they can at most deal with the Tribulation Immortals. There are quite a few existing but hidden immortals, after all, the title of "immortal" isn't given lightly.

(End of this chapter)