Chapter 1761: Yama Hell

After King Yu Yong perished, he had been in a dazed, half-conscious state, having lost all sensation.

He did not know how long had passed.

He opened his eyes and found the surroundings a dim yellow expanse; a river surged up from beneath the Nine Nethers, flowing toward an endless distance.

Within the turbid river water, one human soul after another had lost sensation, their pupils rolled back to white, forming neat lines as they writhed ceaselessly in the river, drifting along with the current toward the distance.

Suddenly, a portal brimming with the metallic aura of weapons swung open, and from within came a low voice: "Sword, three-nine-two."

The turbid river water gurgled and flowed, with no response.

As the voice fell, a tributary of turbid water split off from the River of Rebirth and flowed toward the weapon-aura portal, the river water pouring into it in a steady stream.

Along with the river water, from time to time white-pupiled human souls would peel off from the main current and enter the weapon-aura portal, one after another, each soul's aura seemingly tinged with a sharp, upright edge.

No more, no less—exactly three hundred and ninety-two such souls flowed past.

After the three hundred and ninety-two human souls flowed into the weapon-aura portal, the portal vanished, and the tributary likewise disappeared.

"Axe, seven-nine."

"Spear, three-seven-eight-two."

"..."

One low voice after another rose above the River of Rebirth; one portal after another appeared, swallowing the souls of specific characteristics and specific numbers that flowed through from the tributaries—precise and efficient.

Besides the names of weapons like sword, spear, and axe, words such as 'Elixir,' 'Longevity,' 'Fortune,' and 'Rank' also appeared from time to time above the River of Rebirth, each followed by a number.

The numbers following such words were very few—mostly single digits—and they did not appear often.

The word that appeared in the greatest numbers was 'Soldier.'

Whenever this word appeared, a tributary dozens of miles wide would split off from the River of Rebirth, and a portal ten thousand meters tall would rise, its surface inscribed with countless formations of war—profound and unfathomable.

This portal named 'Soldier' simply swallowed human souls in an endless torrent, as if a hundred rivers were pouring into the sea; tens of millions or hundreds of millions were commonplace, and one could not imagine how many divine armies for the endless starry battlefields could be forged from these souls.

Besides 'Soldier,' there were also portals of this type named 'Captain,' 'General,' 'Marshal,' and 'Commander,' though they were far smaller and far fewer in number.

The 'Marshal' and 'Commander' portals in particular were extremely rare; each time they appeared, they would generate a heavy, oppressive pressure, carefully and gingerly cradling those extraordinary 'Marshal' and 'Commander' souls as they took them into the portal.

The vast tide of souls from the mortal world poured into this place through the River of Rebirth, to be continuously processed and sorted.

"This place is... Yama Hell."

Yu Yong's eyes were full of confusion.

As if by instinct, he recogni

zed what this place was.

"The human world has so many more souls than before; the souls of commanders, marshals, and generals have increased dozens of times over compared to the past, and even the souls of kings have begun to appear."

The next moment, this thought arose in his mind.

This place seemed extremely familiar to him; he felt no unease, and many things abruptly surfaced in his mind without the slightest hesitation.

He looked around once more.

Yu Yong was unlike all the other souls.

He did not sink into the River of Rebirth but stood high in the heavens, sacred radiance blooming spontaneously around him and illuminating a stretch of sky; golden lotuses, auspicious clouds, raindrops, and other sacred wonders manifested around him—noble and resplendent.

"We pay respects—"

"to the Rain Master Divine Lord!"

A great host of the Underworld's ghost officials had long been prostrating themselves around him; at their head stood the very incarnations of Ox-Head and Horse-Face, the chiefs of the ghost officials, peak Merge Dao divine officeholders, who kowtowed respectfully: "We humbly congratulate the Rain Master Divine Lord on his reincarnated return, his merit further advanced, his divine power boundless!"

"Rise."

"It is merely one reincarnation."

Yu Yong said lightly.

He instinctively disregarded these ants.

He himself knew where he was going; he flew upward into the high heavens, countless wonders spreading in all directions, his divine might awe-inspiring, causing the lesser deities to tremble in fear.

Suddenly, Yu Yong's steps faltered, and he looked toward the River of Rebirth.

There, countless white-pupiled souls trudged forward one step at a time, numb and stiff; among them was a beautiful woman who was the same—her skin a blistered blue-white, a vicious wound on her head.

"Cui..."

Yu Yong's heart twisted in agony.

"What will her ending be?"

He asked.

"Reporting to the Divine Lord,"

the Ox-Head ghost official glanced up at him and said cautiously: "This woman bears the sin of offending the divine; in life she committed the great crime of blasphemy. Therefore, according to custom, she will be scorched and tormented by the poisonous fires of hell for ten thousand years, and only then sent into the Weapon Portal to be forged into arms."

"You..."

The Ox-Head ghost official dared not say more.

If she were an ordinary soul, it would be one thing, but this was a King-grade soul—an important asset of the Dao Court; he, a mere Ox-Head ghost official, would not dare to comment.

Yu Yong was silent.

He knew far more than the Ox-Head ghost official.

The true self would not agree.

Let alone a King-grade soul—even an ordinary mortal soul, if he himself was attached to her, the true self would surely destroy her, calling it a 'karmic obstacle to reincarnation.'

"Reincarnation..."

"Am I me? Am I Yu Yong? Am I the Rain Master?"

A look of confusion appeared on Yu Yong's face.

He raised his head and looked toward the depths of Yama Hell

?? and asked in a low voice: "Is the King of Yama present?"

"My King,"

"The King is in closed-door cultivation and cannot come out lightly, lest his cultivation be disturbed…"

The ox-headed underworld messenger hemmed and hawed for a long while before saying.

"Enough."

Yu Yongzhi sighed softly.

He knew that, as a mere reincarnated avatar, he could not casually obtain an audience with the Lord of Yama's Hell, let alone persuade him to spare a certain divine soul.

Unless he came bearing a decree from his true body — only then would things be different.

A desolate feeling stirring in his heart, Yu Yong stopped wasting effort and flew straight west, passing through the Heavenly Realm, traversing the Six Paths' gates, heading toward the distant Rain Master Divine Palace.

……

Deep within Yu Yong's divine soul, a gaze quietly watched everything.

He saw the River of Reincarnation flowing like an assembly line, saw the mortal world's divine souls streaming like tides, saw gate after gate, and saw ox-headed and horse-faced underworld messengers one after another — his eyes flashed.

"The Six Paths of Reincarnation…"

"The human race's Six Paths of Reincarnation inheritance has indeed spread."

A fierce glint flickering in Jiang Ding's eyes: "What's even more of a coincidence is that the Six Paths of Reincarnation here shares many similarities with the Ancient God Ancestor's inheritance — many of its structural elements are practically copied wholesale."

The human race's Six Paths of Reincarnation differs entirely according to each individual's comprehension, just as the Ancient God Ancestor's and the Great Sun Sword Son's Six Paths of Reincarnation are two completely different things.

"This can no longer be explained by coincidence — identical leaves appearing again and again."

"…Is he your son?"

Jiang Ding Zi murmured.

The Ancient God Ancestor — this being of great merit and great sin — was his son killed and his inheritance seized afterward, or did his son become the Lord of Yama's Hell in the Buddha-and-god great-thousand-worlds?