Chapter 159

Mu Yi witnessed a chaos, but the yin officials and yin soldiers present seemed already accustomed to it.

"This is already the tenth incident this year, right? Where did all these reckless bastards come from?" Some yin officials muttered to their companions.

Obviously, such a huge chaos cannot be calmed quickly among these yin officials.

The last time someone caused trouble in the Underworld, they had only heard of it in legends; never expected to see so many people causing trouble in the Underworld in their lifetime.

Although it's only near the Ghost Gate, possibly provoking the Ghost Emperor to act, it's already remarkably astonishing.

Mu Yi followed the crowd toward the Ghost Gate when a soft doubt sounded, and a speck of spiritual light flew into his body.

"Since you are the Lord of Reincarnation recognized by Hou Tu Niangniang, this object should be given to you!"

Although it sounded like official business, Mu Yi couldn't tell why he sensed excitement in the other's voice.

"Zongwang Prompt: You obtained Ghost Gate (Fragment)"

"By day water, by night blood, Naihe River, Naihe River, what to do with Naihe? This place is called the Naihe River!"

"Marshal Mu Yin, come up, the Yan Luo King orders me to bring you to the Yan Luo Hall to report!"

Knowledge of the Underworld would appear in Mu Yi's mind as he saw the corresponding affairs.

"Are you Mu Yi?"

2. Possessing this item allows summoning the door gods: Shentu and Yulei (based on the user's profession level), unlimited uses, each use can be reset after cooldown.

The souls wandering outside the Ghost Gate are so numerous they cannot be estimated.

Mu Yi's mind surfaced memories of the ferrymen, likewise low-level workers of the Underworld, who lingered in the netherworld for various reasons, lacking combat ability to become yin officials, only able to work as ferrymen guiding souls.

Mu Yi boarded the small boat; the ferryman wore a bamboo hat, his face indistinct, though close at hand, he seemed nonexistent.

After a single admonition, the Ghost Gate fell quiet again, but the feeling Mu Yi received was not dead silence; it was like a dormant giant beast, silently awaiting the next snack delivered to its door.

"Nai River…"

He lifted his head, and a brand‑new world unfolded before his eyes.

Mu Yi entered the Ghost Gate with a hint of awe.

After all, the Bridge of Naihe is a passage for reincarnation, already packed with countless souls; having Yin Chas and Yin Soldiers crowd the bridge would greatly reduce speed and efficiency.

Yu Lei, though clad in golden armor, bore no weapon; he merely extended a hand to stroke the fierce tiger coiled at his side.

Generally, Shen Tu stands on the left and Yu Lei on the right.

"Soul, return! To your lord's eternal work."

The Yama King perched high upon the hall platform; although it was merely a simple summons, Mu Yi felt as if Mount Tai were pressing down, his breath becoming labored.

Ghost Gate (Fragment)

1. Possessing this item allows one to ignore environmental limits and summon a Ghost Gate phantasm; the phantasm possesses 50% of Ghost Gate traits, can suppress 40% of soul‑type attributes, can subdue ley lines, the Nether, and other illusory entities, and can be used to pass through this gate to reach Jiuzhou‑Underworld‑Ghost Gate.

……

Mu Yi arrived at the Yama Hall of the Fifth Court Yama.

Mu Yi hadn't expected that this Ghost Gate was almost identical to the teleportation of the Zong Network.

Special Effect:

An aged voice hummed softly, and immediately a small boat halted before Mu Yi; the boat was uncanny, not touched by a drop of water, and the ripples along its side seemed to dance to the melody.

The whole sky was a dull gray, lifeless; before him roared a mighty river, and he stood on its bank.

Item Type: Curio

The Ten Courts Yama are, respectively: Qin Guang King, Chu Jiang King, Song Emperor King, Five Officials King, Yama King, Bian Cheng King, Tai Shan King, City King, Equality King, Wheel Turning King.

"Soul, return! The lord has no further this Nether City…"

3. Can summon the Eastern Ghost Emperor: Shen Tu and Yu Lei avatars (at 50% power) descend; the distance from their true forms affects the pre‑summon sway, and this trait becomes void after one successful summon.

"Ferryman?"

4. Merging with other Ghost Gate fragments can enhance

At this moment only Shen Tu seemed on duty; Yu Lei was silent. The fragment was ejected from the left side, and Mu Yi sincerely bowed in thanks.

Yet nothing happened; as if everything were ordinary, Mu Yi was led into the Yama Hall.

A familiar dizzy sensation!

Shen Tu wore a golden helm and armor, wielded a long halberd, presenting the imposing image of a celestial general.

Mu Yi vaguely felt that the figure before him might not be merely a simple ferryman.

It could be considered a diversion channel that had to be opened.

"Go forth!"

"Thanks, Shen Tu, Ghost Emperor!"

Mu Yi glanced, his heart leapt with joy: what a fine thing!

He hadn't expected that a single remark from Hou Tu Niangniang would be so effective; without even entering the Underworld, he already reaped the benefit.

The Yin Chas escorted the dead souls onto the ferryman's boat at the shore, then sailed toward the other shore, while more souls merged into the river, flowing toward an unknown direction.

"Report, Yama King, I am Mu Yi!" Bearing heavy pressure, Mu Yi replied.

The Yama King gave Mu Yi a deep glance; he was eager to discover what abilities this youngster, who had attracted Hou Tu Niangniang's attention, possessed.

That is Hou Tu Niangniang, the true ruler of the Underworld, who together with the Heavenly Court's sovereign forms the Imperial Heaven and Earth, overseeing the Heavenly Court and Underworld of Jiuzhou, governing all Heavenly Gods and Earth Deities.

He knew Mu Yi's divine rank was obtained through the Hundred Schools, that his potential was undeniable, and that standing out among the many apprentices of the Hundred Schools usually foretells a respectable future achievement.

However, it was the first time anyone had drawn Hou Tu Niangniang's personal attention.

"The Niangniang has issued a decree; you may freely enter and exit the Underworld!" the Yama King relayed Hou Tu Niangniang's edict.

"Praise the heavens, emulate the profound virtue, glorify the imperial Earth Deities of Hou Tu!" Mu Yi quickly bowed to the void in thanks.

"Your timing is perfect; I have a matter at hand, and the other Yin commanders are absent from the Underworld, so I entrust it to you!"

As he spoke, the Yama King tossed a token to Mu Yi, wanting to see what abilities the person favored by Hou Tu Niangniang truly possessed.

The task that should have been handled together by Black and White Impermanence or Ox-Head and Horse-Face was simply thrown to Mu Yi by King Yama.

Of course, King Yama did not intentionally make things difficult for Mu Yi; King Yama merely wanted to see Mu Yi's ability. Knowing Mu Yi came from a Military Strategist background, King Yama decided to allocate three thousand nether soldiers for Mu Yi to command, which also counts as providing Mu Yi with sufficient preparation, fitting the identity of a nether commander.

This is the nether soldier tiger talisman; I have additionally allocated three thousand nether soldiers to you—go!

Yes!

As Mu Yi accepted the mission, the comprehensive network information refreshed on his retina.

【Underworld Mission—Reorder the Netherworld】

Mission description: The multiverse contains countless worlds, the netherworld is innumerable, in places the underworld cannot attend to, the netherworld falls into chaos, and the souls of the dead survive in the netherworld and the mortal realm according to their own wishes.

The chaos of the netherworld affects the mortal realm; the mortal realm becomes turbulent and unsettled, heaven and earth decline. Upon the Heavenly Court's commission, the underworld sends personnel to establish an underworld in this realm, to stabilize the netherworld's cycle of reincarnation.

Mission target level: 10~20

Mission requirements: Eliminate all demons, monsters, and evil spirits within the designated range, to lay a pacifying foundation for the Underworld.

Mission rewards: incense offerings, nether currency, merit.

Looking at the mission, Mu Yi stroked his chin—this isn't a case of sleepiness meeting a pillow, is it? King Yama is a good person; this task exactly suits his intentions. He had been worrying where to find the evil ghosts for constructing the Hungry Ghost Dao, and this is just ready-made.

All along, Mu Yi has never been able to bring back all the souls he obtains on each mission.

It's as if, within the Eastern Dao Prefecture, the vast majority of the souls he obtains, after having their sins cleansed, are thrown to that world's underworld.

Only the souls of infant ghosts and heretical cultivators, according to unspoken rules, are left for him.

The same was true in Modelos; he could not directly take that many souls from the opponent's territory, so Mu Yi, the so-called Lord of Reincarnation, has basically absorbed hardly any souls.

This is also why the Asura Dao has made no progress so far—there aren't enough souls for them to upgrade.

This time, with no underworld jurisdiction, doesn't that mean all the souls he obtains are his!

Upon realizing this, Mu Yi immediately clenched his fists and rubbed his palms, eager to rush out and slaughter in all directions.

Holding the tiger talisman, he received three thousand nether soldiers from the nether soldier camp.

However, unlike the elite nether soldiers seen outside the Ghost Gate, these nether soldiers before him appear somewhat uneven in quality; nevertheless, they are basically at Level 10 or above, and the few ghost officers among them are between Levels 13 and 15.

After a rough glance, Mu Yi knew that these nether soldiers all possess a unified elite talent; they were likely custom-made for the Underworld by some great figure of the Military Strategist school. Although they appear plain and unadorned, for nether soldiers who usually only fight in the netherworld, this talent is the most suitable.

Each nether soldier possesses dual elite talents, and moreover they are a talent combination conforming to the Military Strategist's essential principles; although only one effect manifests outwardly, appearing as just a single elite talent, Mu Yi still discerned a hint of the method.

The first Talent Effect is the Ghost Domain; though it looks like an ordinary talent, it is essentially a mental talent, using will to permeate the heavenly and earthly essence, then converting that essence into the netherworldly energy they are most familiar with.

The second Talent Effect is Energy Convergence; it controls the heavenly and earthly essence to achieve the effect of attacking with netherworldly energy.

When combined, the effect is astonishing; theoretically, if these nether soldiers are strong enough, they can even alter reality within the netherworld, twisting reality into a talent that forms the basis of their own power.

This guarantees that these nether soldiers can exert the advantage of fighting on home turf even in the mortal realm, aligning with Bai Qi's theory of independent belief domains, although this is clearly more refined, achievable even without reliance on the chief commander.

It is astonishing; at least, after Mu Yi analyzed these nether soldiers' talents, he still did not know how to begin. According to his level, following the talent effects, he could already deduce how they should be trained.

The yield rate cannot be said to be one hundred percent; at least it is around fifty percent. However, upon seeing the nether soldiers' talent combination, Mu Yi felt only bewilderment.

Who the hell constructed this thing? It makes no sense at all—purely showing off—yet while showing off it also retains practicality; Mu Yi feels damn it.

However, when Mu Yi went through the procedures at the Underworld Bureaucracy, the Underworld Bureaucracy said they could not spare personnel to equip Mu Yi with subordinates, indicating that Mu Yi could gather his own team, and then they shoved several dozen sets of nether official equipment onto Mu Yi.

Although Mu Yi felt a bit strange, does the Underworld also suffer from a shortage of personnel?

However, thinking back to the scene outside the Ghost Gate where a single nether official was pressing down on a dozen people, Mu Yi thought the Underworld might indeed be really short-staffed.

As for subordinates of nether officials, Mu Yi didn't care about that; as long as he had troops, that was enough. As a Military Strategist officer, as long as he had soldiers in his hand, he had nothing else to worry about!

When coming, one must pass through the Ghost Gate; when leaving, one must likewise pass through the Ghost Gate, but the landing point is not the Yellow Spring Road outside the Ghost Gate—it is a direct transmission to the mission target's world.

Mu Yi realized at this moment; no wonder he hadn't seen anyone come out before—only an endless stream of souls being escorted to the Gate of Ghosts.

So that's how it is; without permission, one simply cannot escape the Underworld, can they?

The mission site is in an unnamed small world, which is also the latest world annexed by Jiuzhou.

This is new knowledge Mu Yi learned after entering the Underworld: Jiuzhou is constantly expanding, which is also why the Heavenly Court and the Underworld continuously recruit personnel, because the territory keeps expanding, so the needed manpower naturally must increase as well.

After these new worlds are annexed by Jiuzhou, they take on Jiuzhou's form, reflecting a segment of Jiuzhou's history, and then begin to develop following Jiuzhou's historical progression.

The world Mu Yi has arrived in roughly corresponds to the Qing dynasty; looking at the data, it seems somewhat like the Zhizhai world Mu Yi used to like.

In Mu Yi's updated knowledge base, most small worlds, when annexed, are first reduced to chaos, then begin to evolve according to Jiuzhou's historical progression, reflecting Jiuzhou's most tumultuous historical period.

Because during this period there are no Heavenly Gods and Earth Deities, it is the easiest time for evolution, and it is also the manifestation of the resentments of the native gods and spirits that were eradicated within those small worlds.

They would rather die than let Jiuzhou have any good fortune; however, such resentment mostly fades under the wash of time, being worn away in the continually reset world, eventually becoming part of heaven and earth, beginning to evolve Jiuzhou's history anew, and thoroughly becoming part of Jiuzhou.

This world is no exception, but its development has clearly gone off track, which is why intervention is needed to steer the process back onto the proper course.

Mu Yi had just arrived in this world; from far away he sensed that a certain mountain ridge suddenly burst forth with endless yin energy shooting straight into the heavens, the thick yin-sha energy almost solidifying, enveloping that mountain ridge.

Immediately afterward, Mu Yi felt an almost tangible malice.

The other party was warning Mu Yi to get off his turf, or else he wouldn't be polite.

"Hehehe, wait to die! I'll slash you first!" Mu Yi made a slicing gesture at his neck toward the direction the malice came from.

Avoid?

Why should I avoid?

He came here precisely to unleash a massacre!

Mu Yi's provocation was clearly felt by the other party.

"Seeking death......"

A shrill howl rang out near Mu Yi's ear.

Several streams of thick black smoke surged toward Mu Yi from the mountain ridge.