Chapter 116: Spirit Enters the Netherworld

The Slaying Ghost Blade is undoubtedly the greatest gain; although the effect of that twenty-meter sword qi seems small, it might be remarkably effective against huge monsters.

Although these few cultivators didn't carry many Spiritual Stones, they did possess the basic cultivation methods they practiced.

Naturally, the bald cultivator had even more valuable items; besides those, Yan Buji found several bags and discovered that they actually contained a few first-transformation Gu Worms!

"Huh? Could it be that I was exposed because of these Gu Worms? But if the opponent is skilled in the Gu Worm Dao, why didn't they use these few Gu Worms at that time?"

"Could it be that these few Gu Worms are unsuitable for direct combat?"

Looking at the bald cultivator's fighting style, he indeed does not seem to be a cultivator specialized in Gu Worms.

Seeing these few Gu Worms peacefully asleep, it seems not to be because of them either.

How did the opponent discern my hidden location? Could it be that they possess a technique to decipher the King Yama's Judgment of Ghosts Diagram?

Yan Buji searched carefully, not missing even his crotch, and indeed found a gray square stone hidden in a pouch of his pants.

The stone was no bigger than a fingertip; when Yan Buji extended his spiritual sense to probe it, he suddenly felt his spiritual sense being amplified!

This amplification allows one to see clearer traces; anything within the range of one's spiritual sense, after being amplified by this stone, seems not to miss any suspicious detail.

"What is the origin of this thing? Some kind of Spiritual Material?" Yan Buji curiously examined it a few times, but then noticed subtle artificial carving marks, indicating it is not a Spiritual Material but an Accumulation!

An Accumulation formed by a cultivator refining a certain Spiritual Material should be usable in the assembly and forging of an Accumulation Device.

Yan Buji put this away; since the bald cultivator was really unrefined, he disliked it and washed it several times with water, then tied it to his waistband.

"To assemble even the simplest Accumulation Device, supposedly five Accumulations are needed; if I could dismantle the two Accumulation Armaments I currently have, I could instead craft one suitable for my own use."

"Accumulation Armament" refers to Accumulation Devices used in combat, which is also a common term among cultivators.

Naturally, auxiliary-type Accumulation Devices are called Accumulation Aids; Exotic Accumulation Devices, however, have no conventional name.

Most Spiritual Materials refined into Accumulations represent a cultivator's imagined component of an Accumulation Device; their attributes naturally can be divided into combat or auxiliary aspects.

For example, the Slaying Ghost Blade is an Accumulation Armament composed of five Accumulations: the hilt, three blade sections, and the tip that triggers sword qi; each Accumulation's function corresponds to the use of a combat weapon.

Naturally, the most valuable part is that blade tip.

To dismantle it, one must first understand how this Accumulation Armament is assembled and forged; for Yan Buji, this is also a difficult problem.

He lacks related knowledge in this area.

After tidying the battlefield, Yan Buji turned and left.

This harvest was not small; crucially, he also obtained the book passed down from Lin Fan's family, and Yan Buji felt something was off after just a glance.

However, it was inconvenient to examine it closely here, so he ran for several days into the deep mountains and old forests, beginning to study it carefully.

"This... this is a fictional account of the netherworld's underworld?"

Yan Buji glanced at it strangely and discovered that the scenes recorded—such as the Yellow Spring Road, Three Lives Stone, Bridge of Helplessness, Sea of Other Shore Flowers, and Hall of King Yama—seemed to leap off the page as if the author had witnessed them firsthand.

As he read on, Yan Buji became engrossed; for a moment, his mind filled with the marvelous aspects of the netherworld described in the book.

In the instant Yan Buji blinked, his entire spirit and will suddenly vanished!

When Yan Buji opened his eyes again, he abruptly looked around.

Countless wandering souls and wild ghosts walked aimlessly on the road, yet only his face showed a terrified expression!

"Is this an illusion?"

"A cultivator of the yang realm, daring to enter the netherworld with his spirit?!"

Before Yan Buji could react, a shackle had already been fastened onto his body.

Instantly, Yan Buji felt his spirit growing increasingly feeble, the shackle on his body pressing so hard he could barely breathe; he knelt on the ground, his body slowly lowering its head.

"Wrong, how is this guy so weak?"

"Good fellow, how could a Lianqi Phase cultivator run here? Is he not dead yet?"

"No, he's pretty much done; forget it, just count it as hitting a performance target."

"No way, King Yama said that cultivators' essences are far more important than ordinary people's; even if one mistakenly enters the netherworld realm, we must not cut short their yang lifespan. However, we can leave a mark on him, so that after he dies he won't be have his soul extracted and refined; we here lack manual labor."

"That works."

"Throw him out."

In his dazed state, Yan Buji only saw two black shadows; they removed the shackle from his body and slapped him in the face!

In an instant!

Yan Buji suddenly regained consciousness, and at once covered his face and cried out in pain:

"Ouch!!!"

Yan Buji covered his face, rolled on the ground wailing; after a while it gradually eased.

After a good while, Yan Buji finally rose, covered his face, and drew in a sharp breath of cold air.

"Damn, did I really just go to the netherworld and get slapped by a ghost official?"

"Something's off!"

Yan Buji sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and sensed his own spirit.

He found nothing particularly special about it, which was very strange.

They said they left a mark on him; could it be that slap?

But my essence, energy, and spirit haven't changed at all, have they?

Or perhaps my strength is insufficient, making it impossible to detect!

"Tsk!"

"Netherworld, netherworld... I remember this. When my cultivation is accomplished in the future, I will repay this slap!!" Yan Buji gritted his teeth; having lived this long, he had never been so humiliated, and he simply could not swallow this resentment.

But having made a trip to the netherworld, it's not that there are no benefits at all.

Yan Buji now has an inexplicable sense of familiarity with the three god-and-demon diagrams recorded in the Guān Tiān Dēng Mó Zhuàng; perhaps seeing the netherworld changed his own perception of gods and ghosts, or perhaps the netherworld influenced his spirit, making those diagrams appear to him as if they had truly happened.

But its essence remains utterly foggy; perhaps later, by finding opportunities to sneak into the netherworld a few times, he could clarify the origins of those three god-and-demon diagrams!

"If it truly relates to the netherworld, why is the Blood Heaven Ascension Degree based on the Supreme Sacred Primordial Classic?" Yan Buji pondered.

Blood Heaven Ascension Degree, in the mysterious Zhang Lai's mouth, is called the Ghost Transformation God-Demon Skill; hearing the name, it's probably because it has a great relation to the Netherworld.

The general outline obtained from the Ancient Martial Artists is not centered on Guān Tiān Dēng Mó Zhuàng but rather another internal skill; could it be that the origins of these three internal skills are all extraordinary?

The Ancient Martial Artists, to better suit their cultivation, chose the Supreme Sage Primordial Classic as the main, with the other two as supplementary......

"In other words, if I take Blood Essence Skill as the main, then Blood Heaven Ascension Degree's enhancement to my qi and blood should reach its maximum; if Guān Tiān Dēng Mó Zhuàng is the main, then my True Essence should become increasingly filled with demonic qi; but if the Supreme Sage Primordial Classic is the main, aside from my spiritual awareness being a notch above ordinary cultivators, it seems to have no other function."

Yan Buji thought carefully; the general outline mentioned taking the Supreme Sage Primordial Classic as the main......

Perhaps the Ghost Transformation God-Demon Skill that Zhang Lai spoke of uses a general outline centered on Guān Tiān Dēng Mó Zhuàng?!

Then isn't there also a general outline centered on Blood Essence Skill?!

I'm really screwed!

If that's really the case, then my Blood Heaven Ascension Degree isn't even a complete form; I still need to find the other two general outlines and train them separately to restore the marvelousness of this ancient Martial Dao Profound Skill!

Really troublesome.

Yan Buji covered his head and let out a sigh.