Before the voices of the great supernatural beings like Guangchengzi and Manjushri Dharma Heavenly Venerable had even faded, Meng Qi suddenly felt his hands grow heavy, sensing an overwhelming aura of righteous kingly virtue and the almost weightless purity of wisdom.
These were the secretly transmitted *Emperor’s Manuscript* and *Manjushri Pure Land*. Given the secrecy of the matter, repeated back-and-forth exchanges would risk detection and unexpected interference. Thus, it was best to conduct negotiations and transactions in a single session.
The *Emperor’s Manuscript* was but a thin layer, yet it felt as heavy as the convergence of countless starry seas. The *Manjushri Pure Land*, spanning infinite kalpas and enveloping myriad universes, was profound in wisdom and suffused with purity, yet so light it seemed weightless. The two formed a striking contrast.
Without a second glance, Meng Qi casually stowed them away in his sleeve dimension. He swept his gaze over his senior brothers and sisters, adjusted his Taoist crown with a smile, and in the blink of an eye, transformed with the wind, slipping unnoticed out of the Jade Void Palace. Following the secret passage he had previously used to infiltrate the Netherworld, he headed toward the Crimson Mountains in the first layer of the Netherworld, where Qi Zhengyan and Zhao Heng were currently stationed.
Had it not been for the Green Emperor’s tacit approval, Meng Qi would never have dared to act so boldly. Once outside the Jade Void Palace, no matter how well he concealed himself or how adept his wind-borne transformations, he could not evade the notice of the Nirvana-level beings and those at the Creation Realm who bore the title of Heavenly Venerable. His path would then become perilous, fraught with unforeseen dangers, forcing him to adhere strictly to genuine strategies of alliance and negotiation, ensuring proper distribution of benefits before daring to bring the matter of the *Fengshen Bang* to light.
But now, with the Green Emperor’s consent, even if there remained the opposition of the Hidden Sovereign and the Heavenly Dao anomalies, the precondition was that their attempt to seize the *Fengshen Bang* would first have to be detected. In this regard, the Green Emperor’s act of concealment, aiding Meng Qi in his deception, was not difficult.
A black sun hung high in the sky, demonic energy churned, and the forces of corruption and decay spread like a tide. The negative psychic currents were as constant as the wind, starkly contrasting with the moral and legal principles of the real world and the Nine Heavens.
Meng Qi altered his form slightly, transforming into the “Primordial Heavenly Demon.” Instantly, he felt the terrifying power of the Netherworld layer upon him, condensing illusory manifestations of destruction, slaughter, devouring, assimilation, corruption, death, and samsara (not true Daos, but approximations—only by forming an illusory Dao Fruit could they be considered true aspects of the “Dao”). Around him stretched a boundless sea of suffering, unfathomably deep, filled with unrelenting torment. The river of time flowed through him, silently surging and washing over his being.
With the Netherworld’s “gifts,” “Primordial Heavenly Demon” Meng Qi briefly ascended to the Creation Realm, becoming a great supernatural being.
Of course, the reason he could manifest so many illusory Daos was due to the Chaos that encompassed all things. Other evil gods or demons could only enhance their corresponding Daos.
Simultaneously, Meng Qi’s long-near-Dao “Primordial Unity” also improved, placing him at a mid-tier level among great supernatural beings—after all, as a Legendary being who could step into the Creation Realm at any moment, he could be considered a pseudo-great supernatural being.
Savoring this intoxicating power, Meng Qi took a light breath, examining his thoughts and reminding himself not to be deluded by it. External power was easily gained and just as easily lost.
Steady, step-by-step cultivation was his true path!
His figure dissolved into a shadowy streak, distancing itself from the Yellow Springs, piercing through the demonic mist, and stealthily heading toward the Crimson Mountains.
After some time, towering, undulating mountains came into view, crimson as fire. The bloodiness and ferocity seemed “tempered,” replaced by a vigorous, indomitable spirit and the lofty ambition to challenge heaven and earth.
A single spark could start a prairie fire!
Just as he caught sight of them, Meng Qi’s heart stirred. He halted his flight and stopped moving forward.
The void spanning hundreds of thousands of miles around the mountains was suffused with an ominous chill and corruption, seemingly typical of the Netherworld. Yet, the keen intuition granted by the *Eight-Nine Arcane Art* made Meng Qi certain that no fewer than one terrifying being, nearly at the Nirvana level, was watching this place!
If he carelessly approached, he would surely be discovered!
“Those old monsters?” Meng Qi closed his eyes, cutting off his senses and withdrawing his divine will. Shedding his old cognitive patterns, he activated the “Cause of All Effects.”
In an instant, illusory darkness emerged, soon becoming hazy and indistinct. Deep within, in different directions, lurked monstrous entities of unimaginable size—terrifying beings that had devoured countless universes, unknown, mysterious, dreadful, and mad!
It really is those old monsters, and more than I imagined! Meng Qi murmured inwardly.
Some of these ancient beings had suppressed the Demon Lord in the primordial era, while others had attained enlightenment in the middle ancient times, nearly rivaling the Devil Buddha. They stood at the pinnacle of the Netherworld’s evil gods and demons, capable of partially manipulating the Netherworld. United, they could resist the invasion of supreme beings, often referred to as pseudo-Nirvana.
In the primordial era, there had only been two such entities: the Demon Lord and the Heaven-Slaying Daoist before they reached Nirvana. But as the apocalypse loomed and the end of the epoch drew near, the gathering momentum of destruction had, without producing new supreme beings, instead increased the number of pseudo-Nirvana entities in accordance with the Dao’s principles. To Meng Qi’s knowledge, there were three, yet his current perception suggested four!
From the deepest recesses of the illusory darkness radiated an interwoven sensation of chaos, evil, and destruction—both icy and scorching—that made Meng Qi feel as if he were facing a Heavenly Dao anomaly, on the verge of madness and fragmentation. The negative emotions in his consciousness nearly spiraled out of control.
This was an evil god born in the middle ancient times, a symbol of destruction and embodiment of chaos that emerged in response to the impending apocalypse and epoch’s end. It was called the “Nine Chaos Heavenly Venerable,” though even it likely did not know its true name.
Far to its left was a hazy, illusory aura of cold, deathly yin, and corruption—the “Dark Ghost Emperor,” who had once suppressed the Demon Lord in the primordial era. The first ghost of this epoch, it was later surpassed by the Demon Lord and became his subordinate, forced to watch as the Demon Lord ascended to Nirvana.
Only after the Demon Lord’s fall and the scattering of his body did the Dark Ghost Emperor advance further by harnessing the essence of death, reaching the pseudo-Nirvana level with the Netherworld’s support.
Far to the right of the Nine Chaos Heavenly Venerable lurked a layered, spacetime-distorting sense of madness—another primordial entity born from the negative aspects of time, embodying erosion, decay, apocalypse, and finality. Known as the “Black Heavenly Emperor,” it was the most troublesome of the three pseudo-Nirvana beings, second only to the Demon Lord and the Heaven-Slaying Daoist in the past.
The fourth presence lay opposite the Black Heavenly Emperor, faintly exuding bloodlust, devouring, dissolution, plunder, and slaughter. Were it not for the chaotic spacetime nearby revealing slight traces, Meng Qi might not have detected it at all.
“This feels familiar… like the Netherworld Blood Demon I encountered before. How did it grow so strong so quickly? The slaughter aspect… Could it have stumbled upon the Heaven-Slaying Daoist’s remains after returning early, devouring and plundering them?” Meng Qi speculated about the fourth presence’s origin.
Had the Heaven-Slaying Daoist not been defeated by the Demon Saint, successfully turning the “Demon Rampage” into “Demonic Descent,” it would have had a high chance of reaching Nirvana. Its remains would be invaluable to the Blood Demon, skilled in plunder, devouring, and assimilation.
Beyond these four, there were two more faintly perceptible presences, slightly weaker than the Nine Chaos Heavenly Venerable, Dark Ghost Emperor, Netherworld Blood Demon, and Black Heavenly Emperor—both familiar to Meng Qi and easily identified.
One was the pure slaughter intent of the Seven Slaughter Daoist, who seemed to have seized the opportunity when the Devil Buddha’s connection to him was severed by Meng Qi, finally breaking free from control. With the Nether Sea Sword’s aid and years of accumulation, it had overcome many obstacles.
The other was the profound demonic essence containing nearly all negative Daos, belonging to the still-recovering “Demon Monarch.”
These six were likely the Netherworld’s current peak combatants… Were it not for their mutual desire for the Demon Emperor’s Claw and their wariness of one another, Senior Brother Qi and Zhao Heng would have long been crushed. The Great Freedom Heavenly Son was no match for them… Meng Qi nodded slightly, surveying the surroundings and pondering how to evade their scrutiny.
Thanks to his gains in the Origin of Life and Death, his near-Dao Primordial Unity, and the Netherworld’s current enhancement, concealing his aura and traces from the Demon Monarch, Seven Slaughter Daoist, and the newly ascended Netherworld Blood Demon should be manageable. But the Nine Chaos Heavenly Venerable, Dark Ghost Emperor, and Black Heavenly Emperor were ancient entities with manifested Daos and keen intuition—not so easily deceived. If discovered, any disturbance would alert other factions, drastically increasing variables.
Noticing many evil gods and demons traversing mountains and rivers to enter the Crimson Mountains and resist the Netherworld’s influence, Meng Qi had an idea.
Not all of them could be volunteers—some were surely pawns planted by the Black Heavenly Emperor and others to infiltrate the Crimson Mountains… A smile flickered across Meng Qi’s face as he activated the Cause of All Effects, meticulously examining each for clues.
Once he found a suitable candidate, before it entered the six presences’ surveillance zone, Meng Qi transformed into a speck of dust, slipping into its mouth with a breath and landing in its stomach, where strong acids corroded it.
The Primordial Unity’s essence enveloped the speck, rendering it utterly untraceable in the darkness.
Unaware, the demon pressed on, entering the Crimson Mountains and approaching the area under surveillance.
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