Do not disturb?
What exactly is slumbering or being nurtured at the bottom of this Black Prison Celestial Dungeon?
After realizing that Liuliu was equally clueless, Meng Qi turned his gaze towards the Ghost Emperor Cheng Tang, who floated mid-air. His eyes pierced through the flickering ghostly flames surrounding the emperor, peering into the deepest darkness. There, he saw something vaguely taking shape, with hues of crimson, gold, orange, and green soaring upward from the depths.
“What are we disturbing?” After a brief contemplation, he asked directly.
Cheng Tang’s indistinct Dao patterns flared between his brows, his eyes exuding majesty tinged with ferocity. In a low, hoarse voice, he said, “This is none of your concern. Leave at once, lest I show no mercy.”
His voice was soft, like a muffled thunderclap, yet it resonated directly in the hearts of Meng Qi and Liuliu, compelling them to bow in submission. Even their innate spiritual light trembled under the pressure, their control over their Dao bodies weakening abruptly.
As the founder of the Shang Dynasty, who once defied the heavens and proclaimed himself emperor, Cheng Tang retained traces of his former dominance and imperial might despite being imprisoned for hundreds of millennia. His wrath could shake the heavens, his command could make all living beings kneel!
Facing this formidable adversary from ancient times, the Mystic Maiden of the Nine Heavens, Liuliu, remained extremely cautious. Just as she was about to communicate covertly with Meng Qi, she heard him declare boldly, “Since the Zhou replaced the Shang, countless ages have passed. Your Majesty, imprisoned here without the means to slumber or evade the erosion of time, must have long perished, your true spirit dissipated. That you can still converse with me and retain some strength suggests that whatever lies at the bottom of this celestial dungeon is tied to the cycle of reincarnation.”
Only through the transformations of reincarnation could one persist to this day and reclaim the body of the Ghost Emperor!
The moment the words “cycle of reincarnation” left Meng Qi’s lips, Cheng Tang erupted in fury.
“Damn you!”
“In my time, even mighty beings fell before me. Do not presume to be insolent!”
Imperial might surged like cosmic tides, manifesting an ancient imperial cauldron that descended toward Meng Qi’s head, aiming to suppress his fortune and weaken his innate spiritual light. The surroundings transformed into a netherworld, where pale virtue coalesced into banners that swept forward, annihilating all in their path.
“The Cauldron of Fortune! Accumulated Virtue of Ages!” Witnessing this, Liuliu’s expression darkened with gravity.
To think that after being imprisoned for countless ages, Emperor Cheng Tang could still summon the Cauldron of Fortune, rooted in the Shang Dynasty’s imperial legacy, and the accumulated virtue from establishing the netherworld!
Though far from its peak, this remnant “cauldron” of an imperial dynasty could suppress the fortunes of most immortals, plunging them into calamity, clouding their minds, and leading them step by step toward ruin. The accumulated virtue of ages not only shielded its wielder from disaster but could also reverse into one of the Five Ultimates, erasing all existence—a power of unparalleled ferocity!
Clang!
A crimson light erupted, sword energy piercing the heavens. Liuliu dared not delay, revealing her true form as the Mystic Maiden of the Nine Heavens, shrouded in ethereal mist and radiant light, her beauty beyond compare yet indistinct to the eye.
At that moment, facing this legendary emperor of ancient myth, this protagonist of a tumultuous era, Meng Qi did not retreat but advanced, stepping forward to meet the pale banners head-on.
With that step, the heavens and earth shifted, the netherworld trembled, and imperial might wavered. Meng Qi’s body rapidly expanded into a towering golden giant, his head brushing the heavens, his feet treading the Nine Nethers. His right hand stretched out, its palm birthing an abyssal darkness—a chaotic, directionless void that dimmed all around it—before pressing upward to meet the descending Cauldron of Fortune.
Upon contact, the darkness spread like ink, and the solemn cauldron let out a mournful hum, its suppressing intent shattered as it disintegrated into primal chaos, reverting to its original state.
“The Seal of Non-Ultimate!” Cheng Tang exclaimed in shock.
Before he could react, the dark-glowing palm continued its descent, suffusing the air with primordial chaos. The banners of pale virtue swayed briefly before dissolving into nothingness.
“No!”
Cheng Tang cried out in terror, turning to flee, attempting to escape the reach of Meng Qi’s palm. Yet no matter how far he traversed in an instant, he remained in place, his sense of direction utterly confounded, spinning in circles without progress.
The darkness engulfed Cheng Tang, extinguishing the ghostly flames and dissipating the spectral energy.
“To think the illusory Great Dao of Non-Ultimate Chaos could be so formidable…” Liuliu murmured, her eyes flickering with astonishment.
Even in the ancient era of myths, none had elevated the Non-Ultimate Chaos to an illusory Great Dao at the Creation Realm. This was no fault of her limited knowledge!
—The Primordial Heavenly Lord was born at the Shore of the Other Side, his Non-Ultimate Chaos already a perfected illusory fruit, leaving no clues to his state at the Creation Realm. The Golden Emperor severed her past to become the Old Mother of No-Birth, appearing before the world with power rivaling the Green Emperor’s near-Other Shore state, her Non-Ultimate Chaos nearly condensed into an illusory Dao fruit. As for the True Lord of Numinous Authority, Yang Jian, he had remained enigmatic since the Investiture of the Gods, answering summons but not orders, his true capabilities always concealed. When he reached the Creation Realm, and whether he ever condensed an illusory Non-Ultimate Chaos, remained mysteries to all outside the Jade Void Palace. The Great Sage Equalling Heaven, Sun Wukong, though also a master of the Seventy-Two Transformations, clearly did not walk the path of Non-Ultimate Chaos.
Only today did the Seal of Non-Ultimate reveal its supreme might at the Creation Realm!
Though Cheng Tang, weakened by eons of imprisonment and reincarnation, possessed less than a tenth of his former power, to annihilate his Cauldron of Fortune, accumulated virtue, and ghostly form in a single strike, reducing all to primordial chaos, was a feat that would give pause to any mighty being!
As Meng Qi prepared to withdraw his palm and capture Cheng Tang, the emperor’s true spirit exploded, scattering beyond recovery, as if governed by the natural cycle of life and death.
“A pity…” Meng Qi shook his head, having failed to anticipate the anomalies of this place’s reincarnation.
With that, he dismissed his colossal form, concealed his presence, and strode toward the source of the multicolored lights. Thoughtfully, he asked, “Earlier, Your Majesty spoke at length about the struggle for the Celestial Emperor’s throne, yet seemed to omit a pivotal ancient deity?”
When discussing the era of myths, this deity was unavoidable!
“Do you mean Empress Houtu?” Liuliu sighed softly. “She was born from the earth’s essence of the Real World, wise and benevolent, ever compassionate toward all living beings, protecting myriad realms. Though her authority was vast and her power immense, she never involved herself in the struggle for the Celestial Throne, earning universal respect.”
“In those days, turbid energies descended, forming the Nine Nethers—Luo Feng, the Black Prison, and the Yellow Springs—the origins of death and the birthplace of ghosts. Mortals with unresolved grievances or obsessions, upon sensing these realms, could become specters or zombies after death, retaining only their grudges while losing all other memories. Others simply dissipated into nature, with no concept of reincarnation. Later, as mortals learned to offer sacrifices, these lingering spirits could forge nether bodies, becoming ghostly deities, regaining memories, and establishing their own nether realms.”
“Ambitious figures like Cheng Tang sought to unify these realms into a single underworld, connecting Luo Feng, the Black Prison, and the rest of the Nine Nethers to form a true Diyu.”
Meng Qi frowned. “Had Empress Houtu reached the Other Shore by then?”
Liuliu shook her head. “No. After the Investiture of the Gods, when the Celestial Emperor secluded himself in the Hall of the Past to consolidate his gains and ascend to the highest heaven, Empress Houtu suddenly arrived, paid a secret visit, then returned to the earth. To our astonishment, she began transcending the Sea of Bitterness—unbeknownst to all, she had advanced so far, even surpassing the Celestial Emperor!”
“At the critical moment of her apotheosis, she made a great vow: to forge a divine artifact enabling reincarnation, using her illusory Dao fruit as material, her body as the cauldron, and the Nine Nethers as the flame. Through this, she succeeded in reaching the Other Shore—but at the cost of her life, transforming into the enigmatic Seal of Reincarnation… She had planned this sacrifice all along…”
Liuliu’s repeated use of “to our astonishment” betrayed her lingering disbelief.
“Who first obtained the Seal of Reincarnation after its creation?” Meng Qi pressed.
Liuliu smiled wryly. “The seal vanished the moment it appeared, untraceable even by the mighty. It resurfaced only during the fall of Mount Ling. Regardless, after Empress Houtu’s transformation, reincarnation became possible, with three souls replacing one in each cycle.”
As they spoke, they reached the dungeon’s deepest recess, where two stone slabs embedded in the ground bore intricate, blurred Dao patterns, resembling an ancient gate.
“Do you truly intend to explore this? Are you unafraid of disturbing something terrifying?” Liuliu asked gravely once more.
Meng Qi smiled faintly. “After attaining the Legendary Realm ahead of the impending calamity, I once felt content, acting cautiously and prudently. There was no fault in that. But as events spiraled beyond my control, bringing pain and helplessness, I realized one thing: in an era of apocalypse and contention among the Other Shore, playing it safe is no virtue. Without risk, there is no hope.”
“I would rather gamble today, even if it means falling here, than regret in the future for not striving harder when powerless!”
With that, he pressed his right hand against the stone slabs, his eyes gleaming like crystal lamps as he deciphered the intricate seals and restrictions.
Liuliu watched him, and for a fleeting moment, she saw the Meng Qi of old—a long-sheathed blade finally drawn, its edge gleaming cold and sharp.
A blade, relentless and unyielding, cleaving through all in its path!
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