<h4>Chapter 120: The Underworld Realm</h4>


    Underworld Realm.


    This ce was called by many names in history.


    The Land of the Dead, the Prison of the Spirits, and many more. Such namese from the fact that most of the dead spirits has the Underworld Realm as their next destination.


    But it has not always been like that.


    It was said that eons ago, the system of life after death was way different that today. Before, there existed a ce where dead souls gather to be reincarnated.


    Their next life will be determined by the virtues and sins theymitted in their past life. This umtes as their karma. The more good deeds were performed, the more good karma a person can have. The more bad deeds were done, the more bad karma sticks on the person.


    The more good karma there is, the better life the person can have in his/her next life. A person that collected many bad karma might even be reincarnated as a nt or an animal on their next life.


    As such, mortals and practitioners were taught to avoidmitting sin to ensure a better life for the next reincarnation.


    As for their memories, these souls were forced to drink Grandma Meng’s soup. This soup effectively wipes out any memory of the soul that drinks it. These ‘cleansed’ souls were then led to their next life.


    Aside from reincarnation, the universe also produces countless new souls everyday. This ensures the increase of living beings in the universe.


    This was the way in the past. Reincarnation and creation of additional life.


    But then one day, a powerful practitioner who reached Half-Step Tenth Stage in the Dao of Life and Death decided to rebel against thews of the Universe itself.


    “My Dao is to live and die freely! Thew of the universe regarding reincarnation stifles the potential of everyone! So what if they are dead? They can still continue on living despite being dead! F**k reincarnation! ”


    This person then uttered the words that rocked the whole Universe.


    “So be it! I shall introduce a new ce for the dead! We shall create our own kingdom!”


    Thunder and lightning rocked the whole universe as the practitioner used his own power to carve out a part of the universe itself. Using his Dao of Life and Death, he modified this ce to be amodating for the dead souls.


    This was the start of the Underworld Realm.


    Basically speaking, the Underworld Realm was the ce where the souls of the dead can also go. Here, instead of reincarnation, they can live as if it was just they are alive. It was made possible by the creator’s Dao of Life and Death.


    For him, Life and Death are not two separate concepts. They can also be fused as one.


    Even in death, life is also possible.


    This unique status of the Underworld Realm managed to greatly affect the cycle of reincarnation. Who would want to lose their memories for a new life? Even those who died satisfied will hesitate to lose their memories. As such, most of these souls chose to live in the Underworld Realm.


    But the one who benefited the most at the creation of the Underworld Realm were the evildoers. Now, they do not have to fearmitting evil deeds. Even if they will collect bad karma, they have no worries after their death.


    If they go for reincarnation, they will just live as a nt or an animal. But in the underworld, they can live their lives freely.


    Because they are already dead, all souls in the underworld have no way to cultivate anymore. If they choose to reincarnate, they can cultivate on their next life. But in the underworld, all of its residents were only souls.


    The creator of the Underworld of course had a solution for that.


    Using his insights, he sessfully used his Dao of Life and Death as the foundation for the ‘Underworld Tactics’.


    The Underworld Tactics was a guide on using the Dao of Life and Death to nourish and strengthen the soul. It was also divided in ten stages, where each stage depends on the power of the soul. It was said that reaching the Tenth Stage of the Underworld Tactic will allow a soul to have a new body!


    This enticement of regaining a body without any side-effects led to the Underworld to be a powerhouse filled with powerful souls!


    Not only this, but the Underworld Creator personally attempted to seal the path to reincarnation through the use of the Underworld River.


    When a person dies, their souls get sucked into the ce where the cycle of reincarnation begins. But the Underworld River prevents that.


    How? The Underworld River was an omnipresent river that travels around the whole universe. Its flowing waters manages to gather almost all of the souls that were supposed to go to the cycle of reincarnation. The very few that gets past the river may not even choose to reincarnate.


    This effectively ended the era of reincarnation.


    Many of course were offended by what the Underworld Creator had done. Many of them had tried to destroy the Underworld Realm and the Underworld River. But to their dismay, they discovered that even the universe itself had epted the existence of the Underworld!


    This just means one thing:


    The creator of the Underworld had reached the Tenth Stage! At this stage, the insights of a practitioner were practically equal or even greater than thews of the universe itself. The creator of the Underworld used his power to force the universe to ept the Underworld!


    Such was the might of the Tenth Stage!


    Out of fear and respect for this person, everyone in the Universe gave him the title, ‘Yama’!


    Yama was now considered to be one of the strongest beings in the Universe, with the Underworld Realm as his territory.


    But there was one problem that the Underworld Realm was facing.


    It was theck of territory.


    Everyday, more and more souls gather at the Underworld Realm. Even therge territory that Yama had carved out of the Universe was not enough to sustain all the iing souls.


    The only solution was to expand.


    But before Yama could attempt gather more territories, he was prevented from doing so by other Tenth Stage Practitioners For them, Yama changing the rules of life and death in the Universe was still eptable. But expanding his influence of power was a big no-no for them. At the end, they all agreed on one thing.


    The Underworld Realm may still expand, but it must be done only by the practitioners below the Sixth Stage. All practitioners from Sixth Stage and above cannot participate in this territory expansion.


    Once this rule had been made, the Underworld Realm experienced a slow, but steady rate of expansion. It was slow because thes they invade usually fight back. Other influences also obstruct the activities of the Underworld Realm.


    But with their numbers and powerful mantras, the Underworld Realm managed to clinchs every time it expands.


    Right now, a certain was set to be invaded next.


    ..............


    “Are the preparations done yet?” Two silhouettes were talking to each other in pitch darkness. The absence of light seemed to not hinder their conversation.


    “Do not worry, we have sessfully set the formation inside her body. We only need your permission to deploy it.”


    “How far can it cover now?”


    “Well, this formation of ours is enough to cover the whole Solstice Kingdom.”


    “Wonderful! Then deploy the formation now! We shall start our invasionter. Our first target is to upy the whole Solstice Kingdom. Its environment is suitable for us!”


    “But how about the Forest of Death?”


    “DO NOT MENTION THAT PLACE TO ME!!!” The speaker seemed to be greatly enraged as he continued. “That ce is off-limits, you understand?”


    “Yes, I understand.” The second silhouette saidpliantly. “Then we shall deploy the formation now!”


    .............


    While Wang Hao and his teammates were walking towards the border of the Solstice Kingdom, they felt a sense of dangering from the castle.


    “Rooooarrrrr!!!!”


    They heard a pained roar of a dragon as they saw ripplesing out of the castle. These ripples spread outwards as it stopped just at the border of the Kingdom.


    Once the ripples stopped moving, Wang Hao saw a translucent dome perfectly covering the whole Solstice Kingdom!


    Wang Hao’s eyes narrowed as he realized that this was a powerful formation.


    “Ah!” Wang Hao heard Ling Tian’s surprised shout. He looked at Ling Tian to see what happened to him. What Wang Hao saw made him grit his teeth.


    Ling Tian’s cultivation base was suppressed at the First Stage! He looked at the Generals with him, and he saw that their power was also sealed at the First Stage. As for Tang Ya, her power was still at the First Stage.


    Upon seeing this, Wang Hao deduced that this formation suppresses the strength of a practitioner until the First Stage. As for what maximum stage it can affect, Wang Hao does not know yet.


    But he clearly knew who were the perpetrators of this event.


    “It’s the Underworld!”