World version update

Chapter 208 Emperor Statue, Jiang Zhiwei
Lu Yan was silent.

In the apocalyptic version, Lu Yan initially held the Soul Banner and harvested tens of millions of zombies, continuously improving the army of the underworld and many ghosts and gods, and was invincible in the Golden Core Realm.

The huge improvement in strength, coupled with the imminent crisis of the immortal version, made Lu Yan abandon his usual cautious style and start killing people indiscriminately.

Lu Yan alone killed more than twenty Jindan Corpse Kings and more than ten ninth-level transcendents.

These corpse king extraordinary beings, who were restricted by the upper limit of the extraordinary rules in the doomsday version and could only exert the strength of the early Jindan stage, were directly transformed into the Yuanying Demon King who ruled the demon city and the Yuanying old demon who controlled the unorthodox sects after being updated to the fairy-xia version.

These powerful men who should have been famous were all slaughtered by the army of the underworld led by Lu Yan, and there were even a large number of witnesses in the process.

After all, in the fairy-tale version of the Nascent Soul monster, which one of them is not a top-notch powerful person with a long lifespan who can sit back and watch the changes in the world?
The Nascent Soul stage is almost the pinnacle of conventional combat power in the Xianxia version. If Lu Yan had not confirmed from information from various sources that there are real immortals in the Xianxia version with extremely high energy levels, Lu Yan would even think that the God Transformation stage above the Nascent Soul is the pinnacle of the version's combat power.

Dozens of Nascent Soul Realm masters died in just six months, which is a huge event even in the Xianxia version.

This alone was enough to move the ten major sects of the Mysterious Sect, and all small and medium-sized forces were in awe and came to pay homage.

If Lu Yan can stabilize the situation and use Jiuyou Immortal City as his foundation, he might be able to establish a great cause in the fairy-xia version and make Jiuyou Immortal City a top force second only to the ten major Xuanmen sects and the various demonic sects.

But Lu Yan didn't dare.

From the doomsday version to the fairy-xia version, the energy level of the entire world has increased several times. The original foundation building has been upgraded to the golden elixir, and the golden elixir corpse king has transformed into a Nascent Soul powerhouse. Only Lu Yan remains unchanged.

Not to mention that Lu Yan cannot use the Human Emperor Banner easily at the moment. Even if he can really use the Human Emperor Banner at will, his combat power is only at the peak of the Golden Core Realm.

If all the ghost soldiers and generals were upgraded to the foundation-building stage, they might be able to intimidate some of the True Lords in the early Nascent Soul stage, but this would already be the limit.

Lu Yan’s previous actions in the doomsday version have already caused dozens of large and small small forces to take action.

There are people who come to worship, and there are also people who hate.

Those unorthodox sects that were attacked by Lu Yan to kill Yuanying Zhenjun and trample on the face of the sect would definitely hate him secretly.

Once Lu Yan's true strength is exposed, he will certainly be attacked by Yuanying Zhenjun due to the hatred of the demons and unorthodox sects he had attracted before.

As long as more than one Yuanying Zhenjun takes action, Lu Yan has no chance of survival.

"No matter how good the resources of Jiuyou Immortal City are, you still need to be alive to get them."

A flood of thoughts flashed through Lu Yan's mind, and then he turned and left without looking back.

Such a scene made the Qingyi Qigong practitioner stunned, and he quickly shouted loudly: "Senior! Senior!"

However, Lu Yan ignored it and directly controlled a beam of light to fly towards the depths of Wushan Mountain.

At the same time, on the wall of Jiuyou Immortal City, Jiuyou City Lord Li Hao, wearing a dark blue robe, was receiving more than a dozen Jindan Zhenren from various forces.

Three at the peak of the Golden Core stage and eleven at the early stage of the Golden Core stage, such a luxurious lineup could even overwhelm the entire newly built Jiuyou Immortal City, not to mention that behind them they also represented three Yuanying sects and eleven Golden Core sects.

Pick out any Jindan sect at random, its overall strength will exceed that of Jiuyou Immortal City.

But in front of Li Hao, these Jindan Zhenren from various forces behaved very respectfully. Even the three great Zhenren at the peak of Jindan deliberately lagged behind Li Hao by half a body length as a sign of courtesy.

A Jindan Peak True Person from Qinghe Sect said with a smile on his face:

"City Lord Li, I just heard that the master has come out of seclusion?"

Southern Xinjiang is governed by the Qingwu Sect, one of the ten major Xuanmen sects. Normally, Yuanying Zhenjun would not be allowed to establish a sect in Southern Xinjiang.

Therefore, the Qinghe Sect is not in Southern Xinjiang, but in the Southern Wilds where there are many sects far outside Southern Xinjiang. There are three Nascent Soul True Lords in the sect, and its strength can be considered impressive among the many Nascent Soul sects in the Southern Wilds.

The messenger from the underworld and his army once appeared in the Southern Wilderness and killed several Nascent Soul Demon Kings and three Nascent Soul True Lords.

As one of the local tyrants in the Southern Wilderness, a Jindan Zhenren from the Qinghe Sect once participated in the farce of capturing the messenger from the underworld. Later, because the messenger from the underworld tracked him all the way, this Jindan Zhenren took the initiative to rebel against the Qinghe Sect to avoid the sect being implicated.

Originally, the Qinghe Sect believed that this Jindan Zhenren was definitely dead. Who would have thought that about a month ago, this Jindan Zhenren suddenly returned to the Qinghe Sect and claimed that he had something important to report to the Supreme Elder.

After some questioning, this Jindan Zhenren revealed a secret battle that took place in the Southern Wilderness.

The seven Yuanying Zhenjuns who had participated in the hunt for the messenger from the underworld summoned everyone and wanted to unite the seven Yuanying Demon Kings and tens of thousands of demon beasts to ambush and kill the messenger from the underworld.

Some people were unwilling to go along with the demon clan and were nearly killed by Yuanying Zhenjun. In the end, the messenger from the underworld, who had been hiding in the crowd, took action and the two sides engaged in a devastating battle.

There were more than ten Yuanying Zhenjun and dozens of Jindan Zhenren participating in the war.

What's more, some have already reached the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, worthy of being called a Great Immortal, and are only one step away from the Spirit Transformation stage.

But even with so many powerful people, most of them were killed by the army of the underworld in a war.

Especially at the end of the war, a strange and powerful man appeared beside the messenger of the underworld. His magical powers were powerful enough to rewrite the rules of heaven and earth and disrupt the space. He was almost a ghost in the legend.

On the demon side, there was also a demon god who was suspected to be above the level of a god, and sent down a wisp of remnant thoughts to kill the messenger from the underworld.

No one could remember clearly what happened in the process. During the time when the remaining spirit of the demon god descended, everyone's memory seemed to have been wiped out of thin air, and even the relevant cause and effect did not exist in the world.

In the end, we only know that after this war, all the powerful Nascent Soul masters of both the human and demon races were killed, and even the remnant of the demon god was taken away by the treasure of the messenger from the underworld.

Those Jindan cultivators who were unwilling to go along with the demon clan survived by chance, and the Jindan Zhenren of Qinghe Sect was one of them.

Compared with this war, the subsequent natural disaster beast tide was huge in size, but far inferior in terms of strength.

Although the underworld had a great reputation before this, the only people who witnessed the battle between ghosts and gods and the appearance of the Lord of the Underworld were some Jindan elders and deacons from the ten major sects. The true strength of the underworld was not revealed. There was even a joke that the messenger of the underworld was being hunted down.

But later, when the army of the underworld investigated the matter, they killed Yuanyings like butchering dogs. Such a fierce record could not be fake, so Qinghe Sect naturally wanted to establish a relationship with them.

Precisely because of this clear understanding, the Qinghe Sect sent a Dharma elder at the peak of the Golden Core stage to pay homage to the messenger from the underworld, hoping to establish some good relationship with the legendary mythical underworld.

Except for the Qinghe Sect, the other major sects all hold the same idea.

It’s a pity that after entering the Jiuyou Immortal City, the messenger from the underworld has been in seclusion, and the Jindan True Immortals have no chance to meet him.

Hearing the words of the Qinghe Sect's Dharma-transmitting Elder, the Jindan True Men from other sects all showed strange expressions and their eyes were all fixed on Li Hao.

Li Hao frowned slightly, glanced at the Qinghe Sect's Dharma Elder, and said unkindly:
"Elder Gu is well-informed about the news of my Nine Nether Immortal City? He even knows the news of the envoy's exit from retreat."

Elder Gu of Qinghe Sect’s expression suddenly froze.

As a great immortal at the peak of the Golden Core stage, he is only one step away from the Nascent Soul stage and has an extraordinary status in the Qinghe Sect.

If any other cultivator in the middle Jindan stage dared to speak to him like this, Elder Gu would have taught him a lesson long ago.

But the person in front of him was Li Hao from Jiuyou Immortal City, a lackey recognized by the ghosts and gods in the underworld. The messenger of the underworld once killed two Yuanying Zhenjun in anger because of him.

In front of Li Hao, he, a mere elder of Qinghe Sect, was nothing.

Elder Gu just showed an embarrassed look, Li Hao suddenly changed his unfriendly expression, laughed and patted Elder Gu on the shoulder:

“Why should you be so nervous, Elder Gu? I was just joking.

The envoy's coming out of seclusion is a top priority in my Nine Nether Immortal City, so it is normal for Elder Gu to have heard about it."

The representatives of the major sects were slightly relieved when they heard this. "Although the envoy has come out of retreat, he did not stay in the Immortal City, but left the Immortal City early."

As soon as these words were spoken, the hearts of the representatives of the major sects were immediately lifted.

They did not forget that the messenger from the underworld had slaughtered hundreds of high-level monks when he went out for a stroll before.

There's no telling what kind of trouble might arise from going out this time.

Thinking of this, the Jindan Zhenren from the major sects were eager to pass the message on right away, but since Li Hao was right in front of them, they couldn't take any action.

Taking in the attitudes of all parties, Li Hao acted quite indifferent.

With the support of the messenger from the underworld, the few Yuanying and Jindan sects were no longer of much interest to him.

Even the ten great righteous sects of Xuanmen might not be comparable to the mythical underworld in Li Hao's mind.

Of course, as a loyal lackey of the underworld and the lord of the Jiuyou Immortal City, he would not make enemies for the underworld out of thin air because of his arrogance.

Regarding these forces that were interested in showing goodwill to the underworld, he still adopted an attitude of appeasement and spoke:

"My fellow masters, there is no need to worry. The envoy is only away temporarily and may return at any time.

As soon as the envoy returns, I will inform all the masters."

Elder Gu was still worried and couldn't help but continue to ask:

"May I ask City Lord Li if you know where the envoy is going?"

Li Hao waved his hand: "The envoy's methods are mysterious. He opened up a space channel with a wave of his hand. How can we know the envoy's purpose?"

After a slight pause, Li Hao added a sentence.

"But the direction the envoy is heading seems to be deep in Wushan Mountain, which should have nothing to do with your Southern Wasteland."

As he spoke, Li Hao pointed to the towering mountains outside the city wall.

At this moment, Li Hao seemed to catch a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye, which made him subconsciously unable to help but take a closer look.

The ray of light had already reached dozens of miles away. It turned a corner and flew straight into the mountains, disappearing from Li Hao's sight.

Li Hao was a little dazed. The disappearing figure, whether the color of the robes or the temperament displayed in a fleeting glimpse, seemed to be very similar to the messenger from the underworld.

The only difference is that the underworld messenger has a high level of cultivation and drives the underworld army to kill Yuanying like slaughtering dogs, while the little cultivator who was caught a glimpse is only in the initial stage of foundation building.
"City Lord Li?"

Elder Gu's soft call suddenly woke Li Hao from his thoughts.

"I'm sorry, I was rude."

Elder Gu asked curiously, "What did City Lord Li see?"

"I saw the back of a person who looked like an old friend. I guess I was mistaken."

Shaking his head slightly, seeing that all parties seemed to be somewhat interested in his momentary absence, Li Hao quickly changed the subject and said:

"Before leaving, the envoy gave us a mission. Are you interested in going to see it?"

As soon as these words were spoken, all the Jindan Zhenren present immediately became interested.

"I wonder what the mission is?"

"Of course I'm interested."

"Please lead the way, City Lord Li!"

While chatting and laughing, Li Hao led everyone to the center of Jiuyou Immortal City.

The temple stood majestically, made of dark black iron stone, and each stone was engraved with a scroll of a hundred demons parading at night. The temple was dozens of feet high, with nine layers of eaves pointing straight to the sky like sharp swords, and countless copper bells were hung on the eaves, emitting solemn Buddhist sounds as they swayed in the wind.

There was a hint of surprise in the eyes of the Jindan Zhenren. As early as when they just arrived at Jiuyou Immortal City, they saw this magnificent temple. It was said that the statue of the messenger of the underworld was enshrined in it, and believers came to worship day and night.

They had also been into the temple before, and apart from the stronger incense and prayers, they didn't feel any difference, so they didn't care too much.

The temple seemed to have just been cleaned. Today, the usual crowds of worshippers were not seen. Only Li Hao and other Jindan Zhenren were walking in the square in front of the temple.

With doubts in their hearts, the Jindan Zhenren stepped into the temple, and in an instant they felt the difference from before.

A solemn aura from the underworld blew over them. Although there was only a threshold between them, stepping into this place seemed to make everyone cross the two worlds of yin and yang.

They looked up and forward, and the next moment their hearts trembled violently.

A huge statue of the god sits on the nine-story jade steps, exuding solemn majesty.

The Emperor wears a crown on his head, with colored pearls dropping down and evolving into the stars in the sky. He wears a dark-black imperial robe, which is outlined with golden threads, as if it were woven from infinite principles of Tao. It is the most essential manifestation of the Great Dao.

Although the statue was very close, its face seemed difficult to see clearly.

As if obscured by some mysterious power, sometimes clear and sometimes blurry, just like the true appearance of the Lord of the Underworld cannot be seen by mortals. Only those eyes, in the hazy face, reveal a deep insight into everything, as if they can see through the cycle of life and death.

Everyone was shocked by the statue before them, even Li Hao, who led everyone here, was not immune.

This statue was cast under his personal supervision, and the materials used were not rare treasures.

But at the moment when the statue was taking shape, it seemed as if a great will from the unknown came across time and space and descended upon this statue.

The statue, which was originally made of ordinary spiritual wood, seemed to be endowed with some kind of sacred symbol that Li Hao could not understand.

The familiar figure he had just seen outside Jiuyou Immortal City made Li Hao feel a little uneasy.

Bringing everyone into the newly built temple was only to deter the Jindan Zhenren from all sides and eliminate this uneasiness.

Now it seems that the effect is obviously excellent.

As his eyes swept across the Jindan Zhenren of the major sects, Li Hao was suddenly stunned. He didn't know why there was one more Jindan Zhenren among the original fourteen.

The young man had a face as white as jade, wore a moon-white robe, and carried a sword case on his back. He stood in front of the nine-tiered jade steps.

Those gentle eyes met the gaze of the Emperor's statue, and a smile of interest appeared at the corners of his mouth.

"Who are you?"

Li Hao was shocked and couldn't help but ask.

The young man slowly withdrew his gaze, took a step forward, and disappeared into the netherworld temple as if in a dream.

"I am Jiang Zhiwei!"

(End of this chapter)