Yefutidaolu

Chapter 344 What the Netherworld is Good At
Gao Jian demonstrated different versions of the Underworld.

Xia Youdu was captivated by what she saw; despite her fear and apprehension, she couldn't tear her eyes away.

Gao Jian was not casting spells. In fact, martial artists cannot cast spells too easily. Gao Jian was performing a ritual, "outlining" the Yellow Springs from different levels and perspectives.

He combined the Yellow Springs he saw on the ancient battlefield of Cangzhou, the Yellow Springs with turbid waves in the Netherworld, the Yellow Springs cycle seen from the perspective of the Celestials, and the Yellow Springs recorded in the Song of the Great Dao of Xuanhua Tongmen, as if piecing together fragments of a huge jigsaw puzzle, in an attempt to depict a more complete and profound picture of the "Yellow Springs"!
Xia Youdu's pupils dilated in utter shock, fixed intently on that tiny glimmer of light. She could clearly sense within it a trace of the same "initiation" and "preparation" as her own cultivation technique! Crude, yet essential! He... he really did it! With just those scattered insights and a few key words of his own, he had touched the very core of her sect's inheritance!

She almost forgot to breathe, immersing herself completely in observing that nascent technique, trying to understand its next evolution, as if witnessing the birth of something connected to her bloodline yet completely different.

However, just as she was absorbed in the moment, anticipating the many possibilities this prototype would reveal—

Gao Jian suddenly pulled his hand back!

With a soft "pop," it sounded like a bubble bursting.

That nascent cultivation technique, which embodied Xia Youdu's entire focus and contained infinite possibilities, instantly dissipated, turning into invisible streams of light that vanished completely into the dim stone house, as if it had never existed.

The focus and profundity on Takami's face faded, replaced by a gentle smile. He even spread his hands with a hint of "regret," his tone as relaxed as if he had merely spilled a cup of tea while brewing it.
"I'm sorry to have made a fool of myself. This is the best I can do for now, and it's barely a clue. The key points that follow are really shrouded in mystery, and I don't understand them at all."

Did I make a fool of myself?
Is this all the deductions have taken us to?

It barely resembles anything?
I don't understand!

Xia Youdu: "..."

She felt as if her face had been struck by an invisible hammer, leaving her completely blank! All the shock, all the awe, all the curiosity were shattered by those few casual words!

An indescribable rage, a mixture of absurdity, frustration, fear, and a strong sense of being fooled, suddenly surged from the depths of her heart and rushed to the top of her head! Her cheeks instantly turned bright red.

Looking at Gao Jian's calm, even somewhat "innocent" and "apology" smile, Xia Youdu felt a chill run from the soles of her feet to the top of her head, making her feel cold all over.

It's so lightweight.

It effortlessly destroyed all her psychological defenses.

It subtly demonstrates what a true "monster" is.

“So, I understand, what are you planning…” Xia Youdu sighed.

"What do you understand? I'm just protecting myself right now. Everything I'm doing is just to make the Ancestor reluctant to kill me." Gao Jian smiled.

“You succeeded.” Xia Youdu pointed to his temple: “The ancestor just spoke in my mind, asking me to invite you… to his cave for a chat.”

“Ah, that’s truly…an honor.” Takami stood up.

It became.

Life saved.

Next... it's time to plan something else.

However, what he's plotting is definitely something he can't reveal, after all... a person with a secret must first keep the secret of having a secret.

"Let's go, Miss Xia." Gao Jian gestured for her to leave, his expression returning to its usual calm, as if he were simply being invited to an ordinary tea party.

Xia Youdu gave him a deep look, said nothing more, and turned to lead the way. She did not take the usual path, but instead, with her insightful observation, took a detour through a side path and went straight to the shore where the Yellow Springs surged.

It was only then that Takami realized...

It turns out that there was a path leading directly to the Yellow Springs from the cold pool below where I lived in the stone house.

Tsk tsk tsk, there's something to it about arranging for someone to live here in the dark.

Fortunately, he was living alone in a dark room and remained vigilant, without revealing any flaws.

Facing the turbid waves that devoured life, Xia Youdu formed hand seals and chanted incantations. A soft yet resilient light emanated from her body, enveloping her like a transparent bubble.

This is a protective technique that only core disciples of the Netherworld can master, used to resist the erosion of the Yellow Springs water. She turned to look at Gao Jian, gesturing for him to come closer, preparing to use her own protective light shield to bring him in together.

However, Gao Jian smiled slightly at her and shook his head. Under Xia Youdu's astonished gaze, he took a step forward and stepped directly into the churning, grayish-white, turbid waves without any protection!

"You...!" Xia Youdu exclaimed in surprise, thinking he had gone mad.

However, the anticipated scene of the soul being eroded and the body being dissolved did not occur.

Gao Jian's figure disappeared into the Yellow Springs as naturally as a fish entering water. The deathly water, which could easily dissolve the souls of ordinary cultivators, washed over him, but it was as if it were just an ordinary torrent, failing to shake him in the slightest.

Xia Youdu stared in disbelief and quickly activated his protective light shield to follow.

Upon entering the Yellow Springs, the scene changes drastically!

The outside light was completely cut off, and all around was endless grayness and a viscous heaviness. But this was not pure darkness or deathly silence. In this vast expanse of the Yellow Springs, floating, sinking, and flowing... countless bizarre and fantastical fragments!

Those are fragments of memory, remnants of emotion, the remnants of the mortal world after life ends, washed away, stripped away, and swept away by the underworld!

Xia Youdu's protective aura acted like a moving lighthouse, illuminating a small patch of water nearby. She saw:

A child clutches a mud-covered sugar figurine tightly in his hand, accompanied by fragments of carefree laughter.

A silhouette of a couple's heart-wrenching cries and tight embrace as they bid each other farewell.

On the battlefield amidst the clash of swords and the thunder of horses, the last lingering affection and despair in the eyes of a soldier before he falls.

A mother's gentle profile as she mends clothes under the oil lamp. An old man's peaceful sigh as he gazes at the falling leaves outside the window on his deathbed...

There are glimpses of magnificent palaces, wisps of smoke rising from thatched huts, bustling street vendors, and the morning bells of ancient temples deep in the mountains…

Life is a myriad of phenomena, a turbulent world! Countless lives, the deepest memories, the most intense emotions, are like shattered kaleidoscopes, rising, colliding, and unfolding in the turbid currents of the underworld. They emit a faint light, like stars in the water, forming a grand, magnificent, yet utterly tragic painting—the "Three Lives."

However, this beauty and sorrow are accompanied by eternal oblivion.

The waters of the Yellow Springs flow and wash away without ceasing.

Every minute and every second, countless fragments of memory, like fragile soap bubbles, burst with a soft "pop," vanishing completely, turning into a wisp of smoke, merging into the boundless turbid waves, leaving no trace.

The first cry of a child that a mother cherishes...

A soldier's belief that he protected with his life...

A dream that an ordinary person pursued throughout their life but could never achieve...

Those memories and emotions that are more precious than life itself to some people are as insignificant as dust and as fragile as a shattered bubble in the face of the vast underworld.

Gao Jian and Xia Youdu are witnesses to this vast river of passing away. The two travel through countless memories of birth and death, as if on a long river paved with countless fragments of life, leading to the end.

"I...I didn't even teach you the magic techniques..." Xia Youdu's voice rang out from within the ghostly light shield, looking at Gao Jian who was traversing the Yellow Springs as if walking on flat ground. "So you can freely enter the Yellow Springs? Without the protection of magic techniques, entering the core area of ​​the Yellow Springs will directly wash away your soul and kill you, and your fate will be the same as these..." She pointed to a bubble that was silently collapsing beside her, reflecting a scene of a newlywed couple's wedding ceremony, "...the same!"

Without protective magic, entering the Yellow Springs will result in being swept away and killed, just like those bubbles, disappearing into the torrent of the Yellow Springs.

Upon hearing this, Gao Wen simply turned his head and gave her a meaningful smile, without offering any explanation.

Of course he won't tell.

In the depths of the ancient battlefield of Cangzhou, where blood rained down and resentment soared to the heavens, he had already been immersed for the first time in the chaotic "tributary of the Yellow Springs" under the blade of a rusty knife.

That was his first real encounter with the Underworld, a struggle on the edge of life and death, during which he groped and found a way to resist erosion and maintain his true self. That experience was a hundred times more dangerous than today's. Now, this Netherworld, though more vast and refined, is already a familiar place to him.

They traveled in silence, accompanied only by the faint glimmer of memories rising and falling, and the silent annihilation. Following the direction of the rushing Yellow Springs, they advanced towards the deepest, heaviest, most deathly silent, and most oppressive source.

After an unknown amount of time, the viscous, turbid current ahead seemed to have calmed down a bit. It wasn't truly calm, but rather all the surging was restrained and tamed by an invisible force.

A cave gradually emerges from the murky "water." The cave is carved into the riverbed of the Yellow Springs and appears to be nothing special.

The cave entrance opened silently, revealing a darkness even deeper than the waters of the Yellow Springs.

Xia Youdu stopped outside the door, his expression solemn. He bowed respectfully to the cave dwelling and then whispered to Gao Jian, "The ancestor is waiting for you inside."

Gao Jian nodded, his expression remaining calm. Without the slightest hesitation, he took a step and stepped into the boundless darkness.

Once inside, he finally saw the black robe.

The figure was not tall, and was even somewhat thin, shrouded in a black robe that seemed to absorb all light.

The face was blurred, as if shrouded in a layer of constantly flowing black mist. Only a pair of eyes were clearly visible—two flickering, eerie blue flames.

The giant of the Twelve Realms of the Netherworld—that ancestor whose name I don't even know—is right before my eyes.

Gao Jian stopped and, across the open space, bowed respectfully to the direction of the black-robed figure.
"Your insightful opinion is appreciated, Your Excellency."

"You win. Now I don't dare kill you. You're really something." The man in black robes said casually, tearing off his robe to reveal his true face.

What should be said or not...

The people in the Netherworld are all quite handsome.

The person under the robe was not some dignified old man, but a young man.

He looked to be about the same age as Takashi, and although he was well-built, he didn't appear bulky; on the contrary, he was quite slender, with broad shoulders and a wasp waist. At first glance, he exuded both power and beauty, like a cheetah.
As for his appearance, it was impeccable; he had striking eyebrows and sharp eyes, and his features were almost perfect, but his expression was extremely aggressive.

“You can call me Yuan Lu,” he said.

Gao Jianze spoke up, "Um... Senior Yuanlu, there's something I've wanted to say for a long time. The Netherworld... doesn't accept ugly ghosts, right? Since I came in, apart from those who went wrong in their cultivation, I've hardly seen anyone who's ugly. Xuehaijun, Elder Huang, Xia Youdu, and that Wu Feng, as well as the true disciples I fought, almost everyone is so beautiful. I don't think this is a coincidence, is it?"

Yuan Lu then laughed and said, "Beauty and ugliness are determined by Heaven, nobility and lowliness are determined by one's birth chart, and temperament corresponds to the Five Elements. Goodness, evil, benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness are governed by the heart; joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, love, hate, and desire are born from nature."

"To judge a person's appearance, first observe their bone structure, then their five elements; measure the length of their three sections, observe the fullness or emptiness of their face, observe the clarity of their eyebrows and eyes, observe the flourishing or withering of their spirit, take the thickness of their hands and feet, observe the sparseness or turbidity of their beard and hair; measure the length of their body, take the completeness of their five features, see the perfection of their six organs, take the convergence of their five peaks, see the fullness of their granaries, observe the waxing and waning of their yin and yang, see the presence or absence of their dignified bearing, discern the sincerity of their appearance, observe the joy or stagnation of their complexion, and see the smoothness of their skin, and you will be able to perceive the extent of a person's blessings."

"With a rare appearance and beautiful features, one is naturally more pitiful by the heavens and more fortunate."

"Those born with little fortune are destined to be deprived of wealth and honor, and can only endure a simple life. You can probably see this from the outside world: beautiful people are generally better off, and even if they come from humble backgrounds, they are more likely to become rich and powerful, all because of this."

"Similarly, some people are born with unusual features and characteristics. The ancient sages had dragon-like faces, wearing a crown, double teeth, eight-colored eyebrows, double pupils, three-leaked ears, double elbows, four nipples, looking towards the sun, hunched back, horse-like mouth, reversed feathers, sunken face, crescent-shaped corners, sun-like nose, river-like eyes, sea-like mouth, ox-like lips, bright face, even and splendid face, throat, dragon-like shape, tortoise-like spine, tiger-like paws, double ribs, chest, neck, navel, hood, winged arms, head, nose, mound, eyebrows like dikes, feet like earth, valley-like openings, thunderous voice, belly like marsh, face like a foggy mask, square eyes, hands hanging down past the knees, eyebrows with twelve colors, eyes with twenty-four lines, standing like a phoenix, sitting like a dragon, hands holding celestial symbols, feet treading the character '度' (du), each showing their own unique characteristics."

“Some warriors, when their abdomens are cut open after death, have gall bladders as big as a bushel; some are born with ape arms and are good at shooting arrows; the Buddha was 16 feet tall and was considered a god, known as the 16-foot golden body; the ancient sage kings were 9 feet 9 inches tall, almost 10 feet, hence the name 'man'; all of these are like this.”

"The Youming people are well-versed in this art. Others only think that we exorcise ghosts and command souls, doing things like harvesting resentment. But those with a little knowledge will think that we are good at connecting the four seas, the sea of ​​qi, the sea of ​​blood, the sea of ​​marrow, and the sea of ​​water and valley, cultivating the human body to the extreme."

"But in reality, they are all wrong. What Youming is good at is even more powerful than these."

"Mr. Gao, do you know what it is?" Yuan Lu asked Gao Jian.

(Thanks to the guild leader who didn't yell. Theoretically, I should have added an extra chapter, but I was exhausted by yesterday's extra chapter, so I'll owe it to them QAQ.)
(End of this chapter)