Projection of the Heavens: I prove my immortality through slaughter.

The hundreds of members of the Xuanming Witch Clan, standing within the Pure Land of the Beginning, felt the omnipresent, pure, and vast aura of reincarnation, and were all so excited that they could hardly contain themselves.

They greedily breathed in the air here—not the air needed by living beings, but pure soul energy and the Dao of reincarnation, which was an irreplaceable sacred treasure for them, the witch clan who inherited the magic of life and death!

The old shaman, named Xuan Yue, was overcome with emotion, tears streaming down his face. His trembling hand, covered in totems, reached out to feel the dark yet incredibly heavy earth beneath his feet, murmuring, "We're back... finally back... this is the land where our bloodline should reside! This is the hall where the power of the ancestral shamans can truly flourish!"

He could clearly feel that the Xuanming witch power within his body, which had been dormant due to being scattered and having a fragmented inheritance, was now like a seed that had been parched for a long time and was now beginning to radiate unprecedented vitality!

Even the bloodline curse that has plagued the witch clan for countless years due to the loss of the "ancestral land"—that invisible shackle that makes the bloodline of future witch clans increasingly thin and their power decline—seems to have loosened a little!

"The grace of the Sovereign will never be forgotten by the Xuanming Witch Clan!" The Xuanyue Witch Priest once again led the entire clan toward the direction of the Underworld Palace, performing the most solemn ancient ceremony.

Lin Xuan's true form stepped out of the Netherworld Palace and descended before the Wu Clan.

He calmly swept his gaze over the new members, feeling their pure and ancient life and death magic becoming increasingly compatible with the underworld, and nodded slightly.

"Once you enter the Netherworld, you become its inhabitants. My path is the path of reincarnation and transcendence; my Netherworld is the final resting place for all beings." Lin Xuan's voice was indifferent, yet carried the majesty of establishing rules. "Xuan Yue, since your tribe is in charge of the sacrifices of life and death, you shall establish a separate 'Witchcraft Temple' beside the Yellow Springs and the Netherworld Palace, specifically to soothe restless souls, communicate with the heavens and the underworld, and assist in the operation of reincarnation."

"I will obey the Lord's decree!" Xuan Yue, the shaman, replied respectfully, his eyes filled with a sense of mission.

"The life-and-death sorcery passed down in your tribe has some similarities with my path of reincarnation." Lin Xuan changed the subject, his gaze falling on Xuan Yue. "However, judging from your previous rituals, they were crude and rudimentary. Your interference with the boundary between life and death was merely superficial, lacking true essence. Is there a deficiency in your lineage?"

Upon hearing this, Xuan Yue's face showed a hint of bitterness and shame: "Reporting to the Sovereign, it is indeed so. In the ancient war, the ancestral land... that is, the ancient reincarnation land similar to your Netherworld, the Sovereign, collapsed. My Witch Clan lost its foundation, and most of its heritage was scattered. The 'Nine Nether Ancestral Witch Ritual Text' held by my Xuanming Clan is now only a fragment. Many supreme secret methods for communicating with the ancestral land, appeasing all souls, and even summoning the power of the Ancestral Witches have long been lost. What you just saw, Sovereign, was merely a desperate attempt made with the remaining instincts and meager bloodline power."

Lin Xuan seemed to be deep in thought. The power system of the Witch Clan was quite different from that of the Immortal Path, placing more emphasis on bloodlines and the direct control and worship of the fundamental rules of heaven and earth.

If their lineage can be completed, it will not only greatly enhance the strength of the Xuanming Witch Clan, but also enable them to better serve the Netherworld. Perhaps, they might even be able to glimpse the secrets of ancient reincarnation and further perfect their own path.

"The gaps in the inheritance can perhaps be filled," Lin Xuan said calmly. "However, the methods cannot be passed on lightly. Since your tribe has pledged allegiance to me and entered my Netherworld, you must make contributions in order to receive my assistance and restore the glory of the Ancestral Witches."

Xuan Yue, the witch priest, was a remarkable figure who had lived for countless years, and he immediately understood Lin Xuan's meaning.

This is to make them pledge their loyalty and demonstrate their value.

He took a deep breath, his face resolute: "My Lord, although the Xuanming Witch Clan's heritage is incomplete, we still possess one item, the very foundation of our clan's legacy, which may be of some benefit to you, my Lord, and to the stability of this Netherworld!"

As he spoke, he gestured to the two strongest witch warriors behind him to bring up a huge, ancient box carved from an unknown black wood.

The box was covered in a thick layer of dust, and engraved with blurred patterns of birds, beasts, insects and fish, exuding an extremely ancient and desolate aura.

The Xuan Yue shaman walked to the box, cut his wrist, and dripped his life-giving blood onto the box's lock. At the same time, he chanted an obscure and ancient shamanic incantation.

As the eulogy was chanted, the dust on the wooden box fell in rustling sounds, and the blurred patterns seemed to come alive, slowly moving.

Finally, with a "click," the lid opened by itself.

In an instant, a terrifying aura, wild and heavy, seemingly bearing the weight of countless ages of life and death and connecting the earth and the netherworld, emanated from the box! Even the entire underworld trembled slightly, and the surging flow of the Yellow Springs seemed to freeze for a moment!

Inside the box was neither a divine weapon nor a miraculous elixir, but a huge, dark yellow animal hide!

The animal hide, originating from some ancient mythical beast, still exudes a chilling aura despite the passage of countless years.

On the skin, there are characters and patterns in a dark red color, as if written with dried divine blood, which constitute countless complex and mysterious sacrificial rituals!

These characters, twisted like dragons and snakes, and patterns as ancient as star charts, contain the most primal sacrificial power, communicating with heaven and earth and invoking the laws! It is the original rubbing of the core of the Xuanming Witch Clan's inheritance—the "Nine Nether Ancestral Witch Sacrificial Text"! Although it is also incomplete, the ancestral witch's true meaning and complete sacrificial framework contained within it are far superior to the fragments passed down orally in later generations!

"My Lord, this is our tribe's most treasured heirloom, the original rubbing of the 'Nine Nether Ancestral Witch Sacrificial Text'!" Xuan Yue, the Witch Priest, said respectfully. "It records the most complete and supreme method for worshipping the Ancestral Witch, communicating with the Nine Netherworlds, stabilizing the earth, and defending against external evils! Although some core sacrificial texts are missing, its framework and true meaning remain! By using this method to perform sacrifices, one can draw upon the power of the Netherworld's origin, forming the 'Ancestral Witch's Protection,' greatly strengthening the Netherworld's barrier and resisting the erosion of external laws, especially... the Immortal Laws of the Celestial Court, which are full of order-repulsiveness!"

Lin Xuan's gaze fell on the animal hide rubbing, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

With his level of understanding, he could naturally sense the immense power and profound laws contained within this rubbing.

This is not a simple spell, but a "ritual" and "contract" that directly points to the fundamental rules. Through specific sacrifices, one can sign a "protective contract" with heaven and earth and the underworld, and call upon the power of the world to form a barrier!

This is undoubtedly a timely help for the Underworld, which is still in its early stages and needs to deal with potential threats from the Celestial Court!

"Excellent!" Lin Xuan showed a clear expression of approval for the first time. "This item is indeed of great use in the Netherworld. Xuan Yue, I have noted your tribe's contribution."

He reached out, and the enormous animal hide rubbing flew up on its own, hovering in front of him. He immersed his divine sense into it, rapidly analyzing and comprehending this ancient ancestral shamanic ritual.

With his foundation as an eternal nascent soul, his status as the Lord of Reincarnation, and his profound understanding of the laws, analyzing this incomplete sacrificial ritual was not difficult.

Soon, he grasped its core essence—taking one's own will as the guide, using the origin of the underworld as a sacrifice (not to consume, but to induce resonance), and using specific sacrificial rituals as a means to communicate with the remaining will of the ancestral witches in the dark (or directly invoking the relevant laws of heaven and earth) to construct a powerful protective barrier.

"The laws of the Celestial Court erode all things, seeking to bring everything into its framework of order." A cold glint flashed in Lin Xuan's eyes. "My Netherworld is a self-contained cycle of reincarnation; how can I allow such beings to lay a finger on it?"

Without further hesitation, he decided to take immediate action to reinforce the underworld using this method!

"Xuan Yue, lead your tribe and, according to the ritual inscribed on this rubbing, perform the 'Great Sacrifice for the Protection of the Nine Netherworlds'!"

"promise!"

The Xuan Yue priestess was extremely excited and immediately directed her people to take action.

They mixed their own blood and essence with the soil of the underworld to carve a huge sacrificial array around the underworld palace, identical to the one on the rubbing.

Hundreds of witch warriors stood at key nodes of the array, chanting a desolate and ancient complete sacrificial incantation (with Lin Xuan's supplement and guidance), and the powerful witch power and the power of the underworld began to resonate.

Lin Xuan stood at the core of the array, his hands forming a seal, drawing upon the primal power of the entire Netherworld, and further integrating his own will, which transcends all laws, into the ritual.

"In the name of the Lord of Samsara, I hereby offer this sacrifice!"

"Invoking the power of the Nine Netherworlds, summoning the spirit of the Ancestral Witch!"

"Based on the underworld, forge an eternal bulwark!"

"Defend against external evils, suppress the immortal path, protect the order of our cycle of reincarnation, and endure forever!"

Rumble—!

The sacrificial array burst forth with a soaring dark yellow light, intertwining with the hazy gray of the underworld sky! The entire underworld trembled violently, and beneath the earth, it seemed as if endless earth vein power was being drawn in, roaring and surging into the array! The surging Yellow Springs also branched out, encircling the array and providing pure underworld power.

In the dim light, an enormous phantom, with a human body and a snake tail, seven arms on its back and two arms on its chest, each holding a serpent, seemed to have crossed over from the primordial era, flashing past in the sky above the underworld! That was the manifestation of the laws of the Ancestral Witch Houtu!

Immediately afterwards, an incredibly thick, dark yellow, chaotic light barrier, with countless ancient witch runes flowing across its surface, slowly rose from the Netherworld Palace at its core, eventually enveloping the entire hundred-mile-long Netherworld Land like an inverted giant bowl!

Above the protective barrier, shamanic script flowed, and the earth's energy and the power of the netherworld intertwined, emanating a profound aura that was impervious to all laws and unchanging since time immemorial! The Nine Netherworld Guardian Array was complete!

The moment the great formation was formed, Lin Xuan clearly felt that outside the Netherworld, at the edge of the "Net of Laws" he had woven, a celestial law from the distant Immortal Realm, full of repulsion and purification, tentatively touched him. But the moment it touched the Nine Netherworld's protective barrier, it was as if it had hit a copper wall and an iron wall, letting out a silent wail before quickly receding!

The independence and security of the underworld have been significantly improved!

Lin Xuan felt the incredibly sturdy protective barrier, and looked down at the Xuanming Witch Clan members below, exhausted yet excited from completing such a grand ritual. A majestic Daoist chant resounded throughout the Netherworld:

"From this day forward, the barriers of the Netherworld are indestructible! Even the Celestial Court and the Immortal Path cannot disturb them!" "The Xuanming Witch Clan has rendered this great service and shall be a pillar of the Netherworld!" "Your clan is granted eternal residence in the Witch Temple, enjoying the Netherworld's fortune, and bearing the weighty responsibility of sacrifice! In the future, when the remaining lineages are discovered, I will personally complete them for your clan, helping you... to restore the glory of the Ancestral Witches!"

The Xuan Yue priest and all his clansmen trembled with excitement, prostrating themselves once more: "Thank you for your grace, Master! We swear to be loyal to you to the death, and to forever guard the underworld!"

On this day, the ancient bloodline and the emerging cycle of reincarnation formally form an alliance.

The underworld, having adopted the ritual practices of the shamanic tribe, has become formidable and its foundation firmly established.

Lin Xuan now commands an ancient force with immense potential and unwavering loyalty.

His leverage in confronting the Celestial Court has grown even stronger! This war concerning the order of reincarnation and the authority of the Celestial Path is far from over!