I subdue demons and monsters, and cultivate immortality in hell to become a saint.

"Once you enter the Yellow Springs, do not look back; after today, it will be a completely different world."

Zhong Jiu sighed softly, and with a swift movement, he crossed the Yellow Springs Road and arrived at the River of Oblivion.

As the spiritual energy of the mortal realm revived and the world underwent a great transformation, the underworld naturally followed suit.

The laws of the underworld have been completed, and the 100,000 Yin Caves have descended, transforming into a vast world. Even the River of Oblivion has undergone earth-shattering changes.

The River of Oblivion, though dangerous in the past, was inconspicuous. Its blood-yellow waters were stagnant, like a dead pool.

Now, the River of Oblivion flows swiftly, stretching endlessly to the horizon, its waters echoing with endless wails.

Countless evil spirits, unable to reincarnate and condemned to eternal damnation, struggled madly in the river. Their faces were contorted with rage as they stretched out their withered arms, roaring as they tried to drag Zhong Jiu from the bank into the river to share this endless torment.

This scene thoroughly enraged the Candle Dragon. Its eyes flashed with black and white divine light, and it bared its teeth, releasing a terrifying aura in an attempt to drive away these evil spirits.

The evil spirits in the River of Oblivion are all reckless and despicable creatures.

Trapped here, they are living a life worse than death, having long lost all hope. The more desperate they are, the more ferocious they become.

They ignored the dragon's malevolent aura and instead shouted wildly, trying to provoke it into jumping into the river to perish together.

Zhong Jiu calmly raised his hand, shielding Zhulong behind him, ignoring the evil spirits in the river.

His gaze swept across the river, which stretched as far as the eye could see, filled with these hopeless and resentful ghosts. It was easy to imagine that ordinary spirits passing by would be terrified and their souls would fly away.

To cross the River of Oblivion, one must walk across the Bridge of Helplessness.

Zhong Jiu had already exchanged for this Bridge of Helplessness. From the outside, it was just an ordinary arched bridge, but its status in the underworld was extremely important. It was one of the most famous buildings in the underworld.

The Looking-Home Terrace doesn't need to be unlocked; a wandering spirit can climb up and take a glance back to see the entire human world.

The moment they arrived here was precisely the time of a funeral procession in the mortal world; this one glance was their final farewell to their loved ones in the mortal realm.

Unlike the Terrace of Longing for Home, the Bridge of Helplessness requires a massive amount of incense points to unlock.

Without the slightest hesitation, Zhong Jiu tapped his finger and instantly issued the unlock command.

The billowing Yin energy roared in like a tsunami, surging wildly into the place where the Bridge of Helplessness was located. The stone bridge actually transformed into a giant vortex that devoured the heavens and the earth, absorbing all the surrounding Yin energy.

In less than half an hour, the Bridge of Helplessness was completely unlocked, revealing its full appearance.

The bridge is divided into three levels: the upper level is vermilion, the middle level is dark yellow, and the lower level is jet black, with each level clearly corresponding to the good and evil deeds of the deceased spirits in their previous lives.

The upper red bridge is reserved for virtuous people or those who have committed no evil or wrongdoing. After drinking Meng Po's soup, they can safely cross the bridge and enter Fengdu to await reincarnation.

Such people, whether they do good deeds or are law-abiding, will not receive any special treatment after death, but they will certainly not be mistreated either, and they will usually be reborn into a good family.

The middle-level Xuanhuang Bridge is the only way for those who are half good and half evil.

In life, it is difficult to distinguish between absolute good and evil. Some people do good and evil at the same time, acting entirely according to their own heart and nature.

They do not need to drink Meng Po soup first; they must first enter Fengdu to be judged and convicted by the judge before they can drink the soup and be reincarnated.

Such people are not particularly wicked, but they make a lot of small mistakes. The underworld will not condemn them outright, but it will certainly not think highly of them either.

It is absolutely impossible to be reborn into a wealthy family, a royal family, or to enter the celestial path of cultivation; but it is not necessarily that one will fall into the animal realm. Most likely, one will be reborn into a poor family and suffer some worldly hardships. Everything depends on the judge's decision.

The lowest level, a pitch-black bridge, is extremely dangerous!

Those who can cross this bridge are all heinous villains in their lives, committing countless evils in the mortal world, and must repay their sins here after death.

This level is right next to the River of Oblivion. When the spirits look down, they see countless evil ghosts with outstretched arms and roaring at the bottom of the river, like hungry beasts waiting for their prey. They will be so frightened that their legs will go weak, and they will fall in if they are not careful.

Once you fall into the river, there is no turning back, no chance of reincarnation.

The saying "what goes around comes around" is largely true.

Those who commit evil and indulge in pleasure in life will have to shed a layer of skin when crossing the Bridge of Helplessness after death. Even if they are lucky enough to cross the bridge, they will be judged immediately after entering Fengdu and sent to the eighteen levels of hell to serve their full sentence. After their sentence is over, they will enter the cycle of reincarnation, but they will have virtually no hope of being reborn as a human.

Once the Bridge of Helplessness was erected, the entire underworld was enveloped in a heavy aura, and the invisible Yin energy was completely suppressed by the stone bridge.

Zhong Jiu's eyes flashed with a sharp light: "So the Bridge of Helplessness itself is a top-tier treasure!"

Only now did he truly feel the weight of the underworld.

Beside the Bridge of Helplessness, there is another wondrous treasure—the Three Lives Stone.

The four characters on the stone, “Early Ascent to the Other Shore,” are as red as blood and glow with an eerie light.

Zhong Jiu unlocked it without hesitation, and another large wave of incense points was devoured by the system. The Three Lives Stone immediately burst forth with mysterious power.

From then on, any spirit that comes here can see its past and present life clearly on the stone, and become a wise ghost before being reincarnated, with all its past events clearly visible.

Chung Kau stood on the Bridge of Helplessness, and with a wave of his hand, black and white spider lily seeds scattered across the sky: the white seeds were sown on the side closer to the sun, and the black seeds were scattered on the shore of the underworld.

The moment the seeds fell to the ground, the billowing yin energy gathered once more, and the red spider lilies sprouted from the soil—one, ten, a thousand, ten thousand… In an instant, the two banks of the Bridge of Helplessness became a strange sea of ​​flowers.

This flower is beautiful yet deadly; when a ghost looks at it, it seems to possess both allure and danger.

It has two forms: flowers bloom without leaves, and leaves grow without flowers. The flowers and leaves never meet, just like the separation of Yin and Yang, never to intersect again.

It is said: On the Bridge of Helplessness, one laments; right and wrong cannot cross the River of Oblivion. Before the Stone of Three Lives, there is no right or wrong; by the Terrace of Longing for Home, one meets Meng Po.

Once you cross the Bridge of Helplessness, you will find the right path to Fengdu.

Fengdu is located on Mount Luofeng in the northern part of the underworld. This mountain is 2,600 li high and 30,000 li in circumference. The mountain is dotted with caves and palaces, all of which are the dwelling places of ghosts and gods. There are twelve palaces inside and outside the mountain, collectively known as the Twenty-Four Underworld Palaces, which are the places for testing and punishing sinful souls. In addition, there are nine palaces and eighteen levels of hell, which are infinitely majestic.

When Chung Kau arrived at Luofeng Mountain, he looked up and saw the entire Fengdu.

Its territory is vast and boundless, with an atmosphere comparable to the Heavenly Palace, yet it lacks the opulence and extravagance of the Heavenly Palace, possessing only the underworld's unique low-key, solemn, and austere atmosphere.

But now Fengdu is empty, devoid of any signs of life.

As Chung Kau approached the main gate, the two powerful characters "Fengdu" came into view, penetrating his mind and bringing with them an indescribable sense of oppression.

Even Zhong Jiu was shaken by this aura. It is conceivable that ordinary ghosts would be terrified and tremble with fear at just one glance.

Upon entering Fengdu, one is greeted by palaces and halls scattered throughout the land, seemingly without end.

The underworld is a colossal entity. Within Fengdu, there are countless soul messengers, officials, and spirits. Zhong Jiu had no intention of investigating them all and went straight to the places he was most interested in.

Our first stop was the Hall of Yama, the King of Hell.

The underworld has ten kings of hell. Zhong Jiu first arrived at the main hall of King Qin Guang. The hall was imposing and majestic. Just as he was about to step forward, he was pushed away by an invisible, solemn force.

Clearly, his current authority is insufficient to enter.

He went to the Song Emperor's Palace again, but encountered the same problem. As for the other eight Yama Kings, Zhong Jiu was too lazy to waste his energy and turned around to go to his own Judge's Palace.

There are four judges in the underworld, who are ranked below the Ten Kings of Hell and wield immense power in the underworld. They hold core and important positions.

The first is the Judge of the Underworld, the head of the four judges. He holds the Soul-Catching Pen in his left hand and the Book of Life and Death in his right, wielding the power to increase the lifespan of the virtuous and to allow the souls of the wicked to return to their rightful places.

The second official was the Judge of the Department of Rewards and Good Deeds, who was rumored to be the famous minister Wei Zheng, well-known among the people. He was in charge of the Book of Good Deeds, wore a green robe, and had a kind face. All ghosts who had done good deeds in their previous lives were rewarded by him according to the amount and severity of their good deeds, and were either reincarnated as celestial beings or reborn as humans.

The third is the Judge of the Punishment Department, which is the position held by Zhong Kui. He wears a purple robe, has wide-open angry eyes, and looks fierce and evil. When a ghost reports for duty, it must first pass through the Mirror of Retribution to reflect its good and evil deeds. He will deal with the evildoers, punishing them lightly for minor offenses and severely for serious offenses. Then, he will hand them over to the Soul Messenger to be sent to the Execution Platform and thrown into the eighteen levels of hell. After serving their sentence, they will be sent to the Hall of Reincarnation and demoted to livestock.

The fourth is the Judge of the Investigation Division, whose duty is to promote good and punish evil, to exonerate the wronged, to ensure that the good are rewarded and the evil are severely punished.

The moment Zhong Jiu stepped into Fengdu, he knew that he was to serve as the judge of the Yin Law Division, the head of the Four Great Laws.

He had long suspected this. Back in Xingsha, he held both the civil and military judge positions. Now that the underworld was deserted, he had to start from scratch. Before his promotion, he would naturally have to take on the responsibilities of the four judges.

Thinking of this, Zhong Jiu couldn't help but smile bitterly. The affairs of Nanling Province were already complicated enough. Now, he was in charge of the underworld of the entire Great World. Countless living beings died every day. Just thinking about the workload was enough to give him a headache.

Pushing open the doors of the Judge's Hall, the Book of Life and Death and the Soul-Catching Pen lay quietly on the table.

He wasn't curious about the Soul-Hooking Pen, but the Book of Life and Death was something he longed for day and night.