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

Seeing his joy, the boy laughed cheerfully as well. Suddenly, as if remembering something, he spoke up again: "While the Emerald Thunder Bamboo is indeed a treasure, I've heard that there's another kind of bamboo in the world, the Purple Thunder Bamboo, which is far more powerful than the Emerald Thunder Bamboo!"

Upon hearing this, Master Puhua chuckled, his tone laced with disdain and certainty: "More than just a notch above! If the Emerald Thunder Bamboo is extremely rare, then the Purple Thunder Bamboo is a rare gem, one in a hundred years!"

"Don't even mention me, even my master doesn't have such a heaven-defying treasure! The growth conditions of Purple Thunder Bamboo are more than ten times harsher than those of Green Thunder Bamboo. It needs to take root at the bottom of the Nine Heavens Thunder Pool and be bathed in chaotic thunder light to grow. I have never seen such a treasure before, and I even think that it is impossible for it to exist in the world."

But Tong Ziyu pouted her chubby little mouth, her face full of doubt, and said, "Is it really that rare? But Senior Brother said he saw the Purple Thunder Bamboo with his own eyes!"

These words struck Master Puhua like a thunderbolt, instantly shattering his composure!

He suddenly stood up, his eyes flashing with two astonishing beams of light, his aura surging instantly as he stared intently at Yu Lu.

Her voice was filled with disbelief and urgency: "Yulu, say it again? What did you just say?!"

Yu Lu shrank back under his sharp gaze, instinctively taking a step back, and said timidly, "When Senior Brother gave me the Emerald Thunder Bamboo just now, he said that several hundred miles west of the forest where the Emerald Thunder Bamboo grows, there is a valley sealed by a powerful restriction, and the Purple Thunder Bamboo grows in that valley..."

"What?!"

Master Puhua exclaimed in shock, his body trembling slightly. The emerald bamboo in his hand instantly lost its luster and became utterly tasteless.

Compared to Purple Thunder Bamboo, Green Thunder Bamboo is simply not worth mentioning!

He pressed on urgently, "Since he saw it, why didn't he pick it for me?!"

The senior brother that Yu Lu mentioned was Yu Ding, his eldest disciple and the chief among the three generations of disciples of the Zhuo Sect.

When he traveled through the world years ago, he learned about the Green Thunder Bamboo and kept it in his heart, quietly waiting for it to mature.

Now that his physical body has been shattered and he urgently needs materials to rebuild it, the first thing he thought of was the Emerald Thunder Bamboo. He immediately sent Jin Junfeng to fetch it, but he never expected to receive such a pleasant surprise!

"Because... the Purple Thunder Bamboo already has an owner."

Yu Lu whispered, slowly recounting the whole story, "That valley with purple thunder bamboo has traces of the Yun Sheng Sect's restrictions. After our senior brother secretly sneaked in, he discovered that the valley was actually the secluded residence of the White Elephant Clan."

"As for those purple thunder bamboos, Bai Jin personally transplanted them many years ago and has been carefully cultivating them ever since, intending to give them to the Venerable Elder of the Yunsheng Sect as a birthday gift."

"The eldest brother knew that the White Elephant Clan was not to be trifled with, and there was also the restriction of the Yunsheng Sect, so he dared not stay long. After figuring out the situation, he immediately withdrew and first retrieved the Emerald Thunder Bamboo to report back."

Upon hearing this, Master Puhua's face instantly darkened, his expression shifting unpredictably, and a surge of overwhelming hatred suddenly surfaced deep within his eyes!

"So that's how it is..."

He muttered to himself, his teeth grinding together, "I never imagined that this Purple Thunder Bamboo would be connected to that despicable Bai Jin! If it weren't for that bastard Bai Jin's sneak attack back then, how could I have ended up with my physical body destroyed and only my primordial spirit clinging to life?!"

The Purple Thunder Bamboo grows in that valley, which is the habitat of the White Elephant Clan...

A sinister glint flashed in Master Puhua's eyes, and a daring idea gradually took root and spread in his mind.

I am irreconcilable with Bai Jin. Since I cannot kill him for the time being, I will kill his clansmen first and let him taste the bitterness of losing his loved ones!

These white elephant beasts deserve to die anyway. Killing them will not only relieve my hatred but also allow me to seize the Purple Thunder Bamboo. Why not?!

I killed the White Elephant Clan and seized the Purple Thunder Bamboo without anyone noticing. Even if Bai Jin guessed that someone else had done it, he would never suspect me!

The more he thought about it, the more burning his heart became, and the greed and ruthlessness in his eyes intensified.

The thought of seizing the Purple Thunder Bamboo had completely taken over his mind.

He had been quite pleased with the Green Thunder Bamboo, but now that he had learned about the Purple Thunder Bamboo, the Green Thunder Bamboo in his hand suddenly became worthless and tasteless.

If he could use the Purple Thunder Bamboo to reshape his physical body, he might be able to forge the legendary Thunder Spirit Body in one fell swoop.

At that time, their strength will surely surge, far surpassing what they were before, and they may even break through the constraints and reach a higher level!

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he absolutely cannot let it slip by!

With this in mind, Master Puhua no longer hesitated. He had made up his mind and gritted his teeth, saying, "Attack immediately, seize the Purple Thunder Bamboo, and annihilate the White Elephant Clan!"

These words startled Yu Lu, who quickly stepped forward and urgently dissuaded him, "Master, you mustn't! The First Lord has already issued a decree. Now that the aura of calamity is everywhere, no one is allowed to go out. Not only do you not have any special privileges, but you are also under close surveillance. If you go out without permission and are discovered, the consequences will be unimaginable!"

"What are you afraid of?"

A fierce glint flashed in Master Puhua's eyes, his tone ruthless, "If I don't speak of this, if you don't speak, and Yu Ding keeps his mouth shut, how will anyone else know?!"

"Once I seize the Purple Thunder Bamboo and annihilate the White Elephant Clan, I will immediately return to Mount Sumeru to rebuild my physical body, then seal the mountain gates tightly and never venture out again. Who will discover anything then?!"

……

A year is but a fleeting moment in the human world!

The five religions are stirring up trouble, and a single battle could shake the world!

The conflict that had subsided in the past has finally begun again!

Inside the Xuanming Palace in Fengdu, King Qin Guang, Zhong Jiu, sat on the throne of the King of the Underworld, surrounded by the majesty accumulated over a thousand years in the underworld. With a light flick of his fingertips, one could clearly sense the undercurrents of fortune between the Yin and Yang realms.

The five religions in the mortal realm are stirring, and the ghosts in the underworld are restless; all of this foreshadows an unprecedented upheaval.

Just then, the system's voice, which had been silent for nearly a thousand years, suddenly boomed out, carrying an unprecedented urgency and authority:

[The "Heavenly Dao Yin Yang Reincarnation Secret Order" is undergoing emergency upgrades... 10%... 50%... 100%!]

System upgrade?!

Zhong Jiu suddenly sat up straight, his eyes filled with shock, and the dark energy around him almost became chaotic!

The system that accompanied him from a mere soul servant to the throne of King Qin Guang had never stopped evolving. After nearly a thousand years of silence, it finally underwent a qualitative change!

Upgrade successful!

The "Heavenly Dao Yin-Yang Reincarnation Secret Order" has been upgraded to the "Heavenly Realm Secret Order"!

["Celestial Decree" Order No. 1: Establish the Celestial Realm! Mission complete. The host will be promoted to the Great Emperor of Fengdu—the head of the Five Ghost Emperors, the supreme deity of the Underworld, in charge of all ghosts in the underworld, and ruling the order of Yin and Yang!]

[Additional Instructions: Extract the fortune of the mortal realm and condense it into auspicious clouds in the heavens to construct a complete celestial system. Establish core strongholds such as the Heavenly Court Central Hub, the Southern Heavenly Gate, the Jade Pool Wonderland, the Western Paradise Mountain, and the Cave of the Three Stars of the Slanting Moon. Confer titles upon the gods and establish order in the Three Realms...]

Lines of golden, glittering secret orders flooded into Zhong Jiu's mind like a tidal wave.

The detailed list was so extensive that it took three days and three nights to fully present it!

Zhong Jiu stared intently, his heart filled with both shock and ecstasy!

The upgraded Heavenly Decree is a hundred times more complex and a thousand times more cumbersome than before.

The difficulty of establishing the Heavenly Realm is even more unbelievable, but the corresponding rewards are enough to drive any god of the underworld mad.

The position of the Great Emperor of Fengdu was the pinnacle he had dreamed of for nearly a thousand years, when he ruled the underworld!

It should be known that the Great Emperor of Fengdu is located at the top of the underworld, in charge of all the ghosts in the underworld, and in charge of the order of reincarnation. Even the Five Ghost Emperors have to bow down and submit to him. He truly has the power to control both the yin and yang worlds and is respected by all three realms!

Since Zhong Jiu took over as King of Qin Guang, he has experienced countless calamities, but he has never felt such a surge of emotion.

The rules and regulations in the secret order, and the details of the construction of the celestial realm, are far more complex than perfecting the underworld.

He held his breath and stayed indoors for seven days and seven nights before he could fully digest all the details of this first order.

The confusion in Zhong Jiu's eyes faded away, replaced by a sharp, strategic mind.

To put it bluntly, what he wanted to do was to forcibly create a third realm—the Heavenly Realm—on top of the already stable Yin and Yang realms!

Moreover, it must be built according to the Heavenly Court regulations in his previous life's mythological memories, from the central hub to the strongholds, from the divine positions to the order, none of which can be missing.

The more Zhong Jiu pondered, the clearer he became about the difficulty of this task: since his arrival in this world, he had spent nearly a thousand years perfecting the underworld, proceeding step by step to ensure that the underworld was in good order.

The timeframe given by the system for its establishment is a mere century!

How difficult it must have been to build a celestial realm that spans Yin and Yang and governs all the gods over a century.

Zhong Jiu frowned, racking his brains for a way to break the deadlock, when the system voice from deep within his soul sounded again, like timely rain, instantly dispelling all his gloom:

[Note: Due to the upgrade of the "Celestial Decree," the Yin God's "Investiture of the Gods" has been simultaneously upgraded to the Heavenly Court's "Investiture of the Gods"! It can absorb the souls of powerful cultivators from all over the world, screen their aptitude, and confer titles of gods in the Heavenly Court, providing assistance to the host in building the Heavenly Realm!]

"Haha! This is truly a stroke of luck!"

Zhong Jiu couldn't help but burst into laughter, his eyes gleaming. He was just worried that there was no one to help with this earth-shattering project, and the Investiture of the Gods was upgraded as scheduled, which was like sending charcoal in snowy weather!

The war between the five major religions in the mortal realm has already begun. The various sects are at odds with each other, and once the war starts, there will surely be corpses everywhere and countless cultivators will perish.

These people are all highly skilled cultivators. Even after their physical bodies perish, their souls remain. As long as they are absorbed by the Heavenly Investiture of the Gods and then officially appointed, they will become powerful assistants of the Heavenly Court!

Zhong Jiu recalled the myths of his past life. The reason why the Investiture of the Gods was able to exert its greatest power was precisely because it coincided with the divine punishment and war, and the great undertaking of conferring gods was completed by taking advantage of the fall of countless cultivators.

In this world today, the great war between the five religions is the best opportunity and also his greatest source of confidence in building the Heavenly Realm!

"The establishment of the Celestial Realm is not something I can accomplish alone; I must gather all the talented people in the world and put them to my use!"

After much deliberation, Zhong Jiu had formed a meticulous plan in his mind.

First of all, crucial matters such as extracting the fortune of the mortal realm and gathering auspicious clouds from the heavens must be entrusted to an absolutely reliable and powerful person.

The first person that came to Zhong Jiu's mind was Yuan Hong, the Marshal of the Eastern Dou Victory Campaign.

This monkey is a stone monkey nurtured by heaven and earth, born with a spirit and destiny. It has been recognized by the heavens since childhood and is now a great supernatural being with unfathomable cultivation. Moreover, it is pure in nature and loyal to the end.

Entrusting this matter to him, and having the Five Wanderers who have joined the Underworld assist him, will ensure that nothing goes wrong.

Then came the establishment of various departments in the Heavenly Realm, which required the use of the power of the five religions in the mortal world.

Instead of letting the five great sect leaders fight each other in the mortal realm and destroy the balance of yin and yang, it would be better to put them to use and do something practical!

This way, they can avoid scheming against each other all day long and causing trouble out of nothing!