Primordial Era: A brick knocks Hongyun unconscious, and he seizes the throne at the start.

Lu Chen's injuries took three years to heal.

It wasn't that his injuries were too severe, but rather that he wanted to take advantage of the healing process to digest the gains from this great calamity.

The Chaos Bell needs nurturing, the Morning Bell and the Chaos Brick need to adapt to their new rank, and the eight drops of Ancestral Witch Blood Essence need to be comprehended and fused... There are many things to do.

But the changes in the primordial world will not wait for him.

Three years after the collapse of Mount Buzhou, the breach in the heavens had expanded to cover half of the primordial world. Chaotic currents poured down like waterfalls, shattering mountains and rivers and causing widespread devastation wherever they passed.

The sage Nuwa had appeared once before, after the final battle, to collect five-colored stones and melt them down to mend the sky. However, the gap was too large, and there weren't enough five-colored stones, so the process of mending the sky was slow.

To make matters worse, the land itself is also in trouble.

Mount Buzhou was the linchpin of the primordial earth's veins. Its collapse disrupted the earth's veins, caused spiritual energy to run rampant, volcanic eruptions, and devastating floods. The entire primordial world became a living hell.

In this inferno, only two places remain relatively safe.

One place is the Western Sacred Mountain, where Jieyin and Zhunti are using their great magical power to protect the sacred site and are frantically "performing" the souls of the dead, reaping merit.

Another place is deep within the ruins of Buzhou Mountain—where the underworld was first formed, and the six realms of reincarnation were slowly operating.

Lu Chen's first stop after leaving seclusion was the underworld.

Following that faint sense of reincarnation, he passed through layers of ruins and arrived at the entrance to the underworld.

It was a huge stone gate, with three divine characters carved on the lintel: "Gate of Hell".

A seemingly endless queue stretched out in front of the gate—all were the souls of those who perished in the Lich War, dazed and confused, awaiting reincarnation.

Without disturbing the spirits, Lu Chen used his brick-遁 (a technique to teleport) to pass through the stone gate and enter the underworld.

The interior was different from what I had imagined; it was not gloomy or terrifying, but rather had a solemn and dignified feel.

A turbid river flows across the underworld, spanned by a stone bridge—the Bridge of Helplessness. At the bridgehead, an old woman is simmering soup, its enticing aroma drawing the departed souls closer.

On the other side of the bridge are six passages, each emanating the aura of a being from the six realms of reincarnation: heaven, man, asura, animal, hungry ghost, and hell.

In the center of the six realms of reincarnation, a phantom figure sat cross-legged, which was none other than the goddess Pingxin, transformed from the ancestral witch Houtu.

Her eyes were closed, and she exuded an aura of both compassion and majesty, doing her utmost to maintain the cycle of reincarnation.

Lu Chen did not disturb her, but instead looked around the underworld.

This place is very rudimentary, with only basic reincarnation functions and not even a proper ghost messenger. The souls of the dead rely entirely on instinct to navigate the six realms, resulting in chaos.

"No wonder Houtu asked me to send some of her own people over back then," Lu Chen suddenly realized.

He released thirty figures from the Qiankun Diagram—these were the "his own people" he had planted in the Underworld back then. They were all handpicked by him from the Department of Fire and Fire, with cultivation levels ranging from Earth Immortal to Celestial Immortal, and they were all loyal and reliable.

"Greetings, Master!" the thirty men bowed in unison.

"From today onwards, you are the first batch of official ghost messengers of the Underworld," Lu Chen instructed. "Your mission is simple—maintain order, guide the souls of the dead, and incidentally... screen them."

"filter?"

"That's right." Lu Chen looked at the dead souls. "In the final war between the Lich King and the Demon King, most of those who died were elites. Their souls contain many valuable things—the remnants of the Ancestral Witches, the essence of the Demon Saints, and even fragments of the spirits of innate spiritual treasures. What you need to do is to 'intercept' the valuable souls and send them to a special channel for reincarnation, preserving their talents and memories so that they can be used by me in the next life."

Thirty people understood—this meant "farming" in the underworld to cultivate a loyal following.

"Go ahead," Lu Chen waved his hand.

The thirty people transformed into streaks of light and scattered throughout the underworld. Some went to the Bridge of Helplessness to help distribute the soup (and incidentally add some "ingredients"), some went to the entrances of the Six Paths to guide (screening targets), and others went deep into the underworld to open up "special reincarnation pools"—specifically used to "reincarnate" those valuable souls.

After arranging all these things, Lu Chen walked towards Consort Pingxin.

"Your Majesty," he bowed.

Pingxin slowly opened her eyes, a hint of weariness flashing in them, but also a trace of relief: "Young friend Lu Chen, you've come."

"This junior has come to fulfill his promise." Lu Chen took out the bead that sealed the souls of three million humans. "These human souls, Your Majesty, please send them into the cycle of reincarnation, so that they may be reborn into a better life next time."

Pingxin accepted the bead, sensing the pure aura of the soul within it, and a look of compassion flashed in his eyes: "Good. I will arrange for them to be reborn as humans, so that they may all find peace and happiness in their next life."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Lu Chen paused, then asked, "Your Majesty, is there anything I can help you with in the newly established Underworld?"

Pingxin sighed, "The cycle of reincarnation is extremely taxing. Although I have transformed myself into reincarnation and gained the approval of the Heavenly Dao, my merit is limited and cannot last. If I could accumulate more merit..."

Merit?

Lu Chen's eyes lit up.

That's exactly what he was waiting for!

"Your Majesty, perhaps this junior has a way." He grinned. "The Underworld was newly established, and the cycle of reincarnation is incomplete, leaving the souls of the primordial world with nowhere to go, their resentment soaring to the heavens—this is also part of the natural disaster. If we can 'accelerate' reincarnation and quickly digest these souls, wouldn't we be able to gain merit from the Heavenly Dao?"

Pingxin was taken aback: "Accelerated reincarnation? How can it be accelerated?"

Lu Chen took out an object from the Qiankun Diagram—a broken jade plate covered with densely packed time runes.

"This fragment of the Wheel of Time was obtained by me from the Treasure Sharing Cliff," he explained. "It can locally accelerate time. If placed at the core of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, it can speed up the flow of time within the reincarnation channels—one day outside is equivalent to one year inside. In this way, the efficiency of reincarnation for the deceased can be increased by three hundred and sixty-five times!"

Pingxin's eyes flashed with surprise: "Accelerate time? This... is it feasible?"

"Why don't we try and see?" Lu Chen handed over the broken roulette wheel. "However, this thing is incomplete and can only operate for a hundred years at most before collapsing. But a hundred years is enough time for us to digest all the souls lost in the Lich War."

After a moment of silence, Pingxin finally nodded: "Then... let's give it a try."

She took the shard of the wheel and placed it at the core of the six realms of reincarnation.

"Buzz—!"

Spacetime within the cycle of reincarnation began to distort, and the flow of time suddenly accelerated!

The souls that were originally waiting in a daze are now flooding into the six realms like a tide, increasing their reincarnation speed by hundreds of times!

At the same time, the Heavenly Dao responded from the highest heavens!

With the underworld perfected, reincarnation accelerated, and the primordial resentment began to dissipate!

Immeasurable merit, cascading down like a golden waterfall!

With seventy percent of her virtue returning to a state of tranquility, her aura surged, and her status as a Saint of the Underworld became completely secure.

Two credits go to Lu Chen – after all, he came up with the idea and he provided the roulette wheel.

The remaining ten percent was scattered throughout the underworld, nourishing the ghost messengers and the underworld buildings.

Lu Chen was bathed in the golden light of merit, so comfortable that he almost groaned out loud.

Although this merit is not as vast as creating humans or mending the heavens, it is enough to advance his cultivation level further.

more importantly--

"Reincarnation is accelerating, and the dead are reincarnated quickly. Those souls with value will be intercepted, marked, and sent into special reincarnations by my people." Lu Chen chuckled inwardly. "A hundred years later, when this group of 'reincarnated' people grow up, they will become my most loyal core."

"Moreover, accelerating reincarnation solves the problem of the backlog of dead souls, dissipates the resentment of the primordial world, and reduces natural disasters. The pressure on Nuwa to mend the sky will be less, and she can still obtain the merits from mending the sky."

"Killing two birds with one stone, a huge profit!"

The merit lasted for three days and three nights.

When the golden light dissipated, Lu Chen's cultivation had naturally broken through to the peak of Quasi-Saint!

Just one step away from achieving Hunyuan!

The underworld has also undergone a major transformation—the buildings are more complete, the number of ghost messengers has doubled, the reincarnation channels are operating stably, and even the turbid River of Oblivion has become much clearer.

Empress Pingxin's aura has also been completely stabilized at the level of a Saint in the Underworld. Although she cannot leave the Underworld, she possesses authority within it comparable to that of the Heavenly Dao.

"Thank you very much, young friend," Pingxin said sincerely.

"Your Majesty is too kind." Lu Chen cupped his hands in greeting. "If there is nothing else, I will take my leave now."

"Wait a minute." Pingxin called out to him, taking out a black token. "This is the 'Reincarnation Token.' With this token, one can freely enter and exit the underworld and mobilize a portion of the power of reincarnation. You have helped me a great deal, so I will give this to you."

Lu Chen took the token; it was cold to the touch and engraved with the pattern of the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

nice one!

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for bestowing this treasure."

He put away the token and used the brick-遁 (a type of magic) to leave the underworld.

Having emerged from the gates of hell, Lu Chen looked up at the heavens above.

There, Nuwa was still mending the sky.

But the speed was significantly faster—the primordial resentment dissipated, the erosion of the chaotic airflow weakened, and the smelting efficiency of the five-colored stones increased.

"Time to move on to the next stop."

He picked up the bricks and flew towards the ruins of Buzhou Mountain.

There, a great gift awaits him—

When Gonggong and Zhurong collided with the mountain, the original sources of water and fire remained at the fracture point of Buzhou Mountain.

That's the essence of a peak Ancestral Witch; it can't be wasted.

The grand feast of primordial merit has only just begun.