Mythical Luo, starting with the fox spirit

Following the winding dirt road, they finally emerged from this desolate landscape. Beyond the dirt road appeared vast stretches of barren land, with scattered black plants appearing on both sides. Yang Ping'an gradually began to hear the sound of flowing water.

Yang Ping'an rode the golden lotus and floated slowly forward, the yellow mud road empty of any human figure.

The rushing sound of water grew closer, and Yang Ping'an could now see a raging, unrestrained river, ceaselessly chasing the setting sun in the southwest. The straight river was like the Queen Mother of the West using her hairpin to draw a silver river, splitting this underworld into two continents.

Yang Ping'an stood at the crossroads of the muddy road. Before him stretched a dirt road that stretched along the river, and beside him roared the River of Oblivion. Only when he reached this point did Yang Ping'an truly embark on the journey of the dead.

On the road to the underworld, there are fiery red spider lilies. They bloom in large quantities here, looking from afar like a carpet of blood. Their orange color is like fire, resembling a "road illuminated by fire," and is the only scenery and color on this long road to the underworld.

"The red spider lily blooms on the other shore, and sighs of helplessness linger on the Bridge of Helplessness." The road to the underworld, the red spider lily, the River of Helplessness—everything before our eyes seems to tell us that this is no longer the mortal world.

Upon arriving here, Yang Ping'an could see the souls of humans and demons slowly drifting towards the Yellow Springs Road. Every moment, souls would emerge from different forks in the road, looking lost and dejected, except for the path behind him.

Yang Ping'an turned and glanced back at the path he had come from. He didn't feel any constraints from the underworld, which meant he could leave this strange place at any time. However, having finally arrived in the underworld, Yang Ping'an was reluctant to return empty-handed. He didn't want to experience the profound confinement of the underworld again after passing under the Bitter Love Tree, but finding another path wasn't so easy.

Occasionally, some souls on the road to the underworld would see Yang Ping'an, but they would only glance at him. Lifeless, they had no desire to explore. Each of them had a dark blue "death" character drawn on their forehead, and neither of them, whether human or demon, possessed any magical power.

Yang Ping'an seemed to be deep in thought. It seemed that only the souls of these dead beings could come to this underworld. This must be the reason why the Huangquan Clan, though small in number, was able to control so many souls.

Yang Ping'an ignored the souls on the road to the underworld, grabbed a handful of spider lilies and stuffed them into his storage space. There was almost no suppression of Yang Ping'an here. Except for the lack of a physical body, Yang Ping'an's methods were not restricted. Of course, all of this was thanks to his powerful divine sense and the golden lotus under his feet.

A small patch of spider lilies by the roadside had been plucked; even the underworld beings probably didn't expect anyone to target them. These bright red spider lilies, also known as Manjusaka, are called the flower of guidance, and their fragrance is said to have magical power, capable of evoking memories of the deceased's past life.

After collecting the spider lilies, Yang Ping'an didn't linger. He rode a golden lotus and flew over the River of Oblivion, heading towards the stone bridge in the distance. When he arrived at the narrow and slippery stone bridge, Yang Ping'an saw two monsters from the Yellow Springs Clan, one standing in front of the bridge and the other behind it.

The Nai River underwent a dramatic change at this point; looking down, its waters were all blood, so foul and repulsive that one dared not approach. Beneath the bridge, the blood-soaked river teemed with insects and snakes, its waves churning, and a stench assaulted the senses.

Copper snakes and iron dogs fight over food, but they are forever trapped in the River of Helplessness with no way out. The evil souls fall into the river and must endure the torment of the River of Helplessness to atone for their sins.

The souls on the road to the underworld were forced to line up before the bridge, one by one stepping onto the Bridge of Helplessness. A book of life and death, shimmering in black and white, floated above the bridge, its pages turning rapidly. Each soul that stepped onto the bridge was enveloped in a layer of light, either white or black.

The souls, their bodies shimmering with black light, instantly tumbled off the bridge into the churning river of blood. Countless insects and snakes tore at their souls, and no amount of wailing or struggling could escape. The souls shrouded in white light staggered across the stone bridge, and the moment they stepped off the Bridge of Helplessness, their white light vanished without a trace, along with the eerie blue characters on their foreheads.

Yang Ping'an looked at the souls who had crossed the Bridge of Helplessness. They were like puppets whose memories had been wiped away. The Yellow Springs Clan behind the bridge casually touched the souls with their cyclical judge's pens, and they headed towards another place in a daze.

Yang Ping'an looked downstream along the blood river beneath the bridge and saw countless souls struggling in agony, yet unable to escape, swept away by the river's power. Until they reached a point beyond sight, the ant-sized souls clung together, pushed by the souls behind them into the abyss at the end of the River of Forgetfulness.

As for what will happen to these people, Yang Ping'an will not know, nor does he want to know. Perhaps they will crawl out of the abyss and step onto the Bridge of Helplessness again after atoning for their sins, or perhaps they will sink into depravity and be worn down by the blood-red River of Helplessness into pure soul power to create new souls.

Yang Ping'an didn't care about any of this. He took two bottles of river water from under the Naihe Bridge, one of turbid Yellow Springs and the other of bloody Forgetful River.

Yang Ping'an hesitated for a moment, glancing at the souls crossing the River of Forgetfulness. He sensed a demonic power on the other side of the river that was no less powerful than his own. The owner of that demonic power was even slightly superior to Yang Ping'an, having officially entered the realm after the Demon Emperor.

Yang Ping'an glanced at the golden lotus at his feet, then added another layer of concealment. His figure completely vanished from the spot, taking the Chaos Golden Lotus with him into another dimension. During this time, Yang Ping'an wasn't just sightseeing; his understanding of space had also reached a new level, reaching the second and a half level. The day Yang Ping'an would venture outside the circle was not far off.

After breaking through, Yang Ping'an once again opened the Heavenly Eye between his eyebrows. There were no more secrets about the underworld to him, and all matters in the Six Paths of Reincarnation were within his sight.

Yang Ping'an silently followed the departed souls in this alternate dimension. Ahead lay rows of eerie buildings, shrouded in layers of colorful clouds and faintly visible streaks of red mist. The eaves gleamed with the heads of grotesque beasts, the tiles gleamed like mandarin ducks. The doors were pierced with rows of crimson gold nails, the thresholds adorned with horizontal strips of white jade. Light streamed through the windows, casting wisps of morning mist, the curtains shimmered with a streak of red lightning. There was no Yama, the King of Hell, calling out; only earthworms sat before him on his desk.

The Yellow Springs Clan members weren't particularly strong, but they certainly had an impressive air about them. Their shadowy buildings surrounded a stone platform jutting out from the cliff. A group of Yellow Springs Clan monsters drove away the souls of the dead, bringing wave after wave of them out of the city. One group after another of these souls jumped off the stone platform and, drawn by some unknown force, were thrown into a strange passageway above the cliff.

Yang Ping'an watched as the magnificent passage swallowed one soul after another. This strange passage was the most important reincarnation passage in the underworld. As soon as a soul entered, it would turn into a beam of white light and enter into the embryos of newborn beings. There were humans, beasts, and demons. All the souls would be randomly reincarnated.

Yang Ping'an was deeply attracted by the laws of reincarnation. Divine light emanated from his Heavenly Eye, and profound mysteries of reincarnation surged into his heart. The profound laws impacted his soul, but he was unwilling to easily look away. "If I hear the Dao in the morning, I can die content in the evening!"

I like the myth of Da Luo, which started with the fox spirit.