After breaking up with my girlfriend, I became a Great Sage of the Demon Clan.

Lin Anru grasped the grass in front of her and gently kneaded its stems and leaves with her fingers.

Lin'an Ru has lost count of how many years it has been since she last touched a plant in the wild.

"A very immature idea."

Wenquxing echoed.

"I actually have an idea too. Xiaoru, why don't you tell me your idea and see if we have the same idea?"

Lin Anru threw the weeds in her hand onto the ground.

"Could this place be a strange phenomenon caused by the Heavenly Pillar breaking through the barrier between the human world and the underworld?"

Chapter Twenty-Four: Speculation

Mount Tianzhu belongs to the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak, who is the supreme deity in charge of life and death. Mount Tai is also considered the central place of life and death.

Therefore, if the pillar of heaven were to collapse, could it not only cause the heavens and earth to tilt, but also break through the barrier between life and death, creating a huge hole between the underworld and the human world?

The hole that was drilled allowed sunlight and vitality from the human world to leak in, and the mountain, which faced the hole, received the warmth and light from the human world.

Thus, this mountain acquired the characteristics of a human mountain range.

　“汃”｜★祁!流〉瘤$∶:四↑覺∧￡流～Ｑu: Lin'an said this idea.

Wenquxing clapped his hands.

“Great minds think alike. Indeed, I’ve lived in this place for decades and always thought that the underworld is a place where yin energy gathers and is deathly still. How could there be such a mountain range full of human energy? It wasn’t until I thought that the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak actually controls life and death, and that his sacred site might be one of the transit points between the human world and the underworld.”

"After the pillar of heaven collapsed, this transit station was breached."

The God of Literature points to the sky.

"And so this scene, which should not normally exist in the underworld, came about."

"sure."

Little Yama looked at the sky and then at the ground.

"Old Ye, that's a good idea... Does the Heavenly Pillar break through the barrier between the human world and the underworld?!"

Little Yama thought of something and asked Wenquxing.

"Old Ye, you said that before you came here, the vegetation here was less than one-tenth of what it is now, right?"

Wenquxing understood what Xiao Yanjun meant; they were all old comrades-in-arms who had worked together for decades, so it was easy for them to understand.

"Yes... I suspect that after the Heavenly Pillar collapsed, it had already begun to break through the barrier between the underworld and the human world. However, because the extent of the breach was small at that time, it only affected the land on this mountain..."

Wenquxing stomped on the ground, making a "pat-pat" sound.

"With that little bit of vegetation, when I came to check later, the explosion I heard must have meant that the Heavenly Pillar had completely pierced through the Underworld..."

"Do not……"

Zhou Yan looked up at the sky. Because of his low level of awakening, he couldn't see anything in the sky. However, not being able to see it didn't mean he couldn't imagine it.

"I think it's not just a problem with the Heavenly Pillar. If it were just a problem with the Heavenly Pillar, the Eternal Night Calamity wouldn't have lasted this long."

Wenquxing was somewhat surprised.

"Is the Eternal Night Calamity not over yet?"

Wenquxing came to this mountain range a hundred years ago, and he is unaware of what is happening in the human world now.

"It's not over yet."

Lin Anru, standing to the side, didn't know how to explain herself to Wenquxing.

"The Eternal Night Calamity has been intensifying, and now, humanity is on the verge of extinction."

Lin'an, after reaching adulthood, witnessed humanity's decline from its peak, and its continuous descent to rock bottom.

Just like playing the stock market, Lin Anru always feels that things are at their worst, but the next day, the reality of the following year will slap Lin Anru in the face, telling him that there is no worst, there is always something worse.

Lin'an had witnessed this hopeless future for three hundred years, and the bitterness he felt during that time was beyond the comprehension of outsiders.

"So it might not just be a problem with the Heavenly Pillar. Have you ever thought that when the Heavenly Pillar fell, the Emperor of Fengdu had already taken action?"

Zhou Yan's words made Xiao Yanjun, Wenquxing, and Lin'anru all look at Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan said sadly.

"When the Heavenly Pillar collapsed, Nuwa came to mend it. Now that the Heavenly Pillar has collapsed, and Nuwa hasn't mended it, humanity is still alive. I have reason to suspect that when the Heavenly Pillar collapsed, the Emperor of Fengdu was afraid that it would break through the barrier between the underworld and the human world, so he went up and carried it himself."

"The Emperor of Fengdu's health deteriorated again; the more he endured, the weaker he became, until a hundred years ago, with a bang..."

Zhou Yan spread his arms outwards.

"The Great Emperor of Fengdu has fallen. This Heavenly Pillar has completely pierced through the Underworld. With the piercing of the Heavenly Pillar and the Underworld, and the fall of the Great Emperor of Fengdu, the Eternal Night Calamity began to prevail."

The Six Stars of Literature changed their expressions slightly. Indeed, when searching for the anomalies on this mountain, they had heard a violent explosion and colorful lights filling the sky. After that, the Stars of Literature pondered for many years and concluded that it was an unusual phenomenon in which the Heavenly Pillar had pierced through the barrier between the human world and the underworld.

Now, after hearing Zhou Yan's words, Jiu realized that this was probably a sign of the demise of the Fengdu Emperor's Dharma body.

The Emperor of Fengdu died in the underworld and became a firework.

Little Yama thought for a moment and then praised him.

"This idea is very likely."

Little Yama and Zhou Yan had previously discussed that regardless of the current state of the Underworld or what had happened, the supreme ruler of the Underworld, the Great Emperor of Fengdu, was either dead or on the verge of death. Otherwise, the evil spirits and vengeful ghosts of the Underworld could not have escaped to wreak havoc on the human world, and the Yin energy of the Underworld could not have spread from the Underworld to the human world.

Therefore, the death of the Fengdu Emperor was the premise before the speculation that Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva had become a demon arose.

But now that Zhou Yan has changed his tune and said that the Emperor of Fengdu perished because he was supporting the Heavenly Pillar, a new possibility has emerged.

Little Yama asked Zhou Yan.

"If what you're saying is true, then Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva might be innocent. So many evil spirits running away from the underworld might be because the collapse of the Heavenly Pillar caused such a commotion that the evil spirits were forced to migrate?"

Most animals are territorial. Even fierce bears and tigers won't deliberately kill you as long as you don't enter their territory.

These territorial beasts, when faced with natural disasters such as earthquakes, droughts, torrential rains, and fires, will actively choose to flee their habitats and seek survival in new places.

This is called migration.

With a great calamity looming over the underworld, it's possible that large numbers of vengeful spirits and evil ghosts, terrified by the oppressive power of the Heavenly Pillar, fled to the human world.

According to this calculation, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva is naturally innocent. He did not drive away all the wandering ghosts in the underworld in order to become a Buddha for himself.

Zhou Yan took out the black jade token given to him by the Emperor of Fengdu from his bosom.

Sometimes I really feel that way.

Zhou Yan stroked the patterns on the black jade token.

"The word 'fate' is truly wondrous."

Little Yama also stared at the black jade token. This was something Little Yama had asked the Great Emperor of Fengdu for, something to protect Zhou Yan's life.

Last time I went to see the Legend of the White Snake, I was Wu Qi, Lu Sisi. Two people poured water: sulfur q: a thousand years ago, Zhou Yan used this thing to summon the Ten Yin Marshals and gathered up several officials from the Imperial Observatory to kill them.

At the time, Zhou Yan was thinking how useful the favor of the Fengdu Emperor was. Now, it seems that the reason the Fengdu Emperor gave him this thing was not just to help him overcome his tribulation in "The Legend of the White Snake".

Zhou Yan handed the black jade token to Little Yama.

Little Yama took it.

The moment he received it, Little Yama could sense the rich aura of the Fengdu Emperor within the black jade pendant.

This aura cannot be used as proof that the Emperor of Fengdu is alive or dead. After all, when Zhou Yan went to the South Heavenly Gate, a group of big shots who were dead and only bones were left were still jumping around and shouting "White-haired beast" with hatred as they came to kill Zhou Yan.

The death of gods is very subtle; often, even those who are beyond dead can leap out of their graves and continue their wanderings.

But things are different now.

This place is the underworld, and this mountain range is the opening between the underworld and the human world that was pierced by the falling pillar of heaven.

As Zhou Yan said, the Emperor of Fengdu probably died here, and his body may be found in some corner of this place.

If you were to stimulate the black jade token, which carries the aura of the Fengdu Emperor, beside the corpse of the Fengdu Emperor…

Holding the black jade token, Little Yama began to pour his divine power and yin energy into it.

Wisps of black aura seeped from the black jade token, circulating back and forth as it was inhaled.

Little Yama tried to use his own power to strengthen the aura of the Fengdu Emperor within the black jade token. Of course, Little Yama didn't know what the effect of doing such a thing would be.

Anyway, if something goes wrong, we can just run away.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble!"

The ground beneath Zhou Yan's feet and the surrounding hills began to tremble, and several small hills began to collapse and crumble from the top.

Enormous cracks, large enough to devour mortals, began to appear beneath Zhou Yan's feet.

However, none of those present were ordinary people. Lin An grabbed Zhou Yan and flew away, while Wenquxing flew to his wife to prepare to rescue them. A semi-transparent hand emerged from beneath Little Yama's feet, lifting his foot. *Hiss*

The surrounding hilltops collapsed one by one, and vast swathes of vegetation were swallowed by the tumbling earth and rocks. (Part Three)

The largest mountain split in the middle, revealing a finger bone inside. Several other mountains followed suit, their collapses also revealing massive finger bones within their bodies.

Zhou Yan, who was being held in Lin Anru's arms, looked at the exposed fingers and opened its attribute panel.

Then, Zhou Yan shouted. (The sentence is incomplete and lacks context.)

"It's the Fengdu Emperor! This place is indeed the burial place of the Fengdu Emperor!"

The little Yama, held in the ghost's hand, immediately increased his output, pouring Yin energy and divine power into the black jade token in his hand as if it were free.

One by one, finger bones the size of mountains began to emerge from the ground around them.

Not long after, a massive metacarpal bone, so large it could blot out the sky, emerged from beneath the ground, lifting up a large chunk of earth and stone.

Next, a skull, as wide as thirty kilometers, was lifted from the ground by the force of the earthquake, bathed in the falling rocks.

A muddy, fishy smell and a thick, yin energy erupted, enveloping the skull and hand bones.

Once the stones and dirt on the skull had all fallen off, the jawbone opened, and two faint blue flames ignited in the dark eye sockets.

The little Yama King was carried by the ghostly hand to the Emperor of Fengdu, whereupon he bowed and clasped his hands in greeting.

"The Central Ghost Emperor has come to pay his respects."

The skull of the Emperor of Fengdu turned around, facing Zhou Yan, the Little Yama.

This is a gigantic skull that is thirty kilometers wide and forty kilometers long. When you turn it around, you no longer see the face, but rather a mountain standing in front of you.

The mountain even opened its white, jade-like teeth, spewing out streams of air carrying sound.

"I...have heard it..."

The Emperor of Fengdu stretched out his hand, each of his fingers as thick as a mountain, and stopped three times in front of Little Yama. His longest middle finger pressed down and pointed at the black jade token in Little Yama's hand.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Shattered

The black aura traveled along the finger bones of the Emperor of Fengdu, moving forward to the metacarpal bones, then to the arm bones, and finally to the skull.

Two streams of white vapor shot out from the nostrils of the Emperor of Fengdu.

Little Yama, Lin Anru holding Zhou Yan, and Wenquxing, who had already brought out his son and wife, stood in a row in front of the corpse of the Fengdu Emperor, looking at the Fengdu Emperor with different expressions, waiting for the Fengdu Emperor to do what next.

The Emperor of Fengdu didn't do anything; He simply spoke.

"I...I am all alone..."

Zhou Yan, Little Yama, Lin Anru, and Wenquxing all looked puzzled.

The Emperor of Fengdu spoke again, but this time, only Little Yama heard him.

"Both the past and the future are shattered; the Heavenly Emperors are selecting the necessary fragments..."

"This world is a piece of a puzzle..."

"You've done a great job delivering this piece of the puzzle to me..."

Little Yama was startled, while Zhou Yan stared at the Emperor of Fengdu, his eyes flashing like lightning.

For some reason, Zhou Yan felt that this Emperor Fengdu was different from the Emperor Fengdu who had been resurrected by lifting his own skeleton from the ground.

He seemed to have transformed into his own 736-year-old Fengdu Emperor, the Second Fengdu Emperor who bestowed the title of Five Ghost Emperors upon Little Yama.

"Go to Fengdu..."

The Emperor of Fengdu slightly raised his finger, which was originally pointing at the black jade token in Little Yama's hand, and touched Little Yama's brow with his fingertip.

Centered on the center of Little Yama's forehead, large black blood vessels bulged outward from under Little Yama's skin. Zhou Yan watched from the side and thought that Little Yama's current appearance was just like the protagonist in an old martial arts movie who had been poisoned by a deadly poison from the Western Regions.