Chapter 383 – Underworld: Cycle of Despair

“Hum!”

Leveraging the advantage of the terrain, the Golden God Sect’s Sect Leader’s Dharma Domain followed a grand and righteous path.

At this moment, the entire world was rejecting Mu Lin, with overwhelming pressure akin to mountains and seas collapsing, surging toward him in waves.

Under that vast, heaven-and-earth-like might, Mu Lin was like a small boat in a storm, at risk of being overturned by the immense pressure at any moment.

“Impossible to withstand head-on!”

It must be said that an Earth Immortal is, after all, an Earth Immortal—especially when holding the advantage of terrain. He could forcibly suppress Mu Lin with his Dharma Domain, even preventing Mu Lin from deploying his own Dharma Domain.

It was precisely because he possessed such formidable power that he made the decision to oppose Mu Lin.

In his view, Mu Lin’s defeat was only a matter of time. As long as he brought the disciples into the mountain sect and let them stay for a while, the matter would pass.

By then, they would neither suffer significant losses nor fail to please the East Sea King.

However, while his plan was sound, he never expected Mu Lin to act completely outside the norm. Before they could make a move, Mu Lin struck first.

And this resulted in heavy losses for them.

Nevertheless, although they lost a generation of disciples, it was due to a sneak attack. Thus, the Golden God Sect’s Sect Leader still believed he could crush Mu Lin.

“You cannot escape. Rest assured, I will not kill you immediately. You must pay for your actions… Daring to kill my disciples and descendants, I will burn your soul in demonic flames for a hundred years!”

“Boom!”

His fury flared, deepening and strengthening his resonance with Golden God Mountain, which in turn brought even greater pressure upon Mu Lin.

At this moment, Mu Lin felt as if he were carrying mountains on his back, once again rendering him unable to move.

Clearly, the Golden God Sect’s Sect Leader, Jin Haoran, intended to use the power of his Dharma Domain to forcibly imprison Mu Lin.

But was Mu Lin truly so easy to deal with?

The answer, naturally, was no.

“Hiss!”

Seeing that he could not contend in terms of Mana, Mu Lin immediately activated his profound Spell—while there is a saying that “Overwhelming Force Subdues All Techniques,” exquisite Spells could also reverse the situation.

Thanks to his Attribute Panel, Mu Lin had cultivated many Mystical Arts to advanced levels, comprehending their subtle mysteries. Now, these Spells revealed their power.

Like the hissing sound of a snake, as it flashed through the world, a phantom of a giant serpent instantly appeared around Mu Lin.

When the serpent connected head to tail around Mu Lin, he… became isolated from the world.

【A World of His Own】

At this moment, although Mu Lin remained within the Golden God Sect’s mountain gates, due to the power of the Ouroboros, he stood as if in another dimension.

With his body isolated by the Ouroboros’ power, the vast, heaven-and-earth-like pressure naturally could no longer affect him, allowing him to catch his breath.

However, Mu Lin’s respite did not last long before a cold snort echoed from outside.

“Futile resistance!”

An Earth Immortal’s body and mind are in harmony with the world, granting deep comprehension of spatial laws.

Thus, the Golden God Sect’s Sect Leader quickly detected the method Mu Lin was using. With a single thought, he directed the immense pressure onto the head-to-tail Ouroboros encircling Mu Lin—since he could not crush Mu Lin directly, he would first shatter Mu Lin’s world.

This line of thinking wasn’t entirely wrong, but what Golden God Sect Leader Jin Haoran hadn’t anticipated was that, in the first moment, he actually failed to break through Mu Lin’s defenses.

The power of the Ouroboros represents infinite cycles, and cycles signify the transfer, shifting, and exchange of energy… The Ouroboros coiling around Mu Lin could not only redirect attacks from a single point to a broader area but also transfer the opponent’s force to Mu Lin’s main body, to be borne by him and the True Spirit Karma Diagram within him.

As a result, Mu Lin’s endurance was naturally enhanced countless times over.

Moreover, Mu Lin could leverage his identity as the City God, using his City God Domain to withstand the pressure of Jin Haoran’s Domain.

In this confrontation, Mu Lin could hold out for three days.

Of course, he wouldn’t simply endure the attacks without retaliation.

“Hiss!!”

Glancing up at Jin Haoran, Mu Lin smiled faintly. In the next moment, accompanied by the hissing sound of the Ouroboros, Mu Lin’s figure vanished from the sight of the Golden God Sect’s Elders in a flash, disappearing without a trace.

“Hmm??”

“G-gone?”

“Could it be spatial teleportation?”

“How is that possible? Our mountain-protecting formation is still active. He shouldn’t be able to teleport away!”

Mu Lin’s sudden disappearance startled the Golden God Sect’s Elders. With their anger still unvented, they immediately began searching for him.

In contrast, Sect Leader Jin Haoran remained unflustered. As an Earth Immortal, his perception was exceptionally keen, and he soon sensed something amiss.

“No, he hasn’t left… Be careful!”

“Ah!”

His warning came swiftly, but it was already too late. One Elder’s aura abruptly weakened significantly, and his Divine Soul became unstable, as if he had been struck by a sword—a blow that seemed to have landed directly on his soul.

“???”

“What happened?”

“Elder Qi, what attacked you?”

“I don’t know…”

“All of you, be quiet! Focus your minds, calm your spirits, and meditate. Through meditation, you will perceive something.”

With these words, Earth Immortal Jin Haoran was the first to close his eyes. As he did so, a connection spontaneously arose within his heart.

Guiding his consciousness along this connection, Jin Haoran soon found himself arriving in a peculiar realm.

This place still resembled the Golden God Sect’s mountain gate, but unlike the spiritual energy-rich, radiantly glowing sect, the buildings and landscapes here, though present, seemed drained of color, turning cold and icy in tone.

Even the sky lacked the sun’s light, shrouded instead by gray mist, casting the entire realm into further gloom.

Simultaneously, Jin Haoran noticed that, aside from himself, the Golden God Sect’s Elders were also present here.

However, unlike his clear-minded state, most of the sect’s Elders appeared dazed, their eyes vacant, resembling humanoid puppets or statues.

This sight sent a chill down Jin Haoran’s spine.

Fortunately, a relieving development soon followed.

As the Elders outside closed their eyes to meditate, they gradually connected with the figures in this realm, allowing their consciousnesses to descend into these puppet-like bodies.

Gradually, their eyes regained emotional depth, and their expressions became animated once more.

Yet, like the Golden God Sect’s Sect Leader, these Elders were equally perplexed about their whereabouts.

“Where is this place?”

“The layout here is the same as my Golden God Sect, yet there are some differences…”

“Huh, some buildings are different… Fengdu City, what is this?”

“And Manjusaka, Black River, grave mounds… Be careful, don’t touch them. I always feel this place is dangerous…”

Looking around, some were bewildered, while others felt fear.

Fortunately, what brought Jin Haoran some comfort was that the Golden God Sect, being so large, wasn’t entirely filled with incompetents.

  Soon, some people began to piece things together based on the scene before them and the details of their previous battle with Mu Lin.

“A Dharma Domain… this is Mu Lin’s Dharma Domain. He can create a special world of Dharma Domain by drawing upon the power of the present world… But how is that possible? Is this something a Mortal Shedding Adept can accomplish?”

That Elder of the Golden God Sect was utterly bewildered.

No matter how he reasoned, he felt that the place they had arrived in was created by Mu Lin.

But his past common sense and worldview made him believe that a Mortal Shedding Adept couldn’t achieve such a thing.

Not only was he astonished, but the other Elders of the Golden God Sect also wore expressions of confusion and fear.

Clearly, like the Elder who had deduced this, they couldn’t believe that a Mortal Shedding Adept was capable of such a feat.

It wasn’t that they looked down on Mortal Shedding Adepts—they themselves were at this realm and knew very well the limits and capabilities of the Mortal Shedding Realm.

“This defies all logic!”

“I don’t believe it…”

“Clap, clap!”

Just as the Elders of the Golden God Sect were questioning their understanding of reality, a round of applause echoed from Fengdu City across from them.

Then, Mu Lin’s King Yama form—wearing a twelve-beaded crown and draped in the black Candle Dragon imperial robe—emerged from Yama’s Hall within Fengdu City.

Glancing at the Elder, Mu Lin flashed a grin.

“You guessed right. This is indeed my Dharma Domain!”

Surveying the surrounding Netherworld, even Mu Lin himself had been stunned for a long moment when he first tested and arrived in such a place, let alone them.

He hadn’t expected that after reaching Mortal Shedding, he would comprehend such an ability.

……

In the path of cultivation, the first three major realms are as follows: Spirit Awakening is the initial step of a Daoist Novice; the Spirit Pool and Spirit Sea stages are the formative years of accumulating Mana; during Condensing Gang and Refining Sha, cultivators are still in their youth, at most adding a touch of maturity.

Although these three stages encompass nine levels, in the eyes of true powerhouses, they are all low-level cultivators—still human, still young cultivators in need of growth.

It is only from Mortal Shedding onward that cultivators truly become extraordinary. This marks the beginning of transcending humanity, the true backbone of the cultivation world, and the stage of genuine adulthood.

In some Aristocratic Families, those at the Mortal Shedding Realm can already serve as Elders, which is why this realm is referred to as Adept.

And Mortal Shedding is held in such high regard not merely because of its title.

Upon advancing to the Mortal Shedding Realm, cultivators truly gain formidable power.

Leaving aside the non-human and mystical physique, and setting aside the transformation of various abilities—after advancing to Mortal Shedding, cultivators often comprehend one or several abilities akin to divine powers, based on their prior accumulation.

For example, Luo Chen’s ability to absorb calamities, or the Evil God Scion Nest’s Undying Body and thirteen heads—these are all innate divine powers.

As for Mu Lin, upon advancing to Mortal Shedding, he naturally comprehended such abilities as well.

【Netherworld】, or rather the 【Cycle of Despair】, is one of the four divine abilities Mu Lin has comprehended.

In Mu Lin’s view, the present world is the Yang World, while Hell is the Yin World.

The so-called Yin World is not located underground but is another independent world.

The Celestial Court, the Netherworld, and the Mortal Realm—these are three worlds of equal status.

At the same time, in Mu Lin’s understanding, the Netherworld and the Mortal Realm are opposites of Yin and Yang, jointly maintaining the balance between the Yin-Yang Realms.

Due to this understanding, when advancing his cultivation, Mu Lin comprehended the divine ability 【Netherworld】.

Its primary function is to allow Mu Lin to draw upon the power of the present world and, through the law of Yin-Yang opposition, create a Yin World dominated by souls opposite the Yang World.

Hmm… due to his limited strength, Mu Lin can only open it briefly and cannot sustain the Yin World permanently.

But even this is immensely powerful.

The Yin World is dominated by souls, and due to the relationship of Yin-Yang opposition and mutual generation, within the Yin World, there are not only reflections of the Yang World’s structures but also reflections of people’s souls.

By attacking these soul reflections, Mu Lin can harm people in the Yang World.

Of course, cultivators with extraordinary cultivation levels or powerful souls can sense their own divine soul reflections in the Yin Earth.

They can transfer their consciousness to these reflections and engage in battle with Mu Lin.

This way, they gain the ability to resist.

As for cultivators with weak souls—they can only await death.

This is how high-level cultivators dominate lower-level ones. With certain special abilities, powerful cultivators can easily make lower-level individuals die without even knowing how.

Of course, while the Netherworld is powerful and creates a perfectly suited combat environment for Mu Lin, no divine ability can be comprehended simply by wishing for it. Even when advancing to the Mortal Shedding stage, where the heavens and earth provide assistance, one must still have accumulated insights—this is also why the Elders of the Golden God Sect found it unbelievable.

They believed that someone as young as Mu Lin should not possess such accumulation.

However, Mu Lin’s accumulation was indeed sufficient.

The Twilight Illusion Life-Death Array, an array involving Yin and Yang, was something Mu Lin had cultivated for a long time. He had already gained insights into this cultivation method, so Yin-Yang opposition was not a challenge for him.

Soul reflections were even simpler, stemming from Mu Lin’s accumulation in Paper Substitutes.

As for creating a world dominated by souls, Mu Lin began cultivating this during the Spirit Awakening Realm—the Mindscape – Sky Burial City.

Later, through Gang Sha Fusion, he nurtured the Profound Yellow Qi.

He even created a small Secret Realm world through the Hell Karma Map.

Having already created a small world, it was only logical for Mu Lin to construct a Netherworld by relying on the power of the present world and the principle of Yin-Yang opposition.

Hmm, perhaps only Mu Lin found this logical; others would simply find it exaggerated.

Fortunately, Mu Lin didn’t care about others’ opinions anyway.

…

After sighing inwardly, Mu Lin gathered his scattered thoughts and turned his gaze to the group of Elders from the Golden God Sect.

“You managed to deduce my Dharma Domain. Not bad. As a reward, I shall grant you death.”

“Attack!”

“Roar!”

“Kill!”

At Mu Lin’s command, the scarlet demons wandering the wilderness, the Asuras, and the Beiwei Army of Fengdu City immediately formed ranks and charged toward the group of Elders from the Golden God Sect.

A thousand horses galloped forth, and demons surged out in droves. The sheer killing intent emanating from the numerous troops sent shivers down one’s spine.

Hmm… One thing to note is that within the temporary Underworld Mu Lin had constructed, there were no armies.

The Fengdu City was also a projection Mu Lin had temporarily created using his own Mana, not the Fengdu City from the True Spirit Karma Diagram.

Fortunately, while there were no soldiers in the Underworld, Mu Lin could summon the Black River Water using his Mana.

As is well known, the waters of the Black River are interconnected and possess teleportation abilities.

Thus, through the Black River Water and the connection between the Underworld and the True Spirit Karma Diagram, Mu Lin was able to teleport the countless Netherworld Soldiers he had raised via the Black River.

“It’s just a pity that the Black River isn’t fully under my control. Every time I teleport through it, my Beiwei Army and Scarlet’s demonic creatures suffer erosion, consuming a great deal of Mana… If only I had a great ship, capable of ignoring the Black River’s threats and freely traversing the Underworld.”

(End of Chapter)