Daoist Master of Qing Xuan

Right when the paradise was about to collapse, Shen Lian exhausted his last spiritual response to send the Five Elements Magical Sword away. As for himself, he employed ‘The Mastery of Senses’ to the maximum without hesitation. He was able to form a connection with a world that seemed to be the Nine Underworlds and started ‘connecting the netherworld and entering the Underworld’.

Taking his current predicament into consideration, this was the best option he had. He would not be able to return to the outside world by shattering the void when the paradise had collapsed. Moreover, his Primordial Spirit as it was would not be able to make it through the terrifying power in one piece. Regardless of how strong his Primordial Spirit was, it was incomparable to a magic talisman such as the Five Elements Magical Sword.

Hence, he made up his mind and formed a connection with the world that appeared to be the Nine Underworlds. When he completely entered the state of ‘connecting the netherworld’, he could feel the pull of reincarnation dragging his Primordial Spirit into a passageway without any resistance. Inside, it was filled with the river water of Huang River. Up ahead, the endless darkness awaited him. His divine thoughts must not stray too far from his Primordial Spirit, otherwise he would not be able to retract it back.

He felt that there was a peculiar power in the river water of Huang River. It was something that he had never felt before, not even when he was back at the River of Spirits. The power rolled over his memory repeatedly, and within moments he realised that he had lost some of his finest memories. Shen Lian retracted all of his divine thoughts and guarded his bier. He stilled his heart and spirit. His Primordial Spirit no longer took the shape of a human, but had transformed into a solid round ball. He kept the consciousness that was deep within himself tightly wrapped in the innermost area. At the same time, he posited the distracting thoughts and irrelevant memories at the outermost layer of the ball in order to withstand the corrosion of the river water of Huang River.

Shen Lian begin to understand why most people could not recall their past lives after being reincarnated. For someone who was not a powerhouse with an unimaginably strong Primordial Spirit like that of Shen Lian, it would be a remarkable feat to be able to preserve even one’s consciousness.

The length of the passageway was fascinating. Shen Lian was unsure if he was the only one who had to go through such a long corridor before entering the Nine Underworlds.

Besides, the river water of Huang River was extremely unique, and it was much scarier than its branches, such as the River of Spirits in the human realm.

Shen Lian was glad that he managed to suppress his curiosity back when he had attained the state of ‘connecting the netherworld’ during his cultivation of The Mastery of Senses. If his spirit had wandered into the Nine Underworlds, at least half of his memories would have been eroded. In fact, he might not even remember his identity anymore.

As the Huang River washed over him, Shen Lian minimised his consciousness to the greatest extent. From outside, one would only see a light dot flowing along with the current of the Huang River in the corridor, travelling to an unknown place.

Finally, there was light waiting ahead. Shen Lian felt a burning sensation. He saw a giant flaming ball of fire that was emitting countless greyish-red rays, supplementing heat energy to the world.

Naturally, that would be the sun. Shen Lian was shocked – could it be that he was not at the Nine Underworlds?

His consciousness drifted along with the current and entered a blood-red sea. His heart was impacted by countless resentful thoughts, the strength of which was a few times stronger than Yanxu’s demonic thoughts. They were endless.

All Shen Lian could do was to ensure that he did not lose himself in the blood-red sea.

However, as he flowed into the blood-red sea from the corridor, he did not realise that leave-less fiery red flowers were blooming at the shore of the blood-red sea. They were emitting strange magical powers and had shocked many powerful beings in this world.

They scanned through the sea of flowers and the blood-red sea with their divine thoughts, but they did not manage to discover anything. More accurately, the variety of resentful thoughts and hatred in the blood-red sea had made it impossible for them to investigate into each and every corner.

“The Red Spider Lilies have bloomed. The last time they bloomed was during Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva’s visit.” An ancient and low voice spoke above the air of the blood-red sea, and only a selected few beings could hear it.

“When the flowers on the shore blooms, the Lord of the Netherworld will be born. This was the prophecy left behind by the Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva.” The reply was accompanied by hints of Buddhist chants. The gentle golden ray showered on the blood-red sea; at the same time, countless transparent spiritual bodies floated up and bowed at the source of the golden ray. Shorty after, they were dispersed into the different corners of the world.

Beyond the sky, someone snickered, “The bald donkey is so pretentious. Even now, he still has the time to convert a couple of resentful spirits to show his kind heart.”

The other party responded with a Buddhist chant and did not engage in further argument.

The Red Spider Lily was the Flower of the Other Shore, because it bloomed on the shores of the blood-red sea.

Legend says that following the Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, when the Red Spider Lilies bloomed again, it would mean that the true owner of the Netherworld had come.

Those who noticed the blooming of the Flower of the Other Shore were aware of the legend, but no one wanted it to become a reality. Regardless, they were not about to be subordinates to someone else anymore.

Undercurrents started forming in the world that had enjoyed a long peaceful period. However, the vastness of the blood-red sea and the boundless Netherworld made it impossible for even the supreme beings to detect the whereabouts of the legendary Lord of the Netherworld.

Shen Lian was struggling in the blood-red sea when a stream of golden light fell upon the blood-red sea and reduced the pressure tremendously. He hid himself amidst the pure spiritual bodies and was dispersed along them.

However, the moment he rose up in the air, he could feel himself being rejected by the world, as though the world refused to acknowledge his identity. With a change in his thoughts, he condensed his Primordial Spirit and leaped over numerous space. Eventually, he fell into a big courtyard and had escaped from the pressure exerted on him by that world.

He entered into a fetus that was not fully formed yet and found himself surrounded by the warmth of amniotic fluid. This was what every cultivators of Daoism longed for – to return to one’s origin.

Shen Lian did not think that this was a fortunate encounter, as he realised that the fetus was too fragile to combine perfectly with his consciousness. If he were to force his way through, he would be killing both the mother and the fetus.

Moreover, he knew nothing about this world. It was impossible for him to find another way to exist in this world in such a short period of time. On top of that, he was unsure of the reason as to why he was being rejected by this world. Though, he had a premonition that he would be able to escape the pressure through rebirth.

He condensed the force of his Primordial Spirit to its limit and hid within the fetus. He scattered some of his divine aura from his consciousness within the blood and flesh of the fetus, and they were closely knitted now.

Through the divine aura, Shen Lian managed to obtain his right to legally remain in this world. Shortly after, he could hear the people from this world talking.

Of course, with the tiny bits of divine aura, he was unable to search through the world like before. However, it was still possible for him to sense the outside world.

His current ‘mother’ was caressing the hair of a cute young girl. However, the moment he tried to perceive something beyond his mother’s body, the feedback was extremely blurry. When reflected into his thoughts, the outside world seemed like a mirror covered in mist, and he could only see human shadows within it.

The language was similar to the previous world, albeit with slight differences.

Fortunately, with divine thoughts, one could experience another person’s thought process clearly. Especially for Shen Lian who was at such an advanced state, he could understand what his ‘mother’ was saying quite effortlessly.

‘Mother’ was narrating a legend of this world in a gentle tone.

“In the beginning, there was no day and night. There were neither stars nor sun and moon. The world was grey and full of spirits who had nowhere to go.”