After Su Yan left, the supreme will of the celestial realm thundered across the Hall of Gods: "Can his origin be traced?"
"No person found."
"Check his birthplace."
"No place found."
"Check his parents."
"Too many matches. Cannot determine."
Silence. Then a lesser divine will asked, "My lord, should we report upward?"
"Not yet. We might offend someone... suppress this. Today's events never happened. Erase all records from the heavenly artifact. Plague God, no revenge."
"By your decree."
Outside the Hall of Gods, Yuan Qi and Veyon didn't believe Su Yan's innocence. Yuan Qi had helped commit some of those crimes.
"I'm genuinely innocent." Su Yan explained, "The gods checked my three-life record. Clean. No criminal history. Ask the bell!"
"You're lying!" Zhou Qiyun wanted to point and shout, but restrained himself.
Even he couldn't survive ten thousand gods. The Hall of Gods possessed heavenly artifacts—heavenly principles, rules, laws, punishments. Their power was absolute.
For the Hall of Gods, anyone born had already committed sin. They could condemn anyone for anything.
Su Yan was no saint. He'd killed gods and officials. A dozen Zhou disciples had died at Huaihua Palace.
Yet he walked out whole. Zhou Qiyun's confidence shattered. He could no longer treat Su Yan with his former arrogance.
"Gods cannot leave ascension sites," Zhou Qiyun said, recovering. "Their power exceeds what the mortal world can contain. To descend requires offerings, sacrifices, and rituals to open a bridge. The gods in the Hall of Gods cannot leave it. As for whether ascension sites decay, I've never heard of it."
Su Yan asked, "Can gods fully descend into the mortal world?"
"Never heard of it."
Veyon shook her head. "My family's collection might have records, but I've never seen them."
Yuan Qi also knew nothing.
Su Yan thought of the thing the bell had suppressed besides the coffin girl—a god. So gods could fully descend. But why no records? And why had the bell's master suppressed one?
Ahead lay the Underworld Court. Su Yan studied the vast organization ruling the dead. Colossal statues taller than mountains stood across the landscape. Incense formed clouds and floating realms between them.
Those realms were Inner-Realm Subtle Transformation sites—pockets of paradise. They formed the Underworld Court's structure.
Streets connected the paradises. Buildings grew in every direction. This was the underworld—houses could point downward if they pleased.
Shops lined the streets. Spirits conducted business.
Su Yan had expected gloom. Instead, the underworld blazed with color more vivid than the living world.
Incense filled the air. Something bumped Su Yan's leg—dozens of short earth gods carrying messages, shouting, "Late, late!"
One called, "Most urgent! Zhou Qiyun the bandit has entered the Underworld Court! The bandit walks into his own trap!"
Other earth gods scrambled aside.
Zhou Qiyun explained, "The chronicle says these earth gods deliver daily reports. The Underworld Court's information gods compile them. Nothing in either world escapes their notice."
Su Yan was shaken. Earth gods existed everywhere—in mountains, villages, even city streets. If all their intelligence centralized here, the Underworld Court controlled everything.
"The Supreme Emperor's treaty with the underworld was visionary," Su Yan said.
Zhou Qiyun nodded. "He unified the underworld and the mortal realm, creating a divine empire. No threats remained, so he indulged in pleasure, empowered eunuchs and ministers. Women ruin empires."
Veyon raised an eyebrow. "What about the ministers?"
"I am the minister. If he hadn't indulged in women, I'd never have risen."
More earth gods ran past. "Yongzhou's lowly snake-catcher Zhou Qiyun has reached the Ghost Gate, come to die!"
Spirits scattered. "The demon approaches!"
A green ghost shouted, "I am the Ghost Gate warrior! If that snake-catcher steps through, my ghost-blade will cut him!"
Yuan Qi said, "Your reputation here is poor, Patriarch Zhou."
Zhou Qiyun snorted and walked through the Ghost Gate. The warrior dropped his blade and fled.
More messengers: "Zhou family ancestor storms the Soul-Return Gate! The gate's ghost generals fight to the death!"
The generals threw away armor and ran.
"Their tone improved," Yuan Qi noted.
At the Ghost King Hall: "Human Grandmaster Zhou visits the Ghost King!"
The hall's doors slammed shut.
At the Magistrate's office: "Zhou family Nuo immortal arrives! Underworld minor gods, prostrate and welcome him!"
"Quick, embroider dragon flags! Replace the Underworld Emperor's banner with Zhou family banners!"
At the Great Hall of Judgment, underworld gods lined the streets, bowing. "Immortal one, we offer delicacies, awaiting your army to overthrow the Underworld Emperor's tyranny!"
Female ghosts danced and sang. One called, "Whoever wins the flower contest tonight serves the immortal in bed!"
Zhou Qiyun laughed. "Underworld Emperor, why this display? Zhou Qiyun of the mortal realm requests an audience!"
Immortal light erupted from the paradises. Towering figures emerged, stirring the underworld's skies.
From the supreme hall, blinding light overflowed, forming a god whose robes enveloped the entire structure. Immortal light blazed—too intense to look at directly.
Zhou Qiyun's expression tightened. This was a Primordial Spirit.
He'd studied widely, excavated tombs and paradises, attempting to reconstruct the cultivator's path. But he'd never achieved a Primordial Spirit.
His soul was powerful, but still only a soul.
He looked around. The ghost-Nuo immortals in the paradises were formidable but disembodied—souls without flesh.
The Underworld Emperor's light faded. His Primordial Spirit withdrew into the hall. "Underworld Emperor is merely a title. You could hold it, I could hold it. After death, come to the underworld. I'll pass the throne to you."
Zhou Qiyun stepped forward. "I care nothing for afterlife. I want eternal life. I want to transcend tribulation and ascend!"
The Emperor laughed. "Who doesn't? Even I wish to return to the living world and be a carefree immortal. Zhou master, you're already a mortal Nuo immortal. What dissatisfaction remains?"
*Hum—*
Immortal light blasted from the hall toward Zhou Qiyun.
Zhou Qiyun's Inner Realm expanded. "You're a ghost immortal?"
Su Yan and Veyon had stopped far back, but the pressure still made their hearts thunder. Their consciousness wavered as incomprehensible Dao invaded their minds.
Elder Xiao stood before them, coughing blood, struggling to maintain his footing. "Retreat!"
They fell back to the Magistrate's office before breathing easily.
Zhou Qiyun's voice carried from the hall: "You were a celestial immortal whose body was destroyed, leaving only your Primordial Spirit—a ghost immortal! With body versus without, the difference is vast. You cannot match an embodied Nuo immortal!"
Terror erupted from the hall. Ripples swept everything. Elder Xiao coughed more blood.
The bell appeared, expanding into a protective dome. Dragon-serpent patterns flowed across its surface, forming a thick light barrier.
Ghost-Nuo immortals in the paradises pointed. Their Inner Realms flew toward the hall, pressing down with crushing Dao-forms.
Su Yan's nose bled. The others bled from eyes and ears.
"Bell, hold on!" Su Yan shouted.
The bell groaned. "Can't hold! Leaving!"
It spun, bouncing along the street, smashing through buildings, crashing through the Ghost Gate, tumbling out of the Underworld Court.
Inside, Su Yan told the others, "Don't worry. The bell has handled worse."
*Clang!*
The bell crashed through the Ghost Gate and fell.
Yuan Qi curled up. Then he realized: "Wait—are we free of Zhou Qiyun?"