Ryan Ling had a sudden idea to cultivate the Purgatory Soul-Suppressing Art just now—he really just wanted to give it a try!
Right now his strength had reached third-layer Heaven-Tribulation. Honestly, he wasn't expecting much from this technique—just wanted to use it as a stepping stone!
But now, as he pushed to the ninth layer, even though his power didn't go up much, his understanding of the whole Netherworld got way deeper.
The Netherworld was way bigger than Ryan ever imagined; some things hidden inside, even Lord Yama might not know about.
By cultivating the Purgatory Soul-Suppressing Art, Ryan discovered that in the deepest part of the Eighteen Hells, inside a layer of pitch-dark special yin soil, weird powers were gathering—stuff normal people couldn't even sense. The energy was creepy and bizarre, like it was born when Hell itself was first created. It kind of reminded him of Nuwa’s sky-mending stones from the human world.
Of course, Ryan still had no clue what this 'dark matter' really was—he just felt that if he could absorb some of it now, his Heaven-Tribulation power would get a major boost!
"Dad, can you help me get to the very bottom of the Eighteen Hells?" Ryan steadied himself and asked.
"The very bottom? That’s the forbidden zone of Hell. Go down there and you'll get wrecked by the filthy miasma—even Hell’s evil ghosts can't handle it. You’re still alive, you sure you can take it?" Lord Yama looked at Ryan, worry all over his face. His own power was fading fast, and he felt heavier by the second.
The other ghost generals—Marshal Zhong Kui, Zoe Zhong, Black-and-White Impermanence, and the rest—were pale, their soul bodies trembling. Even without Damon coming back for round two, they couldn’t hold out much longer!
"No time to explain—send me now!" Seeing the situation, Ryan didn’t waste words. Everyone else was on the verge of collapse, but after cultivating the Purgatory Soul-Suppressing Art, his strength had improved a bit—he was the only one in decent shape. If he didn’t seize the chance, they’d never recover from this disaster.
"Alright, I’ll help you out!" Lord Yama didn’t hesitate anymore—asking questions was pointless now. At this moment, helping Ryan Ling was the only way forward!
"Bring it on!" Ryan Ling sucked in a deep breath. As the future King of Hell, he had to set the standard.
Lord Yama moved instantly, his massive hand waving down and sending Ryan plunging like a meteor. In a blink, Ryan shot thousands of miles straight down, landing at the absolute bottom of the Netherworld!
Ryan gritted his teeth. Just like his old man warned, the bottom of Hell was seriously busted. Not only was the yin and baleful qi thick enough to choke a ghost, the worst part was the insane corrosion—even formless evil ghosts would get their soul bodies shredded here, and Ryan was still rocking a human body. No way he could tank this!
"Ryan Ling, use the Purgatory Soul-Suppressing Art—it'll block most of it!" Suddenly, the Ghost Elder's voice buzzed in his ear.
Ryan nodded like crazy and didn’t hesitate. He fired up the Purgatory Soul-Suppressing Art, and boom—a rare green glow wrapped around his body. It was thin, but managed to block seventy or eighty percent of the corrosion!
Looks like grinding the Purgatory Soul-Suppressing Art actually paid off!
Ryan clenched his jaw, using the chance to drill even deeper. He realized almost no ghosts dared to touch this zone—the power here was massive, not just perfect for boosting his Heaven-Tribulation, but also a power-up for Primeval Heavenwood. Before he did anything, Heavenwood’s roots dove into the yin soil, slurping up mysterious energy!
"Jackpot!" Ryan cheered inside—he hadn’t expected this to be a buff for Primeval Heavenwood too.
And that’s not all—if he could fully absorb these hidden powers, his strength would skyrocket, and his control over the entire Netherworld would hit a whole new level!
Talk about a three-birds-one-stone move!
"Ryan, this is genius! Hurry up and cultivate—forget everything else, at least you’ll survive this disaster, and then you can make a comeback!" The Ghost Elder was fired up too.
Ryan just nodded slightly, not saying much.
He knew he wasn’t just breaking through for more power—the real ace up his sleeve was Immortal Sister Celia Xiao.
As long as he could hit fifth-layer Heaven-Tribulation...
...everything would change!
Absorb the power—get ready to charge!
Right now, Ryan was buzzing with excitement, and his hands didn’t hesitate at all—he started gulping down power like crazy.
......
Just as Ryan found a workable strategy, Damon suddenly received a new order!
At that moment, Damon was chilling with a drink, celebrating his historic win. But suddenly, a wave of light appeared above his head—its aura was off the charts, way stronger than Damon.
Damon had been riding high and acting all arrogant, but the instant he saw that light, he shriveled up in terror. His underlings got booted out in seconds—whoever showed up now had to be a top dog from the Immortal Domain World.
"My lord, you suddenly appear here—what big task do you need me to handle?" Damon dropped to his knees, acting like a total lackey.
"You’ve already won—so why didn’t you wipe them out completely?" The newcomer demanded coldly.
"Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva was meddling, so I didn’t dare go all out!" Damon was still kneeling, sounding super earnest.
"Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva? He’s just a clay statue—his real body’s in the Buddhist Realm. What’s there to be afraid of? Get back there now and kill every last threat!" The speaker spat out the words.
"Y-yes, understood!" Damon didn’t dare hesitate for a second and kowtowed.
"Also, you absolutely must bring Ryan Ling to me. I sense something special on him—get it for me, got it?" the figure ordered.
"Ryan Ling? That bastard—he has to stay alive?" Just hearing the name made Damon furious.
"That’s right. Do I have to spell it out? Go handle it—now!" The newcomer’s voice wasn’t loud, but the vibe was pure dominance. Damon didn’t even dare breathe wrong.
Vaguely, the newcomer’s power felt like it even surpassed Ghost Immortal level!
"Okay, I—I’ll go right now!" Damon didn’t dare say more, but suddenly remembered Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva was still in the mix. The Immortal-Domain patron didn’t care, but Damon was still pretty nervous about crossing swords with Ksitigarbha.
"Still scared of Ksitigarbha, huh?" The newcomer saw right through Damon, sneering.
"My lord, I’m still a ways off from his level—what do you think?" Since he’d been called out, Damon just put on a smile and played along.
"Enough talk—take this!" The newcomer didn’t hesitate, tossing Damon a golden talisman.
As soon as Damon grabbed the golden talisman, his whole body shook. He blurted out, "Void Immortal Talisman? Holy crap!"
Damon was practically losing his mind. He’d just leveled up to Ghost Immortal, basically the top dog in the Netherworld, but compared to this Void Immortal Talisman, his hard-won realm was nothing—a total joke. This talisman was insanely powerful; if he unleashed it, the entire Netherworld could get wiped out!
Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva might be crazy strong, but he was just an avatar—at best, peak Ghost Immortal. Against the Void Immortal Talisman, he’d get totally wrecked. No contest.
"Feeling better now?" The newcomer looked at Damon’s stunned face and just snickered. Clearly, to him, the talisman was nothing special.
"Don’t worry, my lord! I’ll make sure everything goes perfectly!" Damon dropped to his knees, kowtowing again.
"Alright, just remember one thing—bring me Ryan Ling, alive. Got it?" The newcomer’s eyes flashed with icy menace. Even as a Ghost Immortal, Damon didn’t dare look up.