Descending to the Netherworld, Achieving Supreme Foundation-Building

"Ryan, Ryan..." Seeing this, everyone around went pale. Sophie Su, Angie Chen and the rest all screamed. It was like, ever since they'd been with Ryan, nothing this bad had ever happened—he always escaped disaster, always turned things around. But this time, it really looked like there was no way out.

Lily Liu's face was white as a sheet too. Last night, she'd had a nightmare just like this—she dreamed Ryan was beaten to death right in front of her. She never thought that nightmare would come true today. She was on the verge of breaking down, collapsing to the ground, sobbing so hard she couldn't even speak.

Meanwhile, Jason Lin and the others had totally lost it. They all charged at Dragon-Head Aaron Zhao like maniacs, but they were just newly minted Purple-Realm grandmasters—no match for him at all. Every one of them got swatted away before they could even get close.

"Hahaha! Awesome, awesome! Ryan, you really blew everyone away just now—nobody saw that coming. But I bet you never expected Japanese poison to be this savage, huh?" Aaron Zhao laughed, getting more and more excited, and stomped down on Ryan even harder, like he wanted to crush him to death right there.

"Dragon-Head, quit wasting time—just stomp him dead already!" Harold Hua wiped the blood from his mouth. His brother Tiger Hua had died at Ryan's hands, and now he'd been beaten so badly he was coughing up blood himself. He hated Ryan so much he wanted him dead right now.

"He's a treasure now—killing him would be such a waste. Besides, haven't you noticed? There's something seriously weird about his aura. It's way stronger than normal Void Realm. Aren't you guys even a little curious to study him?" Aaron Zhao smiled faintly, no way he was letting Ryan die that easily.

"That's right, Lord Aaron's got it. This kid's aura is totally unique, and the technique he cultivates is seriously cold and creepy. It's like it's not even from the human world!" Hazel Chiba bowed and chimed in, looking shy and eager.

Hazel Chiba was an old lady, pushing seventy, but because she'd reached the Void Realm, her appearance had reverted to looking thirty-something—and honestly, she even looked kind of sexy.

"Then let's torture him to death and force him to spill the truth!" Hector Huo grinned darkly. As the Huo Family's Second Master, he was way too into the whole interrogation thing.

"Second Master's right! Let's each use our own methods right here and see how long he can last!"

"Jinling's got plenty of torture tricks. Why don't we all show off our best moves and see who's boss?"

The two Void Realm grandmasters from Jinling perked up immediately, clearly interested.

All at once, everyone started in. Ryan was already half-dead from the poison, but now the Void Realm masters took turns torturing him. In an instant, his vision went black—he lost all sense of himself.

......

"Ryan, wake up!" Who knows how much time passed before Ryan slowly came to. He felt so weak he was like a puff of smoke—one gust and he'd be gone.

"Where am I? Am I dead?" Ryan slowly opened his eyes and saw two white shadows. Three glowing words appeared in front of him—Ghost Gate Pass.

"Look closely—do you know who I am?"

"Yeah, take a good look—do you recognize me?"

As the voices drew closer, Ryan finally saw them clearly: it was the System's Ghost Elder and the artifact spirit Granny Soul from the Purgatory Soul-Suppressing Art. Two old ghosts, hanging out with him. At that moment, Ryan was sure—he'd really ended up in the underworld.

"Ryan, you really are dead now—but it's not real death, it's just fake death!" The Ghost Elder could see Ryan was freaking out and quickly tried to reassure him.

"Fake death?" Ryan was stunned. He was already in soul form, totally separated from his body—what did real or fake even mean now?

"Ghost Elder's right. You're still alive—it's just that the poison hit so hard, it knocked you out cold. Your breath stopped, but your life hasn't ended. After all, you've reached half-step Foundation-Building, plus your body defense is insane—no way you'd die that easy. But the Six-Void-Realm Alliance isn't about to let you off that simple. You have to seize this last bit of time and push for true Foundation-Building. Only by fully breaking through, stepping onto the Immortal Path, and shedding your mortal shell can you survive this tribulation!" Granny Soul explained urgently.

"Break through to Foundation-Building for real? But I'm already a soul, totally out of my body—how am I supposed to cultivate like this?" Ryan asked, awkwardly.

"Wrong! That's exactly where you're off. Don't forget, your cultivation path's nothing like a normal person's. You're practicing the top-tier Netherworld art—the Purgatory Soul-Suppressing Art. That scripture is made for souls. If you were still in your flesh, you'd never reach true perfection. But now you're pure soul—if you go all out, you might reach heights nobody's ever seen!" Granny Soul finished, and Ryan's eyes lit up.

"So you're saying, I could try for the fifth layer right now?"

"Well, it's not impossible. It all depends on you. You're already at the peak of the second layer, so jumping three layers in a row is tough—but if you've got the guts, you might just pull it off." Granny Soul said, and Ryan's confidence shot up.

Because of Lord Yama, Ryan and Sophie Su still hadn't gotten together, and now he finally had a shot—no way was he letting this chance slip.

"Alright, I'm starting cultivation right now!" Ryan said, full of confidence.

"Wait—it's no good doing it here. You need to go inside Ghost Gate Pass, where the Yin energy is thick. That'll really help you break through!" Granny Soul said, grabbing Ryan and dragging him in. The Ghost Elder hurried after them; those two old ghosts knew this place like the back of their hands.

Soon enough, the two of them hauled Ryan through Ghost Gate Pass. Last time, Ryan hadn't actually entered the real Netherworld—he'd just lingered in the half-human, half-ghost border zone for a bit. But now, he was finally stepping into the Netherworld's real territory.

Even as a soul, Ryan could feel the bone-chilling cold all around him.

"Alright, this is the spot!" Ghost Elder said, bringing Ryan to the edge of a river steaming with icy mist.

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"Alright, I'll start now!" Ryan shivered, getting ready to cultivate.

"Hold up—who said you were staying on shore? You're going in the river!" Ghost Elder grabbed Ryan.

"What? In the river? You trying to freeze me to death?" Ryan said, shivering.

"Come on, little ancestor—you're already a soul, why are you scared of the cold? Get in, hurry up!" Ghost Elder snapped.

"Fine, I'll go in slow, just chill out!" Ryan said helplessly. With his life on the line, he had no choice but to do exactly what Ghost Elder said.

"Slow? Your body can't wait that long! Get in!" The System's Ghost Elder didn't hesitate—he just kicked Ryan straight into the freezing river. Ryan's soul splashed in with a thud, right into the icy current.

"Man, you're savage! Ryan's soul is still so delicate, how's it supposed to survive that kind of bone-chilling Yin River?" Granny Soul said, feeling bad for Ryan.

"Feel bad for him? Please. If he can't handle this kind of pain, he'll never make it. To reach Foundation-Building, you've got to go through the Yin River. Here's the real deal: Mengpo's legendary Forgetfulness Soup is brewed from this river's water. Besides supercharging cultivation, the Yin River washes away your mortal shell, lets you truly shed your old self and step onto the Immortal Path. That's the essence of Foundation-Building!" Ghost Elder said, clearly for Ryan's benefit. Ryan didn't argue anymore.

Just like the saying goes: only by eating bitter hardship can you rise above others. Cultivating the Immortal Path was never supposed to be easy—if you can't take this kind of pain, you'll never break through to Foundation-Building.

"Screw it, I'm all in!" Ryan gritted his teeth and dove straight to the bottom of the Yin River.

Instantly, the endless cold almost broke him. His soul, which had been green, turned purple-black in a flash.

"Ghost Elder, you're nuts! You totally forced me—I'm so deep down here I can't take it!" Granny Soul was freaking out.

But Ghost Elder just burst out laughing, shouting, "Exactly! That's how you reach true Foundation-Building and step onto the real Immortal Path!"

At that moment, Ryan couldn't hear Ghost Elder or Granny Soul on the shore anymore—his whole soul felt frozen solid. Just when he thought he couldn't take it, he suddenly felt his Foundation-Building energy, which had been stuck forever, start surging upward...