I sat quietly in the car, watching the strange red currents swirling around us. I could already sense it clearly—this was the power of the Underworld Court. But I wasn’t surprised by that. What shocked me was Ray Lin’s true identity. I hadn’t expected him to be a spy for the Underworld Court.
"If you have anything you want to ask, I can answer some questions for you, Earth Soul."
I stared coldly at Ray Lin. He’d met Ethan Zhang more than once—now I saw it was the Infernal Judges of the Underworld Court behind him, ordering him to keep tabs on Ethan. It had always seemed odd to me that he could enter the horror stories, and now I realized that Yin Choujian must have known Ray Lin’s identity all along, but never exposed him.
"When did you start working as a spy for the Underworld Court?"
"I don’t really remember. It must have been a long time ago. Let me put it this way: I’ve been a proper driver in the world of the living since ancient times. I’ve ferried both humans and ghosts—this job lets you hear a lot of things. My only regret is that, no matter how much I cooperated with the Immortality Society back then, I could never find their base."
I stared at Ray Lin in silence, not knowing where he intended to take me. We were so close to the Underworld Court, but it had still taken so much time.
"So, which Infernal Judge are you taking me to?"
Ray Lin squinted and smiled as he spoke.
"You’ll know once we get there."
I snorted coldly, then fell into thought. Ray Lin and the Blue Wraith known as Redcoat seemed very familiar with each other. The Underworld Court must have been watching Old Hell’s movements for centuries.
"If you noticed Old Hell’s movements from the start, why didn’t you cut off the war at the source? Back then, the Infernal Judges could have sent troops to the other provinces of Hell and wiped out the Blue Wraiths entrenched there. Had that happened, everything would have ended centuries ago. I really can’t figure out what the Infernal Judges are so afraid of."
Ray Lin smiled bitterly.
"You’ve probably heard about how things were back then—internal strife, external threats, the issue with the Ghost Lords, the problem of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, the Immortality Society, the occasional chaos stirred up by the Dark Banquet, and all the trouble in the world of sorcery. With so many problems piling up, it was impossible to handle them all."
"That’s not the main reason, is it? I’m not Ethan Zhang, Ray Lin."
Ray Lin nodded immediately and said,
"True enough. You’re nothing like Ethan Zhang. As you said, if the Underworld Court had mobilized its forces and negotiated with Ji Yuner, they could have marched straight in from the Nether Hell. Wiping out the Blue Wraith group occupying the remaining seven provinces of Hell wouldn’t have been hard. But there was one problem."
At that moment, I saw the red currents around us speeding up—Ray Lin was accelerating.
"Hold on. This stretch is a little bumpy."
As he spoke, I heard a series of sharp creaks, as if the car itself was being crushed by some immense force. Ray Lin kept talking.
Hell was beset by internal and external troubles back then, but as I said, even so, Hell held absolute power over both the living and the dead. The Infernal Judges had noticed Old Hell’s movements long ago and foresaw this war, but the Underworld Court didn’t make a move or take any effective action—they simply kept their forces idle.
Back then, although Zhong Kui had already proposed a strategic plan and the other three Judges nodded in agreement, and even several Infernal Judges approved, the Underworld Court was set to wipe out the forces entrenched in the seven northern provinces of Hell. Everything was ready—until something catastrophic happened. Hell opened its eye.
"What the hell is that?"
I stared at Ray Lin in disbelief, my eyes wide. The car began to slow, eventually coming to a stop. Darkness engulfed everything outside. I saw something sharp and black, jutting up like a mountain peak.
With a low hum, the car stopped on this black wasteland. I glanced around—the landscape was utterly desolate, the sky a dull gray. The air was thick with a strange aura and a crushing sense of oppression.
"Where the hell are we?"
"Hell’s Core."
An ancient voice echoed out. I immediately got out of the car. The moment my feet touched the ground, I felt a strange warmth. The earth beneath me was soft, almost yielding. A chill ran down my spine as I looked down—bulging lines crisscrossed the ground like veins, purple and pulsing ever so slightly.
I looked up. A streak of red light landed beside the car—it was the Ten Kings of Rotation.
"What does that even mean?"
Ray Lin bowed deeply, then vanished in a flash of green light. The King of Rotation raised a hand, pointing at the gray sky before speaking.
"Come with me. Try to fly upward as much as you can."
I grunted in response, uncertain what the King of Rotation was up to, but I had no choice—I followed him, flying upward quickly.
I stared silently at the black spire before me, towering like a mountain, reaching straight into the sky.
We kept ascending, higher and higher. The King of Rotation continued upward, and I could only follow. Suddenly, he stopped; I halted instantly.
"Old man, what exactly did you bring me here for?"
"Ethan Zhang, look down."
I replied irritably,
"Just call me Earth Soul. I’m not Ethan Zhang, and I don’t want to be him."
Annoyed, I glanced down—and instantly my eyes widened. Below was no wasteland, but an endless, colossal eye. The black spire was wedged in its seam. The eye was shut tight.
"We call this place Hell’s Core. It’s where the Hell’s Eye resides."
I swallowed hard, stunned by what I was seeing. The ground I’d stepped on earlier—soft, veined—had to be the eyelid and blood vessels beneath it.
"Ray Lin must have told you about this before you came, right?"
I nodded.
"What does it mean for Hell to open its eye?"
"Since the dawn of Hell, this eye has existed. It’s only opened three times, and each time it brings disaster. The first was when Old Hell formed. The second, when New Hell arose. The third—only recently did we finally uncover the reason."
I looked at the King of Rotation, confused. He continued.
"Hell, the Yellow Springs, and the Nine Netherworlds—they didn’t come into being after Hell was established. They’ve always been here. Who created them, or whether it was intentional, none of us know. We, the Ten Infernal Judges, rule Hell not because we chose to, but because we cannot leave. Above Hell is the Underworld Court; below Hell lie the Nine Netherworlds and the Yellow Springs."
I stared at the King of Rotation in shock. Suddenly, I thought of the people of the Yellow Springs.
"Does the appearance of the Yellow Springs people have something to do with the Yellow Springs itself?"
The King of Rotation nodded and continued speaking.
Back then, the Underworld Court was preparing to mobilize and attack the seven provinces, even ready to negotiate with Ji Yuner. But then Hell opened its eye. When that colossal eye opened, it triggered a catastrophe that shook both realms of yin and yang.
The Ten Infernal Judges immediately abandoned their attack plans and began investigating. That was when the Nine Netherworlds and Yellow Springs revealed themselves—beneath Hell itself, both existed, each with its own will. Just as Hell had its own will.
Hell has always drawn in lost souls—it’s existed from the beginning, not built by rulers of Old or New Hell. No matter how much the Ten Infernal Judges investigated, they could never learn why Hell’s Eye opened. And then, strange things started happening in the Underworld Court.
Souls being punished in Hell began to vanish. By the time the Ten Infernal Judges noticed, thousands upon thousands had already disappeared.
And right at that critical moment, the Yaksha army from the Other Shore rebelled, making an already dire situation even worse.
A small-scale war broke out in Hell. In the end, the Yaksha were suppressed, but the Underworld Court suffered heavy losses—ones that couldn’t be repaired quickly. Then ten people from the world of sorcery appeared, members of an ancient sect, the Four Symbols Sect.
The sect didn’t have many members in the world of the living, but their strength was formidable. They used the power of the Four Saints to fight. During the Yaksha rebellion, the Four Symbols Sect was a huge help.
But the sect was already in decline, so those ten people made a deal—through the Underworld Court and the Yellow Springs, they forged a contract. The Yellow Springs would grant the Four Symbols Sect immortality, letting them reincarnate endlessly as humans. In return, they would help the Underworld Court harvest souls. The Four Symbols Sect could collect souls in the living world faster than any ghost messenger—far more efficient.
"That’s the origin of the Yellow Springs."
I thought carefully about what Lan Yin had said before—the holy land of the Yellow Springs people, the Island of Oath. The one named Yellow Springs must be its will.
"What exactly is the Yellow Springs?"
I asked, but the King of Rotation just shook his head in silence.
"You don’t need to know that for now, Ethan Zhang. The reason I brought you here today is because of that—and it concerns all three of you: the one called Ethan Zhang, the Human Soul, the Earth Soul, and the Heavenly Soul."
I swallowed hard as the King of Rotation pointed at the distant black spire, as if it had grown from the eye’s seam.
"Hell’s Eye isn’t truly shut. We forced it closed using the power of the Yellow Springs and Nine Netherworlds. Since then, nothing catastrophic has happened—but we’ve already found the source."