At that moment, hearing these words, the Ghost Elder and Zoe Zhong exchanged a look—clearly, the Western Pacifying King was here specifically to cause trouble. But right now Ryan Ling was at a critical point in his cultivation; there was no way he could come out to meet him!
"How dare you!" Instantly, the towering figure at the center—his face totally obscured—shouted. The sound shook the entire Eighteen Layers of Hell, making them tremble violently.
"Please, Western Pacifying King, calm down!" Ghost Elder bit his lip, not daring to say another word—there was no way he could touch Damon’s level.
"Trying to use Lord Yama to pressure me? He’s just a measly Fourth-Grade officer—want me to strip him of his rank right now?" Damon roared, and Ghost Elder was instantly blasted away, his whole body sent flying.
"You’re just a demoted slave—did you really think you’re still a top officer in the Netherworld?" Damon sneered, clearly familiar with Ghost Elder.
"Western Pacifying King, do you really need to go so hard on Ghost Elder? Is that fitting for someone of your rank?" Zoe Zhong shouted, totally unafraid.
"Zoe Zhong, you’ve got guts—just struck my subordinate, huh?" That oppressive voice swept over, but Zoe was ready. She whipped out the Zhong Kui Command and called, "Western Pacifying King, you can ignore me, but what about my brother’s reputation?"
"Trying to use Zhong Kui to threaten me? You think I’m scared of him?" Damon snorted, and actually sucked the Zhong Kui Command right out of her hand.
"You—" Zoe gasped, her whole body collapsing to the ground, green ghost-blood instantly streaming out.
"Even you?" Damon sneered, not even bothering to look at her.
"You little minx, daring to block me—forget Zhong Kui, even if he showed up in person, he wouldn’t be qualified!" Damon roared, his voice shaking the heavens like he was about to break with the whole Netherworld.
All around, ghosts big and small dropped to their knees, not one daring to speak.
"Some brat from the human world dares to become Lord Yama’s heir? It’s a disgrace to Hell! I bet it’s you lot feeding Yama lies—now I’ll do him a favor and wipe out this human bastard!" Damon didn’t hesitate; a giant phantom hand reached straight for Tongue-Pulling Hell. His power was so terrifying, nobody present could stop him!
But right then, a flash of gold dropped from above—a eunuch-like steward ghost appeared, clutching an imperial decree. "Edict from Lord Yama! All ghosts, kneel and receive!"
At those words, all of Damon’s followers instantly knelt, but Damon himself stayed standing, unmoving.
"Western Pacifying King, are you trying to openly defy the edict and rebel?" The steward ghost gritted his teeth, radiating authority.
"Hmph!" Damon snorted, finally dropping to one knee.
"By order of Lord Yama, Western Pacifying King is summoned to the palace for urgent business. Thus decreed!" The steward finished, handing the edict to Damon. "Your Highness, please—Lord Yama commands me to accompany you."
"Fine, I’ll go with you right now!" Damon gritted his teeth, slowly turning around. Ghost Elder and Zoe Zhong finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But just then, Damon suddenly spun back toward Tongue-Pulling Hell—and with a savage punch, smashed his fist right at it.
"Damon, what are you doing?" Ghost Elder and the others shouted in shock; the steward ghost was stunned, but it was too late to stop him.
"Tongue-Pulling Hell’s been a mess for ages. Today’s the perfect time for a little clean-up!" Damon declared. Instantly, the whole hell erupted in wailing and chaos.
"Ryan! Ryan!" Ghost Elder panicked, face going ghost-white. Damon’s power was insane—even one punch could blow up an entire layer. How could Ryan survive inside?
Damon just chuckled and swaggered off.
Ghost Elder and Zoe Zhong both charged in with everything they had.
Tongue-Pulling Hell was total chaos—over ten thousand ghosts dead or wounded, and a massive crater torn open. But Ryan was nowhere to be found, as if Damon’s punch had blasted his soul to dust.
"Ghost Elder, what now?" Zoe Zhong panicked. She knew Damon’s power wasn’t just Golden Core or Nascent Soul—it was off the charts. Even Lord Yama had to give him some respect.
"We have to find Ryan! No matter what!" Ghost Elder yelled like a madman and leaped straight into the crater. Tongue-Pulling Hell was just the first layer—next was Scissor Hell, then Divine Tree Hell. Ghost Elder didn’t care, just barreled down layer after layer searching.
"Hey! Who said you could barge through the Hells?" Several ghost wardens yelled from the other layers.
"Out of my way!" Ghost Elder roared, sweeping all the wardens aside. Zoe Zhong just whipped out her sword and charged after him.
They searched layer after layer, and finally spotted Ryan in the ninth layer—Oil-Cauldron Hell.
"Ghost Elder, Ryan’s here! He’s here!" Zoe Zhong was the first to spot him, shouting in excitement.
"Ryan, are you—are you okay?" Ghost Elder trembled all over as Zoe helped Ryan up. Seeing him covered in blood, Ghost Elder’s heart nearly broke.
"I’m fine, don’t worry, it’s just surface wounds!" Ryan coughed lightly, slowly getting to his feet. He actually didn’t look too bad.
"You nearly scared me to death, seriously!" Ghost Elder let out a long sigh of relief.
"I was about to have a heart attack, Ryan!" Zoe Zhong blurted out, hugging Ryan tight without thinking.
Ryan froze, Ghost Elder just gave a goofy grin, and Zoe awkwardly let go, then hurriedly asked, "Seriously, how’d you get out? Damon’s power is basically ghost-immortal level!"
"All thanks to this!" Ryan sighed, pointing at the Hell Furnace. "Damon’s attack was nuts, but right when things got desperate, the Hell Furnace suddenly let out a long howl, like it wanted to save me. I dove in, and boom—it took me straight to Oil-Cauldron Hell!"
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"Looks like it’s the real master of Oil-Cauldron Hell!" Ghost Elder exclaimed, then noticed the sharp blade aura swirling around Ryan. "By the way, how’s your Infernal Madblade training going? Any progress?"
"Exactly! And I’ve gotta thank that old bastard Damon—his surprise punch sent me sightseeing through all nine layers of Hell and let me master the essence of the last eight Madblade forms. I was worried I wouldn’t have enough time, but now? Learned them in a blink, saved me a ton of effort!" Ryan grinned, mind blown.
"Awesome, what a lucky break! If Damon knew, he’d probably cough up blood!" Ghost Elder burst out laughing.
"And that’s just the first bonus! The second—getting tossed through nine layers gave the Hell Furnace a massive upgrade. Now it’s top-tier Dao Artifact level, and I even picked up a new immortal-tier fire skill!" Ryan added.
"An immortal skill? For real?" Zoe Zhong was stunned—she hadn’t expected that.
"Totally real. Oil-Cauldron Hell is filled with Yellow-Spring broth, and just now the Hell Furnace fused with me to create Yellow-Spring Hellfire. With this, Hector Fujita’s absolutely doomed—and even stronger enemies won’t scare me!" Ryan declared.
"Good, that’s fantastic—a blessing in disguise!" Ghost Elder laughed, then gritted his teeth. "Next, we’ve gotta push your cultivation, break into Nascent Soul ASAP. Sooner or later, you’ll help Lord Yama wipe out Damon, that traitorous scumbag!"
"Don’t worry, today’s humiliation—I’ll pay it back a hundred times over. But for now, let’s head back. I bet it’s almost dawn in the human world!" Ryan said quickly.
"Yeah, let’s head back—kill Hector Fujita, stabilize things in the human world, then we’ll talk!" Ghost Elder replied. Ryan didn’t hesitate, grabbed him, and charged straight out…