"You must know the saying 'extreme prosperity leads to reversal,' right? Tens of thousands of years ago, a strange stone suddenly appeared here. Whenever a new member of my Blacksteel Clan was born, this stone would emit a beam of light and destroy them."
The energy in that stone is incredibly powerful—even I don’t dare stay here for long. If there’s no new Blacksteel Beast born, the stone will emit its light every hour. Judging by the time, it should be about to happen again." Doran, the Blacksteel King, said helplessly.
Evan Chu had originally planned to kill this guy with Fireshift after getting the Metal Crystal, but hearing this, he felt a pang of sympathy for the clan’s misfortune.
Just as Evan was about to speak, Doran, the Blacksteel King, urgently said, "The stone is about to flare up—we have to get out of here!"
Evan was startled and quickly activated Shifting Position, sprinting toward the tunnel from before—even faster than Doran.
"Didn’t you say it wouldn’t flare for a while yet? Why is it happening now?" Evan asked suspiciously.
"I don’t know either. I haven’t come down here in hundreds of years, and this is the first time I’ve seen this happen," Doran replied.
Just then, Evan saw a blinding white light suddenly appear ahead, stabbing his eyes with pain as if pierced by needles—he couldn’t open them at all.
After a few breaths, Evan felt a bit better and forced his eyes open—only to find that all he could see was a blank void, nothing else at all. It was as if he’d gone blind: one eye saw endless black, the other a field of blinding white.
Terrified by this, Evan panicked. Had that intense light really blinded him? That was the only thought in his mind.
"Evan, don’t panic—you’re just temporarily blinded. Your sight will return in a bit. I never expected a Sunflare Stone to appear here; what a surprise," Luna said.
"Sunflare Stone? What kind of stone is that? Is it like a Star Crystal—packed with powerful energy?" Evan asked, relieved to hear his eyes were fine.
"Of course not. Sunflare Stone is a very strange mineral—maybe just as rare as a Star Crystal. It doesn’t hold much energy, but it can unleash an intense radiance with deadly power, especially against dark-attribute beings.
The Blacksteel Clan is made of black metal molecules, so they’re naturally a kind of dark-attribute beast. When exposed to the Sunflare Stone’s light, they’re badly hurt—especially newborn Blacksteel Beasts, who are instantly wiped out," Luna explained.
"Then that stone’s pretty much useless to me. I’m still hoping for a Metal Crystal," Evan said dismissively.
"You’re underestimating the Sunflare Stone. If you ever enter the Netherworld, just having one will make you an honored guest—maybe even a city lord," Luna said.
"Netherworld? What’s that? I’ve never heard of it. I only know about the Demonic Realm—so what’s this Netherworld all about?" Evan’s curiosity was piqued.
"The Netherworld’s definition is pretty mysterious. Think of it as an underground race—they almost never appear in the outside world, because they fear one thing: the sun. Sunlight can literally burn their bodies to ash.
Only Netherworlders who’ve reached Divine Martial Realm can barely withstand sunlight. And honestly, there’s nothing up here worth their trouble—except Starstones.
Hundreds of thousands of years ago, Netherworld experts would occasionally surface. There was once a Netherworld powerhouse whose strength surpassed the Saint Martial Realm; in a battle on the Divine Battlefield, he nearly wiped out the top human and Demon experts, though he was seriously wounded himself.
Worried that another Netherworld powerhouse might appear, the top Saint Martial experts of the human, Demon, and beast races joined forces to seal the Netherworld’s entrance.
Breaking that seal is incredibly difficult, but it’s not absolute. That’s because the Netherworld holds a special plant, the one thing absolutely needed for breakthrough to Saint Martial Realm—the Netherghost Violet Orchid.
The Netherghost Violet Orchid can directly transform a ninth-layer Divine Martial cultivator’s Divine Star Pellet into a Saint Star Pellet. After enough time and accumulation, that cultivator can then break through to Saint Martial Realm.
Ever since the Netherworld entrance was sealed, Netherghost Violet Orchid has become scarcer among the three races. By the era of the Lord of Frostbane, it was basically extinct. In other words, since that Divine Battlefield war, no one has managed to break through to Saint Martial Realm by orthodox means.
Even in the Ancient Azurelands, it’s basically impossible—unless you get your hands on the last Netherghost Violet Orchid, there’s no way to break through. That’s a law of heaven and earth; no one can defy it," Luna said.
Evan felt his horizons expanding again—and this time, it directly concerned him. If he wanted to reach Saint Martial Realm, he’d have to obtain a Netherghost Violet Orchid. To get one, he’d need to enter the Netherworld, and to do that, he’d have to break the seal. Every step was tightly linked.
Hearing all this, Evan felt a wave of disappointment. "So breaking that seal is basically impossible. I guess I’ll be stuck at ninth-layer Divine Martial. But what about the Saint Martial experts from the Dragon Hall and Vermilion Bird Hall? Did they break through thanks to the Netherghost Violet Orchid?"
"That’s right. But entering the Netherworld isn’t impossible—the Sunflare Stone is actually one of the key items needed to break the seal. If you can gather the right materials and the right people, you’ll be able to open the entrance and enter the Netherworld," Luna said.
Doran, the Blacksteel King, noticed Evan had been silent for a while and found it odd. Was he hurt by that intense light?
"Hey! Brother, are you hurt?" Doran asked, a hint of concern in his voice.
"I’m fine—just can’t see for a moment. I’ll be okay after a bit of rest." Evan sat down and pretended to cultivate, but what he really wanted was to hear more from Luna about the Netherworld.
"So, how can I break the Netherworld seal? If I can’t reach Saint Martial Realm, there’s no way I can complete my mission!" Evan said helplessly.
"Breaking the Netherworld seal is extremely difficult. You’ll need to gather the Sunflare Stone, Moonshadow Stone, and Starflare Stone. The Starflare Stone is the hardest to obtain. Plus, you’ll need the origin power of the Four Divine Beasts to unlock it," Luna explained.
"The Four Divine Beasts? Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise? That shouldn’t be too hard!" Evan said.
"You’ll need the Four Divine Beasts’ human descendants. Right now, you, Roxanne Lin, and Shangguan Hong, who carries the White Tiger bloodline, are already known. As for the Black Tortoise’s heir, that’s still a mystery—you’ll have to find them yourself," Luna said.
Evan felt a new responsibility land on his shoulders—finding the Black Tortoise’s heir. Everything was getting more complicated…
(Author’s Note: Some readers have said updates have been slow and asked about last month’s missing chapters. Don’t worry—I’m stockpiling drafts and will release them soon!)