Chapter 1627 - 296_4

The outsider's perspective is bound to differ from one's own. The true situation is that Li Zhiyuan is currently in unbearable pain, forced to find ways to divert his attention. Studying seems to be a suitable approach, akin to administering anesthesia to himself.

"Have you learned it?"

"I've memorized it."

The reason for not learning it is that it simply cannot be learned.

The fact that he can now step out using this footwork is because the shadow attached to his back is helping him alleviate the pressure.

In reality, doing this footwork recklessly without martial arts training would quickly result in being crushed into blood.

However, it's not that there is no compromise; it has to be modified.

Even after modification, one can't use this footwork for long travel; it's still unbearable, but it can be used for short-distance rapid movement.

At this moment, Li Zhiyuan had already stepped into the empty central area.

The closer he got, things previously unseen from afar began to emerge.

Above the large platform in the front, there are layers upon layers of platforms, not as large and shrouded in darkness.

A raging yellow waterfall cascades down from the highest point, passing through each platform.

This must be... Yellow Springs.

But strangely, the Yellow Springs is not flowing horizontally but vertically.

Below, there are also many platforms, more numerous and densely packed.

Moreover, unlike the dark-shrouded platforms above, these platforms below reveal their individual colors.

Some have flowing lava, some have rising steam, some have intersecting cold light, and some have boiling waves...

Eighteen Layers of Hell?

A golden light flashed from the deepest part below, the source of light even farther below the eighteen layers.

Its moment of illumination gave Li Zhiyuan the illusion, as if it would rush up from the depths at any moment.

However, the light flickered rapidly and was subdued quickly.

Bodhisattva, right at the very bottom.

The Great Emperor suppressed Bodhisattva in the deepest part of the Underworld, and for Evil Ghosts entering the Underworld, if the Eighteen Layers of Hell couldn't dissolve them, they would be sent to Bodhisattva.

Upon reaching the massive platform at his feet, one could feel more clearly the severe damage it suffered, and imagine the original "bustling noise" here.

At a cracked altar, the shadow stopped.

He raised his right hand, and thus also raised Li Zhiyuan's right hand.

A surge of power, like a clear spring, flowed into Li Zhiyuan's dry and deteriorated body.

"Do you know what to do?"

"I know."

Li Zhiyuan activated Fengdu Twelve Commandments.

In the center of the damaged altar, a ghost fire ignited with eerie green flames. It was the main altar, and several corners of the vast platform also lit up with lamps, not in an orderly fashion, as most were destroyed.

This is a ritual, an acknowledgment of identity.

Before its destruction, there were probably countless souls, and after the young man ignited the altar, they would collectively kneel to confirm the young man's status as the heir to the Great Emperor.

Now, hell is empty.

Indeed, when following formalities, whether or not there are spectators outside does not affect the process.

After the ceremony was over, the shadow descended from the altar and approached the tumultuous Yellow Springs.

Li Zhiyuan wanted to see down below, as surely the most exciting parts of the Underworld were there.

But the shadow chose to move upward.

Stepping into the inverted Yellow Springs, he suddenly lost his sense of direction, though it was clearly a waterfall, yet it became a normal flowing river.

Li Zhiyuan's feet stepped on the river surface, waves splashed against his side, rebounded before reaching him, revealing numerous white bones still clad in flesh.

Occasionally, when the waves surged, he could glimpse deeper in, seeing crystalline white bones inside.

These white bones, Li Zhiyuan recognized them; there were such bones in the truck.

They seemed to be some form of substitute, similar in principle to puppets, but in essence entirely different.

The "Book of Life and Death" in the Underworld possesses the ability to send people to report to the King Yan immediately, Li Zhiyuan believed.

He had witnessed it during the incense sticks on Zhao Yi, which seemed more like a terrifying and powerful curse.

But if you say the "Book of Life and Death" can resurrect the dead on the spot, Li Zhiyuan didn't believe it.

If it were true, wouldn't that mean immortality here was wholesale?

The problem likely arose from the dense fog encountered when everyone sat in the truck heading to Ghost Street.

At that time, everyone on the truck had already been "replaced," but no one could notice it.

The crystalline white bones filling the truck inside and out seemed like a conduit for life.

How exactly it was done, Li Zhiyuan had no way of knowing yet, he only knew that their true selves were actually still in the truck, the dead selves weren't their true selves. This would explain why everyone in the truck was naked, without luggage, weapons, or equipment.

Another possibility is that their true selves had indeed died but their souls were collected by the Great Emperor, who reassembled new bodies for them.

This possibility is extremely low, the reason it can still be considered is due to the Great Emperor's unfathomable power, which makes it seem somewhat conceivable.

There's an even more extreme conjecture that the so-called truth and falsehood are not fixed, but decided at the whim of the Great Emperor.

If the Great Emperor thinks they're dead, then even from fake, they turned real; if the Great Emperor thinks they're not dead, then the real can turn fake.

In any case, these ancient beings pursuing immortality each has their own understanding of life and death, as well as taboo means.