Chapter 241
Chapter 241
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 241
Chapter Title: The Third Descent into the Underworld
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Shuikou Village, in Azhuo's Void Great Realm, his nascent soul gazed remotely, having already locked onto the movements of Sima Xi and the others. Even Sima Xi's ambush couldn't escape his notice.
It turned out that Granny Sha and the others had been guarding the surroundings all along.
Azhuo murmured inwardly, "No wonder the bee bugs have been restless lately, sensing that fugitives were nearby."
He didn't make a fuss, silently withdrawing his nascent soul.
"Azhuo!"
Aunt Aying, wielding a kitchen knife, said sternly, "Come inside with me right now and explain clearly what you've been up to all these years!"
Azhuo hung his head and followed her into the house.
Screams of agony came from the inner room as Aunt Aying continued her interrogation.
Chen Shi, Qiao Hu, and Qiao Wei stood outside in the courtyard, listening to the commotion inside with full worry.
Azhuo had clearly picked up some impressive skills from somewhere, so naturally Aunt Aying had to drag him in for a thorough questioning.
"My mom has never beaten my dad this badly."
Qiao Wei said worriedly.
Chen Shi was also quite concerned.
Azhuo clearly had many things he'd kept from the family, and if he didn't come clean this time, it wouldn't fly.
After a long while, Chen Shi followed Azhuo out with the bee cart. Azhuo's face was flushed with vigor, not at all like he'd been given a beating by Aunt Aying—instead, it looked like he'd been rewarded.
Chen Shi shook his head, inwardly complaining that the adult world was complicated; he'd worried for nothing.
Deep into Great South Lake, Azhuo no longer hid. One by one, the bee bugs transformed into man-sized evils, flapping their wings in flight like swiftly moving dark clouds.
The bee cart turned into the underworld Bee Marshal's mount, traveling through the bee clouds, patrolling all directions.
"Uncle Azhuo, how did you become an underworld marshal?" Chen Shi asked.
Azhuo replied, "By raising bees."
Chen Shi was somewhat puzzled—raising bees made you an underworld marshal?
Azhuo said, "The last time your grandpa and I went out together, we descended into the underworld to search for your departed soul."
"That time was the third descent into the underworld."
Chen Shi's eyes widened. Uncle Azhuo had gone to the underworld with Grandpa Chen Yindu to search for him too?
"The first two descents into the underworld, Old Chen Head went alone. He didn't want to implicate us."
Azhuo reminisced about the past, recounting the old story. "Back then, he'd fought a great battle in West Capital, got injured, and the first descent unprepared nearly cost him his life there."
"For the second descent, he was prepared."
"But his strength wasn't enough; he couldn't find any trace of you."
"By the third time, he had no choice but to come to us."
"Our group totaled six people."
At that moment, the bee swarm grew excited, buzzing noisily as they howled toward one direction.
Azhuo felt a stir in his heart and said,
"They've spotted the fugitive and are trying to capture him."
Chen Shi was listening intently. He paid no mind to the fugitive but was deeply interested in Grandpa's experiences descending into the underworld to find him. He asked, "Which six?"
"The Five Great Lakes Six Gentlemen."
"The instructor, engraver, Heavenly Fox Green Sheep, shaman, and beekeeper from the Heavenly Court little gang."
"I was the youngest among us, so I ranked last. That's the code name we gave ourselves. Others called us by different nicknames, none flattering."
Azhuo said, "For that descent into the underworld, Granny Sha led the way."
"She's called Soul-Searching Rakshasa. She's the strongest in the underworld, though useless in the yang world."
"She interrogated little ghosts everywhere, searching for your whereabouts."
"The underworld is full of experts and gods aplenty, but that time we went, it was strangely quiet—we barely encountered any gods."
Chen Shi felt a stir in his heart. "Could something have happened in the underworld?"
Azhuo nodded. "Something did happen."
"We saw many gods' corpses, hung in the sky with hooks piercing their chins or chests and necks, dangling from above."
Chen Shi's heart pounded fiercely twice.
A massive upheaval in the underworld—many gods executed!
Hung in the sky with hooks through the chin: that was displaying corpses after extreme punishment.
"We encountered a powerful foe in the underworld, a god with supreme might. His body was colossal, muscles vast beyond compare. Slaughtering gods was effortless for him, like taking something from a pocket."
Azhuo's eye twitched. Clearly, recalling that terrifying scene from back then still chilled him to the bone.
Even for a great expert like him, facing that god with supreme might brought an overwhelming sense of powerlessness.
"His techniques I'd never seen before—bizarre moves with immense power. His target wasn't us but another group of gods."
"We'd just stumbled into their battlefield."
Azhuo paused here, a puzzled look on his face. He made a strange buzzing sound from his mouth, calling back the bee bugs pursuing the fugitive.
The bee clouds hesitated somewhat.
Chen Shi followed the bee clouds' flight path and saw a cart drifting on the lake surface—it was his own wooden cart!
The wooden cart had been turned into a boat by Granny Sha and Blackie Pot, drifting on the lake. They must have been searching for Chen Shi but ran into the bee swarm's pursuit.
The five great ghost kings covered the wooden cart, blocking the bee bugs' view. At that moment, the cart sprouted six arms, madly paddling to escape. It even opened its bloody maw, sticking out its tongue into the water to spin like a propeller, driving the cart forward!
Blackie Pot crouched at the stern, blowing frantically at the water, hoping to push the wooden cart faster.
But the ripples on the water surface betrayed them—the bee bugs had followed those ripples in hot pursuit, nearly catching them.
Hearing the Bee Marshal's call, the bee bugs finally gave up the chase, swarming around the marshal's carriage and flapping into the underworld toward the Bee Marshal's mansion.
Granny Sha breathed a sigh of relief, withdrawing the five great ghost kings. She gritted her teeth. "That brat's ruthless, no regard for old ties!"
On the bee cart, Chen Shi also breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, "Granny Sha has a bad reputation in the underworld. Uncle Azhuo is an underworld marshal, commanding yin soldiers as bee bugs—no wonder they're after her."
Azhuo continued the earlier topic. "That supreme god's combat power was simply too strong. The gods besieging him were astonishingly powerful too, clashing with all sorts of unimaginably mighty treasures in the air, locked in slaughter."
"We were merely on the battlefield without joining the fight, yet it felt like death could claim us at any moment."
"We prepared to retreat, to break out of this god-versus-god battlefield."
"Then Old Chen Head said he saw Little Ten!"
Chen Shi froze. "Grandpa saw me?"
Azhuo hesitated, then said, "He said he saw you."
"At the time, you were standing on that supreme god's head—a tiny figure."
"But I didn't see you. Old Du didn't either."
"Green Sheep, Heavenly Fox—they all said they didn't see."
"Afterward, we suspected Old Chen Head missed you so much he was seeing things."
Chen Shi frowned slightly.
Azhuo continued,
"Old Chen Head charged heedlessly toward the battlefield center. We panicked too and followed him in."
"Those gods' strength surpassed nearly all of ours. Charging deeper was far too dangerous."
"They followed Chen Yindu, fighting fiercely, resisting horrific spells, divine powers, and treasure impacts. The engraver Du Yiran was the strongest besides Chen Yindu but still suffered grave wounds!"
"Granny Sha, Heavenly Fox, Green Sheep—all gravely injured."
"Chen Yindu saw that charging further would mean these old brothers dying with him, so he tearfully turned back."
"Among them, Azhuo, being the youngest and protected by the others, had the lightest injuries."
"He escorted the group out of the encirclement back to the yang world."
"On the escort path, a god fell, dying right before me."
Azhuo said, "Before dying, he gripped my hand tightly. Only after a moment did he breathe his last."
"After he let go, a treasure seal appeared in my hand."
"After sending everyone back to the yang world and settling them, I returned to continue as a beekeeper."
"When I approached those bee bugs, suddenly, all the bee bugs changed."
In that instant, a mysterious divine power erupted from his body. The bee bugs he raised grew enormously, carrying thick yin energy.
The bee cart became the underworld commander's carriage. They swarmed their new underworld marshal, flapping through heaven and earth, shuttling between yin and yang realms.
The Bee Marshal's mansion in the underworld became their hive. Great South Lake, and the South Nether Sea in the underworld, became their territory.
Together with the Bee Marshal, they guarded the order of yin and yang realms.
That was the origin of his becoming an underworld marshal.
He wasn't appointed by merits but became the new marshal through that battle by sheer coincidence.
He discovered that after becoming marshal, he had to follow underworld rules: capturing underworld criminals, guarding the great underworld laws.
For instance, someone like Granny Sha, with a long record of evil in the underworld and repeated defiance of its laws, was on the marshal's capture list.
A living underworld marshal walks the yang world and occasionally encounters such people—no need for him to act personally; the bee bugs handle it.
Granny Sha escaped the bee bugs' pursuits multiple times mainly because Marshal Azhuo went easy on her. Otherwise, her head would long have been hooked and hung outside the marshal's mansion for display.
After several chases, Granny Sha fled at the sight of bees, verbally condemning Azhuo.
"Every time she comes to the Five Great Lakes, my bee bugs chase her down."
Azhuo said helplessly.
And the Five Great Lakes Six Gentlemen were all outlaws who'd broken underworld laws. After that, Azhuo gradually distanced himself from the group.
"During the time I became underworld marshal, something else happened."
Azhuo said somberly. "Green Sheep died."
Chen Shi's body shook slightly. He whispered, "Uncle Green Sheep died?"
Azhuo nodded lightly.
In that underworld battle, Green Sheep fought the fiercest and was wounded the worst.
After Azhuo sent everyone back to the yang world, Green Sheep slipped away alone, hiding from the group.
Half a year later, when Chen Yindu found him, the old partner was already dead.
His wounds were too severe, life force severed, on the brink of death. He staggered back to his Qianyang home, struggled awhile, then passed.
Chen Yindu dug up his corpse, sunned it under moonlight, and used the Li-for-Peach Corpse-Substitution Art to have him replace a village god, masquerading to absorb incense and avoid truly becoming an evil.
As long as incense didn't stop, though an evil, he could survive.
Of the Five Great Lakes Six Gentlemen, two died successively: one Heavenly Fox.
Heavenly Fox's lifespan ended, died of old age; Chen Yindu created a Ghost God Domain to preserve his life.
Green Sheep died in battle; Chen Yindu used Li-for-Peach to sustain him with incense.
Azhuo glanced at Chen Shi, seeing his guilt and self-blame, and shook his head. "Green Sheep's death had nothing to do with you. No need for self-reproach."
"We all owed your grandpa favors and were his friends, so we risked our lives to help naturally."
"We helped him, not you."
Chen Shi said,
"The favors Grandpa owes, I'll repay for him."
The bee cart entered the underworld marshal's mansion. The disheveled Daoist Xue was hung outside the mansion, swaying in the阴 wind.
Chen Shi glanced over, then looked away, thinking, "Lady Shiji wasn't hung outside—Uncle Azhuo really cares for me."
They entered the mansion. Moments later, bee bugs escorted Lady Shiji up. Seeing Chen Shi, she hurriedly said, "I really am with your little master!"
Chen Shi looked to Azhuo, who ordered the bee bugs to untie her.
Lady Shiji quickly burrowed into the little shrine behind Chen Shi's mind, finally relaxing. She complained,
"Upper emissary, they poisoned me and whipped me too!"
Chen Shi said, "I once warned you to absorb White Bone Mountain slowly, but you wouldn't listen, insisting you were invincible under heaven."
"You deserved the whipping."
Lady Shiji said, "Wasn't it you who told me to absorb South Nether White Bone Mountain to restore my strength?"
"You be quiet!"
Chen Shi's heart raced. He sneaked a glance at the surrounding bee bugs. Fortunately, the conversation happened in the little shrine; they didn't hear. Otherwise, it'd be incitement charges and a beating for sure.
Lady Shiji said, "Upper emissary, you're the underworld marshal's nephew. Little master, can you talk to them for me, let this concubine absorb South Nether's White Bone Mountain?"
"It's useless just sitting there anyway."
She persuaded gently, "If this concubine's strength rises, so does the upper emissary's."
"A few White Bone Mountains less won't matter much."
Chen Shi ignored her temptation.
The saying goes, treat the dead as the living: a person's food, clothing, shelter after death must mirror life. The White Bone Mountains under South Nether Sea were the deceased's bones.
Absorbing the bones was no less sinful than grave-robbing, smashing corpses—severely damaging yin virtue.
Chen Shi hadn't known underworld rules before, so he'd indulged Lady Shiji. Now he did, so no way he'd allow it.
But undeniably, Lady Shiji had greatly advanced this time. Seated in the Divine Shrine, Chen Shi felt his true qi surging endlessly, circulating even more smoothly!
His purpose in coming back with Azhuo was to retrieve Lady Shiji, so he bid Azhuo farewell.
Azhuo saw him out of the underworld, back onto Great South Lake. "Hanging Rock is a prehistoric remnant. Your grandpa and I checked it out once. There's a holy temple on top. Since you're at Great South Lake, why not take a look?"
Chen Shi agreed and asked, "Uncle Azhuo, what exactly is that remnant?"
Azhuo shook his head.
"No idea."
"Your grandpa and I studied it long. We think something's inside that once broke out but was sealed in the True King era."
"The holy temple above suppresses it."
"But the deity in the holy temple is long gone."
Chen Shi bowed deeply in farewell.
Azhuo hesitated, then called him back. "During that third descent into the underworld, though I didn't see you, that supreme god slaughtering everywhere—I remember vividly even now."
"After becoming marshal, I've seen him too. He came hunting me."
Chen Shi froze. "Hunting you?"
Azhuo nodded. "Good thing I'm a living underworld marshal—I could flee the underworld back to yang world, dodging his pursuit."
"But I heard from underworld gods that lately many big shots have gone missing."
"And when that supreme god slaughters widely, his palm turns azure."
Chen Shi's heart thumped wildly, a faint pain in his chest.
At his heart, that vague azure handprint gripping it seemed to slowly tighten its grasp.