Chapter 537: The Netherworld
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
"Afterwards... I've also got a few fortune tellers and all of them had confirmed your death... I only accepted this fact after 3 years!"
Jiese the Monk explained.
"Fortune telling..."
Fang Yuan smirked. Looking at his Spirit Sealing Body, if the 4 curses in him were not considered inauspicious, what could possibly be?
No matter how powerful or revered the fortune tellers were, it would be almost impossible for them to predict Fang Yuan's predicament.
After sealing the 4th curse, Fang Yuan now had the ability to 'detect his name'. That is, within a certain area, if anyone were to speak about him or anything which he had cursed, he would be alerted and be promptly apprised with the conversation! He could then strengthen the curse if he wished to do so!
Such an ability would make him no different from a god!
If Fang Yuan was willing, he could easily turn his name into a spoken curse to kill those who had heard of it before.
"Strange Level curses have unique and unparalleled abilities..."
Fang Yuan took a quick shut0eye and a scene started to appear in his imagination.
It was a creepy looking front yard. Tantai Guijing and Tantai Juexin were all there and appeared frail. "If Tantai Mieming is still not around, I'm afraid none of us will be able to survive the next incoming 20-year cycle..."
The imagery stopped. Fang Yuan could only continue to watch on if he decided to curse them with his curse.
'The power of a curse... It's too strong. To be able to distort spacetime, search for souls, control the spread of information and sense such things... This sounds like a god in the legends indeed...'
Fang Yuan silently thought to himself but on the surface, he continued to probe further. "Does this mean that in that expedition 5 years ago, the Chen siblings are confirmed to be dead?"
"That's right!"
Jiese the Monk nodded his head solemnly. "I've gathered this accurate information."
Fang Yuan nodded his head but did not respond.
To speak the truth, they were fortunate enough to have 3 survivors after being plagued by a Strange Level curse.
Of course, Fang Yuan speculated that if he did not find the source of the curse so quickly, Tantai Guihu and Jiese the Monk would not have survived too.
...
"According to you, the 20-year cycle is about to repeat itself once more?"
After understanding all that had happened in the past 5 years, Fang Yuan continued to gather more information from Jiese the Monk.
"That's right!" Jiese the Monk placed his palms together. "Furthermore... This time, the curse seems to be much more dangerous. Even Tantai Guihu took the initiative to enter the Netherworld. There's a prophecy that as soon as the bloodline of the Tantai Family stops, calamity will strike the world!"
"Although I don't really believe in that, since this is so, I shall take a look in the Netherworld for myself!"
Fang Yuan rubbed his own chest.
His Tantai blood started to surge in him as he began to feel excited.
'Indeed... the cycle is about to repeat itself once more!'
Fang Yuan's eyes glistened with excitement. "20 years ago, I've run away from home. I wonder how the Tantai Family is now!"
Regardless, Fang Yuan knew for himself that he was powerful! Very powerful! He was more powerful than any being in this world.
Even so, Fang Yuan still did not feel confident about dealing with the Green Bronze Door and the source of all these troubles.
"Jiese the Monk... Bring Xiaoling with you!"
Fang Yuan tilted his head and was deep in his thoughts. "I shall enter the Netherworld now!"
The Netherworld he was speaking of was the core of the real world, fused with all the darkness that ever existed in the world!
To many, it was an arduous task to enter the Netherworld. However, to Fang Yuan, who had the ability to traverse spacetime, it was an easy task.
Furthermore, by entering from the Ghost Sealing Spirit, it might possibly be even easier than usual.
"Amituofo! Don't worry!"
Jiese the Monk nodded his head.
"Noooo!"
Hearing this, Ma Xiaoling shook her head in disagreement. "I want to follow you!"
"Be good! Listen!"
A red glow flashed across Fang Yuan's eyes and Ma Xiaoling fell into a trance.
Even though she had trained hard and had become an elite exorcist, she was still nothing in front of Fang Yuan.
"Your actions are out of goodwill but it is a little too..."
Jiese the Monk shook his head and seemed speechless.
"Monk, take my advice. You don't have to enter the Netherworld. The teachings of the Golden Mountain Monastery cannot end at your generation..."
Fang Yuan smiled and paid no attention to Ma Xiaoling. Instead, he continued to advise Jiese the Monk. "Furthermore... since all of you are not top-notch exorcists, you will only burden me if you follow me. Wait for my good news here!"
Fang Yuan was busy calculating his odds of being able to successfully deal with the unknown in the Netherworld.
"3 Strange Level curses... they should be enough!"
Previously, the Icy Zombie itself was powerful enough to stall time against the curse of the Green Bronze Door.
Now, with the combined power of the 3 Strange Level curses, Fang Yuan had the ability to go head-on against the curse of the Green Bronze Door. With such a foundation, it would be much more convenient for Fang Yuan to do whatever he wanted to.
"As long as I can touch the purple crystals, I will be confident of sealing it..."
Fang Yuan started to mumble to himself. "Of course... If those purple crystals are the source of all these, then the final curse will not be the Wuyin level which I have predicted, because it ultimately has a source!"
"Amituofo!"
Jiese the Monk was clueless about Fang Yuan's thoughts. He could only force a smile after hearing Fang Yuan's rude comment. "I shall escort Miss Ma back and wait for your good news!"
Although Jiese the Monk knew that he was rather powerful, after the few occasions of combining forces with Fang Yuan on their expeditions to deal with ghosts and curses, he no longer had the pride and self-esteem. He knew that Fang Yuan was chasing them away out of goodwill.
"Alright!"
Gazing at the silhouette of Jiese the Monk and Ma Xiaoling, Fang Yuan took another look at Ghost Sealing Village and remained silent.
"The door to the Netherworld exists in the overworld all along! Furthermore... it lies in Ghost Sealing Village!"
According to his memories, he promptly made his way to an open square in the village.
"Last time... Tantai Moye broke the promise and entered the Netherworld with his mortal body. With that, he created chaos in the overworld and resulted in the occurrence of curses... From then on, the door to the Netherworld had changed and disappeared from sight... At the same time, it had left behind a curse on the descendants of the Tantai Family!"
As Fang Yuan casually strolled in the square, a golden hue flashed in his eyes. "Previously, the door had disappeared from here... Entering the Netherworld from this point will make things easier. I might be able to gather a clue about that door at the same time!"
Ghost Sealing Village was obviously a connection between the Netherworld and the overworld. In here, the spacetime gap between the two worlds was at its minimum. If not for this fact, the door of the Netherworld would not have existed here previously in the first place.
Fang Yuan was prepared to take the shortest route to see if he could rush and make it in time for the final battle!
"At most, I would fall into a void.... Powerful ghosts all have this ability! Furthermore, the Netherworld has become more accessible with the appearance of curses."
Fang Yuan's hair turned silver and the space around him started to vibrate. In an instant, holes started to appear and spread around him as though space was corroding.
The holes merged together to form a huge glow, engulfing him in within.
With that, Fang Yuan could detect the arrival of the Netherworld's spiritual aura!
...
In the Netherworld.
Within a dark valley, an ancient looking mansion stood tall.
Around the mansion were many black flowers in full bloom. They were growing in odd shapes but had a mystical aroma.
Outside the mansion, a stream of light was flowing calmly.
On closer inspection, one would realise that the glowing entities in the stream of light were spirits dressed in white!
They were all emotionless and there were more than a billion of them. This scene was a suffocating one.
"20 years is about to be up!"
In the mansion, Tantai Guijing held a black crutch and sighed.
He as skinny as a pile of bones wrapped in skin. With his white beard drifting through the wind, there were flames of passion burning in his eyes. "Did Tantai Juelie fail again?"
"That's right... From his Soul Lantern, his fire is about to be extinguished. He should be dead!"
Tantai Juexin spoke softly. He slung a dagger by his waist.
The elders of the Tantai Family appeared frail looking and there were only about 7 to 8 of them left.
All of them seemed to be in bad condition.
"The Netherworld... the home of the dead spirits!"
Tantai Guijing chuckled. "Forget it... Let it come once more!"
The elders seemed indifferent. All of them had a rotting stench coming from them and they seemed as though they couldn't care less about the curse of the 'Door'.
"Father... We still have a chance. We can escape from the Netherworld and return to the overworld!"
Tantai Juexin clenched his teeth.
He knew what laid in the Netherworld!
Poisonous river water, bone-chilling air and all sorts of weird plants, coupled with spirits all around! All of these would be a living hell to a human!
If not for the strong and hardy bloodline of the Tantai Family and the fact that they had supplemented themselves with food and clean water from the surroundings, the entire Tantai Family would have been dead.
Even so, living here for 20 years had already resulted in changes to their bodies. None of them would consider themselves alive.
"Escape?"
Tantai Guijing coughed and his voice turned hoarse. "It's useless... I've used the 'mirror' to take a peek into the future. The outcome of this cycle would be catastrophic. In fact, none of us might make it out of here alive!"
"The outcome of the 20-year cycle..."
All of them remained silent.
In the Netherworld, they had to go through industrial processes to purify and disinfect their food and water. The only real terror here was still the curse of the 'Door'!
Initially, the Tantai Family's worst experience was the first few days after arriving in the Netherworld.
Now, 20 years had passed in the blink of an eye.
The real terror was about to arrive!
"Reporting! Elders, elders!"
At this point in time, a member of the Tantai Family hurriedly rushed in. "There's a trace of an….. Exorcist!"