Chapter 200: A Grand Funeral

Chapter 200: A Grand Funeral

Yin Stones

Chen Qiu silently patted his pockets. Whether in his Yin Soul or physical state, upon entering the Netherworld, all possessions from the mortal realm would be left behind, except for the clothes he wore.

This was a rather humanized setting.

Avoiding the embarrassment of entering the Netherworld naked and empty-handed.

He didn't have a single Yin Stone in his pockets, and he could guess what they were. They were probably stones condensed from Yin energy, similar to spiritual energy.

One was the currency of the mortal realm, and the other was the currency of the Netherworld.

He had plenty of spirit stones, but they were all in his mini-universe and Heavenly Path Ring, inaccessible. Even if he could retrieve them, they would be useless.

Chen Qiu considered whether he should store some spirit stones in the Heavenly Palace for future use, so that even if he entered a special map like the Netherworld, he could still retrieve spirit stones from the Heavenly Palace.

However, this carried a significant risk of exposure.

The Heavenly Palace was a place in the Central Province that no one could access.

But it wasn't absolutely untouchable. Once, while in the Heavenly Palace, he witnessed someone entering through the door, shrouded in white light, making their appearance and physique unidentifiable. Afterward, he was forcibly sent back to the Xuantian Continent by the Heavenly Palace.

As the line moved closer to him, Chen Qiu turned and looked at the human cultivator behind him, asking softly, "Can I borrow ten Yin Stones?"

"What do you think?"

The human cultivator behind him stared at Chen Qiu as if he were an idiot, "If I asked to borrow ten Yin Stones from you, would you lend them to me?"

". . ."

After a moment of silence, Chen Qiu squatted down and, in front of the human cultivator, carefully lifted his finger and poked the ground.

Instantly, a small hole appeared on the ground, surrounded by dozens of tiny cracks resembling a spider web.

Then, he spoke again, "How about now?"

"Of course."

The human cultivator respectfully knelt, holding ten Yin Stones above his head. Lowering his head, he looked at the ground and said in a low voice, "It's an honor for me to help a senior."

His legs were trembling uncontrollably.

The mere touch of a finger had caused such powerful force. The seemingly insignificant dwarf ghost cultivator before him was at least a Nascent Soul-stage ghost cultivator! He was a Golden Core ghost cultivator who couldn't afford to provoke such a powerful being.

Although he didn't know why a senior cultivator would ask for something as insignificant as ten Yin Stones, there must be a reason. Regardless of the reason, he knew one thing—he dared not defy the senior cultivator.

"There are indeed many good people."

Chen Qiu sighed, taking the ten Yin Stones from the human cultivator's hand. Just then, the line had reached him, and he handed five Yin Stones to the city guard before striding into the city.

Before entering the city gate,

He noticed the city's name engraved above the gate.

"Raven Ghost City."

Upon entering Raven Ghost City, Chen Qiu had no specific destination. He wandered aimlessly along the streets, following the flow of ghosts, or perhaps ghostly crowds?

Aside from the lack of vitality, the city was no different from those in the mortal realm.

Every ghost was cold and lifeless, and the entire city was filled with dense ghostly energy. Numerous vendors lined the streets, shouting to sell food and other items.

However,

The food in the Netherworld looked just as gloomy.

". . ."

Chen Qiu glanced at a vendor's box filled with brownish-yellow pills and quickened his pace. This was the third vendor he had encountered selling these pills.

Initially, he was curious and even squatted down to inquire about them.

After all, he sensed a trace of vitality from these pills, a vitality unique to the mortal realm.

It was quite rare to find something with vitality in the Netherworld, a place devoid of any human essence. After asking around, he learned that these pills were commonly known as

"Human Pills."

Because they carried human vitality, ghost cultivators experienced a pleasant sensation, similar to a full-body massage, when consuming them. Many ghosts liked to buy and eat these Human Pills from time to time.

The raw materials for these Human Pills originated from filthy substances in the mortal realm.

In simple terms,

The mortal realm and the Netherworld were eternally separated, but under certain circumstances, filthy substances from the mortal realm could find their way into the Netherworld. These filthy substances, carrying human vitality, were then transformed into a rich snack.

There were various types of these filthy substances.

The most common was... human excrement.

Not just human excrement, but also excrement from demons and dwarves could be used. The term 'human excrement' was just a general term, and 'vitality' was also a broad term.

To be precise, it referred to Yang energy.

Although consuming these vitality-infused foods was quite comfortable, ghost cultivators couldn't overindulge.

Otherwise, they might suffer from a regression in cultivation or, worse, severe injuries from the clash of Yang and Yin energies within their bodies.

Hence, these pills weren't very expensive.

Chen Qiu made his way through the alleys and finally found a teahouse bustling with customers. Inside and out, the teahouse was packed, leaving no room for him to enter.

Chen Qiu didn't go in; instead, he stood outside, gazing at the storyteller on the high platform within the teahouse, his mouth watering as he spoke.

It was a rare sight indeed.

Even in the Netherworld, there were storytellers.

He wondered what they did in their mortal lives. Perhaps they were storytellers then, too, continuing the same profession after death.

Before coming to the Netherworld, Chen Qiu never imagined that virtue points could have so many benefits. Not only could they be used to purchase various items in the Virtue Point Shop,

But they could also reduce the power of thunder tribulations and serve as a trump card.

Even in death, one could still forge a virtue body in the Netherworld.

In that case, even if he died and entered the Netherworld, he would still be the Sect Leader of the Heaven-defying Sect, Chen Qiu. It seemed that he would rarely have the chance to experience the feeling of rising from humble beginnings again in this lifetime.

".”

Chen Qiu had no intention of pushing his way into the crowd; he stood outside, hoping to gather some information from the storyteller in the teahouse. Fatty Dragon had told him that teahouses were the best way to gather information in unfamiliar places.

The information might not be entirely accurate, as storytellers often exaggerated.

But to attract customers, storytellers would often narrate events that the city's residents loved to hear, allowing one to deduce what the locals were most concerned about.

He was quite convinced of this point.

Fatty Dragon had his own methods when it came to gathering intelligence.

"Let me tell you about that day—"

The storyteller on the teahouse platform struck the sounding wood on the table with a loud thump, "I was in Quzhou that day, and I witnessed it all with my own eyes."

"Chen Qiu merely stood there, and the entire world fell silent. He faced countless evil clan members alone, turning his back on the masses. Despite being heavily injured, he exuded an unstoppable momentum!"

"You should know that at the time, Chen Qiu was only at the Golden Core Cultivation stage, while there were four Divine Transformers among the evil clan. Think about it, the Divine Transformers were at least one major realm above the Golden Core!"

"After Chen Qiu crushed all the evil clan's Celestial Prodigies, just as he was about to slay their most outstanding Celestial Prodigy, an evil Divine Transformer secretly attacked, striking Chen Qiu and severely injuring him. He then saved his defeated Celestial Prodigy."

"You can imagine that most people would have endured it, right?"

"After all, the evil clan's Celestial Prodigies were no match for Chen Qiu, even at the same cultivation level. In the end, he returned from the Divine Transformer's hands with his life, which was enough for Chen Qiu to be proud of himself!"

"But—"

"The reason Chen Qiu was called a Supreme Celestial Prodigy is that he did not follow the path of ordinary men!"

"That day!"

"Chen Qiu turned his back on the masses, using nearly a hundred billion virtue points to summon the animated heavenly thunder punishment. He slaughtered the entire Evil State and sank the entire Evil State plate into the sea. After that, the Xuantian Continent was completely free of the Evil State and the evil clan!"

"Everyone in the Evil State and the Nine Provinces witnessed that scene."

"Even today, the sky above the Evil State still bears the traces of that day's heavenly thunder punishment, and even the sky was split until it turned black. How could the evil clan withstand that!"

"The Heavenly Path Edict declared the annihilation of the evil clan that very day."

"Ten days later, Chen Qiu cultivated a twelfth-rank Nascent Soul and officially entered the Nascent Soul stage. He proclaimed to the world that the entire Xuantian Continent would soon be shrouded in his shadow!"

".”

Chen Qiu, standing in the crowd, remained expressionless for a long time before finally letting out a soft sigh.

In Daxia Country, the storytellers only knew how to talk about him.

In Quzhou, the storytellers also only knew how to talk about him.

Now that he had arrived in the Netherworld, these storytellers were still talking about him. Why weren't they talking about their own Netherworld Celestial Prodigies? Even in the Netherworld, they were still talking about the Celestial Prodigies of the Mortal World.

If he hadn't risen to prominence, wouldn't all these storytellers be out of work?

He had come here hoping to hear some information about the Netherworld, to gather intelligence, but instead, he heard a bunch of stories about himself. Who could have expected that?

He had never been to the Netherworld, but his reputation had already spread throughout it.

Just then—

A ghost cultivator in the crowd loudly questioned, "If Chen Qiu was so powerful, why did he die?"

"Yes, yes."

As the words fell, the crowd burst into an uproar, "We died too early to know what happened on the Xuantian Continent. You said you died not long ago, and you know what happened on the Xuantian Continent. Then tell us why Chen Qiu, so formidable, suddenly died."

"Exactly, could there be someone Chen Qiu couldn't defeat?"

Just half an hour ago.

A Heavenly Path Edict resounded throughout the Netherworld, and all the ghost cultivators learned of a shocking event—the Supreme Celestial Prodigy, Chen Qiu, had suddenly died and arrived in the Netherworld. Moreover, he had cultivated a Virtuous Corpse Body with a thousand billion virtue points.

"Don't be so eager to cause a ruckus."

The storyteller on the teahouse platform, his face filled with complex emotions, looked at the crowd and spoke with a hint of resentment, "Chen Qiu was a Supreme Celestial Prodigy in the Mortal World, and the entire Xuantian Continent was in an uproar because of him."

"After coming to the Netherworld, he cultivated a Virtuous Corpse Body with a thousand billion virtue points."

"He truly lived as a heroic man and died as a heroic ghost."

"With the strength of a Virtuous Corpse Body cultivated with a thousand billion virtue points, he probably starts at the Divine Transformation stage as a ghost cultivator. Wait and see; it won't be long before you hear about Chen Qiu wreaking havoc in the Netherworld."

Chen Qiu silently left the crowd, standing up and casually strolling along the main street of "Crow Ghost City." It had to be said that the difference between the Netherworld and the Mortal World was indeed significant.

For example, in the Netherworld, one didn't need to eat. Even a complete novice who hadn't reached the first level of the Foundation Establishment stage in the Mortal World wouldn't need to eat after arriving in the Netherworld.

Items like the "Human Pill" were considered snacks, not meant to fill one's stomach.

Just then—

He suddenly spotted a stall with a jade slip, with a line of small words written beside it.

"Basic Information Encyclopedia of the Netherworld."

"How much is it?"

Chen Qiu squatted down, holding the jade slip in his hand, and subconsciously tried to extend his spiritual sense, only to find that he couldn't project it outside his body. Strange, he had clearly used his spiritual sense to kill that Dwarf Divine Transformer not long ago.

"For sale?"

The vendor looked up at Chen Qiu with a strange expression, "Are you new here?"

"I guess so."

Chen Qiu played with the jade slip in his hand, speaking casually.

"Since you're new, you don't have Infernal Stones. This item is only useful for newcomers, and we usually don't sell it. Work for us for three days, and we'll give it to you for free."

"How much to buy it?"

"If you want to buy it—" The vendor hesitated after thinking for a moment, "Three Infernal Stones, do you have them?"

Chen Qiu held the jade slip in his hand without haggling and stood up. He took out three Infernal Stones from his pocket and tossed them onto the vendor's stall. Just as he stood up, the vendor hurriedly instructed, "Ghost cultivators can't project their spiritual sense outside their bodies. You can just crush the jade slip to read the information inside.

After Chen Qiu walked away, the vendor's face turned peculiar as he gazed at Chen Qiu's departing figure. In this day and age, a newcomer could directly forge a body upon arrival? Could it be a Virtuous Body?

That's not impossible.

As long as one has 1,000 Virtue Points, they can forge a body. The requirement isn't too high; as long as one was a good person in their previous life, they can generally meet this condition and possess a Virtuous Body.

However, the problem is that one doesn't know these rules in the Netherworld beforehand. If they had known about this rule, they would have definitely been a great philanthropist in their previous life.

Of course, they are considered fortunate.

Although they don't have many Virtue Points, they also don't have many Sin Points. Those with numerous Sin Points will suffer greatly after descending.

"Tsk, tsk."

The vendor shook his head and averted his gaze from Chen Qiu's back, not giving it much thought. He just found it strange that he hadn't seen a Dwarf Race Ghost Cultivator in a long time, thinking they had all perished.

"Raven Ghost City."

In a quiet alley, Chen Qiu crushed the jade slip in his hand and instantly read all the information within. It was mostly basic information, without anything too profound.

Everyone who comes to the Netherworld has died once.

This group of people will uniformly descend near various cities in the Netherworld and initially be in the form of Yin Souls. At this time, they need to obtain Heavenly Materials to forge their bodies.

The better the Heavenly Materials, the stronger the forged body will be.

Apart from clothing, nothing from the Mortal World can be brought to the Netherworld. Everyone starts from scratch upon arrival, and the items they carry are unusable. After three days, all items except clothing will be destroyed due to the Yin energy.

The weakest body requires Heavenly Materials worth about 100 Infernal Stones.

Therefore, most newcomers...

...need to work first to accumulate enough Infernal Stones to forge a body.

If one had a high cultivation base like Golden Core or Nascent Soul in their previous life, then after forging a body and becoming a Ghost Cultivator, they will be a Ghost Cultivator of the corresponding cultivation base. Whether it's entering Netherworld secret realms or using other means, their speed of earning Infernal Stones will be relatively fast.

Of course—

In the Netherworld, apart from Ghost Cultivators, there are also Soul Cultivators! Soul Cultivators do not forge bodies and remain in the Yin Soul state. They can attack others with their divine sense and use it to lock onto enemies to cast spells.

Ghost Cultivators, on the other hand, cannot project their divine sense out of their bodies. They primarily strengthen their physical strength, and although they can also cast spells, their accuracy is not high due to the inability to lock onto targets with divine sense.

These roughly correspond to the Law Cultivators and Body Cultivators in the Mortal World.

Both types cultivate by absorbing Yin energy, but spells requiring Yang energy are useless here, and they need to relearn spells suitable for Yin energy.

However, overall...

...if one had a high cultivation base in their previous life, they will still have certain advantages in the Netherworld. Although they can no longer use their spells, their cultivation realm remains, and after becoming a Ghost Cultivator, even with the most basic body, their physical strength will be stronger than that of a Golden Core.

They just won't have the means of a Divine Transformation Realm.

Golden Core and Nascent Soul Cultivators also cannot project their bodies. After the physical body's death, the Golden Core and Nascent Soul will automatically dissipate, and there is no method of Golden Core Seizing a Body.

Chen Qiu looked at the jade slip fragments in his palm, his expression calm as he raised his head to gaze at the misty sky above. Although his spells and Divine Transformation abilities are unusable in the Netherworld...

...it doesn't seem too important.

According to the information he obtained from the jade slip about the strength of Nascent Soul Ghost Cultivators' bodies, they are far inferior to his Virtuous Body. With over a hundred billion Virtue Points forming his body, he can act without restraint in the Netherworld.

No one can do anything to him.

However, there's one thing to note. The "World of Conflict" version hasn't been updated in the Netherworld, meaning that killing fellow cultivators of the same cultivation base from different races won't increase cultivation progress.

But he has tested it, and killing fellow cultivators of the same cultivation base from different races does increase his cultivation progress. It's as if there's a bug in this situation.

After all, he didn't enter the Netherworld through normal means.

He snuck in.

Wait a moment...

He suddenly remembered something and looked at the Trait engraved on his Nascent Soul.

-

"Trait Name": Grand Funeral.

"Trait Level": Blue.

"Trait Effect": When you die, there will be heavenly earth omens covering the entire continent to send you off.

-

His entry into the Netherworld can't be directly considered his death, right? If it is, then wouldn't there be heavenly earth omens covering the entire continent to send him off?

That would be a pity.

He won't be able to witness that scene himself, but he hopes Fatty Dragon and the others can record it with a Memory Stone for him to watch later.

He's also curious about how Fatty Dragon and the others will react upon learning of his death.

Traits cannot be used in the Netherworld, and there are no Trait jade slips here. Compared to the Mortal World, the Netherworld is more like a stripped-down version.

This also means that even if he breaks through a minor cultivation realm in the Netherworld, the Rainbow Trait "Ever Higher" won't give him a three-choice opportunity.

However, it's unclear if he will receive it upon returning to the Mortal World.

Chen Qiu shook his head and didn't think further about this. Instead, he prepared to leave the city. According to the information on the jade slip, there's a Demon Race city 300 li away, where the Demon Race Ghost Cultivators enjoy feasting on Human Race Ghost Cultivators.

They occasionally capture solitary Human Race Ghost Cultivators and use various methods to turn them into delicious dishes.

It's to satisfy their cravings.

The jade slip specifically warns to avoid the west to prevent encounters with the Demon Race.

To be honest, this newcomer handbook is quite detailed.

Just then—

"Ding!!!"

A piercing sound reverberated throughout Raven Ghost City, and a mighty Yin energy instantly surged from the city's center, engulfing the entire Raven Ghost City! A heavy and steady voice echoed in the ears of every resident.

"The Demon Race army is attacking! All residents of Raven Ghost City, prepare for battle!"

Chen Qiu's eyes widened slightly, and then he couldn't help but shake his head and laugh. It was good; he didn't even have to go looking for them.

He just hoped for more Divine Transformation Demon Race members.

Otherwise, it wouldn't be satisfying enough.

Inside Raven Ghost City.

At this moment, a middle-aged man sat expressionlessly in a courtyard, his face devoid of emotion even as he heard the news of the Demon Race army's invasion. After a long while, he turned his head towards an elder beside him.

"What should we do?"

"I don't know," the elder replied with a decisive shake of his head.

If a person gets hit on the foot by a nail and doesn't cry out in pain, it's definitely because something more important than the nail has happened. This was his situation.

In his previous life, he was the Master of the Yuanzong Sect.

Of course.

He knew that perhaps not many people in the Xuantian Continent could remember his sect's name, let alone his own. After all, his sect was just a small, insignificant one in Quzhou, one of the nine states of the Lower Realm.

He himself was only at the peak of Nascent Soul cultivation.

Not even a Divine Transformation.

Naturally, he was unremarkable.

But—

The peerless Celestial Talent Chen Qiu's first battle in the Xuantian Continent was against the Yuanzong Sect. His final memory of his past life was that lightning strike from the sky.

Although he held a grudge against Chen Qiu, who had destroyed his sect, when he learned of Chen Qiu's death and arrival in the Netherworld, he couldn't feel a shred of satisfaction.

Instead, he felt a chill down his spine.

Damn it!

Was this never going to end? Was Chen Qiu really going to pursue him all the way to the Netherworld?

So many days had passed.

It was only now that he happened to meet with an elder from the Yuanzong Sect and a former true disciple of the sect in Raven Ghost City, so the three of them decided to stick together for mutual support. As for the other disciples of the Yuanzong Sect, who knows where they had scattered to.

The Netherworld was so vast that it was normal not to encounter someone for an entire lifetime.

"Sigh."

After a long while, the Master of the Yuanzong Sect let out a long sigh, feeling a fleeting sense of relief: "It's not a problem. The Netherworld is so big; that Chen Qiu might not even come to Raven Ghost City. He could be ten thousand miles away from us."

"Even if we meet again, he definitely won't recognize me."

Just then—

A young man entered the courtyard, pushing the door open and reporting in a low voice: "Master, I went to the top of the city wall and saw that the Demon Race army is approaching with great momentum, as if they're going to swallow Raven Ghost City in one go."

"I've seen at least three Ghost Cultivators who are Divine Transformations of the Demon Race."

"Raven Ghost City might not be able to hold them back. Should we retreat first?"

"If we wait any longer, the city lord might force us to join the battle and then seal the city, preventing us from retreating."

". . ."

The Master of the Yuanzong Sect looked at the young man before him with a complex expression. This young man was called Zimei, a former true disciple of the Yuanzong Sect.

After arriving in the Netherworld.

Perhaps it was fate that they met again, even though he no longer had a sect. Zimei still addressed him as Master.

His feelings towards Zimei were complicated.

Zimei had once been his favorite true disciple.

But if it weren't for Zimei inexplicably provoking Chen Qiu, their sect wouldn't have been destroyed. After meeting Zimei in the Netherworld, he had asked how Zimei and Chen Qiu had become enemies.

He had only received Zimei's distress signal and sent a Nascent Soul Elder to rescue him. Then, he received a distress signal from that Elder and went to rescue him again.

When he returned to the sect without success, he was killed by Chen Qiu right at the sect's entrance.

Although initially, in "The Long Night Approaches," many Yuanzong Sect disciples had died at Chen Qiu's hands, and they had issued a warrant for Chen Qiu's arrest, it wasn't the reason for their enmity.

But Chen Qiu didn't care about it at all. He was already preparing to leave the Great Yuan City to attend the Celestial Prodigy gathering at the Su Family, yet he suddenly turned back to kill.

Later, in the Netherworld, he learned the truth from Zimei's mouth.

He didn't know that Chen Qiu was the mysterious person who had killed many Yuanzong Sect disciples during the "The Long Night Approaches" incident. He had only thought that this person was skilled and a solitary Celestial Prodigy.

He wanted to recruit him into the Yuanzong Sect.

However, the other party didn't agree, and he got angry and attacked. Then, he was killed by the other party using a Golden Core.

When he heard that the Yuanzong Sect's destruction was because Zimei had tried to recruit Chen Qiu and was killed in retaliation, his heart almost exploded with anger!

A traitor!

But since he was unfamiliar with the Netherworld, and Zimei had already broken through to the Nascent Soul stage, becoming an initial-stage Ghost Cultivator, his strength was beneficial to him. He forced himself to suppress the anger in his heart and forced a smile, saying it didn't matter; it was all because Chen Qiu was too arrogant and domineering.

Before the Master of the Yuanzong Sect could say anything.

Zimei suddenly knelt down, his eyes red, his voice hoarse, and his face contorted as he pleaded: "Master, Chen Qiu shattered my cultivation, blocking my path to immortality. He made it so that when we meet in the Netherworld..."

"Master, you once promised me that if Chen Qiu ever came to the Netherworld one day."

"Master, you would spare no expense to take revenge for me, for the Yuanzong Sect!"

"I've been thinking about it day and night, and finally, Chen Qiu has fallen into the Netherworld!"

"We've been waiting for this moment for a long time."

Zimei's eyes were red, and he knelt on the ground, lifting his head to look at the Master, who was sitting in a chair in the courtyard. With clenched teeth, he said:

"Please, Master, take revenge for me!"

"Take revenge for the deceased disciples of the Yuanzong Sect!"

PS: Last night, I rushed to the hospital for a check-up, had blood drawn, and underwent an electrocardiogram and ultrasound. The doctor said I was in perfect health, and I felt so embarrassed.

I wasted several hundred dollars, and I'm so upset.

PS2: I'll correct any typos later. Please vote for this month's top novels. This month doesn't have double votes, so don't leave votes for later; give them to me now.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end