Secret Buyer-Chapter 232 - 178: He Sits Upon the Underworld

This scene was astonishing, completely beyond Zhang Fusheng’s comprehension.

Lin Shiquan was merely a Grandmaster, with a Minor Perfection spirit realm, completely incapable of influencing reality,

yet at this moment, he cut his palm and wrist, and the blood sprayed forth, forming a small blood altar in the air!

A more terrifying scene unfolded.

"If you want to stop me now... it’s too late." Lin Shiquan allowed the blood to keep flowing,

the Furnace Fire behind his head quietly burning, drawing mysterious factors and subtle power of heaven and earth to stimulate the divine technique within the Flames—the Blood Rebirth.

Zhang Fusheng frowned, spiritual thoughts sensing it, at the moment the blood altar was formed,

a strange force field appeared around Lin Shiquan, he reached out his hand, only for the force field to block it.

Thirty million pounds of force, forty million, fifty million, until it reached the limit of its basic form—eighty million pounds of force!

The invisible force field creaked under unbearable weight, and a tiny crack splintered in the void where the palm pressed!

The smile on Lin Shiquan’s face suddenly froze.

"Monster!!"

He was horrified, without hesitation peeled open his chest and back skin, pulled out his spine, and with Blood Rebirth, a new spine grew, only to be pulled out again!

Bloody.

Zhang Fusheng’s palm pressed upon the unknown force field—it was essentially unable to stop him, he could break it with full strength,

even using [Cause and Effect Parallel], no matter how thick the force field, it would be futile.

But he didn’t want to interrupt Lin Shiquan, his spiritual sense did not warn.

He wanted to see what Lin Shiquan was up to.

Under Zhang Fusheng’s gaze,

Lin Shiquan pulled out his spine eight times, tore off his own skin more than ten times,

he endured the pain, wrapping the spine and skin into a simple drum of skin and bone!

This scene made Zhang Fusheng’s eyelids twitch, oh how painful that must be...

And also, it was just too eerie.

Like a cultist, even more than a cultist!

Lin Shiquan wasn’t doing well either, he mastered Third-class Secret Techniques, now sacrificing his own bloody bones and skin, which was the highest grade, yet also the most painful and damaging.

But that was for the Divine Spirit.

"Should have realized earlier... to be treated this way by the Ancestor of Land Immortals, if not for another Deity, then who else?"

Lin Shiquan panted heavily, the Furnace Fire behind his head flickering, he used all his strength to fiercely slap the skin drum!

’Dong!’

The palm exploded into shreds upon the drumhead of skin pulled taut, a low and solemn sound reverberated, ripples formed on the blood altar amidst the drum sound.

"Sound!"

Lin Shiquan roared:

"Nine Netherworld!"

"Sin-Extinguishing Celestial Venerate!"

He clapped his hands crosswise, slamming the drum, each strike shattering a hand, then healing immediately under the glow of the Furnace Fire!

The drumbeats droned on endlessly, bone fragments piled up on the ground, blood splattered, the altar grew taller.

The scene was as bizarre as it was bizarre, as strange as it was strange.

Zhang Fusheng’s pupils suddenly shrank.

He heard the drumbeats.

Not in front of him.

But ’down below’, within his spiritual perception, within the Divine Realm, faint, like the buzz of gnats,

yet also harmonized with the roaring in front of him from Lin Shiquan’s arduous drumming!

Once, once more, and again.

"How did he... achieve this?"

Zhang Fusheng murmured, his thoughts sinking into the depth of his spirit, deep into the Divine Realm.

He found the source of the drumbeats.

In front of the divine statue worshipped day and night by dozens of souls for hundreds of years, within the ever-burning incense burner.

’Tok! Tok! Tok!’

The drumbeats sounded, the souls worshipping were bewildered, faint words of prayer, invocations resounded.

Zhang Fusheng snapped his fingers, and the entire Divine Realm, except for the Five Mansions Temple and the Other Shore region, suddenly froze.

The grim skeletons wandering, the flawless souls kneeling.

His form vague, blurred, after pondering a moment, merged his mind with the giant divine statue that had been knelt before and prayed to for hundreds of years.

Zhang Fusheng opened his eyes.

The divine statue opened its eyes, looked down.

He saw.

Within the Divine Realm, from an indescribable perspective, he saw within reality—and saw the altar, saw Lin Shiquan beating the drum, though beyond that was hazy.

The perspective happened to be within the force field.

"Interesting, interesting."

Zhang Fusheng marveled, pondering, operated the enormous divine statue that shouldn’t be able to move, and spoke:

"Mercy!"

Meanwhile.

In reality.

Lin Shiquan beat the skin drum again and again, drenched in sweat, blood flying, bone shards gathering more and more.

"Mercy!"

A solemn, majestic, divine-laden sigh resounded from the blood altar!!

Lin Shiquan ecstatically fell to his knees:

"I, Lin Shiquan, pay respects to the Nine Netherworlds Sin-Extinguishing Celestial Venerate!"

He kowtowed, his heart surged, it succeeded, it succeeded!

Lin Shiquan peeled out his heart, placed it on the blood altar,

the Furnace Fire illuminated, he coldly glanced at the young man standing motionless outside the force field,

then continued kowtowing:

"I am a follower of the Ancestor of Land Immortals, yet this Deity was arrogant, offended the Venerable Lord, I now in the Venerable Lord’s name, fell into misfortune, seeking divine intervention to relieve my plight!"

Zhang Fusheng’s thoughts sank into the Divine Realm, within the giant divine statue,

he silently perceived, stealthily operated the Primordial Ancient Scripture, able to vaguely sense some fragmented causes and effects—but it was enough.

Through cause and effect,

Zhang Fusheng vaguely discovered the root which allowed Lin Shiquan to build the blood altar and reach this place was because of...

Incense.

Intangible and ethereal, yet truly existent incense.

"After hundreds of years of worship, the divine statue indeed encircled with incense, I descended with the Dharma Aspect of the Nine Netherworlds Sin-Extinguishing Celestial Venerate, thus had a trace of incense presence."

Zhang Fusheng murmured to himself:

"The special Dharma Gate Lin Shiquan used was to sacrifice himself, create the altar, then act as a guide with incense to communicate with the Deity..."

"No, the limitations are still immense."

With enlightenment skyrocketing, Zhang Fusheng, only through the divine statue’s perspective seeing into cause and effect, and just now monitoring Lin Shiquan’s every move,

at this moment arrived at a rough conclusion.

"The mysterious force gathered by such a small altar cannot pierce the barrier between reality and the Different Dimension."

"So, it can only barely communicate with the Deities of the Different Dimension, or perhaps..."

"Directly communicate or even contact the Deity leaving the Different Dimension."

Thoughts revolving, manipulating the divine statue with its head bowed, issuing a vast voice:

"How can I assist you?"

"Pray to the Venerable God to slay this brute!"

Lin Shiquan intoned, the altar rotated, facing Zhang Fusheng outside the force field, and from the perspective of the divine statue, Zhang Fusheng also saw his own body in reality.

I kill myself?

A thought occurred to Zhang Fusheng, his thoughts returned to his true self, as he raised his eyes, looking at Lin Shiquan with a crazed expression,

at the darkened blood altar, and at the vaguely towering form looming above...

"So, this is the perspective."

"Looking from reality, there, that vague and towering divine statue seems like a boundless Dharma body."

"Deity, incense..."

Thoughts swiftly churned, then rapidly subsided. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

A smile appeared on Zhang Fusheng’s face, he clasped his hands together and bowed to the blood altar:

"Upper God, it’s been a long time."

Lin Shiquan’s crazed expression suddenly froze.

He panic-strickenly lifted his head, panic-strickenly looked at the blood altar, suddenly hearing a chuckle emanate from the altar’s celestial body:

"I’ve said it before, no need to call me Upper God, you helped me re-enter the Nine Netherworlds, there’s a debt of gratitude, you and I should call each other friends."

Zhang Fusheng solemnly shook his head:

"That would be too presumptuous, if it weren’t for your repeated divine gifts, how could I, in just two months, have transformed from a mortal to my current state as a Great Sect Master?"

"I should be the one bowing."

He clasped his hands again, and bowed to the blood altar. The altar reflected a hazy, sky-reaching divine Dharma body, which calmly accepted the gesture and then sighed.

The divine spirit’s authoritative voice resonated from the unknown:

"Are you.....Lin Shiquan?"

Lin Shiquan was now bewildered, his mind chaotic.

Two months.

From mortal to Grandmaster?

This Zhang Fusheng...is a Grandmaster!

If it were just that it would be alright.

He is well-acquainted and familiar with this Nine Netherworlds Sin-Extinguishing Celestial Venerate!

Lin Shiquan forced a smile more bitter than crying, prostrating on the ground, shivering slightly:

"Venerable God above, it’s the child’s arrogance that offended, I beg the Venerable God’s forgiveness..."

Lin Shiquan knelt on the ground, trembling:

"I am willing to create three thousand golden bodies among mankind to atone for today’s sin, I am willing to chant your name day and night, to offer sacrifices day and night..."

The hazy divine spirit reflected from the altar chuckled silently, turning its gaze to Zhang Fusheng:

"Young friend, what do you think?"

Zhang Fusheng bowed, earnestly said:

"You are the Central Pole Sect Leader, Emperor of the Underworld, Nine Netherworlds Sin-Extinguishing Celestial Venerate, sitting in the netherworld, presiding over the Underworld, how dare I make decisions on your behalf?"

After a pause, he smiled:

"To be honest, I have no major grudges or feuds with this Inspector Lin."

Lin Shiquan, awed by the string of titles, lifted his head, casting a grateful glance towards Zhang Fusheng.

The altar vibrated, divine spirit’s authoritative voice resonated from the unknown:

"Then let it end here."

"Ancestor of Land Immortals...yet the end of your fate is near."

"Young one, remember what you said."

The altar reflected a flickering ethereal vision,

Lin Shiquan respectfully bowed, looked up, in a fleeting glance, glimpsing a fraction of the Venerable God’s domain.

Before the Venerable God, kneeling were vague soul spirits, afar were overlapping hellish landscapes,

A sky-reaching Ghost Gate, where countless souls float in a purgatory of death, a river slicing through the land, along its banks a faint glow.

That faint glow, as if gazing towards the Other Shore, like a destination.

The altar disintegrated.

Lin Shiquan lay prostrate on the ground, gasping voraciously, hearing the protective barrier he had constructed shatter, as a pair of feet stepped before him.

With difficulty, he lifted his head, finding it was the young man.

Silence, silence.

Under the night sky, autumn winds gently blew.

"Th-thank you." Lin Shiquan began lowly, placing a hand on his shoulder, helping him up.

"I hold no grudge against you."

Zhang Fusheng said indifferently:

"Yet you are willing to serve under Central Pole Sect Leader, Sin-Extinguishing Celestial Venerate, hence we can stand together...your backer is Lin Yusheng, also a follower of Ancestor of Land Immortals, right?"

Lin Shiquan’s expression was complex, still drenched in cold sweat — for he had sensed divine wrath!

Already enveloped by the feeling of impending death!

If not for Zhang Fusheng speaking up...

He did not question how Zhang Fusheng came to favor with a divine spirit, merely nodded, softly said:

"Once was."

Lin Shiquan concealed nothing, having pledged allegiance to the Sin-Extinguishing Celestial Venerate, naturally having to be loyal.

He spoke in a low voice:

"The Ancestor of Land Immortals was a complete madman, utterly indifferent to our lives, yet we erected so many temples for him!"

After a pause, Lin Shiquan looked at Zhang Fusheng again, cautiously asked:

"I wonder, in which sect does the Venerable God stand? Or is the Venerable God like half of the Ancestor of Land Immortals, standing alone?"

"The latter."

Zhang Fusheng smiled and patted Lin Shiquan’s shoulder, brushing off dust and blood stains:

"Sin-Extinguishing Celestial Venerate, just awakened from slumber, stands in the Nine Netherworlds, rooted in the Underworld."

’Gulp!’

Lin Shiquan swallowed, somewhat lost, murmuring to himself:

"Truly residing in the legendary Nine Netherworlds of the underworld, where even deities cannot reach..."

Hmm?

Zhang Fusheng raised his brows, what did it mean that deities could not reach?

That Other Shore Flower Cluster’s Ancient Saint, then?

Wait a moment, that Ancient Saint said, he was imprisoned, exiled there, seemingly not having seen any living beings for many years.

Thoughts circulated, temporarily contained.

He heard Lin Shiquan ponder:

"But if indeed in the Nine Netherworlds of the underworld, then the one who once traversed here..."

Zhang Fusheng calmly replied:

"It was a worldly form of the Venerable God—brought by my guidance."

Lin Shiquan suddenly understood.

Zhang Fusheng continued:

"Return and contact your uncle, Sin-Extinguishing Celestial Venerate desires to see his sincerity."

Lin Shiquan’s demeanor tensed, after a brief silence, he bowed his head:

"Yes."

"Divine Envoy."

"We will establish a sect for the Venerable God."