In the Son of Heaven's Hall in the Underworld, Meng Po and others were still waiting for Ye Ling to return with the Forgetful Soul Branch.
Meng Po had already prepared all the other ingredients for refining the Water of Forgetfulness, just waiting for the Forgetful Soul Branch to be added. The Black and White Impermanence were chatting with the Matchmaker about姻缘 (yīnyuán - fate of marriage), while Cui Jue, having official duties and not wanting Meng Po and the others to take away the unconscious Yang Qi, had to take the Book of Life and Death and the Soul Hooking Brush to the side hall to judge the souls descending from the mortal realm.
Just as the gods were each attending to their own tasks in peace, a commotion arose outside the Son of Heaven's Hall.
"What happened?"
The Black and White Impermanence, who were chatting, noticed the commotion outside and were startled. Just as they were about to go out to investigate, they saw a ghost soldier rushing in with a panicked expression, shouting, "Something terrible has happened! Something major has happened in the Underworld!"
"Something has happened in the Underworld?"
As soon as the ghost soldier spoke, everyone in the Son of Heaven's Hall was stunned, looking at the ghost soldier in surprise.
What could possibly happen in the Underworld?
Meng Po seemed to have thought of something, her expression changing slightly. She quickly asked the ghost soldier, "Calm down first, and tell us in detail what happened?"
The ghost soldier seemed to have been stimulated by something, his face was full of panic, and he couldn't even utter a complete sentence, only stammering, "Yang Yang sunlight..."
Seeing that the ghost soldier couldn't speak a complete sentence for a long time, the Black Impermanence became impatient and said, "What sunlight? Speak clearly!"
The ghost soldier was startled by the Black Impermanence's shout, and surprisingly, he sobered up. He quickly said, "Sunlight! There's sunlight in the Underworld!"
As soon as the ghost soldier said this, it was like a depth charge, exploding among the gods in the Son of Heaven's Hall!
Sunlight in the Underworld, what a joke!
The Black Impermanence was stunned and asked the ghost soldier, "Say that again? Where did sunlight come from in the Underworld?"
The ghost soldier swallowed hard and said, "It's absolutely true! You'll know if you all go out and look!"
"Sunlight in the Underworld?" Meng Po was the first to react to the ghost soldier's words and immediately fled towards the outside of the Son of Heaven's Hall, "I'm going to take a look!"
"Meng Po, wait for us!"
The Black and White Impermanence saw Meng Po rush out of the hall and quickly grabbed the Matchmaker to follow, fleeing out of the Son of Heaven's Hall together.
Soon, the four of them rushed out of the hall. The soft sunlight pierced through the clouds and shone on their faces, quite dazzling.
The Black and White Impermanence looked at the sky with disbelief, trembling, "How, how is this possible? This is the Underworld... how can there be sunlight?"
The Underworld was perpetually shrouded in Nether Qi, and the sun's rays could not penetrate the Nether Qi to reach the Underworld!
Now that there was sunlight in the Underworld, didn't that mean the Nether Qi that shrouded the Underworld had disappeared?
Realizing this, the Black and White Impermanence immediately looked around the Underworld and found that the entire Underworld had fallen into chaos.
Not only were the souls that had just descended from the mortal realm, but even the ghost soldiers stationed in the Underworld had begun to riot, scurrying everywhere. Some souls even thought that the high gods in the Heavenly Court were enraged and were about to descend punishment, so they knelt on the ground, constantly worshipping the sky, begging for forgiveness from the Heavenly Court.
Seeing this, the Black and White Impermanence cursed, "Who the hell did this? Without Nether Qi in the Underworld, the balance of the Three Realms will be broken. If the Heavenly Court blames us, we will be the ones to suffer!"
Meng Po said, "This kind of scene, I'm afraid it was caused by the Emperor."
Hearing Meng Po's words, the Black and White Impermanence's expressions immediately changed, and they laughed, "The Emperor must have his reasons. It's been quite oppressive with the Nether Qi constantly shrouding the Underworld. Now that sunlight is shining down, it's a good improvement to our working environment."
Meng Po gave the two clowns, Black and White Impermanence, a look and then stopped paying attention to them. She swept her gaze across the Underworld and finally said, "I'm afraid something has happened at the Ten Thousand Nether Mountains. I need to go and see!"
As her voice fell, Meng Po leaped towards the direction of the Ten Thousand Nether Mountains.
"Something happened at the Ten Thousand Nether Mountains?"
The Black and White Impermanence looked at each other, a little slow to react.
The Ten Thousand Nether Mountains were shrouded in Nether Qi all year round, and even more than half of the Nether Qi in the entire Underworld originated from the Ten Thousand Nether Mountains.
Except for powerful beings like the Emperor who could freely enter and exit, other ghosts and gods could not approach that forbidden place. How could something happen in such a desolate place?
The White Impermanence looked at the Black Impermanence and hesitated, "What should we do? Should we follow and take a look?"
After all, Meng Po was going to the Ten Thousand Nether Mountains. If they rashly went there, they might lose their lives.
The Black Impermanence also hesitated, then gritted his teeth, "Damn it! Meng Po, a woman, is rushing to the front. Now that the Emperor is in trouble, what kind of men are we if we hide behind?"
The White Impermanence added, "What about the Underworld here? Everything is in chaos. If no one maintains order, I'm afraid..."
The Black Impermanence immediately said, "Isn't Cui Jue still here? Let him handle this mess. Otherwise, if the King of Hell comes looking for us to work, you and I will be in trouble!"
Hearing the Black Impermanence's words, the White Impermanence immediately reacted and said, "Then what are we waiting for? The Emperor is in trouble, and we will go through fire and water without hesitation. Charge!"
With that, the White Impermanence turned into a beam of light and chased in the direction Meng Po had left.
Seeing the White Impermanence turn and leave, the Black Impermanence also turned to the Matchmaker and smiled, "Matchmaker, Yang Qi is entrusted to you. If the King of Hell comes looking for us, tell him we went to save the Emperor and ask him to find someone else to work!"
Matchmaker: "No, I still have to..."
Black Impermanence: "It's up to you! Yang Qi is the Emperor's person, he can't be in trouble!"
After speaking, the Black Impermanence didn't give the Matchmaker a chance to refuse and directly fled towards the Ten Thousand Nether Mountains, "Meng Po, wait for me!"
"Hey, hey!!!"
The Matchmaker shouted twice in the direction the Black Impermanence had left, but he was an old man, and his speed was far inferior to that of the Black and White Impermanence. He couldn't stop them at all.
In the blink of an eye, the Black and White Impermanence had disappeared into the horizon, leaving him standing alone.
"What exactly happened? Where are the Black and White Impermanence?"
Just then, a deep and powerful voice came from the depths of the Underworld. The Matchmaker looked and saw a man with a fierce appearance, wearing a red official robe, flying out from the depths of the Underworld.
Seeing the man exuding a powerful aura appear, the Matchmaker trembled, "King, King of Hell?"
In the Ten Thousand Nether Mountains, Ye Ling looked at the sunlight shining down through the clouds above and frowned, murmuring, "This seems to have gotten a bit out of hand..."
Although the Ten Thousand Nether Mountains were a forbidden area formed when Chu Yuan fell, and the Underworld was a world cleaved out after the normal world was corrupted by Nether Qi, after hundreds of thousands of years of development, the Ten Thousand Nether Mountains had become symbiotic with the Underworld. Now that the Nether Qi of the Ten Thousand Nether Mountains had been drained, the Underworld would also be greatly affected.
The draining of Nether Qi from the Ten Thousand Nether Mountains would likely break the balance of the Three Realms.
When the Underworld was in chaos, the Immortal Realm would investigate, the ghosts and gods would riot, and it would also affect the mortal realm...
Ye Ling felt a headache just thinking about the subsequent troubles, and he couldn't help but look at Chu Yuan.
At this moment, Chu Yuan's eyes were still closed, sitting motionlessly in the air, as if everything happening outside had nothing to do with him.
Although Ye Ling had helped Chu Yuan absorb most of the Nether Qi, the amount of Nether Qi stored in Chu Yuan's body was still terrifying. Now his energy was completely consumed by the Nether Qi within him, and he wouldn't wake up for a while.
Seeing Chu Yuan's state of being oblivious to the outside world, he muttered, "This guy is comfortable. After absorbing so much Nether Qi, his cultivation has completely stabilized at the Supreme level. In the Three Realms, except for the Shadow Hall, there are probably no gods who can suppress him..."
"But that's fine. After all, I also need him to find the Spirit Devouring Qi. This opportunity is what he deserves."
After confirming that Chu Yuan's aura was stable, Ye Ling looked at the huge pit below, and the corners of his mouth curved again.
As the Nether Qi was drained, the dense spiritual energy gathered in the pit below also returned to calm, and the aura of the Spirit Devouring Qi reappeared.
Ye Ling had already captured the source of the Spirit Devouring Qi.
Although the lack of Nether Qi in the Underworld was a major problem now, compared to the Spirit Devouring Qi from the Outer Underworld Palace, this problem was insignificant!
The Nether Qi of the Underworld could be replenished at any time, and Ye Ling could handle any trouble the gods of the Immortal Realm caused.
But the Spirit Devouring Qi was different.
This thing could even erode the fundamental laws of the Great Dao. If it wasn't controlled in time, the Earth might fall victim to it!
After capturing the Spirit Devouring Qi, Ye Ling no longer hesitated. His divine soul scanned the pit below, quickly locking onto the source of the Spirit Devouring Qi, and grabbed it with a void grasp.
A black stone the size of a fist flew out of the pit and hovered in front of Ye Ling, emitting wisps of black gas from within.
Those black gases were precisely the Spirit Devouring Qi!
"It is indeed the Spirit Devouring Qi!"
Ye Ling looked at the black stone in front of him, noticed the anomaly within the stone, and his eyes narrowed. He murmured, "This thing seems to have been sealed by someone. It was only when the seal was slightly broken that the Spirit Devouring Qi inside leaked out..."
"I'm afraid the Forgetful Soul Tree was strengthened to its current state by absorbing that leaked Spirit Devouring Qi."
There were still others on Earth capable of sealing the Spirit Devouring Qi, and not by using runes... Ye Ling had to meet someone with such ability!
And the Forgetful Soul Tree should know something.
Thinking of this, Ye Ling couldn't help but look at the Forgetful Soul Tree outside the valley.
However, just as Ye Ling focused his attention on the Forgetful Soul Tree, he found that the Forgetful Soul Tree had fallen to the ground and was motionless. Its large trunk had become dark and black, looking as if it were dead.
He could no longer sense the aura of the Forgetful Soul Tree.
"What is that guy up to now?"
Seeing that the Forgetful Soul Tree had completely stopped moving, Ye Ling frowned. He immediately sealed the stone containing the Spirit Devouring Qi with runes and flew towards the Forgetful Soul Tree.
Boom!!!
Before Ye Ling could get close to the Forgetful Soul Tree, a powerful aura erupted from within the Forgetful Soul Tree, and a large amount of Spirit Devouring Qi burst out from within the Forgetful Soul Tree!