110: Chapter 102 Welcoming the Loyal Souls Home

Izanami's divinity shattered into countless motes of light in the void, each speck of light representing the demise of an era.

The vault of Takamagahara began to peel away, with large, pale-blue fragments falling like rain, revealing the chaotic spatial turbulence behind.

The crust of Yomi Hirasaka cracked inch by inch, and the boundary walls turned to dust amidst the grand sound of collapse.

At the same time.

In the real world, as well as in all the dungeon worlds of the Thriller Game.

The originally normal live streaming screens, system panels, and forum interfaces were covered by a blinding crimson red without any warning.

Crimson alerts occupied every screen.

A server-wide announcement resounded through every dungeon world:

"Warning: Takamagahara divine kingdom has collapsed! The underlying logic of the Japanese God System has been completely destroyed!"

"All dungeons originally belonging to the Japanese God System are being forcibly merged and reorganized!"

"New desperate dungeon generated: Yomi No Return. Dungeon Rating: ???. Survival Rate: 0%."

Inside the Special Affairs Bureau of the USA, a high-ranking official who had just picked up their coffee had their hand tremble, spilling the scalding liquid all over themselves. In the Japan live broadcast room, an elite squad currently in a dungeon suddenly lost the protection of their gods, and their shikigami backlashed on the spot, their screams spreading across the globe through the screen.

A god system had just been wiped from the map of the Thriller Game, just like that.

...

Yomi Hirasaka.

Outside the collapsing boundary wall, Pei Duo stood quietly.

The white light of the dungeon settlement shrouded the three of them, and with just a single thought, they could return to Jiangcheng.

But Pei Duo did not move.

She turned around and looked behind her.

There, stood tens of thousands of tattered, dismembered souls.

There was an old man in a zhongshan suit missing an arm; Ming Dynasty soldiers carrying rusted broadswords with broken arrows still stuck in their chests; and students in tattered school uniforms with clear eyes...

They were the Chinese Heroic Spirits who had strayed here over these thousands of years and were imprisoned and tortured to death.

At this moment, they stood quietly, their faint blue soul fires gently swaying in the wind. Although they no longer needed to feed that man-eating "perpetual motion furnace," they still habitually straightened their backs, even though their soul bodies were so faint they were about to dissipate.

"Going home."

Pei Duo gripped the blood-stained black jade pendant in her hand tightly. She said these two words very softly, yet they made tens of thousands of Chinese Heroic Spirits behind her lift their heads simultaneously.

"I am Pei Duo, the younger sister of the Great Emperor of Fengdu, the Eldest Princess of the Underworld."

She raised the jade pendant and pointed toward the void that was shattering in front of them.

"I am taking you home!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Responding to her was the dull tremor of the earth.

One hundred thousand Great Qin Terracotta Warriors moved simultaneously.

The black military formation parted like a tide to both sides, clearing a straight path.

No one spoke.

All the Terracotta Warriors slammed their bronze halberds onto the ground, the sound of metal clashing traveling from the front row to the back, rolling across the entire battlefield like thunder.

This was the highest respect the elite soldiers of Great Qin could show their compatriots.

Under Pei Duo's leadership, this troop of remnant souls that had spanned thousands of years took steps, unsteady yet firm, and crushed the crumbling boundary wall of Yomi Hirasaka step by step.

The moment they crossed the boundary wall, the pungent smell of sulfur and the scent of blood vanished.

The air became chilly, but no longer oppressive.

A faint scent of sandalwood drifted over; it was the unique aura of the Eastern Underworld.

The Eastern Underworld, outside Fengdu City.

Under the gray sky, red spider lilies bloomed like a raging fire, spreading all the way to the end of one's line of sight.

As soon as Xu Mo and Lin Sa landed, their pupils contracted in shock at the scene before them.

They saw that the ancient gates of Fengdu were wide open.

The Ten Kings of Hell, led by First King of Hell, with the Four Great Judges lined up on both sides, Black and White Impermanence and Ox-Head and Horse-Face standing solemnly holding silence placards, and the civil and military officials of the Underworld arranged in eighteen tiers, without a trace of the usual gloomy pressure of those who hold the power of life and death.

When First King of Hell saw the broken troop behind Pei Duo, his hand holding the book of life and death paused.

Some of those Chinese Heroic Spirits were missing arms, some were missing legs, and their soul bodies were so faint they were almost about to dissipate, yet they still straightened their backs.

This Underworld King, who held authority over life and death, had an expression never seen before on his usually stern, unsmiling face.

First King of Hell lifted his purple-gold official robes, stepped past the Eldest Princess Pei Duo who was standing in the front, and bowed deeply to the tens of thousands of Chinese Heroic Spirits behind her.

"The Underworld has arrived late, and we have let you all suffer!"

"Whoosh—"

Behind him, hundreds of Underworld officials bent over in unison, performing the highest-ranking salute of the Underworld.

"Welcome the loyal souls home!"

This shout, like the tolling of a great bell, reverberated across the entire bank of the River of Oblivion.

There was no noisy clamor of gongs and drums, only respect as heavy as a mountain.

In the troop, that Old Ghost in Zhongshan Suit, who had been holding on, watched this scene, and two lines of blood tears flowed from his withered eye sockets.

He tremblingly straightened the button that had long since fallen off his collar, puffed out his chest, and used his last bit of strength to return a salute that was no longer standard.

Subsequently, the soul-summoning banner was raised.

Amidst the solemn and respectful soul-guiding music, the tens of thousands of Chinese Heroic Spirits were not taken to the Yama Palace for judgment, but were grandly welcomed into the "Shrine of Loyal Souls" at the highest point of Fengdu City, which was perpetually filled with incense.

They would be there, receiving the offerings of incense for ten thousand generations, enjoying eternal peace.

Lin Sa turned her head and blinked hard several times.

Xu Mo took off his glasses, stared at the lenses for a long time, and in the end, said nothing, just putting his glasses back on.

This is the Underworld of China.

It may be stern, it may be terrifying, but it has the stiffest spine and the hottest blood.

...

The dust settled.

After the Chinese Heroic Spirits were led into the Shrine of Loyal Souls, Pei Duo's taut nerves finally relaxed.

"It's over..."

As she breathed out these words, her legs went weak, and she almost lost her footing.

From Yomi Hirasaka until now, she had been forcing herself to hold on, and at this moment, the exhaustion of her body surged like a tide.

She turned around, looked at Xu Mo and Lin Sa beside her, and revealed a long-lost, relaxed smile.

"I'll treat you when we get back, eat whatever you want..."

Before she could finish speaking.

An unexpected change occurred.

Just as Pei Duo was about to take a step, a scorching heat suddenly came from the bluestone slab under her feet.

She looked down and saw dark red patterns emerging on the ground, which spread outward with her as the center, outlining a complex teleportation array in the blink of an eye.

This array was ancient, obscure, and exuded an aura that made one instinctively fearful.

"It's that array!"

First King of Hell's pupils constricted, and the book of life and death flew out of his hand, attempting to suppress it, but the activation speed of the teleportation array was abnormally fast.

"How is this possible... that passage had clearly already been sealed!"

Before he could finish speaking, a huge pulling force came from under their feet.

Pei Duo wanted to grab the stone pillar beside her, but the moment her fingers touched the cold stone surface, she was forcibly dragged down.

Her vision plunged into darkness in an instant.

Pei Duo, Xu Mo, and Lin Sa were like being forcibly dragged down by some irresistible force, falling directly into the deepest part of the Underworld.

Heat.

The intense heat that burns the soul.

Pei Duo opened her eyes, and what met her gaze was a sea of crimson.

It was not the red of blood, but the red of magma.

Something was flowing overhead, emitting a dull roar. She looked up and saw magma pouring down like a waterfall from above, forming curtains of fire in mid-air.

The air was so hot it made it difficult to breathe.

Wails came from the distance, one after another, endless.

Every bit of air here was filled with extreme malice toward the living.

Xu Mo stared at the charred stone tablet in the magma, on which two characters were carved.

He recognized what kind of script it was—the oldest ghost seal script of the Underworld.

"The eighteenth level..."

His voice was very soft, but Pei Duo and Lin Sa both heard it clearly.

This was the lowest level of hell, where the most vicious existences were imprisoned.

And the three of them, living humans, had just fallen in.