Chapter 2

Legend has it that after a person dies, they will fall into an endless, dark hell!

Rumble...

The sky was overcast and heavy with leaden clouds, the air filled with a deathly silence and a chilling, murderous aura. There was no trace of clouds or the sun and moon, and the boundless expanse was devoid of any light. A chilling wind, mixed with the cries of the tormented, howled and swirled.

The entire continent resembled a red-hot iron block, emitting a faint glow. Every rock and soil sparkled with a terrifying blood-red light. The ground trembled slightly, and from the depths, a series of faint, fierce roars echoed, as if there were terrifying beasts lurking deep underground.

Boom!

Suddenly, a deafening explosion shook the heavens and earth, like a sudden thunderstorm. Blood-red light shot up to the sky, the stench of blood filled the air, and the blood water churned violently. The earth shook violently, as if the heavens and earth were about to be overturned.

"Quick, prepare! The 49th wave of the midnight flood is coming!" A ghostly voice shouted, breaking the silence.

Without a moment's delay, two enormous red dragons appeared at the edge of the heavens and earth, bringing destruction. They covered the sky and earth, overwhelming everything in their path. Blood-red water obscured the sky, and with a thunderous crash, they struck the dry riverbed, sending up towering waves!

"Soul-catching Net!" A ghostly official waved a flag and shouted. Instantly, countless ghosts sprang into action. Each small ghost and demon held a vast, black iron net, with white, sharp blades embedded in the dark, sinister knots. They stood ready, their ghostly eyes fixed on the churning blood river.

"Soul-catching!" On the command, the small ghosts and demons, tense and hurried, threw the black iron net, which was studded with blades, into the river.

Swish!

The black iron net, like a dark, oppressive cloud, shimmered and fell into the blood river, where the wind was filled with a pungent smell and the waves were blood-red.

The river had two main branches, and along the banks, rows of willow trees with emerald-green branches stood, crowded with countless small ghosts and demons, pulling the enormous black iron net. At a glance, the blood river seemed endless, and so did the small ghosts and demons and the vast black iron net!

"Heave ho!" "Heave ho!"

The ghosts shouted in unison, the ghostly official waving the flag, and the immense strength of the ghosts combined to pull the black iron net, which weighed countless pounds, out of the blood river.

"Reel in the net!"

With a sharp, swift motion, the ghostly official suddenly pulled the flag and shouted.

Instantly, tens of thousands of small ghosts and demons reeled in the net. Blood water leaked through the gaps in the black iron net, creating a spectacular sight like a silver waterfall. The blood river was instantly shrouded in a pungent, bloody mist.

"Ouch!" "Awooo!" "Ah!"...

The blood river immediately echoed with the cries of the tormented. Transparent souls wailed on the black iron net. The blades on the net, made of an unknown material, could actually harm these intangible souls.

"Hehehe..." The small ghosts and demons on the riverbank laughed cruelly, sending chills down the spines of those who heard them. To them, the cries and wails seemed to be the most beautiful celestial music.

"Let them suffer a bit; the worst is yet to come!" A flag-wielding ghostly official said coldly.

"Quick, gather up and take them to the Ghost Gate!" Another ghostly official shouted at the ghosts. Its face was as pale as paper, unlike the other small ghosts and demons with green faces and fangs. It wore neat official clothing and held a jade tablet, clearly a leader among the ghostly officials.

"Yes!" The flag-wielding ghostly official immediately responded, ordering the small ghosts and demons to quickly gather the black iron net. The souls, like a catch of fish, were lined up on the riverbank.

Smack!

A small ghost with a green face and fangs swung a bone whip with fine, backward-facing thorns at a soul, causing it to scream in pain.

"Get in line, I don't care if you were a king or a tiger in the mortal world; here, you must cower and submit!"

"What, your father is a cultivator of the Zhongyuan Realm? That doesn't matter here!"

Smack!

Instantly, the riverbank was filled with the shouts and whips of the small ghosts and demons, and the agonized cries of the souls.

Swish!

Suddenly, the willow branches by the blood river glowed brightly. The emerald-green branches, swaying in the chilling wind, suddenly stretched out like divine ropes and chains, plunging into the blood river.

"Ouch!" One by one, the souls that had escaped the soul-catching net were fished out of the blood river. They were detected by the ghost willows planted along the river and pulled out.

The escaped souls were thrown to the ground, and the small ghosts and demons immediately surrounded them with bone whips, delivering a harsh beating.

Before long, countless souls were lined up on the riverbank, with small ghosts and demons standing guard. From a distance, it looked as if stranded dragons were lying on the riverbank.

And so, in just ten minutes, the "fishing" operation by the ghosts was over, and all the souls that had been fished out of the blood river were escorted to the Ghost Gate!

Su Xing was mixed in with a very ordinary group of souls, silent and unassuming. He was lucky; when the soul-catching net fished out the souls from the blood river, another soul had been beneath him, so the sharp blades did not pierce him. After coming ashore, he obeyed the orders of the ghosts, avoiding physical suffering.

"Am I dead?" Su Xing slowly came to terms with his situation. He was dead, and this was the legendary Netherworld!

"So the Netherworld really exists. After a person dies, their soul separates from their body and enters the Netherworld." Su Xing couldn't help but laugh bitterly. He didn't even know how he had died, ending up in the Netherworld for no apparent reason.

Smack!

A bone whip split the air and struck the ground, the fierce wind it generated stinging Su Xing's face. He quickly lowered his head, his disheveled black hair covering his handsome face.

"Quiet! No whispering in the line!" A small ghost and demon shouted, the bone whip striking the soul next to it. Glancing at the soul that was taking the beating for him, Su Xing felt relieved. He was in the middle of the line, far from the small ghosts and demons on either side.

But the next moment, Su Xing's sense of relief was completely shattered.

Smack!

The bone whip, like the ghost willows, stretched out and struck a soul in the middle of the line that was being particularly noisy, knocking it to the ground.

"Looking for a beating!" the small ghost and demon said coldly.

"My father is the emperor of the Great Sun Empire..." The fallen soul didn't finish its sentence before the bone whip wrapped around it and pulled it out of the line.

The small ghost and demon glared angrily and shouted, "You talk too much!"

Then a rain of bone whips fell on the defiant soul.

"Ugh..."

This happened in every line, too many times. Even if the small ghosts and demons were in a bad mood, the souls would suffer for no reason. There was no place to complain, and the ghostly officials stood with their arms crossed, watching with cold smiles, showing no intention of stopping.

Su Xing remained silent, staying in the middle of the line, his head lowered and his hair covering his face, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible to avoid drawing the attention of the ghostly officials and the small ghosts and demons. He pondered, trying to recall the moment of his death, trying to remember how he had died.

"After death, it felt like drowning. My soul separated from my body and kept falling into endless darkness. When I woke up, I was already in the endless blood river, and then I was fished out by a huge iron net."

"Did I drown? No, I should have had a clear memory of my death. Could it have been a sudden death, or a car accident? Suddenly hit and killed?"

Su Xing racked his brain, but he still couldn't remember how he had died, as if a persistent fog was blocking his memory.

"If I can't remember, so be it. I'm already dead, so I might as well look at my current situation." Su Xing decided to let go and stop obsessing over how he had died. He lifted his bright eyes through his black hair to observe his surroundings.

Most of the souls had their heads lowered, their hair disheveled, their eyes dull and lifeless, their bodies semi-transparent, and they wore pale, paper-like shrouds, walking lightly.

Not all souls were semi-transparent. Su Xing also noticed some souls of other colors, some pale gold, some pitch black, and a few in a special line were all milky white.

"Hmm?" Su Xing noticed some subtle details. The ghostly officials and small ghosts and demons treated the milky white and pale gold souls better, while they "cared" for the black souls more.

"Colored souls?" Su Xing muttered to himself, rolling up his sleeves, his pupils suddenly contracting.

His soul, under the shroud, was a yellowish color close to pale gold, but not quite pale gold!

"Gold? Yellow!" Su Xing immediately realized the problem. He nervously looked around and found that among the many souls, none were yellow. Most were semi-transparent or milky white, forming separate lines.

Black souls were relatively rare, and pale gold ones were even rarer. Su Xing even spotted a few red souls, but he seemed to be the only yellow soul!

"Don't look around!" A small ghost and demon suddenly shouted, and Su Xing, as if electrocuted, lowered his head, but his mind was racing.

"This time, the small ghost and demon didn't use the bone whip to 'care' for me, probably mistaking me for a pale gold soul. That's a good thing..."

Su Xing was full of questions but forced himself to suppress them, moving quietly and numbly with the line.

The sky was as dark as lead, the earth as red as blood, and the chilling, silent wind carried the howls of the tormented. The soul lines, like stranded dragons, moved across the vast land, with no change in the sun and moon, and no sense of time.

As they walked, the soul line suddenly stopped. Su Xing, in the middle of the group, looked up curiously and was stunned by the sight before him.

A towering, black iron mountain, stretching for thousands of miles, loomed in the distance, its end unseen, like a curtain drawn from the sky, dividing the yin and yang, or a giant dragon lying in wait!

The black mountain was barren, with no grass or soil, only reflecting a cold, icy light. It was more magnificent than Mount Everest on Earth, and just looking at it gave a sense of overwhelming authority, making the souls feel suffocated.

On this magnificent iron mountain, a massive, towering gate had been built, like a monstrous mouth swallowing the heavens and earth!

Su Xing was stunned by the sight of the magnificent iron mountain and the massive gate, speechless.

On the gate, a rusty copper plaque hung, with seven powerful, blood-red characters inscribed:

The Ghost Gate of the Netherworld!

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