Chapter 792: The Difficulty of Making Contact
In the blink of an eye, several decades passed in the Nether Realm.
Wang Sheng remained hidden within the unremarkable little courtyard. Day after day, he practiced his swordsmanship, deepened his comprehension of the Dao, and steadily reinforced his own Daoist realm. Though his progress was gradual, he still managed to take several small steps forward.
He did not seek any crazy breakthroughs. What he wanted was stability, the ability to fully wield the strength he already possessed, and the capacity to maintain a consistent level of combat power.
Sixty years before the King of Hell selection, Wang Sheng finally left with Ling Sheng and headed toward Fengdu City.
By now, the entire Nether Realm had descended into complete chaos.
Only then did Wang Sheng realize just how many Heavenly Immortals there were across the endless space and the Immortal Saint Realm combined.
The Nether Realm itself was starting to feel crowded, but not in a way that people were packed shoulder to shoulder in bustling masses. No matter a cultivator's realm or status, everyone instinctively kept their distance from one another to avoid being ambushed.
Even thousands of li away from Fengdu City, Wang Sheng could already see streams of people flying across the sky. Each person maintained several hundred zhang of distance from the next, yet the layers of traffic above and below stretched endlessly as they traveled toward or from Fengdu City.
At this point, it was practically a "cloud traffic jam."
Outside Fengdu City, there was even less order to speak of. Wang Sheng swept the surrounding hundred thousand li with his immortal perception and discovered hundreds of battles taking place at once.
Some cultivators launched sneak attacks and robbed others for treasure. A few immediately tried to kill each other the moment they crossed paths because they were bitter enemies. Others started fights for the most ridiculous reasons.
"What are you staring at? Looking for trouble?"
"Yeah, I'm staring at you. So what? I'm half a step away from the Golden Immortal Realm! What makes you think I'm afraid of you?"
"Hehe. Daoist Friend, it seems you and I must settle this today. I just so happen to stand half a step above you."
Naturally, all of that was nothing more than Wang Sheng's imagination running wild.
He smiled calmly and continued onward with Ling Sheng while maintaining their disguises. Two thousand li away from Fengdu City, he finally caught sight of the famed immortal city of the Three Realms.
If heaven had the Heavenly Palace, then the nether had Fengdu City. That was roughly the same as comparing heaven's dragon meat to Earth's donkey meat, though.
The Nether Realm's perpetually dim and gloomy sky loomed over Fengdu City. Dense death aura filled the city while yin qi surged upward endlessly. However, hidden within that overwhelming death aura was a strand of pure yang qi.
Yin and yang gave birth to one another. Perhaps this was the meaning of extremes reversing into their opposites.
The city was enormous. If placed on ancient Earth, it would have rivaled an entire ancient kingdom in size. Moreover, it was divided into nine inner and outer layers. Four great avenues crossed through it in every direction, linking north and south, east and west, northeast and southwest, and southeast and northwest. Together, they carved the city apart in a formation resembling the Eight Trigrams.
Arrays separated the first six sections from the outermost layer inward. Buildings of every imaginable style filled the districts, yet everything remained arranged in perfect order.
These six outer layers served as gathering grounds for the Nether Realm's yin cultivators. The place had always been a chaotic mix of all kinds of people, with ghost cultivators and yin cultivators hidden all over it. Now, with countless living cultivators flooding into the city as well, the atmosphere had become even more disorderly.
The seventh layer housed the Nether Realm's army and served as Fengdu City's primary defensive force. Towering walls hundreds of zhang tall separated it from the sixth layer.
The walls formed the shape of the Eight Trigrams and contained eight gates corresponding to the eight paths within the Dao of the Eight Trigrams: Du, Jing, Si, Shang, Jing, Sheng, Xiu, and Kai.
From directly above it, one could clearly see that the Eight Trigrams structure belonged only to the seventh layer. Nested within it was a six-pointed star, which formed the eighth layer. Within the six-pointed star rested a pentagram, and inside that pentagram lay complete darkness.
That was where the Six-Path Wheel of Reincarnation, the Ten Kings of Hell, and the Five Directional Ghost Emperors resided.
In other words, the true core of Fengdu City was actually the eighth and ninth layers.
Everything beyond the third ring was basically unnecessary attachments.
With his disguise, Wang Sheng could rely solely on the Great Dao of Slaughter and the aura of a Golden Immortal to move freely through the sixth layer without anyone stopping him.
However, the situation now was different. The Nether Realm's army had fully mobilized. Millions of Nether Realm soldiers stood on high alert while the Five Directional Ghost Emperors and several Kings of Hell personally guarded the seventh layer day and night, preventing anyone from disrupting the Six-Path Wheel of Reincarnation's operation.
Wang Sheng brought Ling Sheng to the fifth ring, purchased a courtyard, and temporarily settled down.
Ling Sheng originally intended to head out and gather information, but Wang Sheng stopped her with a smile. In a place like this, even the most experienced intelligence operative could expose themselves if they wandered carelessly outside.
"Since we're already here, there's no need to rush. I'll cultivate here for a while for now."
Wang Sheng calmly explained a few things before using Golden Immortal Realm methods to place several protective and isolation arrays around the courtyard he had just bought.
Fengdu City's housing prices had risen dramatically over the past thousand years due to the overwhelming influx of experts. Even someone as wealthy as Wang Sheng, especially with his rich little sister backing him, still felt genuine pain spending money on property here.
Moreover, because so many cultivators had poured into the area around Fengdu City, the weaker ghost cultivators and yin cultivators who originally lived nearby had long since fled to remote regions to hide.
The Nether Realm cultivators were not fools.
They were already generally weaker to begin with, and the visiting cultivators were, at the minimum, at the Heavenly Immortal Realm. Bumping into the wrong person while walking down the street in a place like this could easily end with one's body and soul completely destroyed.
Cultivators had terrible tempers. Ghost cultivators and yin cultivators also happened to sit at the very bottom of the hierarchy.
Back to the main matter.
Wang Sheng had considered the situation repeatedly before deciding to be patient and observe for now rather than immediately contacting his forefather and the others.
His main problem now was that he had no idea where his forefather actually was. Once Chun Yangzi's whereabouts were exposed, hostile forces would inevitably take notice of him.
In truth, it would not only be hostile forces. Even some neutral factions would probably grit their teeth and rush to kill him the moment they saw him.
If they were going to establish contact, reaching out to Xu Zhongliang was clearly the safer choice. After all, he had a fairly good reputation and did not have too much ugly history.
Where exactly can we find him, though? Neither I nor Star Deity Wenqu dare reveal ourselves openly. The enemy can easily discover us if we leave even the slightest mark.
Wang Sheng had considered one possibility before.
Once the King of Hell selection officially begins, all I have to do is stand out enough during the proceedings. Sooner or later, my allies will notice me. This city is too dangerous right now, though.
Besides, if I cannot secretly contact the people managing Fengdu City ahead of time and secure a predetermined seat among the Kings of Hell, then what is the point of coming here at all?
Wang Sheng fell deep into thought. He sat alone on the stone chair inside the main house, silently pondering.
What exactly can I do to make Star Deity Wenqu and the others notice me and successfully establish contact?
***
Meanwhile, inside a tall building several streets away from Wang Sheng's courtyard, a few figures had gathered and were worrying over the very same issue.
On the surface, they just appeared to be a female Taiyi Golden Immortal leading several disciples and over ten sect members to participate in the King of Hell selection. Their group was fairly impressive, consisting of six Taiyi Golden Immortals, twelve Golden Immortals, and six Heavenly Immortals. Moreover, they spent generously, even renting out an entire floor of the building.
However, once the doors were closed, the arrays were activated, and the barriers were laid down, the female immortal quietly returned to her room alone.
Aside from six Golden Immortals, the other cultivators merely cultivated in silence.
Meanwhile, the six "Golden Immortals" gathered to discuss their next move.
Among them were two young women, three middle-aged scholars, and one elderly man with white hair.
As soon as the room was sealed off, one of the young women transformed into a handsome and refined young cultivator with an elegant bearing.
Chun Yangzi sighed deeply. "Aiysh... My Great Dao of Pure Yang can be considered one that steals the wonders of heaven and earth itself. I cultivate the Pure Yang Intent, yet here I am in Fengdu City, forced to disguise myself as a woman every waking moment."
Whenever this happened, the other young woman would revert to her original appearance: Xu Zhongliang. He then smiled bitterly. "I'm already suffering through this with you, so stop complaining."
Among the three middle-aged scholars was one of Hostess Su's incarnations, specifically responsible for intelligence gathering. Through it, reports from outside continuously reached the room.
The cat-petting Star Deity—ahem, Wu Tianshou was also among them. Among the Heavenly Court's surviving experts, he ranked neither particularly high nor low.
Another was the old Taiyi Golden Immortal Realm sword cultivator who had once guided Wang Sheng for several hundred years.
The kind-looking, white-haired elderly man's true identity was Wang Shan, who normally looked stern.
Naturally, the greater the contrast in their disguises, the better.
The group had already completed a round of investigation, both inside and outside Fengdu City, before returning here. Now, they all looked troubled as they sighed endlessly.
They were struggling over the same problem Wang Sheng faced.
Making contact was too difficult. None of them dared expose themselves or leave behind any clues, especially now that Wang Sheng was no longer the person he used to be.
Once he intentionally concealed himself, no one could detect his heavenly fate. Not even Chun Yangzi could sense the slightest trace of him through the Great Dao.
Yet according to the information that Hostess Su had sent back, Wang Sheng had already arrived in the Nether Realm decades ago before disappearing completely again.
The wording used was "arrived," not "set out for," which meant Hostess Su's intelligence network still managed to catch traces of Wang Sheng before he entered the Nether Realm.
From there, however, all information about him vanished.
Wu Tianshou smiled bitterly. "I imagine he's searching for us right now, too. What's with this situation? We've all gathered here, our plans and preparations are already in place, yet we somehow lost contact with our most important member."
Xu Zhongliang also smiled bitterly. "The problem is that we forgot to have Immortal Zhi Bing leave Fei Yu a communication talisman. At the time, I assumed Miss Xiaomiao would remember something that important. Who could've expected that even she would overlook it after planning so carefully..."
"Communication talismans are useless anyway," Chun Yangzi replied calmly. "I left him several treasure artifacts for transmitting messages before this. Little Bingbing also left one of her divine ability's lotus flowers with him. Right now, though, we cannot even sense him at all. How are we supposed to send any messages to him?
"My grand-disciple isn't an ordinary person anymore. After all, he now possesses the protection of a complete Great Dao. Once that Great Dao fully merges with him, he may very well become another great deity."
"Aiysh..." Xu Zhongliang pressed at his brow again and sighed softly. "Looks like the only option left is to stir things up ahead of schedule. We can probe the actual situation in Fengdu City's inner districts while searching for Fei Yu's traces."
Wang Shan gently nodded from the side. "Agreed."
Chun Yangzi blinked. "What exactly are you planning to do? Just make sure you don't expose us."
Wu Tianshou also added, "We've already hidden quite a few experts throughout Fengdu City. It's best to proceed cautiously. If our group suffers heavy losses, it'll deal a serious blow to our forces."
"Relax," Xu Zhongliang replied calmly. "Sometimes, it's not divine abilities or weapons that kill people. Rumors can kill just as well."
