"Before entering the Underworld, did you encounter a female corpse inside a coffin?"

"That's correct, and the eldest son of the Yin family, Yin Xing, even called her 'sister'..." Chen Yi paused, then added to Zhou Yitang: "Which makes no sense to me."

The one-armed woman lowered her gaze, pinching her fingers as if calculating something.

In the end, she shook her head.

Evidently, she couldn't decipher it.

Chen Yi didn't press further; even the half-step Ascendant Yu Zhen Yuanjun hadn't been able to unravel it.

At the time, when Chen Yi informed her about it, Yu Zhen Yuanjun had been greatly shocked. Upon realizing she couldn't deduce the outcome, she bid farewell and swiftly flew away.

Presumably, she went to examine the remains inside the coffin to confirm their identity.

Although the Emperor of Great Yu was already dead, Chen Yi faintly felt that while the event seemed to have come to a conclusion, some peculiarities still lingered.

Small, insignificant peculiarities, perhaps, but they were still there.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Yi said, "I want to interrogate that demon cult elder, the one named Li Yangong."

Zhou Yitang had no objections. She, too, realized that many changes occurring within the Underworld weren't quite the same as they had been in her past life.

Even though, in her previous life, she had never visited the Underworld at this particular juncture, she could deduce the differences through various clues and traces.

After pondering briefly, Chen Yi asked, "That technique of yours—how do you use it?"

"Which technique?"

"I know." Chen Yi grinned at her. "That particular one."

"..."

The one-armed woman did not blush like a young maiden but instead muttered after a brief silence:

"Use it wisely."

"I know that too."

Conversing with her was never exhausting, so Chen Yi strode toward the Yama Hall.

......

Inside the Ghostly Abyssal Prison.

Azure ghost flames flickered on iron hooks as Oxhead and Horseface led Chen Yi deeper into the dungeon.

In the deepest part of the dungeon, a gaunt figure was seated on a dry, decrepit floor.

The figure was that of an elderly man with white hair. His eyes were closed, his legs crossed, seemingly meditating.

Although he appeared calm, his face was unnervingly pale, and beads of sweat the size of soybeans dripped onto a nearby flickering flame.

This flame was called the Ghostly Cold Lantern.

Unlike ordinary lamps fueled by oil, this lantern burned using the cold sweat formed from human terror and dread.

The light emitted from the lantern carried a haunting, spectral hue.

If the lantern went out, the prisoner would be plunged into total darkness. Over time, the suffocating fear would force additional cold sweat to form, sparking the lantern back to life. The cycle would repeat endlessly, subjecting the prisoner to waves of unrelenting torment.

This was merely one of the milder forms of punishment within the Underworld's ghost prison.

The elder, who was the demon cult's chief punisher, meditated in this state for an unknown length of time before he suddenly heard footsteps.

As he opened his eyes, a figure he never expected appeared in front of him.

"Song Shengbao?"

Chen Yi, dressed in the uniform of a dungeon warden, stood outside the cell and spoke in a solemn tone:

"The emergence of the Great Ming Venerate Buddha shall surely restore the World of Ignorance."

Li Yangong's face twitched as if suppressing a trace of joy. He leaned forward and grasped the iron bars tightly.

"You… How could you be here?"

When the Emperor of Great Yu ascended, all souls within the spectral city had been absorbed into the Soul Summoning Banner. Li Yangong had no knowledge that Chen Yi had killed the emperor.

"Silence," Chen Yi murmured, now clad in the guise of a warden. "Through a twist of fate, I entered the Underworld, arrived at Ghost Town, and learned that the elder was serving King Chujiang. But upon reaching Ghost City, I never imagined the elder would end up a prisoner."

Li Yangong's face darkened upon hearing this, and he let out a heavy sigh.

Just as he was about to speak, Chen Yi raised his hand and interrupted: "In less than fifteen minutes, the guard shift will change. Speak succinctly. Elder, I can't get you out, but I can deliver your message back to the main sect."

Li Yangong hesitated briefly.

Chen Yi, sensing the hesitation, slightly loosened his collar, revealing a faint golden radiance emanating from the golden paper tucked inside. The demon cult elder immediately began breathing heavily.

"What kind of great merit have you achieved while undercover in the Capital City?"

"It's not great merit, just saving two Saintesses," Chen Yi replied.

He shook his head lightly and added:

"There's little time left. I fear the elder will sacrifice himself in vain."

As soon as his words ended, a series of footsteps echoed from outside the cell door.

Li Yangong nodded repeatedly and began recounting a long sequence of incidents.

As Chen Yi suspected, the majority of the Underworld's transformations stemmed from the butterfly effect caused by taking Yin Tingxue away.

When the demon cult infiltrated the Underworld, it coincided with the crucial moment when the Emperor of Great Yu attempted to possess King Chujiang. Desperate, King Chujiang sought assistance from the demon cult.

The demon cult, known for their expertise in manipulating souls, quickly managed to contain the emperor's attempt to take over the king.

Simultaneously, Li Yangong secretly began communicating with the emperor's soul.

The final outcome seemed, on the surface, to be that King Chujiang had repelled the emperor's soul and begun relying heavily on the demon cult's followers. Yet, this reliance ultimately led to betrayal—the emperor's soul transferred into a paper effigy, and, with the cult's aid, he seized power and usurped the throne.

The emperor's plan was to activate a long-prepared illusionary formation to resurrect within the Capital City.

"Taichua Goddess had originally been designated as the array pivot and was supposed to be summoned into the Underworld, but an unforeseen deviation caused her to escape our control," Li Yangong revealed.

"Deviation?"

"Taichua Goddess was seeking a Golden Boy for her partner, so the emperor used this as bait to lure her into the Underworld." Li Yangong paused and continued, "Of course, there was no real Golden Boy. He used a Secret Technique to throw off her divination signs, tricking her into believing the Golden Boy was within the Underworld. Yet, for some reason, even after misleading her divination, she still didn't enter the Underworld..."

As Li Yangong explained, Chen Yi gradually pieced things together—it was another minor butterfly effect.

The reason Yin Weiyin hadn't been drawn into the Underworld during this life, Chen Yi realized, was none other than his own involvement.

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