Ming Fei

Kai, Yang Xin, Guan Yu, and Mikoto had finally set forth on their expedition into the infamous Nine Layered Deathlands.

The Nine layered Death land is an ancient battlefield where the human and demon beast spiritual gods fought for thousands of years. The miasma from countless corpses has turned the entire area into a dead land with innumerable treasures scattered throughout.

The death land comprises nine separate layers that get progressively more dangerous as you advance to higher layers. The last three layers are the Master of Nether's private domain -Only to be open during the Lord of Nether's Disciple selection every five years.

"We should be careful, Master. Before we left, my father told me that both the Wugui and the Jade Seal Family are exploring the death lands." Guan Yu warned Kai.

Kai snickered. "Do you doubt your Master's capabilities? Little Girl, watch your master shine and just feast on the blessings that I gift you."

Yang Xin and Mikoto tittered as they watched Guan Yu call her younger, Master, and Kai refers to her as a little girl. They figured if Guan Yu truly knew their age difference, she would spit blood and fall into a shock-induced coma.

"No...no. Master is the greatest in the Nether Realm. It's just the Wugui Family is rumored to have many treasures..."

"Enough, Guan Yu. Focus on your training. Mikoto and I will handle the rest. The same goes for you, Xin'er."

With that, the company pushed on, entering the Thousand Corpses mountains. A barrage of death law energy hit Kai. Kai could decern that the Laws of Death were intimately intertwined with the Laws of Nether.

Kai showed a devilish smirk. 'This might be exactly what I needed. Such an unexpected treat. I will indeed thank that old man, Ye Mo, later.'

The Thousand Corpse Mountain was the unofficial name for the countless dead that constructed the hilly region made of corpses -only to be added to by the unfortunate people that explore the death-ridden lands and lose their lives. Though, what made the hill region special was the Chthonic laws that it generated. Laws such as death, slaughter, blood, nether, and darkness. The sheer brutality and hatred that came from the corpses meddled together to become the perfect generator to cultivate the ideal land, beasts, and resources to aid people who walk a chthonic path.

The entrance to the first level of the Nine-Layered Deathlands was a long winding road that leads into a dense fog, making it impossible to see.

Occasionally, the shadows of a few people were seen walking upon the narrow path, heading deeper into the fog. Within the mist, Kai and Mikoto could sense the auras of death drifting towards them on a nonexistent wind.

The ground is littered with bones, damaged weapons, and armor. Many had undergone heavy corrosion over time, resulting in them being reduced to ashes with a casual touch.

Most importantly, Kai could sense the inscription that fueled the foggy land. Grabbing the girls, Kai sped through the array and into clearer lands.

Within the first Layer, Kai also encountered many people of different races, all looking to have a fortunate encounter to change their fate.

While Kai was inspecting the competition and gathering his bearings, Mikoto interrupted his thoughts.

"Kai, I think we should move on. This layer is too crowded unless you plan to slaughter everyone. We will only encounter unnecessary conflicts."

Kai gave Mikoto a side eye. "The Spirit Origin Fruits are very beneficial for the clan. I want them. They are rumored to be here in the first Layer. We will continue and cut down who we must."

Kai could sense that the first Layer's highest existence were a few Demigods -people who barely qualified to be called experts.

For miles, the group journeyed when Yang Xin suddenly tripped on a stone. Kai swiftly moved and caught the young beauty in his arms. As he looked to see the cause of her fall. His eyes fell onto an oddly carved stone.

Reaching down to pick it up, memories from Akasha came to the forefront of his mind.

"This is a piece of soul puppet." Said Kai. "They must have used them to replenish their numbers during the war. It would be way more efficient than constructing a new body over countless centuries. And that's if they could find the right material."

"What's a soul puppet?" asked Guan Yu

"A puppet that houses the soul of a dead cultivator. It can be a prison or a chance at a second life. We should pay more attention to where we step. This place is a treasure trove." Mikoto replied.

Like that, Kai, Mikoto, Guan Yu, and Yang Xin collect broken artifacts and damaged Interspacial rings until they arrived at a lake that served as a gathering point.

As Kai and his company approached. Many whispered about the handsome young man surrounded by beauties. Though once they noticed Wei Guan Yu, the atmosphere suddenly changed.

"Ahh, Sister Guan Yu. Are you also here to hunt the Zombie Jiao-Dragons?" A young man asked with a charming smile.

"Brother Luo Jian. I wasn't expecting to see you here. " Guan Yu replied.

"All the youths of my Jade Seal Family are here. After such a beneficial auction, my father wanted us to temper ourselves in the Deathland. How about Sister Guan Yu?"

"I'm training myself. Allow me to introduce my..."

"Fiance." Kai interrupted. "And this is my Wife, Mikoto Ashikaga, and Fiance Yang Xin. It's a pleasure to meet the Young Master of the Jade Seal Family."

Everyone gasped at his words and murmured amongst themselves. "A wife and two fiances?"

"That's ridiculous. Not even Young Master Luo Jian is that lucky."

The words of the crowd caused envy and jealousy to meld together like a brewing storm. Luo Jian's brow twitched.

"Ahh, how interesting. And what is this brother's name?"

"Kai Ashikaga."

"Brother Kai. A friend of Guan Yu's is a friend of ours." Luo Jian regains his charming smile as he walked back to his family.

Guan Yu grabbed Kai's wrist. "We are not friends, Master."

"I know, little Girl. What did I tell you when we started this journey." Kai pulled away from Guan Yu. She was soon passed by Mikoto and Yang Xin, both of which had cold blank expressions.

"These Zombie Jiao Dragons will be good beast spirits for my clan. I hope Brother Luo Jian doesn't mind our intrusion." Kai spoke and exuded humbleness.

"Hehe, of course not. It would be an honor to see the skills of the man who could make the Blood Demon Clan's young miss his Third wife." Luo Jian emphasized 'third.'

"Oh, you misunderstand, Brother Luo. I won't be participating. This trip is naturally for my women to contribute to the clan. I will just be spectating. Mikoto, my love, I'm sure we can find a use for such lowly creatures. How about you lead your sisters in their slaughter. "

Mikoto smiled, and purple flames engulfed her hands. Yang Xin drew her sword, and Guan Yu summoned Wu Lan's spear from her interspacial ring. Men and women watched as their hearts nearly exploded at the sight of the three beauties gearing up for battle.

Even Kai enjoyed the sight of his women's sexy battle appearances. 'They're like Valkyries.' he thought in his heart.

The Zombie Jiao-dragon is a snake-type demon beast born from a mountain of thousands of corpses. They grow by devouring the power left behind from the corpses. All fully-formed zombie Jiao-dragons have Legend rank strength. After each millennium, the Zombie Jiao-dragon would become more robust by one level. Upon reaching ten thousand years, it would become an existence that could rival the Spiritual Gods. A zombie Jiao-dragon's body is covered in black scales and will get smaller as it gets more powerful.

Kai swiftly vanished and reappeared in the sky to watch the upcoming battle with a better few. The lake was a hundred meters all around, and its depths were immeasurable to the naked eye due to murky waters. Although, Kai's senses could not gauge the deepest parts of the lake either.

By the lake, Yang Xin was the first to act. She effortlessly performed her sword art without flaw to deliver a heavenly torrent of lightning into the center of the murky lake. As the water electrified, its depths began to stir, and the Zombie -Jiao Dragons erupted from the waters.

Guan Yu immediately launched forward with her Blood Spear and performed the first form of the blood fiend spear art. Her eyes turned all red, and a blood mist converged around.

Boom! Her first strike sent a beast back into the lake. Blood tendrils condense around her, acting as weapons to guard the spear style's openings through the second form.

Boom! Shink! Squelch!

Guan Yu's spear and tendrils delivered blow after blow. However, her power was matched by the demon beast. But Guan Yu delivered enough stopping power that allowed Mikoto to intervene.

Mikoto, coated in purple flames, danced through the beasts with martial dominance as she kicked, punched, kneed, and elbowed the Zombie-jiao dragons with fatal combinations.

Yang Xin cleaned up the stragglers while appearings as streams of lighting smiting the infernal beast like divine punishment.

Guan Yu continued to blockade as Mikoto and Yang Xin slaughtered the confounded beasts. All the while, Kai captured the corpses of the Zombie-Jiao dragons that fell to the lake surface.

The audience watched in a stupor as three beauties put away their weapons when the killing seemed to be over. But Kai sighed as he sensed an immensely angered beast going after the ladies.

Kai arrives between it and his woman with a conjured shield made of war laws when a ten-meter Zombie-Jiao Dragon appears to attack.

"This is the smallest one to appear, but he is without a doubt the strongest," Kai commented nonchalantly. His brow then twitches when he notices a scarlet pearl embedded in the beast's forehead.

"This explains a lot," he mutters as he pushes his shield forwarded with explosive force.

The Zombie-jiao dragon is blown back, and Kai extends his sense deep into the lake once more. His mind then hit an ethereal wall, but the energy on the other side of the wall felt familiar.

"Yang Xin! The pearl in its head will be a good resource for you. Very beneficial to an alchemist." Kai then vanished and reappeared in the sky once more.

"Don't worry, Xin'er. We will help you get the Scarlet Pearl," Mikoto reassured her.

Suddenly, Kai picks up on a small scrimmage a few kilometers away in a forested area near the lake. Due to his comprehension of Death Laws, it was reasonably easy to see through the land's suffocating aura.

Kai took a look at the women and then went to see the scrimmage. As he approaches the fight, an odd source of energy that connected directly to the Deathlands appeared in the middle of the small fight.

When Kai landed, he snapped his fingers, and the ants exploded into blood mist. Kai then examined the tree and the sparkling crystal-like fruits it produced.

"Pure as snow and contains extremely well-refined energy... So you are the Spirit Origin Fruit." Kai reached out and grabbed the fruit. He then ate every bit of it and allowed the energy to course through his body.

"This is good, very good. I'm sure uncle could use this as a treasure of his Sect. And if I can swim to the bottom of the lake for more of those Yang Essence Pearls, we can introduce a whole new method of cultivation to Glory City." Kai spoke to himself.

With the Yang Essence Pearls' help, dual cultivation could be possible in this lesser realm. Kai was now adamant about searching every layer to rob its treasures that would be wasted on the world's ignorant people.

Ripping the tree from the ground, Kai replanted in his world egg next to the blood pools to be nurtured by the death essence of higher beings. When he returned to the lake, Yang Xin was in the middle of cutting the Yang Essence Pearl from the Zombie-Jiao Dragon's corpse.

The eyes of the spectators became greedy. Kai smiled and told the ladies to protect themselves as he dived into the murky waters that once housed a swarm of Zombie-Jiao Dragons.

The first man attack, and Mikoto all but annihilated his existence. But the death of legend rank fighter could not stir away Demigods. The three women then engaged in a small scrimmage that resulted in the death of two Demigods from the Jade Seal Family and a Blood feud that Guan Yu swore.

Kai spent a day at the bottom of the murky lake gathering Yang Essence Pearls. The barrier the seemed to be hiding away the pearls was easily broken as it was placed by a Heavenly Fate Realm expert. Kai had many theories of why a higher cultivator would journey to the lower world and create a yang gathering array. But in the end, none of it mattered as Kai had his own uses for the Yang Essence Pearls.

While Kai gathered resources, Guan yu and Yang Xin absorbed the Spiritual Origin Fruits. Mikoto was locating and marking Spiritual Origin Fruit Trees. When Kai was finished, he ripped every tree that Mikoto marked from the earth and placed them in his world egg on the shores of his Blood Pools.

Kai then journeyed to the center of Thousand corpse mountains and cultivates death laws. Once he achieved the Anatta Mind State, he and the Death God raced to push their comprehension to new heights, fighting for dominance over the Law of Death.

Meanwhile, Guan Yu and Yang Xin take three days to refine their energy and breakthrough to legend-rank cultivators. Mikoto then leads them to explore more of the first Layer on their own when Guan Yu decided to kill a Chort Demon beast and unknowingly activates an array that swallows the three women.

-----------------------------------

Guan Yu slowly picks herself up and shakes out her clothes as she looks around the dark, damp dungeon-like place.

"Yang Xin! Mikoto!" Wei Guan Yu calls out.

The two women answer when a fire is suddenly lit by Mikoto. She hands each of the ladies a torch, and they begin to look around.

"What is this place?" asked Yang Xin

"We don't know," Mikoto replied. "Just follow the hall and watch your step."

As they ventured further in, Mikoto found it odd that the journey was without struggles.

After an unknown period, the ladies reach an altar that was magically illuminated when they approached.

"Girl, who are you to wield my spear?" a sweet but deadly voice penetrated their ears.

Guan Yu swallowed, "Wei Guan Yu." she replied.

"Wei Guan Yu. Is that insufferable man still putting on his disciple selections? Is that why you are trespassing in the land of the dead?" the woman asked.

"Do you mean the Lord of Nether?" Yang Xin asked.

"Of course! We are in the Nether Realm!" she roared.

The three were startled greatly by the hidden woman's outburst.

"Yes, he is. But it will be held at the end of the year." Guan Yu explained.

"Hmm. You have some talent. With your comprehension, you can be the next spiritual God of Blood." said the woman, "What Sect do you plan on joining?"

Guan Yu promptly shook her head in protest. "I would never. My Master already holds the title of Blood God. It was actually him who gave me this spear."

"Haa! Am I, Wu Lan, such a joke! Spiritual Gods!" Wu Lan sneered, "All of them, insufferable existences, arrogant beyond measure!"

The power of a heavenly fate realm cultivator threatened to smush the girls. They groaned in pain and struggled to resist.

"Tsk. It can't be helped." Wu Lan calmed herself. "What Sect does this man belong to? The Blood Spear must only belong to one Sect."

"Sect? Lady Wu Lan, the nether realm does not have sects." Guan Yu replied.

"Stupid Girl! I mean the Draconic Ruins Realm! If he is spiritual God, he must have journeyed there in his countless years to further his cultivation."

"My husband belongs to no sect and has never been to the higher realms," Mikoto interjected.

"Impossible! Is he a coward that only wishes to conquer this lowly place?" Wu Lan asked with venom. She did not believe Mikoto.

Wu Lan then frowned when she took a closer look at Mikoto. "Ahh, he must be a coward. To rob cradles and step on the weak is truly the sign of a coward."

Wu Lan had seen Mikoto's real age in her bones, but Mikoto's soul was something even Wu Lan could not see through.

"Rob cradles? My husband and I were born on the same day of the same year. I will not stand here and listen to this bitch. Kill us or tell us the way out." Mikoto demanded. Within her, her titan blood boiled in preparation for battle.

Wu Lan remained silent. Wu Lan could not kill them. Wu Lan needed them. Or at least she needs Guan Yu. And twelve-year-old Spiritual God? Was that even possible? Wu Lan didn't know, and she could tell that Guan Yu would never do what she asks if her friends were killed.

Wu Lan swallowed her pride and turned her attention to Guan Yu. "Girl, you have my spear, so must return it to my Master. Her name is Ouyang Fei of the Thousand Flowers Sect."

A jade pendant flew from the altar into Guan Yu's hands. "That is the ambassador token for the Sect. Give that to your Master, as a Spiritual God, the Lord of Neither will not stop him from ascending into the higher realms. Lord of Nether will also tell you where to find the Sect when you arrive in the higher realm." Wu Lan explained.

A platinum battle dress then flew into Guan Yu's arms. The moment she caught the battle dress, its inscription glimmered and connected with the blood spear.

"Blood Elf's Battle Dress. You will also need this to use the spear to its fullest potential," said Wu Lan.

Finally, a scroll flew to Guan Yu, and Wu Lan said, " This must be given directly to my Master. If she is already dead, you must give it to your Master in order to survive in the Thousand Flowers Sect. Though they are considered righteous, nothing is ever what it seems in the higher realm. You must not open it unless my Master is dead."

The next moment, the girls were swallowed by another rush of energy and were transported back to the corpse of the Chort Demon Beast.

"Beware, Jade Orchid Peak." Wu Lan's last words danced on the wind.

"We're not really going to that Sect, are we?" Yang Xin asked.

"Why not? It's a free ride and admission to a sect—no matter where we go. Danger will be lurking around the corner. At least she gave us a heads up. If her Master is any good, that could also give us some backing." Mikoto spoke frankly on the matter. She knew that even Kai was an ant in the higher realm. It's why he pushed for all of them to achieve the highest level of cultivation before they ascend.

Across the first Layer, things were heating up. Kai and the Death God had both hit a wall in their comprehension. Frustrated at the death god's resilience, Kai launched a soul attack at the Death God's divine spark.

After the Death God defended, A terrifying roar sounded throughout the First Layer of the Deathlands as the entire ground trembled.

*Rumble!* *Rumble!* *Rumble!*

A colossal tomb rose from the ground, accompanied by the collapse of countless skeletons. The tomb slowly rose higher and higher into the sky. On the roof of the tomb were piles of human skeletons. The walls were filled with all kinds of detailed inscription patterns, infused with a sinister and terrifying aura.

A huge figure quietly floating above the tomb. It was a massive skeleton with sharp bone spikes growing all over its entire body. The bone spikes would change into wings or armor occasionally. Endless quantities of Law Energy revolved around the creature.

About thirty to forty Demigod rank experts stood in the sky far away. Their faces were filled with ecstasy and excitement.

Kai chuckled at the scene and applauded the old dog. "You want to swallow them for power."

Kai levitated into the sky and made his way to the floating tomb. As the Demigods raced towards the tomb, Kai began to slaughter them all. If anyone was going to benefits from the deaths of ants, it was going to be him.

The Death God was enraged, as it could only venture so far from its palace. He was forced to watch as Kai stole his prey.

When the surrounding Cultivators saw how Kai slaughter Demigods with ease, they shuddered in fear, and no one took the sky anymore. Now with Kai and the Death God being the only ones in the sky, Kai provoked the death god. Taunting him into a fight.

"You are the God of Blood, War/Slaughter, and Life. Why must you covet my law as well?" the Death God asked.

"There is no good and evil. There is only power, and those too weak to seek it. So, I have nothing against you. I'm simply seeking power for the sake of power." Kai replied, and the spectators and the Lord of Nether all believe that Kai is a dangerous man.

"Come now, Time is not a law I have contemplated. Therefore I can't afford to waste it."

The Death God sneered, and Kai smirked. He called for his soul spear, now a weapon with the power equivalent to a 2nd fate soul Heavenly Fate Realm cultivator. Kai pumped all of the power that he had into it. Black, Crimson, Green, and Red energy swirled around the spear in streams. Kai's cultivation erupted, and he stepped into his titan form. Finally, his superior spear intent exploded. His body moved, posed, contracted, and then released faster than anyone could see, except for the Nether lord and Death God.

Like a javelin, Kai's soul spear ripped through the air with a great boom as it broke the sound barrier.

Ting! Boom!

The spear came in contact with the Death God's palace, and it immediately exploded, rocking the death lands.

When the smoke cleared, the palace fell from the sky into rubble. The cloaked skeleton man was all that remained along with his fragment of Divine Spark.

"Amazing!" Kai gasped, "If I didn't see it with my own eyes. I would have guessed you were a complete Spiritual God. But alas, this place magnifies your power. A fragment able to survive my attack, I'm embarrassed."

The Death God chuckled, and chthonic energy began to swirl around him.

Pah!

Kai blinked in shock as a man in long black robes and a hood that covered his face suddenly appeared, delivering a killer blow to the Death God.

'Power,' Kai thought to himself, 'refined power controlled with deadly precision.'

Kai watched as the Divine Spark of the Death God shattered into sparkling particles.

"Thank you, boy. I've been trying to kill that old bat for centuries." the mysterious man spoke.

"Lord of Nether..." Kai replied.

The man chuckled. "Kai Ashikaga... You can call me Ming Fei. Please join me for a cup of tea." The man then vanished without a trace, taking Kai along with him.