On the Path to the Great Dao

Shuikou Village, within A Zhuo's Realm of Emptiness, his Primordial Spirit observed from afar, having long since locked onto the movements of Marshal Xi and the others. The ambush on Marshal Xi also failed to escape his notice.

"So Granny Sha and the others have been guarding the perimeter all along."

A Zhuo silently thought to himself, "No wonder the bee creatures have been somewhat restless lately, sensing that fugitives were nearby."

He did not raise an alarm, silently withdrawing his Primordial Spirit.

"A Zhuo!"

Auntie A Ying, holding a kitchen knife, said with a serious expression, "Come inside with me. Explain clearly what good deeds you've been up to all these years outside!"

A Zhuo hung his head and followed her into the house.

Screams of agony soon came from the inner room, as Auntie A Ying continued her interrogation and torture.

Chen Shi, Qiao Hu, and Qiao Wei stood outside the courtyard, listening to the commotion inside, filled with worry.

"My mother has never beaten my father this badly before," Qiao Wei said worriedly.

Chen Shi was also quite concerned.

A Zhuo clearly had many things he was hiding from his family; this time, he probably couldn't avoid explaining.

After a long while, Chen Shi followed A Zhuo out on his bee cart. A Zhuo's face was glowing, not as if he had been beaten by his aunt, but rather as if he had been rewarded.

Chen Shi shook his head, inwardly grumbling about how complicated the adult world was and that he had worried for nothing.

As they ventured deep into Great South Lake, A Zhuo no longer concealed himself. One by one, the bee creatures transformed into evil spirits over a person's height, their wings buzzing as they flew, like swiftly moving dark clouds.

The bee cart transformed into the mount of the underworld Bee Marshal, traveling amidst the cloud of bees, patrolling in all directions.

"Uncle A Zhuo, how did you become an underworld marshal?" Chen Shi inquired.

A Zhuo said, "Beekeeping."

Chen Shi was somewhat puzzled. Could one become an underworld marshal just by keeping bees?

A Zhuo said, "The last time your grandpa and I went out together was to descend into the underworld to search for your lost soul. That time was probably the third descent into the underworld."

Chen Shi's eyes widened. Uncle A Zhuo had also gone to the underworld with Grandpa Chen Yindu to look for him?

"For the first two descents into the underworld, Old Chen went alone. He didn't want to implicate us."

A Zhuo recalled the past, narrating the events slowly, "Back then, he had fought a major battle in Western Capital, was injured, and wasn't fully prepared for the first descent. He nearly died there. For the second descent, he was prepared. But his strength was insufficient; he couldn't find any trace of you. By the third time, he had no choice but to seek us out. Our group consisted of six people in total."

At that moment, the swarm of bees became very agitated, buzzing noisily as they surged toward one direction.

A Zhuo's heart stirred slightly. "They've discovered fugitives and are attempting to pursue them."

Chen Shi listened intently. He wasn't particularly concerned about the fugitives, but he cared deeply about his grandfather's experiences searching for him in the underworld those times. He asked, "Which six people?"

"The Six Gentlemen of the Five Great Lakes. The Instructor, the Stone Tablet Carver, the celestial fox, the Blue Goat, the Spirit Medium, and the Beekeeper from the Celestial Court's little group. I was the youngest among them, so I was ranked last. These were the codenames we gave ourselves. Others used other nicknames for us, none of them particularly flattering."

A Zhuo said, "For this descent into the underworld, Granny Sha led the way. She was called the Soul-Searching Rakshasa. She was the most formidable fighter in the underworld, but not so much in the mortal world. She interrogated minor ghosts everywhere, searching for news of you. The underworld had many powerful experts, ghosts and deities were everywhere, but the time we went was very strange; we actually didn't encounter many ghosts or deities."

Chen Shi's heart stirred slightly. "Could it be that something happened in the underworld?"

A Zhuo nodded. "Indeed, something happened. We saw the corpses of many ghosts and deities, hanging in the sky, hooks pierced through their chins or chests, dangling from above."

Chen Shi's heart thumped violently twice.

A major upheaval had occurred in the underworld! Many ghosts and deities had been executed!

Hanging in the sky, hooks through their chins—this was public display of corpses after execution by hanging!

"We encountered a powerful enemy in the underworld, a ghost deity possessing supreme and mighty power. His body was majestic, his sinews and frame vast beyond measure. Slaughtering ghosts and deities was as easy as taking something from a bag for him."

A Zhuo's eyelid twitched. Clearly, recalling that terrifying scene still made him shudder with fear.

Even a master like him felt an intense sense of powerlessness when facing that ghost deity of supreme might.

"I had never seen his fighting style before. His techniques were bizarre, their power extraordinarily great. His target wasn't us, but another group of ghosts and deities. We just happened to intrude into the territory of their battle."

A Zhuo paused here, a look of confusion appearing on his face as he emitted a peculiar buzzing sound from his mouth, calling to those bee creatures pursuing the fugitives.

The cloud of bees hesitated somewhat.

Chen Shi followed the flight path of the bee cloud and saw a cart floating on the lake surface—it was his own Wooden Cart!

The Wooden Cart was being used as a boat by Granny Sha and Black Pot, drifting on the lake surface. They were probably looking for Chen Shi but unexpectedly encountered the pursuing bee swarm.

The five Ghost Kings covered the Wooden Cart, blocking the bee creatures' line of sight. The cart now grew six arms, frantically rowing the water, trying to escape the area. It even opened a huge, bloody maw, stuck out its tongue, placed it in the water, swung it in circles, spinning continuously to propel the cart forward!

Black Pot lay on the cart's rear, madly blowing air at the water surface, hoping to push the cart faster.

However, the ripples on the water surface betrayed them. Earlier, those bee creatures had been following the ripples in pursuit and nearly caught them.

Hearing the Bee Marshal's call, the bee creatures ultimately gave up the chase. Clustering around the Bee Marshal's carriage, they buzzed their wings and plunged into the underworld, flying toward the Bee Marshal's mansion.

Granny Sha breathed a sigh of relief, recalling the five Ghost Kings, and gritted her teeth. "That brat! Ruthless and merciless, with no regard for old friendship!"

On the bee cart, Chen Shi also breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, "Granny Sha has a bad reputation in the underworld. Uncle A Zhuo is an underworld marshal, and the bee creatures under his command are underworld soldiers. No wonder they would apprehend Granny Sha."

A Zhuo continued the previous topic. "The combat power of that supreme ghost deity was truly formidable. The combat power of those ghosts and deities besieging him was also extremely astonishing. All sorts of powerful, inconceivable magic treasures clashed and fought in the air. Merely being within the battlefield, without even participating in the fight, we felt we could be killed at any moment. We prepared to retreat, to charge out of this battlefield of clashing ghosts and deities. At that moment, Old Chen said, 'Little Ten, he saw Little Ten!'"

Chen Shi was stunned. "Grandpa saw me?"

A Zhuo hesitated. "He said he saw you. At the time, you were standing on the head of that supreme ghost deity, a tiny figure. But I didn't see it. Old Du didn't see it either. The Blue Goat, the celestial fox, they all said they didn't see it. Later, we suspected Old Chen might have been missing you so much that he was seeing things."

Chen Shi frowned slightly.

A Zhuo continued, "Old Chen charged recklessly toward the center of the battlefield. We panicked too and followed him in. The strength of those ghosts and deities was almost all above ours. Charging in was far too dangerous."

They followed Chen Yindu, fighting desperately, resisting the onslaught of terrifying spells, divine powers, and magic treasures. The Stone Tablet Carver, Du Yiran, was the strongest among them besides Chen Yindu, but he too suffered heavy injuries!

Granny Sha, the celestial fox, the Blue Goat—each sustained severe wounds.

Chen Yindu saw that if he continued charging forward, all these old brothers would likely die with him. He had no choice but to turn back with tears.

Among them, A Zhuo, being the youngest and cared for by everyone, actually suffered the lightest injuries.

He escorted everyone as they fought their way out of the encirclement and returned to the mortal world.

"During the escort, a ghost deity fell, dying right in front of me."

A Zhuo said, "With his last breath, he clutched my hand tightly, only letting go after a moment when he breathed his last. After he released my hand, I found a precious seal in my palm. After I delivered everyone to the mortal world and settled them, I returned to continue being a beekeeper. When I approached those bee creatures, suddenly, all the bee creatures transformed."

At that moment, an inexplicable divine power erupted from within his body. The bee creatures he raised all grew enormously large, carrying a heavy aura of Yin energy.

The bee cart transformed into the carriage of an underworld commander. They clustered around the new underworld marshal, buzzing their wings as they traveled, flying through the sky and entering the earth, traversing the boundaries between Yin and Yang.

The Bee Marshal's mansion in the underworld became their hive. Great South Lake, and the Southern Abyss Sea in the underworld, became their territory.

Together with the Bee Marshal, they guarded the order between the Yin and Yang realms.

This was the origin of his status as an underworld marshal.

He was not enfeoffed as an underworld marshal due to merit, but rather became the new underworld marshal by chance after experiencing that battle.

He discovered that after becoming an underworld marshal, he had to abide by the rules of the underworld, apprehend underworld criminals, and uphold the great laws of the underworld.

For example, people like Granny Sha, who committed numerous evil deeds in the underworld and repeatedly challenged underworld laws, were on the list for the underworld marshal to apprehend.

A living underworld marshal walking in the mortal world would occasionally encounter such individuals. He didn't need to take action himself; the bee creatures would handle them.

The main reason Granny Sha managed to repeatedly escape the bee creatures' pursuit was because Underworld Marshal A Zhuo went easy on her. Otherwise, Granny Sha's head would have long been pierced with a hook and hung outside the Bee Marshal's mansion for public display.

After being pursued a few times, Granny Sha would flee at the sight of bees, harboring great resentment toward A Zhuo and verbally attacking him.

"Every time she comes to the Five Great Lakes, she gets chased by the bee creatures under my command," A Zhuo said with some helplessness.

And the Six Gentlemen of the Five Great Lakes were almost all outlaws who had violated underworld laws. Since then, A Zhuo gradually grew distant from everyone.

"During the time I became an underworld marshal, one more thing happened."

A Zhuo said gloomily, "The Blue Goat died."

Chen Shi's body trembled slightly. He whispered, "Uncle Blue Goat... died?"

A Zhuo nodded gently.

During that underworld battle, the Blue Goat fought the most fiercely and suffered the most severe injuries. After A Zhuo escorted everyone back to the mortal world, the Blue Goat left alone, hiding from everyone.

Half a year later, when Chen Yindu found him, he discovered his old comrade had already died.

—His injuries were too severe, severing his vitality. On the brink of death, he ran back to his hometown at Qianyang Mountain, struggled for a while, but still breathed his last.

Chen Yindu dug up his corpse, exposed it to moonlight, then used the 'Plum for Peach' substitution method, making him replace a village deity, impersonating the village deity to absorb incense offerings so he wouldn't truly turn into an evil spirit. As long as the incense offerings continued, although he was an evil spirit, he could survive.

Of the Six Gentlemen of the Five Great Lakes, two died successively. One was the celestial fox. The celestial fox's lifespan was exhausted; he died of old age. Chen Yindu created a Ghost and God Domain to preserve his life. The Blue Goat died in battle. Chen Yindu used the 'Plum for Peach' substitution, using incense offerings to extend his life.

A Zhuo glanced at Chen Shi, seeing his guilt and self-blame, and shook his head. "The Blue Goat's death has nothing to do with you. You don't need to blame yourself. We all owed your grandfather favors and were his friends, so naturally, we would risk our lives to help. We were helping him, not you."

Chen Shi said, "I will repay the favors my grandfather owes."

The bee cart entered the Underworld Marshal's mansion. The Slovenly Daoist, Daoist Xue, was currently hanging outside the mansion, swaying in the Yin wind.

Chen Shi glanced over, then withdrew his gaze, thinking, "Stone Ji Your Ladyship isn't hanging outside. It seems Uncle A Zhuo dotes on me."

They entered the Underworld Marshal's mansion. After a moment, Stone Ji Your Ladyship was escorted up by a group of bee creatures. Seeing Chen Shi, she hurriedly said, "I really am on the same side as your young master!"

Chen Shi looked at A Zhuo. A Zhuo ordered the bee creatures to untie her.

Stone Ji Your Ladyship hurriedly slipped into the small temple behind Chen Shi's head, only then breathing a sigh of relief. She complained, "Envoy, not only did they poison me, but they also whipped me!"

Chen Shi said, "I warned you before to absorb the White Bone Mountain slowly, but you wouldn't listen, insisting you were invincible. You deserved the whipping."

Stone Ji Your Ladyship said, "Wasn't it you who told me to absorb the Southern Abyss White Bone Mountain to restore my strength?"

"Don't say another word!"

Chen Shi's heart pounded with fear. He secretly glanced at the surrounding bee creatures. Fortunately, the conversation happened within the small temple, and these bee creatures didn't hear. Otherwise, they would definitely charge him with instigation, and a painful punishment would be unavoidable.

Stone Ji Your Ladyship said, "Envoy, you are the underworld marshal's nephew, the young master here. Can you talk to them and let this humble one absorb the White Bone Mountains in the Southern Abyss? They're just sitting there unused anyway."

She coaxed persuasively, "When this humble one's strength increases, it is the Envoy's strength that increases. Losing a few White Bone Mountains is no big deal."

Chen Shi ignored her temptation.

The so-called 'treating death as life' means that after a person dies, their clothing, food, shelter, and transportation should mirror their living state. The White Bone Mountains beneath the Southern Abyss Sea are the skeletons of the deceased.

If Stone Ji Your Ladyship absorbs the skeletons, the crime would be no less than grave robbing, taking bones from graves and smashing them—extremely damaging to one's Yin virtue.

Chen Shi didn't know the underworld rules before, so he indulged Stone Ji Your Ladyship. Now that he knows, he naturally won't allow her to do such a thing.

But it must be said, Stone Ji Your Ladyship's cultivation had indeed advanced greatly this time. Seated upon the miniature shrine, Chen Shi felt his true energy surging vigorously, nearly limitless, and the operation and refinement of his Nascent Soul became even more effortless!

His purpose in following A Zhuo back this time was to retrieve Stone Ji Your Ladyship, so he took his leave from A Zhuo.

A Zhuo escorted him out of the underworld, back to the surface of Great South Lake. "The Hanging Cliff is a relic from prehistory. Your grandfather and I went to see it once; there's a holy temple on it. Since you've come to Great South Lake, why not go take a look?"

Chen Shi agreed and inquired, "Uncle A Zhuo, what exactly is that relic?"

A Zhuo shook his head. "Don't know. Your grandfather and I studied it for a long time. We believe there's something inside the relic. It should have broken through the earth once but was sealed by someone during the True King's Era. The holy temple on it is used to suppress it. However, the deity within the holy temple has long since vanished."

Chen Shi bowed deeply in farewell.

A Zhuo hesitated for a moment, then called out to stop him. "During that third descent into the underworld back then, although I didn't see you, I still remember vividly that supreme ghost deity who slaughtered everything in his path. After I became an underworld marshal, I also saw him once. He came to capture me."

Chen Shi was stunned. "Capture you?"

A Zhuo nodded. "Fortunately, I am a living underworld marshal and can leave the underworld, return to the mortal world, and evade his capture. But I heard from ghosts and deities in the underworld that in recent years, many important figures in the underworld have gone missing. Also, when that supreme ghost deity fought and slaughtered everything, his palm would turn blue."

Chen Shi's heart began to thump violently, feeling a faint pain in his chest.

In the cavity of his heart, that faint blue handprint that seemed to be holding his heart appeared to be slowly contracting, gradually tightening its grip.

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