After falling into the Six Paths of Samsara, Tianyi felt the boundary to his Nine Heavens Universe tremble as the river of reincarnation attacked it. The only way to avoid the Six Paths of Samsara was to enter as a pure soul, without past or emotions.
However, Tianyi walked through the entrance while retaining his memories and emotions, attracting the repulsion of the Six Paths of Reincarnation. Under this assault, he couldn't focus on the coordinates to his original timeline at all since he spent almost all his time fending off the river of reincarnation's attack on himself.
Compared to the heavenly punishment, Tianyi also couldn't absorb the river of reincarnation, meaning that it should also represent a law at the divine level. With each passing moment, the Six Paths of Reincarnation were chipping away at him, eating away at not just his qi but his memories and emotions.
Tianyi's mind spun as he tried to think of a method to combat this. He once again realized why Immortal Court Spirit gave the mission to him. He considered using the Three Lives Stone but swiftly rejected it.
It was too dangerous. What if it resonated with another timeline's Three Lives Stone and dragged Tianyi there? Not only would he lose, but he would have been trapped in that timeline for who knows how long.
Tianyi tried to create a spacetime barrier to isolate himself, but it couldn't even last one second against the power of time imbued with the Six Paths of Samsara. He finally learned where the River of Time was; it had merged with the Six Paths of Samsara.
'Dammit, if I only had a soul technique that could prevent my emotions or memories from being detected.' As soon as that thought occurred to Tianyi, a thought occurred to him. What if he was too far away from the Six Paths of Samsara to detect?
He couldn't create a barrier to widen the space under the crushing power of the river of reincarnation, but he could create distance in his own body. Tianyi immediately put his thoughts into action. Not only did he shrink the connection between his body and the Nine Heaven's universe, but he widened the distance as well.
Even for him, it would take him a long time to react. It was like how Nasa needed ten minutes to receive and send signals to the Voyager probe.
When Tianyi detected that the Six Paths of Reincarnation no longer attacked him as harshly as before, he sighed in relief. The river of reincarnation attacked memories and emotions, not pure energy.
Still, Tianyi had to readjust the amount of energy to preserve the universal boundary, but he finally took a break. However, he stilled to be alert and detect which timeline his clone, Ba Shifang, was in.
Tianyi sensed a vague direction and tried to move his body in that direction, but the moment he did so, he received Six Paths of Samsara's suppression and only managed to divert his trajectory slightly. He sighed and tried to find the balance between acting and going with the flow.
The Sixth Paths of Samsara didn't flow like a regular river. Instead, it had numerous branches spreading out like tree roots. Sometimes it moved upstream, but most of the time, it moved downstream. What he needed to was catch a drift to move upstream and reach a favorite position before going downstream to his timeline.
It took not just a few tries but over a hundred tries before Tianyi could get the hang of it. Every time, he would expend an enormous amount of energy to the point he felt his heart tremble. Although it hadn't reached the point of affecting the growth of the Nine Heavens Universe, Tianyi didn't want to take the risk of dipping below the bottom line.
While manipulating where he flowed in the river of reincarnation, Tianyi tried to comprehend the Law of Samsara but had no luck. To his surprise, he discovered many inspirations about time flowing into him.
Tianyi juggled between comprehending the deeper profundities of time and controlling his trajectory. He didn't know how long this period lasted since time did not flow in one direction in the Six Paths of Samsara. Sometimes, it froze, flowed forward, or even reversed. He even felt that it might have all happened in an instant or that he was trapped in a groundhog loop.
But one thing gave Tianyi a sense of security. He could sense his connection with his clone increasing, meaning that he was going in the right direction.
After what felt like a million years, light returned to Tianyi's eyes as he opened the connection between his body and the Nine Heavens Universe. Immediately, the Six Paths of Samsara began to madly suppress him again.
Tianyi ignored this and turned into a thin sliver of black. This black needle pierced through the barriers on the Six Paths of Samsara, and he freed himself.
"Haha, I'm back!" Once out of the river of reincarnation, Tianyi once again established a complete connection with his clone, Ba Shifang.
Before he had too long to be happy, he discovered himself surrounded by numerous Nether Realm soldiers, even several ghost emperors.
"What gall!? Do you admit your crimes?" the leading ghost emperor said as he pointed at Tianyi. Tianyi actually recognized him; it was Emperor Corpsehead!
Tianyi opened his mouth, but no words came out. Tianyi expected a lot of things when he returned, but he certainly did not get surrounded once he got out. He quickly contacted Sitian and learned that before Empress Ping left, the Nether Realm had a full standing army and was orderly.
Upon learning, Tianyi didn't struggle. He wasn't stupid. If he resisted, didn't this mean to offend Empress Ping? Besides, since Immortal Court Spirit had told him to use the Six Paths of Samsara, then he should have a method to save him.
Seeing Tianyi not resist, Emperor Corpsehead frowned with disappointment. He sneered and then whipped out a white awl that he threw at Tianyi. His eyes nearly popped when the awl phased through Tianyi and injured the soldier securing him.
"Hey, you threw it, I didn't hurt him!" Tianyi said before Emperor Corpsehead could get a word in.
"Hmpf, it's obviously because you did something. The fault lies with you. Dare to resist, you must be punished!" Emperor Corpsehead shouted and took out a whip.
'Can you be even more shameless?' Tianyi thought. 'Fine, I won't resist.'
He could see that Emperor Corpsehead didn't have any killing intent, but that didn't make him happy. As his whip wrapped around Tianyi's neck, a hint of elicitation appeared in Emperor Corpsehead's eyes. He tightened and waited for Tianyi's screams of pain.
Only it never came.
Tianyi just stood there, his wrist shackled and surrounded by ghost soldiers. Emperor Corpsehead injected the immortal artifact with his qi but still no reaction. Offensively, the whip had no great attack power, its sole purpose was to inflict pain and keep souls in line, yet none of this seemed to affect Tianyi.
A hint of killing intent appeared in his eyes, and Tianyi started to get serious, but a new arrival shocked Tianyi and stopped Emperor Corpsehead. Emperor Corpsehead, along with the surrounding soldiers, bowed and said, "Greetings to Lady Meng."
Tianyi, on the other hand, directly called out, "Elder Meng?!"
Seeing Tianyi recognize her, Emperor Corpsehead had a bad feeling. His bad feeling came true when Elder Meng said, "Release him. Empress Ping wants to see him."
"Yes!" Emperor Corpsehead said as he unfurled the whip, and the soldiers unshackled Tianyi. His eyes followed Tianyi's back when he saw Elder Meng lead Tianyi toward Youdu.
Along the way, Tianyi couldn't help but stare at Elder Meng. Compared to the Elder Meng, who stayed in the Buzhou Immortal Sect, he couldn't see through this Elder Meng. Even compared to his mother, Tianyi could sense something, but he couldn't sense anything from the Elder Meng in front of him.
This meant that Elder Meng's strength surpassed Mengfei's, and the only possible way was if she was a divinity.
Finally, Tianyi couldn't help but ask, "You are Elder Meng, right?"
"It is indeed I," Elder Meng said, her voice as soft and gentle as Tianyi remembered. "Long time no see, Young Master."
Tianyi's face flushed as he recalled all the times he treated Elder Meng so casually. "Does my mother know?"
Elder Meng nodded. "All the head elders and grand elders knew."
"Just who are you?" Tianyi asked. He couldn't help but ask why such a person would regulate herself to a venerable elder in the Buzhou Immortal Sect.
Elder Meng didn't answer as she saw the approaching walls of Youdu. "We're here."
The two arrived at the gate and were promptly let in by the guards. Compared to the Youdu of the Silent Lightning Timeline, it was like heaven and earth. Aside from everyone being a soul, it was no different than the most prosperous city in the Huang Realm. At certain points even better.
They appeared no different than the living, aside from their pale skin. Thank god they didn't rot and smell like zombies.
Tianyi walked behind Elder Meng as the sea of souls parted to let them through. The ghosts looked at Tianyi as if he was some weird animal, causing his eye to twitch, but he suppressed his irritation.
They neared Youdu Palace, and it became utterly empty aside from the guards. Upon walking to the door outside the throne hall, Tianyi saw a familiar figure, Youdu Spirit.
"Granny Meng, Monarch, please enter. Her Majesty has summoned you." After saying those words, Youdu Spirit's figure disappeared, and the gates to the throne hall opened.
An explosion went off in Tianyi's head. 'Granny Meng? As in the Granny Meng that feeds the souls the Soup of Forgetfulness?'
Tianyi didn't have long to ponder as he followed Elder Meng into the hall. It was a familiar place he had visited over a hundred times, but despite the exact same furnishing, it felt utterly foreign, and an invisible pressure pressed down against Tianyi.
"Jiang Meng greets the Empress," Elder Meng said as she kneeled, and Tianyi followed suit.
There was a pause, and a voice said, "Rise."
The gentleness of the voice surprised Tianyi. It sounded like someone in their late twenties but held the same warmth as a grandmother's. The voice was heard again, "You may look up."
Tianyi looked up and was stunned. He could find no words to describe Empress Ping's beauty. She wore a black dress with bone-white designs that did not give off an aura of death but life. He had never seen anyone more beautiful than his mother, but Empress Ping's beauty didn't lie in her appearance but also in her innate charm.
Compared to her, Mengfei could only be described as immature.
Empress Ping smiled. "Interesting. I never expected a mere immortal to be able to see my visage."
Tianyi quickly averted his eyes, causing Empress Ping to chuckle. "No harm done. Although I can't see through your cultivation, I can tell how unique you are. No wonder Jadelight wanted to get you back no matter what."
Tianyi frowned. Jadelight, who's that?'
Empress Ping covered her lips as if she was a little girl that played a prank. "Whoops, I forgot that he doesn't want others to know of his existence. Please forget that you ever heard that, okay?"
'There's no way I can, okay?' Tianyi screamed in his mind but nodded his head.
Empress Ping laughed again. "Interesting. In the Nether Realm, aside from Granny Meng, you are the only one whose mind I cannot read."
Tianyi furrowed his brows as he tried to keep a straight face. He just wanted to leave and return to Jade Peak. Although Empress Ping seemed amiable, she still pressured Tianyi immensely.
The Nether Realm Empress waved her arm. "Alright, I've had my fun. Granny Meng, lead him out of the Nether Realm. Oh, perhaps we might meet again if your sect can successfully reestablish the Immortal Court."
Tianyi's heart almost jumped out of his heart when he heard Empress Ping's words. 'How did she know?!'
Empress Ping ignored Tianyi's inquisitive look, and Elder Meng motioned for him to leave. They didn't leave Youdu or even Youdu Palace. She led him to one of the side entrances. Under Tianyi's confused look, a portal leading to the Vast Void opened.
"Are you not going to return with me to the Buzhou Immortal Sect?" Tianyi asked, seeing Elder Meng not moving.
Elder Meng shook her head. "I need to stay here to take care of the reincarnating souls. What is at the sect is only an incarnation. Not just the Buzhou Immortal Sect, I have one in the Numinous Sword Sect and the Buddhist Pure Lands as well."
Tianyi didn't have time to be surprised as a mysterious force pushed him out and into the Vast Void. When he regained control, the Nether Realm entrance had already closed.
He looked around for it but could not find it. Tianyi sighed and transformed into a streak of black light filled with countless white motes. When he saw the three immortal palaces floating outside the Huang Realm, his heart exploded with elation and excitement.
"I'm back."
