Chapter 0271: The Netherworld

Chishui Island was connected to the four islands brought by Huang Long, successfully expanding the territory!
However, since these four islands were uninhabited, further development was needed by the Four Seas Empire.
That day, in front of everyone, Huang Long used the Five Prison Divine Cauldron to create four cities that rivaled the Four Seas Imperial City. Seeing these four cities appear out of thin air in the hands of Huang Long, the already devout crowd became even more excited.
Now, in Hengyuan, Huang Long was the supreme deity!
After expanding the territory, Huang Long reduced the frequency of his sermons, holding them only once a year for a single day each time. This also prevented the island from being overcrowded by those who came to listen to his teachings. Otherwise, even if Chishui Island were expanded ten times over, it still wouldn’t be able to accommodate everyone from every corner of the Hengyuan realm who wanted to attend his sermons.
Thus, although Huang Long hadn’t established his own sect or founded the Longmen School in Hengyuan, over 90% of the people there were his followers.
Every year, the day of his sermon was declared a holy day by the billions of believers in the Hengyuan realm.
The Four Seas Empire grew rapidly with Huang Long’s sermons. Its territory expanded centered around the waters of Chishui Island. In addition to the endless seas divided between the sea tribes, the lands of the once-dying Dark Forest Empire, Dragon Language Empire, and Blizzard Empire, located around the Hengyuan continent near the endless seas, also became part of the Four Seas Empire.
Ten years later, the Four Seas Empire became the largest empire in Hengyuan and the most powerful force in the realm. Even the sea tribes bowed in submission before it.
Time passed—ten years, twenty years, thirty years—soon, a hundred years had gone by.
“Dragon, are you really going to enter the Divine Realm?” Zhao Rong asked, tears in her eyes, in the main hall of the Four Seas Imperial Palace.
In the hall, the members of the Huang and Zhao families were deeply saddened.
A hundred years earlier, Huang Long had gathered everyone and announced his intention to go to the Divine Realm.
Huang Long, the greatest figure in the Hengyuan realm, was going to the Divine Realm!
This news was too heavy for everyone to bear.
Although they knew Huang Long would eventually go to the Divine Realm, hearing the news still was hard to accept. Now that the Four Seas Empire had become a dominant force in Hengyuan, even without Huang Long, no other faction could shake its power. But for the Huang and Zhao families, Huang Long was their backbone.
“Yes, Mother,” Huang Long replied with a nod.

A hundred years had passed, and everything that needed to be prepared had already been done. Staying in a mortal realm like Hengyuan was not conducive to Huang Long’s cultivation progress. Over these hundred years, his advancement had been slow—almost no different from a hundred years ago. Zhao Rong opened her mouth but said nothing in the end. “Second brother, will you come back someday?” Huang Yi asked, looking gloomy. “I will return,” Huang Long replied with a faint smile. Although returning from a divine realm to a mortal realm was difficult, Huang Long believed he could overcome it. However, it would be impossible to return for at least two to three hundred years. Over the past hundred years, with Huang Long’s help, everyone in the Huang family had reached the peak of the Sacred Realm. With the pills he left behind, Huang Long believed they would surely enter the Divine Realm in a few hundred years. So, he wasn’t worried about them. The next day, after bidding farewell to everyone, a group of over twenty people set off toward the northernmost peak of the Frozen Plains. Over the past hundred years, Gustav, Fat Lion, Bog, Nat, Tianqing Python Ox, and others had successively entered the Divine Realm. Adding the eight divine-tier starbeasts like the Fire Cloud Beast King, there were twenty-five in total. But not long after leaving Chishui Island, Huang Long saw someone standing in mid-air ahead. Upon recognizing the person, he hesitated for a moment, stopped, and said to Bog and the others, “Wait here for me.” “Yes, master!” “Yes, young master!” “Miss Nicole.” Huang Long flew over to the person and spoke. It was Nicole from the Phoenix clan. “You’re about to enter the Divine Realm,” Nicole said, her gaze filled with sorrow. She didn’t address him as “senior” like usual. Huang Long sighed inwardly and nodded. “That’s right.” Over the past hundred years, every time Huang Long held a lecture, Nicole would come. Sometimes, even outside of those lectures, she would visit the Chishui Imperial Palace. Everyone in the Huang and Zhao families knew Nicole’s feelings, and Zhao Rong had mentioned it to Huang Long several times. Nicole remained silent for a while without responding. “I have a favor to ask of you,” she said softly after a while. Huang Long was surprised but nodded. “Go ahead.” “I heard you’re going to the Netherworld. If you happen to meet my father and mother, I hope you can help them in the future,” Nicole said, her beautiful eyes glistening as she stared at Huang Long. “Sure,” Huang Long replied without hesitation. If he encountered Simp or Belin from the Phoenix clan in the Netherworld and they were in trouble, he would naturally step in to help. “Thank you,” Nicole said, her face blooming with a smile like a garden full of flowers. Huang Long nodded, said nothing, then waved his hands to signal Bog and the others to follow ahead.

Watching Huang Long fly away, Nicole could no longer hold back her tears. Ignoring everything else, she shouted loudly, “When I reach the divine realm someday, I’ll go to the Netherworld to find you!” Her voice could be heard for hundreds of miles.

Huang Long’s flying form paused for a moment as he frowned, then continued flying.

A day later, Huang Long and the others arrived at the northernmost peak of the Frozen Plains. By the time they got there, the plane guardian Eulai was already waiting. Seeing Huang Long, he laughed and said, “Brother Huang Long, you’ve come!”

Over the past hundred years, Huang Long had visited the northernmost peak of the Frozen Plains several times. As for his refusal to join the Theodore family, after Eulai invited him twice and saw that Huang Long wouldn’t budge, he stopped bringing it up.

Although Huang Long hadn’t joined the Theodore family, because Eulai deliberately tried to befriend him, they had “enjoyed pleasant conversations” during his visits.

Huang Long looked at Eulai, nodded, and smiled, “There’s no point in staying any longer.”

Eulai nodded and then said, “I wonder which divine realm Brother Huang Long intends to go to?”

“The Netherworld,” replied Huang Long.

The Netherworld? Eulai was surprised for a moment, then nodded. “I didn’t expect Brother Huang Long to still choose the Netherworld.”

During his visits, Huang Long had asked Eulai about some of the seven major divine realms and the six supreme divine realms. Eulai answered all his questions. Among all the divine realms, the six supreme divine realms were filled with powerful beings, but the competition there was also the fiercest and most brutal. Especially in the hells of those six supreme divine realms—the Netherworld was particularly bloody. Generally speaking, those who entered the hells from the mortal realms rarely survived until they reached the Divine Transformation Pool to solidify their divine essence and transform their bodies. Less than half of them, that is, at least five out of ten, could become divine-level powerhouses.

So, Eulai was surprised that Huang Long still chose the Netherworld.

Of course, Huang Long had his reasons for choosing it.

The Netherworld had what he needed.

There was no need to pay a divine stone to enter a divine realm from a mortal realm. A short while later, Huang Long and his twenty-five companions stood on a magic teleportation array. After a flash of light, when they opened their eyes again, the surrounding environment had changed.

“Is this the Netherworld?!” Huang Long looked at the slightly dark sky. As far as his eye could see, there were only endless mountains and deserts.

“What are you all standing around doing in a daze?” Just as Huang Long and the others were looking around, suddenly a shout came, followed by the approach of a dozen people.

These dozen people were all dressed in blue robes, exuding a terrifying aura.

Seeing these dozen or so people, Huang Long’s eyes narrowed. From Eulena, he had learned that these were the main gods guarding the magic teleportation array. All of them were mid-tier gods, and the one at the front was even an upper-tier god?!

“You guys, leave quickly! Don’t stay on the magic teleportation array!” These people came over and shouted at Huang Long and the others.

Borg and the rest looked at Huang Long. Huang Long raised his hand and said, “Let’s go!” With that, he took off into the air, and Borg and the others followed one after another.

Watching Huang Long and the others leave, the upper-tier god frowned. “Twenty-five divine realms?”

Generally, a group entering the divine realm from a mortal realm wouldn’t exceed ten people. The mortal realm wasn’t the divine realm—having a few divine realms appear in a thousand or two thousand years was already quite good. In some mortal realms, it might take tens of thousands of years to produce even one divine realm powerhouse.

Huang Long’s group of twenty-five people surprised them greatly. They had been guarding the magic teleportation array for tens of millions of years and had never encountered a situation where twenty-five divine realm beings were transported from a single mortal realm at once.

“Which mortal realm did they come from?” The upper-tier god asked after a while.

“Commander, they came from the Hengyuan Realm,” said one of the mid-tier gods among the team members after checking the characters displayed on the magic teleportation array.

On the magic teleportation array, it showed from which realm the travelers came.

“Oh, the Hengyuan Realm?” the upper-tier god murmured to himself.

By then, Huang Long and the others were already hundreds of miles away.

“Youth master, the gravitational pull in this Netherworld space is so strong!” Borg exclaimed as they flew high in the sky.

“At least a hundred times that of our Hengyuan Realm?!” Gusta guessed in astonishment.

Huang Long nodded. “The spatial gravitational pull of the seven major god realms and the six supreme god realms is over a hundred times that of our mortal realms and lower-dimensional spaces.”

“Over a hundred times?! No wonder we’re moving so slowly!” Nat interjected.

The greater the spatial gravitational pull, the greater the resistance. Naturally, Huang Long and the others had to fly much slower. If they were still in the Hengyuan Realm, they would now be at least ten thousand miles away from the teleportation array.

However, according to Eulena, this Netherworld was almost boundless, covering at least trillions of miles—millions of times the size of the Hengyuan Realm.

Even a powerful upper-tier god would need several years just to cross this Netherworld.

“Youth master, where should we go now?” Borg asked.

Throughout their journey, all they had seen were mountains and land, with nothing but mountains and land in sight, leaving them lost and unsure of where to go.