Yama Qin Chuan sighed heavily, the majesty on his face faded, leaving only deep fatigue and worry. He said in a low voice, "To be honest, Immortal Venerable, my Senluo Ghost City is strong on the outside but weak on the inside, already as precarious as a candle in the wind, possibly devoured by the overwhelming waves from the Nether River at any moment. Although we have maintained a facade of dignity, the inside has long been riddled with problems, our military forces are stretched thin, our resources have been exhausted, and every attack from the enemy feels like it’s opening yet another crack in a dam that’s on the verge of collapsing."
Xiao Jie was surprised, "How can this be? From what I’ve seen, Your Majesty’s army is well-disciplined and imposing; this Senluo Ghost City is as strong as iron and firm as a fortress; the Wangchuan Platform is guarded with strict defenses, Ghost Soldiers and Ghost Generals are all in battle-ready armor, lining up like mountains, with the Yin Sha aura soaring to the sky, clearly a battle-hardened elite force. Such a mighty army and strong city, how could it possibly seem... on the verge of collapse?"
Throughout his journey, from what he had seen and heard, the military power displayed by the Senluo Ghost City was undoubtedly formidable. Not to mention, the Yama Emperor in front of him was a Level 98 "Realm King" template presence! His own strength was unfathomable, top among the top. His civil and military officers were generally at Level 50-60, filled with formidable generals. What kind of enemy could push such a force and strong figures to the brink of collapse?
According to Xiao Jie’s past understanding of the game background, although the Netherworld Emperor’s power was strong, it was merely creating a standoff with Yama, occupying one side, and didn’t seem to be able to form an absolute suppression. After all, Yama was nominally the rightful ruler of the Netherworld, holding some of the power of reincarnation. By comparison, the Netherworld Emperor seemed more like a powerful rebel Alliance Hierarch.
Yet Yama Qin Chuan shook his head bitterly, the tassels on the Emperor’s Crown lightly swaying, making a slight collision sound. "What you see, Immortal Venerable, is nothing more than a facade desperately maintained. Those were things of the past... Indeed, I command tens of thousands of troops, plus over a hundred thousand newly trained soldiers from the Nether River, altogether nearly two hundred thousand troops, but does Immortal Venerable know how many ghosts are commanded by the Netherworld Emperor?"
"There are millions."
"What!?" Xiao Jie was startled, thinking you’re kidding me, right?
"Immortal Venerable must know, this Netherworld, its rise and fall always intimately connected with the mortal world, Yin and Yang are interconnected, reflecting one another. Any huge changes in the mortal world will ripple into the Netherworld, causing unpredictable upheavals..." Yama explained in detail, finally helping Xiao Jie understand the severity of the situation and its complex roots behind the scenes.
It turns out the Netherworld and the mortal world are in a Yin-Yang interconnected, closely dependent relationship. When the lifespan of living beings in the mortal world is exhausted, their souls leave the body and fall into the Nether River, after the washing and judgment on the path of reincarnation, they eventually are reborn as humans. In ancient times, this system operated for tens of thousands of years, the so-called "ordered Yin-Yang, life and death reincarnation" maintained a dynamic balance.
From beginning till end, the number of lost souls in the Nether River was always limited.
As the core custodian of this reincarnation system, Yama naturally held the ruling power and powerful force endorsed in the Netherworld. Thus, for a long period, Yama’s rule in the Netherworld was utterly stable, Ghost Officials each performed their duties, lost souls reincarnated in order. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ NoveI-Fire.ɴet
However, upheaval began brewing from ten thousand years ago. At that time the Nine States were not unified under one dynasty, but separated by countless small kingdoms and feudal lords, with constant conflict and wars everywhere. Later, a hero called the "Dragon Emperor" rose, after decades of bloody warfare, finally unified the realm. Although this unification war laid out the pattern of the Nine States, it also caused unprecedented brutal slaughter, the population of the Nine States dwindled by nearly half in just a few decades!
Such a huge amount of death meant countless souls madly rushing into the Nether River. For a time, the Nether River was overwhelmed, ghost numbers surged, and the Sea of Reincarnation at the end of the Nether River became a place severely congested with ghosts.
It far exceeded the reincarnation system’s normal processing capacity. This led to a fatal outcome: reincarnation needed newborns in the mortal world to carry souls. But with the mortal world population reduced by half, the number of newborns naturally plummeted. The deceased far exceeded previous times, while the "slots" for reincarnation were extremely limited, suddenly producing an astronomical number of lingering ghosts.
Among these ghosts were many who had experienced the most brutal battlefields, very intense in evil aura, defiant and unyielding. Unwilling to wait hopelessly for ages in the Nether River. Among them were some extraordinary individuals and cultivators during life, retaining some of their abilities or obsessions even in death.
As a result, a large number of ghosts began to impact the reincarnation order, breaking free from the constraints of the Nether River, fleeing from the traditional river and cities governed by Yama, entering the vast, unknown, perilous wilderness of the Netherworld, forming numerous autonomous, sometimes large, sometimes small ghost settlements.
At this stage, although things were tricky, it was still within manageable range. Yama ordered the formation of a specialized "Soul Hunting Team," delving into the wilderness to hunt down these escaping lost souls and evil ghosts, although unable to capture them all, it greatly stifled further deterioration of the situation.
However, there were always some particularly strong or fortunate ghosts, in the opportunity-hidden yet crisis-packed wilderness of the Netherworld, occasionally finding ancient legacies, or devouring peers to mutate, or occupying Yin Sha Spirit Vein, experiencing some unknown adventures, unexpectedly gaining strength far beyond ordinary ghosts, rising one after another, becoming faction-wielding, self-reliant "Ghost Kings."