CHAPTER 182: CHAPTER 180: GREAT EMPEROR IMPARTS TEACHINGS

As Lu Yan’s voice fell, the two elders of the Li Family’s second branch, Li Kuang and Li Que, awoke from their stupor, and shouted with pale faces:

"Someone, come!"

"Play music! Dance!"

The voices of the two Li Family elders carried a slight tremor, unable to hide the fear in their hearts.

The Third Elder, Li Sheng, benefited a few months ago from the ruins of the Beimang Forbidden Land, successfully advancing to the Mara Realm, the weakest among the three elders.

Yet even so, the Third Elder Li Sheng was a genuine Mara Realm powerhouse, a formidable force regardless of location, with only the Nether Abyss Realm ancestors suppressing family foundations above him.

But such a Third Elder perished so silently, without any resistance. Does this mean the other party also has the power to easily wipe them out?

Their brazen actions under the guise of the Underworld’s name—does this mean they will also be reckoned with soon?

Such information overwhelmed them, leaving them unable to think clearly.

At the entrance, the two fallen bodies began to fade like illusions, shattered souls and blood returning to the Path of Heaven and Earth, merging into the Dao.

The manifestation of Path of Transformation indicated that the two were indeed dead beyond any disguise.

Yet, after the two Li Family elders spoke, the hall remained silent, with no one heeding their words.

Representatives of the millennial family glared fixedly at the fading illusionary bodies at the door, their expressions varied.

At this moment, the patriarch Li Hao stepped into the hall.

Glancing around, Li Hao clapped his hands loudly and spoke:

"Dance offering for the Envoy Lord!"

With his words, the waiting crowd streamed in and took their seats.

In the hall, a group of pale musicians played an eerie melody. Their ancient zithers emitted a ghostly green glow, with strings seemingly woven from invisible soul threads, each strum shaking the void. From the flutes and pipes floated black mist, forming twisted notes spiraling in the air.

At the center stage, several dancers in pink gauze dresses began to sway. Their skin shone an eerie pale green under the lights, their bodies alternately solid and phantom-like, as if hovering between life and death. With the music’s rhythm, their forms gradually twisted, bones faintly visible beneath their skin, and as the colorful skirts twirled, it was as if countless wronged souls were wailing.

In the soul-stealing dance, the dancers’ faces momentarily transformed into skulls, then instantly reverted to enchanting appearances, making it difficult to distinguish whether it was beauties dancing or bones in revelry.

However, after Lu Yan’s appearance, the representatives of the millennial families lost interest in the dance.

The representatives dared not secretly convey Divine Thought to exchange opinions in front of Lu Yan, left to silently ponder the matter with heavy hearts.

Only Lu Yan, at the head of the table, watched the eerie performance with a calm expression.

No one knew that as the Red Face White Bone Dance began, Lu Yan finally felt a sense of relief in his heart.

Two days ago, Lu Yan met Li Hao in the Beimang Forbidden Land.

Upon realizing that the Li Family’s probing was a correction from the Demon Realm’s Celestial Dao, Lu Yan knew he must act to preserve the reputation of the Underworld.

Ultimately, the root of the Li Family’s plight was the consequence of lacking the virtue to match their position.

This was a side effect of forcibly elevating the family tier through changes in the grand scheme orchestrated by Lu Yan.

If this issue wasn’t resolved, it would affect not only the Li Family but also Lu Yan’s meticulously crafted Underworld influence.

Should the Li Family collapse in this fake Underworld Envoy farce, the Underworld backing them would also be affected.

Unable to handle even internal strife within a subordinate family, allowing anyone to falsely use the Underworld’s name at will, the Underworld could no longer maintain its mythical-level deterrence.

If the Underworld fell from its pedestal, the incense power of the Soul Banner and Lu Yan’s subsequent plans would all fail.

To restore the Underworld’s prestige, unless a proxy could become the bridge to heaven, it was impossible to achieve.

Whether it was to hide the True Technique or protect the Underworld’s prestige, Lu Yan had to quell the Li Family’s internal strife.

If successful, it could turn into an opportunity to find a suitable identity to conceal the Seventeen True Techniques.

After all, with the Underworld’s deterrence ahead, even if others had doubts, who would dare to act against an Underworld Envoy?

Yet, taking action was simple, but a thunderous strike to intimidate the millennial families was not an easy task.

In the non-extraordinary modern version, the Underworld Ghost God was invincible, suppressing countless beings.

An Underworld Ghost God and a group of Yin Soldiers could easily massacre a city.

But when the information mapped onto the Demon version, the Underworld Ghost God was thus elevated, appearing to Li Hao as a supreme powerhouse above the Nether Abyss Realm, capable of solving the current problem with a word or decree.

However, only Lu Yan was aware that it was all a facade under the guise of information mapping.

Within the Soul Banner in Lu Yan’s storage bag, even with three ghost deities and eight hundred Yin Soldiers, they couldn’t resist a single Mara Realm expert.

Not to mention that the second and third branches of the Li Family alone had three Mara Realm experts, and the millennia-old family secretly manipulating from behind had a human ancestor at the Nether Abyss Realm.

Once Lu Yan’s secret of using the name of the Underworld ghost deities is exposed, letting all factions know that the Underworld is merely an empty facade, it would inevitably lead to their pursuit, and the outcome might not be much better than directly revealing the True Technique.

What Lu Yan could do was to display the might of the Underworld with thunderous means as much as possible.

And what best showcases the prestige of the Underworld?

Clearly, only killing!

It’s far from enough to merely kill a fake Underworld envoy. A fake envoy is just a Soul Burial Realm figure and doesn’t stand out. To deter all sides, it is necessary to kill a Mara Realm expert with ease so that no one can gauge your true strength.

The only thing on Lu Yan that could truly harm a Mara Realm expert was the Soul Continent within the Soul Banner.

The Soul Continent had already fused with the Soul Banner, transforming into a small world. The three major ghost deities of the entire Underworld, along with the eight hundred Yin Soldiers, all resided within the Soul Banner, making it Lu Yan’s strongest trump card.

Once the Soul Continent is unleashed, its vast mass is sufficient to crush the Divine Soul of a Mara Realm expert, but the premise is that the opponent cannot dodge and must face the Soul Banner directly.

In normal combat, Lu Yan couldn’t possibly keep up with the speed of a Mara Realm True Martial Artist; before Lu Yan’s Soul Banner could even fall, the opponent would have vanished the moment they sensed danger.

Additionally, Lu Yan had to ensure that the Mara Realm expert he was targeting did not possess top-tier True Intent like the Immortal True Intent.

The Soul Continent, having a massive body composed solely of countless Soul Computation Power, lacks attacks at the level of Position or rules. If the opponent possessed a soul-immortal type True Intent, failing to kill them in one strike would certainly cause trouble later.

Having sorted through the information acquired from Li Hao, Lu Yan finally selected his target to establish his authority.

Li Sheng, the elder of the third branch of the Li Family, accompanied the fake Underworld envoy closely, handling his daily affairs.

Li Sheng had just been promoted to the Mara Realm. In terms of cultivation and temperament, he was among the weakest in the Mara Realm, and his Great Dao True Intent was merely the Earth True Intent, which controls the power of the earth, making him undoubtedly the most suitable target.

As the fake envoy was about to take his seat and everything seemed settled, Lu Yan suddenly appeared, causing panic for Elder Li Sheng.

Then, as the Soul Banner released the Soul Continent, under the guise of giving the banner to the fake envoy, the Soul Banner fell, seemingly targeting the fake envoy, but in truth, most of the heavy pressure from the Soul Continent fell upon Elder Li Sheng.

Though seemingly simple, this was, in reality, the result of the full cooperation of three Ghost God Computers and eight hundred Yin Soldier Computers.

Unaware, Li Sheng merely thought he was caught in the aftermath. By the time he realized it, the Soul Continent had already descended, crushing his soul before he could even utter a plea for help.

The entire process was understated, leaving anyone unsuspecting that this simple strike had gathered all the might of the Underworld that had once suppressed the world in the previous version, and was already the utmost limit achievable by the Underworld.

By this point, Lu Yan, with the weakest power among all present factions, had succeeded in intimidating the millennia-old families, the Li Family’s second branch, and even Li Hao personally.

Sitting at the chief seat signified that the factions had preliminarily acknowledged Lu Yan’s identity.

However, this did not mean Lu Yan could rest easy.

On the contrary, sitting in the Underworld’s representative position was merely the beginning.

Amid watching the Red Face White Bone Dance, a flood of thoughts flashed through Lu Yan’s mind, readying himself for potential forthcoming events.

At the center of the grand hall, the dance concluded.

The dancers and musicians withdrew from the hall, leaving only the factions present.

Li Hao, the patriarch of the Li Family, did not sit, instead standing obediently beside the guards, resembling more a servant than a respected leader.

Such a state left the two seated Li family elders restless.

Meanwhile, below the grand hall, all factions took this opportunity for secret exchange.

"Even though it was the idea of the third branch of the Li Family, this envoy is no fool, how could he not see the underlying issues?"

"Things have reached this stage, having offended the Underworld; we can’t afford to back down."

"Before I came out, the ancestor back home mentioned that the powerful beings within the Underworld cannot descend into this world easily."

"This Demon World ultimately remains the realm of our major families.

"Even if united, the Underworld cannot annihilate all of us unharmed!"

Normally, after the Underworld’s robust return represented by Lu Yan, the wisest course of action for the factions would be to retreat and compensate.

But under the Tian Dao revision of the Demon version, the representatives of the millennia-old families quickly reached a consensus to collectively resist.

Leading them, Qing Fengyang was about to speak when Lu Yan’s indifferent voice resonated from above the main seat.

"The Great Emperor pities the chaos of the Great Dao in the Demon Realm and the disorder of all living things, commanding me to descend to this realm with the banner."

"By the Great Emperor’s decree, to teach the masses the way!"