"Now that you have returned, my lord, as long as you gather the scattered forces and recuperate for tens of thousands of years, you will definitely have a chance to take revenge on King Chariot," Yin Luo said, cupping his fist.

"Tens of thousands of years is too long. I only want to seize the moment. Besides... it's not like there aren't any opportunities right now," Xue Li said coldly.

"Does my lord mean...?" Yin Luo asked, puzzled.

"Among those people you were chasing before, was there anyone who seemed familiar to you?" Xue Li asked.

Upon hearing this, Yin Luo frowned and looked pensive.

"That black-clothed girl, her supernatural powers, are somewhat... somewhat similar to the Underworld King!" After a moment, he suddenly realized.

"Indeed, I am ninety percent sure that she is the reincarnation of the Underworld King. If we want to defeat King Chariot and regain the Underworld, we must awaken her memories and cooperate with her," Xue Li said.

"In that case, should we stop chasing them?" Yin Luo asked.

"There's no need to stop chasing, but we can't lose track of them either," Xue Li said slowly.

"Understood. I will send someone to track them immediately," Yin Luo stood up and cupped his fist.

"I'll leave this matter to you. My old wounds haven't healed yet, and I need to retreat and recuperate for a while." With that, Xue Li soared into the sky and disappeared in a flash.

...

Before a range of gloomy mountains, flowed a meandering river with reddish-brown water, its quality murky.

The river water poured out from the valley and stretched for tens of thousands of miles, where the flow became gentler, forming a vast white river beach on the earth.

At this moment, three figures flew down from the sky and landed on the river beach. It was Han Li and the others.

"Uncle, it seems like those guys aren't chasing us," Jin Tong said slowly, looking back.

Han Li also looked back and then turned to Ti Hun for confirmation.

"I can't sense any pursuers for now either. We must have shaken them off a bit," Ti Hun said.

Hearing this, Han Li nodded, exhaled a long breath, and scanned his surroundings.

His brow furrowed slightly at the sight.

On the white river beach beneath his feet, there were bones everywhere, both human and demonic beast, densely packed, stacked layer upon layer, the large ones like canopies, the small ones like insects.

Han Li bent down, pushed aside the layers of dry bones on the ground, picked up a handful of white sand from beneath, gently rubbed it, and fine white powder slipped from his fingertips. It was all bone meal.

"So many bones, I wonder where they came from?" Ti Hun asked, puzzled.

"They must have been washed down from the upper reaches of the river. After countless years, I don't know how many ages have accumulated. The bones underneath have completely decayed and turned into bone meal," Han Li said.

As they were speaking, a strange whirlwind blew from the upper reaches of the river, sweeping up the bone meal like dust. Within it, there were specks of starlight, faint green, and tiny as beans.

Just as the group was surprised, they suddenly heard a "whoosh" sound.

On the reddish-brown river in the distance, a ball of green flame suddenly rose, drifting leisurely from the upper reaches.

Han Li and the others were puzzled and chased to the riverbank. They saw a blurry human face emerging from the twisting green flame, giving them an eerie smile.

"What is this ghost thing?" Jin Tong asked, bewildered.

Ti Hun even wrinkled her nose, seemingly about to release her glowing light and absorb it into her belly.

"Don't rush, that thing seems to have something to say," Han Li said, stopping them.

As soon as he spoke, the group heard a disjointed voice coming from the green flame:

"Go... River... Valley..."

The voice sounded old and weak, like the last words of a dying person before their last breath. It was only said once before it fell silent completely.

Then, the ball of green flame spun once before sinking into the water and disappearing.

Han Li frowned, his gaze turned to the gloomy mountains in the upper reaches of the river.

There, the sky was covered in dark clouds, almost pressing down on the mountaintops, making the black mountains below seem even more deep and solemn, as if shrouded in a layer of gloomy death energy at all times.

"Uncle, should we go?" Jin Tong asked.

"That ghost fire was most likely the embers of a remnant soul, but why would it come to tell us this?" Han Li asked, puzzled.

"Could it be a trap?" Ti Hun asked.

"I don't think so. We just entered the Underworld, and even those ghost soldiers behind us were a sudden encounter. It's impossible for someone, or some ghost, to have planned a trap for us in advance," Han Li shook his head and said.

"Who cares, we'll know once we take a look," Jin Tong said casually, frowning.

"Anyway, we don't know where to go. Since we have to go somewhere, we might as well see what's there. Maybe we can find news of the Yama King's Palace," Ti Hun also agreed.

"Alright, let's go take a look, but be careful on the way," Han Li said.

After deciding, the three of them flew into the air and sped towards the river valley upstream.

Before long, they arrived at the entrance of the river valley.

At the center of the entrance was a narrow gorge, with two naturally formed plank roads hanging on the cliffs on either side.

Han Li and the others went up the left side of the road and arrived at the plank road on the left cliff.

Standing on the edge of the plank road, they could hear the earth-shattering sound of water.

The red river surged out from the valley, and the water became even more violent at the narrow gorge, like ten thousand red dragons vying with each other, roaring constantly.

After watching for a while, Han Li and the others walked inward along the plank road on the cliff.

After entering, the three discovered that the river valley was actually shaped like a gourd, narrow at the opening, but becoming wider the further in they went. The river surface in the middle also became wider, and the water flow gradually slowed down.

When they arrived at the middle of the river valley, Han Li and the others stopped.

The river here was already hundreds of feet wide, and there was a small sandbar in the middle of the river.

The sandbar was snow-white, and from a distance, they could vaguely see some gold dust mixed in, reflecting starlight-like golden luster.

In the center of the sandbar stood a black, withered tree, three or four zhang tall. It looked as if it had been burned by flames, completely carbonized, and even had carbon stone-like crystals on it.

Most strangely, on the highest branch of the black, withered tree, hung a charred corpse, which seemed to be a human corpse. The chest was pierced by a branch, and in its arms it held a black square box, about a foot in size.

"There are remnants of soul fluctuations on that corpse, very weak. It seems to be the guy who contacted us through the river before," Ti Hun said, her gaze falling on the sandbar from afar.

Han Li released his spiritual sense and carefully examined the surrounding area within a hundred miles. After finding nothing unusual, he said, "Let's go take a look."

With that, he took the lead and flew down, landing on the sandbar.

Ti Hun and Jin Tong followed closely behind.

Han Li's feet landed, making a "sasha" sound. The sandbar under his feet was surprisingly soft.

Ti Hun couldn't help but bend down, grab a handful of sand and stones from the ground, put them to her nose to sniff gently, and then carefully examined them, with a look of surprise and doubt between her brows.

"Is there something wrong with this bone meal?" Han Li asked.

"The bone meal is not the problem. The problem is the gold dust mixed in," Ti Hun straightened up and said.

"Gold dust?" Han Li asked, puzzled.

"That's Soul Scattering Sand, which can scatter souls. It's a favorite treasure for ghost cultivators who practice soul arts," a sinister voice suddenly sounded from the corpse on the tree.

Hearing this, Han Li and the others looked up at the same time.

A wisp of white smoke suddenly emerged from the charred corpse, engulfing the entire skeleton.

After a moment, a thin old Daoist priest with a peaceful face and wearing a golden feather robe appeared in mid-air.

Around him, there were clusters of auspicious clouds condensed from mist, and behind him was a reflection of colorful bright light. All that was missing was a crane and a censer, and he would have looked exactly like an enlightened immortal.

However, the old Daoist's posture was really strange, because the branch that had pierced through the ancient tree still pierced through his transformed feather robe, appearing somewhat abruptly before Han Li and the others.

"Blessings of immeasurable heaven..."

The old Daoist showed a mysterious smile of a reclusive expert, made a bow, and slowly chanted.

Han Li and the others looked at each other, no one spoke, and just looked at the old Daoist like he was an idiot.

"Ahem... I am Tian Qianzi, the Supreme Elder of the Taiyi Dao Sect in the Qian Yuan Immortal Realm of the True Immortal Realm. I was framed by a villain millions of years ago and fell here. It is fate that I can meet you little friends today. If you can help me escape, I will definitely reward you handsomely," the old Daoist said to himself, a little embarrassed by their silence, and coughed dryly twice.

As he spoke, he glanced at Ti Hun, seemingly very concerned about her reaction.

"Uncle, why do these words sound familiar?" Jin Tong frowned and said in feigned surprise.

"Xue Li said the same thing before, and here's another one," Ti Hun replied.

"What, are the lies you guys tell in the Underworld all pre-determined phrases? Don't you have any creativity?" Jin Tong looked at the old Daoist with some contempt and mocked.

Hearing this, the old Daoist's expression suddenly changed, and he couldn't care less about pretending to be profound. He quickly asked, "Have you already met Xue Li?"

"We've met him, and we were tricked by his lies. It seems you're very familiar with him?" Han Li asked with a playful smile, glancing at the old Daoist.

"Not familiar, not familiar, we are sworn enemies," the old Daoist quickly shrank his neck and shook his head.

"Oh? Aren't you from the True Immortal Realm? How are you sworn enemies with someone from the Underworld? I'd like to know, how did you make a sworn enemy across the two realms?" Han Li sneered and asked.

The old Daoist knew he had misspoke, and his expression suddenly became a little dejected, appearing very frustrated.

"I knew it, you guys from the True Immortal Realm are all much smarter than ghosts. You can't be deceived..." As he spoke, he sighed, and a white mist rose from his body again.