Chapter 1739: Round Heaven and Square Earth

Zhou Mengyao asked, “What preparations?”

Li Yuanjing replied, “I built a replica of Cangyun Fortress in the yin realm.”

Both Qi Xuansu and Zhou Mengyao were somewhat astonished.

Qi Xuansu could not help but ask, “You can enter the yin realm? Did you build it all by yourself?”

Li Yuanjing said, “After mastering the power of yin energy, I can naturally enter the yin realm. However, I didn’t build it alone. I can share yin energy with others, allowing them to enter the yin realm as well.”

That explained the yin energy emanating from those rebel soldiers. As expected, it had originated from Li Yuanjing.

In fact, anyone with sufficient cultivation could forcibly enter the yin realm. After all, this was not the true Netherworld, but merely a fragment of it contained within the body of an Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon. The difference was akin to that between the vast Yunmeng Marsh and a small pond.

Qi Xuansu grew increasingly curious and asked, “What is the yin realm like?”

Li Yuanjing hesitated for a long while before slowly replying, “Apart from the omnipresent yin energy, the yin realm’s most distinctive characteristic is its distortion of time. I once dispatched a team of craftsmen into the yin realm.”

He paused before elaborating, “At the beginning of the third millennium, I had a new calendar and era name established. Those craftsmen departed in the third year of the Cangyun Era, but by the time they arrived at their destination, it was already the 60th year of the Cangyun Era. They had spent most of the entire 60-year cycle traversing a distance of less than 50 kilometers.

“Such incidents occurred on numerous occasions. There was another incident in the 91st year of the Cangyun Era, when a group of strangers suddenly appeared at Cangyun Fortress in the yin realm. They wore the uniforms of Cangyun Fortress and claimed to have been dispatched by the Commander’s Office to participate in its construction. However, no one had ever seen them before, nor had anyone received any such orders from the Commander’s Office. According to their own accounts, they had come from the 198th year of the Cangyun Era, more than 100 years in the future. The Commander's Office conducted a thorough investigation into these individuals, but could find absolutely no records of their origins. It was as though they had appeared out of thin air.”

Upon hearing this, something stirred in Qi Xuansu’s mind.

Traveling from the future back into the past. The yin realm, and by extension the Netherworld, possessed the power to distort time.

The Emperor Willow had taken root in a fissure leading to the Netherworld, sustaining itself by absorbing yin energy.

Thus, the Heavenly Preceptor had used the Guizang Lantern and Little Yin as mediums to harness the power of the Emperor Willow, enabling Qi Xuansu to reverse the flow of time and return to the Lingshan Paradise of the past.

Previously, Qi Xuansu had never understood why it had to be the power of the Emperor Willow rather than some other force, such as the Thirty-Three Heavens. If the Earthly Preceptor could wield the Sakka, there was no reason the Heavenly Preceptor could not make use of the Thirty-Three Heavens’ divine power.

Now everything made sense. Only the power of the Netherworld could distort time.

This also indicated that the Daoist Order’s higher-ups were far from ignorant about the Netherworld. At the very least, they knew that the Netherworld could distort time, and the Heavenly Preceptor had even put this knowledge to practical use.

Qi Xuansu was still too young and had only recently joined the upper echelons of the Daoist Order. There were far too many secrets he had yet to learn.

However, Zhou Mengyao also appeared deep in thought, as though something had occurred to her.

Afraid that Zhou Mengyao might also figure out the connection, Qi Xuansu hurriedly asked, “Is there anything else?”

Li Yuanjing replied, “There is. Demonic creatures frequently appear in the yin realm. Later, we discovered that these creatures seemed to have once been human. I personally killed many of them. Some even carried the identification badges of government soldiers who had mysteriously disappeared. It wasn’t until one day in the 40th year of the Cangyun Era, when a soldier suddenly went mad and transformed into a demonic creature before everyone’s eyes, that we finally confirmed that yin energy could transform humans into monsters. The key to this transformation seems to lie in...”

Qi Xuansu interjected, “The human heart. The so-called power of the human heart is actually the same as incense power. Under normal circumstances, ordinary people can generate incense power, but they cannot harness it directly. This is because incense power must first undergo further refinement and be transformed into divine power before it can be put to use. Yin energy likely acts as a catalyst, mutating the incense power. Simply put, if a person harbors demons in their heart, they may literally transform into a demon.”

Li Yuanjing was somewhat astonished. “How do you know that?”

Qi Xuansu explained, “I encountered something similar during the Fenglin Campaign. Fenglin’s Mount Fuyo contains a natural fissure leading to the Netherworld, from which yin energy continuously seeps out. With the additional influence of a powerful deity, yin energy eventually engulfed half of the continent. Yin energy has a tendency to accumulate. When enough of it gathers, much like water collecting to form an ocean, it can even withstand the mortal realm’s yang energy. At the time, nearly half of Fenglin had become a ghostly domain, especially in the Ise Province, where living humans transforming into monsters was an exceedingly common occurrence.”

Zhou Mengyao’s attention was successfully diverted. “In that case, yin energy truly is mysterious. If one could harness it for one’s own purposes...”

In fact, Qi Xuansu had also thought of the same possibility.

He was thinking of Yomi-no-Kuni left behind by Izanami. This extraordinarily unique divine kingdom had a special connection to the Netherworld and was also under the Daoist Order’s control.

However, Li Yuanjing’s next words quickly interrupted Qi Xuansu’s train of thought. “Actually, none of these incidents amounted to much, and our losses were relatively minor. What truly gave us a headache was the invasion of the Yin Soldiers.”

Qi Xuansu asked in surprise, “Does the legendary Netherworld Court really exist?”

Li Yuanjing replied, “Not quite. These so-called Yin Soldiers aren’t soldiers in any conventional sense. They don’t even possess human forms. Instead, they are shadowy entities that can infiltrate even the smallest openings, appearing and disappearing without a trace. We didn’t know how else to describe them, so we simply called them Yin Soldiers.”

Just then, Zhou Mengyao suddenly asked, “Why did you name it Cangyun Fortress? Does the name hold some special significance? You even kept the same name for the fortress in the yin realm.”

Li Yuanjing, who had been remarkably cooperative until now, suddenly fell silent.

Zhou Mengyao continued, “The common people here still experience birth, aging, sickness, and death, which is precisely why they chose to rebel. Yet even before you obtained the power of yin energy, you were already capable of living for a millennium without dying. What’s the secret behind that?”

Li Yuanjing remained silent for a long while before finally uttering, “The azure clouds in the heavens.”

Qi Xuansu immediately understood. “Cangyun Fortress is named after the Azure Heaven?”

Zhou Mengyao merely sneered without saying a word, her gaze fixed on Li Yuanjing.

Li Yuanjing let out a long sigh. “His Majesty has been watching over this world all along. The sun and moon are His Majesty’s eyes, and I am the one His Majesty has chosen to patrol and govern this realm on Heaven’s behalf.”

Qi Xuansu turned to Zhou Mengyao. “After the Azure Heaven was defeated by the Yellow Heaven, it vanished without a trace. Later, the Yellow Heaven was sealed away, supposedly within the body of a certain emperor, but there was never any mention of what happened to the Azure Heaven. Was the Azure Heaven sealed within Yunmeng Marsh, and we just happened to stumble upon it?”

Zhou Mengyao hesitated before replying, “Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demons can traverse the myriad space, so it’s certainly possible. Besides, from the era when the Three Kingdoms stood in opposition to one another until the present Great Xuan Dynasty, countless dynastic transitions have taken place. Many historical records were lost and never passed down to later generations. It’s only natural that descendants like us would be unaware of such secrets.”

Qi Xuansu gave a bitter smile. “Those words have truly become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Azure Heaven is dead. The Yellow Heaven shall rise. In the Jiazi Year, great fortune shall come to all under Heaven.”

Zhou Mengyao waved her hand dismissively. “Let’s set that matter aside for now. Our priority is to get out of this damned place.”

She turned back to Li Yuanjing. “Commander Li, what exactly was your purpose in constructing Cangyun Fortress in the yin realm? Don’t tell me you intend to become a Commander there as well?”

Li Yuanjing replied with a wry smile, “I merely wanted a small foothold, a place where I could stand. Otherwise, I would fall into a bottomless abyss, never to be released or reincarnated for all eternity.”

Qi Xuansu furrowed his brows.

Judging from Li Yuanjing’s words, it seemed there was nowhere to stand in the yin realm. Could the yin realm be an endless ocean?

Seemingly sensing Qi Xuansu’s confusion, Li Yuanjing explained, “That’s because the yin is the exact opposite of the mortal realm. In the mortal realm, heaven is above, and earth is below. But in the yin realm, earth is above and heaven is below.”

Qi Xuansu was startled by this revelation.

From Li Yuanjing’s description, Qi Xuansu could roughly envision the structure of the yin realm. The Earth lay in the middle, with two opposing surfaces—one facing upward and the other downward. Above was a realm conforming to the ancient cosmological concept of a round heaven and square earth, resembling a hemisphere with Heaven overhead. Below was another realm of round heaven and square earth, likewise resembling a hemisphere, except that heaven lay beneath the earth.

If the two hemispheres above and below were joined together, wouldn’t they form a sphere?

Could this be the true form of the Azure Heaven?

Zhou Mengyao gave Li Yuanjing another searching look. “Seeing is believing. Perhaps we should go and take a look for ourselves.”

Qi Xuansu was somewhat surprised and exchanged a glance with Zhou Mengyao.

He was concerned that Li Yuanjing had deliberately revealed all this information to lure them into the yin realm, where he might turn the tables on them despite his desperate circumstances or even trap them there permanently.

Naturally, Zhou Mengyao had also considered this possibility. She countered, “Tian Yuan, how did we get here in the first place?”

Qi Xuansu was taken aback, realizing that he genuinely couldn’t answer her question. At the time, he had withdrawn his soul into the Longevity Stone Heart and had been unable to perceive the changes occurring in the outside world. It felt as though he had merely closed his eyes and opened them again, only to find himself in the belly of the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon.

Zhou Mengyao answered on his behalf. “We arrived here from heaven, aboard Su Yuanzai’s multi-decked ship. The ship lost power midway through its journey, broke apart in midair, and crashed, so we fell from the sky. However, we can no longer return to the heavens. Even with my Heavenly-Being cultivation, I cannot fly that high. Only an Immortal could accomplish such a feat.”

Qi Xuansu began to understand what Zhou Mengyao was getting at. “Since we can’t ascend to the heavens, we should descend into the earth instead?”

Zhou Mengyao nodded with an expression of approval, as though pleased that her pupil had finally grasped the lesson. “Precisely. Since the entrance lies above the Nine Heavens, the exit should naturally be beneath the Nine Netherworlds. Commander Li’s words happen to confirm my suspicions. The yin realm is the opposite of the mortal realm. In the yin realm, earth is above, and heaven is below. If the sky lies beneath one’s feet, wouldn’t that essentially be a bottomless abyss?”

This also explained Li Yuanjing’s motivation for constructing Cangyun Fortress in the yin realm. A person could not remain airborne indefinitely. If he wished to avoid plunging into the abyss, he needed to construct a foothold above it. The Cangyun Fortress in the yin realm was connected to its counterpart in the mortal realm, relying on the latter’s support to prevent it from falling. In this way, it had become a city suspended in the air above a bottomless abyss.

With that realization, Qi Xuansu and Zhou Mengyao had no choice but to make a journey into the yin realm.

Qi Xuansu asked, “How do we get to the yin realm?”

Li Yuanjing replied, “I’m sure you two have already noticed that the walls of Cangyun Fortress extend all the way to the surrounding mountain ridges.”

Qi Xuansu had carefully studied the terrain surrounding Cangyun Fortress, so he was naturally aware of this. He nodded in acknowledgment.

Li Yuanjing continued, “Those walls are actually pathways leading into the yin realm. Although they don’t appear particularly long, it’s an entirely different matter once you start walking along them. When you’re on those walls, they stretch endlessly into the distance, with no end in sight. Space and time become distorted along the pathway all the way into the yin realm.”