Divine Powers, the Cause of the Netherworld Calamity

The Tushan clan's mindset was overly rigid; they considered tangerine, orange, and red fur to be orthodox, viewing all other colors as anomalies.

Born with purple hair and a purple tail, she was deemed ominous by her clansmen and suffered endless ostracization. Ultimately, unable to endure it any longer, she fled Tushan and was fortunately taken in by her master, Gu Changyuan.

As for Tushan Hanyan, who was born with white hair and a white tail, she had been thrown into the perilous Myriad Demon Ridge by the clan. Had she not chanced upon her, the child would have long become food for other demonic beasts.

It was precisely because of this similar plight that she was moved to take her in as a disciple.

During the days spent with this child, she could always see her past self in Hanyan—isolated, helpless, and relentlessly bullied. It also constantly reminded her of her master's care and teachings back then.

Back then, her master had protected her just like this, allowing her to cast aside all external pressures and cultivate in peace, guiding her step by step to where she was today.

Therefore, she wanted to be like her master, protecting Tushan Hanyan so that the child could grow up without any hindrances.

She would not have to experience the bitterness she once did, nor endure those baseless exclusions and harsh criticisms.

However, Master...

Thinking of that figure who had vanished for a thousand years, a wave of sourness and longing welled up in Tushan Youyao's heart.

A thousand years have passed, Master, where exactly are you?

When will I be able to see you again?

She gathered her focus, no longer drowning in her thoughts, and turned to sit cross-legged on the futon in the center of the quiet room.

Six Dharmic avatars appeared around her, sitting cross-legged in unison, while another two stood guard around the tall tower, keeping a vigilant watch in all directions.

In an instant, six faint purple threads emerged around her. The threads intertwined and tangled in the air, quickly forming a miniature domain that enveloped the entire quiet room.

Within the domain, light and shadows shifted, faintly revealing countless threads of karma crisscrossing each other. This was precisely Tushan Youyao's other innate divine ability—Nine Nether Karmic Tribulation.

This ability could directly touch the threads of karma between heaven and earth, altering the trajectories of living beings' fates. Although it was a heaven-defying ability, it also had many restrictions:

It could not directly change life to death, nor directly change death to life. It could only indirectly alter the course of a crisis by pulling and twisting surrounding karmic events.

And the difficulty of changing death to life was far greater than changing life to death.

While her Nether Avatars could not inherit the Nether Nine Revolutions, they could perfectly inherit all her other divine abilities. Six avatars executing the Nine Nether Karmic Tribulation simultaneously could greatly accelerate the efficiency.

A hundred years ago, Lan Caiyou's successful survival of her fated tribulation was due not only to the magical artifact bestowed by her master but also to Tushan Youyao's multiple, subtle karmic interventions conducted in secret using the Nine Nether Karmic Tribulation ability.

However, the target of that intervention was only Lan Caiyou alone, and the scale of the tribulation was relatively small.

But this time, it involved three individuals. The weight of their karma and the ferocity of their tribulation far exceeded anything from the past.

Even with Tushan Youyao's current cultivation base, coupled with the six Nether Avatars joining forces to share the backlash, successfully intervening would inevitably require an unimaginable price, potentially even shaking her Dao foundation.

Yet, she did not hesitate in the slightest.

...

Three days later, in the Heavenly Demon Pavilion, within the quiet room at the top of the eighth pavilion.

Bai Zeming remained immersed in the Luminous Karmic Realm constructed by his own bloodline divine ability.

He was fully concentrated, attempting to capture any subtle sign that might indicate a turning point or an unforeseen event from these violently fluctuating karmic threads that glinted with ominous light.

Suddenly!

Without any warning, all the karmic threads before his eyes instantly snapped and shattered inch by inch.

Immediately after, the entire Luminous Karmic Realm shattered with a loud boom, like colored glass struck by an invisible giant hammer.

Bai Zeming's divine sense was violently yanked out of its familiar perceptual channel by an irresistible force. In the next instant, he plunged into a realm of absolute, all-consuming darkness.

There was no light here, no sound, no sense of touch, no direction. Even the flow of time seemed to have frozen.

He could not feel his own body, could not move a single fraction, and could not make a sound; only his mind was still functioning.

He could not see anything, yet he could sense that his surroundings were a boundless, suffocating dark abyss.

Unobservable! Untouchable! Incomprehensible!

A primal fear, stemming from his most basic survival instincts, instantly seized Bai Zeming's mind.

He wanted to immediately sever the connection, withdraw his divine ability, and break free from this terrifying dark prison, only to find that his divine sense felt as if it had been frozen solid, completely isolated from his main body and the outside world.

He was like an insignificant speck of dust cast into a boundless dark ocean, left to drift aimlessly, not knowing when it would end, let alone whether he could ever return.

Just as his mind was about to be swallowed by this endless darkness and solitude, and his consciousness began to blur and scatter—

Hmm?

A very soft hum, yet one that seemed to resound in the deepest depths of his soul, carrying a trace of faint bewilderment, echoed without warning within his dark prison.

This voice... seemed somewhat familiar?

Bai Zeming's scattering consciousness suddenly trembled.

Before he could carefully discern it, as the Hmm? faded—

Crack—!

A crisp sound, like a mirror shattering, pierced through the darkness!

Following that, the boundless darkness rapidly receded and dissipated like the tide.

Bai Zeming only felt his vision blur before his divine sense instantly returned to his body. His five senses recovered, and the familiar sight of the quiet room reappeared before his eyes.

He was still maintaining his cross-legged meditative posture, but cold sweat had already soaked through the clothes on his back.

Hah... Hah...

He gasped heavily for air, his heart pounding wildly. His face was as pale as paper, and his eyes were filled with uncontrollable lingering fear and terror.

It was too terrifying!

In the past, when prying into the secrets of heaven, he would occasionally encounter a backlash or a heavenly concealment, experiencing brief moments of blurred perception or obstructed abilities.

But it had never been like this time, where he was directly dragged into a realm of absolute darkness that seemed capable of devouring everything, leaving him with no room to even struggle.

It was a horror that transcended the concept of danger, pointing directly towards the erasure of his very existence.

Amidst his lingering fear, Bai Zeming immediately forced himself to calm down and began to carefully recall the voice that had sounded at the final moment.

That voice... even though it was just a short Hmm?, its tone was flat, yet it carried an indescribable profundity that seemed to reign supreme over all creation.

More importantly, he couldn't shake the feeling that this voice was... very, very familiar!

It was so familiar that it felt branded into the depths of his soul; the kind of familiarity that was so ancient it had almost been forgotten, yet could instantly awaken all his memories at a critical moment.

Who was it? Just whose voice could sound within that absolute dark prison and so easily shatter it?

Bai Zeming furrowed his brows tightly, thinking hard.

He was absolutely certain that he had heard this voice before, and it was either on an extremely important occasion or from an extremely important person.

But for a moment, a thousand years of memories flooded his mind, and the voice was like looking at flowers through the fog, difficult to clearly capture and match.