The dragon pill looked as if it were alive, coiled in mist, it seemed ready to wake up.
"Brother Xu, that’s the Dragon Saliva Pill I’ve been searching for," Hao Chen said from the side. "This pill is refined from dragon saliva. As you know, the Dragon Race is extinct now, so each pill is rare and irreplaceable. I’ve reached a bottleneck in my cultivation, and I need it to attempt a breakthrough."
Xu Zimo glanced at the pill. It was indeed a good one for others, but for him, who had already reached the God Meridian Realm, it was useless.
Besides, dragons weren’t scarce for him.
"Take it," Xu Zimo said, tossing the pill to him.
"If you ever need anything, feel free to come find me at Vast Immortal Sacred Ground," Hao Chen bowed and then left.
Xu Zimo then picked up the third glowing item and found it was a book.
Its light blue cover had five large characters: "Three Thousand Years of Dreams."
"Could this be..." Xu Zimo was surprised. He slowly opened the book.
After reading for a while, he realized this was a technique that created dream worlds.
It had two main functions. The first was to create dreams for oneself to temper the Dao Heart.
The Dao Heart refers to the will to pursue one's path. It can’t be cultivated through regular practice, it depends on one’s life experiences and personal growth.
And dreams just happened to be perfect for this purpose.
The second function was to trap others in dreams, not to help them, but to destroy them.
If mastered to the highest level, the dream time could be controlled freely. While the victim spent thousands of years dreaming, their body in the real world would age and die, unaware they were dying.
Death without knowing it, this was an incredibly terrifying technique.
...
Xu Zimo put the book away. It would be useful later, and he planned to dedicate time to refine his techniques more thoroughly.
Once finished, he looked at the blood-red skeleton in front of him.
That corpse had been dead for countless years.
"Come out. I sensed you a long time ago," Xu Zimo said calmly.
"I’ve already given you everything. Must you still push me like this?" a voice echoed from above.
A man's astral form appeared in the air.
He wore blood-red robes, and his long hair was the same color. He had sharp eyes and a long, gaunt face.
His eyes, especially, were cold and terrifying. Just looking into them felt like falling into a sea of blood.
"Are you Bai Changfeng?" Xu Zimo asked curiously.
"Bai Changfeng is dead. Call me the Slaughter God," the man said calmly.
"How did you die?" Xu Zimo asked.
As someone who reached the Immortal Path, his life span shouldn’t have ended so quickly.
It was clear to Xu Zimo that the man before him was a spirit. His physical body had decayed, and only the spirit remained hidden in the Slaughter God Tower.
Without a body, a spirit couldn’t last long.
Xu Zimo didn’t know how he kept it going, but it clearly wasn’t sustainable.
“You can’t train like this. Eventually, you’ll fade away.”
“I get it now,” Xu Zimo smiled. “You weren’t really looking for someone to inherit your legacy, you were looking for a physical body to carry your spirit.”
“Correct,” the man admitted. “But you ruined it.”
“Even if I didn’t, you likely wouldn’t have succeeded,” Xu Zimo replied. “The requirements were too strict. One mistake and both the host and your spirit would be destroyed.”
Xu Zimo figured the man originally planned to take a body, but Chaos broke the rules. Then, sensing Paimon’s presence, he gave up showing himself again, until now.
“So what other options do I have?” Bai Changfeng asked.
“Taking a gamble is still better than staying here waiting to fade away,” he added.
“I have a proposal. Want to hear it?” Xu Zimo asked.
“What kind of proposal?” Bai Changfeng frowned.
“I’ll say this up front, I won’t force you. But once you hear it, you have no other choice. Either agree… or I’ll kill you. Do you still want to hear it?”
Bai Changfeng was silent for a moment, then nodded. “Fine, speak.”
Xu Zimo raised his hand, and a massive blue planet appeared behind him.
Before Bai Changfeng could react, his spirit was sucked into it.
The next second, he found himself in Xu Zimo’s personal world, the God World.
"Where is this?" he asked, looking around.
"My own world, the God World," Xu Zimo said calmly.
"Your own world? Do you even know what you're saying? Are you joking?" Bai Changfeng asked in disbelief.
"You just listen. You don’t need to understand the rest," Xu Zimo said indifferently.
"My world has life, death, and reincarnation. I’m preparing to establish Hell within the Underworld. And I want you, the Slaughter God, to be its first Lord of Hell. After death, the good souls will drink the Water of Forgetfulness at Meng Po’s station and be reborn. The evil souls will enter Hell. Depending on their crimes, they will be punished accordingly. Only after they have paid for their sins will they be allowed to reincarnate."
"You're serious?" Bai Changfeng now looked at Xu Zimo seriously.
"My world is still new. There’s a lot that needs improving," Xu Zimo nodded.
"If you become the Lord of Hell, once my world is fully formed, I can help you reincarnate. And if possible, I can even help you retain your memories."
Bai Changfeng fell silent.
He was tempted. This was clearly the best solution.
Not only could he keep his spirit alive, he’d gain enormous power, and potentially be reborn with his memories intact.
"Why me?" he asked, still a little stunned.
"Because you’re the Slaughter God," Xu Zimo replied. "Among all the people I’ve met, you're the most suitable person to rule Hell."
Bai Changfeng stayed quiet for a long while, then finally nodded.
"If you’re not lying, then deal."
"But let’s be clear," Xu Zimo added. "You’ll be in charge of Hell. But in my world, you follow my rules. If you ever break them or disrupt the world I’m building, I won’t show mercy."
"Don’t worry. I understand what’s at stake," Bai Changfeng said.
Then Xu Zimo rose into the air and began building the framework of Hell, linked directly to the laws of the God World’s Heavenly Dao.
Hell would be built with eighteen levels.