The current Nie Jingshen had already long since attained the ninth level of the Martial Saint realm.

At the same time, he was publicly acclaimed within the World beyond Worlds as the martial pract.i.tioner who was most likely to become a new Exalt.

Just like him, the likes of Qing Shuzi would be a mere step away from the Human Exalt stage as they could break through that bottleneck at any moment.

Still, even if the likes of them beat him to it, that would still not be anything worth being happy about at all.

Some gossipy people had once theorised something like this in the World beyond Worlds.

Amongst Martial Saints, it was indisputably the Upper Exalt Chen Qianhua who was ranked first.

The one who was ranked second was also obvious, this being the Earth Exalt, w.a.n.g Zhencheng.

Yet, the one who was ranked third was Nie Jingshen of the ninth level of the Martial Saint realm!

This had not received widespread acknowledgment due to the prestigious nature of the Ten Exalts.

Still, it was worth thinking about how Nie Jingshen"s own senior apprentice-brother, the Southwestern Exalt Bai Tao, as well as the other Human Exalt experts, had all not flared up in dissatisfaction over such a saying.

At the present time, those who were in the know were actually all looking forward to seeing how things would be like when Nie Jingshen accomplished the Human Exalt stage.

The Little Sword G.o.d Long Xueji who had still been using the fake name of Qian Xueji back then had been active for too short a time in the World beyond Worlds as fewer people knew of him now.

Rather than that, everyone wanted to see who exactly was the superior between the Heavenly Young Master and the Shocking G.o.d Sword.

And now, yet another new legend had arisen.

The phrase "A lineage"s father and son, Duo Fallen Deities they are" was currently beginning to spread rapidly within the World beyond Worlds.

The ones who were being evaluated as such were Yan Zhaoge and Yan Di, who were well deserving of their reputation in having mightily withstood the Heaven Emperor and slain the Southern Exalt in the battle of the Royal Reed Sea.

The person who had evaluated them as such was the current most outstanding younger generation expert of the World beyond Worlds, "Shocking G.o.d Sword" Nie Jingshen.

It was the combination of these two that caused the wondrous reputation of the Yan Family"s Duo Fallen Deities to swiftly seep into the hearts of those of the World beyond Worlds at a rapid pace.

Many people felt emotional at how the resurgence of Daoism really seemed to be happening now.

Apart from the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, numerous shocking geniuses had appeared in recent years.

Long Xueji who had made a fleeting but shocking appearance, the current number one Martial Saint Chen Qianhua, Nie Jingshen who was not an Exalt but surpa.s.sed some, and finally Yan Zhaoge and Yan Di who had both only risen to prominence over the course of the past decade or so.

These were all genius-like figures who only appeared once in a hundred or even thousand years following the decline of Daoism in post-Great Calamity times.

Meanwhile, their collective appearance over the past couple of centuries caused people to feel that following so many years of gradual acc.u.mulation following the Great Calamity, now was finally when their efforts bore fruit.

Yan Zhaoge and those of Broad Creed Mountain had heard rumours on Nie Jingshen long before this.

It was just that before today, they had not imagined that there was actually such a connection between them.

While it was said that Nie Jingshen was the person closest to the Human Exalt stage in the World beyond Worlds, no one outside of Jade Capital Crag knew that this black-clothed youth had already reached the point where he could achieve his breakthrough whenever he wanted.

If not for the events at Broad Creed Mountain today, he might already simply have done so by now.

And now, Nie Jingshen"s stance was equivalent to saying that Broad Creed Mountain would not meet any real opposition in advancing into and taking over the southern Blazing Heaven Territory.

Of the other late Immortal Bridge Martial Saints who might be able to successfully attain the Human Exalt stage within a short upcoming period of time, none of them would be confident of suppressing Yan Zhaoge and his father as they were now.

Even if they successfully completed their breakthrough, they would still not want to go step on mines in the southern Blazing Heaven Territory.

“It is just that while your sect has inherited the name of the East Peak of Daoism from the legends, you will have to develop in the south,” w.a.n.g Pu smiled.

Those present could not help but smile.

Meanwhile, Yan Zhaoge stroked his lower chin, his eyes gleaming as he seemed to be thinking about something.

“Everyone, this Yan has something to request. I hope that you can a.s.sist us if possible,” Yan Di now said, “I may also have to bother the Female Emperor.”

Cao Jie, Liu Zhenggu, w.a.n.g Pu and the others all had solemn looks on their faces as they were feeling curious inwardly.

Yan Di was such a proud and resilient person as it was seldom that he asked others for help. Even when he had been facing pressure from the Heaven Emperor and four great Exalts earlier, he had been utterly fearless. Yet, he was now taking the initiative to ask for help. This was not a common sight indeed.

Yan Di said, “I had a senior apprentice-brother whose descendants have been compromised in some way. We were initially unable to detect this. Only after this Yan and my son"s cultivation bases had grown were we able to realise this abnormality.”

“Still, the things that we can tell are still very limited. Therefore, we would like for you to help us take a look at them.”

He and Yan Zhaoge possessed extraordinary strength that far surpa.s.sed the norm. Still, for some matters, a certain cultivation base was required before they could do it.

“It is related to the Nine Underworlds,” Yan Zhaoge now added solemnly.

Having been in the Heavenly Court"s Divine Palace before the Great Calamity, he possessed great knowledge and discernment abilities as he could even see through some things that Yan Di could not. Still, only just having ascended the Immortal Bridge, he was definitely still limited somewhat.

Hearing the Nine Underworlds being mentioned, the expressions of Nie Jingshen, Cao Jie, Bai Tao and the others all turned solemn.

This was the number one tainted, filthy ground of evil beneath the heavens that had stood in opposition to the entirety of the great thousand worlds in pre-Great Calamity times.

Numerous devils danced in chaos, countless experts existing amongst them.

The Great Calamity seemed to have affected the Nine Underworlds too.

Still, they remained all-pervasive as they encroached into the various worlds of post-Great Calamity times.

A gate to the devilish Nine Underworlds had opened in the Eight Extremities World that year as True Devils had very nearly descended.

With them now sealed, only then had the Eight Extremities World heaved a collective sigh of relief. It was already the limit for them as no one would even consider the idea of counterattacking.

This was unlike the Flame Devil World whose strongest expert was merely the Great Flame Devil King who was comparable to a third level Martial Saint. He had been slain by Yan Di and the others with the formation that they had established back then.

While the Flame Devils were on their home ground and possessed a major advantage as a result with a huge increment to their strength, after Yuan Zhengfeng and the others had attained the Seeing Divinity stage, they were really no longer worth mentioning at all.

Having once been harmed the most greatly by the invasion of the Flame Devils, the first thing that Broad Creed Mountain had done with its newfound strength had been to counterattack the Flame Devil World, completely destroying the place.

The current Flame Devil World was already completely consigned to the dustbin of history by now.

However, the Nine Underworlds were a whole different story altogether.

Encroaching on and invading the Eight Extremities World was just a special characteristic of the Nine Underworlds.

The devils that had nearly descended that year were merely some little underlings who really meant nothing at all when compared to the entire Nine Underworlds.

The actual great Devils truly targeted the entirety of the great thousand worlds as the likes of lower worlds like the Eight Extremities World, the Vast Ocean World and the Floating Gate World did not actually mean much to them.

Thus, the sealing of the gate to the Nine Underworlds in the Earth Domain of the Eight Extremities World had not done much besides leading to the unhappiness of the minor devils in the vicinity of the gate.

As for those of the Eight Extremities World, it was impossible that they would take the initiative to open that devilish gate.

It was just that the situations of Shi Jun and Ying Yuzhen were very unique.

The fact that even Yan Zhaoge who had already ascended the Immortal Bridge stage was unable to get to the bottom of this entailed that the Devil who had left marks on them back then was definitely not simple.

Great Devils like these were limited in the first place. Yan Zhaoge"s inability to confirm it was actually equivalent to him only being able to lock it down to a couple of targets within a certain radius.

While he did have some guesses, he was unable to confirm them.

“Nine Underworlds?” The Female Emperor Jie Mingkong who had resealed herself in ice following the opening ceremony and ceased to speak appeared to be very concerned by this.

As the ice sculpture glowed with l.u.s.trous light, her voice resounded by their ears, “Let me see.”

“We will be troubling the Female Emperor then,” Yan Di looked at Fang Zhun who nodded and retrieved an ice coffin.

A woman was lying down with her eyes closed within the transparent ice coffin, seemingly in a deep slumber. This was none other than Shi Jun"s mother and Shi Songtao"s wife, Ying Yuzhen.

Having received instructions earlier, Shi Jun had been waiting outside as he now inhaled deeply and entered as instructed.