Forty thousand years ago.

In the Netherworld, the Eighteen Levels of Hell.

One day, without any warning, Jie, the foster son of the Ancestor of the Nether King who had been appointed to oversee Hell, unilaterally unsealed the Gate of the Nether King, releasing three Primordial Demons of the Underworld.

After escaping from the Gate of the Nether King, they directly destroyed the eighteenth level of Hell, and all the evil spirits imprisoned within were set free.

Not long after, the Ancestor of the Nether King led the Clan Leaders of the Eight Great Clans, along with the Niu Tou and Ma Mian army, to subdue two of the Primordial Demons and re-seal them within the Gate of the Nether King, while the whereabouts of the third Primordial Demon remained unknown.

Out of the many years of father-son affection, the Ancestor of the Nether King insisted on not killing Jie, despite the Crown Prince Feng Yi's advice, and instead imprisoned him together with the two Primordial Demons inside the Gate of the Nether King.

It was precisely because of the Ancestor of the Nether King's leniency at that time that there was a later Ghost King Jie, and every Nether King that followed was destined to sacrifice Yin Souls to seal the Gate of the Nether King.

What kind of world lies within the Gate of the Nether King? Perhaps nowadays, only the Ghost King could give a clear account.

As the seal on the Gate of the Nether King was broken, fearing that the two Primordial Demons might escape from the Netherworld again, the Ancestor of the Nether King had no choice but to pass on the position of the Nether King and the Nether King's Heart to Crown Prince Feng Yi. He then used his own Yin Soul power to reseal the Gate of the Nether King.

After Crown Prince Feng Yi ascended the throne, his priority was to repair the eighteen levels of Hell. Moreover, he had to eliminate the evil spirits that escaped to the mortal world from the Samsara Path due to the chaos of the Primordial Demons. With tens of thousands of evil spirits escaped to the mortal world, Feng Yi had no choice but to cut off his own left hand...

Forty thousand years later.

On the outskirts of Y City, in Xu Family Village.

The night was deep, and Xu Family Village was in a state of silent slumber.

Looking at the clock on the wall and listening to the rustling leaves outside, the anxious village woman Zhang Huifen, who had been waiting in the living room, said urgently, "Husband, it's already 9:10, why isn't our son back yet?"

"That little rascal!" At this moment, a man stormed out of the washroom in a furious rage. He was the head of the family, Xu Ming. "He must have run off to play on the back mountain with that little hooligan from the Wang family next door."

"No way!" Zhang Huifen furrowed her brows with worry. "I just heard the little hooligan from next door calling for his mother! Oh dear, this is driving me crazy, this bear child of ours is still not home and it's so late!"

Xu Ming walked over to Zhang Huifen, patted her thigh, and said with a laugh, "Wife, don't worry. I'll go to the back mountain right now, find him, and bring him back. Go take a bath, and wait for your man to return!"

After putting on a jacket, Xu Ming left the house and headed for the small hill located to the northeast of Xu Family Village.

Five minutes later, he arrived at the foot of the back mountain and, seeing the misty slope before him, he couldn't help but shiver. Remembering the ghost stories he had heard about the back mountain since childhood, Xu Ming suddenly felt a chill down his spine and his scalp tingling. Slowing down his pace, he took a deep breath and mocked himself, saying, "I'm already a father. How can I still be as timid as I was when I was a child? If people found out, they'd laugh their heads off!"

With newfound resolve, Xu Ming quickened his pace, holding the flashlight high as he entered the fog-laden hillside.

Only after entering the hill did Xu Ming realize that the fog was even denser than he had imagined. Even at the brightest setting, the visibility with the flashlight was only about ten meters. After following the memory of the mountain path in his mind for a while, Xu Ming began to call out his son's name loudly.

Fifteen minutes later, having searched the entire hill and not finding the child, Xu Ming muttered to himself, "Where on earth did this bear child run off to play?"

Just as Xu Ming was about to turn back and head down the mountain, the sound of footsteps suddenly reached his ears.

"Who's there?" Xu Ming yelled out, his mind tense and his heart beating rapidly. He looked around nervously.

After a moment, Xu Ming's heart gradually settled down, and looking into the mist ahead, he asked, "Shengr, is that you?"

There was no response for a long time, and sensing something was amiss, Xu Ming turned around and walked briskly down the mountain.

However, halfway down, a crisp and familiar voice floated into his ears. "Daddy!"

Xu Ming turned around swiftly and called out urgently, "Shengr, your dad is here, don't be naughty, come out now!"

"Daddy, I'm playing with a sister."

"A sister?" Xu Ming's mind thundered and an eerie sensation flowed through his veins. After pausing, he turned to look back up the mountain, asking with a trembling voice, "Which sister?"

"A pretty sister. I got lost on the mountain and couldn't find my way back home. Then I met this pretty sister, and she told me not to run around, saying that mommy and daddy would come to find me."

Thrum! Xu Ming's mind thundered once more.

"Where are you, my son? Daddy's coming to find you."

"Daddy, I'm here!"

After hesitating for a few seconds, Xu Ming finally took a step forward, his legs feeling as though they were filled with lead, and headed toward the direction of his son's voice on the mountain.

As Xu Ming got closer, his heartbeat quickened, almost leaping out of his chest. When he reached the banyan tree, on the gnarled and twisted ground beneath it, he saw two slender legs.

Based on the blue school uniform pants, he could tell they were the legs of his son, Sheng Er.

"Sheng Er, why are you lying on the ground?" Xu Ming stopped and asked.

For a long time, there was no response!

So, after swallowing a few times, Xu Ming continued to slowly move forward. After about seven or eight steps, he finally saw his son Sheng Er, lying motionless on the ground.

What Xu Ming hadn't expected came next!

"Daddy, I'm here?"

The familiar voice of Sheng Er unexpectedly rang out from behind him again.

He turned around!

It was indeed his son—Sheng Er!

However, his complexion seemed off, unnaturally pale and greenish.

And!

On Sheng Er's shoulder, there was a pair of pale hands! Following the hands with his eyes, Xu Ming saw a woman in white clothes with a strange smile on her face.

Her complexion was just like Sheng Er's!

"Ah!" Xu Ming shivered.

Then, he saw that both the feet of his son Sheng Er and the woman were off the ground!

Sheng Er was already dead!

In an instant, Xu Ming was stunned.

When he came back to his senses, the woman was already in front of him.

Half an hour later.

On the east side of the mountain behind Xu Family Village, there was a highway leading to the downtown area of Y City.

At that moment, a car was speeding along that road.

The car had only one person inside, the driver, a young man in his early twenties, who looked somewhat tired and yawned several times.

Seeing dense fog ahead on the road, the young man turned on the fog lights and also slowed down the car.

Half a minute later, the listless young man suddenly perked up—at the side of the road he had just passed, he thought he saw a figure.

He looked at the rearview mirror, only to see everything in the mirror was blurred.

"I must have seen it wrong," the young man muttered to himself.

Suddenly...

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