Chapter 290: Sequence Seven — Judgmental Clerk

Unlike the under-construction Netherworld Path that Lu Yan created from scratch, this newly born Yellow Springs Path was fundamentally a corrected version of the Path of the Dead.

As one of the oldest extraordinary paths in the mysterious world, the Path of the Dead naturally had an enormous base of extraordinary followers scattered across the world.

Even though Lu Yan had nearly wiped out the upper echelon of the Council of the Dead in the previous battle at the Grand Tomb, estimates still suggested that over a thousand mid- to low-sequence cultivators of the Path of the Dead remained throughout the world.

Now, as the power of Creation Manipulation fell, and the world’s rules were forcibly rewritten, all those who once walked the Path of the Dead unknowingly found their powers and supernatural traits redirected into the brand-new Yellow Springs Path.

In an instant, every cultivator on the Yellow Springs Path faintly sensed the existence of a vast world beyond this one that had become linked to them.

The Yellow Springs, as the root symbol of their path, now flowed beside each of them.

This step carried immense significance.

It immediately elevated the Yellow Springs Path into one of the largest extraordinary paths in the mysterious world, both in terms of practitioner population and influence.

Its potential was far beyond those niche paths that had to start from zero by spreading faith.

Seated upon the divine throne, Lu Yan could clearly sense the immense, pure feedback of world rules flowing to him from all directions. Like rivers returning to the sea, it surged into the Netherworld realm, ultimately merging with him.

This feedback not only rapidly elevated the cultivation level of his Great Dao Golden Core, but also dramatically deepened his understanding and command over the rules of death, finality, and the Yellow Springs.

At the same time, he sensed that the Yellow Springs Path—forcefully grafted in place using Creation Manipulation—was undergoing continuous refinement and adjustment under the guidance of the divine order of the Celestial Netherworld.

The potion formulas, promotion rituals, and even the names and core abilities of each sequence from the original Path of the Dead began transforming, fundamentally shifting to align more closely with the essence of the Netherworld and Yellow Springs.

• Sequence Nine: Corpse Collector was now Soul Guide. No longer just dealing with corpses, they now gained the ability to guide departed souls, preventing them from becoming lost and directing them initially toward the Yellow Springs.
• Sequence Eight: Grave Digger was renamed Spirit Ferryman. Instead of digging graves to raise corpses, they could now serve as coordinates to temporarily open a channel between reality and the Netherworld, acting as a messenger walking briefly between life and death.
• Sequence Seven: Living Corpse became Funeral Priest. No longer controlling corpses, they now held the power to alter the outward appearance of death, capable of forging causes of death or lightly disturbing death-linked fate lines, giving final rites and closure to the deceased.
• Sequence Six: Ghost was renamed Scribe of Life and Death. Now in touch with the essence of the Netherworld’s rules over death, they could consult, record, and even—within limits—revise entries in the Book of Life and Death for non-initiated beings, beginning to command fate itself.
• Sequence Five: Spirit Shaman became the Judge of Yellow Springs.

Lu Yan was fully immersed in the creation and refinement of the Yellow Springs Path. It was a sensation akin to being a true creator.

Each subtle alteration to the world’s rules, each deepening of the Yellow Springs Path’s imprint, triggered a clear wave of feedback, nourishing his Golden Core and propelling his cultivation forward at a shocking pace.

Previously, the feedback he’d received after creating the Soul Arrestor at Sequence Eight of the Netherworld Path had already pushed him into mid-stage Golden Core.

Now, by replacing and transforming the Path of the Dead with the Yellow Springs Path, the river of feedback pouring in was like a tidal flood.

With a Golden Core born of the Dao, there were no bottlenecks as long as heaven and earth resonated. His cultivation soared without pause, stabilizing only when he reached the pinnacle of Golden Core.

His inner Golden Core was now flawless, like a divine artifact formed by the will of heaven and earth.

In lower-tier small worlds, such a core could even allow Lu Yan to merge with the Dao directly.

Lost in the marvel of evolving rules and rising power, Lu Yan almost forgot the passage of time.

He focused completely on refining the remnants of the Path of the Dead, integrating them with the concepts of the Netherworld and Yellow Springs, continuously optimizing and perfecting the new path.

Yet all creation and refinement came at a cost.

As an ancient path, the Path of the Dead held deep foundations—but not infinite ones.

With the ongoing exertion of Creation Manipulation and the continued downward extension of the Yellow Springs Path sequences, the original rule-based foundation of the Path of the Dead was being consumed at a startling pace.

Finally, when Lu Yan had stabilized the Yellow Springs Path up to Sequence Five: Judge of Yellow Springs, he distinctly felt the supporting strength from the remnants of the Path of the Dead growing faint. Further modifications became increasingly difficult.

This meant the perfection of the Yellow Springs Path would have to stop here—for now.

Above that was Sequence Four, which fell into the category of Mortal Saints, equivalent to Nascent Soul Lords in the cultivation system.

Creating that from nothing would demand immense rule foundations and world-level understanding.

More importantly, modifying and opening Sequences Four and above would mean granting deeper access to the core authority of the Netherworld and the Yellow Springs—allowing cultivators on the path to glimpse even a fraction of the Celestial Court’s structure.

Yet Lu Yan was not concerned about his authority being stolen.

On the contrary, he welcomed the prospect of powerful beings rising through the Yellow Springs Path and joining the Netherworld.

For the growth and completion of the Celestial Netherworld depended on drawing in enough powerful souls and rule-based concepts to build its foundation.

Each powerful Yellow Springs cultivator could one day become a deity or essential component of the Netherworld, helping drive the divine structure forward.

At present, the true limiting factor for the Yellow Springs Path wasn’t Lu Yan’s willingness—but the Netherworld realm itself.

Though it had grown through several expansions to encompass an area of four hundred kilometers, making it vast for mortals and low-level cultivators, for Mortal Saints and above, it was still far too small.

Such high-level beings could likely see through the realm’s strengths and weaknesses with a single glance, sensing its lack of stabilization.

Until the Netherworld realm matured into a true minor world—with a solid foundation and stable laws—Lu Yan had to remain cautious.

He needed to delay exposure to the outside world, lest other powerful beings or factions detect its vulnerabilities and bring danger or desire.

So, despite his urge to perfect the Yellow Springs Path up to higher sequences, he forcibly restrained himself and capped its development at Sequence Five: Judge of Yellow Springs.

Even though this wasn’t a complete success, Lu Yan’s seclusion had yielded incredible gains.

First and foremost was his breakthrough in cultivation.

Golden Core Perfection, one step away from Nascent Soul.

He faced no bottlenecks for this next step.

Unlike forming a Golden Core, which required birthing a new divine power, advancing to Nascent Soul was more about the elevation of life essence and deepening Dao comprehension.

With his profound foundation and his insights from creating and refining a path, he could break through at any time.

What held him back now was the mysterious world’s unclear Dao, obscured by thick fog.

Without clarity in the laws, he couldn’t foresee whether forcibly advancing with a Golden Core infused by Celestial Court essence would trigger unwanted interference.

To be safe, he shelved the idea of immediate breakthrough, choosing to wait for a better opportunity or deeper understanding.

Secondly, the hands-on experience of building and perfecting the Yellow Springs Path had given him profound insight into how extraordinary paths were constructed and refined.

This would greatly aid him in completing the Netherworld Path.

He was confident that if his path’s pioneer—Anna—could keep up with cultivation progress, perfecting the Netherworld Path up to Sequence Five was only a matter of time.

As for the strength boosts from merging the Yellow Springs with the River of the Dead, and the control over such a massive ancient path?

To Lu Yan, those benefits were now secondary.

This world was too complex. Unless he became a True God in one leap, raw power alone couldn’t solve everything.

Emerging slowly from seclusion, Lu Yan’s divine sense first swept across the Netherworld.

Outside Fengdu City, where only zombies and stray souls once wandered, there were now faint forms of more ancient, incomplete spirits—stranger and darker than before.

These were remnants from the River of the Dead, washed ashore by the fusion with the Yellow Springs.

Their existence, half-real and half-illusory, added a strange vitality to this otherwise lifeless world.

Inside Fengdu City’s walls, the souls walking the Netherworld Path were also showing clear improvement.

Thanks to the early structure of Netherworld Order and the foundation of the Yellow Springs Path, some souls dispatched to assist Anna in the real world had already solidified their auras—reaching the peak of Sequence Nine.

Just one step away from Sequence Eight.

Seeing these changes, Lu Yan was pleased, if a bit surprised.

He instinctively checked the flow of time in the outside world—only to realize he had unknowingly been in seclusion for a full month.

With a thought, Lu Yan’s figure vanished from the divine seat of Fengdu.

One step later, he had crossed the boundary between the Netherworld and reality, returning to the real world.

At the moment he returned, a faint ripple of karma stirred his senses—like a stone dropped into a still lake.

But the cause wasn’t tied to himself—it came from someone closely connected to him.

Lu Yan raised an eyebrow, his gaze piercing walls and twisted spacetime to instantly locate the source.

It was a crude little chapel on the edge of the industrial district, built by workers using discarded factory parts.

At the innermost section of the chapel, on a simple altar, stood a plaster statue.

The craftsmanship was rough, the face indistinct, but one could still recognize that it resembled Anna.

At this moment, Anna’s clear soul form was quietly dwelling within the statue.

Tiny, pure streams of faith power were converging from all directions, seeping into her soul like trickling waters, causing a kind of sublime elevation—a halo of divinity beginning to radiate from her form.

Lu Yan immediately activated Creation Manipulation, calculating the source of this karmic ripple and Anna’s transformation.

Streams of information flashed before his eyes—past and present became clear in an instant.

Over the past month, Anna had faithfully carried out her duties: punishing evil, guiding kind-hearted workers.

Unknowingly, her actions perfectly fulfilled a sort of promotion ritual required by the Netherworld Path.

Coupled with the people’s spontaneous offering of faith and the creation of her statue, the accumulation of divine nourishment had brought her to a threshold.

She was on the verge of ascending to:

Netherworld Path, Sequence Seven: Judgmental Clerk!

(Chapter End)