Immortal Paladin

532 Beneath the Black Sun

The Underworld’s First Layer, Deeds, stretched before us like the corpse of creation itself.

I stood at the bow of the Mighty Duck as it drifted through the endless vacuum, the ship creaking softly beneath my feet while the Soul Horizon loomed ahead like a boundary separating reality from ruin. Beyond it lay what appeared to be an enormous island, one so vast it extended farther than my eyes could properly comprehend. It continued endlessly into the darkness until it reached the black sun hanging at the center of the layer.

Or rather, what I had first mistaken for a sun.

“What is that?” Ru Qiu asked quietly beside me.

I narrowed my eyes, allowing my enhanced vision to pierce deeper into the dark. The moment understanding dawned on me, my chest tightened slightly.

“It’s the black hole at the center of the Greater Universe.”

The thing was incomprehensibly massive. Its body stretched so far upward and outward that parts of it blended seamlessly into the surrounding darkness, making it impossible to fully perceive unless one stared carefully. From the other layers of the Underworld, it likely remained invisible simply because no mind could properly distinguish where the black hole ended and the void began.

Ru Qiu leaped from the Mighty Duck first, his figure descending toward the endless island below. He landed atop the surface with a dull impact that echoed strangely through the silence. I stored the Mighty Duck into my pocket dimension before following after him.

The moment I crossed the Soul Horizon, death qi invaded my body.

It seeped into me from every direction like freezing needles, penetrating flesh, soul, and qi simultaneously. The laws of this place were fundamentally hostile to life itself. Any form of qi that entered the First Layer immediately began deteriorating, as though existence itself was being denied.

I stabilized my cultivation with effort before immediately casting Divine Favor upon both myself and Ru Qiu.

Golden radiance enveloped us.

The holy light pushed back the surrounding death qi for a moment, creating a temporary sanctuary amidst the endless decay. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Ru Qiu glanced around the wasteland. “I read in the records that the entire First Layer was like one enormous world.”

I looked down at the ground beneath our feet.

The land groaned.

The sound was low and distant, like countless dying voices layered together into a single endless moan of agony.

“It hurts…” the land seemed to whisper.

My expression darkened.

This was no world.

The black earth beneath us was formed from endless dead bodies compressed together over unimaginable lengths of time. Blackened limbs protruded from the surface like buried roots. Faces twisted in eternal suffering surfaced briefly among the rocky terrain before disappearing again beneath layers of corpse matter. Entire mountain ranges appeared to be made from fused skeletons and decayed flesh hardened into stone.

The entire First Layer was less a planet and more a colossal graveyard lodged against the edge of the black hole.

Ru Qiu exhaled slowly before beginning to walk forward. “I’ll lead the way. We can’t allow a situation where you die so quickly you’re unable to use Ophanim.”

I snorted lightly and followed after him. “Don’t worry. If things go bad, I’ll save you.”

“That’s exactly the kind of confidence that gets people killed.”

Despite his words, we continued onward.

Traveling through the First Layer proved far more difficult than I had anticipated. The environment contained almost no usable qi whatsoever. Every step drained us faster than we could naturally recover, forcing our Ascended Souls to continuously refine tiny traces of quintessence simply to maintain ourselves.

Even moving became exhausting.

Days passed.

Then weeks.

Eventually, months.

The landscape barely changed no matter how far we traveled. Endless black corpse-earth stretched beneath the dark sky while the black hole remained eternally above us like the pupil of some cosmic god staring down upon creation.

At times, we stopped to rest.

The death qi was so dense it made even cultivators like us feel cold. That alone spoke volumes about how horrifying this place truly was.

Ru Qiu crouched down and ripped a chunk of corpse matter from the ground, exposing blackened limbs and dried flesh fused together like rotten coal. I cast Searing Smite upon the pile.

Golden flames ignited instantly.

The holy fire crackled softly, becoming our only source of warmth amidst the endless darkness.

I sat beside the flames and retrieved a high-grade pill from my pocket dimension. Ordinarily, it would have been used by Tenth Realm cultivators preparing to advance into the Eleventh Realm. For beings like us, however, it merely served as sustenance and medicine to replenish the essence constantly being eroded by the First Layer.

I swallowed the pill.

Warmth spread through my being immediately.

Across from me, Ru Qiu consumed one as well.

For a while, neither of us spoke.

Then I broke the silence.

“Thanks for coming with me.”

Ru Qiu stared into the fire quietly before asking, “Was it really the right choice for you to make love with Alice like that?”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

I blinked.

That came so far out of nowhere my brain nearly failed to process it.

“…Seriously? That’s what you’re thinking about right now?”

Ru Qiu shrugged slightly.

I laughed despite myself before leaning back against a mound of black stone and corpses.

“I have no regrets,” I said honestly. “It’s fun. You should try it sometime.”

Ru Qiu rolled his eyes immediately.

“We’re not really from this world, Da Wei.”

The amusement on my face faded slightly.

He continued staring into the flames as he spoke.

“What if whatever purpose brought us into this reality eventually gets fulfilled? What if one day we simply wake up back on Earth in our beds, and all of this becomes nothing more than a distant dream?”

The fire crackled softly between us.

“What happens then?” he asked quietly. “What happens to all the people we leave behind?”

For a moment, the only sound was the groaning of the First Layer beneath our feet.

Then understanding dawned on me.

No wonder Ru Qiu had been distancing himself from people all this time.

He was afraid.

Not of death.

Of attachment.

I looked up toward the endless black sky above us before answering softly, “At least they’d have something to remember us by.”

Ru Qiu didn’t respond after that.

He simply stared into the fire while the land beneath us continued whispering in pain.

We continued our journey across the First Layer of the Underworld.

The deeper we traveled, the worse the environment became. The death qi grew thicker with every passing mile, saturating the land so heavily that reality itself seemed to decay around us. Sometimes the corpse-earth beneath our feet would suddenly rupture apart, and masses of undead would claw their way upward from the blackened flesh below.

Some were grotesquely mutated things made from fused bodies and exposed bone.

Others looked almost human.

Those were worse.

Especially the ones that still retained cultivation or had somewhat mutated.

Ascended Soul undead.

Their hatred alone could warp the air.

Fortunately for us, I possessed perhaps the single greatest advantage possible in a place like this. My holy affinity and support abilities countered death qi naturally, allowing me to suppress and purify the undead far more effectively than most cultivators ever could.

That did not mean the battles were easy.

Every encounter drained us.

Every spell consumed precious essence we could barely replenish in this forsaken place.

The further we ventured toward the black hole looming above the First Layer, the more terrifying its influence became. It devoured every form of energy indiscriminately, constantly pulling at our qi, our souls, even our existence itself.

The only reason the endless corpse-land around it remained stable was because of the power of the Supreme Being maintaining this layer.

Compared to entities like that, I felt painfully inadequate.

The difference between us was like comparing candlelight to the birth of stars.

I glanced toward Ru Qiu while we traversed another endless stretch of corpse-rock.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

He walked slightly ahead of me, but I noticed immediately that his movements had become uneven. He was limping.

“I’m fine,” he replied casually.

“You’re obviously not fine,” I said flatly. “Check it.”

Ru Qiu sighed before stopping. He lifted part of his robe and massaged his leg lightly. The flesh beneath had turned black. Parts of it were literally rotting away.

It was necrosis.

Even an Ascended Soul’s body could not endlessly resist the First Layer.

Ru Qiu noticed my expression and shrugged weakly. “Looks worse than it feels.”

“That isn’t comforting.”

I immediately raised my hand and cast Divine Sanctuary of Life.

Golden radiance erupted outward.

Unlike my ordinary healing spells, this technique represented the culmination of everything I knew about restoration, purification, regeneration, and divine protection combined into a singular miracle. Holy symbols materialized around Ru Qiu as life essence surged into his body, forcing the death qi out inch by inch.

The blackened flesh slowly regained color.

The rotting stopped.

Ru Qiu exhaled softly afterward.

“Well?” I asked. “Feeling better?”

“A bit,” he admitted. “Enough to keep moving.”

So we continued onward.

Time lost meaning in the First Layer. The sky never changed. The black hole remained eternally above us. The ground endlessly groaned beneath our feet like a dying organism trapped in perpetual suffering.

Then, without warning, the land exploded apart around us.

Undead erupted from below.

Dozens.

No, hundreds.

Their cultivation shook the air violently as death qi flooded the battlefield. Some wielded ancient weapons corroded by time while others attacked with bare claws sharp enough to tear apart mountains.

I drew my sword immediately.

Golden flames burst along the blade as I intercepted the first undead charging toward us.

Steel collided against black claws.

Shockwaves tore through the surrounding corpse-land as I cleaved through one undead’s torso before spinning to sever another’s head entirely.

Yet something felt wrong. I glanced back briefly and saw Ru Qiu frozen. He stared at the undead surrounding us with widened eyes, genuine shock visible on his face for the first time in a very long while.

I parried another strike before shouting, “Ru Qiu! What’s the problem?”

One of the undead lunged toward him at that exact moment.

Ru Qiu exploded.

White flames erupted from his body like a heavenly inferno descending upon the Underworld itself. His aura surged violently as fury overtook the hesitation in his eyes.

He vanished.

An instant later, one undead’s head flew into the air. Then another. White fire consumed everything around him while his blade moved with terrifying brutality, each strike fueled by something far deeper than simple combat instinct.

Rage.

Grief.

I joined him immediately, and together we tore through the horde.

Holy flames and white fire illuminated the darkness of the First Layer as undead bodies collapsed one after another. Eventually, silence returned once more.

Black ash drifted across the wasteland.

I looked toward Ru Qiu afterward, breathing heavily.

“What was the problem?” I asked.

Ru Qiu stared at the remains quietly before answering.

“The dead that attacked us…” His voice lowered slightly. “They were people I knew from the Hollowed World. Powerful experts. Peak cultivators.”

His hands tightened slightly.

“I never expected to see them here of all places.”

I wanted to comfort him. But comfort was not what we needed right now. I stepped closer and spoke firmly.

“Get a hold of yourself.”

Ru Qiu looked at me silently.

“These people are dead,” I continued. “But we still have people depending on us. I came here because I need answers. I want to meet the Supreme Death because I’m desperate. There has to be a way to avoid total war with the Supreme Beings.”

I clenched my fist slightly.

If I could understand one of the Six Supremes, then maybe I could understand the others as well. Maybe compromise was possible. Maybe coexistence was possible.

Because the alternative terrified me.

The Hollowed World against the rest of the universe.

A war like that would consume everything.

Ru Qiu stared at me for several seconds before finally nodding once.

“…Fine.”

We resumed walking.

Eventually, after what felt like an eternity crossing the corpse-land, something appeared in the distance.

A palace.

It stood beneath the shadow of the black hole, ancient beyond comprehension. Countless pillars made from black bone supported its enormous structure while pale ghostly flames burned along endless stairways leading upward.

And waiting at the entrance stood an old man.

He wore simple robes and held his hands behind his back calmly, as though he had been expecting us all along.

“Welcome,” the old man said softly, “to the Palace of Endings.”

Ru Qiu and I immediately became vigilant.

I stepped forward carefully. “Who are you?”

The old man smiled faintly.

“I am the Judge of Deed. Former ruler of this layer.”

His eyes settled on me.

“My name is Duan Fen.”

The pressure emanating from him was immense, yet strangely restrained. Unlike the undead around this place, he did not radiate hostility.

I hesitated briefly before speaking honestly.

“Can you find it in yourself to surrender your proof and symbol of the Underworld?”

Unexpectedly, Duan Fen nodded immediately.

“Of course.”

He reached into his sleeve and retrieved a parchment made from human skin. Nothing was written upon it, yet the moment it appeared, the entire First Layer seemed to tremble slightly.

Duan Fen handed it to me calmly.

I stared at the item in disbelief.

I had expected resistance.

A battle.

A trial.

Not this.

The moment my fingers touched the parchment, it dissolved into countless streams of dark light that merged into my body instantly.

Power surged through me.

The authority of the Underworld acknowledged me completely.

At that moment, I became the sole Yama King of the Underworld.

Duan Fen watched silently before turning toward the palace.

“I shall lead the way,” he said.

Then he began walking forward.

Ru Qiu and I exchanged a glance before following him into the Palace of Endings.