When Lin Qing arrived at the Underworld, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief, only to see tens of thousands of Yin soldiers and ghost generals standing outside the Underworld.
They were also escorting some ghosts dressed in armor, which Lin Qing immediately recognized as the same Yin soldiers and ghost generals from before.
At this moment, Zhong Kui and Meng Po, who were standing at the front of the army, also spotted Lin Qing.
"Haha, thank you, Dragon King, for eliminating the Four Ghost Emperors and restoring peace to the Underworld." Zhong Kui laughed heartily.
"Since I accepted your gifts, I naturally have to do my best. I've come here to ask for your help," Lin Qingfei said as he flew to Zhong Kui's side.
“Whatever the Dragon King says, we will certainly help you accomplish it,” Zhong Kui said.
"Yes, the Dragon King has helped us so much, it's only right that we help you in return," Meng Po said with a smile.
"Look, this is the female ghost, Nie Xiaoqian. See if she can be reincarnated," Lin Qing said, pointing at Nie Xiaoqian.
"She is missing a soul and a spirit, and cannot be reincarnated," Meng Po said after a careful examination.
"Missing a soul and a spirit? Is that why I broke his urn of ashes earlier?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, after a person dies and is cremated, there will be a soul and a spirit in the ashes."
"For a ghost to be reincarnated, it must have all three souls and seven spirits. When the Dragon King broke the urn, one soul and one spirit were carried away by the wind and could not be found."
"Unless it's the King of Hell who takes action, but even the King of Hell..." Meng Po stopped there.
"That's good. You can continue. I'll go in and ask King Yama." Lin Qing led Ning Caichen and Yan Chixia into the main hall.
Before they even got close to Yama's room, Yama's voice came: "I already know why the Dragon King has come. Come in!"
The door to the room opened, and Lin Qing, without any ceremony, led Ning Caichen and Nie Xiaoqian to the bedside of the King of Hell.
“Nie Xiaoqian (Ning Caichen) pays respects to King Yama!” Ning Caichen and Nie Xiaoqian said.
"Get up, there's no need for such formalities. I'm about to be reincarnated anyway, so helping you reincarnate before I die is also doing the Dragon King a favor."
"I hope the Dragon King can keep a close eye on the underworld for me, so that nothing goes wrong."
"No problem, no problem, don't worry! No one will dare cause trouble in the underworld while I'm here," Lin Qing assured, patting his chest, though he was using claws.
"Alright, do you two have anything else to say? I'll use my great magic to summon back your soul and spirit in a moment," Yama said to Nie Xiaoqian.
"Um, Xiaoqian, you—"
"No need to say anything more. I don't want to add to your sorrow. I'm already happy to see you one last time. Lord Yama, please cast your spell!" Nie Xiaoqian's tears flowed down her cheeks.
Upon hearing this, Yama immediately began the soul-summoning ritual. Without any visible movement from Yama, he simply waved his hand.
Not long after, two beams of light flew in from outside and entered Nie Xiaoqian's body.
"Alright, your three souls and seven spirits are complete, you can be reincarnated now. Just go outside and find Meng Po. In your next life, you will be given a good family."
"I'm also about to be reincarnated ahead of schedule. If the Dragon King has nothing else to do, please leave. I have some things to discuss with Zhong Kui and the others." King Yama gave him the order to leave.
Chapter 127 My Evolution Points (Revised)
Nie Xiaoqian was reincarnated, and Ning Caichen, distraught, was taken back to the Demon Extermination Palace by Lin Qing.
Lin Qing left Ning Caichen with the old man and didn't care anymore. He was going to the Heavenly Court, even though the immortals and gods were no longer there.
Who knows what other good things are in Heaven? Even just getting a peach or something would be a huge profit.
Lin Qing began to fly towards the sky, going higher and higher. He didn't know how high the Heavenly Court was. Yama said that as long as he got near the Heavenly Court, the token would be able to sense it.
Lin Qing just kept flying and flying! He didn't know how long it had been, but he felt like he was about to fly off the Earth.
However, he discovered that the Earth was enveloped by a layer of strong winds, completely obscuring it.
Lin Qing released his divine sense to investigate the gale, but in an instant, his divine sense was shattered.
"It hurts so much! I'll never use my divine sense recklessly again." This was the second time Lin Qing had suffered this kind of pain.
In fact, Lin Qing wanted to fly directly out of Earth and see what was different about the universe in the mythological world.
However, the presence of this gale extinguished Lin Qing's idea; he felt that if he went, he would definitely be torn to pieces.
Suddenly, Lin Qing noticed that the token was moving, so he immediately controlled his spiritual power to flow into the token in his claw.
The token immediately emitted a fierce light, then transformed into a beam of light from Lin Qing's claw and shot forward.
Lin Qing followed closely behind, and after a short while, the token stopped in mid-air, and then a huge golden gate appeared in the air.
Above the gate were three large characters: "South Heaven Gate". Lin Qing could only describe the entire South Heaven Gate with one word: domineering!
The token flew to the center of the South Heavenly Gate, and a golden "Open" character emerged from it.
Then, the token seemed to lose its color and turned into an ordinary iron plaque, which fell onto the stone steps of the South Heavenly Gate.
Lin Qing immediately stepped forward, put the token into his storage space, and then entered the South Heavenly Gate.
King Yama had told him that this token could only be used once to break the seal of Heaven, lasting for one hour.
During this time, one can freely enter the Heavenly Court, but once the time has passed, the Heavenly Court will be sealed again.
Unless the Heavenly Emperor returns and personally removes the seal, they can only stay in the Heavenly Court.
Therefore, Lin Qing must leave the Heavenly Court within an hour, otherwise he will really have to stay in the Heavenly Court for the rest of his life.
As soon as Lin Qing entered the Heavenly Court, he discovered that the spiritual energy there was incredibly abundant, dozens of times stronger than that in the mortal realm.
"It's a pity I can only stay for 2 hours, otherwise I could stay in the Heavenly Court for hundreds of years and become a god directly."
Lin Qing had no time for sentimentality; he was going to search for treasures, spiritual herbs, peaches of immortality, elixirs—he would find whatever he could get his hands on.
He released his divine sense and quickly searched back and forth in the Heavenly Court, but as expected, he didn't see a single person inside.
All that was left were some flowers and plants. After passing through many grand halls, there was nothing there, absolutely nothing.
"Damn it, I didn't even see a meditation cushion. Did these immortals just leave so easily?" Lin Qing felt like cursing.
We passed the Lingxiao Palace, the Taishang Laojun's Doushuai Palace, and the Yaochi Palace, but didn't see a single fart.
"Damn it, did we get tricked by Yama?" Lin Qing gritted his teeth. He couldn't believe that he had come to the Heavenly Court and gained nothing.
Then, Lin Qing arrived at the Peach Orchard, and immediately perked up: "I don't believe there isn't a single peach left in the entire Peach Orchard."
Lin Qing barged directly into the Peach Garden, but found no arrays or restrictions, and didn't find anything along the way.
It seems the Jade Emperor felt that since the Heavenly Court was sealed off, it didn't matter what was inside.
Legend has it that the Peach Garden has 3,600 peach trees, with the first 1,200 of them having tiny flowers and fruits that ripen once every 3,000 years. People who eat them are said to become immortals and attain enlightenment.
The middle 1,200 trees ripen once every 6,000 years. If a person eats them, they will ascend to heaven and live forever.
The following 1,200 plants, with purple veins and fine kernels, ripen once every nine thousand years. Those who eat them will live as long as heaven and earth, and be as old as the sun and moon.
When Lin Qing entered the peach orchard, he discovered that the peach trees, which had matured three thousand years ago, had only blossomed a few times.
Continuing further in, the peach trees, which ripen only once every six thousand years, had only produced a few tiny buds.
Finally, we arrived at the peach tree that ripens only once every nine thousand years. The flowers, which had been there for nine thousand years, had withered, but surprisingly, we didn't see a single fruit.
Lin Qing discovered that the 9,000-year-old peaches had been picked, clearly indicating that they had been plucked after bearing only small fruits.
Almost half the time had passed, and Lin Qing had to go back, otherwise he wouldn't have enough time to leave Nantianmen.
Looking at the peach trees in the peach orchard, Lin Qing decided to go all out: "If there are no peaches to eat, I'll eat all the peach trees."
Lin Qing refused to believe that the peach tree's evolution points could be less than those of the tree demon's sapling.
Lin Qing opened her mouth wide and took a big bite of the nearest peach tree: "Clang!"
The peach tree remained completely still, its bark unbroken, while Lin Qing felt as if his teeth were about to shatter.
"Pah! Damn it, why is this peach tree so hard?"
Lin Qing decided to try a different approach. He grew larger and started digging, intending to dig out the peach tree and swallow it.
Land suitable for cultivating flat peaches is not so easy to dig up. It took Lin Qing fifteen minutes to dig out this peach tree.
Then it swallowed the peach tree whole and immediately flew swiftly towards the South Heavenly Gate.
If they don't hurry up, they'll really be trapped in the Heavenly Court. Lin Qing also took the opportunity to check the system notification he had just received.
"Ding! You have gained 200,000 evolution points by consuming the weakened peach tree."
Lin Qing was immediately excited when he saw it. Two hundred thousand! Even though he was weak.
There are 3,600 peach trees, but only 1,200 of them have matured in nine thousand years.
Those 1200 peach trees alone represent 240 million evolution points.
Pain was excruciating for Lin Qing. Two hundred and forty million evolution points! Helpless, Lin Qing still had to leave Nantianmen with a heavy heart.
It wasn't that Lin Qing didn't want to eat the peaches from the peach tree, it was just that there wasn't enough time; it would take fifteen minutes to eat one peach.
It would take 300 hours to plant 1200 trees. By then, the Heavenly Court would have already been sealed away.
You must understand that Lin Qing's mission is not yet complete. If it is not completed, he cannot travel through time. Lin Qing does not want to grow old and die in the Heavenly Court.
On the way back to the Demon Extermination Palace, Lin Qing kept comforting himself: "Two hundred thousand, I got two hundred thousand, I—two hundred and forty million evolution points!"
"Aaaaaah! My evolution points!"
The more Lin Qing thought about it, the more upset he became. The more upset he became, the more he thought about it. In the midst of his inner turmoil and heartache, Lin Qing returned to the Demon Extermination Palace.
"Dragon King, where have you been? You've been missing for a month! The supplies ran out ten days ago!" The old man burst into tears upon seeing Lin Qing.
Chapter 128 The World's Hidden Secrets (Revised)
"What do you mean a month? I was only gone for a few hours." Lin Qing was still heartbroken, but he still answered the old man's question.
"How could it be just a few hours? You've been gone for a whole month! A whole month!" the old man shouted excitedly.
"Could it be because I went to Heaven? A day in Heaven is equivalent to a year on Earth?"
"Going for an hour really is equivalent to a month," Lin Qing said in disbelief.
"The Heavenly Court? Dragon King, you went to the Heavenly Court? How is that possible?" The old man became even more agitated.
"Yeah, we wandered around for an hour and almost couldn't get out. There was nothing inside at all. These gods really are greedy and stingy," Lin Qing said indignantly.