My Crazy Upgrade System

"Ding! Successfully killed Liu Long. Gained 44,000 experience, 4,400 Madness Value, and 500 Sin Value..."

As they waited, the notification of Liu Long’s death arrived, granting Yi Tianyun a burst of experience. He hadn’t kept Mad Experience Mode active, so he didn’t receive a massive amount.

This wasn’t a big deal to him, though. A million-odd experience points were just a drop in the bucket; completing the mission was what mattered. If he could find some Treasure in the Phoenix Nest, or perhaps a Soul-Nourishing Grass, now *that* would be a real windfall.

’He refused to believe that the vast Phoenix Nest didn’t contain even a single stalk of Soul-Nourishing Grass.’

After half a day, the death mist before them finally began to show signs of dissipating.

"Look! The death mist is finally starting to clear up..."

Everyone was thrilled. They had been waiting here for so long, and it was finally starting to clear. If they had to stay any longer, they would have been drained dry. The dark energy here was much more potent than outside, and the toll it took was far greater.

"Indeed, it’s finally clearing." Yi Tianyun nodded. ’But this is just the beginning. If we move too slowly, the death mist will surge back several more times.’

The difficulty increased exponentially. Reaching the Netherworld was incredibly hard, yet many still sought to make the journey. They were all after the superior cultivation environment, which was undoubtedly far better than the one here.

Even the concentration of Spiritual Power in an ordinary region there was much denser than it was here. As for just how much denser, he’d have to go see for himself to find out.

The death mist began to clear with surprising speed. In the blink of an eye, it thinned considerably, though a layer of fog still shrouded the area, not having vanished completely.

However, they could now vaguely make out the path ahead, unlike before, when they couldn’t even probe the area clearly with their Spiritual Sense.

"We need to go now, or we’ll be too late," Ren Liangchen said with a nod. He retrieved a map from his Storage Ring. It was a detailed chart, outlining the exact route through the death mist.

Yi Tianyun glanced at the map. He saw that it was largely identical to the Netherworld Passage Map he had acquired. ’So they really did get their hands on a genuine map, not a fake,’ he thought. ’They must have done their research, probably found several maps before confirming this was the correct one.’

After checking the path, Ren Liangchen immediately took the lead. He smiled at Yi Tianyun and said, "You’ve been doing all the work so far, Yi. Now it’s our turn. We spent a great deal of effort to get this map, and it will definitely see us through!"

"What makes you so confident?" Yi Tianyun asked.

"Of course I’m confident. We paid a fortune for this. We bought it from a powerhouse who returned from the Netherworld, so how could it be wrong?" Ren Liangchen laughed. "Coming in here unprepared is suicide, and we have no intention of dying. We don’t have any major enemies chasing us; we live quite comfortably on the Celestial Realm Continent. We wouldn’t come here looking for an early grave!"

Yi Tianyun’s eyes lit up. ’A powerhouse who returned from the Netherworld... Did that powerhouse truly come back from the Netherworld?’

’This is good news.’ He had always been curious how Cultivators got back from the Netherworld, and now he might have a lead.

"Definitely! He even had a token from the Netherworld—something you’d never find on the Celestial Realm Continent!" Ren Liangchen affirmed.

"Then do you know where he returned from?" Yi Tianyun asked.

"He wouldn’t talk about that. Refused to say a word, no matter what. It seemed he’d experienced something terrifying..." Ren Liangchen shook his head. "I was hoping to get more information, maybe find out about other passages, but it seems this is the only route to the Netherworld."

"I see..." Yi Tianyun nodded. ’Even if I don’t know where they return from, I’ve confirmed one thing: Ming Chen and his group won’t be coming out this way. That’s enough for now.’

’At least I can rule this place out and won’t have to stand guard here. But if not here, then where?’

With that, they set off. The two Core Transformation Realm experts had yet to recover and were still lying on the ground, their fates uncertain. Curing such a potent poison would take a monumental effort. Whether they would ultimately survive was none of Yi Tianyun’s concern.

’I gave them their chance,’ he thought. ’If they don’t make it, they can’t blame me.’

Following Ren Liangchen’s lead, they moved quickly, turning left and right according to the map. Before them was not a forest, but a labyrinth of rock walls that split into countless paths. It was impossible to tell which was the correct one by sight alone.

Fortunately, they had a map, so they didn’t have to worry about taking a wrong turn.

"This way," Ren Liangchen said, leading them to the left. He added a word of caution, "Stay sharp. Even on the right path, this place isn’t safe."

This was a natural deathtrap, not a grand formation laid by some powerhouse, so conditions could change at any moment.

As they continued onward, a black shadow suddenly shot toward them. It ignored everyone else and lunged straight for Yi Tianyun.

A Longsword instantly appeared in Yi Tianyun’s hand. He spun and slashed, cleaving the pouncing shadow in two in the blink of an eye.

A spray of black blood followed. He quickly threw up a protective barrier, blocking the blood. When the black liquid hit his shield, it made a SIZZLING sound as it tried to burn through. But Yi Tianyun’s Spiritual Power was formidable; it wouldn’t be breached so easily.

"Yi, what happened?" The others turned to look and saw a new corpse on the ground: a black, arm-thick worm that was utterly repulsive.

"That’s a Netherwater Insect... If it bites you, it injects a massive amount of poison. Vicious things." Ren Liangchen recognized it instantly. "They’re incredibly fast, too. You’ve got some impressive skills, Yi. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been able to stop that."

"It’s nothing. Let’s keep moving," Yi Tianyun said, gesturing for them to press on.

Ren Liangchen nodded and continued to lead the way. As they forged ahead, more Netherwater Insects attacked, but they all shared one peculiar trait: they only attacked Yi Tianyun!

"That’s odd. Why are they all attacking Yi...?" The others found it strange. They hadn’t made him walk at the rear or anything; their formation was casual, yet the creatures singled him out.

"Right, it was the same with the Netherwater Sharks..."

"They probably see my aura as the weakest, so they’re prioritizing me," Yi Tianyun said with a smile, brushing it off.

’He was suppressing his aura, making himself an easy target for these Demon Beasts. But the main reason was that his Sin Value was too high, making him a natural magnet for hostility!’

’That last part was the real key. Anything hostile would automatically target him. Such were the consequences of having an astronomical Sin Value.’