Netherpassage

Netherpassage is the 12th realm of cultivation, 7th in the Xiantian Great Realm. It is considered one of the most terrifying realms and involves death and reincarnation. 
== Table ==
Progress
Step (步) 	Heavenlayer / Heavenstage (重天) 	Chapter	Notes
Step 1: Meditation	- 	2318 	
Step 1: Meditation	1, 2 	2425 	
Step 2: Life 	2 	2426 	Life power 90%
Step 3: Death 	6 	2438 	Death power 90%, life power 10%
Step 4: Samsara 	9 	2462 	
Step 4: Samsara 	10 	2544 	
Step 4: Samsara 	12 	2545 	
In addition to heavenstages there are also four steps within netherpassage focusing on Life Power (生命之力) and Death Power (死亡之力).
== Characters ==
==Summary==
To go from the Life Star realm to the Netherpassage, one has to go through a trial in the underworld. Cultivators of the Martial Heaven Continent lose all memories of it, there some that can keep some memories of it but the specific trial memories will be erased. To enter the trial one needs to be at the peak of the Life Star Realm and have sufficient understanding of Life and Death. 
If you have that, you can 'kill' yourself by sending your Primordial Spirit to the underworld, if you fail the trial you will be dead. The head of the Martial Alliance has some memories of the trial, Long Chen has all the memories of the trial. Whether other races from different stars keep their memories is unclear but most likely they have information concerning it.
It is important to not rush when you try to break through to the Netherpassage realm, because this cultivation realm is aiming for your understanding of Life and Death, not your base power. People who try to break through must have a steady mind and a serene heart to increase your chances of succeeding, and you might even be stuck to a bottleneck if you don't reach the perfect temperament before trying to break through.
==Four Steps (Specific situation for the stages)==
There are 4 steps / stages. In order, they are Meditation, Life, Death, Samsara.
===Meditation===
The first stage and here cultivators begin to understand Life and Death.
===Life===
When entering they possess a balance of Life and Death, at the peak of this stage that balance would have been completely broken to the point of 9/1.
===Death===
Reverse order of the Life stage, in this stage the understanding of death gets maximized. A lot of old cultivators get blocked at this point because the deeper the understanding of death the more vitality they lose.
===Samsara===
Fusing the understanding of Life and Death
==Spirit Blood Awakening==
Spirit blood is asleep before Netherpassage realm, it can be activated and will increase the power of the Vision capability of the Yan Tian.
The God/Divine race is always awakened, they possess the original pure human bloodline.
==Nine Star Hegemon Body Art Change==
The change that Nine star brings is that Long Chen is capable of fully using his Life Stars from the reincarnation realm.
The final three realms (10, 11, 12) were meant to strengthen the body so it matches his Life Star power and is capable of fully using it.
== Details ==
Netherpassage was the realm after the Life Star realm. It was the most terrifying realm within the cultivation world.
The reason it was terrifying was because it required one to comprehend the profundities of life and death, which allowed them to open the gate to the Netherworld.
To reach the necessary level of comprehension was incredibly difficult. It was like a bottomless chasm in front of all peak Life Star experts. It was something they could not cross.
For Soul Transformation experts, there was normally a thirty percent chance that they could reach the Life Star realm if given enough time and resources. After reaching the Xiantian realm, going from Soul Transformation to Life Star was actually the step with the highest chances of advancing. 
It was much easier than advancing to Sea Expansion, Foundation forging, or Jade Core. The difficulty in reaching the Life Star realm lay in obtaining enough resources and having patience.
The Life Star realm required condensing the Life Star with the Yuan Spirit as a foundation. That was what made it require so much time. You had to cultivate the Yuan Spirit, and the stronger it grew, the greater your chances of success.
However, because people’s talent and resources were limited, many people who managed to reach Soul Transformation before the age of fifty would need to stay at the Soul Transformation realm for centuries or even longer in order to accumulate the required energy to advance.
=== Comprehend Tiandao ===
There was only one chance to advance to the Life Star realm. If a Soul Transformation expert failed to make the advancement, they would never be able to break through naturally again. As a result, there were many Soul Transformation experts who either didn’t dare to make the advancement or failed their advancement due to impatience.
On the other hand, the Netherpassage realm was different. What was tested wasn’t one’s resources or talent. What was important was their comprehension of the Heavenly Daos.
Comprehending the profundities of life and death sounded simple. A Netherpassage expert could simply transmit their comprehension to their descendants, couldn’t they?
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. No Netherpassage expert would pass on their comprehension to their descendants. If they did that, they would lose those descendants.
The reason was that in the Netherpassage realm, each person’s comprehension of life and death would be different. The cultivation world had such a saying: there were as many Daos as there were cultivators. Each person’s Dao was unique.
Each person cultivated differently. Each person’s personality was different. Each person went through different experiences. This resulted in different understandings of the Heavenly Daos. In the end, each person’s view of life and death was also different.
That was why there was no way to rely on external power to charge into the Netherpassage realm. You could only rely on yourself. You had to find that spark of enlightenment, and that wasn’t something that could be forced.
It was unknown just how many amazing geniuses had had their paths severed by the merciless wall which was the Netherpassage realm.
To comprehend the mysteries of life and death was far too difficult. This place had gathered over a hundred thousand Life Star experts. Of course, after Long Chen and Liu Ruyan’s attacks, they had been cut down to under a hundred thousand.
However, despite that, despite there being around ten thousand of them that had reached the late Life Star realm, hardly any of them had reached the peak of the Life Star realm like the palace master or the Corrupt elder. They numbered in the dozens.
Each of those people was a monster that had lived for who knew how many years. They had already grown numb to their own age. Each day that passed was another day of their longevity gone. They had lost hope of ever advancing to Netherpassage.
Less than one in ten thousand Life Star experts would advance to Netherpassage. It was a completely monstrous proportion.
=== Death and Rebirth ===
As for the old man, he had yet to truly reach Netherpassage. He had only taken the first step, which was to achieve his own understanding of life and death.
To truly advance, there was another requirement. This requirement was even more monstrous. He had to ‘die’ once.
Only by dying and being reborn could one enter Netherpassage. If you died and weren’t reborn, then you would truly be dead. The chances of dying on this step were very high.
As for the details regarding this, only Netherpassage experts knew them, and they were secrets that were not transmitted. So in the outside world, the Netherpassage realm was an unattainable dream.
=== Examining souls ===
Long Chen was startled. Hadn’t Qu Jianying just arrived? How did she seem to know about everything?
“You’re underestimating the Life and Death Dao. Netherpassage experts that have gone through the Nethergate can randomly examine other people’s souls. Only a few people can avoid her probing,” explained Li Tianxuan upon seeing his shock.
Long Chen’s heart shook. The Netherpassage realm was even more terrifying than he had imagined. So she was actually able to peer into other people’s memories without them even being aware.
== Rarity ==
Netherpassage experts were rare even within the entire continent. They were figures that could shake the continent.
It wasn’t just because they were so powerful themselves. Another reason was because Netherpassage experts could unleash the greatest power from divine items. They could cause irreparable damage to the very land.
Netherpassage experts would rarely ever reveal themselves.
== Life seed ==
When attacking the Netherpassage realm, the body would die. However, there would be a small seed of life left behind. Without this seed, it would be impossible to return from the Netherworld. Only a Netherpassage expert who had succeeded would be able to return and activate the seed of life, completing a full nirvanic rebirth. 
However, if you died in the Netherworld, that seed of life would vanish. That was true death.
== Three Realms ==
The Netherpassage realm had three realms inside: the Life realm, the Death realm, and the Samsara realm.
When Netherpassage experts first broke through to the Netherpassage realm, they would be able to control life and death energy. Their life energy and their death energy would be balanced. This was the realm that ordinary Netherpassage experts were at and was the first step.
Once their realm was stabilized, they could proceed with the second step, the Life realm. They would use their life energy to suppress their death energy. The original proportion of life energy to death energy was fifty-fifty, but to reach the peak of the Life realm, they had to make the proportion ninety-ten. 
Netherpassage experts that had reached the peak of the Life realm had practically endless life force. Severed limbs could be regrown with barely any effort.
However, once their life energy had reached a peak, the next step was the Death realm. 
The Death realm’s principles were the same as the Life realm. The only difference was that it was the death energy that suppressed the life energy. The peak was to have ninety percent death energy and ten percent life energy.
The Life realm wasn’t dangerous, but the Death realm was very terrifying. The stronger a person’s death energy grew, the more it exhausted their life energy.
Some people would only be able to reach 70% death energy before reaching their limit. If they pushed it, their death energy would exhaust all their longevity and they would die.
Many Netherpassage experts were stuck at seventy percent death energy and unable to continue cultivating. If they continued, it would be no different from suicide.
However, Yan Nantian’s attack just now had clearly shown that his death energy had reached the peak of the Death realm. In other words, he was at the peak of the third step. One more step and he would reach the Samsara realm.
These were the three realms in the Netherpassage realm, but the majority of Netherpassage experts were unable to even step into them. They were still stuck on the first step, stabilizing their life and death energy. They couldn’t even step into the initial Life realm without wasting countless years.
However, Yan Nantian had already reached the peak of the third step. That was enough to shock countless people.
Unfortunately, they also saw that Yan Nantian’s longevity had almost come to an end due to this. It had reached the point that he was no longer able to balance his life energy and death energy. There was no way for him to enter the Samsara realm.
That was why they dared to speak up against Yan Nantian. So what if he was so powerful? His longevity was about to run out. If he were to fight, it would quicken that process.
It wouldn’t be long before he would be dead. At that time, what would his precious disciples and descendants do? Wouldn’t they be slaughtered by them?
His meaning was obvious. They shouldn’t go too far because all he had left was this one life, and he didn’t have any misgivings. He would kill them if they made him. If they forced him, he would even kill his way to their nest. In any case, he wouldn’t be alive for much longer, so what was there for him to fear?
Those experts became gloomy. The most fearsome existences were always those who were unafraid of losing their lives. Yan Nantian was such an existence.
==References==