Seeing how timid—or rather, how terrified the nether spirits were when they call him Great Immortal, Albion wondered if they were frequently oppressed or terrorized by one.

“You don’t need to be afraid. I am not one to pick fights or bully those who treat me kindly and not offend me,” Albion tried to comfort the trembling nether spirits. 

However, his words had little effect in easing their discomfort; so long as he was present, the nether spirits would never feel at ease.

“I-it’s good t-to see a w-well-manner Great Immortal such as yourself, Great Immortal. Would you like to come into our humble village first? Although w-we don’t have much to offer, w-we will do our best to accommodate y-your needs, Great Immortal.” 

The elderly nether spirit spoke with a shivering tone despite doing his best to appear comforted after Albion had spoken. 

However, Albion shook his head helplessly and said, “It’s fine. I’ll just ask some questions here and be on my way.”

“O-of course, if it is your wish, Great Immortal,” the nether spirits lowered their heads and awaited his question. 

After glancing around the vicinity of the small village for a moment, Albion said, “I can see that your small village collects Nethersoul Grass. Where are you getting them?” 

“W-we cultivate them on the fields around the village o-ourselves, Great Immortal. R-right now is the h-harvesting period, so you won’t see any more Nethersoul Grass on the field; Su-Keemer’s basket should be the last batch,” the elderly nether spirit stated. 

After hearing that, Albion revealed strong interest in the cultivation method of the Nethersoul Grass. 

“Oh? Is that so? Who knew that a small village like this could cultivate something like Nethersoul Grass? Your village is more extraordinary than it seems,” Albion said thoughtfully. 

Nethersoul Grass, or rather most soul-type spirit herbs and nether herbs, don’t usually have seeds, so they were not sustainable. 

“N-not at all, Great Immortal. We are not capable enough to cultivate the Nethersoul Grass on our own; the Lord of Netherglow City entrusted us to grow the Nethersoul Grass and collects all of them on the Night of Harvest,” the elderly nether spirit said with his head lowered. 

“Which means the Lord of Netherglow City knows the method for creating Nethersoul Grass Seeds, huh?” Albion muttered to himself before he suddenly thought of something.

“You said that your village has to hand in all the Nethersoul Grass the Lord of Netherglow City entrusts you to grow. Does that mean you receive another form of compensation for your labor?” 

“N-none, Great Immortal. T-the Lord Netherglow City does not reward us, but there’s nothing w-we can do either. The Lord of Netherglow City rules this region, so we c-can only obey if w-we want to live.”

“In other words, you are forced to do free labor… Isn’t this just slavery? What a shitty boss.” 

Albion furrowed his brows. 

Even the scummy sweatshop owners would at least pay their workers, even if they were severe underpayments.

Nevertheless, when the nether spirit villagers heard Albion openly curse the Lord of Netherglow City, they trembled with so much fear that they failed to keep standing. 

Their weakened knees caused them all to drop to the ground while their eyes darted left and right to see if any envoys from Netherglow City overheard them.

“G-Great Immortal! The Lord of Netherglow City is not s-someone y-you can casually offend! If news of you openly cursing him made its way to his ears, the Lord of Netherglow City w-will turn you into an ingredient f-for the Nethersoul Grass!” 

The elderly nether spirit said with a horrified look. 

Nevertheless, Albion learned a vital piece of information from the elderly nether spirit’s warning; the secret ingredient for producing the Nethersoul Grass Seeds came from other nether spirits!

“Is that so? I would like to see that bastard try,” Albion smiled confidently. 

He did not shy away and even challenged the Lord of Netherglow City’s authority, causing the nether spirit villagers to become even more horrified as they prostrated on the ground in front of him.

“G-Great Immortal! W-we b-beg you! P-please have mercy on our s-small village! Even if y-you are tired of living, w-we don’t want to go down w-with you!” the nether spirit villagers pleaded pitifully.

Sooner or later, the Great Immortal will get them all killed; they have to stop the person from courting death.

“Tonight is exactly the N-night of Harvest, Great Immortal. The g-grass collectors will be here any moment! I-if you k-keep cursing the lord, w-will all die!” 

“Oh? Who is cursing the lord?” 

Suddenly, a different voice sounded from the westside of the village shortly after the elderly nether spirit spoke, causing all the nether spirit villagers’ faces to pale with despair in an instance.

“I-it’s over…!”

Albion turned towards the source of the voice before he saw a group of large red-skinned nether spirits making their way over. 

They were only five of them, but every one of them was almost twice as big as the nether spirit villagers, making them look like giants.

At the same time, their auras were completely different from the timid villagers; they were all comparable to Spirit Manifestation Realm cultivators. 

“Interesting… If a mere group of grass collectors is already Spirit Manifestation Realm Experts, then the Lord of Netherglow City must be quite the bigshot,” Albion commented thoughtfully. 

It was quite the discovery for him. 

The Dark Emperor already had a tenth-stage Heavenly Immortal’s soul; thus, the Dark Emperor never needed to improve his soul and explore much of the Netherworld Realm beyond King Yama’s domain.

However, it was a different story for him, whose soul was lacking in comparison. 

If he absorbed the Dark Emperor’s entire soul fragments, he would most likely reach the same level of soul quality; but he will not do it.

He had another plan in mind. 

If he could raise his soul to tenth-stage Heavenly Immortal on his own before absorbing all of the Dark Emperor’s soul fragments, it might be possible to surpass the limit of tenth-stage Heavenly Immortal and reach an entirely new realm.

The grass collector group leader stopped in front of Albion with his tall build before looking down on him.

“Were you the one cursing the Lord of Netherglow City?” 

The tall nether spirit interrogated with a threatening tone before Albion immediately frowned with narrowed eyes.

“Our eyes don’t meet.”