Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The mountainous Seal of Mountains and Rivers flew high into the air before falling again loudly.
The ground shook, and the hills collapsed. Wherever it reached, Corpse Soldiers were all crushed or sent flying, leaving behind huge words on the ground.
Having lost the leadership of the Corpse Generals, the million-strong army immediately fell into disunity. In the blink of an eye, most of them had been wiped out.
He fought an army of a million alone. Just saying that was breathtaking, let alone witnessing it in person.
In the presence of a beauty, the Marquis of Ruyi obviously had to properly show off.
If she had been an ordinary woman, then she definitely would have been swept off her feet by such a lofty approach.
Strength had always been the greatest charm of a man.
Gu Yanying watched with a smile and said nothing.
She held a bronze coin in her hands hidden within her sleeves. It constantly rolled and jerked between her ten slender fingers as she tried divining.
She was slightly surprised. According to the divination, the situation was supposed to become even more dangerous for some reason.
At the same time, Li Qingshan also sensed the omen of warning rapidly increasing, gradually reaching the cusp of danger.
That’s strength. The million-strong army has been destroyed, and the withered hand has been forced back into the Hungry Ghost realm. It hasn’t sent out any more soldiers either. Once the Dark Queen arrives and we seal up this Gate of Hungry Ghosts, wouldn’t it all be over? There must be something else!
Gu Yanying looked back, into the distance.
A splendid carriage glided across the horizon.
The four large, fine horses that pulled the carriage were all half-transparent. Their hair drifted about like drizzling rain as they moved lithely and silently. They were fast and agile.
The curtain of the carriage was lifted up, revealing a cold noble face that gazed in the direction of Burial Mound mountain. A cat’s head poked out from beside her, also looking with her.
The Dark Queen frowned slightly. She had never thought it would have opened to such a degree already in such a short amount of time. The rate at which the six realms of sa?sāra eroded the worlds was increasing.
Seeing the Marquis of Ruyi’s actions, the Dark Queen’s expression changed slightly. Oh no.
A million Corpse Soldiers and a hundred Corpse Generals had all died in this hilly region. They had been killed, but the corpse qi in their bodies permeated the surroundings, shrouding it with a layer of thick, black mist.
The land strewn with corpses vaguely resembled the sight of the Hungry Ghost realm that Li Qingshan had witnessed.
The dark clouds and mist in the air suddenly began to withdraw. It gushed into the Gate of Hungry Ghosts even faster than when it erupted out.
Fierce winds surged and the surroundings cleared and brightened up.
Liu Zhangqing and the other cultivators became relieved. As it seemed, the Corpse King was at the end of his wits and chose to give up.
Li Qingshan and Hua Chengzan exchanged a glance, both shocked.
They had personally witnessed how the Gate of Hungry Ghosts had opened, how it first sucked away all the yin qi and corpse qi on Burial Mound mountain.
This was definitely not giving up, but the signs before an even more intense eruption.
“Be careful!”
The ground trembled like a primordial being was awakening from its slumber to destroy this world.
Suddenly, Li Qingshan realised something. Perhaps this was all the Corpse King’s plan. The several million Corpse Soldiers and the hundred Corpse Generals were all just sacrifices.
The trembling abruptly stopped, and the Gate of Hungry Ghosts suddenly expanded to ten times its size, but it remained silent, giving off an uncomfortable feeling of disparity.
The surroundings darkened all of a sudden.
Li Qingshan blinked his eyes only to see black mist pour out in all directions like a flood. It had reached fifty kilometers away in the blink of an eye.
A crystal coffin flew high into the air in the centre of the darkness.
The translucent, crystal coffin refracted the sunlight to shine with rainbow colours.
A beautiful woman in violet slept silently. Her eyelashes trembled before her eyes snapped open.
Crack! A fracture appeared on the crystal coffin, rapidly spreading and covering the entire coffin.
Clink!
With the gentle, crisp sound like a glass cup falling to the ground, the crystal coffin scattered as white powder.
“Zi’er!”
Ma Chaoqun climbed out of the pit. Corpse qi had corrupted his entire body. All of his flesh had withered as if he had become an old man. He reached towards the sky as a few droplets of hot tears rolled down his cheeks.
“Ma Chaoqun, I’ve done what I promised you.” A thunderous voice erupted from the pit.
“Yes. Thank you, sir. Are you seeing this, Yu Shukuang? Hahahaha!”
Like a madman, Ma Chaoqun swung his arms about in the air. He staggered and fell backwards into the huge, gaping Gate of Hungry Ghosts. He could feel his soul being drawn away from his body bit by bit.
When the Gate of Hungry Ghosts erupted, he resided in the boundary between the Hungry Ghost realm and the World of the Nine Provinces. Although he was under the intentional protection of the Corpse King, he was far too weak. The aura of death had already invaded his body deeply, sapping away his last shred of life. He had simply clung on with willpower alone.
Now that the will had been fulfilled, he immediately arrived at the end of his life.
Gazing at the sky, the beautiful figure seemed to be cloaked in a halo under the sunlight before gradually blurring.
“Zi’er, I’m sorry!”
Had she really been revived? Was she still her after being revived?
Ma Chaoqun did not think about it. He refused to think about it. Perhaps what he was after in the end with all of his efforts was not to take off as a pair and fall in love again, but to say those two words to her.
Darkness enveloped all.
Zi’er lowered her head and gazed into the Gate of Hungry Ghosts. The figure had already vanished into the darkness. She clutched her heart as it ached slightly.
A shadow loomed overhead. The Seal of Mountains and Rivers crushed down like a mountain.
Gu Yanying frowned. She actually found the female zombie that had just been revived rather dangerous. The jade folding fan opened with a flap and invisible strands of atmospheric winds surged out, slicing through everything.
Han Anguo stood tall and strong, rushing into the air and thrusting his spear towards Zi’er.
When the three of them worked together, even the Corpse King had suffered.
Zi’er raised her head. All that was left in her eyes were the whites. She threw a punch at the Seal of Mountains and Rivers.
Compared to the colossal Seal of Mountains and Rivers, her slender arm was basically a living example of the idiom “a mantis trying to stop a chariot”.
The Marquis of Ruyi bellowed out, “Die!”
Boom!
Rings of light rippled into the surroundings, and the Seal of Mountains and Rivers flew back up. Disbelief filled the Marquis of Ruyi’s face. His chest suddenly ached as a metallic sweetness filled his mouth.
He summoned the Seal of Mountains and Rivers back into his hand, only to see a small, sunken mark at the bottom of the seal. At a closer glance, it was clearly the imprint of a fist.
The power behind Zi’er’s punch had actually been unbelievably great. After throwing the punch, she used the knockback force to fly down before suddenly raising her body, like her body had snapped in half. The atmospheric winds whistled past her ears.
Afterwards, she reached behind and grabbed the spear before turning around and sending Han Anguo flying. She completely avoided the tip of the spear.
Her actions were very stiff, completely ignoring fluidity. They seemed extremely abrupt, but they were extremely clever too.
Li Qingshan noticed that a wisp of black smoke had extended out from Zi’er’s back before he knew it, directly leading to the depths of the Gate of Hungry Ghosts. The Corpse King had definitely not revived Ma Chaoqun’s lover out of kindness. Instead, he used her as a puppet.
The three of them were basically clashing with the Corpse King now. In terms of pure strength, “Zi’er” did not possess the power to crush any one of them, but the Corpse King was now free from the restraints of the Gate of Hungry Ghosts, allowing him to unleash all of his skills in battle.
“Severe the smoke on her back!”
A noble woman descended from above. She reached out from afar, and a colossal ghost vaguely appeared behind her, extending its huge, phantasmal hand. It whistled over, targeting exactly the black smoke. It vaguely resembled the might of the Corpse King’s huge, withered hand.
“That’s Xuanyue’s master, the Dark Queen! She sure is powerful!” Li Qingshan lamented inside. He discovered that despite all being second heavenly tribulation Golden Core cultivators, their strength still differed drastically. With that attack alone, even ten Wen Zhengmings would not be her opponent.
The moment the Dark Queen appeared, Xiao An became stunned. She walked out of her hiding spot unwittingly and stared at the figure in the sky. Memories surged out like the tide, smashing against the icebound ocean and riddling the frozen surface with cracks. Ever since she had begun practising the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty, she had never responded so violently to anyone apart from Li Qingshan.
She clutched her head and crouched down, experiencing a wave of pain for the first time in quite a long while. Her head felt like it was about to split open.
So familiar. Who is she? I clearly know…
However, Xiao An never gave off any aura in the first place, and the region was shrouded in black mist, so no one noticed her existence.
Zi’er suddenly descended. It seemed less like flying and more like being dragged down, avoiding the huge, phantasmal hand.
“Hmm?” The Dark Queen’s heart skipped a beat, and she suddenly turned around, gazing into the distance. Something seemed to be there, but she was unable to make it out through the black mist.
She had no time to check amidst the battle. After being momentarily distracted, she turned around again and looked at Zi’er. Out of everyone present, she knew best that opening a Gate of Hungry Ghosts to the point where Corpse Kings could pass through was anything but easy. That would be something that impinge on the laws of this world, resulting in many limitations.
Among the many demonic sects of the past, there had been many uncontrollable people of absolute lawlessness. However, only the Umbral Yin sect had ever used opening the Gate of Hungry Ghosts as a threat.
As long as “kings” were unable to enter, then they would not be able to shake the foundations of the nine provinces. No matter how many Corpse Soldiers, Corpse Generals, or even Corpse Commanders they sent out, they would struggle to escape the fate of being destroyed.
But if a Corpse King tried squeezing in from the outside, it would block the Gate of Hungry Ghosts, and its subordinate undead would not be able to enter. Defeat would be guaranteed once again if time went on.
The Corpse King had carefully nurtured a corpse as a “puppet” before using a thread of its aura to control it. It gave the undead sufficient space to enter through, and it could lead the undead. It was basically the best of both worlds. If they could not kill this “puppet” as soon as possible, it would become troublesome.
Gu Yanying rushed over with a flash, swinging her fan at the wisp of black smoke.
A hideous, winged corpse beast with pieces of flesh clinging from its bone charged out of the Gate of Hungry Ghosts. Leaving behind a trail of black smoke, it lifted Zi’er onto its back and bit at Gu Yanying vicious.
Corpse Commander! Gu Yanying shivered inside and retreated.
Within the black mist, another man dressed as a mourning son with a white mourning hood and wielding a mourning stick stumbled out from the Gate of Hungry Ghosts. Apart from having a pale complexion, he seemed no different from a living person, but the aura he gave off left everyone present stunned.
TL: The corpse is dressed in a way where it’s basically mourning for the death of its parent(s). The Chinese mourning attire in this case looks like this:
And a mourning stick looks like this:
A Corpse Commander had finally appeared.
The man looked around, and his expression suddenly underwent a startling series of changes. His eyebrows drooped down, and his mouth opened slightly, making a human expression of great grief as he began wailing in tears.
“You’ve all died so tragically!”
