Chapter 364
Chapter 364
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 365
Chapter Title: Skeleton True King
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Granny Sha summoned the five great ghost kings, who transported the altar into the underworld. On the first layer, she set up the Supreme Unity Soul-Summoning Elixir Formation and erected six soul-summoning banners.
On the second layer, she had Chen Tang prepare some soil from their hometown and cut out paper figures to serve as substitutes for body and soul. On the third layer, she laid out the Supreme Emperor's Soul-Summoning Decree, positioning the five ghosts at the five sacred mountains' orientations.
She drew the True Forms of the Five Sacred Mountains and the Five Emperors diagrams on their bodies, and they chanted verses from the Songs of Chu.
She held the King Wen drum in her hand, ascended the third-layer altar, first unleashed various soul-summoning talismans and seals to connect with Mount E'du, then performed the Five Elements Soul-Summoning Ritual, beginning the summoning.
Ordinary soul-summoning shamans only knew a scant few methods like soul-summoning talismans and spirit-guiding talismans, but Granny Sha's elaborate array employed a dazzling array of soul arts, leaving onlookers in awe.
Even Chen Tang couldn't recognize seven or eight of the spells.
"This time, as long as it's not the King of Hell holding him prisoner, we should be able to summon Little Ten's primordial spirit no matter what!"
His heart was filled with unease, wondering what mishap had befallen Chen Shi.
Meanwhile, between the Yin Mountains, thick fog blanketed the heavens, with the mist roiling overhead.
Whoosh—a massive, thick tentacle of flesh and blood shot out from the fog, lunging toward Xiang Kun and the others below!
Xiang Kun activated his innate divine ability, and the fleshy tentacle suddenly veered out of control, stabbing to one side. The earth shook violently as the tentacle plunged into the ground, shattering rocks that flew in all directions!
Xiang Kun was jolted backward, while other tentacles tumbled from the sky. You Huan roared, spinning his body once, summoning turtle-snake greatshields from all directions. The tentacles smashed against the shields with resounding clangs, then shattered.
The group seized the chance to dash forward swiftly.
The Enchanting Witch, with four legs and eight arms, shook her body, releasing one ghost infant after another that pounced onto the massive tentacles falling from the air. The ghost infants tore and bit fiercely, but couldn't chew through the flesh. Instead, tendrils of wriggling meat sprouts shot out from the flesh, piercing the ghost infants through.
Crimson Venerable took a step, and lotuses of blazing fire rose like stepping stones, exploding in midair in an attempt to roast the flesh. Yet tentacles kept falling relentlessly, piercing through the explosive inferno to assail them.
Their innate divine abilities were indeed overwhelmingly powerful. At sixfold bloodline, their divine powers rivaled the spells of the Three Corpses Realm in the Body Integration stage, but against the out-of-control flesh of Innocent Daoist, they still couldn't hold their own.
Suddenly, a tentacle descended from the heavens, slamming into You Huan's turtle-snake greatshield with a boom. Then slender tentacles burst out in all directions, transforming into countless hair-thin meat sprouts that stabbed toward the group.
Crimson Venerable spat a great burst of fire from his mouth, but the meat sprouts broke through the flames, burrowing into his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.
Crimson Venerable's eyes rolled back white, his body flying up uncontrollably, a look of pleasure on his face.
"I'm ascending, brothers." Xiang Kun's face showed the same blissful expression, his nape impaled with tentacle-like meat sprouts as he floated into the air, laughing.
At the same time, Gou Xi's dual blades were entwined by tentacles, and he too succumbed, beaming with great joy as he cried, "So this is merging with the Great Dao of heaven and earth! I've comprehended it, comprehended it!"
Right Concubine fired arrows left and right, her body covered in innate patterns. She raised her hand to yank down bolts of lightning, striking the writhing tentacles, snarling, "Beast, what have you comprehended? You've been hit—haha, I've comprehended it! This is the mystery of the ancient immortals! Everyone, abandon resistance at once and unite in ascension!"
Her face was covered in blood, her cranial crown pierced open by a tentacle.
The others teetered on the brink of disaster when a sword light streaked in, severing the meat sprouts one by one. Skeleton Chen Shi pinched a sword formula with his hand, treading lightning as he sped through the air, wielding the True Martial Evil-Exterminating Sword. Sword light flashed like beams of light and electricity, then a sword qi over ten zhang long whistled along the ground in a sweeping howl.
Countless withered bones charging from the distant fog had their legs or feet severed, collapsing in heaps.
Wen Wuyu charged in from the other side, linking up with him.
The fog was utterly bizarre, capable of resurrecting the dead. Moments ago, they had encountered a powerful ghost clan expert risen from death, crawling from its grave with flesh rotting all over. Chen Shi and Wen Wuyu had joined forces to cover the rear, finally slaying it.
But in that brief interval, the others had already fallen victim.
They regrouped, dispelling the surrounding fog while fixing on a direction to press forward.
Mountains layered upon mountains all around, with soul-seizing roars echoing sporadically—the cries of the resurrected dead.
Suddenly, Chen Shi's body shuddered violently, his primordial spirit yanked backward by an invisible force, flying out from within him.
Chen Shi roared in fury, forcibly resisting the immense pull and returning to his skeletal body. He reached out, grasping the True Martial Evil-Exterminating Sword and sacrificing Lady Shi Ji!
Lady Shi Ji bellowed, unleashing her Ghost God Domain. In an instant, all the fleshy tentacles around petrified, the petrification swiftly spreading along them into the distance.
Cracking sounds like splitting ice echoed from the sky.
Lady Shi Ji's expression shifted slightly. "Run, quick!"
The group seized the opportunity to sprint forward madly.
Amid the heavy fog, colossal monstrosities of bizarre shapes burst from the earth one after another, rising from bone burial grounds to pounce on them.
"Shi Ji! Absorb their bones!" Chen Shi shouted.
Lady Shi Ji channeled her divine power, and stone essence flew from the surfaces of the corpses. But in the next moment, dazzling divine patterns emerged on the bones, preventing her from absorbing them for the time being.
Lady Shi Ji covered the rear, blocking assaults from these deceased ghost gods.
Suddenly, an even more astonishing force tugged at Chen Shi's primordial spirit, pulling it outward!
"Granny Sha was never reliable before—why is she so reliable this time?"
Chen Shi gritted his teeth, struggling forward and forcibly merging with his skeleton once more.
The sight filled the others with dread. Chen Shi's little temple followed his primordial spirit, not his skeletal body. If his primordial spirit were dragged away, the little temple would go with it.
They were relying mainly on Lady Shi Ji and Chen Shi's True Martial Evil-Exterminating Sword for protection. Without the two, calamity would surely engulf them!
Crack!
The explosive cracks from the thick fog in the sky grew ever denser. Suddenly, the petrified flesh hidden in the fog reverted swiftly to its bloody form, pressing downward.
Lady Shi Ji expanded her Ghost God Domain again, petrifying the surging fleshy tentacles overhead.
Innocent Daoist's voice came from afar. "Looks like there's a fellow Daoist here unwilling to ascend! Ascension is wonderful—free and unfettered afterward, merging with the Great Dao of heaven and earth! I am the Dao now, I am the heavens!"
He approached with terrifying speed, heading straight for them.
Lady Shi Ji's face changed drastically, sensing her loyalty draining rapidly.
"For the sake of the upper emissary treating me decently, I'll hold on a bit longer!"
She clenched her teeth, thinking to herself, "But it seems Innocent Daoist has his eyes on me—fine then, I'll fight him to the death!"
In the underworld, atop the high ridge.
Granny Sha stood on the altar, frowning slightly. Her two prior soul-summoning attempts had been blocked by some unfathomably powerful force, preventing her from recalling Chen Shi's primordial spirit.
"Auntie Qiutong."
Chen Tang below the platform was somewhat anxious, clearing his throat. "Run into some trouble?"
Granny Sha steadied her mind. "A minor snag, but solvable. I sense Little Ten's primordial spirit loosening. The ghost god opposing me is strong, but not by much stronger than I."
She sneered. "I've always done business without capital, never offering sacrifices when summoning souls for others. But this time, meeting a worthy foe, I have no choice but to offer them!"
With a command, the five ghosts rode howling yin winds away. Soon, oxen, sheep, pigs, and horses appeared on the altar.
Granny Sha said, "Little Tang, don't just stand by watching while I summon. You're his father—call his name. A voice from closest kin can boost the odds of success."
Chen Tang assented.
Granny Sha merged with her primordial spirit, transforming into a hundred-zhang imperial maiden, elevating her cultivation to the utmost. She drew the power of the underworld's Great Dao into herself, activating the altar and sacrificing the pigs, horses, oxen, and sheep.
As the great soul-summoning ritual unfolded, powers of the Five Mountains Emperors, Supreme Unity Heavenly Venerable, Supreme Emperor, Shan Du, and more were all mobilized by Granny Sha, surging into an overwhelming force!
At the same time, Chen Tang called out Chen Shi's childhood name, his calls merging with that power and surging forth.
At this critical juncture for Chen Shi, Xiang Kun, and the rest, Chen Shi's body suddenly blazed with light. Ancient deities from华夏 crossed space and time, their powers descending upon him.
Simultaneously, the sky-filling writhing flesh hidden in the fog plummeted downward, contracting like a pair of wings.
Innocent Daoist appeared before them. The little Daoist boy was half human, half skeleton, but now filled with wriggling flesh,勉强 forming a humanoid shape. At the body's edges, however, flesh proliferated in all directions, like enormous wings of blood and meat.
With a slight flap of the wings, heaven and earth trembled.
"Too strong!" Lady Shi Ji's eye twitched wildly.
Innocent Daoist had long been dead; this version was a resurrected corpse, corrupted and evil. Ignoring Chen Shi and the others, his gaze fell on Lady Shi Ji, lighting up as he laughed. "Fellow Daoist, you're a dead body too, forcibly sustained by incense—nothing but added torment. Why not fuse with me and merge with this heaven and earth?"
Thrilled beyond measure, he swung his massive flesh wings forward.
Lady Shi Ji bellowed, pushing her cultivation to the limit!
Chen Shi grunted, his primordial spirit yanked from the skeleton. He seized the True Martial Evil-Exterminating Sword and thrust it into the ground with force, resisting Granny Sha's summoning!
Whoosh—the flesh wings of Innocent Daoist bore down with world-shattering power, engulfing them!
Chen Shi roared, mustering his last shred of power to sacrifice the white-clad immortal maiden lying in the main divine shrine of the little temple.
The immortal maiden had been dozing lightly. Sacrificed into the air, she looked puzzled at first, but seeing the horrific flesh wings approaching, she floated up without hesitation, waving her sleeve to meet them.
Boom!
Immortal radiance bloomed brilliantly, sweeping away all fog within hundreds of li. Vast swaths of flesh wings exploded, blood and meat spraying everywhere.
Innocent Daoist's body jolted massively, sent hurtling backward into the fog.
The mist moon hanging over the Yin Mountains suddenly roiled, its ninefold pupils swiveling with a roll to gaze this way.
The group stared in shock and uncertainty at the white-clad woman floating in the air.
Chen Shi could hold out no longer. "Wen Wuyu, I'm leaving this to you! Escort them to the Heavenly Pool capital!"
Wen Wuyu cried in alarm upon hearing this. "No way! I can't hold it alone! If you're leaving, I'm leaving too!"
Crown Prince Xiang Kun and the others' hearts sank.
Wen Wuyu had countless tricks up her sleeve; with her staying, their chances of climbing Boundless Cliff alive and returning to the Heavenly Pool capital were greater. But if both Chen Shi and Wen Wuyu left, they feared they wouldn't last long in the misty moonlit night.
"Wuyu, I'm counting on you." Chen Shi looked toward Wen Wuyu.
Wen Wuyu met his gaze, bit her lip, and nodded as if possessed.
Chen Shi could no longer resist the summoning divine power, releasing his grip. His voice echoed from the fog.
"I'll leave a wisp of thought behind, vowing to guard you all to the death, escorting you safely back to the capital—" As his primordial spirit flew away, whoosh whoosh—Lady Shi Ji and the white-clad immortal maiden turned into two rays of light in succession, vanishing into the little temple behind his primordial spirit's mind, leaving only Wen Wuyu, Xiang Kun, Right Concubine, and the rest.
Xiang Kun, Right Concubine, and the others looked ghastly pale, covered in wounds. They had been ambushed by Feather Kingdom experts before; now traversing the fog again, facing powerful ghost clan experts risen from death, they likely wouldn't hold out far.
Clang!
A crisp sword cry rang out. Skeleton Chen Shi pulled the True Martial Evil-Exterminating Sword from the ground with a whoosh, and a blood lake hell materialized behind his skull, spinning endlessly.
"Go."
Skeleton Chen Shi advanced with sword in hand. "Follow Us and kill our way back!"
Wen Wuyu steadied her mind, following behind him and waving her hand. "Go— to the capital!"
Xiang Kun, Right Concubine, and the others stepped forward to follow.
Rumbling vibrations came from ahead as a great clan's powerhouse reached out from the abyss, crawling out. Boar-headed and human-bodied, his body ragged and torn, rotting flesh exposing white bone in places.
But now he lived again, divine patterns of the great boar clan emerging on his bones and skin.
His bloodline had awakened sevenfold; body like a mountain, he hefted a massive spiked club, thundering toward them step by step before swinging it down with a whoosh!
Skeleton Chen Shi accelerated fiercely, charging straight at the falling spiked club. Just as it seemed he'd be smashed to bits, lightning flashed underfoot. At the instant the club descended, he leaped before the great clan powerhouse, sword light slashing down!
The great boar clan powerhouse roared. The flesh on his left half vanished under the immortal sword's glow, leaving only half a skeleton, while the other half remained intact.
Skeleton Chen Shi swung his sword in a howling rotation, sweeping backward. Withered bones surging from the fog all around had their legs or waists severed by the sword light.
Skeleton Chen Shi madly punched out, unleashing countless blows on the great clan powerhouse's jaw, battering the massive ghost god's head to tilt sideways repeatedly until crack—its neck bone snapped, head twisting behind its body, tilting uncontrollably.
He crashed down, sprawling on the ground—half skeleton, half flesh—struggling to rise. Skeleton Chen Shi seized his head.
He raised his hand, and the True Martial Evil-Exterminating Sword flew to him.
Skeleton Chen Shi gripped the hilt and swung, decapitating him, then kicked the headless corpse into the nearby abyss. He tossed the head after it.
Xiang Kun and the others watched, hearts pounding in awe.
Suddenly, Skeleton Chen Shi's jaws parted in a silent furious roar, charging forward sword-first.
The group hurried to follow. Ahead, blood filled the sky as Skeleton Chen Shi unfurled his blood lake hell. Ghost gods rose one after another from the lake, pouncing on the dead surging from all directions.
Wen Wuyu, Xiang Kun, and the others shouted battle cries, joining the fray and charging into the vast fog.
Whether they could break through the encirclement, whether they could escape the fog alive—they didn't give it a thought, only wanting to follow this skeleton into endless slaughter!
Wounds and blood covered them; this path of killing had exhausted their strength, muscles aching as if each bore a great mountain. They longed to collapse to their knees and lie still. But Skeleton Chen Shi ahead pressed on sword in hand, hacking through thorns tirelessly, as if he could battle forever!
They clenched their teeth and persevered, supporting each other as they advanced.
By midnight, Wen Wuyu's mana was depleted, her strength gone; she could only watch wide-eyed as Skeleton Chen Shi killed front and back, charging relentlessly.
The greatest dangers weren't the eightfold bloodline dead, nor the terrifying ninefold existences, but the dead beside massive remains,
exuding auras near that of immortals.
When Wen Wuyu approached such a spot, she despaired, certain of death. Yet Skeleton Chen Shi was keenly perceptive, carefully skirting these places in the fog, forging a safe path amid perils.
Finally, they reached Boundless Cliff.
Heavenly gods nailed dead to Boundless Cliff had resurrected, struggling atop it with earth-shaking roars.
Skeleton Chen Shi led them in climbing Boundless Cliff. Amid their pounding hearts, they safely crested the ridge.
They pressed on, traversing swaths of eerily evil Heavenly Pool lands.
At dawn, the mist moon faded, the fog gradually dissipating. Only then did Heavenly Pool Kingdom's people dare emerge from their homes, gazing at the outside world.
Then they saw a skeleton marching sword in hand, escorting the battered young powerhouses like Xiang Kun and the Enchanting Witch along the great avenue of the Heavenly Pool capital.
Ghosts, monsters, and gods great and small all turned to look as they advanced to the palace outskirts.
Suddenly, Skeleton Chen Shi halted, the spinning blood lake extinguishing like a body relieved of all power. With a clatter, his bones shattered across the ground, the True Martial Evil-Exterminating Sword clanging down beside them.
He had endured the most battles, all his bones long shattered, held together only by a lingering thought.
Now that thought dispersed, so did the body.
Yet Xiang Kun and the others stood guard beside the pile of shattered bones, barring any ghost gods from approaching.
They guarded for many days until one day, the heap of fragments rattled faintly, vibrating softly.
Xiang Kun and the ghost gods brimmed with excitement.
"He's back!"
They gazed at the pile of broken bones.
Their true king was about to return.