Chapter 24

The White Tiger Divine Venerable actually bowed to Luohu in reverence like a courtier, utterly trampling the face of the entire White Tiger Divine Race beneath Luohu's feet.

Jian Bing Divine Lord roared in fury, triggering a heaven-shaking storm, his pupils fixed on Luohu like blazing suns.

Jian Bing Divine Lord berated Luohu, accusing him of serving as a servant despite his elder brother's status, swearing that the White Tiger Divine Race would never coexist with Luohu.

A tiger claw tore through the void, hurtling toward Luohu, its pressure locking down time and space—no small matter.

Yet, facing this attack, Luohu shielded himself with the Twelve-petal Thirty-six-petal Black Lotus, easily blocking it.

This scene stunned everyone present, who recognized it as the legendary Twelve-petal World-Destroying Black Lotus.

This lotus originated from the Chaos Green Lotus before the Primordial World's creation, shattering during the Creation of Heaven and Earth. Nine green lotus seeds fell into the Primordial World, giving rise to the four Twelve-Grade Lotus Platforms.

Each was a top-tier Innate Spiritual Treasure, comparable to an Innate Supreme Treasure.

The other three Twelve-Grade Lotus Platforms already had owners, while Luohu's Twelve-petal World-Destroying Black Lotus had never surfaced.

Though Jian Bing Divine Lord's attack was fierce, Luohu remained unscathed under the protection of the Twelve-petal World-Destroying Black Lotus.

As for the mysterious Twelve-petal World-Destroying Black Lotus, its last appearance was in Shen Ni's hands, but he seemed not to have valued it.

Now, this black lotus appeared in Luohu's grasp, its contained power provoking deep thought.

Jian Bing Divine Lord finally sensed the eerie force on him—the world-destroying power of the black lotus, inherently conflicting with his Wind of Creation origin.

In short, Luohu's possession of the black lotus gave him a natural advantage over Jian Bing Divine Lord.

Luohu's words cut through the silence like a blade's edge.

"It seems you've exhausted your tricks, leaving me somewhat disappointed."

Before his words ended, his expression shifted, turning startled and uncertain.

The Nameless Ascetic Monk and Jian Bing Divine Lord felt the same, especially the Nameless Ascetic Monk, who let out a miserable scream, sensing the crisis of the Sumeru Mountain Lineage's annihilation.

At this moment, an anomaly appeared in the Western Land—a boundless shadow spread over it.

The Buddha Dharma Image, formed from Buddhist destiny, shattered, leaving behind an illusory Buddha Shadow.

This scene seemed to confirm the Sumeru Mountain's doom.

Then, the Western Land underwent a transformation—a ghostly purple divine figure emerged, shocking Luohu at the sight.

Not long ago, as the battle in the Land of the Far West erupted, Tai Ming deemed the time ripe.

He summoned the Netherworld Ghost Seal, manifesting three thousand towering gates that blocked the sky.

This stunned the entire Primordial World, as all living beings received new divine path information—the Path of Ghosts and Gods.

The Ghost Dao follows heaven's mandate and arises.

Since the Primordial World's creation, countless beings have lain in eternal slumber here, awaiting awakening.

The Primordial World faced frequent wars, piling up souls and unbalancing Negative Energy.

In this era, the Ghost Dao's emergence became key to balancing Negative Energy, with the Western Land as its stage.

Meanwhile, the ghostly divine system caught the attention of Innate Divine Beings.

They observed three thousand gates opening, an army of Ghost Soldiers emerging from the Netherworld Ghost Seal, engulfing the entire Western Land.

Wherever Ghost Soldiers passed, all withered, but then the land revived, as billions of lingering souls were captured by Ghost Soldiers and brought back through the gates.

These souls became new Ghost Soldiers, bolstering the army's strength.

Even if Mighty Beings in the Western Land struck down Ghost Soldiers, they would reappear.

More terrifyingly, Ghost Generals and Ghost Kings began to appear among the Ghost Soldiers, equally undying.

Those not slaughtered by Ghost Soldiers were instead targeted by them.

If the ranks were insufficient, they doubled; if ordinary Ghost Soldiers couldn't handle it, they summoned Ghost Generals, or even Ghost Kings.

Facing Ghost Soldiers, daring to provoke them was already a gamble, let alone judging their destruction across heaven and earth.

Though not judges, Ghost Soldiers held the power to send people back to the Primordial World's heaven and earth.

But what was most fearsome wasn't their combat strength—it was the Negative Energy field they generated.

Once enveloped, even a Grand Unity God couldn't escape, as if branded with a Ghost Dao Imprint, drawing endless Ghost Soldiers to besiege them.

Even a Grand Unity God would find their scalp tingling at this sight, unable to abandon their Western base for elsewhere, nor knowing if Ghost Soldiers could track across regions.

When Ghost Soldier ranks already included Grand Unity Venerable God-level ghosts, whether Grand Unity God-level ghosts might appear remained unknown.

Thus, wherever Ghost Soldiers went, living beings fled in terror, and even Grand Unity Gods had to avoid their edge.

After who knows how long, the Western Land was completely overrun by Ghost Soldier ghosts and gods.

The schemer Tai Ming hadn't anticipated so many lingering souls buried beneath this land.

These souls weren't just remnants of those fallen in this Western Land battle, but accumulations from countless past conflicts.

The Innate Divine Beings' indifference to ordinary beings spanned multiple eras.

Today's situation was the result of long ages of buildup.

"The Primordial World's cruelty is plain to see!"

The anger and defiance born from ordinary beings will leave an indelible mark on the Ghost Soldiers.

The accumulation of Negative Energy grows ever greater. Those wandering souls and lingering spirits, reborn as ghosts and gods, seek their targets for vengeance. The three factions of the Western Land have now become the outlets for their fury.

Driven by the pull of karma and fate, aside from the White Tiger Divine Race, who have taken refuge in the Land of the Far West, both the Demonic Dao and Mount Sumeru cannot escape this calamity.

Though most of the Demonic Dao were taken by Rahu to the Land of the Far West, the annihilation of its remaining cultivators still deals a heavy blow to the sect.

The focus now narrows to the core of the story: the hidden lair of the Demon Ancestor Rahu, the Pure Land Buddhist Dao lineage of Mount Sumeru, and the clashes and growth of the newly emerged Ghost Dao lineage led by Tai Ming. To this day, no one knows the location of Rahu's secret stronghold, leaving all factions unable to act against him.

Among them, the Pure Land Buddhist Dao lineage of Mount Sumeru faces an unprecedented crisis.

They had assumed that while the Demonic Dao and the White Tiger Divine Race were locked in battle, they could sit back and reap the spoils.

Yet, unexpectedly, some audacious fool dared to strike at the heart of Mount Sumeru itself.

As the ancestral vein of the Western Land, Mount Sumeru has nowhere to hide. The Pure Land Buddhist Kingdom beneath it was unearthed and ransacked by the Ghost Soldiers, one temple after another.

Faced with this crisis, the Great Luo Buddha Venerables of Mount Sumeru burned with fury. All thirteen of them manifested in the world, sweeping through the Ghost Soldiers atop the mountain.

Though the vast army of Ghost Soldiers wielded formidable Negative Energy, enough to make even Great Luo deities wary, at the critical moment, the Great Luo Venerables unleashed their true power.

In the midst of this clash, many Innate Divine Beings watching from the shadows grew deeply intrigued by the newly emerged Ghost Dao lineage.

They wondered what kind of divine being had earned the recognition of Heaven's Mandate and carved out a new path of divinity.

At that moment, a ghostly purple divine figure emerged from behind the scenes—it was Tai Ming, the leader of the Ghost Dao lineage.

He sighed inwardly, acknowledging that while his own power was formidable, it still fell short of the foundation of a Great Luo.

As the representative of the Netherworld within the Earthly Dao lineage, he commanded all Ghost Soldiers, ghosts, and gods, as well as the entire Ghost Dao lineage of the primordial wilderness.

Tai Ming's appearance put the thirteen Great Luo Buddha Venerables on high alert.

Yet the cultivation realm Tai Ming revealed stunned them all—he had actually reached the Great Perfection Realm of the Grand Unity Venerable God. The core power of the Ghost Dao radiating from him possessed the strength of the Transformation of Self-Origin, one of the Nine Transformations of the Source.

Such a rate of advancement was almost beyond belief.

Faced with the silent shock of the Heart of the Earthly Path at his breakneck cultivation speed, everyone began to murmur, questioning whether Tai Ming's strength could truly match his astonishing progress.

Tai Ming's arrival caught everyone off guard, especially since his cultivation seemed lower than expected.

The thirteen Great Luo Buddha Venerables were shocked, angered, and humiliated to discover that Tai Ming was merely at the Great Perfection Realm of the Grand Unity Venerable God.

They felt their dignity had been gravely insulted, having been intimidated by someone who had not yet reached the Great Luo realm.

Thus, the Blissful Buddha Venerable decided to demonstrate the power of a Great Luo to Tai Ming.

Yet, facing the descending Buddha palm, Tai Ming showed no fear. Instead, he remained calm and confident.

He understood that he was not the true protagonist of this battle—his role was to let these Great Luo beings witness the power of an ant.

As a terrifying dharma manifestation that blotted out the sky appeared above the ninefold clouds, the conflict took a turning point.

That colossal manifestation was formed from countless Ghost Soldiers and ghosts—the Underworld Emperor.

Its very existence proved that even the weak could unleash overwhelming power, leaving everyone present awestruck.

As the Buddhist followers of Mount Sumeru were eroded by the Underworld Emperor and transformed into Ghost Buddhas, the fortune of the Buddhist Dao suffered a devastating blow.

Even the Nameless Ascetic Monk felt the backlash.

The thirteen Great Luo Buddha Venerables fared even worse—they could no longer contend with the Underworld Emperor.

The terrifying power of negative erosion continued to assimilate these Buddha Venerables, though the process slowed somewhat.

The reason the Underworld Emperor could achieve this was that he had mastered Tai Ming's Great Freedom Pure Land Ghost Dao power.

Though the Nameless Ascetic Monk had already reclaimed the Buddhist fortune from Tai Ming, the Great Freedom Pure Land Ghost Dao shared the same origin as the Buddhist Dao, rendering the backlash of Buddhist fortune negligible against the Underworld Emperor.

At this moment, though the fortune of the Buddhist Dao still existed, its main body had shifted to Tai Ming's Great Freedom Pure Land Ghost Dao.

Such is the cycle of karma and fate—the Nameless Ascetic Monk's past act of seizing fortune had paved the way for Tai Ming's present transformation of Buddha into ghost.

In the Land of the Far West, the Nameless Ascetic Monk and the others remained unaware of the upheaval in the Western Land, as if some mysterious force had sealed their perception—this was the power of Heaven's Mandate.

The Underworld Emperor led an endless army of Ghost Soldiers in an assault on Mount Sumeru, a grueling endeavor.

With the eradication of the Mount Sumeru lineage, the ranks of the Ghost Soldiers swelled even further.

Their gaze then turned toward the Land of the Far West.

When he saw the boundless army of Ghost Soldiers led by Tai Ming, the Demon Ancestor Rahu showed a flicker of surprise.

He was curious about how Tai Ming had risen to the Great Perfection Realm of the Grand Unity Venerable God in such a short time.

Tai Ming's achievements reminded him of powerful beings like the Ancient Three Sovereigns and Shen Ni.

Rahu admitted he had underestimated Tai Ming before and now found him deeply fascinating.

Through his enfeoffment of ghosts and gods, Tai Ming had reaped unexpected gains, gaining insights from the very source of the ghostly divine—a unique advantage as the Lord of the Ghost Dao.

Little by little, these insights accumulated, helping him rapidly elevate his cultivation.

All he needed was one catalyst to break through to the Great Luo Venerable God realm.

Even so, Tai Ming still had a vast trove of insights yet to absorb.

In the future, even after becoming a Great Luo Venerable God, he would need considerable time to digest this profound foundation.

Tai Ming did not explain his curiosity about the Demon Ancestor Rahu.

He expressed that he felt deeply honored to have earned the Demon Ancestor's recognition.

But he also stated that he would represent the endless dead and seek justice from those who had shattered the balance of the primordial world.

His words revealed resolve and conviction.

As he spoke, countless Ghost Soldiers began to converge, forming a towering, godlike vision of the Underworld Emperor that spanned heaven and earth.

After absorbing the Buddhist and Daoist fortune of Mount Sumeru along with the wandering souls, the Underworld Emperor's aura surged once more.

Yet even so, he still fell short when facing supreme powerhouses like Jian Bing Divine Lord and Demon Ancestor Rahu.

The influence of Negative Energy on these peak experts was not as devastating as anticipated.

Thus, Tai Ming decided to rely on his own strength. As the Lord of the Ghost Dao, all his power came from within.

He focused his will, and the boundless manifestation of the Underworld Emperor instantly poured into a small bottle.

Tai Ming's aura leaped from the Taiyi Realm to beyond the Grand Unity Realm in an instant.

The gap between Grand Unity Venerable Gods was immense, yet Tai Ming, through the accumulation of Negative Energy and the lingering obsessions of the dead, crossed multiple Grand Unity Dao Realms in a short time.

Though he had not yet reached the level of a supreme powerhouse, his strength had become considerable.

Jian Bing Divine Lord and Rahu seemed to have no intention of stopping him. Jian Bing Divine Lord even praised his talent, saying that if he had been born in their era, he would surely have made a name for himself.

However, the power he now possessed was still not enough to make them feel truly threatened.