Master of the Years

Falling!

Emptiness!

The consciousness of Ninefold Year-Spirit Pure Radiance Primordial Sovereign—or rather, Zhan Hongxiu—swiftly grew hazy.

But with the Lunar Yin Golden Seat in her possession, a coolness descended and kept a sliver of clarity in her eyes.

"I've... been dragged into the Ghost Gate!"

Zhan Hongxiu understood her predicament, and bitterness filled her heart.

From the moment I was born, I was a game piece, handled by who knew how many players...

My life, my Dao Path—they've been manipulated and rewritten more times than I can count...

For an instant, Zhan Hongxiu felt as though every hope had turned to ash.

Her divine sense swept into the distance. She saw the shattered Yellow Springs, with vividly colored flowers of the far shore blooming nearby.

Vengeful souls in white, their forms half-transparent, packed this dim realm almost to bursting.

Because that world shattered, too many people died... The vengeful souls can't even get through fast enough?

Though a ghostly hand covered in curse marks held Zhan Hongxiu captive, her mind was clear. "The lord of the Nether Bureau... an Earth Virtue Golden Core..."

"The world has shattered and its earthly qi is exhausted. That must have dealt a severe blow to the Earth Virtue's symbolic power..."

She had known nothing of these workings of the Dao before, but after devouring the authority of the Four-Moon Orthodoxy, much had become clear to her.

Now she also saw the ghostly deity that had captured her.

It towered like a mountain, wearing a tiger-skin skirt. It had an azure face, fangs, red horns, grotesquely long arms, and razor-sharp nails.

"Kitchen Lord, lord of the Nether Bureau... what exactly are you after?" Zhan Hongxiu demanded coldly.

"Fellow Daoist... I originally wished only to borrow your symbolic power. But now that you've taken a Guest