Yellow Wind Little Sage!

A deep chill rose from the bottom of Yellow Wind Little Sage's heart. He realized that his situation was extremely dangerous. Since these two ghost deities had already torn away all pretense, they would certainly not let the matter rest.

Alarm bells blared in his mind. Yellow Wind Little Sage's tiny body instinctively took a step back, but he forced himself to remain calm and spoke respectfully.

"I have disturbed you, then. Since it does not comply with the rules, I shall take my leave."

With that, he turned around and prepared to head out the door.

But Yellow Wind Little Sage had barely taken a step when a low, fierce shout came from behind him.

"Stop!"

It was the voice of the ghost deity holding the brush, filled with majesty and killing intent.

"To escape the records of the Life-and-Death Register with a mortal body is itself a grave crime. And now you seek to flee beneath our very eyes. You truly do not hold us in any regard."

The ghost deity's voice grew colder and colder, the final words nearly squeezed through clenched teeth.

"Seize this little thief and force him to reveal the secret of how he escaped the Life-and-Death Register!"

The instant the words fell, the two ghost deities attacked at the same time.

Their enormous bodies suddenly stepped forward, their bronze armor colliding with dull clanks. Two massive palms reached through the air and pressed down on Yellow Wind Little Sage like two small mountains.

More terrifyingly, as the two palms descended, an invisible force field spread outward from the ghost deities.

The force field blanketed the entire doorway, completely sealing off the space. The air became thick as a swamp, making even movement difficult.

Yellow Wind Little Sage's face changed drastically.

He had personally witnessed the miserable fate of those Mythic Walkers before the Northern Yin Mountain Temple. Even Scavenger Fourth Rank powerhouses had not possessed the slightest room to struggle; they had been blasted away in an instant and heavily injured.

He was merely skilled at fleeing. If those two giant hands caught him, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Almost on instinct, the mana within Yellow Wind Little Sage abruptly began to circulate.

He opened his tiny mouth and exhaled a stream of air. In an instant, a small sandstorm rose at the entrance, filling the air with yellow sand that obscured all sight and formed a barrier.

"Such a petty trick!"

The brush-holding ghost deity snorted coldly. It raised its right hand and flicked a finger. An invisible force shot from its fingertip and instantly pierced through the wind and sand filling the sky.

Under the impact of that force, the grains of sand shattered at once, turning into even finer dust that scattered in every direction. The entire sandstorm was crushed in the blink of an eye.

But at the instant the wind and sand broke apart, Yellow Wind Little Sage froze.

He lowered his head to look at his tiny claws, disbelief flashing through his eyes.

"Something is wrong! Why can I cast wind arts?"

Yellow Wind Little Sage's little head spun rapidly as he recalled what had happened to those Mythic Walkers earlier.

When those people faced the ghost deities, they had not even had a chance to resist. They could not even mobilize the Mythic Factors in their bodies.

Yet he had successfully used the Wind-Sand Art just now. Though it had been easily destroyed, it at least proved that he had not been completely suppressed.

"Moreover, these two ghost deities before me do not seem as powerful as I imagined."

Yellow Wind Little Sage stared at the two ghost deities, the fear in his eyes gradually replaced by contemplation.

He could sense that although the auras of these two ghost deities were powerful, they had not reached the level of crushing everything beneath them.

The next moment, inspiration flashed through Yellow Wind Little Sage's mind, and he instantly understood the key.

"The reason those Scavenger Fourth Rank Mythic Walkers had no ability to resist was because they were bound by the rules!"

Yellow Wind Little Sage's thoughts became clearer and clearer.

"These two ghost deities can use the rules of the Northern Yin Mountain Temple to suppress everyone attempting to enter the temple.

"Those Mythic Walkers had all, more or less, wasted food under the twisted judgment of the rules. That was why they were completely suppressed by the rules when facing the ghost deities and could not resist at all."

"But I am different. I have never squandered food, and I was not even recorded in that so-called Life-and-Death Register.

"I have not violated the temple's rules. That means I will not be suppressed by the Northern Yin Mountain Temple's rules, which is why I can cast spells."

"And these two ghost deities are attacking me not to enforce the rules, but out of their own selfish desires.

"They want to capture me and uncover the secret of my escape from the Life-and-Death Register. Such actions are not supported by the rules, so naturally they will not receive the rules' blessing."

"So they can only rely on their own strength against me. They are nowhere near as powerful as when dealing with those who violate the rules!"

Having understood this, more than half the fear in Yellow Wind Little Sage's heart instantly vanished.

No matter what these two ghost deities' true strength might be, he now had only one choice—

Fight back!

The next moment, the Baleful Chill Fork strapped to Yellow Wind Little Sage's back abruptly dropped into his tiny claws.

The Mythic Factors within Yellow Wind Little Sage's body surged madly. His Samadhi talent was pushed to its limit, and he could feel that thread of True Samadhi Resonance within him beginning to awaken.

He opened his tiny mouth and drew a deep breath. Mana coursed through his entire body at its limit, and then he exhaled fiercely.

A stream of air burst from his mouth. When it first left his lips, it was merely ordinary wind, but it underwent a qualitative transformation in an instant.

Baleful chill intertwined with that thread of True Samadhi Resonance, twisting and changing through the air before becoming a sky-filling torrent of wild sand in the blink of an eye.

This was the first time Yellow Wind Little Sage had fully unleashed his wind arts since advancing to Scavenger Second Rank.

Previously, whenever he used wind and sand, he had carefully controlled the force, afraid of causing too great a disturbance.

But now that life and death hung in the balance, he could no longer hold anything back. The mana in his body poured out like floodwaters after a dam burst, all of it injected into this strike.

The raging sand swept forth, instantly filling the entire entrance.

Those grains were no longer ordinary yellow sand. They were weapons of slaughter condensed from Baleful Chill, every grain hard as iron and sharp as a blade. They spun through the air at tremendous speed, producing shrill whistles that tore through the sky.

That thread of True Samadhi Resonance bestowed an indescribable might upon the sandstorm. Wherever it passed, even Mythic Factors were washed away entirely.

The yellow sand filling the sky roared like an enraged dragon, sweeping in every direction.

The first to bear the brunt was the ghost deity's hand about to fall. Countless grains shot toward its palm like a dense rain of arrows, every particle containing terrifying penetrating power.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A barrage of impacts rang out. The sand grains, hard as gold and stone, slammed fiercely into the ghost deity's palm and actually shook that enormous hand.

The hand's descent was stalled, even lifting slightly upward.

More grains burrowed into the gaps of the palm, piercing through the solid body condensed by the ghost deity like sharp blades. One tiny hole after another appeared in its hand, then rapidly widened.

Baleful chill seeped into the ghost deity's body through those holes. That extreme cold began spreading through it, freezing everything in its path.

Frost spread at a visible speed, extending from the palm to the arm and shoulder.

A thick layer of ice crystals began forming across the surface of the ghost deity's bronze armor, freezing half its body in place.

"You still want to resist?" The brush-holding ghost deity sneered. "This is nothing but the final struggle of a dying beast."

It did not care in the slightest about the damage to its body. This body was not a true living creature, but an embodiment of the Northern Yin Mountain Temple's rules.

So long as the Northern Yin Mountain Temple remained, it could borrow the temple's power and repair itself endlessly.

The next moment, the brush-holding ghost deity was about to mobilize the Northern Yin Mountain Temple's rules to restore itself.

Neither ghost deity noticed that the wind and sand mixed with a thread of True Samadhi Resonance did not remain at the entrance after piercing through their bodies. They continued surging forward, pouring into the interior of the temple.

The raging sand howled through the corridor and stormed into the temple's main hall.

The ghost deities paid it no heed. They knew perfectly well just how sturdy this seemingly dilapidated Northern Yin Mountain Temple was. The wind and sand that could pierce their bodies could not shake the temple in the slightest.

But in the very next instant, every one of their assumptions was shattered.

The entire Northern Yin Mountain Temple suddenly shook violently, as if heaven and earth were collapsing, as though legendary Mount Buzhou had toppled and the celestial river had poured backward.

The entire temple swayed fiercely. The floor of blue bricks began to crack, fissures spreading outward like spiderwebs.

The beams and pillars groaned under unbearable strain, the cracks upon their surfaces rapidly widening. Several already damaged pillars could no longer hold up and collapsed with a thunderous crash, smashing into the ground and sending dust flying.

The already ruined stone statues on both sides collapsed one after another amid the shaking. Some toppled from their pedestals and shattered into several pieces upon hitting the ground.

Others broke directly in half, their upper bodies rolling aside. Stone fragments flew everywhere, and dust filled the entire temple.

Most shocking of all, even the Mountain God Tablet atop the altar began to sway.

"How is this possible?!"

The two ghost deities cried out in shock as one.

Ever since they had seized this Northern Yin Mountain Temple, the temple had stood as steady as a rock. No matter how the outside world changed, the inside of the temple had always remained stable.

This was the first time they had ever seen anything capable of shaking the very foundation of the Northern Yin Mountain Temple.

This temple was a remnant of Lost Mythology, containing the power of ancient deities. Logically, unless it was divine power of the same level, nothing should have been able to affect the temple at all.

Before the two ghost deities could understand why, an even more astonishing sight appeared.

A ripple suddenly spread through the temple, as though a stone had been thrown into still water. The ripples expanded, and space began to twist and change.

Immediately afterward, an image was reflected within the temple.

It was a resonance of Lost Mythology, an echo from ancient history.

In the image, boundless wind and sand pierced through the Three Realms.

A towering figure commanded endless wind and sand, shrouding heaven and earth in a dim yellow haze. The sun, moon, and stars in the sky were obscured, and the radiance of gods and Buddhas was veiled.

A poem said: The blue heavens shook the Palace of Dipper and Ox, nearly blowing down the Hall of Senluo. Hundreds upon hundreds of arhats raised a clamor that shook the skies, while the Eight Vajras cried out in chaos. Wenshu's blue-maned lion fled away, Puxian's white elephant could not be found. Zhenwu's tortoise and serpent lost their herd, and the sandalwood mule's saddlecloth went flying... With a roaring rush, heaven and earth nearly burst apart, and the rivers and mountains for ten thousand miles all trembled.

The image shifted, arriving at the Hall of Senluo in the Netherworld.

It was the core of the Underworld, where the Ten Yama Kings governed.

The majestic hall shook violently beneath the assault of yellow sand, and the ghost deities inside were thrown into panic. One ghost deity after another, clad in official robes, stood outside the hall and shouted toward the sweeping yellow sand.

"Great King Yellow Wind, please withdraw your divine power!"

"Great King, your divine might is immeasurable! We submit!"

Those Underworld ghost deities, so majestic in mortal eyes and charged with life and death, were now bowing and scraping like ordinary beings.

Yet this was merely one corner of all living beings in the Three Realms.

Though it was only a blurred outline, only a brief echo of Lost Mythology, that pressure still passed through the image and made the entire Northern Yin Mountain Temple tremble.

The image soon faded, but the shock it left behind could not be calmed for a long time.

The Samadhi Divine Wind that had once swept across the Three Realms now possessed only a negligible thread of resonance. Yet this place was not the Hall of Senluo at the heart of the Underworld, but merely a ruined Northern Yin Mountain Temple.

That was precisely why, when the gale formed from that thread of True Samadhi Resonance surged into the temple, it stirred the historical imprint buried deep within and replayed that scene from countless ages ago.

This was what caused Lost Mythology to resonate, briefly manifesting that forgotten history.

Having witnessed that former scene, the two ghost deities were already terrified out of their wits.

They stood stiffly at the entrance, their enormous bodies trembling slightly. In their once vicious scarlet eyes, only deep fear and disbelief remained.

Though they could only glimpse that towering figure amid the sky-filling wind and sand through the brief echo of Lost Mythology.

Though the figure was blurred, and even its features could not be seen clearly.

The aura emitted by that great demon king was ninety percent similar to that of the seemingly insignificant little yellow-furred mouse before them!

The same yellow sand, the same wild wind, the same unknown divine power.

This could not possibly be a coincidence!

Yellow Wind Little Sage immediately realized that the situation before him had undergone an enormous change.

He could feel that the way the two ghost deities looked at him had completely changed. Their previous hostility and killing intent had vanished, replaced by deep wariness and fear.

Yellow Wind Little Sage straightened his round little body and slung the Baleful Chill Fork over his back again.

He raised his small head. His once round eyes narrowed slightly, revealing a touch of majesty.

"I—"

Yellow Wind Little Sage spoke each word slowly.

"Yellow Wind Little Sage!"