Netherworld Ghost King

Tree Demon Granny's roots ripped up from the ground one after another.

The mountain quaked, as if a earth-dragon were turning over.

Tree demons were already known for their strength and size, and Tree Demon Granny was among the best of them—dozens of zhang underground and dozens above, standing on the ground made the peak itself seem to rise even higher.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle...

The sound of oil burning made Tree Demon Granny, who had been so imposing, shriek in pain, deepening her hatred for Zhou Yi.

"Damn you! Damn you all! You'll all die! I'll catch you, rip out your soul, refine your spirit, and torment you for a thousand years!"

Tree Demon Granny covered a hundred zhang in a single step, chasing right behind Zhou Yi, sending endless roots, branches, and fierce souls lunging at him.

The fierce souls, roots, and branches lost thirty percent of their number in the blazing flames, but the remaining seventy percent were still more than Zhou Yi could handle.

Just then, a sword light flew in from the horizon!

"Myriad Sword Art!"

Yan Chixia let out a roar, and the Xuanyuan Sword split—one became two, two became three, three became ten thousand.

It was the same Sword Control Technique, but Zhou Yi had maxed it out just for casual flight, while Yan Chixia had turned it into a full-fledged spell system.

In the sky-scorching flames, both ghostly spirits and wood-type spells were weakened by over thirty percent. Tree Demon Granny, who had once been a notch above Yan Chixia, was forced back step by step by the Myriad Sword Art.

Countless ghostly creatures scattered and fled through the flames, crackling and popping as they burned, like bones and corpses in an incinerator.

Yan Chixia led the assault, the Myriad Sword Art driving Tree Demon Granny back, while hundreds of yin souls were obliterated.

Zhou Yi filled in the gaps, making sure no fierce ghosts escaped Black Mountain to harm others.

Whenever Tree Demon Granny tried to retreat off the planned path, Zhou Yi unleashed his True Yuan Flying Sword, holding her back for a single breath, giving Yan Chixia time to adjust and drive her back.

An Innate Grandmaster was far weaker than Yan Chixia, but still counted as part of the immortal path—bursting out to block a tree demon for one breath wasn't too hard.

The two brothers worked together, and in just a short time, thousands of fierce ghosts turned to ash. Tree Demon Granny was scorched black, her branches and roots burned to a miserable crisp.

Tree Demon Granny fought and retreated, backing into a mountain hollow. The moment she entered, she sensed something wrong—the roots beneath her felt like they were sinking into oil.

"Haha! Old hag, today you die for sure!"

Yan Chixia laughed loudly, pulled a stack of Spirit Fire Talismans from his robe, and scattered them into the valley.

Boom! Boom! Boom...

Explosion after explosion, flames dozens of zhang high shot into the sky.

The entire hollow was filled with jars of Fierce Fire Oil, and the spot where Tree Demon Granny stood was a whole pool of it.

The moment the Spirit Fire Talismans touched it, a chain of explosions erupted.

Tree Demon Granny's face showed despair—she knew she couldn't escape her doom tonight.

A thousand years of cultivation, about to be destroyed in an instant, and her hatred for Zhou Yi was boundless.

Tree Demon Granny and Yan Chixia had faced off for so long that they knew each other's secrets well—even selling out Yan Chixia wouldn't have gotten her the fire to burn a mountain.

"Damn Taoists, even if I die, I won't let you off easy!"

Tree Demon Granny let out a sharp shriek, and countless yin souls drilled out of Black Mountain, gathering around her to form a ghostly domain dozens of zhang wide.

These yin souls had no power to harm anyone; after death, they should have entered reincarnation, but Tree Demon Granny had trapped them on Silver Mountain, unable to escape.

A thousand years of accumulation—at least hundreds of thousands of yin souls.

"Senluo Nether Realm! Open!"

Tree Demon Granny activated a secret art, and green phosphorescent flames spontaneously ignited on the endless yin souls, turning them to ash amid miserable wails.

The sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of yin souls successfully contacted the Netherworld Ghost King.

A pitch-black spatial rift suddenly appeared in the sky, and a giant black hand reached out from it—just the palm alone was dozens of zhang wide.

Zhou Yi's face changed, and he tried to flee on his sword, but a binding force from both heaven and earth locked him in place, unable to move an inch, as if frozen in a photograph.

"Senior Brother, what kind of monster is this?"

Zhou Yi cursed Tree Demon Granny in his heart for having no honor—dying was one thing, but she had to call for backup.

Through the spatial rift, he couldn't see the full size of the black hand's owner, only a pair of eyes like sun and moon, peering into the mortal world through the crack.

Yan Chixia's face was grim. "This is the Netherworld Ghost King!"

"Boundless heaven and earth, borrowing the power of the cosmos!"

The Xuanyuan Sword blazed with light, its target not the Ghost King's hand, but the unstable spatial rift.

Boom!

The spatial rift trembled, shrinking by half in an instant.

The Ghost King's sky-reaching black hand was severed by the rift, at least half cut off, and the pressure binding Zhou Yi vanished at the same time.

"Ant!"

The Ghost King roared, his body shifting.

Only then did Zhou Yi vaguely make out that this Netherworld Ghost King's body was like a mountain range.

The mountain's body sprouted hundreds of black hands, gripping the edges of the spatial rift and straining to tear it open by sheer force.

"Attack together—we must not let the Netherworld break through!"

Yan Chixia roared in fury, reversing his true qi with a secret technique and spitting a mouthful of blood onto the Xuanyuan Sword.

"Boundless heaven and earth, borrow the power of the cosmos!"

One side of the Xuanyuan Sword blazed with the infinite radiance of sun, moon, and stars; the other erupted with the human destiny of seas and harvests.

The sword struck the spatial rift, halting its expansion.

Zhou Yi landed at the edge of the mountain hollow, draining his true essence dry as he sent a flying sword slashing into the rift.

By now, the rift had shrunk to a barely perceptible line. The arm Yinshan Ghost King had thrust through was severed and fell to the ground, swelling into a ridge of earth.

Yan Chixia breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Tree Demon Granny: "Old witch, summoning the Netherworld Ghost King—aren't you afraid every cultivator in the world will unite to destroy you?"

At this moment, Tree Demon Granny was a wretched sight. Sacrificing her own souls for the summoning ritual had damaged her very foundation, and the constant flames licking at her in the hollow had left her utterly spent.

Yet her shrill, mocking voice carried a note of madness: "Do you really think a stinking Daoist like you can stop Black Mountain Ghost King? The Netherworld will descend upon the Human Realm!"

Roar—

As if answering her words, the hair-thin spatial rift erupted with an endless torrent of Ghostly Wind and black mist.

Turbid Netherworld Qi and bone-chilling Ghostly Wind spread for miles in every direction.

A pitch-black seal anchored itself at the rift. The nearly healed crack began to widen once more.

A single seal, locking the void in place!

"What kind of artifact is this?"

Zhou Yi's face filled with shock. The seal hung in the void, radiating a majestic aura like a mountain range.

"The Black Mountain Ghost King's Seal!"

Yan Chixia's expression turned grim. "The Netherworld has ten Ghost Kings, each bearing a supreme treasure. The Black Mountain Ghost King's Seal is one of them."

"The Ghost King Seal is a protective treasure. What madness has possessed it to enter the Human Realm? Isn't it afraid of being lost here?"

The Ghost King Seal locked the void, and Black Mountain Ghost King resumed tearing at the rift.

"What do we do? Just watch him break through?"

Zhou Yi tried to strike the Ghost King Seal with his true essence, but before it even reached the seal's body, the energy dissolved into nothing.

Both Black Mountain Ghost King and his seal were far beyond Zhou Yi's cultivation level.

Yan Chixia watched the spatial rift grow larger. If the Ghost King crossed over, it would mean at least a decade of catastrophe.

"This time, I've really taken a loss!"

Gritting his teeth, Yan Chixia pulled a jade pendant from his robes. After a moment's hesitation, he crushed it.

"Disciple Chixia, I call upon the Ancestor to possess me!"