Netherworld Ghost King

Tree Demon Granny's roots tore up from the ground one by one.

The mountain shook as though an earth dragon had turned over.

Tree demons were already known for their strength and size, and Tree Demon Granny was among the best of them. Her body extended dozens of yards underground and dozens more above it; standing atop the ground, she seemed to make the mountain even taller.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle...

The sound of burning oil made the once-majestic Tree Demon Granny scream in agony, deepening her hatred for Zhou Yi.

"Damn it! Damn it! You all have to die! I'll catch you, extract your soul and refine your spirit, and torture you for a thousand years!"

With each stride spanning a hundred yards, Tree Demon Granny caught up behind Zhou Yi. Countless roots, branches, fierce souls, and evil ghosts surged toward him.

Amid the sea of flames, the fierce souls, evil ghosts, roots, and branches lost thirty percent of their number first. Yet even the remaining seventy percent were more than Zhou Yi could withstand.

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

"Myriad Sword Art!"

With a howl from Yan Chixia, the Xuanyuan Sword became two, two became three, and three became ten thousand.

It was also the Sword Control Technique. Zhou Yi had maxed it out, but could only use it freely to fly on his sword; Yan Chixia had turned it into a complete spell system.

Within the heaven-burning flames, both ghosts and wood-element spells were weakened by more than thirty percent. Tree Demon Granny, who had originally been slightly stronger than Yan Chixia, was driven back again and again by the Myriad Sword Art.

Countless ghosts scattered and fled through the flames, continuously making crackling sounds as they burned, like dry bones and corpses being cremated.

Yan Chixia led the assault, forcing Tree Demon Granny back with the Myriad Sword Art as hundreds and thousands of souls were reduced to ashes.

Zhou Yi filled in the gaps at the side, preventing any evil ghosts from escaping Black Mountain to harm people further.

Whenever Tree Demon Granny tried to retreat from the planned route, Zhou Yi unleashed his True Yuan Flying Sword and stopped her with all his strength for a single breath. Yan Chixia would then adjust his direction and drive her back.

An Innate Grandmaster was far inferior to Yan Chixia, yet he still belonged among the cultivators of the immortal path. In an outburst, stopping the tree demon for one breath was no great problem.

Working together, the two martial brothers turned several thousand evil ghosts to ash in a short while. Tree Demon Granny was burned black, her branches and roots scorched into a miserable state.

Tree Demon Granny fought as she retreated, forced into a mountain hollow. The moment she entered, she sensed something wrong—her roots seemed to have sunk into grease.

"Ha ha! Old demon hag, you'll definitely die today!"

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

Boom! Boom! Boom...

A continuous series of explosions rang out as flames several yards high shot into the sky.

The entire mountain hollow was filled with jars of Fierce Fire Oil. Where Tree Demon Granny stood was a whole pool of the stuff.

The moment it encountered the Spirit Fire Talismans, it triggered a chain of explosions.

Despair appeared on Tree Demon Granny's face. She already knew she could not escape tonight's calamity.

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

Tree Demon Granny had been locked in conflict with Yan Chixia for a long time, and both knew the other's capabilities well. Even if Yan Chixia were sold, he could not have afforded the fire that burned a mountain.

"Stinking Taoist priest, even if I die, I won't let you have it easy!"

Tree Demon Granny let out a piercing shriek. Countless souls emerged from Black Mountain and gathered around her, forming a spherical ghost domain dozens of yards across.

These souls had no ability to harm anyone. They should have entered reincarnation after death, yet Tree Demon Granny had trapped them on Silver Mountain, leaving them unable to find release.

After a thousand years of accumulation, there were at least several hundred thousand souls.

"Senluo Nether Realm! Open!"

Tree Demon Granny performed a secret art. Green phosphorescent fire appeared from nowhere upon the countless souls, and amid their miserable wails, they turned to ash.

The sacrifice of several hundred thousand souls successfully established contact with a Netherworld Ghost King.

A pitch-black spatial rift suddenly appeared in the sky. A massive black hand reached out from it, the palm alone spanning dozens of yards.

Zhou Yi's expression changed as he tried to flee on his sword, but a force of confinement from heaven and earth prevented him from moving even a fraction, as if he had been frozen inside a photograph.

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

Zhou Yi cursed Tree Demon Granny inwardly for having no sense of honor. If she was going to die, why did she have to call for help?

Through the spatial rift, he could not see the black hand's owner clearly. He only saw a pair of eyes like the sun and moon, peering through the rift into the Human Realm.

Yan Chixia's expression was extremely grim as he shouted, "It's a Netherworld Ghost King!"

"Heaven and Earth Without Limits, Borrow the Power of Heaven and Earth!"

The Xuanyuan Sword shone brilliantly. Its target was not the Ghost King's hand, but the unstable spatial rift.

Boom!

The spatial rift trembled and instantly shrank by half.

The Ghost King's sky-supporting black hand was sliced by the spatial rift, at least half of it severed. The pressure confining Zhou Yi vanished at the same time.

"Ants!"

The Ghost King roared furiously, and his body shifted.

Only then did Zhou Yi vaguely make out that this Netherworld Ghost King's body resembled an entire mountain range.

Hundreds and thousands of black hands grew from that mountainous body and gripped the edges of the spatial rift, intending to tear it open by force.

"Attack together! We absolutely cannot let the Netherworld connect through!"

Yan Chixia roared, using a secret art to reverse his true qi. He spat a mouthful of blood onto the Xuanyuan Sword.

"Heaven and Earth Without Limits, Borrow the Power of Heaven and Earth!"

On one side of the Xuanyuan Sword, sun, moon, and stars bloomed with boundless radiance. On the other, farming across the four seas erupted with Human Path Fortune.

The sword struck the spatial rift, stopping it from expanding further.

Zhou Yi landed at the edge of the mountain hollow and drained all the True Essence from his body, forming it into a flying sword that slashed at the spatial rift.

By then, the rift had become tiny, only an imperceptible line. The arm extended by the Yinshan Ghost King was severed and fell to the ground, where it actually swelled into a hill.

Yan Chixia sighed in relief and looked at Tree Demon Granny. "Old demon hag, you connected with a Netherworld Ghost King. Aren't you afraid the cultivators of the world will join forces to destroy you?"

Tree Demon Granny was now utterly miserable. Sacrificing souls to perform the sacrificial art had already damaged her foundation, and the blazing fire in the mountain hollow constantly scorched her. She was extremely weakened.

Yet madness seeped through Tree Demon Granny's strange, mocking voice. "Do you think the Black Mountain Ghost King is someone a stinking Taoist priest like you can stop? The Netherworld will surely descend upon the Human Realm!"

Roar—

As though answering Tree Demon Granny's words, the nearly imperceptible spatial rift spewed endless Ghostly Wind and black qi.

Murky Netherworld Qi and Ghostly Wind cold enough to freeze marrow spread mightily across several miles.

A jet-black seal fixed itself at the spatial rift. The rift, which had nearly healed, began to expand once more.

A single seal anchored the void!

"What Magical Artifact is that?"

Zhou Yi's face was filled with shock. The seal hung in the air, emanating a majestic aura like a towering mountain.

"The Black Mountain Ghost King's Seal!"

Yan Chixia's expression was solemn. "Each of the Ten Ghost Kings of the Netherworld possesses a supreme treasure. The Black Mountain Ghost King's Seal is one of them."

"The Ghost King Seal is a supreme protective treasure. Has it gone mad? It actually dared to send it into the Human Realm. Isn't it afraid of losing it here?"

The Ghost King Seal anchored the void, and the Black Mountain Ghost King began tearing open the rift again.

"What do we do? Are we just going to watch him come out?"

Zhou Yi tried to attack the Ghost King Seal with True Essence, but before his True Essence could even approach the seal itself, it scattered into nothingness.

Whether it was the Black Mountain Ghost King or the Ghost King Seal, both were far beyond Zhou Yi's cultivation.

Seeing the spatial rift grow larger and larger, Yan Chixia knew that if the Ghost King broke through the boundary, it would bring at least ten years of catastrophe.

"This time, we've really suffered a huge loss!"

Yan Chixia gritted his teeth and took a jade pendant from his robes. After hesitating for a moment, he crushed it outright.

"Disciple Chixia requests Ancestral Possession!"