Inside the Immortal Tomb.
The Wolf King's body suddenly shuddered.
He sensed that the "Nethermoon Ghost Mist" he had laid outside had been devoured by a strange power.
It was very peculiar, unlike the immortal Dao or Buddhist light, and utterly unrelated to the demonic Dao...
That power...
After sensing it carefully, the Wolf King cried out in alarm, "No-my subordinates!"
He glared at Sun Chen and roared, "You-you actually found a Northern Yin Ghost King to protect your path?"
"Heh..." Sun Chen said nothing and simply continued fighting the seven demons.
You think he's connected to the Northern Yin Ghost Dao too, don't you?
I'm not the only one who thinks so, right?
Feeling somewhat better, Sun Chen formed a spell seal with his fingers. The golden dragon became a treasured sword and severed the tiger demon's sharp claws, sweeping away all the red-copper fire qi with a single stroke...
At first, Sun Chen had held the upper hand by relying on the terrain. But as time passed, his Primordial Spirit weakened further and further, and he gradually began to falter.
The reincarnation passage opened by the lunar radiance was nearly out of time.
Sun Chen sighed inwardly. As expected-without Ao Ding's help, this is still somewhat troublesome.
He had initially chosen the Seven Spirits Sect as his protectors because he did indeed need them to intervene, holding the demon king back at a critical moment so that he could destroy the Wolf King's soul with a secret art.
When he later chose Ao Ding, he had entertained a similar idea: having Ao Ding wield his Dharma Treasure and act at the critical moment. A single flash from that True Person's eye would delay the Wolf King for an instant, allowing the Dharma Treasure to strike home.
But after spending this time together, Sun Chen had increasingly recognized Ao Ding's potential. He had quietly scrapped the original plan that required Ao Ding to risk his life.
It wasn't worth it-
Making Ao Ding take such a risk for my own reincarnation, which is certain to succeed, is far too unnecessary.
Better to work a little harder myself.
At worst-
He watched the Mysterious Fire Nine-Spirit Ring trapping the bone snake shake repeatedly before finally falling under the combined assault of the bone snake within and the fox demon outside. With a casual point of his finger, Sun Chen slipped the Nine-Spirit Ring back onto his wrist. The golden dragon also abandoned its struggle with the octopus and leisurely returned to Sun Chen's side.
In his battle against the Nethermoon Wolf Court, Sun Chen had lost one of his three protective Dharma Treasures. Aside from the Nine-Spirit Ring, only the "Azure Jade Golden Dragon Banner" remained, and he had already left it with Ao Ding for protection.
"Hahaha-Sun Chen, where's that banner of yours? Bring it out and let us have a look!"
As though seeing Sun Chen's empty purse, the Wolf King believed he understood something. "Inviting a Ghost King to oversee things couldn't have come cheap."
"Even without the Golden Dragon Banner, I can still slay the lot of you."
"Arrogant-"
"Little old man, know what's good for you and offer up your destiny willingly. It's not as though we couldn't consider taking you along into reincarnation."
The seven demon ghosts slowly closed in.
Sun Chen withdrew into the inner chamber of his own accord, floating above his physical body.
His body gradually grew cold, its connection to his Primordial Spirit sustained only by its last breath of yang qi.
At the sight of that "Dao corpse," the seven demon ghosts could scarcely conceal the greed in their eyes.
A True Person's flesh was a rare delicacy.
The Demon Court had a saying: first came True Persons, second the innate, third cultivators, and fourth mortals.
Mortal flesh was the most ordinary; cultivators tasted far better. Above them, the Scarlet Infant body, whose Dao had returned to the innate, tasted superb. And better still than a Scarlet Infant body was a True Person's flesh.
Quietly watching the seven strands of ghost qi drifting before him, he suddenly smiled.
"Steal my destiny and eat my flesh? Come and try-"
He returned to his physical body of his own accord, and ten thousand beams of white light burst from between his brows.
Within the white light appeared two Primordial Spirit manifestations, a man and a woman.
The man on the left bore a sun disc behind him, wearing a jade crown and golden belt, elegant and graceful.
The beauty on the right bore a moon disc behind her, her immortal beauty enough to topple a kingdom, her loveliness beyond compare.
When the two manifestations stood behind Sun Chen, all seven demon ghosts paled.
"You-this is spiritual wisdom from past lives? You were a True Person in your previous life, and the life before that? You're a Great True Person who cultivated through three lifetimes?"
"A Great True Person? Not quite. It's just-cough, cough..."
Clinging to his last breath, Sun Chen looked above his head.
"Fellow Daoists, help me-"
The man on the left pointed a finger. Immortal light enveloped Sun Chen, causing the yang qi that was about to gutter out to swell anew out of nowhere.
The woman on the right smiled sweetly and took the initiative, enveloping the seven demons.
The turtle scholar stared fixedly at the two manifestations, then scrutinized Sun Chen over and over. At last, understanding dawned. "Yes, yes! This is the immortal sects' 'Great Secret of the Eight Immortals Through the Rotation of Four Forms and Four Lives'-you intend to cultivate the four human forms of man, woman, elder, and youth, combined with the four backgrounds of wealth, nobility, poverty, and lowliness, to strive for the realm of Dao attainment!"
Just then, the nine-tailed fox in the gloomy mist let out a scream.
Without a sound or warning, a jade hand crushed her ghostly body.
Before she died, everyone heard only her final words: "You want to comprehend the Celestial Pole Upper Realm! You want to strive for-"
"You talk too much-" A cool female voice drifted slowly down.
The celestial maiden shrouded in silver moonlight spread her arms and floated toward the remaining six demons.
Countless kinds of brilliant light blossomed in an instant.
"Dao Domain: Ten Thousand-Colored Heavenly Splendor."
In the mere instant she spread her jade arms, five demon ghosts were utterly destroyed. Only the Wolf King resorted to trickery at the last moment, shielding himself with the other five demons and fleeing frantically as a wisp of black smoke. Even so, the heavenly light shining around the celestial maiden gravely wounded him, nearly destroying his Divine Sense.
Too terrifying!
Was this the power of a Cave-Mystery Supreme True Person?
Bah!
Sun Chen had never possessed such strength before!
Sun Chen watched the Wolf King flee toward the Immortal Tomb's entrance. He wanted to give chase, but could no longer muster even a trace of strength.
The yang qi within him was dissipating bit by bit.
Behind him, the man with the sun disc watched him impassively and slowly faded.
The celestial maiden gave a soft, lingering sigh, then also became a dim light and returned to Sun Chen's Primordial Spirit.
They were both fruits of the Dao cultivated in Sun Chen's past lives. Their innate Primordial Spirits had originally been one form, their true nature one and the same.
"What a pity-that old demon still gained a moment to catch his breath. He might cause Ao Ding some trouble in the future. Ah-if the Seven Spirits Sect had..."
Thinking of the Seven Spirits Sect, Sun Chen shook his head, too weary to comment on this sect with which he had long been on friendly terms.
Run, run!
Sun Chen deliberately set us up!
He deliberately used his death to scheme against us ghosts of the Demon Court!
Perhaps-an immortal sect conspiracy lies behind this!
Frantic with anxiety, the Wolf King reached the Dragon-Severing Stone. Just as he was about to shatter it with his last strand of magical power, he suddenly sensed an unfamiliar true nature.
Cold and merciless, like the sovereign of the Great Dao, it was quietly gazing this way from beyond the Dragon-Severing Stone.
Has that Ghost King arrived?
Terror gripped the Wolf King. He was just about to speak when an even voice sounded outside.
"Golden Spear Cave Lock-"
A dragon's roar abruptly rang out. As though the person outside had taken command of the Dragon-Severing Stone, the shadow of a golden dragon sprang from within it and bit viciously into the Wolf King.
The Wolf King's final lingering thought dissipated completely.
Outside the Immortal Tomb, Ao Ding gazed at the great door.
Though his right eye could not see, his left could sense the strands of true nature that had just been clashing and contending inside the tomb.
He had even sensed two mighty bursts of Primordial Spirit power erupt from Sun Chen.
But now-
He could no longer sense them.
Not a single strand of Great Dao True Nature remained inside the tomb.
"Did Senior reincarnate successfully?"
He bowed from outside the distant door.
Ao Ding returned to the stone hut, found a porcelain bowl he had made yesterday, and smashed it hard at the entrance to the Immortal Tomb.
Suddenly, Ao Ding felt a sharp pain in his right hand.
He lowered his head to look at his palm and saw a strange, dark wolf-head pattern appear at its center.
"So this is the curse Senior mentioned?"
Having become entangled in Sun Chen's karma, Ao Ding now bore the curse that had targeted Sun Chen. Sun Chen had departed into reincarnation, but the curse had not vanished; instead, it had transferred to Ao Ding's hand.
For a long time to come, the wolf demons of the Nethermoon Wolf Court would mark Ao Ding and hunt him down.
But-
Perhaps because the sight below Qianling Mountain was too ghastly, Ao Ding could no longer muster the slightest fear of wolf demons.
Hell burned like fire, dark and murky, filled with the pungent smell of sulfur, while an endless aroma of meat also drifted through it.
-Though Ao Ding did not understand why cooking ghosts could produce such a wonderful meaty aroma.
"Now that Senior's gone, cleaning up afterward won't be easy..."
Ao Ding's curse art had gone out of control.
Below Qianling Mountain, an exceedingly savage scene was unfolding in Oil Cauldron Hell.
Hundreds of thousands of oil cauldrons were piled together, filled with delicacies made from wolf ghosts.
Not one had survived.
And as the fragrant meat stews accumulated in vast quantities, the aromas of the oil cauldrons' spirit cuisine resonated with one another, gradually spreading from here into the outside world.
The living world was manageable. Sun Chen had concealed the territory of Qianling Mountain, after all, so there was no need to worry about this thousand-mile uninhabited region for now.
But the passage through which the wolf ghost army had charged out of the underworld had not closed!
Now, "Oil Cauldron Hell" was continuously drawing ghost qi from the Nine Netherworlds through the netherworld passage, sustaining hell's existence.
Looking up at the sky, Ao Ding wore a worried expression. "If I don't close the passage, it'll be as though the human world has gained a ghost realm that can never disappear. Sunlight will never penetrate this place again. Of course, that's the least of it-the biggest problem is this meaty aroma."
The passage remained open, and there was an endless fragrance... What if it drew some greatly terrifying, vicious being from the Nine Netherworlds?
Yet with Ao Ding's present magical power, he could not dispel Oil Cauldron Hell at all.
As he was thinking, fresh activity suddenly came from the other side of the netherworld passage.
Ao Ding sensed a ghost creature moving on the other side.
"What a lovely smell-is there ghost food nearby?"
Soon, a scarlet ghostly figure moved about on the other side of the netherworld passage.
His left eye grew somewhat tired as it stared at the figure.
Tonight's battle had put too great a strain on his left eye.
But-
He had to hold on a little longer.
An idea had already surfaced in Ao Ding's mind.
Perhaps he could use this ghost creature to seal the passage?
Before you continue