Summoning the soul

Like an inlay, the Kunlun Jade Pearl, after going out of control, crashed into the Great Snow Mountain and became embedded hundreds of meters underground in the snow-capped peak.

The once vast secret area has shrunk to only three or four hundred meters in size, and this area is shrinking further as the mountain's interior collapses.

"These are the demon bones of a Taotie!"

The emperor's dilapidated body sat on a bronze throne, and the empress trembled uncontrollably as she gazed upon him.

Regardless of whether this body houses Haotian or Donghua, nothing remains now.

She had held onto some hope before, but now all that hope has been shattered.

The Emperor and Empress stood before the bronze throne for a long time without speaking, while Xuan Nu and Bixia Niangniang searched the scene, hoping to find some clues to confirm the situation.

To be fair, the scene was well preserved; Zhang Xuezhou and his team did not dig or search, and everything remained as it was after the collision at the secret site.

This secret realm was thrown into chaos by the collision, and eighty percent of it was melted away, but the remains of the Taotie and other demon gods in the center still remained.

After digging down more than ten meters, the remains of the Taotie demon god, trapped in iron magma, were revealed.

Taotie's position in the secret realm was clearly not as good as Zhang Xuezhou's, and it also suffered the blow from the secret realm's disintegration.

When the nearly three-meter-long thigh bone of the Taotie was pulled out, it was covered with solidified material weighing over a thousand kilograms.

Having endured Heavenly Tribulation, the bodies of almost every great demon are as hard as iron. Great demons in the True Self Realm are difficult to harm with swords and blades. The Taotie Demon God's corpse was more severely damaged than the Emperor's body, with its entire body split into dozens of pieces, its muscles torn apart, and almost completely separated from its bones.

What Zhang Xuezhou felt as compression and stretching was, for the demon gods like Taotie, the feeling of muscles being torn apart and pulled from their bodies.

The force of the collision from the secret realm destroyed everything; the chaotic impact was unbearable.

"Holy Son, how did you survive?"

The traces within the secret realm were difficult to erase, not to mention that the Yuanshi Celestial Venerable witnessed him emerging from the secret realm, and Zhang Xuezhou did not deliberately try to eliminate his tracks.

The fact that the Emperor died in the secret realm while Zhang Xuezhou survived is indeed a major point of suspicion.

Zhang Xuezhou could only point to his previous hiding place.

"I was protected by Taotie, Chong, and Changqin, and Wangliang also protected me. They risked their lives to protect me, which is why I was able to survive!"

The place where Zhang Xuezhou was located also contained the broken ancient zither magic Law Treasure of the Changqin Demon God, as well as traces of the 'heavy' rock solidification technique, the molted animal skin of the Taotie, and the remains of the Wangliang nearby.

Although the protective power of these demon gods was of little use to Zhang Xuezhou, it could undoubtedly serve as a reasonable explanation for his survival at this moment.

Bixia Niangniang asked a question, then sighed and collected the crushed remains of the demon god.

"They are so loyal to the Emperor, why did they risk their lives to protect you instead of protecting the Emperor?" Xuan Nu asked.

"Perhaps they believed the Emperor was too powerful to need protection, or perhaps they received instructions from the Emperor to protect me, or maybe my cries for help made them willing to help me!"

People are often unwilling to believe the truth and are more willing to believe the reasoning and arguments made by their thinking. Zhang Xuezhou did not dwell on recounting the true situation he had encountered before.

Should we summon the Emperor's spirit?

Zhang Xuezhou gave a brief response and then asked about the issues he was most concerned about.

If permitted, Zhang Xuezhou hopes to summon Donghua's spirit back.

Before clearing himself of suspicion, even the Primordial Celestial Venerable did not disturb the Emperor's remains, but instead chose to inform him.

The reason Zhang Xuezhou could only wait these past few days was precisely this: he didn't want to be misunderstood and beaten instead of getting the meat, even though he had the Emperor's Divine Soul as a backup plan in Chang'an City.

"We definitely need to summon the spirit!"

With a heavy heart, Xuan Nu quickly gathered the remains and strode toward the Emperor and Empress.

"My abilities are limited; Your Majesty, could you please summon my deceased husband's spirit?"

"I don't know this technique!"

The Empress and the Emperor, who had been staring at the Emperor's body for a long time, only came to their senses after being reminded. They then asked the Jade Emperor, who was staring blankly to the side, a question that made the Jade Emperor shake his head repeatedly.

"These kinds of techniques have subtle effects, and few people learn or master them," the Jade Emperor said. "In the Immortal Court, Laojun's skill in summoning souls is the highest, and after he went mad, Yuanshi Tianzun's skill in summoning souls is the strongest, followed by the Celestial Master Qiu Hongji!"

Most cultivators study life-giving and life-giving techniques, while few delve into death techniques. Schools like Corpse-Slaying are extremely rare, and even the Immortal Court can't produce many cultivators skilled in summoning souls. Kunlun is suffering from a talent shortage, making this area of expertise particularly challenging.

"We can only trouble the Yuanshi Celestial Venerable!"

The Emperor and Empress were heartbroken. Although they were used to life and death and knew that the Emperor had indeed met with a problem, they still could not suppress their emotions when they saw the body.

"Holy Son, you previously said that the Emperor was a fraud, so you must know something!"

The emperor and empress turned their heads to look at Zhang Xuezhou, only to see Zhang Xuezhou repeatedly.

"I've only been in Kunlun for a few weeks, and I was almost beaten to death. I'm unworthy of being addressed as Empress and Emperor," Zhang Xuezhou said, cupping his hands in greeting. "If Your Majesty and Empress wish to learn more about certain matters in the future, we can meet in Chang'an City to discuss them!"

"Good!"

The Emperor and Empress stared at Zhang Xuezhou's face for a few seconds before agreeing.

Kunlun's status in the Three Realms is inseparable from Zhang Xuezhou's performance at the centennial celebration, but Zhang Xuezhou didn't receive any reward; instead, he got a beating.

When Zhang Xuezhou and the Emperor had a conflict, she used eight-tenths of her strength. Although she held back, she almost killed Zhang Xuezhou and wiped out any remaining kindness between them. It was clear that Zhang Xuezhou had no regard for their past relationship.

Seeing that the Jade Emperor was intentionally or unintentionally getting closer to Zhang Xuezhou, and considering that Zhang Xuezhou had initially mentioned that he had entered the Jade Void Palace, the Emperor and Empress knew very well that the people's hearts could not be won back.

"The Celestial Venerable has arrived!"

The atmosphere among the group was somewhat awkward, while Xuan Nu and Bi Xia Niangniang could only silently search for the remains.

When Divine Lord Zhenyuan's voice came from outside, a subtle change occurred among the crowd.

"I kept leaping back and forth, and my body was starting to feel the strain. Luckily, the two Western elders couldn't predict the future, otherwise we would have suffered greatly from being blocked on the road!"

Yuanshi Tianzun complained to Divine Lord Zhenyuan, an acquaintance, and after understanding the situation in a few words, he had no choice but to dive into this underground space again.

"The Celestial Venerable has arrived! We've all been waiting for you to summon the souls!"

The Yuanshi Tianzun showed himself, the Jade Emperor spoke up about the situation, which almost made Yuanshi Tianzun want to turn around and disappear immediately.

"My Technique Method are very ordinary!"

The Yuanshi Celestial Venerable looked slightly embarrassed. He had always considered himself an extraordinary leader in Technique Method, but summoning the Emperor's soul was indeed a troublesome matter. If he succeeded, it was expected; if he failed, he would inevitably lose face. The most troublesome thing was if he messed it up, which would cause many Kunlun gods to resent him for a lifetime.

Yuanshi Tianzun was also unwilling to do such a thankless task.

He had to put on a cold face and lay down three rules before he could stand in front of the emperor's corpse.

After solemnly chanting incantations, he reached out and touched the head of the Emperor's corpse.

With a single palm strike, Yuanshi Tianzun felt that the Emperor had died a very clear death; his body was dead, and his soul was also withered and desolate.

This is utter and complete death, with absolutely no chance of survival; even summoning a spirit will not bring forth its Yin Soul.

"Why does it look like it's been dead for a long time?"

Yuanshi Tianzun frowned.

A person's soul dissipates seven days after death, but it takes forty-nine days for it to completely dissipate.

The Yuanshi Celestial Venerable felt that the Emperor had died a very thorough death, but the other party had died too cleanly, leaving not even a trace behind.

No normal person could die like this. Yuanshi Tianzun found the Emperor's death very strange. It seemed that the other party had died long ago, and only the shell remained, communicating with everyone.