Gazing at the deathly silent entrance of the Yin River, Xu Qing felt the heart that had been dead for years suddenly start beating again.
The Yin River before him was like a treasure trove where countless corpses were buried blindly.
Xu Qing didn't know how much disaster the old woman's wooden ladle had caused at the entrance of the Jin Sect's Yin River.
Whether the powerful entities like Ghost Law, Witch Ceremony, Witch Qi, and ancient gods were wounded or not, at least his old neighbor Doom Ghost King didn't seem to be in a good situation.
Besides the Doom Ghost King, the Skull Soldiers led by the Eight Banner Marshals, the rebel conspirators assisting the Yin Erosion Dharma King, and people like Ji Lingzhou and Han Renshan who were trying to excavate divine relics, were all in the Ancient Yin River Dao.
Xu Qing dared not imagine how much fortune he might stumble upon!
But before collecting the corpses, he had to conduct some tests.
Xu Qing returned to the Twin Coffin, then took out four papermen, equipping each with a Fire Stick and a solid iron fire cannon.
Since he was going to visit the old neighbor, he had to bring some gifts, right?
Xu Qing controlled the four papermen to disperse in four directions from the Ghost King Mausoleum.
When each paperman reached the appropriate position, Xu Qing commanded them to take out the Fire Stick and ignite the iron fire cannon fuses.
The white one-inch-long fuses sparked instantly, followed by four peals of thunder breaking the silence of the Ancient Yin River Dao.
Even Xu Qing, twenty miles away, could hear the noise from afar.
This iron fire cannon might not be powerful, but its clamour was extraordinarily grand.
After the loud noise, the Ghost King Mausoleum remained eerily silent.
Xu Qing listened intently for a while, yet not a single ghost soldier emerged to investigate in the huge mausoleum.
After waiting for about half a cup of tea's time, Xu Qing saw a sluggish skeletal ghost emerging from the collapsed mausoleum entrance.
The ghost, wearing neat armour, seemed to have the air of a ghost general.
But that peeking and hesitating demeanor, lacking even a shred of the former fierce specter bravery?
Xu Qing felt if he were to use Corpse Roar Skill to shout, this ghost general would be frightened into scurrying back into the tomb.
The ghost general, seeing no movement in the mausoleum, bolstered its courage and moved toward the direction of the loud noise.
Xu Qing watched with amusement.
Got you! You're the one!
...
In front of the pit created by the iron fire cannon, the patrol ghost general picked up the gunpowder-blackened sand with bewilderment and sniffed.
There was no magical power fluctuation, only the intense heat as fierce as charcoal retained; the ghost general had never seen such a thing, yet it felt strangely familiar.
Suddenly, it recalled years ago when the Ghost Altar General, while patrolling outside, suffered severe injuries, carrying this same scent on its charred bones...
In front of the pit, the patrol ghost general was pondering the matter when it suddenly felt a shadow before its eyes.
The patrol ghost general froze, turning slowly.
Behind it were ten fierce generals, towering and brimming with evil qi, surrounding it.
Those fierce generals were green-faced, tusked, with bloodshot eyes, their stature over ten feet high, rendering them more oppressive than the Vajra Wrathful Buddha in temples.
"..."
The ghost general looked at the pit behind it, then at the fierce generals in front, never feeling so hopeless in its life.
"Bullying with numbers, victory by unfair means..."
Before the ghost general could finish, it was engulfed by the fierce generals' random fists!
After stamping out the three balls of ghost fire in its eyes and chest, the fierce generals instinctively stepped aside, revealing the paperman funeral procession waiting behind.
The Straw Spirit Papermen aptly tossed the skeleton into the coffin, closed the lid, then hoisted the guest, waving funeral flags, heading in the opposite direction of the Ghost King Mausoleum.
...
Twenty miles away, the paperman procession entered the underground passage, deep within it, where Xu Qing had been waiting, opened the coffin lid, extracted the corpse, and waved his hand.
Receiving the command, the papermen lifted the empty coffin, exited the passage, continuing to collect and excavate skeletons scattered around the Ghost King Mausoleum.
Xu Qing was not worried about being discovered by the Doom Ghost King, as he previously theorized the mausoleum had suffered calamity, and the old neighbor's reaction further confirmed it.
Moreover, during the papermen's activities, Xu Qing had located the Eight Banner Marshals and others through the Treasure Sword given by Zuo Zixiong.
Even if the old neighbor truly came knocking, he could use the Divine Travel Celestial Scripture to evade to another neighbor's place.
"The Treasure Sword sensing Zuo Zixiong's location indicates this general hasn't been buried in the Yin River..."
Xu Qing thought it through and felt relieved, realizing the Eight Banner Marshals had the nation's support, preserving Zuo Zixiong wasn't hard.
But, in comparison, it made the Doom Ghost King somewhat disgraceful.
After all, upon the disaster's arrival, this Ghost King chose to abandon his soldiers and flee alone.
The Sutra of Salvation flipped pages and the skull ghost general's life flashed swiftly to the end.
Xu Qing saw the Doom Ghost King hiding deep within the mausoleum, not daring to step out, also saw skeleton ghost soldiers strewn across the mausoleum passages.
Without exception, the ghost fires on those soldiers had all extinguished.
Only the inner circle of the king's chamber, with slightly higher cultivation attendants and concubines, narrowly escaped peril.
When Xu Qing's iron fire cannon echoed through the mausoleum, the Doom Ghost King almost hid under the royal desk in front of numerous attendants.
The old woman's wooden ladle gave this Ghost King immense psychological trauma.
After discovering the internal situation of the Ghost King Mausoleum, Xu Qing's expression turned odd.
The bad news was that the Doom Ghost King was overly cautious, running faster than anyone else before the calamity, suffering minimal harm.
The good news was that this Ghost King had become a startled bird, unlikely to emerge for some time.