Additionally, Xu Qing also obtained some other information from the Ghost General.
The wooden ladle dropped by the old woman was heading towards the Netherworld portal guarded by the Ghost Law and Witch Qi, who took it upon themselves to bear most of the damage to prevent any issues with the portal.
Meanwhile, the Eight Banner Marshals and others, including the Yin-Depletion Dharma King, were forced to act with a mindset of shared glory and shared loss.
Their actions were understandable, as it was all for worldly struggles. If things sealed in the underworld were to invade the mortal world, both Dayong and Nan Cuo would face even greater crises.
Only the Ghost King of Multitude Woes retreated from the battle, choosing to abandon the Ghost Soldiers to preserve his own strength.
After all, losing the Ghost Soldiers was a minor issue, but injuring one's foundation was significant, akin to a vassal dying for his monarch.
Xu Qing also figured out why the Ghost King of Multitude Woes could exist at the Jin Sect's Netherworld River entrance for a millennium.
"A thousand-year-old turtle, a ten-thousand-year-old tortoise. This old turtle's ability to hide is really impressive."
Xu Qing recalled Liu Youdao's theft of the Twin Coffin; at that time, the Ghost King of Multitude Woes should have secretly used the Twin Coffin to enter Jin Sect once, but as soon as he appeared, he was locked onto by a disaster of Celestial Fire.
Since then, the Ghost King of Multitude Woes had never left the Ancient Yin River Dao, not even bothered about the lost Twin Coffin or his missing daughter, Princess Yan Ning.
At this moment, Xu Qing viewed the vast Ghost King Mausoleum through the perspective of the Straw Spirit Paperman.
The Ghost King Mausoleum before him wasn't any great tomb; it was clearly a buried turtle shell!
"The incense funding of the Red Robe Sect has gone to waste."
Xu Qing controlled the Straw Spirit funeral procession while continuously exorcising and sending off the white bone skeletons retrieved.
Once the bodies outside the Ghost King Mausoleum were collected, he manipulated the Straw Spirit Paperman to carry the coffins, scatter paper money, enter the corridor of the Ghost King Mausoleum, and began transporting the buried corpses inside.
The Ghost King of Multitude Woes was an emperor from the Nanwan Dynasty a thousand years ago, and with him were buried countless palace attendants and soldiers.
These bones had been enslaved by the emperor in life, and even in death, they had to serve the Ghost King.
Deep inside the Ghost King Mausoleum, there was a large bronze mother cauldron containing incense ashes, which was the source of eternal unrest for these skeletons.
Originally a cauldron of state, buried with the Ghost King Mausoleum, it became the source of enslavement for all buried with it.
But its function was no more than paper in front of the Sutra of Salvation.
Each time Xu Qing exorcised a Ghost Soldier's remains, a true spirit would separate from the large bronze mother cauldron. When he cleared all the passages of the Ghost King Mausoleum, only the Ghost King and some ministers and consorts would remain in the mausoleum.
In the days that followed, Xu Qing used the yin energy accumulated over millennia in the Ghost King Mausoleum to condense one Yin Essence Pill after another.
During this time, Xu Qing worked for three days and rested for one, returning to Jin Sect every three days to exorcise bodies acquired at the Funeral Shop and to handle matters at Cat Immortal Hall and Bao Sheng Temple.
Approximately over a month, Xu Qing exorcised all the corpses in the corridor of the Ghost King Mausoleum.
At this point, the number of Yin Essence Pills he possessed neared ten thousand.
On this day, satisfied with the taste of the marrow, Xu Qing dispatched the Straw Spirit funeral procession once more, venturing deeper into the burial chambers to lift coffin lids and transport the corpses inside the coffins.
Among those corpses were ministers, eunuchs, consorts...
Meanwhile, deep within the Ghost King Mausoleum.
The Ghost King of Multitude Woes, clad in a ochre-yellow Dragon Robe, asked the Ghost Master, "Beloved Minister, how many days remain before the cauldron of state is restored?"
The Ghost King had never experienced such tranquility in the mausoleum; without the clamor of Ghost Soldiers, he indeed felt something was amiss.
The Ghost Master hesitated, saying, "When the bronze mother cauldron's incense ashes are sufficient, it requires forty-nine days to restart. Now, over fifty days have passed since it was supposed to restart, theoretically the mausoleum should have been restored as usual..."
As the monarch and his minister spoke, the consort seated beside the Ghost King of Multitude Woes began to fade away.
The consort's skeletal remains were housed in the coffin, but her beautiful body as usual was formed of a soul's essence. When she sensed her body gradually disappearing, yet could not stop it, the consort revealed an expression of extreme terror.
"Beloved Consort!"
The Ghost King of Multitude Woes sprang up, leaving the throne, silently stepping back.
However, the king's hand reached out towards his beloved consort, showing the deep concern for each departing consort from the mausoleum.
Initially, the Ghost Consort panicked for help, but as her form emitted a bright white glow and started to fade away, she suddenly let out an unclear moan, as if... thoroughly enjoying it?
At the moment of transcendence, the consort suddenly revealed a liberating smile, she looked at the monarch with realization and spoke, "Your Majesty, my time has come, I must go into reincarnation, please take care of yourself."
"Beloved Consort!"
"I command you to return! This is my decree!"
Fearing the cycle of reincarnation, fearing the loss of imperial majesty, the Ghost King of Multitude Woes finally suppressed his inner fear, reaching to grasp the Ghost Consort yet found nothing.
With a millennium of cultivation, he surprisingly couldn't retain the other party at all!
Hearing the monarch's summon, the beautiful consort didn't look back; she only murmured softly.
"A thousand years, Your Majesty kept me by your side for a thousand years, isn't that enough?"
The consort's voice faded momentarily before becoming clear again: "In this life, I've cultivated goodness, perhaps to transform into a Jade Heaven's Phoenix, perhaps to become a Golden Youth of the Jade Pool. Both are better than being imprisoned in decayed bones!"
With that, the consort's body suddenly became light as a feather, fading while drifting towards her unknown destination.
The Ghost King of Multitude Woes was both shocked and angry, yet before he could do anything, the Ghost Master beside him, always assisting him, started to fade as well.
In the Ghost King Mausoleum, generals must command their own skeletal remains for the king's battles, while literary ministers, like the consorts within the mausoleum, had their bodies stored within coffins, formed from souls and true essence.
The Ghost King looked at the Ghost Master, stunned as he was, striving to use his millennium of cultivation to retain the old minister in front of him.
"Beloved Minister, are you too going to leave me?"
The Ghost Master looked at the Ghost King of Multitude Woes, revealing a rare smile, appearing to see the scenes of his living days once more.
Countless memories from his life flashed before his eyes, and as the Ghost Master's form was about to disappear, he finally cast a glance at the monarch before him.
"Your Majesty, I have served the monarch for a thousand years, assisting in state affairs, in blissful ignorance of the nation's demise."
"Today, my time is up; the underworld summons me, with my soul destined to return to the great void and reincarnate into another realm. This is ordained by heavenly cycles, beyond imperial decree."
"Back then, Your Majesty elevated me from obscurity, honored with rich rewards, akin to rebirth. Yet life cycles as tides, rising and falling. Now recalling the past, only then realizing the intertwining of cause and effect, blessings and misfortunes. The bond between Your Majesty and I should have ended a thousand years ago, accompanying these thousand years is already beyond reason, though remembering the past, now realizing the fate intertwined, blessings born from disasters. May Your Majesty, with her avoid clinging to worldly attachments or being entrapped by personal feelings. If Your Majesty selfishly holds on any longer, it may disturb natural order and reverse the destiny..."
"Each word I speak today is heartfelt, and I hope Your Majesty keeps them in mind."
"I take my leave."
With these words, he closed his eyes and smiled before ceasing to be.
The sacrum is symbolic, referred to in Taoist cultivation as the "North Sea" and "Snow Mountain," representing its inherent life code.
In Taoist practices, regulating the sacrum can promote the flow of vital energy and blood, achieving the harmony of water and fire and the interaction of heart and kidneys.
"Pillar of Heaven, Yellow Court, North Sea..."
The Pillar of Heaven refers to the spine, running through the arcane gates, sustaining the Purple Mansion; the Yellow Court maintains the Jade Capital, receiving the Three Lights to illuminate the Mud Ball Palace; the North Sea conceals the Mysterious Female, where true essence resides to solidify the Immortal Foundation.
In Daoist practice, the sacrum is imbued with names like "North Sea" and "Snow Mountain" symbolizing its innate life code.
The pillar of heaven, the yellow court, the north sea...
The pillar of heaven refers to the spine, running through the arcane gates, sustaining the Purple Mansion; the Yellow Court takes hold of the Jade Capital, welcoming the Three Lights to illuminate the Mud Ball Palace; the North Sea hides the Mysterious Female, housing the true essence firm as the Immortal Foundation.
```