To deal with disobedient students, we still need the master to step in!
Just as Xu Qing finished exorcising Ghost Master and was planning to handle the next corpse, a heart-wrenching ghost wail suddenly echoed from the Ghost King Mausoleum twenty miles away.
Did it say 'No'?
Xu Qing, always vigilant of his old neighbor's movements, listened carefully for a while. After not detecting any other disturbances, he confidently continued to exorcise the remaining skeletons.
...
Deep within the Ghost King Mausoleum.
A lone emperor, donned in a Dragon Robe and wearing a fringed crown, sat on the throne.
Before him, one by one, the loyal ministers and the ladies of the harem revealed relieved smiles and vanished.
In life, the Many Calamities Ghost King was an emperor; in death, a ghost king. He was not foolish and quickly identified the problem.
Why did only the ministers and consorts vanish while the Ghost Generals remained unaffected in the hall?
The ghost flames in the Many Calamities Ghost King's eyes flickered.
The Ghost Generals possessed dead bodies, unlike the spirit-consolidated minister ghosts and consorts.
His minister ghosts and consorts only inhabited their physical shells when leaving the mausoleum.
Within the mausoleum, the skeletons of his buried ministers and consorts were arranged in their respective chambers.
Noticing something amiss, the Many Calamities Ghost King immediately went to check the nearest burial chamber.
Opening a chamber door, the burial objects were complete, except for the empty platform used to hold the coffin.
As his rage intensified, so did his increasing sense of panic and fear.
He opened the door to the second chamber, then the third, and the fourth.
Upon discovering that the skeletons of his buried ministers and consorts had been stolen, leaving not even a strand of corpse hair, the Many Calamities Ghost King fell silent.
Returning to the main burial chamber, he sat on the throne, unable to speak for a long time.
To be able to guide wandering spirits to the void and await reincarnation in the confines of the Nine Netherworld, with the Heaven-Reaching Road blocked, was no feat possible for a mortal.
In the Many Calamities Ghost King's eyes, only the owner of that ladle might have accomplished it.
"Is my empire, my state, truly perished..."
The Many Calamities Ghost King drove all surviving Ghost Generals outside the hall. He then gazed at the empty main hall and once again questioned his own soul.
"No! As long as I exist, my state will not perish. The master does not understand my intentions. In this impending disaster, the mortal realm will eventually be overrun by evil spirits just like the Dark River. By then, when I return to the secular world, I will reclaim everything that belongs to me and retake the throne of my dynasty..."
"The master has turned away from me, you all have, but as long as I return, there will be new masters and new consorts."
In the empty mausoleum, the Many Calamities Ghost King sometimes laughed ecstatically and sometimes scolded, as if enacting a bustling court full of ministers and warriors.
...
Cultivation knows no time.
In the blink of an eye, it was already the eleventh day of the twelfth month.
Xu Qing calculated the days. Upon his return to the Jin Sect, his primary concern was Tao Sanmei's Celestial Thunder calamity.
According to Tao Sanmei's own calculations, the calamity would occur around the Exorcism Festival on the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth month.
This Exorcism Festival has its legends, with tales of the Peaceful Ghost Grand Marshal, Demon Exorcism True Monarch descending to the mortal realm on this day to dispel the evil spirits accumulated throughout the year.
The Demon Exorcism True Monarch carries five magical tools for exorcising ghosts and subduing demons. The first is the Ghost-slaying Sword, also known as the Cyan Blade Sword, which has the power to ward off evil and eliminate malicious ghosts and demons, being the foundational treasure of Zhong Kui.
The second is a red umbrella, also called the Soul-Gathering Umbrella, which has the effect of dispelling evil and protecting the soul.
The third is a red gauze lantern, capable of illuminating forms, dispersing wicked ghosts and evils, and assisting the Demon Exorcism True Monarch in identifying demons.
In addition, the most formidable tools of the Peaceful Ghost Grand Marshal are the peach whip and peach mallet.
According to legend, the Demon Exorcism True Monarch, to subdue a malicious ghost that plagued the mortal world, once cut down the ancient peach ancestor from Taodu Mountain on the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth month, crafting a peach whip and peach mallet to subdue the ghost.
Since then, all peach spirits regard the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth month as a taboo.
Xu Qing even suspected that Tao Sanmei believed her calamity would be on the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth month because of hearing this legend.
Nevertheless, before the Exorcism Festival arrives, he plans to return to the Jin Sect once more.
After all, that peach tree was part of the property he inherited when he took over the coffin shop. When Celestial Thunder struck other people's peach trees, he didn't really mind, but he couldn't let his own flowers and plants suffer damage...
————————
The Yin River knows neither sun nor moon.
On this day, Xu Qing finally finished absorbing the last Yin Essence Pill after over a month in seclusion.
At this moment, more than half of Xu Qing's Undying Bone had been refined, with only twelve crucial bones that were the hardest to refine remaining slightly unfinished.
"If a person wants to cultivate Immortal Dao, they must have Hidden Bones in their chest. If I aim to become a Corpse Immortal, I similarly need to refine Hidden Bones to pave the way for the Corpse Immortal path."
"Additionally, there's the Jade Pillow Bone, an essential non-transmutable spirit hub."
"Besides the Jade Pillow Bone, the Tibia acts as the instrument for traversing the void."
Mystic Pass Bone, Scapula, One Aperture of the Mystic Pass.
Coccyx Bone, the pathway of Circulation.
The Thigh Bone, the longest bone in the human body, is called the Grounding Celestial Root by Taoists, capable of withstanding the power of mountains and rivers.
Ulna, Clavicle, Patella... as flawless as White Jade, radiating brilliance.
"Skypillar, Imperial Pavilion, North Sea..."
The Skypillar is the spine, the Imperial Pavilion is the cranium, and the North Sea is the sacrum. These three crucial bones have already been consecutively refined by Xu Qing,
among which the North Sea is viewed as Immortal Bone by cultivators, and is the most difficult part to refine during zombies' nurturing of the Undying Bone. Yet despite this difficulty, Xu Qing found a method.
Refining the Skypillar spine allows one to access the hidden chamber, enabling perceptibility of the varying density of the earth's Yin energy without knowledge of feng shui, merely relying on one's own intuition to detect nearby ancient tomb Yin grounds and various types of Nether artifacts and Yin Treasures.
The Imperial Pavilion cranium guards the Jade Capital, located in the Mud Ball Palace, absorbing the Three Lights to illuminate the Mud Ball. Achieving excellence in this realm ensures wisdom never descends into obscurity, remaining unaffected by resentful energies.
The North Sea Immortal Bone conceals the Mystic Elixir, harmonizes Yin and Yang, firmly preserving a point of pure essence within oneself, and is the fundamental key for zombies transforming from death to life.
Refinement of the form by the Great Yin, Circulation Returning to Truth Realm—when all 206 bones throughout the body are completely refined, the Great Yin energy inhabits oneself, cyclically repeating, forming a Circulation of its own, reconstructing the body's skeletal channels.
The Celestial Spirit Bone: reflects the essence of sun and moon like a mirror, enabling access to the Mud Ball Palace, Bridal Chamber, Bright Hall's profound form, acting as the hub of the Divine Soul.
Sacrum: harbors the essence of life's origin, where the lifeline resides, the foundation of the Immortal Dao.
Spine: the 24 vertebrae serve as a bridge of heaven and earth, being the pivotal mechanism of the Three Passes (Coccyx, Occipital Bone, Jade Pillow), integrating Circulation, connecting the upper and lower Undying Bones, making the transformative mechanism from death to life flow ceaselessly, ultimately breathing in harmony with the universe. The Yin River knows neither sun nor moon.
On this day, Xu Qing finally finished absorbing the last Yin Essence Pill after over a month in seclusion.
At this moment, more than half of Xu Qing's Undying Bone had been refined, with only twelve crucial bones that were the hardest to refine remaining slightly unfinished.
"If a person wants to cultivate Immortal Dao, they must have Hidden Bones in their chest. If I aim to become a Corpse Immortal, I similarly need to refine Hidden Bones to pave the way for the Corpse Immortal path."
"Additionally, there's the Jade Pillow Bone, an essential non-transmutable spirit hub."
"Besides the Jade Pillow Bone, the Tibia acts as the instrument for traversing the void."
Mystic Pass Bone, Scapula, One Aperture of the Mystic Pass.
Coccyx Bone, the pathway of Circulation.
The Thigh Bone, the longest bone in the human body, is called the Grounding Celestial Root by Taoists, capable of withstanding the power of mountains and rivers.
Ulna, Clavicle, Patella... as flawless as White Jade, radiating brilliance.
"Skypillar, Imperial Pavilion, North Sea..."
The Skypillar is the spine, the Imperial Pavilion is the cranium, and the North Sea is the sacrum. These three crucial bones have already been consecutively refined by Xu Qing,
among which the North Sea is viewed as Immortal Bone by cultivators, and is the most difficult part to refine during zombies' nurturing of the Undying Bone. Yet despite this difficulty, Xu Qing found a method.
Refining the Skypillar spine allows one to access the hidden chamber, enabling perceptibility of the varying density of the earth's Yin energy without knowledge of feng shui, merely relying on one's own intuition to detect nearby ancient tomb Yin grounds and various types of Nether artifacts and Yin Treasures.
The Imperial Pavilion cranium guards the Jade Capital, located in the Mud Ball Palace, absorbing the Three Lights to illuminate the Mud Ball. Achieving excellence in this realm ensures wisdom never descends into obscurity, remaining unaffected by resentful energies.
The North Sea Immortal Bone conceals the Mystic Elixir, harmonizes Yin and Yang, firmly preserving a point of pure essence within oneself, and is the fundamental key for zombies transforming from death to life.
Refinement of the form by the Great Yin, Circulation Returning to Truth Realm—when all 206 bones throughout the body are completely refined, the Great Yin energy inhabits oneself, cyclically repeating, forming a Circulation of its own, reconstructing the body's skeletal channels.
The Celestial Spirit Bone: reflects the essence of sun and moon like a mirror, enabling access to the Mud Ball Palace, Bridal Chamber, Bright Hall's profound form, acting as the hub of the Divine Soul.
Sacrum: harbors the essence of life's origin, where the lifeline resides, the foundation of the Immortal Dao.
Spine: the 24 vertebrae serve as a bridge of heaven and earth, being the pivotal mechanism of the Three Passes (Coccyx, Occipital Bone, Jade Pillow), integrating Circulation, connecting the upper and lower Undying Bones, making the transformative mechanism from death to life flow ceaselessly, ultimately breathing in harmony with the universe.