Not far from the White Cloud Cave, the entirety of the Great Yan's hundred thousand soldiers were stunned.
The crowd had not yet recovered from the endless Celestial Fire cascading down from the sky when they saw a dense Corpse Evil erupting from the top of the White Cloud Cave, shooting straight into the heavens.
The black pillar of light seemed like a majestic torrent long suppressed, dispersing the hanging fire cascade while plunging into the boiling sea of flames.
This strange scene didn't last long. The fire sea, which had been impacted in the sky, paused for a moment, seemingly disrupted by those outside the White Cloud Cave who had reversed the flow.
But quickly, the Celestial Fire calamity, upon regaining its momentum, became furious in an instant!
Wang Liang, who had fought in battles north and south and seen the mountains and rivers, couldn't help but widen his eyes.
He had truly never seen such a scene!
Beside him, Shang Shaoyang's face was flushed red by the Celestial Fire, and he said, dry in throat, "Did demons set this Celestial Fire, or was it the work of the Sacred Master?"
"..."
You ask me, who am I supposed to ask?
Wang Liang, forcing himself to remain calm, said, "Naturally, it is the work of the Sacred Master. That black light is presumably the demonic manifestation, but evil cannot prevail over righteousness. How can a mere demon be an adversary of the Great Yan?"
The entire army had never seen such a spectacle. As a leader, Wang Liang understood the importance of stabilizing the troops' morale and boosting their spirits.
However, before he could finish speaking, a grand light formed by millions of incense offerings rose again on White Cloud Mountain. When the Celestial Fire pouring down from the Nine Heavens touched this incense light, it instantly recoiled, as if scalded.
"I feel like this is the real Sacred Master?"
"..."
Wang Liang remained silent.
Even though his martial arts cultivation had already touched the threshold of a Martial Arts Grandmaster, he still couldn't understand the divine techniques' transformations of those cultivating the Tao.
Martial arts, Xuan Sect, is the gap truly so vast?
Wang Liang suddenly thought of the named disciple of the master, Li Tiezhu, who sold funeral supplies at the Paper Mache Shop.
The opponent also seemed to be cultivating martial arts.
At that moment, Wang Liang felt somewhat bewildered, realizing he might never have truly understood the master, not even one ten-thousandth of him.
Could it be that the paths he chose all along were really wrong...
...
Outside the White Cloud Cave.
Xu Qing, having crossed the Celestial Fire calamity, found his aura soaring, with mysterious changes occurring within his acupoints.
He discovered a cluster of misty qi beneath his throat, in the Qi She Acupoint, allowing him to exhale miasma and ride the fog.
The miasma he exhaled was none other than the residual accumulated corpse poison within him. If he expelled it in a breath, it would have the power to seize one's soul.
In addition, Xu Qing awakened a unique divine technique exclusive to zombies, enabling him to absorb the essence and blood of living creatures from a hundred yards away. Those with low cultivation would immediately wither upon being struck by this technique.
Other Flying Corpse divine techniques, such as using one's mind to control objects, causing mountains and rocks to shift, or being immune to Yang energy and unafraid of righteous Daoist skills, Xu Qing possessed them all!
This was truly the pinnacle of Corpse Charm!
Xu Qing had never felt his body so light. Now, he had completely broken free from the oppressive earthly qi. Not only could he freely traverse through the earth's veins, but he could also soar into the sky, riding the wind...
In front of the White Cloud Cave, within the weakened formation plate.
The old female fox watched Xu Qing, who had manifested the Divine Image of Lady Bao Sheng, enveloped in holy light and gradually ascending, seemingly about to become an immortal on the spot, and finally revealed a grave expression.
A corpse monster with the body of a zombie, yet possessing boundless merit—could it still be considered a corpse monster?
The Saint Matron had seen true immortals and even the Nine Heavens Profound Lady. She had also witnessed the Celestial Emperor suppressing with a wave of his sleeve, but she had never seen a zombie cultivating virtuous deeds.
Even more so, a zombie so virtuous it seemed sinister.
Male and female divine images, the merger of corpse aura and merit, along with those world-creating divine techniques, and the formation arrays only true disciples of the Tao could arrange...
The Saint Matron even for a brief moment felt like she was still trapped in the Illusion Array, not yet awake.
But she quickly dispelled these miscellaneous thoughts. The reason was simple—regardless of whether she was caught in an illusion technique, she probably couldn't imagine such a bizarre entity.
"Who on earth is your master?"
The old woman supported herself with a cane, the Ghost Head Divine Saber swirling around her body. Simultaneously, she used the Earth Fiend technique 'Seated Fire Art' to avoid the Celestial Fire's targeting.
Xu Qing held the Mother Qi Bottle in one hand, grasping the Jade Ruyi in his arms, with seven-colored immortal silks fluttering without wind.
Looking down on the old woman below, he said solemnly, "All beings are but corpses before me. You sacrifice souls with the Ghost Head Demon Saber, exterminating them, hence you have a grievance with me..."
The Saint Matron frowned, not believing Xu Qing's words. Those cultivators from the Buddhist and Daoist sects loved to speak such high-sounding rhetoric. In her eyes, the opponent must have an extraordinary background; otherwise, it would have been impossible to wield such numerous divine techniques and skills.
The old female fox's eyes flickered. With the skies sealed, no matter how deep the opponent's roots, could they be greater than the Nine Heavens Profound Lady or the Celestial Emperor?
She even dared to offend the Nine Heavens Profound Lady, so how could she fear someone who had just broken through the Celestial Fire calamity?
Heaven-shattering divine techniques and methods for a corpse monster to gain boundless merit—these were all too tempting for her.
As long as she seized the opponent's fortune, she could replace him, enjoy the people's offerings while continuing to sacrifice the Divine Saber and use the blood sacrifice method to enhance her cultivation, bringing the seventy-two Earth Fiend forbidden techniques to perfection.
By then, when the Heaven-Reaching Road reopened, she too could use Great Magical Power and Divine Techniques to leap out of the Three Realms and Six Paths, no longer constrained by heavenly laws...
The Saint Matron was still the same old Saint Matron. Even as an early-released criminal, she was still contemplating how to commit crimes without getting caught.