Chapter 482: One Hundred Thousand Banners Slay King Yama (1)

The box was perfectly square, seemingly pieced together and polished from human bone. I held it up with one hand, crimson blood flowing from my wounds. Set against the blood, this White Bone Jade Box looked especially glaring and hideous.

"What is that?"

Dead silence fell over No-Lights Road. The evil cultivators of the Three Yin Sect fixed their eyes on me, every one of them sensing that this White Bone Jade Box was utterly extraordinary.

The underworld soldiers halted, and the ghost generals stopped in their tracks. Lord Snake suddenly realized that his control over the underworld soldiers had actually been stripped away.

"What's inside that box?" He was more shocked than anyone else. Only he knew that these underworld soldiers and ghost generals were actually ghosts passed down through the generations of the Three Yin Sect. Each one formed the sect's foundation and bore its brand; they could not possibly betray him.

'Nothing like this has ever happened before. Even if his ghost art is at the same level as mine, or even a major realm higher, it should be absolutely impossible for him to seize control of the ghosts from my hands,' Lord Snake thought. A trace of panic slipped into his cloudy eyes as he tried his best to conceal his unease. 'It must be because of that box! What on earth is inside it? Why would it have such a massive impact on the ghosts and yin souls? Why don't the ghosts I personally refined dare to defy his will?'

Those who refined ghosts were usually quite extreme. To prevent the ghosts from turning on them, they often placed life-and-death restrictions on the ones they enslaved. If a ghost refused to follow orders, a single thought could scatter its soul.

The Three Yin Sect's ghosts were no different, but right now, Lord Snake simply didn't dare to destroy these underworld soldiers. This was the sect's accumulation over hundreds of years. If he killed all these ghosts, it wouldn't just be a severe blow to the sect's vitality. An evil sect without its foundation of ghosts was essentially half-dead; after all, most of their curses could only be cast through ghosts.

'I can't let him open that box. I have to take it!' Lord Snake made a prompt decision. He tried to alert his disciples, but something even more alarming happened.

His ghost body actually couldn't move. Not only had those low-level underworld soldiers broken free of his control, but even this fused body of human and ghost was starting to resist. Through the trembling deep within its soul, Lord Snake could feel the giant ghost's panic and dread.

'The underworld soldiers of all five directions don't dare to make a move. Is that box really so terrifying?!'

A small White Bone Jade Box had become the source of Lord Snake's fear, leaving him somewhat indecisive.

"Lord Snake, midnight approaches. In less than half a cup of tea's time, it will be the thirty-first of the dew month," the female Daoist who called herself Meng Po reminded him, her entire body wrapped in a black robe. Her face veil was stained red with blood, and her voice was exceedingly weak. The Meng Po Lineage's methods were the most bizarre; before the Previous Generation Meng Po went missing, the Meng Po Lineage was the head of the Three Yin Sect. Unfortunately, Worldly Affairs Are Inconstant. The Previous Generation Meng Po suddenly vanished, leaving their ancient texts incomplete. She had only managed to learn the basics; otherwise, I couldn't possibly have been saved by the Dream Wing Gu.

"The zi hour is not yet half over. There's still a chance," Lord Snake said, his face as dark as still water. It was covered in dense wrinkles, as if he had instantly aged a great deal. In the ancient calendar, the division of days began in the middle of the zi hour; when yin peaked and Yang Qi sprouted, it marked the start of a new day. Once the zi hour passed its midpoint, it would be twelve o'clock midnight!

"He is fated to die on the thirtieth of the dew month. Heaven's will is on our side. Strike with everything you have! We absolutely cannot let him succeed in usurping fate!" Lord Snake was so old he bordered on the demonic, and he knew perfectly well the terror of a Fate Usurper. Those people had transcended the very concept of evil cultivators; they were the most dangerous beings in this world. Snatching lives from Heaven—was there anything more arrogant than that?

I took in the changing expressions of everyone present. I had waited a long time for this moment.

The Yellow Springs Token inside the White Bone Jade Box was my final trump card. It cost forty-four points from the Underworld Live Show to redeem, and I could only use it once a year. I hadn't originally planned on using it.

"Heaven's will is formidable indeed. To deal with a cultivator like me, who has only practiced the Dao for just over a month, natural disasters and man-made calamities have struck one after another. They've even mobilized the strength of an entire sect. The thirtieth of the tenth month—I'll remember this day!" I glanced at the phone on the ground; there were only three minutes left until the day ended.

"Stop thinking about soul searching and corpse refining. Kill him! Hurry! Kill him with everything you have!" Lord Snake's true body kept its eyes closed, his face covered in beads of blood. His deep wrinkles squeezed together, and his silvery-white hair scattered behind his head. Having merged into one with that giant ghost, his physical body couldn't move, so he could only roar at the top of his lungs, alerting the surrounding evil cultivators.

Over a hundred underworld soldiers stood motionless in the pitch-black alley. The scene was incredibly bizarre, and the evil cultivators of the Three Yin Sect also seemed to have lost their backbone, not daring to make a reckless move.

"When underworld soldiers borrowing the path appear, bringing out the sect's foundation, who in all of Jiangcheng could challenge them? Back when the Ghost Infant Lineage fought with the Maoshan Upper Thirty-Six Grottos, even they didn't dare to run wild in Jiangcheng. Yet this young man right in front of us blocked the underworld soldiers all by himself, and even forced the highly respected Lord Snake into such a state."

"How is this possible? This isn't quite what I imagined."

"He still seems to have a trump card. The thing in that box strikes fear into a hundred ghosts and suppresses the underworld soldiers. Wasn't this bastard completely out of options and driven into a corner just moments ago? How could he still have something so terrifying?"

"He can really bide his time. Even I was fooled by him."

The evil cultivators murmured among themselves, but none dared to charge right at me.

"Scared? Weren't you going to kill me? Weren't you going to carry out the Way on behalf of Heaven? I'm standing right here without moving a single step. Come on!" Pressing one hand against the lid of the box, my cold gaze swept over everyone present, committing their faces to memory.

"Gao Jian, the zi hour hasn't passed yet. It's not your turn to act wildly. If Heaven wants to take you, you will definitely die!" Lord Snake chanted segments of ear-piercing syllables. It seemed to be a snake language that no one around could understand, but that blind Snake King immediately abandoned the Three-Eyed Ghost Infant and returned to Lord Snake's side.

It opened its bloody maw and bit down on Lord Snake's leg. As the snake venom was injected, bulging veins popped up across Lord Snake's exposed skin. Strangely enough, the wrinkles on his face actually began to fade, and his originally loose skin grew tight.

"Disciples of the Three Yin Sect, hear my command! Execute Gao Jian with everything you have. Anyone who slacks off will feed the snakes with their bodies!" His hair and beard whipped wildly, and a sharp glint flashed in his cloudy eyes. Using his left hand, which had just regained mobility, he pulled four talismans resembling the King Yama Notice from his robes and flicked them toward the four evil cultivators cowering at the very back.

When those four received the talismans, their expressions turned exceedingly grim, as if they had just eaten the flesh of a corpse. One by one, they watched as the talismans burrowed into their flesh like leeches.

"Sect Master, have mercy!"

"Lord Snake, don't go too far!"

"Sect Master, spare our lives!"

"No!"

The four of them wailed to the heavens, but Lord Snake didn't waver in the slightest. With one hand, he took out a Yanluo Statue and supported it in his palm. Behind him, drums and whips cracked in unison, their eerie tune striking panic into people's hearts.

"Demons and monsters bow in praise; every word hails the Living King Yama!"

The four evil cultivators collapsed to the ground simultaneously, their breath completely cut off. In contrast, the Yanluo Statue in Lord Snake's palm radiated a newfound, overwhelming aura that commanded life and death.

Soon, the stone statue shattered. It was as if something inside had broken free, latching onto the giant ghost that Lord Snake had merged with.

The giant ghost, which already possessed an extraordinary presence, underwent a new transformation. It now wore a flat-topped imperial crown on its head, a black dragon robe on its body, and cloud-soaring boots on its feet. It held a seal of life in its left hand and a token of death in its right. The only thing that remained unchanged was its face.

"Incarnated as King Yama, all ghosts hear my command! Heaven has no life, earth has no master. Harvest and sever Gao Jian's three hun and seven po. Strike him dead together without mercy!"

By sacrificing four evil cultivators, Lord Snake transformed into the human realm's Living King Yama and regained control over the hundred-plus underworld soldiers. "Because of you, we've already sacrificed far, far too much. Now, the time to reap the harvest has finally come! Gao Jian, I told you! Your time of death is set, right on the thirtieth of the dew month!"

The underworld soldiers charged. This time, Lord Snake didn't give me any chances, driving every ounce of power in his hands to crush me.

Over a hundred underworld soldiers, more than a dozen evil cultivators, and rampant yin energy swept through, gouging my body like countless knives.

"My time of death is set? Do you really think you're King Yama?" I wiped the fresh blood from my lips and raised my hand, opening the White Bone Jade Box in my palm.

The world fell completely silent. No clamor or noise could be heard anymore.

Slowly, the sound of a rushing river echoed in everyone's ears. It grew louder and louder as we looked down.

Only a small number of people who had opened their Heavenly Eye or cultivated Heavenly Eye perception could see it: deep underground, a massive river traversing fate and time, bearing countless vengeful souls, was slowly surfacing. It had flowed across this land from ancient times all the way to the present.

"The Yellow Springs!"

It surged endlessly, all the way to the end of the earth, where a colossal gate stood as high as the heavens.