Chapter 483: A Hundred Thousand Banners to Slay King Yama (2)

"Is this it?" My five fingers closed around the token inside the White Bone Jade Box. I couldn't make out what it looked like, and it was so heavy I could barely lift it. Lines of an incantation flooded my mind, bringing a profound realization that pushed my ghost art straight to the Fourth Layer. All at once, a great deal became clear to me.

"On the thirtieth of the dew month, before the midnight hour is half spent, I command by the Yellow Springs—open the Ghost Gate!"

The colossal, sky-high gate shook with a thunderous boom. Amid the wails of vengeful spirits, a crack no wider than a strand of hair slowly split open.

Lord Snake, who practiced the art of ghost eyes, saw it happen, the flat-topped crown on his head nearly slipping off. "Impossible! How could the Ghost Gate open at a time like this? Gao Jian is nothing more than an ordinary mortal—impossible!"

The big-headed dwarf, born with Yin-Yang eyes, was struck dumb as well. He dropped flat onto his backside, the malice and greed in his eyes completely wiped away by sheer astonishment. "Crossing the Yellow Springs in reverse—the only secret treasure in the world with that kind of power is Maoshan's sect-guarding artifact, the Yellow Springs Token! But I heard that thing can only be used once a century!"

Most of the Three Yin Sect's evil cultivators stopped dead in their tracks.

Shock!

Despair!

Disbelief!

The sky-high gate stayed open for less than a tenth of a second before closing again. Yet in that brief fraction of a second, through a crack no wider than a strand of hair, countless wronged souls and ghostly creatures had already escaped!

There were simply too many of them. Compared to these ghosts, the hundred or so Yin soldiers the Three Yin Sect had amassed over centuries were nothing at all.

"A mortal opened the Ghost Gate?"

"Opening the Ghost Gate and unleashing wronged souls—has this Gao Jian lost his mind?"

The evil cultivators of the Three Yin Sect didn't dare make a move. The big-headed dwarf was the first to snap out of his daze. "Kill him! Quick! Those yin souls that escaped the Ghost Gate are bound to wreak havoc on this place!"

"I am King Yama! Heaven holds no life and Earth has no master—seize and sever Gao Jian's three souls and seven spirits!" Recovering from his shock, Lord Snake immediately lunged to attack me.

Yin soldiers charged toward me, though only a handful were still willing to obey Lord Snake's command.

"I command by the Yellow Springs, yet you still dare call yourself King Yama before me?" The blood soaking my body couldn't wash away my defiance. The moment the Ghost Gate opened, I felt a sudden lightness in my body, as though some unseen shackles binding me had been shattered.

Thinking back carefully, when Lu Xing tried to defy heaven and change his fate, the process seemed very similar to mine. He had sought to unleash the flood dragon beneath Jiangcheng to smash open the dam and drown a million living souls. Back then, I had heard him utter the words—when the eight characters gather, open the Heavenly Gate.

In that same pursuit of usurping fate, Two-Faced Buddha had spent twenty years hiding from the will of Heaven, only to meet his downfall at my hands in the end. Looking back on it now, could I have been a pawn put in place by Heaven's will?

In my attempt at usurping fate today, my heavenly calamity had passed; my human calamity was the Three Yin Sect.

When Lu Xing was usurping fate, he blinded the heavenly calamity, and the human calamity he ran into was me.

It was uncanny. The whole process was so similar; the only difference was the outcome.

He had failed, while I was on the verge of succeeding!

"Gao Jian! Once you open the Ghost Gate, there is no turning back—you will be forsaken by the will of Heaven! Disperse the ghosts of the Yellow Springs at once, and perhaps you can still earn a sliver of acceptance from this world." Lord Snake's tone had softened, something even he probably hadn't noticed.

"Acceptance? What use do I have for that? Do I need acceptance from someone who wants me dead?" Gripping the Yellow Springs Token, I still couldn't make out its shape clearly, but it didn't matter. Driven by the token, the ghosts that had escaped in that split second were surging toward where I stood.

"Lunatic! Are you trying to turn Jiangcheng into a realm of ghosts?!"

"Stop right now! What on earth are you trying to do?" Lord Snake was panicking. He had already exhausted the sect reserves he brought with him. The lineup they had mobilized this time was even more overwhelming than when they besieged the Primal Destiny Divine Fiends five years ago, yet things had still gone awry.

I held the Yellow Springs Token high. Countless ghostly creatures and yin souls materialized out of thin air all around No-Lights Road. They were frail, but their sheer numbers were overwhelming.

The Three Yin Sect's evil cultivators were already looking to retreat. Both She Qian and the big-headed dwarf were edging backward, leaving only Lord Snake, in his human-ghost fusion form, blocking the mouth of the alley.

"What am I doing? Don't you call yourself King Yama?" Raising the token, I pointed it at Lord Snake with a faint, calm smile and wasted no more words. "Kill!"

Countless yin souls and ghostly creatures howled past like mountains crumbling and the earth splitting apart. Heaven and earth were blotted out, leaving nothing in sight but wailing stray souls and wild ghosts demanding lives.

"Going to the underworld springs to summon old troops, with a hundred thousand banners to slay King Yama!"

The giant ghost Lord Snake had fused with was torn to shreds almost instantly, and his physical body suffered devastating injuries, leaving him clinging to his last breath.

If even Lord Snake ended up like that, the rest of the Three Yin Sect's evil cultivators stood even less of a chance. Most died violently on the spot; only a handful barely escaped with their lives by relying on special techniques and happening to stand far away from Lord Snake.

The token in my palm grew heavier and heavier until it felt as if I were holding up a mountain. Once the last wisp of yin energy and the final shred of strength in my body were drained dry, the ghostly figures filling the sky spiraled completely out of control!

Most of them returned to the Yellow Springs, while a small portion fled Lightless Alley, slipping into Jiangcheng and the surrounding counties and cities.

It took a long time for the rampaging yin energy to die down. The entrance to Lightless Alley was left in utter ruin, as if a typhoon had torn through it. Strewn among the broken bricks and shattered tiles were lifeless corpses, tattered black Daoist robes, and damaged ritual artifacts.

Thud!

Unable to hold the token in my hand any longer, I collapsed to my knees. The token's power was terrifying, yet it was also deeply sinister—once it had drained my strength dry, it began leeching my essence blood and vitality. I hurriedly tucked it back into the White Bone Jade Box, barely managing to make it stop.

My chest heaving, I gasped for breath and looked around.

Both Lord Snake and the multicolored giant snake were dead. In the final moments, the blind giant snake had fought to the death to shield Lord Snake, its skin nearly stripped from its body, yet it had still been no match for the horde of ghosts.

The female Daoist and the big-headed dwarf, however, had been lucky enough to survive. All told, the Three Yin Sect had suffered devastating losses this time, and a flicker of fear now crept into their eyes whenever they looked at me.

I badly wanted to finish them all off—at a time like this, I had no room for softhearted mercy. Unfortunately, my injuries were too severe and I was weakened to the absolute limit. If it really came to blows, I probably wouldn't even be a match for them.

After putting away the Yellow Springs Token, I gathered up the Desire Ghost, the Filthy Ghost, and the Three-Eyed Ghost Infant. Only then did I brace a hand against the wall and walk step by step toward Lightless Alley.

As I passed Lord Snake's corpse, I glanced back in silence and bent down to pick up my phone from the ground.

A few more missed calls had appeared on the glowing screen, but what caught my eye far more was the time.

"12:01 AM."

'Does this mean I succeeded in usurping fate? Do I have a chance to become a Fate Usurper in the future now?' October 30th was easily the most important day of my life. I had been meant to die today, yet now that the storm had passed, not only had I survived, I even held a sliver of a chance at transcendence.

'Was it worth it?' Standing at the entrance to Lightless Alley, I looked up at the night sky. It was as deep and dark as ever, completely unchanged.

"Gao Jian, when the will of Heaven wants someone dead, there is no escaping it! Since ancient times, not a single Fate Usurper has ever met a good end!" Staggering unsteadily, She Qian—who had hidden at the very edge from the start—crawled out from beneath a pile of corpses. His effeminate face had been clawed to shreds by fierce ghosts, though apart from that he had no obvious injuries. "You must be completely spent by now, haha! Those ghost arts and Daoist artifacts of yours—why don't you let me hang onto them for you?"

He had held back and bided his time for so long just waiting for this moment.

"You little worm. If I'd known, I would have swatted you dead right from the start." Bracing myself against the wall, I gave him a cold look and walked briskly into the alley.

She Qian came after me with a sinister laugh, his ruined, blood-drenched face making him look like a fiendish ghost himself. Yet just as he was about to step into Lightless Alley, an eerie song drifted out from the pitch-black depths—the sound of an old voice humming.

"Oh, oh. Little rag doll, don't be mad, I've come to say I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lost my temper just now, and thrown you hard upon the ground. I dirtied up your new floral dress, and got your face all covered in mud—it must still hurt real bad, doesn't it?" A hunchbacked Old Granny walked out from the depths of the alley cradling a worn-out rag doll. She looked ancient, the wrinkles across her face bunched up like shriveled bean curd skin.

'Who is she?'

'Doesn't her voice sound a bit familiar?'

Everyone from the Three Yin Sect stared toward Lightless Alley. She Qian didn't dare move a muscle as he recalled a legend passed down within the Three Yin Sect.

Old Granny walked past me, studied me for a long moment, and then slowly wandered off into the distance, still humming that eerie nursery rhyme.

When she lifted her head, the female Daoist outside the alley spat out another large mouthful of blood, her voice trembling. "That mad old woman... isn't she the Previous Generation Meng Po?!"