Chapter 576: Life Gate, Death Gate

I had no idea where this Black Chess Piece came from, yet it felt inexplicably familiar. Perhaps I had seen it before, somewhere in my buried memories.

Finishing the incantation, I lifted the Black Chess Piece to the surface. Just as it was about to break completely free of the water, a massive suction force dragged it back.

Serpentine torrents of Yin energy roared through the underground ley lines. Massive Yin energy whirlpools took shape within the subterranean trenches, brewing as though a great catastrophe were about to unfold.

'No, this place is too twisted. I need to leave right now.' After the Black Chess Piece moved, the ley lines didn't calm down at all. Instead, as if an earthquake had struck, all the Yin energy was thrown into a frenzied state.

The stone platform trembled as if it were about to collapse. I wanted to flee, but my left hand felt like it was nailed in place above the murky, baleful water. I couldn't move it an inch.

'Can't this piece be taken away?'

The sudden shift left me completely dumbfounded. Hadn't I gone through all this effort just to take the Black Chess Piece and steal the core of the Yin Meridian?

But now, it hovered just above the murky, baleful water. Not only was it impossible to remove, but it had also firmly latched onto my palm, relentlessly extracting the core Yin energy from my body.

'If this keeps up, I'll be sucked dry.' Anxious, I found myself with no other options. I had followed the incantation taught by the Ghost Infant Sect Master to the letter, but the gap between expectation and reality was simply too immense.

Gusts of nether wind howled through the subterranean trenches. The Yin energy whirlpools continued to expand, multiplying until there were exactly ten of them.

They rotated through the ley lines along fixed trajectories. The one closest to me loomed right beside the stone platform; if it expanded even a fraction more, I would be sucked right in.

'No, I absolutely cannot die here!' Entering the ley lines so rashly had definitely been impulsive, but I had no regrets. At the very least, I had witnessed the hidden underside of this world. It was a magnificent sight that an ordinary person would never get the chance to see in their entire lifetime.

Pushing my ghost art to its absolute limits, I made one final gamble!

When all the Yin energy in my body was finally drained by the Black Chess Piece, my vision went dark. Dragged forward by the piece's pull, I pitched headfirst toward the stone platform!

'Damn it! Is this Black Chess Piece planning to absorb my physical body too?' Starved of Yin energy, the Black Chess Piece slowly began to sink. Even more terrifying, it remained firmly glued to my palm, threatening to drag me down into the murky, baleful water along with it.

No longer able to keep my balance, my right hand slipped from the edge of the stone platform and flailed wildly through the air. Just as I was about to plummet into the pool, my hand slammed against the Mountain God Talisman Stele.

It was pure coincidence, but what happened next was beyond my wildest imagination.

The Pre-Heaven True Qi in my body activated on its own. With no Yin energy left to suppress it, the qi surged rapidly through my meridians.

'What's going on now?' Before I could even process the situation, my Pre-Heaven True Qi poured into the talisman stele. Nourished by the true qi, the Mountain God Pardon Decree inscribed on the stele suddenly burst with radiant light. The seemingly ordinary statue appeared to come alive, exuding an imposing aura capable of suppressing the mountains, rivers, and the Ten Directions.

Yang Qi flared up immensely, once again forming a delicate equilibrium with the Black Chess Piece.

The ten Yin energy whirlpools ceased their expansion. Compared to a moment ago, the ley lines had grown far less chaotic.

Looking back at the stone platform, my left hand was still clutching the Black Chess Piece as it hovered just above the murky, baleful water.

Meanwhile, my right hand was pressed against the head of the Mountain God Talisman Stele, which continued to radiate an earth-shattering aura.

I had no idea how much time had passed. It wasn't until the ley lines fully returned to a tranquil state that the suction force holding my hands finally weakened. I hastily yanked my hands back and retreated as fast as I could, not daring to get anywhere near that terrifying stone platform again.

My entire body felt utterly weak. When I first came down here, I was at my absolute peak, brimming with Yin energy and true qi. But now, I was completely drained—no different from an ordinary human.

'It's over. It'll take at least a day and a night to cultivate my true qi and Yin energy back to full strength. And I still have to go out and wipe out the survivors.' Thinking of the Underworld Live Show's task to cut the grass and dig up the roots, a throbbing headache set in. This hunt was my absolute best opportunity. The evil cultivators of the Three Yin Sect had been completely caught off guard. If I didn't wipe them all out now and allowed them to escape to other cities, I might never be able to complete the task in my entire life.

But regretting it now was useless. I slowly backed away, refusing to linger here any longer.

Sitting on the narrow stone bridge, I began to inch my way back. But after a little while, I noticed something strange. I seemed to be able to influence the Yin energy in this place.

The whole reason I had been scooting along the stone bridge on my rear was the fear that the nether winds would throw off my balance and send me plunging into the abyss. But when the gales actually swept over me, I realized that these winds—which had previously been as vicious as evil dragons—were now as gentle as a lover's caress. Not only did they nourish my parched Yin Meridians, they actively helped suppress the spread of the affliction poison in my arm.

'What's happening?' I sat in the middle of the stone bridge, slightly overwhelmed by the unexpected favor. It was only when I looked down at my hands that I finally began to understand.

Most of the Yin energy was coiling around my left hand. This was the hand that had gripped the Black Chess Piece, and right where my palm had made contact with it, a black, ancient seal character was left behind. It looked like the word "Death."

In stark contrast, on my right palm—right where I had pressed against the Mountain God Talisman Stele—there was now a faint, golden ancient seal character. It appeared to be the word "Life."

'Life? Death?' Seeing these two words, the first thing that came to mind was what the Ghost Infant Sect Master had once told me. For the Ten Directions Ghost Refining Grand Formation to unleash its full power, it needed ten disciples with high mastery in formations to control it. The grand array was further divided into ten positions: heaven, earth, east, west, south, north, the life gate, the death gate, the past, and the future. Did the words "Life" and "Death" on my hands represent the life gate and death gate of the Ten Directions Ghost Refining Grand Formation?

'Did I really inadvertently become the master of the grand array? Can I now unleash twenty percent of its power?' The thought was incredibly tempting. If it were true, then all my previous efforts had been entirely worth it.

The Ten Directions Ghost Refining Grand Formation was an array that had been continuously perfected by successive generations of the Three Yin Sect. Baptized by the passage of time, it had become the sect's greatest trump card—arguably the most precious of all its countless inheritances.

'I already know the location of the array eye. I just tested the effects of the word Death—it prevents Yin energy from attacking me and lets me mobilize a portion of it. Later, when I go out, I need to familiarize myself with how to use the word Life.' Within the Ten Directions Grand Formation, each word held a different function. Operating the array was highly complex, and I would need to slowly study and tinker with it before I could fully master it.

'There's no rush for that. Once I destroy the Three Yin Sect, everything here will be mine. I'll have plenty of time to familiarize myself with the grand array.' An outsider seizing control of a sect's grand array—such a thing was unprecedented, even among all the major orthodox factions.

The only reason I had managed to pull this off was due to countless coincidences, sheer chance, and a tiny sliver of luck.

I traced my fingers over the Good and Evil Asura Mask on my face. Ever since I put this thing on, my luck had steadily improved. The threads of karma bound to me had all been severed, and even the heavens could no longer target me. I was slowly starting to rely on the mask, to the point where a part of me didn't even want to take it off.

'I keep feeling like my mindset has undergone some kind of change, but it doesn't matter. In the face of life and death, survival is the first priority.' Since the Yin energy was now answering to me, it no longer acted as an obstacle. Instead, it was doing everything it could to heal my injuries.

I circulated the Yin-Yang Ghost Art, and in just under half an hour, my Eighteen Yin Apertures were brimming with Yin energy once again.

Even more to my surprise, the cultivation base of my ghost arts had naturally achieved a breakthrough, advancing into the Fourth Layer—the realm of Five-Direction Ghost Commanding.

The Fourth Layer was a watershed. A Ghost Cultivator at this level was already quite terrifying.

Retracing my steps, I recalled the few ghosts I had left in the underground passageway back into my Ghost Ring. Although they hadn't cultivated down here for long, they had all undergone obvious enhancements. This was especially true for Wang Shi. His foundation had been so frail that a single ray of sunlight might have reduced him to ash, but after continuously absorbing the Yin energy from the ley lines, his body had solidified, officially elevating him to the rank of a low-tier ghost.

I still had fairly high expectations for Wang Shi. After all, he was the only ghost I had ever encountered who possessed human intelligence, knew how to think critically, and perfectly retained all the memories from his life.

With the ghosts put away, I walked out of the cave entrance. But the moment I stepped onto the stone stairs leading into the underground passageway, I suddenly noticed that something was wrong.

'She Qian's corpse is still here, so how did the Ghost Infant Sect Master's corpse disappear?'