“Huh?”
Daoist Master Lesong gazed at the Jiangshan Tu scroll floating before him, his face showing a mix of surprise and doubt.
On the ink painting, at the outermost white light representing the node of Heishan Dharma Realm, a tiny light flickered twice and then abruptly extinguished.
“Is this… Huangfeng Cave?”
Daoist Master Lesong was astonished: “It seems I might have to break my promise. Those outsiders indeed have some abilities!”
“The yellow-skinned monster guarding Huangfeng Cave originally had shallow demonic power. Who knows if this wasn’t just a coincidence?”
Beside him, a Taoist nun coldly snorted, her tone slightly filled with dissatisfaction.
She always held hostility in her heart toward these foreign strangers, especially cultivators with power.
Puff!
Just at this moment, near Huangfeng Cave, the node representing the Poisonous Dragon Pond also flickered and then vanished.
Thus, among the eighteen nodes of Heishan Dharma Realm, nearly half had already been extinguished. Indeed, the cultivators present could feel the pull of the netherworld from the void had significantly weakened, and joy appeared on their faces:
“Excellent!”
“Fellow cultivators, this is the moment to save the world from calamity!”
Daoist Master Lesong nodded with satisfaction. Seeing the misty depths of Heishan, within the fog, a magnificent and otherworldly palace complex emerged, so he coldly called out.
This palace was naturally the lair of Heishan Jun. Normally guarded by eighteen mountain and water masters, even now, outside one could still see the surging demonic aura, with countless great demons serving as guards, vigilantly watching all directions.
“Guagua!”
As soon as Daoist Master Lesong’s group arrived above the palace, they could no longer hide and were immediately discovered. A large swarm of crows cawed noisily, forming a black cloud surging towards them.
Upon closer inspection, these crows not only had a third vertical eye on their brows but also surrounded a demon general with pitch-black feathers covering his body, a bird-like beak, and black wings: “Audacious Daoist, dare you intrude upon Heishan’s palace!”
“Mr. Jingshan, it’s up to you!”
Daoist Master Lesong said to the elderly scholar beside him wearing Confucian robes.
“For righteousness, how could this old man refuse?”
The Confucian scholar smiled slightly, suddenly inhaled deeply, and a white aura representing integrity and unbending righteousness surged into the sky: “Demons, begone!”
Boom!
The righteous aura formed a sun, radiating red light outward in waves.
“Gugu!”
The swarm of crows, dense like black clouds, scattered like birds and beasts upon contact with the white light, shedding a rain of black feathers.
Invisible ripples undulated, and even on the demon general’s head, a small black figure appeared, filled with pain on its face, continuously washed over by waves of white aura before exploding.
As the Yuan Shen dispersed, this demon immediately lost all vitality, its body plummeting straight down.
“Heaven and earth possess righteousness, which is bestowed diversely upon all forms. With the Dao of Heaven and Earth, even spilled blood becomes a masterpiece!”
The elder recited a poem, spat out a mouthful of refined blood, which stained the bamboo brush in his right hand, and then slashed the air before him.
Zila!
A beam of righteous energy, like a sword light or lightning, surged downward with irresistible force.
Buzz!
Wave after wave of black qi emanated from Heishan Palace, forming a canopy that collided with the white light. However, instead of a violent explosion, the surrounding landscape merely trembled slightly.
The tremor was very slight, but the guarding spirits nearby fell to the ground, their demon spirits dispersing.
“This old man has done his part. The rest is up to you!”
The Confucian scholar completed his task, his wrinkled face carrying a faint smile, before suddenly turning into countless specks of light and completely dispersing.
“Mr. Jingshan, rest in peace!”
Daoist Master Lesong understood that such a death signified the complete obliteration of both body and soul, all caused by the excessive depletion of energy. Unless one attained the supreme state of “condensing into form, dispersing as qi,” there would be no chance of reincarnation.
In this world, there were also scholars who sacrificed their lives for justice!
“Decree! Thunder, come!”
At this point, there was no time for mourning. Daoist Master Lesong waved his hand, and the sky was covered with dark clouds, filled with writhing lightning.
As a Daoist of such high cultivation, employing this thunder-summoning technique created an even more formidable spectacle. Even in his heart, he vaguely sensed that his actions seemed to receive the blessing of the celestial forces and the fortune of humanity!
Boom!
From the rolling dark clouds, a thunderbolt as thick as a bowl, carrying immense and irresistible power, struck down fiercely onto the top of Heishan Palace.
Lightning flashed, igniting everything with thunderfire.
The demons who had barely survived the previous attack met their doom in the thunderfire, with none left alive.
Even the protective formation of Heishan Palace, the black canopy, was completely shattered, revealing the most splendid main hall beneath. A huge hole had been blasted through its roof by the thunder.
“Go!”
“Coo-coo!”
Daoist Master Lesong, with a look of martyrdom on his face, rode a celestial crane with several companions into the main hall through the roof:
“This humble Daoist, Lesong, pays a visit. Where is Heishan Jun?”
“I am here! Come forth and meet your doom!”
Inside the main hall, forty-nine colossal jade pillars with coiled dragons stood. In the center was a golden throne.
Upon the throne sat a figure cloaked in black robes, wearing a black mask, emanating an inescapable black spiritual aura filled with despair and terror, now directing its gaze.
He had a pair of dark golden eyes, and his voice was both male and female, neither male nor female, filled with the transcendence of a deity.
“Heishan Jun!”
With just one glance, Daoist Master Lesong was certain of the other’s identity.
Moreover, his spiritual sense instantly detected behind the throne, hidden behind layers of curtains in the inner chamber, a spring of spiritual energy condensed into liquid!
Heishan Jun had drawn upon the spiritual energy of the 300-mile Black Mountain and the power of the land’s veins to form a formation. At its center, the spiritual energy had become a cloud, even condensing into droplets!
The attending Daoists couldn’t help but greedily inhale deeply, knowing that cultivating here for a single day would equal a month of hard practice elsewhere.
“This humble Daoist, Lesong, pays respects to Your Majesty!”
Facing Heishan Jun, whose aura was as profound as a deep abyss, Daoist Master Lesong respectfully bowed, a basic courtesy and respect for an elder cultivator: “I beg you, Heishan Jun, for the sake of the millions of lives in Zhushan Country, to cease your actions!”
“Cease my actions?”
Seated on the throne, Heishan Jun sneered: “What do I care for millions of common people?”
At these words, Daoist Master Lesong’s heart sank, knowing the last hope for reconciliation had vanished in an instant.
“If that is the case, then we must rely on fate and see who perishes first…”
Daoist Master Lesong, being a true cultivator with a strong will, patted his waist pouch, and four beams of white light emerged, taking the forms of four deities. Their bodies radiated alternating red and white light, flames rising several feet high as they faced Heishan Jun.
“You have come?”
Seeing these four, Heishan Jun seemed unsurprised.
“That’s right, I have come!”
Although these four deities had different appearances, their eyes all contained golden hues. At this moment, speaking in unison, they gave the surrounding cultivators an unusual feeling.
“Didn’t the City God of Heitai promise to come in person? Why have only you four Land Gods arrived?”
Daoist Master Lesong also furrowed his brows, cautiously asking.
“Hahaha… It seems you know nothing, foolish Daoist…”
Heishan Jun burst into laughter: “Do you know why City Gods can confer divine titles? Because those divine edicts are all derived from their own divine positions. Hence, every officially recognized deity in Heitai City can be regarded as their incarnations!”
“I see!”
Daoist Master Lesong’s pupils constricted, a major mystery in his heart now resolved.
That explained why among the more than twenty counties of Guzhu Country, only Heitai County had a City God and a system of local gods and officials at all levels. All of this was merely divine decrees separated by the Heitai City God himself!
The four Land Gods before him were actually four incarnations of the City God of Heitai!
Yet one question remained completely unresolved for him: where had the Heitai City God originally obtained his divine decree? And why did Heishan Jun know so many secrets?
“However… Since you have only sent your avatar here, you must have discovered something…”
Heishan Jun murmured: “Have you learned about my arrangements in the netherworld? Unfortunately… What use is there in discovering it now?”
“Our true battlefield lies in the netherworld, but the fortune of the mortal world also affects the balance of the netherworld… This is still very important…”
The four Land Gods spoke, and a divine thought instantly echoed within Daoist Master Lesong’s consciousness: “This deity will delay Heishan for three moments. What follows depends on you…”
Boom!
In the next instant, golden flames erupted from the four deities, radiating immense power as they darted toward Heishan Jun like lightning.
Four golden chains instantly formed, trapping Heishan Jun within.
In the second moment, Heishan Jun roared to the heavens, his back displaying the scenery of the 300-mile Black Mountain, with its eighteen nodes glowing one after another, exuding mysterious and unfathomable power.
Heishan Jun was drawing upon the power of the Heishan Dharma Realm to escape the prison.
However, simultaneously, the light points extinguished by half, the originally concentrated power dispersed in an instant, causing Heishan Jun to hesitate momentarily.
In the third moment, a jade seal and a short sword materialized around Daoist Master Lesong, glowing with brilliance, filled with talismans, exuding immense and mysterious power.
This was the Zhengyi Dugong Seal and the Taishang Zhaoyao Sword!
These two treasures were painstakingly accumulated over dozens of generations of the Zhengyi Sect’s patriarchs, with disciples amassing merit to gather fortune, eventually condensing into these two treasures that stabilized the sect’s fortune.
One could say these were the very foundations of the entire Zhengyi Sect.
Now, taking them out together naturally meant risking everything.
Daoist Master Lesong formed a mystical hand seal, sending a divine thought into the sword and seal: “Undeserving descendant Wang Weidao respectfully requests the intervention of all past patriarchs!”
Within these two treasures were the divine thoughts left by past patriarchs of the Zhengyi Sect, precisely for aiding future generations in times of crisis.
Buzz! Buzz!
As the mystical hand seal was activated, faint figures emerged from the two treasures, generating a large amount of white qi, with green light in the middle, forming pillars of light that pierced into Heishan Jun’s chest.
Boom!
As Heishan Jun roared, terrifying shockwaves formed, pushing everyone around into disarray.
When everything finally calmed down, Daoist Master Lesong suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood essence, and he seemed to have aged decades in an instant.
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