In the eerie and silent depths of the Ghost King Mausoleum, Xu Qing stands in the empty main hall, holding Heaven's Axe.
Behind him, the throne representing supreme power, inlaid with gold and jade, has already vanished without a trace, along with the Empress's coffin in the main hall, and the fourth nested coffin within, the eight-inch thick imperial sarcophagus.
Inside the empty mausoleum, Xu Qing's Heaven's Axe has yet to be lifted, but the techniques of the Heaven's Axe Techniques are already frantically revolving within his body, continuously stacking!
Ten layers, twenty layers, twenty-two layers...
When the Heaven's technique stacked to twenty-three layers, the sinister corpse aura surrounding the mausoleum was stirred by this violent force, bubbling like boiling black water.
Yet Xu Qing is not planning to stop just yet. Holding Heaven's Axe, his Undying Bone, only a twelve bones away from perfection, suddenly emitted a dazzling glow.
Within the mausoleum, ghostly flames were extinguished, and before the axe moved, the entire Ghost King Mausoleum began to tremble and shake.
Xu Qing clenched his teeth and roared, the corpse roar lifted sands and exploded out of the corridor, leaving chaos outside the tomb door.
Then, nearly two hundred pieces of Undying Bone were fully activated, crimson light shot from Xu Qing's eyes, and corpse aura engulfed the surroundings!
It was at this critical juncture that Xu Qing finally pushed the Heaven's Axe Techniques to the twenty-fourth layer!
If swordsmen have sword intent, then at this moment, the axe intent on Xu Qing is like mountains tilting and seas surging, about to break through the dam!
Xu Qing sensed his own limits, and after forcefully stacking the axe intent to the peak, he lifted Heaven's Axe with both hands and fiercely slashed toward the tomb door.
The white rainbow axe shadow, expanding dozens of feet, tore through the mausoleum corridor, the Ghost King Mausoleum built by master craftsmen, seemingly made of iron, split apart like paper!
In a moment, the previously intact Ghost King Mausoleum was left with a chasm over ten feet deep and over thirty miles long!
On his way, Xu Qing had walked through the winding corridor of the Ghost King Mausoleum, but now upon leaving, it was a straight path, with the desolate outside scene visible at a glance.
Xu Qing put away Heaven's Axe, and his figure flashed, leaving the Ghost King Mausoleum through the forcibly opened pathway.
The massive commotion emanating from the mausoleum, as well as that white rainbow spanning tens of miles, not only shocked the Golden Simurgh hiding in the distance, but also alarmed the Eight Banner Marshals and the master of this burial ground.
At the Yin Soldiers' base, the Golden Armor Marshal, who was in a standoff with the Many-Calamities Ghost King, wondered, "This sound of thunder, could it be from your mausoleum?"
The Many-Calamities Ghost King sensed the loss from the mausoleum and no longer cared about the confrontation with the Eight Banner Marshals, immediately abandoning the dragon chariot, rushing straight to the mausoleum.
Dense dark clouds wrapped in overwhelming resentment, its form changed several dozen feet, as though the embodiment of ghosts and gods appeared above the mausoleum.
"Who is it——!!!"
"Who destroyed my land and kingdom!"
A thunderous roar, belonging to the Ghost King, swept terrifyingly in all directions.
Yet, under the King's fury, the already shaky mausoleum was unable to bear the weight and collapsed with a boom!
Bricks crumbled, the tomb was dismantled, and the entire mausoleum was instantly shrouded in dust and smoke.
As the dust cleared, the majestic Ghost King Mausoleum had turned entirely into a rubble wasteland.
The Many-Calamities Ghost King's mental defenses had already collapsed, and now he was even more bloodshot.
"No——!"
The lamenting sound was moving enough to affect all the lone spirits of the Ancient Yin River.
...
Seventy miles northwest, at Bone Inn.
This place used to be the entrance to the underworld, with a broken monument standing beside the inn, towering over ten feet, deeply cracked with spider-like lines, known as the ancient boundary monument of yin and yang.
It's said that this monument used to surpass a hundred feet, towering high to the skies, but it's unknown what kind of monstrous force broke and destroyed it, leaving only this fragment remaining.
Yin River Ghost Soldiers often gossip in private, some say a mighty Divine Techniques practitioner shattered it during a duel, others say heavenly punishment descended as lightning struck it.
There are also ghost tales, claiming the broken half of the boundary monument is buried beneath Bone Inn.
Rumors are difficult to discern truth from fiction, but among the wandering ghost soldiers, those high-cultivation spectral demons implicitly avoid this area.
Over time, this place, uncovered by powerful entities, became a stable spot along the Ancient Yin River Dao.
All ghostly beings or talents visiting the Yin River would choose to rest and trade at Bone Inn.
According to people in the secular world, this place is the Ghost Market.
Xu Qing rode a paper sedan, traversing the inn road, noting ghostly beings whispering along the sides, small ghosts clad in green scales, old spirits shrouded in white mist, trading back and forth, much like a bustling market in the human world.
The things these spectres mostly favored were human blood food brought by left-path cultivators.
In front of the dilapidated bone-built food shop, a string of hearts and livers still emitted bloody foam, a basket of spleen and kidneys with a nauseating smell.
Other oddments like livers, human skins, and human eyes were also for sale.
Ghost feeders held blood gourds, the blood inside viscous as clotted cream, its stink pungent.
Little ghosts scrambled for it endlessly, like young children in the secular world pestering the candy sellers.
Xu Qing's first time here, feeling quite bizarre in his heart.
Perhaps the Ancient Yin River Dao should indeed resemble this bustling market scene, only the great calamity's arrival caused the yin laws and rules to dissipate.
Bone Inn might appear peaceful, but that's only in comparison to other places along the Ancient Yin River Dao.
The strife within is just as severe, yet the only difference is, Bone Inn has no deeply cultivated evil entities visiting, nor any worldly experts crossing paths here.
This is a consensus formed over millennia along the Ancient Yin River Dao.
Ordinary small ghosts don't know the reason, regular left-path cultivators remain oblivious too, only Xu Qing knows that Bone Inn is actually the location of the Divine Ruins according to Celestial Heart Sect's demon folk.
Those unaware have no fear, while most high-cultivation beings have heard places like this, instinctively fearing, not daring to linger without reason.
Yet the little ghosts are entirely ignorant, they instead find this place extremely safe, viewing it as a paradise, a haven.