On the broken Yin-Yang Boundary Stele, the ghost fire in the eyes of the Ghost King of Many Calamities soared, and the anger suppressed to the extreme for half a year made his entire skeletal face grotesque!
"It was you who destroyed my mausoleum! Abducted my Empress! Massacred all my court officials! Caused me to fall from being the monarch of a nation to a homeless dog, was it not!"
"I am asking you a question, answer me!"
A vast flood of resentment and ghostly aura erupted from the Ghost King of Many Calamities, and the already dim and hazy sky of the Withered Bone Post was completely plunged into sticky darkness.
Xu Qing looked silently at the surrounding Ghost Realm that covered a radius of ten miles.
Just as the Ghost King of Many Calamities was about to reach his breaking point, Xu Qing finally spoke:
"That Inner Servant Ghost Soldier was your bait?"
Before the Ghost King of Many Calamities could respond, Xu Qing continued on his own: "Indeed, you were a monarch in life, and having struggled in the Yin River for over a thousand years after death, naturally, you are not one to be trifled with."
It was fine when Xu Qing did not mention the Inner Servant Ghost Soldier, but at the mention of it, the resentment of the entire ghost form of the Ghost King of Many Calamities intensified.
Around the Yin-Yang Boundary Stele, due to the excessive concentration of resentment, shadowy spirits and resentful ghosts manifested, swirling around the stele, shrouded in black mist, emitting sharp cries like those of children.
"In recent years, my mausoleum has suffered constant incidents, and each time, my subjects disappear without a trace, their bodies never found! Clearly, some treacherous ministers and thieves seek to unsettle my nation's foundation.
To lure out these traitors, I did not hesitate to use important ministers and pillars of the nation as bait, which finally forced you to reveal your true face."
"Do you know how much effort I have expended to find you!"
When the Ghost King of Many Calamities spoke, each word was squeezed through clenched teeth, showing he had reached the utmost point of gnashing them.
Xu Qing understood upon hearing this and introspected: "I should not underestimate the people of the world, even if they are already dead."
"I should also not be greedy for success and rush, I have learned this lesson, next time I will be more careful, never revealing any flaws."
"..."
The demeanor of the Ghost King of Many Calamities froze, and then an even more terrifying aura emanated from him.
Xu Qing's words were like pouring oil on fire, in just a few short sentences, he had driven the anger of the Ghost King of Many Calamities to its peak.
Forcing himself to endure the rage, he said word by word: "Before you die, I want to ask you one last question..."
Looking at the highly unstable aura of the Ghost King, Xu Qing nodded in agreement: "We have been neighbors for many years, if not for sentiment, then there is still affection. I will give you a chance, ask me, I am listening."
"..."
The Ghost King of Many Calamities felt that Xu Qing's tone was off; who was the hunter? Why did it seem like he was the prey?
"I have only one question, what grudges or enmity do we have, for you to target me so specifically!"
Xu Qing stepped to the Yin River Boundary Stele, lifting his gaze to meet the Ghost King of Many Calamities directly.
"Years ago, the Red Cloak sect offered incense to you, seeking your intervention in the Yin River conflict, to erode the life cycle of the human dynasty. At that time, the Five Shadows Daoist of the Celestial Master's Mansion abducted Jin Sect civilians, using them as blood sacrifices to offer you, hoping to gain a stance in the Ghost King Mausoleum, not to interfere in the life cycle struggle between Dayong and Nan Cuo."
"But you coveted the blood sacrifice, threatened them with it, and repeatedly demanded the Celestial Master's Mansion to deliver blood sacrifices..."
The Ghost King of Many Calamities was taken aback, realizing: "I understand. You intend to stand up for those mortal civilians, to be a righteous person who eliminates demons and defends the path."
"Hypocrite!" the Ghost King of Many Calamities suddenly sneered: "If you truly hated evil so much, why did you not cause trouble for the Daoist of the Celestial Master's Mansion, but rather ran to the Yin River to seek trouble with me?"
"You are just a coward who bullies the weak, greedy for my mausoleum's treasures!"
Xu Qing raised an eyebrow, interrupting: "Who told you I did not cause trouble for the Celestial Master's Mansion? That Five Shadows Daoist is already dead by my hand! Moreover, I am no righteous person; I seek you out because you are disrupting the market and affecting my business!"
"..."
The Ghost King of Many Calamities frowned and asked: "What business?"
"Naturally, the funeral business. I am a Funeral Master of the Jin Sect, and those civilians are all potential clients of my funerary shop in the future; how can I let evil spirits like you devour them easily?"
"If all the people under heaven were slaughtered by monsters like you who fish the waters dry, who would come to my shop for funerals in the future?"
In Xu Qing's eyes, the reach of a funeral home's business lies in humanity; without the living, where would there be the dead to collect?
Moreover, if the ecology of the life-death cycle were destroyed, how could he align himself with nature to legally and sustainably collect corpses?
The more Xu Qing dabbled in the work of delivering birth and conducting funerals, the more he was fascinated by the beauty between life and death.
Otherwise, he would not have chosen to establish the Bao Sheng Temple system and become the deity of Bao Sheng Temple.
Yet this order of birth, aging, sickness, and death was increasingly disintegrating under the influence of the Five Filthy Evil Worlds.
The skeletal remains consumed as blood sacrifices were a destroyed ecology, and that ghost entity like the Ghost King of Many Calamities, still troubling the mortal world after death, was also nothing but a culprit disrupting the order of life and death.
"..."
After hearing Xu Qing's explanation, the Ghost King of Many Calamities could no longer suppress his anger within.
Was the reason for the destruction of his Ghost King Mausoleum just because it affected a Funeral Master's business?
The Ghost King of Many Calamities, who originally only felt rage, now had a burst of an indescribable feeling of frustration within his heart.
"Blasphemous words and delirium! I will grind you to dust to extinguish the hatred in my heart!"
At the broken section of the Yin-Yang Boundary Stele, the figure of the Ghost King of Many Calamities swelled, the ghost flames roaring, clearly entering a state of complete madness.
Xu Qing ignored the overwhelming yin miasma, gazing intently, seeing the towering Ghost King of Many Calamities standing atop the stele, death aura billowing from his body, causing the ghostly realm of ten miles to suddenly expand to thirty miles in circumference in an instant.