Here, Xu Qing covered the coffin lid and was about to clean up the scene when suddenly a bewildering voice came from the entrance of the passageway.
"You... he... I..."
The commotion in the tomb not only alarmed the Celestial Heart Saint Master in the famine ghost passage but also the ghost soldiers stationed outside the Bone Temple.
The Bone Temple shook, and the light emitted from the Child-Delivering Jade Ruyi shot out into the passage; the ghost cave of several dozen feet deep faintly radiated a sacred glow.
The Eight Banner Marshals retreated, and all the ghost soldiers gazing at the Bone Temple showed signs of fear.
For creatures like them, the natural fear of pure righteousness was imprinted into their being, let alone powers more sacred even than the Merit Golden Light like the Blood Lake Magic.
"Could it be that there really is an immortal fate beneath the Bone Temple?"
Unfortunately, while immortal fate holds irresistible allure for mortals, for ghostly entities, some immortal fates are akin to deadly poison; they stay clear of them in regular times, let alone seek it out intentionally.
If not, this desolate Bone Post wouldn't be so feared and become a playground for little ghosts.
Beneath the Bone Temple, Xu Qing, upon seeing the Celestial Heart Saint Master Han Renshan, chuckled to himself; he was planning to seek him out, but unexpectedly, the Saint Master himself came knocking!
The Han Renshan before him was different from Ji Lingzhou and the sight of Han Renshan was familiar to Xu Qing due to experiencing it through the Life Lamp while transcending the Celestial Heart Sect Protectors and Twin Defiance Envoys.
With a square face and swarthy skin, if he were to don rough linen and huddle at the field's edge, he'd surely look like an old farmer, with no apparent connection to the Celestial Heart Sect Saint Master.
But at this moment, Han Renshan's face was deathly pale, as if smeared with powder; joining him in speech was a mist of five colors, swirling around. Even if not as terrifying as Ji Lingzhou post-mutation, an indescribable eerie chill exuded greater fright than him.
"Saint Master Han, long time no see,"
Xu Qing smiled, cupping his hands.
Han Renshan's peripheral gaze fell on Ji Lingzhou's corpse, and despite his astonishment, he asked suspiciously, "You know me?"
As he walked, Xu Qing said, "Of course I know you. I not only know Saint Master Han but also Bai Luo, Qing Luo, and the several Protectors, and I'm very acquainted with the Twin Defiance Envoys that came to the Nether River!"
"Don't come any closer!"
Han Renshan retreated into the passageway, and glancing at the white-faced youth who had stopped, he asked with a last shred of luck, "The disappearance of Sun Faping you two, is it related to you?"
"Disappearance? That's not the right way to put it; right now, they're queuing underground, waiting for the Saint Master to commence great undertakings in the next life. If the Saint Master hurries, he might catch up,"
Han Renshan's heart thoroughly sank as he spoke word by word with a sullen face, "Bai Luo, Qing Luo, did they also die by your hand?"
"Ha!" Xu Qing bantered as if with an old friend, utterly unconcerned, "That's old hat; Saint Master Han remembers quite clearly."
"Speaking of which, why do we, in the Celestial Heart Sect, have so few people? I've been waiting in Jin Sect for years for the sect to send newcomers to take over, but instead of newcomers, the Saint Master himself came to Jin Sect."
"How big can Jin Sect be to warrant the personal presence of the Saint Master? People might think our Celestial Heart Sect is lacking members!"
Killing with words, before the two had the chance to clash, invisible daggers had already pierced Han Renshan's heart.
"Well, well, well!" Han Renshan trembled all over, evidently suppressing extreme rage in his heart.
"Could you tell me what grudge the Celestial Heart Sect holds against you, for you to persecute us to this extent?"
"Grudge, you ask? It's quite significant!"
The gravestone offering Xu Qing was enshrined at the Funeral Shop and the teacher who bestowed the 'Zombie Life' on him, Liu Youdao, died at the hands of Bai Luo.
At the long pavilion of the Wangfu, Qing Luo aided Bai Luo in stirring up storms, attempting to assassinate Zhu Huai'an. Back then, Zhu Huai'an and the two Wu Family brothers, along with Xu Qing, were the celebrated four scholars of Jin Sect and were the only ones to treat Xu Qing, the funeral master, as a friend.
Killing a friend, isn't that a significant grudge?
Furthermore, they sabotaged his path and plundered the Golden Corpse materials he cultivated and refined.
The enmity between Xu Qing and the Celestial Heart Sect began when he first arrived in Dayong and persisted until now.
And now, with the Celestial Heart Sect severely weakened, the hidden orchestrator behind its establishment, the highest authority, the Celestial Heart Saint Master, also arrived in Jin Sect.
This decade-long grievance could finally be resolved!
Han Renshan could never have imagined that the holy sect he established would hold such a feud with a mere unnotable funeral master, and not just one feud.
"Well! Once I kill you, with my celestial power, and the means of an immortal, I can rise again!"
After Han Renshan finished speaking, numerous spore-like sacs sprouted from his body.
Some of these sac formations resembled pustules, others were ghost faces, and yet others hardened into frost, exuding bone-chilling, marrow-eating auras.
"Henceforth, there will be no Saint Master in the Celestial Heart Sect, only the Plague Master descending! And you will be the first to die under the Five Plagues!"
As Han Renshan's voice fell, all five spore sacs ruptured, and red, yellow, black, white, and green gases instantaneously filled the entire underground passageway.
Xu Qing was not intimidated by Han Renshan's mention of the 'Five Plagues.' The so-called Five Plagues were nothing more than malevolent spirits controlling five kinds of epidemic diseases, like the Black Plague Ghost, White Ague Ghost, Red Plague Ghost, Yellow Pestilence Ghost, these five types.
For humans, these spirits centered around spreading plagues were without a doubt the Reapers of Yama, but for a zombie...
Opening the Celestial Eye Yin Pupil had no effect on seeing through the poison in front, but Xu Qing didn't panic. Instead, he connected his feet to the earth's pulse, with the Undying Bone Heaven Pillar penetrating through, and the underground ghost cave's vista instantly unfolded in his mind.
Upon seeing Han Renshan turning to flee out of the passageway, Xu Qing shook his head.
If Han Renshan had wanted to escape earlier, Xu Qing might not have pursued relentlessly, but now...
Xu Qing resolved vigilantly that he would not allow a pathogen capable of spreading the Five Plagues to escape beyond the Nether River!
He might collect corpses, but he would not violate his conscience, nor betray his principles, by attacking the roots and using the fish as bait.
Strolling into the multicolored toxic mist, Xu Qing took a deep breath, and at the next moment, the Divine Travel Celestial Scripture unfolded.
When he revealed his figure again, he had already arrived at the three-way fork directly below the ghost cave.
Han Renshan traversed the thick, impenetrable poisonous mist, his mind fixated solely on one thought—to escape the Nether River, flee Jin Sect, and never return to this place!
Even if he were to seize the world and claim the throne in the future, he would decree Jin Sect a forbidden zone, merely dispatching robust forces to suppress it, without personally risking his safety!
This region of Jin Sect starkly contrasted with his destined path. Even Ji Lingzhou, an illustrious figure, could fall here; thus, Han Renshan saw no shame in abandoning armor to escape!
Yet as he was about to dash out of the Bone Temple, Han Renshan sensed a monument-like solid object in the toxic mist hardening his path at the fork.
Without a second thought, he reached to strike it with his hand.
With the power of his renowned skill, Severing the Dragon's Veins, Han Renshan asserted his foundation and household expertise!
No matter whether rock or human, anything his hand touched would collapse from its weakest point.
The Cangyi Group originally shared roots with the Hongyi Sect, comprising adherents who truly advocated for the people, never exploiting the populace. However, once they chose Xie Hongying, a member of a previous dynasty's royal family, to succeed as chief marshal, Ji Lingzhou proposed marriage to Xie Hongying, seeking to unite with her to usher in prosperity for the Cangyi Group.
At the time, the sect was already in disarray. Instigated by Ji Lingzhou, the followers accused the old grand marshal of selfish motives, questioning how someone like Xie Hongying, a mere woman, could lead Cangyi Group to prosperity.
After that, deception, strife, and unrest permeated the sect, as Ji Lingzhou seized absolute power and became the head marshal of Cangyi Group, thus beginning his turbulent rise.
"Never can the false become true, the Ghost Law doesn't pass for a god; the Judge between life and death has long ceased writing decrees.
Netherworld has long lost its Mirror of Sin, and there is no Judge to wield the pen between life and death."
"A devourer of ghosts, only taking in but never crossing over the living, has strayed far from the Dao!"
"""