The way diverges, no common goal.
After Xu Qing parted ways with the Eight Banner Marshals, it was not appropriate for him to go to the other camp to meditate and cultivate.
Besides, the cemetery where the Marshal resided was created by the Yin Erosion Dharma King, and the gathering Yin energy inside was far less intense than before. Xu Qing pondered for a moment, then turned and returned to the Demon Exorcism True Monarch's skull temple.
"That... sword light in the battle array just now, was it your doing?"
The Demon Exorcism True Monarch recalled that strike with overwhelming force, unable to associate it with the Ghost-slaying Treasure Sword.
"Sword light?" Xu Qing did not deny: "I did perform the Profound Lady Sword Technique earlier, but unfortunately, I could only produce that one strike."
"Profound Lady Sword Technique?"
The Demon Exorcism True Monarch scrutinized Xu Qing: "How could the Nine Heavens Profound Lady wield such a fierce sword technique? At first sight, I thought it was someone using an axe to split mountains and open ridges."
Xu Qing retorted: "Has the True Monarch ever learned the Profound Lady Sword Technique?"
"I have not."
"Then how does the True Monarch know that what I performed was not the Profound Lady Sword Technique?"
The Tiangang Axe Technique has only one name, and that is 'Heaven Opening.'
Xu Qing had cultivated this technique for a long time, understanding deeply that the name of this Divine Technique was not an exaggeration, but rather a matter of fact.
A little zombie who hasn't even touched the celestial path, yet holds the Heaven Opening technique, is no different from a three-year-old child wielding a sharp blade.
With a zombie body, immense strength, Xu Qing happened to match the fierce attributes of the Tiangang Axe Technique. If others cultivated it, they wouldn't be able to push this axe technique beyond twenty levels with a millennium's Dao practice as he had.
In the eyes of the Gods and Buddhas, this was akin to a child wielding a lethal weapon with great skill; anyone who witnessed it would be wary.
Fortunately, Xu Qing also had the Profound Lady Sword Technique as cover; in the expanse of the Three Realms, not many people learned this technique. If he says the Tiangang Axe Technique is a sword technique, then it is a sword technique.
"Nine Heavens Profound Lady splitting mountains and ridges..."
The Demon Exorcism True Monarch found it absurd to imagine the Profound Lady rolling up her sleeves and hacking mountains like a brute.
"What exactly did Lord Yuan see in you?"
As he opened up the passage behind the altar and prepared to leap into the ghost cave, Xu Qing replied:
"That you would have to ask what the True Monarch saw in me."
"..."
The Demon Exorcism True Monarch was rendered speechless.
At the bottom of the ghost cave, Xu Qing's Golden Simurgh arrived at the tomb chamber once sealed with the five plague ghosts, instructing: "I will be in retreat for a few days; you may patrol the east and west corridors of the ghost cave daily, but do not enter the north corridor."
"Also, do not leave the skull temple's boundary. Within the temple, you are under the True Monarch's protection, and ordinary ghosts dare not offend. If you perform well, once I come out of retreat, I will take you back to the mundane world."
Hearing about returning to the mundane world, the Golden Simurgh's eyes moistened; it didn't even know why, having only stayed in the Underworld River for half a year, but it longed for the world more than ever.
Even the Master Jingxu it feared the most, it now felt a bit nostalgic for.
As he closed the tomb door, Xu Qing summoned the Box Garden, retrieving the bodies of the Ponzan Dharma King and the Yin Erosion Pomlos.
Though the two skeletons were male and female, they shared one body, two legs.
Xu Qing chose not to try separating them for conversion; only the complete form of the Yin Erosion Dharma King was a skeleton ghost cultivator no less than the Many Disasters Ghost King.
If he mistakenly separates them for conversion and only earns two Earth-grade rewards, that would not even compare to the bodies of Ji Lingzhou or Han Renshan.
Celestial Bodies are the most precious; even ten Earth-grade bodies would not match a single Celestial Body.
Xu Qing preferred to play it safe, unwilling to gamble.
The Mother and Child Needle flew swiftly; at that moment, Xu Qing resembled a seasoned tailor steeped in this craft for years. Every stitch and thread was just right; even watching him handle the needle and thread was a delight.
When the male and female were united seamlessly, the Sutra of Salvation began to turn pages.
A grand sound like a great bell or enormous drum emanated, and in the distance, it seemed compassionate, ethereal, or like the gentle flow of stream water, various counts of scripture sound transmitted, Xu Qing saw the strict walls of the Ghost Gate. Flanking the open doors knelt two skeleton giants, heads bowed low.
The left had a bull's head skeletal head, the right a horse's face skeletal head.
Passing through the Ghost Gate, ahead lay the Bridge of Helplessness, three bridges of gold, silver, iron, varying in width spanned a stone bridge, and beneath flowed the murky Wangchuan River Water, where copper snakes and iron dogs lurked.
Further on, Xu Qing saw the Stripping Pavilion, the Nostalgia Terrace, the Vicious Dog Village, the Broken Money Mountain, the Blood Filth Pool, the Mengpo Station...
During this, Xu Qing took advantage of the Sutra of Salvation 'cutscene' to specifically seek out the Mirror of Sin mentioned by the Demon Exorcism True Monarch.
However, he only saw an empty, ancient stone platform, where the supposed mirror above it had already vanished.
The Mirror of Sin, also known as the Mirror of Karma, could reveal the sins of the deceased during their lifetime, and also distinguish the good and evil of spirits.
Xu Qing vaguely felt this mirror's efficacy was somewhat similar to his Good and Evil Nether Mirror, but it was hard to associate the chatty, heavy-accented Nether Mirror with the legendary Karma Mirror.
Couldn't it be a just-learned trick?
No matter the relationship between the Nether Mirror and the Karma Mirror, Xu Qing confirmed one thing: the mirror on the Underworld's Mirror of Sin Platform indeed, as the Demon Exorcism True Monarch said, no longer existed.
The cutscene swiftly passed, and finally, a portal emitting white light, with a one-person-wide gap, appeared before Xu Qing.
With extensive Sutra of Salvation experience, Xu Qing knew that behind this door was the moving display of the Yin Erosion Dharma King.
Ponzan Dharma King was a royal noble, sent to the ancestral land by the Great Witch at birth for various shamanic baths of the body.
At three years old, Ponzan Dharma King stood as tall as a child with hair tied in two tufts, four feet high, arms capable of bending bows with two stones; at five, he was seven feet tall and could lift a tripod; by eight, the Little Dharma King was nine feet tall, and even the strongest warrior in the tribe was not his match.