Yellow Skinned Taoist Master

Chapter 152: Great King Yellow Skin, Is That You?

Inside the pitch-black Xuzhou City.

Chen Huangpi carried the brass oil lamp and was fleeing wildly within this Xuzhou City.

While not far behind him.

The painting scroll transformed from the entire Song Manor soared into the sky and hung above the sky of Xuzhou City.

Chen Huangpi looked up.

He saw that the painting scroll was spreading furiously, covering the night sky of the entire Xuzhou City within it, forming a gigantic painting scroll with a black background and gray borders. Debris was scattered everywhere within that painting scroll.

A massive City God sat cross-legged in the painting.

The City God's entire body was purplish-black. That purplish-black color was fundamentally different from the mutated deity statue the High God Guangmu had transformed into; rather, these were the scars that grew out when he cultivated Ancient Methods.

Those scars split open, forming a large mouth.

As the mouth opened, endlessly many ashen human faces spread out from within, roaming around the City God's body, setting him off with a bizarre yet inexplicably solemn aura.This was an evil god.

A fully deserving evil god.

And right now, this evil god's eyes were tightly shut, seemingly undergoing a certain metamorphosis.

The aura on its body was treacherous and constantly changing.

Just taking a single glance at it gave one a heart-pounding sensation of dread.

The brass oil lamp said, "Stop looking, he is about to turn into a Misfortune soon."

The Life-reaping Ghost urged, "This place is not a place to stay for long. Once he becomes a Misfortune, this entire Xuzhou City will turn into a city of fog. By then, even if you want to leave, you probably won't be able to."

"I know."

Chen Huangpi looked out into Xuzhou City.

It was unknown if it was because this evil god was undergoing a metamorphosis.

Even though there was a lot of gray fog permeating Xuzhou City, everything had fallen into a bizarre calmness and wasn't nearly as active as it was within the world inside the painting.

Chen Huangpi couldn't see through this gray fog.

He only knew that once he drilled into the gray fog, his sense of space would be confounded.

Even if he tried to fly, he wouldn't be able to fly out. It was just like a cage without concepts of up, down, left, or right.

And within this cage.

There were other existences inside.

Chen Huangpi saw some distorted figures squirming within.

Moreover, palms also reached out from within it.

Those were the palms of deities, yet now not a single shred of their previous divine miraculousness could be seen. Instead, purplish-black scars had grown on them.

Evil gods walked out from the gray fog one by one.

Those ashen, hollow eyes stared fixedly at Chen Huangpi.

...

At this moment.

On a mountain peak approximately a hundred miles outside Xuzhou City.

Wang Taiyu was standing at the highest point.

He was a Nascent Soul cultivator, so his eyesight was naturally excellent.

Although he could only see the outline of Xuzhou City, he also knew that a devastating calamity must inevitably be occurring within Xuzhou City right now.

"Brother Wang, haven't you seen enough yet?"

The shadow evil spirit said indifferently, "Ever since the sky turned dark, you have been gazing at Xuzhou City from this mountaintop. Shichen have already passed by now; presumably, that city should have already turned into a living hell on earth by this moment."

Wang Taiyu said hoarsely, "After Song Yuzhang turns into an evil spirit, the first ones to suffer misfortune are those deities."

"Xuzhou City possesses thousands of deities, big and small."

"Excluding those who died in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, there are still four thousand two hundred and sixty to seventy deities left."

"These deities normally absorb human qi; their success comes from this, and their defeat also comes from this."

"The deities will be polluted by Song Yuzhang, and then it will be those cultivators' turn."

Between deities and cultivators, one fed on human qi while the other cultivated using human qi.

The former was the latter's path.

If one walked this path incorrectly, it was a deformed path.

Pulling one hair affects the entire body.

As Song Yuzhang integrated as one with Xuzhou City and turned into an evil spirit, any deity or cultivator who normally absorbed Xuzhou City's human qi and failed to leave the city before he transformed into an evil spirit could forget about ever leaving again.

If they wanted to leave, they had to spit out all their human qi.

But without human qi, how could one even talk about leaving the city?

Furthermore, how could Song Yuzhang possibly let them off?

Only after all that would it be those commoners' turn.

Thinking of this, Wang Taiyu said with a mix of pain and gratification, "Previously using farming as an excuse, I dismissed ten percent of the commoners out of the city. Meanwhile, those cultivators and those local officials were all called back into the city by me."

"You eat their salaries, you consume their fat and marrow."

"If the commoners don't have a way to live, they shouldn't even think about living either."

"You will offend a lot of people like this."

The shadow evil spirit shook its head and said with some complexity, "The Cao family and the Sun family, neither of these two families are local Xuzhou City established families. And then there's the Song family; although the Song family won't touch you now, once you return to Jingcheng, the Cao family and Sun family certainly won't spare you."

"Since I must accomplish things, how can I fear offending people?"

Wang Taiyu sneered and said, "Brother Yang, could it be that you are afraid?"

"If you aren't afraid, then why should I be afraid?"

The shadow evil spirit scoffed and said, "In the spring of the Age of Qingli, Fourth Year, when you and I were bitterly struggling in the Hanlin Academy, we agreed to go to the Full Spring Pavilion to drink after our shift. Yet after three rounds of drinks, I was sent to that ghost place and turned into this appearance."

"If I were afraid, I wouldn't have tried every possible method to muddle along together with you."

Speaking up to here, the shadow evil spirit added, "That Imperial Envoy is dead."

Wang Taiyu said in surprise, "How did he die?"

The shadow evil spirit said, "I don't know. That Xuzhou City has now become a ghost domain of its own. I can only sense that he died, but I don't know exactly what he died from."

"He died well."

Wang Taiyu's voice was very icy, "If he had come a bit later, or given me a bit more time, at least thirty percent of the commoners in Xuzhou City could have been dismissed by me under various pretexts."

The shadow evil spirit shook its head and said, "Where are there so many 'ifs' to talk about? You dismissed ten percent of the commoners. Previously, there were also nearly ten thousand commoners who were settled outside the city by that Song Tiangang. Having this many people survive is already considered not bad."

Previously, Song Tiangang had Song Qiuyue migrate nearly ten thousand commoners into the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

Yet later, all those migrants appeared outside Xuzhou City.

Moreover, their memories had also been wiped. This was a messy account, so those commoners were settled outside the city by him. Looking at it now, they were all lucky individuals.

Wang Taiyu knew this matter clearly in his heart.

He just felt somewhat unreconciled, gritting his teeth as he said, "With that Imperial Envoy dying in Xuzhou City, it must surely be the work of Song Yuzhang. Perhaps he will become a Misfortune because of this. I wonder how Emperor will handle it."

"Most likely, he will keep him around."

The shadow evil spirit said with a flash of insight, "The stronger he is, the more Emperor will like him. Perhaps he will even bestow a main nail from the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches upon him, who knows?"

"What kind of logic is this?"

Wang Taiyu mocked, "Millions of commoners were devoured by him, and in the end, instead of executing this villain, he is actually given good fortune—teaching the wicked to become even more wicked and the kind to become even kinder. How did Emperor become like this?"

"He should kill all these disciples of established families completely clean!"

The shadow evil spirit said, "Even if he kills these established families, there will still be new established families that will emerge. Your Wang family started as mud-legged peasants in your generation. But hundreds, thousands of years later, would you dare say your Wang family won't be an established family?"

"I believe in Emperor."

Wang Taiyu's voice was very cold, just as cold as his heart.

He wasn't flattering the Da Kang Emperor. Rather, in front of this shadow evil spirit, he didn't dare to puncture the unspoken thoughts between them.

There was a Seven-Orifice Soul-Suppressing Nail inside the shadow evil spirit's head.

For Wang Taiyu and the shadow evil spirit, no matter how great the ambitions in their hearts or how many complicated thoughts they had, they could only be exceedingly cautious when conversing because they might be overheard.

In reality, what Wang Taiyu wanted to say was that Emperor was the greatest established family of them all.

As for whether the Wang family would become an established family, he didn't care.

"When my sword is complete, the world shall know of it."

Wang Taiyu took one final look in the direction of Xuzhou City, and then pointed at the red moon above his head, "When that time comes, naturally there will be people like me who grow out from the muddy earth, picking up a three-foot sword to slash down all these eternal and unchanging suns and moons."

"That kid's dao of sword reasoning actually caused you to comprehend so much."

The shadow evil spirit's tone was very weird.

Ever since meeting Chen Huangpi, it always felt that something was off, but it couldn't pinpoint what.

It was as if it had met Chen Huangpi before.

No, perhaps it truly did meet him.

Because its memories regarding the God-Burying Mound had all been wiped away by a certain power.

Perhaps that Chen Huangpi had also appeared entirely within the God-Burying Mound, who knows?

Bringing up Chen Huangpi, Wang Taiyu couldn't help but sigh in admiration, "Previously, I only thought his mouth was full of fallacious reasoning, and he looked somewhat crazy and delirious. But the more I ponder his reasoning, the more I feel its wondrousness. I suppose this is having inner brilliance."

"Brother Wang, you are dwelling too much on appearances."

The shadow evil spirit said with somewhat chaotic thoughts, "I didn't see any inner brilliance in that Chen Huangpi. Instead, I feel like something is slightly wrong with his brain."

"What do you mean by wrong?"

"Those whose train of thought is different from ordinary people are either great talents or..."

This sentence abruptly halted.

Wang Taiyu looked around blankly, but no matter how he looked, he couldn't find a trace of the shadow evil spirit.

Before the other party could finish that sentence, he suddenly vanished without a trace.

It was as if he had been summoned.

And right at this moment.

A guard hurriedly flew over.

"Lord Grand Tutor, the Left Guard is missing!"

"What?"

Wang Taiyu paled in fright, "My son is also missing?"

...

Inside Xuzhou City, gray fog permeated.

One by one, evil gods walked out from that gray fog.

While on the ground, the debris of evil gods that had been slaughtered by Chen Huangpi scattered everywhere.

That debris was disappearing.

Just after being killed, they would resurrect anew within the gray fog.

Just as the City God who had transformed into an evil spirit had said, after the deities transformed into evil gods, they indeed became integrated as one with him.

As long as Xuzhou City was not destroyed, the City God would not die.

As long as the City God did not die, these evil gods could resurrect within the gray fog.

Fortunately.

Chen Huangpi was not without helpers.

At this moment, the Soul-Hooking Manual circled above his head.

Chen Huangpi muttered words, "Black and white written clearly, the contract as proof. Hundreds of evil spirits sold themselves to me. Now I am the Contract Master, and you are the Contract Slaves. Why don't you swiftly heed my command and swiftly return!!!"

As he muttered the incantation.

That Soul-Hooking Manual automatically flipped without wind, turning page by page containing black words on white paper.

An icy cold aura instantly enveloped all directions.

The brass oil lamp spat out streaks of true fire, burning the pursuing evil gods to ashes. Then it turned its head toward the Life-reaping Ghost and asked, "A Gui, can that Soul-Hooking Manual really summon helpers?"

The Life-reaping Ghost replied, "It couldn't before, but now it can."

Originally, there was only one volume of the Soul-Hooking Manual, so even if those hundreds of evil spirits who signed contracts selling themselves and their lives in the God-Burying Mound back then, it was still impossible to forcibly summon them over.

But the current Soul-Hooking Manual was different.

A Soul-Hooking Manual that had fused with the Yama of the Seventh Court could naturally accomplish such a thing effortlessly.

"Look, evil spirits have already been summoned over!"

As the Life-reaping Ghost's words fell to the ground.

Indeed, evil spirits appeared all around Chen Huangpi one by one. The expressions of those evil spirits were extremely blank.

They were all evil spirits from the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

Since it was night right now, they were naturally active and roaming in the mountains.

But suddenly, out of nowhere, they felt the world spin.

When they finally saw the surrounding objects clearly again, they had already appeared inside Xuzhou City.

The evil spirits instinctively felt that this youth in Daoist robes with a terrifying aura was a human. Yet the power stemming from the Soul-Hooking Manual reminded them that this was precisely the Great King Yellow Skin they had signed their contracts with.

"Great King Yellow Skin, is that you?"