Yellow Skinned Taoist Master

Chapter 162: Sun and Moon Share the Sky, the Yang Extreme Manifests in the World; I Am Not Yellow Heaven, But Rather Huangpi

This scene playing out in the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

Chen Huangpi did not know of it, but that did not mean he was unable to see it.

There were Calamity Eyes upon the body of the Nine Nether God Lantern.

Those Calamity Eyes could see through all falsehoods, and could also control evil spirits and parasitize within their bodies.

The sights seen by the Nine Nether God Lantern were naturally also seen by Chen Huangpi.

At this moment, borrowing the Nine Nether God Lantern's perspective, Chen Huangpi witnessed the bizarre changes occurring within the Pure Immortal Temple.

"Those deities..."

Chen Huangpi said blankly, "Aren't they dead? Why would they be inside the Pure Immortal Temple?"

The Pure Immortal Temple once enshrined many deities and mutated divine statues; the High God of Broad Vision was precisely one of them.

Later on, these deities all ran away.Chen Huangpi had once asked Master.

Master had said those deities were all polluted, that they were no longer clean.

Afterwards, Chen Huangpi never saw their figures again. Huang Er said those deities all died.

But now, these deceased deities had actually reappeared inside the Pure Immortal Temple.

Or perhaps, the Suppress Immortal Temple under the night sky.

Casting his gaze far and wide, Chen Huangpi did not see the figure of the High God of Broad Vision.

This granted him a flash of realization, causing him to mutter: "The High God of Broad Vision isn't dead, therefore it's not in the Temple. If it were dead, perhaps it would appear as well. But why is it that they never revealed themselves before me on ordinary days?"

After the deities departed from the Temple, they never appeared again.

Looking at it now, they had perhaps returned a very, very long time ago.

It was just that whether it was day or night.

Chen Huangpi had never once seen these deceased deities reveal themselves.

If it wasn't for the Nine Nether God Lantern calling upon its clones to point the way for it, perhaps Chen Huangpi would still be entirely ignorant of this even now.

"My Clones! Point the way for Me!!"

The Nine Nether God Lantern once again issued a ferocious roar.

Its clones ignited with turbulent black evil fire.

The locations illuminated by that firelight pointed out the path for it to return to the human realm.

The Nine Nether God Lantern after transforming into an evil spirit.

Perhaps in terms of combat strength it wasn't considered overly powerful, but it truly was as it claimed: reaching the extreme limits of Yin and extreme limits of evilness.

Because if the clones could point the way for it.

Then realistically, its clones also existed in the Underworld Yellow Spring. As long as it wished to, it could even take Chen Huangpi to the Underworld Yellow Spring again.

Merely, the current Nine Nether God Lantern had gone mad; it had become an evil spirit.

Its reasoning was chaotic, it was evil.

Only an isolated thought remained in its mind, and that was to take Chen Huangpi out with it.

And then, return to the Hundred Thousand Mountains to fiercely file a minor report against Chen Huangpi.

From a certain viewpoint, this was indeed exceedingly bizarre and wicked.

"Escape-One Divine Light!"

The Nine Nether God Lantern laughed ferociously like a maniac. Within its entirely pitch-black lamp body, that equally pitch-black lamp wick and lamp oil burned frantically.

The black sun rose once again.

The fire was evil fire, and the light was evil light.

Not just Chen Huangpi's group, but the entirety of Xuzhou City was drawn into the scope of the Nine Nether God Lantern's radiance.

Xuzhou City was quaking.

That Song Yuzhang couldn't stop his expression from slightly shifting.

That wicked and bizarre oil lamp actually intended to drag every existence illuminated by its evil light entirely back to the human realm.

One must realize, he had already concealed Xuzhou City into the dark night.

And although that Nine Nether God Lantern felt terrifying to him, it was not as powerful as he was. It was like a Nascent Soul cultivator possessing only the true essence power of the Foundation Establishment realm inside its body—strong in appearance but withered inside.

How could an existence like this possibly drag Xuzhou City back to the human realm?

Song Yuzhang simply refused to believe it no matter what.

Yet reality was.

Regardless of whether Song Yuzhang believed it or not, the Nine Nether God Lantern simply could accomplish exactly that.

"Huang Er, stop immediately!"

Chen Huangpi gritted his teeth and said, "You are combusting your lamp wick. If you continue like this, you will die."

If Huang Er died in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, it would be fine.

Master could resurrect it with a single thought.

But this was the outside world; Master couldn't come out. If Huang Er died, wouldn't that mean having to make another trip to the Underworld Yellow Spring to dig up those Soul-Returning Precious Jades?

He genuinely didn't want to go to that hellish place again.

However, the Nine Nether God Lantern ignored everything completely, stating malevolently: "This Lantern is the Nine Nether God Lantern! This Lantern will not die so easily! Before dying, this Lantern will definitely fiercely file a minor report against you to the Guanzhu!"

Chen Huangpi said with profound heartache, "Huang Er, do you truly hate me that much?"

"You talk in your sleep, and you even like to grind your teeth!"

The Nine Nether God Lantern roared frantically: "Sharing a room with you, I've tolerated you for a long time!"

"You actually have the face to talk about me!?"

Chen Huangpi bit back: "What about you snoring in your sleep? Why don't you bring that up!?"

"Since when can I hear anything!?"

The Nine Nether God Lantern hissed with a roar, "Chen Huangpi, your good days have come to an end! Let's go, I'm taking you back!"

Speaking up to here, the Nine Nether God Lantern's voice turned into murmurs nearly akin to sleep-talking: "I will forever protect you, illuminating the way home for you. I remember everything, I haven't forgotten... Yet I am an evil spirit, I want to eat you. And I want to eat the Guanzhu too."

"Jie jie jie!"

"Guanzhu, I'm coming to eat you!"

Having spoken, the black evil light erupting from the Nine Nether God Lantern's entire body violently contracted inward.

Following closely, all the radiance in this world under the night color was entirely sucked into that black sun. Whether it was Chen Huangpi, or those evil spirits, or even that Xuzhou City, all ceased to exist as the evil light contracted.

The black sun was also shrinking.

Then, it turned into a black speck invisible to the naked eye.

Until finally, even that black speck disappeared.

...

In the outside world, dawn was about to arrive.

The red moon had already sunk into the horizon.

This was the sun and moon of the outside world, not the sun and moon of the Hundred Thousand Mountains. Therefore, naturally they would not return into the Old Temple.

And beneath this remnant night.

The area originally occupied by Xuzhou City was entirely empty.

With Xuzhou City having been concealed into the dark night, this place naturally became a wasteland.

Suddenly...

Upon this expanse of wasteland.

A black speck abruptly appeared.

Then that black speck grew increasingly larger, and in a mere blink of an eye, it transformed into a round black sun.

That sun radiated black brilliance.

Reaching the extreme limits of Yin and the extreme limits of evilness, while also incomparably scorching hot.

With the existence of this black sun, even this remnant night was dyed the color of dense ink.

It was as if the dark night had returned once again.

No, accurately speaking, it wasn't the dark night returning.

The revolution of the sun and moon were the rules of Heaven and Earth; unless heaven and earth mutated, there absolutely was no possibility of them reversing or turning upside down.

Therefore, what returned was a city.

It was a Xuzhou City that had already turned into an evil spirit.

Under the area illuminated by the black evil light, every existence originally concealed in the dark night was entirely pulled back to the human realm by the Escape-One Divine Light.

The moment this Xuzhou City appeared.

Song Yuzhang's gigantic face also appeared in the sky above Xuzhou City.

His expression was exceedingly shocked.

Looking at Chen Huangpi's group outside the city in disbelief.

"The Nine Nether God Lantern."

Song Yuzhang's tone was complex as he said: "Black sun, so this is what a black sun is."

Although he was an evil spirit, and his standpoint and consciousness were vastly different from the original Song Yuzhang.

His memories still remained.

The black sun had appeared once previously a while ago.

That time, this black sun had originated from the West Region Buddha Kingdom, crossing the entire Da Kang, and unrestrainedly charged into the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

The Da Kang Emperor was highly interested in it.

The various aristocratic families, as well as those monks of the West Region Buddha Kingdom, were exactly the same.

Furthermore, those scions of aristocratic families and the religious monks from the West Region Buddha Kingdom were estimated to already be on their way hurrying toward the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

It was just that those people did not know.

The black sun they desired to obtain was actually just a battered, potholed oil lamp that no one would even pick up if thrown onto the street.

"No wonder I felt such a strong desire to obtain it."

Song Yuzhang said with a complex tone: "It's just a pity that I am an evil spirit now, and it has also become an evil spirit. To me, it is of no use anymore."

The Nine Nether God Lantern held a fatal attraction for all deities.

Even for Evil Gods, it was the same.

Yet after the Nine Nether God Lantern became an evil spirit, for an Evil God, that fatal attraction reversely ceased to exist; only for true deities did it remain.

Realizing precisely what this Nine Nether God Lantern was.

Song Yuzhang no longer dared to hold the slightest speck of underestimation towards it. Even if the other party was actually strong in appearance but withered inside, he simply did not dare to advance and try to snatch it anymore. Because he truly didn't know what kind of capabilities this damn thing still possessed.

"Seal the City!!"

Song Yuzhang cast a distant glance at Chen Huangpi's group.

The other party was already out of the city, and he harbored no intention of pursuing to fight anymore.

Fighting wouldn't kill him regardless.

Using methods to conceal him into the dark night was useless too.

Rather than that, it was better to simply shut the doors and decline to receive visitors.

At this moment.

Outside Xuzhou City.

The evil spirits looked at that Xuzhou City, its city gates tightly shut and shrouded by gray fog, somewhat at a loss for what to do.

They were summoned over by Chen Huangpi this time.

They hadn't eaten a single living human.

Instead, they slaughtered quite a few Evil Gods and cultivators-turned-evil spirits.

Although they also obtained quite a few benefits.

Perhaps after a while, there would be some lucky ones among these evil spirits who would evolve into a Disaster.

But having finally managed to make a trip out of the Hundred Thousand Mountains after much difficulty, yet failing to even eat a human—could this even still be considered being an evil spirit?

"Your Majesty, I want to eat humans!"

"I'm going crazy wanting to eat humans! If I don't eat humans soon, I'm going to end up eating evil spirits instead."

"Inside the city... there are many humans."

The evil spirits gathered around Chen Huangpi, one by one displaying expressions of intense craving.

They wanted to eat humans too badly.

Xuzhou City was right before their eyes, and inside, there truly were many humans.

All the evil spirits could sense it.

However, Chen Huangpi did not pay any attention to them.

Right now, his heart and mind were completely concentrated on the Nine Nether God Lantern.

Hundreds of Calamity Eyes opened simultaneously.

The Nine Nether God Lantern's lamp oil was nearly burnt to exhaustion, and the lamp wick was about to be extinguished.

Yet it stubbornly still desired to use the Escape-One Divine Light to take Chen Huangpi back to the Pure Immortal Temple. If it truly succeeded in this, it would probably perish right on the spot from the strain.

"Huang Er, stop causing a ruckus."

Chen Huangpi used his Calamity Eyes to stubbornly suppress the Nine Nether God Lantern's will, while simultaneously spurring the Dog Rearing Scripture frantically, forcefully seizing away the control authority over it.

"ROAR!!!"

The Nine Nether God Lantern angrily roared at Chen Huangpi: "Go home, go home!"

Yet Chen Huangpi said earnestly: "The subsequent path I will walk by myself. You have already done enough."

Turning his gaze from the lamp, Chen Huangpi at last looked toward the surrounding evil spirits.

"You guys can journey back into the mountains now."

"My black smoke and Calamity Eyes, I will temporarily leave deposited with you."

The black smoke and Calamity Eyes would not be devoured by evil spirits.

Therefore, Chen Huangpi felt very reassured about this. After all, what he paid out was roughly just a wisp of black smoke and a single Calamity Eye per evil spirit. Plus, he couldn't possibly maintain this form indefinitely; he inevitably had to disperse the black smoke and close the Calamity Eyes.

The Calamity Eyes were manageable, because the Liver Temple was currently only lacking a tiny bit from complete forging.

The black smoke, however, once dispersed, couldn't be brought out from the Kidney Temple again.

Conversely, leaving them deposited upon the evil spirits meant that if Chen Huangpi needed them, he could still summon them over; even if the doors of his Viscera Temples were closed, he could once again command his own power.

Although the evil spirits were screaming about wanting to eat humans.

But since Chen Huangpi told them to return to the Hundred Thousand Mountains, with their intelligence, naturally they wouldn't harbor any other notions.

Because this was His Majesty's order.

One fully after another, the evil spirits departed.

Immediately following, only the shadow evil spirit remained, as well as the dozens of commoners brought out from Dingxiang Restaurant.

Chen Huangpi didn't bother concerning himself with the shadow evil spirit.

As for the Life-reaping Ghost and Fox Mountain God, they were his own people, so naturally there was no need to waste words either.

Conversely, it was these commoners.

Chen Huangpi asked with some hesitation, "Do you wish to return to the Hundred Thousand Mountains with me? My home is at the Pure Immortal Temple on Mount Yuqiong. At the foot of the mountain, there is a Huanghu Village; you can take up residence there."

However, these commoners only exchanged glances back and forth, one by one displaying bitter smiles.

That shopkeeper sighed, saying, "This honorable Lord, us small folk do not know whether your esteemed self is an evil spirit or a human, but it is clear your venerable self possesses a kind heart. Only... we appreciate your honorable self's goodwill, but those Hundred Thousand Mountains are not our home. We aren't going."

Chen Huangpi frowned and said: "Then where are you going?"

"Going home."

The shopkeeper looked in the direction of Xuzhou City, speaking in a low voice: "The family properties and business I've accumulated my entire life are all within that city. My wife, children, and parents are also in the city. They are still at home waiting for me."

Once these words came out, the rest of the commoners abruptly could no longer suppress the emotions in their hearts.

Someone said: "Your Majesty Great Lord, those cultivators scolded us as being mere oxen and horses; you also said we are oxen and horses. But you are different. You only said that to fool those evil spirits."

"You tell me, am I a human, or an oxen or horse?"

"All of you are humans."

Chen Huangpi said earnestly: "You all are exactly the same as I am, humans possessing affection and a sense of duty."

Those men cupped their hands in a salute, then knelt down to Chen Huangpi. They forcefully knocked their heads against the ground in three resounding kowtows, knocking until their foreheads bled. Then they bared their teeth and grimaced in pain, saying: "I heard the storytellers say, only those who split their foreheads open kowtowing and do not make a sound are true men."

"I'm afraid of pain, so it seems I'm not one."

Saying so, that burly man continued: "Merely, Your Majesty Great Lord, you said it. We are humans. Since we are humans, we hold sentiments and thoughts of longing. My sentiments and thoughts are inside the city, with my family. They are definitely thinking about and longing for me right now as well."

"If I don't go back, then my sentiments, as well as my family's sentiments, will all be gone."

"But you will die if you go back."

Chen Huangpi pointed at that Xuzhou City and said, "That entire city has already transformed into an evil spirit. The moment you enter, you will die without a burial site. Moreover, you fundamentally can't even get in."

"Even knowing this, you are still unwilling to leave with me?"

The crowd looked as if they wanted to say something, but swallowed their words. They wanted to speak, yet they simply couldn't get the words out, each and every one flushed red to the ears in distress.

Ultimately, it was still that young attendant who bowed with hands clasped in salute to Chen Huangpi, saying, "Our families are in the city, Great Lord. You are a truly great figure, so naturally, you don't understand how incredibly foolish us common folk are."

Chen Huangpi went silent.

He indeed didn't completely understand, but things he didn't understand, he would go and ponder over.

Yet having pondered for a long while, he still didn't understand.

The Life-reaping Ghost said softly: "Contract Master, the hearts of these people have already died. Might as well fulfill their wishes. We ought to hurry back to the Hundred Thousand Mountains and beg the Guanzhu to change Huang Er back; that is the proper business."

"It is more than just proper business."

The Fox Mountain God said resolutely: "It is the foremost momentous affair. Although this is my first time coming to the outside world, I am aware that the deities of this outside world possess methods to catalyze the birth of commoners. Commoners are just like grass; cut them down, and they'll grow back again. There's no need to pay them mind."

"There are merely millions of commoners within Xuzhou City."

"Although death may be as light as a goose feather or as heavy as Mount Tai, the lives of mortals are just as cheap as the life of this mountain god here. Die early or die late, they have to die eventually. It's really no big deal."

"What you guys say makes sense."

Chen Huangpi nodded, and then turned his body, keeping his back to those commoners, keeping his back to Xuzhou City, as he walked towards the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

The Fox Mountain God and the Life-reaping Ghost exhaled a sigh of relief.

They were genuinely terrified that Chen Huangpi wouldn't be able to turn his thoughts around and would stubbornly insist on entering Xuzhou City again to rescue those millions of commoners.

One must realize, that Song Yuzhang was still inside the city.

However.

The further Chen Huangpi walked, the more he felt as if his legs had been filled with lead, unendurably heavy.

The further he walked, the slower his pace became.

The elusive, faint voices in his ears furthermore grew increasingly ear-piercing.

His heart was thumping.

It felt as if it wasn't a physical heart, but rather a heart of compassion.

Thus, he used his hands to forcefully clutch at his chest tightly. And then, he could no longer hear the beating of that heart of compassion, his strides also became much brisker and more nimble, and the voices beside his ears gradually grew faint, until they thoroughly vanished.

Chen Huangpi took a single step forth.

He instantly arrived at that dense forest just outside the borders of the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

Stepping into this dense forest meant returning to the Hundred Thousand Mountains, meant breaking away from the outside world.

But upon reaching this point, Chen Huangpi abruptly stopped in his tracks.

The Life-reaping Ghost said, "Contract Master, why have you ceased advancing?"

"Because I'm not feeling content/relieved."

"Why are you not feeling content?"

"Not feeling content is just not feeling content!"

Chen Huangpi closed his eyes tightly, while the Calamity Eyes all over his body opened to their absolute widest.

He stated, "I am not a human; I was born from an egg. Those people were clearly rescued by me; as long as they were willing, they could simply move to the Hundred Thousand Mountains and keep living. Yet I don't understand why they are unwilling."

"I am very smart, but I thought about it for a long, long time, and I still can't comprehend it."

"Master said, because I've experienced too little, therefore I cannot see through it."

"But I know, if I just leave exactly like this, my heart will feel very sorrowful."

Chen Huangpi's voice was low and heavy as he continued: "Ever since I arrived at the outside world, from time to time I have been able to hear some elusive, faint voices. Those voices are calling me, but I have consistently been unable to hear them clearly."

"The things I've heard, and the things I've encountered, I don't understand any of it."

"But my eyes can see many things."

"I saw that within Xuzhou City, there are still millions of commoners. They are all humans, all humans who have families. Just as that burly man said, they are all people possessing sentiments and thoughts to linger on."

"I think, among these people there should be good ones and wicked ones."

"But regardless of whether they are good or wicked, I fear their thoughts and sentiments at this moment—aside from reuniting with their families—would undoubtedly be a longing for someone to come and save them."

Saying up to here, Chen Huangpi abruptly opened his eyes wide.

One by one, twisted, wriggling golden-black characters resembling flowers, birds, fish, and insects slowly surfaced within his pupils.

The moment those characters appeared, they swam about frantically.

In a mere blink of an eye, they had spread to every single corner of his body.

Thud, thud, thud...

Chen Huangpi's heart was beating.

He didn't know whether it was his heart of compassion beating, or his actual, normal heartbeat.

But he didn't care anymore.

Because those elusive, faint voices once again rang in his ears, and moreover, they were becoming increasingly clearer.

"I heard it."

Chen Huangpi murmured: "I truly heard those voices. It is their sentiments of longing; it is the will and thoughts of Xuzhou City's commoners. I hear them saying... that they wish to live."

"I also heard that guard—the one who gave me money and told me to go see a doctor—hugging his child together with his wife, hiding inside a water vat."

"I also heard that man who makes candied haws hiding his family in the cellar. It's very dark down there."

"I even hear them begging the 'Clear Sky Great Lord' (virtuous official) to save them..."

"They are truly foolish. How could there be any 'Clear Sky Great Lords'? There is only the Azure Heaven and the Yellow Heaven."

"But the Azure Heaven is already dead; the Yellow Heaven has yet to be born."

Speaking up to here, the golden-black characters within Chen Huangpi's eyes became increasingly brilliant, and his physical body was even slowly growing. If he was a thirteen-year-old previously, then at this moment, he had once again aged another year.

This fourteen-year-old youth made a decision.

He spoke with unparalleled steadfastness: "The one capable of saving them is not some Heaven, but I, Chen Huangpi!"

The instant his words landed.

A massive sun slowly rose from the horizon.

But this did not signify the arrival of dawn, because that red moon which had already sunk into the horizon... actually surfaced up into the sky together with that grand sun at this moment.

Sun and Moon sharing the sky!

Night and Day muddling together once again.

"Day and night muddling together, heaven and earth mutating..."

The Nine Nether God Lantern, which had plummeted into madness, abruptly spoke, screaming frantically: "It's the Yang Extreme! Six days and six nights mark the Yin Extreme, nine days and nine nights mark the Yang Extreme! The Yang Extreme is here! The Yang Extreme is here!!"