Yellow Skinned Taoist Master

Chapter 62: The Kidney Temple Is Complete! The Demon Tree Subdued!

At Chen Huangpi's command, boundless black smoke went wild inside him, pouring out of the Kidney Temple — a place of sinister, evil energy beyond all description.

Wherever the black smoke passed, it acted like ink — staining his meridians, flesh, bones, and skin all to black.

Yet unlike before, when he had donned the Life-reaping Ghost's skin and transformed into an evil spirit, his body underwent no physical distortion this time.

No horns sprouted from his head. No scales crept across his skin.

Instead, countless golden-black characters floated up around his entire body — like flowers, birds, fish, and insects rendered in living script.

Those characters were alive.

They swam ceaselessly across him.

And the moment the surging black smoke had torn free from his body, it immediately hurled itself at the blood-red pillar of light crashing down from above.

In an instant, the blood-red pillar was swallowed whole by the black smoke.

The black smoke was without equal — it devoured all, it tainted all.The Demon Tree was terrifying. Before its rebirth, it had already been a supremely vicious Disaster-class entity. Now, planted back to life by the purple-robed Daoist priest and risen from the dead, it had become something even beyond a Disaster — a Calamity.

It had not yet recovered its full peak strength, since its canopy had been bitten off and swallowed by the purple-robed Daoist priest in one go. Even so, that pillar of blood-red light it had unleashed was fundamentally stronger than anything it could have produced at its best.

And yet — even so — it could do nothing at all against the black smoke within Chen Huangpi.

But the black smoke had only swallowed the blood-red pillar. It made no move against the Demon Tree itself.

At the sight of this, the brass oil lamp couldn't help but shout: "Chen Huangpi — use your black smoke to kill it! What are you waiting for?"

It had been frightened, assuming Chen Huangpi was being reckless.

Chen Huangpi didn't explain. He gritted his teeth and called in a cold voice: "Kidney Temple — emerge!"

And the Kidney Temple rose out from within him.

The brass oil lamp's eyes went wide.

It had known a Kidney Temple existed inside Chen Huangpi. Once before, when Chen Huangpi had forced the temple doors open to deal with the mutated divine statue, the Kidney Temple's outline had appeared briefly.

But that time it wasn't fully formed — only a vague shape, barely visible.

Now the Kidney Temple was complete.

And the brass oil lamp saw it in full.

It was a vast, ancient, desolate, and deeply unsettling structure.

The Kidney Temple had two connected halves, linked together in an I-shape lying on its side — temple gates in the center, both flanks arching high and covered with flesh, sinew, and membrane.

A Kidney Temple, literally built to resemble a pair of kidneys.

And it pulsed like a living thing.

With each beat, a strange, demonic energy radiated invisibly outward.

In the blink of an eye it had spread through the Pure Immortal Temple, across Mount Yuqiong, and even further.

Every being caught within the range of that spreading demonic energy was affected — except Chen Huangpi.

The brass oil lamp fixed its gaze on the gates of the Kidney Temple.

Its eyes burned with naked greed and longing.

"Claim the Kidney Temple — ascend to godhood on the spot!"

The lamp's eyes went red. "Whoever dares stop me — dies!"

Fortunately, the brass oil lamp was extraordinary in its own right. After blurting those words, a flicker of struggle crossed its gaze — and it instinctively lit its own wick. Clarity returned in an instant.

And with the clarity came dread.

"Heavens — Chen Huangpi, your Kidney Temple is absolutely vile! Quick — knock me out! I don't want to go inside. I don't want to go inside!"

The brass oil lamp screeched in terror.

It was frightened.

Chen Huangpi didn't hesitate — he brought his hand down hard on the brass oil lamp's head.

It was knocked unconscious on the spot.

Then another covetous voice rang out.

"Ha! My chance has come!"

It was the Fox Mountain God — even though its incense had been nearly entirely drained and its statue was on the verge of crumbling, it still rushed forward as if possessed. It wanted to seize the moment while the brass oil lamp was knocked out and move into the Kidney Temple to ascend to godhood right then and there.

But after charging forward only a few meters, even that last thread of incense power gave out. Unable to fly, it dropped to the ground and walked. With every step it took, fragments crumbled away from it. By the time the Fox Mountain God reached Chen Huangpi, both its legs had completely broken off.

Undeterred, it simply got down and crawled forward on its hands — like an overager dog rolling over for scraps — gazing fixedly at the Kidney Temple and calling out with trembling excitement: "My treasure, my treasure — you belong to me now!"

Chen Huangpi's face went utterly dark. Without a second thought, he delivered one punch — and knocked it out.

"Master was right. The moment the Kidney Temple is complete and I open its gates, any deity or evil spirit will go berserk trying to enter — even Huang Er gets affected. As for the Fox Mountain God — it can't even resist."

And the Demon Tree?

Could the Demon Tree resist the urge to enter the Kidney Temple?

Chen Huangpi raised his head and looked up at the Demon Tree.

The Demon Tree was shaking. Shaking without stop.

Inside that enormous eye — blood-red moon for a pupil, the black of night for an iris — greed, longing, madness, and killing intent all churned and clashed in raging conflict.

There was only one Kidney Temple.

And only one deity could reside within it.

The Demon Tree, in this moment, was the closest and the most fearsome evil spirit in the vicinity. It was inevitably drawn to the Kidney Temple. The compulsion to enter it took root in its mind like the Demon Tree's own roots — deep and unshakeable, impossible to pull out once planted.

The massive trunk shook without ceasing.

Crack. Rustle.

The Demon Tree was fighting it. It truly hated Chen Huangpi with everything it had — yet right now, every trace of that hatred was crushed beneath the overpowering urge.

And at this moment, even the Human Fruits hanging from its branches were all affected.

"Enter — enter quickly!"

"Ascend, ascend to godhood!"

"Hurry into the temple! Ascend to godhood on the spot!!"

Countless Human Fruits screamed and howled in unison. The sound was fanatical, layered on top of itself, drilling into every ear like an incantation that invaded the mind.

"Demon Tree, oh Demon Tree — what are you waiting for?"

Chen Huangpi called out loudly: "Even your own fruit is urging you inside. Stop hesitating. My Kidney Temple is no prison — once you're inside, I'll treat you well."

"I'm a good person. I won't deceive you!"

The Demon Tree kept trembling.

On and on, without stopping.

It had been driven half-mad with rage. But it had no capacity to pay Chen Huangpi any attention — every bit of its awareness was occupied with resisting the pull of the Kidney Temple.

Chen Huangpi watched and felt the urgency rising in him.

The Demon Tree was truly fearsome. And it wasn't a water-element entity aligned with the kidneys — it was wood. Water gives birth to wood.

While the Demon Tree could still enter the Kidney Temple, it had just enough incompatibility to offer a scrap of resistance.

If it were a water-element entity — even one that was a Calamity-class evil spirit — it would have plunged into the Kidney Temple without a moment's hesitation.

With that thought, Chen Huangpi mused to himself: 'If only there were a water-element evil spirit here — once it entered the Kidney Temple, my strength would greatly increase. Even if I couldn't beat the Demon Tree, I could at least escape with Huang Er.'

But where to find a water-element evil spirit?

The moment the Demon Tree burst free of the Old Temple, it had blanketed the entire Pure Immortal Temple. There was simply no way out.

And just then.

The Human Fruits all began shrieking at once.

"Demon Tree, Demon Tree!"

"More evil spirits are gathering outside!"

"They are not like you — you hesitate, but they do not."

"Enter now — enter quickly!"

At those words, Chen Huangpi's eyes lit up. So evil spirits had indeed come — they had only been blocked outside by the Demon Tree.

His mind shifted.

Chen Huangpi turned to address the Demon Tree aloud: "Demon Tree, oh Demon Tree — think carefully. My Kidney Temple has only one spot. With so many evil spirits outside, if you don't go in, another one will. Stop hesitating — get in!"

The Demon Tree kept resisting.

But the Human Fruits all nodded furiously.

"Chen Huangpi is right!"

"Brothers! Our chance to enter the temple is right here before us — and the Demon Tree is still waffling! I have heard mortals once spoke of the affair of the Yellow Robes — and does this moment not perfectly echo that tale?"

"Wrap him in the Yellow Robe! The Robe must be worn!"

"To do nothing is to die anyway — to rise up in the great cause is also to die — but to die in glory!"

"Tell the Demon Tree — I have rendered service!"

The Human Fruits were fruits grown by the Demon Tree itself, and every one of them had its own consciousness. Now that the Demon Tree's mind was saturated with the pull of the temple, the fruits had turned around and begun agitating against it.

Every Human Fruit clung to the others, forming a single enormous ball of fruit.

With one swing, the Human Fruits threw their weight against the trunk — and the trunk lurched.

That movement was the last straw.

The Demon Tree had only shifted the once — and in that instant, the urge in its mind to enter the Kidney Temple and ascend to godhood became unstoppable.

BOOM!!

Inside the monstrous eye, all the complex emotions vanished at once. In their place rose a deep, overwhelming hunger.

RUMBLE.

The Demon Tree ripped itself from the earth, and the sky-blotting canopy-screen it had woven evaporated into nothing.

The blood-red moon hung high and bare overhead.

And now Chen Huangpi could see what he hadn't noticed before — at some point, the peak of Mount Yuqiong and the surroundings of the Pure Immortal Temple had become packed with evil spirits, all of them trapped outside by the Demon Tree.

These evil spirits were entirely unfamiliar — none he had ever seen before. The Kidney Temple must have drawn them in from miles beyond.

Just as he had anticipated.

Without the Demon Tree blocking the way, not one of those evil spirits hesitated — they all charged straight for the Kidney Temple.

But they never made it.

Branch after massive, coiling branch came lashing down on top of them.

Every evil spirit was impaled through the head in an instant.

More Human Fruits appeared on the Demon Tree's branches — these ones saturated with the Demon Tree's own will, all crying out with one frenzied, unified howl.

The last trace of the Demon Tree's clarity dissolved and was gone.

The next second, everything went dark in Chen Huangpi's eyes.

Or rather — the Demon Tree blocked his entire field of vision.

Countless branches coiled and wrapped around the Kidney Temple — the branches were its arms, the trunk its body.

The Demon Tree, driven to madness, forced its enormous form into the Kidney Temple.

But it was simply too large.

Even now, countless roots still stretched back into the Old Temple.

For a moment, the Demon Tree went frantic with impatience.

Chen Huangpi panicked too, and shouted: "Demon Tree — don't worry! I'll help you!"

With that, he extended two fingers — and wave after wave of pitch-black sword qi slashed down at the Demon Tree's roots.

Sword qi forged from black smoke lacked the solid, razor sharpness of intent-forged qi — but it was far from harmless.

Each strike severed a root, and where it was cut, the black smoke swarmed like bone-gnawing larvae, greedily devouring its essence energy.

The Demon Tree shuddered from tip to tip.

Every Human Fruit let out a wail — then they all turned and looked at Chen Huangpi.

And in their gazes was something that had no business being there: disbelief.

The pain had jolted it awake.

For one moment, it had regained its clarity.

But it was too late.

With no roots left anchoring it to the outside world, more than half its body already inside the Kidney Temple — it had become the fish on the chopping board. There was no fighting back now.

The Kidney Temple pulsed like a living thing, and with each beat it generated an irresistible pull.

The Human Fruits let out one long, mournful cry.

The entire Demon Tree was swallowed in an instant.

And not only the Demon Tree.

All the black smoke too — wave upon wave of it vanishing from Chen Huangpi's body, pouring entirely into the Kidney Temple.

The massive Kidney Temple collapsed into a streak of light and plunged back into Chen Huangpi's body, returning to its original position.

Chen Huangpi immediately turned his awareness inward, eager to see what transformation the Demon Tree's entry had caused — and his face changed in an instant.

"Am I seeing things? Where have my two kidneys gone?"