Yellow Skinned Taoist Master

Chapter 75: Third Master: Kill, Kill, Kill

The Fox Mountain God woke up in a sorry state.

Something had jabbed it awake.

When it opened its eyes, it found a horn edged in a golden gleaming light lined up against its head — the horn was just an outline, but the feeling it gave was not good at all. As if it had pressed right against its soul.

Before it could react, the brass oil lamp's voice rang out.

"Golden-Horn — put Chen Huangpi down first."

"Elder is starving. Elder wants to eat fox."

"Wait for Chen Huangpi to wake up. Eat together."

"Elder won't listen."

Golden-Horn turned its head and fixed the brass oil lamp with a pointed stare: "Elder went hungry inside the Old Temple and that was tolerable enough. If Elder has to keep going hungry even after leaving the Old Temple — wasn't it all for nothing?"

So that was Golden-Horn.The Fox Mountain God had a proper look at it now. Its frame was enormous — four or five meters long. Large, brutal bones, four legs with clawed feet that resembled dragon claws but far thicker. Its beast-head had eight eyes, and the head itself took up roughly a third of its body — like a creature born disproportionate.

But it must have starved for years. Skin wrapped tightly over bone everywhere — it didn't look much better than the Fox Mountain God itself.

And on Golden-Horn's back — closed-eyed, face pale — lay Chen Huangpi.

"Did he die too?"

That question broke everyone at once.

The brass oil lamp snapped. Golden-Horn tensed. Even the Life-reaping Ghost couldn't stay inside the Soul-Hooking Register — it leapt out with both dark-red eyes fixed hard on the Fox Mountain God. All of them reacted as if their most sensitive place had been struck.

"He won't die."

The brass oil lamp's voice was cold as ice: "If he does — then it'll be your crow-mouth that killed him."

Earlier, inside the Old Temple. They had almost made it out.

But right at the last moment, the evil spirit made of Xu Qingshan's countless severed arms had lunged out of nowhere. Chen Huangpi had cut through most of it with one sword strike — but the arms were endless. The more he cut, the more there were.

And then those arms had formed the hand seal of the Life-Slaying Sword Formula.

In an instant — all their souls had been struck by a profound, overwhelming dread. As if an invisible blade that existed specifically to slay souls had locked onto every single one of them.

The brass oil lamp had moved to shield Chen Huangpi. Chen Huangpi grabbed it and pulled it back. The Life-reaping Ghost had tried to come out of the Soul-Hooking Register. Chen Huangpi exercised his right as contract holder and stopped it from emerging.

"You will die. Leave this to me."

Chen Huangpi said that, and stepped in front of them, and absorbed the full force of that soul-slaying strike with his own body. And so ended up like this.

The Life-reaping Ghost looked at Chen Huangpi with a complicated expression.

That strike had been genuinely terrifying. The power of the Life-Slaying Sword Formula channeled through countless arms — it felt to the Ghost that even in its prime, it would have had no chance of surviving that blow. Its soul did have one thread residing inside the Soul-Hooking Register — which was why it could remain indestructible. But that particular strike — it felt like no matter how many soul threads you had hidden, no matter where you hid them — it wouldn't matter. One strike to erase all.

What the Life-reaping Ghost couldn't understand was — Chen Huangpi, as the contract holder, had not just declined to use it to take the blow. He had actively stopped it from doing so.

Looking at the sleeping Chen Huangpi now, the Life-reaping Ghost found itself murmuring inwardly: "He is unlike any contract holder I have had before. He calls me A'Gui. He seems to genuinely think of me as a friend — not as the Life-reaping Ghost bound in the Soul-Hooking Register."

With that thought, an indefinable bitterness stirred in the Ghost's chest.

It had been away from the Yellow Springs and the Yin Lands for longer than it could count. Every contract holder who had claimed the Soul-Hooking Register had treated it as a weapon for slaughter. Only Chen Huangpi was different.

"Xu Qingshan deserves to die."

The brass oil lamp said between gritted teeth: "Those severed arms are the ones he cut off himself. He died without destroying those things first — and now Chen Huangpi suffers for it."

Back then, Xu Qingshan's arms had begun to mutate. He had cut them off — but the more he cut, the more there were, until they assembled together into some indescribable evil spirit. This evil spirit could even use the techniques Xu Qingshan had known in life.

And Xu Qingshan had been one of the Daoist priests Guanzhu had brought from the Great Qian Immortal Dynasty. A priest whose calling was to create gods. The Heavenly and Earthly Mutation had only just begun at the time — spiritual qi had not yet dissipated. What level of cultivation had those priests been at? They treated deities as animal servants, and at any slight displeasure would grind them to dust. Were Xu Qingshan's severed arms something that could simply be dealt with?

The brass oil lamp may have considered Chen Huangpi strangely dangerous — but that was only his body, which was extraordinarily tough. His soul was his weakest link. Before he began cultivating the Yin-Yang Harmonization and Spirit Transformation Art, the lamp had barely been able to sense that he had a soul at all. If not for the fact that all his behavior was perfectly ordinary, it would have suspected he was a walking corpse.

"Why didn't the Three Masters intervene?"

The brass oil lamp murmured to itself: "The Evil Buddha wanted to convert Chen Huangpi and they erupted in fury. Now Chen Huangpi is practically dying — and they don't care?"

"Or rather — perhaps Chen Huangpi is actually completely fine."

……

At this moment, inside the Old Temple.

After Chen Huangpi had left the Old Temple — the entire place transformed wildly and violently.

Three enormous suns — purple, white, and cyan — blazed against each other.

As if galvanized, the purple and white suns drove back the pressure of the cyan sun in a combined burst.

Dong, dong, dong…

The agonized, distorted tolling of the Nine Separation Bell rang without stopping from within the cyan sun.

But this only made the purple and white suns more furious.

At the entrance of the Scripture Pavilion, Silver-Horn stared up at those three enormous suns with anxiety and fear. Earlier, Golden-Horn had been here, forbidding it to look up. Now that Golden-Horn was gone, it opened all its eyes wide to look.

Silver-Horn could see the towering, terrifying silhouettes within each of the three suns. One dressed in purple Daoist robes, one in white, one in cyan. Three — one has become three — the Three Masters. Not only that, but as a Son of Diting, Silver-Horn could also hear the sounds ringing from within those suns.

"Third — Huangpi is under our care. Wouldn't you prefer to stay peacefully in the Old Temple?"

"If you miss Huangpi that badly — First and I will arrange for him to come visit you often."

As those two words landed, the Nine Separation Bell inside the cyan sun abruptly went quiet.

Then a voice rang out — completely mad: "One of you keeps trying to refine elixirs from him. The other wants to eat him raw. This is how you two are taking care of Huangpi?"

"You two are mad — I have not gone mad."

"Kill! They all deserve to die!"

"And those evil spirits — every single one deserves to die!"

"Deities who consume people — deserve to die!"

"Humans who are no longer human — deserve to die!"

"The Heaven and Earth Mutation — deserves to die!"

Third Master's killing intent pierced the sky. The cyan sun blazed with radiance — but not a trace of warmth came from it. What radiated was only a killing intent that chilled to the bone.

First Master said in fury: "If killing were possible, how could I have gone mad?"

Second Master said in cold venom: "If I ate Huangpi — I too could transcend and remake heaven and earth!"

Third Master said in wild raving: "No need for elixirs — no need to eat him — give me enough time and I will kill all of this myself!"

"What you cannot do does not mean I cannot!"

"And if even I cannot — then kill Huangpi and be done with it!"

"Once Huangpi is dead, he won't suffer anymore! He won't be wronged anymore!"

"Yes — when I get out, I'll kill Huangpi first!"

……

Chen Huangpi had no idea. That the moment Third Master emerged — he was the first one who would be killed.

Right now he was dreaming.

He dreamed of himself going back into an egg. Same as last time. But different this time — it felt safe. Warm. Comfortable.

Chen Huangpi wanted to open his eyes and look. But he couldn't feel his eyes. No — not just his eyes. He couldn't feel his mouth, ears, or nose either. There was only consciousness.

"Wait — I haven't become just yolk and egg white, have I?"

A disturbing thought surfaced unbidden in his mind. The Hundred Thousand Mountains had animals too, just not around Mount Yuqiong. He'd come across bird nests when exploring the mountain before, and when he'd cracked open an egg — it was just yolk and white inside. Stirred together with fragrant oil and fried — it was delicious to eat.

But — Chen Huangpi didn't know: even if he truly had been born from an egg, he couldn't turn back into yolk and white. That was just the nutritional substance inside an egg. It wouldn't happen to him.

After some uncertain amount of time, Chen Huangpi suddenly noticed faint light appearing before him. At the same time, faint sounds reached his ears. He tried to move his body — and his body responded.

"I'm almost grown into my human form!"

Joy flooded his consciousness. But it was still too slow.

"Faster, faster!"

Chen Huangpi was anxious and restless. Trapped inside this egg and unable to move, he desperately wanted to grow up quickly, and then punch through the shell and leap out from inside. Only he didn't know — had countless eyes been hiding outside the shell this time too?

As if feeling his urgency — he truly did grow faster. The light before him was no longer just a faint glow. His eyes had formed. He could see, inside the egg shell, he was wrapped in a gold-and-black primordial energy that had a near-physical solidity.

And outside the shell, he could hear cranes calling and immortals dancing, as if in joyful celebration of his birth.

Gradually though — the gold-and-black primordial energy began to fade. The cranes cried in mournful lamentation. The immortals stopped dancing.

A heavy unease settled over Chen Huangpi.

A cold, indifferent voice spoke from beyond the shell: "Wasted all those treasures and spirit objects — and in the end it's a stillbirth. Worthless."

That word — worthless — was directed at Chen Huangpi inside the egg.

"I'm not worthless!"

Chen Huangpi cried back in fury: "I was born! I am not a stillbirth!"

"It's the fault of heaven and earth. Not his."

"Is that — Master's voice?"

Chen Huangpi froze, then immediately called out: "Master — I'm inside the egg! Can you hear me?"

And then immediately felt deflated. This was just a dream. How could the master in a dream hear his voice?

"The Hundred Thousand Mountains is a place of yin-extreme and yang-extreme."

"Perhaps if he is taken there — he still has a chance to be born."

"Chen Shidao!"

That cold, indifferent voice said: "The Heaven and Earth Mutation — I am going to seal the entire Great Qian away. If you take this thing to the Hundred Thousand Mountains, you will never be able to return."

Chen Shidao replied: "Then I won't return."

"Imperial younger brother — I forbid you!"

"Your Majesty need not worry. When the Heaven and Earth Mutation is over, I will bring him back myself."

"The Heaven and Earth Mutation will last eighteen thousand years. Even one who is Near-Dao as you are — you cannot endure that long."

"Then let my disciple return in my place."