Chapter 843: The Skeleton Spirit

Most nights, even when the lamps went out, there were still traces of light.

But now, as the night of the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month descended, all of the Netherworld’s six territories and thirteen realms were plunged into absolute darkness.

No light remained!

This strange scene was unquestionably unsettling.

“Light the lanterns.”

Su Yi’s calm voice reverberated through the darkness.

Immediately afterward, Cui Chang’an shouted, “Light the lanterns!”

His voice spread throughout heaven and earth.

Instantly, countless hundred-foot Celestial Lanterns of the Grand Dao, each a different shape, soared into Ziluo City’s airspace.

Firelight surged, dispelling the darkness.

It was as if a grand galaxy of fire shone above Ziluo City, illuminating both the nine heavens and the city below.

Celestial Lanterns of the Grand Dao were magic treasures refined with secret methods. They could disperse the darkness, but that wasn’t all; they could also ward off disaster and burn evil spirits.

Throughout history, whenever the Lantern Festival drew near, the Netherworld’s factions would prepare large numbers of these lanterns to neutralize the impending calamity.

As an ancient clan, the Cui Family naturally had no shortage of Celestial Lanterns of the Grand Dao.

As countless lanterns converged overhead, firelight spread far and wide, illuminating everything in all directions. It was a glorious spectacle.

The world came back into view.

“This….”

But when Cui Chang’an saw the scenery outside clearly, he couldn’t help but gasp, and an irrepressible chill rose within his heart.

The distant darkness was shrouded in densely-layered baleful mists. Blood qi came in waves, and countless strange and grotesque evil spirits had gathered into a grand army. They blanketed heaven and earth as they surged toward Ziluo City.

There were too many of them!

.

They were densely packed and seemingly without end. Their ranks stretched as far as the eye could see.

It was like a portal to a strange world of evil had opened in the darkness outside the city. A seemingly endless number of evil spirits had seized this opportunity to attack.

Some of the evil spirits took on the form of a massive flock of vicious birds shrouded in bloody baleful energy. As they beat their wings, they scattered a rain of corrosive, turbid flame. When it hit the ground, the vegetation instantly disintegrated, and it left jarring holes in the ground.

Nothing survived.

Other evil spirits were like monsters or devils straight out of the pits of hell. All of them emanated monstrous, evil auras. Some charged over the ground, while others whooshed through the skies, or rode in on currents of what looked like blood…

Rumble! Boom!

Heaven and earth trembled. Bloody baleful energy poured in like a waterfall, and countless evil spirits swarmed in from all sides. All of them charged toward Ziluo City like mad.

The scale was mind-boggling; millions of them had surrounded the city!

“This terrifying, strange power is far greater than in prior years…” Cui Chang’an’s expression filled?with uncertainty.

Cui Chang’an had experienced his share of the world’s ups and downs, as well as numerous storms and much bloodshed, and he’d long since become an Emperor. Even so, this terrifying scene made him feel a chill in his hands and feet.

There was no doubt about it; the appearance of the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow meant that this calamity was far more terrifying than in years prior!

“No need to panic. This sinister power is nothing but the malevolent energies that have accumulated in the Netherworld’s source,” said Su Yi. He rose from his chair, not the least bit flustered, and gazed into the distance with his hands behind his back. He seemed perfectly calm, as if heaven and earth could crumble around him and he wouldn’t so much as furrow?his brow.

Cui Chang’an gasped, and he gradually recovered from his initial tense, nervous mental state.

When that boundless army of evil spirits was just ten thousand feet away, Su Yi took out the Formation Chessboard and swiped his finger across the surface.

The towering walls of Ziluo City suddenly awakened from a long dormancy, shining with countless ripples of golden light. The obscure, profound runes of the formation merged together, suddenly transforming into an ancient and mysterious fluctuation.

The Golden Crow Annihilating Misfortune Formation was revealing its power for the first time in one thousand years!

Boom——!

Gazing down from the dome of heaven, the enormous city burst with golden light, tearing through the darkness and illuminating the landscape.

The city was now as bright as at midday, inestimably radiant.

And the golden radiance swept in all directions like a windstorm, with enough force to destroy both heaven and earth.

In the face of this heaven-shaking power, the bloody, baleful energy filling the skies disappeared with a boom.

Thirty thousand feet from the city walls, the endless tide of evil spirits was incinerated into nothingness before they even knew what hit them!

The terrifying aftermath swept outward, and heaven and earth trembled.

One attack had exterminated tens of thousands of evil spirits!

This was the power of the Golden Crow Annihilating Misfortune Formation.

Generations of the Cui Family had maintained and improved this formation, all so that it could unleash its power during the millennial Lantern Festival, destroying and suppressing too many evil spirits and malevolent powers to count. It had protected the Cui Family all this time!

However, neither Su Yi nor Cui Chang’an were happy.

There were just too many evil spirits!

They’d just killed a bunch of them when yet another wave charged out of the distant darkness. They were densely packed, and it seemed there was no end to them.

Admittedly, none of them were overly strong. They were brainless cannon fodder at best.

But this would continue from nightfall, all the way until dawn!

Furthermore, as time passed, even more terrifying spirits would appear!

No one would dare take this lightly.

Boom!

Outside the city, baleful energy churned, blanketing heaven and earth. The grand army of malevolent spirits howled and roared, charging ahead with no fear of death.

The firelight of the formation unleashed destructive power all around the city, sweeping out in all directions.

It obliterated one group of evil spirits after another.

But immediately afterward, more appeared…

The boundless darkness seemed to hide an endless supply of evil spirits. No matter how many they killed, there were always more.

Furthermore, as time passed, the attacking evil spirits gradually grew stronger.

At first, the power of the Golden Crow Annihilating Misfortune Formation could obliterate the swarm of evil spirits as soon as they got within thirty thousand feet of Ziluo City.

But just an hour later, they made it twenty thousand feet from the city before the formation took them out.

Another hour later, they got within ten thousand feet!

Just watching put pressure on Cui Chang’an, and his expression was increasingly grave.

Only two hours had passed, but the army of evil spirits was already far stronger than in prior years!

Unlike Cui Chang’an, Su Yi had spent these two hours in his wicker chair, languishing and drinking.

This battle might have looked incomparably perilous, but in Su Yi’s eyes, it was utterly tedious and dull.

Where was the fun in passive defense?

To sword cultivators, the best defense was a good offense!

It was the most satisfying, too!

But no matter how boring Su Yi found this, he had to be patient.

The life and death of the Cui Family hinged on this battle’s outcome; he couldn’t just do whatever he wanted.

When he saw that the grand army of evil spirits was about to break through the defensive line ten thousand feet away, Su Yi took out the Formation Chessboard and swiped his fingertip across it.

Chh!

The crisscrossing grid lit up.

At the same time, the walls of Ziluo City shone, the misty light emanating a shockingly destructive aura.

Afterward, terrifying beams of golden fire shot out of the four city gates. Each manifested a resplendent golden avian figure!

The birds were each a thousand feet long, and when they unfurled their wings, they were as enormous as the clouds hanging in the sky. Their entire bodies looked as if they’d been forged out of gold, and they were bathed in endless divine flames.

Golden Crows!

Rumor had it that these True Spirit Divine Beasts controlled the flames of the sun. They were seen as children of the sun, and a casual beat of their wings could incinerate an entire landscape and reduce every living thing in it to ash!

However, these four Golden Crows weren’t really True Spirit Divine Birds, but rather, manifestations of the formation’s power.

Even so, as they entered the world, their momentum and imposing auras were utterly terrifying.

They beat their wings and shot outside the city. A rain of fire poured onto the world below, instantly incinerating the evil spirits and filling the skies with searing golden flames.

As the crows flew around the city, no matter how relentless the evil spirits’ onslaught was, all of them were burnt to nothingness. It was an incomparably tyrannical scene.

“Hmph!” Suddenly, a cold snort emanated from over the distant, darkened horizon. It boomed like thunder, shaking the skies in all directions.

As Su Yi sprawled out in his wicker chair, a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. The little crow really did show up!

Boom!

As soon as the cold snort faded, a black skeleton appeared within the tide of evil spirits. Its bones were as clear and dark as black jade, and blue-green flames blazed in its eye sockets.

The skeleton spirit gripped a black bone spear. As he stepped through the sky, his malevolent, sinister aura transformed into a petrifying vision of purgatory.

Whoosh!

As soon as the skeletal evil spirit appeared, it blurred into a streak of black lightning, gripped its spear, and charged at one of the Golden Crows.

Boom!

A heaven-shaking collision followed. Shockingly, the black bone spear shattered the Golden Crow’s massive, thousand-foot frame. The bird transformed into a rain of the light of the formation and drifted down to earth.

The nearby skies exploded, and a flood of power swept forth, slamming into the walls. The power of the formation covering them shook.

“An evil spirit comparable to a Profound Illumination Realm cultivator!!” Cui Chang’an’s pupils constricted, and his heart shook.

In past Lantern Festivals, such terrifying evil spirits typically only appeared as the festival neared its end.

But that obviously wasn’t the case this time!

“An evil spirit manifested of countless?sins!” exclaimed Su Yi.

The power of sin existed deep within the Blood River of Sin. It was one of the most evil energies in the Netherworld.

When it contaminated a cultivator, it would instantly corrode their cultivation base and disperse their soul!

“I can’t let such power go to waste.” As Su Yi pondered, he took out the Heaven’s Writ Lotus Lantern.

Weng!

Misty light circulated, and a man in tattered Confucian robes appeared. He had youthful features, but his gaze bore the mark of countless years.

This was one of the four ancient monsters originally imprisoned beneath Heavenly Tripod Mountain.

“Shabby old-timer, take this treasure and go clean up that skeleton,” said Su Yi. As he spoke, he tossed a fist-sized red furnace through the air.

The Allheaven Blood Furnace!

Su Yi had acquired this supreme Demonist treasure from the Pawnshop of the Heavens.

It was from one of the Wilds’ top Demonist Factions, Red Dust Demon Mountain. Its monstrous power could easily massacre entire regions, refining every living inhabitant.

Over the years, Red Dust Demon Mountain had used this treasure to refine the blood and valiant souls of countless enemies. The furnace was infamous.

“I won’t disappoint you, Your Excellency!” The man in Confucian robes straightened up his clothing, then solemnly accepted the Allheaven Blood Furnace with both hands.