Chapter 340: No Games Allowed! Corpse-Nurturing Ground! Unless You Hold the Seal of the Ten Kings of the Underworld in Person!

All around, gusts of yin wind howled, carrying with them shrill ghostly wails.

Waahhh... Waaahh...

It sounded like women sobbing in grief, and it rattled the mind and set the hair on end.

This yin wind corroded both soul and flesh, and it was a vicious, sinister force!

Suddenly, the yin wind of Yang Family Town dispersed at once. He had used the mythical treasure, the Wind Tamer!

Li Yanchu directly activated the artifact, snuffing out every gust of ghost wind within the town. The moment the wind stilled, the sobbing cries and the eerie atmosphere were all halted in an instant.

Just like in a horror movie when the flickering lights waver in the wind, the windows and doors rattled violently, and the wind mingled with the ghostly cries. Truly, it was a chilling, hair-raising symphony.

But now, not a single breath of wind remained, and dry leaves lay still in the abandoned courtyard. Wind, that staple element of horror, was gone.

At this time, Old Daoist Huang’s cheek twitched uncontrollably. Watching these ghost-slaves and spirits stiff in the still air with their hair unmoving gave him a feeling he couldn’t even put into words.

And then, he witnessed a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life! That upright, righteous, ridiculously handsome young Daoist suddenly raised an ancient bronze urn in his hand. In an instant, a storm of fire crows erupted from it, filling the sky, devouring every surrounding evil spirit in a blaze of flame. He used the Ten Thousand Crows Urn!

Though this was only a replica and not the true divine artifact of Lord Luo Xuan, the Fire Virtue True Monarch himself, as the sacred treasure of the Fire Virtue Sect, its power was still utterly terrifying.

This artifact really is perfect for clearing the field

, Li Yanchu thought to himself.

The Ten Thousand Crows Urn was practically a divine weapon for dealing with little ghosts and petty demons, it was almost

too

fitting. Its area-of-effect damage was maxed out!

He had wiped out every single ghostly creature in Yang Family Town. And yet, the mastermind still hadn’t shown themselves.

The strongest ghost he had encountered so far was merely the town’s former yin-yang practitioner, or perhaps even the old monk who had once come to exorcise these demons and died tragically instead. Those were far stronger than the rest.

Back then, when this town first fell and became a ghost domain, many bloody battles had erupted. But in the end, the righteous cultivators all perished, their bodies eroded by ghostly qi.

Now, Li Yanchu, along with Old Daoist Huang and the escort leader Guo Wei, had slaughtered every last ghost in the town. But still, the special ghostly aura that bound the entire domain remained intact, and the “ghost wall” illusion hadn’t vanished.

“That means someone, or something, is still maintaining the ghost domain’s operation!” Li Yanchu frowned.

To shatter this domain, he would either have to find the hidden mastermind, or locate the core sustaining the ghostly realm.

Both options were exceedingly difficult.

Lady Yun, cultivating within the Dragon-Tiger Scepter, had a special sense for demonic qi. But when it came to ghost domains... her ability might not apply.

Suddenly, a thought struck Li Yanchu. He reached out his hand, and an ancient, weathered seal appeared in his palm.

Sacred light shimmered faintly upon it, the archaic characters carved into its base blurred and indistinct.

The Earth Lord Seal!

The Earth Lord who had once held this seal was a God of Fortune and Virtue, a righteous god of fortune who enjoyed the incense offerings of his domain. But when he had appeared, yin winds had howled all around him, and he had used curses to kill...

No matter how you looked at it, before becoming a local Earth Lord, he hadn’t exactly walked the orthodox path.

Almost by instinct, Li Yanchu had pulled out the Earth Lord Seal, hoping to borrow the power of the earth veins to locate the core of this ghost domain. That feat of summoning an object across space left Old Daoist Huang and Guo Wei utterly astonished.

“So young... and already a true immortal!” Guo Wei couldn’t help but sigh in awe.

Li Yanchu pushed a wisp of divine sense into the Earth Lord Seal, as if trying to use it to attune to the local earth veins. A subtle, mysterious aura began to emanate from the seal.

“There’s hope!” Li Yanchu’s eyes lit up.

He even poured Daoist spiritual power directly into the seal, which was a simple and rather brute-force way of handling an artifact. Unfortunately, what he didn’t know was that the Earth Lord Seal only worked in its own local territory...

An Earth Lord within his own domain was recognized by the local earth veins, and thus could wield all sorts of divine abilities, from gathering information to even the astonishing feat of shifting the very land itself.

After a while, Li Yanchu opened his eyes again, feeling disappointed. He let out a soft sigh and said, “Still no good.”

Suddenly, a wry smile tugged at his lips. The realization dawned on him; of course the Earth Lord Seal would be restricted by region.

“Looks like I was overthinking. How could this thing possibly have such high-level authority, as if it could still work all the way from Wei City to Mount Jiuxuan?” Li Yanchu rubbed his forehead with a touch of exasperation.

It was basically like expecting the county magistrate of Wei City to manage the people of Mount Jiuxuan and hold power over their very lives and deaths!

“I really was overthinking it. This isn’t some supreme premium version of the Earth Lord Seal, how could it possibly have such wide jurisdiction?”

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

He was about to put the seal away.

***

Ten li outside Yang Family Town, in a valley encircled by mountains and rivers, there lay an old pool. Its waters were bone-chillingly cold, its baleful aura so thick it was nearly tangible.

Originally, a river had flowed through here, and it was a place of living water, ever-moving, never-ending. But someone had tampered with the feng shui, transforming it into a pool of stagnant death. The baleful energy coiled around it, refusing to disperse and forming a natural corpse-nurturing ground.

Beside the dead pool sat a cross-legged plainly dressed old farmer. His hands were clasped in seals, performing the most orthodox Daoist breathing technique.

Yet, with every breath he drew in and out, a thick miasma of corpse-qi was sucked from the pool and cycled into his body. Over and over, a strange circulation was formed. He was cultivating by using this corpse-nurturing pool, where baleful qi soared into the heavens.

After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes. Those cloudy, aged pupils seemed to condense within them all the malice of the human world.

“Who dares... to try and break my ghost domain?” From the old farmer’s murky eyes shot a sudden gleam of light. But then, he lowered his gaze back to the pool’s dark depths. After pondering for a moment, he closed his eyes once more and resumed cultivation. Deep within the pool, it was as if a pair of cold, emotionless eyes were staring back at him.

The old farmer continued his Daoist breathing technique.

“Let him be. This ghost domain is a land of ultimate yin, no one can possibly shatter it. Unless... the Yanluo[1] of the underworld himself descended in person. Heh.”

All traces of worry vanished from the old farmer’s heart.

***

Meanwhile, Li Yanchu’s eyes flickered in surprise. The Earth Lord Seal in his hand, which had just been dormant, suddenly burst forth with a powerful ancient and vast aura.

“What’s going on?” Li Yanchu froze for a moment.

Then, the ghostly energy of the area began rapidly converging toward the seal. More precisely, it was being drawn in, then absorbed and devoured by the Earth Lord Seal itself!

Li Yanchu’s eyes lit up. “What the...? Could this be... an artifact that devours yin energy?!”

Li Yanchu couldn’t help widening his eyes. The Earth Lord Seal was absorbing yin energy faster and faster like a bottomless pit!

As astonished as he was by the seal’s mysterious power, he was just as shocked by how vast and dense the yin energy within Yang Family Town truly was. The seal drank in the ghostly aura, transforming it into a strange, profound force, which it stored within itself. The ancient characters carved on its base gradually became clearer and clearer.

This unexpected change delighted Li Yanchu, and so he simply watched in silence, waiting to see where it would lead.

Meanwhile, the old farmer by the deathly pool suddenly opened his eyes wide, his face filled with disbelief!

“Something is actually devouring the yin energy of this place?!”

At once, a ruthless expression spread across his face. “Good! Go on then, keep devouring! I’ll even help you along, feed you faster, let’s see if you choke on it! Let’s see if you can swallow it all! Do you really think you’re holding the Seal of the Ten Kings of the Underworld themselves?”

The old farmer let out a cold, mocking laugh.

1. In Chinese culture and religion, Yanluo Wang is the god of death and the ruler of Diyu, overseeing the "Ten Kings of Hell" in its capital of Youdu. The name is a transcription of the Sanskrit for "King Yama". He is also known by the shortened form of the name: Yán Wáng. ☜