Chapter 1576: Ghost Ancestor of Mount Mang

“Your petty tricks are useless against me, Jing Run.”

The Chief Libationist didn’t have the leisure to care for the ministers’ thoughts and feelings. His focus was entirely on Emperor Jing Run. “Have some sense and step down from the throne while you still can. That way, I can leave you with some dignity still. Otherwise, I will have to personally rip your crown and robe away from you.”

Emperor Jing Run wore a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “And who will replace me, hmm? Who will become the newer, better, and wiser emperor? You?”

“Tch... you really are no different from the commonfolk, are you? If that is what you were aiming for the throne from the beginning, then you could have just told me. I would have given it to you. You do not need to make up all these excuses.”

“I see that you’re not going to submit.”

The Chief Libationist ignored his words and said coldly, “Very well. I will make you.”

The Chief Libationist reached out to grab Emperor Jing Run.

One palm and five fingers made up a hand, and a hand was only a couple inches wide. These few inches felt like the entire world to Emperor Jing Run, however. He felt as if there was nowhere for him to run; no place for him to hide.

Luckily for him, he wasn’t planning on running or hiding in the first place. He simply stomped his foot and caused a tree to grow out of his shadow.

The tree looked like it was growing slowly, but in reality it was the opposite. It seemed to be distorting time and space.

In just the blink of an eye, it had grown big enough that it would take several people to embrace it fully. It was over ten meters tall with a thick, lush canopy that covered the entire Hall of Supreme harmony.

The tree was cyan in color as if it was forged from bronze. Its branches were bumpy and crooked like countless corpses wrapped around one another. Its massive, fan-like leaves looked like human faces—they literally had eyes, ears, a nose and a mouth—and bronze bells, iron tokens, silver swords, and golden seals were hanging between the leaves and the branches.

Blue thunder rumbled, and a dark wind blew above the bronze tree.

It was only now the Chief Libationist’s palm reached Emperor Jing Run.

It was at this moment every tree leaf on the bronze tree turned around, stood erect, or drooped low so that their faces would look directly at the Chief Libationist. Then, they opened their eyes at the same time.

Each pair of eyes were empty and dark, cold and resentful.

When the ministers in the Hall of Supreme Harmony saw those eyes, they saw a mountain of corpses, a sea of blood, the ghouls of the Yellow Spring and more. They saw whatever great terror they feared in their heart, and they trembled and panicked because of it.

“A heart as solid as stone naturally has a clear spirit...” The Chief Libationist was unmoved, however. A cold humph exited his nostrils, and it became the sound of the wind, the sound of the rain, the sound of reading. They blew the tree leaves right off the branches and withered them.

As the tree leaves withered, the faces opened their mouths and wailed resentfully. They sounded horrific.

The next moment, the withered leaves turned into many brutal-looking ghouls. Some of them had blue faces and long fangs. Some of them were disemboweled. Some of them were covered in yin fire. Some of them were leaking rotten water. And more. There were at least a hundred of them.

Every single one of them boasted a powerful aura. They were at least at the level of a Trueman or a Grandmaster.

“Confucius never talked of strange phenomena, feats of strength, disorder, or spirits!”

The Chief Libationist announced as the ghouls pounced toward him. As if his words were the law, every ghoul disappeared as if they were nothing more but a mirage.

Although the exchange only lasted an instant, that was enough time for Emperor Jing Run to walk up the stairs and sit down on his throne calmly. He half leaned against his seat and looked down on the Chief Libationist from above.

“Bronze Like Tree? The Ghost Ancestor of Mount Mang?” The Chief Libationist did not act immediately. Instead, he slowly and calmly pointed out the identity of the massive bronze tree in front of him.

“Keke... you’re knowledgeable alright, Chief Libationist!” A cackle broke out as human-faced tree leaves grew out of the tree branches once more. When they came together and shook, they formed what looked like a laughing face. “It is I.”

“A demonic heretic of the lowly way of ghosts dares to show his face in this sacred place?” The Chief Libationist uttered coldly.

The Ghost Ancestor of Mount Mang was the supreme leader of the Ghost Gate of Mount Mang. He was a Sage on the Heavenly Champions Ranking.

Legend had it that the Ghost Ancestor of Mount Mang was originally a nameless practitioner of the Dark Ways. That lasted until he happened upon a seed of a Bronze Like Tree.

Back in the day, the old Fengdu had a mountain called the Supreme Mountain, and at the peak of the Supreme Mountain resided a natural divine tree known as the Bronze Like Tree. The Bronze Like Three was ten kilometers wide and one hundred kilometers tall. Seemingly forged from bronze, it boasted a canopy that formed the sky of the underworld and tree roots that spread to every corner of Fengdu. It dominated all ghosts like their slave master, and all creatures of yin submitted to its power. It was on the same level as natural divine trees such as the Radiant Tree, the Fusang, the Jianmu[1] and more.

Later, the Bronze Like Tree was destroyed, and the old Fengdu was annihilated with it. The ghost city of Fengdu today was a piece of the ancient Fengdu, and it was rumored that a Bronze Like Tree resided in it.

To put it in simpler terms, the Bronze Like Tree was the ancient Fengdu’s ultimate treasure and foundation. It possessed the power to suppress all ghosts and command all yin creatures.

After the Ghost Ancestor of Mount Mang obtained the Bronze Like Tree, his cultivation level and strength grew by leaps and bounds. He eventually became a ghost Sage and founded the Ghost Gate of Mount Mang. The people addressed him as the Ghost Ancestor of Mount Mang.

The Ghost Ancestor of Mount Mang was absolutely one of the people who stood at the pinnacle of the martial way, but the Chief Libationist called him a demonic heretic, and denounced his way as lowly.

If the Chief Libationist was anyone else, the Ghost Ancestor of Mount Mang would rip out their mind, refine their soul, and throw them into the Ghost Hell of Mount Mang to suffer an eternity of pain and torture.

But since he was facing the Chief Libationist, he laughed instead of exploding in anger and retribution. “You’re wrong. I am now the Teacher of Chu, and you the traitorous rebel who is coveting the emperor’s throne and intending to start a coup.”

“You, a Teacher? I spit in your face!”

The Chief Libationist let out a cold chuckle before looking at Emperor Jing Run. “You dare collude with such a villain, Jing Run? Your audacity truly knows no bounds!”

Emperor Jing Run said lazily, “Collusion? Not at all. A talented person chooses a patron of integrity, that’s all. The Ghost Ancestor—oh, excuse me, I mean the Teacher approves of my plan and is willing to assist me in inventing the golden age of Chu and recreating the Human Sovereign’s era. I happily agreed.”

“Hahaha! You actually believed the words of a man who isn’t even a human?”

The Chief Libationist sneered. “Since when were you this naive, Jing Run?”

“What should I do then? Listen to you?”

Emperor Jing Run jeered back. “Let you remove me? Let you kill me? Do you seriously think I would do that?”

The Chief Libationist scoffed, “You might as well have killed yourself. You are plotting with a tiger to obtain its hide.”

“You’re half right.” Emperor Jing Run did not grow angry. “I am a dragon though, not a victim or a tiger.”

“Anyway, you should be worrying about me, not yourself, mister!”

“Oh? It sounds like you’re planning to kill me!” The Chief Libationist barked out in laughing disbelief.

“That is exactly right.” Emperor Jing Run bent forward slightly and looked down on the Chief Libationist. “No one can stop my plan. Not you, not anyone.”

As soon as he said this, a square seal appeared in Emperor Jing Run’s hand. It was four inches in radius and surrounded by five dragons. The words, “Mandated by Heaven, eternally blessed with longevity and prosperity” were engraved to its bottom.

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

The seal was none other than the symbol of the monarch of Chu and the Heirloom Seal of the Realm.

1. The World Tree in Chinese mythology. ☜