Chapter 964: Viewing Mound Heaven Locking Array

He was no match for the Six Generals and the Nine Ministers of the North Duke Office as a matter of course, but he was no weakling either. He also knew an earth traveling spell that allowed him to travel through earth freely. While the elites of the North Duke Office were massacring his fellow warriors, he had immediately gone underground and hidden himself. That was how he managed to avoid being killed.

Of course, just because he escaped death once did not mean that he was safe. He could not rest easy until he had escaped Lu Tai Yuan.

The problem was that Lu Tai Yuan’s underground was made completely of ice. Not only did its solidity greatly slowed down his travel speed, he didn’t dare to push himself for fear of being detected by the North Duke Office elites. So, he traveled very, very slowly.

After several days of hard work, he finally reached the edge of Lu Tai Yuan. Just a little more, and he would be out of this place.

Unfortunately, when Pan Lin was less than a meter away from the edge, a red light suddenly seeped through from above and blocked his path.

The red light looked as thin and frail as a cicada’s wing. It looked like one finger was all he needed to push through it. In reality, nothing he tried was able to pierce through the red light.

In the end, Pan Lin gritted his teeth and decided to go all out. But right before he could launch his greatest attack, a red beam descended from above and pierced through his torso. The next moment, his body melted into a pool of flesh and blood, and his mind was extinguished.

......

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

“What do you think the North Duke Office is planning, old ghost? Why do you think they’re massacring us?”

Inside a pitch black crevice, a ball of wriggling shadow took the form of a face and asked in a dark voice.

“I don’t know.”

A yin wind blew, and an ancient voice mixed with what sounded like a million ghastly wails replied, “It has to be something massive though. They are clearing out the entire Lu Tai Yuan after all. Who knows, this could be an opportunity for you and I, keke.”

“The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind?” The face asked.

“Keke... exactly.” A strange cackle came from the yin wind.

But the face said worriedly, “The North Duke Office is not to be trifled with, old ghost. You should not be impulsive!”

“There’s nothing to be scared of. Another person might have good reason to fear the North Duke Office, but I am the Old Wind Ghost!”

Old Wind Ghost harrumphed. “I have reached the adept level of my ‘Yin Wind Ghost Devouring Great Art’ and become incorporeal. I can transform into whatever I want. Forget the Six Generals or Nine Ministers, not even the North Duke himself can touch me!”

The face paid him a compliment. “That’s true. There are only a handful of Truemen who can kill you at your current—”

Before he could finish though, a red beam descended from above and pierced Old Wind Ghost.

Old Wind Ghost was swiftly dyed red, and the ghosts inside him began melting soundlessly like an ice cube being thrown under the hot sun. In the end, even the yin wind itself scattered and disappeared into nothing.

Old Wind Ghost was dead.

“Tr... True death!”

The face’s eyes widened in shock and horror. Then, he scattered into countless formless wisps and scattered in every direction.

It was useless. More red beams descended from above, and they each nailed a shadow with unerring accuracy. No matter how hard the shadows struggled and screamed, they did not relent. Eventually, the shadows all evaporated into ash.

Pan Lin, Old Wind Ghost and the poor face who wasn’t even named weren’t the only ones who experienced death. A woman hiding in the clouds were pierced by a red beam, an old granny who transformed into a block of ice was wrapped by a sheen of red light, a child who had transformed into a bird was disintegrated into atoms by a red beam...

Similar deaths were occurring everywhere on Lu Tai Yuan at nearly the same time.

......

“Forgive us, my lord! Our failure to purge Lu Tai Yuan has nearly ruined your grand plan! We deserve a million deaths for this failure!”

In front of the Kṣitigarbha Stupa, Lu Daoweng immediately begged for forgiveness when he saw the North Duke controlling the North Duke Seal and killing countless warriors who were in hiding.

“It’s not your fault. These rats are just too good at hiding.”

The North Duke replied indifferently, “Unfortunately for them, rats are just rats. In the end, killing them is but a matter of trying.”

“A wise saying, my lord.” Lu Daoweng paid him a compliment. “With the Viewing Mound Heaven Locking Array, your grand plan will surely succeed without a hitch.”

The Viewing Mound Heaven Locking Array was the bloody cover covering the entire Lu Tai Yuan. It was created from the earthly qi of four cardinal directions using the viewing mounds as the bases and the North Duke Seal as the core.

The Viewing Mound Heaven Locking Array could isolate an entire area and seal off the surrounding space. Those outside would find it difficult to look or pass through the barrier, and the array deployer could channel the energies of the land through the North Duke Seal to spy on and suppress everything. So long as the viewing mounds weren’t damaged, and the earthly qi did not run out, the array would always be functional.

Legend has it that the array was invented by the renowned emperor of the Northern Sea Empire called Bei Tangsha over nine hundred years ago. The Strangers of the four seas were invading at the time, so Bei Tangsha massacred over a million Strangers, built Viewing Mounds that stretched over thousands of meters in height using their corpses, and created a Viewing Mound Heaven Locking Array that encompassed over tens of thousands of kilometers of land.

Thanks to his efforts, the Northern Sea Empire was able to resist the Stranger invasion for years before the Dragon Sovereign finally deigned to destroy it in person. That was how potent the array was.

Obviously, the Viewing Mound Heaven Locking Array currently in effect was absolutely incomparable to the one created by Bei Tangsha nine hundred years ago. Even so, its potency could not be underestimated.

The potency of the Viewing Mound Heaven Locking Array was directly related to the power of the North Duke Seal and the size of the Viewing Mounds. In fact, the Viewing Mounds were of the utmost importance.

The world wasn’t at war, and deploying the Viewing Mound Heaven Locking Array required many, many corpses. Luckily for the North Duke Office, the Ghost Liberation Festival was held every eighth of August, and countless

jianghu

warriors came from every corner of the world to practice their arts. So, this was no longer a problem.

The reason they set up the Viewing Mound Heaven Locking Array was very simple. It was to eliminate all disruptive factors and ensure that absolutely nothing could stop the North Duke when he was retrieving the Ten Directions Stupa.

As for whether the massacre was going to garner the vengeance of their victims’ backers, the North Duke Office believed that it wasn’t a big issue. After all, most, if not all of the warriors participating in the Ghost Liberation Festival were wanderers with little to no background. If they died, they died. None of these people would dare to take revenge against the North Duke Office.

On the off chance that some of these people did possess powerful backers, the North Duke would become much more powerful after he retrieved the Ten Directions Stupa; powerful enough that even the strongest powers would think twice before challenging the North Duke Office.

That was why they dared to go so far.

The North Duke instructed, “Although the Viewing Mound Heaven Locking Array is keeping the disruptive factors to a minimum, and although it looks like we are definitely going to retrieve the Ten Directions Stupa, do not let down your guard until the deed is done, understand?”

“As you command, my lord!” Lu Daoweng and the rest of his men answered obediently.

Time passed slowly. When the sun fell behind the sea, and the moon replaced it, a thin layer of dark light suddenly rippled out of the Kṣitigarbha Stupa.

Everything that was touched by the dark light suddenly became much colder than before. The yin wind was blowing a lot stronger than before as well.

“It has begun!”

The North Duke who had been resting and recuperating immediately opened his eyes and stared at the Kṣitigarbha Stupa.

The evil, vile ghosts on the mural began to come alive.

Some began pulling out their tongue and howling like crazy.

Some ripped off their own heads and bled a trail of blood.

Some were boiling inside pots of oil until all that was left of them was bones.

Some were rolling down mountains of knives until they were barely more than flesh sticking to bones.

Some were jumping out of a sea of fire and scorched black.

......

The next moment, the ghosts all rushed out of the mural and spread across the entire Lu Tai Yuan. It was like hell had descended upon the earth.