Kun River's surface rippled as Min River Granny shuttled beneath the waves, swimming at breakneck speed. Her massive body even caused the river to bulge upward by over ten feet!
Her speed had reached its absolute limit, but behind her, beams of spells ca hurtling in pursuit, several tis faster than she was!
Fei Tianzheng and the others were determined to silence everyone. Their first target was Min River Granny—Red Mountain Lady—this so-called "godmother."
Next, they would wipe out every mber of the Canal Elders Society and Red Mountain Hall, leaving Gongzhou in perfect peace. Then they could rest easy.
As experts of the God Descent and Refining Void Realms, their divine abilities were vast. A single spell could strike from a hundred li away with terrifying power. Eradicating a being like Min River Granny was as simple as a flick of the sleeve.
Chen Shi stood atop Min River Granny's head and glanced back, only to see blazing flas
blocking his entire view—nothing but an endless sea of fire bearing down on them.
Beneath those flas, the river's surface began to evaporate at a furious pace.
Strangely, the water didn't boil; it simply vaporized.
A thought flashed through his mind: *I'm on the brink of life and death, yet here I am dwelling on such nonsense.*
This wall of fire obscuring Chen Shi's vision was rely Vice Commander Jiang Shouqing's spell—one of the Qionglou Three Transformations: the Zhurong Transformation, manifesting as a re corner of the god-demon Zhurong's robe.
The true spell was enormous; from Chen Shi's vantage, he couldn't even glimpse its full form.
Following the Zhurong Transformation were more than a dozen other spells, each as powerful as it—if not more so!
But the Zhurong Transformation was the fastest, arriving first right behind Min River Granny.
Just as it seed poised to engulf them, Doggy suddenly barked furiously ahead. Chen Shi hurriedly looked forward and saw Granny Sha standing on the river surface ahead,
holding a bamboo basket in her hand.
Chen Shi rembered that basket well. Granny Sha raised chickens at ho, and whenever they laid eggs, she'd put them in the basket.
Once it was full, the little old lady would sling it over her shoulder and head to the market in nearby Bridge Bay Town to sell the eggs.
A basket of eggs could fetch dozens of coppers.
It was one of her few sources of inco beyond soul-summoning.
Chen Shi knew all this so intimately because he'd once lived at Granny Sha's house, eating until she could barely keep the pot boiling—of course, that ant plenty of her eggs too. She'd even co to see him as a debt-collecting "spawn of misfortune."
From afar, the little old lady hurled the bamboo basket into the air, chanting under her breath as it spun toward them, growing larger and larger. Soon it overtook Chen Shi, Min River Granny, and the others, flying straight into the onslaught of spells from Gongzhou's heavyweights!
*Whoooosh.*
One spell after another was sucked into the basket, making it swell and shrink erratically. Once the final spell dropped in, the basket spun wildly, shrinking smaller and smaller until it returned to Granny Sha's elbow crook.
"
Dear sirs, you're all so heated—must be from burning the midnight oil, no? Could you give this old woman a bit of face?"
Granny Sha eyed the approaching Fei Tianzheng and company. She gave her bamboo basket a gentle swirl in the river water, and suddenly the waters surged skyward, forming the eight trigrams in midair: Qian, Kun, Zhen, Kan, Li, Gen, and Dui.
The trigrams varied in length but were all imnse, slowly rotating as they unfurled across the river surface.
Fei Tianzheng and the others charged forward, only for the trigrams ahead to shift abruptly.
Fei Tianzheng passed through the Kan trigram. No sooner had he crossed than floods surged from all sides, crashing down like the weight of heaven and earth.
He threw up a hand to block the deluge, grunting as he did. The floodwaters were heavier than mountains and rivers—even with his power, he couldn't stand against them!
Fei Tianzheng simply stopped resisting. His fleshly body plunged through the torrent while his true qi ford a massive bubble. The raging waters promptly swallowed him whole.
He charged through the rapids, but the flood was endless, disorienting him with no sense of up, down, left, or right.
Xia Chuli entered the Xun trigram, where black winds assailed him like space sprouting coarse black hairs. They nearly lted his flesh and bones away. He hurriedly summoned his yuanshen, but man and soul alike tumbled head over heels, unable to steady himself.
Yan Jiuling entered the Zhen trigram. No sooner had he stepped in than heaven and earth warped—bolts of thunder rained down from the sky without end.
He endured a few strikes, nearly toppling over in the process. Shocked, he snatched up a Ten Thousand Souls Banner and sacrificed it!
The banner stood one man's height, with a short pole and a triangular flag face dangling six white silk ribbons below.
Atop the banner were ox horns, symbolizing the underworld's ox-headed monster Tubo. The fabric bore intricate patterns: a winding Nine-Curve Yellow Springs embroidered snaking downward, with a Hall of Yan at every bend—
representing the Ten Kings of Hell.
The Tenth Hall lay at the very bottom of the Yellow Springs.
As the banner shook, countless massive skulls materialized behind it—each about five feet across, drenched in blood, empowered by seething resentnt qi.
Yan Jiuling swung the Ten Thousand Souls Banner with all his might. A horde of bloody skulls surged forward in its wake, spewing beams of ghostly netherfire that burned straight through the Zhen trigram.
A cold laugh rang out as Fei Tianzheng likewise brandished a Ten Thousand Souls Banner, blasting out of the Kan trigram. He sneered, "Our lives and fortunes—what 'face' is there to speak of?"
On the other side, Xia Chuli sacrificed his own Ten Thousand Souls Banner to escape the Xun trigram. Inspector Zhang did the sa to break free from the Qian trigram.
The four swung their banners in unison, shattering Granny Sha's Eight Trigrams Array. The forms of Zhang, Xu, Jiang, Zhai, and the other officials materialized.
Granny Sha's heart sank. Though their individual cultivations fell short of hers, their numbers were overwhelming—and those four Ten Thousand Souls Banners were no trifling matter.
Gongzhou had been sorely neglected in recent years, leaving countless dead and resentnt thick in the air. Many souls never made it to the underworld, harvested directly into the banners instead.
The vicious ghosts within grew ever more nurous, devouring one another until the banners' power swelled trendously. With the officials refining them day and night, they'd reached the level of superior spirit treasures—though still far inferior to the Ram's Horn Heavenly Spirit Lamp, of course.
"ddling old hag! Yang, you lot go on ahead—we'll handle her!"
At Fei Tianzheng's command, Commandant Yang Gui, Education Commissioner Xu Ming, and the others shot past Granny Sha, lunging toward Chen Shi and company in the distance.
Granny Sha tried to intercept them, but as she shifted, the banners rose. Four Ten Thousand Souls Banners floated in the air, their yin soul power unmatched!
Granny Sha flew into a rage:
"This old woman cultivates souls herself—wielding Ten Thousand Souls Banners before
is like brandishing an axe before Lu Ban!"
She let out a fierce shout, her yuanshen flying forth to beco an empress. She stomped the water's surface hard, and countless corpses drowned in the river rose from the depths—piles of white bones forming a bone altar on the surface.
A path of bluestone spread out, transforming the river and linking to the underworld.
In the underworld, this great river beca a segnt of the River of Forgetfulness. The waters before Granny Sha belonged to the underworld; those behind, to the mortal world.
One foot in yin, one in yang—she borrowed the underworld's power, her strength exploding!
She rarely set foot in the underworld, for she had far too many enemies. Tampering with life and death had long offended countless yin constables and underworld deities; they hungered for her. The mont she crossed over, they'd co hunting.
But now, fearing for Chen Shi's safety, she cast caution aside.
Fei Tianzheng, Xia Chuli, and the others were dragged into the underworld, their faces twisting in horror. The four n's flesh vanished in an instant, leaving only skeletons.
"We've been pulled into the underworld by the old hag!"
Panic gripped them, yet they still urged their Ten Thousand Souls Banners. Suddenly, Granny Sha reached out and tore away the banners' countless bloody skull energies.
Her yuanshen resembled an empress of the underworld—the banners couldn't withstand her!
At that mont, beams of lantern light swept across the Min River surface toward them. Nearby yin constables had sensed their old foe tread the underworld once more and were rushing over.
Granny Sha shattered the four banners' assault. Her basket flew out to smash Fei Tianzheng; her foot slamd into Xia Chuli's chest. A flick of her finger planted a blooming fire lotus on Inspector Zhang's heart. She spun half around, and the Ram's Horn Heavenly Spirit Lamp appeared in her grasp.
The little figure astride the ram's back opened its eyes. Flas erupted from its crown, unleashing a beam of ghostly lantern light that *whooshed* onto Yan Jiuling.
His yuanshen was struck, bursting from his body and hurtling backward—in an instant, blasted hundreds of li away!
Granny Sha retracted her right foot. The bluestone path rattled back, and the underworld's River of Forgetfulness—along with its approaching constable boats—vanished entirely.
The little old lady held her lamp in one hand and basket in the other, leaping skyward and vanishing into the distance.
Fei Tianzheng and the other three were abandoned atop the underworld's River of Forgetfulness, utterly appalled. They longed to pursue Granny Sha but had no ans to do so.
Yan Jiuling hastily recalled his yuanshen, which streaked back toward them.
But the underworld's yin winds battered it, sending chills through. In monts, a full ten percent of his yuanshen cultivation was shaved away.
"
We're trapped in the underworld!"
Fei Tianzheng's face darkened as he growled.
Before the words had fully left his mouth, a wave of yin qi washed over them. An eerie, sinister voice intoned:
"Your mortal lifespans aren't exhausted—why barge in here? Begone!"
The yin qi slamd into them, sending the four tumbling backward. They couldn't resist in the slightest.
When they finally steadied themselves, they found brilliant light all around—not a trace of the underworld. They were back in the mortal realm!
Flesh restored to their bodies, they steadied their shaken souls and hurriedly gave chase in the direction Chen Shi and the others had fled.
At that mont, the four sensed a lantern beam piercing the gloom to shine upon their souls, illuminating their three hun and seven po crystal clear.
"Still half a shichen left."
The sinister voice echoed above the River of Forgetfulness in the underworld. "I'll co fetch you then."
Min River Granny bore Chen Shi onward in a mad dash, plunging into Gongzhou City. Behind them, Commandant Yang Gui, Education Commissioner Xu Ming, and nine other officials pursued with murderous montum, charging into the city after them. Suddenly, a flesh-pink giant rabbit bounded like lightning toward the riverbank, intent on rescuing Chen Shi and the rest.
Guard Eunuch Cen Xuefu spotted it and shot into the air, intercepting the burly rabbit midway.
His cultivation mighty, he swatted the rabbit from the sky with a single blow.
They crashed to earth, re dozens of paces from the Min River. Cen blocked the rabbit's path to the water, hissing through gritted teeth:
"Yu Tiancheng—halt!"
The burly rabbit skidded to a stop, wary and astonished. "Lord Cen knows ?"
"
Even reduced to ash, this household would recognize you!"
Cen Xuefu yanked him aside and whispered urgently, "The lords are clearing the field now—earning fa for battling the demonic shift.
You and Red Mountain Hall are stains on their record; they must eradicate you. This household offers you a chance at life—flee at once! Go as far as you can and never return to Gongzhou!"
The burly rabbit was none other than Yu Tiancheng. He shook his head. "Thanks, Lord Cen, but I can't go! I have to take my brothers with ! And Red Mountain Lady too!"
Cen Xuefu kicked him sprawling, snarling, "You bastard—this isn't the ti for brotherhood! Don't let
see you again, or this household won't spare you for old ties—we'll strike you down without rcy!"
Cursing under his breath, he took to the air once more, gnashing his teeth. "If I don't swim with their current, I'll die too! Don't follow!"
Yu Tiancheng rolled to his feet, burst from the ruins, and chased after them with all his might.
Just as Commandant Yang and the others closed in on Min River Granny, Qingyang charged from the flank, slamming into Ma Weigong and sending Lord Ma tumbling into the houses on the opposite riverbank amid clouds of dust and shattered bricks.
Qingyang reared up on hind legs, his form a whirlwind as claws lashed at Cui Yongzhi, Gu Ping'an, and the rest. They bellowed,
"Take down this sheep together!"
Qingyang fought with abandon. His pair of long horns detached from his head, whirling like twin curved blades to hack relentlessly at the nine!
On the other flank, the bearded giant strode across the river surface. Nine heavenly fox tails materialized in the void behind him, swaying slightly to sever the Min River fore and aft, carving a heavenly chasm that shielded Min River Granny, Red Mountain Lady, and the others.
Granny Sha arrived at that mont too, exhaling in relief. She chuckled, "Just in ti!"
Her words had barely fallen when she spotted sothing behind the bearded giant and cried out in alarm, "Where are Little Liang and Little Ten?"
The bearded giant laughed. "They're right there on the black carp dragon's back..."
He turned to look—and horror dawned. Atop Min River Granny's back were only Red Mountain Lady, Blackie Pot, and Li Tianqing. Chen Shi was nowhere to be seen!
Cold sweat beaded on the bearded giant's brow. "He was definitely just there!"
In the blink of an eye, Chen Shi had vanished!
Granny Sha stomped hard, pinched a sword finger, and thrust it forth with a shout:
"Soul Chase!"
A streak of green smoke shot skyward like an arrow, tracking Chen Shi's soul!
Granny Sha flew after the smoke trail, calling, "Qingyang, hold them off! Little Liang, with ! Whoever can snatch soone right under your nose and fool you is beyond even !"
Qingyang laughed. "Leave it to —you can count on it!"
Before the words finished, Fei Tianzheng and his three companions arrived with their four Ten Thousand Souls Banners.
Qingyang's heart skipped.
"That old lady just handed
a suicide mission..."
He roared, revealing his true form—a colossal sheep the size of a mountain range, lumps of muscle bulging as he reared up. White light blazed from his eyes, golden fire snorted from his nostrils. He stood tall in the river, the waters lapping just past his hooves.
"
Co on! Fight your Qing Grandpa fair and square!"
He charged straight at the thirteen officials.
Granny Sha and Hu Xiaoliang pursued the smoke trail one after the other. It twisted and turned through Gongzhou City, looping seven tis and bending eight—clearly, Chen Shi's kidnapper was dodging and weaving within the city to evade them.
"
Who the hell kidnapped Little Ten?"
Suddenly, sword cries rang out. Shrike and Wasp—the two blades—overtook them. Hu Xiaoliang moved to swat them down, but Granny Sha shook her head. "It's Young Master Xiao—no malice."
The bearded giant Hu Xiaoliang looked and saw Young Master Xiao clad in brocade beneath a purple robe, purple-gold coronet atop his head. He bounded like the wind, following right alongside them.
Young Master Xiao shared a deep history with Chen Shi; seeing him in peril, he'd rushed to the rescue.
Just then, the green smoke ahead halted abruptly—then *poof*, dispersed.
Granny Sha froze in place, rooted to the spot.
Hu Xiaoliang urged her on. "Granny, hurry—chase!"
Terror crept over Granny Sha's face. She murmured, "Dead... Little Ten's dead."
The old beggar fled swiftly through the city with Chen Shi in tow. It was he who'd just struck unseen—his bamboo staff tapping to spirit Chen Shi away. But Granny Sha's reaction was too swift; he hadn't had ti to shake pursuit.
"
Kid scholar, that old lady's chasing so hard—she's locked onto your soul. This old beggar has no wish to get caught."
The old beggar chuckled, then jabbed a finger at Chen Shi's forehead. "So, you'd best just die."
Chen Shi opened his mouth to speak—then his vision went black, and he toppled backward.
The old beggar's power surged, propping Chen Shi upright. "All I want is this Water-Fire Tempering corpse-freed immortal body of yours—not your soul.
Only Chen Yindu gives a damn about his grandson's life. I couldn't care less."
At that mont, the lifeless Chen Shi's eyes snapped open, fixing the old beggar with an uncanny stare.
The old beggar faltered, puzzled. "That finger strike of mine—even a yang god expert versed in the Three Corpses Severing wouldn't survive unscathed, let alone thrive.
Why didn't it kill you?"
He moved to strike again—only for "Chen Shi"
to
burst into laughter.
"Host dead?"
"
Host?"
The old beggar couldn't parse his words.
"Chen Shi"
stretched languidly, excitent gleaming in his eyes.
"
So that ans... this body can no longer hold
back?!"
Suddenly, his neck was already gripped by "Chen Shi."
The old beggar parted his lips to speak—
*Crack!*
His neck snapped, head lolling to the side!
"Every ti I try to erge! That old bastard beats
back! This ti, I dare anyone to—"
"Chen Shi"
roared to the heavens. Demonic qi erupted from his body in a torrent, plunging the sky into instant darkness. In a heartbeat, a hundred-li radius warped into a demonic domain!
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