Chapter 379

Mountain God and Land, where are you!

Mu Yi's voice was not loud, yet it spread throughout Qingzhou.

The violent sound wave instantly tore apart the dark clouds looming over Qingzhou.

The loud and huge voice echoed across this already uninhabited blank land; wherever it passed, birds and beasts flew up together, and terrestrial beasts were terrified.

Such an unabashed voice naturally drew the attention of the myriad evil spirits of Liangshan.

Gazes of malice directly crossed the vast distance and fell upon Mu Yi.

Even in that brief moment, Mu Yi already felt that several attacks had shot forth along those gazes.

This is also why Mu Yi had Lily leave early; the commotion from releasing the Comet Technique could not be hidden from people like Wu Yong and Gong Sun Sheng, and the swiftly arriving ghostly tricks might endanger Lily's life.

But these sneaky ghostly tricks are utterly useless against him.

Even if he were utterly inept, he is still a proper deity of the Heavenly Court and the Underworld, protected by Jiuzhou; if those trashy tricks of the evil spirits could work on Mu Yi, then truly one should send a hundred thousand heavenly troops to see what's going on.

Unless those Liangshan evil spirits can produce divine abilities like the Blood‑Transforming Divine Blade or the Seven‑Arrow Nail‑Head Manual, then it's as if he never spoke.

Ignoring the black hands of those Liangshan evil spirits, Mu Yi looked toward the white‑haired old man who had appeared before him.

"Qingzhou Land, I have greeted the exalted one; I do not know what commands the exalted one has!" The Qingzhou Land bowed respectfully.

"Hand over control of Qingzhou's earth veins to me!"

Mu Yi expressionlessly demanded control; only thus could he turn Qingzhou into a completely icy, snowy environment.

Moreover, with control of Qingzhou's earth veins, he could better sabotage some of Liangshan's arrangements.

"Exalted one, this is against the rules!" Upon hearing this, the Qingzhou Land's face changed dramatically; the earth‑vein power is his lifeblood.

"Rules? As the Qingzhou Land, you do not think to protect the people, you sit idly by while Liangshan's evil spirits ravage Qingzhou's living beings—what rules are you upholding?"

"The heavenly mandate has decreed a great calamity; we, having received the mandate, dare not intervene—please, exalted one, understand!" The Qingzhou Land explained anxiously.

"You don't know that the heavenly mandate can change? It's merely that you fear trouble from Liangshan's evil spirits, unwilling to risk saving Qingzhou's people, using the mandate as an excuse to sit by and do nothing!"

"Hmph, if there were not indeed an order, I would now cut you down as well!"

"Hand over control of the earth veins, or else wait for the Thunder Division to come apprehend you!"

The Qingzhou Land's face turned pale; he truly fears the many evil spirits of Liangshan, and even if they had seized the earth veins near Liangshan, he would not dare to take them back, shrinking to his own tiny plot of land, awaiting the Heavenly Court and Underworld to send someone to clean up the mess.

But he did not expect that the exalted one who arrived would be so hot‑tempered; thus he dared not say more and simply handed over all authority.

Mu Yi gave a cold snort, paid no further heed to the Qingzhou Land, and transferred control of the earth veins to be overseen by the first day.

Having fallen outside the marsh of Liangshan, he unleashed his aura without any concealment, provoking Liangshan.

"Bold!"

A fierce shout rang out; a sinister stream of fire shot instantly from the beam, blasting straight at Mu Yi.

Seeing Qin Ming act first, the others had no choice but to relent; fighting over a toy with Qin Ming would hardly be worth it.

The great Asura dharma‑image waved its weapon, repelling the flow of fire; its own form was nearly half‑destroyed, and after just one glance it was clear the opponent far surpassed Mibie.

"I thought he was someone important, but it turns out he can't even break through the realm!"

The flowing fire fell to the ground, revealing his form: a body covered in oily green flames, hair disheveled, exuding an indescribable evil aura.

"Are you the Thunderclap Fire Qin Ming?"

Looking at this sinister, ghost‑qi‑filled burly man before him, Mu Yi speculated.

"Hehehe, I suppose I really am called that!" Qin Ming stared at Mu Yi, licking his lips as if he had spotted a prime prey.

"You shouldn't have come out to seek death!"

Mu Yi nodded, confirming that the figure before him was not a dharma‑image but the actual entity; without hesitation he directly activated the formation.

The formation inscribed beneath the entire land of Qingzhou suddenly burst forth with magical light, and the temperature between heaven and earth plummeted.

Icy blasts, bitter winds bearing white mist swept across the front.

Merely being an enlarged version of the Legendary Technique could not achieve this degree, but at present it is already the end of October.

Mu Yi, via the True Spirit Industry Point Array, begged this realm's winter‑governing deity Xuanming to send heavy snow, and also sent Ao Mo to request the Dragon King of the waters near Qingzhou to bring rain and add moisture.

Although an exalted but vacant divine rank indeed brings many troubles beyond one's own strength, it also means Mu Yi can use the rules to accomplish many things his own power cannot.

After a series of operations, the heavenly timing perfectly stood on Mu Yi's side.

The surrounding temperature, originally dropped to minus forty degrees, plummeted at a speed incomprehensible to ordinary people—minus fifty, minus sixty, minus seventy, minus eighty…

Goose‑feather heavy snow fell from the sky; in just a few breaths, all of Qingzhou had become a world of ice and snow.

However Liangshan was the exception; the area around Liangshan likewise glowed with a strange halo, keeping the ice and snow at bay.

Yet although Liangshan escaped calamity, the recklessly rushing out Qin Ming met a grim fate.

The instant Mu Yi activated the formation, the Reincarnation Barrier was fully opened; at the moment the cloud energy surged forth, Qin Ming's strength plummeted, and then he was engulfed by the icy cold of the snow.

Only when he was frozen into an ice sculpture did he realize he had underestimated the enemy and should not have rashly charged out.

The seemingly insignificant ant before him was actually as troublesome as that bull‑nosed fellow who had been causing them trouble all this time.

At the very last moment before his consciousness froze, Qin Ming widened his eyes and recalled that he had seen Mu Yi when escaping from the Ghost Gate.

"Really didn't expect it to go this smoothly… could this also be the effect of fortune?" Mu Yi calmly swung his blade, shattering the ice‑sculpted Thunderclap Fire Qin Ming; Qin Ming's soul turned into a stream of light that shot toward Liangshan.

Before it could even fly out, it slammed head‑first into the Reincarnation Barrier.

Several chains from the Ghost Gate reached out and wrapped around Qin Ming's soul.

"No, I don't want to go back, I don't want to be suppressed by the Ghost Gate!" Qin Ming wailed in struggle, and there was actually a faint intention to break free of the bonds.

"Reborn into this life, it was a slender chance at survival, yet you do not repent, you have committed heinous crimes, and even now you do not know your guilt—truly unforgivable!"

Mu Yi bellowed, turning the revolving true intent in his hand into a seal‑like pattern and hurling it forth; the karmic guilt on the evil spirit's body manifested at that moment as a mountain peak, directly smashing the struggling evil spirit's soul into the Hell Path.

"Ah! It hurts! It hurts! It's killing me!"

"I was wrong, I was wrong, exalted one, please give me another chance!"

"Ah! Exalted one, please, let me go!"

The endless nether fire seared the evil spirits, yet they were pressed beneath Sin Mountain, unable to move, and could only howl in repentance.

"What luck!"

Mu Yi stared expressionlessly toward Liangshan, having fished out and killed a Qin Ming with his meager strength; the so‑called 108 destiny numbers collapsed without a fight, and the difficulty was reduced by more than one tier.

Pretending to be a pig while devouring the tiger, indeed, never fails.

"All troops, obey! Flatten Liangshan!"

"Yes!"

The 150,000‑strong army, commanded with mortal troops as its core, marched with firm steps toward Liangshan.

The army's advance was not swift; it began slightly chaotic, then gradually became uniformly orderly, pushing forward with a solemn momentum.

During this slow march, the army's momentum grew ever stronger, and the Cloud Energy above its heads grew denser.

By the time the people of Liangshan could see the army from the horizon, its momentum resembled a continuously rising mountain, bearing down on them.

"Damn, I didn't expect the Underworld's envoy to be a war‑campaigning immortal!" Wu Yong's face turned sour.

"Now Qin Ming is dead, the once unified Tiangang and Disha formation has a flaw; what do we do now?"

"Qin Ming's vacancy can be filled by other means, though the effect will inevitably be weaker..." Zhu Wu, the divine strategist, said with a frown.

"I'll assume Qin Ming's vacancy; you go gather everyone and tell those who don't want to die to keep quiet for me!"

As the lord of Liangshan, Song Jiang now radiated fierce light.

Protected by a great atmospheric luck and being one of the strongest evil spirits, he could still barely hold the throne of Liangshan.

But precisely because they were all suppressed evil spirits in the Underworld, without the original Tiangang and Disha restraints, other spirits outwardly obeyed yet secretly defied him; Qin Ming ignoring his orders and charging out of Liangshan is a prime example.

"Fine!" Wu Yong glanced at the fierce‑eyed Song Jiang; though a bit displeased by Song Jiang's command style, he said nothing with the great enemy looming.

These evil spirits had little interaction among themselves.

If there is a sole commonality, it's that they were all imprisoned beneath the Ghost Gate.

However, a few of them were relatively clever, knowing the Heavenly Court and Underworld would not relent; to survive, they had to unite, maximize their combat power, and avoid being picked off one by one.

Fortunately, their reincarnated destined bodies possessed the Tiangang and Disha formation, allowing them to unleash even greater strength.

Thus they naturally gathered daily, leading others as a small group.

The method of ruling subordinates originally required both kindness and force, but the problem is that missing any individual would cause a flaw in the formation; even the 'spare the mouse' tactic can only increase benevolence.

They simultaneously used a killing method to seize the Qi of all living beings in Qingzhou, feeding Liangshan's evil spirits to speed up cultivation, and shared the spells they mastered.

Especially after the third‑generation disciples of Yuxu Palace arrived, they were powerless against them.

This sense of security also gave Song Jiang and his group a vague feeling of being leaders.

Inside the Hall of Unity, the 108 evil spirits each took a seat; a glaring vacancy stood out among them.

"Qin Ming is dead; the one outside is probably also here to hunt our Yin spirit. If you don't want to be captured and taken back, you'd better cooperate!"

Song Jiang scanned the crowd and slowly began to speak.

The evil spirits were somewhat silent; with Qin Ming gone they felt like a fox mourning a dead rabbit. Though Qin Ming had no ties with them, they were all grasshoppers on the same rope—if they didn't want to die, they had to stick together.

A snake without a head cannot function, so everyone tacitly accepted Song Jiang as provisional leader.

Song Jiang and the others had indeed helped them through previous crises; now they all turned their gaze toward Song Jiang and his companions.

Just as they were before awakening their innate wisdom.

"The army outside is strange; they seem to resonate with the ice and snow of heaven and earth! Should we send some low‑rank soldiers to scout?" Zhu Wu said tentatively.

Mu Yi's forces were not advancing quickly; while they kept watch, they gathered here to discuss tactics.

"Who to send?" Song Jiang said succinctly.

"Just send those low‑rank soldiers under you; sacrificing them is better than sacrificing us!" Wu Yong said expressionlessly.

"Then send them!"

The others raised no objection; the half‑human, half‑ghost low‑rank soldiers were already brutal, and these evil spirits were even more ruthless and indifferent to life.

Even though they knew sending the low‑rank soldiers was a death sentence, they still made the decision lightly.

Immediately, five thousand low‑rank soldiers surged out from Liangshan toward the army.

Being half‑human, half‑ghost, they were already maddened, with no reason left; obeying the leaders' orders, they audaciously charged the 150,000‑strong army with five thousand.

Extreme cold surged forward; all the charging low‑rank soldiers made no impact and fell directly under the feet of the front‑line soldiers.

Most low‑rank soldiers couldn't even swing their weapons at the soldiers; bearing sub‑zero temperatures of over minus 100 °C as they rushed the army, they had already exhausted much of their strength.

In the end they were still flesh and blood; even with some monster traits, they could not escape being harmed by physical means.

When they reached the front, they froze in the wind and snow without the soldiers needing to act.

Even the slightly stronger ones caused no stir.

The ice‑afflicted soldier, resonating with the extreme cold, raised his hand and twisted the falling snowflakes; the ordinary, fragile snow now displayed a power on par with a blade.

The howling snow swept by, and the relatively stronger low‑rank soldiers also fell before the army.

The five thousand low‑rank soldiers vanished like mud‑filled oxen into the sea, drifting away between heaven and earth.

Powerful, ultimate power, so powerful that all the evil spirits on Liangshan felt awe.

It was a strength not inferior at all to that of the Yuxu disciples, even surpassing it in their perception.

The army's Cloud Energy exerts strong suppression on individuals; to break it, the best method is for an army to defeat an army, but under such harsh conditions, victory is impossible.

Originally, to guard against being targeted by an army, they had specially modified these low‑rank soldiers, giving them several times the strength of ordinary troops; yet against such a terrifying celestial disaster army, these soldiers were so frail they seemed unable to withstand a single blow.