Chapter 285: Jinmen Great King, Famous for Being a Master

Distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors. Xu Qing's care for his old neighbors can be described as meticulous.

This is not it; not long after the mortuary established the funeral opera troupe, he personally put on opera costumes and went to the Ghost King Mausoleum to sing a signature play for his old neighbor.

The *Linjiang County Annals* also mentioned this—

On a certain day in the Gengyin year, Jia-Shen month, over a hundred people took a boat to the Linjiang pier. Suddenly, two demon Daoists stepped out of the waves, and one of the demon Daoists used black mist in his sleeve to wrap around the guests.

Everyone only felt the Yin wind piercing their bones, and when they opened their eyes, they were already in the netherworld. At that time, there was no sun or moon in the sky, and dry bones were everywhere. Only then did everyone know they had been sold by the demon Daoist into the ghost realm of the underworld.

During this time, a skeleton ghost general claimed to be the Ghost Altar General under the command of the Duo'e Ghost King and scolded the crowd, "This is the blood food for the Great King!"

Then he drove the crowd into the mausoleum tunnel.

The tunnel was as deep as a snake's throat. As the crowd moved, they suddenly heard the sound of war drums!

Everyone looked over and saw a general with four flags on his back, his face painted with black and white oil paint. He was tall and majestic, with a precious sword hanging at his waist, and he jumped out and shouted, "I am the Great King of Jinmen! How dare you evil spirits act so fiercely?"

As soon as the words fell, sword light flew like electricity, and the ghost soldiers touched it and dissipated into black smoke.

The leading ghost general saw this and pounced in anger. The Great King of Jinmen shook his flag, and as the four flags rotated, they wrapped up the wind and sand to block people's eyes.

The crowd could not see, but they heard the tragic howling of ghosts.

After a while, the wind stopped, and the crowd only heard a majestic voice, "Don't be afraid, I am the Great King of Jinmen, and I can protect you and return safely."

Someone bold asked, "Where is this place?"

The King replied, "Not the human world, but the Yin land."

At the end, the King said again, "You were sent here by the demon Daoists of the Celestial Master Mansion. The Celestial Master Mansion is powerful. After you go out, don't mention this, otherwise, it may attract the revenge of the demon people."

Everyone was shocked to hear this. The Celestial Master Mansion was a supporter of the imperial family, but they never thought they would do such things that violated the principles of Heaven.

After the King finished speaking, he said no more, and the crowd still could not see.

During this time, there was a rustling sound, like paper rubbing. When all the strange phenomena disappeared, the crowd opened their eyes and realized they had arrived outside the county government market!

At that time, the night watchman passed through the alley with a clapper, and the crowd asked for the time.

The night watchman replied, "It is the fifth watch."

The crowd looked at each other in silence, as if they hadn't woken up from a dream.

Inside the Yinhe Ancient Road, Xu Qing withdrew the paper doll, and the Ghost King Mausoleum not far away was already in chaos.

The Ghost Altar General who walked out of the stele tomb to trade with the demon Daoists of the Celestial Master Mansion and his subordinate skeleton ghost soldiers had already "evaporated in the underworld."

These ghost generals and ghost soldiers all relied on skeleton corpses, and in Xu Qing's eyes, they were no different from corpses. Even if the ghost general had extraordinary cultivation, he was no match for him.

Looking at the Corpse-Nurturing Pills and Yin Ghost Jade he had obtained from the rites, Xu Qing's eyes flickered.

Corpse-Nurturing Pills can nurture corpses, and Yin Ghost Jade can accelerate the cultivation of non-decaying bones. If there were only ten or twenty of these things, it would be fine, but there were more than one or two thousand ghost generals and ghost soldiers in the Ghost King Mausoleum?

Now, just the patrol ghost soldiers under the Ghost Altar General had earned Xu Qing nearly a hundred pieces of Yin Ghost Jade.

Xu Qing didn't dare to think about how far he could go if his old neighbor helped him cultivate with all his might.

Would all the non-decaying bones be condensed to reach the realm of bone-merging five elements, or even further to the Flying Zombie?

Xu Qing suppressed the restlessness in his heart. Sai Yuxian's voice and smile appeared in his mind, and he instantly became as clear as ice.

Corpse, color, dog, horse—all are poisonous things.

With the mortuary, as the years and months pass, he will still be able to merge bones and circulate, it's just a matter of time. As for the skeletons of the Ghost King Mausoleum...

With his old neighbor taking care of them, he is very relieved.

Xu Qing didn't know if the disappearance of the Ghost Altar General would alarm his old neighbor, so he didn't dare to approach the Ghost King Mausoleum easily in the short term.

Along the periphery of the mausoleum, Xu Qing held a horse whip, rode a five-flower horse, and continued to track the traces of the Five-Shadow Daoist.

When he arrived near the Huyang Tomb, Xu Qing finally saw Zuo Zixiong and his party again.

At this time, Zuo Zixiong led more than sixty people from the Divine Machine Battalion and was on high alert outside the Huyang Tomb.

According to Huang Xiaoliu, Zuo Zixiong brought more than a hundred people from the Divine Machine Battalion into the Yinhe.

Now, only a few days later, half of the troops were missing?

Xu Qing focused his attention and saw that the soldiers in the camp had no military discipline at all; some even wanted to touch the outside of the camp to escape.

"The dog Emperor sent Zuo Zixiong to the Yinhe just to have him bring these soldiers?"

The Yinhe Ancient Road is not like the secular world. The Yin wind here corrodes the bones. If ordinary people come in, their Yang fire will be extinguished and they will die within half a day. Even those with profound martial arts must travel in groups to avoid being taken advantage of by demons and ghosts.

Although the people in front of Xu Qing looked like they had vigorous Yang fire and their martial arts progress was clearly not low, they didn't look like they were from the military; they looked more like martial arts masters caught to make up the numbers...

This is a struggle for the destiny of the Great Yong's future. Why did Emperor Jingxing let Zuo Zixiong bring these people?

Xu Qing had never mixed in the imperial court or military. He didn't know the status of martial artists above internal refining in the army. Which martial artist's monthly salary wasn't higher than being a small soldier in the army?

Further up were the military leaders. These people all had their own affiliations. It was extremely difficult for Zuo Zixiong to mobilize one or two hundred people.

That said, if Emperor Jingxing really gave the order, these things would not be a problem!

But Emperor Jingxing was unwilling to send elite troops to the Yinhe to help.

The Great Yong's troops were already struggling to deal with the Northern Frontier and Southern barbarians. If they divided their troops to the Yinhe, Emperor Jingxing feared that the Northern Xiang army would hit the capital the next day; furthermore, there were many treacherous officials and rebels, and there were always powerful assassins sneaking into the capital to assassinate the king.

The capital's imperial guards, the imperial bodyguards... if these troops that guaranteed the safety of the imperial family were transferred to the Yinhe, who would protect his safety?

As for the destiny of the country, Emperor Jingxing had long been prepared to make trade-offs. He was over seventy years old this year, didn't have many years to live, and didn't have the energy to toss and turn.

As long as the destiny of the Great Yong could last until after he died, then even if the Great Yong perished, it wouldn't be on his watch. Besides, didn't he catch many martial arts masters and experts from the martial arts world to go to the Yinhe?

With these people, the Eight-Banner Marshal of the Yinhe, and the experts of the Celestial Master Mansion, the destiny of the Great Yong should not only be safe, but perhaps even flourish...

Emperor Jingxing had no one to teach him, but he realized the true meaning of the Dream-Making Art himself, and he was immersed in beautiful dreams every day.

Xu Qing used the Paper-Cutting-to-Truth Art to fold a few small paper dolls and sneaked into the military camp. However, when a palm-sized paper doll just approached the center of the camp, it was swallowed alive by a shadow that suddenly appeared.

The Five-Shadow Daoist looked at the shadow that returned to his side, and his eyes narrowed instantly.

Ten miles away, Xu Qing used the perspective of other paper dolls and saw the Five-Shadow Daoist send out three shadows to sweep in different directions outside the military camp.

During this time, two more paper dolls were swallowed. Xu Qing raised his eyebrows. The cultivation of this Five-Shadow Daoist was much deeper than that of Lingyangzi, who had three shadows!

Xu Qing was not in a hurry. The Five-Shadow Daoist promised the Ghost Altar General that he would go to Jinmen again within seven days to catch living blood food.

He could always catch the Five-Shadow Daoist when he was alone.

As for these seven days, just consider it as keeping vigil. ===== CHAPTER 286 =====