Chapter 469

Eliminating the man before them, the Valley Master Sun Qinghua, was not difficult.

Despite the terrifying ghost howls and sorcery he unleashed with every gesture, the true caster was not him, but the environment itself.

If the previous red light coverage was likened to a heart, then this Sun Qinghua was a severely atrophied brain; the collective sealing of the ghosts in the Small Hell was equivalent to draining the blood from this body.

It was not that the entry of Li Zhuiyuan and the others had caused Sun Qinghua to lose control; rather, he had long been plagued by problems, and his demise was already on a countdown, regardless of external stimuli.

Moreover, if they did not act against him prematurely, allowing this "corpse" to awaken, lose control, and go mad in its most complete state, the resulting devastation would be even more terrifying.

After the failure of the first wave, the River had immediately arranged for the second wave to follow. Standing from the River's perspective, when it was certain that this abscess was going to burst, it was advantageous to pierce it early and drain as much pus as possible in advance.

Li Zhuiyuan was pondering a question: would the River acknowledge such a completed result?

It should... acknowledge it.

He had actively dug the irrigation channel to enter this wave.

This meant that when the River pushed this wave, it had not assigned him a role.

And if he were not here, unable to borrow the resources he had traded from the Fengdu Great Emperor to pave the way, it would absolutely not have been easy for the lamp-lighters of this wave to fight their way through layer after layer to reach this point.

Without an absolute core of leadership and a solid foundation of alliance, even elites like them would have suffered idealistically high casualties by the time they reached this point.

This was because that didn't even account for the internal friction generated by backstabbing, underhanded tactics, and eliminating competitors—in fact, this was the traditional craft of the lamp-lighters.

Therefore, the number of people who could finally arrive here would definitely not be large, and they would basically all be severely wounded.

On this basis, they would finally kill Sun Qinghua, prematurely detonating the abscess, and then, amidst the "collapse of heaven and earth," flee rapidly, escaping the Small Hell with nine deaths for every one life, arriving at the safe mountain peaks to rest while looking back at this place.

The turmoil would still begin, but due to their intervention, the magnitude of the turmoil would be greatly reduced.

On the mountain peaks, some would sigh, some would be melancholy, some would have lingering fears, and others would exclaim: We have done our best, we have a clear conscience.

This kind of scene, this kind of atmosphere, this kind of picture, truly fit the aesthetic of the examiner who had consistently set the questions.

Therefore, Xu Mofan saying he would go up and stab him with a spear was correct.

Stabbing him to death would cause a vicious result, but this result was acceptable to the one above, and everyone could report back; the ghosts suppressed midway could also be counted as merit based on their contribution.

This exam paper should be done this way.

Li Zhuiyuan's gaze swept across the crowd.

The current problem was, should he decide to do so?

Because of his sudden intervention and forceful suppression, even though this second wave of lamp-lighters had been lured by him to the Lu Family Manor for a private job, they had eaten the Divine Deer Banquet afterward, so their overall state had not declined but improved.

Following that, they had fought a beautiful annihilation battle on the riverbank against the Yama Kings led by Sun Xi, which not only improved the coordination of the entire group but also paved the way for a smooth takeover.

Right now, everyone was fully staffed and in peak condition.

So, should this bonus question be done or not?

What the Fengdu Great Emperor truly wanted should be this "Small Hell shell," to completely master it, whether it was merged into Fengdu or rebuilt into a branch capital, it would be of great benefit to the Great Emperor.

The Great Emperor certainly hoped he would complete this bonus question to repay the interest.

But Li Zhuiyuan had no deep obsession with this; with the strength of his personal team, wanting to reverse this situation was difficult, and the risk factor was very high.

The Great Emperor should also understand this, after all, the lender was more afraid of the debtor's health failing.

However, if he could mobilize this group of lamp-lighters together, the probability of success would be greatly increased.

So, how could he make them willing to take such huge risks to cooperate with him?

Li Zhuiyuan:

"Everyone, killing Sun Qinghua now will cause the Small Hell to awaken and bring disaster, but for us, the goal of reducing the harm has been achieved, and this wave still counts as completed.

However, I have a method that can prevent the awakening of the Small Hell and prevent the disaster from descending, but it requires everyone to assist me wholeheartedly and bear huge risks for it.

The benefit you can receive is obtaining greater and more merit rewards due to the extremely high completion rate of this wave.

At the same time, the harm to ordinary people will also be reduced to a minimum, and there may not even be any overflow or impact.

And I can obtain more benefits from it than you.

You have all seen it, I want to keep the Small Hell intact, I don't want it to be destroyed.

Now, the choice is yours.

Those who don't want to take the risk can withdraw immediately; those who want to take the risk and gamble, choose to stay.

I can promise you that regardless of whether it succeeds or fails in the end, I will solve Sun Qinghua and acknowledge that this wave has been successfully completed by you."

Li Zhuiyuan chose to be open and honest.

He could not treat others as fools, and this group of people was definitely not foolish.

Xu Mofan was a bit, which was why he had just requested to go up and stab him.

Did the others not know they had been in passive defense during this period?

In fact, many had seen it, especially when Li Zhuiyuan was talking to Wang Lin earlier, he hadn't avoided anyone, and used terms like "heart."

Moreover, Sun Qinghua's bizarre state, as well as the special presentation of the ghost howls and sorcery, were almost half-exposed.

Everyone could feel that this offensive was clearly coming from the surrounding environment.

Therefore, wanting to deceive them again was impossible; it was better to lay everything out on the table.

Xu Mofan paused, then stomped his long spear on the ground and said firmly:

"Then there is no rush to kill him; we shall protect the common people and eliminate the disaster!"

At this moment, Xu Mofan displayed the demeanor that Old Master Xu Fengzhi had once possessed.

Ling Wuxing: "I am a successor of the Dragon King sect; here, I shall not spare my body, nor shall I tarnish the name of the ancestral Dragon King."

Tao Zhuming did not look at Ling Wuxing with a special gaze this time, nor did he think Ling Wuxing was still being servile; although he had seen the dangers of the Jianghu, and even the dirty dealings between the elders in his family, as a young man who grew up listening to the stories of the ancestral Dragon Kings, he did not lack that hot-bloodedness in his heart.

"Dragon King Tao, I will not leave!"

Zhu Yiwen unfolded his folding fan and fanned himself, smiling:

"Every time I think of the scene when we blocked the gate at the Yu family last time, it makes my heart surge; it's truly good to be able to relive it once more!"

Feng Xionglin touched his bald head: "Let's say this first, if I die, you must not forget to bring my corpse back; my Feng family body is full of treasures, it would be a pity not to take it back, hahaha!"

Those who had blocked the gate at the Yu family last time all declared they would stay.

Apart from youthful spirit and righteous principles, there was no lack of the "after the storm comes the calm" experience from last time; the boy had hidden and not appeared last time, but this time he was clearly standing here.

For any dangerous matter, once there was a clear success rate, anyone who didn't gamble was a fool.

The difference in merit between reducing disaster and eliminating disaster was not a small amount; after the Yu family, everyone had eaten their fill.

Mu Qiuying stood her ancient zither in front of her,

and said sincerely:

"The Mu family zither, plays for the Liu family Dragon King!"

Luo Xiaoyu slapped the chessboard, and the black and white pieces collided in mid-air, making a crisp sound:

"This is the youth I wanted!"

Misheng Monk: "My Buddha is merciful, and shall ferry all suffering."

Wang Lin: "Haha, sleeping anywhere is sleeping!"

For any matter, as long as there were enough people taking the lead, the subsequent feedback would generally not be bad.

Originally, everyone could have just taken a passing grade and left, but now seeing so many people wanting to stay and challenge the bonus question, the normal human mentality was: it doesn't matter if we all lose together, but it's terribly uncomfortable if others earn more than me.

At worst, we die together; if the four Dragon King sects and the one Green Dragon Temple weren't afraid of death, what did they have to be stingy about?

Many lamp-lighters expressed their stance one after another, willing to stay.

Zhu Qing leaned her mouth to her brother's ear and asked in a low voice: "Brother, how should we choose?"

Luo Yang: "Sister, are you blind too? Can't you see the situation?"

Zhu Qing: "We siblings stay, to earn great merit!"

"Sister, brother is not mute." Luo Yang shook his body and said loudly, "We siblings are willing to stay, to protect the common people!"

With solid benefits in front, a sufficiently reliable success rate as a guarantee, and the banner of righteousness to hold the line.

The internal thinking of the wolf pack was quickly unified.

Above, Sun Qinghua continued to walk down stumbling and bumping.

Sometimes howling, sometimes waving his hands, like a child throwing a tantrum to drive away flies.

Every action of his would trigger a terrifying offensive, but with previous experience, they were all resolved under Li Zhuiyuan's command.

Moreover, after rounds of coordination, the tacit understanding of the crowd continued to improve.

Li Zhuiyuan began to consciously hand over the formation command to Luo Xiaoyu, the Feng Shui command to Mu Qiuying, the sorcery command to Tao Zhuming... and as for the central coordination, he slowly handed it over to Tan Wenbin.

Tan Wenbin was not Zhao Yi; he could not command every detail, but relying on the talent of spirit beast sound transmission, being an information exchange station was no problem.

The boy was gradually withdrawing himself from this collective.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Continue to endure, he won't be able to go crazy for long; soon this body will reject this shrunken brain, and might even actively excise it."

After Sun Qinghua died for the first time and merged with the Ghost Mother, upon awakening and realizing he had become an evil spirit, having died once, he didn't have the courage to die a second time; afterward, he had been working hard to pursue immortality.

The object he imitated and learned from was the Fengdu Great Emperor.

However, the Great Emperor had already lived himself into a myth, and the structure of the Fengdu Hell was as stable as Mount Tai, yet the Great Emperor was still working hard, suppressing Bodhisattvas, collecting armor, and then placing heavy bets on his closing disciple.

But Sun Qinghua had already reached his limit.

The Small Hell he personally constructed, the body he raised fat, he himself could no longer continue to master, like a binge-eating disorder patient who, while eating, finally swallowed himself.

Thinking of the high-spirited Sun Qinghua who came here to behead the Ghost Mother, and then looking at the present.

How many sighs and laments in the world are because of immortality.

But in this world, there is only one Yin Changsheng.

Finally, Sun Qinghua seemed tired; he supported his knees with both hands, bent over, and began to pant heavily.

The ghost howls triggered by this, although still terrifying, also became intermittent.

The turbidity in his eyes became clearer at this moment.

He looked at this group of people in front of him, this group of people who were generally still very young.

He turned his head and looked at the twelve stone coffins behind him.

Those were the twelve lives he had lived after becoming an evil spirit; he built the hell, led the ghosts, established the inheritance...

His gaze swept back and forth, from left to right, and from right to left.

He was trying hard to find, but he could never find the one he wanted to find, the self that had once truly been young.

Twelve stone coffins, twelve lives, like a dream of floating clouds; it was just that for a long time in the past, he had enjoyed it, had been happy, and had never expected that one day, he would actually regret it.

He looked at the crowd in front of him again, and opened his mouth.

This time, there was no ghost howl roaring down, but from his throat, a truly weak sound was emitted:

"Don't... immortality... don't... immortality..."

Tao Zhuming: "Do you think he truly regrets immortality?"

Ling Wuxing: "Perhaps, he regrets not being able to live forever."

Tao Zhuming: "You say, with so many examples in front, why is it that since ancient times, people pursuing immortality are still endless?"

Ling Wuxing: "Because you are still young."

Sun Qinghua's offensive stopped.

But this was not the end, but the beginning of a new round of storm.

"Gurgle... gurgle... gurgle..."

Dull sounds were emitted from all directions.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

Above, giant rocks fell continuously, smashing toward Sun Qinghua.

This body began to spontaneously excise these redundant parts in order to seek complete release.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Protect him."

Ling Wuxing flew up, swung his thunder whip, and knocked a giant rock away.

Xu Mofan pointed his spear, Lin Shu You swung his golden mace, each repelling the giant rocks.

Runsheng threw two punches in succession, smashing two stones away from their trajectory.

After smashing them, Runsheng looked at his fists with some doubt; the inside of the stone was actually soft, and it hadn't been shattered by his punch, and above each stone, there was a thick stone chain connecting them.

The rest of the people, under Li Zhuiyuan's command, protected Sun Qinghua in the center.

Even with prior anticipation, a sense of absurdity still rose in everyone's hearts at this moment.

The evil spirit that had been suppressing them with fierce momentum just before was now the object they were surrounding and protecting.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Luo Xiaoyu."

Luo Xiaoyu: "Place the pieces!"

The chessboard was spread out again, Luo Xiaoyu sat cross-legged, bit his tongue, sprayed essence blood, and dyed the entire chessboard red.

Immediately, he placed pieces rapidly on this blood-colored chessboard, Zhu Yiwen followed closely to assist him, and as for the rear, the attendant formation mages like Xia He helped them paint.

A new formation was set up, laying the defensive foundation for this small circle.

And at this moment, the giant rocks that had been smashed away split open one by one.

As the stone skin peeled off, green and red pus overflowed from the inside, and deeper down there were connections similar to flesh and blood.

The first giant rock scattered completely, and inside stood a person; this person was tall, his body was swollen with pus, he was not wearing clothes, but the color of his body presented a color scheme close to a Daoist robe.

It was easy to remind people of the decayed Daoist corpses in the twelve stone coffins.

The second giant rock split open, still tall and swollen with pus, but the juice overflowing was gold and red, like a monk.

A total of twelve giant rocks fell, giving birth to twelve flesh-tumor monsters, and they corresponded to the twelve lives of Sun Qinghua respectively.

The one that walked out of the last giant rock was the image of Sun Xi, the Small Hell Young Lord.

They were tumors split from this body, and their goal was to completely kill Sun Qinghua.

Among these twelve flesh-tumor humans, the one with the relatively weakest aura was Sun Xi, because by this time Sun Qinghua had already developed problems and could not live this "life" well, so Sun Xi's aura was about the same as the Yama Kings he had contacted before.

And the other eleven flesh-tumor humans all had powerful auras.

This was definitely not all the power that this body could divide, just the tip of the iceberg, because Sun Qinghua had not yet completely perished, and all reactions of this body had to be based on Sun Qinghua.

However, from the state of these twelve flesh-tumor humans and the fact that each had an umbilical cord connected to continuously inject power, one conclusion could be drawn: although this body was huge, it was extremely unstable.

Even if it completely awakened, it would only go crazy for a while, causing a wave of destruction, and after it finished venting, even without external intervention, it would step into demise.