Chapter 648: Earth Tremors Reveal Heroic Souls

What is that?!

Wang Xuanmo was startled and hurriedly retreated.

Facts proved that trusting intelligence too much would eventually lead to problems.

Since Li Yan became famous after the battle at the Chengdu Prince's Mansion, his past intelligence had already spread far and wide.

Some even ran to the Li Family Fort in Guanzhong to inquire about Li Yan's past from the villagers.

Therefore, many things were no longer secrets.

For example, he could summon yin soldiers, and he had the Divine Transformation Method, etc.

But some things are often obscured by appearances.

Ghost Emperor Wang Xuanmo's layout was already very thorough.

Borrowing the Seven Apertures Dragon-Locking Formation to disperse Li Yan's helpers…

Using paper puppets and ghost ship yin soldiers to exhaust Li Yan's Divine Transformation Method…

Trapping Li Yan in the main hall, and even preparing the "Precious Proclamation of the Earth Official Pardoning Sins"…

But man proposes, heaven disposes.

He didn't expect that Elder Yin Jiuge could actually break this rare formation in the world.

And he didn't expect that Li Yan's Divine Transformation Method was not just one kind.

Bang!

With a muffled sound, Wang Xuanmo's head was directly slammed into the ground by Li Yan.

In an instant, his skull shattered into a mass.

Not only that, but Li Yan also took the opportunity to draw the Dust-Severing Blade, directly shredding his heart.

The Underworld's troops retreated; to be honest, Li Yan didn't feel any regret.

These old monsters clearly had someone protecting them in the Great Luo Dharma Realm; even if they were sent to the Netherworld, it wouldn't be secure. It was better to let their souls scatter in the mortal world, and although he would lose the bounty, at least he would have no future worries.

Almost instantly, Ghost Emperor Wang Xuanmo became a puddle of rotten meat.

However, Li Yan frowned slightly, sensing something wrong.

On this physical body, Wang Xuanmo's aura was rapidly dissipating.

It wasn't that his soul had scattered, but that it had vanished into thin air.

Oh no!

The opponent had a secret technique to save his life.

Li Yan immediately guessed the reason.

According to what he knew, some dharma lineages had similar inheritances.

For example, the Six Ren Immortal Sect, after undergoing processes such as the 'Flower Character Body Sealing', 'Red Sash Crossing', and 'Dharma Name Conferral', can obtain a 'Soul-Hiding Iron Plate' and use secret methods to deposit their soul within it.

If the physical body were destroyed, the soul would return, gaining the opportunity for rebirth through possession.

Of course, such techniques also had many taboos.

Under the suppression of imperial laws and the orthodox Mystic Sect, few people dared to act recklessly in the open.

But Ghost Emperor Wang Xuanmo, who dared to violate even the "Heavenly Statutes" and "Underworld Laws", naturally wasn't afraid.

Without the slightest hesitation, Li Yan immediately formed seals and took a deep breath.

Whoosh~

Under the blessing of the Underworld God Dharma Body, yin winds rose in the main hall instantly.

Within the entire Luoyang Prince's Mansion, all the scents rushed into his nasal cavity.

In the back garden!

Li Yan opened his eyes violently and was about to pursue and kill, but he stopped his steps.

The Heavenly Power formation eye had already been opened.

The most urgent priority was to suppress the Seven Apertures Dragon-Locking Formation.

So, although he was unwilling, Li Yan had to come before the throne, and the huge palm shrouded in black mist slammed down, accompanied by a huge roaring sound; the gold-carved and jade-built steps shattered, and mud and sand splashed everywhere.

Below, a round-table-sized iron box appeared.

The iron box was ancient in shape, but judging by the rust marks, it hadn't been there for long.

This was buried by Ghost Emperor Wang Xuanmo himself.

Many years ago, the previous Prince of Luoyang was executed along with his entire family; taking advantage of the chaos in the palace, Wang Xuanmo let his inside man act, set a fire in the Qianyang Hall, and under the guise of repairs, disguised himself as a craftsman to sneak in and cause trouble.

Of course, Li Yan didn't know these things.

Unable to think too much, he held the precious blade and slashed upward with a backhand.

Ding!

The chains and copper locks bound above were all slashed apart.

After opening it, inside was a Qin Tiger Tally, only the size of a hand-held piece.

Dense red ropes, talisman papers, and copper coins were piled around the Tiger Tally.

What kind of technique is this?

Li Yan frowned, somewhat unable to understand.

At the same time, Wang Daoxuan and Sha Lifei also ran into the main hall.

"Brother Yan, leave this place to us!"

After asking about what happened, Wang Daoxuan immediately said in a deep voice: "Senior Elder Yin Jiuge has already taught us the suppression method. Mangshan is temporarily suppressed by Shaolin, and Wang Xuanmo will definitely go there to take the tripod; we cannot let him succeed!"

"Hmm."

Li Yan nodded; the moment he turned around, yin winds rose in the surroundings.

At this time, he still had the Underworld God Dharma blessing, and his speed was extremely astonishing; wrapped in wild winds and black mist, he shuttled rapidly above the Wang Gong main hall, and in just two breaths, he arrived at the Wang Gong garden.

The Luoyang Prince's Mansion was located on the north side, while Mangshan was north of Luoyangcheng.

Wang Xuanmo clearly had prepared an escape route long ago.

The Prince's Mansion garden had become extremely bizarre.

The century-old cypresses in the garden had all withered, their branches twisted like the arms of a person in spasms; the surface of the rockery was covered in dark green moss, and under the eaves of the octagonal pavilion hung decaying bronze bells, clearly items from a tomb.

And on both sides of the winding path, paper-cut maidservants were lined up in two rows, their cheeks painted bright red, looking very realistic.

Crack!

Sensing Li Yan's aura, all the paper-cut maidservants turned their heads simultaneously.

But these paper people didn't move recklessly, instead shattering suddenly, and dense poisonous insects transformed into black smoke and whistled out.

These poisonous insects were not large, looking like flies, clearly not comparable to Lu San's poisonous bees.

But as they flew around buzzing, the yin wind they stirred up carried a trace of fishy stench.

If it were ordinary times, Li Yan would still need to spend some effort, but he was currently in the body of an Underworld God, his whole body wrapped in Earth Yin Qi from the Underworld; facing the poisonous insect swarm, he didn't slow down at all.

Wherever the black wind passed, the poisonous insects froze and fell with a crackling sound.

Swish!

The wild wind whistled, and Li Yan landed on the rockery.

The scent he had smelled just now was from this place.

Sure enough, the ground behind the rockery had been broken open into a large hole.

Below was an opened bronze coffin, inside which was viscous blood-colored liquid, and there were even fetal membrane-like things floating.

A familiar scent rushed into his nasal cavity.

It was the "Body of an Earth Immortal"!

At the Earth Immortal Cave in Ezhou, the Body of an Earth Immortal refined by Liu Gang and his wife had this exact scent.

Looking at the surroundings again, Li Yan had already vaguely guessed the reason.

The physical body is a boat for crossing the bitter sea; whether returning to life or possessing a body to reincarnate, entering a new body, no matter how profound the cultivation of the previous life, one must practice again, and it might even be inferior to the previous life, with huge risks.

The "Body of an Earth Immortal" became the best choice.

With this item, the cultivation of the previous life could be restored in a short time.

Therefore, Zhao Changsheng, the Heavenly Saint Sect Leader, Liu Gang… all prepared a "Body of an Earth Immortal" for themselves.

But refining this item was not easy; the key point was to absorb a large amount of dragon vein earth Qi.

Wang Xuanmo chose to refine it here, on one hand, to secretly absorb the Luoyang dragon vein earth Qi by borrowing the Seven Apertures Dragon-Locking Formation, and on the other hand, to cover it up with the vitality of the Prince's Mansion and Luoyang.

This dilapidated scene in the Prince's Mansion garden must have been formed in a short time, otherwise, it would have been discovered long ago…

This "Body of an Earth Immortal" hadn't been successfully refined yet!

Wang Xuanmo was in a hurry to use it, so he temporarily plundered the vitality of the surroundings.

With all these thoughts flashing through his mind, Li Yan whistled out, stepping on the high walls of the Prince's Mansion backyard, wrapped in wild winds and black mist, passing through two streets, and chasing toward the outside of Luoyangcheng.

His speed at this moment was even faster than using the Horse-Armor technique.

Wang Xuanmo had just used a new body, so he definitely couldn't have run far.

Sure enough, just as Li Yan flipped over the city wall, he saw a white shadow shuttling rapidly across the wilderness.

Judging by the direction, it was precisely the area where Mangshan was located.

"Old bastard, come here and die!"

Li Yan roared, wrapped in wild winds, chasing rapidly.

Just as he expected, Wang Xuanmo's "Body of an Earth Immortal" had not been completely successful.

The opponent had changed his facial features, his figure was tall, and he looked heroic, quite having the bearing of someone detached from the world.

If he had really followed his plan, taking the Yuzhou Tripod to the overseas to build a country successfully, I don't know how many years later, there would inevitably be new myths circulating, saying something about a First Ancestor Heavenly Human descending to the world, possessing the appearance of a god-man.

Unfortunately, the current Wang Xuanmo was extremely wretched.

The hair on his head hadn't grown out yet, he didn't even have time to put on clothes, and he was bare all over, like a shelled egg, with viscous liquid constantly dripping from his body, only carrying a bundle on his shoulder.

Hearing Li Yan's roar, his eyes were filled with anger and panic.

What he was angry about was that he, a Ghost Emperor, was actually forced into such a wretched state by a junior.

What he was panicked about was that the plan seemed to have a flaw.

But looking at the sky, the huge blood-colored vortex lightning flickered, the tripod-shaped yin clouds in the center still existed, but after such a long time, the Yuzhou Tripod still hadn't been born.

Where exactly did he calculate wrong?

Without the birth of the Yuzhou Tripod triggering chaos in the Central Plains, the subsequent plan to go out to sea was also a bubble.

Behind him, Li Yan's speed was getting faster and faster.

And Wang Xuanmo had just obtained the "Body of an Earth Immortal", so his escape technique was not smooth.

Seeing the distance between the two sides getting shorter and shorter, Wang Xuanmo finally stopped running, turned violently, took out five black dharma flags from the bundle behind him, inserted them into the ground rapidly, stepped on the Big Dipper, and formed seals while chanting.

Whoosh~

As the incantation rang out, wild yin winds rose in the surroundings.

Amidst the wild winds, countless sobbing and shouting sounds could be heard.

A large amount of yin-calamity Qi rose from the ground, merging into the five black flags, and transformed into rolling black mist, spreading in all directions.

In the blink of an eye, a radius of five miles became blurry.

And in the black mist, black shadows also appeared accordingly.

Li Yan was also startled, somewhat surprised.

He thought the opponent was at the end of his rope, but he didn't expect to have such means.

Summoning troops could not be considered fresh; slightly stronger dharma lineages would all collect and train troops, and the City God Temples in major cities of the Shenzhou also enshrined social order troops, which were the ballast stones for the stability of the Shenzhou.

But this speed and scale of summoning were far from what one person could use.

Those five black flags were strange…

Just as he was vigilant, phantoms suddenly appeared in the black mist.

These figures had blurry facial features, but one could faintly see that they were wearing imperial robes of different dynasties.

This is…

Li Yan frowned, somewhat unbelievable.

These things looked like fierce ghosts, but they actually had incense Qi on them…

Are they wild gods?

How come there are so many!

Just as he accelerated, the phantoms in the black mist became more and more numerous.

There were both emperors, generals, and ministers, as well as those in brocade clothes.

And as he got closer, Li Yan also stopped his steps violently.

As these figures appeared, the earth Qi actually began to boil.

The ground under his feet shook rumblingly, like an earth dragon turning over, and as the earth Qi merged in, those black mists also rose continuously, higher and higher, like a mountain range…

This feeling, is it Mangshan?!

Li Yan had never seen such a technique; even with the Underworld God Dharma Body, he didn't dare to act rashly.

What he didn't know was that the black flags used by Wang Xuanmo were precisely the treasure of the Yin Talisman Sect.

Although the Yin Talisman Sect had already perished, its origin was very ancient.

At the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, the world was in chaos; a disciple of Zuo Ci, having witnessed the scene of "white bones exposed in the wild," was dissatisfied with his master's actions, his temperament became twisted, and he combined the Yinshan Sect's ghost-driving technique with the Taiping Dao's "Huang Tian Talisman," refining the "Seven Techniques of Yin Talisman."

After the Battle of Red Cliffs in the 13th year of Jian'an, he founded the "Yin Talisman Refining Soldier Tomb" at the northern foot of Mangshan, refining the "Red Cliff Yin Armored Army" by borrowing the resentment of those who died in the Battle of Red Cliffs; this was the prototype of the Yin Talisman Sect.

In the following years, this evil dharma lineage developed continuously, doing many big things in secret, but because the techniques were sinister, practitioners would often suffer backlashes, and they were constantly hunted down by the righteous path, only then gradually perishing.

Wang Xuanmo, as the last Sect Master, naturally took all the treasures.

These five dharma flags were the fierce treasure of the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, the "Huang Tian Five Elements Flags"; Zhang Jiao used them to overturn the world, the Yellow Turban Army slaughtered during the day, and yin soldiers ran rampant at night; they fell into the hands of the founder of the Yin Talisman Sect, and were thoroughly nurtured and formed during the chaotic times of the Three Kingdoms.

It was just that later, they were broken by the Zhengyi Sect using thunder techniques.

Although the fierce soldiers inside the dharma flags were destroyed, the foundation remained, and they were put into Yinshan by Wang Xuanmo to be refined.

In short, the background was absolutely not small.

"Hahaha…"

Seeing Li Yan blocked, Wang Xuanmo's frantic voice came from the black mist, "Kid, you are still a bit too green after all. Since I want to take the Yuzhou Tripod, how could I not have preparations?"

While speaking, strange sounds came from the black mist.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The earth Qi shook, like drums roaring, shaking the wilderness.

This vibration sound actually borrowed the earth Qi to form a resonance with Mangshan.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The ground below Mangshan also shook rumblingly accordingly.

Pfft!

The Shaolin monks above the Northern Wei Imperial Mausoleum all spat blood simultaneously again.

"The earth vein is shaking!"

"Someone is causing trouble!"

"Oh no, the Yuzhou Tripod is about to come out!"

Facing this scene, even Shaolin Master Huiyuan was full of sorrow.

And at the Shangqing Palace, the Leshan Giant Buddha, and other places where the apertures were located in Luoyangcheng, the earth Qi also began to shake.

The people suppressing the apertures were also shaken until they were dizzy, their chests tight and wanting to vomit.

Facing this scene, Li Yan no longer cared about anything else.

He dispersed the Underworld God Dharma Body, and two Soul-Hooking Thunder Ropes whistled out with a clatter.

Crack!

As the incantation was chanted, trails of heavenly thunder fell instantly.

Sizzle~

Li Yan's whole body flickered with electric arcs, transforming into the Thunder God Body again, directly rushing into the black mist.

This strange formation was indeed extraordinary.

The surrounding earth vein Qi rose, pressing down from all directions, constantly wearing away the Lei Gang on Li Yan's body.

Having walked less than a hundred miles, the lightning on his body weakened at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Hahaha…"

Wang Xuanmo's triumphant laughter came from the black mist, "All techniques in the world have generation and restraint. Your Divine Transformation Method is just borrowing external force; how can mortal power move mountains?"

Crack!

Before the words fell, Li Yan leaped up, and the Soul-Hooking Lock brought down heavenly thunder again.

"Kid, are you seeking death?"

Wang Xuanmo's voice came, full of mockery, "This Divine Transformation Method is strong, but after all, it is a mortal body. You have used it three times today; how many more can you withstand…"

And Li Yan didn't care to respond to him.

Borrowing the lightning just now, he suddenly discovered that he had been surrounded by those black shadows.

This time he saw more clearly; they were all emperors, generals, and ministers, their facial features pale, eyes closed tightly…

"Who are they?"

Li Yan had a guess, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"Hahaha…"

Wang Xuanmo's voice was very triumphant, "Since you've seen it, then I will introduce them."

"This is Emperor Guangwu, that is Emperor Ming of Han, that kid is Emperor Xian of Han, and there are Emperor Wen of Wei Cao Pi, Han Wu Di of Jin Sima Yan, Lu Buwei, Ban Chao, Di Renjie, Yan Zhenqing…"

"Bullshit!"

Li Yan cursed directly: "You are not worthy! These people have long since dissipated; where did these heroic souls come from?"

"Hmph!"

Wang Xuanmo sneered: "They are dead, but Mangshan has had continuous sacrifices from descendants for thousands of years, and the incense naturally condensed into gods, all collected by the treasure of my Yin Talisman Sect."

"This is the reason why I call myself the Ghost Emperor!"

"Born in Suzhou and Hangzhou, buried in Northern Mang; with these hundreds of emperors, generals, and ministers as vulgar gods, the Yuzhou Tripod cannot escape my grasp!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 649 =====