Chapter 464: Ghost King Emerges

In the bottomless dungeon of Ghost Mother Mountain, ghostly qi surged skyward, and ghost fires loomed eerily.

The entire mountain, like a primordial beast sleeping for ten thousand years, was now awakening due to an invasion by outsiders.

The moment Hua Changxi rushed inside, the whole Ghost Mother Mountain let out a muffled roar, and from within the mountain came the sound of countless chains dragging, as if billions of resentful souls were howling deep underground.

Layer upon layer of restrictive formations activated in response, each woven from ancient ghost runes and soul-devouring ghost chains, glowing with an interplay of dark green and blood-black light.

These were the innate order restrictions of the Ghost Clan’s ancestral bloodline. Any outsider who set foot here could easily fall, their flesh, blood, and soul becoming nourishment for the yin veins of Ghost Mother Mountain.

Struck by heavenly thunder, Hua Changxi’s internal spiritual power erupted into chaos, and a cloying sweetness surged in her throat. The flames around her body were faint, like dying embers, yet they still caused the ghostly qi and ghost fires in the entire dungeon to pause for a moment.

“What petty sneak dares to break into the Ghost Clan’s Ghost Mother Mountain? Begone at once!”

The ghost generals and ghost soldiers guarding the dungeon poured out from the hidden passages, holding netherworld chains, with both ferocity and deep wariness in their eyes.

They stared dead at the figure bathed in flames—those flames filled them with dread.

“Hoo~”

As Hua Changxi finally calmed the chaotic spiritual power within her, the flames around her shifted from red to gold, then from gold to white, and finally settled into a nearly transparent intensity of heat.

As soon as the South-Pure Bright Flame emerged, the entire Ghost Mother Mountain trembled even more violently.

Spreading its wings, the fire bird transformed into a crimson shadow and charged straight at the ghost generals and ghost soldiers. Before it even got close, they were reduced to ashes. Then, like a dragon diving into an abyss, the fire bird resolutely plunged deep into Ghost Mother Mountain.

At the same time, in the heart of Ghost Mother Mountain, ghost fires surged like a tide.

Inside the prison cells, green flames licked the stone walls, and the stench of burning filled the air.

The Vermilion Bird Army and the human cultivators struggled painfully amidst the flames, forming a defensive array with their remaining spiritual power, but they could not withstand the erosion of ghostly qi and ghost fires.

Gongshu Xingyan, using his own essence blood and soul to drive his ghost chisel, managed to tear a crack in the iron bars—but the crack was too small for anyone to pass through, and Gongshu Xingyan’s face was ashen, his aura as feeble as a candle flickering in the wind, too exhausted to activate the ghost chisel again to break the restriction.

Everyone was trapped in a hopeless situation; many began to lose focus, their minds on the verge of collapse.

Song Weimin gave a bitter smile, knowing they probably wouldn’t survive: “I thought I’d die at the hands of the Ghost Clan, but I never expected to die at the hands of my own kind. Truly…”

As he watched the ghost fire engulf his legs, Fang Zhuyue also fell into despair: “What human cultivators? Chu Tianye is not even worthy of being called human!”

The others, no longer able to circulate their spiritual power to resist the ghostly qi and ghost fires, collapsed one after another.

Just as everyone had given up all hope and awaited death—

“BOOM!!!”

The entire dungeon shook violently, as if the earth had been split open by a giant axe.

A streak of crimson fire pierced through from the direction of the mountain gate, like heavenly fire descending upon the world, and wherever it passed, ghostly qi evaporated and ghost runes shattered!

Within that blaze, a figure emerged, bathed in flames.

Her robes were scorched black, her left shoulder’s flesh turned bloody and ragged, and lightning scars coiled around her like snakes—yet her eyes blazed like a sun that burns the heavens.

“Hall Lord???”

Staring at the fiery figure descending from above, everyone in the cell froze, thinking they were hallucinating. Finally, Fang Zhuyue was the first to react, her voice trembling as she softly called out to the newcomer, caught between uncertainty and hope.

Hua Changxi’s gaze swept over the miserable scene in the prison, anger churning in her eyes.

“It’s me.”

Her voice was like a bell or a chime, shattering despair.

“I’m late.”

As the words fell, she pressed two fingers together into a seal, and a wisp of utterly pure South-Pure Bright Flame leaped from her fingertip—neither red nor gold, almost a scorching white, edged with a faint golden halo, like the first light of dawn, or the mercy of a deity.

The South-Pure Bright Flame, supremely yang and supremely pure, was specifically effective against yin and evil.

As the flame entered the cell, it was like spring snow meeting the sun.

The rampaging ghostly qi and ghost fires suddenly let out a piercing shriek, struggling to flee, but were gently and irresistibly enveloped, purified, and dissolved by the South-Pure Bright Flame.

The stench of burning quickly dissipated, replaced by a scent as pure as a mountain breeze among pines, as warm and moist as the morning dew.

The cultivators who had been corroded by ghostly qi and scorched by ghost fire felt their souls lighten instantly, as if their souls, sinking deep into a muddy swamp, had finally touched the light of heaven.

“Hall Lord!”

"You really came to save us!"

Cries and shouts rose and fell. Compared to the excited Vermillion Bird Army, the other human cultivators simply stared blankly at the fiery figure, as if still unable to believe it.

"Huum~"

From deep underground came a low, dragon-like hum. The entire Ghost Mother Mountain trembled violently, countless fissures splitting open its slopes. Thick, ink-black ghost qi erupted forth, filling the underground space in the blink of an eye.

Within the ghost qi, a vast number of ghostly figures emerged—some resembling withered bones, others like crying infants. Their shrieks surged like a tide, striking directly at the soul!

"Not good!"

Gongshu Xingyan forced himself upright, his voice hoarse. "The ancestral vein prohibition of Ghost Mother Mountain has been triggered! Leave quickly! If we don't, we'll all become nourishment for this mountain."

Hua Changxi's expression changed. He stepped forward quickly, pressed his palm against the iron bars, and the South Ming Li Fire spread along the bars, instantly turning the entire cage red-hot.

With a crisp "crack," the iron bars snapped like rotten wood.

Hua Changxi strode quickly into the cell. Spiritual light blazed from his right hand as the Xumi Pearl flew out from around his neck, transforming into a miniature world.

Then the Xumi Pearl shone brilliantly, its spiritual light spreading like a net and covering all the Vermillion Bird Army soldiers and human cultivators inside the cage—whether severely wounded or unconscious, they were all gently drawn into the pearl's world.

After finishing all this, Hua Changxi spun around, crimson flames soaring into the sky, and transformed back into a firebird. Flapping his wings, he shot toward the mountain gate's exit.

In a corner of the tunnel, Chu Tianye and his few subordinates lay fallen in the flames, their bodies burning with inextinguishable residual South Ming Fire, their breaths faint.

Chu Tianye lay on his back, watching the fiery figure fly farther and farther away, growing smaller and smaller until it finally vanished from sight.

It shouldn't have been like this…

The Ghost Fire Well was his discovery first—he was the heaven-ordained master of the Ghost Fire Well!

He shouldn't be dying in the dark, filthy Ghost Mother Mountain. He should have been lying on a soft, warm bed, dying of old age, his name recorded in history…

Unwilling tears slid from the corners of his eyes…

The next instant, ghost fire swept over and completely engulfed him. In those flames, there was no more struggling—only silent annihilation.

Above Ghost Mother Mountain, calamity clouds churned like ink, never ceasing.

Purple thunder serpents slithered through the cloud layers, appearing and disappearing, as if the Heavenly Dao's eye had yet to close.

As Ghost Mother Mountain trembled violently, "Swish!"—a crimson shadow shot out from the mountain gate, swift as a meteor streaking across the night sky, carrying the momentum to burn the heavens, heading straight toward the Ghost Infant River.

Behind the crimson shadow, a tide of ghosts poured forth like seawater—countless ghost clansmen swarmed out of Ghost Mother Mountain, screeching and roaring, forming a pursuing army as black as clouds.

To this, Hua Changxi did not look back. After leaving Ghost Mother Mountain far behind, he suddenly felt his heart ease—the heavenly tribulation's lock, which had been like a needle pricking his back, quietly dissipated.

Hua Changxi's taut nerves finally relaxed slightly: "As long as I reach the blood cage on the Ghost Infant River and activate the Ghost Fire Token, I can return to the Ghost Fire Well…"

However, at that moment, the nearby Ghost Infant River suddenly erupted into chaos.

Thousand-foot waves surged on the river's surface. Black qi condensed into shape over the river, forming countless troops and cavalry—so many they blotted out the sun—climbing onto the riverbanks like a tide.

Even more terrifying, deep in the river's heart, a massive vortex was slowly taking shape.

At the center of the vortex, black water flowed upstream, coalescing into a towering ghostly figure—over a thousand feet tall, clad in a bone armor of ten thousand souls, its eyes like two green moons looking down upon all living beings.

The appearance of the towering ghostly figure shook the entire Nine Nether.

"What in the ghost domain is going on? Even the Ghost King has been mobilized!"