Chapter 557: Great Evil King, First Evil Emperor

Wushuang Mansion.

Yu Liancheng and Mo Baisuzhen sat together, discussing the mysteries of martial arts.

Mo Baisuzhen was brilliant and talented, having created the World-Extinguishing Demon Body and the Six Great Demon Crossings; combined with nearly two hundred years of experience, her foundation was profound. In this world, the only ones who could likely surpass her were those few old monsters who had lived for a thousand years.

Yu Liancheng's talent was by no means inferior to Mo Baisuzhen's, and having traveled through several worlds, his learning was eclectic and his scope of study was beyond imagination. Every sentence he spoke contained supreme truths.

Without realizing it, time slipped away. As the conversation grew spirited, Yu Liancheng smiled and said, "Mo Zhu's Boundless Crossing is a divine art on the Fearful Ranking, marvelous and peerless under heaven. May I ask to learn a thing or two?"

"That is certainly possible." Mo Baisuzhen smiled slightly. She naturally understood what Yu Liancheng was thinking, but she did not mind, and in their conversation, she recounted the subtleties of the Earth-Level Maha.

Yu Liancheng listened, his heart yearning, and he gained insights into this most incredible power in the Wind and Cloud world. In a spirit of reciprocity, he also explained the essence of his own martial arts to Mo Baisuzhen.

After this exchange, both of them gained a great deal.

Especially Yu Liancheng; he intended to collect the Origin-Level Maha, Heaven-Level Maha, and Earth-Level Maha to create his own Maha Boundless.

After talking for two or three hours, the two paused for a moment, and Mo Baisuzhen changed the subject: "You are leaving Wushuang City tomorrow?"

"That is correct."

Yu Liancheng nodded. He flicked his sleeve, and two divine weapons immediately appeared in the room.

The cold and sharp Snow Drink Saber, which could cause all things to fall into Jiemie.

The ever-changing Divine Stone, which could amplify the user's power.

"I intend to forge a divine weapon. The Four Great Strange Stones are undoubtedly the most suitable materials. Now that White Dew and the Divine Stone are in hand, Ice Soul and Darkness are also within easy reach. But a problem has arisen..."

"Oh?"

"The Four Great Strange Stones were left behind by the Great Goddess Nuwa and contain vast righteous Qi. If I truly use the Four Great Strange Stones as materials, the final divine weapon might not be as awe-inspiringly righteous as the Hero Sword, but it would still belong to the path of righteousness. Yet, everything I have learned is both righteous and evil, neither good nor evil. If it were a righteous divine weapon, it might instead hinder my development."

"So you now need an extremely evil weapon to harmonize it?"

"Correct."

"And what kind of weapon is that?"

"More than three hundred years ago, there was a peerless evil weapon that stood as an enemy to Heaven, named—Great Evil King."

Sichuan.

In a dense forest.

The light in the dense forest was dim, with only sparse sunlight filtering through the thick leaves.

A Fotu statue sat in the dense forest, standing three or four zhang tall.

The Fotu statue's hands were pressed together, but its face was not peaceful like the clay or stone statues in ordinary temples; instead, its corners of the mouth drooped, and its face was full of sorrow. It was unclear whether it was pitying the suffering of all living beings, or if the Fotu was also suffering, and the other shore was suffering...

The entire Fotu statue was entwined with countless vines, covering its whole body. It was as if they were chains, trapping the Fotu statue.

Around the Fotu statue sat a group of monks, chanting sutras and praying to Fotu, as if to transform this ominous place into a pure Fotu land.

Crack! Crack!

Suddenly, two cracks appeared on the face of the sorrowful Fotu, and stone fragments peeled off. It looked as if two tear tracks were flowing down. This made the already sorrowful Fotu statue appear even more bleak and desolate.

From the cracks, strands of ominous and fierce Qi emanated. In the blink of an eye, the lush vines and dense trees withered and shriveled rapidly.

The wooden fish in the monks' hands also shattered one after another, and each of them wore a look of horror and disbelief.

"What, what is happening?"

"The Ku Xin Fo has suppressed that fierce object for who knows how many years; why is there such a change today?"

The monks' expressions changed one after another.

Inside that Ku Xin Fo, the peerless fierce weapon from three hundred years ago was suppressed, and generations of high-ranking Fotu monks had used Fotu Dharma to dissolve it; even if they could not dissolve the fierce Qi and killing intent of that fierce weapon, they had always lived in peace. This change today caught all the monks present off guard.

"May I ask which high-ranking person has arrived!?"

An old monk with an ancient face and gray beard suddenly moved, turning his deep gaze toward the depths of the dense forest.

A person walked out from the depths of the dense forest. This person was dressed in black, walking with hands behind his back, his demeanor calm. He smiled and said, "Masters, do not be alarmed. This seat has only come here to take one thing."

As Yu Liancheng walked closer to the monks, the cracks on the Ku Xin Fo became deeper and continued to spread downward. The fierce and baleful Qi in mid-air became increasingly chilling to the heart.

"Your cultivation is truly profound. This place is on the line between God and Demon; the Great Evil King is suppressed by Sanskrit sounds and has always been in a state of silence. But because of your arrival, it has been stimulated by your Qi and actually has a tendency to awaken." The old monk pressed his hands together, his brow furrowed: "I hope you will leave soon; otherwise, once the object suppressed within the Ku Xin Fo is released, it will surely bring a catastrophe to all living beings."

"What a coincidence, I have come precisely for this object." Yu Liancheng stood still when he was four or five zhang away from the monks and cast his gaze toward the Ku Xin Fo. His eyes flickered, and using the Qi Gazing Technique, he saw the existence of a fierce god and evil spirit, which was currently in a deep sleep due to the suppression of Fotu Dharma.

"Hand the Great Evil King to me. Rest assured, it cannot make any waves in my hands, and you Fotu sects will no longer need to send high-ranking monks to suppress this object generation after generation; you will be liberated from now on."

"Amitabha, benefactor, the Great Evil King blade possesses the poisonous curse of Yun Dingtian for exterminating the Fotu sect and his hatred for the heavens during his lifetime. No matter who wants to control the Evil King, they can only end up becoming a blade puppet of the Evil King, losing their mind and only knowing how to kill. Even we must take turns replacing each other, otherwise, our baleful Qi will grow deeper day by day."

"Forget it, I don't want to waste my breath with you; I'll take it myself."

Yu Liancheng sighed and stepped toward the Ku Xin Fo step by step.

"Benefactor, the sea of suffering is boundless; turn back and you will reach the shore."

"Daojin, there is no need to waste words with this person; leave it to us, the Four Truths Martial Monks, to handle."

The old monk wanted to persuade him further, but four monks dressed as martial monks stepped out and surrounded Yu Liancheng.

Most of those who suppressed the Great Evil King here were high-ranking monks proficient in Fotu Dharma, old and frail, and not skilled in martial arts. But these four were rare martial monks, and all were experts of the Fotu sect.

They were called—the Four Truths Martial Monks.

"Suffering!"

"Gathering!"

"Extinction!"

"Path!"

The Four Truths Martial Monks shouted simultaneously, uttering the Four Truths mantras. The Qi of the four suddenly became one, and their Qi seemed to transform into a Fotu suppressing the world. The Fotu's eyes ignited with flames of anger; one hand formed a lotus seal, while the other swung the Diamond Zen Staff, striking toward Yu Liancheng. In an instant, the combined power of the four monks transformed into a peerless blow to subdue the Heavenly Demon.

"Flashy and showy."

Yu Liancheng reached out a hand and curled it in the air. His sleeves fluttered, immediately bringing forth a hurricane that swept out, instantly crushing the combined attack of the Four Truths Martial Monks and making the four of them sway and totter as if they were drunk.

He swung his palm again, unleashing a vigorous and domineering palm force that struck the chest of the Ku Xin Fo with a loud boom. This stone statue, which had existed for a hundred years and contained profound Fotu power, immediately shattered with a bang, and stone fragments flew everywhere.

At the same time, an object flew out from the heart of the Ku Xin Fo, and with a grab of Yu Liancheng's palm, it transformed into a rainbow ray, flying into his hand in the blink of an eye.

This was a long, narrow saber case, with countless Fotu scriptures carved upon it. But these scriptures had already grown very dim, instead emitting a monstrous, baleful aura, as if a peerless, malevolent Demon were hidden within the case, ready to break out at any moment and wreak havoc upon the world.

Yu Liancheng brushed his palm over the saber case, feeling that dense baleful aura, and muttered to himself: "The Great Evil King has now been sealed, I do not possess the Four Great Evil Weapons in my hands, and the time for the Four Absolutes is still decades away. If I want to completely trigger the evil nature of the Great Evil King, I still need to think of another way."

"Benefactor, the Great Evil King is an object of great evil, cursed by the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, you..."

The old monk from before revealed an expression of urgency and wanted to say something more, but in a moment of distraction, the figure of that person had already vanished from before his eyes.

Yet an ethereal voice drifted over from afar.

"Rest assured, I will not let the Great Evil King bring disaster to the common people. It won't be long before such a peerless, malevolent object no longer exists in this world."

This was a perilous peak, the crags like swords, piercing into the clouds like a sharp blade; one knew not how many thousands of feet high it was. A gust of wild wind blew past, and the clouds and mist cascaded, looking like a misty white Changjiang river flowing and surging in the void.

And on the perilous peak, which only had enough room for one person to stand, sat a person cross-legged. One could see this person wore a bamboo hat, had a burly build and an exceptionally large frame; he appeared unremarkable, yet his entire body emitted an overbearing aura of "in heaven and on earth, I alone am invincible," such that even the dark heavens seemed to lower themselves by three parts in his presence.

As this person's thoughts stirred, the clouds and mist across the sky twisted and changed, transforming into ten figures similar in appearance to him. And these ten figures performed techniques in the air, each figure evolving a unique skill—fist, palm, finger, claw, and even saber, spear, staff, halberd... Any one of these martial arts was earth-shattering, and every one was the pinnacle of the current age.

A martial artist must avoid being half-hearted or greedy in their practice. For ordinary martial arts experts, wanting to cultivate any single martial art to the peak of perfection would likely consume their entire life's effort. Even the martial arts overlord Xiongba, who bore the fate of a hegemon, only focused his efforts on the Three Ultimates Elder's fist, palm, and leg techniques.

But the person before us had cultivated ten martial arts to the extreme; every gesture and movement possessed infinite power and unpredictable changes, which was simply inconceivable to the utmost degree.

And if that fellow who boasted of being God saw this person, he would likely be so frightened he would run away on the spot.

Suddenly, this peerless martial artist slightly raised his bamboo hat, revealing a rugged chin and beard like needles. His eyes suddenly snapped open, a divine light erupting from his pupils as if two suns had exploded, emitting ten thousand rays of light that pierced through the void, his expression shifting slightly.

"The Great Evil King has emerged into the world?!"

"Who dares to take out this malevolent object."

"Perhaps, this is an opportunity to break the curse of my martial family."

The ten clouds and mists dissipated simultaneously; the martial artist stood up abruptly, looking like a mountain peak even more upright than the one beneath his feet, and with a firm step of his toes, he actually leaped down from the thousand-foot mountain peak.

Zheng Xie Dao.

One of the Twelve Terrors recorded by Baixiaosheng.

It is rumored that this is a long, narrow mountain path located in Hebei.

It was once widely rumored in the Edo that once one enters the Zheng Xie Dao, one's path is filled with Demons from then on.

It was further said that anyone who stepped onto the Zheng Xie Dao would inevitably become a Demon, and even if their evil arts were peerless, they would ultimately be rejected by the world.

Yet the world did not know that this place was where the Yin-baleful earth energy of the Central Plains Divine Prefecture converged; it was extremely malevolent and evil. Anyone who stepped into the Zheng Xie Dao could not avoid being influenced by the Yin-baleful earth energy, turning from a human into a Demon.

Especially deep within the mountain path, the baleful energy was so dense that it even materialized, accumulating into a pool, eventually forming a Demon Pool.

This Zheng Xie Dao was originally a demonic land, with very few travelers. But occasionally, those with nowhere else to turn would head to the Zheng Xie Dao to seek power, willing to kill to their heart's content even if it meant becoming a Demon.

But no one had ever been able to live in the Zheng Xie Dao for a long time.

This was because the baleful energy of the Zheng Xie Dao was truly too heavy; once one stayed for too long, it would twist the mind and turn one into a murderous monster.

However, in the last two years, someone had taken control of the Zheng Xie Dao, seemingly becoming its true master.

It was just that this person was too mysterious, and few people knew his identity.

On this day, someone came to the Zheng Xie Dao again.

"What a Zheng Xie Dao."

The black shadow drifted like lightning; Yu Liancheng tapped his toes on the ground, surveying this long, narrow mountain path that made one's heart tremble.

He saw that this winding and twisting Zheng Xie Dao was filled with jagged, uneven rocks. The soil on the ground appeared a strange black, a deep black that faintly revealed red, as if stained by countless fresh blood, carrying an ominous scent.

And throughout the entire mountain path, there were no snakes, insects, rats, or ants; even in the sky above the path, not even flying birds or wild geese could be seen. It revealed an even more ghastly chill, making one's hair stand on end. Standing on the Zheng Xie Dao was like being in a world of ice and snow.

Yu Liancheng brushed his fingers over the black soil, feeling not only the baleful energy but also a demonic intent that penetrated to the bone, as if mad, as if crazy, as if insane, as if enraged...

"What a Di Yi Xie Huang, I hope you do not disappoint me."

Yu Liancheng raised an eyebrow.

Ordinary Edo figures did not know who the ruthless person who had taken control of the Zheng Xie Dao was, but he knew.

—Di Yi Xie Huang.

Ever since this person was in his mother's womb, everything had to be first. His compound surname was Di Yi, and he was also the first-born son in his family.

Regarding literature, starting from the age of four, he was proficient and well-versed in every aspect of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Everything he did was the first.

Regarding martial arts, he began learning at the age of six, and in just one year, he had already surpassed his master, requiring no further instruction.

He practiced the saber better than the Saber Emperor, and the sword better than the Sword Emperor; he was proficient and well-versed in all eighteen varieties of martial arts.

In the eyes of others, he was already a perfectly flawless figure.

However, Di Yi Xie Huang was stubborn by nature, believing that even if one's martial arts truly reached the number one in the world, there would still be ways to break them. In the martial arts of the world, nothing was perfect and without flaws.

Therefore, he wanted to create the most ideal, most perfect saber technique.

And this person was so brilliantly talented that after a period of seclusion, he actually realized a set of perfectly flawless saber techniques.

It was just a pity.

A perfectly flawless saber technique should not exist in the world to begin with.

There is no such thing as a perfect person.

How could a flawed person wield a flawless saber?

And the flawless saber was even more deeply imbued with demonic intent.

After obtaining the saber, Di Yi Xie Huang's son came to find him to spar.

The Evil King was originally unwilling, but his son had inherited his stubbornness and threatened him with death.

After the two exchanged blows, the Evil King could not control the Demonic Saber.

Thus, after the Demonic Saber was first completed, the first person Di Yi Xie Huang killed was, shockingly, his own son.

To curb his demonic nature, he retired to this desolate Life and Death Gate.

Or, by borrowing the baleful energy of this place, thoroughly complete the Wuxue Blade.

Or, with Demon roots planted deep, commit suicide within the Zheng Xie Dao.

The terrain grew higher and higher, and also steeper and steeper.

Very soon, Yu Liancheng had arrived at the end of the mountain path.

The view before his eyes suddenly opened up, yet it was not a scene of bright flowers and willow trees, but rather a place filled with swirling clouds and mist, a ten-thousand-foot abyss, deep and bottomless. Amidst the whistling mountain wind, a clattering sound actually came from within the mist.

It turned out that within the clouds and mist, several Iron chains as thick as an arm extended and stretched out, connecting the two cliff walls. Just as Yu Liancheng was about to step onto the Iron chains, an aged voice rang out.

"Once you enter the Zheng Xie Dao, from here on the path is filled with Demons; why not retreat quickly."

As the words fell, a fierce wind howled, the clouds and mist were pushed aside, and several streaks of blade Qi arrived across the air, enveloping Yu Liancheng. It was just that there was no killing intent within the blade Qi, only a desire to force Yu Liancheng back.

A cold snort rang out, like a thunderclap exploding out of thin air, and the blade Qi was shaken until it suddenly dissipated.

"Di Yi Xie Huang, this is not the way to treat a guest; how can you drive a guest away the moment they arrive."

Amidst the sound of his words, Yu Liancheng had already crossed the several-dozen-zhang-long Iron chains, and at the end was a forest, though the trees were mostly in a withered yellow state, and as soon as the wind blew, they swirled and drifted across the sky.

And deep within the forest, one could see a mountain wall, and on the mountain wall was a Stone Gate with a black and white Taiji.

——Life and Death Gate.

"This place is ominous; those who enter become Demons. If you persist in your own way, there is only death." From within the Life and Death Gate, that aged voice rang out once more. Being closer, he could feel even more the coldness and indifference of that voice, not mixed with a shred of emotion. It also seemed as if it were suppressing something, which could erupt like a volcano at any moment.

"Di Yi Xie Huang, since I have already arrived at your door, are you still unwilling to invite me in to sit for a while?" Yu Liancheng stood with his hands behind his back, a smile on his face.

From within the Life and Death Gate, Di Yi Xie Huang was silent for a long while; only after quite some time did a voice slowly emerge: "You... truly want to enter the Life and Death Gate?"

"Could it be false?"

"Good, then..." Di Yi Xie Huang's voice rang out: "Please enter."

When the last word fell, the tightly shut Life and Death Gate slowly parted. At the same time, a black mist spread out from within the Life and Death Gate.

Wherever that black mist passed, all vitality was extinguished.

And the black mist also seemed to have a spirit, sensing the existence of Yu Liancheng, and it suddenly transformed into a venomous snake, charging straight toward Yu Liancheng.

"Then I shall intrude."

Yu Liancheng walked slowly toward the Life and Death Gate, and when that snake-like black mist was three feet away from him, it suddenly dissipated, turning into a wisp of breeze that drifted away.