Donghuang Ziji

Chapter 728: Red Thread Cuts Off Life and Death

Chu Tai was not clear about the conflict between Jun Mo and True Lord Hunyuan, but just as Bai Yihong and others worried, Chu Tai saw too much darkness in this calamity, so much so that he doubted whether he still wanted to save people.

'At this moment, humanity is in chaos, the Central Plains is in turmoil, and all living beings are sinking. Instead of struggling to save them, it is better to mobilize the power of the Nine Heavens, use the Milo Umbrella to guide the water from the East China Sea back to the human world. I have a copy of King Yu's River Map and fragments of the Dao Fruit of the Hebo System, which are enough to guide the direction of the river and cleanse the human world!'

As this thought came to his mind, some turbid black gas emerged from the Miro Sky-covering Umbrella, and the Hunyuan Shangling Jade Emperor's Miaodao Treasure Scroll shook, as if it was about to emit black and white precious light, but it was entangled by wisps of black gas and disturbed by wisps of evil spirits, and the light did not fall on Chu Tai's mind.

Looking at the human world again, Chu Tai's mind was even more distracted. It was at this moment that he suddenly felt a little bit of prayer.

"Fellow Daoist, if you have a spirit, please protect me and help me save them this time."

Shocked, Chu Tai looked down and saw that the Baishihe Town guarded by Taoist Mu Jing was experiencing a ritual of ghost soldiers passing through the town initiated by a demonic cultivator.

It is said to be a transit, but in fact it is an invasion, because among those ghost soldiers passing through the border, many of them are the remaining souls of people from Baishihe Town who went out to work, and they are naturally connected to this land.

At this moment, this fondness for his homeland and the connection with his hometown, under the guidance of the evil magic, turned into a sharp knife that chiseled open the protective formation set up by Taoist Mu Jing, forcing him to abandon the spiritual tree that was the foundation of his rebirth.

Taoist Mu Jing in the center of the formation looked at Zheng Yang, Cang Xuan, Chang Pu and Mo Zhi who were surrounding him, and whispered: "Back then, when Fellow Daoist Chu sent this Yin spirit wood from a distance, I was still wondering. Now that I think about it, he probably foresaw a little bit of today's scene."

As he spoke, he raised his hand, and a faint laurel fragrance surged at his fingertips. A piece of strange spiritual wood that looked like osmanthus and peach was thrown out by him. It took root and grew pieces of light pink peach blossoms.

The petals fluttered, turning into a pink barrier to block the negative energy from the outside world.

As soon as the two came into contact, bursts of red light suddenly emerged from the pink haze, illuminating the entire Baishihe Town in red. No matter how the extremely thick black air rolled or how the many ghosts inside struggled, they could not break through the red light and fall.

"Ok?"

A cry of surprise came from the black air, and Taoist Mu Jing also widened his eyes, obviously not expecting the spiritual wood to be so powerful.

Cang Xuan and others nearby were about to ask, but Mu Jing was suddenly stunned. In the dark, Chu Tai took advantage of the cause and effect to manifest his body and taught him a method, which made him understand the key.

At the moment when Taoist Mu Jing was thinking, the demon cultivator in the black air also saw some of the origins of the red light. He raised his hand and took out three bone-inlaid gold knives engraved with talismans, and chopped them down fiercely.

That bone knife was quite peculiar. As soon as it left his hand, it split into more than thirty evil smoke streaks that rose into the sky, rose hundreds of feet, and swirled down, transforming into hundreds or thousands of thin bone blades that flew in the wind, sometimes scattered and sometimes gathered. There were so many of them, but they did not interfere with each other, and seemed to be one with the red light and powder mist. From a distance, it seemed as if there was a strange gray-red cocoon breathing in the Baishihe Town, sometimes bulging and sometimes collapsing.

"As expected! It's a really good trick! But your trick hurts others and yourself. Why don't you let go and I'll give you some peace. How about that?"

The figure in the black air seemed to have figured out the trick and was unwilling to continue to argue, so he gave a solution that sounded good.

Taoist Mu Jing did not answer, but asked: "What about the dead souls?"

"Well, you are a little greedy!"

The figure in the black air sneered, but still nodded and agreed: "If you are willing to let go of your protection, I will allow you to keep the souls related to this land. I can swear on my own Dao heart. How about it?"

As he spoke these words, thick black air rolled, and the souls of the dead emerged one by one. The longings in the dark began to take shape and some people in Baishihe Town felt them.

Mo Zhi noticed something was wrong at the first moment. He raised his hand and released the Kun Yuan Xuan Huang Qi, cast the Zhu Yue True Form Seal, stabilized the earth veins, and calmed everyone's minds.

Zhengyang also reacted and raised the Sanyang Mingxin Lamp. The faint light continued to spread, illuminating the minds of all living beings.

Cang Xuan and Chang Pu also took out the Black Emperor's Sea-Covering Flag and the White Emperor's Golden Axe and were on guard carefully.

"Hmm? You don't want to reconcile with me? You want to block my path to enlightenment?"

The black gas rolled and changed, becoming thicker and thicker, carrying with it a hint of emerald green phosphorous fire that spread outward like a wave, and the grass and trees turned to dust in an instant. However, the flames had no effect at all when they fell into the red light.

Taoist Mu Jing stepped forward, red light rising, gradually suppressing the green phosphorous fire and black gas. He said in a cold voice: "Your path to enlightenment ends here."

"Just because you are a fifth-rank cultivator? You want to stop me?"

The black shadow slowly took shape, and it turned out to be a fourth-grade celestial being. Judging from his aura, he seemed to be an immortal, but at this moment his aura was turbid, his yin energy was extremely heavy, and his vitality was dim, almost non-existent, and he was obviously on the verge of death.

He stared at the spiritual tree behind Taoist Mu Jing: "Do you really think this wood can protect you?"

"This spiritual wood is the object of my reincarnation, and it is also an important link between my golden body and this land."

As Taoist Mu Jing spoke, the red light became stronger and stronger, even overwhelming the aura of the monk.

"If we regard the earth as our mother, with Baishihe Town as the center, the surrounding land is our womb, and the spiritual tree is the symbol of the birthplace of life, the umbilical cord connecting mother and child!"

"Because of the ancient saint king, the netherworld of our great heaven is incomplete, so the boundary between life and death is more distinct. Although I don't know how you stayed in the human world, from the fact that you held the ritual of the underworld soldiers passing through the border and attracted the breath of the living and the dead, I can see that you should want to take this opportunity to reshape your body. This action is against the concept of life and death of heaven and earth, and there must be a catastrophe. You must take a specific path of life and death to survive the catastrophe of yin and yang and have the possibility of rebirth."

"As a person born from this land, the umbilical cord that connects me to the land is the biggest barrier that prevents you from reversing life and death. Only by crossing it can you welcome the new life and shed your old body! You won't let me go, and I won't let you go either!"

The spiritual tree began to grow according to Taoist Mu Jing's thoughts and the secret method taught by Chu Tai, gathering the causes and conditions of the land and turning into red lines flying in the sky, falling down layer by layer.

The black shadow was furious and wanted to leave, but two red lines appeared under his feet and trapped him.

He was shocked and angry, and shouted, "What are you doing? Don't you also want to take this opportunity to rebuild your body? What good will it do you to stop me? Wouldn't it be better to collect the wishes of all living beings and return to the human world now?"

Taoist Mu Jing looked miserable and said, "If I can, I will seek survival, but if survival requires the sacrifice of millions of lives, I am unwilling to do so."

“Why are you pretending to be a compassionate person, pretending that you really do serve the people? If that were true, you shouldn’t have absorbed the power of incense and vows, and condensed a power similar to that of a god. After all, once this thing takes shape, it will inevitably limit all living beings and absorb their wisdom and spirit. You are just treating them as nourishment.” As he spoke, turbid air rolled around the black shadow, constantly impacting the earth veins, intending to shake this place, break the seal, and force his way in.

At the same time, the black shadow guessed what Taoist Mu Jing wanted to do, and in order to buy himself time, he also told a lot of secrets in an attempt to disturb his mind.

"And do you think there will be any good results if we both lose? The world is in chaos now. Do you really think that only this place is in trouble, and that the method I obtained is the only one that can be used?"

"This is a battle between the Sovereign Demonic Path and the Saint King Path, a clash between the Immortal Path and the Demonic Path. We are all just pawns! We are the fish in the pond under their clash. The only correct path is to improve our cultivation and strengthen ourselves!"

"Join hands with me, as long as you are willing. I am a half-dead person, and you are a half-living god. We can complement each other and perfect each other's rebirth rituals. I can restore my fourth-grade celestial status, and you can also be promoted to the fourth-grade celestial realm. We can both gain a certain degree of self-protection ability!"

"So, don't stop me..."

After hearing these words, Zhengyang, Cangxuan, Changpu and Mohong were all a little shaken, and Taoist Mu Jing even took two steps back.

The black shadow was delighted and slowed down his movements a little. While accumulating strength, he continued to persuade.

Unexpectedly, Taoist Mu Jing took this opportunity to come to the side of the spiritual tree and whispered: "I don't know what you have experienced, and I don't want to know what you have seen. I am now the immortal god guarding this place. The people here worship me, so I should give them peace."

The bad feeling in the black shadow's heart became clearer and clearer, and he roared: "Even if you die, it can't stop the growth of the disaster at all, even if your death only delays their extinction by a quarter of an hour?"

"If I am not dead, I will not let them die first."

After saying this, the Taoist turned around and bowed to the sky: "My fellow immortal masters, today I have failed in my efforts to subdue the demons. I only pray for your protection and to stop the demonic disaster here! Protect the people of Baishihe Town and let them survive!"

Then, Taoist Mu Jing bowed to Zhengyang, Cangxuan, Changpu and Mozhi and said, "My fellow Taoists, after I leave, you don't need to worry about the peace here. It was me who made the agreement with Baishihezhen, not you."

"Don't talk nonsense..."

When Cang Xuan and others wanted to refute, the black shadow had already completed accumulating strength, and roared and released the three bone-inlaid gold knives engraved with runes again.

After this treasure was stimulated to its extreme, golden light gradually became dominant, and some immortal aura emerged, while the demonic aura was suppressed a lot. Although the edge of the sword light became a little duller, the power it brought on the red light was even greater.

Taoist Mu Jing also knew that he couldn't delay any longer, so he stretched out his hand and made hand gestures, saying in a deep voice: "I sincerely bow down to you! I am in the Northern Palace, and I am in charge of the Netherworld. I have experienced disasters to save people, and I have bestowed my grace on the underworld... I have compassion for all things, and I have spread my teachings in different forms. I have surpassed the four spirits in the underworld, and I have saved gods and ghosts from all places... I am in charge of life and fortune, and I judge life and death. The ten palaces are all devoted to me, and the six caves are all bowing to me... I have great compassion and great wishes, and I am a great saint and great mercy. The leader of the Netherworld, the Heavenly Venerable who saves sins in the Nine Netherworlds!"

As Taoist Mu Jing recited the sacred edict, a mysterious force rose from beneath the earth. Relying on the secret method taught by Chu Tai, he made a sword gesture with his hand and said, "God of Heaven, I, Mu Jing, pray to God to witness today and lead the souls of the dead back to their hometowns, and stop the dead from resurrecting!"

Then, the sword in his hand fell, and a ray of sword light cut through the spiritual wood.

At the same time, a huge banyan tree in Baishihe Town broke at the same time, and its roots flew all over the sky, turning into countless red lines that fell down and merged into the black air, attracting the thoughts of the dead souls and leading them back home.

As for Taoist Mu Jing himself, he lost his life at the first moment and fell into the underworld.

As for the black energy, it was also severely backfired as the spiritual wood broke, the dead souls returned home, and the ritual of the ghost soldiers crossing the border was broken. The whole person fell to the ground, with a murderous look on his face, and said: "Okay! Okay! Okay! In this case, I will sacrifice the blood of the living beings here, and they can also do it for me..."

Suddenly, a hand appeared on the black shadow's face, and the shadow of Taoist Mu Jing appeared, supporting his cheek.

"How did you..."

"I said, I will extradite the dead souls back to their hometown. Your fate will be here. It is related to this place. I will extradite you."

A faint red light appeared on Taoist Mu Jing's palm, and countless red lines tightly wrapped around the black shadow, preventing it from leaving.

"You lead the dead souls back home, but I am not the dead!"

The turbid air rolled, and the endless resentment of the dead souls in the surrounding black air was attracted by it and entered through the nine orifices. Red hair grew instantly, covering the black shadow's body, forming a layer of protection, and at the same time suppressing the remaining vitality in his body, preventing him from dying completely.

Faced with the increasing number of red lines falling layer by layer, the black shadow's red hair would touch them and green flames would rise up, burning them off without leaving a trace.

Upon hearing this, Taoist Mu Jing showed a look of misery on his face and sighed, "I know you are unwilling to give up, but you must not forget that you died in the collision of the hundred years and two days, and your corpse transformation failed. At this moment, you are just a wisp of dead soul deceived by the devil."

"They just want to use your hands, along with the twelve roads of life and death that run through the Central Plains, to help a certain demon cultivator to make further progress."

"Brother Dao, wake up quickly!"

This time, Chu Tai, who was far away in the Jinhua Cave Heaven, also lent out more strength and cooperated with Taoist Mu Jing to attract a ray of power from the Nine Netherworlds Heavenly Venerate.

This Heavenly Lord is a figment and not a real person. Theoretically, all immortals and gods can receive his blessing as long as they convert the souls of the dead according to their transactions with him.

Originally, Taoist Mu Jing's mission to save the dead souls of a group of people could not attract too much spiritual response from this Heavenly Venerable, but Chu Tai, with the cause and fate in mind, responded to his request and some spiritual responses descended from the sky and landed on Chu Tai, while some spiritual responses rose from the ground and gathered around Chu Tai.

A small amount of this spiritual response fell on Taoist Mu Jing according to fate, and echoed in the ears of the black shadow along with his words.

"I am..."

The black shadow gradually woke up. He watched Taoist Mu Jing shed some blood and tears. In the light, together with Taoist Mu Jing, they brought the spiritual response of Heavenly Venerable and merged into the earth veins to repair the spiritual power of this place and eliminate the possibility of this place turning into a demonic yin and yang road of life and death.

In an instant, somewhere in the Central Plains, a black shadow shook and a faint black mist appeared around it.

(End of this chapter)