Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

Chapter 304 Sincerely
“Senior Brother Cui…” Mei Qiulu sighed softly and looked around the belly of the Great Calamity Mountain. “I’m standing here to listen to you not because I think what you say makes sense, but because I feel guilty towards you. If it weren’t for the sake of our fellow disciples, you wouldn’t have gone to Youjiuyuan. And if you hadn’t gone to Youjiuyuan, you wouldn’t be in this predicament today.”

"Sigh, you yourself said that after you died, you were captured by Tang Xi, the Sect Master of the Heavenly Craftsmen Sect, on the Star Raft in Mount Ling. Ask yourself, do you still remember yourself back then? Are you now bewitched by the True Lord of Fate?"

Cui Daocheng also sighed and looked at Tang Xi, as if to say that he could no longer persuade her.

Tang Xi spoke up at that moment: "Sect Leader Mei—"

Mei Qiulu snorted: "Do you even deserve to speak to me?"

Tang Xi remained calm and smiled slightly: "Master Mei, please don't be angry. I just want to ask you something—before you joined the Taiyi Sect, if you saw a Taiyi swordsman in distress on the road, would you feel sad as if your own brothers and sisters were in trouble?"

“You protected your fellow disciples and traveled thousands of miles for the Taiyi Sword Sect, wasn’t that after you joined the sect? Do you think that counts as being obsessed with Taiyi? Or rather, what is there in this world besides the desires of the flesh and the stomach that truly comes from the heart? It’s just that we are always obsessed with various external things.”

"Master Mei, you want to cultivate the Great Dao so that you can achieve an indestructible golden body and live forever. In the end, this is just a desire for life. Have you ever thought that this is actually a kind of being blinded by the power of the True Lord of Fate?"

Mei Qiulu looked at him coldly: "Perhaps I did it before to prevent my body from decaying, but now it's to stop you from harming the people!"

"Hahaha!" Tang Xi laughed loudly. "Isn't seeking life for all living beings the same thing? I know that your Taiyi Sect has the Guangchanzi's method, and Fellow Daoists Li and Lou in the sect also practice this method—you say that we are not human, but are they not human? If they were to reveal their empty true nature, which is just a shell, to the world, wouldn't the world be terrified?"

What he said makes sense. Li Wuxiang couldn't help but think to himself. To be honest, Xiu Guangchanzi wasn't much different from these corpse ghosts. He wondered what Xue Baoping thought when she saw his ghostly appearance that night.

Senior Sister Mei is actually not very good with words, but this Sect Leader Tang is quick-witted and eloquent, so she probably won't know how to answer.

He guessed right. Mei Qiulu was stunned for a moment, opened her mouth, but didn't say anything.

Tang Xi stepped forward and said, "If you've calmed down a bit, I'll show you something else."

“Fellow Daoist Kong—” He turned to look at the side and said in a deep voice, “You just met with Sect Leader Mei, let her take a look at you.”

Li Wuxiang immediately looked in the direction he was looking and saw "Fellow Daoist Kong"—Kong Jingci.

Senior Sister Mei really held back just now. She only dispersed the corpse demons formed by Kong Jingci and more than a dozen Golden Core cultivators from the Thirty-Six Sects, but the heads of Kong Jingci and Kong Jingyu were still intact and retained most of their blood nerves.

The two of them, dragging the bright red veins beneath their heads, slowly crawled out from among the ghouls, using the veins as feet to climb onto the stone platform.

When I saw them before, Kong Jingci's personality had changed drastically, and he was completely different from before. But now, the expression on his face has become much clearer, as if he, like Tang Qilang, is gradually regaining his senses.

Tang Xi looked at her: "Fellow Daoist Kong, are you still willing to become pregnant?"

Both heads had trembling lips, probably from pain. They remained silent, seemingly unwilling to become any kind of "fetus," yet in unbearable pain, unable to utter a single word of "no."

Tang Xi nodded: "Is there any fellow Golden Core cultivator who can come and help them?"

Immediately, a ghoul climbed over. This ghoul looked very similar to Kong Jingci and the others before, but it appeared to be formed from only seven or eight people. It also climbed onto the stone platform, and several pieces of flesh wrapped around its head detached from its body and touched Kong Jingci.

They immediately merged together. Kong Jingci's furrowed brows relaxed slightly, as if he could no longer feel the pain, and his expression became relaxed.

Tang Xi then said, "Let's ask a few more fellow Daoists to sacrifice themselves to form a foundation. At this point, we can't care about compatibility anymore."

After saying this, he looked at Mei Qiulu and said, "Sect Leader Mei, you may not know this, but it wasn't that I, Tang, used some evil magic to forcibly gather them together. It was precisely because there was no other way to do it."

"After the calamity, the True Lord of Fate used his supernatural powers. We received those powers and began to eat each other. I originally thought it was a disaster, but after eating each other, we survived because of our blood and nerves. Only then did I realize what the True Lord wanted us to do."

“The disciples who came after us were all there by mutual consent—we were friends and like-minded people who gathered together to cultivate together, which made our minds clearer. But now, in order to let you see whether we are outsiders or heretics, we don’t care about those minor details anymore.”

As he said this, several more heads merged into it.

When the dozen or so people merged together, they reverted to the form Li Wuxiang had seen before, like a mass of rotting flesh and debris, no longer human. But when nearly thirty people merged together, enveloped by their respective sects' magical treasures, their forms slowly began to change. The chaotic organs and broken bones began to arrange themselves in a regular pattern.

Under the influence of blood nerves, they recombine and gradually form a new, snake-like skeleton. Some heads have disappeared into the strange, newly formed organs, only Kong Jingci's face remains exposed, his expression increasingly joyful, showing no trace of hesitation or pain.

“As you know, Master Mei, the magical artifacts of the Thirty-Six Sects were originally refined from the remains of the Ninth Prince of the Demon King. This complete embryo was truly formed by the gathering of thirty-six fellow Daoists of the same realm—using the magical artifacts of each sect to re-evolve into the body of that Demon King.”

As he spoke, disciples from all thirty-six sects had gathered within this ghoul. When the last person joined, the ghoul's body seemed to come alive in an instant—a layer of blood-red skin suddenly appeared on its surface, which then transformed into a pale blue color, revealing fine scales on its surface.

The pus, blood, and strange artifacts were all covered by the bluish-green scales, leaving only Kong Jingci's face exposed... He looked like a human-headed snake with an enormous belly, or a human-headed lizard without limbs.

Tang Xi looked at her and said to Mei Qiulu, "This is the foundation of the embryo—disciples of the thirty sects with similar cultivation levels jointly cultivated this foundation using their respective magic treasures. However, it is called the foundation of the embryo instead of the embryo because something is still missing. Just like elixirs have a sovereign and an adjuvant, we disciples of the thirty-six sects are just adjuvants. As for the sovereign, that is you Taiyi Swordsmen."

"If there were a Taiyi swordsman at the Golden Core realm here, and he were to merge into it, then this embryo would be complete. If everyone in the embryo were at the Nascent Soul realm, it would become an Immortal Embryo. If everyone were at the Yang God realm, it would become a Sacred Embryo—at this point, even an ordinary Yang God realm cultivator, or even someone like you, Master Mei, who has reached the peak of the Yang God realm, would probably be no match for a Sacred Embryo. Alas."

Tang Xi sighed, then looked at Kong Jingci and suddenly asked, "Fellow Daoist Kong, if you were to go down the mountain to spread the Dao and encounter stubborn and unyielding cultivators and mortals who refused to listen to your teachings, what would you do?"

"Huh? How could anyone be so despicable? Despicable, despicable, they deserve to die! I'll make them become fetuses first!"

Tang Xi turned to look at Mei Qiulu: "Sect Leader Mei, look. The embryonic foundation has consciousness, but it has just been cultivated. The thoughts of the thirty-six people influence each other and are not distinguished by primary and secondary, so it looks eccentric and cruel—but this is actually the original appearance of human nature."

"The swordsmen of your Taiyi Sect practice the Taiyi Dharma, and the True Lord of Fate is also under the command of the Great Emperor Taiyi. Therefore, Taiyi swordsmen are born to be the main medicine. Only by integrating their own Taiyi essence into it, controlling everyone, and subduing this excessively vigorous primordial desire can they be conceived and fully restore their clear mind—for example, Fellow Daoist Cui."

"You asked if he was bewitched, and according to what I just said, yes, he was. But do you know what kind of bewitching he was bewitched? These unformed corpse immortals, without the swordsman's command, would likely wreak havoc on the world if they left the belly of this Great Calamity Mountain. Fortunately, we obtained Fellow Daoist Cui's remnant soul, which allowed us to condense the only immortal embryo. Now Fellow Daoist Cui is here to command the immortals, ordering them to stay here temporarily. You just denounced this place as a demon's lair, but you have no idea how much effort we have put in to prevent this demon's lair from collapsing and scattering to the mortal realm."

"Furthermore, once the swordsman enters this embryonic stage, the thoughts of this physical body belong to him, not someone else. Sect Leader Mei, when you speak with Fellow Daoist Cui now, do you feel that his temperament has changed drastically? No, it hasn't, has it? Therefore, in this matter, we, the thirty-six sects, are willing to sacrifice ourselves to help you all become immortals. Sect Leader Mei, you previously wanted to become the leader of the Great Calamity Alliance. If you had become the leader then, you would inevitably have faced disunity and be overwhelmed with problems. But now, Sect Leader Mei, if you have achieved the Holy Embryo stage, you will be the true leader of the Great Calamity Alliance—"

At this point, Tang Xi lifted his hem and knelt down, raising his hands above his head: "Please, Master Mei, ascend the throne!"

Mei Qiulu frowned and glanced at the mountainside again.

Seeing her hesitation, Tang Xi immediately prostrated himself on the ground and cried out again, "Sect Leader Mei, for the sake of all living beings, please ascend the throne! You know perfectly well what the situation is like outside. If we want fewer people to die, we cultivators must turn the tide—the cultivators outside the sect have different thoughts, how many more people will die in vain? In the very moment you hesitate, millions of people have already died!"

Li Wuxiang couldn't help but chuckle. Tang Xi was too amazing, managing to turn the tables so completely. However, although Senior Sister Mei wasn't good with words, she wasn't stupid. Tang Xi had previously set up an ambush at Great Calamity Mountain to wipe everyone out, but now—

"Sect Leader Tang has suddenly changed his tune," Mei Qiulu sneered. "The Heavenly Craftsmen's Sect set a trap in these mountains before the Great Calamity Alliance Meeting, intending to use the True Form Sect's methods to wipe out all the attendees, even at the cost of destroying the world. Now, he's suddenly worried about the common people?"

Tang Xi, still lying on the ground, slightly raised his head. Li Wuxiang was startled to see him like this. Why? He was crying! Two lines of tears streamed down his face!
“Master Mei is right. I haven’t forgotten those sinister thoughts I had before! It’s just that, according to you, Master, when I received the divine power of the True Lord of Fate… I became obsessed!”

"The obsession I was caught up in was the desire for life—my own desire for life, and my desire for life in the world! Only now do I realize how filthy and despicable my previous thoughts and ideas were!"

Mei Qiulu was the type of person who responded better to gentle persuasion than force. Seeing his expression, she seemed taken aback and frowned: "I've heard too many nice words, but I've seen too few nice deeds, Tang Xi—"

"A wonderful thing? Master, if you want to see something wonderful, you've already seen it!" Tang Xi shouted from the ground, "Everyone, come and meet the leader of the Great Calamity Alliance!"

Mei Qiulu remained still, but immediately spread her divine senses in all directions, becoming vigilant in her surroundings.

But no one appeared behind her, to her side, above her, or below her... Instead, it was Tang Xi who appeared!
His body seemed to collapse and disintegrate in an instant, as if his Taoist robe could no longer contain his physical form. Blood, flesh, and organs suddenly gushed out, spreading across the stone platform. Li Wuxiang could clearly see dozens of human heads among them.

Then, the pieces of flesh on the ground suddenly gathered together, skin sprouted, organs shifted, and bones remodeled—transforming into a pinkish ball of flesh. The surface of this ball was bumpy, occasionally sprouting clumps of black hair. At the top of the ball, fourteen heads were crammed together, glued to each other. Tang Xi's head was in the center, shouting at Mei Qiulu, "Sect Leader Mei, do you still recognize us? Do you still think we have ulterior motives and are trying to harm you?"

Li Wuxiang didn't know whose heads those were, but he saw Mei Qiulu's eyes widen, and she almost unleashed her flying sword, which told him that she was truly and utterly shocked.

“You…you have all reached the Yang God cultivation level, and have thus attained the origin, you—”

Li Wuxiang felt his head buzzing... Mei Qiulu said they were at the Yang God level, so they must be Yang God experts from all thirty-six sects!
Only fourteen... because only fourteen out of the thirty-six sects have members at the Yang God realm. These people... holy crap, have they all gone mad?!
"Master Mei, can you still see our selfishness? You are the only Taiyi Swordsman with the cultivation of the Yang God in this world. The life and death of all the people in the world depend on your single thought!"

Fourteen heads cried out in unison, each with a different voice, but all filled with sorrow and tears in their eyes, as if the tears were shed for the suffering of the world and for all living beings!

Mei Qiulu's expression gradually softened. She stared at them for a moment, then closed her eyes slightly and sighed, "You...you cultivate the methods of the Thirty-Six Sects, but I know how difficult it is for you to attain Yang Spirit, and what hardships and dangers you must endure..."

"Sigh." She finally took two steps forward in the air and landed on the stone platform.

"All living beings under heaven... I wouldn't have believed you before when you said these things. But now, I have no choice but to believe you. Sect Leader Tang, I believe that's what you all think now. True Lord Siming, you are truly all-powerful... then I will..."

She turned her face, looked at Cui Daocheng beside her, hesitated for a moment, and finally let out a long breath: "Then I'll give you a way out."

(End of this chapter)