Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

Chapter 307 Divine Lord
In that instant, Li Wuxiang understood what the seed of calamity was.

It is a wish!
Almost all the tribulations in this world are tribulations of aspiration!

The higher one's spiritual attainment and the stronger one's aspirations, the greater the tribulations will be! When one's spiritual level is low, one can use some tricks to deceive and fool others, but as karmic debts accumulate and aspirations multiply, all these things must be repaid in the end!
The God of Destiny governs the fate of the world and the arising of desires. Ordinary people worship the Kitchen God only for food and happiness. At this time, the Great Calamity Star planted this calamity in the God of Destiny's heart—if the people of the world cannot have food and peace for a day, it will not be able to overcome this calamity!

His thoughts shifted instantly, and Mei Qiulu immediately understood, so she shouted, "True Lord Si Ming! You have become a True Immortal but not a Golden Immortal. Now we will help you become a Golden Immortal—come to this world and see if you can overcome this tribulation!?"

Li Wuxiang loudly echoed, "Senior Sister, what will happen if it can't get through?"

Mei Qiulu sneered: "If this calamity had beenfallen me, I might have had some way to avoid it. But it fell upon this Lord of Fate—do you think the offerings and sacrifices of the mortal world are so easy to enjoy? He holds power, and the will of mortals is constantly urging him on, so this calamity is drawing ever closer—Li Jiaotu! Do you have the guts to become an emperor?!"

The extremely joyful expression that had been on the face of the True Lord of Fate had disappeared!
An invisible and intangible cloud of gloom began to press down on it, extinguishing its flames and causing its twisted body to sink into the lava and fire.

But Li Jiaotu, unwilling to give up, raised one wing and one arm and lifted it upwards as if to fight against this sorrow—all the huge mouths on its body opened, making a loud roar, and the sounds of praise and admiration blended together, making the lava beneath it shine brightly, as if it was about to boil and erupt!
Wearing Mei Qiulu's disguise, Li Wuxiang, emboldened by his arrogance, immediately launched into a tirade: "What the hell are you praising?! So many people in the world who worship you are starving, and you're praising your mother?!"

"Li Wuxiang, you're right to scold me!"

It's as if his words become law!
Suddenly, a long snake of lightning flashed across the star-studded sky from west to east, as if tearing the night sky apart and revealing the flesh and blood of the firmament, causing it to flow down!
The flesh and blood of the sky and the heavens are blue, white, blazing lightning, and dense, impenetrable calamity clouds!
The entire sky was flashing, covered in lightning! The sky and the sea seemed to have been turned upside down, the thick clouds surging, rolling, and howling, reflected in the dense lightning in a deep, unfathomable blue.

With the help of Mei Qiulu's divine sense, Li Wuxiang felt that he could sense an even more terrifying and powerful aura deep in the vast and boundless tribulation lightning and tribulation clouds - an aura of the same level and size as Donghuang Taiyi, with a total of six auras!
They seemed to be casting a glance at this place through the cracks in the mortal world torn apart by this great calamity of true immortals, observing the situation here.

But Li Wuxiang knew that what was being watched now was far more than just them—he had used the body of a Yang God to help a true immortal in the mortal world escape a great calamity, and this matter had probably alarmed all the most powerful figures in the world!

The tribulation lightning began to fall, but it didn't strike this place directly. Instead, it was as if the power had accumulated to a certain degree, and it fell like raindrops that the clouds could no longer contain—tiny pillars of lightning struck everywhere between heaven and earth, making the clouds and lightning directly above the Great Tribulation Mountain even brighter. One after another, mammatus clouds hung down from the sky, containing countless coiled and surging electric snakes, like giant worms about to be splashed onto the world!

Faced with this impending calamity, the True Lord of Fate finally began to retreat.

It retracted its hands and wings, and the sounds of praise and admiration also ceased. But its enormous mouth opened and closed, finally uttering in human language: "Li Wuxiang, I have remembered you."

"Oh, oh, oh! You can speak human language now!? You're no longer so carefree!?" Li Wuxiang laughed loudly, speaking in unison with Mei Qiulu, "Remember whatever you want! I, Li Wuxiang, came into this world to betray my master and destroy my ancestors! You are the ancestor I'm going to destroy!"

The last towering cliff of Mount Dajie collapsed. But this was no longer the "rebirth" of the True Lord of Fate; it was ruin and destruction!
The power that had been surrounding them and preventing Mei Qiulu from escaping vanished along with the collapse of the mountain wall. A certain thought arose in Li Wuxiang's mind—the Great Elixir was not completed, and the Sovereign Elixir was freed!

then--

Li Wuxiang immediately retreated into the depths of his mind, and Mei Qiulu regained control of the body.

As the True Lord of Fate was about to retreat from the mortal world back to Mount Ling, the dense, impenetrable tribulation clouds in the sky began to slowly dissipate—but dazzling divine light burst forth from Mei Qiulu, a Yang God realm and a terrestrial immortal!

Mei Qiulu spread her arms wide in the air, radiant as the rising sun. Countless sword energies emanated from her body, transforming into a dense array of sword lights that hovered around her. She made hand seals, and the sword lights transformed into profound incantations, swirling around her and emitting a chanting-like hum.

"Li Jiaotu! This mortal world isn't one you can come to and leave as you please!"

With a swift movement of her hands, the cursed light suddenly intensified, pressing down on the body of the Fate Master!
With a deafening roar, the entire magma pool was shoved into a deep valley by this force. What had once stood tall was the Great Calamity Mountain, but now it had become the walls of this valley!

Mei Qiulu then clapped her arms together, and the mountain wall closed in, with billions of rocks and soil crashing down with tremendous force. The rising dust almost completely obscured the lightning that had not yet dissipated between heaven and earth!

At this moment, Li Wuxiang sensed the changes in Mei Qiulu's physical body—the spiritual energy of heaven and earth absorbed into it was simply too much, so much that it expanded and broadened the meridians within Mei Qiulu's body to an infinite extent, so much that her physical body seemed to be diluted by the spiritual energy, gradually becoming less solid. He also sensed a chilling, boundless killing intent, as if her body was about to transform into pure power, pure light, pure—

sword!
A word suddenly popped into his head—

The Ascension to Immortality: The Sword Transformation Chapter!
The sword, carrying Li Wuxiang, slashed down!
Amidst the rising smoke and dust, a wing and an arm suddenly emerged, but upon clashing with the sword, they immediately crumbled and disintegrated into a massive halo of light!

Li Wuxiang felt the sword shatter the face beneath the smoke and dust, shatter the flesh and blood beneath the face, shatter the boundless desires within the flesh and blood, and even reach a thin yet unbreakable barrier separating the two worlds, before striking directly at what lay beyond that barrier, causing the seed of calamity planted within it to erupt violently—

A heart-wrenching wail erupted, sounding like that of the True Lord of Fate, Zhao Qi, and the corpse dragon he had seen in the Crimson Sky that day. It traveled from the Crimson Sky all the way to Mount Ling, and from Mount Ling all the way to the mortal world, before transforming into a cloud of sorrow, rising with the smoke and dust high into the heavens, forcing even those observing from behind the lightning curtain to give way!
He didn't know how long it took him to recover from that overwhelming sense of power. In that instant, it felt as if he himself had unleashed that sword strike; the sword intent, the countless transforming incantations, were branded into his mind like indelible marks. He stood there, stunned, reviewing everything he had experienced, afraid of forgetting it—not being able to use it now didn't mean he wouldn't be able to use it later. No one else in the world would receive the true teachings of the Taiyi Sect so readily; this was truly…

Then he realized that Mei Qiulu was standing opposite him.

The surrounding smoke and dust dissipated, leaving only a thin layer of clouds in the sky.

The Great Calamity Mountain and the lava pool beneath it have vanished, replaced by a bottomless pit that almost completely covers the original peak of the Great Calamity Mountain. It is exceptionally smooth, like black glass, reflecting the distorted image of the sky.

The two of them were now standing on the edge of the deep pit. But Mei Qiulu didn't look at him; instead, she looked down at the ground—

On the glassy ground, the thin layer of clouds slowly dispersed, revealing scattered starlight. Then, the starlight became distorted, and an elusive aura emanated from it, coalescing into a human voice. As soon as this voice arose, the world was actually quite quiet. But Li Wuxiang felt as if he had suddenly found himself in a bustling marketplace, surrounded by countless people watching him.

"With a single sword strike, they annihilated a True Immortal who had descended to the mortal realm. These two can be considered as great and small deities."

who! ?

"Who?" Mei Qiulu asked in a deep voice.

"My name is Shen Qiu. I have never met Master Mei, but I have long admired your name." Shen Qiu? Li Wuxiang looked at Mei Qiulu.

“It is Master Shen of the Five Mountains True Form Sect.” Mei Qiulu said with a half-smile, “I dare not accept the title of Divine Lord. What instructions do you have?”

"Slaying a true immortal with a sword, one can naturally be called a divine lord. I dare not presume to offer guidance, but even though Sect Leader Mei has slain this descended being, the True Lord of Fate will still be watching the mortal world from Mount Ling, waiting for an opportunity."

"Now that the great calamity still rages in your Taiyi Diocese, and since my Six Departments of the Mysterious Sect and the Taiyi Sect share the same origin, we will prioritize the well-being of all living beings in the world during this great calamity—we will cease hostilities within thirty years. What do you two divine lords think?"

Calling her Goddess Mei Qiulu is perfectly appropriate. Li Wuxiang also thought she was too divine, a genuine terrestrial deity.

But "two" divine lords? He realized that perhaps all those who had used their supernatural powers to spy on this place had noticed his abnormality. He wasn't sure if they knew or could calculate that he possessed the rank of a Great Calamity True Lord, but there was no doubt that they had their eyes on him.

He had heard the phrase "from the same source" many times before. The Thirty-Six Sects and the True Form Sect would say "from the same source" when they couldn't win. Li Wuxiang didn't think that Shen Qiu, the leader of the True Form Sect of the Five Mountains, or others, or even the Great Emperors of the Outer Heavens, would be afraid of Mei Qiulu's sword—after all, she was only a newly formed Yang God.

But he felt that this was because they felt threatened—after Jiang Jie, the Taiyi Sect regained its core, and Mei Qiulu's abilities were recognized.

Mei Qiulu smiled slightly: "Since we come from the same source and are doing this for the sake of all living beings, why don't the Six Departments lend a hand? Send out some of the birds and beasts within the diocese so that the mountains and rivers can be restored. Master Shen, in a few years the plants and trees within the Taiyi Diocese may wither and die, and in a few decades or a hundred years, perhaps the mountains will collapse, the rivers will change course, and the earth's energy will change drastically."

Shen Qiu sighed: "This is also the impermanence of the world and the way of Heaven. My Six Departments will not go against Heaven. However, if Master Mei has pity on the people within your sect, you can tell them that anyone with excellent aptitude and good physique can come to my Six Departments' religious district, and my department will naturally accept them."

Mei Qiulu remained silent for a moment, then sneered, "Fine, let's call a truce."

Shen Qiu remained silent.

Li Wuxiang was wondering if the person had left when he noticed Mei Qiulu looking up at him.

He paused for a moment before realizing—"Am I supposed to speak too? That's giving me far too much credit."

So he lowered his voice and said, "Okay."

There was still no sound from the other end. After a while, someone spoke: "Has the Little God also agreed to a ceasefire?"

Mei Qiulu glanced slightly upwards.

Li Wuxiang was stunned for a moment before he realized what was happening.

A harbinger of great calamity. He now holds a position of authority... Vows are not made lightly. Shen Qiu didn't want to hear "okay," but a definite answer.

That old man is really cautious.

He said, “Alright, let’s call a truce. But this truce means that for the next thirty years, no one from your six divisions can come to the Taiyi Diocese. No living person can come, no dead person can come, no one who is neither alive nor dead can come, and no one can possess any living being to come to the Taiyi Diocese. Anyone from your side who has a mind, who has spiritual attainment, or both, whether human or not, cannot come. Even those who were originally in your six divisions but have apostasyed cannot come.”

"Since you said it's our Taiyi Diocese, that means you acknowledge that all the territories outside of the Six Departments of the Xuanjiao belong to the Taiyi Diocese. Also, this diocese refers to the current one—if your diocese expands outwards within the next thirty years, it will be considered that your people have come to our Taiyi Diocese. Furthermore, the Taiyi Diocese also includes the many sects under the Taiyi Diocese. Sect Leader Shen, as the sect leader, your word is law. Is this what you meant just now?"

Shen Qiu chuckled: "Little God, you're quite amusing. I'm actually looking forward to meeting you thirty years from now. Well, what you just said is exactly what we've been thinking."

Li Wuxiang nodded, wanting to think about it some more. Mei Qiulu smiled at him and shook her head.

Li Wuxiang then said, "With the witness of all the gods and spirits, let us make a vow—to cease hostilities."

The distorted starlight on the ground calmed down, the feeling of being watched suddenly disappeared, and the entire sky seemed to darken.

After waiting for two more breaths, Li Wuxiang asked in a low voice, "Senior Sister, have they all left?"

Mei Qiulu let out a long sigh: "They're all gone."

"...Who were those people just now?"

"I suspect that all the Dao-Merging beings in the Six Departments are still here, along with the true spirit of the Great Emperor."

Li Wuxiang raised his hand and rubbed his face: "This is the first time I've seen such a grand scene. Did I embarrass us?"

Mei Qiulu couldn't help but laugh out loud, looking at Li Wuxiang. After watching him for a while, she couldn't help but raise her hand to smooth the white hair that was scattered in front of his face: "No. You're right."

Li Wuxiang wanted to laugh, but suddenly frowned: "Oh no, Senior Sister, have they already taken over a lot of land in the past few months? I've become the one who's ceding territory!"

Mei Qiulu patted his shoulder and told him to sit down on the ground with her: "Don't overthink it. This is an outcome we never imagined before."

Li Wuxiang fell silent and sat quietly with Mei Qiulu for a while before leaning back and lying on the smooth, mirror-like ground, where he saw the sky full of brilliant stars.

(End of this chapter)