Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

Chapter 367 Xu Zhen's Supernatural Powers

Upon hearing Li Wuxiang's words, Xu Zhen burst into laughter again, then leaped down from the top of the stone fortress and landed on the ground.

His landing was as if a small mountain had collapsed, the ground plunging into a deep crater, and the shockwave, carrying rubble and dust, roared towards them. Those close to him were thrown over by the shockwave. Those farther away were also struck by the rubble, their bodies covered in blood and their fur disheveled. Xue Baoping and Li Guichen ducked low, hearing only a whooshing sound overhead, like countless darts and arrows flying past.

This wave passed, but the dust hadn't yet settled. Suddenly, a figure burst out from the dust and came right in front of Xu You—Xue Baoping and Li Guichen looked up and saw that it was Xu Zhen.

Xu Zhen still looks like Xu Zhen, but there are subtle differences—a pair of golden horns have grown on the top of her head, there are fine scales on her cheeks, and even her pupils have become slender.

He looked extremely happy and excited. After appearing in front of Xu You, he grabbed the fur on his chest and lifted him up.

He truly deserved the description of being "like a madman." Xue Baoping was startled, thinking he had noticed something was wrong between her and Li Guichen and wanted to ask Xu You why he had brought these two people here.

Xu Yougai was also startled, pressing his ears back and tucking his tail between his hind legs, whimpering softly incessantly.

But then Xu Zhen stared at him and asked, "Do you know how many names there are for the True Lord of the Wei River?! Hmm?!"

Xu You was taken aback by his question and dared not move. Seeing his reaction, Xu Zhen seemed quite displeased and tossed him aside. His eyes darted around and landed on Li Guichen. He strode over, grabbed the stag's legs, pressed his head against the stag's, and asked again, "So, do you know? Hmm!?"

His appearance suddenly reminded Xue Baoping of a drunkard. Xu Zhenzhen had truly gone mad, and quite madly at that!
Li Guichen imitated Xu You, sobbing silently. Only then did they hear someone in the dust behind Xu Zhen say, "You call him the True Lord of the Wei River, the Ninth Prince, the Dragon King of the Six Rivers, and the Supreme Being of the Great Achievement—Your Majesty, please don't make things difficult for these little demons. They still need to be taught."

The speaker was Li Wuxiang. He walked behind Xu Zhen, and with a flick of his sleeve, the dust immediately dissipated.

Xue Baoping couldn't help but glance at him—Li Wuxiang's appearance hadn't changed much, and he was still wearing the soft armor of the Shangchi Sect. His eyes were clear, his expression was calm, and there was no sign of madness or insanity.

He met her gaze for a moment. Xue Baoping noticed that his gaze paused for a split second, then he glanced at the stag beside him before quickly looking away.

She knew Li Wuxiang's eyes all too well... He recognized her!
He recognized him, but didn't call him out. He was still clear-headed, or rather, at least not more confused than when they parted!

That's good—she thought to herself about how to find him later, but the next moment she saw Li Wuxiang frown and turn to stare at her and Li Guichen: "What's your background, you two?"

Upon hearing his words, Xu Zhen immediately tossed the stag aside: "What's wrong? Are these two acting strangely?"

Li Wuxiang snorted: "These two things still smell of human; I'm afraid their humanity hasn't been completely eradicated—"

He paused slightly, then looked at the white horse beside him: "This thing is also—good, it's perfect for refining the supreme body. Your Majesty, your body will be ready soon!"

Xu Zhen had been frowning, staring at the three men with a fierce and wary expression. But upon hearing "Great Completion Supreme Body," his brows immediately relaxed, and he burst into laughter: "Good! Hahahaha! Good! Take it and refine it! Take it and refine it!"

After saying this, he leaped into the air and soared into the sky.

As soon as he left, Li Wuxiang winked at the two of them and pointed with his hand: "You three, behave yourselves and come with me!"

Xue Baoping felt a sudden dizziness—she had been thinking about how to pretend she had been under some kind of supernatural power, but the next moment, she found herself no longer outside the stone fortress.

She, Li Guichen, and the white horse are now in a large hall inside the stone fortress.

The hall was extremely spacious, towering high above the ceiling, a dark expanse. To the sides were two rows of massive black stone pillars, seemingly endless. The light source was at the front—behind a throne in the north of the hall, two burning torches.

The throne was extremely high and enormous, and it didn't look like it was prepared for anyone; rather, it should belong to a giant as large as a small mountain. But now, a person sat on it, who appeared very small in comparison—it was Li Wuxiang.

His gaze swept over the two of them: "You're awake?"

Xue Baoping quickly looked at her hands and saw that she still had a pair of furry front paws, while Li Guichen was still a male deer. She tried to speak, but could only utter human words: "...Li Wuxiang?"

Li Wuxiang sighed from his throne: "Xu Zhen told you to stay away from Dapan Mountain and become a recluse in the martial world. Why did you come back?"

Hearing his tone, Xue Baoping was secretly delighted... He really was sober!
Overjoyed, she couldn't help but stretch out her front paws and body, intending to yawn. But Li Wuxiang said, "No—don't move like that. From now on, you must always remember that you are human beings. Walking, sitting, and lying down are fine, but other things, like stretching or swishing your tail or shaking your head, don't do them. These are animal habits. If you get used to them, your consciousness will slowly fade away."

"Li Wuxiang, what's going on here? You've turned people into beasts, you..."

"Don't worry, I'm not crazy, and it's not something I wanted to do." He sighed. "When you left, I was battling Xu Zhen, and I still am—"

"then you……"

“Oh, I’ve got the upper hand for now, but there’s a problem.” Li Wuxiang jumped down from his throne, walked up to the stag, and looked at him with a smile. “Brother, have you found your family?” The stag shook his head: “I can’t find them.”

Li Wuxiang was silent for a moment: "Well, you said you couldn't find it, but it's not that you didn't find it. Do you understand now? Like I said, you didn't have any family before."

Li Guichen shook his head again: "Wasn't this place Fangju City before? I met her on the road and asked her to take me here to find Xu Zhen for help."

"Xu Zhen? Haha, brother, you're desperate and trying to deceive yourself. This kind of supernatural power isn't a good skill. Didn't you see? He's almost gone mad himself."

Xue Baoping couldn't help but interject, "What exactly happened to him? And what about this place?"

“He’s not really changed, he’s just become more capable. But he’s become too capable—I helped him out.”

Li Wuxiang paced back and forth a few steps: "Do you remember when we were on Dapan Mountain? I planted a calamity seed on him back then."

"I don't know. But I guess you used a calamity seed. What kind of calamity?"

“The Tribulation of Delusional Minds.” Li Wuxiang smiled slightly. “If the Tribulation of Delusional Minds were given to an ordinary cultivator, it would be easy for them to enter a state of delusion and experience illusions during cultivation, leading to a qi deviation and death. But it’s a little different when it’s given to Xu Zhen—because his true form is a Xie Zhi, a magical beast. This thing is very good at bewitching people’s minds, as you have experienced before. He made you feel that you should become a wandering cultivator, and you actually did it.”

"His supernatural powers are truly amazing. I've been studying them for the past few days and I've discovered that they don't actually put people into illusions; they're actually quite real."

Xue Baoping's eyes flickered slightly, and Li Wuxiang laughed: "Don't be afraid. Why do I say that this is true? Think about it. Did Donghuang Taiyi and the Xuanjiao Emperors originally exist in the world? No, right? It was Li Ye who cultivated to become a Golden Immortal, and with the combined efforts of so many people in the world, he was able to combine his fortune and become Donghuang Taiyi."

"So the Great Emperor Taiyi was created out of thin air by the power of will. If no one in the world remembers this Great Emperor anymore, he will cease to exist, and the same goes for the Chief of Destiny—do you still remember the Chief of Destiny?"

The two looked at each other and shook their heads.

“It was a great emperor from Mount Dajie, Jiang Jie who attained enlightenment. You probably don’t remember Jiang Jie, right? I used to forget many things too, but thanks to Xu Zhen’s supernatural powers, I’ve slowly come to remember them.”

"I say he's amazing because he's also using the power of his own will to make something real—except that it's the power of his own magical beast's will. He probably knew before that this kind of supernatural power couldn't be used easily, because there are actually some limitations, and it's also related to his cultivation method."

"His cultivation level and his supernatural abilities should complement each other. The higher his realm, the more useful his supernatural abilities will be. The more things he can influence with his supernatural abilities, the higher his realm will become. However, this kind of thing must be done very carefully, because, to put it nicely, it's turning a deception into reality. To put it badly, it's actually just deceiving himself. If he deceives himself too much and even believes it himself, then it will become real."

"When I was at Tianchi Lake on Dapan Mountain, I planted a seed of tribulation in him, and he actually saw the Ninth Prince on his own. I knew then that he had entered the tribulation. After that, I knew how to deal with him. That day, I told him to go to the Divine Blade Sect to find their treasure. It was quite a coincidence that Zheng Jingxi and his men hid. I was still thinking about how to trick him again when he saw an ant nest and told me that he had found where the people from the Divine Blade Sect were hiding."

"Guess what happened next? As soon as he said that, I actually heard someone inside talking—saying they'd been discovered and should go find the sect leader! At the time, I didn't know if it was really the Divine Blade Sect members turning themselves into an anthill, or if it was Xu Zhen's magic, so I—"

Li Guichen gently pawed the ground with his front hooves and raised his head. Li Wuxiang raised his hand and said, "Brother, don't interrupt me. Let me finish. These days, only the two of you are still relatively clear-headed. But do you know what I'm thinking right now? I'm not sure if the two of you are real or if I'm just making things up. So, one more thing, don't overthink things here."

"I know you're looking for your family, but right now, wherever you see Divine Blade Sect disciples like ants, they're all within Xu Zhen's power, some weaker, some stronger. We usually borrow divine powers from Mount Ling when we use magic, and this area is like a small, living Mount Ling, with Xu Zhen as its spirit deity. If you want something to come true, you can directly borrow his power, and it might actually happen. But then, can you still distinguish what's real and what's fake when you see it? So you see, this is what it looks like here—"

Li Wuxiang raised his hand and waved it around: "It's dark, so it's best if you can't see or hear anything, and it's not easy to get distracted. But I've been thinking about the two of you these past two days, so I'm not sure."

Xue Baoping couldn't help but speak up: "Then you can ask—"

Li Wuxiang laughed: "We both know about your affair, I know. But what you know that I don't—how would I know if I made it up myself?"

"So don't speak yet, listen to me—Xu Zhen actually turned that nest of ants into disciples of the Divine Blade Sect. It's a pity I didn't realize how serious it was back then, and I thought it just meant he was getting deeper and deeper into delusion. Actually, that's not entirely wrong. When he was still lucid, he knew what he was trying to turn from falsehood into reality. But that night, it was almost as if both of those things happened simultaneously—the moment he had a thought, that thing became real. And once it became real, he naturally felt it was right."

"However, his supernatural powers are not boundless—those Divine Blade Sect disciples you see don't even look human, right? That's because his cultivation level isn't high enough. As for those people outside, they are still human in other places, but once they get close to Fangju City, including you, they all become beasts. This isn't to say that his supernatural powers are particularly powerful, but they are still a bit lacking—in his perception, everyone in the Eastern Continent is a beast, so naturally he would consider you beasts as well."

Xue Baoping was taken aback: "Does he think he's in the Eastern Continent right now?"

“That’s right. He thought this was Fangju City. After he trained the disciples of the Divine Blade Sect that day, we went back to Dapan Mountain first. It was then that I realized something was wrong—we were saying on the way that now that we had subdued the Divine Blade Sect, and if we also subdued Dapan Mountain and Qingpu Mountain, the thirty-six sects would only have thirty-three left. It was practically a bloodless victory, easily within our grasp.”

"When I said that, Xu Zhen had just used his supernatural powers to create an entire sect, and his cultivation had skyrocketed. He started to have a tendency for his words to become law. He said it was within easy reach, and once they reached Dapan Mountain—the people on Dapan Mountain would truly become like ants to those Divine Blade Sect disciples. Since then, for the past ten days or so, the situation has been out of my control. The area around Maple Valley is changing almost every day. Every day I have to think carefully about what this place was like yesterday, and who this person was yesterday—within Xu Zhen's supernatural powers, I feel that the real world has ceased to exist. Whatever he thinks is pretty much what he will do, only it might be a little absurd."

"So I had to come up with a way to make him think that he was actually the reincarnation of the Ninth Prince, the sovereign. As for me, I became the city lord of Fangju City. I told him that since he was a living deity, he should not interfere in worldly affairs, lest he shake the foundation of the incense offerings, and that I would handle everything."

"But in that case...won't his supernatural powers be even stronger?!"

Li Wuxiang smiled and said, "He's not a real spirit god. He's like a bowstring; the tighter it's stretched, the more it will eventually break. I'm just waiting for that day to break. Besides, I've now reached the second level of the Nascent Soul stage, and I'm about to cultivate into a Yang God. Perhaps I'll soon become a True Immortal, or even rule the world. As soon as his string breaks, I can subdue him immediately. At that time, brother, you can consider whether or not to ask him for help."

(End of this chapter)