I'm already a Great Luo Golden Immortal, how come you're only Martial Saints?

King Qin Guang stroked his beard and pondered for a moment before slowly speaking.

"Let's not get involved in this matter. I think you all know my position. We are from the Heavenly Court faction. Although we have old grudges with Ning Chen, there's no need to kick him when he's down. Let's just watch from a distance."

He paused, then added.

"As the saying goes, meeting Ning Chen can ruin your life. A person's reputation is like a tree's shadow. It's best to be cautious when it comes to things involving Ning Chen, lest you get burned."

Ox-Head and Horse-Face, Black and White Impermanence bowed and agreed, but each of them had their own agenda.

The Black and White Impermanence were wondering whether they should go and send a message to the Ningbei envoy.

Ox-Head and Horse-Face were gloating. Every time Ning Chen comes to our Underworld, he looks down on people. It was fine when he was a scholar of the Tongming Hall, but after he became a member of the Lingxiao Hall, he basically never looked at us properly. It's no wonder he's in trouble today.

Somehow, the news spread like wildfire, quickly reaching the entire Netherworld.

The Ten Kings of Hell, the various judges of the underworld, and the ghostly messengers—all who heard this news were shaken to their core.

"That Ning Chen, for the sake of a mere mortal cultivator, dares to obstruct the underworld officials from capturing a soul?"

"He did more than just obstruct; even the Black and White Impermanence (the guardian deities of the underworld) who went to arrest him were sent away with a single sentence!"

"Back then, his senior brother Sun Wukong wreaked havoc in the underworld and altered the Book of Life and Death, which was already incredibly audacious. Today, Ning Chen is openly defying the underworld; he simply doesn't know the meaning of death!"

"It seems Ning Chen's fate has also arrived..."

Even if he were a high-ranking official of the Heavenly Court, he couldn't escape the execution platform!

Those in the underworld who were able to leave sent out a wisp of their avatars, which transformed into wisps of yin wind and surged toward Lingbao Temple.

They all wanted to see with their own eyes how this all-powerful Ningbei envoy would end up today.

Meanwhile, at Lingbao Temple, Ge Xuan, having received guidance from Ning Chen, returned to his quiet room and, following the methods recorded in the Taiqing Neidan Jing, lit the furnace, added the medicinal herbs, and began that crucial alchemical breakthrough.

At first, the heat was too low, and the aroma of the medicine was faint, like a wisp of smoke drifting in the night.

Ge Xuan sat cross-legged in front of the furnace, his mind and spirit united, and slowly poured the magical power he had accumulated over decades of cultivation into the furnace.

The deep wrinkles that had been furrowed between his brows began to smooth out as the fire of his alchemy intensified.

This batch of elixir was not made in a single day.

But from the moment the first wisp of fragrance wafted out, a strange power began to spread in all directions.

In the darkness of night, several wild foxes, badgers, and rabbits from the mountains were first attracted by the fragrance and unconsciously gathered outside the temple gate, squatting on the ground, tilting their noses up, and greedily sniffing the faint sweet fragrance in the air.

Then came the birds in the sky, one, two, ten, a hundred, all landing down and perching on the old locust tree in front of the temple, so densely packed that the branches drooped slightly under their weight.

Later, even some intelligent spirits in the mountains followed the fragrance and lay in the shadows, not daring to approach, yet reluctant to leave.

By the middle of the night, the entrance to Lingbao Temple was packed with people, birds and beasts gathered, all quiet, as if they too were waiting for the result of that batch of pills.

When the news reached Luoyang, the high-ranking officials and nobles of the Jin Dynasty, who were already paying close attention to the movements of Lingbao Temple, rushed there overnight upon hearing that the immortal in the temple was going to refine elixirs and ascend to immortality.

For a time, the mountain road was bustling with carriages and horses, and lanterns and torches stretched like a winding dragon.

Strangely enough, when these people arrived at the temple gate, they could clearly see the two wooden doors right in front of them, and they could reach out and touch the door knockers, but no matter how hard they pushed, the doors did not budge.

Some people mustered all their strength and tried to ram their shoulders into the wall, but it felt as if they had hit a soft wall, and they felt no force at all.

"What... what's going on?"

"Could it be that the immortal has used some kind of magic to prevent us from disturbing him?"

"But we are only observing from afar and dare not disturb the immortal..."

As everyone was filled with surprise and doubt, discussing among themselves, a bone-chilling cold suddenly swept up from below the mountain path.

The chill came so suddenly that, despite it being a summer night, it felt as if one had fallen into the dead of winter.

Several of the weaker individuals shivered on the spot, their faces turning pale.

"Strange, why is it suddenly so cold?"

A middle-aged man dressed as a wandering Taoist priest in the crowd had a slight change in expression. He quietly took out a willow leaf from his sleeve, dipped it in the clean water he carried with him, and wiped it on his eyelids.

When he opened his eyes again, he was terrified.

All that could be seen on the mountain path was a dark mass of ghostly soldiers clad in armor and armed with weapons!

The leaders were several red-faced, bearded men with ferocious expressions, while the black-armored ghost soldiers covered the mountains and fields, stretching as far as the eye could see!

"A ghost...a ghost!"

The Taoist priest let out a strange cry and scrambled down the mountain without looking back.

Those who saw him like this, though they could not see the ghost soldiers, were still forced to tremble all over by the increasingly heavy chill.

It's unclear who was the first to give in and turn to run, but everyone else followed suit and rushed down the mountain path in a panic.

The birds and beasts that had been crouching in front of the temple gate sensed the danger and cried out in alarm before scattering in all directions.

In the blink of an eye, the area in front of the temple gate was completely empty, with not a single living creature left.

The yin energy surged like a tide over the Lingbao Temple.

A layer of white frost quietly formed on the ground outside the pavilion, the grass and trees lay prostrate, and the sounds of insects suddenly ceased.

That low threshold seemed to be an insurmountable chasm.

Outside the door lies a ghostly and eerie realm, while inside is a tranquil and peaceful place of cultivation, warmed by a hearth fire—the two worlds are clearly distinct.

King Lunzhuan, leading a thousand Yin soldiers, had already arrived in front of the temple.

He spurred his horse forward, reined it in outside the gate, and shouted.

"Envoy of Ningbei, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva has decreed that Ge Xuan's lifespan has come to an end and he should return to the underworld. You are hereby ordered to quickly clear the way and lest you bring trouble upon yourself!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the temple gate creaked open from the inside.

As the moonlight shone down, Ning Chen, dressed in a blue robe, strolled out with his hands behind his back.

His face was as calm as a still well, his clothes swaying gently in the night breeze, as if the thousands of troops in front of him were nothing more than a gentle breeze.

Indeed, it was a minor matter for Ning Chen.

When he first emerged from seclusion, he faced ten thousand heavenly soldiers and generals led by Li Jing.

To him, the few ghost soldiers that King Yama brought were like children playing house.

Ning Chen glanced at the Wheel King, then swept his gaze over the countless Yin soldiers covering the mountains and fields, his tone indifferent.

"King of Reincarnation, are you unwilling to even give me, Ning, this small favor?"

King Wheel sneered.

"I have already submitted a report to the Heavenly Court regarding you. The Jade Emperor has instructed me to arrest you and bring you to justice. Envoy Ning Bei, what else do you have to say?"

Upon hearing this, Ning Chen couldn't help but look up at the direction of the Thirty-Third Heaven.

The Tushita Palace was hidden deep in the clouds and mist, shrouded in a hazy mist, without any sign of movement.

He smiled bitterly to himself.

Lao Jun, Lao Jun, someone is trying to piss and defecate on your head, and you can still remain calm?

Perhaps I misunderstood Laozi's meaning?

Is it truly just a coincidence that Yang Tianyou was reincarnated here?

Just then, Ning Chen's gaze inadvertently swept across the foot of the mountain.