This morning.

In the small courtyard of Thousand Lanterns City, Chen Mu finished practicing the Safe Heart Sutra and waved to dismiss the Yin Spirits outside the courtyard.

While stretching his sore body from sitting too long, he looked interestedly toward the small courtyard on the left. There, the frameworks of two three-story wooden buildings had already risen next to the small courtyard.

Apart from some small components like doors and windows that had yet to be installed, the main structures were essentially complete.

The wooden buildings were not large, and the surface carvings and decorations were not particularly luxurious or fancy, but the positions of various parts, as well as the height, length, and dimensions, seemed to follow a certain pattern. Upon looking, one felt comfortable. The brick and tile worker who had repaired the royal mansion obviously put in a lot of effort.

The person who cleaned up the wood and stones was skillful, not too fast, but every movement was just right—watching was a pleasure in itself.

This made him appreciate the sight for a good while before he sat back down in the rocking chair.

Jade Gate Curse: 239/10000/Second Rank;

Glancing at Shen Yan next door who was planting new vegetables after sowing seeds, Chen Mu silently shook his head.

"The night will still have to be endured; Second Rank is probably not enough."

Upon reaching the Second Rank, a new Dharma emerged with the Jade Gate Curse.

With a thought, a gray mist the size of a fist suddenly appeared in the palm of his right hand—this was the same Divine Concealing Mist that had enveloped the entire Hai Character Camp before. According to the feedback from the gray wall, this mist was the thin fog that constantly lurked above the River of Oblivion.

"I really didn’t expect the River of Oblivion to have such a marvelous use."

The longer he dealt with the River of Oblivion, the more complex his impressions of it became.

It could corrode flesh and bones, allow Yin Spirits to completely fall and turn into Netherworld Worms. It could also provide Weak Water and Jade Dew, enabling Yin Spirits to grow and survive.

The Netherworld Guide, Safe Heart Sutra, and other Secret Techniques are all related to it, and now there was the Divine Concealing Mist that could eliminate and purify strange auras.

"No wonder some say the River of Oblivion is the foundation of the Netherworld."

As he pondered over the River of Oblivion, Chen Mu suddenly felt a stirring in his spirit.

He snapped back to reality, sensing someone had ignited the Soul-Attracting Lamp of Thousand Lanterns City, and immediately activated his Divine Skills.

Hum!

A pitch-black shadow suddenly appeared on the open ground before the small courtyard, and ten disheveled figures rose from within the shadow. Upon seeing the familiar surroundings, they immediately sat down on their backsides, gasping for breath. RÂ₦ôBЕṠ

Shen Yan put down the bucket and waved over a patch of Divine Concealing Mist to wrap around the ten or so Yin Spirits. The sinister-looking Yin Spirits immediately calmed down and soon regained their composure.

"Did you all also encounter an attack by monsters?" Chen Mu asked.

Seeing everyone nodding, Chen Mu couldn’t help but grimace.

This was not the first team to be attacked.

Monsters within Nether Demon Heaven emerged endlessly, bloodthirsty and belligerent. Even an unremarkable blade of grass could potentially send up a vine of blood-sucking roots from beneath the ground.

Waving for people to take the men away to rest, Chen Mu sat back at the round table with a worried frown.

"How many teams are still out there?" Shen Yan also furrowed his brows.

"Just Bai Qing and his team are left outside," Chen Mu scratched his head.

Bai Qing was the only shadow soldier serving as auxiliary troops in Thousand Lanterns City and had sufficient strength, which was why he could continue to lead people in search of something outside.

Shen Yan’s face looked grave. Without enough hands, whether searching for the Yinfeng Sect or scattered Yin Spirits, nothing could be accomplished.

"How about I give it a shot?" Hong Xiu, who had been watching the excitement near the small courtyard, suddenly spoke up.

Chen Mu, lying in the rocking chair, immediately gave him a sidelong glance and couldn’t help sitting up.

Something was not right, very not right!

He scrutinized Hong Xiu up and down.

This guy was shrewd, extremely cautious about his own life; how could he possibly take the risk of leaving Thousand Lanterns City?

"But you need to assign me more people," Hong Xiu said with a smile, then pulled out a beast skin scroll from his sleeve and handed it to Chen Mu.

Was this Hong Xiu’s confidence?

He suddenly became interested.

The beast skin scroll unfurled to reveal three ancient characters of the Mountain-Carrying Scripture.

Adjusting one’s mechanism, gathering everyone’s Divine Power into one? It even included the secret technique of the Yin Wind Fire Bell?

Nice stuff!

He looked at Hong Xiu in surprise, not expecting the latter to possess such a Secret Technique and hide it until now.

Was Hong Xiu gathering three hundred Yin Spirits before to prepare for collectively practicing the Mountain-Carrying Scripture? So, did his own actions last time spoil this guy’s plan?

Chen Mu immediately found joy in the thought.

"Old Niu, you’re still so dishonest," he commented.

Hong Xiu raised an eyebrow and smiled, but didn’t explain.

He and Chen Mu had interacted more than once; they weren’t close, but they understood each other’s nature better than acquaintances.

"Where did you get this from?" Chen Mu asked, curious about the source of this significant secret technique.

"Searched it from the main camp of the shadow soldiers the night of the disaster," Hong Xiu didn’t hide it.

The night Lan Zhang went mad?

Wow!

"Blood filled the sky, and amidst the chaos and danger, you dared to scavenge in the shadow soldiers’ camp? You’ve got guts!" Chen Mu said with admiration.

"Fortune favors the bold, after all," Hong Xiu replied with a smile.

You’re impressive!

Chen Mu couldn’t help but give a thumbs up.

Back then, he had slinked away straight out of the Hai Character Camp. But this man did the exact opposite, daring to rush into the core area of the shadow soldiers to scavenge before anyone else could react.

Daring in thought and action, his guts were not ordinary!

"Go work on the buildings first; I’ll ponder over this Mountain-Carrying Scripture."

With an indifferent bow, Hong Xiu took his leave and then went back next door to continue moving the wood.

...

Two days later, in Chen Mu’s small courtyard within Thousand Lanterns City.

"This thing probably comes from Lan Zhang," Shen Yan said with a solemn expression as he set down the scripture.

"Gathering Yin Spirit Divine Power, Flying Escape with Yin Wind, attacking with Fire Bell, he plans to use himself as the flag to replace the Soul Summoning Banner!"

"I’ve had a hunch that this guy was up to no good... and sure enough," his expression grew even darker.

Chen Mu squinted as he carefully grasped the profound mysteries of the Mountain-Carrying Scripture; on the gray wall, this Secret Technique had already successfully made the list for entry-level practitioners.

The practitioners of the Mountain-Carrying Scripture were divided into primary and secondary roles; the main practitioner needed to condense the Mountain Character Seal.

The rest of the Yin Spirits needed to gather around the Mountain Character Seal and adjust their own qi mechanisms with the Mountain-Carrying Scripture to resonate with the main practitioner, thereby allowing the flow and accumulation of Yin Spirit Divine Power, turning the disparate into a whole.

Since each person’s qi mechanism is different, it’s especially important to refine a Mountain Character Seal that would make it easier for everyone to resonate.

The Mountain-Carrying Scripture suggests it’s best to find a Magic Artifact that everyone has a connection with and use its qi mechanism as a guide to condense the seal.

"What Lan Zhang was talking about is the Soul Summoning Banner," Shen Yan huffed.

"I suspect he originally wanted to circumvent the city lord’s Dharma Curse and control the Soul Summoning Banner with everyone’s strength."

"Unfortunately, while such a cunning method might be able to activate the Soul Summoning Banner, it likely won’t be able to seize its control."

"So, he went for the next best thing: imitating the Soul Summoning Banner’s power to gather Yin Spirit Divine Power, intending to consolidate everyone’s strength within himself."

"No wonder he practiced the Blood God Scripture," Chen Mu said, suddenly realizing.

According to Shen Yan, the Blood God Scripture could devour living beings to create blood god progeny and, once merged into the Blood Cloud, perfectly consolidate the power of ghostly soldiers within one’s self. No wonder he betrayed the Netherworld.

For Lan Zhang, the Mountain-Carrying Scripture was probably an initial attempt to accumulate power within himself; a failed experiment to him, but undoubtedly a wonderful method for ordinary Yin Spirits.

"With this Secret Technique, auxiliary troops sent out to scout mountains and find people will be much safer."

As for the qi mechanism of the Mountain Character Seal...

"I may not have the Soul Summoning Banner, but I do have the Heavenly Demon Spirit Seed!" A smile spread across Chen Mu’s face.

The Heavenly Demon Spirit Seed exists within all the Yin Spirits of Thousand Lanterns City. If the seal is refined using the Spirit Seed’s qi mechanism as a primer, the labor-intensive task of adjusting mechanisms to resonate with one another becomes remarkably easy.

...

Three days later.

Atop an unnamed small mountain.

Shi Dechun was perched on the roof of a square observation post, eagerly gazing at the distant skies.

There, a black cloud the size of a soccer field was swiftly circling in mid-air.

The sea of black clouds surged forward like waves, with a ghastly green flame rolling within them.

At one moment, the black cloud suddenly came to a halt, staying above a small mountain.

Following that, with a whooshing sound of dull, low-pitched howling, clusters of human-head-sized ghastly green flames burst from the black cloud.

Boom boom boom...

A series of explosions sounded, and a small mountain nearly the size of the one beneath his feet was flattened in the blink of an eye by the fiery blast.

Those sprawling ghastly green flames clung to the rocks, vegetation, and burned incessantly, with plumes of black smoke continuously rising.

Before Shi Dechun could express his awe, the black cloud, carrying with it a wail like ghostly cries and wolf howls, flew above his head and then plunged into a pitch-black curtain that appeared out of nowhere.

"Brother Chen is truly incredible!" Shi Dechun watched with envy.

He glanced at the silver Mountain Character Seal on the back of his hand, and then at the dozen or so Yin Spirits also gathered by the observation post, and felt his heart stir with excitement.

When it’s my turn to switch, I also want to fly over there and bomb the mountaintops!

...

Chen Mu maneuvered the black cloud as it dove into Thousand Lanterns City.

With the Heavenly Demon Spirit Seed’s qi mechanism as the foundation, Chen Mu quickly refined the Mountain Character Seal. It took two more days to pass the Mountain-Carrying Scripture Secret Technique to three thousand Yin Spirits. With just a slight activation of the Spirit Seed’s qi mechanism, he completed the resonance and successfully executed the Mountain-Carrying Scripture.

"The Fire Bell Secret Technique can actually burn and devour the vital energy of life; this is very similar to Ghosts," Chen Mu mused as he flew around Thousand Lanterns City.

"And that Flying Escape ability of the Yin Wind, I always felt there was something oddly familiar about it, kind of like the Five Ghosts’ Wailing Flame Great Escape Technique."

The Wailing Flame Escape Technique comes from the Five Ghosts Moving Mountain and is actually derived from the Five Ghosts’ abilities. The essence of the Five Ghosts is Ghosts, and the formation of Yin Spirits is also closely related to Ghosts.

He suspected that the Yin Wind Fire Bell Secret Technique was actually a collection and enhancement of some innate peculiarities of Ghosts.

"Lan Zhang truly is remarkable."

Feeling the surging power of the vast Yin Spirit Divine Power beneath his feet, Chen Mu couldn’t help but utter words of admiration.

After savouring the wonderful sensation of having the world within his grasp due to the strength in his hands, he reluctantly dispersed the Mountain-Carrying Scripture.

Discover hidden tales at

The black cloud dispersed into clumps of Black Wind on the ground, transforming into individual Yin Spirits.

Noticing their slightly pale complexions, Chen Mu nodded slightly.

They were, after all, newly-formed Yin Spirits, lacking in Divine Power. However, as teams of a hundred, capable of flight and combat, and with the Soul-Attracting Lamp as their final resort, they were more than capable of preserving their lives.

He immediately summoned the original five or six teams, replenished their numbers to a hundred, and then granted the Mountain Character Seal to the leaders, enabling them to use the seal to gather Divine Power and maneuver the Black Wind.

After a brief practice, he sent them back out to continue scouting the mountains and searching for people.

Hong Xiu, who provided the Mountain-Carrying Scripture, was among them.

Chen Mu could tell that this person was also restless, craving power and influence. Since there wasn’t much to be had within Thousand Lanterns City, that’s why he was so eager to gather a team and leave the city to find people.

Chen Mu was indifferent to this.

His main goal in gathering Yin Spirits was to accelerate the Three Paths Curse and the Safe Heart Sutra; his second goal was to use the power of the masses to return to the Netherworld.

As for commanding more Yin Spirits at his beck and call, Chen Mu hadn’t given it much thought... it was merely a passing fancy.

"Who doesn’t have their daydreams," Chen Mu chuckled to himself.

"Unfortunately, I’m just an ordinary person who hates trouble."

"In the end, lying low and farming experience is more to my liking."

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