Chapter 330: Black Mountain as the Base, Refining the Emperor's Seal

Ruan Xiaoqi presides over the City of the Wrongly Dead as Yama, appointing judges, soul-collecting messengers, ox-headed and horse-faced demons, and the Black and White Impermanence...

These ghosts and gods were not just for show. They took weapons, magic weapons and armor from the armory of the City of the Dead, and with the help of Cao Jie's canonization in the world of the living, they built temples and shrines to attract worshippers.

A regular army of the underworld was born.

In addition, there are "Red-haired Ghost" Liu Tang, "Death God" Bao Xu, "Knife-wielding Ghost" Cao Zheng, "Ghost Face" Du Xing and "River-intercepting Ghost" Zhang Wang, who are the Five Ghost Generals.

There are also "Vajra Master" Lu Zhishen, "Tiger Subduing Arhat" Wu Song, and "Big Python God" Fahai, who represent Buddhism and guard the gates of hell.

Even though the Black Mountain Old Demon had been entrenched in the underworld for hundreds of years and had practiced for thousands of years, he could not escape this disaster.

The small underworld was created by the extremely yin power of the City of the Dead to corrode the world of the living. Where can the Black Mountain Old Demon escape to?

His extremely dark spirit cannot stand the light.

As the Liangshan group searched the mountains and seas, and continued to eliminate ghosts and monsters of all sizes in the underworld, the Black Mountain Old Demon knew that he could no longer hide.

Although he doesn't have much brains, he is actually very powerful, especially his true body, which is obtained from the Black Mountain in the underworld and has been indirectly sacrificed and refined in the City of the Dead for countless years.

If Ruan Xiaoqi, the soul of Yama, had not come to steal the house, he would have been temporarily taking over the position of Yama in the underworld, with enormous power.

Now that he has been stripped of everything and only has his indestructible true body, Black Mountain, left, how can he give up?

At the foot of the City of the Dead, there was a sudden sound of beating gongs and drums. The suona was deafening, playing festive music, as if it was a wedding. Soon, groups of ghosts gradually appeared before their eyes.

Leading the way was a group of musicians, wearing white mourning clothes, holding trumpets and suonas made of white paper in their hands, playing at deafening speeds. Seven or eight female ghosts followed behind them, holding silver basins used for worship. They kept grabbing handfuls of paper money and throwing it into the air like flowers from heaven, covering the road with the paper money.

Further back, there were teams of ghost soldiers and generals, including evil ghosts, skeletons, and corpse demons. They were all wearing dark brown Hades armor, holding swords, spears, axes, and had ferocious faces. They surrounded the sedan chair with golden dragon carvings. Two tall and burly evil ghosts each held a flag with five big characters "Black Mountain" and "City of the Dead" written on it respectively.

The sedan chair was covered with a layer of black gauze veil, so the face of the person inside could not be seen. Only the outline of a figure could be vaguely seen, sitting there, and it was dozens of meters tall.

Although the Black Mountain Old Demon has fallen on bad times, it is unknown where he learned this way of making an appearance, and it is extremely pretentious.

"Wrongful Death City is my Black Mountain ancestral home. You foreigners have seized the kingdom of the Ming Dynasty in the Yang World, and now you want to occupy the underworld. I, the Black Mountain old demon, will never agree... All generals, listen to my order, break through the Wrongful Death City, kill the fake Yama, and the underworld belongs to us..."

A hoarse and low voice came from the sedan chair, with an eerie tone that made people feel cold.

"Old demon from Montenegro!"

Ruan Xiaoqi stood on the towering city wall and sneered, "Black Mountain Old Demon, did you bring so many little ghosts here to give you courage?"

The Black Mountain Old Demon did not argue, but used his innate magical power to shake the earth veins. For a moment, the earth was shaking and the city of the dead was about to collapse.

"The City of the Dead has fallen! Kill them!"

"Kill!"

Among those evil ghosts, skeletons, and corpse demons, a few of them had brains, and they all rushed towards the Wrongful Dead City. The evil ghosts and wronged souls were in the sky, and the corpse demons and skeletons were on the ground, waving their dark swords and dark spears, bringing with them the chilling wind.

Ruan Xiaoqi stood on the top of the city wall without moving, with the Dark City suspended in the air beneath his feet. A deep black light flashed in his eyes, and as the black air swirled, a death light bloomed in the City of the Dead.

In an instant, the evil ghosts charging forward turned into snow in the sun, just like the corpse ghost in "A Chinese Ghost Story" that instantly turned into decay after Ning Caichen opened the window.

Dissolved by the death light into the purest yin energy.

"A bunch of trash!"

Looking at the heavy casualties among his men and seeing that the City of the Dead remained motionless, the Black Mountain Old Demon snorted angrily and waved his sleeves. A black skull suddenly flew out from the sedan chair, flashing black rays of light, and flew into the air.

The skull was only the size of a fist, as black as ink, smooth and round with a jade-like texture. It exploded in mid-air with a bang and turned into a black cloud floating in the air, covering the Underworld City.

After the spell was cast, yellow rain began to fall, like beads that had broken off the string, dripping and falling endlessly towards the City of the Dead.

"This is... the water from the Santu River! Have you run out of tricks?!"

Ruan Xiaoqi sneered: "Brothers, even though I am the emperor of Wei, I still lack a seal to suppress the fortune of the Divine Dynasty. I think this Black Mountain is made of good material."

"Seventh Brother is right. The Death Sword in my hand is thirsty for blood."

Sanzu River, the name of a river in the underworld, is also known as the Zangtou River, the Du River, the Sanze River, and the Santu River.

According to legend, the "Sanzu River" is the dividing line between the world of the living and the world of the dead. It is called "Sanzu" because the water flow is divided into three types: slow, normal, and fast, depending on the behavior of the deceased in his or her lifetime.

Legend has it that those who have committed heinous crimes will be tortured and reincarnate every three hundred years. When passing through the Sanzu River, they will be intoxicated by the fragrance of the Lycoris radiata that has been entangled for three hundred years, and will have a beautiful dream about "the other" and "the shore". This dream carries the expectations of "the other" and "the shore" buried deep in the heart, as well as a myriad of emotions such as desolation, anger, helplessness and despair, so this dream also determines that person's sinful life on earth.

The water of the Santuo River is filthy, cold and filled with wandering ghosts who have been unable to reincarnate. They are filled with extremely evil spirits and resentment, and have already departed from the category of ordinary water.

This trick might be somewhat effective against ordinary practitioners, but it is not as effective against the demons in Liangshan who have been practicing for who knows how many lifetimes. Their evil spirits and resentments, let alone haunting them, will be completely evaporated in an instant even if they get close.

"Go to hell!"

"The God of Death" Bao Xu flew out of the city gate and killed the Black Mountain Old Demon, only to come face to face with a corpse demon that was more than two meters tall.

Bao Xu didn't even look at him. He swung out the huge sword of death. With a swish, the armor of the underworld was broken, and a stream of energy penetrated into the body. With a whoosh, the corpse demon seemed to have encountered an extremely terrifying attack and decayed instantly.

At the same time, a group of red-haired demons also rushed forward.

boom!
The violent collision of multiple energies caused countless cracks on the ground of the underworld. The sedan chair was broken into pieces in an instant, and the ghost soldiers and generals around it who had luckily survived flew backwards.

Ruan Xiaoqi was still standing on the top of the city wall, watching coldly as a figure rose into the air.

The figure was dozens of meters tall, like a giant, wearing a purple gold crown on his head and a black ghost robe inlaid with gold. His face was dark, with cold eyebrows and fierce eyes. He looked ferocious and brutal yet majestic.

In an instant, Yan Luo Ruan Xiaoqi moved.

Moving together with him was the City of the Dead.

At the same time, monstrous ghost energy emanated from the Black Mountain Old Demon and condensed into thick black clouds in the air. With a loud bang, a sound like thunder was heard, and the cold wind began to whistle. Amidst the flying sand and rocks, a phantom condensed behind him.

No one knew how high the phantom was, and no one knew how much land it occupied. On the ancient city gate were carved two huge listening beasts, staring at the front as if they were alive. Above it hung a plaque with three large characters "The City of Wrongful Death" written in a flamboyant manner.

Dharma!

This is the magical power of the Dharma that the Black Mountain Old Demon condensed from his visualization of the City of Wrongful Death.

"In this underworld, I, Black Mountain, will never die!"

"What can you use to break my true body?"

The Black Mountain Old Demon shouted with a grim smile, and stretched out his right hand. Black light was wrapped around his five fingers. Resentful souls and evil ghosts were wailing in the black light, and it was like the gate of the City of the Dead, grabbing towards Ruan Xiaoqi.

"hey-hey!"

Ruan Xiaoqi sneered. He also stretched out his hand, and the Dark City seemed to be held in his palm, emitting five black death lights, but this black light was purer.

It was so pure that even the Black Mountain Demon was frightened.

With one punch, suddenly, the Black Mountain Old Demon's eyes went dark, and the dim light in the underworld disappeared without a trace in an instant, leaving darkness in front of him.

puff!
"I don't need to destroy your true body, I just need to erase your soul."

"It would be a pity to destroy the beautiful Yinshan Mountain."

The disguise of the Black Mountain Demon was broken by the death light, and inside were human skulls. The skulls smacked their mouths, and bursts of teeth friction sounds could be heard.

It seems that there is nothing that they cannot eat.

"You little brat, you are talking nonsense. Look at my magic power!"

The monstrous ghost energy expanded again, and the world sank completely into darkness. Only countless ghost fires could be seen floating in the air, and the howling wind brought by the night parade of hundreds of ghosts.

The Black Mountain Old Demon's body squirmed, and the thousands of skulls gathered on the Yin Mountain kept shaking.

Then, all the resentful souls, evil spirits, ghost soldiers and corpses around them fell into the mouths of the skulls and were chewed clean with a few crunching sounds.

However, the Black Mountain Demon was still not satisfied.

"not enough!"

"Eat...eat...I'm so hungry!"

Except for Ruan Xiaoqi, both the Red-haired Ghost and the God of Death felt a sense of oppression.

After all, the Black Mountain Old Demon has been practicing for thousands of years and has an extraordinary foundation. He is not comparable to the tree demon grandma.

This time he revealed his true form and swung out a palm like a mountain pressing down on one's head. His palm was made up of countless skulls, looking extremely hideous. Thousands of resentful souls and evil ghosts surrounded it, howling miserably, just like a den of ghosts on earth.

Everyone dodged and retreated far away.

It’s better to leave this level of fighting to professionals!
boom!
The entire hill where Ruan Xiaoqi was located was overturned.

But what is Yama’s authority?
He is in charge of the underworld and is the "father" of all ghosts.

Ruan Xiaoqi whispered a few spells.

The evil spirit attached to the Black Mountain began to riot!

They rushed around in the body of the Black Mountain Demon, killing whatever they met and eating whatever they killed.

Some were so ferocious that they bit a hole in the Black Mountain Demon's body, and then stuck out half of their heads with a hideous look. They even bit the ghost robe on his body and started to bite it with their bloody mouths.

"You little devils, you depend on me for your existence, but you should betray me?"

The Black Mountain Old Demon was so angry that his three corpses jumped violently and pulled out a vengeful ghost from his body.

The vengeful ghost let out a cry, with a sense of endless desolation on its body and a hideous and terrifying face. It had no idea what the Black Mountain Demon was. It was extremely ferocious and opened its mouth to bite his finger.

The Black Mountain Demon squeezed hard and exploded the vengeful ghost, but it was too late.

His body was soon riddled with wounds.

The huge body was like honeycomb briquettes, with many parts eaten away.

"you you……"

The Black Mountain Demon came to his senses and hurriedly expelled the skeleton ghost that he controlled from his body. Such an action was tantamount to dissipating his own power.

A brave man cuts off his own arm. If he really solves the hidden danger in his body, then it will be another tug of war.

But how could Ruan Xiaoqi give him more time!

Kill him while he's sick.

Ruan Xiaoqi condensed the Underworld City in his hand again and pressed it towards the body of the Black Mountain Old Demon, becoming the last straw that broke the camel's back.

boom!
The power of the Underworld City can shake the earth's veins.

Although the Black Mountain Old Demon was a demon, he was still a Taoist master of the earth and mountains. In an instant, during this pressure, his body exploded, and countless evil ghost heads howled and scattered in all directions.

After the smoke and dust cleared, the figure of the Black Mountain Old Demon slowly emerged. Not only were all his evil magics broken, but his body, which was originally more than ten meters tall, was now only six or seven meters tall. It was obvious that he was badly injured.

The evil spirits that had separated from his body fell all over the ground, struggled to get up, and started fighting again. They had no swords or weapons, and they relied entirely on their sharp claws and fangs to bite each other. The scene was extremely tragic.

Ruan Xiaoqi looked at the seriously injured old monster coldly, and pressed down the City of Wrongful Death in his hand again, and endless death light covered his real body.

Completely wipe out the spiritual power that he had accumulated over countless years.

Now there is only one problem, that is how to refine this excellent material into a magic weapon.

The refining of magic weapons requires a lot of hard work, which takes a lot of time and effort, and is measured in units of sixty years.

But there are also shortcuts.

After being instructed by Master Luo, the "Jade Arm Craftsman" Jin Dajian took on the initial task of shaping the magic weapon.

The eight seal characters "Mandate from Heaven, May you live long and prosper forever" were deeply engraved on the Black Mountain Old Demon's real body, stroke by stroke.

At the same time, Cao Jie, as the emperor, conferred the emperor's seal on it and used the incense of the people to refine it.

"Receiving the Mandate from Heaven, I will live long and prosper forever" means: I (the emperor) have been appointed by Heaven, (so) my country will surely live long, forever and prosper.

It is said that in the 219th year of Qin Shihuang's reign ( BC), Qin Shihuang was crossing Dongting Lake in a dragon boat. A sudden storm arose and the boat was about to capsize. Qin Shihuang hurriedly threw the imperial seal into the lake, praying to the gods to calm the waves. The seal was lost. Eight years later, someone in Pingshu Road, Huayin, presented the imperial seal again. The imperial seal returned to Qin.

The last emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty, Li Congke, his entire family and Empress Dowager Cao, burned themselves to death in the Xuanwu Tower, and the imperial seal disappeared.

Now is the right time for Cao Jie to refine the Emperor's Seal again.

In the sky and on earth, it seemed as if countless people were shouting, countless soldiers were roaring, and they were rolling towards us.

Right beside Liangshan Marsh, a huge black mountain appeared on the Black Mountain, with the eight characters "Received the Mandate from Heaven, May You Live Long and Prosper" written on one side of the mountain wall.

Endless incense, infinite mental power, and countless dynasties' fortunes are condensed in it, as if they can suppress it for eternity.

(End of this chapter)