Granny Sha summoned the five Ghost Kings to transport the altar and descend into the underworld. On the first level, she laid out the Supreme Unity Soul-Summoning Pill Method and set up six soul-summoning banners. On the second level, she had Chen Tang prepare some native soil and cut paper figurines to substitute for souls and spirits. On the third level, she arranged the Supreme Emperor Soul-Summoning Decree, positioning the five Ghost Kings at the five sacred mountain directions, drawing the True Forms of the Five Peaks and Five Emperor Diagrams on their bodies, and reciting Chu Ci poetry.

Holding the King Wen drum, she climbed the third altar platform, first casting various soul-summoning talismans to connect with Fengdu Mountain, then performing the Five Elements Soul-Summoning Method to begin the ritual.

Ordinary soul-summoning masters only knew a few techniques like the Soul-Summoning Talisman and Spirit-Guiding Talisman, but Granny Sha’s setup was an astonishing array of soul arts that left one in awe. Even Chen Tang couldn’t recognize seven or eight of the methods she used.

“As long as the King of Hell hasn’t imprisoned him, this should surely bring Little Ten’s Primordial Spirit back,” he thought uneasily, worried about what had happened to Chen Shi.

Meanwhile, among the Yin Mountains, thick fog blanketed the sky, rolling above.

“Whoosh——”

A thick, fleshy tentacle shot down from the fog, attacking Xiang Kun and the others below!

Xiang Kun activated his innate divine ability, and the tentacle veered wildly to one side as if out of control. The ground shook violently as it plunged into the earth, shattering rocks and sending debris flying everywhere!

Xiang Kun staggered back from the shockwave, while other tentacles tumbled down from the sky. You Huan roared, spinning his body, conjuring tortoise-snake shields in all directions. The tentacles slammed against the shields with a clanging sound before shattering.

The group took the chance to sprint forward.

Witch Yan, with four legs and eight arms, shook her body, releasing ghost dolls that pounced on the massive falling tentacles. The dolls bit and tore fiercely, but couldn’t gnaw through the flesh. Instead, the meat sprouted countless writhing tendrils that pierced the dolls through.

Chi Zun took a step, and lotus-like flames erupted, exploding in the air to try and cook the flesh. But still, more tentacles fell, piercing through the fiery explosions and lunging at them.

Their innate divine abilities were indeed formidable—at the sixth bloodline rank, their power rivaled spells of the Unity realm and Three Corpses realm—but against the out-of-control flesh of the aberrant Daoist Tianzhen, they were no match.

Suddenly, a tentacle crashed down from the sky, slamming into You Huan’s tortoise-snake shield with a thunderous boom. Then, countless thin tendrils exploded outward in all directions, turning into hair-thin flesh filaments that stabbed at everyone.

Chi Zun spewed a torrent of flames, but the filaments broke through, burrowing into his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

His eyes rolled back, and he floated up involuntarily, a blissful expression spreading across his face.

“I’m about to ascend, brothers!” Xiang Kun wore the same ecstatic look, tendrils jutting from the back of his neck as he levitated, laughing.

At the same time, Gou Xi’s twin blades were entangled by tentacles, and he too was infected, beaming with great joy. “So this is what it means to merge with the great Dao of heaven and earth! I understand, I understand!”

Right Consort attacked left and right, her body covered in innate patterns. She raised her hand, pulling down bolts of lightning to strike the writhing tentacles, and snapped angrily, “You beast, what do you understand? You’ve been infected... hahaha! I understand! So this is the secret of the ancient immortals! Everyone, stop resisting and unite for ascension!”

Her face was covered in blood, her Heavenly Aperture opened wide as a tentacle plunged into it.

The others were on the verge of doom when a sword light flashed, slicing through the filaments. Skeleton Chen Shi formed a Sword Seal with his hand, stepped on a trail of lightning as he sped through the air, and urged the True Martial Exorcising Sword forward. The sword light, like beams of electricity, zipped past, and then a ten-zhang-long sword aura swept low across the ground.

Countless bones that had been rushing from the fog in the distance had their legs cut off and collapsed with a crash.

Wen Wuyu charged in from another direction to meet up with him.

The fog was incredibly strange, able to revive the dead. They had just encountered a powerful ghost clan member who had come back to life, his flesh rotting, climbing out of his grave. Chen Shi and Wen Wuyu had teamed up to hold him off and finally slain him.

But in that short time, the others had already fallen victim.

Their innate divine abilities were indeed formidable—at the sixth bloodline rank, their power rivaled spells of the Unity realm and Three Corpses realm—but against the out-of-control flesh of the aberrant Daoist Tianzhen, they were no match.

Layers of overlapping mountains surrounded them, and from time to time, soul-shaking roars echoed—the cries of the revived dead.

Suddenly, Chen Shi’s body convulsed violently. His Primordial Spirit felt as if it were being yanked by an invisible force, flying backward out of his body.

Chen Shi roared, fighting the immense pull with all his might, forcing himself back into the skeleton. He grabbed the True Martial Exorcising Sword and raised Stone Ji Your Ladyship into the air!

Stone Ji let out a fierce cry, and the Ghost and God Domain bloomed. Instantly, all the fleshy tentacles around them turned to stone, the petrification racing along their lengths into the distance.

Cracking sounds echoed through the air, like ice splitting.

Stone Ji’s expression shifted. “Run!” she barked.

Seizing the opportunity, everyone sprinted forward at full speed.

The fog was thick, and monstrous shapes of all kinds kept breaking through the ground, rising from burial sites to charge at them.

“Stone Ji! Absorb their bones!” Chen Shi shouted.

Stone Ji activated her divine power, and the stone essence on the surface of the corpses flew out. But in the next moment, dazzling divine patterns emerged on the bones, preventing her from absorbing them.

Stone Ji held the rear, blocking the attacks from the revived ghost gods.

Then, Chen Shi’s Primordial Spirit was yanked by an even more terrifying force, dragged outward!

“Granny Sha has never been reliable before—why does she have to be reliable now?” Chen Shi gritted his teeth, struggling to move forward, forcing himself to merge with the skeleton.

Everyone watched with pounding hearts. Chen Shi’s small temple followed his Primordial Spirit, not his skeleton. If his Primordial Spirit were forcibly pulled away, the small temple would go with it.

They were mainly relying on Stone Ji and Chen Shi’s True Martial Exorcising Sword for protection. Without them, disaster would be certain!

“Crack!”

The splitting sounds from the thick fog above grew denser. Suddenly, the stone essence within the flesh hidden in the fog rapidly receded, and the flesh returned to its original form, pressing down.

Stone Ji unleashed the Ghost and God Domain again, petrifying the writhing tentacles in the sky.

From a distance came the voice of Daoist Tianzhen: “It seems there’s a fellow Daoist here who doesn’t wish to ascend! How wonderful ascension is—freedom, no restraints, merging with the great Dao of heaven and earth! I am now the Dao! I am the heavens!”

He approached with incredible speed, heading straight for them.

Stone Ji’s expression darkened. She felt her loyalty draining away rapidly.

“Since the Envoy has treated me well, I’ll stay loyal a little longer!” She gritted her teeth, thinking to herself, “But it seems Daoist Tianzhen has his eyes on me... Oh well, I’ll fight him to the death!”

In the underworld, on a high ridge.

Granny Sha frowned on the altar. She had attempted the soul-summoning twice, but both times, a strange, powerful force had blocked her, preventing her from recalling Chen Shi’s Primordial Spirit.

“Aunt Qiu Tong,” Chen Tang said nervously from below, clearing his throat. “Is there a problem?”

Granny Sha steadied herself. “A small problem, but solvable. I can sense Little Ten’s Primordial Spirit loosening. The ghost god opposing me is powerful, but not much stronger than I am.”

She let out a cold laugh. “I’ve always done business with no capital—never offering sacrifices when summoning souls. But this time, I’ve met my match, and I’ll have to offer one!”

With a command, the five Ghost Kings rode the Yin winds and vanished. Soon, several cattle and sheep appeared on the altar.

“Little Tang,” she said, “don’t just stand there while I summon. You’re his father. Call his name. The voice of a loved one can increase the chances of success.”

Chen Tang acknowledged her words.

Granny Sha merged with her Primordial Spirit, transforming into a hundred-zhang-tall Imperial Maiden. She pushed her cultivation to its peak, drawing the power of the great Dao of the underworld into herself. She activated the altar, offering the pigs, horses, cattle, and sheep as sacrifices.

With the grand soul-summoning ritual underway, she called upon the power of the Five Sacred Mountain Emperors, Supreme Unity Heavenly Venerable, Supreme Emperor, Fengdu, and others, all of which converged into an overwhelming force!

At the same time, Chen Tang called out Chen Shi’s childhood name, his voice joining that force as it surged forward.

At that critical moment for Chen Shi, Xiang Kun, and the others, Chen Shi suddenly radiated brilliant light. The power of ancient deities from China crossed time and space, manifesting upon him.

Simultaneously, the writhing flesh hidden in the fog began to fall, contracting like a giant wing.

Daoist Tianzhen appeared before them. This young Daoist boy was half human, and the other half should have been a skeleton, but it was now filled with writhing flesh, barely forming a human shape. At the edges of his body, flesh grew wildly in all directions, forming wings of living meat.

With a slight flap of those wings, heaven and earth trembled.

“Too strong!” Stone Ji’s eyelids twitched wildly.

Daoist Tianzhen was already dead. Now, he was a revived corpse, corrupted and evil. Ignoring Chen Shi and the others, his gaze fell on Stone Ji. His eyes lit up, and he smiled. “Fellow Daoist, you are also a dead body, forcibly extending your life with incense offerings, only adding to your troubles. Why not merge with me and unite with the Dao of this world?”

He was excited beyond measure, swinging his enormous meat wing forward.

Stone Ji roared, pushing her cultivation to its limit!

Chen Shi groaned as his Primordial Spirit was ripped from his skeleton. He grabbed the True Martial Exorcising Sword and drove it into the ground, resisting Granny Sha’s soul-summoning!

“Whoosh——”

Daoist Tianzhen’s meat wing swept in with the power to annihilate everything, engulfing them!

Chen Shi roared, channeling the last shred of his strength to lift the white-clad fairy, who was lying on the main shrine in his small temple, into the air.

The fairy had been napping and was a bit confused when lifted. But seeing the terrifying meat wing rushing toward her, she instinctively floated up, raised her sleeve, and met it.

“Boom!”

Immortal light burst forth, sweeping away all the fog within a radius of hundreds of li. The meat wing shattered into countless pieces, flesh flying everywhere.

Daoist Tianzhen’s body shook violently, sent flying backward until he vanished into the fog.

The Fog Moon hanging over the Yin Mountains suddenly rolled, its ninefold pupil creaking as it turned to look in their direction.

Everyone stared in shock at the white-clad woman floating in the air.

Chen Shi could hold on no longer. He shouted, “Wen Wuyu, I’m leaving this to you! Escort them to the Heavenly Pool Kingdom capital!”

Hearing this, Wen Wuyu exclaimed, “No! I can’t hold it alone! If you’re leaving, I’m leaving too!”

Crown Prince Xiang Kun and the others’ hearts sank.

Wen Wuyu had many tricks up her sleeve. If she stayed, their chances of surviving the climb up Boundless Cliff and reaching the capital were much higher. But if both Chen Shi and Wen Wuyu left, they wouldn’t last long in the Fog Moon Night.

“Wuyu, I’m counting on you.” Chen Shi looked at her.

Meeting his gaze, Wen Wuyu gritted her teeth and, against her better judgment, nodded.

Chen Shi could no longer resist the soul-summoning divine power. He let go, and his voice came through the fog: “I’ll leave a single thought behind to protect you with my life, to escort you safely back to the capital——”

As his Primordial Spirit flew away, Stone Ji Your Ladyship and the white-clad fairy turned into two streaks of light, disappearing into the small temple behind Chen Shi’s Primordial Spirit’s head. Only Wen Wuyu, Xiang Kun, Right Consort, and the others remained.

Xiang Kun and the others looked grim. They were covered in wounds, having been attacked by experts from the Yu Kingdom earlier. Now, walking through the fog, facing revived ghost clan powerhouses, they wondered how far they could last.

“Clang!”

The sharp sound of a sword came. Chen Shi’s skeleton pulled the True Martial Exorcising Sword from the ground. With a hum, the Blood Lake Hell manifested behind his skull, spinning without pause.

“Let’s go.”

Skeleton Chen Shi raised his sword and strode forward. “Follow your king—fight our way back!”

Wen Wuyu steadied herself and walked behind him, waving her hand. “Move out! To the capital!”

Xiang Kun, Right Consort, and the others fell into step.

A rumbling tremor came from ahead. A powerful Daxi clan expert reached out, climbing out of an abyss. He had a boar’s head and a human body, his frame tattered, with rotting flesh exposing bone.

But now, he was alive. Divine patterns unique to the Daxi clan appeared on his bones and skin.

His bloodline had awakened to the seventh rank. His body was like a mountain, and he carried a massive spiked club, staggering toward them. With a roar, he swung the club down!

Skeleton Chen Shi suddenly accelerated, charging straight into the path of the falling club. Just as it seemed he would be crushed, lightning flashed beneath his feet. In the instant the club descended, he leaped up, appearing before the Daxi powerhouse, his sword light slashing down!

The Daxi powerhouse roared in fury. The flesh on the left half of his body vanished under the immortal sword’s radiance, leaving only a skeleton, while the other half remained intact.

Skeleton Chen Shi cast his sword. The light whirled backward, sweeping through the fog. Bones rushing from all directions had their legs or waists severed under the sword’s edge.

Skeleton Chen Shi punched wildly, thud-thud-thud, landing countless blows on the Daxi powerhouse’s jaw. He smashed the ghost god’s head sideways until, with a crack, the neck bone broke. The head twisted to the back of the body, and the giant toppled to one side.

He crashed to the ground, half skeleton, half flesh, struggling to rise. Skeleton Chen Shi grabbed his head, raised his hand, and the True Martial Exorcising Sword flew over.

Skeleton Chen Shi seized the hilt, beheaded the giant, kicked the headless corpse into the abyss, and tossed the head in after it.

Xiang Kun and the others watched in awe.

Suddenly, Skeleton Chen Shi opened his mouth, letting out a silent roar, and charged forward with his sword.

The group quickly followed. Ahead, the sky was bathed in blood. Skeleton Chen Shi unfurled the Blood Lake Hell, and ghost gods rose from the blood lake, rushing at the dead surging in from all sides.

Wen Wuyu, Xiang Kun, and the others yelled, joining the slaughter as they plunged into the endless fog.

They didn’t think about whether they could break through or survive the fog. They just followed the skeleton, fighting on!

They were battered and bloody, exhausted from the relentless battle. Their muscles ached as if each one carried a mountain. They longed to fall to their knees and lie still, but the skeleton ahead pressed on, sword in hand, cutting through thorns and brambles as if he never tired, as if he could fight forever!

They gritted their teeth, holding on, supporting each other as they trudged forward.

By the time they fought into the late hours of the night, Wen Wuyu’s magical power was spent, and she had no strength left. She could only watch as Skeleton Chen Shi fought front and back, charging and ramming without rest.

The most dangerous weren’t the dead of the eighth bloodline rank or even the fearsome beings of the ninth, but the dead near massive remnants that exuded an aura almost like that of immortals.

When Wen Wuyu drew near those places, she was already in despair, certain she would die. But Skeleton Chen Shi was incredibly perceptive, leading them carefully through the fog to avoid these areas, carving a safe path through the peril.

Finally, they reached Boundless Cliff.

Heavenly gods nailed to the cliff had come back to life, writhing on its face with earth-shaking roars.

Skeleton Chen Shi led them up Boundless Cliff, climbing over it safely while their hearts pounded wildly.

They pressed on, passing through the sinister Heavenly Pools.

As dawn broke, the Fog Moon receded, and the fog slowly dissipated. The people of the Heavenly Pool Kingdom dared to step out of their homes, looking at the outside world.

Then, they saw a skeleton walking sword in hand, leading the battered Xiang Kun, Witch Yan, and other young powerhouses along the grand road of the capital.

Ghosts and ghost gods of all kinds watched as they marched forward, arriving outside the royal palace of the Heavenly Pool Kingdom capital.

Suddenly, Skeleton Chen Shi stopped. The spinning Blood Lake Hell extinguished, as if he had shed all his strength. With a crash, his bones shattered into a pile, and the True Martial Exorcising Sword clattered to the ground.

He had fought the most battles, his bones already cracked from the shock, held together only by a single thought.

Now that the thought had dissipated, his body crumbled.

Xiang Kun and the others still stood guard around the pile of broken bones, forbidding any ghost god from approaching.

They kept watch for many days, until one day, the pile of bones rustled, emitting a faint vibration.

Xiang Kun and the ghost gods were stirred with emotion.

“He’s back!”

They looked at the scattered remains.

Their true king was about to return.

—A long chapter, asking for monthly votes!