In Chen Shi's small temple, Scholar Zhu clapped and praised: "Mencius said, when a ruler regards his people as weeds, the people regard their ruler as an enemy. The Thirteen Great Clans occupy high positions, ignore the common people, and prey on them—they deserve to die. Kill well, kill well! We should hang all these bastards!"

He had a noose around his neck, jumped up from the miniature shrine, and shouted: "Little Ten, you haven't done well enough yet, you haven't killed satisfactorily! You still can't match Mencius—you're not fierce enough! You need my personal guidance!"

He was extremely agitated. Chen Tang had been ruined by his teaching, turned into a refined and gentle villain who seriously went to take the imperial exams, became an official, and couldn't even achieve the top scholar title!

Too disgraceful for him.

Chen Tang couldn't protect his son, couldn't protect his wife, never rose to power that swayed the court, let alone become a True King and save the people from disaster!

In his view, his teaching had failed miserably—he'd actually produced a man of gentlemanly conduct!

But Chen Shi—he absolutely couldn't let him be ruined.

Chen Shi had been taught well by him. He wielded the *Analects* with fierce vigor and had begun putting *Mencius* into practice.

Perfect timing. These days, he could accompany Chen Shi on a journey through this absurd and bizarre world, surely able to teach by example and guide Chen Shi onto the right path!

"Once he cultivates *Laozi*, he can become a True King!" Scholar Zhu thought to himself.

Above Chen Shi's head, a golden brick descended from the sky. Strange talisman patterns emerged on its surface, and in an instant, it expanded from palm-sized into a perfectly square golden mountain, a hundred zhang high, a hundred zhang wide, a hundred zhang long—its weight astonishing!

As the golden mountain fell, Chen Shi's Dao Field spread open, the sixty-four trigram zones rotating. The talisman patterns on the golden mountain's surface crackled and exploded, bursting into flames. As it crashed into the Dao Field, more than half was refined away, its power greatly diminished!

An elder from the Xia Family stepped forward, raised both hands high, then slammed them down, shouting sternly: "You killed our Xia Family's Lord Fengyang—you must die!"

Behind him emerged a Primordial Spirit a hundred zhang tall, clearly a master of the Spirit Refining realm. The Primordial Spirit also raised its hands and slammed down, unleashing the golden mountain's full power!

The golden mountain rumbled as it pressed down. Just as it was about to touch Chen Shi, this magic treasure was completely melted by his Dao Field, all talisman imprints burned away, turning into molten gold that splashed outward in a cascade.

The scorching golden liquid formed a gleaming golden lake on the ground!

The Xia Family elder was startled: "Even a magic treasure can't harm him?"

Magic treasures were extremely powerful, far beyond what ordinary cultivators could withstand. Their inherent might was already formidable, and after long periods of worship and incense offerings, their power became fierce and overbearing, rivaling gods!

His golden brick was such a treasure. Before falling into his hands, it had been worshiped for over seven hundred years, absorbing more than seven hundred years of incense offerings' energy, condensed into divine power. This divine power was even stronger than his own cultivation, making it incredibly dominant when activated!

Chen Shi stood on the golden lake, raised his hand to summon the Heaven-Measuring Iron Ruler, and turned his head: "You want me dead? I'll kill you first!"

The Heaven-Measuring Iron Ruler rapidly shrank from a colossal thousand-zhang giant to the size of an embroidery needle. He flicked it with his finger, and it shot through the air with a *whoosh*!

The Xia Family elder's Dao Field erupted. Within the field, true dragons danced, coiling around his body.

This technique was the Eight Mighty Dragon Script Technique, transforming the immense Dao power in his field into true dragons attached to his body, enhancing both defense and physical attack power.

He raised his hand to block, but the Heaven-Measuring Iron Ruler pierced straight through his palm with a *chi* sound, entered through his brow, exited through the back of his head. As it penetrated his physical body, it also pierced through the hundred-zhang Primordial Spirit behind him!

Chen Shi raised his sword-finger gesture, and the Heaven-Measuring Iron Ruler stood upright behind the Primordial Spirit's head. As his finger swept down with a *bang*, the Xia Family elder's Primordial Spirit was shattered into pieces!

"Kill him!"

Roars erupted from Fengyang Villa. Ghost gods of all sizes, their eyes cracking with rage, surged toward Chen Shi from all directions.

Xia Tianjie quickly raised both hands, shouting: "Don't fight! Everyone, listen to me!"

But the surging ghost gods didn't listen to him.

They were determined to avenge Lord Fengyang.

Lord Fengyang was a nail the Xia Family had driven into the underworld. There were hundreds of similar nails throughout the underworld.

As one of the Thirteen Great Clans, the Xia Family had produced countless cultivators since the True King's Era. The top tier, like the Sect Leader, entered the Upper Realm after death to cultivate the divine path.

The second tier, like the leaders of various branches, cultivated techniques from the *Southern Palace Collection*, reaching the Return to Emptiness or Great Ascension realms. After death, these powerful individuals entered the underworld and took official positions there.

The third tier was beings like Lord Fengyang—mediocre in life, neither high nor low in officialdom. After death, they found a place in the underworld, not exactly dominating mountains, but possessing territory and ruling over a region's ghost gods.

Lord Fengyang had lived near the Min River. His cultivation wasn't very high, but he had great reputation. Every Xia Family member who served as a local official in the Min River's mortal world would come to Fengyang Villa after death in the underworld. They all received incense offerings and could enjoy worship.

These surging ghost gods were Xia Family members who had served as officials in the Min River area across generations—not the kind of ghost gods from the Ten Thousand Mountains.

In Gongzhou, Xia Family experts who died didn't enter hell but went to the underworld, living in Lord Fengyang's villa. Or they built villas elsewhere, funded by Lord Fengyang, subduing ghost gods and monsters, annexing underworld territory, capturing cultivators' souls as servants to attend to them. Their lives were even more comfortable than in the mortal world.

As for cultivators from other clans who died near the Min River and fell into the underworld, Lord Fengyang would treat them with courtesy, even giving them incense money before they left to fund their return home. Thus, Lord Fengyang was known as the "Mencius of the Underworld."

Such a fine ghost god, a respected senior, the Xia Family's ancestor—and Chen Shi had killed him with a single blow. How could they tolerate this?

Chen Shi watched the ghost gods rushing at him from all sides, and his murderous intent surged.

"Kill me? Today I'll send you all on your way!"

His figure moved rapidly, hand forming a Sword Seal. The Heaven-Measuring Iron Ruler whirled through the air, rolling, and with *bang bang bang* sounds, the heads of ghost gods were smashed to pulp by the leaping iron ruler, turning into headless bodies.

The Heaven-Measuring Iron Ruler moved incredibly fast. Most ghost gods had their heads blown apart before they even reacted.

"Die!"

A Golden-Armored Warrior roared, charging forward. His golden body slammed into Chen Shi's Dao Field, shaking it so that Chen Shi couldn't maintain his stance and slid backward, losing control of the Heaven-Measuring Iron Ruler.

The Golden-Armored Warrior howled, his fists possessing mountain-shattering power. He punched through Chen Shi's Dao Field like a storm, invading with overwhelming momentum.

Dragon-Elephant Demon-Subduing Technique!

As he moved, dragon roars and elephant trumpets shook the ears.

Most of the Xia Family ghost gods had been local officials in Gongzhou during life, usually at the Spirit Transformation, Divine Descent, or Emptiness Refining realms, at most Body Unification. But their power came not from their living cultivation but from the energy of incense offerings after death.

Over thousands of years, they had absorbed incense energy to forge golden bodies. A cultivator's lifespan was only a hundred years, but after death, their Primordial Spirit could last ten thousand years without extinguishing. In forging their golden bodies, they often reached a hundred zhang, even several hundred zhang, with incredibly powerful divine energy!

This Golden-Armored Warrior was an outstanding example. In life, he was only at the Emptiness Refining realm—one realm lower than Chen Shi—but his divine energy was extraordinarily strong, leveling the gap in cultivation!

Chen Shi's Dao Field was punched through by his hundred strikes in an instant. A fist came flying at Chen Shi, its force penetrating the Dao Field, unstoppable!

Chen Shi steadied himself, reached out, and caught the Heaven-Measuring Iron Ruler. With a swing, it extended to several zhang in length. He struck the Golden-Armored Warrior on the crown of the head, sending brain matter flying and shattering the golden body to pieces.

Chen Shi leaped up, pointing his sword finger. The Heaven-Measuring Iron Ruler whistled past, turning into a streak of light, shrinking as it pierced through the heart of another charging ghost god.

Then the Heaven-Measuring Iron Ruler expanded, splitting that ghost god's golden body in half!

The Heaven-Measuring Iron Ruler circled once and thrust into the ground. Chen Shi landed on one foot atop it, flicked his sleeve, and spread his Dao Field. Within the field, Xun Wind raged. Ghost gods rushing at him were blown by the Xun Wind into their bodies, their golden bodies beginning to dissolve and melt away. The divine golden bodies grew fainter and fainter until they vanished completely!

Another ghost god attacked from behind, but before getting close, Li Fire erupted within him, unquenchable, burning him to ashes!

"Kill well, kill well!"

Scholar Zhu was wildly excited, having completely lost the refined demeanor of when he hanged himself on the old willow tree. He shouted: "Catch these bastards in the government office, beat them to death in the government office! Catch these bastards in the brothel, beat them to death in the brothel! Catch these bastards in the underworld, beat them to death in the underworld! This world has long been riddled with holes by these parasites. If we don't eliminate every single one, what future is there?"

Around Chen Shi, variations of wind and thunder, water and fire, mountains and lakes, rotated without pause. Ghost gods who invaded his Dao Field were either killed by thunderbolts, died in wind and fire, washed away by floods, crushed by mountains, or swallowed by marshes.

In that single breath, dozens of Xia Family ghost gods had died!

Just then, over a dozen deities stepped into Chen Shi's Dao Field. Their divine power was fierce and overbearing, pressing down so heavily that even his Dao Field couldn't function properly!

Although Fengyang Villa was just one of the Thirteen Great Clans' many outposts in the underworld, the power it had accumulated was truly extraordinary!

With his Dao Field unable to function, Chen Shi reached out with an empty hand. The parasol on the wooden cart flew up with a *whoosh*, spreading open, spinning as it hung in the sky, covering the Dao Field.

Beneath the parasol, the gods of the Heavenly Palace appeared—two thousand four hundred deities formed the Grand Cosmic Sacrificial Rite, pressing down.

The dozen or so Xia Family deities each grunted, unable to move.

Chen Shi grabbed the mushroom stem, closed the parasol, and the dozen deities were sucked inside. Crackling sounds came from within the parasol as fragments of shattered golden bodies flowed down the stem.

The Dark Spring Swimming Dragon Sword flew out of the parasol, *whoosh*, piercing through the brow of a ghost god who had circled behind Chen Shi. Then it *chi-chi*ed, like threading a needle, continuously piercing through ghost gods one after another!

"Hahahaha!"

Scholar Zhu laughed, dancing wildly in the small temple, as if mad, shouting: "Kill well! Without killing, how can the commoners' fury be appeased? Without killing, how can the anger in my Dao Heart be calmed? Without killing, what use is this cultivation?"

In another small temple, Stone Ji Your Ladyship was startled by him, thinking: "This scholar ghost is crazier than me!"

More Xia Family ghost gods surged forward, killing cries shaking the heavens. Chen Shi leaped down from the Heaven-Measuring Iron Ruler. The world around him suddenly transformed. Fengyang Villa seemed to become streets crossing back and forth.

The first Ghost and God Domain among the Sixty-Four Variations of the Eight Trigrams—Heaven-Earth Variation!

Those ghost gods found themselves running on streets that were intersecting, shifting, and deforming at an astonishing speed.

Some were clearly charging at Chen Shi, yet they grew farther and farther away. Attacks that should have landed on him missed because the streets suddenly changed.

Chen Shi stepped forward, meeting a ghost god's palm strike head-on. Both sides' magical power clashed. The ghost god's divine power was no match for Chen Shi's Dao power. His golden body was shattered by the palm force, sent flying backward, and exploded with a *bang*.

Chen Shi sidestepped an attack from behind, raised his sword finger lightly, and the Dark Spring Swimming Dragon Sword flew out like a ghost, entering the left temple of the Xia Family ghost god behind him and exiting the right temple.

The Heavenly Cycle Fire Domain whirled. The Heaven-Measuring Iron Ruler expanded rapidly, becoming incredibly huge, crashing into over a dozen Xia Family ghost gods on the street ahead. They spat golden blood from their mouths, pressing their palms against the iron ruler, being forced back step by step!

The Heaven-Earth Variation changed again, and Chen Shi was already behind them. He reached out, opened the parasol, and the Grand Cosmic Sacrificial Rite descended from the sky, crushing the dozen or so Xia Family ghost gods to powder!

"Good! Good! Little Ten, from today on, abandon all mercy and open the gates of slaughter!"

Scholar Zhu was overjoyed, shouting: "The Thirteen Great Clans turn people into ghosts—they deserve to die! If we don't kill them all, how can we turn ghosts back into people?"

Chen Shi grabbed the parasol stem, his eyes filled with murderous intent as he looked at the Xia Family ghost gods who had been terrified by his slaughter.

In just a short time, divine corpses lay everywhere. Fengyang Villa's two-thousand-year accumulation had produced these Xia Family ghost gods, and now half of them lay dead at his hands.

The remaining ghost gods had lost their fighting spirit, their eyes only showing fear when looking at him.

The two Xia Family elders beside Xia Tianjie had also attacked Chen Shi earlier and died in the chaos!

Suddenly, Xia Shichang moved. In a flash, he appeared beside the wooden cart, grabbed Little Duan's throat, and said in a deep voice: "Chen Shi, stop! Or I'll kill her!"

Chen Shi's murderous intent was burning hot, but seeing this, his expression became strange.

Seeing him stop, Xia Shichang breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to look around, saw the terrible casualties at Fengyang Villa, and his hand trembled with anger. He sneered: "Chen Shi, it seems sparing your father and son was a mistake for my Xia Family..."

At that moment, he inexplicably felt a wave of cold.

This cold came from nowhere, making him shudder.

As he held the girl's throat, his thumb bent backward, *crack*, breaking. Then one by one, his other fingers bent backward, breaking in sequence.

Xia Shichang's face showed terror as he saw the girl he was holding hostage suddenly turn cold as frost, looking at him with icy eyes.

"You took a member of the Great Shang royal family hostage. All methods of burning to death are recorded on oracle bones."

Little Duan Immortal raised her hand, and Xia Shichang involuntarily flew up, faster and faster, terror filling his heart.

He was getting closer to eighty li in the sky.

It was nighttime now. The moon hung at eighty li, its Formless Sword Energy locking everything in, preventing anyone from escaping the Western Ox New Continent through the sky!

"*Whoosh!*"

He flew to eighty li. The Formless Sword Energy within the moonlight burst forth, and Xia Shichang turned into a cloud of blood mist under the moonlight.