"Lord Yunzhong? Truly refined and graceful. Have you made up your mind?"

Song Lin said with a smile.

"Leave immediately. You and I should keep to our own domains. Do not make a mistake you will regret."

As Lord Yunzhong spoke, all the deities of Yunmeng Marsh flew to stand behind him.

"Keeping to our own domains is impossible. The Eastern King is determined to claim the world. Surrender or die. Moreover, you owe a blood debt, which makes it even more impossible to let you go."

Song Lin spoke lightly, his words laced with killing intent.

"Do you really think you can defeat me?"

Boom!

As the words fell, two dark clouds flew in from the east and west. Upon the clouds were none other than Qiongqi and Taotie, two of the Four Great Fierce Beasts.

The spectacle did not end there. The blazing sun in the sky unleashed an unbearable heat and rain of fire.

Everywhere except Yunmeng Marsh plunged into darkness, as if all light had gathered here.

The water within the land dried up, the ground cracked, vegetation withered and spontaneously combusted, and the moisture in living beings evaporated ceaselessly.

Entrusted with overseeing rain, Xiangg Jun and Lady Xiangg of the Eastern King's Heavenly Court mustered all their strength to conjure a torrential rain through Song Lin's Natural Dao to prevent widespread devastation.

Most of their strength was being consumed just to counter the oppressive sun.

A slight mistake would lead to the entire area being engulfed in sulfurous flames.

"I will give you one last chance," Lord Yunzhong said deliberately, word by word.

He truly wished to avoid conflict.

Lord Yunzhong had no desire to involve himself in any struggles. The initial decision to divulge the rumored happenings at Wushan was because he found Lingyu's demeanor agreeable and knew Yaoji's probing had an ulterior motive to drag him down, warranting a light reprimand.

But to his surprise, they remained relentless, leaving Lord Yunzhong with no choice but to seek aid from the demon beasts.

Though not of the same kind, the demon beasts were far friendlier than these relentless people.

At least they would leave him be.

However, conflict always entailed casualties, so Lord Yunzhong issued a warning out of courtesy.

"Fool! Fool!" Song Lin sneered with laughter, "You're being used as a pawn and don't even realize it. Do you honestly think they're helping you?"

From a pragmatic standpoint, Yaoji's past inquiry was reasonable and courteous. She didn't make a big scene, and it was entirely acceptable to decline without repercussions.

Yet who could have foreseen that this deity would reveal their plans, catching them entirely off guard.

The original plan was to wait for the Chu Country to unify the world before confronting matters openly.

After Song Lin's remark, the forces of the Eastern King's Heavenly Court collectively retreated some distance, allowing the Demon Army to press forward.

Seeing this, Lord Yunzhong's face turned ashen.

Song Lin was correct. Today's battle was not about aiding him; it was merely an attempt to capture the Eastern King's forces.

There was no turning back now. With matters at this juncture, there was no choice but to press forward.

"Attack!"

With Lord Yunzhong's command, the sky erupted with violet lightning, azure radiance illuminated the domain, and furious gales rained down amidst booming thunder.

The demon beasts mobilized in full force, and the water deities and forest gods of Yunmeng Marsh roared as they revealed their Divine Skills.

Three major Harmonizations and over ten minor Harmonizations. Given that the Eastern King was not in his territory, repelling them should pose no issue.

Boom!

Suddenly, the tides of battle shifted. The deities of Yunmeng Marsh turned their focus toward Lord Yunzhong.

To his right, a deity transformed into Song Lin's visage.

Song Lin wielded the Kunlun Seal and the Pure Yang Human Emperor Sword.

"You! All of you!"

Lord Yunzhong was utterly stunned, unable to fathom that his own subordinates had betrayed him or that Song Lin had infiltrated among them without his notice. What kind of Transformation Technique was this?

"Forgive me, Cloud God, but I side with the Eastern King's Heavenly Court." The Water God declared loudly.

Song Lin struck Lord Yunzhong with a single sword slash, reducing him to a cloud-like form, then suppressed him with the Heaven and Earth Xuan Sect.

Only then did Song Lin have the freedom to dispatch the Twelve Yuan Chen to deal with the remaining demons.

The Kunlun Seal, as the Heavenly Court Seal, allowed its wielder to command the powers of mountains and rivers, wielding the might of the world itself against enemies.

Qiongqi and Taotie were overpowered and driven into retreat.

The Heaven and Earth Xuan Sect landed a heavy blow on the airborne tiger form of Qiongqi, causing him to spew fresh blood.

"Cough, cough, despicable!"

Qiongqi gritted his teeth in defiance.

The other side had resorted to underhanded methods. He had believed that since Yunmeng Marsh was not under the Eastern King's domain, it would be possible to capture it, but the enemy had long since turned the deities of Yunmeng Marsh to their side.

Just as the demons were facing annihilation, the fiery sun in the sky flared even brighter, unleashing an even more intense heat that turned the earth into molten magma.

A faint image of the Candle Dragon appeared within the void.

It turned out that the Candle Dragon could not resist intervening.

Although it wasn't its True Body descending, its Divine Power alone was enough to support the demons.

The supreme strength of a top-tier Harmonization fighter revealed its terrifying might.

Seeing the Candle Dragon act, Song Lin transformed into a golden lotus, unleashing his Innate Pure Yang Qi without reservation.

The two suns clashed.

One sought to destroy all things, while the other nurtured them.

Though they shared a form, their powers were entirely opposed, yet the hearts of men had already shifted.

The Candle Dragon's domineering and tyrannical nature contrasted with the Eastern King's nurturing light over all living beings.

The hearts of men leaned entirely toward the Eastern King.

The Eastern King's power, reaching half-completion in Harmonization, held its own against the Candle Dragon.

"Hmm?"

Within the boundless cosmos, the Candle Dragon let out a faint sound of surprise, astonished at the Eastern King's growing strength.

Though tempted to contend further, it realized that it had reached a critical juncture in its cultivation.

After some thought, the Candle Dragon dismissed its intentions.

Let the Eastern King take the world if he wished. What did it matter? Even the mysterious powers of the Heavenly Court were but trifling before ultimate strength.

Once the Candle Dragon claimed the sun itself, the entire world would bend to its whims.

With this in mind, the Candle Dragon swept away the remnants of the defeated demons and withdrew its Divine Power.

"We've won!"

"Victory is ours!"

Everything south of the Yangtze River was taken, and the Eastern King's Heavenly Court expanded yet again.

Lord Yunzhong remained imprisoned within the Heavenly Burial Coffin but had not yet been fully dissolved by its power.

"What should be done with him?" Song Lin asked the former deities of Yunmeng Marsh.

"Spare the Cloud God's life." The deities could not bear to see him destroyed.

Lord Yunzhong had committed no heinous crimes; his only fault was his slightly muddled thinking.

"Very well. Since you so cherish freedom, let me grant you your wish."

Song Lin gazed at Lord Yunzhong, who glared at him with wide eyes from within the translucent jade coffin.

With that, he lifted the lid of the coffin and tapped Lord Yunzhong lightly on the forehead.

Pouring his intent into the gesture, he stripped Lord Yunzhong of his sentience.

Lord Yunzhong became a cloud that forever drifted near Wushan.

Song Lin refrained from completely eradicating him, leaving a sliver of potential for spiritual evolution.

With the South pacified, the Chu Army and Heavenly Court forces spread out in four directions, continuing their expansion beyond the Central Plains.

The primary forces marched northward.

In the Heavenly Court, as Song Lin gazed upon the growing expanse of territory, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

"If I establish a Heavenly Court in every world, and ignore the flow of time, wouldn't the merging of multiple Heavenly Courts from different Small Thousand Worlds upon breaking through to reality achieve unparalleled dominance?"

The more Song Lin considered it, the more achievable it seemed.

He began laying plans for each future world he entered.

Returning to reality briefly, dire news reached him.

The entire Moyu Country had fallen, its Capital besieged. Both the Spirit Treasure Celestial Master and the Divine Turtle were trapped.

Although they had uncovered clues about Xiezhi, the critical locations were now overrun by ghosts.

"Is it possible to break the siege and save our people?" Song Lin asked.

"I've tried, but there are too many. The fierce ghosts are too strange, and sometimes we're even pushed back," Chiyou responded.

"Some ghosts cannot be slaughtered by brute force; otherwise, they'll endlessly regenerate. Of course, if their specific restraints are identified, even a Qi Refining Taoist could slay a Core Formation Ghost," Shi Yinhua explained.

But this was the problem—they had no understanding of the ghosts' abilities or weaknesses. How could they divine their vulnerabilities?

"Perhaps I have a solution."

Song Lin thought of Bai Ze and instructed the others to fortify their positions as he ventured into the narrative world once more.

This time, if he could reclaim Moyu Country and uncover Xiezhi, it would mark another significant step toward unifying the world and restoring order to the land.

At the rear garden of the Palace of the Polestar in the Heavenly Court.

Song Lin found Bai Ze napping alongside Lu Wu and spoke directly to the point:

"Bai Ze, you are all-knowing. Do you possess knowledge of the Netherworld ghosts and their weaknesses?"

As the omniscient Bai Ze, he was sure to have such information.

"Of course I do." Bai Ze replied with confidence.

Having served as Song Lin's advisor for so long, he no longer questioned the reasons behind Song Lin's inquiries. Anything Song Lin said, he answered unhesitatingly.

"Good. Tell me everything, without exception."

Song Lin took out a brush and paper, carefully recording Bai Ze's insights and annotating them with his own observations.

"In the beginning of Heaven and Earth, when Primordial Energy governed, and myriad deities radiated their essence, there were no malevolent ghosts or corrupt spirits. People were filial and virtuous, rulers were benevolent, ministers were loyal, and the Six Harmonies were united. But over time, disasters emerged..."

Thus, the Ghost Killing Manual, later known as the Nüqing Ghost Law, began to take shape under Bai Ze's dictation.

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