His blood was about to run dry, and other soldiers each vowed with their own blood, calling in unison upon the guardian spirits of the Ancestral Land.

The Spiritual Official sensed this profound and sincere loyalty, yet these soldiers had no divine statues, no altars, nor incense to guide them, merely a heart full of zeal, preventing their descent.

"With our broken bodies, we welcome the Divine Descent!"

The leading soldier sacrificed himself, drawing his blade to take his own life, and hundreds of soldiers followed suit, using themselves as offerings, as divine statues, to invite the descent of the Spiritual Official and others.

The Spiritual Official and five hundred Spiritual Official clones descended, inhabiting their physical bodies, and with fury slaughtered, cleansing the demons and evil spirits of the West Coast!

Grateful for being saved by the Spiritual Official and others, the citizens of the Great Ming built the Jade Pivot Spiritual Official Fire Mansion for them. As they sculpted statues, the Spiritual Official stopped the craftsmen.

"We descended using the physical bodies of these righteous men, so why build divine statues? The physical bodies of these righteous men, bright and passionate like fire, fervent like thunder, are the best golden bodies."

Seated in the divine shrines with the appearances of these mortals, they remained for ten thousand years.

At the end of the True King Era, disasters arose everywhere. He and five hundred Spiritual Officials, using the faces of these soldiers, saved people from suffering, protecting the Human Clan's survival in that sunless era.

They persisted for more than forty years until the sun rose again.

But what awaited them was the encirclement at Despair Slope.

The five hundred Spiritual Officials fell one after another in this siege, only he narrowly escaped, burying the orthodoxy.

"Brothers, it's time for us to protect the world again!"

A flame burned within his chest as he murmured, "Though the bodies of those five hundred soldiers are gone, their blood still flows. First, protect the living, then avenge the blood sea of vengeance!"

On the divine shrines, streaks of rosy clouds swirled violently, seemingly responding to his anger and battle intent.

On the wooden cart, Chen Shi remembered the elder with a childlike face and asked Scholar Zhu, "Teacher, could the technique that elder used be the Emperor Purple Palace Technique?"

Scholar Zhu pondered for a moment and then replied, "Quite possibly. However, among the techniques in the True King's Treasure Vault, I have thoroughly read only the Ten Books of Cultivation, and I haven't studied the Emperor Purple Palace Technique deeply. The horned Grave Guardian Beast told me that insufficient cultivation can lead to death if one forces themselves to read immortal laws without caution."

Chen Shi deeply resonated, having fainted repeatedly while reading various immortal laws in the True King's Treasure Vault.

However, the horned Grave Guardian Beast never warned him. This evil spirit likely wished for his death in the vault.

"What he cultivated should be the Emperor Purple Palace Technique. I fought against Yang Bi before, who had used this technique. But even he only grasped its surface."

Chen Shi pondered, "The Spiritual Official mentioned that after the disaster ended, Despair Slope came to attack the mountains and destroy temples. Thus, I suspect the elder might also be from Despair Slope."

His eyes flickered, "Despair Slope aims to complete what was left undone back then, eradicating all Huaxia Gods' temples once and for all!"

All temples sank back then, no longer manifesting. Only now, with the sun gone, had they reemerged, giving Despair Slope the chance to uproot these temples and eliminate potential threats for good!

"But why must Despair Slope eradicate these temples?" He was puzzled.

Despair Slope held many mysteries, like deploying Heaven Listeners to monitor the world, raising suspicion.

Furthermore, why would Despair Slope perform immortal laws from the True King's Treasure Vault? Could it be obtained from the True King, or were those techniques inherited otherwise?

Despair Slope holds too many secrets.

"By trying to destroy the Huaxia Gods' orthodoxy, Despair Slope might kill countless people." A flash of murderous intent flickered in Chen Shi's eyes as he contemplated how to eliminate the elder with the childlike face.

He glanced at Scholar Zhu, a thought arising, recalling the battle between Scholar Zhu and the elder, and he smiled, "Teacher, in life, was your cultivation truly so powerful, yet you were merely a scholar?"

At this moment, Scholar Zhu was hanging on the Hua Gai of the wooden cart, habitually suspending himself and drifting in the wind, feeling much more comfortable, he replied, "Of course I was a scholar. I took the examinations but did not pass."

Chen Shi asked in confusion, "But with your talents, teacher, though it's not unfounded, it's unprecedented. Why did you only pass as a scholar?"

Scholar Zhu hesitated for a moment and then revealed candidly, "When I took the scholar examinations back then, I used the surname Zhu, just to show the world that the Zhu line wasn't extinct, and the True King's bloodline still exists. After I passed as a scholar, this news spread across the fifty provinces, reaching the Western Capital. However, every time I took the higher exams after that, I never succeeded. I attempted the examination fourteen times in total."

Chen Shi had never heard him talk about his story before, so he listened quietly.

Scholar Zhu continued, "On my repeated trips to take the exams, I witnessed the sufferings of the world, I understood the hardships of the common people, I witnessed the decline of livelihood, and saw the government squeezing the people even worse than evil spirits. I wanted to become the top scorer to tell the world that the Zhu family still exists, that there are still people! I wanted to become the True King, to resolve the people's hardships, to address the conflicts in the bureaucracy, and to tackle the court's corruption! I had all sorts of ideas, wanting to revive the prosperity of the True King era!"

He also wished to uncover the truth behind the end of the True King era.

No one in the world dared to use the surname Zhu anymore, but he dared!

"But I took the exams fourteen times and never passed even once."

Scholar Zhu hung from the noose, his face calm, as if telling another person's story.

"I thought my scholarship wasn't enough, so I madly delved into cultivation, seeking knowledge, striving for progress. I risked my life to enter the True King's Tomb, several times narrowly escaping death by the Grave Guardian Beasts, beaten to the brink of death and thrown out with barely a breath left. Yet, I crawled back each time. Those guardian beasts didn't kill me. The horned guardian beast told me that in over five thousand years, finally a Zhu with guts emerged, and it allowed me into the True King's Tomb.

"It said it waited five thousand years, and never once had the Zhu family produced someone with backbone, all frightened by the Ghost God Domain here. Only my stubbornness, my fearlessness of death, allowed me to read the classics within the True King's Tomb, making unprecedented breakthroughs. I was confident that if I took the exams again, I'd definitely pass as a scholar.

"But I failed the exams again."

Despair filled Scholar Zhu's eyes, "By then, I had already reached the Mahayana Realm, yet I still failed, unable to even become a scholar. I could do nothing. But suddenly, I realized, to hell with passing the exams, to hell with the imperial examination, to hell with the imperial exam! I'm invincible now! I have no rivals anymore."

Chen Shi exclaimed in shock, "You've achieved the 'Laozi' realm!"

Scholar Zhu laughed heartily: "Indeed, I have achieved the 'Laozi' realm! Laozi fears nothing! If they won't let me pass, won't let me become the top scorer, then Laozi will fight my way to the Western Capital! I want to show these bastards, your True King is back! I fought my way into the Western Capital, single-handedly confronting the Five Military Camps, directly facing the Divine Mechanism Camp's General Cannon, and broke through the Three Armies on my own! I stormed into the Western Capital City, entered the Inner City Royal Palace, sweeping through the Thirteen Ministers of the Cabinet!"

Chen Shi clapped and exclaimed, "Well done!"

Scholar Zhu laughed heartily, "Of course, well done! These old fogies hold sway over the court, treating my Zhu family's kingdom as their own! They sired many offspring, spreading across various regions, leeching off the common people, all those bastards deserve beheading! These old fogies indulge evil spirits, exploiting the common folks, by the Great Ming Law, they should be executed along with their entire clan, wiped out!"

Chen Shi excitedly asked, "And then?"

Scholar Zhu's face darkened, he fell silent for a moment, then said, "They used the True King Nine Palaces to suppress me."

Chen Shi's mouth twitched and he said, "It's not your fault. The True King Nine Palaces are immortal artifacts, treasures of the Immortal Family. Even a True Immortal would suffer and bear regrets before these nine immortal artifacts."

"Those were used by ancestors to suppress evil spirits, not to suppress their descendants."

Showing a look of pain, Scholar Zhu continued after a brief pause, "After being suppressed, those hidden ancestors of the Thirteen Families emerged one by one, challenging me. They lived longer than me, their cultivation levels were higher, they never spoke a word to me, defeating me one by one."

Chen Shi remained silent.

The situation Scholar Zhu encountered was similar to what his grandfather Chen Yindou had faced back then. When Chen Yindou besieged the Western Capital, those elders appeared too, challenging him one after another, showcasing the Upper Realm, forcing Chen Yindou to retreat and hide in Huangpo Village.

"They didn't make things difficult for me."

Regaining a calm demeanor, Scholar Zhu said, "They released me because they didn't want to bear the infamy of regicide. I wandered aimlessly, crazed across the West Bull New Continent, utterly desolate. I crashed against the harsh realities of this world, battered and bloodied, I had no direction, no courage left to live."

In the end, he chose to hang himself.

He came to the Yellow Earth Slope outside the True King's Tomb and hanged himself under an old willow tree.

He wanted to use his indifferent gaze to see how this world, under the torment of the Thirteen Families, would decay, deteriorate, and how this society would destroy itself!

"Little Ten, don't have any sympathy for the Thirteen Families, they don't deserve it." he said calmly.

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