Hell Emperor.

Chapter 584 Ye Jie - Breaking the Demon
"What exactly is that aura?"

The overwhelming evil mist surging from the eight stitched pages startled Zhao Gongming slightly. Before he could figure it out, Ye Jie's confident words reached his ears:
“The 100 billion merits are right here. Your request has been fulfilled. Now give me the main account of the Azure Lotus Palace.”

Upon hearing this, even Zhao Gongming, who was used to seeing mountains of gold and silver, was stunned and could not believe what he had heard.

The amount of good karma Ye Jie offered was not one hundred million, not one hundred billion, not one trillion, but a full one hundred billion!

What is the concept of 100 trillion merits? An ordinary person might accumulate a few hundred merits in a lifetime by doing good deeds, which is no more than a thousand at most. To obtain 100 trillion merits, one would need to reincarnate for ten trillion lifetimes!

Such an enormous astronomical number would be difficult to gather even if the entire underworld were to be assembled, let alone by one person.

The profits Ye Jie gained from the Yangshou Trade in the past amounted to only a few billion Yin Virtue each year. To accumulate a hundred billion Yin Virtue would require tens of millions of years of accumulation!

Zhao Gongming knew what this merit meant. In his prediction, for countless years to come, no one would be able to gather enough merit to buy the main tent. Unless the Emperor of the Underworld reappeared in the world, the main tent of the Azure Lotus Palace would forever belong to him.

However, things are quietly changing now. The series of zeros on Ye Jie's Book of Life and Death has dazzled him, which also means that Ye Jie has really taken out 100 billion yin virtues!

“This is impossible! It’s hard to say whether all the good deeds accumulated by all living beings in this world amount to a hundred billion. How could you possibly produce a hundred billion good deeds? Could this be some kind of illusion? You must be deceiving me…” Zhao Gongming looked incredulous.

Ye Jie smiled faintly: "This is not an illusion. Have you forgotten what you just said? So-called Yin virtue is not bestowed by the Heavenly Dao, but issued by the Great Emperor of the Underworld. It is something that the Great Emperor of the Underworld bestows upon all living beings. The Yin virtue I possess was all bestowed upon me by the Great Emperor of the Underworld."

"What..." Upon hearing this, Zhao Gongming's pupils shrank.

With the Underworld Emperor's Ghost Seal in hand, Ye Jie's authority has been elevated to an unprecedented level. It can be said that no one in the world is closer to the throne of the Underworld Emperor than him.

The Ghost Seal is the symbol of the Underworld Emperor's identity. Its power is not limited to condensing ghost soldiers, but can do much more. Whoever possesses the Ghost Seal is the rightful successor of the Underworld Emperor, and even the Heavenly Dao cannot find fault with it.

What Ye Jie is doing now is to use the power of the Ghost Seal to falsely convey the decree of the Underworld Emperor and directly grant himself a massive amount of Yin virtue. With the authoritative endorsement of the Ghost Seal, he has actually succeeded!

Looking at the amount of Yin Virtue in the file, Ye Jie slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air and couldn't help but laugh. Even a billion Yin Virtue could be added at will. The authority of the Ghost Seal was truly terrifying. It was indeed worthy of being the possession of the Underworld Emperor.

The billions of karmic merits recorded in the files also proved one thing to Ye Jie: with the Underworld Emperor's Ghost Seal in hand, he now possessed...

Boundless good karma!!
Once upon a time, as a ghost messenger, he was troubled by the amount of yin virtue he had accumulated over countless years. Even hundreds of thousands or millions of yin virtues were considered a huge sum of money in front of him. But now, with the Underworld Emperor's Ghost Seal in his hand, he can accumulate as much yin virtue as he wants simply by adding a few strokes to the Book of Life and Death!
This contrast stirred Ye Jie's heart. It turned out that as the Emperor of the Underworld, he could wield such immense power and accumulate as much merit as he wanted. No wonder the Lord of the Demon Palace was willing to do anything to ascend to the throne.

After checking repeatedly, Zhao Gongming confirmed that the Yin Virtue Ye Jie had produced was correct. Now, even if he didn't believe it, he had to. Not to mention that there was the powerful Xiang Liu in the distance. Without hesitation, he immediately took out the Xuanjin Binding Dragon Rope. As a massive amount of Yin Virtue was poured into it, the Binding Dragon Rope seemed to come alive. Its end was submerged in the void, pulling out a book with a black cover hidden in the other side of this world.

As soon as the book was published, a cold wind arose, and an eerie and ominous aura soared into the sky. Ghosts within a radius of ten thousand miles all felt it, as if in front of that book, even those whose souls were like drifting duckweed had found their final resting place.

"Although I don't know where you got a hundred billion karmic merits from, since you've said so, I'll believe you this once. This is the main ledger of the Book of Life and Death in the Azure Lotus Palace. I hope you really have a way to defeat the Demon God Xiang Liu!"

Zhao Gongming murmured something, as if he had made up his mind, and handed the main tent over to Ye Jie.

Upon obtaining the main tent, Ye Jie felt the eight stitched pages he held become intensely hot, like a blazing furnace. What emanated from it was the joyful jubilation that filled his face, and even more so, the long wait that had transcended time!
As the main book and the eight stitched pages touched each other, the papers on them seemed to come alive, intertwining and merging together until they finally became one. What appeared in Ye Jie's hand was a nine-sided stitched page with an additional ferocious mark, containing the power of the nine Books of Life and Death!

The appearance of the nine-sided stitched page caused a tremendous upheaval. Even the demon god Xiang Liu sensed something was wrong, and his serpent head let out a low roar. Under that chilling, ghostly aura that surpassed heaven and earth, the demonic blood within Xiang Liu's body was now boiling uncontrollably, as if he had encountered a formidable foe!
Ye Jie stood still, the thousands of waves of energy caused by Xiang Liu's low roar subsided quietly before him. His clothes were still, his hair was not fluttering, and nothing in the world could shake him in the slightest. Under his calm gaze, the world also fell silent.

A surge of righteous energy emanated from his immortal body, emanating from within. Within it lay the origin of birth and death, the flow of the Great Dao, and all who heard it felt a tremor originating from the depths of their souls.

In the distance, the Demon-Slaying Celestial Venerable also sensed that aura. His pupils froze, revealing a mixture of astonishment and horror: "That aura is clearly the pressure of a Saint Realm expert... He has actually reached the Saint Realm?!"

To reach the realm of a saint, one needs strength comparable to an eighth-level immortal, surpassing all other immortals.

Despite being at the peak of the seventh level, the Demon-Slaying Celestial Venerable is a huge, bottomless chasm between the peak of the seventh level and the eighth level. It is unknown how many years of hard work he would need to cultivate to reach the Saint Realm. However, he sensed the aura of the Saint Realm from Ye Jie. How could he not be shocked?

Endless confusion shrouded the heart of the Demon-Slaying Celestial Venerable. He wondered how Ye Jie had managed to do it.

The moment the aura of the Holy Realm appeared, not only the hostile demon god Xiang Liu, but also the other immortals were horrified. The legends of the saints from ancient times, and the supreme divine power they wielded, were still deeply ingrained in the memories of the immortals.

At the heart of all the changes, Ye Jie remained calm and composed, his eyes unmoved. A myriad of colorful clouds condensed behind him, paving the way to his origin. Celestial music surrounded him, a divinely inspired melody. Everything around him seemed to drift away, and all that remained in Ye Jie's eyes was the neat text displayed on the sewn pages.

[Book of Life and Death Records:]

In the summer of the 640th year of the Moro calendar, Ye Jie spent 151.6 billion Yin virtues to modify the cultivation technique archives.

The Soul-Shattering Arrow (Myriad Transformations) has been changed to the Soul-Shattering Arrow (Supreme Saint).

[The Soul-Binding Rope (Myriad Transformations) has been changed to the Soul-Binding Rope (Supreme Saint).] [The Cloud-Covered Eyes (Myriad Transformations) has been changed to the Cloud-Covered Eyes (Supreme Saint).]

[Mystic Shadow Step (Myriad Transformations) has been changed to Mystic Shadow Step (Supreme Saint).]

The "Righteous Sword (Myriad Transformations)" has been changed to "Righteous Sword (Supreme Saint)".

【………】

The Golden Silk Nourishing Soul Technique (Limitless) has been changed to the Golden Silk Nourishing Soul Technique (Supreme Saint).

[The name "Divine Dragon Transformation (Hongmeng)" has been changed to "Divine Dragon Transformation (Supreme Saint)".]

The Bodhi Mind Method (Primordial Chaos) has been revised to the Bodhi Mind Method (Supreme Sage).

Not far away, Xiang Liu's figure remained the same, but his once thunderous roar now sounded to Ye Jie like the noisy barking of dogs by the roadside.

Sensing the increasingly powerful aura within Ye Jie's body, Xiang Liu realized that things could not continue like this. He immediately launched a fierce attack, with six snake heads tearing at him from different directions, bringing with them overwhelming demonic power. Any immortals who stood in his way were crushed into dust.

Ye Jie remained calm as he faced Xiang Liu, who was filled with murderous intent. He slowly raised his hand, and a small, jet-black arrow condensed in his palm.

Beside him, Nan Linghe also recognized the move; it was the Soul-Breaking Arrow, a technique every ghost messenger knew, and he couldn't help but worry about him.

The Soul-Breaking Arrow is a low-grade human-level technique. No matter how poor one's aptitude, as long as one spends decades cultivating it, one can eventually learn it. However, this also means that the Soul-Breaking Arrow has limited power and can be considered the lowest-level technique.

Now, facing Xiang Liu, whose demonic power is overwhelming and invincible, Ye Jie actually chose to use the lowest level of technique to fight back, which made his companions sweat for him. Could such a low-level technique really stop Xiang Liu?
But soon, Xiang Liu's earth-shattering cry of pain also conveyed a joyful message to everyone: the Soul-Breaking Arrow had been effective! As the Soul-Breaking Arrow was launched, there was only a barely perceptible sound of wind breaking, and one of Xiang Liu's snake heads exploded.

The small Soul-Shattering Arrow seemed to contain boundless power. If it weren't for the demonic blood protecting Xiang Liu, this single arrow would have been enough to destroy a snake's head!
The serpent's head exploded, but instead of extinguishing Xiang Liu's fighting spirit, it made it even more ferocious. The remaining five heads moved together, determined to devour Ye Jie!

Ye Jie remained unhurried, reaching out and grasping a jet-black rope that appeared in his palm. With a flick of his wrist, the rope seemed to have eyes, accurately enveloping the nearest snake head. Divine light crisscrossed, twisting and turning, firmly binding the entire snake head. Its momentum did not diminish, and its end, as if possessing a spirit, continued to do the same to the next snake head.

The scene before him made Zhao Gongming take a deep breath:
"What kind of divine artifact is that rope? It can actually bind multiple snake heads of Xiang Liu at the same time. My second-grade Dragon-Binding Rope can only bind one snake head at most, and Xiang Liu will break free in less than ten breaths. It even destroyed the Dragon-Binding Rope and has to be reforged before it can be used again. I never thought that the Palace Master of Ziwei Palace would have such a divine artifact hidden in his possession..."

Upon hearing this, Nan Linghe couldn't help but blink. If she wasn't mistaken, that rope was clearly the Soul-Binding Rope that every ghost messenger used in their second encounter. How could it be described as a supreme artifact by Zhao Gongming?
Before she could figure it out, she heard a deafening roar from afar. Looking closely, she saw that all five snake heads that Xiang Liu had attacked were bound together with black ropes, rendering them immobile. They fell to the ground, and the ends of the ropes, which seemed to have a spirit of their own, had even tied a knot after binding the snake heads.

This victory immediately caused the nearby immortals to cheer. Since the Demon God's resurgence, they had all been chased and beaten by Xiang Liu. Who would have thought that someone could withstand Xiang Liu on their own and even gain the upper hand in a direct confrontation?

"The realm of a sage... indeed, only the return of a sage can kill Xiang Liu!"

"Let's teach that arrogant demon a lesson and show it what we're made of!"

Hearing the cheers of the crowd, Ye Jie looked at his hands and, after a brief attempt, couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.

To reach the realm of a saint and possess power surpassing that of a demon god, one needs not only the eighth level of cultivation but also any supreme-level cultivation technique; neither can be lacking.

Although Ye Jie was unable to reach the eighth level of cultivation, thanks to the modifications made to the file using the nine stitched pages, he possessed far more than one supreme cultivation technique.

The maximum authority that the eight-sided stitched pages have for modifying cultivation technique files is the Primordial Chaos level. When Ye Jie adds another main account and has nine stitched pages, the upper limit of the cultivation technique files will rise by two levels. Above the Primordial Chaos level is Nirvana, and above Nirvana is the Supreme Saint!

Normally, the amount of merit required to modify a cultivation technique would be a huge problem, but now that Ye Jie has the Ghost Seal in hand, he has unlimited merit and can modify it however he wants. Without hesitation, he upgraded all the cultivation techniques he had learned along the way to the Supreme Saint level!
Each supreme-level cultivation technique signifies the manifestation of the Great Dao's origin, containing earth-shattering power.

Even if an ordinary saint spends millions of years, they can only raise one of their most proficient techniques to the Supreme Saint level. But Ye Jie now possesses far more than ten Supreme Saint techniques. Every single one of his techniques is at the Supreme Saint level! The accumulation of these layers of techniques has brought his strength to an unprecedented level!
The supreme aura belonging to the Saint Realm made Xiang Liu panic for the first time. Even when the Nine Heads were destroyed, it had never been so terrified. In its eyes, Ye Jie had transformed into some kind of terrifying monster, making it tremble with fear!
Sensing something was wrong, Xiang Liu had no intention of fighting to the death. Dragging the five heads bound by the Soul-Binding Rope, he turned and fled to the rear.

"Want to run?"

Ye Jie said coldly, "If we let Xiang Liu escape, given its ferocity, it will likely cause endless trouble. We absolutely cannot let it get away!"

Ye Jie stretched out his hand and condensed it, and the endless dark mist manifested into a sword in his hand. Wherever the sword pointed, all the sword intents he had learned in the past were superimposed, including the righteous sword intent of the Righteous Qi Sword, the evil sword intent of the Thirteen Swords of Asura, and the moonlight sword intent of the Guanghan Sword Art.

The numerous supreme-level sword techniques intertwined, revealing an extraordinary and astonishing creation. Even the space itself could not withstand this divine power and shattered and collapsed. Xiang Liu was so frightened that his soul almost left his body, and he no longer possessed any of the aura of a demon god.

The sword light pierced the sky and cleaved the earth. Xiang Liu's enormous demonic body shattered from within, and every inch of his flesh, bone, and blood seemed to have suffered the most devastating blow. Even the vast demonic blood belonging to the Six Brahma Lords, which was deeply rooted there, was swept away by the sword light, leaving not a trace.

The overwhelming demonic body collapsed with a crash, and the aura of the demon god vanished in an instant. When the dust settled, only Ye Jie remained standing.

(End of this chapter)