If you don't give up, I'd like to be your adoptive father.

Chapter 1431 Old Ghost's Struggle

Even if the old ghost of the Deer Cauldron was just an ordinary ghost, a lonely human head, if he suddenly opened his eyes and howled, the scene would still make people's scalps tingle and their souls tremble.

Lu Ding Lao Gui is no ordinary person.

When he howled mournfully, even the feng shui layout of the Bohai Prince's Mansion could not suppress the evil spirits and ghostly energy.

Time and space became hazy, as if being pulled into the realm of ghosts, and the onlookers around were all in a daze.

"Old Ghost Luding, we only summoned you to participate in the public trial. What's your ghostly name?"

With a clear shout from Grand Tutor Yu, all the yin energy, evil energy, and malevolent energy in the hall vanished. Time and space returned from the ghost realm to the human realm. Warm sunlight fell on the onlookers, and the summer breeze carried the fragrance of grass and trees.

The mortals, who were initially dizzy and confused by the howling of the old ghost of the Deer Cauldron, were like people suffering from heatstroke who had just drunk a sip of Huoxiang Zhengqi Water and were then taken to the shade of a tree to enjoy the cool breeze. They immediately came back to life and their minds became clear.

After regaining their senses, their eyes turned to terror and fear when they looked at the human head in the box; but their gazes towards Grand Tutor Yu were filled with awe and reverence.

"Besides, you have no right to pretend to be a victim in front of me."

Grand Tutor Yu pointed to the head, looked around at everyone, and said loudly, "This person is the Great Immortal of the Deer Cauldron. He was originally a living immortal who was about to attain the Great Luo Dao."

Yesterday, a divine decree was sent to inform disciples, relatives, and friends of the Three Realms that ten thousand immortals should be organized to wipe out Wuzhong County, which has a population of hundreds of thousands.

I have learned from the style of your Yan hero Jing Ke, and with a single, powerful strike, I sent him to his death.

"Nonsense! I am merely rallying the immortals to vanquish the demons and uphold justice, and to annihilate you, you old devil who has fallen into demonic possession!" the old ghost of the Deer Cauldron shouted.

Grand Tutor Yu said, "Just now you only made a ghostly cry, and you were able to make the souls of millions of ordinary people outside leave their bodies and turn into your 'evil spirits'."

If you are still alive, gather ten thousand immortals to form the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation and compete with me in supernatural powers.

Could Wuzhong County, which served as a battlefield, have been preserved?
"Forget Wuzhong County, I'm afraid half of the northern region will be ravaged."

“Unless you actively use the people of Wuzhong County as shields, not a single one of them will die,” said the old ghost Lu Ding.

Grand Master Yu pointed at him, his gaze sweeping over the crowd, "Look at him, listen to him, this is the great immortal of the Xuanmen! How shameless, how despicable."

He led tens of thousands of immortals to the mortal realm to assassinate the king, causing millions of ordinary people to suffer as innocent bystanders, and then blamed me and the King of Bohai for living in the city.

From what he's saying, "If I don't surrender, it's my fault no matter how many people die?"

"No matter how eloquent you are, you still cannot change the fact that you are full of evil deeds!" the old ghost of the Deer Cauldron shouted.

"Forget it, today is a public trial. I'm neither the presiding judge nor the main character. Talking nonsense with you would only lower my standards."

Grand Tutor Yu gave Ying Tong a wink, "King of Bohai, the suspect has arrived. You may continue."

Ying Tong glanced at the hideous-looking "human-headed immortal" with some fear.

"Great Immortal Lu Ding, the main reason I invited you here today is regarding Yan Wushuang's case."

Do you admit that last year, through the Golden Vajra Taoist, you gave Zang Tu an Eight-Turn Wisdom Pill?

"You mere mortal prince, or even a false king who has lost his mandate from heaven, what right do you have to interrogate this great immortal?" Old Ghost Deer Cauldron glared and shouted.

There was no terrifying pressure, but a frighteningly fierce and malevolent aura rushed towards us.

Ying Tong was so terrified that he almost fell to the ground.

"Roar~~" As evil energy surged forth, a faint golden light appeared on his body, which formed a three-zhang-long five-clawed dragon.

Although the true dragon was illusory, it roared at the old ghost of the Deer Cauldron, not only dispersing the evil energy but also backfiring on the old ghost himself. The evil energy of the ancestral dragon corroded his soul, causing him pain as if he were being slowly sliced ​​to death.

"Ugh~~~" He couldn't help but scream.

Ying Tong paused for a moment before realizing: he was, after all, the king representing the legitimate succession of the Divine Land, protected by the aura of the king and the aura of the ancestral dragon, while the other party, though fierce, belonged to the category of ghosts and gods, and was naturally restrained by the aura of a noble person.

"Fool, do you think you're some kind of immortal? You're nothing more than a 'Ten-Thousand-Year Ghost King' right now," Grand Tutor Yu mocked.

"Old Demon Yu—"

Grand Tutor Yu interrupted his wailing, "What demon? Look at yourself! Everyone can see who the demon is and who the immortal is."

"Yu Fengxian, my master is a renowned immortal of the Xuanmen sect in the Three Realms. Your humiliation of him is tantamount to insulting the entire Xuanmen sect!" Jin Guang Dao Ren's eyes were bloodshot, his voice filled with resentment and indignation, yet tears of pain still streamed from the corners of his eyes.

"It's not that I'm trying to humiliate him. As the saying goes, 'A man who doesn't respect himself will invite humiliation!'" Grand Tutor Yu looked at the severed head and sneered repeatedly. "You can continue to be stubborn. Anyway, you're a prisoner now, and I'm an honored guest."

Let's drag this out, in front of millions of gentry and commoners in Yan, exchanging insults every now and then, and see who ultimately becomes a laughingstock, who becomes a fool whose name will be etched in history, and who becomes a disgrace who has lost all dignity.

"Fine, fine, fine~~" The old ghost of the Deer Cauldron's eyes were not only filled with resentment, but also with a chilling determination. "I lost today, you won, but we have a long future ahead of us."

Upon hearing this, Grand Tutor Yu immediately sensed a strange sense of crisis.

"This guy's fallen to this state, how could he still threaten me?" Looking at his resolute eyes, it seemed he had made a decision.
Grand Tutor Yu's heart stirred, and he activated his mind-reading ability.

If the old ghost is still alive, his telepathic abilities will be useless and will only alert the other party.

Now he has become an old ghost, his soul is incomplete, and his condition is extremely bad. His telepathic abilities quickly captured some vague but useful information.

It is related to the Emperor of Fengdu.

—Is the Old Ghost of the Deer Cauldron connected with the Emperor of Fengdu?

This old ghost seems determined to go to Fengdu.

The weeping priests and mourners were killed.
"That's right, it's me!" The old ghost of the Deer Cauldron regained his composure; even his mind-reading ability couldn't capture his myriad appearances.

He stared at Ying Tong and said indifferently, "I gave an Eight-Turn Wisdom Pill to Yan Dan; this is between him and me."

"I used a magic pill to end our karmic ties from a past life. What's wrong with that?"

Ying Tong felt uneasy under his gaze, lowered his head, and dared not meet his eyes. He mechanically recited the lines that Grand Tutor Yu had written in advance, "Great Immortal Luding, there are rules for public trials."

The first rule is that all the words of the great immortals of the Xuanmen sect must be treated as truth.

In other words, whatever you say, Xiao Wang will take it as the truth, to show his admiration for the Xuanmen sect and his respect for the virtuous and profound.

The second rule is that when a Taoist immortal speaks in court, he implicitly makes a vow of his Taoist heart to Heaven—if even one of his words is false, he will be forever rejected by the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, and his evil karma will be endless and his calamities will never cease.

Now Xiao Wang agrees to the first rule and believes that what the fortune teller said is true.

"Can the Master tacitly agree to the second rule?"

The old ghost of the deer glared at Grand Tutor Yu with resentment in his eyes.

—Are you really going to go to extremes, completely overturn the chessboard, and cut yourself off from the circle of "chess players"? Or even cut yourself off from the path of immortality?
He didn't shout or use any secret methods to transmit his voice, but he understood what she wanted to do and knew what she wanted him to say.

He also believed that she must understand the look in his eyes.

Grand Tutor Yu's eyes were filled with mockery. —Damn it, they've already sent envoys and openly summoned ten thousand immortals to ambush and kill me, and now they want to talk to me about rules?

At least when dealing with you, old devil, this Grand Tutor will no longer follow any rules.

The old ghost of the Deer Cauldron closed his eyes and fell silent.

Grand Tutor Yu and Ying Tong remained silent, simply watching him quietly.

The distinguished guests in the hall dared not speak in hushed tones, but merely looked at him with strange eyes and secretly speculated.

The farther away ordinary people are, the fewer concerns they have, and the more they speak their minds.

"It seems that the Great Immortal of the Deer Cauldron is indeed problematic. The fact that he dares not swear to Heaven means that everything he said before was a lie."

"Alas, a dignified immortal of the Xuanmen sect, full of lies and scheming schemes. Does being an immortal not require a test of virtue?"

"What kind of morality do immortals have? First there was the case of the Celestial Master who broke his oath, then there was the case of the Five Sacred Mountains Emperors who lost their virtue. How many immortals were involved in all of these cases?"

Thousands upon thousands of gods are greedy, cruel, and treacherous.

It's clear that the celestial court is no different from the imperial court on earth. Those without virtue or talent can become officials, while those with supernatural powers become gods. Those without supernatural powers are only bullied by the gods.

"Last year's case of the treacherous celestial master had a terrible impact. But the celestial masters involved were all ordinary immortals. Today's Luding Great Immortal is different; he is a Great Luo Golden Immortal! I never thought that a Great Luo Golden Immortal would behave like this."

"Hey, isn't Ye Jiutian from last year's case of the 'Betrayal of the Celestial Master' a disciple of this Deer Cauldron Immortal?"

"No wonder the name sounded familiar! It turns out they're master and disciple. That makes sense."

Above the sky, on the celestial clouds.

"Did you all hear that?" the remnant soul of the Deer Cauldron Old Ghost cried out anxiously, "The people of Yan regard me as an unpardonable demon!"

Fuqiu Gong frowned and said, "We have done our best. But Yu Fengxian has your head in her possession, and we can't summon back your two souls!"

The reason why the old ghost of the deer cauldron inside the hall was silent was not because he was struggling with indecision.

He was stalling for time, waiting for Fuqiu Gong and the others to join forces and rescue him.

He was told he had to swear an oath to God to tell the truth during a public trial, so he simply ran away and refused to be tried.

“Even if we bring you back now, we can’t change public opinion.” Jiu Dian sighed, “Yu Fengxian has found our weakness.”

Although stories of immortals circulated among the people in the past, immortals actually tended to be secretive and rarely appeared in public.

If they were to actually appear in public, it would be to demonstrate their virtues and merits.

Now, Yu Fengxian is doing the opposite, specifically publicizing the faults and misdeeds of immortals.

She herself is a piece of trash, with a bad reputation in the Heavenly Realm, but in the mortal world, she is the Grand Tutor who holds the authority and legitimacy, and she is not afraid of what others say.

Even if we make a minor mistake, once it's made public, it becomes a huge problem that will be the talk of the world.

Alas, the "public trial of the immortals" has indeed become an intractable conspiracy.

"Speaking such nonsense is useless! Since you won't save me, I have no choice but to tell the truth. There are many inside stories that inevitably involve you," the old ghost of the Deer Cauldron shouted.

Fuqiu Gong, Jiudian, and the other near-Great Luo Immortals were furious. "We kindly helped you, and you're trying to blackmail us? Haven't we tried our best?"

The oppressive aura of the immortals made the old ghost of the Deer Cauldron's eyes clear a bit.

He softened his tone and said helplessly, "She forced me to tell the truth, what could I do?"

Doctor Xie Chen's heart stirred, and he said, "Fellow Daoist, just speak the truth, but don't say things that Yu Fengxian wants to say."

The old ghost of the Deer Cauldron paused, seemingly lost in thought, and said, "I understand. You should not give up your efforts either."

Inside the hall, listening to the increasingly unrestrained discussions outside, the old ghost of the Deer Cauldron felt his resentment undiminished, but regained some composure.

"Alas, we are at their mercy, what can we do!" He sighed in grief and indignation, then said in a hoarse voice, "I can swear that giving the Tonghui Pill to Zang Tu was indeed a predestined fate from a previous life."

Ying Tong glanced at Grand Tutor Yu and said, "Yan Wushuang has now awakened Yan Dan's memories, but he doesn't recognize the Great Immortal at all."

After a slight hesitation, the old ghost of the Deer Cauldron said, "Some people have the destiny to become immortals and receive blessings because they have accumulated merit over many lifetimes; others are blessed by their ancestors, whose virtues have brought good fortune to their descendants."

Yan Dan was able to be reincarnated because his determination to overthrow the tyrannical Qin Dynasty shocked the gods and moved the heavens.

He's destined for greatness!
In this life, he will once again become the King of Yan, and lead the people of Yan to overthrow the tyrannical Qin and restore the supreme glory of the Yan people.

This is the will of Heaven.

Ying Tong felt disgusted and wanted to reprimand this old ghost, just like he had reprimanded the Golden Light Taoist earlier, for inciting the Yan people's emotions.

But the old ghost's aura was too strong, and his eyes and expression were too fierce, so he was really a little scared.

If one is timid, even a forceful rebuke will lack the necessary force.

If you lack confidence, you will appear timid.

But he couldn't just leave it unattended.

The old ghost howled mournfully a few times, and the distinguished guests inside the hall once again showed strange expressions, while the common people outside the hall who had been cursing the old ghost as an "immoral immortal" fell silent.

“Great Immortal, I have just explained the two rules of the public trial to you. From the moment you opened your mouth to speak, it means that you have made a solemn oath to the heavens.”

Now, all the gods and spirits are listening to this public trial; the Heavenly Emperor has opened his heavenly eye, and the Heavenly Way is sensing something.

He warned in a subtle yet pointed way.

The old ghost of the Deer Cauldron sneered inwardly, his face showing even more grief and indignation, and his shouts grew louder, "Everything I said is true!"

For hundreds of years, Yan Dan was in hell, weeping day and night for the state of Yan being trampled and humiliated by the tyrannical Qin.

I am not the only one who knows about this.

He not only cried out, but also cursed the tyrannical Qin dynasty.

His curses were filled with endless resentment, and from this resentment was born a vengeful spirit, which was reincarnated in the human world and became Qin Er Shi (Hu Hai)!

"Ah, the Second Emperor was actually the manifestation of Yan Dan's resentment?" The distinguished guests in the hall couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

At another time, for example, when chatting privately with other kings, Ying Tong would also curse: "Damn it, every time there is chaos, there is always a 'Su Daji' who brings disaster to the country and the people. It has become a routine. Hu Hai is my Qin's 'Su Daji'!"

Now, with a tense expression, he said, "Great Immortal Luding, let's only talk about the Tonghui Pill! We don't need to talk about unimportant things. And there's no need to mention the vague and unfounded talk about the reincarnation of resentment."

(End of this chapter)