Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 426 The Ghost King Returns
Inside the vast, empty stone chamber, the evil lords, having finished devouring the blood corpses, poured out of the chamber, howling as they rushed outside.

With no more prey inside the stone chamber, these fearless evil lords set their sights on the surging tide of demons outside.

—Even those evil spirits could easily overwhelm them.

But none of the evil lords showed any fear; on the contrary, they were extremely excited.

The evil lords rushed out of the stone chamber, while Ran Qing led Mo Li toward the Ghost King's coffin.

As the distance closed, Ran Qing, who had walked to the Ghost King's coffin, finally approached the girl's corpse floating above the stone coffin.

The cold, stiff corpse of the young girl floated silently in the air above the stone coffin, her eyes closed, as if she had fallen into a deep sleep.

Her facial features were completely different from Mo Li's.

It looks softer and more youthful.

Ran Qing was mesmerized, while Mo Li walked to the stone coffin and said, "...Leave the rest to me. As long as we put the corpse in the coffin and break Li Hongye's evil-nurturing technique, everything will be over."

“Once the Ghost King’s corpse is returned to its place, the evil spirits of the Ancient Luo Kingdom will return.”

After Mo Li finished speaking, he stood on tiptoe to reach the floating corpse of the Ghost King and pulled and tugged at it forcefully.

In the air, there were many transparent ropes binding the Ghost King's corpse. As Mo Li pulled the corpse, these transparent ropes appeared one by one.

Mo Li carefully and meticulously pulled at the corpse and used his bare hands to break the transparent ropes.

Ran Qing stood to the side, staring intently at the girl, watching her every move with nervousness.

The girl, feeling a little uncomfortable under Ran Qing's gaze, blinked and said, "...Why are you staring at me like that?"

"I won't die suddenly like Muneki..."

Mo Li sighed softly, comforting Ran Qing.

Zong Shu's "sudden death" took everyone by surprise.

Ran Qing had planned to do everything in her power to eliminate Li Hongye and bring her companions home safely.

But now that Zong Shu has suddenly passed away, Ran Qing is left with only Mo Li by her side.

He suddenly worried that Mo Li would also leave like Zong Shu.

If Mo Li leaves too, then he'll be all alone...

Ran Qing nodded with a complicated expression, "Okay."

He responded to Mo Li, but his eyes remained fixed on the girl in front of him.

With the Ghost King's coffin so close, he was truly afraid that Mo Li might suddenly jump into the coffin, or suddenly die and play some kind of self-sacrifice act.

Losing Zongshu had already caused him immense heartache.

He had to keep a close eye on the remaining Mo Li at all times.

Fortunately, Mo Li wasn't lying. She really had no intention of dying; she was simply trying to drag the suspended corpse back into place.

Ran Xiaoya, Ran Qing's half-sister, followed timidly beside her, her little hands nervously tugging at the hem of Ran Qing's clothes.

The little girl's eyes were still bound with strips of cloth, preventing her from seeing her surroundings. But the eerie and terrifying noises around her still made the young child uneasy and fearful.

She could only cling tightly to her brother's clothes for any sense of security she could find.

Ran Jianfei's red wedding dress corpse stood quietly to the side, motionless.

This zombie was passed down in the Ran family, and it is said to have been passed down for several generations.

Now, with Ran Jianfei's sudden death and Li Hongye's passing, it is once again ownerless.

The corpse-driving Taoist priest was extremely envious, but dared not approach the female corpse in the red wedding dress.

Because the female corpse in the red wedding dress had been watching Ran Qing subtly.

The red-clad female corpse, now unclaimed, is instinctively drawn to the bloodline of the Ran family.

The corpse-driving Taoist priest stared for a long while before reluctantly looking away, saying, "Um... speaking of which..."

The corpse-driving Taoist looked at the ghost king's corpse hanging in the air above the stone coffin. Mo Li had already torn off all the transparent ropes on the corpse, breaking the evil spirit formation set up by Li Hongye.

The body is now being carefully placed back into the stone coffin by Mo Li, returning it to its original position.

Seeing this, the corpse-driving Taoist could no longer contain himself and exclaimed, "This is the corpse of a ghost king who can grant immortality by eating it!"

The corpse-driving Taoist looked intently at Mo Li and Ran Qing, his eyes burning with desire. Looking at his two living companions, he said, "Even if we can't take them all, surely we can secretly cut off a couple of pieces and bring them back..."

The corpse of the Ghost King, said to grant immortality, was right before his eyes, and even the corpse-driving Taoist priest could not resist the temptation.

But Mo Li rolled her eyes and said, "You really believe the nonsense of those ghost breeders?"

"Throughout history, no one has ever eaten the corpse of the Ghost King, so why has the rumor that there is an elixir of immortality in the Ghost King's coffin been prevalent for thousands of years?"

Mo Li chuckled coldly, "Those are all illusions created by the Ancient Luo Ghost Kingdom to deceive and lure outsiders."

"Without such false information, how could we lure heretics and esoteric practitioners from all over the world to Zangke? If we don't lure people to Zangke, where will those ancient evil spirits go to capture people every time the Ghost Kingdom awakens and the Red Gate opens?"

Mo Li directly exposed the lie of immortality and the evil spirits' malicious conspiracy.

"The old ghost that the ghost keepers worship isn't entirely lying. According to his teachings, eating the ghost king's corpse can indeed increase one's lifespan."

"But that method of consumption is very troublesome, and those who eat it will most likely become evil beings and lose their minds!"

"You will become an evil creature like a witch, an old man, or a mountain monkey, only able to wander in the ghost realm of the Wujiang River or underground caves, never to see the light of day again, never to return to the human world, and to live a life of eating raw meat and drinking blood."

"What use would it be to give you hundreds of years of lifespan by then?"

As the last Ghost King of the Ancient Luo Ghost Kingdom, Mo Li knew the Ancient Luo Ghost Kingdom all too well.

Her words left the eager corpse-driving Taoist completely bewildered.

The corpse-driving Taoist priest stared blankly and said, "...Is...is that so?"

Mo Li chuckled and said, "What else? If this Ghost King's corpse were so good, granting immortality without any aftereffects, do you think Ran Qing and I are fools? Why don't we covet this Ghost King's corpse at all?"

"These are all secrets passed down within the lineage of Yin-Yang practitioners; outsiders like you simply don't know them."

"Anyway, the Ancient Ghost Kingdom is going to be destroyed soon, so telling you won't hurt."

Towards the end, Mo Li started spouting complete nonsense.

These words are obviously false.

Although the lineage of the Yin Walkers is descended from the High Priests of the Ghost Kingdom, they are no longer aware of the secrets of the Ancient Luo Kingdom.

Four thousand years have passed, and the lineage of Yin Walkers has lost too much.

But these outsiders are unaware of this.

Furthermore, the fact that both Mo Li and Ran Qing showed no interest in the Ghost King's corpse in the stone coffin further reinforced the credibility of Mo Li's words.

The corpse-driving Taoist priest, who had been eagerly waiting and practically wanted to crawl onto the Ghost King's coffin, immediately took several steps back after hearing Mo Li's words, looking tense and uneasy.

It was as if he was worried that the ghost king's corpse in the coffin would jump out and into his mouth.

Soon, Mo Li returned the Ghost King's corpse to its rightful place.

Together with Ran Qing, she pushed the lid of the stone coffin back into place, sealing it tightly against the top of the coffin.

Mo Li breathed a long sigh of relief after everything was restored.

"...Alright, let's hurry back to the human world."

"The only difficulty now is how to break through the encirclement and run back to meet up with Sister Cotton."

Li Hongye's entire family has been exterminated, and the Ghost King's Coffin has been returned to its place.

But the rioting demons in the ancient kingdom of Guro still did not subside.

The evil lords suddenly invaded the ghost kingdom, causing these evil spirits to become frenzied and restless. And as time goes by, because the Ghost King's coffin has returned to its place, more and more evil spirits will return from the human world.

At that time, this ghost kingdom will be even more dangerous.

For Ran Qing and his companions, the sooner they escaped from the Ancient Luo Ghost Kingdom, the safer they would be.

At this time, the Ancient Luo Ghost Kingdom had become the most dangerous place in the Wujiang Ghost Realm.

Ran Qing stepped forward and said, "I'll clear the way."

Ran Qing's method of clearing the way was very simple.

He took a deep breath and walked to the edge of the stone chamber.

Outside the tall, empty stone chamber, a chilling wind howled and demons wailed as countless ancient evil spirits surged toward it.

The evil lord projection summoned by Ran Qing was fearless, but these ancient evil spirits were equally unafraid of death.

This is not only because they are inherently ferocious, but also because of the existence of the Ghost King's Coffin.

For these ancient evil spirits, the Ghost King's Coffin is an eternal breeding ground.

All the ancient evil spirits were forever branded in the Demon King's coffin because of that curse from back then.

As long as the Ghost King's Coffin exists, the evil spirits in this kingdom will never be exterminated and will never die. They will rush into the human world, drag unorthodox practitioners into the ghost kingdom, and after killing the living, they can resurrect the evil spirits in the Ghost King's Coffin within the bodies of the living.

Thanks to this evil magic, these ancient demons from four thousand years ago have continued to this day, their lifespans unbroken.

Now, countless ancient evil spirits are surging in fearlessly, and even the evil masters summoned by Ran Qing are finding it difficult to withstand them.

The three most powerful evil lords perished one after another.

Ran Qing had no choice but to raise the blood talisman and summon three red shadows of the evil lords to appear in the world and block them outside the stone platform.

For this, he used up another Ghost Eye.

At this moment, Ran Qing was surrounded by complete silence, deathly stillness.

The area behind the ears, which had been as noisy as a gladiatorial arena, was now completely silent.

All the evil lords were summoned by Ran Qing using blood talismans.

A vast number of evil red figures surged beneath the stone platform. Although their numbers were far fewer than those of the evil spirits, their imposing aura was no less than that of the terrifying evil spirits.

The Corpse-Driving Taoist stood behind Ran Qing, looking at the grand scene below with worry and tension, his forehead covered in sweat.

"...Can't we run away through side paths or secret doors?"

How can we charge straight out of this sea of ​​demons from the front?

The corpse-driving Taoist priest suspected that Ran Qing had gone mad.

With such a massive number of evil spirits, and all of them being infamous ancient evil spirits, who the hell could withstand that?!
Furthermore, with the return of the Ghost King's coffin to its place, one can look down into the distance and see pale ghostly figures and ancient evil spirits slowly drifting back towards the gates of the Ghost Kingdom.

The evil spirits that had been roaming the human world have begun their journey home.

With such a large scene and such a huge number of people, even if the Evil Lord were to descend, he probably wouldn't be able to break through, let alone Ran Qing and a few other living people.

The corpse-driving Taoist priest looked nervous.

But at that moment, Ran Qing lifted her foot and rushed towards the platform below without the slightest hesitation.

"...Follow me!"

Wearing the demon mask, Ran Qing was still a monstrous, burly, and ugly monster. He charged ahead, using both hands and feet, making the steep stone steps seem like flat ground beneath his feet.

Mo Li held the nervous little girl Ran Xiaoya in his arms, following closely behind Ran Qing.

Meanwhile, the red wedding dress corpse, a family heirloom of the Ran family, was being drawn by the Ran family bloodline and was following Ran Qing, drifting towards her in an incredibly eerie manner.

On the steep stone steps, the female corpse floated upright and straight down, as if an invisible rope was pulling her down.

Seeing this scene, the corpse-driving Taoist priest, though terrified, had no choice but to leap quickly up and down the stone steps, trying to follow.

On the high stone platform in the center of this ghost kingdom, not a single evil spirit can be seen.

But the three towering and terrifying phantoms of evil lords, as tall as mountains, were frantically tearing apart the sea of ​​demons around the stone platform.

Below the stone platform, the crazed demons kept trying to break through the evil lords' blockade and rush towards Ran Qing.

However, the three enormous evil lords stood like three unshakeable mountains in front of the stone platform, blocking all the evil spirits from Ran Qing.

As Ran Qing rushed down from the platform, the three evil lords tacitly changed their positions, trying their best to open up more paths for Ran Qing.

Ran Qing, who was at the forefront, was as insignificant as an ant under the feet of the three enormous evil lords.

At that moment, he seemed to have stepped into the television screen of a tokusatsu film.

All around him were towering, mountain-like creatures churning about, and ahead lay a surging ocean of terrifying demons.

The ancient houses of the Luo Kingdom appeared as tiny as model toys at the feet of those three colossal figures.

Ran Qing, who was at the forefront, was about to leave the safe zone established by the evil lords.

Further ahead lies an endless ocean of evil spirits.

Those ferocious and vicious demons stared intently at Ran Qing, who was a dozen meters away, wishing they could rush in and tear her to pieces immediately.

The corpse-driving Taoist Liu Fang rushed here and couldn't help but stop.

He wanted to see how this young spirit medium would break through the sea of ​​demons.

However, Ran Qing's actions took Liu Fang by surprise.

Ran Qing neither cast any spells nor chanted any incantations. The hundreds of yellow talismans floated around him, but he didn't seem to activate them.

Faced with the sea of ​​demons ahead, Ran Qing's only action was to simply take the box she had been carrying the whole way to her chest.

The Corpse-Driving Taoist had seen this box once before, and all he knew was that it was dangerous and should not be approached.

But he didn't know what was in the box.

Seeing Ran Qing take it out, the Corpse-Driving Taoist couldn't help but mutter, "...What is it?"

Can a box really break through so many evil spirits in front of it?
The next second, Ran Qing threw the wooden box away.

Instead of opening the box, they simply threw it out.

The corpse-driving Taoist priest, witnessing this scene, was completely dumbfounded, his eyes wide with shock.

But an even more horrifying scene unfolded after the wooden box was thrown.

A strange and eerie bronze lamp appeared, accompanied by a wooden box tumbling in mid-air.

The bronze lamp swept across the sky and crashed heavily to the ground with a crisp sound.

But the wick in the bronze lamp did not go out.

And as the bronze lamp rolled into the sea of ​​demons, the dim light instantly illuminated a street.

The corpse-driving Taoist priest only saw the evil spirits submerge the bronze lamp one second, and the next second, a terrifying and bizarre collapse occurred in the sea of ​​evil spirits on the long street in front of the bronze lamp.

It was as if something terrifying was swallowing up the evil spirits surrounding the bronze lamp!

A clearing suddenly appeared on the street of the Ancient Luo Ghost Kingdom.

Upon witnessing this scene, the corpse-driving Taoist priest's hair stood on end: "Holy crap!"

He looked at Ran Qing beside him in shock: "You brat, you carried such a dangerous thing all the way?!"

He didn't know the origin of the lamp, but so many ancient evil spirits could be devoured so quickly... If they, a few living people, were to be illuminated by the lamp, wouldn't they die instantly?
What's the difference between this and carrying a bomb that could explode at any moment?
The corpse-driving Taoist priest looked terrified and immediately distanced himself from Ran Qing.

They were afraid that Ran Qing would pull out something terrible again.

(End of this chapter)