Martial arts of the heavens, I am unstoppable since I was born

Chapter 284 Entering the Underworld to See Reincarnation, the Virtue of Arrogance (4,000 words, requesting monthly votes)

The moment the thousand-year-old Soul-Nourishing Wood landed in her hand, Biyao felt completely relaxed. The cool and refreshing sensation made her hum softly as she grasped the emerald heartwood.

The surrounding ghosts, including Nie Xiaoqian, were all staring uncontrollably at the thousand-year-old soul-nourishing wood, drooling over it. One of the female ghosts had even stretched out her claws.

Biyao ignored the female ghost and gently transferred the little fool's soul from the Hehuan Bell into the thousand-year-old Soul Nourishing Wood. The heartwood shimmered with emerald green light and visibly shrank to the size of a palm, completely transforming into the little fool's appearance. The exquisitely crafted form looked as if it had been carved by a top-notch craftsman.

After doing all this, Biyao coldly looked at the female ghost, grabbed her arm and pulled, about to beat her until her soul was scattered.

They were stopped by Zhang Kuang.

"What, are you feeling sorry for her?" Biyao's emotions were a mix of joy and annoyance—the former because Xiaochi's condition was visibly improving, and the latter because Zhang Kuang had previously expressed his covetousness for Xiaochi. The clash of these two complex emotions naturally made her less calm.

Zhang Kuang raised an eyebrow and slapped her pert buttocks with his backhand. "I'm not so desperate as to eat anything unless there's a famine."

He snatched the ghost from Biyao's hand, rolled it into a ball, and slammed it heavily onto the ground, explaining, "How can we open the gate to the underworld if we don't let these souls reincarnate?"

Zhang Kuang didn't know how to help these ghosts pass on, so he could only try to "send" them to the underworld using physical means.

Unfortunately, even though Zhang Kuang had restrained his strength to the extreme, after several bangs, the female ghost's soul was still covered with cracks like porcelain, and finally vanished in despair.

"Tsk, this is a bit tricky."

Zhang Kuang's arrogant gaze swept over the other ghosts, instantly frightening the female ghosts into drifting away. However, because they couldn't stray far from the urn, they remained confined to Zhang Kuang's sight.

This distance was nothing to Zhang Kuang. He immediately raised his hand and grabbed another female ghost, who screamed as he grabbed the back of her head and cried out, "Spare me!"

"What a joke!" Zhang Kuang said unhappily, "You're all dead and ghostly, what life do you have to spare? Do you owe me one?"

call--!
Just as the female ghost's head was about to make intimate contact with the ground, a gust of wind blew, and a yellow talisman lashed out.

Zhang Kuang was not surprised by this, obviously expecting it. The female ghost, who was originally pointing downwards, suddenly changed direction. Her face, twisted in fear, collided with the yellow talisman, and the whole ghost became stiff and rigid.

Biyao looked in the direction where the yellow talisman had flown out.

A series of loud crashes and rubble erupted as a disheveled Yan Chixia emerged from the ruins, his face dark with distress. He felt deep pity for these souls who had died unjustly, were controlled and forced into treachery after death, and were now powerless to resist being beaten to a pulp. Therefore, disregarding Ning Caichen's obstruction, Yan Chixia pushed aside the ruins where he was hiding and used a yellow talisman to force Zhang Kuang to stop.

He said, panting heavily, "If you want these female ghosts to be reincarnated and open the passage to the underworld, a single talisman will suffice. If you use brute force like this, all the female ghosts here will be scattered to the winds and probably won't even be able to see where the underworld is."

"I know." Zhang Kuang calmly tossed the female ghost aside and threw her toward Yan Chixia's location.

Yan Chixia reached out and caught the female ghost, then said with some surprise, "You knew? Then you were just now... you beast!"

Halfway through his sentence, Yan Chixia realized what was happening, and his face grew even uglier—Zhang Kuang wasn't so naive as to think he could force his way through the Yin-Yang passage; rather, he wanted to use it to force himself out!

Knowing full well where he was hiding, he still chose to use such methods; he was truly a rising star!
"Why are you looking at me like that? Hurry up and open the underworld passage to send this jinx away."

Otherwise, I fear that many more innocent souls will perish under the Nine Dragons Divine Fire, and then that sin will fall on your shoulders.

Zhang Kuang was neither annoyed nor angry at being stared at by Yan Chixia. His nature was already wicked, and he was even more pleased at this moment. He was extremely happy and satisfied to see Yan Chixia looking angry and outspoken, yet unable to do anything about him.

Yan Chixia scoffed indignantly, "This world is truly a place where people are neither human nor ghost. Humans commit evil, and ghosts cause trouble. Where in the world is there a pure land?" After grumbling for a while, he immediately began to use his Taoist magic, "Heaven and earth are boundless, the universe borrows its laws, there is no way in the netherworld, but the underworld has its way!"

The sword in his hand emitted a golden light, and wherever the sword pointed, talismans cleared a path, splitting open a crack in the ground, allowing the ghostly aura that had appeared earlier to reappear in the mortal realm.

Seeing this, Yan Chixia did not immediately stop. Instead, he reached out and pushed and struck the hilt of the sword, pouring all his magical power into it, and shouted:

"open!"

The crack suddenly trembled incessantly, and with a tooth-grinding sound of crushing stones, it slowly opened to the size of a well cover, spewing out a ghostly aura that sent chills down the spines of everyone present.

Oh, there are only two pure humans present: Yan Chixia and Ning Caichen. Biyao has already embarked on the path of the Innate Realm and has transcended the mundane world, so she can be considered half a human.

The group of female ghosts became as delicate as cats that had inhaled catnip, their bodies limp and unsteady, swaying as if they were drunk.

"I can't keep the gates of the underworld open for long! Hurry up and enter the cycle of reincarnation!"

Yan Chixia's roar startled the female ghosts awake. One by one, they mustered their strength and stumbled to the gates of the underworld, jumping in without looking back. Some who couldn't float simply crawled to the well's edge on the ground and fell headfirst in.

Zhang Kuang threw Biyao and Nie Xiaoqian into the furnace world, and then jumped in himself, falling into the underworld.

No sooner had he left than Yan Chixia withdrew his magic, collapsing to the ground, his arms trembling, yet he burst into laughter:
"The living cannot enter the underworld, and the living cannot enter the cycle of reincarnation. These female ghosts are entering the gates of the underworld and walking the path of reincarnation. How can you, a living person, enter the path of reincarnation?"

"Hahaha--"

Although Yan Chixia was bold and generous, he was also unconventional and ruthless. In his view, if he could get rid of Zhang Kuang, who was so reckless and unruly, it would be nothing to use some schemes and tricks.

Ning Caichen watched this scene from behind, gritted his teeth, knelt on the ground, and banged his head heavily, kicking up dust. "Great hero, no! Master! Please, Master, accept me as your disciple and pass on your skills!"

"Take you as a disciple?" Yan Chixia glanced at Ning Caichen and snorted, "No, no, you're just trouble."

He instinctively tried to get up, but his body suddenly gave way and he stumbled.

Ning Caichen quickly stepped forward to support Yan Chixia and asked with concern, "Master, what's wrong with you?"

"I already told you I'm not your master!" Yan Chixia was so exhausted that he didn't even have the strength to push Ning Caichen away, so he simply stopped resisting, sighed, and explained, "Opening the gates of the underworld isn't that simple. I'm not some demon like the Black Mountain Demon who has cultivated for many years; the backlash alone would be enough to give me a hard time... Hmm?!"

Yan Chixia was suddenly thrown to the ground, and was stunned for a moment. Looking at Ning Caichen, who was struggling to pick up his sword, he felt a sense of unease. "What are you going to do?"

"Master, I'm sorry," Ning Caichen said, his face flushed red, but he still managed to pick up the magic sword with a surge of resentment. "I don't want to be a weak scholar anymore, suffering bullying while alive, and not finding peace even as a ghost after death!" "I need... power! Ah—!"

Ning Caichen roared to vent his dissatisfaction, and dragged his magic sword to Yan Chixia's side. He was panting heavily as he said, "Master, you can't move now, can you? I will send you on your final journey and will build a shrine for you to live a long life. I hope that your spirit in heaven will bless me so that I will not have to do evil anymore and can have a smooth life!"

……

……

Within the netherworld, in the cycle of reincarnation.

A passage the size of a well opening was forcibly opened in the middle, and then several female ghosts descended and crashed to the ground.

"Heh, what's going on in the human world? There are even wild ghosts who are eager to come to the underworld. Are they all tired of living?"

The simultaneous appearance of a variety of timbres, such as aged, lively, childlike, crisp, and innocent, creating an almost eerie chorus.

An elderly figure, hunched over and shrouded in a veil, emerged from the darkness. In his left hand he held a wooden stick, thick at the top and thin at the bottom, resembling a hammer, while in his right hand he carried a broken bowl, cracked and bottomless, filled with murky, blackened soup that rippled as he walked.

He approached the group of female ghosts, his gaze sweeping over them. A flicker of joy flashed in his pale old eyes, and his strange voice spoke again: "Oh! Ninety-nine percent, a rare find!"

Just as he was feeling happy, a gust of wind came down from above. Before the old man could even look up, he felt a tremendous weight on his head and was stomped hard on the ground.

Bang!
The cane struck the ground, kicking up dust, but the broken bowl was held protectively in the old man's arms, preventing it from falling. This filled the aged figure with immense relief, and he said in a trembling voice:

"Who are you? Have you come to the underworld for reincarnation because of someone you know? Just go find the person and take the ghost away. We know the rules and will not make things difficult for you."

Zhang Kuang glanced down at the old man's figure, then looked up and saw wisps of turbid and heavy Netherworld energy entwined in the air. The ground was desolate, and in the distance, black mountains stretched endlessly, with the muddy Yellow Springs flowing through them, in which countless broken bones and wailing souls floated.

The underworld is indeed sinister.

But to Zhang Kuang's surprise, the "Six Paths of Reincarnation" that should have been used for reincarnation was neither a roulette wheel nor a pool, but a millstone!

A millstone that is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, rotating both ways!
Zhang Kuang added more force to his foot, and although he still couldn't crush the old man's head, he did make him let out a few screams, and his voice became weak and feeble.

He asked coldly, "Who are you? And how does one reincarnate through the six realms?"

"I was originally a broken bowl that took human form on the banks of the Yin River in the underworld. Because it carried some meaning of the River of Oblivion and reincarnation, I was arranged by Ksitigarbha to be in charge of the matter of reincarnation here."

If one wishes to be reincarnated, one should simply throw the soul onto a millstone, grinding it up and down into fragments. These fragments will then fall into the cycle of reincarnation through the small hole in the middle, and be reborn in the human world.

Those with smaller fragments are animals or people born with incomplete bodies. After death, they do not need to enter the underworld again, but are directly reincarnated until they are tempered and grow back into complete souls. Only then will they enter the underworld again after death and be crushed once more.

The largest fragment is born human, but it can't be much bigger, so it's inherently flawed, filled with emotions like greed, anger, ignorance, jealousy, and hatred. It either harms others or suffers itself. Once it has endured enough torment or pleasure, the fragment grows into a complete soul, then enters the cycle of reincarnation, only to be crushed once more.

Zhang Kuang: “?”

"According to you, wouldn't there be more and more living beings on earth?"

"That's for sure!" the old man said matter-of-factly. "All living beings in the human world are like ants. There are powerful demons who roam freely and devour living beings, and there are evil cultivators who use strange arts to devour souls. If more of them come, wouldn't there be fewer and fewer living beings in the human world? How can we satisfy the needs of all the gods, Buddhas, demons, ghosts, and evil cultivators in the sky?"

The old man's question was not surprising. Although the human world was filled with evil and filth, there were also cultivators who were devoted to good. Occasionally, someone would come to the place of reincarnation and ask these questions.

only……

The old man's figure secretly glanced at Zhang Kuang. This guy looked so domineering, he didn't seem like a good person at all!

Zhang Kuang narrowed his eyes, thoughtfully examining the Reincarnation Millstone in front of him. This sounded like a good thing; if it were used to refine a treasure, it would probably become a top-tier magic weapon.

He crushed the old man's shadow with one foot.

The old man's figure let out a mournful cry and instantly turned into wisps of black mist that scattered in all directions, leaving only a broken bowl on the ground, the murky black water seeping into the earth.

Immediately afterwards, a ball of flame rose up, instantly engulfing the dissipating black mist, the broken bowl, and the land stained with black water, and throwing them directly into the furnace.

Frugality is perhaps one of the few virtues that Zhang Kuang possesses.

Zhang Kuang lifted his foot and walked towards the Reincarnation Millstone, but heard something strange behind him. He turned around and saw Yan Chixia, whose body had been separated from his head, falling down while holding his own head.

"Hey, you've changed your look after just a short while? Did you finally realize your face is ugly and decide to get a new head?"

Yan Chixia was extremely embarrassed upon hearing this. Who would have thought that Ning Caichen, who looked like a weak scholar, would be so ruthless? It was one thing for him to be afraid of death, but he also became greedy and took Yan Chixia's life.

Yan Chixia deliberately avoided the topic, but when he looked around and saw the Reincarnation Millstone in the distance, he was completely stunned... oh, the entire ghost was dumbfounded. "What the hell is that?"

"It's reincarnation," Zhang Kuang explained before throwing him into the furnace as payment, and then headed towards the location of the Reincarnation Millstone.

From a distance, the Reincarnation Millstone doesn't look very big.

But upon closer inspection, it became clear that this thing was the size of a small mountain. Although there were no ghosts or monsters watching over it, and no souls were necessarily trapped inside, it was still operating on its own.

Without hesitation, Zhang Kuang started with zero frames and used the furnace fire to collect the Reincarnation Millstone.

A beam of golden light descended instantly, blocking his path. And then…

(End of this chapter)