Li Qingshan guessed that the transparent feather from Gu Yanying originally possessed the power to destroy boundaries. By exploding above the Gate of Hungry Ghosts, the power was evenly spread through the space. As a result, the space became weaker, which was why he could shatter it in a single punch.

  “Thanks!”


  “No problem.”


  Sharp, mocking laughter and sneers of disdain rose up like the tide in the Hungry Ghost realm. The glowing, green eyes all gazed at the carved-up Corpse King greedily as if they were not looking at a dried corpse. Instead, it seemed like they were people who had been starved for three whole days, looking at a table of delicious food.

  At this very moment, the chunks of the Corpse King’s body flew together and assembled once again. He let out a furious roar, actually still alive.

  The Void-bellied Ghost King rose up from the ground, and its mouth opened to an unbelievable size like opening a massive bag, pointing it at the Corpse King and sucking hard.

  The Dark Queen who had been preparing the entire time finally took action.

  Corpse qi oozed out of the severing wounds across the Corpse King’s body, sucked into the Void-bellied Ghost King’s mouth.

  The Void-bellied Ghost King’s stomach swelled up like it was heavily pregnant. Its figure became more and more consolidated, and its aura became greater and greater too.

  The Corpse King finally showed fear. He swung his arms madly as he put up a desperate struggle, but he was unable to stop his aura from leaking away.

  Li Qingshan was slightly surprised. Gu Yanying explained, “The reason why the Hungry Ghost realm is called the Hungry Ghost realm is because the undead in there can only constantly devour one another to constantly grow stronger and survive. Look, the Corpse King would much rather put up a struggle here than return to the Hungry Ghost realm. He still has a chance of surviving here, but if he returns, the only fate awaiting him would be being carved up and feasted on.”


  There was something else Gu Yanying had not mentioned. If the Dark Queen devoured a Corpse King, her strength would definitely increase drastically, and her cultivation had reached the peak of the second heavenly tribulation a long time ago. If she could overcome the thing holding her back mentally, she had quite the confidence with overcoming the third heavenly tribulation. The situation of the Green province would change once again.

  The Samādhi Flames of White Bone swept over, covering the Corpse King and severing his slim chance of survival.

  The Corpse King was heavily injured and suppressed by the Void-bellied Ghost King, so he could no longer stop the spread of the fire. His divided body was immediately set alight, turning into a great blaze in the blink of an eye.

  The Dark Queen and Xiao An exchanged gazes from afar. They carved him up and completely killed off the Corpse King.

  “Argh! I refuse… I refu…” The Corpse King let out a final groan. He had never thought he would die in such a world, to a group of people like this.

  The flames fueled by the Corpse King’s remains were especially distinct and contrasting in colour. Clearly, it was well beyond what regular Corpse Generals and Corpse Commanders could produce.

  Xiao An did not continue to forge the Buddha Slaying sword embryo. Instead, she gathered it all carefully. This was critical for her breakthrough to the second layer of the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty.

  The white flames roared, illuminating the entire region. The light even reached the Hungry Ghost realm.

  There were countless gasps of surprise in the Hungry Ghost realm. The legend of the “white holy fire” was extremely widespread in the Hungry Ghost realm.

  Now, it truly appeared!

  The Dark Queen immediately got to work with sealing the Gate of Hungry Ghosts. She took out a pale-white item that resembled a sharp pick. Li Qingshan could vaguely make out countless hideous corpses and ghosts embracing one another on there.

  The Dark Queen tossed it into the air, and it expanded to over thirty meters long. The undead became clearer. It hovered in the air like a huge sword, slowly and sturdily planting into the Gate of Hungry Ghosts.

  The black cracks all closed up when they encountered the pale-white sword, unable to damage it.

  Li Qingshan asked, “This is?”


  Gu Yanying said, “A Key of Hungry Ghosts!”


  To be bold enough to use the powers of the Hungry Ghost realm, the Umbral Yin sect understood its horrors the best. They had prepared numerous countermeasures to prevent Gates of Hungry Ghosts from devouring and invading the space around them. This was one of them.

  However, the Dark Queen was rather worried inside. If another Corpse King or Ghost King appeared and kept the Gate of Hungry Ghosts open, they would only need a few seconds, and the Hungry Ghost realm would completely descend.

  However, bewildered by the white flames and the shattered space above the Gate of Hungry Ghosts, there were no undead bold enough to charge over and risk their lives immediately. All of them hesitated.

  Just like that, the Gate of Hungry Ghosts rapidly closed.

  The reluctant roars and howls from the Hungry Ghost realm flooded over like a tsunami. The undead all reacted, lunging over.

  However, as the Key of Hungry Ghosts turned, the sounds rapidly receded and grew distant. The hideous figures of the undead gradually blurred. In the end, only the glimmering specks of green light remained before dimming and vanishing.

  The Gate of Hungry Ghosts slammed shut.

  The voices and figures all vanished in that instant, locked up in another world.

  Gu Yanying clapped her hands. “We’ve succeeded!”


  The Marquis of Ruyi’s eyes heated up. He could not help but feel like he wanted to cry. This was the feeling of surviving a great disaster. It was simply fantastic.

  The Dark Queen looked back, gazing at Xiao An again. Her brows furrowed slightly as she wanted to say something, but she faltered.

  Her originally-chilly gaze became filled with an indescribable sense of tenderness. Even though there was no evidence and she had never received any response, she had already become extremely certain inside.

  Feng Buquan had become convinced of Xiao An’s existence because of that thread of fate.

  Yet, the Dark Queen and Xiao An were basically closely linked, their lives joined with one another. This in itself was a fetter that could not be described with words.

  Xiao An stowed the Buddha Slaying sword away. Without even caring about the Dark Queen’s dejection, she turned around and returned to Li Qingshan’s side.

  Li Qingshan also let out a sigh of relief. He gazed into the distance, but he only saw complete darkness outside the region. “How are we supposed to leave this place?”


  Gu Yanying said, “The eyeball of the space-devouring beast has already sealed this place. It’s been separated into a region of its own. However, as long as the Hungry Ghost realm hasn’t completely devoured it, returning to the nine provinces is simply a matter of time.”


  Sure enough, a smear of azure appeared in the depths of the sky. The haunting mists and clouds gradually dispersed.

  The region shifted away from the Hungry Ghost realm, currently returning to the World of the Nine Provinces.

  They had finally brought an intense battle to an end, grasping their survival against all odds. Relieved smiles infected everyone’s faces.

  The Dark Queen gazed at Xiao An for a long while, but she refused to speak the entire time as if she was trying to call her back with her gaze. Her gaze contained indescribably mixed emotions, like guilt, concern, relief, sorrow…


  She only muttered inside constantly, My Yue’er! My Yu’er!

  Restless, Xiao An simply hid behind Li Qingshan, clutching her head with her hands as if she wanted to cover her non-existent ears. Although she wanted to sever the past, the memories of the past continued to surge, bothering her endlessly.

  That was everything she had gone through before practising the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty, as well as her entire life. Wanting to just swing a sword and sever it all away was easier said than done.

  “Your highness, the two monsters are both powerful and vicious beings. If we let them escape here, they’ll definitely turn into great sources of trouble in the future.” The Marquis of Ruyi gazed into the distance, but he conveyed silently to the Dark Queen with his soul sense.

  It had to be acknowledged that he was quite perceptive. If the Dark Queen took action, Li Qingshan and Xiao An truly would not be her opponent right now. The Void-bellied Ghost King had become even stronger after devouring the Corpse King’s aura, and with this reunion, her mental shackles holding her back had also begun to budge. She was completely capable of unleashing even greater strength with the Void-bellied Ghost King.

  Even if she faced a regular Soul Nascence cultivator at this moment, the Dark Queen was confident enough to take them on in battle. To make matters even worse, Li Qingshan was extremely frail currently, and he was trapped in this region, unable to escape.

  After witnessing Li Qingshan and Xiao An’s performance, the Marquis of Ruyi became determined to kill them. Otherwise, once they broke free from this region, they would still end up making a mess out of the entire Ruyi commandery. Probably even his life would be at risk then.

  The Dark Queen retracted her gaze, lowering her head, and looking at the Marquis of Ruyi. She recovered her chilliness, “Really?”


  “Yes!” The Marquis of Ruyi was forced to turn around and bow at the Dark Queen. He was frantic inside. She had cultivated for all these years too, so why did she not understand the principle of a sudden sneak attack? Though, to be bold enough to state it in the open, perhaps it proved she possessed absolute confidence.

  At the same time, he contacted Gu Yanying with his soul sense, “Yanying, prepare to take action. We need to kill these two daemons here, or the entire Ruyi commandery, or even the entire Green province, will be in danger.”


  Gu Yanying tapped her chin with her folding fan. She began to ponder. If she had guessed correctly, his request sure was startling!

  She frowned and replied, “I don’t think that’s a good idea!”


  Li Qingshan asked, “What’s going on?”


  “Yanying, do you really plan on colluding with daemons? Aren’t you afraid of shouldering the blame from sir Hawk God?”


  The Marquis of Ruyi was furious. Why was she like that too? What was wrong with both of them? Wouldn’t they raise the moon demon’s guard like that? He also vaguely felt that something was amiss.

  “He is him. I am me!” Gu Yanying raised an eyebrow and became displeased.

  The Dark Queen asked indifferently, “Who do you think I should kill first?”


  The Marquis of Ruyi could not bother with thinking carefully. He said reluctantly, “I think the skeleton monster should be killed first. The moon demon is merely a spent force. There’s no need for your highness to take action against him.”


  His calculations were very precise. The moon demon’s aura had declined completely. As long as he was careful, taking him down was no problem. However, the skeleton demon was unfathomable, so it would be best for the Dark Queen to take action.

  He completely ignored the fact that if it were not for them, he would have died already.

  The other cultivators suddenly realised too that the battle had yet to completely end. Now that the foreign issue was dealt with, they immediately turned against one another.

  The main conflict in the World of the Nine Provinces was still between humans and demons. Even though they had been in the same boat earlier, that was definitely not enough for any gratitude. With how the moon demon and the skeleton monster had performed, they needed to kill them in their cradles.

  They all picked up their weapons as well, ready to strike and encircle them, to avenge the fellows that the moon demon had just slain!

  The Dark Queen lowered her gaze, and the Void-bellied Ghost King with its bulging stomach suddenly struck. It swung its hand, but it did not swing it towards Li Qingshan or Xiao An, but the Marquis of Ruyi standing right in front.

  “Your highness!”


  A huge shadow loomed over him. The Marquis of Ruyi had never even thought the Dark Queen would attack him. His face was filled with disbelief. Before he could even respond, he was swatted away like a fly. His body was smashed into pieces in the air, as dead as he could be.