Killing Dao Fruit
Chapter 440 - 437: The Back of Yin Mountain, Customized Reincarnation

Chapter 440: Chapter 437: The Back of Yin Mountain, Customized Reincarnation

Woosh—!

The sound of the wind howled.

Wang Yuan and Huang Wu, hand in hand, plunged into the Underworld through the "Ghost Gate."

The bone-chilling yin wind that blew from the Nine Nether Land could strip the flesh and erode the bones of the living with just a touch.

Even ordinary Magicians and Mages who strayed into this place would be reduced to nothing but residual souls wailing before they even hit the ground.

Yet, this yin wind on the two of them felt like a gentle spring breeze from Dushuo Mountain, far from harmful; instead, it invigorated their spirits immensely.

In this lengthy Yin Yang Channel, only a faint, extremely weak pale light at the very end allowed for a vague visibility.

The closer they approached the Underworld, the more active the boundless mana cultivated from the "Earth Que Golden Book" within Wang Yuan became.

The transformation of the "Ghost Realm·Yama Palace" into a "Dharma Domain" accelerated.

The "Small Book of Life and Death" also conveyed a cheering joy to Wang Yuan as if a wanderer was returning home, enhancing its spirituality significantly.

This Earthly Underworld was precisely where the "Earth Que Golden Book" and the Yin Mountain Taoist Dharma Veins could fully exert their power.

The hallmark of a Mage is to borrow from Heaven and Earth; the more attuned one is with nature, the more can be borrowed, and the stronger the power.

Moreover, with the "Divine Skills·Harmonizing Yin and Yang," he, Yama Wang Xiaoyuan, even as a mid-level official here, could reach the ears of the Heavenly Dao as a close minister to the heavens.

The power in his hands could not be measured merely by his Daoist skill level.

Before even reaching the Underworld, a powerful force, akin to being inside the "Red Snake Coiling Seal Formation" of Dushuo Mountain, fiercely descended upon him.

Instantly elevating his aura by a notch.

From an initial state under the enhancement of the "Six Desires Red Dust Umbrella" and the "Fengdu Iron Enclosure," where he had just begun to cultivate his Dharma Domain, he directly ascended to the absolute pinnacle of "Divine Transformation!"

Clearly, any cultivator of the same rank who thought of opposing Yama Wang Yuan in the Yin Department was utterly deluding themselves.

Just as the two were about to break through that dim pale light and enter the Yin Department,

a burst of divine light explosively shattered around them.

The next moment, Wang Yuan and Huang Wu found themselves seated in a magnificent carriage drawn by eight splendid horses, its base black with golden script, adorned with pearls and gems.

The divine light was radiant, shining for miles around.

The eight horses in front bore dragon features, with horns on their heads, bodies covered with dragon scales, sharp teeth in their mouths, and their hooves treading on a bluish flame stream.

The moment they pulled the carriage, it dashed into the Earthly Underworld.

The two then looked at each other.

And they had both undergone a complete change in appearance.

Wang Yuan wore a twelve-tasseled black crown, a seal hanging at his waist, his Crown Robe black above and red below, embroidered with sixteen patterns:

the sun, the moon, the stars, mountains, dragons, flowers, birds, tigers, monkeys, algae, fire, rouge, rice, fú, fú, and along the hem of his garment, large patches of Ghost Script.

His presence was somber and his demeanor formidable.

At his side, Huang Wu wore a golden Phoenix Hairpin, with nine tassels hanging down, her eyebrows lightly drawn, her features as exquisite as a painting.

Her Luan Robe was primarily red, embroidered with nine golden phoenixes chasing eight different silver moon phases.

Additionally, a slightly misty, embroidered red cover, featuring a silver phoenix, covered her jade face.

Complementing Wang Yuan’s demeanor.

The "Doumu Taiyin Lord" inherently represents a concubine, managing marriage and moonlight.

United with Wang Yuan as husband and wife, with their Life Plates connected, she naturally also received a strong endorsement of status.

As they arrived for the first time, every plant, mountain, and stone within a hundred miles around them began to call out Wang Yuan’s name:

"Yama! Yama! Yama!"

This immediately made them feel secure, as though they had come home.

"Last time we were outsmarted by ’Earth Mother Black Heaven,’ entering from Luofeng Mountain and exiting from Dushuo Mountain without having a chance to explore the Underworld thoroughly.

This time, taking this opportunity to officially join the fifth hall of the Yin Department and take up Yama’s responsibilities.

So as not to disappoint the trust that the heavenly bigwigs have in me."

Ever since he had obtained the "Three Caves Dharma Body" half a year ago and mastered the technique of avatars, Wang Yuan had been wanting to station his "Yama Avatar" in the Underworld.

To pick up the pieces of his own scattered forces.

Even though the Yin Officials here were not his direct lineage and had to abide by the stringent taboos of the Yin Department,

they could not be brought into the Yang World to participate in the wars among cultivators.

Yet, as "Yama," it served as a stepping stone, gradually expanding his influence and gathering back his own authority.

This "Heavenly Department Divine Position" initially only belonged to the Ghost King of the Yin Department, but as the Human Dao changed, it continued to downgrade.

All the way down to one of the ten Yamas now.

As long as Wang Yuan could advance to "Divine Transformation," he would be able to take all the authority of the ten Yamas into his hands.

And once he advanced to "Green Seal Sage," he could legitimately claim the position of Eastern Ghost Emperor, owing to his status as the master of Dushuo Mountain.

Clip-clop, clip-clop...

The eight divine horses trotted through the void, the clear sound of their hooves echoing, transforming into a golden divine light that streaked across the somber skies of the Underworld.

They passed through the boundless San Tu River, Netherworld Road, Evil Dog Ridge, Golden Chicken Mountain...

And surpassed countless Yin Souls being escorted by Yin Soldiers along the way.

Most of these Yin Souls were emaciated, skin and bones, their eyes dazed, resembling walking corpses.

Many others bore horrific wounds, with bodies split open, limbs severed... too gruesome to behold.

And a few, perhaps having taken countless lives before their deaths, were blood-soaked with eyes full of murderous intent.

Even in the Underworld, they still resisted control, bellowing in rage, trying to break free from the Yin Soldiers beside them, only to be met with bone-piercing whips.

Witnessing the scene below, Huang Wu couldn’t help but frown:

"Among these ghost souls entering the Yin Department, those who died due to war disasters were particularly numerous.

The mortal world had already descended into chaos, with the number of abnormal deaths far exceeding that of previous years, all surging into the Underworld. This place, too, is likely to be in disorder for a while.

If I’m not mistaken, once Yama’s Avatar takes over the fifth hall, there might be no chance to leave again."

They had similar experiences when they were acting as the City God of Dengzhou Prefecture.

One could tell with a little deduction.

The upper Heavenly Department Divine Positions operate automatically, all extremely mechanical.

Things that require flexible responses are likely piled up like a mountain.

Once one takes that position, trying to extract oneself from the sea of official documents is as difficult as ascending to heaven.

Thinking of working as an acting City God, where working just two hours a day could earn one full incense and Yin Morality, even the favor of "Heavenly Dao’s attention," was wishful thinking.

Wang Yuan deeply agreed.

Resolved, after taking office, he immediately dragged all the good brothers who held divine positions in the "Yin Department Ghost" under Nine Soldiers into the Underworld.

They would judge the yang by day and cut the yin by night, fully utilizing the Immortal Officials’ cleverness.

At that time, they would work only six hours a day in the Yin Department.

Absolutely no overtime, said and done!

"Let me first see where that Underground Master is actually hiding?"

He removed the seal from his waist that represented the authority of King Yanluo, and a book, the Small Book of Life and Death, flew up, "swishing" and emitting bi-colored divine light.

"Imperial Decree! The Yin Department shall obey me, with the Heaven watching and the Earth listening!"

Hum—!

An invisible ripple suddenly spread out.

It instantaneously swept across this dull world that far surpassed the mortal realm in size.

Thriving ghost cities and ghost countries resembling the mortal world, the wailing of ten thousand ghosts in the eighteen layers of hell, the whimpers on the Wangxiang Platform...

After death, souls settle their accumulated Yin Morality from life, undergo trials by various levels of the Underworld, and each finds its place.

Humans have human lives, ghosts have ghost lives.

In the next phase of their ghostly existence, some descend to the eighteen layers of hell to suffer, some spend their days muddled in the ghost countries of the Underworld...

Some, by virtue of the Yin Morality acquired during their lives, leap to become Yin Officials and step onto Divine Tao...

Most of the neutral ghost souls slowly cleanse themselves of all mortal attachments in the Underworld, exhausting their ghost lives.

And use these final accumulations of their lives to strengthen the Underworld, also strengthening the indigenous Heavenly Dao.

Eventually, what remains is only a clean and pure True Spirit, devoid even of memory, cast into the Six Paths of Reincarnation among deities, Asuras, humans, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell.

With the power of the Small Book of Life and Death and the blessing of Harmonizing Yin and Yang, King Yanluo’s vision illuminated the ten directions, penetrating the entire Underworld.

Even the deepest parts of the Nine Nether Lands were no exception.

So Wang Yuan saw clearly that one creature, the Weird Rabbit, whom he had not yet managed to deal with completely.

However.

From this one scan, he discovered, on the backside of a great mountain that stretches across the Underworld without end, a vast area that his own vision could not reach.

Here, no grass grows on mountains, peaks do not pierce the sky, ridges do not accommodate travelers, caves do not invite clouds, and ravines do not carry streams.

Briar patches hide ghosts and monsters, luminous cliffs conceal evil spirits, no animal or bird noise to the ears, only the sight of ghosts and demons wandering.

This was none other than Yin Mountain, the very image he had once seen in the White Jade Scroll...

And the scene before him now indicated that this mountain range, representing the fundamentals of the Underworld, had clearly encountered a major problem.

Not only this.

His gaze, fixed briefly on this place, detected ghost souls continually bypassing the seventy-two departments and ten halls of Yama, entering this place without documents, carried by a gust of yin wind.

The trace of aura previously gathered from the Hundred-Patched Coat also stirred, wanting to enter the back of Yin Mountain on its own.

"Found it, the Underground Master indeed has declared himself king over a mountain in the Underworld, and moreover, in such a crucial place as the back of Yin Mountain..."

Wang Yuan’s gaze was deep, thoughtful.

In the past, Emperor Mu was seduced by the West King Holy Mother.

As the Mortal World Emperor, he opened the door to invite thieves, causing harm to the Underworld. The Small Book of Life and Death was lost to the mortal world.

It was thought that neither side would win or lose.

But seeing it today, it was clear that the Underworld had suffered a loss.

Even after two thousand six hundred years, a vast ghost peach forest had grown on the backside of Yin Mountain, shrouded everywhere in dense fog.

What lay hidden behind the fog was still unknown.

Wang Yuan, moved, with the authority of the King of Ten Thousand Ghosts, sent a trace of divine sense into a ghost about to enter the fog.

The next moment.

He heard a deep and barrel-toned voice bellow:

"First, pay the toll: cut two ounces of flesh from your own body, or hand over two ounces of patterned silver from the mortal world."

"This place has a clear price list, and reincarnation can be custom-ordered.

To reincarnate as a human next life, the price is one hundred ounces.

If born in Red County Shenzhou: fifty ounces.

In the bustling areas of Jiangnan: one hundred ounces.

From a family of ruffians: ten ounces. From a commoner’s house: twenty ounces. From a commoner family: thirty ounces..."