Seventy-Eight. The God Burial Tomb.

The mountain path was rugged, the road slick with rain.

Chen Huangpi moved like the wind, threading his way through the Hundred Thousand Mountains. Though he did not fly or warp through space, his speed was so great that the naked eye could not follow it. It was truly wind chasing wind.

No, to be precise, what Chen Huangpi was chasing was a pinch of yellow dust in the wind.

At daybreak, he had eagerly taken out the clump of yellow earth given to him by Yellow Calamity, crushed it into powder, and scattered it into the air. The dust then pointed him toward the Tomb of the Buried God.

At this moment, the brass oil lamp clung to his shoulder. Chen Huangpi wore the conical hat he had obtained from the sinister one, with countless green cloth strips hanging down to conceal his true appearance. On top of that, the Soul-Reaping Ghost had become armor and fitted itself around his body, making him look even taller and more imposing.

It was a pity that the black smoke no longer appeared now that the Kidney Shrine had been sealed away; otherwise, with every gesture and step, black smoke would billow around him, adding even more menace.

"Ghost, how is Golden Horn doing?"

"Please rest assured, my lord. It is recovering from its injuries."

"Good."

Chen Huangpi let out a breath. In the past two days, the Soul-Reaping Ghost had been brawling with Golden Horn inside the Soul-Reaping Register. By the end of it, Golden Horn's mouth had been knocked out of shape.

Still, the Soul-Reaping Ghost had not come away unscathed. After all, it was the son of the Listener; even as a mere remnant of soul, it could not be underestimated.

Yet the souls of those forty deities from before had still not been fully digested by the Soul-Reaping Ghost. After two days and two nights of mutual pummeling, the ghost's strength had instead grown greater, faintly showing signs of returning to its peak.

The Tomb of the Buried God was a place of great peril, and Yellow Calamity was roaming the Hundred Thousand Mountains, preaching to all the sinister beings there. No one knew how many terrifying existences would appear today.

Chen Huangpi made his calculations.

At its current strength, the Soul-Reaping Ghost could certainly go toe-to-toe with a calamity. As for himself, he had diligently watered the demonic tree these last two days and drawn forth a great deal of power; he could also hold his own against a calamity in a fight. Add in the brass oil lamp, and even in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, this level of strength should count for something.

Thinking of this, Chen Huangpi said thoughtfully, "If I get the chance, I want to kill that Yellow Calamity."

"It should be killed indeed!"

The brass oil lamp said, "If it were an ordinary calamity, that would be one thing. But Yellow Calamity is different. It was tainted by mire and ought to have returned to the Yellow Springs. Yet now it lingers in the mortal world, becoming an undying existence. Give it a little more time, and it may well become a tribulation."

"Once it becomes a tribulation, it'll be even harder to deal with."

"But you definitely can't kill it. You'll have to wait until the Temple Master wakes, then beg the Temple Master to take action."

"Not necessarily."

In Chen Huangpi's mind rose the hand seals of the Slaughter-Life Sword Art.

For the past two days, aside from watering the demonic tree and nailing his master to the wall, he had spent all his remaining time pondering this sword art.

It was a technique of the Pure Immortal Temple. Previously, when Chen Huangpi entered the Scripture Pavilion, he could not see a single character, yet on the sinister being formed from Daoist Xu Qingshan's severed arm, he had seen its appalling might.

However, those severed arms had only formed eight seals, the soul-slaughtering art of the Slaughter-Life Sword Art. Chen Huangpi had seen them twice in all, and by the last time, he had memorized them completely.

Still, when he tried to activate the Slaughter-Life Sword Art, he felt as though something was missing.

Neither the power of the demonic tree nor the vital energy he had forged into the Liver Shrine could compare to even a single punch once unleashed, let alone stand alongside the Evil-Slaying Sword Qi of Great Tai Sui.

Chen Huangpi had a premonition: if he could figure out what his Slaughter-Life Sword Art was missing, he could master it in an instant.

By then, the soul-slaughtering art that specifically destroyed souls would surely leave Yellow Calamity with nowhere to run.

And perhaps even kill it for good.

At that very moment, the brass oil lamp suddenly said, "Chen Huangpi, look. Up ahead, it seems to be the Tomb of the Buried God."

"Let me see."

At the words, Chen Huangpi looked over.

He saw, dozens of miles away, a mound of earth like an overturned bowl, several hundred zhang high. Around it were traces of a great upheaval in the earth: trees snapped, river courses diverted, even the mountains had collapsed and sunk in places. Against the surroundings, the mound looked utterly out of place, as though it had sprung up there from nowhere.

"So this is the place."

At that moment, the pinch of yellow dust that had been leading him all along suddenly seemed to complete its task, drifting toward the top of the Tomb of the Buried God.

The summit of the tomb was flat.

When Chen Huangpi arrived, he found that many sinister beings had already gathered there.

Some looked human, some resembled objects, and some were nothing more than several heads stitched together. Coupled with the endless autumn rain and the fact that they stood upon a grave mound, it gave one a strange sense of demons dancing wildly in the darkness.

Seeing Chen Huangpi arrive, the sinister beings all turned to look at him.

But instead of fearing them, he looked back at each of them in turn.

This, in fact, irritated the sinister beings somewhat.

They were strange and changeable by nature, and now that they had all gathered here, their unrest only deepened.

Yet at that moment, the Soul-Reaping Register on Chen Huangpi's person suddenly radiated a chill.

"My lord, the sinister beings who signed and stamped are here!"

As soon as the Soul-Reaping Ghost spoke, a group of sinister beings had already reached the top of the Tomb of the Buried God.

The leader stood three or four meters tall, lanky and gaunt, wrapped in black robes. It was none other than the good sinister being that had previously traded Chen Huangpi a wisp of black smoke with an Immortal Ascension Token and a pile of other things.

The gaunt sinister being naturally saw Chen Huangpi.

The other sinister beings that had come with it also saw him.

Then, without delay, those sinister beings looked around, picked up stones, grabbed branches, and hurried to Chen Huangpi's front, holding out the odds and ends in their hands.

"Great sinister being, great sinister being!"

"Trade, trade!"

"Trade for black smoke, great sinister being is good! Good sinister being!"

At this, Chen Huangpi's face turned dark, and he immediately scolded them, "My black smoke didn't come blowing in on the wind. You think you can trade for it whenever you want? Get lost, all of you. If you don't, don't blame me for being rude."

At his words, the sinister beings looked at one another.

All of them lowered their heads in disappointment.

Among sinister beings too, there were good and bad.

The bad ones would only push their luck, and their skin was thicker than a wall.

But the good ones could be good in a thousand different ways.

The gaunt sinister being was one such good one. Noticing the earlier group of sinister beings' subtle attitude toward Chen Huangpi, its eyes flashed with killing intent as it swept its gaze over them.

Wherever its eyes passed, those sinister beings all showed wary expressions.

The group holding stones and branches was even more enraged.

"Great sinister being good! You bad!"

"You, insolent! Insolent!"

One particularly articulate humanoid sinister being even walked right up to them and shouted, "You are not allowed to be rude to the great sinister being! Apologize now, or I'll eat you!"

At this, those sinister beings immediately trembled.

"It's a great sinister being!"

"I've heard of its reputation. It eats sinister beings! It's terrifying!"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been rude to you!"

"I was wrong. Don't eat me!"

The scene was so absurd that even the brass oil lamp clicked its tongue in wonder.

"I have heard that among mortals there are wolfhounds, and that sometimes one slips among a pack of wolves, where the wolves, being stupid, take it for their leader. I had thought that merely a rumor, but seeing this today, perhaps there really is such a thing."

It could never have imagined that Chen Huangpi, a fake sinister being wearing sinister skin, would somehow and without rhyme or reason become a great sinister being that devoured other sinister beings.

What was more, in such a short time it seemed as if all the sinister beings in the Hundred Thousand Mountains had heard his name.

Most crucial of all, weren't these sinister beings all fools?

One lot had the nerve to brag, and the other lot actually believed it.

Chen Huangpi ignored the brass lamp and said only to the sinister beings, "I am not a great sinister being."

The sinister beings were all stunned.

When they looked at Chen Huangpi again, their gazes had turned dangerous.

"I have changed my name. I am now called the Yellow-Skinned King!"

At once, the sinister beings' eyes filled with even greater terror and reverence.

"Yellow-Skinned King! Yellow-Skinned King!"

They shouted and cheered.

For anyone who did not know better, it would seem as though Chen Huangpi were the mountain lord, and they his underlings.

At that moment, the gaunt sinister being sat down beside Chen Huangpi.

"You seem to have become stronger."

Feeling the aura emanating from the gaunt sinister being, Chen Huangpi could not help asking, "Is it because of my black smoke?"

The gaunt sinister being nodded. It could not speak, so it merely lifted the ragged black robe wrapped around it.

Chen Huangpi leaned in for a closer look.

He saw that the sinister being's skin, which had originally been deathly pale, now carried a faint blue-black cast. Its body was long and thin, yet there was a hollow cavity occupying its entire abdomen. Within that hollow, one could faintly see traces of black smoke.

It was clear that over this period, the gaunt sinister being had already almost fully digested the wisp of black smoke Chen Huangpi had given it.

By contrast, the other sinister beings who had received black smoke from him had not only failed to digest it, but seemed to have grown a little stronger instead. So long as Chen Huangpi so much as willed it, those wisps of black smoke would return at once.

"This gaunt sinister being is a little off."

"The demonic tree can't even absorb your black smoke, and yet it can do it? This isn't just a little off; it's downright weird beyond all reason!"

The brass oil lamp's voice was full of wariness.

If there were not so many sinister beings around, and if it had not faintly sensed even more sinister beings approaching from all sides, it would have urged Chen Huangpi to strike immediately and kill this gaunt sinister being first, just to avoid future trouble.

A single wisp of black smoke had already brought about such an eerie change in the gaunt sinister being.

And there was no telling how much black smoke Chen Huangpi had in his Kidney Shrine.

Who knew whether this sinister being, once inflamed with greed, might set its sights on Chen Huangpi?

Sensing the brass oil lamp's thoughts, Chen Huangpi said indifferently, "The gaunt sinister being is a good sinister being. If it wants more black smoke, it will certainly trade me a treasure for it."

"There is a saying that one can know a person by face but not by heart. Sinister beings don't even have hearts, and you still trust it?"

"Then why doesn't it go steal black smoke from the other sinister beings?"

"That..."

The brass oil lamp was instantly at a loss.

Indeed, the other sinister beings also had black smoke given by Chen Huangpi, and no matter how one looked at it, robbing them should have been far easier than robbing Chen Huangpi.

Could it be that this gaunt sinister being truly was a good one that understood the rules?

And at that moment, the gaunt sinister being abruptly stood up and looked toward a certain direction. Its violet-black lips parted, revealing rows of snow-white teeth, and its already ghastly face became even more ferocious.

The next instant, Song Jiu's figure emerged from the void.

Behind him stood a deity in blue armor. The moment that deity appeared, azure light exploded forth, pressing all the sinister beings to bow their heads.

Song Jiu held the Divine Compass of Geomancy in his hand, its needle pointing toward the gaunt sinister being.

He sneered, "So the Divine Compass of Geomancy was in the hands of this sinister being after all."