Chapter 638

The Ghostflame Lord unleashed three consecutive ghost techniques, almost without pause, striking fiercely and swiftly. The Impure Fiend God was unable to retaliate and was directly and severely wounded.

However, this achievement made the Ghostflame Lord solemn.

He had indeed severely wounded the Forgetful River Lord's divine avatar, but from the leaked aura, it was clear that the Impure Fiend God's foundation was not merely his physical body; a part of it was connected to the great formation in this place.

Consequently, let alone severely wounding him, even if the Impure Fiend God were completely annihilated, he would still emerge from this great formation and from the immense quantities of terrestrial turbid qi.

As expected, at the next moment, massive pillars of turbid qi furiously poured into the Impure Fiend God's body.

The Impure Fiend God suddenly tilted his head back, as if parched land receiving life-giving rain.

First, his hollow chest rapidly filled, becoming fully imbued with turbid qi. Then, his scorched outer layer quickly peeled away, revealing a newly formed, more resilient body beneath. Finally, he roared up to the sky, his voice shaking the battlefield, unleashing a magnificent and terrifying aura.

"As long as the turbid qi does not run dry, the turbid god cannot die." The Forgetful River Lord's voice came through the churning turbid qi, carrying a leisurely tone, as he mockingly and provocatively asked, "Yin Jiuzhu, can your flame burn away the accumulated filth of ten thousand years beneath this Nine Netherworld?"

Yin Jiuzhu remained silent, sitting cross-legged on the Scorched Bone Lotus Platform, yet he frequently launched attacks.

These ghost techniques, however, merely served to restrain the Impure Fiend God, with the focus of the attacks placed on the endless terrestrial turbid qi.

The ghost techniques frequently achieved success, dispersing most of the turbid qi pillars.

But the terrestrial turbid qi was endless; as much as was dispersed or extinguished, so much more could be replenished, even more than before!

The Impure Fiend God's assaults also forced Yin Jiuzhu to control his lotus platform, constantly circling to evade.

Since the start of the battle, the Ghostflame Lord had fallen into a disadvantage for the first time.

"The Forgetful River Lord's Impure Fiend God is not particularly powerful in cultivation and has not yet mastered a divine domain."

"But this great formation is deeply bound to it; one must eradicate the great formation, or at least severely damage it, so that the turbid qi changes from infinite to finite. Only then can the Impure Fiend God be dealt with."

"What exactly is the nature of this great formation? I need to take a good look—."

The Ghostflame Lord recognized the situation and intensified his efforts to activate the Yin Crow Ghost Eye Candle.

This candle was pitch black and glossy; its flame resembled a raven's head, entirely dark, but where the eyes would be, two points of purple fire burned, like two purple pupils embedded within.

This mystical flame could see through many superficial appearances, revealing inner secrets to the Ghostflame Lord.

The Ghostflame Lord had already begun activating it just now, and increasing his efforts, he finally completed this observation, helping him discern the truth.

The truth appeared before him, surprising even the Ghostflame Lord.

"This is the Heaven-Connecting Earth-Linking Two-Phase Array!"

"Among them, the Heaven Phase is the Ritual of Heavenly Ghost Incarnation Offering, specifically refining heavenly ghost skulls and sacrificing living beings with blood in exchange for the favor of the Netherworld's Heavens, greatly increasing its destiny."

"The Earth Phase is the Terrestrial Turbid Qi Surging Barrier, specially drawing earth qi, continuously and endlessly, which has an excellent effect in obstructing enemies."

It is worth noting that the Ritual of Heavenly Ghost Incarnation Offering is a Confucian art, and the Terrestrial Turbid Qi Surging Barrier is an Earth-element magical treasure; neither of them is a magical array.

The only magical array is the Heaven-Connecting Earth-Linking Two-Phase Array. One of the unique features of this array is its ability to use various non-array objects, such as spells and magical treasures, to act as its two phases, combining them to form diverse Heaven-Connecting Earth-Linking Two-Phase Arrays.

The flame of the Yin Crow Ghost Eye Candle flickered, casting shifting shadows, and projected a distant, blurry image into the Ghostflame Lord's spiritual sea—not the battlefield before him, but a sharp-edged immortal city, with towers rising high, majestically standing above the Forgetful River.

It was the Forgetful River Immortal City!

And in the deepest part of the immortal city, within the city lord's mansion, there was a screen.

This screen was extremely massive, a gigantic stone. Over ten zhang thick and nearly a hundred chi long, it resembled the fossilized spine of some creature.

The surface of the fossilized spine was covered with large amounts of mud, lava, plant roots, and so on, and also many spiral-shaped twisted holes.

The colossal stone was deeply embedded in the earth, drawing in terrestrial qi on a terrifying scale.

The Terrestrial Turbid Qi Surging Barrier!

The flame of the Yin Crow Ghost Eye Candle brightened slightly, and the surface of the colossal stone screen became illusory and blurry, revealing more of the truth within.

The Ghostflame Lord immediately saw that within the colossal stone screen, there were seventy-two terrestrial qi nodules.

Each terrestrial qi nodule was the size of an adult's head, its shape irregular but ellipsoidal, and it pulsed slightly like a living organ.

The Ghostflame Lord felt a surge of speechlessness.

What a setup!

The Forgetful River Lord had prepared far too thoroughly.

This Terrestrial Turbid Qi Surging Barrier was the Earth Phase, yet it was not located on the battlefield but was hidden far away within the Forgetful River Immortal City.

Under normal circumstances, such an important magical treasure, being the core of the Earth Phase array, could not be separated from the array itself.

But the Heaven-Connecting Earth-Linking Two-Phase Array was special.

The scope of this great array was often extremely vast. It could be said that its name, Heaven-Connecting Earth-Linking, was well-deserved.

Furthermore, the Forgetful River Lord was currently around the Heaven Phase, drawing upon the power of the Earth Phase array, which was appropriate. Moreover, it could create a heaven-earth resonance, using the Earth Phase to bolster the Heaven Phase!

The Ghostflame Lord pondered, "Many of the cultivators operating this Heaven-Connecting Earth-Linking Great Array have already fallen, slowing down the array's operation."

"Furthermore, within the Heaven Phase array, there are still the Gui Xu Finger, the Soundless Ghost Monk's Natal Buddha Wheel, and the Forgetful River Netherworld's Lord's Seal. These are also huge obstacles, hindering the array's operation."

"But this only obstructs the Heaven Phase and has little connection to the Earth Phase."

"To dismantle the Earth Phase, I must start from the Forgetful River Immortal City!"

At this thought, the Ghostflame Lord immediately understood that whether he could obstruct the Forgetful River Lord's path and defeat him did not depend on himself.

It was "Painted Skin Rakshasa!" The Ghostflame Lord realized this, and it suddenly dawned on him: his previous divination was not wrong. Painted Skin Rakshasa being arranged to go to the Forgetful River Immortal Abode was the most crucial move.

The Ghostflame Lord fully activated his spell, attempting to contact Painted Skin Rakshasa, and explained the situation.

Painted Skin Rakshasa was currently patrolling the outskirts of the Forgetful River Immortal City, quietly observing the immortal city gates with her spells.

Above the immortal city gates hung a round mirror.

This was an ancient bronze mirror with an iron-gray patina, exuding a greenish-red hue. Its surface was like turbid mercury, faintly revealing slowly swirling gray-black quicksand, self-generating a pale green phosphorescence. On its back, an eyeless judge was relief-sculpted, unrolling a scroll, with malevolent qi rising in plumes.

"This is the Mirror of Sins."

"Entering this city will be somewhat troublesome."

Painted Skin Rakshasa sighed softly.

All because this Mirror of Sins, when reflecting normally, was inferior even to ordinary mirrors, completely turbid. Its true function was to reveal the sins of living beings.

The mirror, burned by blue flames, blurred and peeled away the flesh of those it shone upon, revealing their skeletons and soul forms. Anyone with sins would bear dark red brands, black bloodmist threads, and barbed curses.

Painted Skin Rakshasa was a genuine demonic cultivator, having committed countless slaughters in her life and enjoying flaying skins to make paintings, so she was naturally deeply sinful.

If using ordinary disguise techniques, she would absolutely not be able to sneak in, as the mirror would surely reveal her sinful form.

However, Painted Skin Rakshasa, being one of the Forgetful River Lord's great enemies, naturally possessed remarkable methods.

After observing for a moment, she had already conceived of three methods that would allow her to stealthily infiltrate the immortal city.

"Hmm?!" Just as she was about to activate one of her methods to disguise herself, her mind trembled as a wisp of faint incense smoke and indistinct, flickering candlelight appeared, conveying a message from the Ghostflame Lord.

Painted Skin Rakshasa's expression immediately changed.

"So that's how it is!"

"It seems my side has instead become the most crucial location."

"Hehehe, interesting."

Time was pressing, so Painted Skin Rakshasa immediately abandoned her previous idea of a gradual approach and charged straight towards the city gates.

The Mirror of Sins' surface suddenly erupted with a strong light!

A pale green beam of light shone upon Painted Skin Rakshasa, and in just a few breaths, countless faces and appearances wildly flashed across her face.

Male and female, old and young, joy and sorrow, and all sorts of other expressions, too numerous to mention.

"There's a demon!" The ghost general guarding the city roared in fury and immediately issued his command, controlling the massive crossbows on the city wall to unleash terrifying arrows.

"Hehehe," Painted Skin Rakshasa let out a delicate laugh, a chilling sound that made one's hair stand on end.

Her figure suddenly exploded, transforming into thousands of skin-masks.

These skin-masks, as thin as cicada wings, depicting men, women, old, young, demons, and spirits, immediately materialized into vivid, lifelike forms, swarming forward and instantly sweeping over the city gates!

*Puh-puh-puh—*

The arrow rain unleashed from the city wall instantly pierced countless skin-masks. But Painted Skin Rakshasa's true body had already leaped onto the city wall, appearing behind the guarding general.

Soul-Flaying Claw!

Painted Skin Rakshasa extended her right hand, transforming it into a scarlet bone claw! The tips of the claws gleamed with malevolent cold light and pressed silently towards the ghost general's back.

The ghost general guarding the gate did not notice and was immediately disemboweled by Painted Skin Rakshasa, dying a horrific death on the spot.

Without a guarding general, the defense of this city gate greatly diminished.

Painted Skin Rakshasa sneered, then her body trembled, unleashing thousands of painted skins, her true body hidden among them, as they all rushed into the Forgetful River Immortal City.

"Enemy attack!"

"A Nascent Soul ghost general has already been killed."

"Quickly release the Three Paths Bewildering Miasma and activate the Three Paths Bewildering Mind Great Array!"

Alarm bells resounded throughout the entire city.

The Forgetful River Lord had deployed almost all his elites for his century-long plan. The Forgetful River Immortal City was in its most vulnerable state ever, so the nerves of the city's defending generals and soldiers were already tightly strung.

Painted Skin Rakshasa did not conceal her actions; although her infiltration into the immortal city was successful, it also immediately made the Forgetful River Immortal City react. Three-colored miasma emanated from the ground, quickly spreading throughout the city.

Painted Skin Rakshasa's true body traversed through the miasma, which reached her ankles and constantly shifted colors.

Painted Skin Rakshasa held her breath, but even mere physical contact with the miasma was enough to affect her, making her feel her spirit drifting.

*Buzz—*

The next moment, the entire immortal city emitted a low hum, and countless Relic Stones embedded in the walls, eaves, and gaps between floor tiles simultaneously lit up.

The Three Paths Bewildering Mind Great Array was officially activated.

Painted Skin Rakshasa secretly maintained her protective measures, but as she walked, she began to feel something was amiss.

"Where is this?"

"Which way did I just come from?"

"What am I supposed to do?!"

She suddenly awoke with a chill in her heart, realizing that this array could make her quickly forget and lose important memories, and her consciousness would continuously sink.

She hastily activated various magical treasures, but all were ineffective.

Out of desperation, she could only activate her main cultivation technique, light flowing around her body, constantly flashing with numerous painted skins.

The painted skins continuously peeled off, at the cost of her own continuous depletion, used to counteract the terrifying power of the Three Paths Bewildering Mind Great Array.

The immortal city streets twisted and stretched in the miasma, seemingly endless. Painted Skin Rakshasa held firm to her resolve, forcing herself to endure, disregarding the intense drain on her own reserves, and finally emerged from the densest area of the miasma, where the majestic, towering City Lord's mansion appeared faintly in her sight.

Without any hesitation, she followed a bridge and charged directly towards the City Lord's mansion.

"Hold on, esteemed guest. How about this old man ferries you for a bit?" An old man, piloting a covered boat, drifted out of the miasma, blocking Painted Skin Rakshasa's path.

The old man held a paper lantern, emitting a ghastly white light.

Without a word, Painted Skin Rakshasa charged at the old man.

The old man sighed deeply, then waved his sleeve, sending out countless paper pieces.

The paper pieces expanded in the air, transforming into human figures, horse figures, boat figures, and so on. Almost instantly, they formed a fleet of boats.

The fleet was massive, blocking all of Painted Skin Rakshasa's directions of advance.

"A papercraft master?" Painted Skin Rakshasa raised an eyebrow and sneered, summoning hundreds of thousands of skin-masks, which roared as they charged towards the fleet.

For a moment, battle cries shook the heavens.

Painted Skin Rakshasa and the elderly boatman were locked in a stalemate.

The Ritual Offering Altar.

The Impure Fiend God was entangled in battle with the Ghostflame Lord, and although he was repeatedly severely wounded and almost always at a disadvantage, relying on the endless, inexhaustible terrestrial turbid qi, he managed to tie down a large portion of the Ghostflame Lord's energy.

The Forgetful River Lord's main body, hidden in a tributary of the Forgetful River, suddenly shifted his expression.

He received intelligence that the Forgetful River Immortal City was under attack; the report detailed how Painted Skin Rakshasa had brazenly stormed into the city and was currently clashing with the elderly paper boatman.

"This is bad."

"Painted Skin Rakshasa is indeed within my immortal city."

"Although she is suppressed by the immortal city's great array, with her combat power, the elderly paper boatman can only hold out for a while; he won't be able to stop her indefinitely."

The Forgetful River Immortal City's defensive strength was very weak, and the Forgetful River Lord did not have much confidence.

This situation forced him to make a decision: he would take out a precious treasure!

This magical treasure was a pair of scissors, only three chi long, made entirely of dark profound ancient jade that seemed to devour light. The handles were two nether dragons, their mouths wide open, fangs gripping the base of the blades.

The blades were curved, covered in intricate scale patterns, resembling a dragon's spine.

A condensed, extremely dark blue ghostly light always flowed along the blade edges.

The Nether Dragon Scissors!

If not absolutely necessary, the Forgetful River Lord would never have taken out this magical treasure.

But now, he could only rely on this precious treasure to break the stalemate.

"Nine Nether Candleflame, your time to extinguish has come. Go." The Forgetful River Lord threw out the Nether Dragon Scissors.

As the scissors flew above the battlefield, the Ghostflame Lord's mind was greatly shaken!

The ghostly light of the scissor blades flashed, remotely aimed at the Ghostflame Lord, and gently closed.

*Snip.*

With a soft sound, the Soul-Reaping Candle was cut in half, spraying countless pure white light points. Then its flame flickered and quickly extinguished, and the mournful wailing on the battlefield abruptly ceased.

The Ghostflame Lord's body swayed.

Immediately after, the Nether Dragon Scissors remotely targeted the Heart-Weeping Blood Candle, and again, gently closed.

The dark red candle, like congealed blood, exploded like blood crystal. Its flame was instantly extinguished.

Yin Jiuzhu let out a muffled groan, suffering a backlash.

His aura plummeted, and he looked incredulously at the Nether Dragon Scissors, roaring inwardly, "Is this a national treasure?!"

He was in grave danger and without hesitation reached out, directly grabbing the Cold Abyss Ice Coffin Candle and throwing it out.

The Cold Abyss Ice Coffin Candle quickly vanished, and when it reappeared, it had transformed into an ice coffin, encasing the Nether Dragon Scissors within, completely freezing and suppressing it!

The Nether Dragon Scissors' movements slowed considerably, this time aiming its cut at Yin Jiuzhu.

An alarm bell roared in Yin Jiuzhu's mind, as he sensed a terrifying, lethal crisis.

The Yellow Springs Path Guiding Candle!

His expression changed drastically, abandoning his previous composure, he fully ignited another precious candle, producing a dim yellow flame.

Under the illumination of the flame, space parted, forming a small path.

The Ghostflame Lord did not hesitate at all, directly controlling the Scorched Bone Lotus Platform and flying into the small path, fleeing in disarray!

The Forgetful River Lord's main body also exerted all his strength. His face was deathly pale; he had almost lost connection with the Nether Dragon Scissors and could only let the magical treasure be sealed by the ice coffin.

Activating this precious treasure consumed an terrifying amount of energy!

Even for an existence at the Soul Transformation stage, the Forgetful River Lord was on the verge of fainting from exhaustion.

He managed to gather the waters of the Myriad Rivers, encasing his entire body, and after accomplishing this, he immediately fell into a deep slumber.