Chapter 1173: Emperor's Art, Checks and Balances Method, the Only Contact Person of XU Month Gray Palace

Chapter 1174: Look at me, kill me, pick me up...

Youming Guidu, on Void Island.

The dark earth of graves and tombs was now desolate. Broken gravestones were scattered everywhere, with streaks of electric serpents slithering across them.

In the hazy gloom, spectral souls fled in panic, seeking refuge from the thunder tribulation. Their screams echoed as they were annihilated.

Beyond this ruined wasteland, a figure in orange stood silently, steadfast as a rock gazing into the distance, completely unmoved by the raging winds and thunder.

"Boom!"

The holy tribulation descended.

Xueshi Zhu let out a mournful hum, emitting a vibrant blood light as if it had just devoured the most delicious tonic.

The hazy sky was stained an even deeper crimson.

"Swish, swish, swish..."

The holy tribulation, after being partially absorbed by Xueshi Zhu, struck the massive, illusory cyan ancient tome.

The tome's pages flipped, dispersing the energy and distributing it among the souls in Youming Guidu.

"Wail—"

The vengeful ghosts howled in agony, each bearing a portion of the thunder tribulation before perishing.

Yet, as the tome's pages stirred again, they released an incredibly enticing soul energy.

As one batch of souls perished in the tribulation, another wave from Youming Guidu rushed in to take their place.

Beneath the ancient tome in the void.

Ye Xiao, clad in a black-feathered cloak with wrists bound high and head bowed, appeared as if nailed in place in the emptiness.

Behind her loomed a hundred-zhang-tall shadow of the Grim Reaper, draped in a black robe, hooded, with ghostly flames burning in its eyes.

In its massive bony hands, it wielded a dripping black scythe.

The blade hung poised over Ye Xiao, who had completely lost all signs of life.

"Boom!"

The holy tribulation struck again.

The energy, after being absorbed by Xueshi Zhu, dispersed by the cyan ancient tome, and consumed by the Grim Reaper's shadow, retained only a fraction of its original threat.

The remaining thunder poured into Ye Xiao's lifeless body, causing mere spasms.

Under the pull of the Grim Reaper's power, her body did not disintegrate.

Moreover, the life-reviving force from the tribulation's aftermath began to slowly awaken her vitality.

"Diao Xuan Ming Shu..."

"The lost divine artifact Yiwen Bei requires the power of the Grim Reaper to activate, allowing it to suspend a life and nurture vitality in return."

"It can also borrow the power of ethereal souls to share damage and draw soul energy to heal itself."

"Tsk, tsk! I have to say, this is indeed your strongest tool for overcoming the tribulation, Ye Xiao!"

Outside the holy tribulation, on the remnants of a mountain.

Tianren Wushuai held the illusory head of a spirit body, watching Ye Xiao's tribulation with unblinking eyes, his single eye filled with admiration.

"No wonder they say Youming Guidu is your place of rebirth—it's teeming with Grim Reaper power to draw soul energy."

"Hmm, with the Grim Reaper power, Diao Xuan Ming Shu, and Xueshi Zhu... these three together are enough to get through the tribulation."

"But to achieve an immortal body, you're still one step short."

Tianren Wushuai set down the spirit body's head and stepped onto the tall stone altar that had been prepared before him.

On the altar lay three thick logs, their branches already trimmed away.

These three Feng Qing Mu logs were seventh-grade innate spirit wood, a specialty of Youming Guidu.

They measured three zhang, six zhang, and nine zhang in length, respectively, with no special modifications—their sizes were natural.

To outsiders, Feng Qing Mu's only use might be in medicine, as it's a key ingredient in the innate pill Qinghun Dan, used for nourishing the soul.

But those versed in soul arts could employ special techniques to connect with a person's spiritual energy through it, creating unique items.

Tianren Wushuai began processing the three Feng Qing Mu logs.

He took out three Zhao Hun Fan banners of varying sizes, matching them to the logs, and tied them on one by one.

He formed seals, set up arrays, and placed spirit repositories as energy sources...

After these actions, the three massive Zhao Hun flags were complete.

Tianren Wushuai glanced back at the holy tribulation behind him, timing it perfectly, and inserted the three flags into the stone altar.

"Drip, drip, drip!"

Three drops of soul blood fell, and the entire altar finally took shape.

"Woo—"

A yin wind arose, and the Zhao Hun flags began to flutter wildly.

Countless spirit bodies in Youming Guidu, which had been surging toward Diao Xuan Ming Shu, suddenly halted, turning their gazes toward the altar with greedy spectral light in their eyes.

However, the soul energy of the altar paled in comparison to that of Diao Xuan Ming Shu, like fireflies against the moon.

Soon, the spirit bodies abandoned their rush toward the altar and swarmed back like moths to a flame toward the blazing Diao Xuan Ming Shu.

"As expected, they won't be drawn over. Crossing this step makes things easier."

Tianren Wushuai smiled as he observed everything.

He continued waiting until Ye Xiao's holy tribulation neared its end, counting down the final strikes, before making his move.

"Come!"

With a wave of his hand, the head of the spirit body from beneath the altar flew over.

Tianren Wushuai cradled it carefully and placed it on the stone altar, positioning its eyes toward where Ye Xiao was undergoing the tribulation.

"Break the seal!"

He formed a single-handed seal.

The seal on the spirit body's head shattered with a bang.

In its right eye socket, a solid eyeball— not made of soul energy—opened.

This was an extremely bizarre eyeball, without any skull to enclose it, revealing its nearly spherical, oval shape.

The eyeball was entirely white, veined with blood, and on its front were three gray spots.

"Boom!"

Another thunder strike echoed from behind.

Tianren Wushuai lost his leisurely demeanor and sped up his actions.

"Open!"

He pinched another seal, and the eyeball in the spirit body's head spun with three patterns, quickly flowing into the pupil and emitting strange Dao principle fluctuations.

The spirit body's head spoke.

In a hoarse, muffled soul voice, it repeated just three words endlessly, over and over.

Tianren Wushuai blocked the view with his body, pulling a shimmering black cloth from his ring and covering the spirit body's head.

"Boom!"

The holy tribulation entered its final climax.

A single strike scattered into hundreds or thousands of thunderbolts that shattered the void.

These dispersed thunderbolts all struck Xueshi Zhu, Diao Xuan Ming Shu, and Ye Xiao's soulless body.

In the distance, thunder rumbled; nearby, ethereal murmurs echoed.

A strange yin wind whipped up from an unknown place, bringing endless obscurity and chill.

Tianren Wushuai's expression grew grave, his tightly closed right eye twitching slightly, as if in pain.

Ignoring the thunder, he lifted his gaze to the three Zhao Hun flags ahead and suddenly erupted with surging spiritual essence and ghost beast power.

"Smack, smack, smack!"

Tianren Wushuai struck his own Tianling Cap three times in succession, his face beneath the half-mask twisting into something ferocious.

He reached into himself, as if extracting something from within, and threw it onto the three Zhao Hun flags.

"Three Corpses Orthodox Method!"

Pressing his palms together, Tianren Wushuai's face took on a twisted piety.

With a strange sound, the shortest Zhao Hun flag on the altar glowed with spectral light, and its soul energy surged, drawing the attention of nearby spirit bodies.

Another strange sound, and the middle flag lit up, unleashing a storm of soul energy that blasted apart the stones, branches, and blood around the altar.

Finally, with yet another sound, the longest flag on the right ignited, and Tianren Wushuai collapsed weakly onto the altar, as if drained.

The three spectral lights on the flags converged and shot skyward.

The overwhelming soul energy now overshadowed even the distant Diao Xuan Ming Shu, luring countless spirit bodies from Youming Guidu.

"Rumble—"

At the same time, Ye Xiao's holy tribulation delivered its final wave of thunder.

The entire space shattered instantly, and spirit bodies across thousands of li were drained of soul energy and vanished without a trace.

"Woo..."

The yin wind howled.

On the altar, Tianren Wushuai propped himself up.

He looked as if all his life force had been sapped, aged by decades, his body withered like dead wood, his eyes radiating a sense of impending death.

"Step."

One step at a time.

Tianren Wushuai staggered down from the altar, shambling toward where Ye Xiao had undergone her tribulation.

There, the thunder had dissipated, and holy light descended, enveloping Xueshi Zhu, Diao Xuan Ming Shu, and Ye Xiao's body.

Ye Xiao's soulless form finally sparked its first thread of complete vitality, her long lashes trembling slightly.

The Grim Reaper's shadow behind her hummed and transformed into a stream of light, merging into her body.

"Whoosh!"

As Ye Xiao's eyes opened, a dense Grim Reaper power flooded Youming Guidu, rippling like waves on a lake.

A semi-saint fluctuation swept across the entire area!

Xueshi Zhu rose into the air, bursting with endless blood light, morphing into a semi-saint status substitute and fusing into Ye Xiao's head.

Wounds healed, spiritual essence transformed, and saintly power surged...

"Gah—"

In that moment, the sound of sealing as a saint echoed across Void Island.

But this time, the sound spreading through the nine wastelands was filled with darkness and evil, causing all who heard it to have bloodshot eyes and fall into a daze.

"I..."

Ye Xiao's pupils regained focus, and her consciousness returned.

She had suspended her last breath with Diao Xuan Ming Shu, used the countless spirit bodies of Youming Guidu as an energy source, and relied on Xueshi Zhu for semi-saint status...

The chances of successfully overcoming the tribulation were not just slim—they were minuscule.

Yet at that moment, Ye Xiao realized she had succeeded!

A semi-saint!

By a twist of fate, she had truly stepped into this realm.

From this day forward, Ye Xiao, the head of the dark department, became the first to achieve sainthood among the six departments!

"Crack—"

A cracking sound echoed in her mind, as if something had shattered.

Sealed and distorted memory fragments returned all at once.

With the power of a semi-saint, Ye Xiao remembered everything: the battle in Zui Yi Hall with Tianren Wushuai, where her final Grim Reaper scythe failed to claim his life, and she was instead controlled by San Yan Tong Mu.

Not only that.

All the subsequent commands from Tianren Wushuai, Xu Xiaoshou's appearance, Yuling Di's reveal, Mu Zixi's intervention...

Every memory from when she was under control, which she had forgotten, now flooded back!

"Tianren Wushuai..."

Ye Xiao's eyes narrowed, flashing with hatred.

But quickly, she suppressed all thoughts of revenge.

Her injuries had fully healed under the tribulation's backlash, and now she was at her peak.

Ye Xiao knew the most pressing matter wasn't Xu Xiaoshou and the First Pavilion in the Sky, nor Mu Zixi and the Supreme Demonic Body or Shenmo Tong.

It was returning to the main headquarters of Shengshen Hall on Sheng Mountain to report everything that had happened on Void Island.

Then, apply for a true saint status, extract Xueshi Zhu, and achieve genuine sainthood!

But just then, a faint sound came from afar.

"Step."

It was subtle, like the dying footsteps of someone on their last breath, yet crystal clear to the semi-saint Ye Xiao.

Youming Guidu had no living beings, only spirit bodies.

This sound was unmistakably from a human!

Turning her gaze, across thousands of li, Ye Xiao easily spotted a figure.

It was a gaunt, orange form, with only half a mask on its face, stumbling forward, barely alive.

Yet this was the very culprit who had orchestrated her perilous ascension to semi-sainthood—manipulating a semi-saint's birth from the Taixu realm.

"Tianren Wushuai!"

A shadow fell over Ye Xiao's brow.

She instantly recalled the conversations in Zui Yi Hall under the influence of San Yan Tong Mu.

In summary...

Tianren Wushuai wanted her to come to Youming Guidu, to take the final step toward an immortal body.

How to achieve it?

Ye Xiao realized in that moment.

Her death body had shattered and evolved under the tribulation's backlash and Diao Xuan Ming Shu's aid.

But it still needed one final push!

That push was to mutually destroy with Tianren Wushuai, then use Xueshi Zhu as a catalyst to devour both their essences.

The pure energy from the decaying body could be directly transferred to the death body, aiding its evolution.

And since Xueshi Zhu was her semi-saint status, the one to revive would be her, with the immortal body.

This was a form of possession!

Kill Tianren Wushuai, and the immortal body would be complete!

"Thump, thump."

Undoubtedly, Ye Xiao was tempted.

As a semi-saint, she had no fear of Taixu.

The immortal body was her greatest obsession, something she'd pursued for years without success.

If she could achieve it now...

With semi-sainthood plus an immortal body plus Grim Reaper power, even the Saint Emperor might be within reach!

And the opportunity was right there, step by step, walking toward her.

With just a slight effort, the weakened Tianren Wushuai couldn't even resist and would be slain.

"Kill him!"

Murderous intent flashed in Ye Xiao's eyes.

If she hadn't broken through, she might have acted on it.

But now as a semi-saint, she sharply sensed something off about her thoughts.

"Residual will from San Yan Tong Mu?"

Ye Xiao quickly identified the guiding mark that Tianren Wushuai had imprinted on her spiritual world with San Yan Tong Mu.

Furthermore, she discovered a curse on her fate that she had never noticed before—a spiritual pillar representing her destiny now bore a table, three cups of wine, and three sticks of incense!

"Ugh..."

A strong wave of discomfort hit, and Ye Xiao dry-heaved.

She realized that even after becoming a semi-saint, she couldn't see through Tianren Wushuai's vile schemes!

The curse on her fate couldn't be removed immediately and would have to wait until later.

So...

"I can't touch him!"

"Absolutely not!"

The orange figure in the distance, as if a breeze could topple it, continued its slow approach, but Ye Xiao grew increasingly terrified.

She reflected and realized that ever since she was twisted by San Yan Tong Mu's will in Zui Yi Hall, all her actions had followed Tianren Wushuai's direction!

Using Xueshi Zhu to achieve sainthood...

Bringing the tribulation to Youming Guidu...

Succeeding in sainthood and then encountering Tianren Wushuai, even forming the idea of killing him to evolve into an immortal body...

The first two steps were already done!

If she followed through on the last, it would mean that even as a saint, even awake, she was still under his control through San Yan Tong Mu!

"Run!"

The dignified semi-saint Ye Xiao could only think of fleeing in the face of the unknown.

This fear of Tianren Wushuai seemed to have taken root since their first encounter in Zui Yi Hall.

Ye Xiao no longer feared him in terms of strength.

She just couldn't comprehend his actions!

He couldn't possibly want to die, yet he was walking toward her...

The only explanation was that if she killed him, he wouldn't die—his goal would be achieved!

"What is his purpose?"

"After I kill him... will I die instead?"

Ye Xiao couldn't figure it out. Tianren Wushuai's abilities seemed to go beyond the decaying body.

He even had a ghost beast!

So, it wasn't impossible that he held one last trump card.

"Stop!" Ye Xiao shouted at the distant figure, her body trembling slightly.

"Step, step, step..."

Tianren Wushuai showed no reaction, continuing his slow advance toward his own death at his own pace.

"Stop right there!" Ye Xiao glared coldly, releasing her semi-saint pressure, slamming him to the ground with a boom.

His body was so frail.

That fall broke his legs, leaving him on the brink of death.

Ye Xiao felt as if an invisible hand was choking her, her skin crawling as she quickly withdrew her semi-saint pressure.

This person...

He had mutilated himself to this extent just to die!

"I can't kill him."

"Or rather, he can die, but not by my hand now!"

If she had to explain everything happening and her own doubts rationally, the only answer Ye Xiao could find was that she was cursed with misfortune.

She couldn't, and daren't, kill Tianren Wushuai—that was exactly what he desired.

Whoosh.

Ye Xiao turned and fled.

If I can't beat him, I'll avoid him—that should work!

Once the curse on her fate was lifted back at Gui Zhe Sheng Mountain, she could return and claim Tianren Wushuai's life without hindrance.

"Zui Yi Hall!"

"Head straight to Zui Yi Hall. The secondary gate is with Yuling Di, and as a semi-saint, I can activate it."

"This is the fastest way to leave Void Island and return to the Shengshen Continent!"

Ignoring the increasingly swift Tianren Wushuai, who seemed to be hurrying to his death like a pursuing ghost, Ye Xiao unleashed her saintly intent, instantly pinpointing the direction and soaring toward Zui Yi Hall.

Unknown, terrifying, bizarre...

The fear that the orange-masked figure from the underworld instilled in the newly ascended semi-saint Ye Xiao now overshadowed even a semi-saint's dominance over Taixu.

In Ye Xiao's mind, there was only one thought:

Faster!

Even faster!

Get away from this cursed place!

"Woo..."

In an instant, she covered thousands of li through the air.

A wail of a soul sound rose from beneath her feet, accompanied by a dreamlike murmur.

Ye Xiao wanted to look down, to scan it with her saintly intent.

"Ugh..."

Another surge of intense discomfort hit, and she dry-heaved again.

She finally realized this was a semi-saint's intuition of impending doom!

Such a vivid warning meant the unknown below was absolutely not to be glanced at!

Curiosity had to be killed!

"Buzz..."

But then, a light hum echoed in her mind, and Ye Xiao's eyes glowed red.

Xueshi Zhu, known as the "Root of Worldly Calamity, Guide of Death," gave its host a new directive.

Just as it had once led Huang Yang Zhenren to Zui Yi Hall to die...

"Just a quick look..."

"I'm a semi-saint!"

Ye Xiao lowered her head, the red light in her eyes fading just in time, but her saintly intent had already swept downward.

The tall stone altar!

Surrounding it, fragments of souls and mutilated flesh.

On the altar, three Zhao Hun flags of different sizes swayed in the wind, their spectral light faint.

At the center, her saintly intent brushed the array, stirring the black cloth that flapped in the breeze.

Beneath the cloth, the right eye of the spirit body's head revealed San Yan Tong Mu, its gray patterns spinning and emitting profound strangeness.

Ye Xiao finally heard that murmur clearly.

In that instant, terror crawled across her face, and she jerked her head away, flinging it skyward with such force that her neck cracked.

Ye Xiao's head was flung upward, but her eyes, filled with terror, strained downward in a misaligned way, aching as they tried to see below!

"No—"

The moment her saintly intent caught San Yan Tong Mu, Ye Xiao froze, and three gray spots appeared in her eyes.

She struggled fiercely with her semi-saint power.

But Xueshi Zhu wasn't a true saint status—it didn't lead to success.

Instead, it guided toward death.

With a slight tremble, red light enveloped Ye Xiao, her thoughts completely disordered, her mind blank.

Whoosh!

The black-feathered figure plummeted from the sky.

The three Zhao Hun flags shook, and Ye Xiao crashed onto the altar.

She lay on her side, hands rigidly pressed to her thighs, staring fixedly at the spirit body's head, her face full of terror, completely immobile.

"Look at me..."

The wind carried the low soul sound afar.

In the saint-sealing ground of Youming Guidu, only endless wails echoed, as if the spirits were singing.

"Step."

At some point, footsteps finally sounded from below the altar.

Tianren Wushuai, with his last breath, struggled up the altar, not even bothering with his broken legs, crawling straight up.

Until he reached Ye Xiao's side, he lay down silently.

The two lay facing each other, the spirit body's head between them, mere inches apart.

From Ye Xiao's angle, ignoring the transparent spirit body's head, San Yan Tong Mu aligned perfectly with Tianren Wushuai's closed right eye.

The murmuring soul sound continued its repetition.

"Kill me..." Tianren Wushuai issued the command.

The altar glowed.

The previously left spirit repositories lit up, most of their energy drained.

The array activated, and the soul sound from the spirit body's head changed.

"Kill him."

Ye Xiao obeyed, mechanically raising her hand, swinging it in a half-circle, and severing Tianren Wushuai's head.

Blood gushed, dripping down the altar.

The uncontrollable Ye Xiao and the decapitated Tianren Wushuai... lay facing each other in silence.

"Buzz!"

Soon after, Xueshi Zhu emerged from Ye Xiao's head like a curious child.

Seeing that neither moved, it burst with red light and greedily devoured both immobile figures.

The yin wind persisted, and the Zhao Hun flags rustled.

Spirit bodies surrounded the altar, clamoring to climb up, but finding only blood, no one—except the now-silent spirit body's head.

Quickly, they were drawn to Xueshi Zhu and swarmed in, becoming nutrients.

Silence.

It lasted for a long, long time...

"Buzz!"

At some unknown point, Xueshi Zhu trembled again, flashing red.

It seemed to have swallowed something indigestible and struggled to spit it out.

"Ugh..."

Ye Xiao's body went limp, and after dry-heaving, she lay sprawled on the altar, her eyes dazed.

"Tianren Wushuai..."

This was Ye Xiao's voice, neutral and deep.

With those words, it was as if her senses returned, and she recalled something, struggling to move and examine herself.

Soon, with a surge of saintly power, pure death energy radiated from Ye Xiao.

"The immortal body!"

Joy flashed in her eyes as she confirmed that the survivor was herself!

Tianren Wushuai had failed; a Taixu will couldn't overcome a semi-saint's will!

In Xueshi Zhu, Ye Xiao had expended all her soul energy to suppress and devour Tianren Wushuai's will... completely possessing it!

"Sss..."

But suddenly, with the saintly power's movement, gray mist emerged.

Ye Xiao froze, then her pupils dilated in shock.

This was decaying energy!

"Why?"

She had clearly performed a proper possession through Xueshi Zhu, fully converting and absorbing Tianren Wushuai's essence.

So why, after achieving the immortal body, did she still have the decaying energy unique to Tianren Wushuai?

In her ears, the murmur she had just forgotten echoed again.

Ye Xiao's scalp tingled, and overwhelming terror filled her eyes. Like an electric shock, she sprang up and fled without looking back.

But the altar lit up with a barrier, trapping her inside.

Ye Xiao had exhausted all her energy resisting in Xueshi Zhu.

Yet as a semi-saint, she forcibly shattered the altar's barrier.

The soul-demanding sound rang out again.

Ye Xiao clenched her eyes shut, sealed her saintly intent, and trembled as she leaped from the altar, her mind fixed on one thought:

"Run!!!"

But with the barrier broken, the array activated.

The three Zhao Hun flags shook simultaneously, draining the last energy from the spirit repositories and exploding with massive soul fluctuations.

At the same time, Tianren Wushuai's previously recorded voice emerged:

"Three Corpses Orthodox Method!"

Three thick soul lights shot from the Zhao Hun flags, soaring over Ye Xiao's head and, as she jumped, brutally forcing their way into her ears, nose, and mouth.

"Ugh, ugh, ugh!"

The Three Corpses power bound her like chains, suspending her in midair with endless spasms.

On the altar, the spirit body's head spoke again.

This time, without hesitation, Ye Xiao's body lurched forward, but her head twisted with a crack, turning 180 degrees to stare straight at San Yan Tong Mu behind her!

In her eyes, three patterns spun and flowed into her pupils.

The Three Corpses power fully entered Ye Xiao's body, and she stopped trembling, hanging rigidly in the air.

"Pick me up..."

Ye Xiao picked up the spirit body's head and dug out San Yan Tong Mu.

"The soul returns..."

After its final words, the spirit body's head disintegrated into dust.

"The soul returns..."

Ye Xiao's body began to twist and change, and from her mouth came the same words as the spirit body's head.

But now, the voice was hoarse and deep—clearly masculine.

"Crack!"

Her head rotated another 180 degrees, returning to position.

Ye Xiao's face dropped, and like her body, it started to transform.