Chapter 198: Yinli God, the Ghost Generals Descend

“You… You’re the Underworld Emissary? Impossible! How could you have slipped in unnoticed?!”

Zhao Hongzhong stared in utter shock, momentarily forgetting the agony in his severed hand.

The remaining Ninth-Rank Transcendents on the high platform finally reacted. They quickly scattered away, leaving only two figures standing atop the platform.

The black-robed figure beside Lu Yan was finally revealed before the crowd.

And it was only now that everyone became aware of a critical and terrifying oversight.

Over the past month, Lu Yan had crossed through dozens of gathering sites, slaying Transcendents wherever he went. Among them were no fewer than seven Ninth-Rank Transcendents.

That was the very reason so many factions had finally chosen to unite—to face him together.

But earlier, when this meeting was convened, there had been nine Ninth-Rank Transcendents standing atop the high platform. Add in the seven who were confirmed dead, and that totaled fifteen—two more than the original thirteen known Ninth-Rankers.

Such a glaring discrepancy… yet not a single person had noticed it.

Even the Shadow Corpse King’s expression twisted with dread. Everyone instinctively turned their gaze toward the black-robed figure beside Lu Yan. All clues pointed to this enigmatic person as the cause of the anomaly.

The black-robed figure was clearly a woman. Yet beneath that robe, her form continuously shifted—sometimes tall and elegant, other times petite and delicate—like a mist no one could truly grasp.

Those below the Ninth Rank found their gazes slipping from her within moments. Even when they looked directly at her, their subconscious minds registered her as a loved one, a friend, someone who should be there.

The contradiction between perception and reality was enough to drive one mad.

As the crowd stared in horror, the black-robed woman beside Lu Yan pulled down her hood, revealing her face.

But even that was ever-changing—her features shifted like water, fluid and illusory. With every breath she took, a new visage emerged from the void, overlaying her face, then vanishing the next second. The only constant was her eyes—dark as a moonless night, eternal and unchanging.

She cast a cold gaze over the entire hall and spoke, her voice like frost:

“I am Yinli, under the command of my lord.”

Indeed, this was one of the ghost gods Lu Yan had crafted in recent days.

The Yinli God was forged from a Golden Core Corpse King Lu Yan had once hunted. Though the Corpse King had not possessed great power, she had wielded an eerie talent—the ability to subtly warp others’ perception, making them believe she belonged wherever she appeared.

Once, she had used this power to fool six thousand Yin Soldiers and even tried to sneak close enough to assassinate Lu Yan. She failed, subdued by the combined efforts of four ghost gods.

Lu Yan had seen potential in that talent. He re-forged her as a ghost god and named her Yinli God.

Her awakened innate divine power was called “Tathāgata’s Veil”.

Under this ability’s effect, both Lu Yan and Yinli God became “natural fixtures” in the minds of those around them. Unless they acted overtly, no one would question their presence.

This divine art had a certain resonance with Lu Yan’s True Meaning of Profound Unity.

After Zhao Hongzhong sent out the meeting’s secret location, Lu Yan had torn open a spatial rift to arrive swiftly. With Tathāgata’s Veil, he infiltrated the castle and silently watched the farce unfold.

Had Liu Hao not acted out and piqued Lu Yan’s interest, he might have let them continue performing their charade a while longer.

Now regaining some calm after his initial panic, Zhao Hongzhong fixed his eyes on Lu Yan with a flicker of joy.

“You’ve revealed yourself? Without the Underworld Army to protect you, you’ve only hastened your own death!”

Seven powerful figures—including the Shadow Corpse King—encircled the high platform, forming a siege around Lu Yan and Yinli God. Their Transcendent auras surged skyward, threatening to tear the underground fortress apart.

Lu Yan chuckled aloud and raised the Soul Banner, now evolved into a true Dharma Treasure.

Instantly, a dense ghostly mist surged out, blotting out the skies.

“Damn it! It’s the Underworld Army!”

Startled cries echoed as the booming of war drums filled the air. Yin Soldiers surged forth like an ocean of death.

Thousands of Yin Soldiers melded their auras, forming a devastating wave of death energy that battered everything in its path. Stone walls cracked and crumbled, debris rained down like meteorites under the moonlight, and dozens of figures burst from the depths to the surface.

Bathed in moonlight, everyone finally saw the terrifying army in the mist.

Each Yin Soldier wore black armor engraved with runes, their soul-hooks exuding eerie Nether Qi. Their figures flickered beneath the ghost fog, but their synchronized footsteps shook the very ground.

They hadn’t even struck yet, but the sheer momentum crushed the will of all who opposed them.

After months of slaughtering over fifty million zombies, these Yin Soldiers had honed an invincible aura. Even Golden Core-level experts would falter before this force.

“Form the array or we all die!”

With that roar, the Underworld Army moved.

Six thousand Yin Soldiers aligned in the sky, forming runic patterns like ancient Daoist script. Green Nether flames surged, weaving two enormous formations.

The Netherfire Hell Array took shape first, filled with ghostly flames that danced with the power of death. Opposite it, the Nine Nether Wind Array formed, sending thousands of invisible blades howling through the air.

“Activate the formation!”

At the order, the two formations roared to life.

Flames rose like tidal waves, devouring the enemy battle lines. Wind blades howled in all directions, sealing off every escape.

At the frontline, a Ninth-Rank Transcendent howled to the heavens, his body encased in icy energy. A frozen domain spread for kilometers, crystalizing the flames and shattering charging Yin Soldiers into sparkling shards.

Another expert conjured a massive storm, clashing against the Nine Nether Winds in a deafening maelstrom. Dozens of Yin Soldiers and Transcendents were swept high into the sky, their ranks shattered.

A blood-red blur zipped through the battlefield—a speed-type Ninth-Ranker. His lightning-fast strikes carved paths through the Yin ranks, cutting down dozens in seconds.

A brief stalemate settled over the battlefield.

Zhao Hongzhong’s face lit with joy as thunder wrapped around him. Like a lightning god, he charged directly toward Lu Yan behind enemy lines.

“Decapitate the leader!”

Two other Ninth-Rankers and over ten Eighth-Rankers followed him, forming a spearpoint to break through the Yin formations.

But then—everything changed.

The aura of the six thousand Yin Soldiers abruptly shifted. The two grand arrays fused.

One Ninth-Rank Transcendent failed to react in time and was instantly engulfed by the overlapping forces of Netherfire and ghostly wind. His body was torn apart, soul and all, reduced to ash.

The others fared no better. Within moments, over ten Eighth-Rankers perished.

Now trapped in the fused array, even Zhao Hongzhong and the remaining Ninth-Ranker were in mortal peril.

Desperation took hold.

“Make them move! If they don’t act now, we’re all dead!” Zhao Hongzhong roared at the Shadow Corpse King outside the formation.

The Shadow Corpse King, who had hoped to reap the rewards without fighting, hadn’t expected such a swift reversal.

He roared as his body expanded to a fifty-meter-tall monster of writhing shadows.

At that moment, the ground quaked as if a dragon stirred. Earth pulsed, and hundreds of thousands of zombies clawed out from below, disrupting the formation’s foundation.

These zombies needed neither food nor breath. The Shadow Corpse King had planted them days in advance. Along with seven other Corpse Kings hidden deep underground by the Earth Corpse King, they now revealed themselves all at once.

The scale of power tilted.

Though mighty, the formation of six thousand late-Stage Qi Refining Yin Soldiers began to waver under the suicidal charges of a million zombies.

Thirteen Golden Core-level Corpse Kings joined in—more than enough to challenge the formation’s advantage.

The ghost mist above quivered. The formation began to collapse.

Zhao Hongzhong, clad in lightning, charged again toward Lu Yan. This time, five Ninth-Rank Corpse Kings followed behind him.

It seemed the tide had turned.

And just when everyone believed victory was at hand—Lu Yan finally moved.

He waved the Soul Banner with a smile and spoke calmly:

“So that’s all your trump cards?”

“Then it’s time for mine.”

A spatial rift split open above, leading to the Soul Realm.

Six hundred Ghost Generals, clad in eerie green armor, rode pitch-black ghost horses and emerged in perfect formation.

Their armor glowed with otherworldly runes, each line pulsing with ghost fire like a thousand staring eyes.

Every Ghost General carried a long black war lance wreathed in deathly aura, the tips gleaming with murderous cold. Their steeds trotted in midair, each step sending ripples through space, ethereal manes swirling with ghostly souls.

This was Lu Yan’s work over the past month—six hundred Foundation Establishment-level Ghost Generals, some even at the peak of the realm.

The moment they arrived, they linked with the faltering grand array, instantly stabilizing it.

In that instant, the six hundred Ghost Generals locked onto Zhao Hongzhong and the five charging Corpse Kings.

A single, unified command thundered through the air:

“Kill!”

Yin winds and Netherfire surged around them. Ghostly steeds thundered across the sky. Innate arts and spirit techniques flared to life as they charged straight into six Golden Core-level enemies.

Even Ninth-Rank Transcendents, equal to early Golden Core cultivators, were nothing before this apocalyptic tide of six thousand Qi Refining and six hundred Foundation Establishment Yin warriors.

Their mighty advance… shattered all resistance.

(End of Chapter)