Inside the giant sphere hovering in the air, a large group of fur seals were frantically breeding new members. At their rate, it wouldn’t take long for their numbers to reach the threshold required for the sacrifice. Ge Yanxia would then feed them all to the demon god.

Alas, the globe formed by the ripple was too tough. It was indestructible after separating from Ge Yanxia, so much so that a fully-powered shot from a crystal cannon wouldn’t even leave a mark on it.

Qi Hai and Liu Chen also grew anxious; they could both guess what Ge Yanxia was planning.

“You two, use your swords and pound the globe at a constant rhythm!” Lu Yun demonstrated the motion, then shooed them into action. His cultivation level was too low to make the strange sphere vibrate, but that wasn’t the case for Qi Hai and Liu Chen. They were simply unable to break through the sphere’s defenses.

“What’s the point of doing this?” Liu Chen asked in confusion as he reentered Zhao Chong’s body.

“Do as he says, we might be pleasantly surprised.” Qi Hai had visited hell for some time and grown accustomed to Lu Yun’s peculiar methods and unorthodox thinking. Retrieving the hundred and eight comet-like pills, he replaced them with a flying sword. Floating up to the giant globe, he pounded it following a swift beat.

Liu Chen hesitated slightly, then requested, “You must make sure to keep the princess safe. She’s dedicating her full strength to suppressing the demon fetus and can’t afford any interference!” With that exhortation, he took to the air and pounded the sphere, copying Qi Hai’s tempo.

Last time Lu Yun had run into Liu Chen, something had caused the ghost king to lose his self-awareness and act on a muddled mix of base instincts. Interference had overwhelmed his mind in the form of chaos and confusion and he’d lost all sense of purpose.

It was at this time that Zhao Chong arrived, enabling Princess Zhao Qing to shove Liu Chen’s soul into his body and use his Exalted Divine bloodline to purify Liu Chen’s true spirit. Now that the ghost king had recovered his clarity of mind and found himself again, he’d once more recalled his duties.

Drifting down to the globe, he closed his eyes to grasp Qi Hai’s rhythm, then frantically pounded the globe following the same tempo. Their efforts sent the void vibrating, and the globe buzzed with a deep drone that spread massive soundwaves to every corner of the premises.

Standing at the ready, Lu Yun took out close to a hundred Yu Talismans and stuck them on himself, forming a giant defensive wall that warded off the soundwaves.

Puff! Puff! Puff!

Inside the sphere, fur seals spontaneously exploded in a cascading sequence of gore and sank to the bottom of the globe as bloody pulp. Ge Yanxia stopped her mating motions and screeched in rage, but what could she do?

Qi Hai and Liu Chen were pounding the globe at its resonant frequency. The frequency of the soundwaves lacerated Ge Yanxia, inflicting significant injuries on her bulbous body. Unable to endure the violent vibrations any further, she chose to dispel the globe and tried attacking Qi Hai and Liu Chen.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three pillars of light erupted in quick succession. Streaking through the air, they evaporated the fur seal splatters and smashed into Ge Yanxia, sending her far into the distance.

“I will get you back for this if it’s the last thing I do, Yin Clan!” the fur seal’s voice echoed from afar.

……

Elated after killing three Donglin immortals, Yin Qingran was in the middle of placing their heads and nascent spirits inside his storage ring when a cold shiver suddenly ran down his spine.

……

“It survived all that??” Lu Yun’s face fell and he felt the sudden urge to call upon the Judgment of Life and Death.

For one reason or another, Ge Yanxia had accumulated great retribution, so much that the Judgment of LIfe and Death was sure to end the creature’s life. He simply hadn’t expected her flesh to be so tough even without the defensive ripple. A maximum-strength blast from his cannon had only wounded her, but couldn’t kill her.

“There’s something odd about that fur seal!” Qi Hai landed on the ground and looked in the direction Ge Yanxia had disappeared in, his expression solemn. “The creature is cunning, so she must have other plans in reserve. The demon god fetus might be sealed beneath our feet, but there must be methods to free it somewhere else!”

As he spoke, he looked up at the palace outer-coffin in the air and Zhao Qing’s skeleton inside it. Ge Yanxia’s ultimate goal was to help the demon fetus possess and take physical form through the skeleton. After all, while the fetus contained a tremendous true spirit, it lacked a corporeal body.

“This fur seal must be killed, or we face dire consequences!” Liu Chen nodded in agreement. He’d stood guard over this locale for the past eighty thousand years, ever since the divine emperor’s true spirit had been corrupted, so he naturally knew what a threat the true spirit would constitute.

“We need to find the Exalted celestial emperor and bring him here. As the holder of Exalted Major’s heavenly mandate, he’ll naturally have a way to deal with… Oof!”

Before he could finish, a tentacle-like thing drilled out of the ground and pierced through his body from the bottom up. Liu Chen’s ghostly self squeezed out of its host body, while Zhao Chong’s corpse fell heavily to the ground, devoid of all breath.

Pft, pft, pft!

One after another, tentacled human heads popped up aboveground.

Human-headed octopi! The same ones that Lu Yun had once seen in Su Xiaoxiao’s tomb!

These were zombies, or more exactly, a mutated variety thereof. However, the ones in front of them were far, far stronger than the ones he’d seen in the past. Wading through space as though they swam in water, they moved about with exceptional nimbleness.

“Those human heads… they belong to those sacrificed on the altars!” Qi Hai blurted out. He’d spotted a familiar face—someone he’d sacrificed with his own two hands. Glaring with infinite rancor, the head threw himself at him.

It wanted him dead!

Boom!

A pill dragging a long trail of fire sailed out of Qi Hai’s upturned palm and crashed into the octopus’ skull.

Bang!!

The fearsome octopus dispersed as black smoke on the air. However, increasing numbers of human-headed octopi burrowed out and mobbed the group of three.

Lu Yun brought out the Sugato Sword, the curtains of sword light drifting down from the pagoda barely managing to shield him.

“Damn it… the demon fetus has sensed our presence. It’s trying to make sacrifices out of us!” Liu Chen clenched his teeth and swept up Zhao Chong’s corpse from the ground, tossing it into the palace outer-coffin in the sky.

“Kid, go look for the Exalted celestial emperor… Only he can deal with the demon fetus!” he roared at Lu Yun. He knew that Lu Yun certainly had a way of leaving this place and locating the celestial emperor.

Lu Yun was rather frustrated. The initial plan was to have Xingzi destroy the fetus, but hell was currently inaccessible, so she couldn’t get here for the time being. Even so, he’d already notified her. It wouldn’t take long for her and the other Envoys of Samsara to travel from Dusk Province to Exalted Major.

Employing the Wandering Step, he departed without delay, the Sugato Sword floating above him. “Persist a little while longer, I’ll be back soon,” he urged from far away.