In the open-air cemetery, Xu Qing, having returned to his original appearance, sat alone on the divine platform, fierce as a blade.
Under his boots lay fragments of divine statues, mixed with the blood and flesh of corpse demons.
Xu Qing, with a backward grip, drew the Treasure Sword given by the Demon Exorcism True Monarch, its azure blade piercing the ground more than three inches deep; he looked more like a bandit than a bandit!
With the hilt in hand, Xu Qing lifted his gaze to the rolling black clouds approaching from the horizon.
Like the thunderous roar of the Nine Heavens, the sound came from thousands of miles away, accompanied by the thick, indissoluble corpse aura!
From all directions, generals and one hundred thousand corpse soldiers, either riding skeletal ghost steeds or crawling from the Ancient Yin River Dao, approached.
The eerie tombs and stone tablets spreading for miles, a true sea of corpses and blood, surged like tides with the fury of the Celestial Lord General, as though to completely engulf Xu Qing on the divine platform.
"Second Brother! Who are you to harm my brothers?"
Xu Qing squinted as he looked into the billowing clouds; there appeared a white-browed, white-bearded, gold-armored general, tall and mountainous.
The general, filled with rage, crashed to the ground like a cannonball, raising smoke and dust for miles.
As the white-browed general's words fell, another figure, adorned in scholarly robes and holding a scroll of the Taiping Scriptures, swooped down in front of the temple.
Xu Qing raised his head to size up the two corpse demons, towering over a hundred zhang tall, then immediately invoked the heavenly mandate, shouting, "You brothers are but skeletal husks. As a mortuary master, I can't bear to see your vagrant souls wander and thus kindly transcended your brother. Instead of thanking me, why do you blame me?"
Hearing these words, the Celestial Lord General furrowed his brow, while the Human Lord General abruptly changed expression, angrily declaring, "Impudent child! My brother is the embodiment of the Yellow Heaven, charged by the Nanhua Elder Immortal to save the people and uphold heavenly justice. You dared to plot against my second brother's life; you must be a pawn of the Han court!"
"Big Brother, don't believe outsiders; let me take his head to avenge Second Brother!"
Before he finished speaking, the Human Lord General unfurled the Taiping Scriptures, and within, gold script like snowflakes swirled, with characters for thunder, fire, and kill flying out.
Simultaneously, the Human Lord General's tongue rang with thunder, exclaiming, "Wind, Thunder, Divine Fire, annihilate souls, incinerate spirits!"
A myriad of thunder snakes and firebirds flew forward, but Xu Qing's spirit and body were one, rendering the Human Lord General's divine Words and Laws Follow technique ineffective against him.
The only concern was those thunder snakes and firebirds formed from prayers and incense.
Xu Qing advanced instead of retreating, his sword light and agile, using the Profound Lady Sword Technique to counter the attacks while focusing on the Taiping Scriptures in the Human Lord General's hand.
Those scriptures indeed held some power, though clearly depleted over thousands of years.
Yet, in the mortal world, this incense could still support the Human Lord General in establishing a temple.
But compared to whom? In front of Xu Qing, holding ten thousand incense offerings, the Human Lord General's incense was like autumn trees, shedding leaves sparsely.
Even if Xu Qing randomly summoned a household deity, they'd have ten times the incense than the Taiping Sect.
Watching the Taiping Scriptures being flipped faster and faster by the Human Lord General, Xu Qing smiled inwardly.
This corpse demon, seeing only the corpse aura in Xu Qing, mistook him for a corpse monster, not knowing he was the true master of incense.
Incense offerings are like raging fire to evil spirits, and the Human Lord General wanted to use the Taiping Scriptures to burn him to death.
Xu Qing moved continuously, saying, "Why does your scripture only deplete and not replenish?"
Xu Qing spoke with deadly intent, "Because you bear the karma of corpse demons, only doing evil, never good; what a pity for the Taiping Sect of old..."
The Human Lord General's face changed again: "I carry merit, the Taiping Sect is holy, my brother and I are destined saviors, you demons lack merit and destiny, yet dare to speak!"
Upon finishing, the Human Lord General gave Xu Qing no chance to speak further, resolutely using all incense stored in the Taiping Scriptures!
No matter thunder, lightning, storms, or mountains and fires, as the scholarly military general spoke, golden script would leap from the scripture, transforming into divine techniques, truly Words and Laws Follow!
Simultaneously, the Human Lord General, dressed as a scholar, ordered the armies to form a fiendish array, charging towards the ruins of the divine platform.
Nearby, the observing Celestial Lord General was engulfed in demonic mists, his expression twisted and shifting, with pleas of all people and whispers of demons ringing in his ears, tempting him to kill everyone in his path.
On the divine platform, Xu Qing looked at the scholar drenched in the Taiping Scriptures' glow, suddenly laughing lightly.
"Standing occasionally in the sunlight, you assume others belittle your appearance and subject you to judgment?"
Xu Qing chuckled, "Then let me show you what the sun truly is."
The next moment, within the corpse mountain formed by a hundred thousand corpse soldiers, dazzling golden light emerged.
Soon, a worldly divine manifestation revealed itself from the tombstone forest.
At this time, Xu Qing wore the Five Phoenix Crown, dressed in celestial attire of silk and feathers, draped in jade cloud silk, the ornate threaded floral and longevity ocean designs more exquisite than ever.
Even the protective script on the skirt had a dragon and phoenix flanking it, the icon of the world-transmitting Lady Bao Sheng, now renewed in her magnificence!
Apart from his attire, the blood-red vial in Xu Qing's right hand sprouted a green branch, while the jade ruyi in his left hand was adorned with dragon and phoenix motifs of auspiciousness.
Such a visage, truly: heavenly light dispels filth, a divine aura wreathed in jade clouds!
In the moment incense offerings appeared in the blood lake Dharma Realm, the Ancient Yin River Dao that knew no sun or moon seemed to rise with a great sun.