Chapter 1563: Underworld Bureau Writ

Chapter 1563: Underworld Bureau Writ

Within the 《Seizing Souls and Commanding Generals Grand Art》, there existed a method of [Soul Splitting] that could parasitize and control Demon Insects.

One would first split off a wisp of their own Divine Soul and employ the method of commanding generals to control the Demon Insect.

Then, by borrowing the shifts of cause and effect and conducting a ritual, the insect would be subjected to a tragic death, transforming into a Yāo Wraith.

Using this Yāo Wraith as a medium, it would then invade another person's Sea of Consciousness.

This was an Unorthodox Path Evil Technique that divided one's Divine-Sense Thought and remotely controlled a Demon Insect material medium to undergo a qualitative transformation, thereby placing a hex on others to devour or enslave their Sea of Consciousness.

Originally, this was an exceedingly profound Fāng Art, a method that could only be executed when one's cultivation in the Unorthodox Path reached the Divine Communication realm.

In all his life of cultivation, the masters of the Unorthodox Path whom Wang Liangzi had personally seen capable of [Soul Splitting] could be counted on one hand.

Wang Liangzi himself was not yet capable of [Divine Communication].

The only reason he could execute the [Soul Splitting] technique was that he had obtained the supreme secret legacy of the 《Seizing Souls and Commanding Generals Grand Art》. By skipping realms, he had gained a fraction of the power of [Soul Splitting].

Yet [Soul Splitting] was exceedingly troublesome, and the cost of setting up a ritual altar was astronomical.

Against ordinary enemies, there was no need to go through the luxury of erecting an altar, splitting the soul, dispatching a demon, triggering a curse transformation, invading the consciousness, and assassinating...

Of course, ordinary cultivators were not worthy of being cursed to death in such a manner.

As for cultivators who were truly qualified to warrant an altar, soul splitting, and a demon dispatched for a curse kill—once locked on by the Yāo Wraith, they were essentially doomed to die.

Up to this day, as long as Wang Liangzi was willing to pay a heavy price in blood, he could kill whomever he marked; he had never once failed.

Yet this time, he felt that something was amiss.

The true body and the split soul were relatively isolated.

Without recalling the split soul, its memories would not be integrated, and the true body would not know what the split soul had experienced on the other side.

However, judging from the omens fed back from the ritual altar, the situation did not look optimistic.

"The threads of the Wraith Soldiers... have all snapped..."

"The parasitic gecko demon... has also perished?"

"The Writs of the Underworld Bureau... were urged twice?!"

"Even the Writ of Absolution... was activated?!"

"Then my split soul..."

"Not good!"

Realizing something, Wang Liangzi's face turned even paler.

Nothing could happen to his split soul.

The split soul was a wisp of his Divine Soul's Origin. If it was destroyed, his Divine Soul's Origin would be damaged, his cultivation base would suffer, and the consequences would be dire beyond measure.

Moreover, certain extremely vital memories were stored within that split soul.

Wang Liangzi immediately slapped the table, activating the ritual altar. Biting the tip of his tongue, he smeared essence blood onto a wooden wayfinding tablet.

Using his own essence blood as an origin-sharing substance, the crimson wood tablet as a guide, the ritual altar as a shrine, and strands of hair as ropes, he forcefully pulled his split soul back into his physical body.

Forcefully drawing a soul back was by no means simple.

Yet Wang Liangzi's cultivation was indeed extraordinary. Burning his Divine-Sense and exhausting numerous methods—coupled with the fact that no powerful foe on the other end obstructed him—he finally recalled that wisp of his split soul after an agonizing incense-stick's worth of Divine-Sense torment.

Across the horizon, an invisible wisp of white light flashed and descended before the ritual altar.

All the Wraith Soldiers had been obliterated, the Seizing Souls Grand Art broken, and the power of the split soul was exceedingly faint. It had clearly relied on an escaping technique involving self-detonation to flee with its life.

Heartaching and furious, Wang Liangzi immediately wished to draw this half-dead split soul back into his Sea of Consciousness to nurture it properly.

Yet the moment that thought arose, his heart jolted, sensing something wrong.

He had a very strong feeling of having been schemed against.

Wang Liangzi pondered for a moment. To be safe, he hardened his heart, bit his finger again, and wrote out an Official Document in blood-colored script upon a sheet of gold leaf.

After finishing the document, he placed the gold-leaf document into the clay urn before him.

This document was meant to cleanse sin.

Activating an Underworld Bureau Writ was borrowing the authority of the netherworld from the ancient underground Underworld Bureau.

However, such borrowed power was not free, and such a Writ, solemn and grave, could not be used lightly.

In the end, everything had to be repaid, the more one borrowed, the more one owed.

The higher the authority tier of the document, the more power was borrowed, and when the Underworld Bureau came to collect its debt, the price paid would be correspondingly heavier.

Earlier, Wang Liangzi had already activated two Underworld Bureau Writs, one of which was even a special [Writ of Absolution].

An Underworld Bureau Writ of Absolution could sever the sins of cause and effect and grant exemption from calamities of the Unorthodox Path.

Such a Writ held immense authority and was practically a trump card for survival.

After using it, there was no telling how long one would have to sell one's life to repay the ghostly debt owed to the Underworld Bureau.

Wang Liangzi would never have dared to deploy another Writ so lightly.

Yet at this moment, with the safety of his split soul on the line, he had to be cautious upon cautious, prudent upon prudent.

If some entity had truly polluted his split soul, the consequences would be catastrophic.

Therefore, he would rather pay a greater price to ensure that his Divine Soul remained intact and clean.

Having written the document with his essence blood, Wang Liangzi placed it inside the clay urn, then retrieved a jade bottle and poured Rootless Water into the urn.

Only then did he point his fingers together, guiding the potentially polluted split soul into the clay urn.

He sealed the lid, chanting an incantation to invoke the power of the Underworld Bureau. This catalyzed the document to wash away sins, while the heaven-and-earth Rootless Water cleansed the defilements.

The Golden Core commanders of the Green-Faced Multitude had no idea what had happened.

Glancing at Wang Liangzi, they could only exchange bewildered looks.

Wang Liangzi had no leisure to attend to anything else, remaining fully focused on driving the Writ to cleanse sin for himself.

He truly did wash away quite a few filthy things, some five-colored, some black, and seemingly some white.

These colors blended together, radiating a lethal danger amidst their vivid brilliance that made one's scalp tingle.

Wang Liangzi did not even dare to look at them for more than a second.

At the same time, however, he felt slightly relieved.

Back and forth, he washed it many times.

The Underworld Bureau Writ, aided by the Rootless Water, finally purged all the sins and defilements born of cause and effect.

The split soul had been washed over and over until it was nearly transparent.

Only then did Wang Liangzi let out a sigh of relief.

Hesitating no longer, he soaked the split soul in Rootless Water one last time before chanting the incantation, guiding the split soul into his Sea of Consciousness to merge as one with his Divine Soul.

With the split soul back in place, his Divine-Sense was whole once more; though weakened, his existence was complete.

Wang Liangzi felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his chest.

Seeing Wang Liangzi deactivate the ritual altar and cease the Fāng Arts, looking somewhat relieved, the group of Golden Core commanders with fangs and green faces finally dared to speak.

A Late Golden Core Stage commander with an Azure Wraith Mark painted across his face asked:

"Senior, how did it go?"

"Is that person calling himself Esteemed Master Mo dead?"

Wang Liangzi's eyes flickered slightly, and he shook his head. "He is not."

The Golden Core commanders looked displeased, frowning.

"After going to such great lengths, you still couldn't kill him?"

"Could it be that this person's attainment in the Unorthodox Path is even higher than yours, Senior?"

A flash of annoyance crossed Wang Liangzi's eyes, inwardly cursing these green-faced beasts for having eyes yet failing to see, daring to tarnish his prestige.

Wang Liangzi sneered, "This venerable one has roamed Kun Province for years and has never met a match on the Unorthodox Path. A mere imposter of an Esteemed Master Mo, nothing more than a rat or jackal, how could he possibly be my match? I—"

Before Wang Liangzi could finish his sentence, his expression drastically changed.

As if a certain karmic trigger phrase had been set off, Wang Liangzi's Sea of Consciousness convulsed violently as if the heavens and earth were turning upside down. And the split soul he had just recalled...

That split soul, which had been washed clean to the point of being nearly transparent, began turning black once more.

Intermingled within the blackness were five-colored, unidentified strands of Curse Power.

Looking inward and seeing his pristine split soul suddenly oozing with multicolored hues, Wang Liangzi was scared out of his wits, his soul nearly departing his body.

"It wasn't washed clean?!"

"I'm finished!!"

Wang Liangzi hastily drew out a bone needle, intending to plunge it into his Sea of Consciousness.

Yet the Five Elements Poison within the split soul had already dispersed.

The first to flare up was still the Geng-Xin Metal Poison. Because metal poison was sharp and spread with immense speed, the agony it brought was the most intense, and its penetration the deepest.

Wang Liangzi felt a pure, unadulterated pain shoot straight up to his crown.

Even as a master of the Unorthodox Path, all he could do was let out an agonized howl, knocking over the ritual altar and shattering the clay urn. He collapsed onto the ground, squirming and crawling like a maggot.

Below him, the commanders of the Green-Faced Multitude watched as the previously haughty Wang Liangzi suddenly turned into a maggot, rolling all over the ground in agony, continuously writhing.

A bizarre sensation enveloped everyone's hearts. They stared at one another, having no clue what had transpired.

Some Green-Faced Multitude commanders wanted to step forward to help Wang Liangzi up, but seeing his hideous, contorted expression and terrifying struggle, they felt hesitant.

These men were steeped in wickedness; acts of eating people were common occurrences to them.

Yet for some reason, seeing Wang Liangzi in such a grotesque state chilled them to the bone.

"Senior Wang Liangzi..."

"Are... are you all right... What on earth happened?"

The only response they received was the gut-wrenching screams of torment from the Five Elements Poison.

The commanders exchanged glances, inwardly shocked.

Just who could have reduced this master of the Unorthodox Path to such a miserable state...

However, these Green-Faced Multitude commanders were all selfish, vicious, and ruthless individuals.

With the situation unclear, none dared to act rashly.

Thus, the group simply watched Wang Liangzi suffer the torture of the Five Elements Poison, caught in a cycle worse than death.

After an unknown amount of time, Wang Liangzi finally began to recover.

Whether the poison had run its course or his throat had gone hoarse, his shrieks grew softer and softer.

Eventually, Wang Liangzi stopped writhing and slowly sat upright.

At this moment, the commander with the Azure Wraith Mark painted on his face flashed a glint in his eyes, slowly walked forward, and asked in a deep voice:

"Senior Wang Liangzi... Are you... fine now?"

Wang Liangzi turned his head to look at this General Qingxiao, sensing a hint of contempt from his inquiry.

After all, having displayed such a wretched, maggot-like state before these brutes, how could he retain any air of a grandmaster? It was only natural for them to feel disdain.

Rage flared within Wang Liangzi's heart, yet following that rage came terror and confusion:

It wasn't washed clean...

Why? How is that possible?

Rootless Water, the Sin-Cleansing Urn, the Underworld Bureau Writ... How could it not be washed clean?

Just what caliber of filthy thing did I... come into contact with?!

Wang Liangzi kept his head lowered, his paper-pale face filled with shock and bewilderment, his gaze wavering erratically.

Seeing Wang Liangzi like this, General Qingxiao sneered inwardly even more.

This... is supposed to be a master of the Unorthodox Path?

Panicking like a stray dog, yet he dares call himself a master?

Could it be that these Unorthodox Path cultivators are all just bluffing charlatans putting on ghost tricks?

What a disgrace...

With a cold sneer playing on his lips, General Qingxiao asked with a dark expression:

"Senior Wang Liangzi, could it be that you... fell for that Demon fiend Mo's deceitful scheme?"

"Didn't you say you possessed three hundred years of cultivation, running rampant above and below ground, killing whomever you pleased?"

"Could that Demon fiend surnamed Mo truly be so despicable and venomous as to make even a senior with three hundred years of cultivation suffer such a massive loss?"

These words seemed to strike right at Wang Liangzi's soul.

Wang Liangzi's body shuddered. He kept his head lowered without answering, yet his Divine Soul was clearly enduring immense torment, perhaps even resisting something.

General Qingxiao's sneer lingered.

Yet before he could smile for long, he saw the battered Wang Liangzi slowly raise his head. His expression was numb, his eyes hollow.

Deep within his pupils, an indescribable shade of black surfaced.

Wang Liangzi's voice was hoarse and inhuman, eerily uttering:

"Who gave you permission... to disrespect Esteemed Master Mo?"

General Qingxiao froze slightly. Realizing what Wang Liangzi was saying, he sensed danger; his pupils dilated, his face fell, and he attempted to pull away.

Yet Wang Liangzi's vicious claws were one step faster, clamping down upon his crown.

The commanders of the Green-Faced Multitude were all Body Cultivators with bodies of steel and iron; their skulls were exceedingly hard.

Yet Wang Liangzi's vicious claws held a distinct eeriness, piercing straight through General Qingxiao's skull.

Wang Liangzi's blood seeped along his nails into General Qingxiao's head, mingling with his brains and gore.

A bloody mandate was being engraved.

The Divine Soul was being stripped away.

An invisible rope tightened around General Qingxiao's neck.

This was the true Seizing Souls and Commanding Generals Grand Art applied in the real world.

When applied in reality against ordinary humans, this method was far easier—and infinitely bloodier and crueler—than using it against Mo Hua.

Cultivators who did not cultivate Divine-Sense and understood nothing of the Unorthodox Path did not even know how to defend against it.

As if divinely aided, Wang Liangzi completed the soul seizing in mere moments.

Despite this green-faced commander possessing a Late Golden Core Stage cultivation with profound power and a formidable physical body, his Divine-Sense was feeble.

In a daze, his soul was seized, the mandate written, the seal branded, reducing him to a servant of the Unorthodox Path.

With this sudden upheaval, the other green-faced commanders were left utterly stunned.

By the time they came to their senses, their comrade, General Qingxiao, had already fallen victim to Wang Liangzi's vicious hands, his life or death unknown.

The commanders erupted in fury, cursing:

"Audacious! Wang Liangzi, you suicidal wretch!"

"You must be in league with that Demon fiend Mo of the Tongxian Cult! Posing as an expert to collude from within and without, plotting against our eldest brother's foundation!"

"You deserve ten thousand deaths!"

Wang Liangzi kept one hand gripped atop General Qingxiao's forehead, his fingertips dripping with fresh blood. Hearing their shouts, he turned around, his gaze hollow, flickers of black dancing within his eyes.

"You... dare... insult Esteemed Master Mo..."

"All of you must die..."

"Vile beast, the one who dies is you!" a green-faced commander roared. Raising a ghost-headed axe, accompanied by gusts of foul wind, he charged headlong to cleave Wang Liangzi apart.

"Then die, all of you!"

Wang Liangzi let out a sinister laugh and chanted an incantation, whipping up gusts of ghostly wind to shield his front.

Beneath the ritual altar, within the surrounding soil, Demon Insects began squirming.

The invisible Yāo Wraiths parasitizing the insects emerged one after another, their ferocious visages drooling with hunger, eager to devour the brains of these green-faced commanders.

General Qingxiao, whose soul had just been seized, also slowly opened his eyes—a dead, chalky white.

Within the sealed military tent, beneath the high altar of the Unorthodox Path.

Amidst the eerie atmosphere, a bloody slaughter was on the verge of erupting.

Wang Liangzi, General Qingxiao, the Demon Insects, the Wraith Soldiers, and the other green-faced commanders all clashed in a life-and-death struggle over a single disagreement.

Tangible flesh and blood intertwined with intangible Evil Spirits, devouring one another.

Severed limbs littered the ground amidst relentless carnage.

They only knew how to kill, yet none of them understood why they were slaughtering one another in the first place...

...

Meanwhile, on the other side, within the Changshan Army encampment.

Inside the Esteemed Master's tent.

In the dead of night, the candlelight suddenly flickered, casting swaying shadows.

Mo Hua slowly opened his eyes. After a moment of contemplation, he summoned Great General Chang, commander of the Changshan Army. Marking several red lines upon the tactical map, he said in a solemn voice:

"The sky is dim, and the slaughter stars are surging. This Esteemed Master predicts that tonight, chaos will inevitably erupt within the camp of the Green-Faced Multitude..."

"Commanders at or above the Golden Core realm will be decimated."

"Opportunity knocks but once. We must divide our forces into three routes to break their army, slay the enemy, and decapitate their generals. In one battle, we shall decide the realm, crush the green-faced rabble, and pacify the turmoil of Qingchou!"

Mo Hua's tone was calm, yet it rang with impassioned fervor, carrying the momentum of ten thousand troops.

Listening to these words, Great General Chang was left dumbstruck, feeling as though he were in a dream.

...

Translator Note:

I may change “Underworld Bureau” to “Netherworld Bureau” in future chapters, as it may be more accurate. Just a heads-up about the possible change. I need a bit more information before deciding whether to change it or not.

(End of Chapter)