Lu Xuan wasn't surprised by this. After all, the opponent was a high-ranking member of the Underworld; being instantly killed on Underworld territory was virtually impossible. However, such a resurrection clearly consumed a significant amount of energy. The guy's aura had noticeably weakened, and he seemed unable to fight any longer.
A bloodcurdling scream erupted from the gates of the City of the Wrongfully Dead. Yes, it was the gates that screamed. Just as Lu Xuan had suspected, the City of the Wrongfully Dead was actually the true form of the Black Mountain Demon. This was why it hadn't fled; the city was itself, there was no way to escape.
Lu Xuan's Yin-Yang Twin Lightning blasted the city gate to smithereens, essentially creating a hole in Black Mountain's body. This instantly injured the previously dormant old ghost.
Black Mountain appeared as steady as a mountain, but inwardly it was in a state of panic. It wasn't just that Lu Xuan's lightning magic restrained it. Rather, it noticed that the power it had seized from the Underworld was beginning to reject it.
Previously, the underworld was in disarray, and its authority was dispersed. It wasn't a problem that it occupied a portion of that authority. However, over the years, it hadn't completely refined that portion of authority.
After all, the true power in the underworld is in the hands of the Fengdu Emperor. If he could truly refine it, it would be equivalent to taking a piece of flesh from the Emperor.
Therefore, although it cleverly gained a certain amount of power, it never truly possessed it. That's why it used the power of that power to build another city of the unjustly dead, using the authority of the underworld to intercept human souls and slowly cultivate itself. It hopes that one day it can truly become the master of the underworld. This is also why it rarely wreaks havoc in the human world. All its attention is focused on the city of the unjustly dead.
In fact, before this, he had already entered a crucial moment. Or rather, he believed he was about to succeed. But unfortunately, at this time, the army of the underworld surrounded and attacked him. Helpless, he could only consolidate his forces, wanting to first refine the City of the Unjustly Dead and completely seize that part of the power. In the underworld, no one could kill him. Because at that time, he would be a part of the underworld.
Originally, he had been deliberately creating confusion, leading those two idiots to put on a show with him. But unexpectedly, less than fifteen minutes later, Lu Xuan started acting out of the ordinary.
First, the Yin-Yang Twin Lightning struck without regard for anything else. Then, with a wave of his hand, the army of 100,000 from the underworld charged forward.
From Lu Xuan's perspective, charging forward like this would likely result in heavy casualties. But it's better than being bogged down by Heishan. Having commanded troops for many years, he could tell at a glance that Heishan was stalling for time. Regardless of their reasons for stalling, with our numerical superiority, we should just charge straight in. What's with the tactics? I'll just gang up on you, so what?
To his dismay, the 100,000-strong army of the underworld did not carry any war-level magical artifacts.
This was quite unbelievable to Lu Xuan. Ordinary cultivators wouldn't forge such large magical artifacts. But the Underworld had an army. Lu Xuan naturally assumed they would possess various high-level war artifacts. However, when he ordered the battle to begin, the soldiers immediately charged, without any intention of first unleashing a barrage of fire.
Left with no other choice, he took matters into his own hands. The Yin-Yang Twin Lightning cleared the way, acting as a human-shaped barrage of firepower.
Following the Twin Lightning Bolts, Lu Xuan unleashed five types of lightning simultaneously, sparing no effort in its power. After this barrage of attacks, thousands of lightning bolts had only managed to thoroughly razor the city walls and gates directly in front of the City of the Dead. Visibly, the lightning triggered various bizarre traps.
Those ghost generals from the Heavenly Palace glanced at him with a hint of gratitude, then led their troops to charge forward.
Surprisingly, the city of the unjustly dead had very few defenders. Lu Xuan initially thought they had been blasted to dust by his own lightning. But there wasn't even a speck of ash on the ground. This meant they weren't dead, but rather they had never existed at all.
He drank a mouthful of the spiritual liquid provided by the Underworld. He didn't know what it was made of, only that it was incredibly precious, containing extremely pure liquid spiritual energy. Just one sip quickly replenished the mana Lu Xuan had previously depleted. Reluctantly, he returned the silver-white porcelain bottle to the Heavenly Palace beside him. This was the reason Lu Xuan had gone all out earlier. Without this substance as a foundation, he wouldn't have acted so recklessly!
An army of 100,000 stormed into the City of the Unjustly Dead, completely wiping out the few remaining ghost generals and soldiers. Lu Xuan and other high-ranking officials also entered the city.
He looked up and glanced around, a strange expression flashing across his face. Hongyu, who was standing beside him, knew Lu Xuan very well.
"What did you discover?" Yan Chixia, who was standing to the side, also looked over. Having fought alongside Lu Xuan several times, he knew that Lu Xuan was an extremely shrewd person, even one who could be described as having no flaws in his calculations.
“Take a closer look at the layout of this city. Isn’t it strange?”
"It certainly doesn't resemble a city of this world. But Black Mountain is an old ghost; he probably doesn't understand..."
"No, that's not what I meant. Look at this layout, what does the surrounding environment remind you of when viewed as a whole?"
"..." Yan Chixia didn't understand Lu Xuan's meaning. But Hongyu sensed it.
"A cloth bag, or a gourd or something? Is that what you mean?"
"More or less, but I feel it's more like an enormous mouth."
"...You mean, Black Mountain wants to devour us all? Where does it get such a huge appetite? Let alone you, even those Heavenly Palace members are definitely not easy for it to deal with." Yan Chixia did not believe Lu Xuan's guess.
"It's not that simple. Don't forget, Black Mountain holds some power in the underworld. In a sense, his status in the underworld is even higher than that of the three heavenly palaces."
At this moment, Lu Xuan noticed that the three Heavenly Palace cultivators had floated into the air and formed a triangular formation. Then they took out three identical tokens and pointed them at the City of the Unjustly Dead below.
The entire city of the unjustly dead began to shake violently. All that could be heard was a sinister and violent voice coming from all around.
"You bunch of lackeys of the underworld, trying to seize my thousand-year-old legacy. Today, I, the Black Mountain Demon, will show you who the true master of the underworld is."
As soon as he finished speaking, the entire City of the Dead came to life.
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Chapter 393 Final Participation in the War
The buildings and city walls surrounding the ground were all curling inwards, like a gigantic mouth closing.
The incantations uttered by the three celestial beings in the sky grew increasingly rapid, but this only slowed down the involution. Lu Xuan felt a peculiar sense of oppression emanating from the surrounding environment.
It wasn't psychological, but a real sense of oppression. First, the surrounding yin energy began to become sluggish. Then, a pressure similar to gravity began to appear noticeably.
"Black Mountain is using the authority of the underworld to completely suppress us. The three heavenly palaces are vying with it for control of that authority."
"How is that possible? The combined strength of the three of them couldn't even defeat the Black Mountain Demon."
"Heh, they're just following orders, while Black Mountain is risking his life. There's no comparison. Besides, Black Mountain went all out. The entire City of the Dead is practically deserted. The Black Mountain Demon has been entrenched here for nearly a thousand years, with countless minions under his command. How could they all be gone?"
"That's right. It must have used some kind of evil magic, sacrificing all its forces to temporarily gain some kind of power. Such spells are not uncommon in the cultivation world."
"Should we attack now, or wait and see?" Hongyu's thinking was simpler: to fight or not to fight?
"Whether we fight or not depends on their decision. After all, we're just external reinforcements," Lu Xuan said, glancing at the several Yama Kings who were on guard.
The other Yama Kings also looked exasperated. Their three leaders were locked in a fierce battle with the enemy, and none of them dared to make direct decisions. They could only helplessly pretend not to see Lu Xuan's gaze.
Lu Xuan didn't care. The spiritual power of the Underworld had little effect on them, the cultivators of the mortal realm. They would never use such Yin spiritual power for cultivation unless absolutely necessary. Therefore, this blockade was not very meaningful to them. However, it was extremely dangerous for the army of the Underworld.
The pressure intensified, causing unrest within the Underworld's army. In a sense, within this region, Black Mountain was the Underworld itself. Although its control wasn't perfect, it still wielded terrifying power. Single-handedly, it suppressed the Underworld's 100,000-strong army.
The three celestial palaces in the sky theoretically have higher authority than him. However, as mentioned before, they were on a mission, while Black Mountain was risking his life. Their fighting spirit was on completely different levels. Moreover, these were all directly appointed by mortals and had no experience in high-level combat. Although their magical power was strong, they didn't know how to use it.
Like an ancient version of Transformers, the entire City of the Dead is constantly shrinking and folding, gradually assembling into a giant stone giant the size of a small mountain.