The Second One, Taiyi

Wang Hao closed his palm over the contract seal.

Two immortal bronze coffin nails flew out from the shattered Right Foot Coffin.

One pierced into the void.

The other drove into the River of Imperial Dao.

The fundamental connection between the nine coffins was completely fixed in place.

“Senior!”

The Dragon-Slayer had long understood Wang Hao’s plan.

Dragging his severely wounded body behind him,

he took a single step and appeared above the two halves of the Right Foot Coffin.

His rusty woodcutter’s blade rose high.

The Corpse Liberation Immortal saw this.

His voice turned shrill.

“Dragon-Slayer!”

“This Immortal bears no grudge against you!”

Blood continued to pour from the Dragon-Slayer’s chest.

Yet a cold smile appeared on his face.

“You hid underground.”

“You released the inheritance of the Corpse Dao.”

“You used all living beings of the Western Wasteland as medicine to mend your flesh.”

“How many people did Ancient Emperor Wuming kill?”

“How many cities did the Corpse Dao destroy?”

“And you say we have no grudge?”

The woodcutter’s blade fell.

“All the living beings of the Nine Provinces have a grudge against you!”

Crack!

The Right Foot Coffin shattered completely.

At the same time, cracks spread across the remaining five Life Coffins.

The Corpse Liberation Immortal desperately gathered in his corpse qi,

trying to sever the connection between the nine coffins.

But Xuanming’s immortal aberration dharma form had already pounced behind him.

Its left hand seized the Corpse Liberation Immortal’s mangled body.

Its right eye transformed into a gigantic maw,

biting down on two Life Coffins.

The Blood Luo Immortal Lord’s sea of blood coiled around the third.

The Taiyi Ancient Immortal’s river of incense and faith swept up the fourth.

As for the final Life Coffin,

the Heaven-Deficient Sword Immortal’s decayed immortal sword pierced straight through its center.

They had originally all been attacking Wang Hao.

Yet through Wang Hao’s repeated, subtle guidance,

every attack ultimately landed upon the Corpse Liberation Immortal’s Life Coffins.

Five Life Coffins

shattered at once!

The five clusters of gray-white life flame had only just emerged

before they were divided among the four immortal beings.

The Corpse Liberation Immortal’s body froze in midair.

For the first time,

the face embedded in his chest showed bewilderment.

Nine Life Coffins.

Nine immortal lives.

All had been severed.

He had clung to existence through the Corpse Dao for countless years.

He had treated innumerable cultivators as seeds.

He had turned countless living beings into corpse slaves.

All the while, he had waited for the Immortal Realm to reopen.

Waited to restore his fleshly body.

Waited to stand high above all others once more.

Yet he had never imagined

that he would die at the hands of a mere mortal who had only just entered the Transcendence Realm.

More precisely,

he had died at everyone’s hands.

Taiyi’s bell.

Blood Rakshasa’s spear.

Heaven-Deficient’s sword.

Xuanming’s immortal aberration wings.

The Dragon-Slayer’s woodcutter’s blade.

Wang Hao had merely stood amid all those powers,

arranging where they would strike.

“This Immortal…”

the head on the Corpse Liberation Immortal’s chest slowly said,

“will not die…”

“This Immortal still has the inheritance of the Corpse Dao…”

“So long as there is a single corpse left in the Nine Provinces…”

“This Immortal can still…”

Wang Hao raised his right hand.

The Myriad Contracts, One Origin Seal pierced through the void

and landed upon the Corpse Liberation Immortal’s brow.

“The inheritance you left behind

has already been burned clean by Ancient Emperor Wuming.”

“The Corpse Dao seeds in the Western Wasteland—

I will dig them out, one by one.”

“As for corpses…”

Wang Hao looked at the Corpse Liberation Immortal.

“You can still leave one behind.”

The dark contract seal erupted.

The Corpse Liberation Immortal’s final thread of consciousness was forcibly suppressed.

His malformed body completely lost its support.

His left arm fell away.

His legs decayed.

The spiked spine along his back broke apart inch by inch.

The black-haired human skin covering his entire body slowly lifted into the air.

Beneath it,

the nine pieces of stitched-together flesh turned to ash at once.

Across the Western Wasteland,

countless grotesque corpse beasts suddenly came to a halt.

The Corpse Dao marks within them went dark, one after another.

Some corpse beasts collapsed on the spot.

Some reverted to rotting flesh.

And some still retained remnants of the consciousness they had possessed in life.

They gazed blankly around them.

Then fell to their knees.

A cry rang out—one that did not sound human.

The source of the corpse path that had weighed upon the Western Wastes for countless ages—

At last, it broke.

Upon the battlefield,

Xuanming, Taiyi, Blood Rakshasa, and Heaven-Deficient attacked at the same time.

They fought to seize the immortal source left behind after the Corpse Liberation Immortal’s fall.

Xuanming devoured most of the rotting flesh and blood.

Taiyi seized a section of immortal bone.

Blood Rakshasa swept away the corpse fluid that filled the sky.

The Heaven-Deficient Sword Immortal, meanwhile, cleaved off a piece of the hardest spinal bone.

Wang Hao did not remain idle either.

The Immortal-Sealing Altar flew forth.

From the gray-white life flame on the verge of dispersing,

he forcibly collected a single intact drop of the Corpse Immortal’s source blood.

The fourth blood-red mark lit up.

[One drop of Corpse Liberation Immortal source blood has been sealed!]

[All nine life flames of the Corpse Liberation Immortal have been extinguished!]

[Immortal-grade lifeform: Corpse Liberation. Death confirmed!]

In midair,

that sheet of human skin covered in black fur slowly drifted down.

The four immortal-grade lifeforms were all competing for more valuable sources.

No one cared for a piece of rotting human skin.

Yet Wang Hao reached out and caught it.

The skin was incomparably heavy.

The instant it landed in his palm,

it forced his arm downward.

Every black hair on its surface

corresponded to a law of the corpse path.

Wang Hao rolled up the black-haired skin

and stuffed it into the shattered coffin of the right foot.

He then gathered up the scattered fragments of immortal bronze.

Finally, he tucked the two coffin nails into his robes.

The Dragon-Slayer approached from afar.

His face was deathly pale.

“Corpse Liberation is dead.”

Wang Hao nodded.

“I saw it.”

“How are we dividing the spoils?”

Wang Hao lowered his head to look at the ledger in his hand.

He carefully wrote everything down.

“One drop of Corpse Liberation Immortal source blood.”

“One sheet of Corpse Liberation Immortal skin.”

“One damaged immortal-bronze coffin.”

“Seventy-three fragments of the life coffin.”

“Twelve jin of corpse-bone powder.”

“Senior contributed greatly when shattering the life coffin.”

“According to our previous agreement,

you may take two and a half shares out of ten.”

The Dragon-Slayer glanced at him.

“This old man does not want the corpse-bone powder.”

“That thing sounds unlucky.”

Wang Hao thought for a moment.

“You can exchange it for the immortal skin.”

“Human skin is even more unlucky.”

“The coffin, then?”

“Even more unlucky.”

“Then what does Senior want?”

The Dragon-Slayer pointed at the Immortal-Sealing Altar.

“The source blood.”

Wang Hao immediately shook his head.

“No.”

“That is intact immortal blood.”

“It is far too valuable.”

The Dragon-Slayer gripped his woodcutter’s blade.

Wang Hao looked at the sword wound on his chest, which continued to spread.

After a moment of silence,

he drew out an exceedingly fine wisp of gray-white blood energy from the Immortal-Sealing Altar.

Wrapped in the Myriad Contracts, Same-Origin Seal,

he sent it into the Dragon-Slayer’s body.

The gray-white blood energy entered the wound

and immediately clashed with Heaven-Deficient sword intent.

One was the decaying corpse path.

The other, the sword path of destruction.

The two immortal powers ground each other away.

At last, the wound in the Dragon-Slayer’s chest stopped worsening.

Wang Hao withdrew the Immortal-Sealing Altar.

“This wisp

will first be deducted from Senior’s two-and-a-half shares.”

Feeling life return to him,

the Dragon-Slayer’s mouth twitched slightly.

“Couldn’t you count it as treatment?”

Wang Hao closed the ledger.

“Public matters are public matters.”

“Private matters are private matters.”

“I have always kept them clearly separate.”

In the distance,

Xuanming had already swallowed most of the Corpse Liberation Immortal’s source into his stomach.

The heart in his chest, half silver and half black,

beat with increasing force.

Taiyi, Blood Rakshasa, and Heaven-Deficient had gained their own spoils as well.

The four terrifying beings once more put distance between themselves.

Wang Hao stood before the shattered life coffin.

One foot rested atop the last immortal-bronze coffin lid left behind by the Corpse Liberation Immortal.

He looked up at them.

Then, in his ledger,

he heavily crossed out the name Corpse Liberation.

“The first one.”

“Entered into the treasury.”

“The first one.”

“Entered into the treasury.”

Wang Hao’s voice was not loud.

Yet it was like a nail,

driven into the ears of the four remaining immortal-grade lifeforms.

The Corpse Liberation Immortal was dead.

All nine life coffins shattered.

All nine life flames were extinguished.

This was not slumber.

Not reincarnation.

Still less was it the severing of some insignificant avatar.

This was death in the truest sense.

An ancient, decaying immortal who had struggled on from a bygone age until now—

had been schemed to death, alive,

by a mortal who had only just entered the first level of the Transcendence Realm.

The incense-and-faith immortal halo behind the Taiyi Ancient Immortal’s head turned slowly.

Golden, corrupted blood seeped continuously from the broken immortal markings.

He stared at the ledger in Wang Hao’s hand.

Immortal fire flickered dimly in his eyes.

“What do you take immortals…”

“…for?”

Wang Hao thought for a moment.

“High-value spoils of war.”

The sea of blood beneath the Blood Luo Immortal Lord’s feet stilled.

Within the hollow eye sockets of the Heaven-Deficient Sword Immortal, the two natal swords gave a soft cry in unison.

The countless eyes upon Xuanming’s twelve immortal-phantom wings all closed at that instant.

Then—

they opened again.

Colder than before.

The Dragon-Slayer stood beside Wang Hao.

A thread of Corpse Immortal source blood was temporarily suppressing the sword wound in his chest.

His face remained deathly pale.

He glanced at the ledger.

“You really intend to keep listing them?”

Wang Hao raised his brush.

He drew a line through the Corpse Liberation Immortal’s name.

Then, beneath it, he wrote four names.

Taiyi.

Heaven-Deficient.

Blood Rakshasa.

Xuanming.

The Dragon-Slayer fell silent for two breaths.

“Why is Xuanming last?”

“His immortal-phantom core is the most valuable.”

“So naturally, he should be saved for last and dismantled slowly.”

In Xuanming’s chest,

that half-silver, half-black heart abruptly contracted.

Boom!

The entire shattered immortal domain trembled.

Dozens of broken stars were crushed into dust by an invisible force.

Xuanming’s right eye opened.

Dense rows of sharp teeth ground against one another.

“Mortal.”

“You think that because you killed a rotting corpse…”

“…you have the right to decide this immortal’s life and death?”

Wang Hao looked at the ledger.

With great seriousness, he added another line.

Xuanming: hostile attitude, refuses to cooperate with inventory intake; add a twenty-percent surcharge upon confiscation.

The phantom mist around Xuanming surged at once.

The Dragon-Slayer’s eyelid twitched.

“Write a few less lines.”

“Then perhaps you’ll live a few breaths longer.”

Wang Hao closed the ledger.

“You do not understand, Senior.”

“The accounts must be kept clear.”

“If I die…”

“…those who come after me can follow this list and continue collecting the debts.”

The Dragon-Slayer did not try to persuade him again.

He suddenly felt that Wang Hao had survived until now

not only because his life was tough,

but because there were too many people who wanted to kill him.

They had to take turns.

Just then,

an icy notification appeared before Wang Hao’s eyes.

【Special sign-in location detected!】

【Location: Site of the Corpse Liberation Immortal’s simultaneous death of nine lives!】

【Sign in?】

Wang Hao answered silently.

“Sign in.”

【Sign-in successful!】

【Special item obtained: Nine-Life Corpse Husk!】

【Nine-Life Corpse Husk: The supreme corpse-path secret treasure of the Corpse Liberation lineage. It can forge the aura of an immortal’s death for one breath, or bear the burden of a fully formed death curse once. It will be completely destroyed after use.】

【Sign-in location updated!】

【Next sign-in location: Within the Incense-and-Faith Immortal Bell, beneath the seventy-second bell inscription!】

【Intelligence updated!】

【The Taiyi Ancient Immortal is not the true master of the Incense-and-Faith Immortal Bell.】

【His ancient true name: Kuchen.】

【Taiyi was originally a corpse-servant who kept watch beneath the Immortal Domain’s World-Crossing Bell. After the Immortal Domain shattered, Taiyi devoured the remnant soul of its former master, stole the World-Crossing Bell, and turned seventy-two sacred lands into his pastures, proclaiming himself the Ancient Immortal of Incense and Faith.】

【Taiyi’s one fatal weakness: the seventy-second bell pattern of the Incense Immortal Bell.】

【The seventy-second bell pattern is the World-Crossing Bell’s original law—those who receive a wish must fulfill it.】

【Taiyi had cultivated through the power of incense for countless ages, yet had never truly repaid the wishes of the multitude. Once the original law awakened, the billions of unfulfilled wishes would transform into the flames of karmic tribulation and devour Taiyi’s immortal soul in return.】

【To activate the seventy-second bell pattern required Taiyi’s source blood, fragments of the Incense Immortal Ring, and the will of the multitude—enough to overwhelm Taiyi’s immortal soul.】

A glint flashed through Wang Hao’s eyes.

Taiyi’s source blood.

He had it.

Fragments of the Incense Immortal Ring.

They were in his possession as well.

As for the will of the multitude, powerful enough to overwhelm Taiyi’s immortal soul—

Wang Hao lowered his head.

The Imperial Dao River surged beneath his feet.

Within Great Xia’s borders,

countless commoners were slowly rising from the ground.

The young man whose legs had been shattered by the immortal bell sat against a wall.

His legs could no longer support him.

Yet he still held his back ramrod straight.

The old craftsman’s iron billet had long since cooled.

The flesh of both his knees had been scorched raw.

Yet he picked up his hammer

and struck the anvil once more.

The eight thousand soldiers of the Border Guard Army—

not a single one had lowered their spears.

The officials throughout the land, who had just been forced to their knees beneath the pressure of Taiyi’s Immortal Bell,

one by one straightened their official caps

and continued handling state affairs.

Although Great Xia’s shield of the people’s will had already been shattered by the Heaven-Deficient One Sword,

their will had not vanished.

It was gathering once more.

Slowly.

Faintly.

Yet it had never stopped.

Wang Hao raised his head.

His gaze fell upon Taiyi Ancient Immortal.

“Second Venerable.”

“Taiyi.”

The river of incense power around Taiyi Ancient Immortal froze in an instant.

“This immortal will give you one final chance.”

“Hand over your source blood.”

“Hand over the fragments of the immortal ring.”

“Kneel.”

“This immortal can preserve a strand of your incense-born true spirit within the immortal bell.”

Wang Hao asked:

“What would you keep it for?”

“To slowly feast on it?”

Immortal flames surged in Taiyi Ancient Immortal’s eyes.

The golden ancient bell abruptly rose into the sky.

Across the surface of the ancient bell,

countless living beings knelt once more.

The ancient soul-shadows that had only just raised their heads

were forcibly pressed back into place by immortal might.

Taiyi Ancient Immortal raised his palm.

“Suppress!”

Boom!

The bell rang.

Space no longer collapsed inch by inch.

It vanished outright.

The hundred-thousand-li void surrounding Wang Hao and the Dragon-Slayer

was forcibly erased by the golden bell toll.

At the same moment,

the sea of blood belonging to Blood Luo Immortal Lord transformed into nine great spears.

The countless broken swords behind the Heaven-Deficient Sword Immortal hummed as one.

The twelve pairs of immortal and eldritch wings of Xuanming blotted out the shattered starry sky.

The four immortal-level beings had not conferred with one another,

yet they struck at the exact same instant.

They all understood perfectly.

They could no longer give Wang Hao any opportunity to sow discord.

First, they would kill this mortal who was best at picking up loot.

Then they would divide the spoils.

“Senior.”

Wang Hao suddenly spoke.

“The left is yours.”

The Dragon-Slayer looked to the left.

On the left were the Heaven-Deficient Sword Immortal’s thousands of decaying broken swords.

The Dragon-Slayer tightened his grip on the firewood cleaver.

“What about the right?”

“That’s yours too.”

“Then what are you doing?”

“I’ll handle the most important task.”

“What task?”

“Staying alive.”

The Dragon-Slayer drew a deep breath.

The sword wound in his chest split open once again.

“I suddenly feel—”

“you should have died before your Corpse Liberation.”

Even as he said this,

he still took a step forward.

His rusted firewood cleaver swept horizontally.

There was no majestic blade-light.

No earth-shaking phenomenon.

Only an exceedingly plain gray line.

The line swept across,

and thousands of decaying broken swords halted simultaneously.

The empty sockets of the Heaven-Deficient Sword Immortal’s skull shifted ever so slightly.

“How much life force do you have left?”

The Dragon-Slayer bared his teeth in a grin.

“One slash at you.”

“Should be enough.”

The woodcutter’s blade collided with the sea of swords.

All the wounds on the Dragon-Slayer’s body burst open at once.

Yet he forcibly held back that boundless sea of swords.

For just an instant.

But an instant was enough for Wang Hao to strike.

“Thunder Abyss!”