Chapter 275: The Seventh-Rank Ghost Emperor, the Boundary-Breaking Conspiracy

Not long after, the ghost shadow gathered the ghost army again and attacked Chen An's territory.

Chen An ordered his two capable generals to fight to the death and not to win, allowing the enemy to seize their territory.

Yin Dao and You Chen immediately understood that Chen An was planning to lure the enemy deep into their territory and then gather troops to defeat them in one fell swoop.

So he took the order and did it obediently.

Chen An sat alone on the throne in the hall with a slight smile on his face. He made such arrangements because he had other plans.

There was no one around, so his consciousness left and returned to his body.

The last teleportation greatly increased the power of the soul, but the price was also not small. Under the forced teleportation, not only did it consume nine fairy tree fruits, but Chen An's physical vitality was also damaged.

After several years of recuperation, he has basically recovered.

Last time, all the pressure was on the main body, which was why the consumption was so great. This time, the strength of the split soul has greatly improved, so it can share some of the pressure and will not damage the vitality like last time.

Then Chen An no longer hesitated, took out the black petals and the Soul-Devouring Blade, and sent them to the soul in batches.

With these two mysterious weapons, dealing with that ghost will be easy.

After the ghost took over part of the Yellow Springs, he saw that the defense was not strict and was worried about a trap, so he remained hesitant.

After many days of suffering, on this day, the ghost shadow finally couldn't suppress his inner greed, and led his ghost army to charge forward and aggressively attacked Chen An's core territory.

Chen An was also prepared and immediately led two capable generals out to fight.

Deep in the Yellow Springs, the sky was dark, cold winds blew, and a ghost figure led a large army to approach the border, shouting to the sky.

"Ghost King Huangquan, hand over the Huangquan Jade Dew Pool and I will spare your life!"

The ghost had a hideous face and his eyes flashed with greed. In his hand he held a pitch-black hammer that emitted bursts of cold air.

Chen An sneered, put his hands together, and chanted: "Three-tone Soul-Calming Technique, start!"

In an instant, three different sounds rang out between heaven and earth, shaking the surrounding space.

Waves of invisible waves spread out, causing the evil souls under the ghost to wail in pain. Under the influence of the Three-Sound Soul-Calming Technique, the soul power of these evil souls was greatly weakened, and their combat effectiveness dropped instantly.

Seeing this, a trace of fear flashed in the ghost's eyes, but he quickly calmed down. He swung the black hammer in his hand violently, and rays of cold light cut through the void, trying to interrupt Chen An's methods.

Chen An snorted coldly, and with a flash of his body, he appeared in front of the ghost, holding the Soul-Devouring Blade in his hand. Black petals fluttered around the blade and entangled around the tip of the blade, making it extremely sharp.

"How dare you!" The ghost roared, and the sledgehammer smashed forward, colliding with the Soul-Devouring Blade with a deafening sound.

The strength of the two reached its peak at this moment, and the air around them seemed to be torn apart.

Chen An did not retreat but advanced instead, his figure like a ghost, moving quickly around the ghost. Every time he swung the Soul-Devouring Blade, it would bring up waves of black petals. Each petal contained a trace of the law of corrosion, and when it touched the ghost's body, it would immediately erode its defense.

The black robe on the ghost's body quickly decayed where it was touched by the petals, revealing the pale skin underneath. He gritted his teeth, endured the severe pain, and kept swinging the sledgehammer in his hand, trying to resist Chen An's attack.

Chen An's figure was erratic, and he shuttled around the ghost like a dragon, and every attack landed on the ghost accurately.

Although the ghost's counterattack was fierce, it was overwhelmed by Chen An's flexible movement.

The ghost is ferocious, but he is also an old fox who has been on the battlefield for a long time. Facing Chen An's fierce attack, he did not confront him head-on, but instead used his own escape skills to try to get rid of Chen An's pursuit.

The ghost figure flashed and suddenly turned into a ball of black mist, trying to escape from Chen An's encirclement.

Chen An curled up the corner of his mouth into a sneer. The ghost had been so cunning several times, how could he not be prepared?
The soul-calming plate suddenly shone brightly, and a strange power spread out. Countless chains formed a cage, trapping the ghost tightly.

The black mist rushed around in the cage but was unable to break out.

"Want to escape? It's not that easy!"

Chen An sneered and swung the Soul-Devouring Blade in his hand again. Sword Qi shot towards the ghost like black lightning, smashing the black fog into pieces, and the ghost's figure reappeared.

At the same time, Yin Dao and You Chen, who had already been ready, led the army to fight against Guiying's men.

Yin Ming held a ghost-head knife in his hand, and every time he slashed it, there was a flash of blood. The ghost army was defeated under his attack. The ghost waved his whisk, and every wave brought up a gust of wind, sweeping the enemy in, making it impossible to escape.

Yin Ming and You Hun cooperated well with each other, and soon defeated the remaining forces of Gui Ying. Gui Ying's ghost army was already demoralized by the unfavorable performance of their leader, and now they were even more panicked and had no fighting spirit.

On the other side, after a fierce battle, the trapped ghost was finally unable to resist and was pierced through the chest by Chen An's sword, causing him to scream miserably.

The Soul-Devouring Blade in Chen An's hand rotated inside the ghost's body, sucking away all of the opponent's soul, and the ghost's power quickly dissipated.

As the ghost fell, the ghost soldiers under his command also lost the will to resist and fled in all directions. Yinming and Youhun took advantage of the situation and pursued them, defeating the remaining ghost soldiers one by one. With their absolute advantage, many monks surrendered.

After Guiying's death, his territory and resources fell into Chen An's hands.

From then on, no one else dared to covet the Yellow Springs Territory. Chen An was in charge of the overall situation and was feared by all.

After collecting all of Ghost Shadow's resources, Chen An took away those that were useful to him, including a dozen Ghost King's inner cores, several mysterious weapons from the underworld, a large number of underworld stones, and countless other treasures.

Apart from the Yellow Spring Pool here at Chen An's place and the seemingly endless underworld energy, there are not many sixth-level treasures in the Yellow Spring Realm, which makes it truly barren.

Chen An returned to the palace and immediately began to refine the Ghost King's inner elixir left by the ghost. The most precious of them was the drop of Ghost King's marrow fluid.

Chen An slowly injected the Yellow Spring Jade Dew into his body, and suddenly he felt a coolness flowing through his body. Every pore in his body relaxed, and his spirits were greatly lifted.

He then refined that drop of Ghost King's marrow fluid and felt a tremendous force surging into his dantian, instantly igniting his cultivation and causing it to increase significantly.

"It seems that only the monks in the underworld can make the most of this Ghost King's marrow fluid."

Compared with the Soul-Releasing Soul that he had taken before, judging from the increase in cultivation, the effect of taking this thing in his soul body now is far greater than the former.

But this thing is not easy to obtain, and I only have one drop of it.

Immediately, Chen An's heart moved, and there was still a lot of it left on his body.

A human cultivator can only take one portion in his lifetime. If he takes more, the effect will be greatly reduced, and the third portion will have no effect at all. Now it can be used to split the soul.

Thinking of this, Chen An hurriedly returned to his body, and with the help of the spatial laws of the Xuanbao fragments, through the medium of the human world and the underworld, he consumed a large number of spiritual objects and sent another batch of soul-melting souls.

Over the years, the split soul practiced hard day and night, bringing the effects of the Yellow Spring Jade Dew and the Ghost King Marrow Fluid to its fullest. His cultivation progressed by leaps and bounds, and after several years he finally entered the realm of perfection of the sixth-level Ghost King.

On this day, as a dazzling light flashed, Chen An felt an unprecedented power filling his body, as if rivers were rushing in his meridians, and his blood was churning.

The aura around Chen An became stronger and stronger, and finally with a loud bang, relying on nearly a hundred strands of Rong Shen Yuan Po, that is, Ghost King Marrow Fluid, he successfully broke through to the seventh-level Ghost King realm! Chen An opened his eyes, and there was a star-like light flashing in his eyes. A powerful aura emanated from him, causing the entire Huangquan area to tremble.

At this moment, Chen An is no longer the little underworld cultivator who had just arrived in the underworld, but the most top-notch existence in the entire Yellow Springs Realm.

In the underworld, it is a common practice for monks to enhance their own cultivation by devouring other monks or souls.

However, when a cultivator reaches the seventh level, his soul and body grow flesh and blood, and cultivators of this level of cultivation can no longer devour each other to enhance their cultivation.

For cultivators who have reached the seventh level, their cultivation is already quite profound. If they continue to devour the dark energy obtained from cultivators of the same level, it will be too huge and difficult to digest, which can easily cause a conflict of dark energy in the body and cause damage to the foundation.

If one swallows it recklessly, it is very likely to cause the imbalance of the dark energy in the cultivator's body. In the best case, his cultivation will stagnate, and in the worst case, his body will explode and die.

There are some legendary cases in the underworld where strong people met a miserable end because they were greedy for temporary power.

There are underworld forces with deep roots. For the sake of the foundation of the younger generations, they are not allowed to rely on devouring to increase their strength since childhood, and they are required to practice slowly like humans.

However, this does not seem to be a big restriction for Chen An, who has mastered the Qingling Huaqi Jue.

After being purified and refined by the Qingling Huaqi Jue, the dark energy in his body was extremely pure. Even if he continued to devour it, it was estimated that it would not have much impact on him.

Chen An broke through to the seventh level, and the powerful movement shocked all the creatures in the Yellow Springs Realm and attracted the attention of almost everyone.

Above the Yellow Springs Realm, a purple figure passed by the edge of the Yellow Springs Realm. He seemed to have sensed something and turned his head in surprise to look in the direction of the source of the powerful fluctuations.

"The Yellow Springs Region was originally a barren land due to the erosion of the Yellow Springs Water. I didn't expect that a seventh-level cultivator would appear here. It seems that this trip was worthwhile."

"Let me go and take a look. Maybe I can gather a good fighter this time!"

Not long after, the purple-robed monk slowly appeared in Chen An's territory.

"Whoever trespassed into the Yellow Spring Ghost Emperor's place, please tell me your name!"

Yin Dao and You Chen saw a stranger sneaking in and stepped forward to stop him.

The purple-robed monk glanced at the two of them and said with disdain, "You, a mere ghost king, actually want to stop me!"

As he spoke, he gently waved the black iron fan in his hand, and the two of them flew backwards and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"I have failed to entertain my friends who have come from afar."

Chen An suddenly showed up and looked at the purple-robed monk in front of him. He was dressed very similarly to the human monks and looked gentle and elegant. He then bowed and said, "I wonder what advice you have for me, Excellency?"

Seeing Chen An's politeness, the purple monk nodded with satisfaction and said, "You are quite polite and interesting."

"I am the Purple-Robed Celestial Venerable, a disciple of Saint Ancestor Jiemie. I was passing by Huangquan Territory and saw that you had an extraordinary aura of breakthrough, so I came to take a look."

Having said that, Chen An led the other party into the hall and sat down.

Purple-robed Celestial Venerable smiled slightly and said, "The Yellow Springs Region is a barren place. I originally thought that there would not be any seventh-level cultivators born here. I never thought that I would meet a Taoist friend here."

Chen An's eyes narrowed slightly. This person's words and deeds were extremely similar to those of the cultivators in the human world. If it weren't for the strong dark aura on his body, Chen An would have really thought that he had met a cultivator from the human race.

He sighed softly and said, "The Yellow Springs Territory is indeed desolate. It was only after unifying this place and gathering the resources of the entire Yellow Springs Territory that I was able to break through to where I am today by chance."

The two chatted for a while and became more familiar with each other.

Purple-robed Celestial Venerable continued, "Since you have unified the Yellow Springs Territory, this area will be under your jurisdiction from now on."

"I am here on this trip in compliance with the order of Saint Ancestor Silent Destruction to gather the Seventh Order cultivators under my command to follow my orders and work together on the grand plan for the Underworld!"

Chen An was startled when he heard this. He had a bad feeling in his heart and asked in surprise: "The plan of the underworld? What exactly is it?"

Purple-robed Celestial Venerable smiled slightly and took out an ancient jade talisman from his sleeve. It was engraved with intricate patterns and emitted a faint light. “This is the World-Splitting Talisman, a treasure talisman of the Mahayana period. It can tear open the barrier between the underworld and the human world, and open up a passage for the ghost army of the underworld to pass through.”

"The current situation is the perfect time for you and me to make great achievements!"

Chen An was shocked. If this world-splitting talisman could open up a passage between the two worlds, it would definitely pose a huge threat to the human world!
Faced with such a situation, he pretended to be surprised and said, "I see. I heard that the human race has abundant resources, and I have long wanted to explore, but I just don't have the means."

"Now that fellow Daoist has sent me this Boundary Breaking Talisman, it is truly a timely help. Don't worry, I will definitely do my best!"

The Purple-Robed Celestial Venerable grinned and nodded with satisfaction. He then handed the Boundary-Splitting Talisman to Chen An and warned him, "This Talisman is extremely precious. Do not show it to others easily."

Chen An secretly calculated in his heart and asked Purple Robe Heavenly Venerable: "Is there any particular place and time to use this boundary-breaking talisman?"

Upon hearing this, Purple-Robed Celestial Venerable's eyes turned, and he said in a deep voice: "As for the location, it can be in your Yellow Springs Region. As for the time, the sooner the better. It is best not to keep the Holy Ancestor waiting for too long. If we launch attacks in multiple places at the same time, we will surely be able to deal a heavy blow to the human world."

Chen An's heart sank, and he responded with a few questions without asking any more questions.

After the Purple-Robed Celestial Master left, Chen An's face became gloomy as water. His consciousness quickly returned to his body. He personally went to Jianghuang City and met with Jiang Taixu to discuss countermeasures.

Chen An informed the other party about the Boundary Rift Talisman, but did not reveal the details. He only said that this was the information obtained by the undercover agent planted in the barbarians.

After hearing this, the Human Emperor pondered for a moment, with a flash of anger in his eyes: "The Underworld's move was obviously planned for a long time, we can't take it lightly."

Chen An also nodded in agreement: "Yes, we must find a solution as soon as possible, otherwise once the army of the underworld invades, the consequences will be disastrous."

The two talked in secret for a long time, Jiang Taixu's face was full of worry. He said in a deep voice: "This matter is of no small importance. We must be careful and cautious."

Chen An nodded and said, "Don't worry, the underworld won't be able to come over for a while, we still have time to prepare."

With the Boundary Breaking Talisman in his hand, he could naturally delay for a while.

Jiang Taixu pondered for a moment and said, "You go back first and continue to find out the news about the underworld. If there is any other movement, be sure to inform me immediately."

"I will go to Tianyuan Island and inform Master about this."

Tianyuan Island is located deep in the eastern sea of ​​Tianyuan Continent. It is the secluded residence of Qin Tianxing, the only Mahayana cultivator of the human race.

The purpose of Jiang Taixu's trip was to inform Qin Tianxing of the situation described by Chen An and to seek countermeasures.

Chen An also returned to the Beishan Cave Mansion, but he felt heavy in his heart. He sighed and thought hard about how to solve the problem of the Boundary Breaking Talisman.

He is now caught between the human world and the underworld, in a dilemma and feeling unprecedented pressure.

It was not his wish to attack the human world. If he did not attack, the Saint Ancestor of Nirvana would definitely not let him go. The underworld is not small, but where can he run to in the territory of Mahayana cultivators?

After thinking for a moment, Chen An had an idea. In this case, he could just make the boundary-breaking talisman ineffective. Although he could not destroy the talisman blatantly, he could find a way to strengthen the space barrier at the designated location between the two realms!

(End of this chapter)