Chapter 105: Seizing Power |
Under the cloudy moon, it was so dark one couldn't see their fingers.
But Chu Xun still saw dozens of dark figures coming from outside the temple.
Last time, the Martial Judge brought the Night Wandering God and suffered a great loss.
This time, the City God didn't act arrogantly anymore, not only rushing over personally.
Plus the Night Wandering God and dozens of Underworld Emissaries, all were present.
Fierce and menacing, so terrifying.
Seeing Chu Xun sitting under the divine statue, the City God didn't act rashly.
The Civil Judge, however, exclaimed in surprise: "Huh, isn't this the Immortal Elder who saved that current dynasty general?"
The incense accumulated by the Songliu Water God Temple over the past year rapidly surged into Chu Xun's body, adding another two to three hundred to his incense value.
The usually steady City God also had a trace of blood color in his eyes at this moment.
Chu Xun saw clearly that these conferred orthodox gods seemed to lose their reason a bit when encountering loose gods.
Although the Martial Judge and the Night Wandering God also came, they were still in a weakened period and hadn't recovered to their peak.
The only ones to be concerned about were the City God and the Civil Judge.
To be precise, the Civil Judge was slightly better.
Only the City God, the jade tablet in his hand, and the large seal floating beside him, all showed a bit of extraordinary nature.
Without much nonsense, and no need to care about any background.
With an order from the City God, the Civil Judge, Martial Judge, Night Wandering God, and Underworld Emissaries all attacked.
Chu Xun once again took out the old bat's wind bone, and the sound of howling wind rose again.
Three consecutive blasts of astral wind blew, annihilating over a dozen Underworld Emissaries into flying ash.
The Civil Judge, Martial Judge, and Night Wandering God charged over, forcefully resisting it.
There were also nearly twenty Underworld Emissaries closely following beside them.
Chu Xun opened the bag, took out a long sword, and swung it forward.
The City God seemed to sense something wrong and immediately shouted: "Careful! This sword is extraordinary!"
The Underworld Emissaries' black chains and hooks arrived first, but were directly chopped down by the long sword mixed with metal essence.
The Martial Judge threw out the token in his hand, which turned into a large shield blocking the front.
The heavy iron ruler struck towards the long sword from the side.
The Civil Judge bypassed the long sword, the Judge's Brush tapped on the Book of Good and Evil, and swept towards Chu Xun.
A pitch-black stroke of ink shot out like a swimming dragon.
"Good and evil have their paths, guilty god, submit to execution!"
The ink turned into a huge [Execute] character in mid-air, carrying the momentum of blades, weapons, thunder, and fire, terrifying.
Furthermore, the Night Wandering God drew out yin fire from the soul-summoning lantern, adding a bit more might.
Bang—
The long sword first collided with the Martial Judge's token. The sword body shattered first, and then a white sword shadow struck like lightning.
The token, which was already damaged last year, was directly cracked open.
The white sword shadow pierced straight through the Martial Judge's body, and the raised iron ruler had no time to fall.
His strength was too weak, naturally easier to kill than last time.
The white sword shadow's might didn't diminish, flying towards the City God.
"Audacious! Daring to be rampant here with just a wisp of Qi of Metal Essence!"
The City God shouted angrily, and the jade tablet in his hand swept towards the white sword shadow.
A wisp of golden color lit up on the jade tablet, which was the manifestation of merit from a previous life.
Although the Qi of Metal Essence represented extreme fierceness, when encountering merit, it would also lose some sharpness.
The jade tablet collided with the white sword shadow, vibrating violently.
The City God's body swayed, but he still forcefully shattered this sword shadow.
At this time, Chu Xun took out another long sword and slashed towards the Civil Judge.
When colliding with the [Execute] character ink, the sword body similarly shattered, and then a white sword shadow flew out.
"More than one metal essence magical artifact!?" The City God was slightly surprised.
The Qi of the Five Elements was the foundation of thousands of Great Daos.
Except for some extremely special spells, almost all could be said to originate from the Five Elements.
Among spirits, monsters, and demons, there were also many who excelled in Five Elements spells.
But shouldn't the Songliu Water God excel in Water Element spells?
How could he obtain metal essence magical artifacts?
Could it be that he also had a helper who excelled in Metal Element spells?
The City God was vigilant in his heart, knowing it was not advisable to delay.
He immediately shouted loudly: "Orthodox god conferment, Underworld order, suppress!"
The large seal beside him suddenly expanded dozens of times, turning into a size of three zhang.
The huge [Suppress] character under the seal turned into black-red light and struck towards Chu Xun.
Chu Xun glanced at it, didn't speak, only a deep blue water drop headed straight for the main body of the seal.
The black-red light struck Chu Xun at an extremely fast speed. He immediately felt as if millions of catties were pressing on him, making it difficult to even raise his hand.
"Worthy of being an Underworld magical artifact held by a City God, truly formidable!"
Chu Xun thought to himself, fortunately he was fully prepared this time.
The Heavenly One Divine Water Drop had already struck the large seal, drilling into the seal like a red-hot iron stone.
The City God was greatly shocked: "Ren Water!?"
It wasn't that he hadn't seen Essence of Ren Water, it was just that it was so pure, somewhat exceeding his expectations.
Moreover, it was propelled by Foundation Establishment cultivation, making its power even greater.
Ren Water inherently had a restraining effect on Underworld objects, even if this large seal came from imperial conferment, it was the same.
Being stabbed internally by the Ren Water turning into sharp blades, the large seal was instantly riddled with holes.
The black-red light flickered, and Chu Xun gradually felt the pressure on his body weaken.
At this time, the Civil Judge's ink had been broken. He picked up the Judge's Brush and the Book of Good and Evil to block simultaneously, only barely stopping that white sword shadow.
However, in doing so, the two Underworld magical artifacts suffered heavy damage, with many cracks appearing on their surfaces.
One more hit, and they would shatter.
The Civil Judge was furious and anxious: "Audacious wild god!"
The Martial Judge had been slashed for the second time, turning into black smoke and dissipating.
The Civil Judge reached out and summoned the iron ruler, smashing it towards Chu Xun's head.
The iron ruler expanded to about a zhang long, its momentum fierce.
"Without metal essence magical artifacts, let's see how you block!"
Although Chu Xun was still restricted by the City God's large seal and couldn't move easily, the pressure had weakened, and he could still open his mouth.
With a light snort, a white streak struck directly towards the Civil Judge.
The Civil Judge exclaimed in surprise. Before he had time to react, his chest was pierced by this pure Qi of Metal Essence.
On his blurry face, an expression of astonishment could vaguely be distinguished: "Qi of Metal Essence hidden in the mouth, you truly are a person who cultivates immortality and attains the Dao..."
His meaning was that although spirits, monsters, and demons in the world could gather the Qi of the Five Elements, very few could incorporate it into their own bodies.
Especially since Chu Xun was supposed to be an incense god, yet hid a wisp of Qi of Metal Essence in his mouth and nose, which was even more unheard of.
The Civil Judge suffered a great loss from lack of experience. Pierced by the Qi of Metal Essence, his body continuously turned into black smoke.
"Lord City God, save me!"
Although incense gods wouldn't truly disappear due to external forces, every time they died, they would lose their memories as an incense god, which was equivalent to starting over.
The Civil Judge had followed the City God and been conferred for decades, how could he bear to part with the incense position he had finally managed to obtain.
Even if he could be resurrected in the future, he was unwilling.
Seeing this, the City God, besides being surprised, was inevitably even more angry.
He immediately urged the large seal, shaking it violently.
Completely annihilating the Essence of Ren Water inside, which had already been largely consumed, he then grabbed the large seal with one hand and came towards Chu Xun.
"Today, this City God will definitely make you never be reincarnated!"
Facing the menacing City God, Chu Xun didn't have much strength to take things out.
He could only rely on the support of his Foundation Establishment cultivation to barely raise the cloth bag as high as possible.
This was also because the karmic fire had burned for two months, making his body much more ethereal.
If it were before, he wouldn't even be able to move a finger.
Although the City God saw the cloth bag, he didn't pay attention to it.
The jade tablet in his hand struck towards Chu Xun.
The jade tablet was also a magical artifact obtained from imperial conferment, sealing the merit of a previous life inside.
However great the merit of the previous life was, that was how heavy this jade tablet was.
With one strike, the cloth bag instantly turned into flying ash.
How could a mundane object resist it.
Not only the cloth bag, but dozens of iron tools also shattered.
Shiny fragments splashed everywhere.
But in the next instant, the City God's vision was completely enveloped by a patch of white light and shadow.
"This is..."
"Where did so many metal essence magical artifacts come from!"
The horrified words were drowned out by the white sword shadows.
Dozens of wisps of Qi of Metal Essence, each one could directly execute an Underworld immortal god of the Night Wandering God's level.
Even the Civil and Martial Judges could only rely on magical artifacts to block one or two more.
Although the City God was formidable, he couldn't block so much Qi of Metal Essence either.
In the blink of an eye, he was pierced full of holes, his whole body emitting black smoke.
His hands, which had turned into black smoke, couldn't hold the jade tablet and the large seal. Only his somewhat clear face was full of terror.
"What exactly are you!"
Having annihilated so many evil cult wild gods, spirits, monsters, and demons, he had never seen an anomaly like Chu Xun.
Having both the spiritual body of an incense god and the methods of a person cultivating immortality.
The City God was already powerless to support the large seal, and the black-red light completely dissipated.
Chu Xun only felt his whole body lighten, and only then did he stand up from the ground.
Looking at the City God continuously turning into black smoke and dissipating, he let out a long breath.
Without answering the City God's question, Chu Xun cautiously looked at that jade tablet.
Even though dozens of wisps of Qi of Metal Essence were enough to slay the City God, the jade tablet was completely unharmed.
Merit from a previous life could only be worn away by time; no other external force could damage it.
This was karma beyond the Five Elements, the same as karmic fire.
As for that large seal, it was stabbed out of shape.
Tattered and torn, almost unrecognizable from its original appearance.
An object of imperial conferment was nothing more than this.
The City God, who was about to disappear, stared at Chu Xun and said in a deep voice: "Even if you won a battle by trickery and seized this City God's authority, it will be of no avail. The great power of the divine Dao is not something a mere evil cult wild god like you can steal!"
Chu Xun looked at him without making a sound.
What stealing authority or not, he never intended to do this from the beginning.
It was just that because he did good deeds and received some incense from the commoners, the Underworld wanted to annihilate him.
Chu Xun wanted longevity, so disputes naturally arose.
If the Underworld could take a step back and leave him alone, Chu Xun wouldn't want to continue causing trouble either.
Unfortunately, judging from the current situation, this probability was almost zero.
The degree to which incense gods cared about the ownership of incense was extraordinary.
All discovered loose gods were regarded as great enemies.
The City God came here, not even giving him a chance to explain and reason, and directly started fighting.
Soon, the Underworld immortal gods present were all slain by the Qi of Metal Essence.
Only when the commoners offered enough incense would they be resurrected again.
The jade tablet vibrated slightly in mid-air, and then flew towards the direction of the Zhangnan County City God Temple.
That large seal conferred by imperial power and other Underworld magical artifacts were left behind.
Chu Xun had no need for other magical artifacts, nor did he want to carry them on his body to become a disaster.
But the large seal in front of him gave him a very strange feeling.
Desire?
He was very sure that he didn't need this City God seal.
Then where did this feeling of desire come from?
Presumably, it could only be the spirit of the Songliu Water God, which was being burned by karmic fire.
Thinking of what the City God said earlier, seizing his authority.
How to seize it?
After Underworld immortal gods were killed, they could still be resurrected. Even if they lost a segment of memory as an incense god, they were still a member of the Underworld.
But the City God would definitely not speak without a target.
Moreover, he heard Shitou say back then that some conferred orthodox gods had their divine positions seized by evil cult wild gods and were replaced.
There must be things he didn't know about in this.
Chu Xun's heart stirred, and he reached out to take down that large seal.
It was very heavy in the hand, piercingly cold.
Just in the few breaths of contact with his palm, Chu Xun suddenly felt an indescribable sense of fit.
The large seal suddenly became extremely hot. Even with hands that had forged iron for a year, plus the protection of Foundation Establishment spiritual energy, he still felt it was astonishingly hot.
In the next second, there was a booming sound in Chu Xun's head.
There was a sound in the unseen world, shaking the heavenly principles.
Within the large seal, he saw the name of the City God Liang Simiao, as well as the Civil Judge, Martial Judge, Day Wandering God, Night Wandering God, etc.
But hazily, beneath Liang Simiao's name, something seemed to be hidden.
Chu Xun reached out, like wiping a window, and wiped away the name [Liang Simiao], revealing the handwriting covered underneath.
[Xuan Yu]
There was some confusion in Chu Xun's eyes. What did this mean?
The large seal was continuously repaired until it returned to its original state.
[Divine Office 752/30000: Unconferred loose god, obtained divine abilities: Golden Millet Dream, Hide Form and Conceal Shadow, Observe Qi and Know Opportunities (The pseudo-orthodox god position can cast divine abilities twice a year), remaining hours that can be hidden per year: 0 (After conferment, can obtain orthodox god divine abilities, can lodge soul to substitute death)]
Although he was still an unconferred loose god, the divine abilities changed from once a year to being able to be cast twice a year.
The ribbon thoughts he had seen before surfaced in his mind again. Besides the believers who came to the Songliu Water God Temple to worship, there were also figures of believers who went to the County City God Temple to worship.
Chu Xun understood in his heart. So killing the City God meant the large seal was equivalent to an ownerless object.
Whoever got it, mastered the authority.
Now the Underworld where the City God Temple was located still existed, but it was already disconnected from other conferred Underworld immortal gods.
Even the upper-level Prefecture City God and Capital City God could do nothing about it.
"No wonder the City God said I was stealing authority. This is equivalent to forcibly carving out a private plot in the Underworld's one-third of an acre of land."
Chu Xun's expression was strange, suddenly somewhat understanding why orthodox gods were so disgusted with loose gods, wishing they could kill them quickly.
Think about it, if someone stepped on your house and then said this was his territory, you would also be extremely disgusted.
"But what exactly do the two characters Xuan Yu hidden under the City God's name mean?"
Chu Xun always felt that these two characters were not ordinary.
He even faintly had a feeling that he was approaching a secret no one expected.
It was just that thinking left and right, he temporarily had no clue.
Chu Xun then casually flipped through the countless ribbon thoughts in his mind, and then casually clicked one.
The white ribbon immediately showed a blue light and shadow, and would disappear once the thought was completed.
He just didn't expect that after clicking one, there were actually many other ribbons that were still white.
"Huh, can complete another one?" Chu Xun was slightly surprised, but also felt it was reasonable.
Since divine abilities could be cast twice a year, the ribbon thoughts should be the same.
At this time, in the Mingxiu Prefecture City God Temple, the golden body vibrated violently.
The Prefecture City God's nearly two-zhang-tall body walked out of the golden body, a large seal floating beside him.
[End of Chapter]
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