Chapter 392

Chapter 392: Zhu Long Emerges, the Sky Darkens!

Ji Zheng’s words caught Mu Lin completely off guard.

Mu Lin quickly grasped the hidden meaning behind the man’s statement.

"You’re offering your own daughter instead of the East Sea King’s? Are you betraying your lord?"

"Betrayal is too strong a word," Ji Zheng countered. "I’m merely correcting past mistakes. By letting his offspring bring such disgrace upon the East Sea King’s manor, Ji Tianhai has forfeited his right to rule."

After denouncing the king, the elder fixed his gaze on Mu Lin.

"Have you considered my offer? Submit to me and you’ll not only survive but gain vengeance. Help me claim the throne, and I’ll deliver Ji Yu to your hands myself."

Mu Lin shrugged. "Your proposal has merit, but you misunderstand. I don’t need saving – my death was never certain. As for vengeance," he added with a sharp smile, "I’ll handle that myself. You should worry about your own survival. Leave now if you value your life."

"Kill me?" Ji Zheng’s laughter boomed through the chamber. "You overestimate yourself, Mu Lin! You can’t even comprehend the gap between us!"

The old man’s voice hardened. "You’ve chosen poorly. Let me demonstrate why no Transformation-stage cultivator can defeat an Earth Immortal!"

BOOM!

As negotiations collapsed, overwhelming pressure exploded from Ji Zheng’s body. The crushing force pinned Mu Lin’s body mid-motion, silencing both his magic and soul power.

Mu Lin’s eyes narrowed. "Natural suppression? But how… this isn’t spiritual ground. He shouldn’t command nature’s forces within my Yin Soil…"

Recognition dawned. "Not natural forces – this feels like predator confronting prey. Dragon might? No… this is Dynasty’s Fortune combined with Dragon veins!"

In this extraordinary realm, human will shaped power and earth pulsed with Dragon veins. United, they formed the bedrock of imperial authority. Some worlds saw officials dispelling magic with mere words, reducing practitioners to ordinary people. Here, though less dominant, this union still granted nobles their strength.

By binding their ranks to terrestrial Dragon veins, nobles achieved Earth Immortal status effortlessly – provided the Great Spirit Dynasty endured. These same veins suppressed foreign evils and chaotic energies.

Now facing Ji Zheng’s true Earth Immortal form, Mu Lin’s mere avatar stood no chance. Every muscle froze under the crushing imperial might.

"Witness true power!" Ji Zheng’s voice thundered. "You speak of killing me? You can’t even twitch a finger!"

BOOM!

After Ji Zheng immobilized Mu Lin’s Substitute Paper Figure with his imposing aura, he aimed to demonstrate his power and pressure Mu Lin—holding back from immediate execution since killing this Mu Lin would achieve nothing.

What stood before Ji Zheng was merely an avatar.

Once the paper figure’s body got suppressed, black river water gushed out from inside the body, corrupting it entirely and preventing him from tracing Mu Lin’s essence.

Thus, he resorted to verbal intimidation to force Mu Lin’s surrender.

Yet an unforeseen event happened right after he suppressed Mu Lin. Instead of vanishing as usual, the Yin Soil saw a "volcano" erupt beneath Ronghuo City—directly under Ji Zheng’s feet.

"Boom… roar!"

The volcanic explosion unleashed tremendous force, hurling Ji Zheng’s entire soul reflections skyward.

Simultaneously, endless flames surged toward him like tidal waves.

At first, Ji Zheng disregarded these flames.

Having merged with Dragon veins and wielding the Dynasty’s Fortune, he possessed great resistance against most assaults.

But he soon realized his mistake—this wasn’t ordinary fire. It was the flame of revenge, fueled by collective will.

"Kill, kill, kill…"

"Give back my life!"

"Wail… you deserve death!"

The erupting flames coalesced into thousands of spectral heads in midair, shrieking at Ji Zheng while devouring his magic shield.

"You! You murdered me! My wife, parents, children—all dead because of you! Wail… I’ll destroy you!"

These vengeful spirits Mu Lin gathered were all unjustly killed, harboring decades of frustration and rage.

When Mu Lin ignited resentments accumulated over centuries, the unleashed power proved catastrophic.

What truly terrified Ji Zheng was how the flame of revenge didn’t just consume his magic—it burned his very soul through it.

"Boom!"

As the flame touched Ji Zheng’s magic, visions of countless agonizing deaths flooded his mind. He now endured their sufferings firsthand—fire poison scorching organs, flames searing seven orifices.

"Aaaagh!!!"

The torment rapidly contorted Ji Zheng’s face.

Having endured hardships to become an Earth Immortal, Ji Zheng’s fortified soul could withstand pain from dozens, even hundreds.

But this deluge contained the anguish of hundreds of thousands.

Such relentless, compounding agony would break any ordinary being.

Crucially, Mu Lin hadn’t been idle before Ji Zheng’s arrival.

Though unable to control the vengeful evil spirit, his infused soul fragment had steadily fed radical ideas to the wronged souls—

How feudal landlords and powerful clans exploited them, how aristocratic oppression left them starving, freezing, doomed to early graves…

These doctrines amplified the vengeful evil spirit’s Flames of Revenge, now mercilessly scorching Ji Zheng.

"Begone!"

"Wretched peasants! Dying for my royal house was your privilege! You should kneel in gratitude, not dare resent me!"

“Thunder and rain are all the ruler’s mercy! Even if I slaughtered your parents, you should still thank me!”

The howls of hundreds of thousands of vengeful spirits gnawed at Ji Zheng, forcing him to roar in retaliation. His soul transformed into a giant dragon that savagely tore at the flaming heads lunging toward him.

*Rip!*

Repeated strikes shattered countless spectral heads, obliterating their Lingering Souls completely. Ji Zheng sought to intimidate the endless vengeful spirits through sheer brutality.

But it proved useless. These spirits, consumed by hatred and having already tasted death, now moved in mindless frenzy. Though Ji Zheng destroyed many remnants, endless souls still fed the Flames of Revenge, battering his spirit relentlessly.

His peril extended beyond the spiritual realm.

*Clang!*

In the physical world, after volcanic eruptions hurled his soul reflections skyward, fiery chains coiled around his body like crimson serpents. Sensing this assault, Ji Zheng unleashed a dragon roar that echoed through Mu Lin’s Yin Soil.

*ROAR!*

A miles-long Dragon Vein materialized behind him, expanding into illusory mountains, rivers, and palaces that blocked the vengeful evil spirit’s chains. At Ji Zheng’s command, these visions solidified into crushing reality.

"Perish!"

Torrents of river water cascaded over the flaming spirit while mountainous weights pressed downward. Mu Lin’s eyes narrowed – these weren’t mere illusions. The Great Spirit Dynasty’s fortune flowed through them, populated by phantom nobles and soldiers amplifying their might.

Public grievances meant nothing. For thousands of years, the dynasty had survived countless rebellions and unjust deaths. With Dragon Vein power, Ji Zheng might truly prevail.

Yet he wasn’t the Great Spirit Emperor, nor even a feudal king. His limited access to the Dragon Vein gave Mu Lin’s creation an opening.

*CRASH!*

Infinite Chains erupted from the void, entangling the mountain. With a collective scream, hundreds of thousands of vengeful spirits hurled the landmass aside. The vengeful evil spirit’s other hand ballooned into a kilometer-long flaming claw snatching at Ji Zheng.

The noble countered by shaping the Dragon Vein into a colossal city reinforced by Formations.

*BOOM!*

Thus began their cataclysmic clash within the Yin Soil’s Cycle of Life and Death. The vengeful evil spirit fought with million-strong hordes and Fire Crystal-enhanced fury, each earthshaking strike mimicking volcanic eruptions. Ji Zheng retaliated with Dragon Vein-forged terrain and the collective might of aristocrats and populace.

This became a battle of endurance – whether the vengeful spirits’ numbers or Ji Zheng’s nation-fueled spiritual power would last longer.

But neither fought alone.

Ji Zheng’s arrogance had made him charge ahead of the East Sea King’s forces, but they’d finally reached Ronghuo City. Dozens of Transformation-stage warriors and ten thousand armored soldiers now poured into the Yin Soil through soul reflections.

Their arrival became their undoing.

Mu Lin had prepared. His main consciousness had long focused here, manifesting his Zhu Long form. As the primordial dragon appeared, Mu Lin shut his eyes – and darkness swallowed the Cycle of Life and Death.