Chapter 153 Lihuozhu

What was this enormous evil energy?

Emperor Wanli, standing before the sleeping palace, was ashen-faced. The evil energy suppressed even his Son of Heaven status. As emperor, though he could be killed by mortal fire or ordinary swords, he would rarely die from magic, including evil energy.

This was a “privilege” of the Son of Heaven: easily killed by mortals, yet difficult to kill by cultivators.

But now, this evil energy filled Emperor Wanli with immense dread. The intense resentment and loathing within seemed almost impossible for even the divine sword in his hand to withstand!

The hatred and unwillingness in the other party’s words nearly revealed half of his identity.

“Lì qì… lì… lì….” (Baleful energy)

“You… no, you are…!”

Emperor Wanli's mind raced. A thought struck him like lightning, seizing upon the key word.

Lì (Baleful).

The Great Ming ancestor.

Only one bore such an “inauspicious title”!

“I had heard you were a benevolent Son of Heaven. The Ming dynasty has endured to this day because of your contributions. Why do you speak of killing the descendants of the Zhu family…!”

Emperor Wanli spoke quickly, fearing the hatred would consume him before he could finish. He lacked confidence, for the one standing before him, this “later generation emperor,” was no ordinary being!

At the same time, the Emperor's heart trembled with unease.

Had a persecuted former emperor transformed into baleful energy, residing within the Imperial Ancestral Temple, and guided Emperor Jiajing to break through to the Inner Mountains and Rivers?

“Unfilial, undutiful, unkind, unjust, despicable deeds widely known, gods and men alike are enraged….”

“I am baleful energy incarnate! I have no imperial title! Nor am I your ancestor!”

The darkness writhed, dozens of immense dark currents swirling within. The overwhelming power spilled out of the sleeping palace, and several flayed human skins suddenly appeared in the darkness. They were devoid of flesh, yet they still wailed in agony as the dark currents filled and bloated their skins.

Among these skins, Emperor Wanli vaguely recognized some “familiar” faces.

In the past, several of Emperor Jiajing's sons had died due to a curse, which was why he had used the method of prolonging descendants. Some of these young, prematurely deceased princes were even destined to be the next Son of Heaven. Their portraits were circulated, and now they were all appearing here, as human skins.

And among these skins, one was constantly calling out. Emperor Wanli caught a fleeting glimpse, and the hairs on his body stood on end. A surge of shock, anger, and fear rose from his chest!

Emperor Longqing!

“Do you feel anger and fear at seeing the flayed skin of your own father?”

“But you also witnessed your father’s burial… Is this skin truly the same as your father?”

The voice from the darkness mocked, and the skin of Emperor Longqing writhed, its empty eye sockets seeming to see Emperor Wanli and begin to wail for help.

“Zhu Yijun… you are Zhu Yijun! Save me, save me! I am your imperial father!”

The skin wailed, but after his initial shock and anger, Emperor Wanli calmed down.

“Fiend! You dare impersonate the late Emperor!”

The cold words came from the Emperor’s mouth, devoid of any paternal affection. The voice in the darkness seemed taken aback, emitting a strange sound before erupting in laughter after a few breaths!

“So it is with the Imperial Family! Good! Unmoved by external objects! Although you are their unworthy descendant, a damned successor, I still look at you in a new light! In such a short time, you can adjust your mentality, denounce the skin of your father as a fiend, and absolutely refuse to acknowledge it as the deceased Emperor!”

“That is right! How can the Son of Heaven be a fiend! A fiend is definitely not the Son of Heaven!”

“Therefore, I am not your Ming dynasty Emperor!”

“Wanli, ah, Wanli! The life you borrowed, someone is going to ask you to return! Do you want to live?”

As those words left his lips, the flayed human skins floating in the darkness all opened their empty eye sockets and began to make sounds towards Emperor Wanli. They were demanding lives and debts:

“Return our lives to us.”

“You were not meant to be the Son of Heaven of this generation.”

“Why was Longqing allowed to become Emperor?”

These skins carried heavy resentment, like a demonic dance about to surge out of the sleeping palace, and even the skin resembling Emperor Longqing began to reach its hand towards the outside of the palace!

At that moment, Emperor Wanli held the Jingzhen Divine Sword horizontally before him, and in an instant, the sword shone brightly, with bursts of thunderous sword cries!

The Zhen trigram!

The Jingzhen Jade Implement Sword was a divine sword from the Song Dynasty, itself symbolizing the embodiment of the Zhen trigram of the East, concealing the form of the Great Beginning, possessing the power of the beginning of all gods. When the sword fell, all evil would be defeated!

This thunderous sword cry instantly incinerated the surging skins, which retreated into the darkness with terrified screams. Then, a tremendous suction force erupted from the darkness, and a realm of magic emerged from within, enveloping the entire Imperial Ancestral Temple!

“A mere divine artifact for slaying Yin spirits and evil, yet you think it can kill me, who is formed from centuries of Ming dynasty baleful energy!”

The sword of the former dynasty to slay the resentment of the current dynasty?

What great heavenly might you possess!

“Emperor Jingtai, why must you force the descendants to such an extreme!”

In desperation, Emperor Wanli shouted and crushed a jade talisman hidden within his dragon robe!

“You are not my descendant! Nor am I Jingtai!”

“I am the ‘Lord of Baleful Energy’!”

Responding to Wanli was an extremely distorted roar filled with immense resentment!

However, the vast darkness was dispelled in the next moment, pushed back by another force of magic.

The crushed jade talisman communicated with the power of the Forbidden City magic realm, using the power of the entire current imperial city to suppress the vast darkness and resentment. At the same time, a black shadow formed behind Wanli. It was the black shadow that Ji Xiang had once seen, imitating Emperor Jianwen.

This black shadow had first appeared in the three great halls of the Southern Forbidden City, showing Ji Xiang the origin of the Forbidden City magic realm. Its image was based on the form and spirit of Emperor Jianwen. After Emperor Jianwen’s form and spirit had been stripped away and he had fled, this form and spirit also became the carrier of the magic realm will remaining in the Forbidden City magic realm, giving birth to a little self-awareness.

“What are you?”

The voice in the darkness questioned the appearance of this black shadow.

The black shadow did not answer, but merely used the power of the Forbidden City magic realm to repel the darkness before the sleeping palace.

“….”

“Wanli, ah, Wanli, it seems you are no ordinary person either… Compared to your imperial grandfather Emperor Jiajing, you have encountered a better era… You clearly lack the aptitude for cultivation, yet you possess such powerful external might….”

“The Divine Fiend of the Nation?”

The voice in the darkness marveled, and Emperor Wanli was inwardly shocked.

The other party, as a former emperor, did not know of the existence of the Forbidden City magic realm?

The existence of the Divine Fiend of the Nation was expressed as a question?

“Former Emperor, can you tell Us what kind of power Emperor Jiajing exchanged for here?”

“Us do not wish to exchange anything here. If it is because the past Emperors did not completely redress your grievances, causing you to accumulate such immense resentment, then Us can complete all the procedures for you, restore your seventeen-character imperial title, and move your remains into the Imperial Mausoleum for burial….”

“Silence.” The voice in the darkness spoke again, silencing Emperor Wanli.

“I have already said, I am not your ancestor, nor do I have an imperial title. The past cannot be changed. The posthumous honors of later generations are for the sake of profit, not for the sake of the predecessors. Matters that have already been decided cannot be changed!”

“Until the Ming dynasty is destroyed, until I personally witness the Ming dynasty’s destruction, I will not dissipate from here. If you think you can rely on the two Celestial Immortals you depend on to kill me, then feel free to try!”

“Jiajing, who became an immortal, is just an ant. Do you think that after he exchanged for power from me, he did not try to return and kill me! I have experienced such things too many times. You emperors are nothing but petty men.”

“I am the baleful energy of the Ming dynasty, the resentment that will not dissipate for thousands of generations. I am not Jingtai, I am the gathering of all resentment of all beings in this Ming dynasty. I will endlessly curse your Zhu family for generations, until you are completely destroyed, the dynasty collapses, and you are all without descendants!”

Emperor Wanli was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, “Then why did you give Emperor Jiajing power?”

“If I had not given him power, perhaps the Ming dynasty would have already been destroyed. In fact, Us… this junior was almost killed by a palace fire set by a demon. The body of the Son of Heaven is nothing more than that of a mortal. Although as the Lord of the Nation, one cannot be killed by cultivators, the swords and fire of mortals can easily kill such a noble being.”

“Could it be that you saw your own shadow in Emperor Jiajing?”

The darkness was silent, with no response.

Emperor Jiajing was not of the Zhengde lineage, but rather a cousin of Emperor Zhengde. The Zhengde and Jiajing reigns were succeeded by a younger brother after the death of an elder brother.

And although Emperor Yingzong was captured but did not die, Emperor Jingtai was also ordered to take on the heavy responsibility in a crisis, also a younger brother ascending the throne among his brothers.

There was some similarity.

The two sides became quiet, with no further conflict. Emperor Wanli continued to try to ask about the power that Emperor Jiajing had exchanged for here, and the so-called arrangement of the world by Consort Shang.

“Former Emperor… were you acquainted with a Consort Shang? The Golden Strike Son was given to Emperor Jiajing, but in the end, it was in her hands. Was this Emperor Jiajing’s arrangement, or your intention?”

“In fact, this junior would now like to know why you became like this. Where does this power come from?”

The darkness was silent for a long time.

After what seemed like an endless wait, Emperor Wanli received a response. The sigh of the Lord of Baleful Energy came:

“That woman… is a Han Immortal.”

“This worldly body is just a decaying corpse. Her true form is the Northern Cold Fairy, Song Lianjuan, ordered by the Grand Supreme Perfected One to descend into this world in order to intervene in the Ming dynasty’s national fortune. The Grand Supreme Perfected One is….”

“The Prince of Huainan, Liu An, of the Han dynasty.”

“As for why I became like this, it is all thanks to Emperor Yingzong’s imperial edict! Is that not your ancestor!”

“Fortunately, Heaven has not forsaken me….”

The words in the darkness stopped there.

Then came the words of expulsion:

“Wanli, ah, Wanli, since you possess the Divine Fiend of the Nation of this world, then perhaps you can fight against that petty man Jiajing, but I wonder who will win and who will lose, and in whose hands will this Great Ming completely collapse and perish!”

“Your time is running out… Would you like to exchange for the power to live from me?”

The voice in the darkness, the Lord of Baleful Energy, once again began to tempt Wanli.

“No, Us appreciate the Former Emperor’s kindness.”

“Us are untalented, with poor innate endowments. Even if Us possessed this power, Us would be difficult to control it. Moreover, how can the current Son of Heaven seek help from the past Son of Heaven? That would make the current Son of Heaven seem very useless.”

“Besides, if Us do not take power, wouldn’t the Ming dynasty perish faster, and the Former Emperor be able to be liberated?”

Emperor Wanli had been numb from many events. Any temptation now had little effect on him. When a person is completely indifferent to work in a certain aspect, but occasionally not completely indifferent, the opponent often finds it difficult to grasp the person's temperament.

The Lord of Baleful Energy was also a little confused by this.

At this moment, a demonic aura suddenly covered the vicinity of the Imperial Ancestral Temple!

The Lord of Baleful Energy wanted to say something to Wanli, but upon sensing the appearance of the demonic aura, suddenly shrieked:

“This… this is?”

“No, why is it different?”

The demonic aura gradually spread, enveloping the entire surroundings of the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

The power of the Jade Purity Heaven.

Demonic aura… This is the aura of a Heavenly Demon.

The Lord of Baleful Energy became alarmed, and the darkness churned uneasily.

Emperor Wanli could also faintly sense the appearance of this demonic aura.

Ji Xiang’s cultivation had broken through. This demonic might was vast, containing the fierce power to destroy everything, but without any evilness.

“Jade Purity… Do you have Jade Purity cultivators among your subordinates?”

The voice of the Lord of Baleful Energy pulled Emperor Wanli’s consciousness back, and Emperor Wanli chewed on these two words with some puzzlement:

“Jade Purity…?”

Wait, wasn't the Arctic Perfected Lord a cultivator of the Supreme Purity of the Celestial Masters Sect?

“Truly remarkable… Two Celestial Immortals, the Divine Fiend of the Nation, a Jade Purity cultivator… Haha, good, good, good!”

“The more powerful you become now, the more magnificent the great battle will be when you are completely crushed by the immortals of the Inner Mountains and Rivers in nineteen years… no, now it is eighteen years! When the dynasty collapses and disintegrates in eighteen years, it will surely be a magnificent battle that is difficult to see for hundreds of thousands of years!”

“Just continue to become stronger in this way, until this dynasty collapses and turns into yellow earth in history!”

The Lord of Baleful Energy sensed the demonic aura, and the voice gradually weakened, gradually disappearing from the world.

However, the sound of Jade Purity churned in the darkness, and the skins also called out Jade Purity, Jade Purity.

Long ago, the one who allowed the Lord of Baleful Energy to remain in the world in this form was a Jade Purity cultivator.

The doors of the sleeping palace began to close, and Wanli suddenly was alarmed, and quickly asked:

“Former Emperor, wait!”

“Since the Golden Strike Son flowed out from your hand, then where is the Jade Divine Plate, and where is the Lord of Numinous Treasure?”

The Golden Strike Son would slowly allow the holder to “transform into the Dao,” using the power of transformation into the Dao to become the key to comprehending the true Heavenly Dao, but this power had to be fully exerted with another Jade Divine Plate.

“Where did Emperor Jiajing enter the Inner Mountains and Rivers from?”

This was a very important clue. Knowing the place of entry and exit of the Inner and Outer Mountains and Rivers would allow him to deploy heavy troops in advance.

“The Lord of Numinous Treasure is not in the Outer Mountains and Rivers… It is in a place difficult to leave….”

“I have said, this thing is both mine and not mine. I did not create it, but I obtained it from other places….”