Chapter 148: The Ghost Carriage

Chapter 148: The Ghost Carriage

Wu Hong looked at the token in his hand, unable to tell what material it was made of. Its texture was extremely hard; even when Wu Hong exerted all his strength, he could not leave the slightest scratch upon it.

"No, Envoy, you cannot abandon me!" King Yama, hidden in the shadows, suddenly discovered that the Envoy of the Origin Realm had abandoned him. He cried out in terror, immediately drawing Wu Hong's attention.

King Yama had suffered defeat at Wu Hong's hands several times and harbored an instinctive fear of him. Although Wu Hong's behavior seemed somewhat unusual, fear still gripped his heart.

"Today, neither gods nor demons can save your life! Prepare to die!" Wu Hong roared, leaping from his spot. With a thunderous boom that cracked the earth in all directions, he vaulted over a thousand meters, landing directly above King Yama.

Gripped by intense terror and lacking time to think, King Yama held his ghost-head broadsword horizontally above his head to block Wu Hong's ferocious assault.

He was far too panicked to employ any martial arts techniques, choosing instead to meet Wu Hong's brute force head-on.

*Thud—*

As their attacks collided, King Yama's entire body shook violently. He spewed a large mouthful of blood, his legs trembling as he collapsed directly onto his knees.

"Wu Hong, you cannot kill me! I have connections in the Origin Realm..." King Yama choked out the words against crushing pressure.

How could Wu Hong spare him? Ignoring King Yama's nonsense, Wu Hong channeled a surging torrent of true qi and pressed down with all his might.

*Crack—*

Several bone-shattering snaps echoed across King Yama's body.

Had King Yama known that Wu Hong had lost his mind and forgotten all techniques of circulating true qi for combat, and had he used his own blood-escape arts, he might have had a chance to escape.

Yet, consumed by overwhelming terror, he failed to notice the bizarre nature of the earlier clash between Wu Hong and the Origin Realm Envoy.

Wu Hong currently possessed no skill in manipulating true qi, let alone the ability to project true qi externally to harm others. However, this brutally heavy downward smash immediately drove King Yama into a desperate plight. Trapped by panic, he had foolishly attempted to match internal strength with Wu Hong—a choice that guaranteed no good outcome.

"Die—"

With blood-red eyes, Wu Hong suddenly forced downward. With a soft *thud*, Wu Hong's demonic energy invaded King Yama's body. King Yama watched with wide eyes as his flesh peeled away piece by piece, until not even a scrap of bone remained.

*Boom—*

Wu Hong delivered a crushing punch. The lingering force of the blow slammed fiercely into the ground, sending the earth trembling and fracturing with terrifying fissures.

It was hard to imagine that Wu Hong, stripped of his memories and relying solely on his physical strength without a shred of technique, had thus eliminated an enemy.

Having dispatched King Yama, Wu Hong stood in a daze, lifting his head to gaze at the full moon in the night sky. "Sister Ling, I have avenged you! But this is not enough!"

Wu Hong's figure vanished from the spot, charging directly into Yunluo City. The midnight city was peaceful, utterly unaware that an out-of-control demon had just broken through its gates.

Wu Hong said no more. Unable to distinguish friend from foe, he only knew that the den of King Yama's Earth Fiend organization had once been located in Yunluo City. The demonized Wu Hong was constantly tormented by the demonic energy raging within him.

Suddenly, Wu Hong leaped into the high heavens. A single bound propelled him thousands of meters into the air, the immense recoil shaking the entirety of Yunluo City.

Head-first and descending, Wu Hong thrust both palms downward toward Yunluo City. True qi surged wildly into his hands, instinctively triggering the Great Sun Tathagata Vajra Palm Art as the vast energy flooded his arms.

While still suspended in mid-air, his palms expanded to a size spanning a thousand meters.

"Ah—what is happening? Why does my soul tremble so?"

All the cultivators in Yunluo City, including King Yama's subordinates, rushed out of their rooms in unison. Upon seeing the gigantic hand in the sky, they dropped their jaws in awe. Overwhelmed by an invincible aura of suppression, their bodies shook violently, completely forgetting how to flee.

"Heavens! What is that? Has an Origin Realm Envoy unleashed innate power?"

Blinded by overwhelming rage, Wu Hong had unleashed the Great Sun Tathagata Vajra Palm Art. His hands instantly expanded by thousands of meters, blotting out the sky. Though it was a night of the full moon, the colossal palms cast a vast shadow that completely enveloped Yunluo City.

As the twin palms pressed steadily downward, black demonic energy raged, forming a violent gale that swept through everything in Yunluo City. Buildings and masonry emitted a continuous stream of cracking sounds.

Before long, cries of alarm echoed throughout the city. Despite the suddenness of the disaster, a few ordinary people noticed the terrifying anomaly in the sky.

"Ah! Mother, I'm scared!" a child's voice cried out. Others, unable to withstand the psychological terror, screamed hysterically, running wildly through the streets before being swept into the high heavens by the violent hurricane and instantly pulverized.

Every cultivator, both local and foreign, turned deathly pale. Among them were several masters of the Postnatal Great Circle; yet, upon witnessing an entity akin to world-destruction hovering above, their faces drained of color. They frantically circulated their internal true qi and fled toward the outskirts of Yunluo City.

Yet the amnesiac Wu Hong, stripped of the only happiness he had ever known in this world, harbored not an ounce of mercy.

With the overwhelming momentum of the falling heavens, the gigantic palms slammed down upon the houses and earth of Yunluo City with a heaven-shaking crash.

The Origin Realm Envoy, who had fled an unknown distance away, suddenly looked back to see the apocalyptic hands looming over Yunluo City.

His expression shifted drastically. Following a surge of shock came wild elation. "This Wu Hong is truly a prodigy, actually approaching the realm of the Innate through the Postnatal Great Circle! Sacrificing King Yama to recruit such a talent for the Origin Realm's Earth Fiend organization was well worth it."

Such a prodigy might not appear once in a million years!

Following the earth-shattering roar, near-total destruction befell Yunluo City. Every building was flattened, and the once-level ground now bore a colossal crater encompassing nearly the entire city—a terrifying sight.

The crater spanned nearly fifty miles in diameter, demonstrating the sheer ferocity of Wu Hong's attack.

In truth, the power and nature of Wu Hong's current true qi had already neared the threshold of the Innate Realm without limit. One must know that masters of the Innate Realm could reduce an area spanning a hundred miles to dust with a flick of their wrists.

No matter how many masters of the Postnatal Great Circle gathered, facing a true Innate expert was no different from facing a swarm of countless ants.

Like a cannonball, Wu Hong's body did not fall; instead, it rebounded even higher into the stratosphere.

High in the sky, the flames of his demonic fury subsided. Dizziness overtook his mind, and with his true qi entirely depleted, he passed out cold.

*Boom—*

Enveloped by the very last wisps of his protective true qi, Wu Hong's body plunged downward, crashing onto the ground at the city gates of Yunluo City.

How much time passed, none could say. Slowly, Wu Hong regained consciousness, murmuring, "Sister Ling, I have avenged you!"

Lying flat on the ground and gazing up at the still-radiant full moon, a single drop of bloody tear fell from his eye. Only then did Wu Hong's heart grow slightly tranquil.

"Number 56,961, Ma Dewen, alias King Yama—are you present?"

A jolt ran through Wu Hong's heart. Hearing a name he loathed to the bone, he jerked upright. His emotions churned, and fury reignited within his breast. *Could King Yama still be alive?* he thought.

Half-sitting on the ground, Wu Hong looked toward the gates of Yunluo City. A rather modest carriage sat there, measuring less than ten meters from front to back.

The carriage featured several transparent windows, through which the faces of passengers could be seen. Every expression of sentient beings—joy, anger, sorrow, and delight—was vividly displayed upon them.

An ox-headed figure chanted King Yama's true name while holding a white long-banner in its hand, alongside a horse-headed figure holding a black long-banner.

While chanting King Yama's name, the two entities rhythmically shook the banners in their hands.

The horse-headed figure's banner continually absorbed wisps of chilling black vapor. Frowning slightly, the horse-headed entity chuckled, "Hehe, Old Ox, this King Yama's sins are truly numerous! There isn't a shred of positive energy in him. Absorbing him into your banner makes for a truly heinous villain!"

"Hehe, indeed! This fellow was a regular god of slaughter, cultivating through bloodshed all the way to the Postnatal Great Circle. Who knows how many people he killed and how many vile deeds he committed?

Such a person becomes a ghost hero in death! We had best be polite when we meet him in a moment!" the ox-headed figure remarked with a sigh.

Even with Wu Hong's current pitch-black state of mind, witnessing this bizarre scene sent a chill down his spine.

Before long, King Yama's figure gradually materialized out of nothingness before the ox- and horse-headed grotesques.

Seeing King Yama suddenly appear, all of Wu Hong's lingering fear instantly vanished.

"Ah—King Yama, prepare to meet your maker!" Wu Hong sprang to his feet, hurtling toward King Yama by the carriage.

King Yama, whose face had been blank upon appearing before the carriage, shuddered, his visage flickering unsteadily. Glancing back to see Wu Hong—the man who had killed him—his expression shifted drastically, and he scrambled in panic toward the ox- and horse-headed figures. "You two monsters, drive the carriage and get me out of here!"

Terror distorted King Yama's features as if he had just beheld the most horrifying sight in the world.

The ox- and horse-headed monsters froze, exchanging glances. They had originally intended to chat and ingratiate themselves with this legendary human butcher—a man destined to be a ghost hero—upon his death, never expecting such a reaction.

"Get in the carriage," the horse-headed figure said with a trembling voice, cold sweat beading on its brow.

King Yama radiated waves of baleful blood qi so intense that even the ox- and horse-headed monsters felt chills run through their bodies.

Without a moment's hesitation, King Yama clambered into the carriage.

How could Wu Hong allow him to escape? "Halt! Stop right there!"

Wu Hong's voice bellowed like thunder, causing the entire carriage to shudder. The various passengers inside trembled upon seeing King Yama, and when they caught sight of Wu Hong charging toward the carriage, their faces drained of color in absolute terror.

The baleful murderous aura radiating from Wu Hong far surpassed even that of King Yama.