Tao Tie observed silently. But he didn't just stay in Mingyue Village. The surrounding dark goblins and dark beasts, other ancestral villages, and Mieluo Mountain are all within Tao Tie's observation range. If there were no human sects or ghost towns nearby, Tao Tie would have included these two in his observation range. Time flies by. Half a month passed in the blink of an eye. Mingyue Village suffered a devastating disaster. Even with the gift of the new ancestor, Mingyue Village's strength in all aspects is advancing by leaps and bounds, but its enemies are too powerful. The mountain master of Mieluo Mountain took action personally and killed with one finger the ancestral spirit of Mingyue Village that Tao Tie had released from the spiritual restraints, and also captured the water spirit of Mingyue Lake that was thrown out of the Taiyi Xuanzhu. The remaining ancestral priests and ancestral warriors were unable to turn the tide in the face of the encirclement and suppression of tens of thousands of fearless human slaves from Mieluo Mountain, no matter how hard they fought.

After a battle that lasted for most of the day, Mingyue Village was razed to the ground and no tribal villagers survived. The fire that destroyed all the buildings sent up gray smoke into the sky, and the slave army withdrew. Leaving behind the ruins of Mingyue Village with corpses everywhere. And the Mingyue Lake dyed red and black. From Tao Tie's perspective, wisps of evil energy grew from the ruins and corpses, drifting towards the direction of Mie Luo Mountain. The geomantic veins of Mingyue Lake and Mingyue Village were also forcibly bound to the geomantic veins of Mieluo Mountain. This binding has two levels: shallow and deep. The shallow layer is easy to find and easy to escape from, while the deep layer is difficult to find and difficult to escape from. Based on the deep binding of the earth veins, Mie Luo Mountain can erect a barrier to isolate the inside and the outside. "I see." After discovering this, a doubt in Tao Tie’s mind was resolved. Finally figured out how the Tiannan Barrier was erected thirty years ago. It also clarified why Pingyuan County became the core fulcrum of the Tiannan Barrier and suffered such a misfortune. It turns out that it is because of this deep earth vein binding. Therefore, the nameless enemy is the "person" who deeply bound the land veins of Pingyuan County with the land veins of some other place before the three southwestern states belonged to the Celestial Empire. Looking back, Tao Tie had a deeper understanding of the Celestial Empire's step-by-step strategy in conquering the millions of mountains. Every forward base that is successfully built and firmly established represents the Celestial Empire's control over the millions of mountain veins. learn from mistakes. It is almost impossible for the human race, aliens, indigenous people and the will of the millions of mountains to make any changes to the earth veins.

This included a plan to blow up the earth veins in the outer ring area of ​​the Million Mountains and kill the Celestial Empire's army. All they can blow up are the ley lines that are still under their control. It’s impossible to blow up the earth veins controlled by the Celestial Empire based on hundreds of forward bases! There is no chance of success in trying to use this to repel the Celestial Empire's encroachment attacks. Tao Tie didn't think too much about the things related to the earth veins, and continued to quietly observe the ruins of Mingyue Village. The fire died out on its own, with nothing to burn. Only wisps of gray smoke are still floating. The water of Mingyue Lake had returned to clarity without anyone noticing. The red and black bloodstains and the corpses that had fallen into the lake were completely swallowed up by the mud at the bottom of the lake. Night falls. The moonlight shines on Mingyue Lake and the ruins of Mingyue Village. The invisible and intangible spirits of the dead appear hazy in the moonlight. A group of dark goblins emerged from underground with a large number of dark monsters. They did not dig tunnels, but instead moved through the soil, similar to earth escape. The dark monsters surrounded the ruins of Mingyue Village and Mingyue Lake in three layers inside and outside. Protect both inside and outside. The dark elf came to the place where the ancestral tree originally took root. There's just a big hole. The slave army that destroyed Luoshan not only cut down the trunk of the ancestral tree, but also dug up the roots. A high priest walked out from among hundreds of dark goblins, holding a stone tablet with the image of the Styx in his hands. Behind the high priest followed a team of priests, each holding different materials. Amid the strange singing of the dark goblins, the high priest led the priests to quickly but reverently set up an altar. The specifications and shape are exactly the same as the pottery and iron seen at the bottom of the underground cave. Afterwards, the high priest led the priests and ordinary dark goblins to begin the sacrificial ceremony to the River Styx. Amidst the low and eerie chanting, the dark goblins surrounded the altar in front of the big cave and performed the Nuo dance with their limbs like zombies. The moonlight was attracted by the chanting and Nuo dance, condensed, and fell on the Styx stone slabs of the altar. The already cold moonlight became even colder after being scattered by the Styx stone slabs, making people feel as if they were in the underworld. It was as if both body and soul were completely frozen. The high priest in a black robe danced in front of the altar, twisting his limbs like crazy, then put on his hood and picked up a huge black sickle. "Styx!"

The high priest spread his hands and called out to the sky. "Styx!" The dark goblins knelt down one after another, spread their hands, looked up to the sky and called out, devoutly and fanatically. "grim Reaper!" The high priest withdrew his hands, held the huge black sickle to his chest, and lowered his head slightly. "grim Reaper!" The dark goblins withdrew their hands, held them in front of their chests, pretended to hold a sickle, lowered their heads and shouted. Bang. Two cold underworld fires burned on the Styx stone slabs and flew towards the high priest's lowered head. The high priest dressed as the god of death had his eyes instantly burned. Two hellish fires replaced the eyes. Then all the fat and body fluids on the high priest's body were burned, leaving him like a mummy. The High Priest of Death turned around and gently waved the huge black sickle in his hand at the souls of the villagers of Mingyue Village. Wherever the sword flashed, the souls of the dead disappeared one after another. Soon the High Priest of Death, who had taken away all the spirits of the dead, turned back into his body and faced the Styx Slab. Without any movement, his whole body turned into a wisp of black smoke and fell into the stone slab. Above the Styx in the painting above, there immediately appears a Styx ferryman on a boat, who is going downstream to send the souls of the dead into the depths of the Styx. "interesting." Tao Tie, who was observing silently, did not try to stop it, nor did he forcefully spy on the Styx slab. He just muttered silently and observed quietly. The High Priest of Death soon emerged from the Styx slab in the form of black smoke, and then led the dark goblins to evacuate the ruins of Mingyue Village. The attack on Mie Luoshan destroyed more than just Mingyue Village. There are still several ruins of dead souls waiting for these dark goblins to harvest and use as sacrifices to the Styx. Tao Tie did not follow immediately, but waited patiently for a while. As expected, the Lord of Mie Luo Mountain scanned the ruins several times with his spiritual sense and withdrew only after finding nothing. The will of millions of mountains came later. At this time, the camouflage worn by Tao Tie had been adjusted several times and would not be easily discovered by the will of millions of mountains. Unlike the search by the Lord of Mie Luo Mountain, which seemed to be all-round but was actually a gamble like looking for a needle in a haystack, the goal of the Will of the Million Mountains was very clear, and it was to go straight to the bottom of Mingyue Lake. There, a new Mingyue Lake water spirit will be born.

The will of the Million Mountains firmly controls it. If this area does not fall into the hands of the Dayong Dynasty, a water spirit that is inherently subordinate to the will of the Million Mountains will be born in a few decades. It's really like...the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Tao Tie set out to catch up with this group of dark goblins only after the Will of the Millions of Mountains had evacuated the ruins of Mingyue Village. For most of the next night, Tao Tie followed this group of dark goblins and passed through four ancestral villages that were destroyed by Mie Luoshan. He also watched the dark goblins perform sacrifices to the River Styx four times. Although Tao Tie did not use [Knowledge of All Things] to peek every time, after seeing so many things, he naturally understood many things. The Styx is still a conceptual existence, having been born. The dark goblins' sacrifice to the Styx, transforming themselves into the god of death to harvest the souls of the dead, and then transforming themselves into the Styx ferrymen to transport a large number of souls to the depths of the Styx, were not truly worshipping the Styx, but... Want to control the Styx! I think the mountain masters who want to be the jackal and the will of millions of mountains have also known this. They just all have their own plans and sit back and watch the actions of the dark goblin. Tao Tie didn't think about what the mountain masters and the will of the millions of mountains did. He followed this group of dark goblins and entered the underground cave. On the bottom floor, the high priest solemnly and carefully placed the Styx stone slabs and the altar, and then let the dark goblins who had been busy all night go to rest. This underground cave houses more than 100,000 dark goblins. Last night, their group was responsible for harvesting the souls of the dead. Other dark goblins also went out to hunt for food. Before dawn, the dark goblins gather together to finish their daily meal. The dark goblins' eating is also like a ritual. The hierarchy is strict and the rules are strict. Tao Tie stood in front of the small altar, looking carefully at the stone slab of the Styx. He seemed to see a river gurgling along, whose source was unknown, destination was unknown, width was unknown, and depth was unknown. The river water was dark, as if countless dead souls were wailing in it. Without the ferry, no one could stand on the water. Flying is also prohibited in the air. "fake." After looking at it for a while, Tao Tie said to himself, "This is a fake Styx." He has personally sent many souls into reincarnation. Although the small cycle in this world is not complete, the great cycle of the Three Thousand Worlds is still functioning normally. Tao Tie, who had personally felt the breath of reincarnation, did not see the characteristics of reincarnation in this River Styx. He only saw painful torture and punishment for sin. No matter whether the souls that enter it were good or evil in their lifetime.

"No, you can't say it's fake." But Tao Tie quickly denied his previous opinion, "It can only be said that it is indeed the Styx, not the Yellow Spring that the Celestial Empire wants!" The Styx is the Styx, and Abyss is Abyss, there is a huge difference between the two. "Then the question is, is it possible to transform the Styx, which only causes the dead souls to sink, suffer, and be punished, into the Yellow Spring, one of the cores of the reincarnation system in the underworld?" "If so, how should it be done?" “Who will do it?!” Tao Tie suddenly remembered the soul-refining technique he had practiced to become a god. If we have Ziwei and Taiyi, can’t we have Houtu? The key is, who has the fate and courage to follow Hou Tu's path to become a god? He is one of the Four Imperial Gods of Taoism, and his status is equal to that of the Northern Pole Ziwei Emperor. According to legend, the position Taizu now sits in the upper realm is that of the Great Emperor Ziwei of the North Pole. In today's Celestial Empire, who has the qualifications and ability to sit on the throne of Hou Tu Huang Di? Tao Tie didn't dare to think about it too much, as it would be extremely terrifying. In addition, with only Hou Tu and Huang Quan, it is impossible to establish the underworld. There must be Fengdu, the underworld, and... the Emperor of Fengdu of the North. If it is to be complete, the Ten Kings of Hell must also be introduced. Thinking about it this way, it is another terrifying thing. Tao Tie shook his head, stopped thinking and quietly left. It was dawn above the ground. There was a loud bang. With the rising sun. The Duke of Yingguo personally beat the war drum, and the three armies of the Dayong Dynasty moved in unison. However, the nearly one million troops and hundreds of forward bases did not launch an offensive on the ground. Instead, they were divided into two, with the army left behind on the ground, under the personal command of the Duke of England, defending against the counterattack of the Million Mountain Army. Duke Cheng and Duke Jing each united their armies, attacked underground from the two mountains, and wiped out the enemies underground. There are caves under the mountains, but there are no dark goblins. The underground environment, which should have been pitch dark, was actually dimly lit, allowing the army to advance as usual without lighting torches. Under the command of Duke Cheng and Duke Jing, the two armies still maintained the method of advancing step by step on the ground. It doesn't matter how fast the march is, but how steady it is. The enemy of the army is the invisible and intangible souls of the dead.

The soldiers of the Celestial Empire are all martial artists, and with the support of the military formations and the monks accompanying the army, it is impossible for them to not see or harm the souls of the dead. As the mighty army pushed forward, the tens of millions of dead souls that gathered there, although large in number, could not hinder the army's advance in the slightest. Advancing forward and pushing forward all the way, the two armies that were originally in a pincer attack finally joined forces in front of a city. "Send the order, set up camp." Duke Cheng and Duke Jing issued the same order at the same time. The two armies immediately carried out the order. Soon, the well-trained army set up two large camps in a horn-shaped formation and stationed their troops there. Outside the two large camps, there were many small camps scattered around, some for lookout purposes, and some for warning purposes. On the ground, the Duke of England was still beating the drum, the third time. The sun had just risen and it seemed like only a quarter of an hour had passed. Putting down the drumstick, the Duke of England walked down from the drum platform, strode into the general's tent, and looked down at the real-time underground offensive map. "The time flow rate is actually 1 to 60!" The Duke of England whispered to himself, "I beat the drum three times in a quarter of an hour, and seven and a half hours have passed underground! This battle can be fought slowly or quickly!" The Duke of England raised his head and looked at the generals standing in the tent. He shouted in a deep voice: "Organize the troops! Attack!" "promise!" The generals responded in unison. Then, the generals filed out of the tent and returned to their forward bases by various means. The army has already been mobilized. The battle plan was distributed to every soldier early on. The time, location, and enemy to be eliminated were all clearly determined. If you can do it, you pass. If you can't do it, you'll lose face. Team after team of Chinese troops set out from various forward bases to attack their designated targets. In an instant, the original situation of "everyone is fine, and everything is harmonious" was broken. The forces of the three major camps of humans, aliens, and indigenous peoples in the outer ring of the Million Mountains were suddenly faced with a strong attack from the Celestial Empire's army. Apart from the will of millions of mountains, who has the time to pay attention to the situation on another underground level? Oh, there is another Tao Tie who came to Wuzhi Mountain. Passing through the Five Finger Mountain and escaping to another underground level. He wanted to see what the Styx, which had already been born from the concept, looked like. (End of this chapter)