Chapter 045: Change of Body

After the battle ended, Wang Bo walked up to King of Equality and White Impermanence. "If I ask you now where the other underworld deities are, I'm sure you won't tell me."

King of Equality stared at Wang Bo expressionlessly, saying nothing.

Though reduced to a captive, White Impermanence remained charming and smiled bewitchingly. "What do you think—will we tell you?"

"I think not."

"You know yourself well."

"So I won't waste words." Wang Bo threw a punch, shattering White Impermanence into pieces. Bound by the Chains of Heaven, she could no longer turn into yin energy.

So with that punch, she truly died, her projection completely dissipated.

King of Equality watched this calmly.

Wang Bo sat before King of Equality and said, "Sometimes I think you people of the underworld are cold-blooded. A whole world—hundreds of millions of souls turned into vengeful spirits. How could you bear it?"

King of Equality was silent for a moment, then slowly said, "It was the underworld's decision."

"Heh." Wang Bo gave a cold laugh. "The underworld's decision is your decision, isn't it?"

King of Equality looked at Wang Bo in surprise, as if to say, 'So you didn't know.'

Wang Bo was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

King of Equality said calmly, "We Ten Kings of Hell hold high positions and are responsible for maintaining order in the underworld, but we are not the underworld. We can only obey the underworld's decisions; we cannot refute or resist them."

Wang Bo said gravely, "You mean it was Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva's decision?"

In the underworld, the only one higher in status than the Ten Kings of Hell would be Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva.

King of Equality shook his head. "He is an outsider, aloof in status, but he cannot override us, let alone represent the underworld."

"Then who can represent the underworld?" Wang Bo asked.

"Only the underworld can represent the underworld. No one else can." King of Equality gave a convoluted answer, but Wang Bo understood.

"I see. The underworld has its own will."

In other words, the underworld had its own Heavenly Dao, and that Dao was the true master of the underworld. The Ten Kings of Hell were just employees.

When the boss decides to devour the mortal world, the employees naturally cannot object.

What's worse, these employees were bound to the underworld. If they resisted, the underworld's will would utterly annihilate them, so they dared not rebel.

Wang Bo said, "If you too cannot bear to see hundreds of millions of souls turned into vengeful spirits, then tell me, and I'll resolve everything."

King of Equality shook his head. "It's useless. We cannot betray the underworld, nor can we say anything detrimental to it. No matter what method you use, it won't work."

Hearing this, Wang Bo sighed. "Then don't blame me."

"Go ahead." A hint of relief appeared on King of Equality's face.

Wang Bo threw a punch—still the earth-shattering light-speed punch. King of Equality was directly blown apart, his projection shattered and vanished from this world.

He calculated: since arriving in this world, he had killed Ox-Head, Black and White Impermanence, Zhong Kui, and King of Equality. The only projection left in the mortal world was King Yama, hiding in Mount Tai.

He believed that after killing this King Yama, the underworld's projections would be mostly cleared.

Then, once he dealt with the Thousand-Change Puppet Thread, the mission in this world would be complete.

Wang Bo immediately contacted Lady Gremory. "Where are you now?"

"Mount Tai." Lady Gremory said slowly, "I'm fighting King Yama."

Wang Bo was startled. "How did you end up fighting him?"

"He suddenly tried to leave Mount Tai, looking anxious. If I'm not mistaken, you must have started fighting the other underworld deities, so I stopped him for you."

Wang Bo clicked his tongue. As expected of Lady Gremory—the wisdom of a Hell Demon was no joke; her guess was spot on.

"I've already finished the fight." Wang Bo said smugly. "I've killed all the underworld deities."

"Well done," said Lady Gremory.

"Do you want me to come to Mount Tai to help?" Wang Bo asked.

"No need." Lady Gremory said, "I'm very interested in King Yama."

Wang Bo pursed his lips. Lady Gremory wasn't so much interested in King Yama as in the wisdom and knowledge he possessed.

So this battle would likely not end quickly; it might drag on for a while until Lady Gremory forced out all of King Yama's spells and knowledge.

But since Lady Gremory didn't need his help, Wang Bo didn't want to impose. He turned and returned to the funeral home outside Luoyang.

Yan Shisan and Feng Siniang were both there.

Seeing Wang Bo return, they immediately came forward. Yan Shisan said, "The zombie king is dead, right?"

He had felt a palpitation earlier, as if something important had vanished. Thinking it over, only the zombie king's death could have caused such a reaction.

"That's right." Wang Bo nodded. "That guy was killed by the underworld deities, but then I killed the underworld deities. You're safe now."

Yan Shisan said, "Then when can I come back to life like Feng Siniang?"

Wang Bo said, "Right now."

With that, he punched and shattered Yan Shisan's body, took his soul to the moon, used moonlight to repair Yan Shisan's soul, and sent Malthus to ask Ophelia for a body.

Two days later, Malthus returned with the body.

Wang Bo fused Yan Shisan's soul into the body and brought Yan Shisan back to the funeral home outside Luoyang.

Feng Siniang had been waiting there all along, never leaving.

Wang Bo and Yan Shisan's return naturally did not escape Feng Siniang's notice. As soon as they arrived, she knew and came in with a young man.

The young man was Yan Shisan's apprentice, to whom Yan Shisan had taught the Thirteen Fatal Swords.

Wang Bo casually tossed Yan Shisan to the young man. "Take care of your master."

The young man was silent but nodded firmly.

Feng Siniang comforted Yan Shisan on the side. "Don't worry, this is normal. In a few days you'll be able to control your body. I went through the same thing."

Yan Shisan moved his lips. "Thank you."

Wang Bo said, "You deserve it."

If not for Yan Shisan's cooperation, Wang Bo wouldn't have been able to so smoothly scheme against and kill the zombie king. So in his view, this was what Yan Shisan deserved.

Afterward, Wang Bo and Feng Siniang left the funeral home.