Hu Ma swept his gaze across the hall in a single glance and saw that every figure, every face in this hall was indescribably strange: some were white and green, paper man-like, with stiff brows and eyes; others were covered with yellow paper so their features could not be seen.

You could say the official robes and armor on their bodies were exquisitely fine, but the people inside were all rigid and grotesque.

They were not even as lifelike as those Maids carrying lanterns on both sides of the Golden Throne Hall, serving with their lamps held high.

With a slight thought, he understood the reason behind it.

These Emperors, even after death, still had to continue commanding civil and military officials down below, but the real civil and military officials were unwilling to follow the Emperor down.

They could butcher the Emperor's concubines, eunuchs, Palace Maids, servants, laborers, slaves in great numbers to serve by the Emperor's side, but when it came to themselves, they would mostly use paper men as substitutes.

Seeing through the true nature of these fellows, he felt no fear at all; instead, he gave a cold laugh, suddenly opened his mouth, and spat out a Primordial Yang Arrow.

As a Shousui man, even in a dream his yuan yang was flourishing and fearsomely strong!

With a thunderous boom, flames erupted throughout the hall, like a blazing sun descending, like the baleful flames of the Golden Crow spilling down.

Those civil and military officials who had been baring fangs and brandishing claws as they rushed toward him were blown flying at once by his breath; countless of them even caught fire on the spot, and even the ranks of armor on those Military Generals melted rapidly at this moment.

No matter what, the Netherworld Palace was still only a special sort of underworld; what dwelled here were still ghosts—how could they withstand his Primordial Yang Arrow?

Only, though one move had proven effective, he still kept his guard up, knowing the eerie nature of this Netherworld Palace was no small matter; his face wore a cold smile, but in his heart he did not dare underestimate these ghosts in the Netherworld Palace.

Sure enough, the figure upon the Dragon Throne, seeing this scene, flew into a towering rage and shouted, "Rebellion!"

With a slap on the Dragon Throne, the foremost of the two rows of Maids at his side lifted two dim, greenish, sinister Palace Lanterns and flicked them upward, shining toward the hall; the two Palace Lanterns suddenly turned purple.

Immediately, rolling Purple Qi surged out from within the Palace Lanterns and billowed forward; in that instant, those civil and military officials who had been set ablaze and melted suddenly turned into living, breathing people.

Flesh and blood real, faces full of authority, their bodies radiating the lofty bearing they had when alive.

The civil servants spoke in unison; their mouths opened and closed, the words indistinct, yet clearly ghost curses, chanting in a way that made one's heart palpitate, as if all the vitality of a living person in one's body was about to be stripped away, to be pinned down and smothered in a dream.

The Military Generals, meanwhile, had all drawn their waist knives and were hacking viciously toward Hu Ma; wherever the blades passed, his skin went cold—his life hung by a thread.

"Seize him, his life is forfeit."

"Such a one delivered to our door—holding him here is better than any sacrificial offerings they prepared."

"After a Seal Keeper dared deceive his sovereign, we will use his flesh to return to the human world!"

The air all around was in chaos; countless voices seemed to bore into his ears, maddeningly noisy, yet from them Hu Ma heard clearly the reason they wanted to seize him.

Right now they were only coming through by sending dreams, their connection to him faint; thus they wanted to capture him in the hall—once they took him, it would mean the Netherworld Palace had gained a sliver of hope of borrowing him to return to the human world.

As things now stood, the Netherworld Palace in the human world had already become a tree without roots: its prestige remained, but it had become what the common folk called a Juehu household.

If they wished to continue enjoying human world incense, or to influence the human world, they had to find corresponding bloodlines.

It was just that Douyi was, after all, the imperial clan; though there were certainly some bloodlines left in the human world—just like the Qingyuan Hu Family back then, where one had been found—those bloodlines had long since lost their Heavenly Duke–attested status, and thus practically had no relation to the Netherworld Palace anymore.

To put it another way, those bloodlines that remained in the human world and could escape Mr. Longjing's curse did so precisely because they no longer had any connection.

"As expected..."

And on that great hall, as the Purple Qi surged forth in rolling waves, a heaviness sank into Hu Ma's heart, and he involuntarily took a step back.

Looking up, everything around the hall felt all too solid and real, like one towering mountain after another pressing down upon him; this was a pressure he had not felt for a long time since his arts had become complete.

After all, earlier he had already obtained the Tenth Incense, and this Tenth Incense had been snatched from heaven and earth themselves.

The strength of a Shousui man rose from the earth, and with this Tenth Incense, Hu Ma could reach a realm of merging with heaven and earth, where this piece of heaven and earth helped him share the burden of pressure; thus no one could strike him, and all kinds of dharma methods would be drawn over by him.

But at this moment, first, he was not in the human world to begin with; second, the Purple Qi he now faced was unprecedentedly fierce, even stronger than it had been in Shangjing.

In terms of weight, it was as if the might of an entire Shangjing City had been smashed straight into his face.

Instinctively, every figure before his eyes grew incomparably huge; even a single thread of purple lantern light felt as heavy as a mountain.

This Netherworld Palace was fundamentally different from anything he had ever seen in the human world.

The tenth Emperor of Douyi had, after all, sat upon the throne for seventeen years, enjoying the fortune of the realm for seventeen years and stealing an unknown amount from heaven and earth; in fortune and incense alike, he far surpassed Hu Ma.

Once a Shousui man failed to stand firm, ninety percent of his skill was as good as gone.

And just as this Shousui man found even he could no longer stand steady and was about to retreat backward, something behind him suddenly turned cold.

A great force came out of nowhere and supported Hu Ma's lower back.

Hu Ma was in a dream to begin with; without even turning his head, he saw the person behind him, and could not help but feel a moment of surprise in his heart.