Chapter 393 – Day Turns to Night, Time Halts: The Candle Dragon's Limitless Power

When his subordinates arrived, Ji Zheng was initially overjoyed.

Dozens of Mortal Shedding Cultivators and nearly ten thousand elite soldiers—this was already an extremely powerful force, a strength capable of influencing the outcome of an Earth Immortal’s battle.

“You’re finished!”

“Charge! Now is the moment to achieve glory!”

“For the East Sea King…”

The Mortal Shedding Cultivator leading the team was also exhilarated. He felt he had caught a big fish and believed this was his chance for advancement.

Thus, after a wild roar, he charged forward with his subordinates.

Then, halfway through the charge, Mu Lin’s power transmitted over, manifesting the Candle Dragon Body. The next moment, the Candle Dragon closed its eyes, plunging the sky into utter darkness.

Mastering the power of light and darkness, and fused with Silent Divinity, the Candle Dragon’s eye-closing darkness was akin to a rule.

Especially since this was the Netherworld, Mu Lin’s home ground, which amplified the effect of the Candle Dragon’s eye-closing.

When the sky was shrouded in darkness, not only their vision but also their hearing, even telepathy and spiritual detection, were enveloped and obscured by the “night.” Their Sensing range was drastically reduced.

“Unable to see one’s own hand” was the best description for those soldiers.

Even the Mortal Shedding Adepts had extremely limited vision.

However, at this moment, the group of Mortal Shedding Cultivators and the nearly ten thousand elite soldiers had yet to realize the severity of the situation.

Upon discovering the pitch-black sky, they did not panic excessively but instead halted in place, standing ready for battle.

Simultaneously, numerous Mortal Shedding Cultivators used fire and light-based Spells in an attempt to dispel the boundless darkness.

It must be said that their response was flawless, and such a reaction could indeed be called elite.

Unfortunately, they were dealing with Mu Lin—Mu Lin, who had merged the Candle Dragon with King Yama. This rendered all their actions utterly futile.

…

Boundless darkness brings the unknown, and what humans fear most is the unknown.

Trapped in impenetrable darkness, even though the East Sea King had sent his elites, their hearts could not help but grow anxious.

The next moment, something even more unsettling occurred… Just as they were isolated and helpless in the darkness, the sounds of battle cries echoed from afar.

“Kill!”

“Roar!”

“Hehehe…”

Terrifying beast roars, the galloping of warhorses, and the sinister laughter of Malevolent Ghosts.

The aura of slaughter rapidly approached them from the distance.

All of this heightened the tension among the Mortal Shedding Adepts and elite soldiers in the darkness.

Amidst this tension, they received orders.

“Everyone, stay still! Form battle formations and stand ready!”

“Attack! Take the initiative! Form squads and engage the enemy!”

The commands from outside varied—some instructed them to stand firm, others ordered them to launch attacks, and some even commanded them to retreat.

This chaotic chain of commands left the soldiers bewildered and increasingly panicked.

This time, not only were they panicked, but the leading Mortal Shedding Adepts were also in disarray.

“Who gave those reckless orders? Who told them to attack?!”

This was the cry of the leading Mortal Shedding Cultivator. Unfortunately, when his words reached the ears of others, they transformed into: “Attack! All troops, charge!”

The reason for this change was, of course—Manjusaka.

The Candle Dragon’s eyes not only held the power of light and darkness but also flowed with the Life-Death Illusion.

When he closed his eyes and let darkness descend, the Manjusaka also bloomed within the pitch-black night.

This flower was not guaranteed to affect those who had undergone Mortal Shedding, nor was it easy to influence elite soldiers arrayed in military formation—provided they remained unshaken.

Yet, who could maintain inner peace while trapped in a darkness where not even a hand could be seen, isolated and without aid?

Especially when, though unable to perceive their surroundings, they could hear the thunder of ten thousand charging steeds, the endless roars of beasts, and the cruel, cackling laughter of Malevolent Ghosts ahead. All of this made their hair stand on end, creating the illusion that Death’s scythe was already resting upon their necks.

Under such circumstances, fear was inevitable. And once a crack appeared in their hearts, the power of the Manjusaka would invade, causing auditory and visual hallucinations, plunging them further into chaos.

Then, chaos would breed more fear… In this vicious cycle, the senses of all those who had undergone Mortal Shedding and the nearly ten thousand soldiers ultimately fell under Mu Lin’s control.

Now, he could make them see insects as dragons, marshes as flower fields, or stand right before them while remaining invisible.

In such a state, killing them would be as easy as turning his hand for Mu Lin.

“The pitch-black night combined with Illusion Art—this ability is nearly unstoppable, especially against a group.”

At this moment, Mu Lin increasingly understood why Aizen had become the ultimate villain. Indeed, the power of Illusion Art was overwhelmingly broken when used against the weak.

Of course, the flaw of Illusion Art was also evident: if it could affect the enemy, he could toy with them at will; if not, the ability was utterly useless.

Currently, the power of the Other Shore Flower struggled to affect Ji Zheng, who had reached the Earth Immortal realm.

Fortunately, Mu Lin didn’t need to affect him.

“Kill!”

“For the East Sea King!”

At Mu Lin’s command, Ji Zheng’s subordinates immediately turned their blades toward… Ji Zheng.

Of course, in the eyes of the Mortal Shedding Adepts and elite soldiers, their enemy was Mu Lin.

“Bastards, snap out of it!”

Suppressing the Vengeful Wraith alone was already a strain for Ji Zheng; the betrayal of his own men instantly pushed him into a disadvantage.

Thus, in his fury, he roared, hoping to awaken the others.

Alas, it was futile.

Now, the Other Shore Flower had taken root in the depths of their minds. What they saw, heard, and even thought was all influenced by Mu Lin. Under such conditions, mere shouts could not rouse them.

And so, he could only watch helplessly as nearly ten thousand elite soldiers formed their military formations, shouting “For the East Sea King,” and charged toward him.

“Damn it!”

The rebellion of his own soldiers had already placed Ji Zheng at a disadvantage, and soon, something emerged that pushed him to the brink of collapse.

Beyond the Vengeful Wraith, Mu Lin’s Candle Dragon… made its move.

“Hum!”

  Mu Lin, having transformed into the Candle Dragon, did not charge directly. Instead, he fixed his eyes on Ji Zheng, opening and closing them several times.

Yet, this simple act of staring and blinking plunged Ji Zheng into utter despair.

“Hum!”

With each opening and closing of his eyes, the skies of the Netherworld and the Cycle of Despair shifted in response to Mu Lin’s gaze.

Of course, simple darkness could obscure the vision of Mortal Shedding cultivators and ordinary soldiers, but it was difficult to conceal things from Ji Zheng.

Where the Dragon Vein extended, his Domain existed. Through this Domain, Ji Zheng could sense the surroundings.

However, while simple darkness was ineffective, the special power brought by the shift between day and night was something he could hardly avoid being affected by.

As is well known, the alternation of day and night is closely linked to time. In some places, the changing of day and night even serves as a representation of the passage of time.

“Humans divide a day into day and night, and further into twelve two-hour periods—these are all divisions of the power of time… And now, I control day and night, and possess the Source Rune – Stabilize, which can stabilize all things in the world.”

At this point, the special essence of the Candle Dragon should be clear to everyone.

Indeed, when shifting the sky between day and night, by relying on the Source Rune – Stabilize, Mu Lin could freeze the time of the world at that special moment.

Well… normally speaking, the world is vast, and unless it were the great deity Candle Dragon grown to its limit, Mu Lin would be unable to freeze the time of the entire world.

But what Mu Lin froze was not the time of the Yang World.

It must be understood that Mu Lin was currently within the Netherworld.

And the Netherworld—this was a Yin world created by Mu Lin based on the Yang World. It was not large to begin with and was under Mu Lin’s control.

Under these circumstances, the Candle Dragon, as Mu Lin’s Avatar, could exert its full power within the Netherworld.

When it closed its eyes, it could truly plunge the entire world (the Netherworld) into pitch-black darkness.

When it opened its eyes, it could make the sky bright.

And when it exhaled, it could turn the entire Netherworld into a silent, dead winter.

In this context, the Candle Dragon freezing the time of the world (the Netherworld)… made perfect sense.

“Crack!”

Due to the presence of many powerful entities, even though this Netherworld was created by Mu Lin and was a perfect match for the Candle Dragon, the time the Candle Dragon could freeze was only a brief instant.

But that instant was enough.

When masters contend, what they contend for is often a single sliver of advantage.

“Clatter…”

When the world was frozen during the shift between day and night, with a single thought from Mu Lin, Avici Chains materialized around Ji Zheng, binding him tightly.

“?!?”

“How is this possible!”

When Ji Zheng recovered from the time freeze, he was horrified to discover that, at some unknown moment, he had been bound by Avici Chains.

Immediately afterward, the silencing and sealing properties of the Avici Chains activated.

Ji Zheng could feel his Divine Soul, Mana, and even his physical strength being sealed and silenced by the Avici Chains.

“No!”

“Break free!”

It must be said that an Earth Immortal is truly different.

Whether it was a Gang Sha Sorcerer or a Mortal Shedding Adept, once bound by Avici Chains, the power within them would quickly be silenced, reducing them to ordinary people.

But an Earth Immortal is different. Their body and mind are in harmony with heaven and earth, continuously drawing power from the world, granting them exceptionally vast reserves of Mana. Even if bound by Mu Lin’s Avici Chains, they still possessed the strength to struggle.

And this was with Ji Zheng not being within his own Blessed Land.

Otherwise, he, who was as one with heaven and earth, would never have been bound by the current Avici Chains—only by aligning body and mind with heaven and earth could one achieve the status of an Earth Immortal, and at that point, the Earth Immortal was heaven and earth (the Blessed Land). Without binding the heaven and earth that were fused with his body and mind, how could his Mana be silenced and sealed?

It could be said that an Earth Immortal within their Blessed Land and one outside it were two entirely different adversaries.

“Within an Earth Immortal’s Blessed Land, I cannot pause time either.”

Mu Lin had complete control over the Netherworld, which was why he could Stabilize the flow of time in heaven and earth.

But within an Earth Immortal’s Blessed Land, it was different. Even though Mu Lin could create an inverse of the Blessed Land by leveraging its opposition to the Yang World, due to the alignment of body and mind, those Earth Immortals still held partial dominion over the shadowy aspects of their own Blessed Lands.

And this left Mu Lin powerless against them.

“Earth Immortals within their Blessed Lands are formidable. Unfortunately, the East Sea King underestimated me. He didn’t wait for me to attack but ordered his subordinates to abandon their Blessed Lands and come for me—that was a path to self-destruction.”

…

Ji Zheng’s situation grew increasingly dire.

Although the continuous supply of Mana from the Blessed Land prevented him from being completely powerless, being bound by the Avici Chains still drastically reduced the strength he could muster.

While he weakened, the Vengeful Wraith did not. The addition of dozens of Mortal Shedding cultivators and nearly ten thousand soldiers only enhanced Mu Lin’s power.

Under these circumstances, Ji Zheng’s predicament naturally became perilous.

“Boom!”

“Kill, kill, kill…”

“Die!”

“Woo woo woo, give me back my life!”

A few more moments later, Ji Zheng was seized in the grasp of the Vengeful Wraith. In the next instant, endless Vengeance Flames surged from within the Vengeful Wraith, madly pouring into Ji Zheng’s body.

“Ah!!”

The searing flames made Ji Zheng let out a piercing scream.

As the East Sea King’s clan uncle, he still had some wealth to his name. Now, one after another, Defensive Implements and Precious Talismans were thrown out continuously, barely allowing him to withstand the Vengeful Wraith’s assault.

But treasures would eventually run out, and when that time came, it would be his end.

Ji Zheng sensed this too, and for the first time, his expression revealed a look of terror.

“Am I going to die here?”

“No, how could it be? I am an Earth Immortal, a transcendent Terrestrial Immortal. How could I be killed by Mortal Shedding cultivators? Impossible, absolutely impossible!”

(End of Chapter)