Chapter 439 – Mu Lin's Blessing Ability: The Invincible Army

“Come back to life? What does that mean?”

Mu Lin’s words left Mo Feng somewhat astonished, but Mu Lin offered no further explanation, merely stating calmly:

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

With that, Mu Lin arrived at the edge of the battlefield but did not act immediately. Instead, he closed his eyes and then reopened them.

“Hum!”

Upon reopening, Mu Lin’s eyes were devoid of human emotion, filled instead with the indifference of the heavens.

The trait Sky Observation not only allowed him to perceive the essence of things, summarize Dao Traces and patterns, and weave Source Runes, but also aided Mu Lin in uncovering the mysteries of events.

Just as now, with Sky Observation activated, Mu Lin discovered that the soul spirits fighting outside, though seemingly powerful, terrifying, and brimming with murderous intent, were all mere reflections.

Threads of causality connected them, converging toward a single point.

Following that point with his gaze, Mu Lin’s vision was soon blocked by thick layers of earth.

Fortunately, as Mu Lin narrowed his eyes slightly, the Chongming Bird’s Clairvoyance trait was activated, allowing his sight to penetrate the heavy soil and continue tracing along the streams of black energy.

After a brief search, Mu Lin soon discovered a shattered fragment of a Yellow Earth Altar deep underground.

That altar fragment was the origin of this battlefield.

From the altar, Mu Lin sensed danger and perceived that it held infinite mysteries and numerous fragments of laws.

“If I continue observing with Sky Observation, I will likely gain several more Source Runes.”

Thinking this, Mu Lin nonetheless deactivated Sky Observation.

Merely investigating anomalies did not consume much energy, but peering into the essence contained within the altar fragment would be overwhelmingly costly.

“First, I must collect the altar fragment. Once I have sufficient faith power in the future, I can slowly uncover its mysteries.”

…

Once the root cause of this battlefield was identified, everything became straightforward.

Even though the altar possessed an instinctive consciousness, placing itself at the very center of the battlefield and surrounded by countless armies for protection, this still posed no difficulty for Mu Lin—nor would it cause him much trouble.

However, as he observed the seven thousand Black Wraith Army gathered by Mo Feng, an idea surfaced in Mu Lin’s Sea of Consciousness.

“This could be an opportunity to test whether my Substitute Paper Figure can cooperate with other armies to cleanse Evil Spirits. If so, the major operation I plan to undertake next will become much easier.”

…

In the past, Mu Lin had mostly resolved problems alone, which was indeed effective and swift.

The cost, however, was that each time he addressed an issue, Mu Lin had to focus his attention, remotely transmit Mana to his Paper Substitute, and rely on overwhelming strength to crush all obstacles.

But the grand plan he intended to execute required him to create countless Clones while conserving energy to guard against unexpected events. In such circumstances, the cooperation of the Black Wraith Army and the Agricultural Militia would be crucial.

With this in mind, Mu Lin spoke to Mo Feng.

“I have identified the source of this battlefield’s emergence. Now, the task is to resolve it. For this, I need your assistance… This is also an experiment of mine.”

Mo Feng showed little hesitation in response to Mu Lin’s request:

“Agreed. That is precisely why we came.”

His Black Wraith Army showed no fear either.

“Wind, wind, great wind!”

While roaring wildly, the soldiers of the Black Fiend Legion pounded their weapons against the ground, their morale soaring to great heights.

Seeing the troops’ spirits roused, Mo Feng raised his arm, ready to lead the army forward to escort Mu Lin to the center of the battlefield.

However, Mu Lin stopped him.

“Wait a moment, let me cast a few buffs… positive status effects on you first.”

“Do not resist!”

As his words fell, Mu Lin willed it, and the sky began to snow down countless grains of salt out of thin air.

This Holy Salt entwined around the Black Fiend soldiers, forming a thin layer of salt armor, or attached itself to their weapons.

The presence of the Holy Salt brought them peace of mind.

Yet, this was not all Mu Lin could do.

With another thought from Mu Lin, a Hellscape Grimoire depicting illusions of hell appeared behind him.

In the next moment, the grimoire expanded, vast as heaven and earth, enveloping the numerous Black Wraith Army soldiers, along with Mo Feng, within it.

And at that moment, Mu Lin’s voice echoed throughout the realm.

“In the name of King Yama, you shall serve as temporary Netherworld Soldiers and Ghost Messengers, granted the authority to capture Malevolent Ghosts!”

“Boom!”

With Mu Lin’s decree, instantly, the many Black Wraith Army soldiers were bestowed with the positions of Hell’s Yin Soldiers and Ghost Messengers.

These were not Divine Positions… the True Spirit Karma Diagram currently still had only three hundred and sixty-five Divine Positions.

But those were for true deities, while each City God and Lord of Hell could recruit a certain number of foot soldiers (Ghost Messengers, Yin Soldiers, prison guards). These soldiers did not occupy Divine Positions but could still receive the Netherworld’s blessings.

Of course, how much blessing they could obtain depended on the Authority of the City God and the Lord of Hell.

And now, this was a blessing personally granted by Mu Lin, the Lord of Hell, making it exceptionally powerful.

At this moment, each Black Wraith Army soldier had an Other Shore Flower rooted in their minds. This not only protected their Divine Souls from external Evil Spirits but also granted them some ability in Illusion Art.

In addition, the Soul-Binding Chains, standard equipment for Netherworld Soldiers, also appeared on them.

And the Flame of Retribution… some Black Fiend Cultivators, filled with intense hatred toward Demonic Fiends, transformed all the Resentment and hatred in their hearts into Flames of Retribution under Mu Lin’s protection.

The Authority of the Blade of Slaughter was also bestowed by Mu Lin upon this group of Black Wraith Army soldiers. Now, they could grow stronger through killing enemies.

The blessings of these various abilities caused the Black Wraith Army soldiers to tremble with excitement, their hearts brimming with exhilaration.

“So powerful…”

“The Flame of Retribution—the stronger the hatred in my heart, the more intense the flames. This is exactly what I want. I will wipe out these demonic monsters and Malevolent Ghosts without leaving a single one!”

“The Other Shore Flower protects the soul and even allows me to perform Illusion Art… incredible!”

“The strongest is the Blade of Slaughter, right? Under its influence, we can grow through slaughter… Hahaha, I’m already eager to fight!”

Mu Lin’s blessings sparked lively discussions and endless clamor among the Black Wraith Army soldiers.

As for this, the leader Mo Feng and his deputy Feng Guang had no mind to manage it.

Both were also stunned by the various abilities Mu Lin had bestowed upon them.

As leaders, what Mu Lin granted them was naturally not the ordinary positions of Yin Soldiers or Ghost Messengers.

Mu Lin temporarily bestowed upon Mo Feng the Divine Position of City God, while Feng Guang became a Civil Judge.

Although it was only a temporary Divine Position, and Mu Lin could only bestow it when there were vacancies in the Divine Positions, this meant that the number of people occupying the Divine Positions in the True Spirit Karma Diagram would never exceed three hundred and sixty-five—at least for now.

But even if temporary, they could still receive various enhancements from the True Spirit Karma Diagram, such as the strengthening of the Central Wuji Sha, the elevation of their status, and the mastery of authority.

Take Mo Feng, for example. As a temporary City God, he had an intuition that he could merge with the Earth Veins and control them for his own use.

In addition, he could command Malevolent Ghosts, see through others’ Sins, and, with the power of word-spirits, gather the momentum of heaven and earth to judge the Sins of others.

“Hiss!”

Exchanging a glance, both Mo Feng and Feng Guang felt the terrifying nature of Mu Lin’s enhancements.

At the same time, an uncontrollable thought arose in their minds… How wonderful it would be if these enhancements were permanent.

Naturally, Mu Lin sensed these thoughts.

And this brought a faint smile to his lips.

This was also his deliberate doing—such enhancements might not be impossible to grant to others.

In the myths of his previous life, some Daoist Practitioners would become temporary soldiers of the Netherworld, assisting in capturing ghosts and seizing souls.

For instance, Uncle Nine from the Maoshan Daoist Sect and his elders were external personnel of the Netherworld.

Moreover, once they died and their souls returned to the Netherworld, they would directly become official members of the Netherworld.

If they could achieve this, Mu Lin naturally could as well.

If their potential was sufficient and their devotion to him was high enough, Mu Lin wouldn’t mind letting some elite soldiers of the Black Wraith Army permanently hold positions as Yin Soldiers or Ghost Messengers, enjoying the various abilities and enhancements of the Netherworld.

And such individuals would undoubtedly be loyal to Mu Lin.

If there were many such people, Mu Lin would be like the Beacon Country in his previous life, able to rally countless “public intellectuals” to champion his cause and fight for his interests without war, merely through guiding public opinion.

Moreover, at this moment, Mu Lin truly had a task for them to handle.

Within the Agricultural Militia, things were fine—everyone revered him, and whatever he said was law, making the spread of his faith smooth.

But in other places, the people there might cause trouble, and when that happened, Mu Lin couldn’t directly intervene in the internal affairs of their legions.

However, with external personnel who were both part of the Hell Netherworld Palace and members of the Black Wraith Army, their intervention would be much more convenient.

‘As someone walking the path of gathering the masses, I must naturally assemble the world’s heroes for my own use. This is only the first step.’

…

Although he sensed these thoughts and was somewhat tempted, Mu Lin didn’t explicitly state it—what comes too easily isn’t a bargain.

As if completely unaware, Mu Lin pointed forward and ordered the army to march.

“Advance!”

“Wind, wind, great wind!”

“Boom!”

At Mu Lin’s command, the army immediately moved.

Like Thunder, they charged into the blood-soaked battlefield, engaging in fierce combat with the phantoms there.

Almost as soon as the battle began, the soldiers of the Black Wraith Army sensed something unusual… it was too easy.

Previously, they had also fought the battlefield phantoms here.

Although these battlefield wraiths, lacking physical bodies and formed only from Resentment and illusions, still possessed some strength.

Their fearlessness of death, in particular, had given the Black Wraith Army soldiers a headache.

But now, all these troubles were gone.

The protection of Holy Salt made them fearless of enemy attacks, while their own strikes could easily annihilate their foes.

Moreover, the Other Shore Flower shielded their souls and could even cast Illusion Art to mislead enemies. This often caused enemy attacks to be deflected aside or rendered ineffective against their own assaults, allowing the Black Wraith Army to simply engage in target practice.

In addition, Soul-Binding Chains and the Flame of Retribution also inflicted immense damage upon evil spirits.

Due to such a substantial and targeted enhancement of abilities against evil spirits, the Black Wraith Army achieved a dimensional superiority over the phantoms in this place.

Charging forward with unstoppable momentum, they actually pierced straight through the enemy formation.

“How powerful I am now!”

“No, it’s the buffs granted by Lord Mu Lin that are overwhelmingly strong…”

…

Having broken through the enemy formation, they had now approached the very center of the battlefield.

Although the anomaly here was detected by the broken Altar, which instinctively caused the phantoms of the Black Wraith Army to cease fighting the phantoms of demonic monsters and instead unite to attack the Black Wraith soldiers, this still did not require Mu Lin to intervene.

As they closed in, Mo Feng had already invoked the authority of the City God, unleashing a divine decree: “You all are guilty and shall suffer the punishment of blades piercing your bodies and the agony of flames consuming your flesh!”

“Boom!”

As his words fell, swords and blades materialized out of thin air between heaven and earth, piercing toward those evil spirit phantoms, while the bodies of those ‘sinners’ ignited with the blazing Flame of Retribution.

With just a single utterance, he shattered the momentum of the enemy’s encirclement.

The remaining stragglers were then cleaned up by the enhanced Black Wraith Army.

In fact, because Mo Feng had slain too many, some of his subordinates even complained.

“Boss, leave some for us, don’t kill them all!”

“Yeah, let us have some fun too…”

With all these enhancements, this battle felt less like warfare to the Black Wraith Army and more like a leisurely outing.

This scene struck even Mo Feng as surreal.

“Can battles really be fought like this?”

…

With no further external interference, Mu Lin easily retrieved the Altar fragments buried deep in the soil and sealed them using Avici Chains.

Once everything was concluded, the enhancements on the Black Wraith Army were naturally withdrawn by Mu Lin.

This left many Black Wraith soldiers with a sense of reluctance.

At this moment, they felt empty and deeply uncomfortable.

Had they never known such power, they might not have minded, but having experienced such strength only to lose it again made them ache inside.

Especially since these soldiers clearly understood that, as warriors, they would constantly have to battle demons and monsters. A single misstep could mean death, corruption, or erosion.

In short, dying in battle was almost the destined fate of these Black Wraith soldiers.

They had originally come to accept this fate.

Yet, the enhancements from the Netherworld allowed them to glimpse a ray of hope for survival amid despair, a glimmer of light.

Thus, many Black Wraith Army soldiers gazed at Mu Lin with eyes full of admiration and profound respect.

Some, however, harbored other thoughts in their glances.

Clearly, they were considering pledging allegiance to Mu Lin.

Of course, these individuals were not foolish; they knew some matters could not be discussed openly in front of everyone.

Because of this, they planned to return home and pray day and night to the King Yama of the Netherworld, hoping these blessings would return to them.

“If I can regain the blessings, as long as I’m careful, it should be fine…”

“Sorry, I want to live… No, this isn’t disloyalty to the Black Fiend Legion. Only by becoming stronger can I better protect others.”

(End of Chapter)