Monster Chronicles: My Daoist Skill Comes from Mythology
Chapter 288 - 260: Curse God Demon Puppet, Righteous Alliance

Chapter 288: Chapter 260: Curse God Demon Puppet, Righteous Alliance

Four thousand "Five Thunder Soldiers" and one thousand "Thunder Mansion Ghost Soldiers" followed behind the Sun God Car, riding auspicious clouds.

Song Lin, clad in a yellow robe, sat at the forefront of the divine chariot, which was pulled by a Black Dragon, flanked by three alien-species Divine Dragons each a hundred zhang long as guards.

Visible whirlwinds swirled around them. Wherever they passed, violent heavenly phenomena erupted, with clouds spanning hundreds of miles rotating around the Sun God Car at its center.

The scene was utterly soul-stirring.

If it weren’t for prior propaganda, the soldiers themselves might have been scared to death.

Song Lin implemented an eastern strategy: first south, then north.

Jing Country had only recently stabilized its foothold in the south, its foundations weak and mostly propped up by Han warlords.

Although massacres had been used to instill fear and seemingly subdued many, the warlords’ loyalty was superficial. Once rebellion sparked, chaos was inevitable.

Thanks to Song Lin’s intervention, the campaign proceeded with unprecedented success.

Wherever they marched, foes surrendered at the sight of their approach, often capitulating faster than the army could progress.

Aside from the barbarians, who knew they were doomed and fought to the death, others lacked even the will to resist.

The sight of the Divine Emperor traversing the Mortal World in such majesty was overwhelmingly awe-inspiring.

Though tales of immortals and supernatural beings abounded among the common folk, most never encountered such entities in their lifetimes.

What they heard from others was often dismissed as mere fantasy.

But when Song Lin’s divine procession passed, it was undeniably real.

Except for the blind, anyone with working eyes could look skyward and witness it for themselves.

Even in modern times, such a miraculous spectacle would compel all beings to prostrate themselves in worship.

Let alone the superstitious ancients.

At the moment they laid eyes on the Sun God Car, all slogans and doctrines became meaningless.

This was the one and only true legitimacy!

Aside from a handful of obstinate literati, most scholars shaved off their topknots and defected, eager to participate in this grand liberation campaign.

Within a month, the Xuan Army emerged from Shu and captured Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan, and Hubei.

The momentum of their advance from Shu was unstoppable.

At a crucial juncture, the Xuan Army halted, focusing on consolidating its territories.

Due to Song Lin’s policies, many wealthy landowners and prominent scholars fled in outrage.

If they refused to serve, there were always others ready to take their place.

Numerous vacant positions were filled by disciples from poor families.

Though these individuals were inexperienced in administration, to prevent internal unrest, Song Lin paused the campaign to oversee reorganization.

Another reason was the overwhelming number of surrendered troops.

The original force of 100,000 that marched out of Shu had nearly doubled to 200,000 after repeated battles.

Moreover, widespread famine plagued the lands formerly ruled by the barbarians, necessitating manpower for disaster relief.

Tan State City.

This place had suffered particularly grievously from barbarian massacres, with nine out of every ten homes abandoned, leaving fewer than a tenth of the original residents.

As soon as Song Lin entered the city, the civilians he saw mostly had deadened expressions, their hair braided at the back of their heads, resembling walking corpses.

Noticing Song Lin and his entourage’s unbraided hairstyles, the civilians’ eyes flashed with a trace of fear.

They were terrified of being implicated by the barbarians.

That fear dissipated soon enough.

The cavalry led rows upon rows of barbarians and their vile Han collaborators as war prisoners.

The cavalry galloped ahead, dragging these prisoners behind their horses. Some, too weak to keep up, were dragged forcibly, leaving trails of blood along the ground.

"Your Majesty, we have captured 3,000 barbarians, 1,000 nomadic barbarians, and 9,000 traitorous Han banner servants," Ma Jiefu reported.

"Find an open space, execute the banner servants on the spot. As for the remaining barbarians... parade them through the city by horse. Before nightfall, I don’t want a single one alive."

Song Lin’s voice was calm.

This city, scarred by suffering, could only be cleansed with blood.

Soup kitchens were set up within and outside the city, gathering refugees from all directions to bear witness to the barbarians’ grisly fate.

"Aaaahhh!"

"Help!"

"I was forced into it!"

Soon, the cavalry began their patrol, dragging a string of barbarians who flailed like skewered candied fruits as the horses galloped along.

Blood trails painted the streets in bold streaks.

"Zuo Quan, thoroughly investigate the defecting scholars—see who among them aided the barbarians. Assign every one of those collaborators to the patrol teams!"

"Yes, sir!"

As Song Lin said, no one escaped responsibility.

Immediately after, Song Lin personally led a group to the City God Temple.

The temple was riddled with ghosts, innumerable spirits haunting its halls, yet they were exterminated in an instant by a mere flicker of Sword Qi.

"From now on, enshrine the names of anti-barbarian generals here," Song Lin ordered, pointing to a spiderweb-clad statue.

With a wave of his hand, a pile of disheveled individuals appeared on the ground, seemingly teleported out of thin air.

These individuals, dressed in outdated Qing-style braids and robes, exuded an aura of intimidation. It was clear that they were cultivators who had allied with the Northern Barbarians, with Qiying among them.

Upon seeing Song Lin, they unleashed a torrent of curses.

This triumphant campaign had not been without its challenges—Song Lin had faced constant ambushes from cultivators wielding flying swords, poisons, and curses.

As these thoughts arose, Song Lin turned his gaze upon a hunched old man.

The old man, sickly and emaciated, bore the appearance of an ordinary farmer, except for the large protrusion on his back.

He was the infamous Tuo God, a master of curse-based assassination techniques, who had nearly claimed Song Lin’s life.

The man, now floating mid-air under Song Lin’s control, looked unfazed. "Kill me or torture me, do as you please!"

"There’s no need for such dramatics. You are already condemned. There’s no avoiding it," Song Lin replied coldly.

Wasting no time, he sentenced Tuo God to death and began extracting useful information using Divine Thoughts.

He retrieved a storage bag from the man’s body before beheading him with a flying sword.

Shua!

Though the initial strike severed Tuo God’s neck, a bizarre phenomenon began—the head slowly regenerated atop the stump.

"Hmm?" Song Lin slashed again, this time completely severing life and stopping the regeneration.

He then pierced the remaining captives through the heart and destroyed their Dantians with a subsequent strike each.

"Hang all the corpses on the city walls and let them rot for ten days," Song Lin commanded Ma Jiefu.

"Are you certain, Your Majesty?" Ma Jiefu hesitated. Despite his resolve, this level of desecration toward cultivators—held in reverence by the Cultivation World—would undoubtedly incite fury, even within the Righteous Path.

"It matters not. Just carry it out," Song Lin said dismissively, unfazed.

Since taking the throne, he had already committed countless acts that shocked the world’s conventions.

Even granting official positions to demons had drawn ceaseless criticism from the so-called Righteous Sects.

To Song Lin, the coexistence of demons and humans was an intrinsic, unavoidable aspect of the world’s ecology.

Given this, his approach was to channel these beings—such as Ma Jiefu, himself a demon hailing from proper Taoist lineages—into productive roles within his administration.

In the following days, Song Lin split his focus between cultivation and remotely commanding thousands of Taoist Soldiers to handle affairs.

One day, Mr. Zhuge and Ma Jiefu came to pay respects.

"Your Majesty, righteous warriors have come seeking allegiance!"

"Hmm."

In an instant, Song Lin vanished and reappeared within Xuanzheng Hall.

"Li Laiheng, Yuann Zongdi, humbly greet Your Majesty!"

"Hmm? The commanders under King Chuang?"

Song Lin was pleasantly surprised. He had thought them long dead but was delighted to find otherwise.

Since King Chuang’s demise and the barbarian invasion, these remnants of his loyalists had tenaciously resisted their oppressors.

Even in the initial stages of the campaign in Hunan and Hubei, Song Lin had heard stories of their heroics and considered memorializing their names in the Martyr Temple. Never had he imagined meeting them in person.

In addition to the loyalists, several figures from the Cultivation World also declared their allegiance.

"I am Lu Bowen, Sect Leader of Mount Heng, paying respects to Your Majesty."

Lu Bowen, an elder cultivator at the Early Stage of Earth Immortal, carried a horsetail whisk, his long white hair and beard giving him an impressive presence.

"Li Qingyun of Mang Mountain greets Your Majesty!"

"And the Ma Family from Diannan..."

"He Family clan, Xiangxi..."

"Li family of Xiangxi..."

Many of these figures were clad in the ceremonial garb of the previous dynasty, their reluctance to swear fealty to Jing Country clear in their demeanor.

Yet, Xiangxi’s Li Gu and Mang Mountain’s Li Qingyun had both been personally brought by Li Laiheng and his allies.

"Excellent... With all of you here, I gain strength manifold!" Song Lin warmly clasped their hands.

They were taken aback by the gesture. For a man of Song Lin’s status—an emperor, a cultivator, and one of the mightiest Earth Immortals—to express such humility was truly unexpected.

"We dare not accept such praise; we only wish to contribute what little we can," Li Gu humbly responded, cupping his fists in respect.

Not only had they come themselves, but they had also brought with them their disciples and clans, pooling every resource they had in their defection.

Another day under barbarian domination and they feared they would have no choice but to flee as far as Siam.

Amid polite exchanges, Lu Bowen brought up a pressing matter: "Your Majesty, it’s said you have a contentious relationship with Emei Mountain?"

"Indeed," Song Lin replied.

Were they wary of Emei’s influence?

"That’s excellent news!"

To Song Lin’s surprise, his statement elicited excitement among his new allies.

Lu Bowen, explaining the context, revealed they had largely suffered at Emei’s hands.

Especially the Seven Beauties of Emei Mountain.

These individuals frequently sought so-called opportunities, often at the expense of other sects’ private resources.

Leaning on Emei’s overarching power, they would label contested resources as unclaimed, then seize them with impunity.

Li Qingshan, a burly man from Hunan, clenched his fists. His eyes burned red as he spoke through gritted teeth: "Just two months ago, the Seven Beauties killed my father and three brothers! I will not rest until I’ve avenged their deaths!"

"Hmph, so much for their claims of being a Righteous Sect. Rest assured, I will see justice done for you all!" Song Lin declared.

Their loyalty was sealed.

Afterward, Song Lin led them into the World in the Pot.

The sight left them utterly stupefied.

They had never imagined such a Grotto Heaven existed.

Song Lin introduced them to Gongsun Jiuniang and the other Taoist disciples.

Gongsun Jiuniang cultivated both Swordsmanship and Cultivation Skills and had recently ascended to the Qi Refinement Realm.

"To challenge Emei, we must first establish a powerful sect. Would you all consider joining my Qionghua Sect?"

The group exchanged glances before unanimously pledging their allegiance.

Lu Bowen, being at the Earth Immortal level, was granted the title of Supreme Elder, outranking Sect Leader Gongsun Jiuniang.

The rest were appointed Hall Masters, their positions akin to the Three Capitals and Five Masters, each with specific responsibilities.

The framework of the sect was now complete; all that remained was to fill it with talent.

In the third year of the Golden Demon Era, Jing Country won three consecutive major battles, solidifying its territories.

After a year of silence, Xuan Country began mobilizing for war.

They amassed a force of 200,000 troops.

The next targets were Jiangxi, Jiangnan, and Lingnan—aiming to establish a clear divide at the Yangtze River.

In the World in the Pot.

Inside a secluded chamber.

A pair of fist-sized straw dolls, one black and one white, lay before Song Lin.

This was the Curse God Demon Puppet.

The black doll was deadly; the white doll protected lives.

Both were part of the Curse God Skill extracted from Tuo God’s storage bag.

The white doll had saved Tuo God’s life earlier.

Obtaining this technique was an unexpected boon.

Curses were inherently mysterious, catching victims off-guard. The black puppet could eliminate enemies, while the white puppet offered divine protection from unseen dangers.

In addition, he had acquired the Xiangxi Corpse Chasing Technique and the Diannan Gu Cultivation Technique, both capable of advancing practitioners to the Core Formation Stage.

Though categorized as fringe practices, they nonetheless presented viable paths.

Song Lin decided to bring these three Cultivation Techniques into the Real World.

The relentless war mobilization in Xuan Country eventually caught Jing Country’s attention.

The Taizhen Sect and Emei Mountain also sensed that something was amiss.

The fact that Song Lin had not succumbed to an untimely death defied all expectation.

Truly, chaos gives rise to monsters.

Chenhua grew increasingly unnerved.

Should Song Lin successfully establish rule south of the Yangtze, it would spell disaster for Shenzhou.

No emperor should reign for centuries.

The world as they knew it would be turned upside down.

However, charging blindly into Jing Country without assessing Song Lin’s abilities was foolhardy.

Thus, Emei Mountain issued a Righteous Path bounty.

An invitation went out to all the Righteous Sects to join forces in eliminating the "demon" Song Lin!

Simultaneously, Jing Country mobilized its army of demons and monsters.