In the Ninth Yin Sect’s branch altar, inside a secret chamber, a gray energy cocoon spun rapidly, emitting a faint “shh-shh” sound.
With a sharp tearing noise, a gray-white arm reached out from the cocoon, shifting left and right, tearing the thick cocoon into pieces.
Shi Wuyou stepped out from within the cocoon.
Beside him lay a massive crystal mirror.
Wearing a smile, he quietly gazed at his reflection inside.
His figure was exactly the same as before, still the perfect body he had painstakingly forged from childhood, flawless to the tiniest detail.
The only difference was that his skin had turned into a strange grayish-white, a shade mixing the extreme whiteness of fine porcelain with a shadowy, eerie gray.
From his forehead down to his feet, his entire body bore this deathly, unsettling hue.
His internal organs and their functions had slowed down more than a hundredfold.
A vast, chilling aura filled his organs.
Shi Wuyou clearly felt his strength, as well as an immensely prolonged lifespan.
A non-human body.
The body of a true ghost.
Clenching his fists tightly, his muscles tensed sharply, and gray flames roughly a foot long flickered out from his knuckles.
With a wave of his right hand, the gray flames condensed into a fist-shaped mark and silently flew forward.
“Shhh!”
The stone wall ahead, forged with molten iron mixed into stone, was corroded by the fist mark, forming a pit about the size of a water basin.
A thin wisp of smoke rose from the hollow, and the stone pieces within it completely vanished.
Such power surpassed the profound and mysterious martial arts recorded in the Ninth Yin Sect’s secret manuals by countless times.
“Baoyan Yunxing Pill... heh... the heavenly spirit shattered... the path of Immortals severed!” Shi Wuyou savored the words the “Ghost Mother” had once told him: “My true ghost body was created using a trace of spiritual energy hidden within the Baoyan Yunxing Pill.”
“But this world... it’s no longer suitable for cultivation. To achieve eternal life and freedom, it must rely on her.”
“If I had more precious pills, and even rarer ones... then... the Great Dao could be expected.”
Shi Wuyou donned his robes and took out the pill bottle given to him by the “Ghost Mother.” His voice was faint: “Only eight pills remain. What about this candidate...”
The secret chamber’s mechanism was triggered, and the faint chime of bells came through.
Raising his head, Shi Wuyou struck a mechanism on the wall with one palm and said calmly, “Yu’er? Come in.”
The heavy stone door slid open.
Duanfang Yu respectfully entered and bowed to Shi Wuyou.
Feeling the dense Yin Qi emanating from him, Duanfang Yu said excitedly, “Congratulations, Master! Your Ghost Body has been perfected. From now on, within the Four Saints Alliance, Master shall be honored above all.”
Shi Wuyou waved his hand modestly, “The Four Saints Alliance is nothing of importance. Within Haojing City, hidden dragons and crouching tigers abound; there are many formidable figures. Hey, has there been any news outside?”
Duanfang Yu’s voice turned serious, “I’ve confirmed that the eight elders and the disciples they took to the imperial city were all killed by the Imperial Army’s arrow formation. Not a single one survived.”
Shi Wuyou nodded with satisfaction. “Good. Good that they died. Otherwise, who knows how many secrets of our Sect would’ve been leaked? Not to mention, if your identity was exposed, what a huge loss to our Sect that would be! What else?”
Duanfang Yu went over all the information he had gathered these past few days.
Shi Wuyou raised an eyebrow and laughed, “Oh? Bai Shan’s eldest granddaughter married off? That granddaughter definitely has something strange about her. Otherwise, how could so much chaos have been stirred up? Back in the National Academy, I knew Bai Changkong – he was a complete hypocrite.”
“But matters that don’t concern us, we keep them at arm’s length. Bai Changkong’s granddaughter marrying in or him marrying out has nothing to do with this Sect.”
“For the sake of our Sect’s grand cause... as your Master, I must go kill that Lu Xian.” Shi Wuyou looked at Duanfang Yu deeply, hesitated for a moment, then took out a pill about the size of a thumb, wrapped in a layer of gray flames—the Baoyan Yunxing Pill—and casually tossed it to him.
“As I go kill, you take this Baoyan Yunxing Pill. From now on, the Sect’s foundations in Haojing are in your hands.”
Watching Duanfang Yu collapse to the ground in ecstatic kowtows, Shi Wuyou calmly said, “Those elders dying is a blessing. Heh, their personal estates—what belonged to them—will be yours to claim soon.”
Duanfang Yu cried out in response, “I will obey your order, Master!”
At Yushun District’s Survey Division, inside Ah Hu’s small building.
Ah Hu sat cross-legged before a translucent Buddha statue, staring wide-eyed, unwavering.
He had embraced this Buddha statue for several days now, but failed to find any of the profound insights Lu Xian had mentioned.
Instead, he found himself repeatedly reading and rereading the inscription on the statue’s sleeves—a scripture titled “The Wrath of Karma Fire King”—gaining some understanding.
Right now, Ah Hu was cultivating a therapy technique Lu Xian had gotten for him; while it wasn’t exactly common, it was at best second-rate among Jianghu in the Dayin Empire.
However, he subtly felt that “The Wrath of Karma Fire King” fit him perfectly.
Simple yet not simplistic, it had a profound depth, surpassing the “Black Armor Skill” he was practicing by at least hundreds or thousands of times.
With Ah Hu’s current understanding, could there be any martial art stronger and more suited to him than the “Wrath of Karma Fire King”?
Behind him, Lu Xian watched Ah Hu intently, sitting with his hands resting in his lap, a smile breaking out.
“A real hero has three helpers... Over these years, you’ve been like my younger brother. I could never neglect you,” Lu Xian recalled how six years ago, amidst heavy snow, he had picked up the cold, hungry, and unconscious Ah Hu.
Though Ah Hu was several years his senior, his mind was simple and pure.
Lu Xian had always been like an elder brother, guiding this big oaf to adulthood.
Shaking his head lightly, Lu Xian smiled and placed a palm gently on Ah Hu’s head, then another on the Buddha statue.
Soul light rippled; a soft spiritual radiance entered the carving.
Immediately, the entire statue shone brightly.
Below it, a circle of faint red flames solidified into a nine-tiered, thirty-six-grade lotus pedestal.
The massive statue, weighing tens of thousands of pounds, floated gently into the air.
A solemn and majestic Sanskrit chant rang out as countless faint consciousnesses flowed.
“Three Immortal Realms · Supreme Saint Heaven · Great Brahma Pure World Sect · Root Freedom Method · Red Lotus Undying Body.”
Lu Xian focused his mind, holding his breath, using himself as a conduit to gradually inject the incoming information into Ah Hu’s mind.
Muscles on Ah Hu’s body swelled one after another.
Red flames twined through his body, injected continuously from Lu Xian’s own energies, swiftly coursing about.
As the “Red Lotus Undying Body” technique took root in Ah Hu’s mind, Lu Xian made a firm decision.
He forcibly severed a tiny fragment of his soul light, about as small as a mung bean.
In his mind, the Three-Eyed Spirit Man diagram lit up.
That severed fragment quickly erased all personal marks and aura, transforming into a pure point of soul power.
Like a mighty river pouring into a parched desert.
From age ten, Lu Xian had sustained himself with meditation diagrams, six years of hard cultivation, and benefits earned from killing occult forces within the imperial city.
His total soul power was more than a thousand times that of ordinary people.
This tiny fragment equaled the combined soul power of ten normal people.
Almost instinctively, Ah Hu pressed his palms together.
The “Red Lotus Undying Body” technique ignited on its own.
The soul light injected by Lu Xian instantly transformed into a tiny red flame shaped like a lotus seed, forcibly opening a small void inside Ah Hu’s nearly solid brain, quietly floating within.
Countless fine, weak flames circulated through Ah Hu’s body.
This was the “Red Lotus Pure World Flame,” the Great Brahma Pure World Sect’s inherited Dao seed—a fiercely domineering, even brutally unyielding fire divine ability.
The essence of the “Red Lotus Undying Body” was slowly circulating in Lu Xian’s heart.
Using the body as furnace, the body as anvil, the body as raw material, basing on the “Red Lotus Pure World Flame,” with fearless spirit, valiant diligence, refining oneself through countless calamities, divine powers would naturally form.
Extreme, domineering, unmatched in power!
Though it seemed like a Buddhist method, it carried a strong demonic aura.
The Great Brahma Pure World Sect’s ultimate secret was problematic: They believed the world was filthy, all beings corrupted, and so must be cleansed by the Red Lotus Pure World Flame, wiping the world so they could rebuild an immaculate Pure Land under their control!
Lu Xian withdrew his hand from the statue, smiling: “Buddhist or demonic, what matters is strength, that’s the way.”
The statue gently descended.
Sitting cross-legged by Ah Hu’s side, Lu Xian spoke in a low voice, “Open your mouth and fully exert your cultivation.”
Ah Hu opened his mouth.
Lu Xian flicked his hand; two drops of mystic Yuan spirit water from the “Primordial Return Void” vial flew up—one dropped into Ah Hu’s mouth, the other into Lu Xian’s own.
A deep, sonorous roar of ocean waves echoed.
Endless essence energy flooded through Lu Xian and Ah Hu’s bodies.
Ah Hu’s entire body ignited.
The Red Lotus Pure World Flame ravaged his body, recklessly burning and purifying all useless impurities within.
Onlookers could see vast amounts of grime and oily impurities seep from Ah Hu’s skin, only to be instantly cleansed and vanished by the red flames.
Ah Hu’s rough, sandpaper-like skin gradually became smooth and radiant, like a jewel, then gradually took on a strange, eerie red hue.
Lu Xian’s own body had been tempered countless times within the imperial city and had no impurities.
A drop of Yuan spirit water swallowed, the immense nourishing force exploded, quickly merging through every part of his body.
With a hum, two meridians within his extraordinary vessel network opened simultaneously.
Massive innate Yuan Steel surged from the meridians, immediately fusing with that nourishing energy.
Entering the Dan Zhong point, his Return Void immortal energy swallowed it all cleanly.
The Return Void immortal energy expanded rapidly, enveloping Lu Xian’s body with overwhelming power, repeatedly refining every inch of his body.
The newly opened extraordinary meridians stabilized immediately, faintly glowing with a purple-black spiritual light.
Time passed bit by bit.
Lu Xian’s formidable body had completely absorbed the Yuan spirit water, and his cultivation reached the second level of the Meridian Opening stage.
According to the Immortal Path, Lu Xian was still at the “Furnace Realm,” but his strength soared once again.
Slowly concluding, Lu Xian exhaled a thick breath and beckoned toward the small building’s door.
Da Huang stepped in calmly, while Tu Sun, like a rolling meatball with waves of flesh, ran inside, headbutting the “Primordial Return Void” vial in Lu Xian’s arms.
Lu Xian laughed, “This is a good thing. But it must be shared among all five of you. Hmm, when there’s more stored, everyone will have their share. No rush.”
At that moment, in a corner of the hall, a surge of gray energy erupted from the ground.
A grayish, smoky steed with eyes blazing like fire burst out from beneath.
Riding it was a dignified, imposing Shi Wuyou cloaked in long robes and a tall crown.
“Lu Xian, boy, I am Shi Wuyou, leader of the Ninth Yin Sect. Prepare to die!”
Shi Wuyou charged straight at Lu Xian, raising his right palm and slamming it toward Lu Xian’s head.
The Ninth Yin Sect’s secret technique—Great Coffin Palm—carried a ghostly howl, instantly arriving above Lu Xian.
(The End of the Chapter)