Shengui Changsheng: Start from Zhenwuwei and add some points to cultivate immortality

When leaving Luoxia Ravine, Ou Ye Lao gave Wang Xiaohu a bottle of "quenching pool water," which was placed in a bottle made of black iron: "This water counteracts miasma, you can use it. Also, tell Nangong boy to keep an eye on the entrance to the Sword Tomb's ley lines, don't let anyone take advantage of the loophole."

The two decided to head to southern Xinjiang first. As they traveled south, the closer they got to Black Stone Mountain, the stronger the stench of decay in the air became. The once lush Miao village was now deserted; every house was closed, and mugwort hung at the door to ward off miasma, yet it couldn't dispel the sinister aura. Aman, accompanied by several young apprentices, greeted them at the village entrance, his face covered with thick burlap, only his bloodshot eyes visible.

"Little Tiger, you've finally arrived!" Aman lifted the burlap sack, revealing a faint scar on her cheek, clearly from the miasma. "My father has already led the best men in the tribe to block the source of the mother miasma, in the 'Bone-Eroding Cave' in Black Stone Mountain, but the miasma in that cave is too thick; no one who goes in has come out alive..."

Wang Xiaohu followed Aman into the Miao village, where he saw many Miao people lying in bamboo houses, their skin covered with black patches that were slowly rotting at the edges, emitting painful groans. Su Qingwan took out silver needles and tried to apply them to a child, but found that the black patches were spreading along the needle's tip where the needle had been inserted, which frightened her so much that she quickly pulled the needle out.

“This miasma will travel along with the spiritual energy.” Wang Xiaohu poured out some water from the quenching pool and dripped it onto the child’s patches. With a hissing sound, the black patches actually receded a bit. “Old Master Ouye said that this is a mother-child miasma. We must find the source of the mother miasma, otherwise we can’t kill it all.”

The next morning, Wang Xiaohu, Su Qingwan, and Aman led more than ten Bai Miao warriors to the Bone-Eroding Cave. The cave entrance was shrouded in a layer of black miasma, like a viscous curtain. When they got within three zhang (approximately 10 meters), the linen cloth they wore began to smoke. Wang Xiaohu filled bamboo tubes with water from the quenching pool and distributed them to the group: "Apply the water to your clothes; it will keep you warm for a while."

Upon entering the cave, a pungent, fishy stench assaulted our senses. The cave walls were covered in dark green moss, which secreted a black, sticky liquid that dripped onto the ground, corroding small pits into the rocks. After walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, a "drip-drip" sound suddenly came from ahead, like water droplets falling into a pool.

Rounding a bend, the view suddenly opened up—a vast cavern with a dark green pool in the center, its water bubbling and billowing, black miasma rising from it. A dozen or so dark figures stood by the pool, dressed in tattered black robes, holding bone staffs, chanting incantations around the water. And on a stone platform in the center of the pool, bound was an elderly man with white hair—none other than Bai Sang, the chieftain of the Bai Miao tribe!

"Father!" Aman exclaimed and was about to rush over, but was stopped by Wang Xiaohu.

"Don't be impulsive, they're making a sacrifice." Wang Xiaohu lowered his voice and pointed to the feet of the black-robed men—a huge array was drawn on the ground, exactly like the demonic patterns of Luoxia Ravine, only on a larger scale. "They want to use the blood essence of the Bai clan chief to accelerate the maturation of the mother miasma."

Among the men in black robes, a hunched old man turned around, his face covered by a skull mask. His voice sounded like two stones rubbing together: "Star Sword Master? That saves me the trouble of going to invite you. Your sword soul contains the spiritual energy of the earth's veins, which is perfect for nourishing the Mother Miasma."

"Are you the Old Monster of Corrupted Bones?" Wang Xiaohu gripped the Demon-Suppressing Sword tightly, and the blue mark between his eyebrows lit up. "Senior Fu Shaoping didn't destroy your soul, but he left behind a menace."

"Fu Shaoping?" A burst of maniacal laughter came from behind the skull mask. "He is powerful, but he can kill my physical body, not my soul! Back then, a wisp of my remnant soul hid in the veins of the Bone-Eroding Cave, absorbing miasma for thirty years. Now, I have been reborn in this body, and I will not only avenge the grudges of the past, but also turn the entire Southern Frontier into my bone-rotting hell!"

He swung his bone staff violently, and the black water in the pool surged violently. A giant python formed from miasma burst forth from the water, its blood-red maw wide open, lunging at Wang Xiaohu. At the same time, the black-robed men also moved. Their bone staffs pointed at Bai Sang, and streams of black energy flowed along the chains into his body. Bai Sang's hair turned snow-white at a visible speed, and the wrinkles on his face deepened.

"Miss Su, save Chief Bai!" Wang Xiaohu shouted, and the blue light on the Demon-Suppressing Sword surged as he slashed at the giant python. "Aman, lead the warriors to guard the cave entrance and prevent the miasma from spreading!"

Su Qingwan had already plucked the strings of her pipa, the sound transforming into an invisible blade of energy that severed the chains binding Bai Sang. She picked up the unconscious Bai Sang, and with a light touch of her toes, landed gracefully at the edge of the cave. There, she saw that the black-robed figures had turned into wisps of black smoke, reforming themselves around the pool, proving impossible to kill.

"They are puppets created by the Mother Poison!" Su Qingwan exclaimed urgently, "We must kill the mastermind!"

Wang Xiaohu was locked in combat with the giant miasma python. Each swing of his Demon-Suppressing Sword shattered large swaths of miasma, but the miasma would simply recombine upon landing, making it impossible to eradicate completely. He gradually discovered that the python's power came from the mother miasma within the pool; as long as the mother miasma existed, the python could continuously regenerate.

"Sword Master, use the water from the quenching pool!" Aman shouted at the cave entrance, throwing over a bamboo tube.

Wang Xiaohu caught the bamboo tube, and a thought struck him. He suddenly sheathed his sword, letting the giant python's tail sweep across his shoulder, using the force to fly backward. At the same time, he unscrewed the bamboo tube and splashed the water from the quenching pool into the pond.

"Fuck-"

The pool water fell into the black water, and it exploded instantly, like boiling oil meeting water. The black miasma churned violently, emitting a piercing hiss, and the giant python's body began to turn transparent. The old man wearing the skull mask screamed, revealing a scaly arm from under his black robe—clearly, his new body had been corrupted by the mother miasma and merged with it.

"I'll fight you to the death!" the old man roared as he lunged at Wang Xiaohu, his bone staff transforming into a venomous python, aiming straight for the mark between his eyebrows.

Instead of retreating, Wang Xiaohu advanced, twirling the Demon-Suppressing Sword in his hand, combining the sword intents of "Azure Frost Asks the Sword" and "Rainy River Locks the River." The azure sword energy was initially as cold as ice, then transformed into a gentle, flowing force, coiling upwards along the bone staff.

"Pfft!"

The sword energy pierced through the bone staff but did not harm the old man. Instead, it entangled the remnant soul of the Mother Miasma within his body. The blue mark between Wang Xiaohu's brows suddenly shone brightly, integrating Fu Shaoping's sword techniques, Shi Qing's detoxification skills, and Ou Ye Lao's tempering methods into his sword intent—he did not kill the old man, but used the power of his sword soul to peel that wisp of remnant soul from the old man's body, and then thoroughly purified it with the water from the tempering pool.

The moment the remnant soul dissipated, the miasma in the pool turned into a cloud of black smoke, and the black moss in the cave withered away. The black-robed puppets, having lost their source of power, collapsed to the ground, revealing their original Miao faces—the villagers who had previously disappeared.

Bai Sang slowly woke up, looked at the scene before her, and sighed, "Thank you, Sword Master, for saving my Bai Miao clan. However, although the remnant soul of this old monster of rotten bones has been destroyed, the secret technique of the Mother-Child Miasma that he left behind has probably been spread elsewhere."

Wang Xiaohu recalled the water spirit of Taihu Lake and vaguely understood the answer: "His secret technique requires both water and earth elemental spiritual energy. The earth veins of the Southern Frontier nurtured the Mother Miasma, and the water veins of Taihu Lake are probably the place that nurtures the water spirit."

After resting for three days in the Miao village, Aman used the water from the quenching pool to concoct an antidote, curing the tribe's ailments. Bai Sang handed Wang Xiaohu a jade pendant engraved with snake patterns: "This is the 'Water Control Pendant,' left behind by Shi Qing. He said it allows one to hold their breath underwater, which might help you deal with the water monster of Taihu Lake." When leaving Black Stone Mountain, Aman stuffed a large bag of Soul-Gathering Flowers into Wang Xiaohu's bag: "Brother Xiaohu, these flowers can replenish your sword spirit, so be careful."

Traveling eastward, it took half a month to reach Wanghu Town on the shore of Taihu Lake. The town was built along the lake, and every household had fishing nets hanging up, but there were hardly any fishermen to be seen. Only under the old locust tree at the entrance of the town sat a few men with worried faces, holding bowls of wine in their hands, but they couldn't drink a drop.

"Are you here to fish, sir?" A waiter approached Wang Xiaohu and his companion, who were carrying luggage, and whispered, "Don't go down to the lake lately. That water monster is too evil. Last night, it towed a ferry boat down there, and there was an official on board."

Wang Xiaohu found an inn to stay at and went to the lake by moonlight that night. The lake water was as black as ink, and in the reeds on the shore, he could vaguely see several abandoned ferries, their decks covered with scratch marks, as if they had been scratched by some huge creature.

He took out the water-controlling pendant, held it in his hand, and leaped into the lake. The lake water was icy cold, but it automatically parted as he approached the pendant, forming an invisible barrier. By the faint light emitted by the pendant, Wang Xiaohu could see the scene at the bottom of the lake—countless black bone stakes were stuck in the silt, and the skeletons of fishermen were tied to the stakes. Black water plants were wrapped around the skeletons, and there were even eyes growing on the water plants, staring at him eerily.

"It really is a variant of the Mother-Child Miasma," Wang Xiaohu realized. These bone stumps are the carriers of the Mother Miasma, absorbing the spiritual energy of the lake water to give birth to the Child Miasma, which are the aquatic plants that can grab people. And the legendary black-scaled giant serpent is probably an illusion formed by the Child Miasma.

Just as he was about to destroy the bone stake, he suddenly felt a powerful suction coming from the bottom of the lake. Looking down, he saw a crack in the mud, from which countless black arms reached out and grabbed at his ankles.

"They're fragments of the remnant soul of the Old Monster of Rotten Bones!" Wang Xiaohu swung his Demon-Suppressing Sword, severing the arms with his sword energy. But then, even more arms poured out from the gaps, seemingly endless. He suddenly remembered Old Master Ouye's words: the water in the quenching pool counteracts miasma, but he didn't have much water left on him.

Just then, the sound of a pipa drifted across the lake. Su Qingwan also went into the water, holding the pipa, and sat on a piece of driftwood. The sound of the strings flowed with the water, transforming into blades of energy that helped him block the arms.

"Why did you come down here too?" Wang Xiaohu asked, both surprised and delighted.

"You forgot, my Misty Rain Sword Technique borrows the power of water." Su Qingwan's voice was tinged with laughter, and the tone of her strings suddenly rose. "You use the Bone-Destroying Stake, I'll block these things!"

Without further hesitation, Wang Xiaohu unleashed a surge of azure light from the Demon-Suppressing Sword. He incorporated the "Starry Sky" sword technique of the Starry Sky Sword Sect into the water, transforming sword energy into specks of starlight that fell upon the bone stakes. Each time a stake was struck, a shrill scream emanated from the gaps, and the bones on the stake turned to ashes.

As the last bone stake was severed, the cracks at the bottom of the lake gradually closed, and the black water plants lost their luster and sank into the silt. Wang Xiaohu, holding the water-controlling pendant, rose to the surface with Su Qingwan. They saw the blackness of the lake fading, revealing its original clear color.

"Is it over?" Su Qingwan shook the water droplets off her hair, the moonlight shining on her face, a hint of relief in her expression.

"Not yet." Wang Xiaohu looked towards the opposite bank of the lake, where there was an abandoned altar. He could vaguely see a formation similar to the Bone-Eroding Cave on the altar. "Someone is controlling all of this from the other side of the lake. I'm afraid it's not just the Old Monster of Corrupted Bones."

After the two reached the shore, they walked around the lake to the other side. On the altar, a middle-aged man in official robes was holding a bone staff and chanting incantations over the formation. At his feet lay several corpses dressed in black, the very people wearing bronze masks.

"It's you!" Wang Xiaohu recognized the man as the deputy to the governor of Jiangnan, who had supposedly disappeared on a ferry a few days ago. He never expected that the man was the one controlling the Mother-Child Miasma. "Are you the successor of the Old Monster of Rotten Bones?"

The middle-aged man turned around, his face showing no surprise, but instead revealing a strange smile: "The Sword Master is indeed clever. However, I am not the successor, I am the 'new master'—the remnant soul of the Old Monster of Rotten Bones has been refined by me, and now, I am the new master of miasma."

He swung his bone staff, and the ground around the altar cracked open, spewing out black miasma that condensed into a gigantic hand that reached for Wang Xiaohu. Wang Xiaohu simultaneously raised the Demon-Suppressing Sword and the Water-Controlling Pendant. The cyan mark between his brows intertwined with the light of the jade pendant, forming a water curtain in front of him that blocked the miasma hand.

"Your miasma has no effect on me." Wang Xiaohu's voice came through the water curtain. "Do you think you can do whatever you want just because you've refined a remnant soul? Do you know how many innocent people you've killed over the years?"

"Innocent?" The middle-aged man laughed wildly. "I studied hard for ten years, but because I didn't have money to bribe my way out, my superiors prevented me from getting promoted. Those fishermen, they clearly make their living off Taihu Lake, but they refuse to pay 'water tax.' They all deserve to die! This world is a dog-eat-dog world, and I'm just letting them understand that principle!"

Su Qingwan's pipa strings suddenly tightened: "Do you know how many of Aman's people were destroyed because of your mother-child miasma? Do you know how many fishermen in Wanghu Town cry out for their parents at night?"

The stringed sound was like a knife, piercing towards the middle-aged man. He neither dodged nor avoided it, letting the sound penetrate his body. Black miasma gushed from the wounds, but they healed instantly: "It's useless. I have become one with the miasma. Unless you can eradicate all the miasma in the world, you cannot kill me!"

Looking at his crazed state, Wang Xiaohu suddenly thought of Mo Ya from Black Wind Valley and Xue Tu from the Blood Soul Sect. They had all once harbored obsessions, but were ultimately consumed by them, becoming puppets of evil spirits. He took a deep breath, and the azure light on the Demon-Suppressing Sword gradually softened, no longer carrying the sharp killing intent.

"I won't kill you, I just want you to see." Wang Xiaohu's voice was calm yet powerful. The blue mark between his eyebrows emitted a warm light, which spread along the ground, through the miasma, and illuminated the land around the altar—where countless fishermen's skeletons were buried. Beside the skeletons, several tenacious little grasses were peeking out from the cracks in the rocks, struggling to grow despite the erosion of the miasma.

"In this world, there is darkness, and there is light." Wang Xiaohu's sword intent flowed along the light. "There is the law of the jungle, and there is mutual support. You only see the former, but you have forgotten that the latter is the foundation that supports this world."

The middle-aged man looked at the small grasses, the madness on his face gradually fading, replaced by a hint of confusion. Just then, the miasma within him suddenly backfired, from (End of Chapter)