Chongming Xianzong

Chapter 550 The Devil's Clever Scheme in Dingzhou
—Outside the barrier of the Cold Raven Mountains, in a certain demon land
As a ray of bluish-gray light slowly seeped into the pitch-black cave, golden energy began to emanate from the blood hole in Peng Daoren's shoulder.

It is unknown which expert has enlightened him, but it turns out that the place where Xiang Tianxing imprinted the rune is now just a layer of white flesh. Even someone as powerful as the Master of the Star-Picking Pavilion may not be able to find his whereabouts.

At this time, the wound that was as big as a bowl was covered with granulation tissue. It would often be torn apart again by the residual golden energy just as the spiritual energy was stimulating it to heal, and thick blood would spurt out. This happened repeatedly, and it was extremely difficult for it to return to normal.

However, the current situation is much better than it was at the beginning.

That Fei family son-in-law was indeed cunning, and his use of the pupil technique was perfectly timed. If it weren't for the fact that Master Peng had already teetered on the brink of death countless times, he might have perished on the spot. To die so ignominiously at the hands of a junior is truly laughable.

The sunlight gradually moved onto Peng Daoren's shoulder, urging him to dispel his worries and open his eyes.

At this moment, there were still several third-grade pills on the low table in front of him. After all, he was one of the top alchemists in the southern part of the mountain. As long as he could find the necessary resources, it was not difficult for him to devise a method to heal his injuries, unlike ordinary people.

But as the ministers and advisors took the elixir in turn, the person's complexion improved considerably.

But suddenly, something strange happened in his inner dantian. In just a few breaths, his face turned ashen and he was in unspeakable pain.

Peng Daoren immediately changed his hand gestures, and then a thunderous sound seemed to rise from his abdomen.

After the sound, Master Peng transformed the elixir that had just entered his stomach and was not yet fully refined into qi, and slowly released it from his seven orifices, carrying with him the chronic illness in his body.

It wasn't until it coalesced into a ball of dark blue spiritual energy that it floated and trembled in mid-air, making the golden lines between his eyebrows appear and disappear.

A mouthful of blood spurted out of its mouth without warning, scalding the ground covered with runes and restrictions. Suddenly, a large amount of white steam rose from the steam, instantly dispersing the dark blue spiritual energy.

The cold jade bed he sat on was indeed a third-tier treasure; without any prompting, it immediately emitted a large amount of snow-white frost mist. However, the frost mist, which was usually ineffective in healing injuries, was completely useless this time. As soon as it appeared, it was swirled into spirals and dispersed by Peng Daoren's disordered alchemical breath.

Black blood gushed uncontrollably from the corner of Peng Daoren's mouth, and the magic seal in his hand had already broken open. Half of the flesh on his index finger was completely wiped away by the fierce impact.

Even so, the Taoist priest did not give up. Even though his two fingers had exposed white bones, he still forcibly broke through the black spiritual light that was binding him and pressed it back together.

When the crisp sound of finger bones touching each other rang out, Peng Daoren felt no pain. He didn't care that the remaining bone membrane on his fingertips had already formed lines and disappeared most of it. He just mumbled a bunch of curses: "Backlash, backlash, wickedness, wickedness."

As soon as the cursing subsided, Master Peng felt that the Myriad Soul Banner, which he had been nurturing in his dantian and was about to regain its original form, had completely lost control. It was like a mother beast that had lost her cubs, recklessly crashing against the cage that imprisoned it.

At the same time, countless cries of resentment and wailing seemed to explode in his ears, forcing him to subconsciously shut off his senses. However, he was almost overwhelmed by the mournful sounds that rang in his heart and could barely hold on.

"You think a mere remnant spirit can scare your grandfather?!"

Peng Daoren seemed to be angered, and he let out a strange "heh heh" laugh. Then, a huge surge of evil energy rose up around him, which turned the golden line between his eyebrows into pitch black and covered his face with a "funny" look.

However, the Myriad Soul Banner, which Peng Daoren had poured countless efforts into, was indeed a top-grade third-tier magic weapon that was extremely close to a spiritual treasure.

One by one, the ghosts that Peng Daoren knew very well appeared in the back of the dantian. Some had green faces and fangs, some were affectionate, and some had a sad face. They all held weapons and had a strong fierce aura. The ghosts that were in Peng Daoren’s golden core trembled.

"You bastards!! If I can refine you once, I can refine you twice!!"

Instead of being angry, Master Peng laughed. He was already extremely familiar with the spirit seal in his hand. Even though the sharp ghostly howl shook his seven orifices, causing blood to flow from them and leaving him in a disheveled state, he still had a resolute expression on his face and showed no fear whatsoever.

The emerging ghosts felt powerful, incomparably strong chains of spiritual energy reappear around them. The spiritual light on the Myriad Souls Banner dimmed, and a fierce suction force appeared, trying to pull them all back into the seal.

This change naturally terrified the students of the Ghost School, who had finally gained a chance to be free, and they all waited for the most outstanding and robust one among them to step forward.

Unlike the other ghosts, he summoned and snapped the spirit-patterned chains before him with his bare hands. This caused the veins on the back of Peng Daoren's already convulsing hand to throb uncontrollably, and the web of his hand, used for hand seals, to instantly break open, gushing blood. This provoked the Daoist to mutter angrily:

"Chen Ye."

The ghost school formed from Chen Ye's wild soul was in Peng Daoren's dantian, but it did not emit a fierce howl like the other ghost schools.

When it heard Peng Daoren call it by its original name, no strange light appeared in its eyes. It simply kept murmuring in a low voice, "Chen Ye. Longevity Cultivation."

The obsession in those two words was frighteningly strong. Even Peng Daoren, a peak Golden Core cultivator, felt his Dao heart tremble slightly after hearing it for a long time.

Heaven knows what it took for Chen Ye, since he was taken into the Ten Thousand Souls Banner by Peng Daoren nearly a hundred years ago, to grow from a true cultivator's soul into the banner's number one ghost school.

It took the subjugation of several Golden Core Ghost Schools to accomplish this, which shows that Chen Wild Soul is indeed valuable. Even though it is almost completely meaningless, it still cannot overshadow its desire for the Dao.

Suddenly, Chen Ye stopped muttering to himself, raised his halberd, and all the ghostly officers shouted in unison at his command, summoning countless gruesome ghostly faces on the originally calm banner.

In an instant, the beams of eerie green light on the banner converged into a single beam, rushing towards Peng Daoren's golden core within his Niwan Palace, following Chen Ye's direction. The latter's expression changed drastically, but even with his fingers twisted and broken, he couldn't regain any control of the Myriad Souls Banner. With Chen Ye suddenly taking the lead, the group of ghost students clearly no longer knew fear. They fearlessly followed the beam of light, one after another, rushing towards the location of Peng Daoren's golden core.

Even though they were quickly burned into ghostly energy and dissipated into smoke by Danhua and then absorbed back into Chen Ye's burly body, it did not frighten them into stopping their actions.

Gradually, after being infused with the superior ghostly energy scattered around, Chen Ye's eyes became brighter and brighter. The intelligence he once possessed seemed to slowly return, which made him even more determined to annihilate Peng Daoren's golden core.

"Peng Daoren, Kang Dabao, and Heilü Daoren are all enemies. If it's for the sake of immortality, I can let them all go without a second thought!"

But just as this thought arose in his mind, and seeing that Peng Daoren's golden core was almost dim and lifeless, and that Chen Ye could destroy its very foundation with a wave of his hand, a wild laugh rang out from outside:
"You bastard! Your ancestor's efforts in raising you were not in vain!!"

Peng Daoren used his inner vision to detect a change in Chen Ye's eyes. He had abandoned his previous feigned distress and instead showed a look of wild joy.

Without the slightest hesitation, a jade pendant appeared in his hand, and with a breath of foul air, it crumbled into dust once more.

At the same time, Chen Ye suddenly felt that he had lost control of the magical artifact behind him.

Chen Ye had just broken free from the invisible shackles that had bound him for nearly a century, but now he felt that what had been his reliance had become a hindrance. He was now firmly bound by them again, and his freedom was elusive.

"Ha, do you really think your ancestor didn't know that you've been secretly devouring your own kind to strengthen yourself all these years? How naive and childish! I just wanted to see if you could grow into the kind of person I wanted."

Chen Ye felt that the countless eerie green eyes on the banner behind him immediately closed, and he could no longer see any strange appearance.

Peng Daoren's smugness was hard to conceal, and the flesh that had been torn open by his hands was slowly growing back.

He didn't care about any of that. He simply urged the golden core in his Niwan Palace to emit rays of mysterious light, which easily erased Chen Ye's barely recovered consciousness, which had already lost all support.

Afterwards, Peng Daoren's smile deepened even more. He spent another cup of tea's time before finally taking Chen Ye and the few remaining ghosts into the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, which had already been greatly revitalized.

No wonder Peng Daoren was overjoyed. He had risked everything to refine the Myriad Soul Banner, and it was a very close call. It was only because it lacked a top-grade main soul to suppress the banner that the hidden danger could be resolved. Now that it was finally successful, he would have the power to protect himself if he faced Fei Tianqin again in the future.

"cough cough"

Two soft coughs pulled him back from his reverie. At that moment, the joy that had arisen on his face due to his excitement gradually faded, and his original ashen complexion reappeared.

He hastily swallowed a few more pills. Challenging Fei Tianqin was a matter for the future; if he didn't focus on healing his injuries now, his life would be in danger very soon!
Time flowed by silently, like water. Finally, after an unknown amount of time, a strange voice could be heard outside the cave:
"Is Fellow Daoist Peng feeling better? Demon Commander Feng Yun wishes to see you, so please come out as soon as possible."

————Xiao Huanshan, Chongmingzong
Xu Liuxian had not entered the gates of Chongming Sect for quite some time.

However, his visit this time was not honorable, because the Yun Gu Zhang family, who had just moved from the capital, had been too arrogant and had repeatedly provoked and beaten members of the Han Shan Sect at the border between the two families, which forced Xu Liuxian to come to complain.

Duan Anle, who rushed to the hall to greet Xu Liuxian, had already guessed Xu Liuxian's purpose for coming, but he was quite annoyed.

The reason is that even if the Zhang family of Yun Gu is indeed a bit arrogant, they are still one of the dowry members of my master's wife, so it is not appropriate to criticize them lightly.

Needless to say, Xu Liuxian was even more so. The Hanshan Sect had only reached its current size thanks to the support of the Chongming Sect. The two families had a friendship that started from humble beginnings, so it was even more inappropriate for him not to show favoritism.

Looking back now, this small Yunjiao Prefecture could only accommodate the two respectable families, Nan Niu and Bei Yue, back then. Now, however, there is a Golden Core sect and more than ten fake Golden Core sects operating here. Resources are finite, after all; it would be strange if there weren't some disputes.

But if one disregards principles and only tries to smooth things over, where is Duan Anle's style? After saying this, he whispered to Xu Liuxian:
"Please wait a few more days, Senior Xu. My master is still traveling and has not yet returned. Once he returns, he will surely give you justice."

"Oh?" Xu Liuxian looked surprised and then asked, "I wonder where you went and what you did? Young friend, could you tell me?"
“Of course,” Duan Anle chuckled, approaching Xu Liuxian to refill his teacup with utmost respect. Afterward, he said in a low voice:
"After the last battle, Wu Feng Shangxiu left Dingzhou vacant, lacking a Golden Core leader. His disciple, Zhou Yunxian, also lacked any management skills, so he wanted to hand over Dingzhou to the Duke of Qin's mansion for disposal."

"What do you mean, young friend?" Xu Liuxian's eyes immediately lit up.

"My family is still a major sect at the Golden Core stage, how could we be left out of such a matter?" Duan Anle laughed, then added, "Fellow Daoist Xu, why don't you start picking through the treasures of Dingzhou and see what products are a good fit for your family?"

“What’s the point of fighting over this little bit of spiritual land right now?” Duan Anle pretended to be profound. “Once we take over Dingzhou, my family will get a genuine third-tier spiritual vein and a Golden Core cultivation ground. Would Senior Xu still refuse?”

“That’s natural, that’s natural!” Xu Liuxian nodded repeatedly. After all, Hong County, as a county, really couldn’t afford to support a master alchemist like him, let alone compete with other families for resources.

Chongming Zongkang, the Grand Master, has always been generous. If he were to truly control two prefectures, he might even be willing to bestow upon Xiaohuan Mountain as a reward.

"I wonder when Sect Leader Kang will return?"

(End of this chapter)