Mythology

Chapter 384 Infiltrating the Twenty-Four Heavens

Jiepai Pass, the Taoist temple on Liuya Island.

Lingya Xian sat cross-legged on a red jade lotus platform, his three pairs of white fangs unconsciously rubbing together, making a teeth-grinding crunching sound.

He opened his eyes, a hint of unease flashing in his pupils.

"Strange thing."

Lingya Xian repeatedly calculated with her fingers, but the divination results remained unclear. "The Immortal Slaughtering Formation hasn't been activated, so where will my calamity come from?"

"This calamity is not like the Yin energy of the Immortal Slaughtering Formation, but more like a man-made disaster."

"Could it be that some deity or immortal is plotting against me?"

After a moment of contemplation, Lingya Xian tapped the lotus platform with her finger.

Not long after, a middle-aged Taoist priest with an elephant's head and a human body walked slowly over, exuding the cultivation of a true immortal, with a string of copper coins hanging from his waist.

It was none other than the eldest disciple, the True Man Du'e.

"Master."

Du'e Zhenren surrendered to Lingya Xian in the Nine Turns Yellow River Formation. After the formation was broken, he did not die and instead sat with the Seven Immortals to guard Jiepai Pass.

Lingya Xian stared at him for a long time, a fleeting sense of unfamiliarity rising in her heart.

Upon closer inspection, Du'e Zhenren's walking posture was slightly awkward, and his right shoulder was half an inch lower than he remembered. However, upon further reflection, he realized that his disciple had always had this habit.

"Master Du'e, has anything unusual happened at Jiepai Pass recently?" Lingya Xian asked in a deep voice.

Master Du'e cupped his hands in reply: "Reporting to Master, the Daoist temple is peaceful and quiet, but the Daoist Ran Deng's temple has been causing quite a commotion."

The cave was deathly silent for a moment, then the Spirit Tooth Fairy shook his tusks in frustration.

"Go on," Lingya Xian said wearily, closing her eyes to rest. "Inspect the dojo one more time."

Master Du'e bowed and left, plunging the cave into complete darkness.

His posture became increasingly bizarre, as if his neck could not support the enormous elephant head, and one could see that the front of his Taoist robe was already soaked with pus and blood.

A cold wind blew, lifting a corner of the Taoist robe.

The exposed arms of the True Man Du'e were covered with deep grooves, which was completely inconsistent with the image of a middle-aged Taoist priest, making him look like a dying old Taoist priest.

His mouth was slightly open, and the voice he spoke was extremely hoarse.

"Unfortunately, one cannot stay in the mortal world for long."

.........

Yang He secluded himself for three days, and the pure Yin energy flowed continuously through his meridians.

The proportion of Yin energy provided by the Myriad Transformations Heavenly Dao Field has been increasing, unknowingly reaching a full 60%, and he no longer needs to rely on the external environment.

Three days is a short time, but the progress of the ascension to immortality is still as if divinely aided.

Within a month at most, I will be able to reach the peak of the Tribulation Transcending Realm.

Meow~~

The black cat sat in meditation in the corner, its body enveloped in a five-colored halo. Under the care of its godfather, Tong Gui, it had recently broken through to the Tribulation Transcending Realm, and its cultivation was progressing by leaps and bounds.

suddenly.

boom.

The entire subway station shook violently.

Yang He got up and walked out of the seclusion room. He saw a faint yin energy surging from the depths of the tunnel, mixed with an unpleasant smell of karmic fire.

He surveyed the Ten Absolute Cities and learned that the tunnel could now lead to Mount Lingjiu.

"While the Immortal Slaughtering Formation hasn't yet gained momentum, let's have a go at that old schemer."

Yang He was very curious about the thing that the Twenty-Four Heavens had given birth to. To be honest, although he could take back the Twenty-Four Heavens at any time, he might not be able to get his hands on this thing. It was necessary for him to make a trip.

He sent a message to his children, then took his own life.

[Your character, the Three Corpses Taoist, has died; the story has ended.]

The electric wires were entangled around the Three Corpse Taoist, and then the body was placed back in the secluded meditation room.

In just a short moment, a gaunt figure appeared on the subway platform, devoid of any yang energy, his aura neither human nor ghostly. "Hehe."

"It's quite convenient for the Imperial Yin Ghost Immortal to play the role, right here in the Myriad Transformations Heavenly Dao Arena."

Yang He smoothly switched between his alternate accounts, a feat only Shen Gongbao could accomplish without any psychological burden. Furthermore, after mastering the Puppet Immortal, the power of the Yin Ghost Immortal was no less than that of the Three Corpse Daoist.

After getting used to the ghostly spirit for a while, he disappeared into the tunnel.

Since the Immortal Slaughtering Formation was set up by a sage, digging a rat hole was already the limit, and there could not possibly be a flesh-and-blood subway to ride on.

Even the tunnel that Yang He passed through, which Yang Dalang used to conceal his presence, began to collapse.

Yang He walked for an unknown amount of time in the dark tunnel, surrounded only by cold, damp rock walls, while the smell of karmic fire grew stronger.

Finally, he stopped at the end of the tunnel.

Looking up and around, Yang He found an inconspicuous crack at the top of the tunnel.

His body swayed slightly, and he immediately dispersed into a wisp of yin energy that entered the crack. The tunnel collapsed completely half a breath later, leaving no trace.

Passing through the crack, one could hear chanting again.

Yang He found himself on the edge of Lingjiu Mountain, where the temple grounds were full of magnificent temples, numbering two or three hundred at first glance.

There were countless ascetics, and not only were they all ordinary people, but most of them were elderly.

"I need to find the location of the old Yin Bi. The aura of the Twenty-Four Heavens is faintly visible, and I don't know where it is hidden by Randeng."

Yang He transformed into a wisp of yin wind and wandered around the outskirts of Lingjiu Mountain.

To go any deeper, one must possess a spirit, otherwise there is a risk of exposure. The reason I was able to remain safe and sound on Lingjiu Mountain was because of the mixed aura of the mortal world, which even the Taoist Ran Deng had no time to worry about.

In front of each temple, there were withered ascetic monks kneeling, their lips cracked and their eyes sunken, yet they still tirelessly struck the wooden fish and chanted sutras.

"Ten days of fasting, neither drinking nor eating."

Yang He heard the abbot repeatedly admonishing, "This is the ancient teaching of the Burning Lamp Immortal. Those who can endure five days may enter the inner temple to comprehend the true Dharma."

Just then, a commotion suddenly broke out on the east side.

Yang He quickly followed, only to see three white-haired old monks fall to the ground one after another.

Immediately, a monk stepped forward to check his breathing.

“One person died on the sixth day, his mind was pure and useful; two people died on the fourth day, they were useless.”

They skillfully wrapped the corpses of those who had fasted for six days in white cloth, plugged their eyes, ears, mouth, and nose with jade, and used straw mats to cover the corpses of those who had fasted for four days.

Yang He quietly possessed the corpse wrapped in white cloth.

Through the gaps in the fabric, one could see monks carrying three corpses through the many temples.

Just as they passed a stove, the monks carrying straw mats suddenly stopped and lifted the stove opening, which was covered with scriptures of the Rebirth Mantra.

"hiss."

Yang He caught a glimpse of it and saw countless charred bones piled up inside, some of the still-burnt limbs even twitching slightly.

"More firewood has been added."

The monk grinned and threw the two corpses, who had fasted for four days, directly into the furnace.

The flames crackled and popped.

Yang He squinted and noticed that the crackling flames on the corpse were somewhat mottled, indicating that such methods were only fueling the karmic fire.

"Damn it, the temples where that old schemer is in charge of the Immortal Slaughtering Formation must also be a celestial court."

"The Celestial Court, a place specifically for breeding karmic fire."

"Speaking of which, given the efficiency of this funeral, the mortals in the world of legends probably can't keep up with the old fox's schemes. It seems there are other celestial courts that can mass-produce monks. That's really strange."

The two monks carrying Yang He's possessed corpse quickened their pace and left the furnace.

Yang He overheard their conversation and learned that corpses that had fasted for more than five days were directly handed over to Daoist Ran Deng to be enlightened into immortals.

As for the so-called immortals, they are likely just living immortals on the branches of a fake Heavenly Dao tree.

"Let's sneak into the Twenty-Four Heavens and take a look."

(End of this chapter)