fairy family

Chapter 210 Visiting the Immortal Realm, Traveling by Sword

In the cave.

Banners were stuck into the stone wall, and incense sticks as thick as a child's arm were lit, burning with a faint fragrance.

The entire cavern was shrouded in a visible plume of smoke.

Yu Que was sitting cross-legged in the center of the cave, slowly exhaling the extremely rich incense smoke.

After about eighty-one breaths, he opened his eyes, looked around with bright eyes, and stood up abruptly.

He walked with a peculiar gait on the altar above the Netherworld Spring, his divine sense covering the surroundings and checking the restrictions around him.

Living in seclusion in the mountains, one loses track of time.

Now, he has just completed his eighth-grade cultivation and is about to break through to the seventh-grade wandering god realm.

After a thorough inspection, he confirmed that his arrangements were flawless.

He then sat down cross-legged in the very center of the altar.

Immediately, an ancient and elegant ancestral temple sprang from his body and slowly unfolded in the cave, displaying extraordinary and wondrous qualities.

Inside the ancestral temple, one can see nine spirits and deities, each with a different appearance, standing in their respective categories within the Yuque Ancestral Temple.

However, they can be roughly divided into two categories.

One type consists of three household gods that Yu Que captured and condensed himself before joining the Dao Palace. They are snakes and oxen, and their forms are specific.

Another type is the six demon spirits he bound to the temple after he entered the Taoist temple, using the temple's resources.

These ghostly spirits are all in the form of a cloud of ghostly mist, without any specific shape. From a distance, they look like will-o'-the-wisps, floating up and down, quite eerie.

Compared to the former, the latter lacked some of the awe-inspiring power of the gods.

However, the aura they possess is more refined than the former.

Moreover, these spirits were not simply given to Yu Que by the Dao Palace. After they fell into his hands, he used the little black gourd to specially enlighten them.

He made every single ghost spirit reach the seventh rank, a level from which there was no higher quality to be achieved.

It is worth mentioning that even though Yu Que was a true disciple, the Ghost Spirit was still a highly valued creature in the Dao Palace.

If he only needs one or two heads, then the Dao Palace will naturally not refuse and will even give him the best quality ones.

However, he insisted on having six heads, and even the vast Huangshan Taoist Palace couldn't find six top-grade ghost spirits in a short time.

So Yu Que had no choice but to settle for second best, prioritizing quantity over quality, and selected six low- to mid-grade ghost spirits that were not yet old.

His actions reached the Xuan Tu Temple and even attracted the attention of his senior sister, Gong Dongxue.

After all, true disciples cultivate using the essence of ghosts, seeking the purity of this substance rather than speed.

Yu Que is currently only pursuing speed and quantity, not quality, which, in the eyes of outsiders, is indeed a short-sighted approach. Rather than that, it would be better to directly bind non-ghostly spirits and deities.

Faced with this concern, Yu Que could not explain much, so he simply said: It is not for cultivation, but for refining the method.

Furthermore, since Yu Que rarely left his residence, outsiders had no way of monitoring his cultivation progress. Having received this answer, Gong Dongxue stopped asking questions.

Buzz!
On the altar, Yu Que's thoughts stirred.

Nine ghosts and gods, swaying their bodies, floated from his ancestral temple and landed on the altar.

The entire ancestral temple was shrouded in mystery, appearing and disappearing like a mist.

He glanced around at the household gods on either side and took a deep breath:

"It takes three years to break through to the seventh rank after entering the palace. Compared to my two cheap senior brothers, it's a bit slow."

Fortunately, compared to the entire Dao Palace, it was still considered rapid.

In immortal cultivation, the higher one goes, the more time and resources are required for each level, and the more difficult it becomes.

Yu Que was able to complete the cultivation of the eighth rank in three years without any major opportunities, relying solely on the assistance of incense, ghost spirits, and rituals. This was already incredibly fast and powerful for an ordinary disciple.

However, this speed is slightly slow compared to that of the true disciples. But there's nothing that can be done about it, since the true disciples in the palace either have powerful families behind them or have the protection of their masters.

In addition to receiving the privileges of a true disciple, they also have extra resources.

Yu Que stopped thinking about these things. He lowered his eyes and suppressed the distracting thoughts in his mind.

Immediately, a faint human figure appeared above his head.

The figure looked exactly like him; it was his spirit.

Nourished by the surrounding incense offerings, Yu Que's spirit not only showed no signs of adaptation but instead became even more vigorous and powerful. He surveyed the household deities on the altar and suddenly cried out:
"Fellow Daoists, please turn around and enter my belly!"

As soon as the words fell.

His Yin spirit opened its mouth and inhaled sharply, sucking in the nearest hungry ox god, followed by the two-headed snake, the sinister ghost spirit, and so on.

One by one, they all entered the belly of Yu Que's Yin spirit.

His spirit swelled up as a result, his abdomen became very large, and his face became slightly distorted and bloated, just like the giant that appears after a person dies.

Furthermore, wisps of ghostly energy continuously emanated from the seven orifices of his face, wandering around.

Yu Que swallowed the nine ancestral deities. He felt the deities within his body constantly restless, and wisps of ghostly energy were leaking out. Without hesitation, he roared with a ferocious expression:

"Refining!"

With a whoosh, another burst of crowfire rose from his left and right sides, enveloping him.

The ghostly aura surrounding him, swooping and slithering like snakes and insects, frantically burrowed into his Yin spirit.

Yu Que used his own Yin God as a furnace, the nine Ghost Gods as medicine, and various kinds of firewood such as crow fire, incense, and spiritual energy to refine himself and his six internal organs, thus stepping towards the seventh rank.

hoo hoo hoo!
Even though all nine family gods had been honed to perfection by Yu Que, they showed no sign of rebellion.

However, despite the threat of extinction, they still instinctively resisted, roaring incessantly.

Faced with such resistance, Yu Que's Yin spirit didn't even open its eyelids, merely snorting coldly as it intensified the burning of the crow fire.

Next.

In less than an hour, the nine household gods within his body became docile, their instinctive consciousness completely destroyed, and they were now at the mercy of his Yin spirit to assimilate them.

In less than half a day, each of Yu Que Yin Shen's six internal organs received a household deity. With the household deities residing there, the six internal organs gained spiritual power, and the Six Internal Organs Ghost and God Diagram was successfully completed.

Less than three days later.

The six internal organs of Yu Que Yin Shen's body were fully formed, and three other ghost gods merged into the location of his spine.

At this point, all nine of his household gods had merged with him, becoming one with him. The size of his Yin spirit had already exceeded one zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) and was still growing.

This situation surprised Yu Que for a moment.

As far as he knew, the process of breaking through from the eighth-rank Rampaging God to the seventh-rank Wandering God was several times more difficult than the process of going from the ninth-rank to the eighth-rank, and it was also quite dangerous.

Because a seventh-rank wandering deity is an existence capable of detaching from the physical body and roaming freely in the outside world. Based on the lower, middle, and upper ranks, they are further divided into three grades: Starlight Wandering Deity, Silver Moon Wandering Deity, and Golden Sun Wandering Deity.

The Starlight Wanderer refers to a fellow Daoist's Yin spirit that can freely walk under the starry sky when there is no moon, unafraid of wind and rain; the Silver Moon Wanderer refers to a Daoist's Yin spirit that can withstand the burning of moonlight; and the Golden Sun Wanderer refers to a Daoist who can withstand the burning and tempering of sunlight.

Therefore, in order for the spirits to reach a level where they can roam freely in the outside world, the immortals often have to endure great suffering and repeatedly temper the spirits.

Otherwise, even if the nine household gods are combined into one, if they are not properly tempered, the Yin spirit may be severely injured or even have its soul scattered when it goes out and is blown by the wind and rain.

Now that Yu Que has completely refined his nine family gods, he finds that he no longer needs to refine them, as his Yin spirit has already reached a level sufficient to go out.

He vaguely felt that even if he ran under the moon right now, the moonlight wouldn't kill him, a Yin God who had just entered the seventh rank.

He couldn't even sense any fire in the strengthened Yin Spirit; it still needed further refinement.

"Excellent! This is a case of accumulating knowledge and experience before unleashing its full potential."

Yu Que's mind stirred, and he immediately realized why he had broken through so easily.

It must be a combination of various factors such as ghosts, crow fire, asceticism, and the Netherworld.

In his joy, he looked at his over ten-foot-tall spirit and then, with a sway, stepped into the ancestral temple.

A clanging sound immediately rang out in his ancestral temple.

Nourished by the Yin spirit, the ancestral temple, which was several feet in size, began to grow again and soon exceeded ten feet in size.

An even more profound aura filled the cave, demonstrating that the ancestral temple, which was incomplete, also received a significant boost.

After successfully breaking through, Yu Que placed the Yin Spirit in the ancestral temple and carefully refined it.

To his surprise, his feeling was indeed not an illusion.

Although he had just broken through, both his Yin Spirit and his Ancestral Temple became solid and stable within a day, without any sense of emptiness.

After checking repeatedly, Yu Que swiftly shrunk the Yin Spirit and the Ancestral Temple back into his physical body.

He opened his eyes, stood up abruptly from the altar, and his face showed great joy.

"After three years of arduous training, I have achieved the seventh rank, and am only three steps away from the sixth rank!"

Thinking of this, Yu Que couldn't help but clench his fist hard.

He murmured:

"Ninth rank in one year, eighth rank in three years, and then another nine years to complete the cultivation of the seventh rank, and I will be promoted to a great immortal, no longer just a pawn!"

For a moment, his eyes were filled with anticipation. He wanted to start cultivating to the seventh rank right now so that he could break through to become a sixth-rank immortal as soon as possible.

However, even if his foundation is solid and stable, he has just broken through and does not have a seventh-grade ghost spirit in his hands, so it is really not a good time for him to cultivate.

Yu Que's heart stirred, and he suddenly thought of something.

He closed his eyes slightly, and a phantom appeared on his body. Its yin spirit swayed and jumped out of his body in the blink of an eye.

Yu Que controlled the Yin Spirit, moving freely around the physical body and constantly examining his own Yin Spirit form.

After looking him over, he exclaimed in surprise:
"The Ghost Spirit is indeed remarkable. By using it for cultivation, I was able to suppress the strange phenomena brought to me by my other three family gods."

At this moment, his Yin spirit appearance was a completely human form, with no horns on his head, no tail behind him, and no forked tongue in his mouth.

If it weren't for the radiant light emanating from his spirit, given his unremarkable appearance, others would likely mistake him for a recently deceased ghost.

"No. It wasn't that the ghost spirit suppressed the strange phenomena of the household gods. Rather, it was the instinct of my Yin spirit that revived, suppressing the influence brought by the external household gods."

Yu Que observed and pondered, a look of understanding appearing in his eyes.

He was human; whether in his physical form or his spirit, his truest form was human. All the strange phenomena that had occurred before were caused by other ghosts and gods.

Now, two-thirds of the ghosts and spirits he binds at the eighth-rank realm are ghost spirits that do not affect his physical body and yin spirit. Therefore, his human nature naturally becomes stronger, directly overpowering the nature of household gods such as the hungry ox and the two snakes.

However, Yu Que understood immediately, and then a bitter smile appeared on his face.

His spirit lowered its head and suddenly shouted:
"My innate divine power, command!"

Whoosh! A burst of fire flew out of his mouth, like silk threads, instantly enveloping him and forming a fiery cocoon.

This scene, apart from the increased power, was actually no different from the supernatural power he gained when he broke through to the eighth rank.

In other words, Yu Que broke through to the seventh rank but did not develop any new supernatural abilities, and will still only be able to use the old ones in the future.

This made him sigh softly:

"As expected, using the Ghost Spirit for cultivation has both advantages and disadvantages; it has even failed to give birth to supernatural powers."

Fortunately, Yu Que had anticipated this, and he was only slightly disappointed.

He comforted himself:

"Immortals can only possess one kind of supernatural power; as soon as the new one comes, the old one goes."

If a new supernatural power were to be formed, it might not even be as good as the old Calamity Fire supernatural power.

Also.

Yu Que pondered for a moment, then suddenly summoned the White Spine Sword from within his body.

His physical body opened slightly, and a white light, like a ribbon, moved around his Yin spirit.

Looking at the sword blank, Yu Que's mood completely recovered.

"How could most of the world's magical spells and supernatural powers be stronger than my sword embryo!"

His spirit flickered and darted into the White Ridge Sword.

Yu Que used his Yin Spirit to control his sword, moving around the cave like a fish, having a great time.

The seventh-rank wandering immortal has no weak spirit because its yin spirit can already walk outside.

If one were to travel by magical artifact, one could travel hundreds or even thousands of miles away and use flying swords to behead thieves.

Such methods are already extremely remarkable and superior immortal techniques.

After using his Yin spirit to wield the sword for a while, he suddenly saw the sword sway and return to his physical body.

However, he did not intend to return to his physical body; instead, he pointed the tip of his sword at the Netherworld Spring beneath his feet.

The reason why Yu Que's breakthrough today was so smooth is...

The spiritual vein at Mopan Peak played a crucial role in this.

Now that his Yin Spirit has advanced, he can travel long distances on his sword. It's time for him to escape into this Netherworld and head to the ancient mass grave at the foot of Millstone Peak to find out what's going on.

Zheng!
With a thought, Yu Que no longer hesitated and immediately transformed into a mudfish, swaying his body as he burrowed into the yellow mud at the bottom of the Netherworld Spring...

(End of this chapter)