Cultivating Immortality from the Book of Life and Death

Chapter 127 The Black Banner. (Second Update!)

Shujiabao.

Underground mine.

Boom!
With a muffled thud, blood and flesh splattered like rain, revealing Liang Yao's deathly pale face.

At this moment, she was covered in blood, and both arms were severed at the shoulders, revealing stark white bones. Not far away, her ghost servant, who was at the fifth level of the [Tongue-Pulling Hell], was also severely depleted of yin energy, and his body had become translucent.

On the ground in front of Liang Yao lay the corpses of the other cultivators at the fourth level of Qi Refining, lying haphazardly. Each corpse was unrecognizable; some had most of their bodies covered in ore, some had stone horns on their heads and stone wings on their ribs, and some had their facial features twisted into indescribable shapes...

These corpses were surrounded by a chilling aura, their spiritual power as cultivators had almost completely vanished, and the signs of demonic transformation were extremely obvious, making them look like evil ghosts.

Looking at the corpse at her feet, Liang Yao breathed a sigh of relief. It was finally over!

These rogue cultivators who followed her into the underground mine were probably just like her at first, their minds bewitched, believing they had dug up valuable [Crimson Blood Ore], when in reality their bodies had been invaded by Yin energy.

However, she realized something was wrong in time and decisively broke free at the cost of losing both her arms.

However, the other cultivators became increasingly entangled in the illusion, eventually turning into demons.

Fortunately, these cultivators were only at the fourth level of Qi Refining, so the battle ended without any major incident.

Thinking of this, Liang Yao quickly surveyed her surroundings and saw that the mineral veins on the mountainside in front of her had long since dried up, with not a trace of ore left.

She took a deep breath, her mind racing.

The safest thing to do now is to simply return the way we came.

However, he lost both arms on this trip and only received thirty spirit stones as payment. When he returned to Taiping County, he didn't even have enough money for medical treatment!
After a moment's hesitation, Liang Yao was unwilling to leave empty-handed. She sat down to meditate for a while and, after recovering somewhat, took her ghost servant, who had also felt better, and continued deeper into the mine.

The mine had clearly been abandoned for a long time; the ground was covered with a thick layer of dust, and the rock walls on both sides had been completely mined, leaving nothing of value in sight.

A cold, damp wind blew slowly from the depths, as if it were connected to an underground river.

Liang Yao was on high alert and proceeded cautiously.

After walking for a while, she suddenly stopped and looked ahead in surprise.

The road abruptly ended not far in front of her, revealing a massive, abyss-like pit below!
The bottom of the pit was dark and gloomy, and even a cultivator's eyesight could not see it clearly. All that could be seen were piles of white bones, forming a mountain of bones that stretched from the bottom, creating an island-like mountain of bones.

On the mountaintop built of bones, a black banner was stuck diagonally.

The top of the black banner is inlaid with a large skull, surrounded by a dozen smaller skulls, intertwined like goiters; the banner body is pitch black, with two insect-like and bird-like runes outlined in silver patterns. They are made of an unknown material, and are surprisingly soft, floating in the air like flowing water. On both sides are several white ribbons of the same material, swaying and swirling like jellyfish; the base of the banner is a lotus seat, engraved with fine patterns, like some kind of array.

At this moment, rows of pitch-black chains emerged from the surrounding mountain walls, crisscrossing and forming a spiderweb-like web that firmly bound the black banner, preventing it from breaking free from the mountain of bones.

These chains are exactly the same as the chains of the Four Symbols Soul-Suppressing and Spirit-Locking Array in the underground alchemy site of Taiping County!
Upon seeing this scene, Liang Yao was stunned at first, but soon she reacted and her face showed a look of ecstasy.

This black banner must be that magical artifact!
Unexpectedly, the magical artifact that the Jia siblings were looking for was hidden in the deepest part of this underground mine.

I'm so lucky!

We must quickly acquire this magical artifact.

Thinking of this, Liang Yao did not hesitate at all and immediately jumped into the deep pit, stepping on the rugged white bones, and rushed towards the black banner above.

Step, step, step...

After climbing for a while, Liang Yao arrived in front of the black banner. She subconsciously tried to reach out and grab the banner, but her arm passed right through it and she didn't touch anything.

Liang Yao was taken aback. Why couldn't she touch the black banner?
wrong!

My arms are already broken, aren't they?
Realizing something was wrong, she immediately turned around and looked behind her. Above the dark pit, a faint light shone in from outside the mine tunnel, illuminating a figure standing on the edge of the pit. It was a female cultivator whose peach-colored shirt was almost stained black with blood, and whose hair was disheveled.

He stood there stiffly, staring blankly at the black banner, a clear hint of greed on his face.

The figure had both arms broken, and its appearance was extremely familiar.

It was her!
A wave of indescribable fear washed over Liang Yao. Forgetting all about magical artifacts, she immediately fled towards the top of the pit.

However, this deep pit, which a cultivator could easily leap over, was now proving impossible for her, no matter how hard she tried, to get close to her physical body above it.

The distance from the bottom of the pit to the edge was like the difference between heaven and earth; no matter how she ran or climbed, she could not escape the depths of the pit.

Liang Yao grew increasingly terrified, her rationality gradually fading, and a tidal wave seemed to surge through her mind, urging her to leave.

Gradually, Liang Yao stopped thinking about anything and became completely unable to think. All she wanted was to escape this place as soon as possible.

As she fled, she gradually saw many different figures around her.

These figures, just like her, were reckless and single-minded, desperately trying to escape towards the top of the pit.

But within the deep pit, there seemed to be some immense gravitational pull, and no matter what they tried, they could not escape.

At the same moment, above the pit, Liang Yao's body began to rot in a bizarre manner.

Liang Yao grew increasingly anxious. Like the other figures around her, her originally beautiful face gradually became ferocious and resentful, and her entire body began to be filled with a dense aura of yin energy.

Finally, Liang Yao's body, which had been standing on the edge of the pit, completely rotted away, leaving only a stark white skeleton. Without any support, it fell to the bottom of the pit with a "whoosh" and became part of the mountain of bones.

※※※

Shujiabao.

A passageway leading to an underground mine.

Thump, thump, thump... Amidst the heavy footsteps, the Jia siblings ran frantically in a panic.

Qingli, radiating an aura of yin energy, pursued him menacingly.

She was much faster than the Jia siblings ahead, but for some reason, she couldn't catch up with them.

It's as if there's an invisible chasm between the two.

If it were a normal person, they would have noticed something was wrong long ago.

But Qingli had no such thoughts. She immediately sped up, and her arms grew rapidly, like a venomous snake emerging from its hole, as she crossed them and reached out to grab the Jia siblings.

Boom boom boom...

Qingli's arms kept gripping the solid mountain walls, the ground, and the top of the tunnel. Each strike caused a loud bang in the tunnel, followed by flying sand and stones, and a flurry of dust.

Amidst the billowing smoke and dust, the Jia siblings, their heads and faces covered in sand and gravel, did not bother to wipe it off as they desperately fled.

Soon, a portal appeared ahead; we had arrived at the underground mine!

The brother and sister fled into the mine without stopping, and as soon as they entered, they saw corpses lying all over the ground. There was not much blood on the ground, and each corpse was particularly strange, with a strong sense of yin energy.

The Jia siblings glanced at the mine briefly, their faces turning pale. They dared not linger and continued their escape deeper into the mine.

Amidst the biting wind, Qingli quickly followed into the mine, maintaining her speed. With a few swings of her four arms, she casually smashed several corpses on the ground, continuing her pursuit of the Jia siblings...

(End of this chapter)