Cultivating Immortality from the Book of Life and Death

Chapter 199 The Elegant Gathering. (First Update!)

some time ago.

The wind rustles through the trees, causing the branches and leaves to sway gently.

The stream is hidden to the side, with only the sound of its murmuring water, mixed with various natural sounds, lingering in the air.

Amidst the sound of the well pulley, the wheels rolled over the grass, releasing a faint fragrance tinged with moisture. Wang Xianming, dressed in a black robe and wearing silver wristbands, walked in front of the T-shaped cart.

His body emanated the cultivation fluctuations of the seventh level of Qi Refining, and behind him was the corpse puppet pulling the cart.

As he walked, he suddenly realized something was wrong. He looked up and saw that the forest floor, which was gradually brightening, was empty. The vehicles ahead, along with the cultivators escorting the taxes, had all disappeared!
The sound of waves crashing and the babbling of streams all around created a wild and tranquil atmosphere, with an eerie quality amidst the serenity.

Wang Xianming's expression changed, and he immediately shouted to the people behind him, "Everyone, come here!"

The next moment, four cultivators dressed in different styles walked quickly to Wang Xianming. Among them, there were three men and one woman. The tall male cultivator, the short and stocky male cultivator, and the only female cultivator were all at the sixth level of Qi Refining. Only one young cultivator wearing a brown and yellow robe was at the fifth level of Qi Refining.

As soon as the four arrived, they were about to inquire about the situation when they saw the swaying bamboo shadows all around, but there was no trace of the convoy ahead. In fact, the weeds in front of them stood straight and tall, without any signs of vehicles running over them. Their expressions immediately changed.

The tall male cultivator immediately asked, "The elegant gathering of Baozhen Valley has appeared?"

Wang Xianming nodded slowly with a solemn expression and said, "It should be!"

"I have never been to a literary gathering, but I have heard that it is filled with all kinds of paintings."

"There's only bamboo forest here; not a single painting in sight."

"So, it must have been the caravan that encountered the gathering."

"Fortunately, they have Senior Lu Maohong in charge, so they should be fine."

"From now on, slow down your pace. Once Senior Lu Maohong and his group come out of the gathering, they can catch up with us as soon as possible and reunite."

Upon hearing this, the other four cultivators all breathed a sigh of relief, as long as they hadn't stumbled upon the gathering!
The female cultivator asked, "Fellow Daoist Wang, should we notify the convoy behind us now?"

"Without Senior Lu Maohong attracting a large number of powerful ghosts ahead, the journey ahead will definitely be much more dangerous."

Wang Xianming shook his head and calmly replied, "Our mission as the five of us is to protect the taxes in the 'T'-shaped cart."

"Whether other vehicles get into accidents is none of our business."

“From this moment on, none of us five shall leave the ‘T’ car for even a moment.”

"Now, I'll slow the vehicle down."

"The convoys behind will come over and ask if they notice any problems."

"In this way, we don't need to risk scattering our manpower to notify everyone one by one."

As he spoke, he took out an array plate from his storage bag, infused it with spiritual power, and prepared to control the corpse puppet pulling the cart to slow down.

However, after Wang Xianming activated the array plate, the corpse puppet in the "T"-shaped chariot did not react at all and continued to move forward at the initial speed.

Wang Xianming activated the array plate several times in succession, but the corpse puppet remained unmoved, as if the array plate had failed and he could not control the corpse puppet at all!
He immediately frowned, not understanding what was going on.
The other four cultivators looked at this scene and exchanged bewildered glances.

Just then, a tall and burly figure strode in from behind. He was eight feet tall, with dark skin, and carried a long sword on his back. It was Yuan Zhi.

Yuan Zhi passed the "T" car and was about to continue forward when his gaze swept across the road ahead and he suddenly froze. Where were the "A", "B", and "C" cars in front of him?
Noticing Yuan Zhi suddenly approaching from behind, Wang Xianming snapped out of his daze, looked at Yuan Zhi, and asked, "Fellow Daoist Yuan, what's wrong?" Yuan Zhi's expression changed, and he replied with a furrowed brow, "Fellow Daoist Wang, the three carriages behind us, 'Xin,' 'Ren,' and 'Gui,' have all disappeared. I've come to find Senior Lu Maohong."

The three vehicles, “Xin”, “Ren”, and “Gui”, also disappeared.

Wang Xianming was stunned for a moment, then quickly replied, "The convoy in front of us also suddenly disappeared just now."

"It's possible that the first three cars in the entire convoy, as well as the last three cars, all encountered the gathering."

"After all, I heard that there are many paintings at the gathering, but there isn't a single one here."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Zhi gradually realized something, and his expression instantly darkened.

As he spoke, Wang Xianming once again activated the array plate in his palm. The spiritual energy within the array plate surged rapidly for a moment, but the corpse puppet remained uncontrollable.

Seeing that Wang Xianming seemed to want to try again, Yuan Zhi realized something and immediately asked with a grim expression, "Is it because the array plate can't control the corpse puppet?"

Wang Xianming nodded and said, "Yes!"

"This array was fine during the day..."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Zhi shook his head slightly and replied in a low voice, "It's not a problem with the array plate."

"Instead, we encountered a literary gathering!"

"What has truly disappeared now is not the six cars in front and behind, but our four cars: 'Ding,' 'Wu,' 'Ji,' and 'Geng.'"

Wang Xianming frowned immediately and asked very seriously, "Fellow Daoist Yuan, have you ever participated in a literary gathering?"

Yuan Zhi nodded, but didn't have time to explain too much. He said directly, "The reason we can't see the scroll right now is because we are currently inside one of the scrolls in the gathering."

"All marks used to enslave ghosts and corpse puppets will become ineffective as long as they are not depicted in this scroll!"

"The corpse puppets have no intelligence and will only act according to the instructions given before entering the gathering."

"That's why your array plate suddenly lost control of the corpse puppet."

In a painting?
The expressions of the five people in the "T"-shaped car instantly turned extremely ugly.

All five of them had heard of the elegant gatherings in Baozhen Valley, but none of them had ever actually experienced them.

This is the first time they've heard of the situation Yuan Zhi is describing!
At this moment, the tall cultivator suddenly felt his face was wet and a little itchy, and he subconsciously raised his hand to scratch his face.

Upon seeing this, Yuan Zhi's pupils dilated slightly, and he immediately shouted, "Don't move!"

However, before he could finish speaking, the tall monk scratched his face.

The tall monk felt a slight coolness at his fingertips, as if he had touched something soft, damp, and sticky, which was stuck to his nails.

Looking down, he saw that his fingernails were full of fresh ink, which was emitting a faint ink fragrance.

The tall cultivator was taken aback. When he looked up, he saw that ink was slowly seeping from the spot on his face where he had just scratched. The ink was thick and sticky, like blood, and flowed down his cheeks. Wherever the ink flowed, flesh, bones, clothes... all quickly melted and blurred, turning into a murky ink stain.

(End of this chapter)