The Path to Immortality Begins with the Life-Extending Lamp

Chapter 194 Paper Profuse Will Add Members

The upper reaches of the Yuan River have reached the land of Banan.

Baqiu, the western capital, is located southwest of Tiandu. The earth's energy and the wood's energy are intertwined. As the saying goes, the land shapes its people. The people of Ba are taller and thinner, with prominent features, and are resilient and determined. The appearance of the Ba people is more aggressive than that of people from the south.

In front of the gates and fortresses in the southern border of the Naba Kingdom, a torch totem is often adorned with nine-colored feathers, like a beacon tower, completely separating the two sides of the land below the mountain.

The totem itself was merely an ordinary object, but the golden flames on the torch seemed to be alive, each leaping motion completely unique, and its indescribable pressure was enough to keep ghosts and monsters within a radius of several miles away from approaching.

However, right there at the gate of a remote village on the right side of the Yuan River under the golden flame totem, an ominous atmosphere filled the air, and the corpses of the postmen lay scattered on all sides of the village, covered in livid mortis.

Even the sun bird totem atop the gate was dimmed, its light fading like a flickering candle in the ghostly mist.

As Li Qing, who was coming from the east with a lantern, sensed something, his deathly gray eyes cast a gaze, and he happened to see the scene of the great demon swallowing the totem fire in one gulp.

The seven-foot-tall old ghost, dressed in a black burial robe, with skin as withered as an old tree and speckled with corpse spots, swallowed the entire golden flame torch whole in one gulp.

Even though the sun demon fire kept shooting out golden light from its seven hollow orifices, the flames were still suppressed after the black mist churned for a few breaths.

The old ghost, having swallowed real fire, was still not satisfied. After stiffly twisting his head halfway around, he cast his chilling gaze onto Li Qing on the river surface.

"Oh? You can even devour the demonic fire that separated from that divine bird in one gulp, you old ghost who travels to the extreme of day and night?"

Li Qing held the lamp and glanced sideways at the ghostly mist.

The gates and villages along the Ba Kingdom each have their own totems, which are said to originate from the "Sun God" Phoenix in the Western Capital Yan Valley, and are said to be a wisp of demonic fire from the divine bird.

Ordinary wandering ghosts would avoid this wisp of demonic fire totem and flee, but who would have thought that this old ghost would destroy an entire post station and devour the divine fire totem alive.

If it were to break into the land of Banan, it would likely be another tragedy of a village being wiped out by its totem.

Even when Li Qing, this ghost boy surrounded by the faint aura of the Yin Mother, passed by, that old ghost actually dared to take the initiative to attack!

The old ghost on the shore stiffly turned around, his withered hands faintly covered with blue spots. He merely raised his ghostly hand and made a grasping motion, and Li Qing immediately felt a chill run down his spine. In the darkness, an immense pressure descended without reason, pressing down three feet above his head, as if an invisible cage had trapped Li Qing in place, and annihilation was about to befall him.

Before the ghostly curse could even strike, Li Qing held up the Qionghua in his hand, formed a precious seal with his fingers, and the Xuan Yuan Qi of the Heavenly Palace above his head first transformed into dragon Qi, then manifested as the Dipper, which appeared above his head as the stars of the Southern Dipper.

The invisible attack struck the strange phenomenon of the Southern Dipper, immediately leaving its mark. It was a ghostly aura, chilling and bone-chilling, that lunged at Li Qing's head, only to be blocked by the Southern Dipper's profound primordial energy in the blink of an eye. Before the two forces could even clash, the power of the Dipper's celestial energy, originating from the Heavenly Palace's profound primordial energy, shifted the ghostly aura, swallowing it all into the Dipper's balance. After circulating for a full cycle, it transformed into pure profound primordial energy.

The Southern Dipper's life-extending technique has finally achieved a minor success. This Heavenly Mansion Profound Origin Qi is no longer only capable of resisting tangible things; even the baseless incantations cannot penetrate it any further.

To break through the Southern Dipper's head, Tianfu Xuanyuan, one must first have three-tenths of its power worn away and three-tenths of its essence absorbed by that primordial energy. This energy truly grows stronger with each battle, hence its name of prolonging life and immortality.

Li Qing casually blocked the old ghost's attack. He gathered his primordial energy at his fingertips, forming a wisp of clear light that swirled around him. With a tremor of the Qionghua Spirit Lamp in his left hand, fifty-four stars immediately took shape. Their brilliance was like falling stars, as large as the sun, with molten flames and starlight flowing together, pushing straight towards the mountain ridge gate.

Rumble…

The deafening explosion, like a mountain collapsing and the earth splitting, immediately shook the mountains.

As soon as the fire technique was unleashed, Li Qing did not linger. He gathered the Heavenly Mansion Profound Origin Mother Qi and flicked it, instantly extending a hundred-foot-long Qi blade from the tips of his two fingers.

This is what is meant by gathering energy to form a blade, cutting off breath and suspending life.

Li Qing lifted the spirit lamp in his left hand, slung it over his shoulder, and moved with incredible speed. The surrounding energy trembled for miles around, and in an instant, he covered a distance of over five hundred feet. A cold light flashed, and the pair of withered, charred ghost hands were immediately severed at the root and fell into the deep pit.

"Oh? Is this a ghost realm or..."

As soon as the attack was successful, Li Qingping raised his right hand to his side and flicked his fingertips. The primordial energy scattered like a dragon, and the old ghost also turned into a cloud of yin energy and disappeared into nothingness. It drifted back several feet before regrouping into its original form as an old ghost.

"It doesn't matter. This fire technique of mine is not the Five Elements Fire Technique, but the Starry Sky Fire, a combination of the Flame Dao and the Starry Sky Dao. The stars are in the sky, holding the lives of all spirits, and spiritual bodies and demonic bodies are treated equally..."

The Great Dao of the Universe and Stars is an extremely rare Dao principle. How can one comprehend this Dao without leaving the Heavenly Capital Great Realm?
The reason why Nan Dou Yan Ming possesses various extraordinary abilities is because he borrows life from Heaven!
The cosmic river and star system possesses an extremely terrifying corrosive and radiating power, from which even evil spirits and ghosts cannot escape.

Just like the withered old ghost at this moment, although his true form was fully revealed, his body seemed to be tainted by something foreign. Even his gloomy aura was distorted by an unknown force, and a faint wail echoed.

Li Qing glared at the old ghost, his fingertips flashing with Yuan Qi as he condensed his Xuan Yin Yuan Qi. He then tossed together the Tianfu Xuan Yuan Qi and a wisp of Yuanshi Ancestral Qi from between his brows into the air, instantly transforming it into a celebratory cloud above his head. However, as the cloud churned, it instantly transformed into the form of a dragon, its head ferocious, its six horns resembling a crown, its body slender, and its legs coiled around it.

The distant "Candle" was so shocked that its pupils dilated: "Isn't that me?"

The auspicious clouds reaching the sky, the creation of the Qi Dao, fused the Heavenly Palace Profound Origin and the Profound Yin Original Qi into one. As soon as the dragon spirit appeared, it contained the strange image of the Southern Dipper and the Dipper Balance. It crashed into the old ghost, and immediately its claws and teeth came out. It rammed head to head with the old ghost. Its spiritual energy had three major characteristics: the meaning of the star spirit, the coldness of the Profound Yin, and the continuity of the Heavenly Palace.

Originally a ten-zhang-long dragon, after more than thirty rounds of fierce fighting, it grew stronger with each battle, exhaling and exhaling yin energy for a moment, and soon it had grown to more than thirty zhang in size.

After a fierce struggle lasting only a short while, the old ghost's yin energy dissipated. At some point, the clouds and rain in the mountains began to drizzle down. The old ghost was knocked back by the six-pointed cloud dragon. In the hazy rain, another brave and imposing figure fell down.

The burly armored man clasped his hands together and unleashed a powerful hand axe from the sky, drawing upon a surge of yin energy to cleave the old ghost to the bottom of the ravine, tearing a hundred-foot-deep chasm in its wake. Then, the flying man exhaled, creating a cloud of corpses like smoke, a black smoke like a lock, binding the old ghost's limbs together, preventing it from dissolving into yin energy and escaping.

The faceless demon, carrying two talismans, took a step forward, and within a thousand feet, all five senses and six perceptions were overwhelmed. Shouts of battle filled the sky, and countless skeletons, wielding pitchforks and spears, transformed into ghost servants and charged out, all thrusting towards the old demon...

Oh?
Li Qing's right hand, which had just been raised to activate the Soul-Summoning Ghost Script, froze in mid-air, somewhat surprised by Zhu Chang's performance.

"Great!"

"Whoever can take the head of this old ghost, I will personally temper the old ghost's Yin energy and life spirit with lightning and fire."

Previously, Zhu Gang had performed poorly in the final of the Qingping Grand Competition, and Li Qing had not paid much attention to them for a long time. Unexpectedly, today, this group of scoundrels jumped out on their own and surrounded and killed that old ghost, You Riyou.

It did, however, have a somewhat ferocious air about it!

However, Li Qing had truly misunderstood them. With the Yuan Magnetic Heavy Domain possessing the true power of the Law Domain, even those Dao Sons at the Purple Mansion Foundation stage were instantly shaken, bleeding from all seven orifices and suffering severe internal injuries. How much more so for them? This was an innate form of suppression.

The horde of madmen also sensed the Dao Lord's alienation, and at this moment they took the initiative to jump out. Their hearts were filled with rage. The twelve madmen and the cloud dragon joined forces and fiercely surrounded and killed the old ghost in front of them.

Among all the demons, there was one wandering demon who was the most cunning. With an unremarkable aura, an unremarkable appearance, and unremarkable strength, it took advantage of the moment when the cloud dragon charged headfirst into the ground, hiding among the six horns. When the two fought to the very end, this wandering demon used the Five Ghosts Shifting Technique from under the old ghost's wound torn by the dragon's horns, first stealing the old ghost's five internal organs, then cutting open its abdomen, causing the half-refined Solar Demon Fire to fall out...

"Done?"

Li Qing dispelled his soul-summoning magic and stood aside to observe the actions of the horde of madmen. When he finally saw the wandering madman, he clapped his hands in admiration and exclaimed, "Another daytime wandering madman is about to be created!"

These three wandering ghosts were originally created during the same period as the Jia ghosts. They were created by sacrificing wandering corpses in the Western Mang Mountains. They were born with the ability to move freely within the Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, and could perform the Five Ghosts Teleportation Technique.

Now that the wandering spirit has developed its intelligence, how can it not have the opportunity to travel by day?

Looking back at the scene, the withered old ghost was pushed to the ground and surrounded by a group of savages. Just as the Linglong Savage Master unleashed his blood claws, the Flying Savage took the lead, plucked off the old ghost's head, and presented it to Li Qing.

"That's really good, it's yours!"

In that case, there's no need to put in any more effort. Li Qing walked slowly to the gatehouse and unleashed a burst of thunder and fire with a wave of his hand, shattering the old ghost into two parts of Yin spirit, the turbid being the soul essence and the pure being the spirit essence. They rolled to the ground along with a netherworld bead the size of a pigeon egg.

The flying beast resembled a middle-aged man, pale-skinned, extremely tall and thin, with wings on its back. It held up the three objects and knelt on one knee before Li Qing.

After receiving permission, Fei Chang's face lit up with joy. He took a deep breath, inhaled the soul essence into his nostrils, and then swallowed the Nether Pearl into his stomach.

The hordes of people are still extremely fearful of Li Qing, not only because of his strength, but also because of a deep-seated fear.

Paper altars, life-extending lamps, soul-summoning magic... all of these were forged by treading on the bones of hundreds of ghosts and spirits. In the realm of ghosts, Ghost Lord, you can truly stop little ghosts from crying at night!
"You're not bad either. The Three Wanderers originated from the skin of the Wandering Corpse Ghost, and their true nature is to be a thousand tricks and intricate tricks that can be hidden in the formless."

"Find the three lost ghost skins of Linglong, and later return to the altar to prepare for the Daytime Travel Ritual..."

Seeing that the flying demon had won the first prize, Li Qingyuan looked at the wandering demon that had swallowed the withered old ghost's internal organs and demonic fire, and nodded.

"Thank you, Daoist Master!"

The unremarkable wandering beast bowed its head in worship, but its body trembled.

The four madmen in front each had their own set of four divine images and symbols on the altar, while the three wandering madmen and the five faceless madmen could only share one image each. This meant that the offerings they received were much less than those of the former.

Those who also originated from the Paper Spirits also compete with each other, and the disparity in strength is becoming increasingly significant.

I fear that in the near future, once the lord has completed the ritual of consecrating sixty Jiazi (a Chinese sexagenary cycle) paper altars, the positions of the chief and assistant chiefs will truly be fixed.

Once this wandering spirit awakened its intelligence, it became extremely intelligent, almost on par with the exquisite wandering spirit.

In Li Qing's deathly gray eyes, one could even see subtle changes occurring in the fire in the belly of the wandering beast and its internal organs.

The five internal organs of the temple ghost that ignited the temple fire—a fine lineage!

Li Qing glanced sideways at the Linglong Chang, whose hideous blood claws had materialized, and shouted with a laugh:
"Serves you right! Who taught you to become so pampered after you started practicing the 'Mountain Spirit Law'? If you keep going like this, your position as the overlord will be taken over!"

Linglong Chang's most primal talent is her blood-stained sleeves and ghostly claws, capable of tearing apart wandering corpses. Despite her delicate appearance, her power far surpasses that of Fei Chang and Wumian Chang, and she is almost on par with Yinjia Chang.

This guy, he's been putting on airs like a tyrant for so long, he won't make a move unless he has to, but today he finally got his chance stolen by Fei Chang...

These words made Linglong the Mad Master cry out in injustice. She was always one to stir up trouble. It was clearly Li Qing who told her to stay behind and maintain the Ghost Realm, not to let it go forward and take action.

How could he slander someone's innocence out of thin air!

(End of this chapter)