The Path to Immortality Begins with the Life-Extending Lamp

Chapter 195 Sun God Cult
The paper demon blocked the road, and the Taoist priest, carrying a lantern, finally managed to suppress and kill the wandering evil spirit that had been roaming the day for days. Then, a streak of light fell from the horizon.

With a wave of his hand, Li Qing caused the cloud dragon created from the primordial energy to immediately transform into the purest primordial energy, circling the sky three times before returning to his sleeve.

This is a Qi cultivation method from the Hall of Ten Thousand Laws, called "Azure Dragon in the Sleeve." Li Qing incorporated the Auspicious Cloud Method and Profound Origin Qi into that method, making it even more agile!

At this moment, the Taoist priest appeared, standing amidst the ruins of what was once the Banan border village, now a deep pit. The fierce sun-roaming beast guarded him, while the red dragon coiled in the sky. The distant stream of light, having fallen halfway down, suddenly dared not approach any further.

Just as it hesitated, a scorching aura suddenly rose in the sky, and dragon flames spread for several miles, forcing the stream of light to reveal its form.

It was a middle-aged man wearing a wide-sleeved short-collared robe. He was over eight feet tall, dressed in a robe of the Ba Kingdom gods, and had a face with sharp features, which seemed extremely tough.

The man raised his sleeve and released a strange golden light, which blocked the dragon flames of the "Candle," splitting it in two and rushing out to the sides, but it failed to have any effect.

However, as soon as the crimson flames disappeared, the enormous dragon head immediately closed in on the middle-aged man. Its six crowns and dragon horns resembled crowns, and its cold, vertical pupils were filled with ruthlessness, sending chills down one's spine.

As soon as the red dragon got close, the man raised his palm and pushed, and a nine-headed bird totem immediately lit up on the divine bird robe. Between the golden patterns of the totem, the true fire of the sun rolled, and when it collided with the dragon, they were each pushed back by a hundred feet.

Adorned in a cloud-patterned robe and a seven-star lotus crown, holding a celestial lantern in his hand, surrounded by six energies, he glanced sideways, his expression one of utter disdain…

The Crimson Dragon of the Purple Mansion Realm and the Raging Sun Wanderer of the Same Purple Mansion Realm will once again protect this person.

What a grand ceremony!

The deity of Baqiu Nanzhou looked surprised and took a few steps back before slowly calming himself down and carefully examining the Taoist priest in front of him.

Could they have come from the east?
"Who are you? This is the territory of Banan. Why are you here?"

This man spoke in broken Southern Mandarin, yet he had heard of Li Qing.

"Just passing by."

Upon hearing this, Li Qing heard the Taoist flick his right finger, drawing in the old ghost's remaining aura and transforming it into a dense, gloomy ghostly atmosphere at his fingertip, before probing in front of the deity.

The fighting at this gate was quite intense, with the Crimson Blaze attacking in succession and the Ghost Realm spreading out. The divine priest on the other side couldn't possibly be unaware of it.

He offered further explanations, then with a wave of his sleeve, the hordes of demons returned to their places, and a faint white smoke spread out. The Primordial Royal Chariot immediately emerged from that illusion, and after two steps, he ascended the chariot, lowered the beaded curtain, and Li Qing began to head west.

"Candle" received the decree and ceased its entanglement with the divine priest. Crimson flames danced on its tail and mane. With a single spiral, it shot a thousand feet away, soaring to the side of the royal carriage, and began to depart with Li Qing.

Such a decisive approach immediately made the priest of Banan raise an eyebrow.

He is indeed a Taoist priest from the South!
Recently, a great calamity has arisen in the Shenyuan Ghost River in southern Xinjiang. Various fierce ghosts have been unleashed and have already devoured several post stations in Banan. It is likely that the southern kingdom downstream of the Shenyuan River will not be an exception.

Coming from the east and going to the west, could he also be here to govern the Ghost River?
The priest's expression immediately changed, and he looked at the fiery cloud behind the red dragon's tail, pondering.

"The sect is mobilizing its forces to besiege that cult organization in the Zhongdu Tianqian area, but there are no more people in the Southern Frontier. I don't even have enough manpower to investigate the ghost plague."

"This is the fifth post station to be devoured by vengeful ghosts. It seems that a powerful ghost has already infiltrated the heart of Baqiu. This is truly terrible!"

"This person must be a core member of the immortal sect in the Southern Kingdom. With such a powerful army protecting him, he is almost comparable to a branch of a divine sect in a province. Why don't we find this person and sound him out?"

The Southern Kingdom and the Ba Kingdom have always been close allies. The ancient Shu Baqiu region often sent precious medicinal herbs such as Ganoderma lucidum and Ginseng to the Jinling Prefecture. Perhaps we can ask for their help!
And that female Taoist priest who just came from the north...

The priest of Banan Prefecture quickly came up with a plan. He turned his divine light around and flew up to catch up with the royal carriage and the red dragon that were riding the wind.

Li Qingfang sat on the soft couch of the royal carriage, his fingertips folding up a stack of spirit paper, which transformed into three or five paper cranes, hovering over the river surface, surveying the gloomy and ghostly aura that was hard to conceal in the water.

A three-finger-sized phoenix-tailed butterfly fluttered around the talisman altar of the royal carriage. This was a spirit butterfly that had been acquired during the founding ceremony of the Five Poisons Sect. It had lived in the royal carriage for a long time, feeding on the purple incense and red candle smoke of the altar, as if it had become a guardian of the altar.

After playing with the phoenix butterfly for a moment inside the carriage, the Ba Kingdom's divine priest, whom he had just met, transformed into a stream of light and blocked the carriage's path once more.

"Fellow Daoists from the South, please wait!"

The deity landed before the carriage, and upon meeting it, bowed in a gesture of respect, saying, "Fellow Daoist, please wait."

"Fellow Daoist, have you come because of this treacherous Ghost River? I am Sichen, a priest of the Sun God Cult in Banan Prefecture. Perhaps I can be of assistance to you."

The god of prayer immediately pointed out the target, stopped Li Qing in her tracks, and then stepped forward to slowly recount the events of the Western Capital.

It turns out that there was once an ancient kingdom south of Ba, named Shu, which had a glorious era thousands of years ago.

After its destruction, a Yinshan Mountain gradually formed in this southern border region. It was not the underworld of Youtian, but a blessed land of Yinshan Mountain that belonged exclusively to the land of Tiandu.

This Yinshan Mountain is named "Huailian"!
The hundred ghosts in the mountains received the imperial edict and honored the orders of the Ghost Ancestor. The city was named Huailian Ghost City. It existed during the era when the six heavenly ghost gods ruled the world. It is a true earthly ghost kingdom that has experienced two eras.

In the Baqiu area, many families even privately worship statues of the Ghost Ancestor Huailian and the Ghost Ancestor Fengdu.

According to the information obtained by the Sun God Cult, the Ghost Ancestor who had lived for over a thousand years in Huailian Yin Mountain had passed away. Two Ghost Lords at the Yin God Realm fought fiercely for the position of Ghost Ancestor of Huailian, causing the Yin Mountain to crack for three hundred miles and forcing all the ghosts to flee.

Pakistan has sent letters of mediation and orders, but all to no avail...

"You mean, two Yin God Ghost Lords are locked in a fierce battle?"

Li Qing lifted the beaded curtain with her right hand and asked in confusion.

Three hundred miles of locust trees connect the Yin Mountains, and the soul returns to Haoli. Traveling back and forth through the locust trees, there were once several extremely large Yin Mountains underworlds on the land of Tiandu.

The Yin Mountain spirits on Earth are different from the Six Heavens ancestral spirits. The latter are enshrined in ancestral temples, with incense burning continuously, and their souls return to the Yin Heaven. They are respected ghosts and ancestral spirits.

But many more impoverished people have no ancestral temples, no homes, no graves. Heaven does not take them in, and earth does not nurture them. They are lonely ghosts, without offerings or food, wandering among desolate graves and wild hills.

These wandering ghosts are extremely pitiful, often chased and torn apart by spirit monsters such as foxes, wolves, tigers, and oxen, or devoured by mountain spirits. Their spirit bodies are always incomplete.

Fortunately, the Ghost Ancestor attained enlightenment and established Yinshan Ghost Cities such as Haoli, Huailian, Xuanfu, and the City of the Wrongfully Dead, which can be considered as giving the Yin spirits in Tiandu a place to settle down.

The path of ghosts is not a benevolent path. Everyone thinks that becoming a ghost after death is something extraordinary. But apart from those clans, what talk of ghosts and gods is there?
Everyone wants to get rid of evil spirits as soon as possible, but they forget that the lowest level of spirits are also among all spirits, and are the greatest regret that the living yearn for. How guilty they are...

Li Qing had heard of "Haoli Yinshan", "Wangsicheng" and "Yindu Xuanfu" before. These were all ghost towns in Yinshan from ancient times, the final resting place of many lost souls.

But Huai Lianyin Mountain is ruled by two Yin Gods and Ghost Lords, right? Even if they each control their own territory, how could they not keep the old ghosts under their command in Yin Mountain? Li Qing frowned, showing some hesitation.

A Yin God Realm Lord-level ghost god is not someone to be trifled with. Don't be fooled by the fact that Li Qing lost face with "Yinghuo" and almost cursed "Taibai" to death. That day was a true life-or-death struggle, and the slightest mistake would have resulted in his death.

If Li Qing were to have another chance, perhaps he would make a different choice!

With two Ghost Lords at the Yin God Realm in the world, it is absolutely impossible to go to Huailian Yin Mountain again.

"Yes, there are two ghost kings. One is Liu Lang, a fisherman from Yuze Island. It is said that he returned from a trip four hundred years ago and made great achievements in the Huazhou of that marshland."

"A nameless, homeless, and surnameless man who calls himself the Jade Spirit God is a ghost lord born in Yin Mountain."

"That Yu Liulang has met with the governors of both prefectures of my Ba Kingdom. He is a wise and virtuous ghost king. Perhaps we could go and pay our respects, appeal to the governors about the changes in the Yuan River, and ask them to take action to recapture the hundred ghosts?"

At this moment, the divine oracle named Sichen finally revealed his true intentions.

Several months ago, the Ba Kingdom had intended to send a deity to Yinshan to pay homage and stop the fight between the two ghost kings.

However, a sudden change occurred north of Baqiu. Someone attacked Yan Valley and set their sights on the Sun God Bird, which was almost halfway to the realm of the Sun God. They intended to shake the foundation of the Sun God Cult, causing a great uproar within the cult!
But... if he could find someone to help him, then Yu Liulang is quite greedy, and he shouldn't be stingy in cleaning up the mess he's made.

Seeing Li Qing raise an eyebrow and remain silent in thought, the priest stepped forward again and said:
"Several powerful demons have already broken into the Ba Kingdom. These are fierce demons capable of breaking through the divine fire totem of the Southern Frontier. If we are not careful, it could lead to the destruction of a village and the annihilation of a stronghold. The Southern Kingdom is closely connected to us, so how could we be spared?"

"Our Baqiu, with its four prefectures and five continents, has a vast and fertile land. Over the years, thanks to the protection of our gods, the Banan Prefecture has accumulated a considerable amount of resources."

"Fellow Daoist must also be a core member of one of the Five Immortal Sects. Could you escort me to Huailian Yin Mountain?"

"How about we offer a high-quality medicinal herb equivalent to three million Daozhu in your country as betrothal gifts?"

Five hundred years after the nine-headed phoenix landed in the western capital, it was worshipped by the people as a national protector totem. Even the Sun God Cult emerged, which truly brought good weather and abundant harvests to this corner of the capital, Baqiu, for hundreds of years, earning it the reputation of Baqiu Medicine Hill.

Hiring a disciple of the ancient Daoist lineage of the North or a direct descendant of the immortal sect of the South for three million... is worthwhile as long as it can successfully suppress the chaos in the Abyss River.

Furthermore, the starting price for the Yin-attribute medicinal herbs that Si Chen prepared as gifts for those two Ghost Lords was eight million units of resources!

This is no small feat.

Li Qing looked at the man with suspicion, thinking to herself that one cannot judge a book by its cover.

This person seems to have half of his strength in that phoenix totem, and he follows the ancient path of sacrificial spirits. Compared to others, he doesn't seem to have the combat power of a Purple Mansion Foundation cultivator, yet he casually mentions three million Dao Zhu.

Just as there was still some hesitation, the priest raised his hand and tossed an agate thumb ring into the carriage.

"Here is a deposit of one million. May I ask which immortal sect you belong to? I can write a letter and send it to your sect, traveling day and night, using a spirit talisman to deliver the message. Before midnight tonight, I will have the official document from the Southern Kingdom sent to your immortal sect!"

The Sun God Cult wielded unparalleled power over the Kingdom of Ba. Despite being a seemingly ordinary but powerful deity, his words could sway the decisions of the court and directly impact both countries.

This is the power of national authority, which is quite different from the path of immortality.

Of course, Si Chen also had his own selfish motives. The Ba Kingdom was currently beset by troubles on all sides, with a powerful demon wreaking havoc in the southern border. If he could quell the demonic scourge at this time, upon his return, he might be promoted to the position of Grand Priest and bestowed with the true Phoenix Totem. At that time, he could ascend to the heavens in a single step!
For him, the biggest risk was nothing more than misappropriating some funds.

Li Qing raised her hand and took the jade thumb ring, only to find that it was a storage ring. Inside, in a mustard seed space of nearly a hundred square meters, spirit paper, old ginseng, and medicinal roots were neatly arranged, and it was indeed worth more than a million Dao Zhu.

"Ahem, brother, your preparations are indeed thorough, but if it's just the two of us, it seems..."

"What if those two ghost lords harbor rebellious intentions?"

To be frank, Li Qing has indeed spent all the resources he accumulated from his overseas travels recently, and he is quite tempted by the three million medicinal herbs.

Before he could worry, the oracle of dawn waved his hand and said:
"The ruler of that ghost city has always received a lot of support from the Southern Capital. He would never act so recklessly for such a small gain. He should be able to weigh the difference between a full meal and a full meal every day."

"It's not just the two of us. There's also a female Taoist priest who just came from the north of the Imperial Dynasty. She is also a member of the Xuanmen lineage, a high-ranking official in the Purple Mansion, and her magic is mysterious and extraordinary."

"With the help of these two, even ordinary ghost generals would have to give way!"

The more Si Chen spoke, the more confident he seemed.

However, this Abyss Ghost River is indeed like that. Its source comes from an unspeakable place, and after five hundred years of strange changes, it has given rise to an endless stream of water ghosts in this abyss.

The Ghost City of Huailian on the side is even older than the Yuanhe River. To get rid of this calamity, we can only ask the Ghost King in the Ghost City to take action. All the ghosts are registered in Huailian Yinshan. We can arrest them one by one by name. This is far better than the defense along the river by the Ba Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom.

"Indeed, only the Ghost City of Yinshan can subdue this ghostly scourge!"

"But your words are too absolute. The battle between two Ghost Lords that caused Yin Mountain to collapse is not something you can compare to the difference between a full meal and a full meal every day."

"Perhaps the Fishing Ghost Lord secretly hopes that Fellow Daoist Sichen will die in Yinshan, and then use the power of the Southern Kingdom to help him seize the position of Ghost Ancestor Huailian..."

Li Qing nodded slightly, then slowly shook her head. Her words, which struck at the heart, made Si Shenzhu tremble.

He had already thought of it by now, but he really wanted to take the gamble. The authority of the sacrificial spirits in Ba Kingdom was much easier to obtain than through arduous cultivation. He really didn't want to give up this opportunity for great merit!
How can a man not want to take a chance in this world?
Unfortunately, this Taoist priest saw it all too clearly.

"Unless... eight million Dao Zhu, and you first pay me five million, then send the commission to the Southern Kingdom, one copy each to Jinling and Tiannan Temple!"

"If you are willing, I will protect you at all costs, even if the Ghost Lord has to take action!"

"This humble Taoist comes from Tiannan Linyuan - Tiannan Temple, Guilang - Li Qing."

Li Qing lifted the beaded curtain of the palanquin, stepped out of the palanquin, and slowly pointed his right finger at the priest.

In that instant, Li Qing's entire right finger was enveloped by the Netherworld Black Water. A chilling, desperate, and all-consuming terror instantly gripped Si Chen's heart. The twisted and decadent Dharma intent descended like an endless night, causing his body to be covered in cold sweat and turn into frost, freezing him completely white.

"Huh...eight million is eight million!"

"Fellow Daoist is indeed extraordinary. I, Si, have been blind to your true nature."

(End of this chapter)