The Path to Immortality Begins with the Life-Extending Lamp

Chapter 235 The return of the soul
Three days later.

Along the banks of the mighty Yangtze River, white paper banners dotted the landscape like a long dragon, and spirit banners hung in abundance. Sorrowful cries called for the souls of the dead. A hexagonal altar was built with four-sided blue bricks, and Li Qing's promise was officially made.

The old Taoist priest who had been stationed at the Three Emperors Taoist Sect to look after the Dharma Boat also received his master's decree and rushed over day and night. At this moment, the old man in blue robes was sitting cross-legged, setting up an altar, and silently reciting the "Scripture of Salvation" for the many evil spirits in the "Zhong Kui Catching Ghosts Picture" on the altar.

This battlefield is where the bones of those soldiers were buried and their bodies sank. Their heavenly souls did not dissipate, and their earthly souls did not collect them. Only their life souls were imprisoned and taken away by Li Qing. Now, Li Qing has brought his old Taoist disciple, who specializes in the power of law and decree, to hold this purification ceremony, so that they will not become lonely ghosts.

Clearly, this old Taoist disciple had been active in Tiannan Prefecture for over a hundred years, and was skilled in laws and spiritual language. He was very adept at this kind of ritual for the deceased, and with the help of Li Qing's soul-summoning supernatural powers, he almost completely collected the souls of the fallen soldiers.

"If this pace continues, the three souls can be collected before they dissipate, and it will only take a few years to transform them into clear-minded ghosts, establishing a Yinhuang Palace in this northern region."

Li Qing stood with his hands behind his back on one side of the altar, observing the changes in the "Zhong Kui Catching Ghosts Picture" with his Yin Eyes open. An air of arrogance unconsciously emanated from his brows, making the soldiers who came from all directions to "help" him feel even more oppressed.

“But does Master really need to build a Yin God Temple for them? With so many spiritual materials used to cultivate these mere Yin spirits… what value could they possibly have?” Linglong Chang crossed her arms, looking somewhat puzzled.

She always obeyed her husband's decisions unconditionally, but today, she felt somewhat resentful.

Gathering houses to form a city, guarding the land to form a god, a local god temple, just the materials needed to establish the foundation for nurturing souls and cultivating spirits are enough to upgrade all sixty levels of the Jiazi cycle.

The master and his men were complete strangers, so why did he treat them so well?
How could Li Qing not know what Linglong had said? He lowered his eyes and glanced at the high altar where the ritual was being performed, his expression deep.

"It's just a matter of wasting some scales, bones, and incense. Jiangbei has been plagued by war for years, and there isn't even a decent Yin God Temple. The lonely ghosts have nowhere to rely on."

"Just doing it as a matter of convenience..."

After glancing at the altar in the distance, Li Qing turned and slowly left. However, the next two words of advice made Linglong so happy that her eyes almost squinted into crescent moons.

"That 'Zhong Kui Catching Ghosts' painting will be taken over by the Faceless Rogue afterward. You are the Rogue Master, so you should perform a ritual for him."

"After our sect offers the head of that mountain god to the Southern Dipper Heaven and seizes his power, we will peel off his immortal divine skin and use it as paper to rebuild the foundation of the Mountain Spirit's Hidden Rumors Law for you."

After speaking, Li Qing paused, turned her head and glanced at Linglong Changzhu one last time.

"You're too weak right now!"

These words, so scathing, left the cunning and arrogant master stunned into silence.

The Paper Rogue Army, while still in the Qi Refining Realm, had once blocked the Purple Mansion Hermit in the Yinghai Dao Mansion. The horde of Paper Rogues swarmed forward, leaving him helpless.

However, as Li Qing's mastery of the ways of ghosts and gods became more and more proficient, the current fighting strength of the Paper Mad Army was clearly no longer able to keep up with that bizarre killing curse.

But the wicked are the wicked; they can strip away the divine skin to make a ghost's clothes, and can instantly transform the Linglong Chang from a paper body into an evil one!

"Hehe, then I must thank the master properly..."

Hearing of such unexpected happiness, how could Linglong Chang not be happy? With a smirk, she quickly followed and giggled as she clung to Li Qing.

Then, on the hilltops more than ten miles away, two generals from the Southern and Northern armies accompanied Elder Shi to the Viewing Platform, where they were also "monitoring" Li Qing.

The mighty Yangtze River is an absolute barrier for the Southern Kingdom, and ordinary Taoists do not have the authority to approach it. This time, Li Qing is here, supposedly to repay the souls of the soldiers who died in his place, but in reality, the Northern Army still has to supervise the whole process.

General Pei, who came from a prestigious family, was dressed in casual clothes today, with a ceremonial sword at his waist. His demeanor was much gentler than before, and he looked more like a scholar.

Seeing that Li Qing was so meticulous in his work, he praised him lightly, saying, "This second son of the Li family is not bad. Although he used the corpses of his comrades to save his own life, which is somewhat evil, his subsequent efforts to make amends show that he is still of good character."

"It's a pity that being so deeply entangled with the Ghost Clan might not be a good thing!"

General Pei seemed to be implying something, turning to Elder Shi and chuckling lightly.

The latter didn't respond, but simply stroked his white beard, seemingly lost in thought.

In any case, the Three Emperors Great Dao Sect had no greed for the Netherworld Palace. Among the many Great Dao Sects, the Three Emperors Sect had lost the most Yin Gods on the Battlefield of the Heavenly Barrier. Now, only two Yin God True Persons were still alive. With the newly submitted Heaven-Mending Daoist lineage, they had no energy to scheme for anything else.

Bringing Li Qing here to test his true nature has instead caused Elder Shi some inner turmoil.

He originally wanted to confirm which family the Cui family behind Li Qing belonged to, but at this moment, the support behind Li Qing became even more elusive.

It is enough to kill even the most powerful Yin God Realm cultivators; this is not something that just any ghost or god clan can possess.

And it is highly likely to be... the Qishan Cui clan, one of the Six Heavenly Crown Clans!
The more he thought about this, the more gloom settled over the heart of the Grand Elder of the Three Sovereigns Sect. The ghost and god clans that had shrouded the Heavenly Capital for tens of thousands of years seemed to have never faded away. Even though the talk of the rise of humanity had filled the Heavenly Capital for hundreds of years, when he looked up, the veil of the Netherworld in the sky still seemed to be there.

The celestial ghosts and spirits hidden behind the scenes never seem to have lost interest in this place.
As he continued thinking, Elder Shi felt even more uneasy...

The other general, who had not witnessed the death of the mountain god, crossed his arms and squinted at the man and woman who had turned and left, feeling that the two beside him were making a mountain out of a molehill.

"Isn't it just summoning ghosts and gods and commanding a large army of magic soldiers?" "If you, Shi Laojun, were to use the true methods of the Three Sovereigns to summon the Four Symbols Heavenly Spirits, wouldn't you be able to overpower that mountain god as well?"

The path of the immortals is obscure and difficult, but once they have spent several cycles of sixty years mastering the foundation of the Dao, they can integrate Daoist techniques, forbidden arts, barriers, magical artifacts, soldiers, spirits... all these protective methods can be combined into one person, making one person an army.

With the support of the immortal sects, each of the Dao disciples is capable of fighting against the Yin gods of the heretical sects.

"But this one is different. He not only has the foundation of a clan, but he also possesses the forbidden method of killing the mountain god with a single blow and severing the arm of the water god with the aftershocks..."

"He himself is merely at the Purple Mansion stage!"

General Pei shook his head and looked at the disappearing figure, a deep sense of apprehension in his heart.

If it's merely a collection of ghosts left behind by the owner's clan of spirits and deities, then it's easy to explain.

After a moment of reflection, Elder Shi, who had been pondering for a long time, bid farewell to the two generals with heavy hearts.

The trip to the North was originally intended to guide Li Qing and Mo Ling, but after Li Qing suddenly beheaded a deity, it was no longer within Elder Shi's control.

Li Qing will not allow anyone to control her!

Upon returning to the camp, Li Qing made no attempt to conceal his presence by summoning the Netherworld Vortex. He then stepped into the Netherworld Qishan Domain, leading the Linglong Mad Lord to act. He proclaimed to the Southern Dipper Heaven that the severed divine head should be offered to the Qishan Three-Legged Cauldron.

The mountain god of the Yin God realm is an extremely high-level offering, even in the clan period of the ghost and god era, it would be the highest-level sacrificial offering.

The divine head never sleeps, and the spiritual blood never congeals. The moment Li Qing stepped into the sacrificial hall of the Dongli Mansion, the head seemed to open its eyes, casting a sharp light that stared directly at Li Qing.

But this is not because the mountain god is not completely dead, but because of its original authority.

Clad in ceremonial robes and carrying a spirit lamp, Li Qing approached the makeshift altar hall step by step, silently gazing at the unwilling divine skull in the cauldron and the skinned divine corpse on the altar.

Originally, he only intended to capture three or five of the Divine Guardians to study them carefully, but as the battlefield changed, he personally went to dangerous situations, schemed against this fiend, and obtained the mountain god's corpse at any cost. This can be described as a gamble with extremely high returns.

“In the past, my cultivation was shallow, and because of this Ghostly Gentleman's name, I was often tormented by such old ghosts.”

"But from this day forward, if they harbor any disloyal thoughts, they must be constantly on guard to see if they still have their heads on their necks!"

With a silent thought, Li Qing struck the three-legged bronze cauldron with his palm, and instantly starlight appeared on the eight corners of the altar, shooting straight from this dark and secluded place to the outer Milky Way.

The ritual of offering sacrifices to the Southern Dipper in the high heavens points south of the Milky Way. No matter how the Heavenly Capital changes over the years, the stars in the Milky Way remain unchanged.

When Li Qing initiated the sacrifice, the stars south of the Milky Way shone brightly. Among them, the fifty-four brightest stars simultaneously lowered a ray of primordial starlight, which fell in accordance with the ritual and landed in the three-legged cauldron. The cold starlight instantly covered the entire divine head, and the erosion and radiation power from the Star Dao instantly turned the divine head into a silvery color.

However, the divine skull was not assimilated into a meteorite; instead, it was visibly eroded and dissolved.

As the mountain god's skull dissolved like snow melting in spring, Li Qing remained standing firmly in the center of the altar, not daring to move an inch.

There are three thousand great paths: the Way of the Universe is boundless, the Way of Time is immeasurable, and the Way of the Soul is unrestrained... Among them, the Way of the Stars, which ranks first, is one of the most terrifying. The light of the stars of all ages reflects the creation and destruction of an entire world. Between the birth and death of each star, the power of the stars is naturally not something that flesh and blood beings can control at will.

Li Qingmo stood on the altar, praising the heavens and carefully sensing the vast laws projected from the starlight.

The study of the Way of Heaven, through the power of one person to influence the laws of all worlds, gives rise to methods and techniques. Only through methods and techniques can beings as insignificant as dust wield the power of the Great Way.

Driven by this meticulously executed ritual, only a single azure star-like pearl remained within the cauldron.

The inside of this bead is a clear, deep blue, with only a single, yellowish thread running through it like a celestial river within the bead. This thread is the entanglement of the main vein of Li Mountain and the precious light of the stars, and is also a gift from the Southern Dipper Heaven.

Li Qing stared at the strange place in the altar. Before she could go forward, she suddenly turned around and looked back. The mountain god's blood corpse that had been placed to one side had long since been stripped of all traces of the Dao with the arrival of the Star Law and turned into a pile of black dust and dispersed.

"Offering sacrifices to Heaven is a transaction with the Great Dao. The sacrificial animals offered are the bargaining chips, and the greater the price, the greater the return."

Li Qing nodded and glanced at it, then stopped thinking about it and followed the ritual of offering sacrifices to the Southern Dipper, raising his hand to take the flowing pearl into his body.

“The starlight illuminates the inner heavens, opening up the mysteries of the Purple Palace like a celestial river beyond the boundary, which will be of great use to this humble Taoist.”

"I don't need to use it to enhance my magical power and primordial energy. The power of stars is not suitable for my main cultivation. I will only use that star bead to open the various acupoints of my Purple Mansion, which is like an inner world. The dragon spine is Mount Buzhou, the Purple Mansion gives birth to the Crimson Palace, the Divine Palace transforms into auspicious clouds, and the lower dantian is the Yellow Springs Weak Water Abyss. It should be like the three realms of heaven, earth, and water, yin within yang, and planned accordingly..."

Using this star bead as a celestial-mending pill for internal cultivation to open up the inner heavenly circulation is sufficient. The inner heavenly circulation is the last shortcoming in Li Qing's Purple Mansion's perfection.

As for the starlight with its corrosive and radiating power, Li Qing, as the master of the sacrificial ritual, should be able to pass on most of the starlight to the Ghost Mother without hindrance after refining it step by step, thus helping her to truly achieve the essence of the Yin God.

(End of this chapter)