Dao Qi Wu Zang Guan Guan: I became a Daoist Master in the 1990s

Chapter 155 Even Gods Have to Be Mortals

After leaving Hongnong Prefecture, Qi Yun, Song Feng, and Yan Chifeng headed southwest towards Nanping Mountain.

The official road was deserted, and the number of starving corpses along the way gradually decreased. This was not due to a revival of life, but rather because those who could escape had already fled, and those who could not escape had become the withered bones by the roadside and food for the circling crows. A desolate atmosphere pervaded the world.

On the way, Qi Yun asked Yan Chifeng if he knew the location of the four altars of Qingwei Temple, since Yan Chifeng had been in Yongzhou for a long time.

Yan Chifeng looked ashamed and said he knew nothing about it.

At this moment, the old Taoist priest Songfeng suddenly said, "Since that evil Taoist priest of Qingwei Temple uses Yin energy and death energy to refine evil objects, I suddenly remembered that in my half-scroll of magical lineage, besides the plague-repelling talisman, there is also a 'Yin-seeking and evil-detecting talisman,' which may be able to sense the direction of Yin energy and track the exact location of the corpse-refining site!"

Upon hearing this, Qi Yun's eyes flashed with a sharp light: "Oh? Fellow Daoist has all the necessary talismans on you, very good! Quickly, try them out!"

Upon receiving the order, the old Taoist priest Songfeng dared not delay. He immediately took out three neatly cut yellow talismans drawn with cinnabar from his inner pocket.

The talisman was written with flowing, powerful strokes, its ancient and mysterious runes exuding an air of mystery.

He took a deep breath, traced his fingertips across the talisman, silently chanted the incantation, and then uttered a low shout: "Command!"

However, the talisman only glowed slightly before dimming, without any other unusual phenomena.

A hint of embarrassment flashed across Songfeng Laodao's face: "Uh... my cultivation is low, and my true qi is not enough to fully activate the spiritual effect of this talisman. It can only make it slightly sensitive, but it cannot manifest any trace of yin energy."

Qi Yun extended his hand: "It's alright, let me give it a try."

This was his first time encountering the art of talismans, and he was quite curious.

Songfeng quickly handed over a talisman.

Qi Yun pinched the talisman between two fingers, and with a slight thought, transferred half of the milky white true qi into it.

The moment the talisman came into contact with the true qi, it spontaneously combusted without fire, instantly transforming into a cloud of turquoise smoke. Instead of dissipating, it seemed to possess a spirit, swirling between Qi Yun's fingers as he held the talisman, a cool sensation seeping into his skin.

Qi Yun suddenly felt a slight coolness between his brows, and his vision suddenly changed!
The desolate mountain landscape remains, but countless wisps of thin, ink-like black mist suddenly rise from the ground!

These black wisps seeped from the soil, cracks in the rocks, and even from the bones, rising gracefully into the air as if drawn by an invisible force, converging towards the southwest like rivers flowing into the sea.

In the far distance, at the edge of the horizon, these scattered yin energies had converged into a thick, dark pillar that was visible to the naked eye, eerie and terrifying, piercing straight into the sky!

The column of air slowly rotated, devouring the black energy surging in from all directions, like an ancient behemoth constantly absorbing the life and resentment of the Yongzhou land!

"This...this is the Yin-Yang Furnace set up by the Imperial Advisor?"

It can actually extract the yin energy of an entire prefecture!

Qi Yun was also stunned by this grand gesture that covered an entire prefecture, his eyes gleaming with wonder and his heart filled with dread.

Although Yan Chifeng could not see the strange phenomenon, he knew from Qi Yun's expression that it was no ordinary matter, and hurriedly asked, "Daoist, what did you see?"

Qi Yun then recounted what she had seen.

"This sorcerer... truly possesses incredible supernatural powers! This... this is simply the ability to change the world!" Yan Chifeng exclaimed in amazement after hearing this.

Seeing this, the old Taoist priest Songfeng shook his head and said, "Even a Celestial Master would find it difficult to cover an entire prefecture with his own power."

This was by no means the work of one person; it must have involved the use of extremely powerful altars and formations to guide the inherent Yin and death energy within the mountains and rivers of Yongzhou to a specific location.

The Qingwei Temple on Nanping Mountain must be an extremely yin place, naturally able to gather yin energy.

The sorcerers were merely going with the flow, exploiting and amplifying it.

"If we simply follow the area where the yin energy is most concentrated, we will surely find a corpse-refining altar!"

A moment later, the talisman's power was exhausted, and the green smoke dissipated.

"There's no time to lose. Follow the direction indicated by the yin energy and go!"

late at night.

Inside a side hall of an ancestral hall in a deserted village.

Wang Shuanzi suddenly woke up from his nightmare, drenched in cold sweat, his heart pounding like a drum, and he was panting heavily.

In the darkness, he could still see Li Ergou's twisted and ferocious face.

His face was swollen and bluish-black, his eyes bulged and bloodshot, and his mouth was stretched to his ears, revealing jagged, yellowed teeth that had been gnawed on, with dark red meat shreds stuck between them.

The most terrifying thing was his body. There was a huge hole in his chest, and his internal organs were vaguely visible. His skin was covered with teeth marks and tearing marks, dripping black blood. He was making a strange "hoarse" laugh and kept chasing after him, wanting him to taste what it was like to be eaten alive.

"Ergou...Ergou, brother...I'm sorry...I'm sorry!" Wang Shuanzi huddled in the cold hay, muttering to himself, his body trembling uncontrollably.

Ever since that night in the dilapidated temple, when he cried as he ate the piece of flesh with the birthmark on it, his world had completely collapsed.

Fear, guilt, and despair nearly consumed him.

But then, the instinct for survival and the excruciating hunger forced him to make a choice.

He was taken back to the village by the tall, strong man, Liu San.

This place turned out to be a stronghold of the Chiyang Dharma Altar under the Qingwei Temple.

To his surprise, there was food here! Although it was rough, it was enough to fill his stomach.

The altar master said it was out of the compassion of the abbot that he had taken in these unfortunate people. But he soon discovered that some people, including Liu San, would still occasionally sneak out to "hunt for food" even when they had food.

They said they were suffering from a "meat addiction" and that food tasted bland.

At first, Wang Shuanzi was terrified, but over time, listening to them talk about the "texture" and "taste" with relish, and even being half-forced to get a small piece of roasted meat, his deep-seated, sinful appetite was actually aroused.

He went from initial fear and resistance to numbness, and finally... he gradually adapted.

Every night, Li Ergou would appear in his dreams on time, roaring and chasing after him, reminding him of what he had done.

He heard that the altar master was incredibly powerful and wanted to teach them "immortal techniques".

As long as one cultivates immortal techniques, one can become an immortal and never experience pain, hunger, cold, or nightmares again.

Those who followed Liu San the earliest, including Liu San himself, had already "received the immortal techniques" a few days ago and never came out after entering the main hall of the ancestral hall.

The altar master said that they had already ascended to immortality.

Wang Shuanzi gradually became an "old-timer" and was told that it would soon be his turn.

He felt both excited and slightly doubtful.

Is becoming an immortal really that simple?

He was so tired from standing guard all day that he secretly slipped back to the side room of the ancestral hall where miscellaneous items were stored to sleep, telling his companions to wake him up when they left.

Who would have thought that those murderers would completely forget about him!

When I woke up, it was already dark outside the window. The ancestral hall was deathly silent, and I could hear the clanging sound of a lock being put on coming from the direction of the main gate.

At night, when the "divine arts are transmitted," the ancestral hall must be locked from the outside!

Wang Shuanzi panicked instantly. If the altar master found out that he was still in the ancestral hall at night, he would probably lose his chance to become an immortal!

He scrambled to his feet, crouched low, and tried to climb over the low wall on the west side of the ancestral hall.

Just as he tiptoed to the corner of the wall, a muffled thud suddenly came from the direction of the main hall, followed by a series of hurried and staggering footsteps!

Wang Shuanzi was so frightened that he quickly shrank into a dark corner and held his breath.

Suddenly, a figure darted out of the main hall, his steps unsteady, as if he were drunk, uttering whimpering words: "No... I can't become an immortal... I can't become an immortal!"

By the dim light coming from inside the hall, Wang Shuanzi was horrified to discover that the person was none other than Liu San!
But he has completely changed!

His face was covered with strange bluish-black patterns, his eyes had no whites and were pitch black, only his lips were a strange black color, constantly opening and closing, muttering "I cannot become an immortal".

His movements were stiff and contorted, completely unlike those of a living person.

Immediately afterwards, a figure flashed out like a ghost; it was none other than the Crimson Sun Altar Master.

He held an oil lamp that emitted a faint green light, which made his face appear particularly sinister.

He grabbed Liu San by the back of the neck and restrained him like a chick, his tone tinged with surprise and impatience: "Tsk, you can still retain a sliver of consciousness and struggle on your own."
I underestimated you. Could it be that you were born with a strong and resilient primordial spirit?

"What a pity, once you're inside this Yin-Yang Furnace, you're no longer in control!"

Liu San struggled in vain, his voice muffled.

Wang Shuanzi, watching from the shadows, was terrified and felt a chill run through his body.

Becoming an immortal? Is this what becoming an immortal is? Liu San looks like a monster!

The altar master, carrying the convulsing Liu San, turned to return to the hall.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, looked up sharply, and his eyes, gleaming in the green light, shot like arrows into the dark corner where Wang Shuanzi was hiding!
"Who's there?!" A deep, menacing question suddenly rang out in the deathly silent courtyard of the ancestral hall.

Wang Shuanzi felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, his blood seemingly freezing.

Guided by the yin energy, Qi Yun and his two companions arrived at a desolate mountain ridge outside an abandoned village in the deep of night, when the stars and moon were nowhere to be seen.

Looking down, one could see scattered torches flickering and moving in the village, vaguely illuminating several figures.

They were dressed in rags and looked like vagrants, but their steps were steady and they moved in unison. Long knives could be vaguely seen hanging at their waists, clearly indicating that they were a group of well-trained bandits.

What's even more striking is that a portion of the thick, inky Yin energy surging from all directions was constantly diverted, seeping into the ground in the center of the village.

It was as if a bottomless abyss lay hidden beneath, greedily devouring this evil nourishment.

“Yin energy is flowing into the village’s underground,” Qi Yun said in a low voice, his gaze sharp as he carefully scanned the layout of the village houses and the hidden guards. “There must be an altar here.”

He hesitated for a moment, then resolutely said, "The situation in the village is unclear. There may be evil magic being secretly spread, and the danger is unpredictable."

I will go in alone to investigate. You two stay outside, conceal your presence, and do not alert the enemy.

"Daoist Master, please be careful!" Song Feng and Yan Chifeng both knew that Qi Yun's cultivation was far superior to their own, and that following him would only be a burden. They immediately responded solemnly, their faces grave.

Qi Yun nodded slightly, his figure moved swiftly, like a feather falling from a branch, silently gliding down the hill, using the darkness and the ruins of the walls to conceal himself, and quickly approaching the desolate village.

After a few leaps and bounds, the figure disappeared into the darkness outside the village and was never seen again.

(End of this chapter)