Starting with the consumables of the Demonic Sect, one can barely achieve immortality.

A sea of ​​fog, beneath the wordless monument.

The death of the silk weaver would not stop Yan Cheng and the others.

In fact, Deng Jian and Pei Yi were secretly regretting that they were unfamiliar with puppet-making techniques and had missed the opportunity to cultivate this woman into a corpse puppet.

Yan Cheng said she was grieving, but she wasn't really that grieving.

Yet, the poignant feeling of shared sorrow among fellow seekers of the Way lingered in his heart.

If it were a ruthless immortal cultivator, he would inevitably vent his anger on the lower cultivators.

Yan Cheng, however, did not have such a perverse sense of humor.

All he wants now is to find someone to fight, preferably someone who isn't too weak, and someone he can fight with a clear conscience.

Even shrouded in an indeterminate fog, the scene seen by the [Dongzhao] remains clear.

Yan Cheng could see everything about the aura within a hundred paces.

This place seems to be nothing more than a cemetery where a stone coffin is placed, which is of no value to him who does not concern himself with the underworld.

He recalled the words the saintess had spoken when she came to his room earlier, and his brows furrowed slightly.

While the Palace of the Hidden Moon may indeed contain the lineage of the Netherworld, it is not necessarily the core lineage of the Netherworld.

In the ancient times when the Celestial Dynasty still existed, the Netherworld was a minor and neglected path.

Those who are truly promising in the path of immortality cultivate the Yin and Yang, or at the very least, the Five Elements.

It's better than falling headlong into the netherworld, which doesn't resemble a ruler at all.

As for the upper yin...

Yan Cheng didn't want to have too high expectations for this.

If we can find one or two copies of the Yin-Yang cultivation method or a spiritual object that can be used to suppress evil spirits, then this trip will not have been in vain.

He strongly doubted whether any remnants of the Yin lineage still existed in the northern regions of the present world.

Even a fragment of a book like "The Corpse-Walking Technique" would be enough for him.

In the past six months, he has not encountered a second one.

Although Shangyin is the ancestor of all methods, techniques like Hanqi's "Heavenly Weeping God and Ghost Technique" and Youming's "Sacrificial Heavenly Silkworm Scripture" are the result of thousands of years of accumulation and innovation after these lineages were formed, and they have their own corresponding supernatural powers. It is impossible to trace the Shangyin lineage of techniques based on these.

In other words, what Yan Cheng needs is a fragment of the ancient method.

Even if it's incomplete to the point of being just a single character, it's still better than a complete technique that has evolved into a different kind of supernatural power.

Can you find it?

Yan Cheng's eyes shone brightly, and his gaze suddenly fixed on a tombstone not far away.

It is also a wordless stele, but the deceased sitting beneath it is upright and dignified, with wide robes and sleeves, exuding the air of a master.

It might seem strange to judge the demeanor of a dead person, but that was Yan Cheng's true feeling when he saw this kneeling corpse.

This was a woman wearing a gold butterfly hairpin. Her skin and flesh were withered, just like the dried corpses in the prison cell, and she seemed to have been dead for a long time.

Her hairstyle and robes were quite different from those of the Northern cultivators, but rather resembled those of the Eastern women from Yan Cheng's previous life.

What captivated Yan Cheng even more was the nearly four-foot-long sword lying across her lap.

"The Spiritual Weapon [Falling Butterfly] is a soldier's blade forged in the ancient Shu Kingdom. It can nurture sword energy within itself, and when drawn, its sharpness soars to the heavens that even birds are startled..."

Yan Cheng's expression was strange.

He had never heard of this so-called ancient Shu Kingdom, only that there was no such country in the present-day northern border region.

Moreover, like longswords, long sabers are not weapons commonly used by cultivators in the Northern Territory.

This female cultivator...is she from the south?

Regardless of her cultivation level in life, judging from the immense and dormant malevolent energy lurking deep within her body at this moment, if she were to be resurrected and wield a sword, she would at least possess the combat power of a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator.

And that's not all.

The aura reflected in the mirror of the corpse before them was even greater than that of Huang Tong and the Holy Maiden; it could be described as the peak of Qi Refining!

Of the thousands of corpse cultivators in the Hall of Longevity, none have ever reached such a level, yet the female cultivator before them died silently here.

Fortunately, his clothes and sword were still intact, so he still retained some semblance of dignity.

Yan Cheng scanned the female cultivator's body but found no fatal injuries. He casually asked:

Have you ever heard of the ancient Shu Kingdom?

Deng Jian shook his head, but then heard Pei Yi say:

"In the Shu Kingdom... among the three righteous sects, isn't the Lotus Temple the one that claims its lineage originated from the Shu Kingdom?"

"That seems to be a country in the far south across the strait, surrounded by mountains, where the cultivators form their own faction and do not interact with the outside world."

"It seems that the Buddhist and Taoist practitioners among the three religions also came from the Shu Kingdom at the beginning."

Deng Jian looked at her with some surprise:

How do you know so much?

Pei Yi smiled slightly:

"What do you think I talk about during the breaks when I'm practicing dual cultivation with others?"

"Others aren't like you, a quiet, withdrawn person who doesn't care about anything but practicing swordsmanship all day long."

The atmosphere between the two immediately became awkward again, but Yan Cheng didn't seem to care, only pondering to himself:

"The Shu Kingdom... Buddhist and Taoist practitioners... Lotus Temple... the three main sects of the righteous path."

The thirteen northern kingdoms, descended from the Zhou dynasty, have long been infiltrated by the three sects from the south, forming an encirclement of the northern mountain range, which is still under the control of the Taiyin Immortal Sect.

Among the three sects, these three are the most powerful, each with a cultivator who has reached the Core Formation stage.

Lotus Temple is associated with Buddhism, Hancheng Academy with Confucianism, and Shengao Sect with the Three Pure Ones.

Judging from the time elapsed since this female cultivator's death, their targeting of the Moon-Shielding Palace has likely been going on for more than just a month or two.

"In the past, perhaps the gates of the Moon-Shielding Palace were once knocked open."

"This ancient Shu female cultivator was sent in by the righteous sects back then, but she was unlucky and died here without gaining anything."

As expected, the righteous cultivators, who have always maintained a dignified and respectable demeanor, have long coveted the countless treasures buried throughout the vast northern region.

The reason why Wang Qing was killed twice by Zhong Tianying was because he coveted the legacy of the Heavenly Corpse Path, and even did something as foolish as cooperating with the Immortal Sect cultivators.

Although the Northern Territory is now in decline, it is still the birthplace of the ancient Northern Huang Immortal Dynasty.

The various schools of thought, including Shangyin, Taiyin, Taiyang, and others, shine like stars, illuminating the world.

When the two sons of the Northern Emperor were in charge of the Moon and the Sun respectively, the outsiders across the strait were still eating raw meat and drinking blood.

Yan Cheng is insightful and perceptive:

Such a momentous event as the emergence of the Moon-Covering Palace could not be kept secret from the righteous cultivators who had long since set their sights on the northern slopes.

"They might not know how to enter the Moon-Sheltering Palace, and they might not have any suitable corpse cultivators to send over."

"But they still have the ability to lie in wait, ambush us when we've gathered our spoils, and then ambush us on the road."

"The righteous path's plans are grand; this action will undoubtedly involve laying a foundation."

"And the true disciples in the palace are probably aware of this as well; they're likely already waiting beyond the misty sea!"

As Yan Cheng recalled that figure riding a crane northward, his unease grew.

"This exploration... will likely devolve into a battle between Foundation Establishment cultivators."

"These advanced cultivators could easily wipe out a large number of Qi Refining cultivators with a casual spell or a single Immortal Foundation cultivation technique."

"Has this sea of ​​fog above us now become our protective talisman?"