Ghost Immortal

The cliffs on both sides of the mountain road look as if they were cleaved open by a giant axe of a god.

The exposed rock face is covered with weathered cracks, from which a dark red, viscous liquid seeps out, as if the mountain is bleeding.

Gu Zhenren walked at the front, as he was most sensitive to the aura of the Five Elements Guiding Array.

Every few steps, he would stop and draw a few runes on the ground with his withered fingers.

Then he shook his head and continued walking in a different direction.

"Zhang Xuanye's array core is very well hidden," Gu Zhenren explained.

"He used the technique of 'hiding the array,' burying the array's core deep underground along the ancient post road, leaving only a few inconspicuous marks on the ground as guides."

Lei Jian followed beside Gu Zhenren, his Bagua mirror constantly rotating, and countless points of light appeared on its surface.

Each point of light represents a node in the array, and there are at least a hundred nodes operating simultaneously above the entire ancient post road.

"These nodes are constantly changing positions," Lei Jian said, frowning.

"Every time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the nodes will rearrange themselves, as if they were alive."

"Because the core of the formation is alive," Gu Zhenren sneered.

"Zhang Xuanye separated a part of his life soul and merged it into the array's core. He was the array's core, and he was the array's core. Over two hundred years, he refined himself and this great array into one. As long as the array is destroyed, he will not die."

The Taoist priest with four eyebrows gasped, "To dismantle one's own life soul? Isn't that the same as turning oneself into a spirit of the formation?"

"That's why he's the one who's crazy."

A complex emotion flashed in Gu Zhenren's eyes, including hatred and a hint of fear.

"The former leader of the Zhengyi Sect was a direct disciple who should have been the rightful successor of the Taoist lineage. For a woman, he tore his own soul to pieces, turning into a monster that was neither alive nor dead. He lay in the depths of the earth for two hundred years, waiting for a vague and ethereal corpse to dissolve and become an immortal."

Li Feng said, "This guy is just looking for peace of mind."

Gu Zhenren turned around and glanced at him.

Li Feng slowly said, "Zhang Xuanye failed to save his wife and unborn child, which became the biggest void in his heart."

"The Zhengyi Sect's cultivation methods emphasize rectifying the mind and sincerity. Once the Dao heart is lacking, cultivation will be difficult to progress. He has lived for more than two hundred years, and every day he suffers from the backlash of his Dao heart. For him, the corpse liberation and immortality is not the pursuit of longevity, but liberation."

Gu Zhenren did not speak, but simply turned his gaze back to the ground beneath his feet.

He crouched down and cut his wrist with his fingertips, a few drops of dark red blood dripping onto the cracked soil.

After the essence and blood seeped into the ground, they moved like living things, outlining a winding bloodline on the ground.

"there."

Gu Zhenren pointed in the direction the bloodline extended.

"My blood senses the core of the array, which is located beneath the ruins of the mountain god temple not far ahead."

The five people followed the bloodline as it led them forward.

The further you go in, the denser the yin energy in the air becomes.

More and more ancient trees are dying, their bark covered with black fungal spots shaped like wide-open eyes, densely covering the trunks and sending chills down one's spine.

Qiu Sheng walked beside Li Feng and whispered, "Junior brother, don't you feel like these trees are watching us?"

Li Feng had already noticed it.

It wasn't the tree that was staring at them, but the fungal patches on the tree.

The fungal spots were somewhat similar to the coffin fungus he had seen in Tengteng Town; both were evil creatures that grew by absorbing yin energy.

But the fungal patches here are even more bizarre; they move slowly on the bark like living things.

The black spots of the fungal plaque, and the eye-like rotation, the angle of which indeed follows their body shape.

"These spots are Zhang Xuanye's eyes," Gu Zhenren said without turning his head.

"After he dismantled his life soul, he separated countless strands of soul energy and attached them to these fungal patches. He can see everything the fungal patches can see, and he knows every step we take now."

Startled, Qiu Sheng quickly jumped two steps to the side, keeping a distance from the nearest old locust tree covered in fungal spots.

After walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the view ahead suddenly opened up.

At the end of the ancient post road lies a relatively flat valley, where a mountain god temple, mostly collapsed, sits.

Only half of the gate and a few crooked pillars remain of the mountain god temple.

The roof had long since turned to dust, and dark red moss grew on the ruins.

On the open ground in front of the temple, a blurry black figure sat cross-legged among the rubble.

No, that wasn't a shadow, but a shriveled corpse.

The flesh had long since shriveled and dried up, clinging tightly to the skeleton, like cured meat that had been dried for hundreds of years.

The remaining clothes on his body were no longer recognizable as their original colors; only a few strips of cloth hung on his emaciated frame, swaying slightly in the wind.

The strangest thing was his posture.

Sit cross-legged, hands folded on your knees, back straight.

His posture was upright and solemn, like an old monk meditating in a temple.

But his eye sockets were two dark, empty holes, and the skin around his eyes had been torn from the inside by something, leaving jagged cracks.

Black mist surged from the crack, condensing in the air into a blurry face that gave the five people a twisted smile.

Gu Zhenren sneered: "Zhang Xuanye, after two hundred years, we finally meet."

The black mist churned, and the facial features gradually became clear.

It was indeed the face of a young Taoist priest, exactly the same as the portrait on the rubbing.

He was handsome and refined, with gentle features and a faint smile.

The grotesque appearance of the dried corpse creates an eerie contrast.

"Master Gu, I have been waiting for you for a long time."

Zhang Xuanye's voice came from the mist, gentle and clear, without any hostility, like greeting an old friend.

Gu Zhenren coldly stared at that face: "Wait for me? Wait for me to come and kill you?"

"Waiting for you to complete the final ceremony."

Zhang Xuanye's misty face turned to Li Feng, his empty eye sockets fixed on him.

"You've brought the offerings for the Hell of Intestine Extraction. With the Five Hells gathered and the Five Elements in their proper places, the time I've waited two hundred years for has finally come."

As soon as he finished speaking, the ground in the entire valley shook violently.

Countless cracks spread out from the ground, from which thick, inky black-red mist surged forth.

The fog flowed across the ground, extending in five directions like a living thing, outlining a huge pentagram pattern on the open ground.

The five points of the pentagram correspond to the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

Five different colored mists each occupied a position, enveloping the entire open space in a hazy wall of mist.

The mists echoed each other, and an eerie purple light emanated from where the five colors met.

The light shone in the air and formed a net, trapping the five people inside the pentagram.

Lei Jian said in a deep voice, "The Five Elements Guiding Array has been activated. All nodes have returned to their positions, and the operation of the array cannot be interrupted from the inside."

Li Feng raised his head and looked at Zhang Xuanye's misty face through the purple light net.

His face still wore a gentle smile, as if he were looking at a flock of lambs about to be sacrificed.

Li Feng coldly asked, "Zhang Xuanye, you said I was the last sacrifice, the one condemned for treachery in the Hell of Guts Extraction. What makes you think I meet that requirement?"

Zhang Xuanye chuckled: "You killed someone who raised you, fed you, clothed you, taught you to read and write, and taught you Taoist magic. Although he wasn't your closest relative, he had the grace of raising you. You took his life with your own hands. Isn't that betrayal?"

Li Feng's pupils suddenly contracted.

Zhang Xuanye was referring to the bald-headed old man; he actually knew about this.

"How do you know about Old Man Baldness?" Li Feng asked in a low voice.

"I have lived for over two hundred years, and everywhere I look, there are my formations."

Zhang Xuanye's tone was smug, as if she were teaching an ignorant child.

"Within a thousand miles of Qingyan City, not a single trace of resentment can escape my perception. When that person died, the resentment was extremely strong, soaring straight into the sky. It would be difficult for me not to notice it."

"He died on a dark night, in a dilapidated temple, killed by you."

Zhang Xuanye leaned closer to Li Feng, his misty face close to his: "What were you thinking when you killed him? Was it disgust? Relief? Or guilt? Whatever it was, it doesn't change the fact that you betrayed the kindness of your parents. The great formation recognizes facts, not motives."

Li Feng stared directly at Zhang Xuanye and mocked, "You've lived for over two hundred years, dismembered yourself into more than a hundred pieces, stuffed them into an array, and hid underground on Five Old Peaks, too ashamed to show your face."

"By spying on people's hearts to prove that you're on the right path, do you think you can find a few murderers to sacrifice to you and then ascend to immortality by stepping on their corpses?"

He took a step forward, stepping onto the boundary line of the five elements of mist.

The mist immediately coiled around his ankles like a venomous snake, trying to drag him into the hell of gut-pulling.

But he remained completely still.

Li Feng suddenly swung his right hand into the air.

A golden beam of light flew out from his sleeve, exploded in mid-air, and transformed into countless golden runes.

Runes fell like raindrops, landing on the nodes of the Five Elements Mist, pinning the mist in place and preventing it from spreading further.

"The Primordial Eight Trigrams Formation! Activate!"

Lei Jian roared, and the Bagua Mirror flew out of his hand, spinning and growing larger in mid-air.

The eight trigrams on the mirror lit up simultaneously, each shooting out a golden beam of light that enveloped Zhang Xuanye's misty face within the formation.

At the same time, the Taoist priest with four eyebrows stepped on the Seven Star Step, his figure shuttling between the Five Elements Mist.

Each step is placed at a point where the five elements clash, forcibly cutting off the path of the fog.

His peach wood sword was covered with cinnabar talismans, and golden light burst forth from the sword, burning the tendrils of the mist to ashes.

"kill!"

Gu Zhenren roared to the sky, and dark green Gu energy surged from his body.

The Gu Qi in the air transformed into countless tiny Gu insect phantoms, which burrowed into the gaps in the Five Elements Mist.

The Gu worms devoured the mist at an extremely fast speed, and in less than three breaths, they had bitten a gap the size of a human head into the outermost mist barrier.

Qiu Sheng wasn't idle either.

He shook out his iron whisk, and dozens of whisk threads scattered, weaving a silver protective net around the crowd.

The dust contains a special exorcising power made by the Maoshan School. When the mist touches the dust, it is immediately repelled, making a hissing burning sound.

"Do you think this humble Taoist only knows formations?"

Zhang Xuanye's voice came from the mist.

As soon as he finished speaking, the dried corpse's chest cavity suddenly exploded.

It exploded through the dense black mist, which condensed into a human shape in the air, growing larger and larger until it transformed into a pitch-black figure nearly ten feet tall.

The figure had no facial features; its entire body was composed of mist, and its surface was covered with countless distorted, ghostly faces.

They were all sacrificial souls devoured by the Five Elements Guiding Array, trapped in the mist and unable to be reborn.

The mist giant raised its right arm, and a huge demonic claw condensed at the tip of its arm.

The ghost claw spread its five fingers and reached out to grab Lei Jian's Bagua mirror.