I have Taoism and can understand other worlds

Chapter 576 The Corpse of the Giant Spirit God

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The tremors grew stronger as they approached, plunging the entire Black Mountain Forest into turmoil. Countless palm-sized black-boned birds emerged, vying to fly towards where Jiang Wen and his companions had come from.

Upon seeing this scene, even the most dull-witted person would understand that a great terror was about to befall the forest.

Jiang Wen's expression changed drastically, and he pulled Lü Shiming towards a towering ancient tree. The Four Symbols Sword Formation spun rapidly, protecting the two of them within the formation.

Seeing his expression of great alarm, Lü Shiming was about to ask a question when Jiang Wen stopped him with a look, and then the two of them held their breath.

The tremors grew increasingly violent, and amidst the mournful cries of ancient trees snapping, a figure appeared.

A huge corpse slowly came into view.

The corpse stretched from heaven to earth, its decaying chainmail peeling away like dragon scales falling into an abyss. The filthy blood seeping from between the armor seams congealed into dark purple crystals, weaving a spiderweb-like pattern on the tattered black cloud-patterned battle robe.

The Three Mountains Flying Phoenix Crown had long since collapsed into jagged bone spurs, and the twelve jade tassels hanging from the top of the crown were each strung with a hundred dried skulls, swaying with each step and making a sharp sound like shattered porcelain striking each other.

A broken halberd was inserted diagonally into its ribs, the shaft of which was wrapped with grayish-white sausage-like vines, and the halberd head was rusty but still exuded a bluish-black evil aura.

A broken bronze heart lamp floats inside the chest cavity, its oil solidified resentment, and the wick is curled up with the skeletons of nine intertwined dragons.

The most horrifying thing was the faces—the mouths and noses were cracked open with jagged bone spurs, and thousands of painful faces floated in the burning phosphorescent light of the eye sockets, each face's wailing causing the surrounding blood mist to surge and boil.

The ground beneath its feet was covered with towering ancient tree roots that bulged out like black snakes fleeing for their lives, and the humus layer churned up three-foot-high waves of mud, with countless tree roots wrapped in mortal shrouds twitching at the crests of the waves.

Each time the hundred-foot bone foot rose and fell, a vortex of blood appeared on the ground, and the splashing turbid flow condensed into inverted crimson icicles in mid-air.

The crimson mist, like leeches drawn by a stench, frantically swarmed around the giant, burrowing in and out of the cracks in its armor, nourishing the tainted blood crystals until they became even more alluring.

The oppressive aura of decay and malevolent energy coalesced into a hurricane, stripping away the bark and flesh of ancient trees in its path, transforming them into gigantic claws of white bones reaching towards the sky.

As the broken halberd dragged along, it scraped against the earth's veins, unleashing a fierce roar that seemed to suppress the depths of the Netherworld. The blood mist within a ten-mile radius suddenly solidified into a tangible crimson silk, on which emerged bas-reliefs of struggling immortals and gods, their faces rugged and terrifying.

Just one glance at the corpse was enough to rob Lü Shiming of his soul. The life fire in his dantian dimmed instantly, almost extinguished. His once rosy cheeks turned deathly pale, and his flesh gradually vanished. In the blink of an eye, he was on the verge of death.

Jiang Wen glanced at Lü Shiming and was shocked to see his miserable state. He reached into his storage bag, took out a jade bottle, and dripped a drop of spiritual spring water into Lü Shiming's mouth.

He then took out a talisman covered with seal script and chanted: "Heavenly Fiends shine brightly, Earthly Fiends are upright and square. Evil spirits and ghosts, how dare they hide? With a single breath of the flying energy, ten thousand ghosts vanish. Left Kui, right Gang, the sacred deities seize and lock. Hurry, hurry, as the law commands!"

After chanting the incantation, he placed the talisman on Lü Shiming's forehead. He then pointed the talisman with his Vajra Finger and exhaled a breath of righteous energy.

The talisman transformed into light and merged into his body, after which Lü Shiming's flesh and blood gradually recovered. Even his pale hair turned black.

Jiang Wen breathed a sigh of relief once he recovered.

He didn't look at Lü Shiming again, but instead used the Four Symbols Sword Formation to move away from the corpse.

The terror here is far from ordinary.

Jiang Wen had seen that kind of disguise among the deities in the Taoist temples and heavenly palaces.

The three-peaked phoenix crown, the cloud-patterned battle robe, even that divine body... A name flashed through his mind, the title of a deity in mythology.

——Djinn God.

"Was it truly the Giant Spirit God?" Jiang Wen murmured to himself, gazing at the departing corpse. A body long dead could still exist in this world, and a mere glance from it nearly brought Lu Shiming, a cultivator at the Life Fire Realm, to his death. This was a realm beyond the comprehension of mortals, even immortal cultivators. Even with Jiang Wenji, Jiang Wen had never felt such overwhelming divine power.

However, it was somewhat similar to the situation when he used his Dharma form. The divine power was not exactly the same, but it was not far off.

Fortunately, the corpse that resembled a giant god did not pose a threat to them.

Otherwise, Jiang Wen wouldn't be able to guarantee that he could escape.

Standing before that corpse, he seemed to be gazing up at a towering mountain. A mere tumbling boulder from that mountain would have been enough to shatter him to pieces.

With the corpses gone, Jiang Wen breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking at Lü Shiming beside him, he realized that he had come back to life from the brink of death.

"I... what happened to me..." Lu Shiming looked at his body blankly. "What just happened to me?"

“You almost died just now,” Jiang Wen replied. “But luckily I had some life-saving treasures that brought you back to life.”

"Thank you." Lu Shiming was silent for a moment, then stood up and sincerely thanked Jiang Wen. "I've dragged Brother Jiang into this."

"Consider it a favor you owe me; you can repay me later." Jiang Wen nodded and smiled, not caring much about the drop of spiritual spring water. He had saved up quite a bit back then, and had only used a small portion of it so far.

This spiritual spring water is truly rare; one can only say that he was incredibly lucky to have obtained such a treasure.

"I would gladly face any danger, even death." This was Lü Shiming's solemn promise.

"What exactly was that corpse just now? I felt my life force dissipating after just one glance," Lu Shiming asked, still shaken.

“If I’m not mistaken, that should be the remains of a deity,” Jiang Wen sighed. “A dead deity, wandering in this Black Mountain. No wonder this place is called a forbidden place within a forbidden place.”

"Gods? Are there really gods in this world?" Lü Shiming was somewhat surprised.

“Things in this world are hard to say,” Jiang Wen shook his head. “I’ve also heard that the great fog in the human world is the breath of a dead god. When He exhales, the fog comes in, and when He inhales, the fog dissipates.”

"Such a legend is too unbelievable. If such a deity truly exists, why has the Immortal Sect never known of it?" Lu Shiming asked, puzzled.

"I don't know either. Perhaps the Immortal Sect already knew? They just didn't tell the world," Jiang Wen said calmly. "The world is vast and boundless. In ancient times, there was a Human Emperor who traveled the world. So what was there before that? You should know that the Immortal Sect is in the Sumeru Realm. But what if, countless ages ago, the Sumeru Realm and this human world were originally one?"

“This…” Lu Shiming was speechless; he had never thought of these things before.

"So it's not surprising that there are the remains of gods in this Black Mountain. To these gods, we are nothing but ants; they don't care about us." Jiang Wen thought of the scene where the giant god's remains walked by, and felt a sense of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a complex emotion encompassing both admiration and reflection). He had never imagined that this place called Black Mountain would actually bury gods.

"That's why we were able to survive," Lü Shiming said with a wry smile.

“Yes, we can’t linger here any longer,” Jiang Wen said. “It’s too dangerous here; we need to get out of here as soon as possible.”

As he spoke, he took out the Sky Strike Sword from his storage bag.

"Let's borrow this and leave this place quickly. If we encounter that deity's corpse again, we'll be in trouble."

Lu Shiming naturally agreed, and he summoned the Mountain and River Cauldron to protect himself.

Jiang Wen calculated the directions and pointed to a direction that was auspicious. He threw out the Heavenly Strike Sword and, under the cover of the Four Symbols Sword Formation, sped off towards the direction of the auspicious hexagram.

(End of this chapter)