Walking alone with a sword, slaying ghosts and gods

Chapter 209: Fourteen years have passed, practicing the Corpse Fragrance Magic

Day after day, it seemed like a flash, and fourteen years had passed without a trace.

Although the past events are still vivid in my mind, the emotions eventually sink into the depths of my memory and no longer surface to interfere with my judgment.

In the stone chamber in the mountains, there is an underground fire chamber deep in the tool room.

The magma on the earth flowed, and was then gathered and controlled by the power of the formation. The originally violent energy was like flowing water at this moment.

A huge iron furnace was burning red in the flames in the center of the formation, emitting astonishing heat, turning the entire underground fire room into an oven.

Any mortal who stays here will be killed in a moment.

Opposite the huge iron furnace, on a stone platform, a young man in Taoist attire was sitting cross-legged with his hands clasped in a virtual shield, as if he was sensing and observing something.

This person is of course Lu Cheng. Fourteen years have passed in the blink of an eye. Although he has not stopped his Taoist studies in the past fourteen years, he seldom goes to the sky to absorb the energy of the Great Sun. Therefore, although his magic power is becoming more and more refined, he is still at the peak of the eighth level of the Refining Gang realm. It's just that he has become more and more proficient in practicing the Great Sun Divine Gang.

Suddenly, Lu Cheng's eyes focused, and without any gesture, golden-red flames suddenly rose up from his body into the sky. Then, using his palm as a bridge, a stream of golden-red flames flowed towards the iron furnace in front of him like water.

"boom."

The lid of the iron furnace flew up, and in the center of it was a long sword burning into a red-gold color.

Taoist flying swords are different from ordinary swords. Ordinary swords are first refined with a blade and then equipped with a hilt in order to reduce weight and make them easier to hold.

However, the Taoist flying sword is made from a single piece of equipment, and the key point lies in the magical prohibitions engraved inside it. Even if a cultivator is only at the Qi training stage, with the nourishment of magic power, ordinary heavy weapons in the mortal world will be as light as a feather in their hands, so the key point is not here at all.

"Get up!" Lu Cheng shouted softly, and the sword inserted in the iron furnace flew out, shining brightly in golden red in the air.

Suddenly, Lu Cheng waved his hands and made countless five-element seals, which were complicated, exquisite and fluent. In front of him were residual images of his hands' seals. One after another, the magical restrictions hit the floating flying sword controlled by the magic power in a very rhythmic manner.

"Buzzing..."

The flying sword itself seemed to be washed, making a slight rumbling sound. It just hovered in the air, passively enduring the impact of one magical restriction after another. Slowly, the golden-red flame gradually faded, and the entire body of the flying sword was filled with a dazzling dark golden brilliance.

After a moment, the flying sword fell down. Lu Cheng flicked it with his hand, and the sword body vibrated and rang slightly, as if in response.

A fourth-grade, superior-quality fire flying sword.

"In the past fourteen years, I have spent countless money and hired famous teachers to teach and guide me. Finally, I have achieved something."

To obtain a life-originated magical weapon, a cultivator does not necessarily need to advance himself to become a fourth-rank weapon refiner, and even if he spends a hundred years doing so, he may not be able to achieve his wish.

Although the art of refining equipment is not the most difficult of the hundred arts of cultivating immortals and is relatively easy to get started with, it is also profound and difficult, and the more you study it, the more profound it becomes.

However, if one only studies and learns the natal magic weapon that he wants to refine, then the difficulty of learning will be greatly reduced. In the past fourteen years, Lu Cheng has forged thousands of swords. Rather than being a fourth-rank weapon refiner, he is more like a fourth-rank swordsmith.

Apart from the flying sword, he couldn't even refine a first-level protective shield.

Moreover, many famous sword immortals in history had their own flying swords made by famous masters, and they also traveled across the world and swept the world with their swords.

But if Lu Cheng wanted to refine the Great Five Elements Extinction Divine Light Flying Sword with eight landscapes, and even wanted to make adjustments and improvements to suit himself, if he wanted to do this, he basically could only promote himself to a fourth-rank swordsmith.

What's more, the process of comprehending and modifying the secret book of refining the Five Elements Sword is also a process of increasing Lu Cheng's own foundation in cultivation. The fourteen years and the huge amount of spirit stones spent are, at least in Lu Cheng's view, very worthwhile.

A lot of things have happened in the world during these years. The major event for the cultivators in the Tongxuan Realm is that the Xinfo Temple and the Baiguyuan, two of the three overseas demons, have rebelled against the Great Desert Island of Dongji.

This incident caused great losses to Dongji Island at the beginning, but under Shang Xiwen's planning, Dongji Island quickly turned the situation around and even fought back.

But the general trend has been broken. The original situation of three immortals and three demons overseas facing each other has turned into one surrounded by five, and it seems inevitable that the demons will be eliminated and the Taoists will prevail.

The event that had the greatest impact on everyone in Guizang Mountain was the collapse of the grape trellis in Master Huang Longzi's home. It turned out that Master Huang Long had some unclear involvement with Grandma Jinhua from the Biyun Cave Mansion, and somehow, Master's wife, Madam Baoxiang, found out about it.

It was a great battle, and the couple destroyed Guizang Mountain into a mess.

Then Madam Baoxiang took her two daughters to live in Xiaoshanghe Villa, leaving Master Huanglong alone in the ruins of Guizang Mountain.

In order to avoid disaster and to prevent their master from being upset, all the disciples fled away. Lu Cheng is now temporarily living in the residence of his eldest senior brother Yuwen Zheng in Zhiguan Mountain, and has been there for nearly ten years.

In Lu Cheng's opinion, this incident was very strange.

The master has some old stories with that Taoist nun Jinhua, which must be true. That Taoist nun is extremely beautiful and has an extraordinary appearance, which is exactly the type that the master likes.

But the master's wife was not the type of person who would make such a fuss because of something like this. If she was really angry, she would take her two daughters and go overseas and never see Huang Longzi again.

Instead of destroying the Ten Thousand Beasts Palace, he vented his anger.

Especially the way the master dealt with the matter afterwards: he sent all his disciples to all directions, to various locations surrounding Guizang Mountain.

“Master, I’m afraid it won’t be long before I have to go through the last of the 49th level of tribulation.”

Lu Cheng made this inference based on his understanding of Huang Longzi and Madam Baoxiang. At the same time, he judged that this method of deceiving the world might be able to deceive most people, but the old rivals and mortal enemies of his master and mistress would probably not all be fooled.

“If Master postpones it for a few more years to allow me to refine the golden elixir… this is impossible. Although I have confidence, Master has already made preparations for overcoming the forty-nine tribulations for who knows how many years. How could he postpone it just because of me?
But after this disaster, I don’t know how many people will die in Guizang Mountain.”

When a monk practices Taoism and overcomes tribulations, besides thunder tribulations, there are also various tribulations such as emotional tribulations, demonic tribulations, external tribulations, human tribulations, etc.

Although thunder tribulation is dangerous, there are ways to deal with it. When other tribulations come at the same time, the cultivator will be overwhelmed by the aura of tribulation and will not even realize that he is in the tribulation. By the time he realizes it, he is already close to death and it is difficult to save the situation.

……

Lu Cheng came to Zhiguan Mountain to practice Taoism, and his eldest brother Yuwen Zheng gave him the highest standard of treatment. On the day Lu Cheng arrived, he said in public:
"You must obey Ninth Junior Brother's orders as if they were mine. If I find out that anyone is secretly disobeying my orders, I will definitely not let him off easily!"

In the following years, Yuwen Zheng did exactly that.

Many cultivators in Zhiguan Mountain discovered that if they accidentally offended Master Yuwen, they could still seek help from Uncle Lu to ease the situation and turn things around. However, if they offended Uncle Lu, Master Yuwen would really kill them.

Sometimes, before Lu Cheng even knew about it, the person had already been killed.

Therefore, Lu Cheng's concubines and disciples lived very comfortably on Zhiguan Mountain. Although the spiritual energy and environment were slightly inferior to those on Guizang Mountain, the attention and preferential treatment they received were better than those on Guizang Mountain.

These days, Xue Yuzhen took Yun Ling'er to Xiaoshang River to visit his master's wife.

Lu Cheng hid in the cave to practice Taoism. The environment where he refined the flying sword and the place where he practiced Taoism were completely opposite.

The underground fire room was blazingly hot, with magma flowing and underground fire surging, but this stone chamber for cultivation was quiet and cold, with negative energy gathering.

In the deep cave, Lu Cheng sat cross-legged on the cushion, holding a dark purple and crystal glazed treasure lamp in his hands.

Opposite the stone bed stood a tall and burly man.

However, his face was blue, and there was a faint smell of corpse and death lingering around his body, as if he had been dead for a long time.

The dark purple colored glaze lamp gradually floated up.

A golden-red flame condensed between Lu Cheng's hands, and then the flame flew up and fell into the Seven Saints Secret Magic Lamp.

A connection between mind and spirit was established between this Taoist and the treasure.

"Ah ah ah ah..."

There seemed to be extremely shrill cries and screams in his ears. In a trance, Lu Cheng saw a man and a woman burning in flames and screaming.

These are the souls of two Jindan realm cultivators. The female cultivator's soul is more solid, and she seems to be a Jindan True Person, while the male cultivator's soul is more dissipated and illusory, so he should be a Jindan Grand Master.

The magic of the Seven Saints' Secret Magic is extremely powerful, but also extremely cruel. It can trap the soul of a cultivator in a magic weapon, constantly burning it and increasing its hostility. This shows how vicious and cruel this method is.

Lu Cheng's Yin body walked out. He had not yet formed a Dan, and his soul was even more illusory than that of the male cultivator. However, through practicing the Great Sun Divine Gang to temper his body and spirit, he was already at the level of Jindan.

Relying on a little connection between himself and the magic weapon, Lu Cheng's Yin body waved his hand and temporarily dispersed the evil fire.

"Ah!"

The soul-searing pain suddenly disappeared, and both of them gasped heavily.

However, Lu Cheng noticed that the female cultivator's eyes were moving, and there was a hint of murderous intent in her eyes towards him, and it was obvious that she had murderous intent.

He immediately said, "If you dare to attack me, I will immediately call upon the devil's fire to burn you again. Then, you two will not even have a moment of peace."

"...You are the disciple of that old demon? He loves you so much that he even passed on the Seven Sacred Secret Demon Lamp to you. Could it be that God is really blind and let him refine into a fetus and Nascent Soul?"

The female cultivator was indeed a Jindan Zhenren. Not long after the devil fire subsided, her mind had already regained some clarity, and her roots were profound.

"Master Deng has been killed by me, and your revenge has been avenged."

"what?"

When the two monks, male and female, heard this, they all showed expressions of disbelief.

However, this Seven Saints Secret Magic Lamp is one of Deng Dongyuan's most important treasures, so the two of them had no choice but to believe it.

"Master Deng had a deep feud with Ao Daoyuan of Hualong Sea. Ao Daoyuan wanted to die together with him, but I found an opportunity and killed him with one sword." The two male and female monks looked at each other and gradually believed it.

"Then you have done us two a favor, I wonder what you are here for?"

At this time, the male cultivator had recovered some of his spirit and asked this.

"I want to master this fifth-level top-level magic weapon, but my own spiritual consciousness and magic power are a little insufficient. I hope that you two can help me master this magic weapon from the inside out. Of course, in return, I will also reduce the magic fire and soul burning as much as possible."

Lu Cheng said this.

"Brother, listen to my advice. Although this magic lamp is powerful, it is too harmful to practice it. Brother, you seem to be a cultivator with a bright future and great destiny. Don't lose the favor of heaven for this treasure. Even the powerful old demon Deng has already met with disaster. Brother, you still don't wake up at all?"

This man obviously regarded Lu Cheng as Deng Dongyuan's disciple. In the evil way, such cases of disciples devouring their masters are common. What's more, Lu Cheng kept calling him Master Deng, which made it even more appropriate.

"You two were practicing Taoism overseas, but because your wife had a strong foundation and refined the golden elixir, combined with the old devil's Taoism, and had no strong backing, you suffered a disaster. Do you still believe that you can achieve Taoism by just practicing?

Well, I won't say more to you two. Madam, if you use your husband's soul once more, it will be scattered. You can use the magic lamp twice more. If you and your wife are willing to help me refine the treasure, I also promise that after you help me once, I will send your souls back to reincarnation. If you don't want to, then I will temporarily put this protective magic weapon aside."

This is not an equal negotiation at all.

With just a few words, Lu Cheng convinced the ghost couple to help him sacrifice and master the Seven Sacred Secret Magic Lamps.

"I can send your husband into reincarnation first."

The soul of the male monk was already very weak. If he used it again, his soul would be shattered. Lu Cheng didn't want to do everything, so he made this suggestion.

"No need, I am willing to enter reincarnation with Min'er."

After saying this, the male monk looked at his wife and quietly took her hand.

"In that case, let's each do our own thing."

If he entered the reincarnation a step later, he would have to endure the pain of burning soul in this devil's fire for countless years. Lu Cheng didn't expect that in this situation, he could still be shown love by others. The Taoist waved his sleeves impatiently, and flew out of the Seven Saints Secret Magic Lamp in his Yin body.

With the cooperation of three people from both sides, Lu Cheng gradually refined this top-level fifth-grade magic weapon after dozens of days of repeated sacrifices.

Even if a cultivator is only at the first level of Jindan, he can refine and use fifth-grade upper-level and fifth-grade top-level magical instruments. It all depends on how much wealth he has. At most, because this type of magical instrument consumes more spiritual power, he will not be able to control three magical instruments of the same level at the same time.

Lu Cheng has a very solid foundation in Taoism, and with the help of the Golden Dragon External Pill, he can also refine this treasure.

However, Lu Cheng did not intend to be like Master Deng and go on a killing spree when he encountered a Jindan Zhenren who had no backing and insufficient magical power.

He originally had no plans to practice the Seven Sacred Secret Magic or refine the magic lamp.

The reason why he changed his mind now was because in the past fourteen years, Lu Cheng unexpectedly thought of something to replace the cultivator's body and soul:
He had nine of the eighteen golden corpses of the Thousand Corpse Cult in his hands.

Refining a monk's body into corpse oil and refining a monk's soul into lamp spirit is against the harmony of nature, but there should be no problem in refining zombies, right?

Lu Cheng had no taboos in doing things. He even killed the heavenly ghost that was the result of thousands of years of Buddhist karma with a single sword without even raising his eyes, scaring its soul to pieces. The reason why he was unwilling to refine corpses and souls was simply because of the influence of the education he received in his previous life.

The overall moral level is higher than most people in this world. But it doesn't mean that Lu Cheng is afraid of this.

Practicing the magic of the Seven Saints' Secret Magic is full of dangers and challenges. If you can achieve some success, it will definitely be of great benefit to your own practice of the Golden Elixir.

Since this was the case and he had found a substitute, Lu Cheng changed his mind and decided to practice.

With the help of the couple, the treasure lamp was refined. After more than ten days of rest and adjustment, Lu Cheng began to refine the golden corpse.

These eighteen golden corpses were left behind by Taoist Shiqi. A thousand years ago, Taoist Shiqi dominated the world with his Xuanyin corpse refining technique. The strength of each of these golden corpses is not inferior to that of Jindan Zhenren.

What's more, zombies are evil creatures of heaven and earth, born with violent energy. Refining them into nothingness may not only be harmless but also be considered a merit.

As time passed, the air in the cave gradually became thick and humid, filled with a chilling deathly silence.

The mottled moss on the stone wall contrasted with the faint candlelight, which was cast on the Taoist's face, making it dim and unclear.

Lu Cheng cast a spell and injected his magic power into the magic lamp. After a while, a faint purple flame like a wick floated out of the glass lamp and landed on the Baihui point on the top of the golden corpse in front of Lu Cheng's stone bed, burning into it.

During the whole process, the golden corpse showed no reaction or resistance, as if nothing had happened. As time passed, an extremely foul smell gradually spread in the room, as if it was the smell of blood, the smell of eroded wounds, the sweat of wild beasts, the smell of sea products, or the medicinal smell of plants and trees, mixed with the stench of decaying corpses.

At the same time, all kinds of illusions began to reappear in Lu Cheng's mind, and demons attacked.

The demons come and disturb the mind. Those who have insufficient mental cultivation and lack of concentration will force themselves to practice the magic of the Seven Sacred Secret Demons. The final result will inevitably be death due to possession or even a life worse than death.

But on the other hand, if one succeeds in practicing this method, one's mind and character must be tempered and honed to a certain level. This is what Lu Cheng values.

“But the classics didn’t mention that there would be such a foul smell. It must be the change caused by the Golden Corpse Refining Method I used.

If it works, then it works. If it doesn't, just using this method to train your mind can be considered a gain."

But even Lu Cheng did not expect that practicing the Seven Saints Secret Magic would be so difficult.

The stench in his mouth and nose became stronger and stronger, and all kinds of illusions evolved. Lu Cheng felt that his six senses were rapidly declining:
When evil spirits invade the body, they will first block the cultivator's five senses and seven orifices, and then pollute his mind and extinguish his spiritual wisdom. When this evil spirit completely fills the spiritual platform, the cultivator will be defeated.

The Taoist closed his eyes in deep thought, with his hands clasped together. A faint black aura flowed inside and outside his skin through his Taoist robe. Those were the traces of the magic power running wildly in his body.

Lu Cheng used the Five Elements sword power to keep his mind clear and fight against all kinds of external demons.

Gradually, as time went by, suddenly, Lu Cheng smelled a strange fragrance at the tip of his nose. A bloody scent mixed with a strong and strange fragrance came to his face, as powerful as a dragon or a tiger galloping, or like flowers in full bloom, full of vitality.

It contains an infinite current of life warmth, and it seems that just taking a breath of it can invigorate ordinary people's spirits, fill them with strength, and even bring a dying person back to life.

"Is this a success?"

"No, I lost my mind!"

At this moment, Lu Cheng vigorously urged his own magic power in the most violent way, without caring about the endurance of his meridians and physical body, to regain his mind.

When his mind returned to him, Lu Cheng found himself lying on the ground. The Vajra Flying Sword that was originally on his knees had flown out and stuck into the stone wall beside him.

And in front of him was the furious golden corpse, with a fist raised high, swinging towards him.

It was extremely smelly, but suddenly it turned into a real strange fragrance. Coupled with the demons attacking his mind, even Lu Cheng lost his mind in an instant.

If he had not cultivated the sword intent and made the Vajra Flying Sword automatically protect its master, he would have been pierced by the golden corpse in front of him at this moment.

At this moment, his mind returned to normal, and facing the violent fist of the golden corpse in front of him, Lu Cheng only had time to make a spell.

boom.

The golden corpse punched Lu Cheng hard in the chest, knocking him flying backwards.

boom.

The Taoist's body directly broke through the door of the retreat stone chamber. Fortunately, it was easy to open from the inside to the outside, but difficult to open from the outside to the inside. If it were not for this design, his body would have been beaten into meat paste at this moment.

The Taoist robe on Lu Cheng's chest was shattered, revealing the half-deflated golden bugs crawling underneath. It was Lu Cheng who summoned the poisonous golden silkworm Gu to transform into armor to protect himself at the last moment. Otherwise, with only the protective magic power of the Refining Gang Realm and the physical body of the late stage of body refining, he would still be dead at this moment.

"puff."

The Taoist couldn't control himself and suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

The golden corpse was stimulated by the bloody smell and pounced on the enemy even more madly. Its body exploded the air, creating a series of violent sonic booms.

"Get back!"

With a wave of his sleeves, a dark golden light shone through Lu Cheng's long sleeves, covering the golden corpse, and then rolled it up.

The golden corpse roared and howled angrily, but in front of the Jiuli Ding, any inhuman creature had no chance to resist. No matter how much it roared and struggled, it was still forcibly sucked in, shrunk, and pulled into Lu Cheng's sleeves.

"puff."

After taking back the golden corpse, Lu Cheng couldn't bear it any longer and half-knelt down, covering his chest and spitting out another mouthful of blood.

"Luckily, it has been hungry for many years. If it was at the peak of its 18 Golden Corpses period, I would have been blown apart by this punch and turned into minced meat."

The Xuanyin Corpse Refining Technique and Eighteen Golden Corpses of Taoist Shiqi are more advanced than the Seven Saints' Secret Magic and the Seven Saints' Secret Magic Lamps.

The Xuanyin Corpse Refining Technique, when practiced with the Eighteen Golden Corpses, is enough to compete with ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators.

Although it is also possible to cultivate the Seven Saints Magic to perfection, it requires the guidance of lamp oil and lamp spirits, so the difference is obvious. Even the power of the Seven Saints Magic itself is not greater than this.

"But I won't switch to practicing corpse cultivation. I can practice the Seven Saints Magic as well to enrich my cultivation foundation. It's better to waste the gift of nature than to keep it in my hands and be useless. Ahem..."

There is no clue about the Xuanyin Corpse Refining Technique and the remaining nine golden corpses, but the seven sacred magic spells and artifacts are all in his hands.

Lu Cheng coughed violently twice again. He could no longer continue to practice Dharma in seclusion during this period of time.

(End of this chapter)