I am about to die of old age, and I have awakened the character of longevity.

Chapter 147 Increase the degree of fusion again and enter the secret door and tunnel!
An inexplicable chill made Xie An feel a chill down his spine.

In an instant, Xie An recalled many details of the past:
The words Su Yuqing said when she made the deal with me...

Su Yuqing often stood alone in the yard and looked at the Dayin Mountains. Her desolate and lonely back... undoubtedly reflected that the eldest princess was under pressure that outsiders could hardly imagine.

Now it seems that what Su Yuqing is really worried about is what's in the cellar! ?

There was another thing that gave Xie An a clearer guess: when he was stationed at the Baiyutang Cavalry Camp, he was in a tug of war when he was absorbing the undead energy of the silver corpse.

Su Yuqing also explained this matter, saying that it was the work of the high priest of the corpse refiner.

But at this moment, Xie An felt that the high priest was just a middleman, and the one who was really arguing with him was... this guy in the cellar! ?
Gulu!

Xie An swallowed his saliva.

Forced to this place by the zombies...

By some accident... Xie An discovered such a huge secret.

Xie An, who has always been calm, couldn't help but feel a little panicked at this moment.

It's human nature to panic when faced with crises and adverse circumstances, but Xie An knew that such emotions wouldn't help solve any problems and would only make things worse.

He took several deep breaths to calm his mind and think calmly.

He held the knife in his right hand across his body and quickly glanced towards the yard. He saw more and more zombies gathering, snarling madly with their fangs and claws bared, but they still didn't dare to step into the yard.

"Why are the corpses so crazy yet still afraid to set foot into the ancestral hall?
Because the high priest set the rules?"

Xie An felt this was unlikely.

When people are extremely crazy, they will do something presumptuous. Even an ordinary and gentle young man will stand up and hit others if he is pushed into a corner.

What's more, would an enraged corpse care about the high priest's rules?

Xie An followed this line of thought and analyzed: If the corpses are not afraid of the high priest's rules, then they must be afraid of something more?

As for what this thing was, Xie An had already figured it out: it was the thing in the cellar.

The stuff in the cellar is pretty scary.

There are corpses in front and a cellar behind.

This is going to cost lives...

Fortunately, the Crystal Commander had not arrived yet and did not lead the zombies in.

The scene looks scary, but the actual danger... hasn't arrived yet.

There's still time!

Xie An shook his head, withdrew his gaze from the direction of the courtyard gate, and stared at the cellar again.

He knew full well that the zombies were merely puppets. The key to breaking the deadlock lay not in the zombies but in this cellar.

"wrong!"

Xie An saw that although the surrounding immortal energy continued to flow into the cellar, it was not sucked dry.

This is unreasonable.

"It seems... this undead energy is nourishing the things in the cellar!"

Nourishing... makes more sense.

Just then——

Bang!
There was a loud noise outside the yard, and it turned out that a crystal stone arrived at the scene.

"The ancestral hall is a forbidden area of ​​our Corpse Refining Hall. Anyone who trespasses...will be killed without mercy."

The zombies around him immediately became extremely excited at the arrival of the Crystal Commander, as if they were about to follow him into the yard and devour the thieves.

The Crystal Commander thought the same thing. He immediately waved his hand and ordered, "Follow me..."

Before he could even utter the word "charge", the Crystal Commander suddenly fell to the ground as if his life force had been sucked dry by some monster, vomiting disgusting liquid.

With a few "puff" sounds, the liquid sprayed out and he lost consciousness.

This scene shocked the surrounding corpses.

Yu He, standing at the threshold, was also stunned. Her palms were sweating as she gripped the sword paper, ready to activate it at any moment...but the Crystal Commander was actually dead?

And his death was so inexplicable.

Su Yuqing and the people from the Demon Suppression Division hadn't arrived yet, so it was obviously impossible that they were the ones who did it.

So……

Yuhe suddenly turned around and saw Xie An sitting cross-legged in the middle of the ancestral hall, looking very absorbed.

Is it the master?

But I didn’t see the master take action...

Yuhe's intuition was right.

The moment Xie An saw the Crystal Corpse Leader appear, he immediately activated the Taoist talisman in his mind and absorbed all the immortal energy.

Since Xie An didn't know which transparent vessel the crystal commander outside the door corresponded to, Xie An simply sucked up the immortal energy in three vessels: twenty-eight strands, twenty-nine strands, and thirty-six strands.

He judged that these three vessels should correspond to the three crystal corpse commanders of the entire Corpse Refining Hall.

Sure enough...I guessed it right.

Without the crystal corpse leader leading the way, the remaining corpses did not dare to enter the ancestral hall, and continued to roar and shout. This gave Xie An and Yu He a lot of time to breathe.

However, Xie An absorbed ninety-three strands of immortal energy in one breath, which had a huge impact on his brain. He had a splitting headache and it felt like his skull was about to explode.

Every minute and every second becomes extremely torturous, and life is worse than death.

Fortunately, Xie An had extraordinary willpower. He bit his lower lip and relied on the piercing pain to stay awake. Then he continued to activate the Mingyu Gong, allowing the heat in his body to continuously circulate around the body, accelerating digestion and adapting to the new long life form integration.

After two weeks, the physical discomfort gradually disappeared, and the skull that was about to crack slowly returned to calm.

[Level 1 Fate Gains Growth]

[Current Fusion Degree: 0.0332]

[Ming Yu Gong: Summer Solstice 61/100]

[Remaining Years: 48]

call!
Xie An breathed a sigh of relief.

He knew that the ninety-three strands of immortal energy had been completely absorbed. However, just as he was absorbing it, he felt something was tugging at him... Fortunately, the Dao Scroll did not disappoint.

But this process really made Xie An feel terrified.

"Master, are you okay?"

Yuhe came over at this moment, took out a handkerchief and wiped the cold sweat from Xie An's forehead.

Xie An felt warm in his heart and said, "It's okay. The crystal corpse is dead. Besides the crystal corpse, is there anything else that can let the corpse in?"

Yu He shook her head. "I only know that the Crystal Corpse can lead the charge into the ancestral hall and protect this place in an emergency. As for whether there are other ways, I don't know."

I hope not...

Xie An thought so in his heart, but still did not dare to be careless, "Yuhe, you continue to stand at the door, I will sit cross-legged for a while."

Yuhe was very obedient. She said "hmm" and returned to her original position, staring at the corpse with a bloody mouth outside the yard.

Xie An also adjusted his mindset and no longer thought about the terrible things in the cellar.

Overthinking...it won't help.

It would be better to make time to absorb the immortal energy.

Since there is so much immortal energy here, Xie An plans to absorb it bit by bit.

Absorb as much as you can, and stop when your brain can't take it anymore.

Absorbing ninety strands at a time is almost the limit.

For the sake of sustainable development, Xie An lowered the one-time absorption range to sixty strands, which was more relaxed.

"Absorb sixty strands!"

Xie An began to give orders to Daolu.

Dao Lu lived up to expectations and obeyed orders as expected.

Seeing that things were gradually getting on track, Xie An's mood began to improve.

If you can't finish eight thousand strands in one bite, then take your time and eat them one bite at a time...

……

Late at night, at the beginning of the hour of Hai.

The entire Corpse Refining Hall was in complete chaos.

A massive fire erupted simultaneously in the forbidden area and the ancient pagoda. Countless corpses and demons rushed to put out the flames. Some carried buckets to the river to fetch water, while others carried water jars to pour water on the blaze.

However, the fire was too big and the solution was just a drop in the bucket.

Once a fire starts, it spreads rapidly with the wind, making it very difficult to extinguish.

Not to mention a technologically backward dynasty like Daqian, even in Xie An's previous life, putting out a fire was a difficult task.

Many corpses were burned to death alive.

"Who set the fire? Damn it! If this continues, our Centennial Corpse Refining Hall will be burned down."

"Come here, forget about putting out the fire, and follow me to the ancestral hall. The thief has hidden in the ancestral hall, and we must kill him!"

"Let's go to the ancestral hall..."

Countless corpses rushed straight to the ancestral hall.

Normally, the corpses each lived in their own rooms, and it looked like there weren't many people there. But now, as everyone came out of their rooms and gathered together, there were more people, tens of thousands of people.

All rushed towards the ancestral hall.

At this moment, a huge golden hammer suddenly flew through the air and smashed into a golden corpse.

"Who the hell am I?" The golden corpse sensed the danger and, assuming it was just a common sneak attack, turned and lashed out, attempting to crush the opponent to death. However, upon contact with the golden hammer, the golden corpse discovered its terrifying power, instantly reducing him to a pulp. Even so, the hammer's power remained undiminished, and it continued its furious advance, crushing a dozen corpses along the way before finally stopping when it smashed through a pine tree the size of a bucket.

drive!
A fierce horse came galloping over, passing by a broken pine tree. The bearded man on the horse picked up the golden hammer on the ground and charged into the crowd of corpses, "Kill all the corpses. Leave no one alive."

"Here comes the young master!" Wei Haoran, spear in hand, charged into the horde of corpses. With a flash of his spear, he instantly chopped off the heads of five or six corpses. "Remember, this young master's name remains the same: Wei Haoran."

"What a smug villain!" Zhao Qing'er spat, then drew her sword and struck. In an instant, the sword shone, slicing off the heads of the corpses one by one: "I am Zhao Qing'er."

Wei Haoran: “…”

The three men rushed into the group of corpses like tigers descending from the mountains, and heads rolled everywhere they passed.

The hundreds of horsemen following behind were all elite warriors from the Nanyang Demon Suppression Division, each of them exceptionally skilled and unparalleled in their bravery. Following the three men in front, they charged into the horde of corpses.

In an instant, the cavalry of a hundred men was like a steel torrent, unstoppable. Wherever they passed, corpses were everywhere and no one was left alive.

However, the number of zombies was too great, tens of thousands of them. Although the 100-man Demon Suppression Division team had taken the initiative and gained momentum, the zombies quickly recovered and began to attack.

Soon they fell into a deadly battle.

Some of the Demon-Suppressing Guards were besieged by three or five zombies. Some of the zombies bit the horses' eyes like monsters, causing the horses to fall sideways to the ground. Then the remaining zombies rushed forward and ate up the Demon-Suppressing Guards.

……

Outside the Corpse Refining Hall.

Thousands of soldiers in armor surrounded the stronghold, and hundreds of yamen runners also arrived with swords. They surrounded the stronghold but did not attack.

The leaders were none other than the magistrate Wen Zaiqing, the captain of the garrison Xie Mingfeng, and the captain of the Demon-Suppressing House... Liu Chun.

Liu Chun stood at the front, with Wen Zaiqing and Xie Mingfeng standing on the left and right sides.

It shows that this action was led by Liu Chun.

Such a large-scale operation naturally involved the top leaders of the entire Qingwu County.

The main reason is that Su Yuqing is short of people.

Nanyang Prefecture also needed the entire mainstream of the Changsheng Sect to assist in the defense, and the number of people Su Yuqing could mobilize was too small. This was why Liu Chun notified the garrison and the county government to send more troops.

Wen Zaiqing and Xie Mingfeng immediately counted their men and rushed to help upon hearing the order.

Previously, they were implicated in Li Xiaoting's murder. Afterward, they knelt at the entrance of Baiyu Hall to beg for Su Yuqing's forgiveness, but were not summoned by Su Yuqing. This left them feeling uneasy and they had been looking for an opportunity to express their feelings.

This opportunity is extremely rare.

The two of them planned to make great efforts and perform well.

"Captain Liu, judging from the noises inside, a fight seems to have broken out. Isn't it inappropriate for us to stay here all the time?" Xie Mingfeng said.

Liu Chun leaned against the Demon Suppression Division and spoke rudely, "There are over ten thousand corpses in the Corpse Refining Hall, all of them vicious and reckless monsters. If your men rush in, they'll be nothing more than throwing away their heads."

Xie Mingfeng said, "It is the duty of the garrison to eradicate the evil cult. No matter how great the cost, I will not refuse."

Wen Zaiqing followed suit, saying, "As the head of Qingwu County, I must lead by example."

Liu Chun glanced at the two of them and probably knew that they were eager to seize the opportunity to express their loyalty to Su Yuqing.

Frankly speaking, deep down, Liu Chun didn't think much of these two people, but since he needed them right now, he didn't show it. "I understand your intentions. But your mission is to seal off the Corpse Refining Hall and not let any demon escape. If you do this well, it will be a great achievement."

After hearing this, the two of them breathed a sigh of relief.

Just then——

Boom!

The ground suddenly shook violently. The three of them looked up at the Corpse Refining Hall and vaguely heard the roar of a terrifying beast inside, like a tsunami.

Even though they were several miles apart, the three of them felt a chill in their hearts.

Wen Zaiqing took a deep breath and asked, "Captain Liu, what happened?"

Liu Chun frowned and said, "Something unexpected might have happened. You guys are here to slay demons and monsters, right? Just in time, take a hundred good fighters with you and follow me in. The rest of you will stay here. If you find any demons escaping, they will be killed without mercy."

Although Xie Mingfeng and Wen Zaiqing sensed some dangerous changes inside, after weighing the pros and cons, they still counted a hundred skilled fighters and followed Liu Chun into the Corpse Refining Hall stronghold.

As we entered the village, we saw rivers of blood and corpses everywhere. The strong smell of blood filled the air, making us sick.

Seeing Liu Chun leading the way towards the forbidden area in the back mountain, Wen Zaiqing couldn't help but ask, "Captain Liu, the battlefield is over there, why are we running to the back mountain?"

Liu Chun looked nervous, and as he sped up, he said, "The officials from the Nanyang Demon Suppression Division are heading there, and we won't be able to help them there. Lord Su told me before that the key to victory lies in the forbidden area in the back mountain. Let's go!"

Wen Zaiqing and Xie Mingfeng didn't ask any more questions and quickly followed.

After walking for several miles, everyone arrived at the forbidden area in the back mountain.

A raging fire broke out here, illuminating everything around it as bright as day, with waves of heat rolling in.

Wen Zaiqing saw a massive mass grave. The bones and corpses inside were actually moving. Many of them crawled out of their coffins and headed towards the ancient pagoda of the Corpse Refining Hall.

"Oh no! Something big is going to happen. Let's fight our way out to the cemetery!" Liu Chun drew his sword, chopped off a bunch of dry bones, and led the charge forward.

Troops of a hundred men followed suit.

Fortunately, these withered corpses didn't have much offensive power. They only looked scary, but they were no match for the weapons in everyone's hands. They quickly fought their way through and arrived at the cemetery.

The fire in the cemetery has been put out.

Wen Zaiqing saw a scene that he would never forget in his life:
Countless black coffins fanned out, facing the center of the circle. At that moment, the coffins were opened one after another, and crystal corpses emerged one after another. These crystal corpses were extremely powerful, and they cut through the hundred-man team as easily as cutting melons and vegetables...

It collapses at the first touch.

Even Liu Chun could only barely hold off two of the crystal corpses. The rest of the crystal corpses hacked and killed their way through, then abandoned Liu Chun and the others and rushed towards the Corpse Refining Hall in a mighty force.

There are hundreds of them!

Even Liu Chun, the head of the Demon Suppression Room, was stunned. "Fuck, this is the end."

At this moment, a wild horse came galloping, and under the moonlight, a woman in a light blue dress was sitting on the horse, blocking the way of more than 400 crystal corpses.

Then, the crystal corpses split into two groups. One group faced the woman, while the other group took a detour and headed straight for the ancestral hall...

……

The Corpse Refining Hall Ancestral Hall.

"Thief, come out and fight if you have the guts!"

"Thieves are despicable."

"No seeds?"

A huge crowd of corpses gathered at the gate of the courtyard, lying on the wall, shouting and cursing, trying to provoke Xie An and Yu He to rush out and fight with them.

But... Yuhe and Xie An would naturally not be fooled by such a low-level provocation.

Yuhe stood at the threshold like a heroine, holding the sword paper in her hand and staring straight ahead.

At this moment, Xie An was still sitting cross-legged on the ground of the ancestral hall, absorbing the immortal energy in batches again and again.

After half an hour, Xie An had already absorbed a full two hundred strands of immortal energy. Although his body felt uncomfortable, at least nothing unexpected happened. The integration of his longevity energy had also been greatly improved.

Taking advantage of the break in repairs, Xie An called up the panel:
[Level 1 Fate Gains Growth]

[Current Fusion Degree: 0.0532]

[Ming Yu Gong: Minor Heat 61/100]

[Remaining Years: 48]

"The Mingyu Gong has entered its eleventh solar term. The progress is quite terrifying, exceeding the progress of a year of hard work. However, my brain can't seem to handle it anymore. If I continue to absorb it, I feel like something will go wrong."

Xie An had to stop.

At that moment, Yu He suddenly spoke excitedly, "Master, listen, there's a sound of fighting outside. It seems that the people from the Nanyang Demon Suppression Division have arrived. We are saved."

Ok?
Xie An immediately stood up, moved closer to Yu He's position, listened carefully, and was overjoyed, "It really is true, then let's hold on a little longer."

Having spent nearly two hours in this place with wolves in front and tigers behind, Xie An was in a state of high tension. Now that he heard there was hope of survival, he was naturally overjoyed.

It seems that the eldest princess is still reliable.

suddenly--

boom!
The ground shook violently, followed by the roars of countless ferocious beasts. Xie An and Yu He's expressions changed.

Xie An couldn't help but ask, "Yuhe, do you know what's going on?"

Yu He looked up in the direction of the forbidden area in the back mountain. "From the sound, it seems to be coming from there. That's not right. I've already sent people to set fire to the forbidden area. Why would such a roar come from there? Could it be...that something happened in the cemetery?"

"Cemetery?" Xie An couldn't help but be curious. He didn't know what the situation was like in the cemetery.

Yuhe recounted the situation at the cemetery and concluded, "I've seen those black coffins. I tried to open them, but couldn't. I have a vague feeling that there are terrifying things lying in them. And there are a lot of them."

Xie An felt something was wrong after hearing this.

After a while, the ground began to shake more and more violently, as if a large group of terrifying monsters were approaching quickly.

Clang!

Xie An instinctively drew his sword and pointed it towards the distant gate.

suddenly……

boom!
The wall of the ancestral hall was suddenly pushed down by a huge force.

Seventy or eighty crystal corpses rushed in like tigers!

Seventy or eighty...

"Protect the Holy Lord and kill these two thieves!"

Xie An was stunned.

How is this played?
Seeing the crystal corpses getting closer, Yu He was about to throw the sword paper, but Xie An grabbed Yu He's hand and said, "Don't throw it away. There are too many of them. If we are entangled, you and I will die."

Yuhe shouted, "What should we do then?"

Xie An looked back at the dark cellar and said, "Follow me, down to the cellar!"

Afterwards, Xie An dragged Yu He straight into the cellar...

(End of this chapter)