I was forced to cultivate immortality when I just wanted to lie down

Chapter 301 Twelve Bones, Exorcist True Lord

In the ancient Yinhe Road, one corpse after another was brought to Xu Qing by the paper figures of the Chuling people, along with their coffins.

At this moment, Xu Qing was comfortably staying in the underground tomb, unmoved as he faced the endless stream of corpses being delivered to him.

The tomb chamber deep within the Ghost King's Tomb is different from the outer one. If Xu Qing is eager to perform a ritual to send off each corpse sent out by the paper effigy of the spirit, the Ghost King of Many Calamities might soon discover the anomaly.

But if he were to first move the coffin and not touch the remains inside, the situation would be different.

In Xu Qing's eyes, stealing the burial coffin from his old neighbor was no different from having an affair.

First, there needs to be a gradual process; you definitely can't start by taking physical action.

Otherwise, not to mention whether the old neighbors would find out, even the concubines and ministers who were being exorcised for the first time and had no experience would inevitably cause some commotion.

For the long term, Xu Qing waited until the funeral procession had emptied the tomb chamber outside the imperial mausoleum before beginning the ritual to deliver the deceased from the dead.

The first coffin was decorated with colorful lacquer, and the front end had a gourd head carved from a single piece of wood. Xu Qing could tell at a glance that it was the coffin of a concubine.

When the coffin lid was opened, gold hairpins, jade rings, and necklaces shone with dazzling light, but these did not catch Xu Qing's eye.

He was not interested in these yellow and white things.

Ignoring the glittering jewels, Xu Qing glanced into the blind box.

The coffin contained the body of a woman dressed in finery, whose appearance remained as beautiful as when she was alive.

The female corpse had slightly closed almond-shaped eyes, long eyelashes frosty, cheeks as white as fresh snow, and lips like cinnabar.

The skin texture on her face was as fresh as yesterday, as if she were still taking a midday nap in the deep palace.

Xu Qing glanced at it only once before reaching out and tearing open the woman's clothes.

Just as he expected, the concubine's corpse was exactly the same as Princess Yanning's corpse; both were white-faced skeletons!
Women love beauty, and most princesses, concubines, and even female officials and palace maids in the Ghost King's Mausoleum would spend a lot of effort searching for all sorts of ways to maintain their glamorous appearance. But if you stripped off their clothes, what was wrapped inside were all chilling white bones.

But in Xu Qing's eyes, these skeletons seemed even more beautiful than the jade-like faces of the concubines before him.

"What a beautiful skeleton! If we took it back to the funeral shop, it could be used as a shroud frame."

Xu Qing shook his head with regret as soon as the thought crossed his mind.

What he saw as a beautiful woman, the skeleton was probably just a skeleton to others!

The pages of the Sutra of Salvation flipped rapidly. There was nothing particularly noteworthy about the life of the concubine in the coffin. The only difference between her and ordinary concubines was that she had the experience of going from the deep palace to the deep tomb.

For Xu Qing, this wasn't a plus.

After the ritual was completed, Xu Qing had a pair of 'youth-preserving earrings' in her hand.

Whether alive or dead, as long as you wear these earrings, your face will regain its youthful beauty.

However, apart from appearance, the body will remain unchanged.

Moreover, you must wear a pair of these earrings; if you only wear one, then only half of your face will regain its youthful appearance.

Xu Qing casually tossed the earring in his hand into the landscape painting to gather dust, as he couldn't think of any use for it for the time being.

After performing the ritual to guide the deceased concubine to the afterlife, Xu Qing turned his attention to another large coffin, which consisted of three outer coffins and was six inches thick.

According to funeral standards, commoners' coffins were four inches thick, all small coffins without outer coffins. But the three six-inch coffins before us were something only kings, marquises, and high-ranking officials could possess!
In other words, the corpse in the coffin before us was at least a prince or minister in life.

Xu Qing rubbed his hands together, secretly pleased, and couldn't wait to open the heavy coffin.

The accumulated aura of corpses, built up over a thousand years, rushed towards us.

Xu Qing looked down.

Good heavens! Eleven layers of burial shrouds were wrapped around a person like a matryoshka doll!

With his bright red outer robe, red and blue official jacket, and layers upon layers of court robes with various patterns of birds and beasts, one might mistake him for a minister who was so cold that he had gone into hibernation in a coffin!
Looking up at the top of his head, Xu Qing saw a hat inlaid with rubies and a small hat with a red coral top. He then tugged at the other person's collar and finally saw their face, which was completely covered.

It has a proper skull face, without any beauty filters, indicating that it is a rather practical corpse.

As usual, Xu Qing glanced at the other party's scrolling text.

This person was the tutor of emperors and the Grand Tutor of the Three Dukes in his lifetime. He was in charge of rites and laws and assisted two emperors. The Ghost King Duo'e was the 'young emperor' he watched grow up.

The young emperor called him "Master" from a very young age. So much so that when the dynasty was about to perish, and the Ghost King Duo'e wanted to rebuild the underworld dynasty in the Yin River, he dug up the recently deceased Grand Tutor from the ground, buried him in the Yin River Mausoleum, and conferred upon him the title of "Ghost Master," making him the teacher of all ghosts.

"This emperor is far too respectful of his teachers!"

After performing the ritual to liberate the Grand Tutor of the Southern Wan Kingdom from a thousand years ago, the Scripture of Salvation gave him an evaluation of "Superior Grade of Earth" and rewarded him with a cultivation method called "Baikou Tianxian".

This method implies that one's words carry the mandate of Heaven and that the law follows one's every word, yet it is entirely different.

The former often refers to powerful ministers who wield immense power, deciding life and death. The latter, however, is a form of "educational law."

It means that even at the grave of the dead, where ghosts are right in front of you, you can still use this method to speak the law of heaven and teach them a lesson.

Xu Qing pondered for a while and found that this method was different from what he had imagined. This method of teaching was not teaching in the true sense, but more like a kind of spiritual influence on ghosts, which served to intimidate their souls.

Once the preaching stops, weaker ghosts may remain under the influence of Heaven's Law for a long time, but powerful ghosts will likely realize what's happening immediately.

Xu Qing thought that if the truth came out one day and his old neighbor discovered what he had done, he might be able to use this method to persuade the other party. After all, they were neighbors, and fighting would only hurt their relationship.

Even if we really have to take action, it would be good to distract the old neighbor by using "open-mouthed justice".

In a short time, Xu Qing had arranged everything perfectly for the Ghost King Duo'e.

When it comes to dealing with disobedient students, it still takes the teacher's intervention!
Just as Xu Qing had finished performing the ritual for the Ghost Master and was about to deal with the next corpse, a heart-wrenching ghostly howl suddenly came from the Ghost King's Tomb, twenty miles away.

It sounded like he said "no"?

Xu Qing kept a close eye on his old neighbor's movements. After listening intently for a while and not noticing any other noises, he felt reassured and continued to perform the rituals for the other remains.

Deep within the Ghost King's Tomb.

The emperor, dressed in a dragon robe and wearing a tasseled crown, sat alone on his throne.

Before him, one by one, his trusted ministers and concubines, with smiles of relief on their faces, disappeared.

The Demon King Duo'e was born an emperor and died a demon king. He was not stupid and immediately discovered the problem.

Why did only the ministers and concubines disappear, while the ghost generals in the palace remained completely unaffected?
Ghostly flames flickered in the eyes of the Demon King Duo'e.

Ghost generals must possess the bodies of the dead to guard the royal tombs; they are different from the spirits of ministers and ghost consorts.

The ghostly concubines and ministers buried with the king only possess his physical body when they leave the royal tomb. While the king is inside the tomb, the remains of the ministers and concubines buried with him are placed in their respective burial chambers.

The Ghost King of Doe noticed something was wrong and immediately went to the nearest tomb to investigate.

Pushing open the door of a tomb, all the burial items were present, except for the bottom board in the middle, which was used to support the coffin, which was completely empty.

As the Demon King Doe was enraged, his sense of panic and fear intensified.

He pushed open the door to the second tomb chamber, then the third, and the fourth.

When he discovered that the remains of his ministers and concubines who were to be buried with him had been stolen, leaving not even a single hair behind, the Demon King Duo'e fell silent.

He returned to the main burial chamber, sat on the throne, and remained silent for a long time.

To be able to send wandering souls back to the Great Void, awaiting reincarnation, even with the Nine Netherworlds sealed off and the Path to Heaven blocked, is something no mortal could accomplish.

In the eyes of the Demon King Duo'e, perhaps only the owner of that wooden ladle could have done it.

"Has my empire, my state, truly perished?"

The Demon King Duo'e drove all the surviving demon generals outside the hall, and then looked at the empty main hall, once again questioning his soul.

"No! As long as I am alive, my dynasty will not perish. You do not understand my good intentions. In this age of great calamity, the human world will sooner or later become like the Yin River, overrun with demons and ghosts. When that time comes, I will return to the mortal world and be able to reclaim everything that belongs to me and sit on the throne of this dynasty once more."

“The Master has betrayed me, and you have all betrayed me, but as long as I return, there will be a new Master and new concubines.”

In the empty mausoleum, the Demon King Duoe sometimes laughed loudly and sometimes shouted angrily, a single ghost putting on a lively show of a full court of civil and military officials.

The Yin River has no sun or moon.

On this day, Xu Qing, who had been in seclusion for over a month, finally finished absorbing the last Yin Yuan Pill.

At this time, Xu Qing's incorruptible bones had been mostly refined, with only the twelve key bones that were the most difficult to refine still lacking refinement.

"If a person wants to cultivate to become an immortal, he must have a cyborg bone in his chest. If I want to become a Corpse Immortal, I also need to refine the cyborg bone to pave the way for the path of Corpse Immortal."

In addition, there are eleven other bones.

Moreover, the importance of these eleven bones surpasses, if not greater than, that of the hymen.

The occipital bone is the unchanging spiritual pivot; the tibia is the instrument for walking in emptiness. The scapula is the mysterious gate; the coccyx is the pathway for the circulation of Qi throughout the body.
The femur, the longest bone in the human body, is the root of heaven and earth, capable of bearing the strength of mountains and rivers.

There's also the ulna, clavicle, and patella.
Xu Qing counted his bones carefully; of the 206 bones in his body, more than 190 had been refined, and most of this credit should go to his good neighbor.

Without those tens of thousands of ghost soldiers, and without the ghostly remains buried in the ancient Yin River Road, nurtured for thousands of years, he would have had to wait countless years to refine these bones.

At least by conventional means, twelve years is definitely not enough.

"Ordinary corpses cannot produce Yin Essence Pills; only those who cultivate Yin and evil techniques can, and even then, it's only a 50/50 chance. But the skeletons in the Ghost King's Tomb can produce them almost 100% of the time."

Xu Qing had a vague feeling that his cultivation path should have taken place in the Yin River, but the Yin River was extremely dangerous.

"Fortunately, there is a Ghost King's Tomb right outside my door."

Xu Qing never intended to go to the northern frontier or to the chaotic Jingzhou to become a corpse collector.

This was partly due to his past absurd dreams, which were awakened by Empress Sai Yuxian, but more importantly, it was because his roots were in Tianjin, and he understood Tianjin better than anyone else.

Another point is that I can't bear to part with my old neighbors.

The ghost king, who often thinks about descending to the human world to wreak havoc, but is always forced to postpone his plans due to cowardice, would probably be very moved if he knew that he had a neighbor who cared about him so much.

And he happened to be someone who placed great importance on burying neighbors together in the same grave.

In Xu Qing's eyes, there was plenty of room for someone else to snore forever beside his bed.

Even the Demon King of Doe was no exception.

"The first nine bones are manageable; they should be fully refined within two or three years. Only the last three bones remain."

Xu Qing counted the remaining twelve bones and realized just how difficult it was to refine all 206 bones in his body into indestructible bones.

The three most crucial bones in the human body are Tianzhu (Heavenly Pillar), Huangting (Yellow Court), and Beihai (North Sea).

Tianzhu represents the spine, Huangting represents the skull, and Beihai represents the sacrum.

Of these three toughest bones, one is the Heavenly Pillar Spine, which can connect to the Netherworld. Once refined, it can sense the density of Yin energy in the earth's veins. Even without understanding the principles of Feng Shui, one can still sense nearby ancient tombs and various funerary objects and Yin treasures through their own senses.

The second piece, the Yellow Court Skull, resides in the Jade Capital, the location of the Niwan Palace. Once refined, it can prevent wisdom from sinking and ensure that one is never affected by resentful or malevolent energy.

The last piece of the North Sea sacrum is considered an immortal bone by cultivators, and it is also the most difficult part to refine when a zombie is nurtured and its bones are not dissolved.

The Immortal Bone of the North Sea contains the Mysterious Female, harmonizing Yin and Yang. Once refined, it can preserve a trace of true essence within the body, which is the key to a zombie's attainment of enlightenment.

"A single yang cannot produce life, nor can a single yin grow; but where can this true essence be found?"

Xu Qing pondered deeply, and finally a place came to mind.

"The Yin Corpse Sect"

Horses gallop past the window, and before we know it, it's already November.

Xu Qing was counting down the days. The thing he was most concerned about when he returned to Tianjin was Tao Sanmei's heavenly lightning calamity.

According to Tao Sanmei's own calculations, the calamity will come around the time of the Ghost Exorcism Festival on the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month.

There's a story behind this Ghost Exorcism Festival: legend has it that on this day, the Grand Marshal of the Underworld and the True Lord of Exorcism will descend to the mortal world to drive away the evil spirits that have gathered in the mortal realm for a whole year.

The Exorcist Lord has five magical treasures for capturing ghosts and subduing demons. One of them is the Ghost-Slaying Sword, also known as the Green Edge Sword. It has the power to ward off evil spirits and destroy evil ghosts and demons. It is the Exorcist Lord's essential treasure.

The second item is a red umbrella, also known as a soul-gathering umbrella, which has the effect of warding off evil spirits and protecting the soul.

The third is a red gauze lantern, which can illuminate shapes clearly, dispel evil spirits and demons, and assist the exorcist in identifying demons.

Besides these, the most powerful magical weapons of this Grand Marshal of the Exorcising Demons are the peach whip and the peach mallet.

Legend has it that, in order to subdue an evil spirit that was causing havoc on the human world, the Exorcist Lord cut down the old Peach Ancestor of Peach Capital Mountain on the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month and made it into a peach whip and a peach mallet to subdue the evil spirit.

Since then, all the peach tree spirits have regarded the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month as a taboo.

Xu Qing even suspected that Tao Sanmei believed her calamity would occur on the 29th of the twelfth lunar month because she had heard this rumor.

Regardless, he would return to Tianjin before the Ghost Festival.

After all, that peach tree was a piece of property he inherited when he took over the coffin shop. He didn't care if lightning struck another person's peach tree, but he couldn't bear to see his own flowers and plants damaged.
(End of this chapter)