The Path to Immortality Begins with the Life-Extending Lamp

Chapter 123 Yun Gui Has Immortals

Guihua Mansion West.

Lingfeng Peak stands tall, at the far end of this fertile Jiangnan region.

This Yungui Mountain is the starting point of the Zhongdu mountain range.

To the north lies the border between the two kingdoms of the North and South and the land of Bashu, also known as the Heavenly Capital Barrier, a six-thousand-zhang-long spiritual vein running left and right, dividing the land of Heavenly Capital in two; to the west are the deep mountains that lead directly to the land of Bashu.

"Looking westward, there are two hundred and eighty mountains, with ancient trees that are inexhaustible. The villagers and hunters rely on the mountains and rivers for their livelihood, extracting animal hides and medicinal herbs from them!"

"Such a great mountain has now been occupied by mountain spirits and monsters, who kill people, wipe out entire families, skin them alive, and disembowel them."

"Today, either your battalion of government troops will follow us to the mountaintop, wipe out their demon stronghold, and return a sacred mountain to Jiangnan; or we will have no choice but to go to the Chen Jinling Palace and ask the Emperor and all the officials to make a decision!"

The once magnificent mountains of Yunnan and Guizhou have now been ravaged by a massive fire.

From the seven counties of Xifu, clan militias and wandering knights from all directions gathered here. Their clothes were stained with blood and their wounds were hard to hide, showing how fierce the battle they had just experienced was.

The figures on the battlefield were divided into two groups. One group consisted of local militia and wandering knights from the mountainside, who were pointing at the government troops and cursing them, saying that they had sealed off Ling Mountain and the demons, damaged the territory of Jiangnan, and won the favor of the demons.

One place was where all sorts of monsters, big and small, gathered on the mountainside: there were jackals, white snakes, and weasels standing upright in helmets; there were toad demons and bird monsters wielding spears and clubs; and there were female demons with swaying fox tails...

Such a harsh and unforgiving rebuke caused the soldiers to break out in a cold sweat.

"You fool, don't flatter me!"

“If I don’t help you, then why did you come here? It’s just that this matter needs a proper procedure from beginning to end.”

The captain in the army picked up a long spear with his right hand, sat on the back of the two-zhang-tall mountain tiger, and slowly walked out from among the armored soldiers.

As the saying goes, the tiger is the king of beasts. When this mountain lord, comparable to the Purple Mansion Realm, appears, the mountain spirits are filled with fear, and the local braves and knights-errant dare not speak ill of him.

"There are no more rules!"

An old, white-bearded hero slowly shook his head. His blue armor was tattered, and his body was covered in bloodstains from the yellow-skinned demon's attacks. Although his face was stained with blood, his eyes were exceptionally firm, and his murderous aura was palpable.

He simply pointed at the corpses covering the mountain and said coldly:
"Of the men from the seven counties, no fewer than a hundred have died here. Some were retainers of powerful families in the prefecture, some were former scholars of the academy, some were descendants of clans, and many more were from respectable families in the prefecture..."

“I don’t know which battalion you are from, but you’d better not be foolish. If you insist on your so-called reasonable compromise, the people of these three prefectures and seven counties will never forgive you.”

"This matter is no longer within your jurisdiction to follow the rules. If you don't take action, go back and wait for the people to petition against you, and you'll be imprisoned and beheaded!"

The mountain heroes and local warriors roared in unison, their voices echoing through the forest. Three or four wandering ghosts and spirits, hidden to one side, also looked around coldly.

The people of the South are known for their unyielding spirit; they will not allow even the slightest loss of this sacred mountain and this land. The old chivalrous man's words, though rough, are indeed true. In this chaotic battle, it is impossible to discuss any rules or regulations.

With over a hundred brave warriors and chivalrous knights dead, public resentment was boiling. Even the prefectural governors and county officials could not speak out and risk being punished. Who cared about the rules anymore?
Seeing the drastic change in the situation, the many "immortals" in the mountains were also terrified. The leader, a great immortal wearing scale armor and a snake's head, also began to threaten them in a deep voice.

"I have made a prior agreement with your prefectural officials and the three elders of the state, in which I will have my celestial shrine cleanse you of the evil spirits and monsters in the mountains. In return, you will offer this mountain to us for peace."

"What? You dare to go back on your word?"

This immortal family is not a legitimate immortal family from the North. It is a branch of a fallen mountain that obtained the incense offerings of the Liu and Huang families. They subdued many spirits along the way, compiled a family tree, and could not escape their fate.

However, things were not quite as they had expected. The Southern Immortal Sect was far more terrifying than they had imagined. The culture of the national scholars in the court was also of great importance. These few monsters could not even make two of the top positions in the Purple Mansion, and were not even worthy of the attention of the higher-ups.

In the surrounding villages, he and his followers wanted to promote the belief in local deities, but they often incurred the wrath of the clan spirits who possessed local evil shrines. Those spirits in the dark temples were insidious and treacherous, and the young men in the mountains were frequently killed or injured, with no reason to be found.

Now that this has happened again, it's truly heartbreaking!
"Go back on your word? You beast, who gave you this territory? Do you dare reveal your name?"

"You plague-ridden snakehead, do you even deserve to occupy this Yun Gui Mountain?"

The crossbows below immediately started firing, and mithril arrows inscribed with flame runes burst forth. The local militia and wandering knights were enraged and fired again.

This left the captain in a state of confusion, unsure of what to do.

The magistrate of the prefecture had previously said that they would punish them lightly as a warning, and keep the immortals of that mountain at their disposal, but...

In his frustration, the captain saw soldiers riding large, scaly horses approaching from behind the armored soldiers. They crossed the carriage shaft and leaped behind the mountain lord.

"Boss, boss."

"Commander Li said that you should break through this demon mountain first before discussing anything else, and there is no need to worry about the procedures."

No need to overthink it?

Upon hearing this, the captain almost cursed. "You, Li Yong, speak so eloquently, yet you turned a deaf ear to the orders issued by the prefecture. Those were orders I received!"

You certainly don't need to worry about it.

Just as he was about to erupt in anger, the soldier's next words poured cold water on him, completely calming him down.

"Governor Li said that this matter has far-reaching consequences, with too many dead and injured. People in the counties of Xifu are outraged, and it may alarm the imperial court... He warned you not to become a scapegoat!"

In fact, the turmoil at Yungui Mountain had indeed developed to this point.

Who can guarantee that those wandering knights and warriors didn't include classmates from the academy or relatives from the prefecture?
With so many heroes and warriors killed or wounded, it's impossible to silence them. These local strongmen might even want to use the destruction of the Yun Gui Immortal Clan to gain fame and a position!

The captain's face changed from pale to ashen. In the next instant, he heard the roar of the mountain lord beneath him. The long spear in his hand was thrown out and immediately impaled a yellow fairy on an old tree.

Clouds follow the dragon, wind follows the tiger; the mountain lord leaped over ten zhang in a single bound, and the burly man atop it picked up a long spear, twisted it, and instantly shattered the weasel into several pieces. Looking around, he shouted:
"My lads, these mountain monsters are ungrateful! We provided them with shelter, yet they turned on us, slaughtering entire families, skinning them alive, and tearing out their hearts. Such beasts deserve to be punished by both heaven and man!"

"Follow me and destroy the Five Immortals Hall."

This camp of soldiers, all fully armored Buddhist warriors, rode tigers and wolves into the mountains, and in an instant charged into the demon stronghold, directly shattering their formation. Shouts of battle erupted everywhere...

Meanwhile, in the camp not far away, the military governors gathered around a chariot, observing the changing weather in the mountains.

Li Yong, the eldest son of the Li family, sat in the very center, his hands gripping the chariot railing tightly, his eyes bloodshot.

"The prefectural government made a mistake in this matter!"

"The foreign immortals are fighting with the people of Jiangnan, which has led to the current riots. Who were the people who wanted to raise the Yun Gui immortal as the second Qingqiu?"

"It was a letter personally stamped by the Prefect and Vice Prefect of Yungui, along with Huang, Li, and Zhang, the officials in charge of the prefecture's affairs, and the Prefectural Magistrate. It was then reviewed by the Governor and reported to Jinling..."

The officials in charge of sacrificial rites in these prefectures all severed ties with him, completely disregarding the important matters that the important figures had instructed them to consider before they arrived.

Given the current situation, there's no point in talking about the bigger picture. They're lucky if they can clear themselves of any involvement in time!

These chariots were stationed outside the mountains to oversee the battle situation, with scouts coming and going, and military orders never ceasing.

Just as the fierce fighting reached its climax, two pairs of scarlet eyes found their way to this place.

"So, this is where the leader is located?"

This was the White Wolf Immortal of the mountain. When the fighting reached its most brutal moment, he and the White Wolf Spirits, chasing after the fleeing enemy, crouched beneath the forest, only to receive orders to carry out a decapitation.

The powerful officials of this prefecture dared to treat them like this. Not only would they behead the prefectural soldiers, but none of the prefectural officials would escape either.

As those two pairs of eyes disappeared, the scout, having received the military order, was about to instruct the chief priest to use his aura-gazing skills to surround the area and prevent the monster from escaping and causing harm. However, just as the scout turned his horse around, a loud rumble resounded.

The central chariot was instantly torn to pieces by the immense force, and the military governor on it, in the face of danger, hurriedly scattered and fled.

The two slowest runners were instantly turned into a pile of minced meat!
"Damn it, it's the White Wolf."

The armored soldiers surrounding the area angrily drew their spears and rushed forward, swarming around the white wolf immortal.

This creature wore a wide white robe that reached its knees. It had the appearance of a ferocious wolf spirit, with a wolf's head and standing upright. Its claws were the size of palm fans, and its feet had backward-facing toes. It also had four blood-red pupils on its face, making it different from ordinary people.

There is a Five Immortals Hall on Yun Gui Mountain, and the White Wolf Immortal is the head of one of the halls.

A dozen or so guards stood in unison, thrusting their spears forward, but they struck nothing. The White Wolf Immortal leaped onto a ten-zhang-tall old banyan tree on the side of the forest, looking down at the crowd.

Five or six civil officials and scholars, all at the same level of cultivation? That makes them easy to handle!
The old wolf spirit gripped a section of tree trunk with one hand, leaned down and scanned the people in the room, completely unaware of any threat.

"Is the Five Immortals Hall truly going to become enemies with the Southern Kingdom? The officials in the manor have been supporting you for so long, are they utterly ungrateful?"

A Qingxu priest tightly clutched his hand, which was pierced by a wooden splinter, and angrily rebuked the old wolf spirit in a deep voice.

He had planned and calculated everything, but how could he have foreseen that at this time, the immortal would not be so kind to his own temple and village, and would actually sneak away to the rear?

"Hehehe, I've said both good and bad things to you."

"This fire has been raging around the mountain for over ten days, and my Wuxiantang men have suffered heavy casualties, yet your master hasn't uttered a single word?"

"Enough with the talk. I'll just take your heads, finish off those meat-eaters whose promises are nothing but bullshit, and then retreat to another country."

The white wolf spirit sneered at the priest's harsh rebuke.

No one knows where he picked up a sixteen-foot pitchfork, and with a single thrust from the old banyan tree, he cut three or four armored soldiers below in half at the waist.

The towering Purple Mansion Demon Body, without any armor, is still impervious to swords and spears. Its wrists lash out with power, surrounded by yin winds, and it moves with a steel fork. Ordinary warriors have almost no chance to fight back.

Unless a force of thirty to fifty regular soldiers, riding ten chariots and wielding steel-chained long spears, powerful bows and crossbows, launches a coordinated attack, this beast cannot be captured.

These dozen or so soldiers are simply no match for them!
Li Yong and the others exchanged glances and saw that Qingxu Jijiu slammed his other, still intact right arm on the ground, and the quicksand spell was immediately activated, burying half of the White Wolf Immortal's body in it.

This quicksand spell instantly swallowed many of the armored soldiers facing danger beside the white wolf into the quicksand, and then dragged them out from the outer edge of the ten-zhang quicksand area.

"Withdraw and rejoin the vanguard."

The suction force of the quicksand was generated, and the two chief priests each took out a crossbow and fired two fine gold arrows, shooting them whole at the wolf spirit, and then escorted Governor Li away.

Originally, they had stopped two miles behind the main army to prevent the warlord from taking any risks, but who knew that those two miles would become their death warrant?
This military governor is the son-in-law of Prefect Yin; he cannot afford to have any trouble here.

Otherwise, their entire battalion of soldiers would truly become scapegoats!

Those two talisman arrows were indeed terrifying, each piercing a hole the size of an infant's fist in the wolf demon's abdomen. However, such injuries were far from fatal to the Purple Mansion Wolf Demon, and instead only fueled its ferocity.

"Ouch..."

A chilling wolf howl echoed loudly from behind.

Just as everyone retreated towards the front of the mountain, a white figure, accompanied by a swirling, demonic wind, crashed through the withered branches and fallen leaves from behind.

Just as the white wolf leaped forward, about to pounce on the warlord who was being protected in the center, it was about to strike him down.

Sudden.

A bone-chilling cold descended from the sky, and the next moment, a magnificent carriage with a canopy burst forth from the clouds.

The soft couch and palanquin looked like they were carried on shoulders in the palace, with no copper walls or iron ramparts around them. Instead, wisps of smoke and paper gauze hung down, resembling the emperor's hibiscus tent.

But even with the royal palanquin crashing into it from afar, the gauze curtains and tassels didn't budge at all. Instead, the White Wolf Immortal was severely injured, suddenly staggering backward and rolling six or seven times before crashing heavily into the trees and rocks below.

The military governors, including Li Yong, had barely had time to draw their weapons when they saw someone else intervening, and for a moment they were filled with both vigilance and doubt.

Who could this be?
Within the king's palanquin, there were approximately three or four indistinct figures. Before anyone could speak, two voices rang out, leaving Le Yong even more bewildered.

"Cousin, we've come to help you."

"Big brother!"

The voices of his two younger siblings suddenly rang out, which made Li Yong both anxious and worried.

How did these two end up here? Isn't this ridiculous?

Behind the two younger siblings, a very handsome man leaned against the soft seat of the palanquin, raised his hand to lift the curtain, and softly called out, "Brother!"

These words still carried the echo of those from years past. Li Yong stood frozen in place, the numbing sensation, like being electrocuted, instantly spreading throughout his body.

"You are……"

"Erlang?"

However, the situation on the field can change in an instant.

With Li Qing's permission, the sons and nephews of the Li family had just lifted the curtain of the "Immortal Carriage" and stepped out of the royal carriage when the White Wolf Immortal, with his four bloodshot eyes, turned around and stirred up a black wind, rushing up again.

The howling of wolves shook the forest and the wilderness, and the black wind and dust had not yet gotten within ten feet.

Behind the palanquin, a handsome young man in a cloud-patterned robe emerged from the tent, his eyes swirling with a deathly gray aura. He glanced sideways at the wolf spirit with his sinister eyes.

The next moment, his right hand, hidden in his sleeve, rose up, and a "wei"-shaped magic seal appeared brightly on the tip of his five fingers. With just a grab in mid-air, the powerful Xuan Yin Qi immediately transformed into five nine-zhang Yin mountains that fell down, or like five black nails that pierced down to suppress the souls of the five ghosts.

boom!
The White Wolf Immortal was terrified and forced to the ground. When it looked at the Taoist priest, it was as if it were surrounded by a hundred ghosts. It wanted to escape, but found that its own soul had been impaled on the ground by five "Wei" character soul nails.

The Taoist priest's slow approach was like a vengeful ghost coming to claim a life, but the old wolf was too weak to even howl.

The path of ghosts and souls is the most unpredictable of all...

"Hehe, sir, I'll go and fetch the white wolf's head to offer as a sacrifice to the heavens!"

Linglong Dachang emerged from the palanquin and, upon seeing the White Wolf Immortal, her eyes lit up, and she immediately stepped forward to fawn over him.

She wasn't obedient and attentive at all; she was simply attracted to her seductive appearance.

"Ok!"

Li Qing silently responded, no longer paying attention to the old wolf who was suppressed in place by the Five Wei Great Handprint - Five Ghosts Nail Head Technique, and turned to walk towards his elder brother Li Yong and the others.

"My second brother is really amazing now; he can fly and disappear into the ground in an instant."

"It was my second brother who led us to pick up our elder brother..."

Two younger siblings from the clan stepped forward and approached Li Yong from both sides, hurriedly recounting their journey.

He and his companions' visit to see Li Qing was like seeing a true immortal!
(End of this chapter)