The Path to Immortality Begins with the Life-Extending Lamp

Chapter 145 The Twin Worlds Mansion
"Well……"

"who are you?"

In the East Fence Garden, Li Qingcai expended a great deal of his vital energy, condensing a single true qi to cleanse the sixty-nine number, and summoned Cui Ying's soul back.

See, it's clearly a success.

Li Qing put away the bamboo stick, flicked his fingers to dissipate the true fire and water, then waved his sleeve to collect the sacrificial vessels on the incense table, and suddenly stood up.

He flipped out a legal contract and handed it to Cui Ying.

"I saved you, sign this deed to repay me!"

This is a legal contract used in the temple to control the guardians and spirit beasts. It is one of the less restrictive legal contracts, but it restricts the contract holder's taboos and priorities by using the power of law and words.

She shouldn't be unable to accept it.

"Oh!"

Cui Ying stared at the man in front of her. After hearing his request, she blankly took the legal decree, but at that moment, her mind went completely blank.

These words all seem familiar, but she doesn't recognize any of them. How is she supposed to sign them?

After a few breaths of contemplation, Cui Ying's face turned deathly pale.

She was already a wandering ghost, and her inspiration and divine sense had already undergone a transformation. She was no longer a mortal being, and she quickly realized that something was wrong.

"What's wrong with me?" A puzzled voice rang out again, similar to the official language of the Northern Kingdom, but with different syllables.

Cui Ying's heavenly soul was completely scattered, his earthly soul was incomplete, and his life soul was also refined and cleared by Li Qingcai. His memories, cognition, and the seven emotions and six desires were all gone. He should be like the Yin spirits that have undergone refinement, and undoubtedly a newly born Yin spirit.

But ironically, she was a ghost or a deity, a spiritual practitioner who had entered the Dao.

The most basic principles and techniques of literature, language, and spiritual practice have long been deeply integrated into her soul.

At this moment, she felt as if she had lost everything, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

Li Qing already knew this outcome. She crushed the two jade slips and directly threw the magic seed into Cui Ying's divine palace.

"Essentials of Refining and Transcending Yin Spirits" and "Comprehensive Explanation of Classical Chinese in Tiandu"

After hesitating for a moment, Li Qing reached into her sleeve again with her right hand and took out two more magic jade slips, which she then tossed into Cui Ying's arms.

"A General History of the Capital Region" and "A Brief Explanation of the Ghost Registers of Lingnan"

The four magical seeds were poured into her, causing the woman to stand still for quite some time.

“Your name is Cui Ying, a ghost of the Cui clan of Qishan, and the original owner of this east courtyard. With the decline of the ghost and god era, you became a dull and ignorant ghost.”

"Now, I have taken over Qishan and used the Yang True Water and Fire Qi to refine you, awakening your original spirit and true nature..."

While giving a brief explanation, he handed her the "Daily Records" left by Cui Ying, and then let her think about it carefully.

It wasn't until about half an hour later.

The woman seemed to have been squatting in front of the incense table for so long that she went numb. Suddenly, she raised her head and looked at Li Qing.

"So, what do you want me to do?"

Although Cui Ying could no longer remember anything, the four magical seeds contained a wealth of knowledge, along with the daily records he had left behind.

She roughly understands her current identity now!
It's just an old ghost left over from the last era.

With a somewhat incredulous attitude, Cui Ying didn't even glance at the contract before signing her name. Her calligraphy and painting skills, ingrained in her very being, were displayed in handwriting that resembled golden flowers and silver threads, truly a feast for the eyes.

"The Netherworld is shattered, with wind blades, fire rain, and ice spikes causing havoc above, and evil spirits fighting and devouring everywhere below. Outside, immortal Taoists from the Heavenly Capital and the Imperial Court's Grand Sacrificer covet the Netherworld..."

"I naturally wish to find like-minded individuals to join me!"

"I've chosen you, what do you say?"

Li Qing took the scroll of magic contract and, while explaining it, imprinted a blessing incantation into the contract in front of Cui Ying, then dripped a drop of cursed blood into it.

As soon as the contract was signed, Cui Ying felt the Divine Palace tremble. It was as if he had been connected to the spellbook, a connection that could expose his own fatal weakness.

However, the two have not yet had any further exchanges.

The door on the fourth floor creaked open, and a stern figure stood in the doorway.

The moment her eyes met that blank gaze, an incredible power surged forth. Cui Ying instinctively clapped her hand, sending the "Five Peaks Hand" crashing down to block the attack.

However, the next instant, intense pain came from her wrist. She only tried to raise her palm to block the gaze, but her entire right hand, along with her "Zhenwei" minor supernatural power, was directly crushed.

The twisted magic instantly snapped her right hand, and the unstoppable force forced Cui Ying to retreat several steps, forcing her to retreat behind Li Qing.

"Is this the former owner of the East Garden, or one of your relatives?"

Li Qing quickly distanced herself from Cui Ying and approached the Ghost Mother, speaking softly like a gentle breeze.

The ghost mother may not understand his specific meaning, but their feelings are connected.

The two had been inseparable for seven years, and the Ghost Mother gradually began to sense Li Qing's changes, from extreme fear to five parts dependence, and finally to two parts affection...

"In this blessed land of Qishan, with only the two of us, isn't it too desolate?"

"She's going to be our... comrade-in-arms, okay?"

With the blessing of the Ghost Book of the Underworld, the spiritual communication between the two became more and more relaxed. Li Qing gently took the Ghost Mother's right hand, soothed and calmed her anger, and led her back to the third floor of the attic.

Having lingered on the fourth floor for several days, Cui Ying's unrestrained release of his aura after his cultivation was bound to infuriate the Ghost Mother.
Although the Ghost Mother appears as a clay Bodhisattva before the Yin Gods, the vast difference between her and a wandering ghost like Cui Ying becomes immediately apparent when they come into contact.

In just one exchange, the Ghost Mother gained an absolute advantage!

Li Qing glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, then led the Ghost Mother away from there.

He watched as the man and woman forced him to sign a legal contract, broke his right hand, and then left hand in hand.

Cui Ying was searching for words to describe her feelings at that moment, and remained silent for a long time.

"What did those two take me for? It hurts!"

The yin energy flowed into his right hand, and with a [crack], the broken wrist was forcibly straightened. Cui Ying cursed his bad luck inwardly.

Her soul had just become clear, and she still only had a vague understanding of many things, so she simply closed the flower door on the fourth floor and calmed down to sort out her thoughts...

For ten days, Li Qing stayed in You Tian.

After he had purified Cui Ying, he took the time to gather all the medicinal fruits in the Sitong Garden and the Qinghua Treasure Tree in the East Garden.

In the open space in front of the East Garden Pavilion, Li Qing placed four giant cauldrons and ground the soul incense; he also filtered the Yin Spirit Root Water and transformed it into sheets of gray-white talisman paper.
While mixing the bait, pills, and elixirs, Li Qing also gained some insights. He demonstrated and explained them aloud, while Cui Ying, who was idly leaning against the fourth floor of the pavilion, listened attentively.

She'll be in charge of this from now on!

The Ghost Mother was also swinging on the wisteria swing in front of the flower corridor on the third floor, staring blankly at Li Qing.

This swing was woven from all the purple flowers in the garden that Li Qing spent a lot of time finding, and it hangs in the main pavilion's gallery.

The demon mother was also very pleased.

And so, the ghost mother on the third floor stared blankly at Li Qing, her heart filled with increasing satisfaction.

Cui Ying, trapped on the fourth floor by the Ghost Mother and afraid to leave, was anything but happy. Gathering herbs and fruits, grinding incense and mixing pills… wait, are you trying to use me as a servant boy?
Li Qing didn't know what others were thinking, but when he finally had some success in the underworld, he felt a great sense of accomplishment.

They then instructed the paper effigy to add the incense to each of the four incense burners in the front, main, left, and right courtyards, thus restarting the incense ceremony.

Although this soul incense is just the most common and ordinary kind, it is still soul incense and a sign of the operation of the underworld!

In the future, when those immortals return to the Netherworld to overturn the earth and expand the wilderness, as long as they are within the range of this Soul Incense, they will no longer be afraid of the invasion of Yin Qi.

Of course, they should be able to eat less grain, right?
Purple smoke swirled around the East Fence Garden, causing even the gloomy and gloomy atmosphere of the sky to retreat.

Seeing the wisps of purple smoke, the mountain owls with human faces fluttered their wings and came to beg for food.

Li Qing was not stingy; he brought a basket of medicinal bait and Yinling root from the back of the garden and fed them to these ugly-looking big guys one by one.

Seeing that those human-faced owls even knew to nod and kowtow in thanks, Li Qing was even more delighted...

After ten days.

Li Qing finally returned to the Flying Waterfall Dao Mansion.

For the past ten days, he has been picking flowers and fruits, making incense, refining elixirs, and feeding "spiritual birds" in his spare time, living a rare and peaceful life.

The disciples of the Five Academies are having a very difficult time!

This recruitment notice from the Daoist academy, which might only come around once every ten or twenty years, is unlike other academies that have various requirements for recruited Daoist disciples, such as background, lineage, aptitude, age, and immortal skills...

The Flying Waterfall Taoist Temple only seeks to recruit some capable Taoist disciples as assistants, and the conditions seem to be unrestricted!
This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, once it reached the Five Academies of Lin Yuan, immediately stirred up a huge wave.

Apart from the few who have a chance to receive the true teachings, or those who have already become disciples of the Purple Mansion Daoist, which other Daoist disciple wouldn't be envious?
Ten days after the Daoist Academy issued its recruitment notice, more than sixty disciples from the five academies rushed to sign up, but after waiting for many days, there was still no response from the Flying Waterfall Daoist Academy.

until today.

These Daoist disciples finally received the message delivered by the paper crane. Following the trajectory of the paper crane and the communication talisman of the Purple Mansion Daoist, the disciples of the Five Academies headed towards a cloud-top Daoist temple on Lin Yuan Immortal Mountain.

That branch of the sacred mountain has towering peaks that rise to the same height as the clouds and mist, with waterfalls cascading down, and pavilions and terraces winding around the rocks, unlike any mansion on earth!

Winding upwards along the cloud-pavilion and jade steps that intertwine among the waterfalls, until reaching the waterfall temple at the summit, the azure sky forms the path and the white jade steps are the steps, yet they blend seamlessly with the entire mountain.

In the main hall of the Taoist temple, six black-and-gold-patterned images of the deities were displayed in the upper hall. Wisps of yellow smoke rose from the incense burner. Above them were the images of the deities: the Exquisite Lord, the Silver-Armored General, the Flying General, the Man Bearing the Image, the Three Primal Wandering Deities, and the Five Directions White Deities...

There are twelve rampant gods in the legitimate altar!
In the upper hall, which resembled a shrine, various ritual objects were displayed on the side, with twelve golden halberds on one side and twelve silver axes on the other, creating an atmosphere of solemnity and war, which was quite extraordinary.

Li Qing stood with his hands behind his back beside the incense table in the hall, personally selecting the Taoist disciples who had accepted the challenge to enter the mansion.

"Why do you insist on entering this place? You should have a chance to learn the true teachings!"

He met with many Taoist disciples, but none of them seemed to meet Li Qing's expectations.

Only the person in front of him moved him somewhat.

Lin Jiao, a high-ranking Daoist disciple of the Imperial Censorate.

This is the elder brother of Lin Hu, a fellow Daoist of the same class as Li Qing, and also the person behind the scenes with whom he had a tentative exchange of blows.

Who would have thought that in just four or five years, the balance of power would have shifted so dramatically?
"An opportunity is just an opportunity; only one or two out of ten people will actually succeed..."

"I wonder if the Venerable One would find me of any use?"

Lin Jiao was also a top-tier Daoist disciple who had made a name for himself among the four academies, and he was about to raise a battalion of his own Daoist soldiers. He was adept at assessing situations and planning ahead.

Such a superior Daoist disciple would be a pillar in any superior Daoist academy, a truly capable and reliable individual.

"We are on different paths, this place is not suitable for you!"

Li Qing nodded slightly, picked up the scroll of contracts, and flicked it away with a flick of her finger.

This person didn't come to worship; he just came to submit!
If he truly intended to join the pilgrimage, his arrogance would have allowed him to demonstrate his abilities and strive for a chance; if he were more humble, he would have offered his own recommendation, and would not have acted like this.

Of course, Li Qing didn't care about these old grudges. Lin Jiao came to her door to apologize and only wanted peace, so she gave him a way out.

Upon being refused by the venerable one, Lin Jiao withdrew the contract, his pupils involuntarily trembling as the contract slip entered his palm.

Although it was a bit unseemly to refuse outright, it showed the Venerable Master's attitude: Go back to where you came from, and don't come near us!
This is not a bad thing; on the contrary, this indifferent attitude is the normal reaction of a Purple Mansion Daoist.

If he were easily brought under his command, Lin Jiao would worry that this Master Li might have other tricks up his sleeve.

Carefully studying every change in Li Shangren's expression and the profound meaning behind every word, Lin Jiao bowed deeply and slowly withdrew from the main hall.

As soon as they stepped out of the main hall, a female Taoist priest in the corridor raised her golden cudgel and lightly struck the high-hanging bronze bell, the melodious and deep sound of the bell reverberating across the sacred peak.

It was the next disciple's turn...

In the end, Li Qing only selected two high-grade Dao disciples and three mid-grade Dao disciples!
One of the Taoist priests sent by the head of the Wan Court to serve as Li Qing's attendant was a female Taoist priest, also surnamed Bai, and probably a descendant of the same clan.

The surname Bai, Bai Long, Bai Qingye... Could there really be such an unassuming and powerful immortal clan in Lin Yuan Mountain?
The other one was an old Taoist priest from the Court of Law, who took up the notice and came to find a way out.

Although he can't be described as having any extraordinary talent or spiritual ability, he is proficient in the incantations and spells of the Law Enforcement Bureau, skilled in managing restrictions and barriers, and capable of guarding doors and windows and checking for omissions and filling gaps.

The three mid-level Dao disciples were all old acquaintances from the outer academy: Ma Yunxi, Yu Wen, and Zhao Wan'er. They were all capable individuals with simple backgrounds...

Where one enters the Tao, and what one sees and knows along the way, is the point of intersection between the Taoist and the entire world.

The living are like butterflies; at a certain special moment, they flap their wings and, in the darkness, can transform into a world-changing storm at some point in the future.

Everyone has the potential to become that spirit butterfly!

As soon as the Daoist temple was opened, the five Daoist disciples got busy. They first issued a commission to the outer courtyard to find a child skilled in spiritual plant cultivation to clear out the sizable medicinal garden.

Within the temple, regulations and rules were established, and expenditures and revenues were handled in a unified manner.

The Five Directions Immortal Sect is not an official register. In theory, every Purple Mansion Daoist is a free cultivator, and they are not bound by any restrictions when they open their own mansions.

Only by obtaining a Daoist prefecture, receiving imperial edicts from the immortal sects above, and having disciples following along below, can one secure a stable position and quell injustice.

At this moment, the various Daoist priests were busy with their duties at the mountain gates, as they were receiving orders from all directions. However, two figures suddenly appeared in front of the Daoist priest's residence.

Old Zhao came from Tiannan Prefecture, following the faceless man all the way, crossing mountains and rivers, and finally entered this secluded Taoist temple.

This place stands alone atop a peak deep in the clouds, with waterfalls cascading down from the sky, red flowers and green fruits, and pavilions entwined with clouds, creating a secluded and boundless landscape. For the folk sorcerers in these prefectures and counties, this is something they would never dare to dream of.

The Taoist temple is situated atop the mountain, a tranquil residence nestled among clouds and ancient trees.

As the faceless beast passed through the barrier and slowly approached a grand hall, Old Zhao felt that the entire mountain peak was unusually quiet, and there wasn't a single person to be seen.

Isn't it a bit too secluded?
As soon as you step across the threshold, the aroma of yellow incense fills the air, the incense of the soul offering endlessly, which invigorates the spirit.

Looking closely, amidst the wisps of smoke, a young man stood with his back to the door, in front of the stove, sketching unrecognizable scribbles.

Before Old Daoist Zhao could speak, a clear voice rang out from the hall:

"Old Zhao, it's been a long time."

"After your trip to the prefecture years ago, have you been living a peaceful life?"

"My Taoist temple is lacking a pair of clean eyes. Would you be willing to lend me a hand and become my eyes and ears?"

(End of this chapter)