The Path to Immortality Begins with the Life-Extending Lamp

Chapter 22 The Real Vengeful Ghost

"what?"

While everyone was in a state of panic over the hundred ghosts fighting over food, they suddenly heard Li Qing seemingly confiding in someone, which puzzled them greatly.

However, before the doubts could be raised, they suddenly felt as if the world had been turned upside down.

A paper sedan chair appeared out of nowhere and crashed into the armored soldiers. The next moment, white paper flew everywhere, and strands of spiritual paper were scattered all over the ground, tearing into smoke and ashes that dissipated.

Looking closer, the hundred or so armored soldiers in the arena had vanished without a trace...

Li Qing made a hand seal with two fingers and used the Rebirth Transfer Technique to send the many armored soldiers two miles away. However, this one move caused more than 70% of the true qi in his body to be drained instantly.

The Great Transference Technique for Rebirth is originally a paper sedan chair that carries the deceased into the gates of hell for rebirth. It is a technique that can carry the deceased through the barrier between the yin and yang realms, which is the greatest power of this paper sedan chair.

"Looks like I'm still not ruthless enough, neither here nor there, neither here nor there..."

Li Qing seemed to suddenly realize something and gave a self-deprecating smile.

The Taoist disciples in the mountains all said that the ghost boy, Li Qing, did not seem like a pure Taoist practitioner. He himself said that he had been making friends with ghosts, so he could be considered half a "heretical Taoist".

Yet, he was, after all, a scholar from the prefecture and county who had been well-versed in the classics and the Five Classics and Six Arts since childhood. He sought to establish a livelihood for the people, to rediscover the lost teachings of the sages, and to bring peace to all things…

He'd read so many books that he'd even fooled himself. This half-human, half-ghostly Taoist was actually willing to waste most of his true energy on a mere hundred or so lives during this time?
Shaking his head and chuckling, Li Qing's hands continued to move. The longevity-borrowing ritual was complete. With a hand gesture, the thirty-six borrowed "longevity flames" instantly transformed into thirty-six wisps of white smoke, appearing and disappearing, just in time to be absorbed into the life-extending lamp before the many great ghosts attacked.

In an instant, a light that transcended visual range burst forth from the six-sided lamp, as if the bright candlelight could be seen in every angle of the camp, whether you were looking at it or turning your back to it.

This is the light of life, also known as the light of conception!
This is the first incantation of the Southern Dipper Life-Extending Lamp Method.

Seeing the longevity lamp held in the Taoist's hand, the once beautiful and delicious longevity lamp suddenly turned into a useless paper lamp. How could the many ghosts not be angry?
A headless ghost with its arms wrapped around its head; a hanged ghost with its eyes bulging out, a long tongue hanging out, and an old straw rope tied around its neck.

Eyes without sockets, ears like holes, body soaking wet, murky foul water gushing from its seven orifices—it was a drowned ghost that had just crawled out of a mountain stream.

A purplish-blue infant ghost with long arms and legs; a ravenous ghost with a gaping, bluish-green mouth and bared fangs...

Many great terrors unconsciously revealed their true forms before this paper lantern, with wailing, howling, and a foul stench assaulting the senses.

However, just as these many large demons rushed forward, intending to tear the robed youth who had interrupted their food supply into pieces,

An illogical and unusual phenomenon has occurred!

In that instant, the temperature in the entire camp suddenly dropped significantly. Frost quickly formed on the tents and beams. The young man on the altar suddenly stood stiffly upright, holding his breath and concentrating, as if he dared not move at all.

Looking up, one could see that the white breath exhaled from under the young man's hood was as warm as winter air, clearly visible to the naked eye.

At this moment, the many powerful demons suddenly realized something.

Why did that man come up to us?

Before these ghosts could clear up their doubts, an even more terrifying scene unfolded!

Behind the young man in the robe, a woman of stunning beauty slowly appeared close to his back. From right to left, she wore a red dress adorned with jade pendants, her brocade robe cinched at her waist, and her fair wrists were like frost...

Until, the other half of the demonic skull face slowly appeared from behind the youth!

"what!!"

The ghostly infant on the ground, its hair twisted into a braid, began to wail loudly. The piercing screams echoed for miles around, and many other ghosts reacted at the same time, roaring, struggling, wailing, and rolling around...

Heart-wrenching wails rose and fell, urgent and desperate. Even the many old graves in Ximang Mountain were unconsciously awakened by the cacophony of ghosts. Some old corpses in coffins turned over and climbed to the mountain peak, while ghostly dragons sang and circled the pillars under the graves.

Li Qing stood frozen on the altar, half in fear and half in despair, watching the indiscriminate...massacre taking place in the camp.

It was a scene like hell!
The hanged ghost's chest and abdomen were gone, and its hands and feet were destroyed. Only a twisted, bloody sausage covered in an unknown sticky substance was strung on a log, which held up the "hanged ghost" whose upper body was now gone.
The ghost baby had vanished without a trace, leaving only the dark red bloodstains scattered on the ground and the two bruised ghost claws that had been stretched to several meters long...

The headless ghost only has half a head left to this day;
The bloated, black-blue hungry ghost, with only half its body remaining, still had half a black-blue ghost hand chewing in its fanged mouth, unable to swallow it. It was unknown what kind of horror could make the starving ghost devour itself.

As for other evil spirits and ghosts, there was no trace of their existence whatsoever...

Li Qing watched the various scenes of slaughter from beginning to end.

Even ghosts and gods at the Purple Mansion level are no match for this Ghost Mother. They are treated like hamsters, toyed with and abused at will!
Until the Ghost Mother turned the entire camp into boundless blood-soaked earth, it seemed that nothing could arouse her interest anymore.

That terrifying being, a creature that was both ferocious and beautiful, held a thumb-sized Netherworld bead between its fingertips and slowly walked towards Li Qing, swaying with each step.

As soon as she approached, it was as if a secluded spring had descended upon the world, and frost flowers seemed to condense in the surrounding air.

The terrifying entity approached Li Qing's gaze and, with its icy, ghostly fingers, picked up the soul bead and forcefully shoved it into Li Qing's mouth.

The ghost mother was devoid of spirit; she was merely like many other fierce ghosts, possessing only the ominous instincts of a malevolent spirit.

Li Qing suddenly understood what she meant.

She seemed to be having a lot of fun?
Is this Soul Bead... a gift from her in return?
A sudden realization flashed through Li Qing's mind, but he still dared not respond in the slightest. He was afraid, afraid that if he was not careful, this ghost mother would drag him into the underworld.

Silence might be the best response to her!

The red-clad ghost mother lingered and wandered around Li Qing, perhaps because there was nothing left to arouse her interest, or perhaps because the ghostly man's indifference bored her.

After an unknown amount of time, she finally began to make new movements. The red-clad ghost mother searched in all directions for a very long time, and finally, she found a location.

She's leaving!
Having found the direction, the Ghost Mother stealthily approached Li Qing, step by step, drawing ever closer. However, with each step, the entire world seemed to recede further from her; the closer she drew to Li Qing, the more colorless the world became. It was as if... it had transformed into an old, worn-out painting brush, gray and tattered, the world losing its luster, everything losing its brilliance.

Just as she and Li Qing were about to touch, she suddenly vanished from the mortal world and returned to that unknown underworld...

"call!"

Only now did Li Qing finally exhale a long breath, and only now did he dare to truly catch his breath.

The Ghost Mother's aura was terrifying. Even though she didn't make any deliberate moves, Li Qing still didn't dare to make the slightest move.

But at least we survived, didn't we?

Only then did Li Qing cast aside all restraints, leaning against a corner of the earthen altar without regard for her image, and chuckle.

He looked at the life-extending lamp with delight. This was a magical artifact that he had truly crafted alone, and that belonged only to him.

This is the first step he takes on the path to immortality!
However, he was extremely disappointed. This paper lamp seemed far from enough to give him the confidence to resist the demon mother.

He quickly looked around at himself and examined his abdomen.

However, after this internal examination, he could no longer find the Nether Pearl that the Ghost Mother had forcibly given him and swallowed.

"Where is that grayish-white ghost pearl?"

It seems that the Ghost Mother, having grown tired of playing with the hundred ghosts, kneaded their remnants into... a little toy!

He examined himself again and again, but ultimately could not find the bead again.

It digested so quickly, or...?

In the midst of his panic, Li Qing suddenly felt a jolt in his heart. When he mobilized his Qi again, the true Qi that had been completely depleted was suddenly replenished.

Even more astonishingly, his true qi level suddenly surged to 220 units! Moreover, his true qi seemed to become increasingly cold and yin, as if it were somewhat compatible with yin energy!

"How can this be?"

Li Qing internally examined his upper and lower dantian, and the Qi in his body suddenly increased by sixty units. In the Niwan Palace, in the small space of the Lingtai, there was a dimly lit white bone visualization diagram.

The continuous skeletons had gathered into a white bone lotus seat, and the white bone beauty who looked eight parts similar to the red-clothed ghost mother was now leaning against the white bone lotus seat, seemingly having undergone some changes.

The number of thoughts he could mobilize increased dramatically; with a single thought, he could mobilize a hundred thoughts at the same time.

"Is it because of the life-extending lamp? Life-extending lamps and the borrowing of lifespan are taboo items that are supposed to aid in spiritual practice..."

"Is it because of that Netherworld Pearl? Or perhaps both?"

The changes brought about by this ritual were so great that he could hardly believe it, and for a moment he even had a different idea!
In that instant, he actually considered torturing all the ghosts and spirits to provide amusement for the Ghost Mother and thus nourish his cultivation?
The shortcut to spiritual practice—a fleeting evil thought—how many people can truly control themselves?
"Unfortunately, I'm petty and can't stand having a guillotine hanging over my head day and night!"

Fortunately, he was keenly aware that he absolutely could not rely on that ghost mother, otherwise, his fate would only be to sink into the underworld and never be redeemed!
Li Qing was intelligent from a young age and grew up listening to stories from various supernatural tales.

Only through cultivation, only through the path of immortality, can one attain a power that belongs solely to him, a power that cannot be controlled by anyone else…

This terrifying blood-filled hellish scene terrified a certain ghost in the void, who witnessed a horrifying demon brutally torturing hundreds of ghosts beneath the camp.

"Damn it, how could such a terrifying thing be nurtured in the Corpse Cave? How could those few Corpse Generals even have room in it? Did they not want to live?"

"What to do? What to do? My Meng family's ancestral graves are less than a hundred miles from here, what to do..."

The third matriarch of the Meng family was floating in the void, truly terrified by the scene of that bloody hell, and was so anxious that she paced around in circles...

Meanwhile, several miles away, the Dragon-Slaying Warriors...

The paper sedan chair carried everyone across the void to the afterlife. It flew for about two miles before landing on the ground, transforming into two pieces of paper and a small paper sedan chair about two feet in size. It was too far from its owner, and all the supernatural phenomena on the paper object had long since disappeared.

Hearing the mournful wails of the hundred ghosts and the terrifying soul pressure that almost made them want to commit suicide, how could they not understand the profound power behind Li Jijiu?
"As expected of a disciple of a sect!"

Old Zhao assumed it was one of the elders of Tiannan Temple who had intervened. He sighed and saw the three paper figures fall to the ground. He was about to pick them up and return them to the temple's chief priest after the matter was over.

Ding……

A ghost-headed spear was instantly embedded in front of the paper sedan chair.

Bai Du gazed at the three pairs of emerald green wolf eyes rushing towards them in the distance, and suddenly said:
"Let them come!"

Two of the armored soldiers behind them, who were quick-witted, stepped forward and picked up the paper figure and the paper sedan chair.

Among spiritual practitioners, once they touch a ritual implement, things become complicated and unpredictable.

Moreover, Bai Du was even more afraid that Old Zhao would become greedy and disappear with the three magical artifacts. If that happened, how would they answer when Chief Priest Li questioned them?
It would be better for everyone if those ignorant fools who knew nothing about cultivation took over.

Old Zhao suddenly realized what was happening, but instead of being angry, he pointed at the three ferocious wolves and joked:

"That old wolf is really clever. If it had been a few steps later, it might not have been able to get out!"

The armored soldiers nodded in agreement, their gazes passing over the three ferocious wolves and all looking towards the distant camp...

(End of this chapter)