The Path to Immortality Begins with the Life-Extending Lamp

Chapter 35 Skinning for Provocation
The rain poured down all night.

After receiving a message from Grandpa Ma in a dream, the villagers from various townships obediently stayed in the shantytown, holding their breath and not daring to show their faces.

With nearly 100,000 villagers, does the Third Grandfather of the Ma Clan really possess such great magical power to protect everyone?
Obviously not.

blah blah blah...

Only in the southernmost shantytown of Dongxiang could one hear the sound of splashing in the water. This area is the farthest from the Ma Clan Ancestral Hall and also the most populous shantytown.

With hundreds of villagers crammed together, creating a chaotic scene, even the powerful Ma family of Shanyang, a prominent local clan, might not be able to attend to everyone's needs.

The so-called "village-based protection" is vulnerable to being wiped out by the slightest oversight!

At this moment, a strange figure was already spying on this place in the pouring night rain.

Before one of the Ma family's shamans could even invoke the spirit of their ancestor, the Third Grandfather, he was pinned to the ground by the suddenly appearing figure. Immediately afterward, one human skin after another swarmed over him, and in a moment, blood mixed with rainwater began to flow out.

The Ma family guards in the south, who had been patrolling the various regions in rain and drizzle, had now turned into bloody corpses, their bodies soaked in the rain and staining the ground red.

If the ghostly scourge were allowed to run rampant, not only would a night-roaming ghost or deity not dare to guarantee that it could be completely eradicated, but even a day-roaming ghost or deity would not dare to make a promise that it could be completely dealt with!

The guards' screams were quickly drowned out by the sound of rain as dozens of pale figures waded through the rain and invaded the shantytown.

At this moment.

Suddenly, a pair of purple-blue ghostly hands emerged from the shadows of the shantytown. Those hands stretched out eerily for several meters, tearing the foremost few human-skinned monsters in half.

Two figures dressed entirely in white slowly appeared, emerging from the dim corner and blocking the shanty.

On one side, a paper demon appears, its faceless beneath its awning, its bones without its armor, its ghostly hands cursing and protecting the villagers; on the other side, a human-skinned demon rages, its skin peeled off and rampages, pale and wet with rain, swarming forward to devour people.

Against the backdrop of the night rain, two evil forces met in a narrow passage, resorting to killing to stop killing, and evil to fight evil.

Within the eastern countryside, as the various tribes clashed, on the outskirts of the rainy night, another burst of smoke and fire rose.

Daoist Yu Wen's cheeks puffed out, and he blew his Qi across his internal organs and five Qi, producing billowing black smoke and bright flames. The fire spread for dozens of feet, instantly burning the human-skinned ghost within his sight.

The Fire Technique of the Outer Courtyard of Lin Yuan, with its divine energy of the five internal organs' stove fire, is naturally extraordinary in power!

Before they even entered the eastern village, they could already sense the terrifying aura emanating from the gloomy rain.

Li Qingdong glanced at the lantern, picked it up, and strode into the dark clouds. As soon as he entered the misty rain, the drizzling rain in the sky disappeared mysteriously before he even got close, which was quite strange.

"This isn't rain, it's yin energy!"

"These dark clouds and rain are ghostly realms formed from yin energy."

He possessed the profound Yin energy of the underworld, making him extremely sensitive to Yin energy; he could distinguish it with the slightest contact.

Giving a shout to Zhu Qiu and Yu Wen to follow, Li Qing quickly approached the oppressive dark clouds...

Human skin ghosts are rampant in various parts of Dongxiang, and the Tiannan Daoist disciples in Shanyang have yet to show up.

Master Ma San grew increasingly agitated. Another shaman who served him had died; this was the third one today!
Each of these shamans was comparable to a sorcerer or a Taoist disciple. This was the foundation of the Ma family of Shanyang. To lose three of them in a single day was truly painful for him.

But what troubled him even more was that he was now absolutely certain that it was a skinning demon with a ghostly aura.

This beast has probably set his sights on the entire Dongxiang area.

How could Master Ma do as it wished?

Do they really think that this third ancestor of the Ma family is a dead ghost?
With a flick of his official hat, Ma San instantly transformed into a ten-foot-tall, blue-faced ghost, his official robes covering his body, his face as blue as indigo, and his entire body shrouded in a heavy, deathly gray hue.

As soon as the green-skinned ghost revealed its true form, an aura of decay immediately emanated from its body. With a surge of yin energy, it immediately began its nighttime escape, tearing through the darkness and venturing into the continuous drizzle.

The human-skinned ghost, arriving through the gloomy rain, had not yet reached the sprawling mansion with its high eaves and overlapping tiers when it suddenly heard an extremely angry cold snort.

With a ripping sound, pale human skin fragments flew everywhere, and the dozen or so human skin demons were torn to pieces by the angry old green-skinned ghost in a single exchange!

The old ghost's ten fingers were like hooks, with bits of human skin still remaining between them. His tiger-like eyes gleamed as he surveyed the surrounding ghostly figures, truly resembling a demon descending to earth.

However, the ghosts in the rain were not afraid at all. When they saw the old ghost Ma appear, they gathered more and more. One by one, human skins rose up from under the dark rain and ghostly abyss, and their turbid and numb eyes were all fixed on the old ghost with green skin.

As the gloom descended, round objects slowly floated in through the rain and mist—human heads. As soon as they caught sight of them, a chilling malice instantly gripped the heart of this ancestral spirit of the Ma family.

"What a beast!"

That skinning demon actually saw him as prey?
"I should have long ago skinned and beheaded you, you beast, and sacrificed you to the ghosts."

Ma Sanzu's face was grim, his ten fingers clenched into fists, and he said coldly.

The dark clouds in the sky seemed to be getting lower and lower, and the dark, gloomy haze had spread over this huge ancestral building. The dampness and mist were disgusting, and the light of day was getting dimmer. All the buildings five zhang away began to disappear from sight, as if the whole world had turned into a bottomless abyss.

The human skins seemed to be filled with the gloomy rain and fog, and suddenly they swelled up. One, two... hundreds and thousands of human skin ghosts gathered together, and the world was filled with their pale figures!

Among them were several familiar human skins, whose appearances were indistinguishable from those of living people, with ghostly eyes that were white, mixed among the continuous ghostly rampages, and were about to transform into real ghosts.

He underestimated that skinning ghost. Skinning people to make demons, collecting skulls to make lamps, and this ghostly realm where rain frequently falls—three innate, unorthodox arts… If this were in Lingnan Prefecture, such a large ghost on a banner would be enough to drive the ghost-worshipping Taoists mad. But now, it has changed its target, setting its sights on this Master Ma!

It's like two tigers meeting face to face, fighting on a narrow path; or two great demons meeting in the rain. The temptation of killing one's own kind is a more attractive target than any blood sacrifice.

"You beast, die!"

Ma San's face turned deathly pale as he faced the human-skinned ghost that was treading on water. He took a deep breath and then let out a loud shout.

drink……

A torrent of gray, deathly miasma was exhaled from his mouth, a continuous stream that quickly spread to a mile in front of him, annihilating the pervasive gloom and rain.

The layers of human skin collapsed instantly upon encountering the deathly aura, turning into a dark mass, and then slowly dissipated like ashes from burnt-out paper.

This is the innate trickery of the Yin Ghost - the Green-skinned Dead Ghost, the Deathly Mist and Extinction!
With just this one breath held in the chest, what can any number of rampaging ghosts do?

The green-skinned ghost, his official robes fluttering, suddenly rose from the ground, traveled through the night, ascended to the sky, and exhaled his lifeless breath to cleanse the rampant crowds in the rain.

In just two exchanges, the human-skinned ghosts scattered everywhere were all destroyed by the deathly mist and fog, turning into ashes that drifted across the sky, and even the original gloom of the night rain had slowly faded away.

The only thing still churning in the air was the terrifying, deadly miasma!
Groups of two or three human skins avoided the hazy, deathly miasma, helplessly gazing up at the green-skinned ghosts in the night sky.

Those were the human skins of Taoist disciples from the Wenfeng Hall of Tiannan Temple, the Ma family shaman, and three or five local sorceresses and shamans...

"No wonder this thing couldn't be found for weeks. It has some foresight, secretly skinning all the cultivators in Shanyang alive?"

"Hmph, but a ghost is a ghost."

The third ancestor of the Ma family transformed into a green-skinned dead ghost and roamed the sky at night. He gave a cold laugh to the human-faced lamps that floated around him, which were nothing more than pieces of human skin.

With a backhand punch, the human-faced lamps that seemed to float in the air like balloons scattered and exploded, falling to the ground one after another.

The ghosts and spirits who roam at night can fly through the sky and enter the earth, making them equivalent to top-grade Daoist disciples. This alone makes the difference in their level immediately apparent!

Even if those ghosts roared and howled wildly, they could only grin and stare at the empty sky.

Ma Sanqing, with his deadly appearance and the official robes of a prefect, truly resembled a real ghost judge emerging from the underworld, wandering through the night, and raising his hand to attack the few human skins that were about to turn into ghosts.

The pale-faced young ghost skin was Wenfeng Daoist from Tiannan Temple. This was the most terrifying of all the ghost skins. Rainwater trickled down from between its hair, leaving a puddle on the ground with every step it took. The six or seven old-looking human skins looked around and paled in comparison...

This blow has utterly destroyed you!

Once the skinning demon's claws and teeth are removed one by one, what trouble can it cause?

Ma Sanzu's spirit soared through the night sky, his official robes fluttering in the wind, as he swept his hand across the skins of many people...

Outside the Dongxiang Ancestral Hall.

A giant vermilion dragon, over ten zhang long, perched on the pillars of the Dongxiang Archway. Two young men in Taoist robes stood side by side on the archway, one in green and one in blue, gazing at the ongoing collision in the distance.

"Why is that skinning demon so troublesome? It's already this late, and he still hasn't shown up?"

The Taoist disciple in green, Yu Wen, was also astonished. The skin that the ghost had painstakingly collected had been destroyed by that old ghost.

Well done, Ma San! You have the ability but you don't make a move. You're really just keeping an enemy around to enhance your own power!
"Who said that skinner hasn't appeared yet?"

Li Qing held the life-extending paper lantern in his hand, shook his head and smiled.

The skinning demon remained hidden in the arena from beginning to end, its dense yin energy almost tangible, transforming into a trickle of yin rain.

What followed was a sudden change in the scene, foreshadowing the fulfillment of Li Qing's prophecy!
From Ma San Taiye's fangs and nostrils, a continuous stream of decaying, ghostly miasma enveloped the six or seven old skin demons that were trying to attack him, instantly obliterating them.

But when they tried to attack the young man's skin, the trickling rain from his body blocked the deathly miasma, rendering it ineffective.

The human skin gave Ma San a deep look, then revealed a sinister smile in a provocative manner. It then stiffened and retreated, as if trying to sink into the water stain.

This startled Ma San. What did that beast's smile mean? A provocation? Or a diversionary tactic? What was happening in the tribe?
Ma San was filled with mixed emotions and hatred. His huge, green-skinned ghost body landed in front of the water stain, and with a hook-like hand, he grabbed the upper half of the human skin that was about to sink into the water.

The immense force pulled at the pale white skin, seemingly ripping it out of shape, as if he were forcibly tearing it out of the water-stained ghost realm.

"Hee hee hee!"

Just then, a sudden, eerie laugh rang out. Before Master Ma could even pull himself away, a sharp tearing sound was heard, and the entire back of his body was ripped off by the dead blue ghost skin. A soul-rending pain immediately gripped his heart.

Caught off guard, Grandpa Ma's grip went limp, he released his right hand, staggered a couple of steps, and then turned to look.

A ghostly skin, seemingly without purpose, fluttered in the wind, its right hand clutching a bloody, green piece of skin.

"Hehehe! You're going to die, you're going to die."

"You're going to die!"

(End of this chapter)