The Path to Immortality Begins with the Life-Extending Lamp

Chapter 36 Dragons Do Not Dwell with Snakes

The ghosts and gods of the Northern Heavenly Ghost lineage were outmaneuvered by those fierce and foolish wild ghosts. If Ma San were in Lingnan Prefecture, he would be famous among those ghost Taoist priests.

But this skinning ghost is truly terrifying; it deserves to be included in the Record of a Hundred Ghosts of Lingnan.

Peeling skin to make a madman, tearing off a head to hang a lamp, and this dark, rainy ghost realm—these three innate tricks are enough to cause a city-destroying ghost scourge!

Ma San's face turned fierce, as if he wanted to devour someone.

But how could that frighten the skinning demon? It had not yet developed intelligence, but as a fellow ghost, the allure of a nocturnal wandering spirit far surpassed that of any other living being.

"Hehehe, you're going to die!"

The skinning demon's mouth split open, and his dark, empty eye sockets and the curses he kept repeating were chilling.

As the skinning ghost appeared, the range of the dark clouds visibly shrank, but the rain within became even more torrential. The skinning ghost, with its pale ghost skin, was drenched in the ghostly rain, yet its figure grew even more robust, as if it had filled the ghostly rain and its yin energy into itself.

The Ma family's shamans and militia wanted to approach the place of dark clouds to help their ancestral spirits, but as soon as they were drenched by the ghostly rain, they fell to the ground before they could run more than a few steps.

Immediately afterwards, another human skin rose from the corpse. It glanced at the blood spreading at its feet, and then numbly stepped onto the rain, heading towards the center of the ghostly realm.

Upon seeing this, the old man surnamed Ma, who was leaning on a peachwood cane, looked resentful, pounded the ground with his cane, and became furious.

"You idiot, you idiot! I told you he was going to mess things up!"

"When has my Ma family ever been so sneaked into the ancestral hall?"

"Young man, where are the Taoist disciples from the Six Spirits Mountain that your cousin invited?"

The old man turned to look at a young man sitting on the steps behind him and asked.

This was a Gu Master dressed in the blue robes of the Southern Poison Gu Clan. The young Gu Master casually played with the human-faced centipede Gu on the back of his hand, then shook his head.

“Grandfather, I did not trouble my cousins. Our Shanyang is ultimately part of Tiannan Prefecture…”

"Let's see when those disciples of Tiannan Temple will make their move."

The Taoist disciples of Liuling Mountain would not dare to overstep the rules and enter the territory of Tiannan Temple. Even if they were to invite them, they might not be able to.

Why bother?
The young man, however, started persuading the old man instead.

"You have a long and distinguished career in Liuling Mountain, with many disciples and grandchildren supporting you. Why would you return to Shanyang? You've run into trouble now, haven't you?"

"The blue-robed Daoist from Tiannan arrived riding a high-grade dragon-snake. He must have an incredibly powerful background. He and Third Master can definitely handle it together. He probably just wants to dampen Third Master's arrogance!"

Among the scattered Gu worms, several malevolent auras that had been watching from the entrance of the Ma Clan Ancestral Hall had already been detected.

There are also remnants of fire magic in many places in Dongxiang. The Taoists from Nanguan were probably already there that day, just hoping to reap the benefits.

Anyway, that old ghost has always been arrogant, and no matter how much we try to curb his arrogance, it won't affect these "outsiders" who have embarked on the path of cultivation.

"Humph!"

The old man glared at his great-grandson with exasperation, but he couldn't refute him. Could they possibly disrespect Tiannan Temple in Tiannan Prefecture?

Dissatisfied, he turned and went into the old house, wanting to avoid seeing it...

And at this moment, the gloomy and ghostly realm.

The torrential rain of ghosts was formed from streams of yin energy and curses. Ordinary people would have their skin peeled off the moment they touched it, which was extremely terrifying.

Only those of mid-to-high level cultivation can approach this area of ​​torrential rain and gloom.

This suddenly isolated Ma San Taiye, the local deity, in his own territory.

Dark clouds hung low over the ground, and torrential rain poured down, leaving only a few feet of visible space within the entire ghostly realm.

Under the cover of the rain, the pale-skinned man and the skin-peeling demon attacked Ma San simultaneously, one after the other. Their two pale arms were wet with rain. At that moment, two giant green arms that looked like Vajra demon claws also came to meet them. The four arms crossed fiercely, and then each withdrew in the next instant.

The rain seemed to carry some kind of curse, and for the first time, Ma San felt a bone-chilling, numb cold in his ghostly body that resembled a god.

That damned thing, it's really gained momentum!
Aren't those two brats from Tiannan Temple going to make a move?

Ma San's heart sank. At this moment, his ghostly tendencies began to flare up again. He blocked the attack of the two ghosts with his hand, and all sorts of schemes kept popping into his mind.

"Are they trying to profit from the conflict between the two sides? Or did they originally come for the ancestor? Could it be that this giant ghost's attack on the village was also his doing?"

The more they fought, the more terrified Ma San became, feeling as if the whole world was plotting against him.

But those two fierce ghosts were really eyeing his ghost skin, so they wouldn't allow him to have any wild thoughts.
In a moment of carelessness, Ma San felt a sharp pain in his hand. It was the back of his hand where he had just collided with the skin-peeling ghost hand. The skin and flesh there were now swelling up and separating as if they were about to leave his body.

"What a vicious skinning curse!"

This ghost realm is beyond my ability to handle. If that brat from Tiannan doesn't make a move, I'll have to slip away first. Ma San's heart stirred. He distanced himself from the two human-skin ghosts, one large and one small. With a flicker of his figure, he immediately took flight, disappearing into the night sky like a spirit leaving its body, drifting away from the ghost realm.

It was this action that saved him from the terrifying attack below!

Just as Ma San took off, he noticed countless hidden stars twinkling in the night sky, which then transformed into streaks of dark blue shooting stars.

next moment.

Rumble…

The continuous, violent explosions simultaneously engulfed the three giant demons in the field, and this gloomy ghost realm was instantly torn apart by the blue-green ghost fire.

Several ghosts were either covered by those fiery calamities, or tainted by the raging fire in the stone, or rose up only to be blasted away by the continuous explosions.

Before they could even see who was attacking, another attack came!

"Sigh~"

A crimson dragon rode the wind and stormed into this ghostly realm. Its six-crowned head was slightly open, and flames spewed from its mouth, spreading out in a continuous fire that combined with the remaining clusters of fire from the rocks scattered everywhere, turning this place into a fiery domain.

The sound of footsteps rang out, and a young man in blue was seen slowly approaching, carrying a paper lantern. The lantern emitted a cold light, like a death knell, which was frightening.

Beside him, countless stars gathered, initially like fireflies, but as the sun's fiery energy compressed within them, the glow grew dimmer and dimmer, as if fifty-two dying stars hung around him.

Ma San finally regained his footing and looked up to see fifty-two dim Dippers falling, followed by a series of explosions. Two rounds of bombardment had taken place. The entire land seemed to have been plowed through, with hundreds of feet around filled with rubble and ruins, except for clusters of embers remaining in the fields.

"..."

Even the Taoist disciple in blue, Yu Wendu, was so shocked that he almost dropped his magic weapon, and swallowed back the words that were about to come out of his throat.

The young man in blue slowly approached. With each step he took, a mysterious aura of the underworld emanated from his body, and with each step he took, frost formed on the ground from his footprints.

The bronze covenant of the underworld given to him by the Ghost Mother of the Cui family slowly lit up in his sleeve, and an unknown aura descended from the Northern Netherworld, forcibly tearing open the layer of dark clouds.

An even more terrifying ghost realm has appeared!
It seemed to be a ghostly realm that did not exist in this world. A vast expanse of darkness covered half of Dongxiang. A mournful tune from Jiangnan rang out from somewhere. Whether human or ghost, everyone in the scene saw that terrifying underworld in the darkness.

A faint red light intertwined with a deep abyss, green eaves and tiles, and a magnificent mansion complex stood in that desolate place. Two red lanterns hung in front of the mansion, and the words "Netherworld" were written on the eaves of the door. It seemed that whispers could often be heard coming from behind the walls. Then, boundless malice rose from all parts of the Netherworld.

It seems to be trying to drag everyone down and drown them!
Rumble…

Hearing a loud explosion, I turned around, but there was no trace of the underworld. The sky was still the same sky, and the earth was still the same earth.

However, the Netherworld Yin Qi emanating from the blue-clad youth seemed to be solidifying. His shadow stretched out under the flickering candlelight, revealing long, waist-length hair that was both graceful and stunning. But it was not a human shadow at all!
Ma San was filled with fear and was about to get up and leave when he realized that the chilling Xuan Yin Qi had already invaded his body.

He now knew who was in front of him.

Is he the Ghost Gentleman from Tiannan Temple?
Even the green-skinned, deadly-looking man unconsciously restrained himself.

Ma San was dressed in an official robe, half of his back was covered in blood and gore, and his expression had completely changed from the usual sternness of an official to a kind and benevolent one.

The pale white skin on the ground had been worn away by the two rounds of starlight, leaving only a small piece, which was now faintly burning with fire.

The skinned ghost had empty eye sockets and lay on the ground, numbly staring up at Li Qing, but no expression could be seen from those eye sockets.

Li Qing approached step by step, and with a swift movement of his left hand, he grabbed the skinned ghost by the neck and lifted it up with one hand. The pale life-extending flame in the Southern Dipper Life-Extending Lamp transformed into threads that coiled and stretched, soon completely covering the ghost's body and igniting a pale fire. This life-extending flame was cutting away at life and burning away longevity.

The Southern Dipper can determine life, and it can also determine death!
The pale life-giving fire crackled and burned for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. When Li Qing released his palm, only a flawless piece of pale ghost skin fell from between his fingers.

The flame in the life-extending lamp grew even stronger.

Picking up the ghost skin, Li Qing was quite satisfied. With the complete, peeled ghost skin, he now knew the direction for the next paper demon...

As for Ma Sanzu, he had just seen the skinning ghost turn into a high-quality ghost skin and be taken into someone's possession. Now, seeing that master walking towards him without stopping, how could he not be terrified?

The old ghost's eyes kept darting around, desperately trying to move his body, but damn it, he just couldn't move!

The sound of footsteps, like a guillotine about to fall, filled Master Ma with immense fear, his pupils practically bulging with blood.

"Fellow Daoist from Tiannan!"

"Why not spare their lives?"

An aged voice rang out, and the old man from the Ma family made a deep request!
However, Li Qing remained unmoved. He drew up his true qi, slightly bent his five fingers, and was about to grab the old ghost's head.

The old ghost's immense Yin energy was precisely what Li Qing could counter. A wisp of Netherworld Yin energy was equivalent to his entire body's Yin energy. He grabbed the old ghost's crown with his hand and slammed its head to the ground with a bang. As his true Qi surged, spiderweb-like cracks instantly spread out.

"I was originally invited by my senior brother Ma Yuan to come to Shanyang to help me with a letter of invitation."

"Ma Yuan is still fighting demons in the southwestern mountains today, risking his life in battle. If he knew that the old ghost in his family was running rampant in the village, I really don't know what he would think!"

(End of this chapter)