The Path to Immortality Begins with the Life-Extending Lamp

Chapter 47 Those Who Come and Those Who Go

"Taiyue Mountain-shaped Dao Zhu: 17,000 coins; Tiannan Yuanliu Dao Zhu: 9,341 coins; Jiangnan Official System Dao Zhu: 7,000 coins..."

"This tiny Zhishanfang has squeezed out who knows how much money they could have made from talismans!"

The total amount of money spent by various sects and the official money of the Southern Kingdom amounted to nearly 50,000 coins. However, it is unknown how much human flesh jerky this bunch of old pigs sent to the Demon Mountain and how much spirit meat they sold to the Southern Lands.

This place is beyond measure, stained with blood!

Li Qing counted the various Dao coins, separating them one by one into a mustard seed bag before placing them into the Heavenly Gourd.

In this southern country, different denominations of Daozhu coins have varying purchasing power.

For example, the Taiyue Mountain-shaped Dao Zhu of the Taiyue Immortal Sect is made entirely of spiritual essence - Jiuhua Qingjin. It is palm-sized and engraved with mountain patterns. It is extremely famous in Ba Kingdom, Northern Zhou, and overseas because it is a rare spiritual gold and is extremely precious.
The official Daozhu coins from Jiangnan are mostly cast from mithril, which has a reddish tint and is slightly larger in size. Mithril itself is also a good mineral and can be used to refine many magical artifacts.
The Yuanliu Daozhu of Tiannan Temple was also cast from mithril and was not much different from the official Daozhu. It was mainly used in Tiannan Prefecture.

In Lingnan and even among the common people, there is another type of "ghost money," which is incense talisman money. It is made by burying it in front of ancestral halls or underworlds and then cleansing it with incense or yin energy. Some of these can be used as "suppressants" for various unorthodox and heretical practices, and some are also in circulation...

This time, Li Qing really broke into the evil mountain and enriched himself. Several bags full of Dao coins were enough to last him a long time back at the mountain gate!
Looking again at the exquisite paper scepter, Yuan saw that it was holding a stack of spirit paper in its hands. It was made of demon skin and was mostly dark in color, with only a few sheets of skin paper that were slightly white.

"This demonic paper still needs to be purified and cleansed; you are not yet capable of handling it!"

Li Qing approached her and snatched the numerous spirit papers from her hands.

Peeling skin to make paper is a strange technique that has never been recorded in Taoist temples. It was obtained by an accidental collision between the paper spirit and the skin-peeling ghost.

Li Qing needs to thoroughly understand these sixteen pieces of paper. The spiritual energy of these papers alone is comparable to that of Hundred-Eyed Spirit Paper. If they can be widely applied to the paper industry, they could change the entire paper industry system in the future.

Li Qing can currently only make ten-eyed spirit paper.

That hundred-eyed spirit paper is already a top-grade spirit paper, and can be used to carve talismans and incantations;

Spirit paper that reaches the thousand-mesh level is a precious paper used by Daoists of the Purple Mansion and even the Old Ancestor of the Yin Gods to make impeachment and summons documents.

Perhaps this will become a new path with an uncertain future?

He put away the paper money and the demon paper, and then began to count the corpse of the pig demon. The corpses of the demons outside the meat shop, which had been engulfed in flames for miles around, were lined up one by one.

Including the twenty-odd old pigs that had been sacrificed with the life-extending lamp ritual, this battle wiped out about fifty pig demons of all sizes, effectively eliminating them all in one fell swoop.

Li Qing activated the image-recording jade talisman, capturing images of the ten-mile-long meat market, the headless corpses on the ground, and the charred remains. After thoroughly inspecting the meat market and confirming there were no further hidden dangers, he finally set off to leave.

Unfortunately, the two faceless demons were destroyed by the second white-haired boar and need to be reforged. The paper sedan chair can no longer be activated.

Fortunately, "Candle" had already formed a pact with Li Qing, and now the two were very close. Li Qing sat cross-legged on its head, which was called riding a dragon to rise high, riding the wind, and sweeping the clouds for thousands of miles, soaring all the way from the sky above the mountain ridge to the south...

That monstrous family in Zhishanfang was wiped out by Li Qing in half a day. He drove the paper smugglers and summoned soldiers to their home, then used dragons and water and fire to exterminate the entire family!

When the red dragon crossed the Yuan River and returned north, the outer disciples of the Daoist Academy finally arrived in the Southern Land on a hill not far away.

On the two mountain ridges, bears sit and call themselves kings; in the tombs of the three ghosts, old foxes and wild ghosts set up camps!
Many Taoist followers don't have a dragon at their beck and call, nor do they possess Li Qing's paper-wielding skills. If they want to destroy mountains and temples, they can only call upon their friends and mobilize troops...

A sword light streaked across the azure sky, tearing through the clouds and sending down a narrow wisp of purple energy, as if Yun Hua had drawn his sword and cleaved through the heavens.

As the sword rang out, a purple sword aura swept down from the sky, swirling and turning before landing on the hill in the blink of an eye.

Among them were more than ten blue-green Daoist figures, leading two battalions of armored soldiers and hundreds of troops. They obeyed orders without uttering a sound, and despite the presence of hundreds of carriages and horses, they did not make a single noise.

"What a coincidence! You just said you had something to do with Junior Brother Li?"

"Captain Bai!"

Lan Yang withdrew his sword energy, his eyes gazing meaningfully at the crimson dragon spanning the Yuan River in the distance.

“Looking at the Venerable Li Qing, two years ago he protected us in the Western Wilderness when we attacked the burial ridge.”

"Indeed, Young Master Lan recognizes him as well?"

Upon hearing the young master of the Lan family's joking remark, several Futu warriors riding burly jackals turned their heads and exchanged suspicious glances.

The leading captain removed his hood and rode a black-haired burial wolf slowly forward. For a moment, no one knew what this young master of the Lan family of Fudu meant.

This is a newly emerging force of elite soldiers in Tiannan Prefecture, known as the "Dragon Banner Elite Soldiers." It is unknown where they obtained the Five Arts of Taming Wolves, and they have raised eleven or twelve wolf riders, making them unparalleled in the prefecture.

This time, the Prefectural Governor requested a transfer order, borrowing a troop of fierce warriors and this troop of dragon-horse riders.

Unexpectedly, the captain, Bai Du, inadvertently mentioned that he had a past relationship with the Venerable Daoist of the temple.

As Lan Yang spoke of Li Qing with a smile, the wolf riders straightened their shoulders and gripped their lances even tighter, as if they were wary that this young master of the Lan family in the capital had a grudge against Li Qing. This made Lan Yang chuckle.

"Of course I recognize it!"

"How many people in the outer courtyard of Lin Yuan do not know the name of Gui Lang - Li Qing?"

"I merely lament that you all arrived at such an inopportune time. Look, Junior Brother Li was just riding a dragon across the river a few breaths ago, heading towards Tiannan Prefecture. Presumably, he has already finished dealing with the important matters in the Southern Lands." "Otherwise, you all might have been able to catch up!"

Lan Yang chuckled softly, pointed to the distant river, and sighed.

However, only Lan Yang, with his profound understanding of Qi and the ability to scan thirty miles in a single glance, could achieve this. How could the others possibly see the commotion in that distance? They could only stare at the blurry, hazy river surface, completely bewildered…

After resting for half an hour, when the dozen or so Taoists and hundreds of soldiers approached the southern land, what they saw was the ruins still burning with fire. Ten miles of bonfires stretched out, black smoke billowed, and the air was filled with a strong smell of burning.

Beneath the embers of several shops, the ordinary gold, silver, and copper coins had long been melted into a mass by the fire. Some daring officials even came down the mountain and began rummaging through the ruins, seizing the opportunity to turn their lives around!

【Clatter clatter clatter】The sound of horses' hooves echoed as if the sky were collapsing and the earth was splitting. The endless armored cavalry swept through the yellow sand and stopped before the ruins. The soldiers were immediately frightened by the force of the army and fled in terror.

However, everyone's attention was focused on the ruins at the same time, on the more than twenty hideous skulls stacked like a mound of skulls, which were clearly not left by ordinary beasts.

In the open space not far away, dark red congealed blood was left all over the ground, and rows of charred corpses were neatly stacked. Among them, there were exactly more than twenty headless charred corpses that corresponded to the skulls!
"This……"

The wolf-riding warriors of the Dragon Banner Guard dismounted from their armored saddles, casually tossed their sixteen-foot lances, which pierced the ground several feet away, removed their pagoda-shaped faceplates, and slowly approached the front of the ward.

really!

That's typical of Li Jijiu's style.

Bizarre and grotesque, with a touch of primal nature reminiscent of prophetic rituals, especially the obsession with neatly arranging the corpses after the battle.

It's definitely him!
The wolf riders' memories were instantly pulled back to the time when they were selecting spoils of war outside the Western Barbarian Corpse Cave.

What a pity, we just missed each other.

That chief priest had been incredibly kind to the Dragon Banner Guards. If it weren't for the Five-Taming Jackal Technique and that great achievement, they, as mere county guards, would never have been able to even dream of becoming "soldiers." Let alone now, when there are already twelve wolf-riding "soldiers" among the Dragon Banner Guards...

"Junior Brother Li, your technique is truly astonishing!"

Lan Yang's right hand unconsciously pressed onto the hilt of his sword. He seemed to foresee the battle from the corpses scattered all over the ground, a battle filled with rampant evil and murderous intent.

Li Qing, you are indeed extraordinary. A demon stronghold with large and small boar demons nesting together is no small feat. You actually managed to quell it so quickly.

Among the many Taoist followers in Tiannan, who wouldn't be shocked to see such a devastating ruin?

Ghostly Gentleman - Li Qing!

The person from the outer courtyard, whose name seemed to be mocking Gui Yao'er, actually exists. Such methods... even among the many high-ranking Dao disciples, I have never heard of anyone who acts with such "decisiveness".

The head disciple of the Enforcement Hall, Lan Yang, hesitated for a few steps, his hand resting on his sword. The next moment, as if he had understood something, he turned around, looked at the crowd, and said:

"Gentlemen! Now that Zhishanfang has been destroyed, we can no longer delay."

"We must annihilate them before the other two demon mountains react!"

Lan Yang took out the bamboo slip from his sleeve, glanced at it briefly, and then focused his gaze on the two groups of armored soldiers with very different styles.

"Commander Lan, your fierce warriors are strong and powerful, riding tigers and bears, and you have a hundred chariots. Please have each of you lead a hundred chariots and station them at the pass behind the two mountain ridges and in front of the mountains, so that those old demons will not be defeated and flee into the mountains! Can you do it?"

That captain was a member of the Lan clan. He rode a giant alligator dragon several feet long and had three dozen tiger-like warriors under his command, all wearing iron armor. He also had a hundred chariots of scaled horses stationed behind the mountain, enough to withstand the onslaught of ten thousand beasts!

"I am willing to refuse it on behalf of the young master!"

Commander Lan dismounted from the alligator, knelt on one knee, and bowed in greeting.

With the three bears and tigers as their commanders, and their chariots as their orders, he even dared to be the vanguard, pushing them into the two demon mountains to devour all the monsters. What was there to fear?

"Captain Bai Du, the Dragon-Slaying Guards are attacking like fire, and the Wolf Riders are pursuing the fleeing enemy relentlessly. I request that you seal off the wasteland outside the Three Ghosts' Tomb for me, so that no fox spirit can escape. Is that feasible?"

Lan Yang cast his gaze over, but the pressure was directed at the White Poison Captain.

"There shouldn't be any problem!"

Bai Du nodded in agreement to the blue-robed Daoist, but did not issue any military orders. His Dragon-Stripped Guard was not a subordinate of the Lan Clan; he was merely following orders. In the past two years, they had fought and honed their skills against the Western Barbarians, naturally gaining a certain status in Tiannan Prefecture, and were certainly not like those Lan Clan servants…

With two armored units at their command and more than ten high- to mid-grade Daoist disciples, taking down these two demonic mountains would naturally be no problem for them.

However, the Court of Law and the Department of Poison and Gu are in talks, and perhaps they will have to be dragged into this mess.

Now that he has come to the Southern Lands, his vision cannot be limited to these two demon mountains. If he does not achieve something, how will he obtain the position of the Red-Clothed True Disciple in the academy?

The Yin Shen Dao Fa of Tiannan Temple - Tai Bai Qi Jing - can only be learned by those who have received the true teachings. This is something he absolutely must obtain!

Shaking his head, Lan Yang followed the ruins and looked towards the mountains further behind.
"Gentlemen, if you want tigers, leopards, bears, or jackals, I, Lan, will not help you!"

"But remember, after the destruction of the two mountains, all demons that behave abnormally or speak human language will be killed..."

(End of this chapter)