The Path to Immortality Begins with the Life-Extending Lamp

Chapter 51 The Netherworld, the Ghost King Arrives with a Candle
"Huh? That's actually a Myriad Souls Banner?"

Despite her doubts, Li Qing, true to her Taoist nature, instinctively used her fingertips to extend her magic power and pick up the Myriad Soul Banner and the Mustard Seed Pouch.

This is a top-tier magical artifact, with a full thousand magical restrictions!
A single forbidden magical artifact costs two to three thousand Dao Zhu (a unit of weight in Chinese currency), and the value of such artifacts increases with the number of forbidden magical artifacts. A soul banner like this could be used as a personal weapon by a Yin Shen Daoist, and its value is close to ten million.

And this mustard seed pouch is actually made of nine-times refined gold thread, with an inner space.

"Nearly a hundred zhang in length?"

It's truly remarkable. Even Li Qing, who was in the temple, had never heard of such a large mustard seed bag with such an inner space.

Just as I was filled with this immense joy, suddenly, a malevolent intent, as if it wanted to devour me, struck my heart.

Tuk, Tuk, Tuk!

The slow, stiff footsteps echoed from the corridor on the right. Only then did Li Qing realize that this was not a single courtyard, but an extremely large mansion complex. The distinct layers of buildings could still be glimpsed from top to bottom, with dilapidated courtyards one after another, stretching endlessly.

Ancient trees were broken and smashed, shattering rooftops; heavenly fire descended, turning the dilapidated courtyards into charred remains. Some courtyards were broken and collapsed, but others looked as if they had been bitten off by some terrifying force, with huge, ferocious teeth marks still remaining on the ruins…

Li Qing and Miss Cui were in a tiny courtyard with only four connecting corridors, covered by a pavilion for shelter from the rain, and a side room on each side. In front was a main gate, and behind was a gate connecting to other small courtyards.

However, the gate behind the courtyard was already dilapidated and collapsed. One of the two vermilion doors was missing, and the other was no longer stable and was hanging diagonally on the lintel.

The malicious footsteps were slowly approaching from the back gate!
Li Qing looked up but could not see anything. He could only hear the slow footsteps, which sounded like a death knell. Each step was followed by a pause, and each time the footsteps stopped, a black ghost footprint would appear on the floor. Each time the footsteps started, the overwhelming malice would grow stronger.

With each step the black ghost footprints took forward, a deadly footstep followed, repeating endlessly.

That was an invisible vengeful ghost; it was drawn here by the corpse in the courtyard.

"Damn it, I'm already a ghost, it shouldn't be coming for me, right?"

Li Qing put the mustard seed pouch into his storage gourd, lifted the Ten Thousand Souls Banner and retreated. As soon as he moved, the unseen ghost turned and walked towards him.

Wait a minute? The storage gourd is here too?

Li Qing was secretly surprised. He raised his right hand, flicked his index finger, and the dark blue fire in the stone instantly ignited, the flames stretching several inches high.

He still had some primordial Qi remaining, and all the Qi in the body was circulating in an orderly manner. The change of Qi meant the existence of life.

So, I didn't die?
Unfortunately, he didn't have time to feel fortunate to be alive, because the unseen vengeful ghost in front of him could easily extinguish that little bit of relief!

In the next instant, the ghostly footprint seemed to have crossed a red line, and a terrifying, chaotic, and twisted intent suddenly descended, forcefully turning the invisible vengeful ghost into scattered yin energy.

A moment later, a scream was heard, and the footprints on the ground began to disappear, along with the original overwhelming malice.

Li Qing straightened up involuntarily and stole a glance at the woman in the east wing through the open door...

Seeing that the young lady from the Cui family was still sitting in front of the mirror looking at herself, he felt his confidence return. When he saw that there was still a familiar object left where the ghost had disappeared, Li Qing's heart stirred. He took a few steps forward and picked up the exquisite, slightly gray bead.

Is this a Dark Pearl?

In the past, when he was outside the Western Mang Corpse Cave, he attracted a horde of ghosts. The Ghost Mother appeared and slaughtered all the ghosts, and gave him a Nether Pearl, which increased his true qi by more than fifty sips!

This one seems more exquisite and translucent; could it be of better quality?
A series of surprises—the top-tier Ten Thousand Souls Banner, the incomparably luxurious Mustard Seed Pouch, and this Netherworld Pearl—made Li Qing feel that her luck was about to change!

After tucking the Nether Pearl into his sleeve, Li Qing realized that his robe was almost completely stained with blood. How could he not know the near-death experience he had gone through?
After taking two steps to the back gate, Li Qing didn't even dare to stand directly at the gate to look around. Instead, she pressed herself against the whitewashed wall and peeked at what was behind her through the gap.

It turned out that behind this courtyard gate was another similar courtyard. Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the courtyard had gates on all four sides, seemingly allowing access to the front, back, left, and right at the same time. The four sides were connected by corridors and brackets, each equipped with exotic flowers, fruits, trees, magnolias, and other plants. In the center was a courtyard garden paved with strange stones.

There was even a pond nestled beneath the artificial hill, where a dark shadow as thick as an arm swam!

It's practically a classic example of a dilapidated old house.

All four gates were tightly closed and intact. Only the northernmost wall had a gap nearly as tall as a person that had collapsed. With Li Qing's eyesight, he could still glimpse the layered roof ridges that stretched all the way down the mountain through that gap. The green bricks and yellow tiles stretched endlessly, like dragon scales.

"What a massive complex! Are... all of those buildings part of this mansion?"

Only now did Li Qing realize the extraordinary nature of this underworld.

Even in the Northern Yin Netherworld, such a continuous lineage of clans is not something that ordinary clans are qualified to build, right?
While Li Qing was still deep in thought, a mourning garment immediately appeared at the gap in the backyard.

That's right, it was a nine-foot-long mourning garment worn by a dutiful son, with a hemp crown on his head, hemp cloth covering his body, hemp rope tied around the cloth, and a mourning stick hanging from the rope.

But there was nothing inside the mourning clothes, which was extremely strange!

Li Qing immediately turned her head and hid behind the wall. The evil spirit in mourning clothes slowly turned its head. It seemed to have discovered something. However, there was still a nearly two-foot-high broken wall at the gap in the garden. It had no feet and could not cross the broken wall. It stared at the broken gate for a long time before finally slowly leaving.

It was another ghost from the Purple Palace, or rather, the Sun Wandering Realm.

This is the second one.

Li Qing leaned against the wall, letting out a long breath. He felt that this underworld was exceptionally terrifying; within the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, two Purple Mansion level ghosts were already lingering around. "Is this the underworld?"

Upon arriving in the Underworld, he discovered that the young lady of the Cui family was not the ruler of the Underworld that the many Purple Mansion Daoists had assumed.

This underworld was far too vast, far larger than anyone knew. After its collapse, countless evil spirits roamed within. Miss Cui was merely the owner of a small courtyard within it, nothing more...

The previous dynasty's Record of the Six Heavenly Gods and Demons only contained a few words: "The Cui Clan of Qishan is one of the Six Heavenly Crown Clans. Their Netherworld Palace spans eight hundred acres and ranks first among the Huaxu."

No!

That vermilion gate must be repaired; otherwise, we're bound to encounter disaster as soon as we step outside.

Li Qing didn't want to suffer a sudden disaster while she was at home.

Looking around at the usable items in the room, Li Qing seemed to remember that there was still a lot of broken silver in the storage gourd, which he had obtained from the Public Works Hall last time.

Why not build a large, tattered silver gate to lock the backyard first? Once he has achieved the Purple Mansion realm, he can then slowly explore the surroundings.

Thinking of this, Li Qing pulled out the storage gourd and poured out the several ingots of broken silver, intending to melt and cast them with true fire.

But this is the underworld!

The rotten silver slowly turned white as soon as it entered this place, as if it had been soaked or rusted.

"Are the fundamental laws of the Netherworld different?"

The moment that rotten silver appeared, it quickly turned into a puddle of mud...

Looking around, there weren't many other options. Li Qing followed the corridor westward and arrived at the west wing. After comparing the size of the two doors, he made up his mind. He threw the roll of paper out and instantly summoned the paper spirit.

Thus, this is how the underworld is:
While the ghost mother was admiring her reflection in the mirror in the east wing, Li Qing was busy tinkering in the west wing. Controlling the paper spirit with his thoughts, as if he had four hands, he quickly dismantled the heavy vermilion door in front of the west wing, then moved it to the courtyard gate that connected to the garden, and used mortise and tenon joints to firmly attach the door to it...

Now, the entire courtyard is free of any hidden dangers. The front gate, made of several inches of dark ebony, is reinforced with six or nine nails, making it as thick as an iron wall, so there is no need to worry. The back gate is also now sturdy.

Only then did Li Qing calm down, as if surveying his own territory, memorizing the locations of the left and right wing rooms, the surrounding pavilions and corridors, and the ancient trees in the courtyard.

As they passed by, they found the bloody, headless corpse an eyesore, so they picked up a fire stone and threw it onto the body, and the fire instantly burst into flames!
Knowing that she was not dead, Li Qing also felt that humans and ghosts were different, and consciously entered the west wing alone.

The west wing was furnished much like the east wing, with the same items and spotless conditions, except that the white mourning cloth was no longer on the wooden bed.

"Perhaps, when the way of the Netherworld and the gods was still the mainstream, the Cui family bloodline, after death, could all be guided to reside in this endless underworld?"

"Perhaps that white mourning cloth was burned at the burial?"

Unfortunately, the era of the Six Heavenly Ghosts and Gods has long ended. Now, only this small courtyard remains in the Underworld, filled with Netherworld spirits of the Purple Mansion level. Li Qing dares not leave this small courtyard to verify his conjecture.

Li Qing sat cross-legged on the canopy bed and immediately began to examine his internal energy. He felt a faint stinging pain in his spine from time to time. Could it be that he had some hidden injury?

It would have been better if he hadn't looked inward, because Li Qing was completely taken aback by what he saw. His entire dragon spine had been replaced by a hideous ghost spine, which extended from the Divine Palace to the Dantian, emanating a continuous stream of Yin energy.

"How come... my spine has been replaced by a ghost bone?"

Could it be that the injuries sustained before he fell unconscious were so severe that even his dragon bones were completely shattered?

Humans have three palaces. The upper palace is called the Niwan Palace, also known as the Upper Dantian. The central chest and abdomen is called the Qihai Palace, also known as the Middle Dantian. The lower Dantian is located three inches below the navel, also known as the Origin Palace or the Life Palace.

The human body has a great dragon, which is the spine, and this dragon spine is of the same origin and meridian as the lower dantian. If either of these is damaged, it is a congenital deficiency, and life will be hindered.

Although it is unknown how the Ghost Mother obtained the Ghost Bone for him, looking at the blood-stained robe on his body now, I'm afraid her methods back then weren't too gentle.

Although he was just joking with himself, Li Qing was genuinely grateful. He had only just entered the Dao, and the gate to the immortal path, which had abandoned the supernatural, was opening to him. He couldn't imagine how regrettable it would be if he were to break off his path and fall into the ghostly path!

At this moment, Li Qing circulated his Qi, only to find that due to the ghost bone, the innate Qi gathered in his dantian was already extremely abundant, but it also brought trouble. The innate Qi had long since transformed into Xuan Yin Qi, and the original azure true Qi had now turned into moon white, with an inexplicable chill lingering around it.

Originally, the total amount of true qi that had just been circulated through the body was only a small amount. Now, the mysterious yin qi in his dantian is also constantly being generated, and it is actually feeding back into the body. It is about to gradually turn into a liquid state. When the true qi turns into liquid, he will be able to condense the mysterious yin qi, and he can fly freely through the air. Mortal weapons and fire will not be able to harm him.

After cultivating in the west wing for a long time, when night fell, Li Qing felt that the house was too dark. He took out some spiritual paper and used it to refine a spiritual candle. In a short while, a forbidden magical artifact, a paper lamp, was created.

Li Qing measured the distance of the four-sided corridor with her footsteps and hung the four paper lanterns under the corridor, which added a touch of human life to this underworld.

In that instant, the broken yet vast Netherworld foreshadowed the arrival of a new master in a certain underworld. Looking down from the shattered sky, in the underworld that had been ravaged by the battle between ghosts and demons and turned into desolate land, there were still a dozen or so scattered lamps.

Beyond the Netherworld, the broken void and the bottom of the Milky Way stand lonely and desolate, adding to the sense of desolation...

Now Li Qing has truly become a ghostly prince; an entire underworld will depend on him for reconstruction.

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(End of this chapter)