The Path to Immortality Begins with the Life-Extending Lamp

Chapter 55 Bones and Ghostly Path

"Senior Brother Li, the head of the compound requests your presence!"

Outside the cave at the summit of Linyuan Immortal Peak, six or seven blue-robed Daoist disciples gathered, led by two red-robed true disciples.

After waiting for a long time, the restriction in front of the cave suddenly went out with a "pop," and a young man wearing a hemp robe slowly walked out.

Just as the vibrant, vermilion-colored dragon behind them was about to catch up, the young man raised his hand and activated the restriction again, trapping the enormous dragon inside.

"hold head high!"

A dragon's roar echoed from the summit of Lin Yuan Immortal Peak. Dan Qiu had already signed the Five Controls Pact with Li Qing, and their hearts were connected. How could it not sense Li Qing's inner struggle?
It wanted to come out and keep Li Qing company!

"Sweetie, I'll be back soon."

Li Qing paused, turned to the side and waved to "Candle", then followed the disciples of the Southern Dao of the various Daoist sects towards the Immortal Peak of Lin Yuan.

The disciples were also shocked, never expecting that this senior brother would actually raise a pure-blooded dragon.
But when the Taoist disciples thought about the identity of this senior brother, they were not surprised.

Ghostly Gentleman - Li Qing!

This is a ghostly gentleman who is possessed by a vengeful spirit and can easily cause great ghostly disasters if he loses control!

Today, the Tiannan Prefectural Governor's Mansion, the four academies of Linyuan, and the White Bone Path have all gathered together for this very reason.

These many Taoist disciples led Li Qing back to the front mountain, and silently headed towards the Ancestral Hall!
As they approached the main hall, a Taoist priest in purple robes stood by the roadside, surveying the various Taoists.

Only when Li Qing and the other Taoist disciples approached the purple-robed female Taoist priest did she speak:
"Li Qing! Do you still remember who annotated the 'Southern Dipper Longevity Scripture' that you cultivated?"

"The old man will stand by your side!"

Bai Qingye stood with his arms crossed, blocking the entrance to the Ancestral Hall, and loudly relayed the words of Bai Long, the head of the Bai family.

But this place is only a few steps away from the main hall. Such a protective warning will only reach the ears of the officials of the prefecture and the white bone Taoists in the hall.

Li Qing raised his eyes and looked at the female Taoist priest with surprise. In his memory, this head priest had always disliked him quite a bit!

Without saying much, Li Qing simply exchanged a brief glance with the female Taoist priest before following the others up the steps and into the main hall.

At the summit of Linyuan Immortal Peak, the morning bell tolls.

"Reporting to the Ancestor, Junior Brother Li has arrived."

A disciple in red robes slowly stepped forward and bowed to the Taoist priest seated at the top.

Yin Zu surveyed the assembled guests in the hall, raised his hand and gestured slightly, and Li Qing followed the others into the hall.

To be honest, Li Qing really disliked this kind of clichéd approach.

If the city of Liuzhou were full of cultivators, then dying would be the end of it, and Li Qing would not feel the slightest bit guilty.

But they were still just mortals, and Li Qing felt a little ashamed.

People must always face their own hearts!

Even if I receive some criticism, it doesn't matter.

The moment Li Qing stepped into the main hall, he even wondered if he had activated the Netherworld Book and Ghost Scroll on the spot to ask the Ghost Mother for help. How many people on Immortal Peak could have stopped him? And how many could have truly judged him?

Good intentions and evil intentions intertwined!
But what can the Ghost Mother's rebellion do? The White Bone Taoist might not be completely wiped out, the Prefect of the Capital might not back down, and Lin Yuan Mountain might be the one that suffers the greatest loss...

Despite his many distracting thoughts, Li Qing stepped into the main hall.

Looking up, the first person to catch the eye is Yin Zu, who sits high on the main seat and smiles gently when he sees Li Qing looking over.

On the highest seat on the right was an old man in official robes. Li Qing recognized him as Governor Wei of Tiannan Prefecture. Behind him were seven or eight officials in red robes of various ranks.

To the left was a group of unfamiliar Taoist priests, but Li Qing was no stranger to that gloomy aura.

This is probably the White Bone Taoist of Lingnan!
Li Qing narrowed his eyes slightly, glancing discreetly at the burly man and beautiful woman at the highest point, before immediately looking away.

That is a terrifying existence!

"This young man is indeed a promising talent."

"Fellow Daoist Yin, why not bestow this young man upon me as my disciple? I will certainly dedicate all my knowledge to helping him control the hundred ghosts and prevent such calamities from ever happening again!"

Lady White Bone, who was seated at the head of the table, took a liking to the young man and shamelessly asked Yin Zu for him!

I wonder if she really values ​​Li Qing or if she was just teasing him?
Yin Zu shook his head and smiled without saying a word, while the head of the compound, Bai Long, immediately looked downcast.

You're dreaming!
Seeing that no one in Tiannan Temple responded, the Venerable Ancestor of the White Bone Sect lost patience. With a wave of his right hand, the White Bone Sect Master, who had been standing in front of him to receive his orders, immediately left the arena and stood side by side with Li Qing, waiting for Governor Wei's judgment.

Both of the participants in the great disaster in Liuhuangzhou were present.

The Ghost Daoist of the White Bone Path is dead, but a new Daoist Master of the White Bone Path has taken his place. That should be considered a show of sincerity, right?
"I am Zhao Yuanyi, and I am honored to be the Master of the White Bone Dao!"

The White Bone Dao Master, Zhao Yuanyi, first bowed to everyone in the hall and began to reveal the details of the matter.

Ghost Taoist was originally the second elder of the White Bone Path. He traveled across two prefectures and arrived at Tiannan Prefecture while tracing a ghost god from Lingnan.

That ghost and spirit from Lingnan was originally a woman who painted her skin. She had taken the skins of several female cultivators from the White Bone Sect and was put on the wanted list. Later, she hid in Liuhuangzhou and changed her name to Lady Wang.

"I personally believe that it was Nan Guan-Li Qing who interfered that day, stealing the Ghost Taoist's prey. Furthermore, the vengeful spirit he carried revealed itself, arousing the Ghost Taoist's greed, leading to a life-or-death struggle between the two, which resulted in this disaster?"

Zhao Yuanyi bowed respectfully, but attributed the blame to the fight between the two.

Bai Long, the head of the Bai family compound, had a fiery temper. Seeing this scoundrel so blatantly spouting nonsense, he picked up a teacup from the table and smashed it hard against Zhao Yuanyi's head. With a loud bang, the cup struck Zhao Yuanyi's protective aura and shattered on the ground...

"Well done, you wild Taoist."

"Bad talk!"

“That ghostly Taoist first pulled out the Ten Thousand Souls Banner and used the Domain of Vengeful Souls to besiege Liu Huangzhou, disregarding the law, and his crime was one.”

"From dozens of miles away, a divine light struck Li Qing, severely injuring him. The fierce ghosts around him went out of control, thus committing the second crime."

"To fight with the Demon Mother and cause a calamity is the third sin."

"Your Second Elder of the White Bone Sect is guilty of three crimes. What does that have to do with Li Qing?" From beginning to end, the various Purple Mansions of Liuhuang Prefecture should have been the first to witness the Ghost Daoist's actions. How could they allow him to spout nonsense here?

After secretly glancing at the Venerable Soul Ancestor who was resting with his eyes closed, the White Bone Dao Master could only sigh inwardly, harden his heart, and continue to argue.

"But that ghost Taoist priest is dead after all, killed by the Ghost Mother, isn't he?"

"Clearly, in this battle of wits, the vengeful ghost behind this young friend Li has the upper hand!"

"You also mentioned that the Ghost Daoist activated his magical domain to besiege the city, but he didn't harm the common people, right? Perhaps it was because he was at a disadvantage in the battle that he couldn't subdue the vengeful ghost, leading to such a disaster..."

He truly lives up to his title as the Lord of the White Bone Path!
To become a Daoist master, he almost managed to bring that ghost Daoist back to life with his verbal skills alone.

At this moment, the young man who had been silent in the arena spoke with a light laugh.

"There's no need to argue. Your Excellency, just follow the laws of the Southern Kingdom."

Li Qing was too lazy to argue with the White Bone Daoist. Didn't he know the laws of the Southern Kingdom? He raised his eyes to look at the old governor, waiting for the old governor to make a judgment directly.

As for the rest, it doesn't matter.

If he succeeds in his cultivation in the future, he will repay the White Bone Path with even greater revenge.
If he were to perish prematurely, then it would be his fate to suffer this loss!
"Oh? You're quite open-minded about it."

When Governor Wei saw how open-minded the young man was, his eyes lit up.

What a promising talent! With such a fine temperament, if he were to stay at the Hongdou Academy to further his studies in poetry, literature, etiquette, and music, he would likely become a national hero in the future.

What a pity, what a pity!
It is both a pity that such a young man cannot be used by the Southern Kingdom, and a pity that such a promising talent has been tainted by such evil...

"Indeed, you have all cultivated the Dao for so many years in vain. You have committed a crime in this small part of the Southern Kingdom. You cannot escape the responsibility you should bear."

Governor Wei gave the three Yin Gods a meaningful look and chuckled.

The next moment, the old man in official robes suddenly became incredibly sharp-eyed, and with a slap of his palm bearing the official seal, an invisible pressure instantly weighed on the hearts of all the cultivators.

"The two elders of the White Bone Sect overstepped their bounds, first besieging the city and then committing atrocities, resulting in the deaths of more than 18,000 people in Liuhuang Prefecture."

“Those who cultivate are bound by ironclad rules: mortals who commit violence shall be beheaded; those who massacre a city shall be killed, their entire clan exterminated, and their sects shall be ordered to pay ten thousand zhu in compensation for every single person they kill…”

"The Ghost Taoist is dead. As for the White Bone Taoist, I need not say more, do I?"

The population of the Southern Kingdom has never been very large. Although wandering cultivators often commit some heinous crimes that anger both heaven and man, they are all done in secret.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the Ghost Taoist of the White Bone Path was the first to dare to do such a thing!

This made the two Yin God Ancestors of the White Bone Temple look grim.

"My lord, that's how it's written in the laws of the Southern Kingdom, but in reality, it's not calculated that way. Back then, the Golden-Winged Roc of Six Spirits Mountain escaped its captivity and ate people every day. It took a hundred days to recapture it, but it wasn't calculated like that!"

The Venerable Soul Ancestor, who originally had a fierce look on his face, was stunned by this number and immediately begged for mercy.

Nearly two hundred million Dao Zhu (a unit of currency) would probably require emptying the White Bone Dao's treasury and selling all their magical artifacts to barely reach that amount.

After that, how could he, a dignified member of the White Bone Sect, survive? Wouldn't the Zhong family of Lingnan drive them to the sea to make a living by spearfishing?

"Lord Wei, what do you think of this? I have heard that in the western city of Liuhuang Prefecture, many people died tragically, their eyes still wide open, unable to close their eyes even at the time of their burial."

"I, from the White Bone Underworld, can gather two acres of Yin soil, build a Yin shrine west of Liuhuang Prefecture, and send four Night Wandering Ghosts to obey the prefecture's summons and pray day and night..."

"Is this good?"

This Lady White Bone is clearly more charismatic!
Her underworld is less than five acres in size, and now half of it has been directly divided up and put into Liuhuangzhou as a shrine to the underworld, which is equivalent to destroying her two hundred years of hard work in an instant.

The two-acre shrine was used to command four wandering ghosts and spirits to perform rituals. If the ghosts and spirits were obedient enough and their rituals were successful, the shrine would receive enough incense offerings.

In theory, it would only take 60 years for the spirits of these 10,000-plus dead to reunite in that shrine.

Of course, this is only in theory!

Regardless of the circumstances, this shrine to the dead is a great achievement, visible to the living and ensuring that the dead can truly enjoy their remaining lifespan in the afterlife.

"Can!"

"One Yin Mansion plus one hundred million Dao Zhu. I will report that Dao Zhu to the Imperial Academy of Southern Capital. This Yin Mansion and White Bone Path must be dealt with properly."

Governor Wei nodded slightly, agreeing to the deal.

Lady White Bone is a ghost or deity whose lifespan far exceeds that of cultivators. With only two acres of Yin Soil, she has ample time to expand it again, so it's not a matter of serious injury.

However, she wasn't doing this for nothing; she wanted to take this opportunity to take control of the ancient treasure of the White Bone Path—the Rebirth Sedan Chair!

The Venerable Soul Ancestor was now left with no choice. Where could he possibly gather another 80 million Dao Zhu? Or should he relinquish control of that ancient treasure?
He'll probably have no choice but to concede, since the burial palanquin isn't really suitable for him...

The power struggle within the White Bone Path remains unknown to outsiders, but at this moment, Governor Wei has turned his attention to Li Qing.

“You have indeed done nothing wrong under the laws of the Southern Kingdom. If we were to follow the laws of the Phoenix Dynasty’s ghosts and gods, even the White Bone Sect would have to make their sect leader pay with his life on the spot!”

These words immediately startled Zhao Yuanyi, the White Bone Dao Master, causing his eyebrows to twitch.

No, you can't just say things like that!
Governor Wei gently stroked Cang Ran's hair, then changed the subject again.

"But the Southern Kingdom is not the Phoenix Dynasty, which reveres the six heavenly gods and spirits. Here, human life is far more important than the status of gods and spirits."

"Li Qing, you also come from the Red Bean Academy. After seven years of hard study, you know what propriety, righteousness, virtue, and a scholar are!"

"Let's go to Western Mang! Together with the sons and daughters of Tiandu, let's deal with that horde of corpses that constantly threatens the land of Tiandu..."

With the conclusion of that verdict!

Li Qing didn't know how he got out of that hall. He only looked back after he had gone far away from the hall.

Before us lay two forks in the road. One led to the Immortal Peak of the Abyss, a grand and legitimate path to immortality, the authentic ancient tradition.

Another path leads down the mountain to a deep river teeming with ghosts; it is a solitary, eerie, and helpless ghost path.

Without much thought, Li Qing turned and headed towards the third path, which was his temporary cave dwelling. "Candle" was still waiting for him!

(End of this chapter)