The Path to Immortality Begins with the Life-Extending Lamp

Chapter 56 A Lonely Journey

Yin Zu and the head of the Grand Courtyard met Li Qing again at Lin Yuan Xian Ding, where they exchanged another round of witty banter before parting ways.

Watching the figure slowly walk down the steps of the main hall, Bai Qingye's pupils shrank. In her memory, that gloomy young man had never worn any other robes except for the Lin Yuan Daoist robe.

However, since returning from Liuhuangzhou, he has never worn that blue robe again in the months since!
Subconsciously, he was resisting and alienating himself from Lin Yuan Mountain.

This is not a good thing!
"Teacher, I think you should start preparing for the apprenticeship ceremony!"

"You should have taken Li Qing into your family sooner."

Bai Qingye strode into the main hall, glanced at his teacher who hadn't yet noticed anything amiss, and urged him on.

Bai Long, the head of the courtyard, sighed softly. He wasn't ready either. The ghost mother behind Li Qing was no simple creature; he might not be able to withstand her.

Perhaps Chen Jin, the abbot of Tiannan Temple, is the most suitable teacher for Li Qing?
"Hmm... let's wait a bit, we'll prepare after we've pacified the demon mountains in the southwest!"

The head of the compound seemed rather unsure about this, and gave a vague answer.

"Shouldn't we promote him to the position of Red-Clothed True Disciple?"

"Only the true disciples in red robes can cultivate Yin God-level Daoist techniques, and he has already achieved some minor success in the 'Southern Dipper Longevity Technique'!"

Bai Qingye asked another question.

“That’s fine, but the abbot and the other princes are still in the southwest. Let’s deal with the demon mountain first, then we can go together.”

The head of the compound nodded in agreement, taking the matter to heart. However, he did not linger long before setting off for the southwest. Only by completely eliminating the outer defenses of the various demon mountains could Tiannan Prefecture enjoy a century of peace.

That Demon Mountain was indeed a serious matter, but Bai Qingye's heart was truly uneasy...

After descending from the summit of Linyuan Immortal Peak, Li Qing packed his belongings in the temporary cave dwelling and headed towards the outer courtyard at the foot of the mountain.

This matter is now settled. All that remains is for the prefecture to make preparations for a full-scale attack on the Western Barbarian Corpse Cave. He will then be sent to serve in the prefecture's court. This is not a legal requirement, but merely a way for him to ease his conscience.

As soon as they arrived at the outer courtyard gate, the purple-robed female Taoist priest immediately blocked the gate and beckoned Li Qing to her side. However, to Li Qing's surprise, she suddenly pushed a thick, ancient jade slip into his arms.
"The Grand Master has already finished annotating the middle volume of 'Nan Dou Yan Sheng,' so I'll give it to you first."

"Don't open it yet. Some of the meanings in it are different from the first volume. You should read it after you have established your foundation in the Purple Palace."

"Go, remember this scroll, 100,000 Dao Merit Points, you still owe me 100,000 Dao Merit Points."

Bai Qingye pushed the middle volume of this Daoist manual into Li Qing's hands. It was all in accordance with the specifications of the Red-Clothed True Disciple, and he could teach him the scriptures first and then repay the Daoist coins.

Huh? Surprisingly, this time we can actually pay on credit?

Has the sun risen in the west? This Bai Yuanzhang is actually showing such great kindness.

Li Qing's shock at this moment was no less than when she touched the Ten Thousand Souls Banner in the Underworld!

After putting away the middle volume of "Nan Dou Yan Sheng", Li Qing bowed to the head of the Bai family to express his gratitude. After parting ways, Li Qing hurried back to the mansion area. The cave dwelling and pagoda forest that he had originally suggested to the courtyard had not yet been approved, so he could only return to his original mansion.

"Candle" didn't mind at all. It placed the candle in the yard and happily started counting the still unripe dates on the tree.

When "Candle" transformed into a dragon last time, this mansion was struck by a bolt of lightning. It was never reported, and to this day, the mansion's protective barriers have not been repaired, and the courtyard is covered with a thick layer of fallen leaves.

Li Qing had just brushed away the fallen leaves on the stone table in the courtyard and hadn't even sat down when she suddenly remembered something. She got up and went to the gate of the mansion to open the box where the jade talisman and letters were kept.

The mansion's protective barriers have failed; if it's a message jade slip, you'll have to go and check it yourself.

Sure enough, when the mailbox was opened, there were two jade talismans inside. After several years in the temple, he had started exchanging letters with the monks.

He picked up the two communication jade talismans and went to the stone table in the courtyard. Just as Li Qing sat down, "Candle's" big head came close and rubbed against him, acting coquettishly.

Li Qing knew exactly what it wanted to do. He took the Dragon Taming Wall out of the storage gourd and let it lick it.

He chuckled and opened the two communication jade talismans:

Senior brother!

Senior Brother Ma Yuan has fallen.

The battle in the southwestern demon mountains was fierce. There were seventy-two small demon mountains and thirty-six large demon mountains, with countless demons of all sizes. During a siege battle on one of the large demon mountains, Senior Brother Ma Yuan encountered a demon from the Purple Mansion traveling around...

The first message jade talisman immediately stopped Li Qing's smile. Just moments ago, he was joking that he had been in the temple for five years and had been exchanging letters with her. Now, the female Taoist priest Ma from the External Affairs Hall brought news of Ma Yuan's death.

Li Qing still remembered that day when Ma Yuan came from the Demon Mountain with a jade slip that conveyed his voice, asking Li Qing to wish him good luck in Shanyang, and promising to personally visit him to express his gratitude afterward.

But this promise meant there would be no return!
This Ma Yuan, shamelessly, exchanged three cups of Yangzhi Mountain Lord's blood from Li Qing, thus achieving perfect Zhou Tian Zhen Qi and ranking among the top-grade Qi Refining cultivators. However, it was also because of this that he was recruited into the Southwest...

And so it fell!

After pondering for a moment, Li Qing opened the second jade slip. The contents of the second jade slip were not much different from the first, except that this jade slip contained a storage bag sealed with a magical restriction.

This is an inner court technique!
The text briefly describes the distribution of Ma Yuan's estate after his death. Thirty percent of his Daoist merits, Daoist coins, and magical artifacts were collected by the academy, while the majority was inherited by Ma Daotu of the Outer Affairs Hall, who was Ma Yuan's great-niece.

The reason the list was revealed to Li Qing was because Ma Yuansheng had purchased two paper lanterns from a Taoist disciple in Li Qing's name when he was in the Demon Mountain in the southwest.

Those were two of the thirteen paper artifacts of Han Daotu from the External Affairs Hall!
Years ago, he tricked Li Qing into giving him three cups of spiritual blood, not only helping him find half of a broken paper sedan chair, but also recently entrusting this junior brother to help him deal with the ghostly calamity in his clan.

Ma Yuandu promised to personally visit and thank them afterward, so he kept an eye on the remaining paper items to see if he could recover one or two pieces so that he wouldn't leave empty-handed when he visited them in the future.

Indeed, clues were discovered in the mountains of southwest China...

Unfortunately, Li Qing's cultivation has also advanced by leaps and bounds. He has merged the Paper Spirit Secret Record with the Mountain Ghost Law, forming a new Paper Demon Technique. Now, he no longer needs that Paper Dao Secret Artifact.

However, after taking the two white paper lanterns out of the mustard seed bag, Li Qing still felt slightly dazed!
Having been a follower of Taoism in Tiannan for nearly six years, the only network of connections he had built up vanished with this letter.

This is what it means:
Immortality is hard to find, and the true path is often walked alone!
With a soft sigh, Li Qing put away the jade talisman, took out a wolf-hair brush, dipped it in spirit ink, and wrote a poem on each of the two lanterns, signing it as Ma Yuan!
Two paper lanterns were also hung on either side of the paper sedan chair door beam for illumination. At this point, Li Qing no longer had the idea of ​​staying in the mountain gate for long.

Gently stroking the scales of the "candle," Li Qing suddenly asked it:

"Zhu, would you like to go back to your hometown and take another look?"

This big guy doesn't care about wanting or not wanting; naturally, it follows Li Qing wherever he goes.

So he simply agreed to what Governor Wei had said and decided to venture into the Western Barbarian Corpse Cave. Once the Corpse Cave was pacified and the south was at peace, then he would be done with it!
So the man and the dragon rested in the courtyard for only half an hour before heading straight down Lin Yuan Mountain, crossing the Yuan River, and heading towards the Western Mang Corpse Cave...

The next day, when Bai Qingye came to find Li Qing again, he secretly thought that he had done something stupid the day before.

"Could this little thief have stolen the middle volume of my 'Southern Dipper Prolongation of Life' and deliberately run away?"

Bai Qingye expressed deep doubt: How could I, your grandma, have taken pity on him just by looking at his desolate back!

Just as the woman in the purple robe was secretly annoyed, Li Qing was already being carried in a sedan chair by four paper shamans. Two paper lanterns hung in front of the sedan chair, copper bells jingled, and five ancient coins were strung together as a curtain... The paper sedan chair swayed lightly in front, with a red dragon meandering behind, traveling leisurely all the way.

Li Qing sat in the paper sedan chair, holding a golden silk mustard seed pouch in her palm!

This was probably the mustard seed bag of the White Bone Path - Ghost Path Man. Li Qing counted all the things inside, and they were mostly soul bottles, resentful silk, and ghost path yin materials, with very few proper spiritual materials.

Only the two hundred thousand or so Dao Zhu made Li Qing slightly satisfied!
"Perhaps we can see if this kind of Yin material can be put to use in the Netherworld?"

Paper figures carried the sedan chair, heading southeast.

The mountains here are high and the waters are treacherous. Old monkeys cry mournfully on both banks, tigers and leopards lie in wait on the mountains, poisonous snakes coil on the branches, and monsters roam the valleys. It is a place that is completely unlike a place for living people.

Li Qing had walked this road many times and had never seen anyone here before. Even the cultivators of Tiannan Temple had never seen anyone here more than a few times.

But this time, something unexpected happened again!
As the four madmen carried the sedan chair, swaying with each step, crossing mountains and streams, Li Qing felt a sudden heaviness in the air above his head. Before the fire in his right hand could ignite, he looked up and saw a figure descending from the sky, carrying a vast expanse of pure energy, and gently landing on the paper sedan chair pole.

It was a woman with deep blue hair and stunning beauty. Her red and white silk robes hung down, and at that moment, they overlapped with the halo of the sun shining from the sky, as if they had transformed into a pair of divine wings, radiating a divine radiance that made people who looked at her unable to have any impure thoughts.
The woman landed on the front pole of the paper sedan chair, and through the curtain woven from five emperor coins, she met Li Qing's eyes.

Barefoot on the railing of the paper sedan chair, the woman, with her slender figure, approached the sedan chair step by step. After gently lifting the curtain, she directly handed a golden talisman shaped like a vertical pupil into the paper sedan chair.

"I am Yinghuo, from the Heavenly Palace, the Eleven Luminaries Heavenly Palace."

Eleven Lunar Palaces?
Li Qing hesitated for a moment before taking the golden-eyed talisman from that slender hand. In an instant, it felt as if an electric current had passed through her fingertips, and a sense of enlightenment suddenly washed over her.

The Heavenly Palace is where the eleven luminaries reside.

The sun is Dongxi, and the moon is Xuanque.

Wood Virtue Jupiter, Fire Virtue Mars, Metal Virtue Venus, Water Virtue Mercury, Earth Virtue Suppressing Star.

The head god is Rahu, and the tail god is Ketu.

The sky is purple and the moon is bright.

This is an organization that spans the four regions of the capital, using the eleven luminaries as its code name, "Tianyi" as its leader, and "Yinghuo" as its guide. It stands above all worlds and claims to be the creator of the world!
"Eleven Luminaries?"

Li Qing raised an eyebrow and looked up at the woman standing in front of the sedan chair, looking down at him. He really didn't understand the meaning of "Yinghuo".

"This world is vast and fertile, and all living beings thrive on this earth, but there are always some who turn their backs on all living beings!"

"You, who live alongside the ghosts, cannot coexist with ordinary mortals."

The woman lightly flicked the copper bell on the paper sedan chair with her fingertips.

"But there are many like you among the eleven luminaries, so the title of Ketu will be reserved for you!"

Ding……

The melodious sound of bells filled the air in the blink of an eye, as if the sun and moon in Yin Zu's pot had frozen time itself.

Li Qing was shocked; that was the work of a Yin God!
"Accept this gift. After you reach the Foundation Establishment stage in your Purple Mansion, I will take you to meet the other 'kind'."

"This is not coercion, but rather, the guidance of destiny..."

The woman raised her delicate hand high, and a flower umbrella immediately landed in her palm. It contained boundless magical power, as if it were about to take the entire world away and ascend to heaven. As the paper umbrella slowly rose, "Yinghuo" also drifted away like a fairy maiden.

This incomplete prophecy, as if it had been a mark placed on Li Qing for no reason, left him speechless.

"What exactly do the Eleven Luminaries do?"

He had never heard of this organization before. Were all its members extraordinary beings with the potential to become Yin spirits? Or...?

The woman seemed to hear Li Qing's question. She hooked the umbrella handle with one hand, lowered her stunning face, and at this moment, she looked like an angel looking down with pity for all living beings.

"Our actions are in accordance with the will of Heaven, and we have come here to save the world!"

A lingering echo remained, but soon, the woman's figure vanished into the blue sky.

"Candle" had long since learned its lesson. Sensing that unusual aura, it had already kept its distance. Only now did it wriggle up and catch up, its eyes filled with a hint of shyness as it looked at Li Qing in a flattering manner.

Its blinking eyes seemed to be telling its owner that it wasn't its fault!

"salvation?"

"She must be really sick..."

Li Qing weighed the vertical-pupiled golden talisman in his hand, feeling speechless. After hesitating for a long time, he ultimately only melted a strand of spiritual jade to seal the golden talisman inside, without discarding it.

Paper figures carried the sedan chair, and a crimson dragon swam about. Li Qing was not too worried and continued on his way.

He's been through a lot of upheavals lately, so whether he gains another Heavenly Palace or loses one of the Eleven Luminaries doesn't really matter!

However, above that azure sky, a woman named "Yinghuo" walked barefoot among the clouds, surrounded by red and white floral patterns, like a banished immortal descending to earth.

At that moment, a shadow as tall as a person fell from the clouds, and with a series of cracking sounds, it shattered into pieces. Each of the irregular fragments was connected by a strange mechanism, and together they formed a humanoid puppet.

"Yinghuo, why are you seducing people again?"

The puppet's mechanisms activated, and soon it revealed human-shaped features. With a twist of its five fingers, a slender arm parted the white mist, revealing a boy of about fifteen or sixteen years old.

This young man, showing no respect for his elders, openly mocked his superior, codenamed "Yinghuo".

“He is the future ‘Jidu’, and his rank should be above yours.”

The woman named "Yinghuo" did not take offense at the puppet boy's disrespect. With a flick of her hand, she parted the clouds and turned her gaze to the side of the Yuan River below.

"But his cultivation level is too low. By the time he achieves the Yin God realm... or even if he reaches the Zifu Dao Foundation perfection, I'm afraid I'll be living to the end of my life!"

"He might not even be able to cultivate to that level."

The puppet boy sneered, showing no interest in the ghost boy. Or rather, people from the Northern Kingdom of Tiandu have never looked down on the Six Heavens Ghost Path!
“I have already given him the Jidu Golden Scroll, Chenxing.”

Yinghuo's eyes pierced through the young man in the sedan chair, and she saw the red-clad figure entangled with Li Qing.

We are bound by a vow, through life and death, through thick and thin!
The person who is bound by a ghost marriage contract is already at the upper limit of most cultivators. He should not be confined to a corner of the Southern Kingdom and ranked alongside mediocre people.

The Eleven Luminaries of the Celestial Palace: Ketu, Li Qing!
He will return to his place...

(End of this chapter)