The Path to Immortality Begins with the Life-Extending Lamp

Chapter 59 A Lonely Figure Stands Alone Amidst the Flaming Fire at the Grave

As soon as daylight broke, the guards outside the Corpse Cave began to change shifts, and the alligator warriors of the Tiannan Lan Clan finally joined the campaign!

The alligator dragon, also known as the earth dragon or the pig dragon, is officially called the crocodile.

The Lan clan occupies a marshland in the northern part of the land, where alligator dragons have historically lived. Using the Five Arts of Taming, they have tamed and raised these dragons, passing down their skills to this day. The Lan family now has just over three hundred alligator dragon warriors, making them a truly powerful and influential family.

The Tiger and Bear Guards who were originally stationed on the north side of the Corpse Cave began to break camp and retreat, and were replaced by those fierce warriors who stood on the back of the old crocodile!
Because this alligator dragon is not a beast, the way alligator dragon riders control it is somewhat different from that of ordinary knights.

They placed a battle platform on the back of the alligator dragon, which was more like driving a chariot than riding a horse. They used long forks and javelins as weapons, and did not wear iron armor. Instead, they used light armor such as rattan armor and scale armor as their military equipment.

Watching the fierce warriors slowly break camp and retreat, the spirits of this group of alligator warriors were not too high.

"Our ancestor, along with Prefect Liu and his assistant prefect, were imprisoned at the same time. Just this morning at dawn, the prefect and assistant prefect were executed by being cut in half at the waist in the capital to appease public anger!"

"Our ancestor has just taken office and is in charge of the local spirits and deities, which is why he has had some free time to travel around."

"Uncles and brothers, Lan Ren only wishes to join you in helping the government army to cut down mountains and destroy graves, to shed blood and sacrifice our lives in this battle, so that our merits and demerits can be offset, for the sake of our ancestor."

"Uncle Lan Qiji is a Red-Clothed True Instructor in the Law and Order Institute of Tiannan Temple, and will secretly take action; Cousin Lan Yang will also be leading some disciples from the temple to come and help soon."

"I urge you all to join me in overcoming this difficult time!"

The leading warrior, clad in scale armor, wielded a fourteen-foot-long water spear with effortless ease, as if it weighed nothing in his palm. Yet, his eyes revealed sincerity, earnestly hoping that all warriors could unite as one.

"Naturally willing!"

"We are all willing to do what our ancestor needs."

"Commander Ren, stop with such talk and give the order..."

Although many members of the Lan family harbored resentment and were somewhat annoyed by the White Bone Daoist and the "Ghost Gentleman," they were quite united at this moment for the sake of the family.

Numerous dragon riders filled the entire valley, their voices echoing each other, and the combined movements of their dragons created a deafening and awe-inspiring spectacle.

Even the fierce tigers and bears leading the retreating warriors with iron chains, dragging all kinds of supplies, felt a chill in their hearts!
What a formidable force the Lan Clan of Tiannan is! Their three hundred crocodile warriors are probably comparable to five hundred tiger and bear warriors.

If it weren't for the fact that Prefect Lan was implicated in the great calamity of Liuhuang Prefecture, which affected the prisoners, no one would have known about such a powerful army.

Defense responsibilities are being handed over here, while other areas are also busy with mobilizations.

The "Dragon Banner Guards" who had just returned from the south, also known as the "Wolf Riders" who raised and commanded more than ten jackals, were also conscripted by the Wei governor into the Corpse Cave.

The governor's office promised to capture twenty more wolves for them, and to provide a large amount of spirit meat and bone-strengthening pills from the Six Spirit Mountains, so that the wolf riders could run around the perimeter of the Corpse Cave to assist the governor's troops.

With such meticulous planning and the mobilization of supplies from the surrounding areas, it seems that the old governor is quite anxious...

And in the morgue.

Within the mountain of corpses, the roars of corpses, the howls of tigers, the snores of bears, and the cries of various Taoist soldiers and spirits intertwined, creating an extremely noisy atmosphere.

Clearly, amidst this increasingly intense search and destruction of graves, the old corpses that originally occupied their own large graves and were rarely disturbed began to wander due to the commotion.

There were frequent battles between old corpses over territorial disputes, but more often they were disturbed by the Taoist soldiers from the Imperial Censorate searching the mountains. Several high-ranking old corpses would attack at the same time, putting increasing pressure on the Taoist disciples in the Imperial Censorate.

In the beginning, things were alright. The territories of the old graves were far apart, and it wasn't too difficult to gradually push them over.

However, the longer the conquest lasted, the greater the commotion became, disrupting the old corpse's territory. In some places, two or three high-grade old corpses even gathered under a canopy of corpse haze.

This really increased the pressure on him...

The corpse is located in the southeast mountain stream.

A young man in a hooded robe was carrying a strange lantern, urging five paper thieves to deal with the wandering zombies.

Among all these paper gods, the most outstanding one was not the profound and sophisticated Linglong God Master.

Instead, it was the bruised ghostly hand hanging down to the knees from the paper sleeve, and the faceless madman carrying a scroll of cooking talismans on his back!
For some reason, this paper talisman was extremely compatible with the cooking diagram generated by the "Big Rat" cauldron book, and the energy of the talisman was faintly connected with the two ghostly hands.

Then the faceless paper demon crashed into the group of corpses. With two purple and green ghost hands, it easily removed the heads of ordinary walking corpses. If it encountered a mid-grade hairy corpse or wandering corpse, the Yuan Qi in the "Three Yuan Cauldron Cooking Pagoda" on its back would circulate and instantly behead the wandering corpse to sacrifice to the cauldron!
It is unknown whether the original owner of the bruised ghost hand had a similar background to that in the book "The Big Rat," perhaps because the upper class levied exorbitant taxes, resulting in the death of an infant who could not survive, and whose resentment was hard to dispel, thus causing some response.

Li Qing simply let it carry the talisman and observe its changes and evolution...

With paper paper clearing the way and soldiers leading the way, white paper flew in abundance.

The paper figures, dressed in plain clothes and painted with ink, swayed as if weightless, and were able to slip into every crevice of the old forest.

But as soon as it entered the mass graves, the paper figure puffed up, its originally flat, paper-like body suddenly swelled up, and its strength became even greater, actually dragging out the walking corpses and zombies from under the graves!

Immediately following were the sounds of corpses roaring and colliding, as five paper demons and more than thirty paper figures cleaved through mountains and destroyed graves.

Linglong, the tyrant, lingered for a long time, her body shrouded in a chilling aura, with dark clouds and ghostly energy gathering and merging with the clouds above the ravine to create a continuous drizzle. Under the shroud of this rain, the paper figures became even more eerie. Originally, the light paper figures were merely bound corpses, but once touched by the rain, the lingering chilling energy around them transformed them into something indistinguishable from low-grade ghosts, even capable of strangling the heads of corpses…

Li Qing walked through the mountain stream, bypassing the noisy, rolling paper soldiers and the corpses, and headed straight for the giant rock on the cold stream!

On the day they first met, separated by two ridges of Panshan, the silver-armored corpse was lying prostrate on this huge rock in the cold stream, bathing in the moonlight and breathing in the corpse's aura.

After searching the entire mountain valley, no large tombs or graves were found, except for this giant rock, which seemed rather strange!

This cold stream flows down the mountainside, its waters icy and biting, meandering eastward. Though not deep, it is certainly swift and rapid.

Li Qing took a step, and the Heavenly Mansion Profound Yuan Qi circulated beneath his feet, as if he were stepping on invisible steps. He strode through the air, step by step, crossing the stream and arriving at the giant rock.

The boulder, several meters in circumference, resembled a giant millstone, covered with scale-like patterns. Under the sunlight, a cool mist rose, as if it were covered with a layer of moonlight, which was truly strange.

The cold stream is devoid of corpse energy and is not a yin place, so the silver-armored corpse was not formed from an underwater yin corpse!

"Perhaps there's something special about this Moonstone?" Li Qing was also completely baffled.

Since it was unknown, Li Qing did not want to waste any more time. With a flick of his sleeve, he put the huge moon-shadowed rock, which was several feet in diameter, into his mustard seed bag.

At this moment, the exquisite golden silk mustard seed pouch with a diameter of a hundred feet by the White Bone Path Ghost Daoist finally came in handy. Otherwise, Li Qing would have had nowhere to store such a huge boulder!

Again, in the distance, the "candle" hovered in the wind, its flames flickering, and the fiery breath that stretched for dozens of feet began to collide with the dark blue canopy drifting from the foot of the Western Wilderness Mountain.

Li Qing immediately stepped into the air, picked up the paper lantern, and murmured a prophecy. The magic seal on the Southern Dipper Life-Extending Paper Lantern suddenly appeared, as if nebulae were slowly swirling around it.

Immediately afterwards, an unknown pressure swept over the corpses, stripping them of their lifespan and then drawing away strands of life light.

The light of longevity seemed to be peeled away like silk threads, swirling around the longevity lantern in wisps, as thin as gossamer. Yet these seemingly insignificant wisps, as they merged into the longevity lantern, soon created another magical barrier.

Once the group of corpses in the mountain stream was destroyed, Li Qing flicked his sleeve, and the five paper figures that were moving instantly froze in place, lost all their energy, and their bodies deflated, turning into paper figures that drifted into his sleeve with the wind.

The paper soldiers derived from the numerous spirit papers also fell to the ground instantly, turning into strands of pale white funeral paper scattered everywhere!

An old corpse was blowing in from the front, its corpse haze crossing the boundary; a raging dragon spewed out crimson flames.

Li Qing would naturally not allow "Candle" to be left behind...

Then, beneath the mountain of corpses and the old forest, a shadow seemed to flash by swiftly, and soon after, the sound of a copper bell was heard.

The next moment, a paper-embroidered palanquin seemed to break through the barrier between the afterlife and the present world, bursting forth from the hazy mist.

With a snap, the four ghosts carried the paper sedan chair, which, with an unstoppable force, crashed into the black-haired old corpse that was breathing corpse energy through the jungle.

The copper bell rang, the paper lantern swayed, and the old corpse was suddenly thrown back, flying dozens of feet away and crashing straight into the rocks.

Immediately afterwards, a series of dim flames caught up, centered on the old corpse, and covered an area of ​​about a mile in front of it with a rumble. The dark blue fire burst into flames in an instant.

Before the old corpses within the canopy of corpses could erupt in violence, the Linglong Crazed Master leaped into the forest. With a swift movement, a ten-zhang-long blood-red claw mark flashed, tearing apart several attacking walking corpses.

Four ghosts carried the paper sedan chair, which was severely damaged. If it were an ordinary ghost or demon, this blow would either have caused the ghost's body to disintegrate or its three souls to become unstable!

Only the old corpse, being soulless, was not seriously harmed.

Before the old corpse could even get up, Li Qing's Southern Bright Sunfire Technique unleashed fifty-two extremely compressed fireballs that rained down upon it.

The hairy corpse was no match for the armored corpse. With such a fire attack, the foot-long black hair was immediately burned to ashes, and in a short while it turned into a fiery corpse.

Another beam of eerie light struck, and the black coffin nail pierced through the old corpse's head, which was stained with ghostly blue flames.

Even among top-quality products, there are differences.

Wandering corpses are adept at walking, can hide underground, and can escape into water; hairy corpses move with the wind and leap like the wind; armored corpses are impervious to swords and spears, and cannot be harmed by water or fire...

This hairy corpse is the most common type of walking corpse, so it's not difficult to deal with.

After dealing with this superior-grade old corpse, Li Qingyuan turned his gaze to another large tomb several miles away, where there was another old corpse that was exhaling gloomy corpse energy.

These old corpses, being of superior quality, are no longer afraid of sunlight, but they still dislike wildfires. Once a fire breaks out, the many old corpses mobilize their corpse haze to block it.

Today, Li Qing is determined to set a great fire in this mountain of corpses and tear away the layers of corpse clouds!

With a horizontal gesture, he summoned the Danzhu dragon, while on the other side, the Linglong Changzhu opened up a ghostly realm about fifty feet in diameter, where yin winds and demonic winds blew, making the fire in front even more intense.

Li Qing made a hand seal and unleashed a spell called "Fire in Stone," which covered an area of ​​several miles. With the help of the two strong winds, the ghostly blue true fire, capable of igniting anything, forcefully raged towards the corpse-strewn pit...

(End of this chapter)