The Path to Immortality Begins with the Life-Extending Lamp

Chapter 67 Finding the Key to the Abyss

With a flicker of ghostly light, Li Qing reappeared before the Netherworld Palace.

He could only temporarily avoid the puppeteer's suicidal, frenzied attacks.

But as soon as Li Qing entered the Netherworld, she felt that it was different from the past. The depths of the Netherworld seemed to have become more oppressive and terrifying.

Even the aura within the Netherworld had become much colder, which made him increasingly apprehensive!
Looking around and finding nothing unusual, Li Qing pushed open the gates of the Underworld and stepped inside. There, she saw the Ghost Mother already lingering in the courtyard, gazing out with an empty gaze.

Li Qing flipped his right hand and lit the life-extending lamp, only then feeling that the candlelight seemed to dispel some of the gloom and terror.

"What happened in the Netherworld? Why has such a change occurred?"

He had entered and exited the Netherworld several times before, but he had never felt so oppressed as he did today. The terror of being attacked at any moment, could it be that something terrible had happened in the Netherworld?
However, in a place unseen by Li Qing, the destiny star corresponding to the Seven Star Lamp atop the Immortal Peak in the mortal realm, on the shattered firmament of You Tian, ​​had long since been extinguished…

With the Seven Star Lamp extinguished, he naturally lost his protection in the Netherworld. It was only now that his cultivation had improved slightly, that he activated the Netherworld Book Ghost Contract, and that the Southern Dipper Life-Extending Lamp had also achieved some success.

Otherwise, one would truly lose oneself in this boundless, dark sky.

Fortunately, Li Qing was perceptive. As soon as she realized that the Life-Extending Lamp could dispel the original terror of the Netherworld, she immediately came up with a plan.

"The puppeteer outside risked his life to self-destruct, and it is unknown whether he survived."

"Why don't I refine the Southern Dipper Life-Extending Lamp Technique and complete the Paper Barbarian Army right here in the Underworld, and then settle scores later?"

With the Jade Marrow and Star Ingot in her palm, along with the Taiyue Daozhu made of Nine-Flower Spirit Gold, Li Qing no longer wanted to use the paper lamp to support her life flame.

He wants to refine a Southern Dipper Life-Extending Jade Flower Lamp!
As for the many human skin papers, they were placed on a corner of the table by a jade pendant with a dark moon.

The Southern Dipper prolongs life, prays for prosperity and blessings, and dispels calamities. A ray of starlight flashes by like a fleeting white horse galloping past, a mere glimpse of flowers in the distance. A malevolent star casts a curse, refining and guiding the souls of the departed…

Li Qing then plucked the fifty-two-petaled jade flower from the jade stem. This pure jade-like jade flower could be used as a lantern. It needed to be melted down with star ingots, filled with star essence, and then decorated with Nine-Flower Spirit Gold to make it a perfect whole. Then the life candle was moved over.

This jadeite is so complete that it supports the entire shape of the life lamp. The stars are like crystals, intertwined with the jadeite, as if the jadeite is combined with ice crystals. Furthermore, the nine-colored gilded glaze on the lamp adds a layer of nine-colored light.

Only when the life candle in the paper lantern is peeled off, the lotus-shaped lamp flower slowly falls into it. Then, the strands of magical restriction, like the veins of a real jade flower, climb up and light up the entire spirit lamp.

The cold white candlelight shone brightly, and the Southern Dipper prolongs life, its radiance and color bringing a touch of warmth to the entire underworld courtyard!
Using the Qionghua root, which still bore three jade leaves, as a handle, Jiuhua spiritual gold was used to unravel the threads and transform them into a lantern chain, connecting the two.

So Li Qing picked up the lantern and carefully filled in the runes and patterns inside.
As soon as the restriction on the Southern Dipper Life-Extending Lamp was completed, Li Qing made a hand seal to cause the lamp to change. All sorts of indescribable energy changed on the strange lantern, as if it was about to steal people's souls at any time!
After hanging the Southern Dipper Life-Extending Lamp on the wall, Li Qing truly began the secret art of creating chaos passed down among various lineages...

Meanwhile, in the Tokaido region at that time...

The young man, his eyes filled with murderous intent, immediately kicked open the door of the Cloud Pavilion and headed overseas with a menacing air.

The boy was extremely handsome, but upon closer inspection, his seemingly innocent face was filled with malice and wickedness, like a piece of rough jade that had grown crooked.

The eleven luminaries, "Chenxing," was once a prodigy of a certain school of thought in the Northern Kingdom—the Great Zhou Dynasty…

At this moment, "Chenxing's" puppets were all destroyed by the Ghost Mother. Even more strangely, his flawless jade hands, those skillful hands that could manipulate a thousand puppets in an instant, were found by the Ghost Mother's curse along with his energy, twisted into a bloody mess.

The curses of the demonic path have always been so unreasonable.

"What's wrong? You like to play, but you can't afford to play?"

Inside the cloud pavilion, besides "Chenxing," there were four other figures. The woman in the lead was quietly reading a scroll of bamboo slips. Without raising her head, she spoke and questioned him.

Suddenly, the area outside the Cloud Pavilion was covered by endless vines and bloody branches, blocking the star and preventing it from leaving.

"Jupiter, how dare you stop me?"

"I must kill the vengeful spirit inside that guy!"

"Today, no one can stop me."

Chen Xing's eyes were cold as he surveyed the crowd and issued a warning.

How could he tolerate such an ungrateful ghost?
"If you go in person, you will surely die at sea, even if you summon your family's Yin God-level puppet, it will be useless!"

The Jupiter was a middle-aged man with a sallow complexion, yet he seemed to have a great deal of tolerance for the planet Chenxing, speaking earnestly.

"The Puppet Way is the solidity of Yang, a way of skillful transformation. At least, it is the same for you before you attain Yin Spirit."

"The path of ghosts is the extreme of yin. You could have your soul devoured by that vengeful ghost at any moment. You can't defend against it."

"Stop messing around, he's your nemesis!"

The Puppet Path is ultimately a minor path. No matter how many variations he manipulates, the fierce ghost from the Netherworld is inherently invincible.

The Way of the Ghosts was the true path of the previous era!

But Chen Xing looked displeased and sneered, "But I can kill Ji Du first."

Upon hearing this, all four people in the pavilion burst into laughter.

"And then what? After he dies, he enters the underworld and becomes an even more terrifying ghost king, coming to claim your life. At that time, you will be facing two vengeful ghosts!"

"Does it make sense?" Yes, does it make sense?
Of course it makes sense!
"Chenxing" looked even colder. He raised his bloodied and mangled right hand, and a disheveled corpse puppet appeared behind him. The corpse puppet had withered white hair and its head was broken off, but it was stitched back together with black thread. Its aura seemed to be inherited from "Chenxing" and seemed to be his ancestor.

This is actually a puppet made from a spirit that died!
He was determined to kill that guy; if necessary, he could just move to another city.

There are countless geniuses in this world, so one more ghost boy won't make a difference...

But then, in the Cloud Pavilion, another being lost patience with coaxing the young man. The man in the immortal sect's robe suddenly stood up, and the instant he stood up, hundreds of Taihua sword energies rose up.

The next moment, "Chenxing," who was still fooling around, was instantly enveloped by thousands of sword energies. Three five-foot-long Taibai swords pierced through his collarbone, chest, and right abdomen respectively. The three Taihua sword energies transformed into golden swords that pinned Chenxing to the ground, allowing his blood to flow down the sword blades.

"You hothead, you're really disturbing the peace and quiet!"

"Yinghuo, you're spoiling them too much! If you bring in someone like that again, I'll personally chop off his head."

"What's the use of keeping those who don't obey?"

Eleven Luminaries - Taibai glanced irritably at the boy at the door, and without undoing the three Taihua sword energies, directly transformed into a ten-thousand-foot sword light, tore through the witch vine cage that covered the entire Cloud Pavilion, and vanished into the sky.

Taibai dislikes stupid people, but he hates even more those who can't explain themselves.

The other three, either unwilling to offend "Taibai" or wanting to teach Chenxing a lesson, let him suffer as the Taihua sword energy damaged his heart meridian, causing him to bleed profusely.

Chenxing was utterly powerless to resist. There were many monsters among the Eleven Luminaries, and he was merely the most naive of them all…

Until the blood was splattered all over the ground, "Yinghuo" finally couldn't help but sigh, dispelling the Taihua sword energy, and lamented:
"Be good! The last 'Taiyin' was killed by 'Rahu'."

"At this rate, when will you ever be able to collect all eleven stars...?"

Eleven Luminaries - Heavenly Palace.

The demon of the North Sea is called Rahu, the emperor of the dynasty is called Yangming, the Venus sword beheaded the Five Rivers Lord, and the planet Jupiter once caused the witchcraft calamity.

This is a vast organization spanning four regions, and it already has six Yin God True Persons.

However, there is no harmony within this organization; private battles are commonplace, and it is only through the forceful integration and suppression of "Tianyi," who is almost a god-like being.

The lawless luminaries gathered to form the lawless Eleven Luminaries Heavenly Palace, and while acting recklessly, they claimed to be saving the world by rebuilding the capital!
The true disciples of the Taiyue Immortal Sect, the ghost princes of the southern lands, the princes of the Southern Kingdom's royal family—there's no one they wouldn't dare to turn against them. This is an organization that has gathered together madmen...

The heavens are vast and boundless, and only within those three kingdoms are there laws and regulations.

Once you leave the heart of the two kingdoms of Tiandu in the north and south, there is not much difference between humans, ghosts, and demons in essence.

It's all just a matter of the strong preying on the weak!
Another ten days will pass.

A small boat, seemingly made of paper, drifted on the waves in the open sea.

Li Qing maintained his balance, but his heart grew increasingly heavy. There was not a single island in this sea area, and even though he had been at sea for two days and two nights, he had not seen any other living beings.

However, the enormous black shadow at the bottom of the abyss slowly swam by, startling Li Qing so much that he gathered his primordial energy and silently sat cross-legged in the paper boat.

In his panic, he secretly vowed that if he ever saw a puppeteer again, he would kill them all!
He wandered aimlessly for who knows how many days.

Finally, Li Qing spotted a massive ship on the sea.

It was a huge warship that was nearly a hundred feet long and six stories high; the ship alone was the size of a market town.

There was no time to worry about anything else. With a flick of his true qi, Li Qing sent the paper boat, which had been soaked in water until it turned a pale white, hurtling toward the warship at an incredible speed.

This immediately sent chills down the spines of the monks on the ship!
When you're thousands of miles away with nowhere to go, and suddenly a pale white ghost ship drifts towards you, who wouldn't be afraid?

This giant ship is a black ship that travels between the Tokaido and the open sea. In layman's terms, it is a smuggling ship where many heroes gather and specialize in exchanging grain between domestic and foreign countries!

The ship carried hundreds of Qi Refining cultivators and armored soldiers, two Purple Mansion Daoists, and their mustard seed pouches, etc. When they returned, they could have as much as several million Dao Zhu in provisions.

These black market ships never accept anyone who boards midway, after all, money is a powerful motivator...

But how could Li Qing understand this? He's been at sea for almost three days already, why would he care about all this?

The paper boat quickly approached the multi-story ship and saw that it even had its crossbows and crossbows pulled out. Li Qing leaped up, dodging several crossbow bolts, and jumped directly onto the deck from the swaying ship's side.

This crazy act caused the sailors on deck to go from danger to joy, and then from joy to danger again.

Dozens of mithril crossbow bolts were fired in succession, and fireballs, wind blades and other projectiles came one after another!

Li Qing's expression shifted, using only his Heavenly Palace Profound Yuan Qi to protect himself. As he dodged and weaved, two crossbow bolts still struck his Yuan Qi shield, knocking him back two steps.

Seeing that the man was protected by a dark blue aura that made him impervious to swords and spears, and immune to water and fire, more and more people gathered on the deck. Two leaders of the Purple Mansion Sect and many heroes at the upper level of Qi Refining surrounded him at the same time.

Did one of the powerful cultivators at the Purple Mansion level actually understand Li Qing's methods? Was it the protective qi that the various sects of the Southern Kingdom were good at using?
"stop!"

The burly man from the Purple Mansion, clad in a robe draped in both civil and military attire, surrounded by numerous cultivators, slowly stepped forward and halted the impending blade-to-blade battle.

"Who are you? Why are you attacking our sect's treasure ship?"

(End of this chapter)