The Path to Immortality Begins with the Life-Extending Lamp

Chapter 68 This journey is to the Beast Taming Immortal Sect

"You mean, you were tricked into going to the Beast Taming Immortal Sect instead of the Six Spirits Mountain?"

"Did I lose you at sea again on the way to the Beast Taming Immortal Sect?"

The chivalrous man from the Purple Mansion seemed to be filled with disbelief as he recounted Li Qing's ordeal.

This remark caused many heroes from all over the world to burst into laughter.

But looking at Li Qing's confident expression, he felt that this was very likely the truth.

Believe it or not, there are quite a few disciples of the major sects in the Southern Kingdom who have been swindled out of their money and magical artifacts.

This really gave him a huge headache.

You say you should abandon this guy? He's someone who's cultivated Qi, and who knows what sect he's backed.

If we bring this guy along, he's someone who's mastered internal energy, and if he were to betray us...

"Ah! Tell me, which sect do you belong to?" the Taoist in the scholar's and martial's robes asked again.

His question made Li Qing pause in surprise.

The puppeteer's venomous words immediately flashed through his mind. After all, Tiannan Temple was an ancient sect of Qi cultivation. After Ancestor Yin passed away, would they really tolerate him?
Li Qing has been practicing Qi cultivation for so long, yet he hasn't even managed to find a teacher. He can probably tell that the various sects in the temple don't want to have much interaction with him. After Yin Zu's passing, the way many Taoists look at him is probably the same way they, as Taoist disciples, look at the ghosts and gods of that place...

After a long struggle in her eyes, Li Qing finally uttered a muffled sentence:
"No, I don't belong to any sect!"

He had previously claimed that he was abducted on his way back to his clan, but now he's denying it.

Needless to say, this kind of novice must have come from one of those sects in Jiangnan, with the same bookish air!
"Okay, okay!"

These maritime heroes hate dealing with people who have to think twice before speaking, afraid of disgracing their master or sect.

"Damn it, it's only because I, your master, have a kind heart. If it were any other Purple Mansion, you would have been kicked into the sea long ago."

"You'll pass by the Beast Taming Immortal Sect along the way, but it's only about a thousand miles away. You can go there yourself to find the large ship that will take you back to the East Sea."

"Tell me, what makes you think you can eat and drink on this ship?"

This Purple Mansion cultivator revealed his true colors after only a few words; even though he had reached the Purple Mansion level, he was still just a rough man.

However, the truth is there.

Since we're hitching a ride on someone else's boat, we have to do something, or at least what we can do!

"This humble Taoist is skilled in fire magic and can command paper soldiers!" Li Qing bowed slightly to the Purple Mansion Taoist and then spoke.

Upon hearing this, the burly man raised an eyebrow, immediately showing interest. "Hmm, does he know how to use troops? He's quite a promising talent."

The way magic is used varies depending on the region.

For example, there are many mountain spirits and wild ghosts in Lingnan, as well as old graves, so naturally they are mostly used to raise spirits and control ghosts, and to command soldiers and horses.

The Jiangnan region was a hub of literary culture and diverse medicinal herbs, naturally leading to a greater prevalence of talismans and alchemy.
The East China Sea is vast and boundless, where the two energies of wind and water converge to form tides, flowing from south to north, with numerous affairs and stars, yet there is no particularly strong regional tendency towards magic.

But of the more than two hundred people on the ship, none of them knew how to mobilize troops.

"Come and see how you mobilize your troops?"

"Yes, let's see this for ourselves!"

"..."

These many heroes insisted on seeing it, and with the Purple Mansion Taoist's eyes shining brightly, Li Qing had no choice but to nod slightly.

With a flick of his left hand, a sheet of paper appeared in his palm. The paper was pure white, shrouded in spiritual energy, as if it had been specially made, and five hazy figures could be faintly seen gathering in the background.

Li Qing held up the paper with his left hand, and the primordial energy gathered into a dark blue droplet shape. Then, with his right hand, he made a hand seal and flicked his finger, sending the primordial energy into the spiritual paper.

In an instant, it seemed as if dark, cloud-like patterns flowed across the memorial. The next moment, the memorial vanished with a "bang," leaving behind a sudden cloud of gloom.

The road to the underworld never carries the living back, yet blank paper, devoid of soul, summons the old souls back!
As the gloom rose, the five paper shamans appeared on the deck.

The first soldier is "Jia Chang," a burly figure nine feet tall, covered in layers of scale armor. His arm armor is ferocious, and when his fists clash, even the air seems to distort, demonstrating his ferocity!
The second soldier is called "Flying Madman". This madman is tall and thin, but has a pair of bat-shaped wings. When he walks, he does not touch the deck at all, as if he is floating in the air, which shows that he is extremely agile.

The other three looked like ordinary soldiers, but upon closer inspection, layers of smog seemed to emanate from them.

As the five warriors gathered, a majestic aura immediately rose. Driven by Li Qing's thoughts, the five demons roamed the deck, occasionally leaking out a trace of yin energy, which even made the high-level Qi Refining cultivators slightly tremble.

These are five divine soldiers refined by the Linglong Paper God as the divine god master, and the many corpse paper pieces are of extraordinary quality.

Jia Chang is in charge of fighting, Fei Chang is in charge of killing, and the three-headed rampant can do anything. When it is time to mobilize troops, all you need to do is follow the gloomy ghosts of the Linglong Chang master and let them invade at will. Where can't these troops go?

At least, in the eyes of the ship captain of this Purple Mansion, this army alone is enough to stop three Qi Refining experts!
"Excellent, excellent, wonderful, a brilliant method."

The Purple Mansion ship captain clapped his hands and laughed, exchanged a glance with another Purple Mansion cultivator who hadn't uttered a word the whole time, and immediately agreed.

"Very good, young scholar. With this skill, you can now stand alongside many heroes on this deck." "You won't need to do any patrolling duties. You'll have a cabin on the upper deck, with wine and meat to your heart's content. Just remember to lend a hand when you encounter floating corpses or sea monsters!"

Zi Fu Chuan Zun laughed heartily and immediately gave Li Qing the best treatment.

Overseas, rules are generally disregarded, but things are different when you have sufficient power.

This enormous ship has no ordinary sails on its roof, but a magic flag that can manipulate the feng shui energy, and can even truly break through huge waves and briefly float in the air.

The problem is that the ship itself is just an ordinary wooden warship. Even the Purple Mansion can't afford to support a real treasure ship or celestial vessel. Otherwise, once the formation is activated, Li Qing wouldn't be able to climb aboard!

And so, Li Qing found a place to stay by accident.

An old man led Li Qing into the upper cabin, where she found a small, but fully equipped, single-room dwelling about ten feet square.

The old man, whose aura was roughly at the mid-stage of Qi Refining, led Li Qing to the cabin, then coughed twice and gave her instructions:

"I'm afraid your son comes from the south and doesn't know much about the rules of the sea."

"Firstly, there are no laws at sea. The only thing that exists is the rules that everyone on the ship must abide by. Everyone should fulfill their own responsibilities, not meddle in other people's business, and not cross the line."

"Secondly, there are often floating corpses and evil spirits at sea, which can sometimes even sneak into the cabins. There are talismans to ward off evil spirits posted everywhere in the cabins, so do not wander around except when you are handing over your defense duties!"

"If someone comes looking for you and the talisman is shining brightly, don't hesitate, just take action."

"Of course, this applies to the lower cabins. For someone like you, a member of a prominent family, all you need to do is come out onto the deck and obey the orders of the two captains when you hear the bell..."

Even though Li Qing didn't need to use these taboos, he still kept them in mind. He bowed slightly and then took his leave.

This is a black ship!
Li Qing immediately understood. He had seen many ship owners and heroes with mustard seed bags hanging from their waists. They must have exchanged a lot of southern utensils and paper for supplies to be transported overseas.

Fortunately, this was the outbound journey, and he didn't have much on him yet. The ship's captain, not wanting to cause any trouble, agreed to give Li Qing a ride.

If it were the return journey, with hundreds of millions of taels of silver piled up in the mustard seed bag on the ship, they would absolutely not pay any attention to Li Qing!
Naturally, Li Qing did not forget his concealment methods. When mobilizing troops, he hid the Linglong Crazed Master and did not reveal any of his own magical artifacts.

Once aboard the ship, Li Qing spent his days in the cabin, practicing only the basics. He picked up a scroll of "The Southern Dipper's Life-Extending Volume" and studied the life-saving incantation for the demonic star within.

A demonic star can avert death and prolong life; a witch puppet can survive nine deaths and take the place of the dead; a nail-headed arrow can be used to create a curse.

It is a life-extending lamp that communicates with the Southern Dipper, using its life-giving light to illuminate the warp and weft, imitating the changes in the "Hetu" and "Luoshu", and prophesying the rise and fall, survival and extinction of the other party.

Because this method of prophecy is more sinister than all kinds of witchcraft and incantations, it often distorts and uses the words of sages and ghosts to make prophecies. Even if the prophecy fails, the consequences will only fall on the sages and ghosts.

In layman's terms, it means: "Taking things out of context, misinterpreting sacred words, and stealing divine secrets."

This technique is universally hated!

During this period, food was delivered to Li Qing every day, but he did not touch it, claiming that he was practicing abstinence from grains.

In reality, he uses his primordial energy to refine the water vapor in the sea every day, and uses it to cultivate alongside turnip seeds.

How could those two Purple Mansions not know Li Qing's wariness? That's only natural, so they didn't take it to heart.

Until the second ten-day period!
Li Qing was still lying on the wooden plank, tracing the memorial on the spirit paper in rhythm with the swaying of the boat.

Suddenly, the bells in the cabin began to vibrate violently.

Jingle Bell……

Upon hearing the bell, Li Qing immediately looked up and saw that the area outside the cabin, which was only a foot in diameter, was still shimmering with light. However, he did not dare to be negligent in the slightest. He rolled up a piece of paper from his sleeve, surrounded himself with the Heavenly Mansion Profound Yuan Qi, and raised his right finger slightly, causing a wisp of fire in the stone to slowly rise!

Pushing open the cabin door and slowly stepping out, I saw that many Taoist priests had already gathered on the deck.

When the two Purple Mansion cultivators saw the Taoist priest emerge from the cabin in such a tense manner, they couldn't help but exchange a surprised glance, both seeing helplessness in each other's eyes.

At the same time, that lingering worry vanished.

"This is probably a rookie from some sect!"

Look at him, acting like he's never seen the world before, treating this sea voyage as an exploration of the Netherworld? There's no need to be so nervous, is there?

"Young Taoist, come here!"

The burly man with the Purple Mansion in his palm carried a sword horizontally on his shoulder and leaned against the edge of the deck along with many other heroes from the Four Seas who were at the upper level of Qi Refining. He freed one hand and waved to Li Qing.

"Did you all think you were going to give birth in the cabin?"

"We've reached the first island/reef. Shall we go down for some fresh air?"

This joking remark drew laughter from everyone, and just then, the ship had already come to a stop.

As the cloud ladder was lowered, cultivators of all ranks were preparing to descend to the central island to rest. However, some impatient fools, confident in their abilities, didn't bother queuing up to descend the cloud ladder. Instead, they flipped over and jumped off the deck, which was more than ten feet high...

Upon hearing this, Li Qing gently flicked out the true fire at her fingertips and followed the others.

(End of this chapter)