The Path to Immortality Begins with the Life-Extending Lamp

Chapter 72 The First Nation

The outer sea of ​​Dongdu.

A massive ship drifted on the dark sea.

This place is the edge of the open sea, the water is deep and dark, and the waves in the sea are like shattered and undulating glass mirrors. The difference in height between the upper and lower parts of the same sea surface can be as high as tens of feet. This "living" sea area seems to be about to submerge the ship at any time!
Inside the enclosed cabin at the very bottom of the ship, it was dark, damp, and filled with an indescribable odor.

The monks on the ship lit several torches and searched the lowest hold for any unusual activity.
"Damn it, where did these water monsters and floating corpses come from?"

"Could it be that it can pass through walls and burrow underground?"

The leading cultivators felt extremely cold.

The leader was clearly skilled in water magic. As soon as he glanced at the pale body hanging upside down on the top of the hold, he immediately waved his right hand. As his spiritual energy flowed, azure water swept over it, instantly transforming into a spherical water prison nearly as tall as a person, drowning the floating corpse in it, leaving it with no way to hold on.

Immediately afterwards, a sixteen-foot steel spear pierced through the water prison, forcefully piercing the body of the corpse monster.

The armored soldiers and the Taoist priests exchanged a cold glance, then picked up the struggling corpse still hanging on the spear and prepared to throw it off the ship.

It's a pity this is our own ship, otherwise, we wouldn't let these monsters defile it; otherwise, a big fire would have burned it all down!
The group lit torches, glanced at the spear-wielding warriors carrying the floating corpses toward the deck, and then turned and headed toward the darker underground hold.

Suddenly, two more gusts of evil wind arose ahead.

These few sea warriors, who had experienced many close-quarters battles, did not bother with hand seals. Instead, they drew their swords from their sleeves and waists, imbued with a layer of light blue spiritual energy, and slashed horizontally at the enemy!

To everyone's surprise, these attacks suddenly missed their target.

In the deeper darkness, shadows flickered. They were two bruised, purplish hands, one on the left and one on the right, forcefully breaking through several feet to grab the heads of the two water monster corpses.

The originally pale floating corpse, after being grabbed by the ghostly hand, began to abnormally display strange bloodstains and bruises. In the next instant, it was suddenly dragged into the deep darkness.

This is an even more terrifying ghost!

The stiff footsteps rang out, making the hearts of all the cultivators tremble, and they gripped their magical artifacts tightly.

"When...when did this terrifying thing get in?"

"You, go to the upper cabin and find the master!"

The wandering cultivators exchanged glances and began to slowly retreat, but the ghostly figures ahead seemed determined to keep coming towards them.

Finally, the figure stopped about three zhang away from the cultivators.

The entire body was dressed in plain white paper mourning clothes, the hem of which almost reached the ground. A pair of ghostly hands hung down from the paper sleeves, completely out of place with the pale and eerie body. The hands were bluish-purple, the color of which was exactly the same as the skin of a dead infant, which was frightening to behold.

The two floating corpses were covered in bruises, yet they were as small as chicks, easily captured by the demon. Even more terrifying was that when the large demon approached and raised its head, it had no face!
Seeing the real evil spirits enter the lower deck, the wandering knights on the ship turned cold. They split up and divided their forces, but their evil intentions were also aroused. They took up their magical weapons and were ready to fight to the death.

Tuk-tuk-tuk...

Fortunately, the sound of noisy footsteps immediately arose from behind, and several streaks of light illuminated the dimly lit hold.

At the very front was an unfamiliar young man in a robe. He walked forward without stopping, raising his right finger, a wisp of ghostly blue flame slowly flickering at the fingertip.

Before anyone could speak, the young man flicked his finger, and two wisps of fire from the stone passed over everyone, touching the floating corpses in the water. The flames burst forth, instantly covering the two walking corpses, yet without affecting the lower deck in the slightest.

"Wait a minute, do it!"

With a flick of his sleeve, Li Qing caused the faceless ghost that had been about to devour people to suddenly deflate, transforming into a paper figure that slowly floated into Li Qing's sleeve.

Immediately afterwards, Pei Jiu and his skilled crew quickly caught up.

Looking at the put-away paper offerings, he nodded slightly to Li Qing and then ordered the many wandering knights and Taoists to thoroughly search the hold!

"If possible, young friend Li, could you please draft a memorial and mobilize some troops to help these men on board conduct a thorough search?" The process was so slow, two days had passed, and the hold was still in the same state, so Pei Jiu suddenly made a request to Li Qing.

The cabin was already somewhat "unclean," so if there were a military officer patrolling there, it would be much easier for him to find the unruly soldiers who could enter and leave the realm of Yin and Yang than for an ordinary cultivator to search with his bare eyes and a lamp.

Since the ship owner had spoken, Li Qing naturally wouldn't refuse the Taoist Pei.

With a flick of his right hand, he revealed a memorial written on paper, and using his finger as a pen, he inscribed a decree on the memorial. Instantly, five types of memorials—the Jia Cult, the Fei Cult, the Xing Cult, and the Wu Cult—appeared in the dimly lit warehouse.

"The person in charge should hold this document. Until midnight, you may use these five paper shamans at will!"

He casually tossed the arrogant order into the arms of a chivalrous man, and Li Qing nodded slightly to him. Then, looking around, he joined the others in turning the bottom of the ship around...

The black ship had just passed the first headless tribe, and would then pass through the seas of various countries, before reaching the overseas immortal sect, and finally returning to the East Sea with many coral treasures, precious jades, ancient medicines and delicacies.

Seeing Li Qing's extraordinary abilities—raising the Crimson Dragon and mobilizing troops—Pei Jiu and the Taoist priest were now in a dilemma. Should they keep this man to return to the East Sea together, thus both restoring goodwill and gaining additional assistance?
Or perhaps it's best to be cautious and let him go to the Beast Taming Immortal Sect to find a ship himself...

And with these two Taoists caught in a dilemma, the first country among the overseas nations was reached!
On this calm day, Li Qing and "Candle" occupied the top deck with a balcony at the rear of the ship, leisurely leaning against the platform and gazing at the calm, rippling water.

This place is already close to the nations, no longer the outer sea.

Tuk-tuk-tuk...

Someone suddenly knocked on the door.

While Li Qing was still sunbathing on the terrace, "Candle" sensibly poked its head into the room and opened the door.

The two chivalrous leaders outside the door only heard Li Qing's voice ordering them to come in when the upper door was opened slightly. As soon as they stepped into the cabin, a huge dragon head lowered its gaze and stared at them.

Upon gazing into those cold, golden vertical pupils, the two men immediately trembled, feeling an even greater fear of Li Jun, who had boarded the ship midway!
"Lord Li...your altar token!"

A monk then presented the written document to this cabin with both hands, intending to return it.

These past two days, the five paper shamans have been cleansing the bottom of the ship to ward off evil spirits. No one understands the terror of this shaman army better than the two of them. The armored shaman can tear apart corpses with one hand, the flying shaman can spit out yin winds, and the walking shaman can even pass through walls and burrow underground, or even ignore the ship's planks and sink to the bottom of the sea, appearing and disappearing like ghosts.

The Five Paper Gods have already formed the rudiments of a folk religious lineage and altar. If this Lord Li were to establish his own lineage, with his disciples paying homage to the various paper gods, it would be enough for him to run rampant in the local prefectures and counties...

Li Qing was still sunbathing on the terrace on the other side of the upper cabin when she gave a soft reply. "Candle" lowered its dragon head, took the document from the cultivator's hand, and swam towards Li Qing.

The two who had disturbed Mr. Li's peace and quiet tactfully closed the door and slowly retreated.

Li Qing was naturally aware of the actions of the five paper shamans below. In addition to several floating corpses, there were also several evil spirits in the hold. It was unclear whether they had been contaminated at sea or not, but in any case, they were all dealt with by those paper shamans.

"Unfortunately, it's still a bit short!"

Li Qing took the petition and lit a spark from the stone with her fingertip. The petition burst into flames and turned to ash in the blink of an eye, dissipating with the sea breeze.

A single document, once used, becomes useless.

Currently, there are only five paper soldiers. If all five complete paper soldiers and talismans were gathered together, controlled by the mountain spirits, shrouded in cloud spirits and mist, with the lord of the paper soldiers at the center, it would be enough to hunt down cultivators of the Purple Mansion!

However, high-quality paper is hard to come by, and the art of creating something extraordinary cannot be accomplished overnight; all the underlying qualities ultimately require time to develop.

Looking down at the armored warriors who were beginning to move on the deck below, one could see the outline of an island already emerging on the distant coastline.

On the wave-breaking banner atop the ship, immense spiritual power began to gather, mobilizing the feng shui energies in the sea. Suddenly, the sea ahead parted to the left and right, revealing a shallow trench.

The ship sailed into the shallow channel in the sea. Before long, Li Qing suddenly felt the ship lurch. After entering the shallow channel, the ship's speed seemed to increase several times over, and it sped towards the island...

"The Thousand Islands, Penghu has arrived!"

(End of this chapter)