The Path to Immortality Begins with the Life-Extending Lamp

Chapter 93 Someone in the Netherworld
The shattered, desolate sky.

Qishan region.

Above, the sky was split open, and a nameless aura lingered between the gaps. Below, the Yin Earth of Qishan, covering eight hundred miles, floated helplessly in the deep void.

A long, slender magic boat, resembling the feathers of a seven-colored divine phoenix, happened to break through the void and land in this area.

"Damn it, there's actually a Hungry Ghost Lord in that Weak Water Underworld?"

"With a green skin, a big belly, no eyes in the sockets, a gaping mouth that reaches the ears, and sharp, ferocious teeth, that must be the Green-skinned Starving Ghost from the Record of a Hundred Ghosts!"

On the Phoenix Feather Dharma Boat, four Taoist priests—two men and two women—stood facing each other, their words revealing a deep sense of lingering fear.

The Weak Waters once belonged to the underworld of the Taiyuan Yang Clan of the Phoenix Dynasty. Although the ancestral temple of the Taiyuan Yang Clan was destroyed, a branch of the clan is still active in the East Sea. This time, Yang Jue, the Prefect of Chaojiang Prefecture of the East Sea Road, found the coordinates of his ancestor's underworld and wanted to use the power of Taiyi Dao to reopen the Weak Waters Underworld.

But as soon as the four approached the Weak Waters, what came into view was a continuous stretch of Weak Water Ghost City, most of which was submerged by the Weak Waters, so that not even a feather could be raised and no living creatures could descend.

Only a few palaces in the Weak Water Underworld were still situated on the Weak Water, but before the group could explore them thoroughly, a deep, dark blue mouth snapped down on them, swallowing the entire building whole by the green-skinned hungry ghost. The four of them hadn't even found a foothold before being chased all over the underworld by the terrifying hungry ghost lord...

Where is this place?

The Yin God True Man of the Taiyi Dao, dressed in cloud robes, stroking his black beard, and holding a scroll of heavenly book, suddenly spoke up and asked a question.

Looking down from the flying boat, one could see a towering mountain standing in the void, shrouded in morning mist and occasionally emitting spiritual light. Although there were large areas of ruins and broken walls, there were also many remaining mansions and gardens, with blue bricks and yellow tiles, and palaces with upturned eaves and painted corners, stretching from the mountain and extremely luxurious.

"We fled in panic for several days, and we have lost our bearings and do not know where we are."

The young man in the brocade robe on the side of the boat frowned as he looked down at the sacred mountain. He pondered for a long time, but in the end, he also did not recognize this place and slowly shook his head.

This is Yang Jue, the deputy governor of the Yang clan of the East Sea. He is the youngest Zifu Shangji in Chaojiang Prefecture and is known as a Qilin Zi who is expected to rebuild the name of the Taiyuan Yang clan!

Upon hearing the question from the ancestor, the Purple Mansion Daoist behind the Yin God True Man was different from the others. He immediately picked up a scroll of talismans and quickly flipped through it, wanting to compare it with the contents to see what kind of beings existed in this fragmented and disordered Netherworld.

"Humph!"

"In my opinion, this place is far more magnificent than the Weak Water Netherworld of your Yang clan's ancestors. Rather than searching for a foothold on that land of Weak Waters..."

"Hehe, Fellow Daoist Bai, what do you think of this place?"

While chatting and laughing, the Yin God True Man of Taiyi stepped on the face of the Sheep Prefect, then looked up at the White Bone Lady and asked for her opinion.

At the same time, the colorful phoenix-feather boat slowly descended towards Mount Qi.

Lady White Bone's soft sleeves reached her knees, a jade sword was held behind her, but her delicate eyebrows were slightly furrowed.

After the disaster that occurred in the White Bone Path, her Netherworld was lost. Now, her conspiracy with the Taiyi Path may well be an attempt to find a copy of the Earthly Decree.

Ideally, one should be able to take over a small part of the underworld in a safe area of ​​the netherworld; at the very least, one should be able to obtain a piece of yin land for one's own use!

However, this vast underworld stretches for eight hundred miles across the sacred mountain, with ghosts and spirits roaming everywhere. If one were to look closely at any of the remaining underworld pavilions, they would all appear to be shrouded in mist, which is quite strange.

"This place is indeed beautiful, with its sacred mountains stretching far and wide, a truly auspicious place. Looking around, the blue bricks and yellow tiles exude an air of supreme nobility, all a legacy of our ancestors."

"I'm afraid you and I have encountered one of the most prosperous ancestral lands in the past six days."

"But have you seen the layers of clouds that obscure the various mansions and gardens, fellow Daoist? The foundation of this Netherworld is still inexhaustible. Even before I got close, I could see the intricate ghostly restrictions within the ruins. There must be even more extraordinary beings within them!"

Before she even landed on the cloud, she could already feel her own yin energy weakened by a layer. Of course, she wouldn't reveal such a secret, but she stopped the seven-colored phoenix feather boat from falling further with her words.

This is a hell far more terrifying than the weak waters.

"is it?"

Daoist Yuanfeng pursed his lips noncommittally, drew his finger across his brow, and immediately opened his divine eye, sending out a thousand feet of divine light to scan the underworld below.

A certain ghost, who was in harmony with the Qishan Prefecture Garden's Hundred Ghosts Pagoda Law and practiced the Way of Unity between Heaven and Man, was right below this divine light of the Dharma Eye. In fact, his spiritual thoughts, which seemed to have risen to the clouds and looked down, happened to overlap with this Dharma boat.

Through his senses, which were shared with the entire Eastern Garden of the Underworld, he could even clearly hear the breathing of these four beings.

In any underworld in Qishan with even slightly perfect magical restrictions, no matter how much Yuanfeng Daoist used his divine eyesight, he could only see a mass of mist. This underworld was truly extraordinary.

"Huh? This realm is truly extraordinary. What kind of magical restriction is this that even my all-seeing eye cannot see through it?"

With his cultivation hindered, this Refining Spirit True Man became even more peculiar. Ignoring the objections of Lady White Bone and Prefect Yang Jue, he insisted on directly descending into Qishan to investigate.

But what kind of treasure is the Seven-Colored Phoenix Feather Boat? The Thousand Forbidden Spirit Boat, with its divine light soaring into the sky, had not yet fully landed when the commotion caused a great disturbance in the Qishan Underworld, and one terrifying figure after another suddenly stood up.

In the east wing, there was a tall, thin ghostly figure with arms reaching his knees, almost as tall as the archway. Startled by the seven-colored divine light, he stiffly turned around. It was only the first time he saw it, but the ghostly hand had already been raised. The four people on the Dharma boat were caught off guard and were immediately attacked to varying degrees, with a chilling sensation rising from the soles of their feet to the tops of their heads.

This damned thing actually tried to steal the life souls of the three of them!
On West Street, nothing could be seen, but suddenly, rapid footsteps and laughter echoed through the street. A dense mass of ghostly handprints and footprints haphazardly pounded on the bluestone slabs, moving with incredible speed towards the flying boat. Boom…

The two Yin spirits on the Dharma boat only had time to cast spells to block the two attacks before the Dharma boat was suddenly overturned several feet by a tremendous force.

The group looked down again at that moment.

On the ruins, ghostly figures rose up, a human-faced owl perched atop a tree on Qishan Mountain, and the vengeful ghosts of the unjustly killed hid in crevices. From the broken but not collapsed stone tower on the mountainside, a loud crash resounded as if a great terror was about to break through the door.

On the land of Qishan, two terrifying figures, each tens of feet tall, were crossing over from the banks of the Black River. One had the head of a bull, and the other had the face of a horse. The former held up a funeral banner, and the latter carried a large wooden club. Their stiff and wooden eyes turned together and met the gazes of the people on the Dharma Boat.

This single glance sent chills down the spines of the four Taoist priests!
Those weren't ox-headed and horse-faced demons at all; they were two evil spirits born from the remains of celestial ghosts. The death banner was a piece of white cloth used to wrap the body of a celestial ghost when it died. The big club was a precious weapon that had been broken; it belonged to an elder from Qishan, who died but did not perish, his obsession giving rise to evil...

Damn it! She was right.

Why is such a precious place deserted? Because those who dared to venture there have all ended up in the belly of that treacherous Qishan demon.

The wandering spirits that take on a new form during the day are almost about to touch the yin spirits; the evil child spirits that could fill a school; the tree-mountain human-faced owl; and the wronged ghosts who died in the cracks!
The unknown vengeful spirit within the tower possessed an even more powerful aura than that of the White Bone Demon, and its terrifying presence, reminiscent of the Ox-Head and Horse-Face demons from Lingnan ghost stories, unconsciously patrolled the land of Qishan...

Master Yuanfeng was greatly shocked!

However, before he could regret it, a soul-capturing bell rang, and immediately a strange bridge to rebirth passed through the Dharma boat's barrier and fled straight into the Netherworld Sky.

Lady White Bone had no interest in cleaning up this scoundrel's mess, so she summoned the Bridge of Rebirth and retreated.

Since you're so capable, why don't you go and try it yourself!

Yang Jue of the Yang family also glanced around in an instant. The next moment, he leaped into the tail of the Bridge of Rebirth, tightly gripping a flower railing, and called out:
"Lady White, please take this small path!"

With lightning speed, the two fled a hundred miles away, leaving the grandfather and grandson of the Taiyi sect stranded in the sky above Qishan.

The seven-colored phoenix feather boat was covered with bloody handprints, and the scratches looked as if they had been dug out by fingernails.

The barrier outside the Dharma Boat continued to ripple, and the dense attacks, accompanied by ear-piercing roars, made it impossible to tell which vengeful ghost was responsible.

Master Yuanfeng's face was so gloomy it was almost dripping with water!
“Ancestor, Lady White is a famous female ruler of the ghost realm, and Prefect Yang’s family is skilled in subduing ghosts. What they say must have some merit…”

Now that the patriarch was losing face, the attendant from the Purple Mansion tried to persuade him repeatedly. Seeing the Dharma Boat that had been ruined in an instant, he was also extremely troubled. He simply clasped his hands together and pulled, and the powerful magic force swept up the Dharma Boat and soared into the sky.

This person is actually a master-level figure who is half-existent in the Yin realm?

"You know nothing! I'm just trying to temper that kid's temper so that I can rightfully take over a few more inches of weak waters in the future."

"Small clans and insignificant families, they're not even human. Do they think I can't protect them?"

Master Yuanfeng launched into a tirade against his grand-disciple, but the next moment, the black-bearded old Taoist suddenly froze, quickly tore open his cloud sleeves, and with a surge of magical intent, he rolled up the phoenix-feathered magic boat and disappeared directly into the Netherworld.

When the white mourning banner, which was over a hundred feet tall, fell from the sky, it missed its target and became deeply embedded in the mountainside of Qishan.

With a rumbling sound, the previously noisy and violent ghosts vanished without a trace, and the loud noise pushing the stone tower also stopped abruptly. There was no one left in the ruins.

The bull-headed demon took a single step, traversing a distance of ten miles, causing tremors for a hundred miles around—a truly terrifying sight. Meanwhile, the horse-faced ghost floated along without touching the ground.

Two powerful evil spirits, each at the level of a prefectural lord, arrived with resentment and wandered around Mount Qi. As they moved, they seemed to subconsciously avoid the various prefectures and gardens, leaving not a single blade of grass or tree unharmed.

The sight of those two dark, mountain-like shadows was enough to make all ghosts cower in fear.

Li Qing quickly took advantage of the gap between the flying boat and the great monster, one in front and one behind, to withdraw his thoughts from the Heavenly Law Restriction of the Eastern Garden of the Underworld. At the same time, he pressed his body tightly against the wall of the Eastern Garden Pavilion. He was afraid of being discovered by the beings on the flying boat, but he was even more afraid of being dragged out by these two great monsters.

After an unknown amount of time, Qishan was completely silent. Finally, a rumbling sound resounded again, and the two terrifying creatures, each the size of a small mountain, slowly moved away from the area...

After a long while, Li Qing finally let out a long breath.

"The Refining Spirit True Man of the Taiyi Sect and the White Bone Lady of the Lingnan White Bone Sect? How could they have joined forces to explore the Netherworld, and with such a facade of harmony masking underlying discord!"

"Weak waters, Qishan region?"

That's right. This is the dark side of the Heavenly Capital. The vast Netherworld is full of dangers and opportunities. How could the various sects of Heavenly Capital not explore it?

However, this Netherworld is still extremely dangerous for living beings in the mortal world, even for Yin God True Persons!

"The Hundred Ghosts Pagoda Restriction of this Qishan Underworld is so tight that even the Yin God True Man cannot see through it, and many ghosts and spirits cannot overstep its bounds. Perhaps, I should start from here."

"After repairing these palaces and pavilions, layers of sturdy walls and arrow towers were built in this Qishan underworld region. Qishan..."

(End of this chapter)