Cultivating Immortality in a Family: I Prove Immortality Through the Chaotic Dao Realm

Chapter 103 A Strange Tale of Rebirth from the Ashes! The Tragedy of the Old City!

Chen Qian did not enter the city, but instead turned towards an ancient bluestone road in the east of the city.

For more than ten miles along the road lies the sacred land of Zifeng Garden, owned by the Chen family.

Chen Qian strolled leisurely along the way and soon arrived at the mountainside.

This place boasts clear skies and beautiful scenery, perched halfway up Zifeng Mountain. It offers panoramic views of the newly revitalized city, while its back side is adjacent to the eerie, abandoned old city of Zifeng.

As the mountain breeze swept through the maple forest, Chen Qian walked through the rustling fallen leaves to the garden gate, where the resident cultivator Chen Yunteng was already waiting on the steps with two guest elders.

The connection between the family nameplates had long ago given him the knowledge that a member of his clan was about to arrive.

Although it cannot convey specific messages, it can identify the visitor.

Seeing that the other party was heading straight for Zifeng Garden, Chen Yunteng guessed that they were elites who had accepted a mission, so he went to meet them in advance.

"Is this Brother Yunteng?" Chen Qian greeted Chen Yunteng with a cupped hand.

"It's Brother Chen Qian! I didn't expect you to be the one who accepted the mission." A hint of surprise flashed in Chen Yunteng's eyes.

He was nearly sixty years old, and his cultivation had stagnated at the fourth level of Qi Refining. He was a completely marginalized member of the family and almost never participated in the core affairs of the family.

Although I had heard that this cousin, who worked with a car fleet transporting resources, had embarked on a spiritual path, I knew very little else about him.

It turned out that Chen Qian was just an ordinary martial artist, so the two of them naturally didn't have much interaction and weren't familiar with each other.

Not knowing his exact cultivation level, nor aware of Chen Qian's outstanding performance in the battle at Bijia Mountain, they were quite dismissive of him before meeting him.

How powerful can a young person who has just embarked on the path of cultivation be?
Chen Yunteng initially scoffed at the idea, thinking the young man was just being arrogant: "A mere novice in the cultivation world dares to take on a mission against evil spirits?"

But when the two met, as Chen Qian approached with his robes billowing in the wind, the imposing aura he exuded was even greater than that of the family head, Chen Hongming!
Chen Yunteng felt a chill run down his spine; all his contempt instantly turned into cold sweat.

The reason was naturally that he couldn't discern Chen Qian's cultivation level, and he clearly felt a heavy pressure emanating from Chen Qian.

This is outrageous.

He quickly realized that this cousin might really be extraordinary, and his strength was definitely far beyond his own, without a doubt.

This was, of course, something Chen Qian did intentionally.

He was there to complete a mission, and his first priority was to obtain firsthand intelligence from Chen Yunteng. He didn't want to be underestimated and waste his time.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Chen Qian was led by Chen Yunteng to the reception room of Zifeng Garden.

Inside the reception room, the aroma of tea wafted through the air.

Chen Yunteng revealed the limited information they had: whether they were secretly lying in wait or setting up monitoring arrays, they had not been able to catch this troublesome evil spirit.

The reason why we can be sure that it was the work of evil spirits is that the residents whose life force was drained were all severely damaged, listless, and bedridden.

This perfectly matches the style of wandering spirits causing chaos.

“Brother Qian, this evil spirit is not only elusive and unpredictable, but its behavior is also extremely abnormal,” Chen Yunteng said in a low voice.

"Oh, how so?" Chen Qian asked curiously.

"It is common knowledge that evil spirits at the level of wandering ghosts act solely on instinct."

Chen Yunteng's tone seemed to carry a hint of fear, "But this evil spirit seems to know how to choose which one to absorb vital energy from."

It turns out that although many people in the city had their life essence drained by this evil spirit, most of those who had been drained were people with a certain status in the city and relatively wealthy families.

So in the past few days, wealthy and powerful families in the city have begun to prepare to move their entire families.

"That's quite surprising," Chen Qian said, somewhat astonished.

The level is equivalent to a wandering soul in the Qi Refining stage. It only has the instinct to survive. When it encounters a living person, it will blindly rush towards them without ever having the thought of choosing its target.

It was precisely because the wandering spirits lacked any intelligence that Chen Yunteng, at the fourth level of Qi Refining, wasn't overly afraid. As long as he had some talismans and equipment to counter the wandering spirits, he could contend with them even if they were at a higher level.

However, if it were a ghost general at the Foundation Establishment stage, Chen Qian might be in danger.

"Don't scare yourself," Chen Qian said calmly and easily.

"What I'm more curious about is why these people whose vital energy was drained only suffered severe damage to their vital energy, but were not in mortal danger."

This situation is another strange one. Under normal circumstances, when evil spirits drain a person's vital energy, most mortals will be sucked dry and die on the spot.

However, these people were only injured but not killed, and after a doctor's diagnosis, or even after a long period of recuperation, they may recover.

“Wandering souls should act on instinct…” Chen Qian tapped the table lightly with his fingertips. “This pickiness about food makes him seem like a ghost general with some intelligence.”

"Exactly!" Chen Yunteng's Adam's apple bobbed. "If that's the case, I'm afraid the entire city's residents will suffer..."

It's rare to find an evil spirit that is both careful in choosing its targets and surprisingly "gentle" in its actions!
After learning about these circumstances, Chen Qian asked Chen Yunteng to take him to the City of Fire to visit the residents whose life essence had been drained and see if they could find any clues.

Chen Qian followed behind Chen Yunteng, analyzing the situation in the City of Fire.

At the same time, he activated his Divine Eye Technique, carefully scanning his surroundings in hopes of finding some clues.

The scenery in early winter was somewhat bleak. Purple Maple Mountain seemed even colder than the surrounding four places, with a chill that seemed to seep straight into one's bones.

Chen Qian interacted with the Gray Pearl world through his Divine Eye Technique, and its feedback arrived quietly.

Feedback indicates that the Yin-attribute spiritual energy in the void of this place is unusually active, and there must be a Yin-attribute spiritual vein near Zifeng Mountain.

“It’s no wonder that evil spirits thrive here, given that the Yin energy converges here.” Chen Qian pondered thoughtfully. “There is definitely something strange about this place.”

Chen Qian gazed at the distant city, which seemed shrouded in black gauze, and suddenly narrowed his eyes.

The city of fire, bathed in twilight, seemed to be choked by an invisible ghostly hand.

By this time, it was already dark, and night had fallen, making the small town seem shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere, which made people feel depressed.

After receiving the mission, Chen Qian also made a detailed study of the history of the destruction of Zifeng City.

Purple Peak City was destroyed ninety years ago, during the last invasion by the Demon Alliance.

Although the Li Kingdom was not the main battlefield when the Demon Alliance invaded, it was inevitable that countless demon cultivators would take the opportunity to infiltrate the Li Kingdom.

These demonic cultivators entered the heartland of neighboring countries to gather intelligence, plunder, and disrupt their rear.

The methods used were naturally ruthless and domineering, leaving no stone unturned.

Zifeng City was ensnared by a demonic cultivator at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage who laid down the Nine Netherworld Ghosts Formation, causing tens of thousands of people to have their souls extracted and their spirits stolen, turning the entire city into a ghost realm.

At that time, the Chen family had two Foundation Establishment ancestors. The current ancestor, Chen Rui'ang, had just established his foundation and went to Jiangyin Kingdom to support the fight against the demons on behalf of the Chen family.

Meanwhile, another patriarch, Chen Wufeng, stayed behind to guard the family. When he learned that Zifeng City had been set up by demonic cultivators and rushed to the rescue, most of the city's people had already perished.

Wu Feng, the patriarch, was also at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage. Seeing this scene, he was naturally furious. After rescuing the few remaining civilians, he used all his strength to finally kill the demonic cultivator on the spot.

The reason this new city is called the City of Fire is precisely because it represents rebirth from the ashes.

Although Ancestor Wufeng killed the demonic cultivator, his family was already short-handed due to the invasion of the Demon Alliance. After the fierce battle, he was also seriously injured and could only hastily settle the surviving people. He was powerless to completely eliminate the Nine Netherworld Ghosts Formation in Zifeng City.

Not long after the war, the Old Ancestor Wufeng passed away on a crane.

After the war with the Demon Alliance ended, Ancestor Ruion returned to his family and discovered that tens of thousands of wronged souls in Zifeng City were trapped within the city by the Nine Netherworld Ghosts Formation. He dared not easily break the formation.

Fortunately, these wronged spirits could not come out and did not disturb the area. Over time, the old city of Zifeng was neglected.

(End of this chapter)