From martial arts sects to immortality sects

Chapter 105 The Eighth Level, The Second Ghost Slave
"Utterly absurd, utterly incompetent, and utterly heinous!"

Inside the inn, Huang Shan, Yu Lin, and the other seven disciples of Qingxiao were having dinner in their rooms when they heard the exciting sounds outside the window. Yu Lin and a female disciple got up and went to the window to look down.

A makeshift wooden platform was erected on the street, and a scholar stood on it, holding an ancient book in his hand. His face was flushed, and the veins on his neck were bulging. He was trembling all over because of his emotional state.

"In the fourteen regions of the Nine Provinces, spanning seven thousand years of history, there have been countless wise rulers and countless foolish ones. Yet, throughout the dynasties, no monarch has been as wicked as the current emperor. He murdered his brother to seize the throne, killed his son to vent his anger, and in his pursuit of the elixir of immortality, he allowed alchemists to bewitch the court, causing the people to suffer greatly!"

The scholar was extremely excited, and his loud voice attracted more and more commoners and merchants to approach.

"The massacre in Guzhou two years ago, how many civilians died tragically, how many soldiers died without ever being found dead. The so-called Demonic Sect, it was destroyed and then rose again. Don't you all find that strange?"

"That Demonic Sect is Zhao Zhi's weapon, capturing young boys and girls to refine pills for him. Such acts are utterly immoral and abhorrent to both gods and men. If the people of Dali do not rise up, disaster will sooner or later befall them, and the Dali kingdom will be in grave danger!"

The scholar's tone was so emotionally charged that it brought tears to the eyes of the people around him.

"This world belongs to the people, not to Zhao Zhi alone. Zhao Zhi even dared to kill the virtuous crown prince and even labeled him as a rebel. In the future, if he seizes our wives and children and kills our parents, will he label us as villains again?"

Upon hearing this, the people were thoroughly agitated and angrily denounced the emperor's crimes.

Standing by the window on the second floor of the inn, Yu Lin turned to look at Huangshan and said, "Senior brother, things are getting out of control. Should we continue investigating?"

Huang Shan put down his chopsticks and thought for a moment, then said, "Let's go back and wait for the sect leader's instructions, so that Qingxiao Sect may be in danger."

The other six nodded in agreement; they had been wanting to go back for a long time.

Yu Lin returned to the table and exclaimed in amazement, "That old emperor is truly heartless and insane. He even killed his own son, and the crown prince no less. The other princes are all incompetent and only know how to indulge in pleasure. Even after the old emperor passes away, life in this world will not be easy."

Others joined in the discussion.

"Yes, the barbarian tribes of the southern border have once again come out of the mountains to slaughter the people of our Great Li. The emperor does not care about this matter, but only knows how to pursue the elixir of immortality. It is truly a sign of the destruction of the country."

"It's good that it's destroyed. I've never enjoyed a single day of peace and happiness since I was born in Dali."

"If the Great Li collapses, the chaos that follows will likely last for a century."

"Emperor Gaozu of Dali was a man of great talent and ambition, sweeping across the nine provinces and establishing achievements unprecedented in five hundred years, yet he gave birth to such an evil son."

"If that crown prince had not been killed by the current emperor, Dali would surely be even more prosperous."

Huang Shan did not participate in the discussion among his junior brothers and sisters. He was filled with worry. If even a small town like this was so indignant, what was the situation in other cities? What kind of chaos would the world face?

……

Sunlight streamed through the main gate of Qianwu Hall.

Xuan Gong and a group of Imperial Guards stood in the hall, wearing masks and concealing their expressions, revealing only their eyes.

They lowered their eyes to the ground, not daring to meet the emperor's gaze.

On the steps, Emperor Zhao Zhi, dressed in a loose white robe, with disheveled hair and an unkempt appearance, lay languidly on the dragon throne, holding a yellowish-white pill in one hand and carefully examining it.

"The Imperial Guard consists of 365 people, all of whom are top-level martial arts experts. Any one of them could sweep away all the sects in the world. You, Xuan Gong, even claim to be the best in the world. Yet someone managed to escape from your grasp, and after so many days, there is still no news of them."

Emperor Zhao Zhi spoke slowly, his voice hoarse and sinister like a snake.

Xuan Gong knelt down on one knee, and the Imperial Guards followed suit.

"Your Majesty, those two were incredibly skilled in martial arts, and we were indeed unable to stop them. This also shows that the Great Li Kingdom is vast and full of talented people."

Xuan Gong responded in a deep, resonant voice.

"So, let's just leave it at that?" Zhao Zhi glanced at him and asked with a half-smile.

"The Armed Police will continue to investigate and will not let this go!"

Xuan Gong responded, his voice firm and resonant.

Zhao Zhi's expression softened, and he said, "Xuanqing, I have been protected by you since I was a child. You have made great contributions to my ascension to the throne. You will always be the person I trust the most. If I were to seek immortality, I would also bestow upon you an elixir. Of all the civil and military officials, I can only trust you. I hope that you will remain as before and never disappoint me."

"Your subject will certainly do his utmost," Xuan Gong immediately replied.

Zhao Zhi continued, "The martial arts legend's skill is indeed impressive, but this is not an elixir of immortality. I need more martial arts masters as a catalyst. Next, you can let the Demonic Sect sweep across the martial arts world. Within three years, I must refine the elixir of immortality."

"I obey!"

Zhao Zhi seemed to remember something and asked, "What about the Qingxiao Sect in Guzhou? Although this sect is small, it may have killed the Demon Emperor. Its sect leader's martial arts must be quite good. Didn't you go there? Do you think we should capture him in advance?"

Xuan Gong said, "The warriors of Qingxiao Sect are too young. Although their talent is indeed high, I suggest that Your Majesty leave them for last. Three years later, their skills will surely be even higher. It will be more profitable to capture them then. At that time, I will personally go up the mountain to capture the leader of Qingxiao Sect."

"Yeah, that's okay."

Zhao Zhi held the pill in his palm and then closed his eyes.

Xuan Gong stood up, bowed to him, and then left with the Imperial Guards.

As they walked out of the Qianwu Hall, Zhao Zhi suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze icy and filled with murderous intent.

……

In February, the Seven Disciples of Qingxiao returned. After learning about their investigation, Li Qingqiu told them to rest for a while and focus on their cultivation.

In the time that followed, Zhang Yuchun's men relentlessly gathered intelligence across the land. Public sentiment was rife with anger, and resentment towards the emperor intensified, with groups even storming the prefectures to cause trouble. Many powerful families were executed for aiding the crown prince, forcing many of their members to flee into the martial world, plunging it into a reign of terror.

It's almost the end of the month.

Li Qingqiu finally broke through to the eighth level of the Nourishing Yuan Realm within the underground spiritual lake.

He was the only one in this blessed land. Due to the special nature of the Hundred Refinements Demon Body, it took him three more days to consolidate his cultivation after breaking through. His internal energy was surging and felt like it was about to overflow.

The difference between eight floors and seven floors may seem like only one floor, but in reality, they are worlds apart.

Li Qingqiu began to touch upon the existence of spiritual consciousness.

Spiritual awareness is a kind of soul power, equivalent to having a third eye, and is also a new power.

In the process of seeing through the restrictions of the magical artifact, Li Qingqiu was already experiencing the perspective of spiritual consciousness.

According to the Taiqing Hunyuan Scripture, the realm above the Nourishing Yuan Realm is the Spiritual Consciousness Realm, and he is full of expectations for the Spiritual Consciousness Realm.

The use of vital energy is similar to that of a martial artist's internal energy, but spiritual awareness is completely different. It allows one to kill enemies invisibly, and the use of magical artifacts will be even more profound.

With the power of the eighth level and a hundredfold increase in vital energy, Li Qingqiu's confidence soared, and a smile appeared on his face.

He took out the bronze mirror he had obtained from Bai Ning'er. There was a ghost hidden in the mirror, but he had been unable to contact the spirit in the mirror before, so he had to leave it aside.

Now that he has reached the eighth level of the Nourishing Essence Realm, he wants to try to subdue it using the Soul-Binding Curse.

With the blessing of being born from both mortal and divine beings and possessing a body tempered by countless demonic trials, Li Qingqiu's mastery of the Soul-Binding Spell had reached a level of consummate skill.

Lin Chuan floated not far away. When Li Qingqiu took out the bronze mirror, he seemed to sense something, turned his head and looked over, and quickly approached.

Li Qingqiu ignored him and cast a spell on the ghost in the mirror.

In the darkness, the white-clad female ghost lay there. She seemed to sense something, and suddenly raised her head. Her pale face was contorted with grotesque features, and her eyes were bloodshot. A malevolent aura emanated from the bronze mirror, transforming into the form of the white-clad female ghost. She bared her fangs and claws and pounced on Li Qingqiu.

Lin Chuan wanted to stop him, but seeing Li Qingqiu raise his hand, he had no choice but to stop.

Just as the white-clad female ghost was about to grab Li Qingqiu, she was frozen in place, trembling all over and unable to move forward.

Li Qingqiu's eyes had turned purple as he chanted incantations. Soon, the white-clad female ghost's eyes closed.

With the help of his domineering energy and the blessings of ghosts and gods, Li Qingqiu easily established a soul connection with the white-clad female ghost and began to read her memories.

The woman in white was named Nangong E, and she was actually a princess of the Wei Dynasty.

The Wei Dynasty was the predecessor of the Dali Dynasty. Although it only occupied six provinces, it was a powerful dynasty that lasted for three hundred years and left a deep mark on history.

Nangong E died at the age of sixteen. At that time, the imperial power was in turmoil and someone was forcing the emperor to abdicate. Her father knew that he could not reverse the situation, so he strangled her to death while she was still dressing up. Her wronged spirit was thus placed in the bronze mirror.

Later, after the emperor died, the eunuchs broke into her palace, looted her treasures, and took them out of the palace. After more than a hundred years of wandering, they finally ended up in a bandit's warehouse, where they were found by Li Sifeng and Bai Ning'er.

Poor man.

Seeing that she had not done anything wrong before or after her death, Li Qingqiu did not intend to feed her to Lin Chuan.

Let him be his second ghost slave!

The ghost servants are quite useful. Now that Lin Chuan can operate throughout the Qingxiao Sect, they can secretly do many things for him. Having another ghost servant is naturally a good thing.

Less than half an hour later.

When Nangong E woke up, her resentment had dissipated considerably, and her rationality returned.

She looked at Li Qingqiu and realized that he had become her master. She instinctively felt awe and dared not approach him easily.

"Follow me from now on. If one day I learn the method of deliverance, I can also help you enter the cycle of reincarnation."

Li Qingqiu spoke with a smile, and Nangong E knelt timidly on the ground, not daring to reply.

Seeing this, Li Qingqiu said no more. He picked up the bronze mirror and walked towards the exit of the underground spirit lake.

He named the bronze mirror the Nangong Mirror in memory of Princess Nangong E.

Nangong'e followed cautiously behind Li Qingqiu, while Lin Chuan would occasionally turn around to look at her, his eyes filled with curiosity.

As fellow ghost slaves, he would not devour Nangong E without Li Qingqiu's order.

Moreover, he dared not devour Nangong E, because he felt that Nangong E was dangerous.

Walking through the woods, even under the bright sunlight, Lin Chuan and Nangong E were unaffected, a benefit of being ghost slaves.

Li Qingqiu was surprised to find that Nangong E could actually shake the trees along the way.

This is incredible. Lin Chuan can only access real objects at night, but Nangong E can do it during the day.

Could she possibly play a fighting role?

　Thank you 丶0丶0丶 for the 500 Qidian Coins reward!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)