Mortal: The Path to Immortality

Lu Nanzhu turned around and, following the cry for help, discovered Song Ji fleeing, with three strange figures closely following behind him—the two monks in robes who had ambushed them earlier, and the monk surnamed Wang who was traveling with them.

At this moment, the faces of the three people were covered with dense purple patches, and their eyes were gray and empty.

"Junior Brother Lu! These people have all gone mad!" Song Ji shouted hysterically.

Lu Nanzhu carefully observed Song Ji's performance, then flicked his right hand, and several fireballs were launched at Song Ji's back like a machine gun. The exploding flames slowed down the three people's pursuit.

Taking advantage of this gap, he unleashed his full magical power, carrying Song Ji as a streak of light and plunged into a dense forest.

Using Song Ji's familiarity with the terrain, the two hid and changed their routes constantly, taking advantage of the dense forests and complex hills.

Only after they entered the territory of the Spirit Beast Mountain did those figures, exuding an aura of death, stop their pursuit and head elsewhere.

After safely returning to Song Ji's residence at the sect, Lu Nanzhu looked at the still-shaken Song Ji and asked about the incident in a calm tone.

"Is Senior Brother Song alright? What exactly happened?"

Song Ji took a big gulp of spiritual tea and spoke with lingering fear.

It turned out that after Lu Nanzhu and Liu Yuan left Kusong'ao that day, Song Ji and the cultivator surnamed Wang were trapped in the demonic formation and tried to break it several times but failed.

Just when the two were almost in despair, the barbarian cultivator guarding outside the formation suddenly went mad and attacked, plunging a claw directly into the skull of the unsuspecting monkey-faced cultivator.

The monkey-faced monk collapsed to the ground on the spot.

The formation was suddenly uncontrollable. So the two took advantage of the chaos to break through the formation and escape, but a strange thing happened—the monkey-faced cultivator who was originally dead actually stood up from the ground with his neck crooked, and his face was covered with purple spots.

"My senior brother Wang and I fled separately, but who knew that he would be surrounded and killed by those two, and in the end... he also ended up like that." Song Ji stared straight at the teacup in his hand.

Later, the three of them kept pestering Song Ji.

"If I hadn't run into you, Junior Brother Lu, I probably would have become that inhuman, ghostly figure. I never imagined that those demonic methods could be so insidious..." Song Ji said with a bitter smile, the cup in his hand still trembling slightly.

After listening to Song Ji's description, Lu Nanzhu comforted Song Ji for a while before returning to the Abandoned Spirit Valley.

The deaths of two disciples within the sect could not be concealed. Lu Nanzhu was soon summoned for questioning by the Enforcement Hall.

On this day, Lu Nanzhu arrived at the Hall of Law Enforcement as instructed. Just as he reached the entrance, someone came out to greet him, bowing respectfully:

"Junior Brother Lu, my name is Zhongwu."

"Thank you for waiting, Senior Brother Zhong," Lu Nanzhu returned the greeting politely. He glanced at Zhong Wu out of the corner of his eye, realizing this man was also a spy for the demonic path, and his mind raced with calculations:

"The higher-ups at Spirit Beast Mountain should have reached a tacit understanding with the higher-ups of the Demonic Path by now, and these Demonic Path spies within the sect are presumably approved by the higher-ups. We still need to be careful not to let these spies get entangled with us."

The two then entered the Hall of Enforcement one after the other.

The atmosphere inside the hall was cold and oppressive, with several massive stone pillars supporting the roof. Above, three Foundation Establishment stage elders sat upright, and Elder Li, the leader, spoke first:

"Lu Nanzhu, what exactly happened at Kusong'ao that day? Was Liu Yuan truly a spy for the demonic path?"

Lu Nanzhu stood below the hall, bowed slightly, and said in a steady tone:

"Reporting to the Elder, the situation that day was complicated. The Crimson Forbidden Land was about to open, and I wished to go there to seek opportunities. Therefore, I went with my fellow disciples to the auction house to purchase some magical artifacts for self-defense."

That day, we were ambushed on our way back to the sect from Qianjin Pavilion. Senior Brother Chen was killed on the spot by Liu Yuan, and Senior Brothers Song and Wang were trapped. I was lucky to escape because I was too weak to walk.

My strength is weak, and I was determined to return to the sect for help. Unexpectedly, Liu Yuan relentlessly pursued me, and I barely managed to hold him off even after exhausting all my resources. For some unknown reason, Liu Yuan suddenly became covered in purple spots, as if he were under a curse. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I managed to escape.

Later, they ran into Senior Brother Song, who had escaped, and together they fled back to the sect.

Lu Nanzhu didn't dare to definitively confirm Liu Yuan's identity, but instead presented a embellished version of the facts. He wasn't sure if these old fogies were also involved with the demonic path.

"That's just your side of the story. Now that Liu Yuan's natal soul lamp has been extinguished and his body has not been found, his identity is naturally difficult to verify," Elder Zhou, sitting to the side, retorted. Clearly, he was not satisfied with Lu Nanzhu's explanation.

Another elder, Zheng, said, "Old Zhou, since this matter can't be verified, why bother calling him here? It's not uncommon for low-ranking disciples of the sect to die violently outside. I've never seen you care before, have I?"

Elder Zhou leaned forward, looked towards Elder Zheng, and roared, "You old fool! It wasn't your disciple who died! Of course you don't care!"

"Hey! If you want revenge, go find the killer yourself. There's no need to ask this low-ranking disciple all sorts of questions."

"Could it be that you suspect this person killed your disciple? Your good disciple at the peak of Qi Refining was no match for this disciple at the tenth level of Qi Refining? You've really done a good job teaching him! Hahaha!" Elder Zheng also sat up and teased Elder Zhou again.

"You!!" Elder Zhou stood up angrily, pointing at Elder Zheng with his hand, his anger rising.

"Alright! Stop arguing!" Elder Li spoke up to prevent the situation from escalating further, fearing that they would start fighting again.

He continued speaking to the court officials, "Lu Nanzhu, this matter is complicated, and Liu Yuan's identity is difficult to verify. Let's leave it at that for now and not make a fuss. You may leave."

"Disciple obeys." Lu Nanzhu bowed and tactfully withdrew from the Hall of Enforcement.

Not long after, Elder Zhou also walked out of the Hall of Law Enforcement in a huff, with Zhong Wu following closely behind.

"Uncle-Master, is Senior Brother Liu's death really related to that guy surnamed Lu?" Zhongwu asked cautiously from behind.

"Even if he didn't kill him, he's probably involved in some way." Elder Zhou said in a deep voice, "Liu Yuan possesses a secret technique. Unless he encounters a high-level cultivator, he can definitely escape unscathed. If he does encounter a high-level cultivator, it's impossible that he's the only one who died."

"Now it's too late to say anything. Liu Yuan is dead, and I'll have a hard time explaining myself to the Yu Ling Sect."

"Uncle-Master, if you want an explanation, it's not difficult at all." Zhongwu had a plan in mind and said obsequiously, "Since the evidence is insufficient, whether Senior Brother Liu was killed by someone surnamed Lu is entirely up to you."

"You mean—use Lucifer as collateral?"

"Isn't he going to enter the Crimson Forbidden Zone? Then we'll let him in, deploy more people, and make this a deadly trap to avenge Senior Brother Liu!"

"I'll leave this matter to you."

"Disciple obeys."

After the turmoil subsided, Lu Nanzhu's life gradually returned to its usual rhythm.

He devoted most of his energy to improving his cultivation and preparing for the Blood Forbidden Land trial. In addition, he also kept up with the requirements of his Uncle-Master Xiao regarding the feeding and observation of the Spirit-Seeking Rats.

Song Ji was terrified by that experience and no longer works hard as a middleman. He only participates occasionally, probably to take the opportunity to get together with his family.

In addition, he began to frequently visit the alchemy room, doing technical work such as kneading pills and controlling the fire, earning some hard-earned money to supplement his family's income.

In his spare time, Lu Nanzhu would still go to the library to browse through some books.

Neither the memories of my past life nor the orthodox methods of beast taming and corpse refining that I know in this life have ever recorded that "corpse refining can spread instantly like a plague".

The bizarre story Song Ji told him about the monkey-faced cultivator being instantly killed by the barbarians and then instantly "resurrected" remained a thorn in his heart.