Mortal: The Path to Immortality

The shadows on the moon gradually faded, and the moonlight slowly shone down from the night sky.

"It's truly a case of 'searching high and low without finding it, only to have it come to you effortlessly.' Xiao Suxin, you actually delivered yourself to my doorstep?" Luo Jin turned to face the woman, unable to contain his smile, and continued,

"As expected of the renowned successor of the Purple Origin Palace! To have formed a Golden Core in just over a hundred years is truly admirable!"

Lu Nanzhu was somewhat taken aback at this moment.

He found it hard to reconcile the stunningly beautiful woman before him with the deep-thinking young cultivator he remembered.

It took him a long time to discern, and only then did he catch a glimpse of Xiao Suqing's unique charm in Xiao Xianzi's exquisite features and face.

Only then did he make up his mind: this fairy was actually Xiao Suqing, who had taken such good care of him!

Xiao Suxin landed beside Lu Nanzhu and the other person, who were being protected by lotus petals.

"I'll hold this person off for a while. You two, seize the opportunity to return to the sect," Xiao Suxin instructed the two men. She then casually wiped the curse mark from Lu Nanzhu's forehead and turned to Luo Jin, saying...

"Yu Liancheng! It really is you. It's a pity I couldn't kill you with that 'Star-Connecting Array,' leaving behind a future threat. You even managed to possess another body and be reborn!"

"Tsk tsk tsk! Junior sister, don't put it so harshly! It's not 'possession,' it's 'sacrifice.'" Yu Liancheng held up a finger and waved it from side to side.

"If you're looking to possess someone, I think that kid behind you is pretty good."

However, Luo Jin insisted that I help him avenge his family, so I reluctantly used a secret technique to take over this body.

"Sacrifice? Blood feud?! How could this be..." Xiao Suxin murmured, somewhat incredulous.

"Luo Jin is a determined young man, alas, it's just a pity he's only mediocre. Otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered to ask me to help him take revenge."

Now my karmic ties with him are severed. And thanks to him, my magical power and spiritual realm have recovered so quickly, hahaha!

Yu Liancheng became more and more excited as he spoke, as if he were giving a victory speech to everyone present.

"Hmph! You villain! The hatred for killing your father and mother is irreconcilable!!"

Snap—Snap—Snap—!

Luo Jin clapped his hands and said seriously:

"Fine! Fine! Fine! I'm right here. If you want revenge... come on then!"

It's a pity I failed to kill you back then, and instead you were brought to this godforsaken place by the ancient teleportation array! And your physical body was destroyed by that damn array!

However, this is a golden opportunity. I will eliminate you right here and now, obtain the complete "Controlling Meridians and Transforming Spirits Technique," and return to report to the sect leader.

In that case, it can be considered a great contribution to the sect, not bad at all, hehehe!

The laughter had barely stopped when Yu Liancheng launched his attack.

He suddenly waved his hand, and countless purplish-black needle-shaped spiritual lights poured out like a storm.

Xiao Suxin's expression was stern. With a wave of her jade hand, the crystal lotus petals that had been scattered around her quickly gathered in front of her, instantly forming a dazzling petal shield.

The needles struck the flower shield, producing a series of cracking sounds, but they could not penetrate the seemingly weak defensive barrier.

Seeing that his probing had failed, Yu Liancheng snorted coldly and suddenly increased the speed at which he channeled his magical power.

This time, in addition to the countless needle-shaped beams of spiritual light shooting out from the sky, countless fine strands of spiritual energy burst forth, weaving together a giant net that "covers the sky and obscures the moon" in the black night sky.

A massive net was cast over Xiao Suxin, attempting to strangle her here.

Xiao Suxin knew that these threads were extremely insidious, not only incredibly sharp but also capable of blocking the flow of spiritual energy within a cultivator's body.

She spun around, dodging through the air, but the threads were too dense and relentlessly pursued her.

Seeing that there was nowhere to retreat, Xiao Suxin simply stopped and made hand seals.

The thousands of petals instantly retracted, surrounding her in layers at the center, transforming into a giant white flower cluster that forcefully resisted the relentless onslaught of spiritual energy threads and needles.

Seeing Xiao Suxin trapped in the flower garden and the situation becoming increasingly tense, Lu Nanzhu, who had been guarding the edge of the battlefield, began to consider retreating.

He knew that with his current cultivation level, staying here would only be a burden to Xiao Suxin.

Lu Nanzhu scooped Xin Ruyin up in his arms, his body radiating a brilliant blue light, and prepared to use his escape technique to leave.

"Where do you think you're going?!" Yu Liancheng caught a glimpse of this scene in the corner of his eye during the battle and shouted sharply.

With a casual gesture, the four dark red, hundred-refined corpses that had been guarding him and had ferocious faces received the command, roared, and transformed into four bloody afterimages, fiercely pouncing towards Lu Nanzhu.

These four corpses all possessed the strength of the late Foundation Establishment stage and moved at an astonishing speed, instantly closing the distance.

Just as the claws of the three reanimated corpses were about to touch Lu Nanzhu's clothes, a dazzling red light suddenly shot out from the heavily wrapped flower cluster.

A round bead the size of a longan, fiery red in color, emitted an extremely rich spiritual energy and crashed towards the four refined corpses like a meteor.

"Bang--!"

A flash of red light streaked past, and the three reanimated corpses were incinerated before they could even scream.

Just as the orb continued its relentless advance and was about to finish off the last refining corpse, a flying needle magic weapon, rich in purplish-black spiritual energy, transformed into a blur and accurately struck the side of the orb.

A sharp buzzing sound rang out. The flying needle, its light dimmed by the impact, flew back into Yu Liancheng's hand, clearly badly damaged. The fiery red bead was also knocked off its original path.

Taking advantage of this opening, Lu Nanzhu pushed his escape technique to its limit and disappeared into the night.

The last surviving corpse, still with a ferocious expression, relentlessly pursued them.

Against the backdrop of the bright moon in the night sky, Xiao Suxin's spiritual energy surged wildly, and countless lotus petals exploded outwards like sharp blades, instantly sweeping away the remaining needle light and silk threads around her.

She floated in mid-air, dressed in plain clothes, with six six-colored beads quietly rotating around her right wrist.

The fiery red bead that had made a great contribution flew back and precisely joined the rotating queue.

The seven beads shimmered with iridescent colors, radiating a powerful aura of magical artifact.

"The Seven Luminaries Jade Lotus Pearls! This treasure is actually on you!?" Yu Liancheng stared intently at the seven round pearls, his eyes filled with disbelief and greed.

"No wonder you're so confident."

These "Seven Luminaries Jade Lotus Beads" are made from the seeds of an ancient lotus flower, and are infused with the essence of the sun and moon, as well as spiritual materials of the five elements. Each bead is extremely powerful and has a remarkable effect on suppressing demons.

"What? Junior Sister, in order to protect that Foundation Establishment junior, you've actually revealed such a life-saving trump card ahead of time?"

Yu Liancheng smiled sinisterly, his gaze lingering for a long time on the seven-colored jade bead spinning on Xiao Suxin's wrist before finally slowly shifting to the direction where Lu Nanzhu had disappeared.

"If I remember correctly, this 'Seven Luminaries Jade Lotus Pearl' is a token of the successive palace masters of the Purple Origin Palace."

You care so much about that kid, even going so far as to use this item... Could it be that the "Pulse Control and Spirit Transformation Technique" that the sect leader so desperately desires isn't with you, but rather in that kid's hands?

As Yu Liancheng spoke, he observed Xiao Suxin's expression, his tone revealing a confident greed:

"Rumor has it that this secret technique can not only greatly enhance a cultivator's soul and meridians, allowing them to reach the highest realm, but also make it easy to control millions of high-level puppets. Some even say that... this method can bring the dead back to life."

If it were learned by some exceptionally talented individual, it could indeed take root in the chaotic south.

Junior sister, do you really see the hope for the revival of the Ziyuan Palace in that boy?

Upon hearing this, Xiao Suxin's eyes flashed even colder. How could she not tell that this villain was using this to test the whereabouts of the secret manual?

Thousands of years ago, the founder of the Ziyuan Palace, Ziyuan Shenjun, could not bear to see his Daoist partner pass away peacefully, so he attempted to forcibly lock the scattered remnant soul back into his body. This would make his body immortal and his soul undisturbed, like a living dead.

He defied fate and created this method, which was originally a beautiful story of a loving couple.

But who would have thought that a traitor within the sect would turn this method of manipulating meridians and maintaining life into an evil art of refining living corpses and manipulating souls, which led to the creation of the "Corpse Netherworld Palace" of the Great Jin Demonic Path.

"Zhongxing Ziyuan Palace?"

Xiao Suxin stared coldly at Yu Liancheng and said, word by word:

"Yu Liancheng, you beast who treats living beings as worthless grass and turns your ancestral obsessions into slaughter, do you even deserve to mention the three words 'Ziyuan Palace'? When you betrayed your sect and used the puppet-making technique on your fellow disciples, did you ever think about the ancestral precepts of Ziyuan Palace!?"

With a slight turn of her wrist, the seven round beads spun faster and faster, transforming into a dazzling seven-colored halo that blocked her way.

"You villain, don't bother trying to probe me. No matter who has the secret manual, you won't be able to step out of this crevice today."

"As long as I have a breath left, even if that secret manual is completely destroyed, it will never fall into the hands of you remnants of the demonic path!"

"Excellent! A fine example of 'better to die a glorious death than live a shameful life!'"

Upon seeing this, Yu Liancheng's face darkened completely, and all traces of his previous hypocrisy vanished.

He made a hand seal, and the purplish-black corpse energy around him became increasingly dense and abundant.

These corpse energies enveloped Yu Liancheng, gradually condensing into a giant tens of feet tall.

This giant had four horns on its head, two large and two small. Three pairs of blood-red eyes were arranged vertically. Both arms held various weapons, and it immediately attacked Xiao Suxin.