Transcending two realms to become an earth immortal

A world in chaos.

The present-day Dao City.

The sky was dark and gloomy, with no sun, moon, or stars in sight.

The heavens were filled with a faint, resentful demonic aura, and the universe was shrouded in an inescapable, malevolent deathly energy. The stench of rotting corpses and the stench of stale blood mingled into a nauseating, foul mist that lingered for a long time.

Zhengyang Daoist Temple.

Inside the sealed room.

The true spirit has returned to its rightful place.

At that moment, Fang Chen opened his eyes.

At that very instant, all the cultivation of his and my avatars was returned, and the realm was permanently proven. His physical body also advanced accordingly, reaching the realm of "Condensing True Seal"!

With diligent practice, one achieves breakthroughs in one's spiritual realm.

This book was first published on 2020s.com, providing you with a reading experience free of errors and disordered chapters.

But then—

Fang Chen looked up at the bronze mirror in front of him.

The person in the mirror should have been a handsome young man.

But at this moment, flesh-colored bumps appeared on that face, clustering together, first turning red and swollen, then turning white, and then turning into yellowish-purple pus... With the slightest touch, foul-smelling pus would seep out.

The skin all over the body is unbearably itchy, and if you scratch it, the scratched areas will quickly become infected and turn into sores.

Pustules spread all over the body, and all sorts of filth such as tinea, malignant sores, damp itching, genital maggots, and hemorrhoids crawled out from between the skin and flesh. Deep inside the sores, it seemed as if there were living creatures wriggling, and tiny white worms could be vaguely seen poking their heads out.

At this moment, the gums in the mouth are swollen and festering, oozing pus, and causing excruciating pain. If the mouth is opened, cavities can be seen opening, the gums are blackened, and there is a foul odor. Under the base of the tongue, there seems to be a soft, curled-up object that occasionally moves slightly.

It felt as if thousands of ants were gnawing at my limbs and bones, causing itching and pain everywhere. Listening closely, I could even faintly hear gnawing sounds emanating from within my body…

rustling...

rustling...

rustling...

The sound came from the depths of flesh and blood, from the very marrow of the body, sending chills down one's spine.

This is—the Calamity of the Physical Form!

When heaven and earth collapse, calamity will inevitably follow.

The ancient great cultivators plundered the essence of heaven and earth, broke through the boundaries and ascended to heaven, causing the yin and yang of this world to become disordered, life and death to collapse, the sun, moon and stars to disappear, and heaven and earth to fall into the end of the Dharma and the demonic calamity.

Even if a great being were to sacrifice themselves to merge with the Dao and forcibly place this world in a state between life and death, the world would already be in chaos, the Great Dao would be corrupted by demons, and thus endless calamities would arise.

Since entering the path of cultivation, a cultivator must undergo numerous tribulations:

First, the turbid air of heaven and earth corrupts the physical body; second, the resentful spirits of the past pollute the soul; third, the reversal of heaven and earth backfires on the divine mind; fourth, the three calamities of falling into depravity test the Dao heart; and fifth, returning to the void leads to falling and hinders one's transcendence.

Therefore, there are five tribulations: the Dao Foundation Realm has the Tribulation of Physical Form, the Yin Spirit Realm has the Tribulation of Soul Qi, the Yang Spirit Realm has the Tribulation of Refining Spirit, the Primordial Spirit Realm has the Tribulation of Three Calamities and Death, and the Corpse Dissolution Realm has the Obstruction of Returning to the Void... From body to mind, from inside to outside, from man to heaven, from heaven to the Dao, each tribulation is a new heaven.

What Fang Chen was experiencing at this moment was the first stage of the tribulation of physical form—

[Nine Insects Devour the Essence!]

The *Huangting Jing* states: "The human body possesses spirits that reside in its various orifices. The human body is in harmony with heaven and earth, and its many forms and orifices can transform into internal landscapes. Various essences and qi manifest the spirits. However, the accumulation of yin qi in the human body can also give rise to fear, greed, jealousy, nightmares, teeth grinding, hypocrisy, seminal emission, lust, desire for luxury and debauchery, attachment to material things, burying poison in the underworld, and harming others... These evil roots can also transform into ghosts."

The most harmful of the ghosts guarding corpses are the three corpses, followed by the hundred insects. Among the hundred insects, the nine insects are the worst.

The "Baopuzi: Weizhi" states: "The nine worms are: the hidden worm, the roundworm, the white worm, the flesh worm, the liver worm, the lung worm, the stomach worm, the diaphragm worm, and the red worm. They live in the human body and feed on human essence and vital energy."

The "Nine Insects" chapter of Volume 82 of the "Yunji Qiqian" also states: "Nine insects live in the human body, consuming the essence and vital energy daily, causing premature aging. Those who cultivate the Tao should eliminate them first."

This worm should have been eradicated upon entering the Dao. However, the world is tainted, and every drop of food and drink that humans take from the world is also polluted by impurities. Thus, the nine worms die and are reborn, like a festering sore, endless and inexhaustible.

"This is the tribulation of the physical body..."

Fang Chen felt an unbearable itch all over his body, but he forced himself to calm down and looked inward at himself. He saw:

Snake-like worms burrow into the blood, sucking the lifeblood from the body. Roundworms coil around the intestines, feeding on the essence of food and water. White worms tear at bones, wriggling and devouring the marrow. Flesh worms gnaw at muscles, burrowing into flesh and blood, consuming every last drop of blood and marrow.

Liver worms dwell in the liver orifices, absorbing the essence of green wood; lung worms hide in the lung lobes, devouring the essence of metal and iron; stomach worms lurk in the stomach sac, nibbling at the essence of water and grain; diaphragm worms reside in the diaphragm, obstructing the flow of qi; red worms roam through the heart orifices, sucking the essence and blood of the heart—

The nine insects transformed into demons, vying to devour the vital essence gathered in the human body!

This essence is extraordinary, formed from the seven souls!

The seven souls are Corpse Dog, Hidden Arrow, Sparrow Yin, Devouring Thief, Non-Poison, Purifying Filth, and Stinky Lung, each governing a part of the physical body's vitality. When the seven souls condense, the physical body is solid; when the seven souls disperse, the physical form collapses.

What the nine insects are now consuming is precisely the essence of these seven souls!

Fang Chen clearly sensed that as the nine insects devoured him, the seven souls that had been condensed were gradually being lost. If they were allowed to consume them completely, the seven souls would vanish without a trace.

When the body falls, the seven souls will no longer suppress it, and the turbid evil of heaven and earth will rush in and corrode the flesh and blood; the three souls will lose their defense and will inevitably face the omnipresent demonic corruption of this world.

When he reaches that point, what will he become?

Perhaps their bodies rot but they don't die, their souls become deformed but they don't perish, turning into corpses in this turbid world, feeding on the living and eating their own kind... never to be freed!

"Is this... the tribulation of the physical body?"

He muttered to himself, his voice hoarse, like the scraping of metal, and a stream of black blood welled up in his mouth.

Looking at his face, which was beginning to fester, in the mirror, Fang Chen slowly closed his eyes.

At this moment, within the spiritual platform, three true seal characters floated in the air, like stars arranged in a circle. The celestial seal character shone brightly above, the terrestrial seal character was heavy below, and the human seal character was in the center, suppressing the evil.

Between the three lines, the Qi flows and resonates with each other, forming a unified whole.

Immediately, a soft, clear light descended from the central aperture between the eyebrows, illuminating every minute part of the body. The various insects hidden deep within the flesh seemed to let out silent wails as they were gradually suppressed!

Ordinary cultivators, at this stage, have only just begun to condense their seven souls, making it difficult for them to counter the nine insects while their essence is being devoured. Therefore, those without lineage or magical artifacts are more likely to transform into evil beings.

However, when Fang Chen condensed the Human Seal, he had already condensed the Seven Souls and summoned the Three Spirits. Now that the Heaven and Earth Seals have gathered together, his Daoist cultivation is close to that of the Yin God... Suppressing the Nine Insects is not a difficult task!

"Unfortunately, the world is tainted by demonic influence, and turbid energy constantly invades the body. Even if the nine insects are annihilated, they can revive in an instant. Therefore, one can only suppress, control, or even let them grow, until in the future, one will have to deal with the difficulties of the hundred barriers, the calamity of the three corpses seizing the spirit, and the tribulation of the five decays of heaven and man..."

Fang Chen sighed inwardly.

He then focused his mind and suppressed the nine worms in the human body!

……

at the same time.

This is the city of Dao.

Another place.

This place resembles a garden.

In this world of utter chaos, malevolent energy and death are everywhere, making it difficult for ordinary plants to survive.

However, in this garden, green grass grows rampant and peach trees are in full bloom.

Above, twinkling lights hung like stars, casting a hazy glow. Among them were two or three rare spiritual plants... Though not a sacred mountain or blessed land, it possessed a unique vitality, resembling the domain of a true cultivator.

At this very moment, a figure in black robes was slowly strolling along the bluestone path in the garden.

The man was tall and slender, dressed in an ancient Taoist robe, with exceptionally handsome features, seemingly embodying all the finest qualities of humankind. He was surrounded by a clear halo, his figure ethereal, as if he were a true cultivator.

Stepping over the bluestone, passing through the peach grove, we arrived at the small pavilion in the center of the garden.

Two Taoist priests were already seated in the pavilion.

One was dressed in a white robe as white as snow, with a face as fair as jade, skin as smooth as ice and bones as fine as jade, and a gentle smile on his face.

The other was extremely handsome, as if all the beauty in the world had come together in one person. His figure was perfectly proportioned, conforming to the golden ratio of the human body, a celestial being.

The Taoist priest in black robes walked up to the pavilion and said with a smile:

"Fellow Daoists, we've kept you waiting."

At this moment, the white-robed Taoist raised his head, also smiling:

"Not too late, not too late, just right."