Having cultivated myself into an immortal, all I want to do is raise female disciples.

A scream of pain?

No...no.

There was no sound of blood, not even the sound of normal flesh being cut open. What Fan Luokui heard was like the sound of a sharp blade cutting through soil.

She stared in disbelief at the arm that had fallen to the ground and was gradually turning into white dust, then looked at the half-arm exposed beneath the cut-open Taoist robe.

At that moment, she finally recognized him...

They recognized the object as a rune.

Those weren't runes forming a magic array, nor were they from any special bloodline, nor were they special martial arts techniques.

Those are livor spots...

It is proof of the deceased.

The young man in the white shirt then finished speaking, his words heavy with emotion.

"The second young master of the empire, Chu Jingqiao... has actually been dead for a long time."

139. The Ultimate Lord?

The purple markings on Chu Jingqiao's thin, slender arms were particularly striking. He usually used a royal robe to cover his skin, so Fan Luokui had not noticed the mark of the dead on Chu Jingqiao's body before.

deceased?

No, no.

This doesn't make sense!

Only the dead have livor mortis. Since there is such a large livor mortis on his arm, based on Fan Luokui's past experience, at least 50% of his skin is covered with livor mortis.

This means...

"Chu Jingqiao... is a dead man..."

When Fan Luokui uttered these words, she wondered if Yun Ping had smashed her skull.

How could the dead possibly have the strength to stand up? Their muscles, blood vessels, and even meridians should have completely lost their original functions. Let alone making such a difficult muscle-stretching movement as speaking, they shouldn't even be able to walk!

But what about Chu Jingqiao? He was a sickly-looking man who looked rather thin, yet his movements were completely stiff.

She instinctively turned to Yunping, hoping to get an answer from her teacher.

“It’s a corpse puppet.” Noticing Fan Luo Kui’s puzzled and shocked gaze, Yun Ping used his divine sense to travel through Chu Jing Qiao’s body as he answered, “If I remember correctly, this is a special evil technique originating from the era of the Human Emperor. The era is quite ancient, but logically speaking… the evil cultivators who used this evil technique should have been completely wiped out before the Hundred Saints era arrived.”

"Is this a lost and heretical cultivation method?"

"Yes."

Yunping answered quite affirmatively.

In fact, he initially tried to deny this illogical phenomenon because he knew very well that the evil sect that manipulated the corpse puppets had been completely wiped out.

If you ask why—

Because it was he who led the cultivators to destroy that evil cultivation sect back then!

All the records, manuals, and techniques related to the Corpse Puppet Technique were burned to ashes. He also confirmed repeatedly that no one had escaped from the sect...

He buried all of the sect's nearly 100,000 corpse puppets, so there shouldn't have been any trace left behind.

Even those who are well-versed in history would probably have little to no knowledge of this Corpse Puppet Technique.

Therefore, he even suspected that Chu Jingqiao's current state was not a corpse puppet, but some other kind of trickery.

Unfortunately, after his divine sense swept over the area, he was certain that Chu Jingqiao in front of him was indeed a dead man, and was living in this world as a corpse puppet!

This is going to be interesting.

I originally thought this was just some mess caused by Chu Lantian's descendants, but I never expected such a bizarre situation to occur.

Whether it's the Blood Emperor Gu that came from who-knows-where, the blood-changing method, or Chu Jingqiao's current corpse puppet state, none of these things should appear in the Lingze era...

"Who resurrected you using the Corpse Puppet Technique?!"

Yun Ping shouted in a deep voice, and his vast divine consciousness, which seemed to blot out the sky, transformed into endless pressure and bombarded Chu Jingqiao.

This was the divine consciousness of the former Emperor Wen, the pressure of a cultivator who once stood at the pinnacle of the world and defied the Great Dao. Even though Chu Jingqiao was a Void Transformation cultivator and had been resurrected by someone using the Corpse Puppet Technique, he was completely unable to move in front of this pressure that even the Heavenly Dao feared. He immediately knelt down with a thud.

Faced with Yun Ping's stern questioning, Chu Jingqiao smiled bitterly, raised his head with difficulty, and stared at Yun Ping with a smile.

"I only made a deal with a devil, so why should I tell you the name of a devil?"

"I need to know who he is."

Yunping had a premonition that the person who resurrected Chu Jingqiao probably possessed extremely terrifying methods.

Which ultimate level? Which demigod is it?

Not sure.

Moreover, for some reason, in connection with the incident at the Northern Ice Palace, Yun Ping always felt that someone was watching him... Whether it was Chu Jingqiao or Fan Dongyin of the Northern Ice Palace, they both seemed to have accepted something that should not belong to this era.

The Chaser

He suddenly remembered this mysterious existence.

However, Chu Jingqiao still showed no intention of speaking. His face was as pale as a corpse, or rather, he himself was a corpse.

"What difference does it make whether I tell you or not? I admit, you are more terrifying than I imagined... Even this body, resurrected using an ancient evil technique, is probably no match for you..."

"But the same goes for that demon... If the two of you were to run into it, I don't think you'd survive."

"Tell me who that person is!" Yunping shouted almost in a commanding tone.

The overwhelming power and the resulting waves even caused a strange tremor in Chu Jingqiao's body. His left hand was suddenly broken into small square clods of earth, while his lower body turned into grayish-white mud. He suddenly collapsed and sat down like a lump of mud.

Chu Jingqiao knew that Yun Ping was threatening him.

They were threatening him with his life, which he had already died once—

With only half his body remaining on the ground, Chu Jingqiao revealed an exceptionally chilling smile. His words seemed to pierce through eardrums, incredibly sharp: "It's useless. For me, life is meaningless. Ever since I made that deal with that demon, I've been enjoying the feeling of death every day."

“You can’t threaten me… I know I’ll die sooner or later, I just want to enjoy the feeling of the throne before I die…”

He looked up at the sky and sighed, as if quite moved, "The feeling of possessing a royal treasure..."

In an instant, a gaze as if emerging from the abyss of a ghostly being was cast upon Chu Jingqiao. Yun Ping's expression was icy cold. He rarely showed such an expression; usually, he only had such a terrifying look when he was extremely angry.

He appeared before Chu Jingqiao in an instant, looking down at the dead man. His words were soft, yet filled with murderous intent.

"I'm asking one last time, who exactly is that person?!"

……

Chu Jingqiao looked at Yun Ping, and through those dark pupils, he saw an indescribable scene.

That pool of still water was as clear as a mirror, and what was reflected on its surface was my own pale face.

He paused for a moment, then looked at Yunping with a helpless expression.

"I don't know, all I know is..."

"He calls himself the Ultimate Lord."

……

Yunping took a deep breath.

He slowly turned his back without saying a word.

He could tell that Chu Jingqiao wasn't lying—or rather, things had come to this point that Chu Jingqiao himself had no need to lie anymore.

Her sleeves swayed gently.

The young man casually waved his hand, creating a gentle breeze. The seemingly soft breeze, when it brushed against Chu Jingqiao's face, was able to shatter his physical body, which was comparable to that of a Void Realm expert.

Chu Jingqiao seemed to realize his own death, but instead of feeling fear, he smiled with a sense of relief.

In the end, it silently disappeared into the wind.

Everything happened so suddenly.

Fan Luokui even thought there might be a battle as earth-shattering as the one in the Northern Ice Palace, but Yun Ping did nothing, and Chu Jingqiao died completely.

Yes, the physical body was completely destroyed, and even the last remaining trace of the soul vanished without a trace.

From that time on, Chu Jingqiao was no more.

She slowly recovered from her dazed state and walked slowly to the cloud-like figure who was silent, head down, and with a particularly frightening expression.

"teacher?"

The soft call pulled Yunping back from his thoughts.

His expression immediately improved, and he looked at Fan Luokui with some surprise, who had a poker face but still had a hint of worry between his brows.

Yunping shook his head and smiled, "It's nothing, I just thought of something."

"Yeah……"

Fan Luokui originally wanted to ask him what the so-called "Ultimate Lord" meant, but when she remembered Yun Pingfang's strange expression that made her a little scared, she gave up the idea.

Turning their gaze to the direction where Chu Jingqiao had disappeared, all that remained was a pile of white ash—

"So..." Fan Luo Kui sheathed her magical sword, her expression somewhat strange, "In this incident, Chu Jing Qiao wasn't the real mastermind, but rather the one who used the corpse puppet technique?"

"Hard to say."

Yunping's response surprised Fan Luokui.

"The Corpse Puppet Technique can only revive the dead in this half-dead state. Although it is possible to completely control the Corpse Puppet, Chu Jingqiao's state is obviously out of control. Judging from what he said... he must have made a deal with the person who can use the Corpse Puppet Technique."

"They traded their lives for that Blood Emperor Gu and... the Blood Exchange Technique?"

“That should be right, and it’s even possible…” Yun Ping nodded and said softly, “The Blood Spirit Technique used by the Yin Sha people should also have been given to them by that person… so that Chu Jingqiao could establish a fairly solid mutually beneficial relationship with the Yin Sha.”

Hearing this, Fan Luokui finally understood—she was just straightforward, but not stupid.

The cherry-haired girl turned around and looked at Chu Chenxi, who was still standing there like a puppet, and said, "So he is still the mastermind behind this incident, but..."

“I just accepted help from someone who was even more deeply hidden,” Yunping finished her sentence.

"Then what do we do now?"