"Let's go." Since it was not far from Purple Micro Daoist Temple, True Master Qingxu, who looked advanced in years yet had a lean, refined face and moved with remarkable vigor, did not return to his sedan chair. He merely took an ancient black sheath longsword from within it. This seemed to be proof of True Master Qingxu's immense divine abilities. When the onlooking mountain folk saw the turquoise and red gemstones set into the black sheath longsword, they burst into another round of awed praise.
Luo Bei followed behind him. As they passed through the bluestone archway they had come to before, flanked by qilin statues on either side, two young Daoist acolytes emerged from the temple to receive them. They were slightly older than Luo Bei, with their hair bound up in topknots, flat Hunyuan hats on their heads, and azure Daoist robes.
Though this Daoist temple had only a dozen or so courtyards, far inferior even to the Medicine King Sect of that day, it was nonetheless highly disciplined. The Daoists inside saw a youth covered in blood following beside True Master Qingxu. Though surprise showed on every face, they merely saluted Qingxu before going about their own business. No one said anything or asked questions.
"It seems Purple Micro Daoist Temple truly is no ordinary Daoist temple."
After Luo Bei and True Master Qingxu entered the temple, the two acolytes shut the gates behind them. Clearly, the temple did not normally accept offerings from worshippers. The two black gates were several feet thick and looked exceedingly heavy, yet the two acolytes, only slightly older than Luo Bei, closed them without the slightest strain.
"I just wonder why it was built in this mountain town."
After Yuan Tianyi had forcibly altered Luo Bei's bones and meridians through tiger-and-wolf-like, aggressive methods, the strength he had gained from eating Zhanxikezha Grass had vanished. He had not become as invulnerable as diamond as the Miao legends claimed, but Yuan Tianyi had indeed seen the true use of that heaven-defying secret medicine, recorded by the previous patriarchs amid shifting light and shadows in Luofu's grand hall of scriptures and teachings: Rebirth and Metamorphosis. The true effect of this secret medicine, unknown to all and passed down among the ancient Miao, was to alter a person's aptitude for cultivating the Dao. The records left by Luofu's patriarchs did not state who had passed down this medicine, and Yuan Tianyi did not know either. It was merely that Luofu had never suffered any great upheaval before, while Luofu's cultivation had always meant pressing onward against adversity, so several generations of Luofu's teachers had never considered using it. Now, after his Rebirth and Metamorphosis, Luo Bei could clearly sense that Purple Micro Daoist Temple possessed very little spiritual energy. It was not an excellent place for cultivation.
Yet aside from the cultivation formula bestowed upon him through empowerment, Luo Bei's knowledge of the cultivation world remained incomparably shallow. For instance, the Outer Elixir Dao Method cultivated by True Master Qingxu lay beyond the scope of his understanding.
In truth, the most basic method of the Outer Elixir Dao Method was to refine medicinal herbs containing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy into pills, then consume them to increase one's cultivation.
The Outer Elixir Dao Method was as ancient as the Golden Core Great Method, which cultivated the inner elixir. The reason so many cultivators practiced it was that this method was simple and swift. Given suitable spiritual medicine, a pill refined in a few days might equal years of bitter cultivation in certain methods. Furthermore, most spiritual veins rich in spiritual energy had already been claimed by others. Even if one knew of them, one might not be able to cultivate there. Spiritual medicines on the level of the heavenly treasures in Luofu Abyss of Death were things ordinary cultivators could encounter only by chance and never seek, but common spiritual medicines could even be bought directly with money and were not difficult to obtain. For those who cultivated the Outer Elixir Dao Method, whether Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy was abundant where they lived was secondary. What mattered was whether their power and influence were great enough, whether they had the means to acquire more spiritual medicine.
Thus, aside from a few sects that secluded themselves to cultivate and seek spiritual medicine on their own, most sects practicing the Outer Elixir Dao Method instead chose to enter the secular world, establish influence, and use vast manpower and wealth to gather spiritual medicines. The Medicine King Sect, for example, possessed merchant firms of immense financial strength that monopolized the medicinal herb trade throughout the Nanmin Region. Whenever suitable spiritual medicine was discovered, it was claimed for their own use first.
The Medicine King Sect, which had not dared offer the slightest excuse under the intimidation of Yuan Tianyi's Six Paths Purgatory Karmic Fire Red Lotus, was already one of the foremost great sects practicing the Outer Elixir Dao Method. Yet Purple Micro Daoist Temple was merely a third-rate sect among third-rate sects in the cultivation world, attached to Shushan's banner.
But anyone who stepped across the threshold of cultivation would certainly not drift through life in muddled ignorance like those unenlightened mountain folk. They were bound to desire something.
Even a third-rate sect among third-rate sects might not lack its own pursuits and ambitions!
"How strange. Who knew what fit Master had thrown? He brought back a youth covered in blood and dressed like a beggar, then ordered me to stay by his side without pause and take careful care of him."
Chang Feng, True Master Qingxu's most capable disciple, led Luo Bei away to bathe and change clothes while sizing him up, thinking this to himself.
What he did not know was that at this very moment, True Master Qingxu, with his Immortal Bone Daoist Aura, stood before a portrait. The portrait depicted an old Daoist dressed almost exactly like him, though his appearance was entirely different: black hair and the face of a child.
The artist's skill was extraordinary, and every stroke bore through the paper with force. Not only had he painted the old Daoist's appearance vividly, he had captured his spirit as well.
"Master!"
As True Master Qingxu gazed at the portrait, his eyes actually grew wet.
He slowly closed his eyes and bowed once more to the person in the painting.
When he opened his eyes again, it was as if a magnificent gate had opened before him in this world.
He gently turned a Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams Bronze Mirror on the wall nine times to the left, then nine times to the right. The wall beside the portrait silently opened, revealing Purple Micro Daoist Temple's secret chamber.
The broad, deep passageway had a smooth night-luminescent pearl every short distance, making it bright as day without the slightest gloomy air. Yet the compartments lining the walls, which should have held Purple Micro Daoist Temple's ancient treasures, instead contained pairs of small jars. These jars looked no different from ordinary little wine jars, but inside them were pairs of Yin-Yang Purple River Carts still attached to infants, a sight that sent chills down one's spine!
True Master Qingxu proceeded onward. There were more than a hundred such jars. Even though every one was suppressed with yellow talismans, they seemed unable to dispel the bloody, sinister aura filling what had once been a grand and radiant passageway.
The passageway wound downward until it suddenly opened up, revealing another underground stone chamber deep within the mountain's belly. This underground chamber, several dozen yards across, contained several bronze racks bearing all manner of ritual implements—Evil-Repelling Mirrors, swords, fly-whisks, and more. Some glimmered with flowing radiance and were likely magical treasures containing spiritual energy. Yet the most eye-catching object was the alchemy furnace in the center of the chamber, several yards tall.
The alchemy furnace appeared to be made entirely of bronze. Its base resembled a square cauldron, with the patterns of four Strange Beasts cast upon its four legs. Most of those legs were buried beneath the ground. The furnace body above the base was shaped like a double-layered gourd, with gourd-shaped vents on the lower layer. Ancient inscriptions covered the entire furnace. No fuel could be seen, yet blazing firelight poured from the lower vents, illuminating more than half the stone chamber and radiating waves of scorching heat. Clearly, this furnace was connected to Earth Core Fire and burned without rest day and night.
The blazing firelight pouring from the furnace vents dyed True Master Qingxu's entire body crimson, yet he did not look at the alchemy furnace. He stared at the wall directly before him and said softly, "Junior Brother, I have finally gathered every material required for the Purple River Rebirth Great Method."
A person was hanging on the wall opposite True Master Qingxu!
No, this person could no longer even be considered human! His entire body was dried and withered, without a trace of flesh or blood. He looked like a desiccated corpse that had been dead for many years! This corpse-like person was shrouded in a tattered Daoist robe. From afar, if one did not look closely, one might have thought an old, worn Daoist robe was simply hanging from the wall.
But upon closer inspection, one would find all kinds of talismanic runes and secret incantations carved into the wall behind him. Beneath the tattered Daoist robe, five dark iron chains could faintly be seen piercing through his bones, pinning him firmly to the stone wall.
This person was actually True Master Qingxu's Junior Brother?
Was he still alive?
"You still call me Junior Brother?" The corpse-like man, hanging from the wall as though subjected to the harshest torture, suddenly spoke with a cold laugh. "It is plainly a beast-hearted, demon-deed forced seizure of a body, yet before me, you still call it some Great Reincarnation Method!"
"Junior Brother." True Master Qingxu did not argue with him. Fanatical light bloomed in his eyes. "Can you guess what kind of aptitude I encountered in town today?"
The corpse-like man sneered without speaking.
Yet True Master Qingxu, with his Immortal Bone Daoist Aura, threw back his head and laughed like a madman. "Junior Brother, you will never guess it. Today, I encountered a mountain child whose bones and meridians possess such heaven-and-earth-defying natural fortune that I dare say even those so-called Golden Immortals of Kunlun, whose cultivation crowns the world, may not possess talent equal to his!"
"How do I know you have not simply gone utterly mad and mistaken what you saw?"
"Mistaken what I saw? That child is in the temple right now. I can bring him before you this instant!"
"So what?" The corpse-like man lowered his head, as if he did not even wish to look at True Master Qingxu.
"So what?" True Master Qingxu, who had been laughing wildly like a madman, suddenly quieted. Gazing at the corpse-like figure on the wall, he sighed. "Junior Brother, do you still not understand? I had only just finished gathering the materials needed to refine the medicine after enduring countless hardships, and then I encountered a body that comes once in a thousand years. This is Heaven's will!"
"Pah!" The corpse-like man on the wall suddenly roared in fury. "Heaven's will? Unless Heaven has gone blind as a dog, how could it fulfill the wishes of a lunatic like you? You have the face to speak of Heaven's will?!"
True Master Qingxu suddenly grew impassioned as well. "Junior Brother, after all these years, do you still not understand? Did I not make this choice so that Purple Micro Daoist Temple could one day rise to fame and greatness? Otherwise, with Purple Micro Daoist Temple's strength, we can only remain dependent on Shushan, forever watching others' expressions and obeying their commands! If you had not insisted on stopping me back then, I would not have had to imprison you here."
"What utter nonsense!"
"To refine this medicine for forcibly seizing another's body, aside from those women and children who died unjustly at your hands, you also need fresh blood and living souls. Even if you manage to hide it today, if others discover in the future that you used this vicious cultivation method, Purple Micro Daoist Temple may well be annihilated to the last man!"
"You are doing this purely for your own selfish gain! Yet you still claim it is for our sect!"
"Your hypocrisy knows no bounds! Even if you kept me alive, it was only to satisfy your twisted desire—to ensure someone could witness your shameful, unspeakable deeds, so you would not bottle them up inside until they drove you mad!"
"A heartless and faithless hypocrite like you has no right to call me Junior Brother! You have no right to be Purple Micro Daoist Temple's Temple Master!"
For a moment, the corpse-like man on the wall roared in furious rage, and the iron chains clanged and rang!
"Since ancient times, beneath every successful general lie ten thousand bleached bones!" Amid the corpse-like man's furious roars, veins bulged across Daoist Master Qingxu's forehead, and his temples throbbed violently. "You and I have cultivated for an entire lifetime, yet this is all the cultivation we have achieved. That is the limit of our talent! I spared your life so you could know how utterly wrong you were! I will make you see how Purple Micro Daoist Temple raises its brows and exhales in triumph!"
Before you continue