Innate Immortal

Yang He had not yet completely refined the Four Yin Meridians, but he was very close.

Given the density of yin energy in the Lore World, any cultivation progressed by leaps and bounds. Besides... there was a humanoid spirit-gathering formation inside the hall.

Yang He's peripheral vision swept over Madam Yin, who was being protected by the government soldiers.

According to the timeline, Madam Yin should only have been pregnant for a short while. Yet she looked as though she were ten months along, her belly bulging high while her body was slightly emaciated.

Faintly, green veins could be seen covering the surface of her skin.

Yang He did not dare approach Madam Yin, afraid of stirring Nezha's unrest. If Madam Yin transformed into a ghost prematurely, he would be attacked from both sides.

Before long, the yin energy within the hall had already surpassed that of Qing Lake.

Yang He split his focus to draw in the yin energy outside. The vertical eye between his brows revealed its mysteries, and yin energy immediately poured down in a torrent, flooding into the Pupil Ghost.

Daoist Priest Qingfeng looked astonished. After noticing the commotion caused by Yang He absorbing yin energy, he became even more certain that his eyes had deceived him. How could anyone in the Acquired Realm devour such a vast amount of yin energy like a whale swallowing the sea?

"Ha ha ha, I'm becoming an immortal!!"

Miaoyin was still babbling madly, her face smashed into a bloody mess.

Li Feng clicked his tongue. "Which lineage does Five Lights Temple belong to, exactly? It's so wicked, doing nothing but sneaky, disgraceful things."

Miaoyin did not answer, merely continuing to grin foolishly.

Daoist Priest Qingfeng took out a Mind-Calming Talisman and stuck it between Miaoyin's brows. "If a Living Immortal turns to ashes after failing to become immortal within seven days, doesn't that mean it needs seven days to digest forty-nine human skins?"

Miaoyin regained a little clarity. "That is what the records say."

"We have plenty of time. This old Daoist will consider how to reinforce the formation."

Daoist Priest Qingfeng pondered the matter. The frequency of killing and skinning people would gradually slow; becoming immortal was not something achieved in a single step, but required gradual transformation.

Yang He felt that the key to breaking the situation was simply to endure for seven days.

Even if he had not appeared, Daoist Priest Qingfeng and the others should have been safe enough holding the main hall. Perhaps they could have escaped danger simply by letting events take their course?

Li Feng could not help sighing. "Who would have thought Five Lights Temple would look so respectable on the outside while concealing such filthy deeds? What Living Immortal? Only the immortal masters of Qianyuan Mountain can be called immortals."

Miaoyin was already near death, yet upon hearing that, he seemed to rally for one final burst of life.

"You understand nothing!!"

"The Living Immortal suffers a fire punishment every ten days. I imprisoned the attendants to keep the Living Immortal from losing control. As long as it stays peacefully upon the lotus throne, who cares whether it is a true immortal or a false one?"

Miaoyin began coughing violently, fragments of organs spewing from his mouth and nose.

Yang He frowned slightly. "What about the other Living Immortals in the temple? Will they lose control because of this?"

"Living Immortals do not permit their own kind to become immortal. Once it has skinned forty-nine corpses, it will remove every one of its kind without hesitation..."

Miaoyin muttered to himself as life gradually faded from him.

Daoist Priest Qingfeng looked toward Yang He, waiting for his decision.

Yang He looked around and said, "Living Immortals are too strange. Even I am not confident of venturing out rashly. Better to respond to all changes by remaining unchanged."

"That's true."

Li Feng had brought plenty of dry provisions on this trip. Even amid the earlier chaos, he had not abandoned them, so holding out until seven days later would not be much of a problem.

"Junior Brother Qingfeng, you will arrange everyone's daily schedule."

"Mm."

Daoist Priest Qingfeng also calmed down. After pondering for a moment, he was about to ask Yang He a few questions when he saw Yang He staring thoughtfully at Miaoyin's corpse.

"Senior Brother Yang, are you worried that the corpse will turn into an evil spirit? This junior brother will deal with it right away..."

A ghostly hand appeared.

At a thought from Yang He, the ghostly hand burrowed directly into the corpse's flesh.

Daoist Priest Qingfeng's scalp prickled. He watched the ghostly hand rummage around inside the corpse before pulling out sections of charred spine from thin air.

"Junior Brother Qingfeng, I'll leave the corpse to you."

"Uh, all right."

The ghostly hand devoured the yin bones, and the bones of its middle finger formed in turn.

Miaoyin had cultivated the Bone Accumulating Fire Incantation, yet after several decades, he had accumulated only seven spinal bones.

This showed just how high the threshold for cultivation was in the Lore World.

Most ordinary people were probably like Miaoyin. They could only come into contact with unorthodox cultivation methods and would never reach the Acquired Realm in their entire lives.

Daoist Priest Qingfeng was already considered highly gifted. After all, he had been apprenticed to Qianyuan Mountain, but reaching the Dantian Sitting stage, a Fierce Ghost, would likely be his limit.

Once the Investiture War began, those at the Dantian Sitting stage probably would not even qualify as cannon fodder.

Yang He sat down cross-legged and drew the yin energy outside into his body.

Coincidentally, Five Lights Temple centered around the main hall, forming a vortex of yin energy that surged toward him. Before long, all four Yin Meridians had been completely refined.

Mingshan could not help exclaiming, "Master, has Martial Uncle already attained immortality?"

"Probably not."

Daoist Priest Qingfeng hesitated before adding, "Since he has gained the favor of Immortal Venerable Taiyi, perhaps he is an Innate Immortal."

Yang He sensed that the Pupil Ghost was gradually reaching a bottleneck.

He did not hesitate further. Enduring his nausea, he took out ghost eyes one after another and swallowed them into his throat. After dissolving, the ghost eyes churned within his stomach and intestines.

The Pupil Ghost entered his body and appeared within his stomach and intestines of its own accord.

Yang He's mouth twitched. It felt somewhat like swallowing a golden pill into his belly. Then, the blood throughout his body began flowing back into his stomach and intestines.

His outer appearance turned into that of a shriveled corpse, and his heart nearly stopped beating.

Daoist Priest Qingfeng was deeply uncertain. He felt that Yang He seemed to be returning from Acquired to Innate.

The Innate Realm required one to cleanse all the blood in one's body. Cultivation was a process of transcending the mundane, and it also caused one's divine abilities to become tightly linked with one's body and soul.

But... that was impossible. How could Senior Brother Yang be merely in the Acquired Realm?

Besides, the Living Immortal was watching them covetously. Who would break through a realm in a place like this?

Yang He remained fully conscious, observing the Pupil Ghost's transformation. Perhaps because of spiritual vision, the Pupil Ghost displayed something distinctly different.

Inside the side hall.

The altar against the wall had been overturned, revealing a hidden passage leading straight underground. Hoarse cries of agony echoed from within.

"Become immortal!"

"Become immortal!!"

The Living Immortal had already peeled off twenty-one human skins. Subtle changes were emerging in its body as its limbs desperately tore at its bloated, wrinkled skin.

Earthen jars stood in the corner, and the attendants were imprisoned inside them.

Facing the Living Immortal, they trembled with fear and prayed without ceasing. The terrifying pressure was suffocating, leaving them barely able to breathe.

Thud.

The Living Immortal slammed into the wall hard enough to dent it, and the skin on its face began to split apart.

Suddenly.

The Living Immortal went completely still, and the attendants stared at its back in utter terror.

They watched it cover its face before turning around and walking toward them step by step. The candlelight flickered, faintly revealing skin being pulled apart.

"Living Immortal, don't kill me!!"

"Living Immortal, it was all Miaoyin's fault. We never..."

Their words abruptly stopped.

A fair face unexpectedly emerged from the Living Immortal's dark, hideous skin. It was the dignified face of Guanyin, while twelve tiny heads were piled atop its head like a cluster of grapes.

It was the so-called Twelve-Faced Sentient Form of Buddhism.

All the attendants were too shocked to speak.

"Are you... willing to cultivate with me and attain immortality?"

"Willing!"

"Living Immortal, we are willing!!"

The Living Immortal ignored the attendants. Instead, the seven already-skinned corpses began trembling, then rose to their feet with their palms pressed together.

The skinned corpses clawed fiercely at the Living Immortal's skin, helping it become immortal faster!!