The Corpse-Release Immortal Not to Be Looked Upon Directly

At midnight, all was silent, and a cold wind swept through the streets and alleyways.

Jingle, jingle.

The sound of copper bells rang out, echoing through the empty Water Mouth City with particular abruptness.

Before long, six Taoists slowly emerged from the far end of the street. Dressed in azure robes with the characters "Wish-Fulfillment" embroidered on their sleeves, they carried a simple wooden sedan chair.

Upon the sedan chair stood a clay statue of an immortal.

The immortal statue bore some resemblance to Song Baizhou around the brow. As expected, it was the Yellow Mud Immortal formed from that corpse. Yet the statue's rich colors lent it a touch of gentle warmth, as though it might come alive at any moment.

Eleven child statues stood on either side beneath the immortal statue's knees.

The child statues all wore stiff expressions, yet their features were lifelike. Six of them had been sculpted entirely in the likenesses of the six Taoists carrying the sedan chair.

Suddenly.

A faint rustling came from the immortal statue.

The Taoists hurriedly stopped. They saw a crack silently split open along the statue's back, and the young Taoist at the rear could not help murmuring, "Master is on the verge of becoming immortal. Next, we too can rise to heaven with the chickens and dogs."

The middle-aged Taoist leading them gave no reply, only bowing respectfully.

In moments, the crack in the immortal statue's back gradually spread, only to soon fall still again. It was no clay sculpture at all—it was clearly an insect cocoon about to split open.

"Junior Brother Sun, it seems Master is about to shed his mortal shell and ascend," Chen Jiuliang said from the very front. The moment he spoke, no one else dared utter a word; clearly, his status was the highest.

A flash of fervor crossed Sun Zu's eyes. "Before becoming immortal, Master told us that once he attained the Dao, we would also gain immortality and live forever."

The Taoists' breathing became extraordinarily heavy in the cold wind, their spirits so exhilarated that it was wholly unnatural.

"Quiet!"

Chen Jiuliang swept his gaze around. "It took us several hours to find Master's trail. To prevent any further mishaps, let us first invite Master back to Wish-Fulfillment Abbey."

His eyes instinctively flicked toward the corner of the immortal statue's mouth, where faint traces of blood clung.

The Taoists could not help shuddering. What they had just seen was enough to make one's hair stand on end: the estate had been littered with minced flesh, and not a corpse remained of the entire household—not even chickens or dogs had been spared.

Before Song Baizhou became immortal, they had never heard that he possessed a taste for eating people.

But... if one could become immortal, what did the deaths of a few mortals matter?

The Taoists could not help overlooking the fact that they themselves were mortals as well. They had even long forgotten that before entering Wish-Fulfillment Abbey, they had all been impoverished farmers.

Sun Zu said gravely, "Senior Brother Chen, there is one thing I do not understand. Why share the Ascension Record with outsiders?"

There was no small amount of probing in his words. Among all those present, only Chen Jiuliang had spoken with Song Baizhou before the latter was imprisoned, and it was also Chen Jiuliang who had spread the Ascension Record.

"Shut up!!"

Chen Jiuliang coldly swept his gaze over his junior brothers. "You dare question Master? Master hopes that after becoming immortal, more disciples will cultivate alongside him. Don't you understand that those who possess the Dao receive abundant aid?"

Sun Zu immediately slapped himself several times. "This junior brother misspoke!!"

"Look, another junior brother has entered the sect."

A smile appeared on Chen Jiuliang's face. Mud suddenly began seeping from the immortal statue's mouth.

The mud dripped to the ground by its feet, slowly taking the rough shapes of three child statues.

Stroking his beard, Chen Jiuliang said, "There is no need to worry too much. Once Master becomes immortal, all our junior brothers out in the world will come to Wish-Fulfillment Abbey one by one to pay their respects to Master."

He was not worried that anyone would betray Master. When every disciple entered through the Yellow Mud Immortal Ascension Method, without exception they had taken a shortcut—consuming immortal flesh formed from the yellow mud within Song Baizhou's body. They simply could not escape Master's control.

"Senior Brother, look."

"Mm?"

Chen Jiuliang raised a brow, noticing that the yellow mud dripping from the immortal statue's mouth and nose had not stopped. It seemed to sense that there was a fourth disciple in the city who had entered the sect.

Yet strangely, the yellow mud was taking its time to form a child statue.

Most astonishingly, the fourth child statue was not humanoid, but an irregular lump.

"This is..."

Chen Jiuliang looked puzzled. Recalling Song Baizhou's mention that child statues were formed from the aura of one's soul, he wondered whether some outsider had cultivated the Ascension Method and suffered a deviation.

He stepped forward a few paces, only to discover that the yellow mud increasingly resembled a tightly shut eye.

What was going on?

An eye?

Why was it an eye?

The Taoists looked at one another. The clay eye twitched faintly, as though it might open at any moment.

"Something is wrong. Let me see who exactly is causing trouble."

Chen Jiuliang did not dare be negligent. He took a yellow talisman Song Baizhou had given him from his robes and pressed it to the center of his brow.

A talismanic inscription was drawn upon the yellow talisman's surface, which began to glow.

He sensed the others' gazes upon him and could not help but sneer. This talisman was called the Soul-Peering Talisman—how could a pack of mortals have ever witnessed an immortal's methods?

His master had mentioned it before.

If there was anything unusual about the child statues, the Soul-Peering Talisman could be used to find the other party.

A surge of heat rose from between Chen Jiuliang's brows. Faintly, he sensed the origins of each child statue. Hmm, one was a yamen constable, another an undertaker; even the executioner who had beheaded Master earlier had encountered immortal fate...

He gradually saw the source of those mud-sculpted eyes, though it remained exceedingly blurred.

He took several steps forward.

It grew clearer and clearer.

It was a man, around twenty? He seemed to be in an enclosed space?

"Senior Brother! Those ey... es opened!"

Sun Zu stared at the immortal statue in startled uncertainty, only to hear Chen Jiuliang scream.

"Urgh."

"AAARGH!"

Chen Jiuliang clutched his head as his limbs began convulsing violently.

He had seen it clearly!!!

An unimaginably colossal human figure abruptly exploded into his mind—far more than a thousand zhang tall.

Chen Jiuliang could not see the figure in its entirety. He had merely brushed against a boundless outline; wherever his gaze reached, his consciousness was being annihilated bit by bit.

Sun Zu was both alarmed and enraged. Just as he was about to step forward, Chen Jiuliang's screams came to an abrupt stop.

BANG!!!

Flesh, blood, and shattered bones splattered across the ground, staining the pristine snow in a horrifying sight.

The Daoists were so terrified that their souls nearly fled their bodies. They froze in place, at a complete loss.

"Se... Senior Brother is dead?!!"

Sun Zu staggered before steadying himself, his voice trembling. The wreckage strewn across the ground gave off a foul stench. Then he abruptly raised his head toward the immortal statue, and a bizarre sight entered his eyes.

The mud-sculpted eyes had already vanished into ashes, while bloody water trickled from the crack along the immortal statue's back.

As though it had suffered a grievous blow, groans drifted out from within the immortal statue.

"Move! Take Master back to Wish-Fulfillment Abbey first!!" Sun Zu did not dare investigate any further and barked the order, unable to conceal the fear in his voice.

As if waking from a dream, the Daoists hurriedly lifted the wooden sedan and rushed toward Wish-Fulfillment Abbey.

The chime of the bronze bells grew hurried amid the chaos.

Ren Qing examined the Yellow Mud Eye in his palm, his blood-stained fingertips continuously deepening the talisman's inscription.

He thoroughly erased the traces Song Baizhou had left behind in the yellow mud.

"Someone just used the Yellow Mud Eye to spy on this Daoist. In the future, any spiritual materials connected to the Immortal Ascension Sect must be dealt with beforehand, lest they cause trouble."

Ren Qing frowned deeply. It seemed obtaining the Immortal Ascension Sect's heaven-and-earth spiritual materials would not be so simple.

Everyone had the right to condemn and kill heretical crooked paths. This Daoist was honoring your Immortal Ascension Sect by using you to refine treasures!!

Ren Qing climbed out of the dry well.

The Toad Dao Child had already gone outside ahead of him to clear the insects from the rear courtyard. He heard the narrow-minded immortal elder muttering on and on.

"Remember: in this world, this Daoist is merely an ordinary man too weak to truss a chicken. There is nothing wrong with being cautious—I nearly fell for the Immortal Ascension Sect's tricks."

After repeatedly confirming there was no danger, he walked out of the courtyard.

"Boundless Heavenly Venerable—once this Daoist establishes a supreme immortal foundation, I will surely use the Immortal Ascension Sect to temper my Dao heart."