White Lotus

Yu Chen paid no heed to the man's resistance. When he had first refined the Yin Snake Chain, he had considered what to do should it one day face a totem. Thus, the Yin Snake Chain contained quite a few methods Yu Chen had developed over the years to counter Incense and Fire Prayer Power. Some of them had even proved highly effective against the venomous snake and Mist Serpent Tribe totems.

It could be said that the Yin Snake Chain restrained the vast majority of low-level cultivators who practiced Incense and Fire Prayer Power.

As a streak of white light flashed, the curtain of light around the man shattered. Then his head exploded with a bang, and countless strands of prayer power poured forth, turning into dazzling fireworks that lit the surroundings bright as day.

Yu Chen, having long been prepared, flicked a finger. Layers of mist rose and blanketed every direction, while mist snakes slithered through it, devouring some of the pure prayer power.

The person controlling the martial cultivator on the other side was also startled. He immediately tried to make the fighter flee, but Yu Chen moved faster. Using the snake curse he had planted on the fighter earlier as a coordinate, he accurately cast one new witchcraft spell after another.

Unlike before, when he had needed to guard against the divine cultivator, Yu Chen could now freely unleash all manner of witchcraft he had painstakingly deduced.

In the Southern Barbarian Mountains, these witchcraft spells could break through the totems of both the Mist Serpent Tribe and the venomous snake tribe, piercing their protection over their warriors' minds and corrupting the totem warriors' devout faith.

What was more, Yu Chen was now dealing with nothing but a practitioner of unorthodox minor arts. As time passed and he gradually grasped the other party's aura, he could even use the curse directed at himself as a lead, following that faint connection hidden in the unseen to guide his own witchcraft and curses onto the person remotely controlling the martial cultivator.

Under the endless barrage of curses, the fighter standing face-to-face with Yu Chen quickly had the circulation of his blood and qi thrown into disarray. His senses spun out of control—raising a hand became lifting a foot, throwing a punch became leaping. Before long, he had fallen to the ground, twisting his body wildly.

Yu Chen stepped forward and pressed a finger to the man's brow, using him as a tool to launch an even fiercer attack upon the person behind him. An unending stream of witchcraft passed through the fighter's body and fell upon that person. Knowing the stakes, the man decisively severed his connection with the fighter and immediately triggered all the contingencies planted within him, trying to hold Yu Chen back for the moment.

"Only thinking of leaving now? Too late!" Yu Chen retreated two steps. Red light surged, and a hollow appeared between the brows of the fighter, who had lost his own will. Faint green smoke curled from within it.

Yu Chen then strode into the Huang Family estate. Following the link in his witchcraft, he soon found a ritual altar. Looking at the old man collapsed on the ground, snake patterns constantly surfacing across his body, he sneered. "You still haven't dispelled my curse? Your strength is rather beyond my expectations."

As he spoke, Yu Chen turned his head. Beside the old man lay another young man in splendid green robes, bleeding from all seven orifices. His clothes had been pulled open, clearly because the old man had just taken something from him.

Yu Chen crouched down curiously. The old man sprawled on the ground hurriedly said, "Spare my li—"

Before the old man could finish, Yu Chen's finger had already touched his brow, drawing out his soul and swiftly finding what he sought.

It turned out that the Huang Family was a small outpost under the White Lotus Sect. The Huang Family members, as the masters of this place, had long ago had their minds beguiled by the old man. Their every action in daily life was controlled by the old man and the man in green.

Liu the Half-Immortal, whom Yu Chen had initially set his sights on, had simply been unlucky. As the most renowned cultivator in the area, he had been schemed against by the old man and the man in green long ago. The two laid their plans, letting Liu the Half-Immortal learn that cultivators had once appeared among the Huang Family's ancestors, then deliberately allowing him to obtain several fairly powerful unorthodox spells from the Huang Family.

Liu the Half-Immortal, believing he had taken advantage of the Huang Family, never knew from beginning to end that everything he did had been arranged by others. Nor did he know that the several spells he regarded as his trump cards all had backdoors.

Over the past few years, Liu the Half-Immortal had killed quite a few people. The souls of many of the dead had been taken back by him to refine evil arts. As for how much of the expenditure during the cultivation of those evil arts had ended up in the hands of the man in green, and how much had been naturally consumed, only heaven knew now.

As for why the old man and the man in green had kept Liu the Half-Immortal around, it was largely so they would have a suitable scapegoat should their deeds be exposed.

After all, the current Son of Heaven governed with diligence and determination, showing every sign of restoring the dynasty's former glory. With the two Imperial Preceptors, Golden Light and Cihang, protecting him, neither outlaws of the greenwood nor monstrous practitioners of unorthodox arts dared contend with the authorities.

Moreover, the old man and the man in green had laid many schemes in the vicinity, so they were naturally all the more cautious. That said, from the old man's memories, Yu Chen also learned that the Dragon-Slaying Sword had been part of the man in green's scheme.

The man in green was a direct descendant of an elder within the White Lotus Sect. The reason he had come to this "backwater wasteland" was largely because of the Black Snake—or rather, because he coveted the Black Snake's five-hundred-year-cultivated fleshly body.

He wanted to use that body, which was on the verge of transforming into a flood dragon, as the foundation for cultivating an External Primordial Spirit method.

Yu Chen had seen quite a few External Primordial Spirits in the game world of his previous life. Though he did not know the exact cultivation methods, he understood the basic theories and concepts.

Speaking of External Primordial Spirits, they had also been very famous in the game world of Yu Chen's previous life, and could be considered an exceptionally convenient path to longevity. Their essence lay in entrusting one's essence, qi, and spirit to an external object, somewhat akin in nature to a second Primordial Spirit. The distinction was a matter of which held the primary position: oneself or the external object.

Moreover, an External Primordial Spirit was not necessarily a dead end. At least in the virtual game world, quite a few people had taken the path of the External Primordial Spirit to its ultimate end, attaining the superior Dao Fruit of the Immortal Path of Spirit Seeds.

However, External Primordial Spirits placed extremely high demands on the object entrusted with one's essence, qi, and spirit. Spiritual roots, sentient magical treasures, or certain special forms of pure primordial qi were best. Next came heavenly treasures, the primordial qi of heaven and earth, demon spirit inner cores, Buddhist relics, and the like. Last of all came the fleshly bodies of the Demon Race.

According to the memories Yu Chen had seen, the man in green had chosen the worst kind.

He would choose a strange beast, dissolve its soul, merge his own soul into it, and let them continuously blend together until they ultimately formed something akin to a second incarnation. Although this method allowed one to continue living through the strange beast's body after the human body died, it could hardly enter the halls of elegance. It was only rather well-known among unorthodox paths.

The only thing worth praising about the man in green's scheme was that, as a White Lotus Sect cultivator, he practiced divine methods. If combined with the Black Snake's fleshly body, he could use secret techniques and the Black Snake's innate abilities to gather a measure of authority over gathering clouds and summoning rain, which would greatly benefit his eventual complete transition into the divine path.

The old man whose soul Yu Chen had extracted was a Rogue Cultivator who had struggled through the mortal world for decades, skilled in soul-bewitching arts, curses, and nightmare suppressions. He had been subdued by the father's generation of the man in green and followed at the man in green's side as something like a bodyguard.

However, the old man's loyalty was clearly lacking. The moment his master died, he began thinking of packing up his valuables and leaving.

Yu Chen beckoned, and several mist snakes slithered over, retrieving several items from the old man's robes.

A folding fan, a small bell, a treasure mirror, and a scroll of scripture.

According to the old man's memories, the folding fan was called the Five Calamities Fan. Its main body consisted of five fan ribs, carved with the five bloody characters: "widower, widow, orphan, solitary, cripple." Its ribs had been carved from the skulls of those who were "widowers, widows, orphans, solitary, and crippled."

An old man without a wife was called a "widower"; an old woman without a husband was called a "widow"; one who reached old age without descendants was "solitary"; one who lost his father in childhood was an "orphan"; and bodily disability meant "crippled." These five names were also the Five Calamities among the Five Calamities and Three Deficiencies. Fan ribs carved from the skulls of these five kinds of people, combined with the patterns on the fan's surface, made for an excellent ritual artifact for casting curses and nightmare suppressions.

Once it was in his hand, Yu Chen could sense the faint smell of blood emanating from the fan even when he opened it slightly.

It had been left by the ritual altar so the old man could conveniently cast curses and ambush Yu Chen.

Next, the small bell was called the Azurewood Heartguard Bell. Its entire body appeared to have been carved from sandalwood and gave off a faint fragrance. Many exquisite gold and silver lines covered its surface, forming one profound pattern after another and radiating somewhat chaotic spiritual light.

This was because the restriction refined into the little bell did not belong to the White Lotus Sect's lineage. It had originally been a protective treasure belonging to some righteous-path cultivator, but that cultivator had died at the hands of an elder of the man in green's family, and it had fallen into the man in green's possession.

The man in green himself did not possess the subsequent refinement method for the Azurewood Heartguard Bell, so he forcibly re-refined it with the White Lotus Sect's Golden Light Silver Screen Restriction. As a result, the restrictions within the little bell were still in a stage where metal and wood clashed against one another. It could not easily be carried out by the soul, so he had left it here to protect his body. This was why, when facing Yu Chen's Yin Snake Chain, he had been unable to establish an effective defense.

Lastly, the mirror was called the Yi-Wood Azure Radiance Mirror. Its material and origins were no different from those of the Azurewood Heartguard Bell, and its aura was also extremely similar. It had likely come from the same source as the Azurewood Heartguard Bell. It contained a strand of azure spiritual treasure light that could see through illusions, illuminate formations, and cast an image across a thousand miles. It could also defend against evil arts and fix a person's body in place. It was a relatively comprehensive auxiliary ritual artifact and quite practical.

The old man and the man in green had been able to discover Yu Chen's trail and prepare in advance precisely because of the Yi-Wood Azure Radiance Mirror's effects.