Self-sacrifice

"Huh? You can see me?"

Then...

Ye Qianfan saw something like smoke or mist drift toward him. Looking closely, he could even make out a few human contours in it, such as a head and limbs.

And in the mist that resembled a head, he could faintly make out facial features.

"What the hell are you? A ghost?"

Ye Qianfan opened his mouth, but he could not actually make a sound. He was communicating with the other being through silent thoughts.

He knew that thing could hear him. After all, there was no need to speak human language to a ghost.

"I'm not a ghost. Don't describe me as something so inferior!"

The cloud of mist spoke again.

But when he spoke, he only moved his mouth without making a sound.

Yet Ye Qianfan could hear him. The voice seemed to travel not through the air but through brain waves, entering his mind directly.

Hearing this, Ye Qianfan grew even more surprised. "You're not a ghost? Then what the hell are you?"

"Me? Probably a human who's lost his physical body." The mist spoke again. "Back then, I was just like you. My master tricked me into coming here, and my body was sacrificed! But my will has lingered here ever since, watching one tragedy after another repeat itself."

"Your master tricked you into coming here? That's really ruthless. I thought being tricked by someone I knew was bad enough."

Ye Qianfan sighed.

But the mist laughed. "We were both deceived. Is there really any point in deciding who had it worse?"

"True!"

Ye Qianfan thought the mist had a point.

They had both been deceived. Comparing their misery hardly seemed meaningful.

"That's the right way to think about it."

The mist seemed lonely after going so long without anyone to talk to.

So now, without even waiting for Ye Qianfan to ask, he began rambling on his own. "At first, I couldn't make sense of it. I felt such pain, such injustice!"

"Later, I thought about how my master had actually been deceived by the uncanny god too, and how his death was even more miserable than mine. He didn't even leave a soul behind."

"And then I felt that, well, maybe there was no saying who had it worse. We'd all just been deceived, anyway."

"There's no point in comparing misery."

"Your master died?" Ye Qianfan asked in surprise. "Was he like him? I mean... did he turn into this kind of monster?"

"No! My master failed to shed his human form, so he couldn't become an immortal." The mist looked toward Elder Uncle. "But this old man from the Yi Order seems pretty powerful. He's almost shed his human form already. I reckon he really can become an immortal!"

"..."

Ye Qianfan was rather speechless.

What the hell was wrong with the immortals of this world?

Why did someone have to become this thing, neither human nor ghost, to attain immortality?

But no matter what Elder Uncle...

No, he no longer deserves to be my elder uncle!

Anyway, whatever kind of immortal Ye Fu might become, Ye Qianfan was furious!

He hated being used!

"Is there any way to stop him?"

Ye Qianfan gritted his teeth. "I don't want this damned old bastard to use me up and leave me trapped here as an earthbound spirit for the rest of my life!"

"I'm not a ghost, much less an earthbound spirit." The mist sighed. "You can call me Qinggu, or you can call me a Daoist, but don't call me a ghost or an earthbound spirit!"

"Okay, ghost... Daoist, is there any way to stop him from becoming an immortal?"

Ye Qianfan asked again.

"I told you not to add 'ghost'!" The mistlike Daoist sighed. "There is, but the sacrifice would be a little too great for you!"

"And that method is too painful. It's not worth it just for someone ascending the steps, is it?"

"As if I'm not in pain right now?" Ye Qianfan retorted. "If this old man couldn't become an immortal, that would be one thing. But I can't stand him using me as his stepping stone. No matter how much it hurts, I'm dragging him down!"

"All right. If you insist, I'll teach you." The Daoist sounded rather excited as he said this. "I've never seen anyone use this move before. I really want to know whether it can actually make someone an Earth Immortal, just like my master... no, my enemy said!"

"An Earth Immortal?"

Ye Qianfan was puzzled.

But the Daoist spoke again. "Explaining Earth Immortals would be too complicated!"

"You don't have much time left. If you don't hurry, you're going to die!"

Ye Qianfan could also feel his consciousness growing hazy, so he urged, "Tell me. What should I do?"

"It's simple! You don't want someone else sacrificing you, right?"

The Daoist continued, "Then just sacrifice yourself! Sacrifice yourself to yourself. Apart from bringing yourself back to life, you can ask it for anything!"

"Kill the old man from the Yi Order, or reconstruct my body for me, something like that. Hehe... I'm kidding. I'm not teaching you because I want you to reconstruct my body for me."

"..."

Your intentions are so obvious. Who could possibly miss them?

Still, Ye Qianfan understood what the Daoist meant. Stopping Ye Fu was simple enough—all he had to do was sacrifice himself.

Though he was still somewhat unwilling, he gritted his teeth and said, "I... Ye Qianfan!"

"Willingly offer myself as a sacrifice, asking only that Ye Fu fail to become an immortal and drop dead on the spot!"

Yet...

Ye Qianfan's words received no response, like a stone sinking into the sea.

Meanwhile, everything below Ye Fu's head had turned into a mass of monstrous tentacles. He was now a monster with a human head, about to shed his human form completely!

This made Ye Qianfan anxious.

"Why didn't my self-sacrifice work?"

Ye Qianfan voiced the question he had wanted to ask all along. "Is it because Ye Fu already sacrificed me, so the uncanny immortal won't accept me sacrificing myself again?"

"How could being sacrificed and offering yourself willingly possibly be the same?" The Daoist suddenly sounded proud. "My master... my enemy begged me to sacrifice myself willingly for him back then. He went on about how he'd taught me for so long, how we were like father and son, all that. I ignored him!"

"If I'd really sacrificed myself for him back then, he probably could've become an immortal too."

"But this old man Fu is different. He'd already accumulated a tremendous amount of karmic power. Now he only needs a helping hand from you to ascend the steps, so he doesn't need you to sacrifice yourself willingly at all!"

"Sacrificing yourself willingly means offering not only your physical body, but all your own karmic power as well, even your three ethereal souls and seven corporeal souls—everything you have. What immortal would willingly pass up such a wonderful opportunity?"

"Then why?" Ye Qianfan felt his thoughts growing sluggish, and even his speech began to falter. "Wh... why isn't my sacrifice working?"

"Oh, oh, right, right... I got sidetracked. Sorry."

Only then did the Daoist realize, and he hurriedly said, "Maybe you're making the petition wrong. I'll say a line, and you repeat it after me!"

"Above the nine heavens and below the nine lands, your disciple offers himself here as a sacrifice!"

"We enter into a pact, heedless of the laws of the realms. Your disciple's life and death are yours to command!"

"Supreme Venerable One, please hear your disciple's wish!"

"Now you just need to make your own request."

For every line the Daoist spoke, Ye Qianfan repeated it after him.

When Ye Qianfan reached the final line, he changed it directly to...

"Your disciple, Ye Qianfan, wishes only for Ye Fu to drop dead on the spot!"

The moment Ye Qianfan finished reciting the incantation...

"No!!!"

Yet just as Ye Qianfan finished that final sentence...

Ye Fu, who had already lost his human form, suddenly let out a wretched scream!

"Why has it stopped?"

"My karmic power! Why is my karmic power fading?"

"I was about to succeed! I was clearly about to ascend the steps successfully! Why did I fail?"

"This shouldn't happen... this shouldn't happen... the ancient text clearly said that as long as I did this, I would succeed..."

As Ye Fu roared, Ye Qianfan saw the skin on his face, and even the flesh beneath it, rapidly flow downward like a melting candle!

In the end, all that remained was something like a slug, wriggling on the ground!

Just as Ye Fu collapsed completely...

Ye Qianfan felt something pour into his mind as though through the crown of his head: countless memories, past events, cultivation methods, and days and nights of cultivation.

They were Ye Fu's memories...

Ye Fu's life...

And Ye Fu's cultivation methods and cultivation power!