“Just now, he also seemed like a living corpse, similar to the ‘Great Hero of Ningzhou,'” Meng Qi voiced his thoughts.
Previously, he had already shared everything about Yangxia and Maoling.
“Really?” Jiang Zhiwei instinctively asked, “Could it be that the living corpses of the Impermanence Sect originated from this ancient method of concealing heavenly fate?”
Although the Sword-Cleansing Pavilion was not a Taoist sect, it had inherited one of the Seven Heaven-Intercepting Swords, the “Taishang Sword Sutra,” and thus had deep ties with the Taoist sects. Therefore, Jiang Zhiwei didn’t directly suggest whether the Impermanence Sect might be one of the Tao lineages of the True Martial Emperor. Moreover, this method of concealing heavenly fate might not be exclusive knowledge of the True Martial Emperor.
Seeing her and Ruan Yushu and Qi Zhengyan’s slightly doubtful gazes, Meng Qi nodded, “I’m not certain yet. Let’s encounter it again and try the ‘Heaven-Changing, Earth-Shaking Method.'”
“We’ll protect you,” Jiang Zhiwei said confidently.
Because they couldn’t confirm whether it was indeed a living corpse, Meng Qi’s Heaven-Changing, Earth-Shaking Method might not work. If he were alone, he wouldn’t risk trying unless he had no other choice or had a way to escape. However, now with Jiang Zhiwei, Qi Zhengyan, and Ruan Yushu present, even if the attempt failed and he suffered backlash, they wouldn’t be doomed.
Qi Zhengyan sighed slightly, “Unexpectedly, the Heaven-Changing, Earth-Shaking Method is so miraculous that it can awaken deep memories.”
Who could imagine that a spiritual technique barely reaching the Externally Manifested Realm could have such an incredible use?
Even if it had no other effects, just this alone made it worth the required good deeds!
Hearing this, Meng Qi smiled and said, “Senior Brother Qi, want to give it a try? Perhaps after awakening your deep memories, you might discover you really are my cousin! It might even awaken fragmented memories from past lives. Perhaps in a previous life, you were my cousin too. Won’t you give it a try?”
Qi Zhengyan’s face twitched slightly as he turned his head away, tightening his grip on the dragon-patterned crimson-gold sword.
Ruan Yushu coldly observed their surroundings, as if offhandedly commenting, “Aren’t you always worried about A-nan? After mastering it, you could try it on yourself.”
“One cannot awaken one’s own fragmented memories from past lives. One must seek someone with a karmic connection, someone entangled through many lifetimes. By awakening their memory fragments, one can stimulate one’s own memories and relive samsara,” Meng Qi replied, looking somewhat disheartened. Such people were rare and couldn’t be sought deliberately.
Suddenly, Jiang Zhiwei, who had been pondering nearby, spoke up, “Something’s off. The previous living corpse had that unique sensation of internal manifestation, indicating an Externally Manifested Realm expert. But it performed worse than a Half-Step Externally Manifested Realm practitioner—no pressure, no power, only spreading ghostly flames, unlike the Great Hero of Ningzhou.”
“That’s right. His body was also decaying,” Meng Qi immediately recalled, his confidence in his judgment waning.
At this moment, Jiang Zhiwei noticed something left behind in a pit on the ground. She picked it up with her sword—a jade pendant engraved with inscriptions.
It was stained by yin energy, gray and mottled.
“It’s quite ancient,” Ruan Yushu remarked. Since her family was established in the art of zithers and culture, she was particularly skilled in identifying jade pendants.
The writing on the pendant was similar to the current script of the main world. Though puzzled, Meng Qi still read it aloud:
“Rixiang, Huanggang.”
What a mighty name… Meng Qi couldn’t help but mentally comment, thinking of Huanggang.
They exchanged glances, unfamiliar with Rixiang or Huanggang, and thus put the pendant away, turning their attention elsewhere.
“There are small characters inside the coffin,” Qi Zhengyan found the clue after a moment.
Meng Qi and the others gathered around. They saw writing on both inner sides of the coffin. On their right side were tiny seal characters, mostly erased, leaving only a few barely legible:
“… Ri… Zheng Jie…” Ruan Yushu murmured.
Jiang Zhiwei thought for a moment, “It must be a cultivation technique.”
Meng Qi turned to the other side. There was a twisted, ugly line of text similar to the writing on the pendant:
“There is a ghost here. Do not take anything!”
Each character was crooked and slanted, as if written by someone whose hands no longer obeyed their will, using every ounce of strength. A chill ran down Meng Qi’s spine just looking at it.
Judging from the handwriting, it must have been written by the previous living corpse. For a practitioner who had connected with heaven and earth to be so terrified of a “ghost,” it must be an extremely eerie and horrifying entity.
“It was carved with fingernails, while lying in the coffin,” Jiang Zhiwei carefully observed and concluded.
Ruan Yushu added, “Each character differs slightly, and the traces left on the coffin show varying degrees of decay, indicating it took over a century to complete—each stroke carved once every few decades.”
Over a century… Meng Qi immediately pictured a scene in his mind: a living corpse imprisoned by an evil ghost, silently lying in a coffin. Every ten years, or even longer, he briefly regained consciousness or bodily memory, instinctively or stubbornly carving characters into the inner walls with his fingernails.
Each recovery lasted only moments, enough to carve a single character or a few strokes. Over time, he finally left behind this warning for future generations.
Just imagining such a scene made Meng Qi and the others shudder.
“Di Quan Lingzhi (Earth Spring Ganoderma),” Ruan Yushu checked her Ji Zi Ring, her cold voice echoing eerily in the yin-changed atmosphere.
Meng Qi snorted, “No worries. Anyway, everything will be exchanged with the Lord of the Six Paths. If the ‘evil ghost’ is capable, let it drag the Lord into the mausoleum!”
Besides, he still had the Buddha’s Lamp and Tian Zhi Shang (Heaven’s Wound), making him resistant to yin and evil influences.
They had rich experiences, even having entered the Sacred Mountain. They wouldn’t be easily frightened by evil ghosts. At his words, they all nodded.
Suddenly, Meng Qi slapped his right hand with his left, “I know why the previous living corpse, despite possessing the Externally Manifested Realm cultivation, couldn’t even display the strength of a Half-Step Externally Manifested Realm practitioner!”
Before Jiang Zhiwei and the others could speak, he continued, “He is a living corpse, not a zombie. His power doesn’t grow stronger with time. Instead, his body is slowly decaying, moving closer to true death.”
“After centuries, he still maintains his current level. He must have been exceptionally powerful originally.”
“Right. ‘The Great Hero of Ningzhou’ has only been ‘deceased’ for about ten years,” Jiang Zhiwei agreed.
After discussing for a while, the four continued forward, maintaining their previous formation.
Passing through this burial chamber, they entered another corridor. The walls were now devoid of murals, pale and bare.
The deeper they went, the darker it became. The previous mysterious light had completely vanished. Meng Qi could barely make out the path with his opened acupoint vision.
Qi Zhengyan took out a fire starter and lit it, but a sudden gust of cold wind extinguished it.
After several attempts, no matter how they shielded or blocked the wind, the fire kept going out, eventually refusing to ignite at all.
“Be careful,” Meng Qi warned grimly as electric light from Tian Zhi Shang illuminated the path ahead.
Lightning snakes flickered, casting eerie shadows.
“There’s a large burial chamber ahead,” Meng Qi recalled from the map.
As he finished speaking, under the silver glow, the corridor’s end appeared—a tightly closed stone door inscribed with ancient seal script.
“Under the Nine Springs,” Jiang Zhiwei read aloud, her Baihong Guanri Sword unwavering.
Ruan Yushu pursed her lips. As a girl, she still felt a bit frightened deep inside.
Meng Qi held Tian Zhi Shang across his chest, pushing the stone door open with his left hand still in its sheath.
A heavy, grating sound rang out, sharp and piercing. Faint silver light seeped from the chamber inside.
Through the half-open stone door, Meng Qi saw a magnificent burial chamber. It resembled a palace hall, its domed ceiling not made of stone but of cascading water curtains, continuously flowing with a gentle murmur.
At the center of the hall stood a peculiar jade tablet, shimmering with moon-like luster, reflecting the water curtain above into rippling lights. The entire chamber was dreamlike and surreal.
The tablet was engraved with tiny characters, with only a few larger ones, seemingly a title.
“The Taiyin Exorcism True Method.” Jiang Zhiwei, standing beside Meng Qi, also saw the tablet and read the larger ancient script.
“Hearing the name, it sounds like a cultivation method left behind by the True Martial Emperor,” Meng Qi thought, connecting “Exorcism” with the True Martial Emperor’s title, “Ancestral Master of Exorcism in the Nine Heavens.”
Although it certainly wasn’t the best part, considering the True Martial Emperor’s status, even his inferior cultivation techniques should be at the Externally Manifested Realm level!
Ruan Yushu calmly remarked, “I’ve never seen any records of it.”
“Perhaps it was already lost in antiquity,” Qi Zhengyan speculated.
Though phrased as a guess, Meng Qi sensed certainty in his tone.
The four stepped into the chamber, directly approaching the jade tablet inscribed with “The Taiyin Exorcism True Method.”
Moonlight rippled, waves shimmered, and the entire chamber resembled a moon palace.
Behind Meng Qi and the others, a beam of “moonlight” twisted and suddenly transformed into a human figure, with disheveled hair and claw-like hands, lunging at the last person—Qi Zhengyan.
The attacker’s hands were pale, with long nails that gathered moonlight, bringing icy coldness.
Before the twin claws, ice formed, a storm howled, and snowflakes flew, both obscuring vision and seemingly capable of freezing the soul and slicing the body.
As the “moonlight figure” lunged, the Buddhist lamp on Meng Qi’s chest flickered slightly. He turned around and slashed with his blade.
The blade flashed like lightning, swift beyond measure. As soon as it was seen, it had already struck between the twin claws.
Clang!
Thunder erupted, shattering the ice. Qi Zhengyan’s sword, like a dragon, pierced toward the attacker’s forehead, bringing the deep cold that would freeze the area.
Jiang Zhiwei stepped forward, first guarding Ruan Yushu, her sword conjuring warm winds to resist the cold.
Ruan Yushu played the “Past-Life Liberation Chant,” each note entering the ears like Buddhist chants or Taoist hymns.
The “moonlight figure” seemed half-alive, half-dead—another living corpse, with decaying flesh on its neck. Its strength was slightly less than that of a Half-Step Externally Manifested Realm practitioner.
Hearing the zither music, the figure, which had intended to melt into the moonlight for another surprise attack, hesitated slightly.
Seizing the opportunity, Meng Qi’s demeanor changed, exuding a strange, divine charm. He merged with heaven and earth, overlooking samsara from above.
A vast and unfathomable sea emerged, its depths concealing a golden radiance akin to gathered sunlight. A black mist enveloped and bound all in its grasp.
Meng Qi exerted himself to the utmost, awakening memory fragments.
The waves undulated, golden light flickered, struggling to break free from the black mist.
Suddenly, the black mist sank and transformed into a figure clad in black ceremonial robes, wearing a flat-topped crown. His face was gaunt, his eyes deep and unfathomable, as he turned his head to glance at Meng Qi.
Just that one glance struck Meng Qi’s mind like lightning, causing unbearable pain. He screamed, blood spewing from his nose, his ears ringing, and he could no longer sense his spiritual sea!
“The True Martial Emperor?”
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage