The Secret Way of Immortality

Chaotic sounds echoed in the cave, dozens of figures huddled together, each holding a torch high, letting the sparks burn their hands.

They wore black Taoist robes, their waists adorned with brass metal ornaments, many of which were stained with specks of blood.

The ornaments were all shaped like twisted, deformed monsters, their surfaces showing obvious signs of sanding, clearly taking at least several months to make.

The atmosphere in the cave was terribly oppressive.

They looked at each other in silence, their faces hidden by the black robes, as if deliberately concealing something.

After a moment, the middle-aged man at the head stood up, holding a torch and walking to the center of the cave, the firelight immediately illuminating the area within five meters.

In the cave was a crude altar made of piles of pebbles, its surface covered with a thick layer of bloodstains, presenting a nauseating color.

Around the altar were also placed a large number of animal bones, as well as a few human bones, all of which were incredibly twisted and deformed.

Clearly, although the altar was temporary, sacrifices were often performed there.

The middle-aged man stomped his right foot on the ground and uttered a strange tune, prompting everyone to stand up and make the same movements.

"Hoo-ha..."

"Hoo-ha..."

They roared like beasts, shaking their torches vigorously.

In the light of the fire, patterns faintly appeared on the stone walls, revealing themselves to be bizarre and inexplicable monsters.

The monsters seemed to be covered with plant roots, located deep within the earth, absorbing nutrients from the soil and breeding twisted things.

The ritual lasted for several hours, but the altar clearly lacked a statue for worship, or perhaps the deities they believed in were impossible to identify with the naked eye.

After a long time, the cave returned to silence.

They knelt on the ground, clasping their hands together and continuing to chant scriptures, unable to move half a step despite hunger and fatigue.

The middle-aged man at the head was the only one with his eyes open, his expression slightly worried, his arms behind his back trembling slightly.

He stared blankly at the murals until the gaunt man beside him asked softly.

"High Priest Gao, can the deities really respond to our requests?"

"Wu Jian."

"Are you doubting me, or are you doubting the Earth Ancestor?"

High Priest Gao was like a wild cat whose tail had been stepped on, the timidity in his eyes vanished, and he stared sharply at the other man without letting go.

He knew that the more difficult the situation, the less he could afford to be soft-hearted.

Hiding in the cave for months, their supplies had long been exhausted. All High Priest Gao could do was use faith to suppress the pain in his body and wait for a turning point to appear.

Wu Jian couldn't help but open his mouth, but ultimately chose not to speak, though his gaze remained fixed on the murals.

The cave was silent, with only heavy breathing, as High Priest Gao paced back and forth in the cave, his expression becoming more and more anxious.

After an unknown amount of time, the sound of metal striking stone came from outside the cave, continuing for several minutes at a frequency of three long and two short.

High Priest Gao was overjoyed and hurried to the entrance of the cave, taking out a brass rod from his arms and responding with敲击 at a different frequency.

The sound outside immediately disappeared, and a figure walked wearily towards High Priest Gao, staggering and falling to the ground as soon as he reached the entrance of the cave.

High Priest Gao helped the figure up, and a foul smell of blood wafted over him, indicating that the other party had suffered serious injuries.

"Daoist Lu, have you found any trace of the Immortal Bone?"

"Yes... fortunately, I did not fail my mission."

Daoist Lu's throat was hoarse, blood flowing constantly from the corner of his mouth, and he coughed a few times he couldn't suppress.

The eyes of the black-robed men turned to Daoist Lu, who leaned shakily against the stone wall and then lifted his Taoist robe.

Daoist Lu took off his robe, which had stuck to his skin, and the pain made him grimace.

His body was covered with penetrating wounds of varying sizes, many of which had stopped bleeding, but most of the wounds were still festering and oozing pus.

Judging from Daoist Lu's exposed appearance, the traces of alienation were very few, with only gill-like organs on his neck, almost indistinguishable from ordinary people before the disaster.

"This Immortal Bone was placed in the Confucian Temple in Li County, and it was really... difficult to obtain. I sacrificed my own disciples to get a little chance."

High Priest Gao shuddered. Daoist Lu had taken more than twenty disciples with him before he left, but they had all died in the Confucian Temple.

However, as long as they obtained the Immortal Bone, all sacrifices would be worth it.

Daoist Lu put his index finger into his mouth, took out a pellet stuck between his teeth, and removed the surface dirt with a flick of his finger.

The pellet actually contained a fingertip bone from a little finger, the whole thing like agar-like white jade, emitting a faint light in the cave.

The black-robed men gasped, their eyes fixed on the finger bone with fervent gazes.

"Attaining Immortality."

"It really is an Immortal Bone, immortality, we're about to become immortal."

Several of them wept with joy, slashing their wrists with sharp brass knives to let the blood soak the altar, singing the praises of the deity called Earth Ancestor.

Daoist Lu unhesitatingly cut off his little finger and washed the Immortal Bone with his fingertip blood, muttering fanatically, "For the descent of the Earth Ancestor, the Earth Ancestor will eventually descend."

High Priest Gao said equally piously, "Yes, for the descent of the Earth Ancestor."

Wu Jian kept glancing at the finger bone, pretending to chant scriptures while actually concealing the greed in his eyes.

After the finger bone was as clean as new, it was placed on a brass disc.

Then High Priest Gao took off his Taoist robe, revealing a body that was only slightly alienated at the chest, and then picked up the brass knife that had been washed with blood.

He gritted his teeth and stabbed into his abdomen, cutting open his skin and stomach, and took out something from inside.

It was also a little finger bone, exactly the last two sections, and like the bone section that Daoist Lu had found, it belonged to the right hand.

High Priest Gao weakly picked up the finger bone and let the bones touch each other.

A crisp sound was heard, and the little finger bones fit together perfectly, forming a complete finger.

They stared at it mesmerized, their eyes full of undisguised reverence.

After a brief moment of calm, the objects in the cave suddenly floated up, and an invisible, terrifying aura emanated from the finger bone.

Boom!!!

Immediately afterwards, all the torches went out at the same time, and the finger bone became colorful.

Dreamlike light and shadow radiated from the cracks in the finger bone, and various fungi in the cave grew rapidly, soon reaching half a meter in size.

The fungi released spores that drilled into the bodies of the black-robed men.

The black-robed men showed expressions of enjoyment, their injuries recovering rapidly, and High Priest Gao and Daoist Lu were no longer weak.

They took off their black robes, their bodies all showing only slight alienation, and under the effect of the finger bone, their skin turned translucent.

Blood mixed with spores flowed throughout their bodies, eventually converging towards the heart, causing extraordinary changes in the heart.

The alienation on the black-robed men gradually faded away because of the finger bone.

Only Daoist Lu, apart from the seven-colored heart, had gray Yin Qi shrouding his kidneys, causing his abdomen to be covered with frost.

After the finger bone glowed for most of the hour, the cave fell silent again, and everyone closed their eyes with lingering pleasure, feeling the difference in themselves.

Daoist Lu was the first to wake up.

He opened his eyes and looked around, and when he saw the ordinary appearance of the others, his eyes were bloodshot, and tears flowed uncontrollably.

Daoist Lu's fear could not be suppressed, and he couldn't help but vomit on the ground.

It wasn't until the others showed signs of waking up that Daoist Lu braced himself and warned in a cold voice, "Accepting the creation of the Earth Ancestor, the body will naturally move closer to the Earth Ancestor. You should all know the rules of the Five Zhuang Temple, right?"

Everyone said in unison, "We will use our flesh and blood to worship the Earth Ancestor."

They did not choose to open their eyes, and skillfully covered their naked bodies, as if their appearance in the eyes of others was some indescribable monster.

While everyone was busy, Wu Jian took advantage of their closed eyes and the lack of light in the cave to quietly leave the cave.

High Priest Gao woke up belatedly and carefully swallowed the finger bone into his stomach.

Daoist Lu nodded as he sat cross-legged, "This Immortal Bone is called Clarity, and it is transformed from the dream of the Earth Ancestor. It can obtain the Dream Immortal Qi from the Earth Ancestor."

"I see."

"Now that we have Clarity, it will be easier for us to escape the pursuers."

The gloom on High Priest Gao's face had been swept away. In his opinion, after entering the Tao with the help of the Immortal Bone, he would be fully capable of protecting himself.

Moreover, the Dream Immortal Qi of the Earth Ancestor is very suitable for concealing one's tracks.

According to legends, the Earth Ancestor once descended to the mortal world to travel, leaving behind a total of twelve bones. Obtaining them would allow one to receive the inheritance of the Earth Ancestor and enter the Tao.

The most ⊥ new ⊥ small ⊥ said ⊥ is ⊥ at ⊥ six ⊥ 9 ⊥⊥ book ⊥⊥ bar ⊥⊥ first ⊥ hair!

High Priest Gao did not know how much effort he had spent to barely find the Clarity Immortal Bone.

Only after completely collecting the Immortal Bones could one be transformed into an Immortal Body through the Immortal Bones. Next, one only needed to circulate the Dream Immortal Qi's Great Circulation to steadily improve one's cultivation.

It is said that touching the twelve kinds of Immortal Bones of the Earth Ancestor would allow one to attain immortality.

Unfortunately, the Immortal Bones are scattered everywhere, and finding them all is no different from searching for a needle in a haystack.

Daoist Lu's kidneys also had traces of immortalization, indicating that he had come into contact with other Immortal Bones, and his strength had already reached the hall.

"Where's Wu Jian?!"

High Priest Gao asked, his face pale as he grabbed the woman next to him.

"I... I don't know..."

"It's bad, we must leave as soon as possible. Wu Jian may have changed his allegiance and now believes in the Three Tao Ancestors."

Daoist Lu immediately packed his things, but froze in place as soon as he finished speaking.

Thick smoke poured in from the passage of the cave, obviously the pursuers were already outside, planning to smoke them out like rats.

"Do we have a chance of winning?"

High Priest Gao asked with a wry smile, but received a negative answer from Daoist Lu's shake of his head.

Daoist Lu grabbed High Priest Gao's shoulder and said in a deep voice, "The Clarity Immortal Bone cannot be lost. We will protect you and kill our way out. Whether we can break through the encirclement depends on the blessing of the Earth Ancestor."

High Priest Gao did not hesitate and awkwardly circulated the Dream Immortal Qi. The other black-robed men followed suit, and a colorful mist enveloped them.

They rushed out of the cave. Waiting any longer would allow the pursuers to learn about the layout inside the cave from Wu Jian, and then there might not be any chance at all.

It was night outside, and hundreds of fully armed Taoist soldiers were distributed in the jungle.

Unlike the Taoists of the Five Zhuang Temple who covered their bodies, they wore light leather armor and held brass long knives in their hands.

However, the Taoist soldiers appeared extremely deformed, completely pieced together from wild beasts and humans, with rotten flesh constantly peeling off as they walked.

The Taoist soldiers of the Three Tao Ancestors and the Taoists of the Five Zhuang Temple were completely two extremes.

The Taoist soldiers were severely alienated, but believed themselves to be normal; the Taoists were slightly alienated, but were afraid of seeing the appearance of their own kind.

The disaster brought by the Primordial Heavenly Lord was still changing the perceptions of all living beings.

The grotesque Taoist soldiers watched coldly, blocking the path to the cave entrance with their weapons.

It could be seen that among the Taoist soldiers, the few whose bodies were larger and more bizarre had the highest status, riding on three-headed horses covered in pustules.

"Lord Sui, those heretical Taoists from the Five Zhuang Temple have all come out of the rat hole!"

The leader of the Taoist soldiers was more than two meters tall, completely composed of rotten flesh, and the crude armor could only protect part of his body, exposing the wriggling large intestine in the abdomen to the air.

Lord Sui said in a contemptuous tone, "They are just remnants of evil spirits, is there any need to make such a fuss?"

"Look at them, they don't even dare to show their true faces, it's obvious that they are no longer human."

"Hahahaha."

The Taoist soldiers laughed unscrupulously, not caring about the threat of the Five Zhuang Temple at all, while constantly approaching the entrance of the cave.

The Taoist soldiers in the back row took out cannon-shaped magic weapons, constantly filling them with copper beads, and then blocking the muzzle with dark red soft mud.

They aimed the cannon at the Taoists of the Five Zhuang Temple, who looked fearful, obviously deeply afraid of the magic weapons held by the Taoist soldiers.

High Priest Gao narrowed his eyes and squeezed out two words from between his teeth: "Evil spirits."

He noticed that Wu Jian's body was hanging on a tree not far away, indicating that the Taoist soldiers had no intention of letting go of any Taoists from the Five Zhuang Temple.

"Bold, do you know the Earth Ancestor..."

"Fire."

Lord Sui was too lazy to listen to the nonsense of the Taoists of the Five Zhuang Temple and directly ordered the magic weapons to be activated. Immediately, the Taoist soldiers activated their unique magic power.

Bang bang bang...

The cannon muzzles spewed out scorching flames, and the copper beads riddled the bodies of the Taoists with holes. Even with the blessing of the Dream Immortal Qi, they were as fragile as a mantis trying to stop a chariot in front of the Taoist soldiers.

Most of the Taoists present were killed or wounded. They tried to rush out under the leadership of Daoist Lu, but quickly retreated back into the cave.

High Priest Gao lay weakly on the ground, his stomach churning.

"Earth Ancestor, save me!!"

"Earth Ancestor, why do we have to die in this cave?"

"I don't want to die."

In the shadow of death, they began to use self-mutilation to pray to the Earth Ancestor, while outside the cave, the Taoist soldiers laughed wantonly, not caring about the so-called Earth Ancestor at all.

Lord Sui looked at a group of rats scurrying across the street and turned to the guards next to him to instruct, "After taking back the heretical bones, remember to set aside one section. There will be heretical cultivators who will come to their deaths."

"Understood, Lord."

The guards nodded, but couldn't help but look at High Priest Gao and the others.

They were just a group of ordinary farmers who had been forced to the end of their ropes a few days ago, and under the instigation of the remnants of the Five Zhuang Temple, they had now embarked on the path of cultivation.

It was simply unbelievable. No wonder some people said that heresy was a shortcut to becoming an immortal.

"Use fire to attack, turn them into ashes."

After Lord Sui gave the order, firewood was piled at the entrance of the cave, and the fire was quickly lit. The smoke, under the effect of the wind direction, poured inside.

They secretly admired the painful wails of the Taoists of the Five Zhuang Temple, discussing how to squander their military merits in the city after they obtained them.

Even Lord Sui did not realize that the commotion in the cave had disappeared too quickly.

Immediately afterwards, the sound of chanting scriptures rang out.

In the light of the flames, the Taoists of the Five Zhuang Temple knelt on the ground.

"Great Sage, Innate Spiritual Root."

Zhenyuan was a postnatally formed being containing a prenatal spiritual root.

Earth Ancestor!

Earth Ancestor!!!