The Secret Way of Immortality

Venerable Qingxuan narrowed his eyes, using his vast, sea-like mana on the bulge, wanting to figure out what exactly was buried underground.

But as soon as his mana touched the bulge, it inexplicably disappeared.

The disciples of the Three Purities Temple were silent, their eyes fixed on Venerable Qingxuan.

Venerable Qingxuan, with his immortal demeanor, held a three-foot horsetail whisk in his hand, and boundless mana continuously erupted from his body, forming a thin mist around him.

Only by reaching the realm of a terrestrial immortal could one skillfully wield mana.

Although Venerable Qingxuan was the head of the Three Purities Temple, he usually kept a low profile, and no one expected his realm to have reached its peak.

It seemed that the evil demon was no match for Venerable Qingxuan at all.

"Disciples, listen to my order."

"Use the formation to contact the Daoist temples in all directions and discuss together how to deal with the demon's descent into the world."

The disciples of the Three Purities Temple were slightly surprised. At this moment, the bulge at the bottom of the Evil Locking Pagoda suddenly cracked with a large number of fissures, and fresh blood slowly seeped out.

The bloody smell spread out, but instead of a rotten stench, it was surprisingly fragrant.

No matter how they looked at it, the soon-to-be-born demon was already severely injured, so why waste spirit stones to contact other Daoist temples?

"Disciples understand."

Wu Qingfeng, the chief disciple of the Three Purities Temple, was the first to react. He quickly saluted and then strode towards the Mountain Guardian Formation.

The surrounding Daoists were stunned for a few breaths, and then followed behind Wu Qingfeng.

As Venerable Qingxuan's personal disciple, Wu Qingfeng knew his master's ways very well. The latter would only contact the heads of the various Daoist sects when he was sure that there was a problem he couldn't handle.

After all, as the leader of the Daoist sects, the Three Purities Temple would easily be criticized for showing weakness.

As for the old ancestors in the temple, they had all entered secluded cultivation hundreds of years ago, seeking opportunities to become immortals.

They might not even be within the mountain gate's range.

Venerable Qingxuan sat cross-legged in mid-air, not daring to restrain his own mana in the slightest.

No one noticed that his back was already soaked with sweat, his breathing was becoming heavier, and his hands were uncontrollably trembling.

"Could it be that the mass grave back then really buried the Earth Ancestor?"

Venerable Qingxuan couldn't help but swallow his saliva. Don't look at the bulge flowing with blood, but only he himself knew that even with his full strength, he couldn't say for sure that he could shatter the demon's outer shell.

He didn't even have a clue as to what the demon looked like.

The bulge seemed to bury a giant egg, inside which was gestating an unspeakable demon.

Venerable Qingxuan had no confidence in whether he could stop the demon from hatching, but he still had to pretend to be at ease.

If he were to be defeated, the disciples of the Three Purities Temple would be terrified.

The temple's thousands of years of foundation would at least be destroyed by half in his hands. Venerable Qingxuan could only grit his teeth and suppress the demon.

Fortunately, with the prestige of the Three Purities Temple, it wouldn't be difficult to summon the Daoist sects of the world.

In a month or two at most, the terrestrial immortals of the Daoist sects would gather in the Three Purities Temple, and no matter how terrifying the demon was, it would be completely suppressed.

Venerable Qingxuan secretly hoped that the demon's speed of breaking out of the ground wouldn't be too fast.

His heart was extremely chaotic, so he recited the Daoist scriptures: "Heaven and earth have no perfect merit, sages have no perfect ability, and all things have no perfect use."

"Therefore, heaven's duty is to give birth and cover, earth's duty is to shape and carry, sage's duty is to teach and transform, and things' duty is to be suitable..."

Venerable Qingxuan calmed down, and then a few of his fellow disciples with slightly weaker cultivation came to join him in suppressing the demon egg.

"Senior brother, you this..."

Venerable Ziyang stepped into the mana released by Venerable Qingxuan, and his expression became incredible. How could it feel like he was at the end of his rope?

Venerable Qingxuan swept a warning glance over the Daoists, muttering, "Do not look at what is improper, do not listen to what is improper..."

Seeing this, they didn't dare to say more, silently helping Venerable Qingxuan stabilize the Evil Locking Pagoda, and instructed the disciples to deal with the evil cultivators in the pagoda.

The Three Purities Temple was immediately filled with people, and thousands of disciples rushed to the Evil Locking Pagoda at once.

The Evil Locking Pagoda itself held many vicious and evil Five Zhuang Temple Daoists, and they needed to temporarily transfer the evil cultivators to the side hall.

Because they had been imprisoned for too long, the Five Zhuang Temple Daoists had lost their minds and numbly let them do as they pleased.

One by one, skinny black-robed figures walked out of the pagoda, connected by narrow chains.

The cultivation of the Five Zhuang Temple Daoists had been abolished, and their appearance was no longer the original "deformed and terrifying", but they still wore long robes.

The disciples of the Three Purities Temple felt a chill down their spines as they led the Five Zhuang Temple Daoists. They found that no matter where they went, the evil cultivators looked at the location of the bulge.

The half-exposed eyes in the black robes made their scalps tingle.

The eyes were filled with extreme fanaticism, as if they were facing the statue of the Earth Ancestor.

When the Five Zhuang Temple Daoists stopped in place, they would take the opportunity to kneel down and kowtow constantly, until blood stained the blue bricks red.

The core disciples of the Three Purities Temple knew the origin of the Evil Locking Pagoda. It was said that the twelve Earth Ancestor bones that plagued the world were excavated from here, so the demon was probably not simple.

Before they could delve into it, a large number of pilgrims poured into the Three Purities Temple.

The news of the Three Purities Temple's terrestrial immortals performing a ritual to save the demon had unknowingly spread to towns hundreds of miles away.

Naturally, some pilgrims wanted to see the immortal demeanor, hoping to be infected with some immortal aura.

They didn't care about the demon. After all, the Three Purities Temple was a Daoist holy land, so how could a demon possibly break through the Evil Locking Pagoda's seal?

In a strange atmosphere, the Three Purities Temple fell into a stalemate.

The flourishing incense made the surrounding mountains and forests filled with smoke and dust, and red silk scarves for pilgrims' blessings were hung everywhere on the branches.

Venerable Qingxuan, seeing the crowded Three Purities Temple, was not happy but became even more frightened, his forehead covered with sweat.

He waited anxiously for two days, almost without sleep.

Venerable Qingxuan's eyes were bloodshot, and he only felt like he was living like years. After receiving responses from the Daoist sects in all directions, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

The terrestrial immortals of the various Daoist sects would set off to the Three Purities Temple in the coming days.

Venerable Qingxuan was now afraid that his fellow Daoists would be clever and think that the Three Purities Temple wanted to expand its reputation and not rush to come.

Crack, crack, crack...

Venerable Qingxuan's ears twitched slightly, and then he looked nervously at the bulge.

Venerable Ziyang said pretentiously, "Senior brother Qingxuan, it's okay. Since the seal has lasted for several days without being damaged, it means that the demon won't be so easy to be born."

The other Daoists echoed, but at the same time, their eyes never left the bulge.

"Something's wrong, I heard..."

Before Venerable Qingxuan could finish speaking, gravel fell from a corner of the bulge, as if the demon egg buried deep underground was breathing.

His face was grave as he watched the bulge. He saw that more and more gravel was falling, and finally a hole of about half a meter was exposed.

The hole was pitch black, and the blood flowing out of it was even more turbulent.

As the blood evaporated, a fragrance enveloped the Three Purities Temple.

Venerable Qingxuan glanced at Venerable Huangshi, who had the lowest cultivation, and noticed that the latter's expression became intoxicated. He intentionally or unintentionally took a deep breath, as if he was enjoying the fragrance.

Even Venerable Huangshi was like this, let alone the disciples with ordinary cultivation.

All the disciples of the Three Purities Temple within a thousand meters of the bulge stood still, breathing hard, their faces flushed red as a result.

Venerable Qingxuan felt a chill down his spine, because he found that the bodies of the outer disciples were actually showing unspeakable alienation and distortion.

Although the alienation was very slight, it would inevitably lead to disaster in the long run.

"Evil demons and heretics, dare to disturb the Daoist heart."

Venerable Qingxuan gritted his teeth and took action, taking out a blue and white porcelain bowl and placing it upside down on the bulge, forming a barrier to block the smell.

A gust of wind blew from his sleeve, and the fragrance disappeared immediately.

The disciples of the Three Purities Temple came back to their senses, and then noticed the alienation of their bodies. They quickly sat cross-legged to suppress it, fearing that they would become possessed.

They didn't dare to approach the pagoda recklessly, and panic had begun to spread.

Venerable Qingxuan was stunned. He didn't expect that the demon's methods could be blocked so easily.

Then he realized that if the demon could cause large-scale alienation just by emitting a smell, then how terrifying would the main body be? Could it really involve the Earth Ancestor?

Crack, crack, crack...

The cracks were still spreading, and the hole was already two meters in size.

The deep and boundless darkness in the hole seemed to hide secrets. Venerable Qingxuan's attention was unconsciously concentrated, and he couldn't help but swallow his saliva.

In his eyes, the hole was like the demon's open bloody mouth.

Venerable Qingxuan trembled all over, as if he saw countless eyes in the depths of the hole, or corpses piled up like mountains.

In a trance, he heard a familiar and unfamiliar voice in his ear.

"Qingxuan, where is the boy guarding the medicine furnace?"

Venerable Qingxuan was sitting on pins and needles, covering his head with his hands. Memories from hundreds of years ago stimulated his soul, forcing him to recall the scene.

"Master, the boy fell into the medicine furnace, please save him..."

"No need to save him. Adding some fresh blood is not a bad thing. It can increase the medicinal power by a few points, don't you think, Qingxuan?"

"Senior brother, senior brother Qingxuan!!!"

Venerable Qingxuan was awakened by Venerable Ziyang. The memories receded like a tide, and his eyes were filled with endless fear as he looked at the hole.

"You didn't see it, that... that..."

"Senior brother Qingxuan, why don't you go and rest for half a day? That bulge is covered by your porcelain bowl, how could we see it clearly?"

Venerable Qingxuan shook off Venerable Ziyang's arm and closed his eyes, saying, "I'm fine, and nothing can happen. As long as we wait a few more days, the evil spirit will never have a chance to escape."

"Ziyang, prepare to seal the mountain."

Venerable Ziyang's face was worried, and he wanted to say something, but was stopped by Venerable Huangshi.

Venerable Qingxuan was the only terrestrial immortal in the Three Purities Temple who had not entered secluded cultivation. If he didn't guard the Evil Locking Pagoda, something would happen sooner or later.

Venerable Ziyang had no choice but to give up, paying attention to Venerable Qingxuan from time to time.

He found that Venerable Qingxuan had completely lost his usual composure after being frightened, and his mental state had become strange.

He would occasionally laugh or cry, but more often he was silent.

Venerable Ziyang was a little at a loss. If Venerable Qingxuan accidentally went mad, the Three Purities Temple would definitely be devastated.

What caught him off guard was that madness was not only suffered by Venerable Qingxuan, but soon the Daoists responsible for the seal began to become abnormal.

They talked to themselves, and would also make terrified shouts.

In less than ten days, they suddenly returned to their usual composure, and the Evil Locking Pagoda no longer echoed with ghostly howls.

On the contrary, Venerable Ziyang was busy dealing with the mountain seal and did not experience any mental abnormalities, but he became increasingly fearful of the demon.

The supplies stored in the mountain gate were enough to support half a year of consumption, but everyone in the Three Purities Temple noticed an unusual strangeness.

Every few days, Venerable Ziyang would hear movement from the porcelain bowl, and it seemed that the hole that Venerable Qingxuan occasionally mentioned was constantly expanding.

At the same time, the barrier formed by the porcelain bowl was gradually becoming transparent.

Venerable Ziyang had to use a formation to release a thick fog to cover the Evil Locking Pagoda, and set up an inaccessible forbidden area within several thousand meters.

He also gave up the idea of checking the bulge, waiting for the support of the other Daoist sects.

Venerable Ziyang ate and lived entirely outside the gate, and the means of contacting Venerable Qingxuan and other monks was only by sound transmission talismans.

Seeing that support was about to arrive, he became increasingly uneasy.

Venerable Ziyang was sleepless for a long time, always feeling that there was a thought in the bulge affecting him, often walking towards the Evil Locking Pagoda in a daze.

In the repression, he did not realize that the barrier was already visible to the naked eye, and most of the soil on the surface of the bulge had fallen off.

Until this day, the fog formation surrounding the Evil Locking Pagoda inexplicably failed.

Before Venerable Ziyang could react, he let the Evil Locking Pagoda be exposed in the Three Purities Temple.

All the disciples of the Three Purities Temple, whether intentionally or unintentionally, looked at the bulge.

Their expressions changed several times, and even Venerable Ziyang included, their eyes were filled with disbelief, and their worldviews were completely subverted.

Most of the existence at the bottom of the Evil Locking Pagoda had been revealed.

But it was not a demon, nor was it related to the Earth Ancestor, but a sacred, solemn, and majestic immortal god breaking out of the ground.

The immortal god had halos of light surrounding the back of his head, wearing a cyan and purple Daoist robe, holding a horsetail whisk in his left hand and a ruyi scepter in his right hand. The white air exhaled from his mouth and nose turned into cranes flying among the mountains.

Venerable Ziyang carefully recalled the characteristics of the Three Dao Ancestors, and it seemed that they could all be found on the immortal god.

The fear in his heart disappeared, and he shouted as if possessed, "Welcome the Dao Ancestor's descent, welcome the Dao Ancestor's descent..."

Thousands of disciples paid homage to the Dao Ancestor, the doubts in their hearts dissipated, and only the fanaticism of "Hearing the Dao in the morning, dying in the evening is enough" remained.

"Sigh..."

Ren Qing couldn't help but sigh. Looking at the appearance of the Three Purities Temple Daoists, he knew that his current image was very bluffing.

His current body and soul were a bit awkward. The aura of the Three Purities still remained somewhat, hidden in his flesh and bones like a bone-attached maggot.

The Heavenly Dao had just been promoted to the Yin Messenger realm and still needed a long time of cultivation.

The information flow threw the alienation at him all at once, causing Ren Qing to be unable to completely eliminate it cleanly in a short time. Moreover, because of his innate Dao body, the alienation could not harm the foundation of his body and soul.

Ren Qing's body became deformed and terrifying under the effect of the alienation. In the distorted cognition of the outside world, it could naturally be comparable to the Three Dao Ancestors.

He didn't need to use spells. Relying on his external image alone was enough to subdue the Three Purities Temple.

As long as he maintained this appearance, Ren Qing would be the Heavenly Dao showing himself in front of people in the outside world.

"Forget it, let's eliminate the alienation as soon as possible."

Ren Qing looked up at the sky. In the black and white clouds, there seemed to be black shadows wriggling, possibly the limbs of the Three Dao Ancestors.

He spat out a spiritual vein containing Nether Energy from his mouth and directly parasitized it at the bottom of the Three Purities Temple.

Ren Qing didn't even need to teach spells. The Three Purities Temple Daoists took the initiative to absorb the Nether Energy, especially the high-level monks led by Venerable Qingxuan.