Mountain of Eternal Life.
The location of the imperial mausoleum of the previous dynasty, untended for a hundred years and now overgrown with weeds.
Zhou Yi arrived in front of Emperor Chongming's tomb, only to find scratches on the stele erasing all the words of praise, leaving only the Emperor's na and posthumous title.
At the bottom, written with powerful finger strength, were three characters: Dog Emperor!
"How fascinating, no matter how much one tries to embellish one's achievents, history will always give an objective assessnt."
Zhou Yi activated the Earth Traveling Bead, and his figure directly entered the main burial chamber.
The chamber was constructed of massive rectangular stones, which, after more than two hundred years, were still stable. Around it were placed hundreds of opulent ritual vessels, and in the midst stood Emperor Chongming's stone coffin.
The lid of the coffin was already pried open, and a skeleton wearing an imperial robe was carelessly thrown on the ground.
"The tomb of the Dog Emperor was robbed?"
Zhou Yi stepped forward to examine and discovered that inside the stone coffin there was only a jade hairpin, which appeared to be the very object entrusted by Huang Yuniang.
He took the jade hairpin, and his divine sense probed into it.
Huang Yuniang's soul had long since vanished, leaving behind a series of residual ssages recounting the secrets of Emperor Chongming.
"So the Dog Emperor, ignoring the turmoil of the National Dynasty, greedily pursued the path of immortality, indeed he knew of the Cultivation World!"
In those days, Emperor Chongming ruled the world for over a decade and could barely be considered a qualified Emperor, until he encountered Ji Sheng, a disciple of the Dan Ding Sect on a visit ho.
The visit ho was just an excuse to leave the mountain. After Ji Sheng arrived in the mortal realm, he tempted Emperor Chongming with life-extending elixirs.
The purpose was to use Emperor Chongming's construction of a mausoleum as an opportunity to sacrifice a hundred thousand craftsn and laborers in a Blood Refinent of Spiritual Weapons, creating an incarnation of the Ghost King.
"A formal disciple of the Dan Ding Sect turned out to be a secret agent of the Ghost King Sect?"
Zhou Yi didn't know whether to worry or rejoice, worried that the Dan Ding Sect was not that safe, and pleased that the sect's scrutiny of its disciples was not strict. Otherwise, if techniques like Soul Search and the Art of Self-Reflection were used, he, a re Qi Refinent Realm cultivator, would definitely not escape detection.
After Emperor Chongming learned of the way of immortality, he was not content with just extending his life by several decades, but without a Spirit Root, he could not cultivate towards immortality.
Ji Sheng rely saw Emperor Chongming as a pawn and had no real intention of helping him. He planned to kill him with a spell after using him, to prevent leaking the secret of the Blood Sacrifice.
However, Emperor Chongming was no benevolent person. After learning that he had no hope of cultivating immortality, he surprisingly ordered his elite Jinyiwei to ambush and kill Ji Sheng.
With only a mid-stage Qi Refinent cultivation, and caught off guard by Emperor Chongming's surprise attack, Ji Sheng was ambushed. After a brutal interrogation by Emperor Chongming, he intended to secretly execute Ji Sheng but, fearing the revenge of the Immortal Sects upon hearing of the soul jade slip, decided otherwise.
Therefore, Emperor Chongming established a secret prison in the catacombs, intending to keep Ji Sheng locked up until death.
"If Emperor Chongming was a good person, would we have praised him for opposing immortals with his mortal ways?"
Zhou Yi continued reading. Emperor Chongming obtained Ji Sheng's relics, which included elixirs, magic artifacts, Blood Refinent of Spiritual Weapons, and incarnations of the Ghost King along with other Spiritual Objects and Spells.
Using these relics, Emperor Chongming trained his confidant, Li Wu, to beco an Innate Grandmaster, ensuring that the Dragon Position would not be taken away from the Zhao imperial lineage. Then he drafted a hundred thousand laborers to grandly renovate the Imperial Mausoleum and, under the flimsy excuse of a commoner uprising, killed all the laborers.
The Blood Sacrifice ritual was activated, and Emperor Chongming was buried in the tomb, attempting to cultivate the law of the Heavenly Ghost in human form.
.....
Zhou Yi for a mont did not know how to judge the Dog Emperor; had he truly succeeded in gathering the body of a Heavenly Ghost, with his wit and political savvy, he might have beco a ruler in the Cultivation World.
But human effort cannot overco fate!
Emperor Chongming did too many evil deeds in his lifeti, and even the heavens could not turn a blind eye.
Huang Yuniang, after entering the tomb, followed Zhou Yi's advice, scattered Emperor Chongming's remains, and upon entering the stone coffin, she saw the soul undergoing transformation.
One was the lingering soul of a mortal, the other was the soul of a cultivator practicing the Soul Nurturing Art, capable of materializing and manifesting as a ghost.
The gap between the two souls was vast, and in despair and confusion, Emperor Chongming's soul completely dissipated.
After Huang Yuniang devoured the lingering soul, she understood the whole story and took over the core of the Blood Sacrifice Formation, nurturing the body of the Heavenly Ghost within.
"How interesting!"
Zhou Yi tsk-tsked in amazent, his own simple advice had actually ruined the Dog Emperor's sches.
Huang Yuniang had been nurtured in the Blood Sacrifice Array for a hundred years, finally condensing the body of a Heavenly Ghost, spontaneously attracting yin spiritual energy into her body and becoming a Qi Refinent Realm ghost cultivator.
Heavenly Ghosts, according to Ji Sheng's description, had talents comparable to a Heavenly Spiritual Root, an exceedingly rare occurrence even within the Ghost King Sect.
Even without the orthodox thods of ghost cultivation, Huang Yuniang relied on her innate talent, and within a decade, she advanced to the third layer of Qi Refinent, reaching the mortal world's limit.
From the residual mories of Emperor Chongming's soul, she learned the location of the Cold Pool and then went to cultivate at the spirit land.
"Emperor Chongming, in his lifeti, built a sumr palace near the Cold Pool. After learning about the path to immortality, he sent people to explore the mysteries of the pool's cold qi and accidentally discovered the underground spirit land... If the Dog Emperor had not died, he could have been called the Son of Destiny!"
"Counting the ti, it was precisely when Mt. Small Pill was destroyed, and nurous loose cultivators entered the mortal world…"
"Compared to the Dog Emperor, Huang Yuniang's luck was much worse."
Zhou Yi looked further and, as he had guessed, Huang Yuniang didn't know the art of concealnt, which allowed the husband and wife duo, Li and Chen, to discover traces of ghost qi.
The incident at Mt. Small Pill threw Xuzhou into chaos. Li and Chen, believing that a fierce ghost had co to the capital to wreak havoc, conducted a careful investigation and eventually discovered Huang Yuniang, who was cultivating beneath the Cold Pool.
Having joined the Dan Ding Sect, Li and Chen's spells and magic artifacts were all first-rate; a ghost cultivator in the early stages of Qi Refinent was no match at all.
Huang Yuniang relied on the ghost's natural intangibility to barely escape with her life, hiding in the chamber of Emperor Chongming's tomb to recover from her injuries.
To avoid being hunted again by orthodox cultivators, Huang Yuniang decided to leave Cloud Continent and travel to Qiong Continent to join the Ghost King Sect for cultivation. Before leaving, she scattered the Dog Emperor's corpse and left the jade hairpin in the tomb.
——This hairpin is linked to my life. I ask you, sir, to keep it safe. Should I fall into the demonic path, please, sir, destroy the hairpin to prevent disaster to living beings!
Huang Yuniang's final ssage brought Zhou Yi considerable comfort.
"Huang Yuniang was not a vengeful ghost in life; her spirit was solidified using the orthodox Soul Nurturing Art, her mind clear and her mories intact."
"Her father was upright and strictly taught her morals of life. After his death, he was willing to let his soul scatter for his daughter, leading to this result!"
"The way of Heaven is clear, cause and effect cycle. The Dog Emperor's ticulous plans ca to nothing, as the Heavenly Ghost body and the Cold Pool spirit land fell into the hands of others. From this, it seems there really is karma for good and evil deeds in this world. I should take heed in my future actions,"
"To do good deeds, to accumulate rit!"
Zhou Yi was more delighted to see the Dog Emperor receive his karmic retribution than he was to ascend to the Foundation Establishnt realm.
"This calls for celebration!"
…
A month later.
Zhou Yi left the capital and flew toward Mt. Small Pill.
He had two objectives: one was the cultivation technique after Foundation Establishnt, and the other was to covertly cultivate in seclusion at Mt. Small Pill.
"With Mt. Small Pill's spiritual energy, combined with the Jade Dew Art, at most two to three hundred years would be needed to cultivate to the late stage of Foundation Establishnt, and then I can co out of seclusion and plan for the Solidifying Pill thod."
Zhou Yi planned to blend in among the Qi Refinent realm cultivators, without any desire to show off or slap faces, purely seeking stability.
The calamities faced by Qi Refinent realm cultivators could be easily resolved by a Foundation Establishnt true person. Once the Golden Core was solidified, he could then blend in among Foundation Establishnt cultivators. By progressing in this way, wouldn't he be able to steadily increase his cultivation level?
"I really am a genius!"
Zhou Yi praised himself, wandered outside Mt. Small Pill for a few days, found several loose cultivators, and asked if there were any major changes.
Transforming into the appearance of a middle-aged Taoist, Zhou Yi touched the mist with his mana, and just as he stepped into Mt. Small Pill,
a voice reached his ears.
"I am Xuan Kong, I greet this fellow Daoist..."
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