Cultivation: Starting from a Mortal Bone

Yan Yu hesitated for a moment, as if recalling that Qin Yu had always treated her kindly, and finally said, ”Come with me to the Hundred Sword Sect, and you will understand.”

”The Hundred Sword Sect?”

Upon hearing this, Qin Yu’s brows grew heavy, tinged with grave concern.

The Hundred Sword Sect had been wiped from existence overnight, causing a great uproar at the time. To this day, no one has truly unraveled the real reason for its demise.

The Cyan Wave Mountains, once the home of the Hundred Sword Sect’s mountain gate.

Now, the entire region was shrouded by an array—solid as substance, resembling a reversed Milky Way—severing all within from the outside world.

As the flying ship approached, Yan Yu formed a seal with her hand, and the vessel passed through unhindered, entering with ease.

Stepping inside the array, Qin Yu’s expression changed at once.

The once magnificent Hundred Sword Sect had fallen into a grim and ghastly ghost realm. Not only had the spiritual qi vanished where the Immortal Sect once stood, but the ten-li stretch around was drowned in utter deathly silence.

The vegetation was withered, rivers dried up; even insects, birds, and beasts were nowhere to be seen. Only desolation remained, barren and lifeless, devoid of all vitality.

Only now did Qin Yu grasp the true gravity of the situation.

He knew well that beneath the Hundred Sword Sect lay a spirit vein. Now that all spiritual qi was gone, it could only mean... the spirit vein had been utterly corroded by death qi.

”When I first came, the death domain spanned no more than ten li or so.”

Yan Yu pointed to the ravaged land below and spoke.

”In one year, the range has nearly doubled?!”

Qin Yu’s expression grew even more grave.

With Yan Yu’s strength, she surely detected the issue. Yet, even her intervention had failed—clearly, the hidden threat here was graver than he’d imagined.

No wonder she’d said this land was no longer safe.

Looking ahead, the mountain gate of the Hundred Sword Sect was swathed in dense, black mist. Within it lingered an aura Qin Yu found strangely familiar.

”Is it... a Malice Spirit?”

Trouble.

The fall of the Hundred Sword Sect had also led to the release of the Malice Spirit once sealed below.

Qin Yu stepped from the flying ship, heading straight for the mountain gate.

Yan Yu, without the slightest hesitation, followed in his wake.

She had no idea what Qin Yu intended, but her duty was to ensure his safety—she could not allow any mishap to befall him here.

”We cannot continue downward. The spirit vein below has been completely corrupted. Even I risk contamination by the death qi if I descend further.”

Yan Yu suddenly spoke out.

A strange power, visible to the naked eye, hung thick in the air ahead. Closer approach would mean inevitable contamination.

”Buzz!...”

In the next moment, that inky death qi seemed to sense their qi mechanism, and—baring its fangs and claws—lunged at Qin Yu.

”Careful!”

Yan Yu’s face changed as she warned, ”That is death qi. Once it clings to you, it’s like maggots to the bone—impossible to dispel.”

Yet before she finished, Qin Yu stretched out his arm.

”You...”

Yan Yu was just about to stop him, but saw Qin Yu raise his hand, grasping that writhing death qi.

”Hiss!”

In the next instant, Yan Yu was shocked to find that wisp of death qi—even she dreaded—instantly vaporized into a curl of smoke, vanishing without a trace beneath his grip.

[Purifying Death Qi +10]

Not much.

But for Qin Yu, it was effortless—requiring no exertion at all.

He’d long known that the Pure Yang Divine Body, supreme yang and firm, was the bane of all sinister and strange death qi.

Though the death qi he’d encountered before had never been this dense.

Qin Yu gazed at the swirling, mist-like death qi; his eyes lit up.

If he could purify all this death qi, he’d likely earn a great deal of Flame Point, would he not?!

Beside him, Yan Yu was dumbstruck.

”You... you can actually deal with this death qi?!”

As a Flame Guard, she knew all too well the nature of death qi. If not, why would the Empress herself have decreed this place be sealed?

Death qi is indestructible.

In ancient times, the sages didn’t destroy the spirits, but rather... banished them!

Now, it seemed, the banished entities were returning for vengeance?

The word ’returning’ was apt—for spirits and ghosts did not belong to this world by nature.

Malice Spirits, Ruins Beasts—mere manifestations of malice and terror.

But as for ghosts, these would devour anything containing spiritual qi.

Living creatures, vegetation, rivers... all would be consumed.

Indeed.

Consumed.

Unlike Malice Spirits, whose lost minds left them as slaughtering husks, ghosts—through death qi—would devour spiritual qi and flesh, growing ever stronger.

Seemingly the nemesis to all things possessing spiritual qi.

And by virtue of their undying, indestructible nature, they were one of the most formidable foes!

Thus, when the Empress learned the blight was death qi, her rage knew no bounds.

After all, ghosts had long ago been banished by the sages. For them to appear again could not be mere chance—some unseen hand must be orchestrating it all.

And this was not directed at Great Yan Immortal Country alone.

If death qi were allowed to grow, every Immortal Country of the Human Race—and all major races—would face calamity, with none spared.

Should the mastermind be discovered, the wrath of all races would surely descend.

Thus, that hand dared only act in remote regions far from the Imperial Capital, making only subtle moves, never daring to grow bold.

If not for Yan Yu’s presence, from the moment the crisis was confirmed to word reaching the Empress’s ear, it might have taken years.

This was one small comfort for the Great Yan Empress.

Yet the scene before her left Yan Yu deeply shaken, utterly incredulous!

Qin Yu... had actually purified a strand of death qi?!

Though negligible, scarcely worth noting, this already lay beyond her comprehension.

”How did you do that?!”

Yan Yu stepped forward, grasping Qin Yu’s right hand. Only after confirming he’d suffered no death qi contamination did she relax, while her heart bristled with confusion.

This was death qi—even she dared not touch that fearsome force!

”Just like this.”

Qin Yu swung a fist at another surge of lunging death qi.

”Boom!”

The writhing death qi instantly collapsed, vanishing cleanly, not a trace was left behind.

”!!!”

Yan Yu was stunned; her eyes widened in that instant.

She could see clearly—the death qi hadn’t merely scattered, but had truly perished—been... purified?

But—why?!

This was death qi even the sages could not resolve.

She’d clearly seen that Qin Yu had used his physical body to make contact with the death qi.

Under normal circumstances, even as a Flame Guard, if she touched death qi in this way, contamination would be inevitable—she would be doomed with no escape.

Yet just then, the instant Qin Yu touched it, the death qi melted like snow under blazing sun, swiftly dissolving into nothingness.