A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

Following his incarnation from a distance, he soon arrived in a vast underground cavern. Even when he fully extended his Divine Sense, he couldn’t find its walls. He could only tell that the ceiling alone was a thousand zhang high. But when he saw the sight before him, he couldn’t help but freeze.

Just a short distance ahead, a Pyramid loomed.

It was built entirely from enormous blocks of some unknown black stone. Each tier was precisely one zhang high. One could only imagine how much stone, manpower, and resources had been expended to construct such a magnificent, colossal Pyramid, one that measured a thousand zhang in length, width, and height.

His gaze shifted to the Pyramid’s apex, where three stone platforms stood.

‘It’s Baqiong!’ A single glance was all it took for Lü Zhong to spot her, collapsed on the central platform.

He didn’t know what she had been through, but she was unconscious and wouldn’t wake, no matter how he called her name.

A black miasma enveloped her body—pure Corpse Qi. It seemed to have a life of its own, desperately trying to bore into her. As the Corpse Qi surged in, Baqiong’s life force weakened.

If this continued, Baqiong would likely end up like the two figures on the adjacent platforms—filled to overflowing with Corpse Qi, dying a painless death.

‘An infusion of Corpse Qi… Is it to make the sacrifice more appetizing?’

For some reason, that thought surfaced in Lü Zhong’s mind.

Reining in his wandering thoughts, he considered the Pyramid’s unknown origins and the potential threats lurking in the shadows. Factoring in the yet-to-be-seen Corpse Demon, it was clearly wiser to continue using his incarnation to scout ahead.

Lü Zhong mentally replayed the scene, confirming there were no ambushes near the stone platforms.

The incarnation advanced, quickly reaching the side of the platform.

A brief inspection revealed that Baqiong was unconscious simply because her Demon Power had been sealed. Once he broke the Prohibition surrounding the stone platform, she would wake up on her own.

Without delay, the incarnation materialized a Spirit Sword and began hacking wildly at the Prohibition.

With a muffled groan, Baqiong finally stirred awake. She sat up and vomited a mouthful of black slurry that reeked of a foul stench, and worms could be seen squirming within it.

She was overjoyed when she realized Lü Zhong had saved her.

After they regrouped, Lü Zhong made sure to check Baqiong over, confirming she hadn’t been tampered with. Only then did he take the Dao Transmission Jade Disc Fragment from her. He fitted it with his own two pieces, forming a complete Dao Transmission Jade Disc.

With this, he had passed Feng Rui’s trial.

All he had to do now was break through to the late-stage Nascent Soul realm. Then, he could accompany Feng Rui to the Land of Immortal Arrival and see for himself if the opportunity for Divinity Transformation truly existed there.

Lü Zhong had longed to visit that legendary place for a very long time.

‘As for the Corpse Demon…’

After a moment’s hesitation, he decided to investigate more thoroughly. He had a nagging feeling that this place was stranger than it appeared, that it held many secrets beneath the surface.

Seeing Lü Zhong’s intention to investigate, the recovering Baqiong recalled what she had seen and heard earlier. “Master,” she warned, “before, when I was brought here, I heard a dragon’s roar from deep underground. The entire Pyramid then began to tremble violently, and countless Silver Tadpole Script Prohibitions appeared all over it. Maybe underneath…”

“Oh?” Lü Zhong was quite surprised.

It seemed he had made the right decision, then.

At the Pyramid’s apex, besides the three stone platforms, there was a vertical shaft leading downward. After confirming there was no visible danger, the incarnation leaped in.

Numerous murals lined the shaft on the way down.

Through these murals, Lü Zhong finally learned the Pyramid’s history. It wasn’t a tomb as he had first guessed, but rather a structure built to seal away a Flood Dragon, called the “Jin Hao Death Suppression Tower.”

The tower imprisoned a nearly immortal Ghost Flood Dragon. In life, it had been a Demon Saint of the Boundless Sea. Fearing its own demise, it turned to the Ghost Dao. Unexpectedly, it proved to be exceptionally talented in this path as well, quickly cultivating to the level of a Divinity Transformation Ghost Cultivator.

When the Ghost Flood Dragon emerged, it plunged the world into darkness and committed unspeakable atrocities. For this, it was sealed away by Ancient Cultivators, bound by powerful Prohibitions, and hidden deep within the Chankong Forbidden Land.

…

Using the Light Body Skill, the incarnation landed softly.

Unlike the space above, the bottom of the shaft was saturated with Yin Qi.

In this ten-zhang-square space, numerous Restriction Arrays had once been laid out, but now they were all utterly destroyed. Their fragments littered the floor, revealing a sloping passage in the center from which vast amounts of pure Yin Qi still billowed out.

Without a doubt, the Ghost Flood Dragon was down there.

Without a shred of hesitation, the incarnation entered the passage.

Moments later, it emerged into another enormous cavern. This one was even larger than the one above; it was like stepping into a Secret Realm.

The incarnation now stood on an altar-like structure. As it gazed out from its vantage point, a breathtaking scene unfolded before its eyes.

‘The Ghost Flood Dragon! So this is the body of a Demon Saint?’

Now in direct control of the incarnation, Lü Zhong stared at the thousand-zhang-long black behemoth, motionless within a storm of Yin Qi as if in a deep sleep. He was so stunned he was speechless.

Yet even a beast of this magnitude was bound by massive chains.

He couldn’t tell what material the chains were forged from, but their surfaces were covered in a dense network of glittering silver Runes. They were clearly extraordinary artifacts, keeping the Ghost Flood Dragon completely suppressed and leaving it no chance of waking.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! The hammering was relentless.

He had heard the sound clearly upon entering the passage.

His gaze followed the sound to a white figure—the very same Corpse Demon that had abducted Baqiong.

It was currently wielding a greatclub, smashing it wildly against a section of the chain. Each impact sent up a burst of golden sparks that seemed to have a restraining effect on the Corpse Ghost Outer Dao, scalding the Corpse Demon and making it grimace in pain.

Even so, it did not stop.

There was no telling how long the Corpse Demon had been at it, but the ground was already littered with shattered fragments.

He could clearly identify them as the remains of Magical Artifacts.

CRACK! The greatclub in the Corpse Demon’s hand finally gave out, shattering into pieces.

Seemingly enraged, it let out a roar, then picked up a golden longsword and began hacking furiously at the chain before it, like a tireless machine.

‘Is it trying to free the Ghost Flood Dragon?’

Lü Zhong wondered, watching the scene unfold.

Soon, what the Corpse Demon did next shocked him even more.

It actually sat down cross-legged and began to meditate in a stiff, deliberate manner. Then, it spoke in a human tongue, its voice a near roar. “Damn it! These damn Death-Suppressing Chains! How much longer will it take to shatter them?! How much longer until I can claim the Ghost Flood Dragon’s body for myself?!”

At the end of its tirade, the Corpse Demon could no longer contain its rage and let out a furious roar towards the sky.

“ROAR!”

Witnessing this firsthand, Lü Zhong’s mind reeled.

The Corpse Demon wanted to possess the Ghost Flood Dragon!

Given the vast disparity in power between them and the fundamental difference in their Divine Souls, such an act was almost certainly doomed to fail. A Primordial Spirit that had completed its Metamorphosis, like the Ghost Flood Dragon’s, could obliterate the Corpse Demon with ease.

Unless… something was wrong with the Ghost Flood Dragon itself.

The Primordial Spirit!

The more Lü Zhong thought about it, the more he believed this was the only possibility. If there was nothing wrong with the Ghost Flood Dragon’s Primordial Spirit, the Corpse Demon’s attempt at possession would be suicidal—like a moth flying into a flame.

‘But how could the Primordial Spirit of a Divinity Transformation Ghost Cultivator possibly have a problem?’ Lü Zhong wondered.

Judging by the current situation, it was as if the Ghost Flood Dragon’s Primordial Spirit had vanished, leaving only an empty shell suppressed here.

It wasn’t hard to guess that there was a great secret behind all this.

‘If that’s the case, this is a golden opportunity!’ A glint appeared in Lü Zhong’s eyes as a bold idea took root in his mind. He couldn’t help but stare at the Ghost Flood Dragon’s massive body.

‘If the Corpse Demon can take it, why can’t I?’

It wasn’t that he wanted to stop being human.

Rather, an empty Demon Saint’s shell—even one converted into the body of a Ghost Cultivator—was of immeasurable value. Whether used as raw material for Artifact Refining or forged into a Puppet, it was an excellent choice either way.

Especially if he forged the empty shell into a Puppet.

Even the Immortal Dao had techniques for creating such Puppets.

If he could truly succeed, he would possess a Half-Step Divinity Transformation Puppet.

At this thought, Lü Zhong’s breathing quickened, and his heart began to pound.