Chapter 804
Soul-Illuminating Cave, Graveyard Job Opening
Chapter 804 Soul-Illuminating Cave, Graveyard Job Opening
Just as Zhang Yu was studying the Dao Seed Genealogy in the "Feather Book" and constantly comprehending the mysteries of the Level 2 [Descendant of an Immortal], he suddenly felt a sudden change occurring within his Immortal Space.
A phantom figure slowly emerged from the ground of the immortal space.
Looking at the blurry figure, Zhang Yu could not see the other person's appearance clearly, but he could vaguely guess the other person's identity from the aura emanating from the other person.
"This is... Ling Feng?"
Having observed Ling Feng in his memories and dreams for so long, Zhang Yu developed a sense of familiarity with Ling Feng's thoughts, which enabled him to recognize him.
However, Ling Feng, who was inside the immortal space at this moment, obviously could not hear Zhang Yu's thoughts, let alone hear Zhang Yu's words.
With a thought, Zhang Yu activated the power he had gained from the Level 2 [Descendant of Immortals] and sent his consciousness into it.
A level 2 [Descendant of Immortals] can store consciousness in addition to being an inanimate object, and naturally it can also accommodate the consciousness of its master.
The next moment, Zhang Yu felt his consciousness floating in the immortal space like a fish.
Ling Feng seemed to have noticed Zhang Yu's presence as well, and suddenly turned around, saying, "Are you the successor that Junior Brother Ying found?"
Zhang Yu asked, "Are you really Ling Feng?"
Ling Feng said calmly, "I suppose so. Enough with the small talk. Now that you have inherited my Soul-Illuminating Cave, my true spirit won't last long before it collapses."
"Before that, there are some things I need to make clear to you."
Zhang Yu was slightly startled, pondering what the other party had said about the Soul-Illuminating Cave and the Collapse of the True Spirit.
"The Soul-Illuminating Grotto-Heaven? It must refer to... the inheritance space mentioned in the Dao Seed Genealogy that needs to be fused to upgrade the level of [Descendant of Immortals], right?"
"And then there's the collapse of the true spirit..." he thought to himself. "The true spirit is the only proof of reincarnation. If the true spirit collapses... wouldn't that mean the soul is truly scattered? And there's no chance of reincarnation at all?"
A thought struck Zhang Yu: "Could it be... that he was so resolute in order to conceal it from the Reincarnation Immortal Emperor? That he used such a suicidal method?"
Seemingly sensing the turmoil in Zhang Yu's consciousness, Ling Feng said calmly, "After the true spirit collapses, there is indeed no chance of reincarnation."
Ling Feng's tone turned cold as he said, "But I don't care about reincarnation and surviving. All the sects in the world have been ruined because of this pursuit of immortality."
Upon hearing Ling Feng's words, Zhang Yu suddenly thought of the story between Ling Feng and Qi Mengyun. If it weren't for the pursuit of immortality, Qi Mengyun might not have fallen into the demonic path.
Zhang Yu thought to himself, "Perhaps it was after this incident that Ling Feng gradually developed a dislike for cultivators' pursuit of immortality?"
Ling Feng continued, "To entrust my true spirit to the Soul-Illuminating Cave Heaven and to cover up the traces of the cave heaven with my corpse is to make this useless person like me useful. This is what I wanted in my heart. Now that my true spirit has collapsed, it is a kind of liberation. You don't need to worry about it."
"Before I leave, I only want you to remember... Since you have inherited the Soul-Illuminating Cave, you are the successor of my righteous path. From now on, the righteous and the demonic are irreconcilable."
Ling Feng: "But I am not asking you to kill an Immortal Emperor with your mortal body, or to do something beyond your own capabilities in order to eliminate demons and protect the righteous path."
Ling Feng sighed and said, "That's just being reckless, wasting your talent, wasting the cultivation of your elders, and failing the expectations and trust of the future generations."
"Only by preserving your usefulness can you stand up when the world truly needs you."
Listening to Ling Feng's words, Zhang Yu seemed to sense a strong sense of regret. He could almost see Ling Feng regretting his powerlessness and resenting the power he had lost in the battle between good and evil.
Ling Feng continued, "When that time comes... you must slay all those who oppress the people, devour the masses, suck their marrow from their bones, and steal their souls, regardless of their origins or identities."
Looking at the blurry, illusory figure, Zhang Yu felt a pair of incredibly sharp eyes staring at him, as if trying to see through his consciousness completely.
The next moment, the illusory figure that Ling Feng had transformed into rushed over like a shooting star streaking across the sky, crashing heavily into Zhang Yu's consciousness.
It was as if a loud bang resounded in Zhang Yu's mind, causing his consciousness to surge.
As Ling Feng's true spirit completely collapsed, his last words... were deeply imprinted into Zhang Yu's mind.
"If a friend becomes a demon, kill the friend; if a relative becomes a demon, exterminate the relative; if a sect becomes a demon, exterminate the sect."
After a long while, a sigh seemed to echo within the immortal space.
Zhang Yu thought to himself, "The Righteous Path... Did Ying Xintian follow this principle, which is why even after becoming an immortal, he ultimately chose to become an enemy of the entire Kunxu?"
"Am I...capable of doing this?"
The next moment, with a thought from Zhang Yu, his consciousness returned to his body.
After this hands-on experience with the ability, Zhang Yu has gained a deeper understanding of the [Descendant of Immortals] skill, which has now reached level 2.
"Preserving consciousness... With this function, besides accepting my consciousness, it seems it can also accommodate soul cultivators, right?"
"Besides that, special corpses like Ling Feng, because of their residual true spirit and consciousness, can be seen by me after being taken into the immortal space. They can even have a little bit of communication with me?"
Zhang Yu thought to himself, "Does that mean... as long as I use the Immortal Space to contain the corpse, I can decipher the information left behind by the corpse?"
After pondering it for a while, Zhang Yu guessed that this possibility existed.
"But ordinary corpses are not as special as Ling Feng's body. They do not retain their true spirit, nor do they maintain the dream formed by memories."
"It's estimated that very little information will be deciphered..."
After summarizing, Zhang Yu concluded that another function of the Level 2 [Descendant of Immortals] was to interpret corpses.
However, according to Zhang Yu's conjecture, only special corpses like Ling Feng's could yield a large amount of information for interpretation, while ordinary corpses would probably only contain some fragmented information.
"The Dao Seed Genealogy reminds me to continue liberating the bodies of my ancestors and merging with the inheritance space... Does it refer to special cases like Ling Feng's? Are there many others like this?"
Thinking of this, the name Ying Xintian came to mind: "Was it Ying Xintian who hid these ancestors' corpses along with the so-called grotto-heaven?"
Information about the old cemetery immediately came to Zhang Yu's mind.
"During the great battle of the immortals... in the ancient graveyard where space was distorted, did Ying Xintian hide a portion of the corpses and the cave heaven there?"
Zhang Yu intuitively felt that there was a great possibility involved, and the guess of mutual attraction surged into his mind again.
It was as if a force was silently drawing him in, compelling him to continuously improve his level as a [Descendant of Immortals] and to learn more about the war between good and evil and the past of Kunxu.
"I wonder what other corpses Ying Xintian left behind."
Will we see more dreams of our ancestors and predecessors?
When Zhang Yu thought of dreams, he thought of Ling Feng's dreams, where memories were so beautified and simplified.
"Memory is not the true reality and may not objectively reflect the truth of the past."
"but……"
Zhang Yu suddenly thought of the Great Sage Eating Wild Ox.
Zhanxian said, "After all, the Great Sage of the Wild Ox was born from the collective consciousness. Perhaps he is one of the few in this world who will not be embellished or distorted in memory, but simply an objective record of existence."
……
Several days passed in the blink of an eye, and the day arrived for Zhang Yu to set off for the old cemetery.
In the dormitory, Zhang Yu could be seen moving swiftly, simulating the execution of a martial art using the [Formless Martial Arts] technique.
After these days of training, he has successfully advanced the [Formless Martial Arts] to level 12/12 and obtained the fourth effect of this chain magic diagram.
Infinite - Formless Martial Arts (12/12): 6% chance to unleash the original martial arts effect.
Zhang Yu thought to himself, "After a series of attempts, it turns out that there is a 6% chance that every move and every technique can break through the 5% limit of the technique simulation and achieve 10% effectiveness."
Zhang Yu stopped circulating his internal energy, glanced at the dormitory that had been cleaned up, and said to Yan Qianji beside him, "Let's go, Qianji."
As Zhang Yu left the Imperial Law Pavilion, neither the members of Martial Arts Group One nor Group Three came to see him off. Clearly, they were all unwilling to get involved with Zhang Yu and were afraid of being implicated by the upper echelons of the Imperial Law Pavilion.
The next moment, with a swift movement, Zhang Yu had already led Yan Qianji towards the center of Zhongji Heaven.
The old graveyard he was heading to belonged to a small realm, which was an independent space surrounding the outer edge of the Central Heaven. It could only be reached through spatial teleportation.
Zhang Yu is now heading to the space station located at the center of the 11th floor of the Central Heaven.
Zhang Yu knew that the area was a public area shared by the ten major sects and served as a transportation hub, allowing access to various different regions and smaller realms via spatial teleportation.
When Zhang Yu arrived at the space station, he saw a vast area, resembling a city, where supplies flowed like a torrent through the air, constantly being transported from one place to another via spatial teleportation. At the same time, all sorts of cultivators flashed by in mid-air, traveling between various small worlds across the vast expanse through the space station's gates.
In this space station, the Dharma Realm no longer covers it. Zhang Yu and Yan Qianji brought back the Eye Corpse and reconnected to the Spirit Realm.
After purchasing a teleportation ticket to the old cemetery, Zhang Yu followed the directions and arrived at a gate that was a hundred meters high.
Within that pitch-black gate, cultivators could be seen coming and going from time to time, but each one of them looked eerie and menacing.
In addition, Zhang Yu and Yan Qianji could see large numbers of corpses being carried into the door from time to time.
Zhang Yu knew that because the entire old cemetery had been transformed into a place where yin energy gathered, it was extremely suitable for the survival of soul cultivators and for storing corpses. It gradually became the location of many related research laboratories, so a large number of corpses were transported there every day.
Besides the corpses, Zhang Yu also saw many living corpses.
Under his gaze, rows of naked living people, like chickens and ducks waiting to be slaughtered, were crammed together and sent to the old graveyard.
The term "living corpse" refers to those who are still alive but whose deaths are already predetermined.
Only after arriving at the old cemetery and being processed according to the planned methods in the planned environment can it become a qualified product.
"These are the so-called 'some people are still alive, but they are actually dead,'" Zhanxian explained. "These should be pre-made material people produced by the Netherworld Palace. They have a lot of influence in the Old Graveyard, so you should try not to provoke them."
Zhang Yu understood the meaning of "Slaying Immortals": before growing into a true immortal cultivator capable of changing the world, he had to do his best to preserve himself and his power, and strive to climb higher.
Looking at the materials, Zhang Yu thought to himself, "In the old graveyard... the Myriad Laws Sect doesn't have much power, but the Netherworld Palace, the Heavenly Demon Sect, and the White Bone Sect are all very powerful. It can be considered a small world where the demonic path is flourishing, right?"
Just as Zhang Yu was thinking this, a notification from the spirit world appeared before him, reminding him and Yan Qianji that it was time to pass the test.
After a thorough inspection, Zhang Yu and Yan Qianji passed through the gate without incident.
As the world around him suddenly changed, Zhang Yu found himself in the old graveyard.
Upon arriving at the old cemetery, Zhang Yu's first sensation was its chill.
He thought to himself, "Is this what they call yin energy?"
A penetrating, yin energy assailed his body, as if trying to penetrate his seven orifices and pores, seeping into every inch of his body, making him feel a chill that went deep into his bones and froze his heart.
Zhang Yu immediately circulated his qi and blood to resist this yin energy.
Zhang Yu accessed the weather report from the spirit world and saw a soul cultivator broadcasting it.
"The average temperature at the old cemetery today has reached -60 degrees Celsius. It's still a beautiful overcast day. We suggest you take your bodies out and move them around to prevent them from stiffening."
"Yin Qi Quality Index: Excellent, suitable for astral projection, all types of souls can move normally..."
Looking at the weather report, Zhang Yu could sense that the chill of the old graveyard was not just a change in temperature, but a coldness related to consciousness and soul, a coldness involving immortal techniques.
Just then, a flash of light appeared before Zhang Yu's eyes, and a notification from the spirit world appeared.
"According to our unit's real-time monitoring and records..."
"You have been detected to be continuously emitting a large amount of visible yang energy during your exercise, and the concentration of pollutants emitted significantly exceeds the limits stipulated by the mandatory standards of the Pollution Prevention and Control Law."
"This behavior violates relevant laws and regulations and directly harms the environmental quality of the former cemetery and public health."
"In accordance with relevant regulations, we hereby issue you a formal warning and order you to do the following..."
"A fine?" Zhang Yu felt a wave of helplessness. He hadn't expected that he would be fined for simply using his internal energy to resist the intrusion of Yin energy in this old graveyard.
Zhang Yu thought to himself, "No wonder the information I found said that once you arrive at the old graveyard, it's best to let your soul leave your body and temporarily reside in your physical body."
But Zhang Yu also knew that he would be staying at the old graveyard for a period of time, and it was not suitable for him to leave his physical body in a place outside this small world.
"We can only hold out for now. We'll go report first, and then find a place in the cemetery to store the body."
Zhang Yu grabbed Yan Qianji beside him, his body soaring into the air as he flew toward the address indicated by the spirit realm.
Beneath their feet, eerie, ancient buildings flashed by, and through their eye sockets, they could see countless soul cultivators surging within them.
Meanwhile, in stark contrast to the cold and gloomy city, various advertisements kept popping up in their eyes, revealing the booming soul cultivation market and the bustling trade of corpse parts.
"Buy ten get one free, top-tier soul cultivators to choose from! Starving ghosts with nothing to eat, red-clothed ghosts with no way to cultivate together, bankrupt ghosts who died from fraud, legal person ghosts who went bankrupt from cryptocurrency speculation, and wronged souls from ten lifetimes—you name it, we have it!"
Zhang Yu knew that the so-called "quality" referred to the manner of death; the more tragic the death, the stronger the resentment, and the better the "quality".
"Want the best soul cultivator from the entire Old Graveyard? We are the designated supplier for the Heavenly Demon Sect's Ten Thousand Souls Feast. You can absorb it with confidence and use it with peace of mind. All souls are processed on-site, and we refuse to produce pre-made souls."
Zhang Yu's eyes flashed. After a quick search in the Spirit Realm, he learned that this so-called soul cultivator bloodline... referred to the manufacturers and brands of soul cultivators. In other words, it could also be called the companies and people who killed the original soul cultivators.
At this moment, although the temperature was minus 30 degrees Celsius beneath Zhang Yu's feet, the city appeared to the naked eye as a desolate ghost town.
But inside the eyes and ears, there was a cacophony of ghostly noises, a bustling market where all sorts of transactions took place, and human souls and corpses were bought and sold like pigs, cattle, and sheep.
In the eyes of many people in the old cemetery, Zhang Yu, who was speeding along, was also quite eye-catching, simply because the heat and yang energy emanating from his body were too obvious in this yin atmosphere.
"Is this how you pollute the environment? The people of the Wanfa Sect are just so uncivilized."
"They have absolutely no sense of public morality."
Zhang Yu was naturally unaware of what the others were thinking. He led Yan Qianji across half of the ghost city and finally arrived at the Wanfa Sect's headquarters in the old graveyard.
It was a solitary little building, located on the edge of the city.
When Zhang Yu entered the small building, no one came to greet him, as he was a newly promoted Level 4 Zongwu official and the new deputy minister of Youxin Department.
Zhang Yu didn't care about this. He knew that in the eyes of those inside the Imperial Law Pavilion, his promotion was a clear demotion in disguise, a suppression by the higher-ups of the Imperial Law Pavilion. Coming to the old graveyard was like being banished to the cold palace, so naturally no one would try to get close to him.
Following the directions, Zhang Yu first went to the office of the Minister of the Department of Youxin.
But a pale-faced, ghostly spirit stopped him, saying apologetically, "I'm sorry, Vice Minister Zhang, the Minister has to go on a business trip and is unable to receive you at the moment."
"He asked me to tell you that you can familiarize yourself with the work environment and team first..."
……
Meanwhile, in an office of the Yu Shinbu.
Minister Qin Chuan spoke through the spirit world to the other side: "Yes, he has arrived."
"Don't worry, he's only been in the Imperial Law Pavilion for a few years. How long has he been a disciple? With me here, I guarantee I'll keep him stuck in this position, he won't be able to leave even for a moment."
"Yes...yes...I will report to you immediately if anything happens."
After hanging up the phone, a smile appeared on Qin Chuan's face. He thought to himself, "I never thought that staying in this godforsaken place would lead to such a rare opportunity."
"Zhang Yu..."
His eyes flashed, and a series of surveillance videos appeared before his eyes, showing Zhang Yu being introduced to the Youxin Department.
At the same time, a soul cultivator appeared in front of Qin Chuan and said, "Minister, I have already told him that you are on a business trip."
Qin Chuan nodded, thinking to himself, "I'll leave you hanging for a month, so you can figure out whose territory this is."
Just then, the Soul Cultivator said again, "Minister, the Immortal Shuttle is still parked in the city center."
Qin Chuan tensed up, immediately shutting down Zhang Yu's surveillance footage, and sat up straight, asking, "Have you found out whose magic shuttle it is? What is its origin?"
A few days ago, a flying shuttle bearing a fairy badge entered the old graveyard, immediately attracting attention from all sides.
However, after some investigation, no one could find out the origin of this celestial shuttle, which made Qin Chuan even more concerned.
He understood that the more this was the case, the more it proved that the Immortal Shuttle had an extraordinary origin.
Compared to Zhang Yu... this celestial shuttle and its owner are far more important to him.
Especially when such a moment arrives, it may bring about changes that affect the entire old cemetery.
(End of this chapter)