Chapter 217 - 209: Celestial Corpse True Monarch
Cyan Mountain Daoist Temple. The courtyard was silent.
Qi Yun sat cross-legged beneath the dead, old tree. The stone slab beneath him was cold. His eyes were downcast, his gaze fixed on a spot not far in front of him.
There, two tiny ants moved tirelessly across a miniature landscape of "mountains and rivers."
Two months had passed since the day he had treated Qian Xin Master’s old ox, resolving the karmic crisis of Nine Kings Mountain.
In those two months, Qi Yun had not performed a single Circulation, not absorbed a single wisp of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, not read a single Jade Scroll recording a Daoist Skill.
He just sat there day after day, as if he had become one of the courtyard’s unyielding stones, a piece of dead wood.
He used this tedious meditation to forcibly suppress and settle the increasingly turbulent and restless feelings in his heart.
’It’s been too easy.’
This feeling had quietly sprouted after he succeeded in his Foundation Establishment, especially after he so easily crushed Song Kun.
It had been growing clearer by the day.
Looking back, since he had set foot on the path of cultivation, he had indeed experienced the life-and-death struggles of the Pot Valley Yin Ruins, encountered the strange ploys of the Divine Silkworm Sect, faced the schemes of Black Mountain Master, and even engaged in a perilous contest of Dao against the resentful will of a former Daoist Master in the Daluo Dao Formation Land...
But he had overcome every one of these hardships and obstacles in the end.
In a mere sixty years, he had even walked a path that ordinary geniuses might not complete in several centuries, or even a lifetime.
He had attained the Venerable Dao Foundation, which stood above all other Ten Thousand Laws!
’Easy. It’s been far too easy!’
So easy that he had almost forgotten that cultivation was, in essence, an act of defying the heavens, a struggle for destiny against fate, a path where every step was fraught with thorns, like walking on thin ice.
So easy that his mind had grown increasingly unbridled and unrestrained, letting his thoughts wander where they may.
His actions became more and more impulsive, lacking his former caution.
’This mentality is a potent poison!’
’If this continues, I won’t need an external enemy to defeat me; I’ll lose my true self on this seemingly smooth path of the Great Dao.’
No matter how stable his Dao Foundation was, it couldn’t withstand a Heart Demon born from within.
When that time came, he would suffer from cultivation deviation, and his Dao would perish along with his body.
’It would probably all be over in an instant.’
Qi Yun watched the two tiny yet orderly ants on the ground. Their world was simple and pure.
They scurried about only for survival and the continuation of their colony, their minds free from distractions.
’But me? My power grew too quickly, and my state of mind failed to keep pace.’
The Venerable Dao Foundation had brought not only power, but also an intangible arrogance of "Status."
It made him subconsciously look down on all things.
’If this goes on, something terrible will happen.’
Qi Yun slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
The cool air of the courtyard, tinged with the scent of soil and decaying leaves, filled his lungs and brought a trace of clarity.
This meditation, this observation of ants, was not to waste time.
It was to tame his own heart amidst this extreme stillness and monotony.
He forcibly suppressed all his surging thoughts, all the arrogance born from his smooth success, and all his ambitions and agitations for the future. It was like diverting a raging flood into a dry riverbed, leaving behind only an almost deathly calm.
’The road ahead is long. I can’t afford a moment of complacency, let alone... tear down my own Great Wall.’
...
Time flew. In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed since Qi Yun began his meditation.
In the courtyard of the Cyan Mountain Daoist Temple, the figure seated beneath the dead tree had merged with the surrounding stone slabs and dust.
A thick layer of dust covered his green robes and the tips of his hair, trembling slightly in the gentle breeze.
In stark contrast to this external stillness were his eyes, which slowly opened.
The sharpness and restlessness that had occasionally flashed through them, born from his soaring power and unstable mind, were now completely gone.
In their place was a clarity and brightness like that of a deep, ancient well.
Half a year of rigid sitting and endless monotony had not extinguished his spiritual intelligence. Instead, like the finest sandpaper, it had polished away the dust and burrs from his Dao Heart, bit by bit.
It revealed the gentle yet solid brilliance within.
"HUUUH..."
A long, heavy breath, as if held in for ages, was finally and slowly exhaled.
As the breath left his body, it took with it all the stagnation and gloom that had accumulated over the past six months.
Qi Yun slowly stood up.
His movements weren’t fast; they even carried a stiffness from long inactivity.
As he straightened up, the dust covering his body fell away with a RUSTLE, and the "shell" of silence and seclusion instantly peeled off.
A fresh, nimble, and harmonious aura of Freedom emanated naturally from his body.
It washed over the surroundings, seemingly brightening the entire desolate courtyard.
The dust settled. The man was reborn.
"I made it through..."
Qi Yun felt the long-absent tranquility deep within his heart, calm as a Bright Mirror and still water, and the thoughts that were once again firmly under his control, free of any impulsiveness or agitation.
A faint, sincere smile involuntarily touched the corners of his lips.
Relief washed over him.
Thankfully, Elder Master Deng Yin had constantly advised and personally instructed him when he was alive, making him deeply understand the importance of the Dao Heart on the path of cultivation and that power and one’s state of mind must advance in tandem.
And thankfully, he himself had noticed the insidious growth of arrogance and complacency in time.
He had made a decisive choice, using the hardship of half a year of bleak solitude to forcibly steer his deviating course back on track.
Otherwise, if he had allowed that mentality to develop, taken one wrong step, and gone astray...
...he might have truly followed in the Elder Master’s footsteps.
He would have had an unparalleled foundation but been left with lifelong regrets, or perhaps even faced a more tragic end.
After this cleansing, he felt that his Daluo Ten Thousand Laws Dao Foundation seemed to have become a bit more pure and condensed, and its connection with his Heart and Spirit had grown even tighter and more harmonious.
This "wasted" half-year was of immeasurable value.
’Now that my Heart and Spirit is stable, it’s time to get back on the proper track of cultivation.’
With a flip of his hand, Qi Yun took out the cyan Taixu Jade Order.
The moment the Jade Order was in his hand, it began to emit a series of rapid, faint vibrations.
The glow on its surface flickered erratically. It had clearly accumulated many messages; someone had tried to contact him multiple times.
During his half-year of secluded cultivation to cleanse his heart, he had naturally sealed his Daoist Temple completely and cut off the Taixu Jade Order’s external connections.
This was to avoid being disturbed by external matters and having his efforts come to nothing.
Before he could even probe the Jade Order with his Divine Sense to check the contents...
WHOOSH!
A swift rainbow streak shot from the horizon and landed precisely in the courtyard. The light receded, revealing the figure of Qian Xin Master.
"Nephew Qi, you’re finally out of seclusion!"
When Qian Xin Master saw Qi Yun, whose aura was calm and whose eyes were clear, he was slightly taken aback at first. He seemed to notice some change in him. After scrutinizing him for a moment, he laughed and said:
"Not bad. It looks like you’ve gained quite a lot in the last six months."
Faced with Qian Xin Master’s sincere praise, Qi Yun just smiled and waved his hand, not taking credit. Instead, he asked:
"Martial Uncle, you seem to be in a hurry to find me. Is something wrong?"
"Oh, right! If you hadn’t mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten the important stuff!"
Qian Xin Master slapped his forehead and continued:
"The moment I sensed your aura reappear, I rushed right over.
You have no idea, but less than two months after you went into seclusion, something huge happened outside!
If you’d come out any later, you would’ve really missed all the once-in-a-millennium excitement."
"Oh?" Seeing Qian Xin Master’s demeanor, Qi Yun’s curiosity was piqued.
Something that a veteran Foundation Establishment Master would describe in such a way could be no small matter.
"What kind of huge excitement?"
"Heh heh," Qian Xin Master grinned, a hint of schadenfreude in his voice as he lowered it and said:
"It’s those fellows from the Zombie Alliance who never see the light of day. This time, they played with fire and got burned!
They tried to secretly pull off something big, but they botched it and ended up falling into their own trap!"
He paused for a moment before continuing:
"The Zombie Alliance secretly deduced some wicked trick they call a ’Magic Corpse’ from who knows what forgotten corner of the world.
This Dharma Gate is quite bizarre. It involves forcefully refining a Cultivator’s Divine Soul into a Fierce Ghost, then combining it with a carefully nurtured zombie to create a strange existence that is half-ghost, half-corpse, neither living nor dead.
Finally, the Zombie Alliance Cultivators would possess and control them.
This would transform them into immortal, undying Magic Corpses with no lifespan limit and extremely high combat power."
Hearing this, Qi Yun’s brow furrowed slightly.
He had indeed seen the Zombie Alliance use this technique before.
And at the time, the Zombie Alliance Cultivator who mentioned this Dharma Gate was extremely proud, as if it were a powerful tool that would allow their Zombie Alliance to rise!
The mockery on Qian Xin Master’s face deepened.
"But they never would have guessed that this Secret Skill, which seemed like it would cause their strength to skyrocket, was actually a massive pitfall!
It was a trap designed to wipe out an entire lineage, laid by a Demon Sect that was destroyed tens of thousands of years ago—the Celestial Corpse Sect!"
"The Celestial Corpse Sect?"
Qi Yun’s gaze sharpened. He had seen scattered records of this Sect in ancient texts.
Legend had it that their Corpse Refining Technique reached the pinnacle, but because their methods were too cruel, they had long since vanished into the river of history.
"Exactly!" Qian Xin Master slapped his thigh. "This Magic Corpse technique has a hidden mechanism.
Once the number of Magic Corpses in the world reaches a certain threshold, it automatically triggers a sacrifice.
This awakens a... Celestial Corpse Sect True Monarch who sealed himself using a Secret Skill and has been slumbering for who knows how many tens of thousands of years!"
"When this incident erupted, of the Zombie Alliance’s two True Monarchs, one was far away exploring the void of the Outer Realm, while the other was at a critical juncture in deep seclusion. They couldn’t react in time at all.
The unprepared Zombie Alliance headquarters had its nest completely raided by this suddenly appearing, terrifyingly powerful Celestial Corpse True Monarch!
Now the Zombie Alliance is torn apart and completely fragmented.
It’s said that the True Monarch who was in seclusion at the headquarters managed to make a move, but he was still severely injured.
His whereabouts are now unknown, and it’s hard to say if he’s dead or alive!"
"The whole place is in utter chaos now, a lawless land.
Within our Holy Sect, almost every Master who doesn’t have urgent duties or isn’t on watch has caught wind of it and rushed over to the Zombie Alliance’s territory.
So, what do you say, Nephew Qi?"
Qian Xin Master took a step closer, a sharp glint in his eyes, his tone persuasive:
"An event like this only comes once a century. How about we two go join the fun?
It’s a chaotic mix of friend and foe over there right now, and all the major powers want a piece of the pie. It’s easier to fish in troubled waters!
If we’re lucky, we might even snag some unexpected benefits. It’s much better than sitting at home doing nothing!"
The sudden collapse of the Zombie Alliance had undoubtedly cast a massive stone into the Northwest Cultivation Realm, creating huge waves. And within these waves, countless opportunities and risks were often hidden.
Hearing this, Qi Yun initially had no desire to join the commotion.
But just as he was about to open his mouth to politely decline, the Daluo Heaven within his body trembled slightly, faintly revealing a bit of guidance.
In that land of the Zombie Alliance’s internal strife, there was something related to his breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage!
...