Gateway of Immortality

Chapter 1331: The Land of Filth

Qin Sang gathered with Lu Boyuan, and through his introduction, became acquainted with several unfamiliar cultivators from the desert.

Qingjun stood nearby, her eyes fixed on the vortex in the sea of mist, deep in thought about something.

In the blink of an eye, five days passed. After that, no newcomers arrived.

Qin Sang casually glanced toward the cultivators from Small Cold Domain in the distance. They would be accompanying Devil Lord Tongyou and the demon race to investigate another forbidden ground.

When his gaze swept across Dongyang Bo, Dongyang Bo sensed it and lifted his head, meeting Qin Sang’s eyes.

As if he knew what Qin Sang was thinking, Dongyang Bo curled his lips slightly, revealing a faintly amused smile. Qin Sang’s gaze turned cold before he looked away.

For the past twenty years, Dongyang Bo had behaved himself, as though he had forgotten how Qin Sang had seized his Spiritual Infant Talisman Puppet and grievously wounded him.

Perhaps he feared Qin Sang’s strength and worried about implicating Shaohua Mountain, choosing to swallow that grievance and abandon thoughts of revenge.

But Qin Sang did not care what he thought. Dongyang Bo posed no threat to him.

If Dongyang Bo dared make a move, Bai, along with the Spiritual Infant Talisman Puppet Qin Sang had already subdued, would certainly give him a very big surprise.

What Qin Sang was actually thinking about was something else.

From the information he had gathered earlier, along with what Dongyang Bo had once said, Chenyan’s previous attempt to rescue her master had most likely ended in failure.

Back when Qin Sang had sold himself for the sake of reaching the Foundation Building Realm, Chenyan’s true purpose had been to save her master at any cost. That alone showed how deep the bond between master and disciple ran.

Given Chenyan’s temperament, so long as even a one-in-ten-thousand chance remained, she would never give up.

Yet after she left, she never appeared again, not even the last time Ziwei Palace emerged.

Now, with the celestial gate about to open once more, there was still no sign of her return.

Chenyan had been a peerless genius with a Heavenly Spiritual Root. Two hundred years ago, she had already become a Spiritual Infant cultivator. By now, her cultivation surely far surpassed what it once was.

Even if she had failed to break through to the middle stage of the Spiritual Infant Realm, gathering several powerful helpers should not have been difficult.

Had she already given up on saving her master? Or had something happened to her?

***

Within Sin God Palace, the smell of decay and a dead silence ruled the place.

Ghostly light glowed in the darkness, illuminating a seated figure beside an ancient seal.

The man resembled an ancient bell, sitting there in meditation for who knew how many years, utterly motionless, as though he had fused into the darkness itself.

Sensing fluctuations from the ancient seal, Old Devil Ye emerged from meditation and slowly opened his eyes.

For more than twenty years, he had not taken a single step away from this place. His injuries had long since healed.

He looked around himself. The core crystals of the Nether Crystal Tower floated in the air around him, revolving slowly at all times. The Spiritual Infant cultivators, however, had disappeared.

A closer look revealed that within each crystal sphere, a tiny figure was imprisoned. They were none other than the Spiritual Infant cultivators, including Tianzheng!

Fine chains coiled around their limbs and necks, binding them tightly. Yet the hatred that had once filled their faces was gone. In its place remained only vacant dullness, lifeless eyes, and complete loss of self.

Trapped within the crystal spheres, they showed no sign of struggle.

Old Devil Ye’s gaze shifted at last to the crystal sphere in the very center. Inside was Tianzheng’s Spiritual Infant.

Old Devil Ye stared at him deeply, then opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood and essence. Guided by his spiritual consciousness, it formed an incomparably complex blood soul curse in mid-air, which flashed and sank into Tianzheng’s brow.

Extreme pain twisted across Tianzheng’s face. After battling Old Devil Ye for so many years, he was already exhausted. At this moment, he had little strength left to resist. The final shred of clarity in his mind was swallowed by the blood soul curse. He sank into profound despair. At last, he fell completely under Old Devil Ye’s control.

Suddenly, ghostly mist appeared within the crystal sphere, transforming into countless vicious ghosts that lunged at Tianzheng. In the end, they became chains that wrapped tightly around him.

Seeing this, Old Devil Ye finally let out a long breath. He had never expected Tianzheng would be so difficult to deal with.

The other Spiritual Infant cultivators had broken quickly, allowing Old Devil Ye to seize the opportunity and refine them into the crystal spheres.

Only Tianzheng, despite grievous injuries and utter hopelessness, had continued resisting with all his strength. His heart was unwavering, without the slightest flaw.

Coupled with Old Devil Ye’s own injuries, the struggle had dragged on until now.

"Ziwei Palace is about to emerge. Hurry and let me out. Otherwise, it will be too late!" A shrill scream came from beneath the seal.

Old Devil Ye merely glanced down indifferently. This devilish monster was desperate to escape. Every few years, it staged the same outburst. He no longer believed it.

His figure flashed repeatedly as he swept outside the forbidden ground and gazed deep into Sin God Palace. When he saw the strange phenomenon blazing across the horizon, delight and burning anticipation flashed through his eyes.

The time had come!

"Throw me the jade skeleton, quickly!" The devilish monster shrieked, even more impatient than Old Devil Ye.

The jade skeleton had always been placed by the edge of the ancient barrier. Hope of freedom lay within arm’s reach, yet for twenty years he could only stare and never touch. That torment had been unbearable.

This time, Old Devil Ye hesitated no longer. He grabbed the jade skeleton and hurled them into the seal.

Ghostly light flared brilliantly, finally revealing the seal’s full appearance.

This place was abnormally vast, surrounded by a swamp. The swamp was filled with rotting mud, saturated with foul and filthy substances.

A stone path made of slabs stretched through the mire, ending at four massive stone pillars.

Each pillar stood dozens of zhang tall, occupying each direction, incomparably majestic. Their bases were driven deep into the swamp, forming the seal itself.

The muddy pool between the pillars churned violently, revealing a tiny hollow opening. The devilish monster’s voice was coming from within it.

Old Devil Ye’s figure swayed and split into four, each flying toward a separate stone pillar. Until now, he had remained only on the stone path, never daring to touch the swamp.

These filthy substances possessed terrifying corrosive power. The devilish monster trapped here had endured inhuman torment at every moment.

Bang! The four figures formed an incomparably intricate hand seal and simultaneously pressed their palms against the stone pillars.

The seal trembled.

Gurgle... The jade skeleton fell into the swamp and immediately sank beneath the mire.

Wild laughter rose from the depths. Suddenly, muddy waves shot skyward, carrying a nauseating stench so foul it turned the stomach.

From within the violently churning mire, a gray shadow burst out. Within that gray shadow was a skull. The instant the skull emerged, the seal reacted violently.

Though countless years had passed, the power radiating from the stone pillars remained astonishingly terrifying.

Old Devil Ye’s expression shifted slightly. Gritting his teeth, he continued casting seals, forcibly shaking the barrier.

The sealing power lashed toward the gray shadow like barbed whips, striking the skull viciously.

Crack! Crack! Crack! The devilish monster screamed repeatedly. The skull lunged desperately toward the jade skeleton, cracks spreading everywhere across its surface, on the verge of shattering.

At the instant the skull was destroyed, a soul shadow shot forth and, by the narrowest margin, plunged into the jade skeleton.

The sealing power immediately gave chase, even fiercer and more terrifying than before.

Snap! The brocade skin covering the jade skeleton was instantly torn open in countless places, left ragged and tattered.

Explosive cracking sounds rang out from within the jade skeleton.

It was incomparably hard, but if it did not escape soon, it would meet the same fate as the skull.

Ghostly light coursed across the entire frame. Countless strange runes flickered faintly over the jade skeleton before suddenly erupting with a powerful aura.

Two clusters of soul fire ignited within its empty eye sockets, burning fiercely. The jade skeleton had been possessed by the ghostly shadow. He released a shrill howl and shot straight into the heavens!