Longevity Chronicles-Chapter 89 - 84: Marrying in Ghost Country, The Secret of Wuxiang

Tao Qian accepted the Mustard Seed Talisman Seed, originally planning to store it and cultivate it later.

But Lin Xiaohua wouldn't have it, declaring that this was a handover, a legacy.

When he had received this talisman seed years ago, he couldn't wait to cultivate it right in front of his master, and now that it had come into Tao Qian's hands, he had to perform it again.

Tao Qian gave him a look, thinking, "You're not trying to take advantage of me, are you? Just three days of lessons, and you want to be my esteemed teacher?"

However, considering that Xiao Hua Daoist truly was his guide, and now that his physical body was about to decay and his soul was to be taken to the "No Food Ghost Country" to marry into, he didn't make a big deal out of it and spent several breaths to successfully cultivate the talisman seed.

Then he saw the talisman seed transform into a speck of light, hopping into Tao Qian's mouth and hiding inside his body.

It truly was controlled by the divine soul, moving as one wishes, extremely convenient.

"Never thought the first real storage magic artifact I'd get would be a gift from someone else, complete with such a great fortune."

Tao Qian lamented inwardly.

Seeing Tao Qian fully cultivate the talisman seed, Lin Xiaohua seemed to have fulfilled a wish, exhaling satisfied.

Then, with difficulty, he turned his head and said to the two little beings beside him:

"Little Age, Lian Jing'er, you both are naturally spiritual; you should both sense that Brother Tao is of exceptional character and nature, not of the common sort. Following him, I won't worry about you getting corrupted or distorted by the increasingly terrifying world."

"Little Age is a treasure all over, and although endowed with rare talents, the path of entering the Dao and cultivation will be tough, finding the Basic Method suited for you will be hard; Lian Jing'er, your origin is mysterious, perhaps related to those ancient ruins, only your soul is flawed, your Dao path is also lost for now."

"These responsibilities should have been mine, Lin Xiaohua, to handle, but now I entrust them all to Brother Tao."

"Paths of humans and ghosts are different, if I truly manage to convert and succeed in the Ghost Path, perhaps one day I can resolve the karma, and we will have a chance to meet again."

The last two lines were said to Tao Qian.

At this moment, his eyes brightened, as if he was in a returning light moment.

Tao Qian understood then that asking him to cultivate the talisman seed and pass on his fortune was indeed Lin Xiaohua's formal act of entrusting his legacy.

After saying all this, his corpse-like body also ran out of the last bit of strength and immediately collapsed.

His already dry eyes gradually dimmed, losing all their light.

Little Age and Lian Jing'er, being alien species, had the keenest senses.

Both sensed in an instant that their long-relied-on human uncle was about to die.

Taisui Baby immediately started crying loudly, and Lian Jing'er, with eyes like rubies, shone brightly again, his voice resuming. Yet, it wasn't announcing a scanning result, but rather solemnly repeating a kind of admonition in a sad tone: "Flesh and bone have weaknesses... Flesh and bone have weaknesses..."

Tao Qian sighed softly, looking outward.

Indeed, it was night now.

Star-picking Pavilion towered into the clouds, starlight scattering into the quiet room through the window.

Amid such a beautiful and peaceful scene, Tao Qian and the two little ones watched as Lin Xiaohua, the Langdang Daoist, gradually lost the last breath of life essence in his horrifying body.

The cries of Little Age and the murmuring of Lian Jing'er were sounds of farewell.

Tao Qian had intended to leave some time for the two little beings to properly send off Xiao Hua Daoist, but recalling Lin Xiaohua's words about possibly causing a big disturbance when he died, he thought it over and decided to stay within the room.

Just then, Tao Qian's ears suddenly filled with strange and ancient sounding chants, as if countless voices of men, women, old, young, and children overlapped, singing a chant neither Tao Qian's past nor present lives had ever heard.

Strange and somber, it suddenly seemed to transport one to a desolate wilderness encircled by thousands of graves under a vast fog, yet half-way through, the chant inexplicably turned jubilant.

Even celebratory.

At that moment, Tao Qian suddenly snapped awake.

At the instant he opened his eyes, everything had changed.

The festive and debating sounds of the loose cultivator disciples outside the room, the celebrations of the hundred thousand people in Seeking Immortal County, all these sounds had vanished without a trace.

Outside the window, what spilled in was no longer starlight or moonlight but a black-red light from a huge black-red moon.

At some point, Seeking Immortal County seemed to have been forcibly dragged into another realm.

When the black-red moon hung high, although the town still had thousands of household lights, whether it was people, wild animals, insects, demons, alien species... all fell silent.

This content is taken from fгeewebnovёl.com.

No, more accurately, they were frozen.

The only three exceptions were Tao Qian, Little Age, and Lian Jing'er.

As the bizarre chant continued, the door to the quiet room creaked open, Tao Qian's mind throbbed, and numerous indistinct ghostly figures entered one by one, nodding at the three of them before moving directly to busy themselves around the "Lin Xiaohua's corpse" on the bed.

Washing and cleansing the body, dressing it in wedding clothes, drawing the eyebrows, applying makeup... Time passed without knowing how long, under the stunned gaze of Tao Qian and the two little ones.

Now dressed in bright red wedding robes, Lin Xiaohua reappeared looking handsome and dashing, supported by a group of ghostly figures, walking outward. Whether it was an illusion or not, in that moment, the three even saw Lin Xiaohua turn his head and flash a brilliant smile at them.

It was this smile that changed the scene once again.

This time, the three found themselves atop Star-picking Pavilion, beside an extremely luxurious bridal sedan that in no way was inferior to the black-red moon.

With the night wind fluttering, the small curtains on the sedan lifted occasionally, revealing the dignified figure seated inside.

"Is this a departure for a wedding?"

Tao Qian thought absurdly to himself.

Suddenly, the festive ghost music began to swell insurmountably. Tao Qian glanced up and realized that not only the area of Seeking Immortal County, but even more distant places were also enveloped by that "black and red great moon". In the blink of an eye, he could see another realm overlapping with this one.

That realm belonged to the Ghost Country.

Countless ghost fires could be seen drifting across the fields, and a hundred thousand red umbrellas soared upward. Ghost fire lanterns stood against the sky, illuminating the flowing Huangquan Ghost River below, and the mysterious, unknowable black cities inhabited by endless spirits. At this moment, all were bowing their heads, chanting the celebratory song.

At the peak of the singing and ghost music, a formidable troop surged forth from the depths of the Ghost Country.

All the ghost fires, red umbrellas, and lanterns gathered, all eyes could not help but gaze at those riding the terrifying Strange Beasts, their attention focused solely on the figure at the forefront, mounted on a horse erupting with ghost fire.

When Tao Qian and his two companions saw this, they simultaneously recalled Lin Xiaohua's prior description.

White as snow!

Cold and stunningly beautiful!

Existing uniquely beyond this world!

The gaze of the No Food Country Princess "Pei Niannu" remained fixed on the palanquin until she approached, then she nodded to Tao Qian and his companions.

At that moment, a sharp yet bizarrely joyful voice echoed through this overlapping world:

"The auspicious time has arrived!"

"Prince Consort, take your place!"

"Boom"

Suddenly, everything before their eyes began to fade, as if a mirage was shattering.

When Tao Qian came to again, the three had returned to the room, as if all that had just happened was merely a dream.

However, Tao Qian knew it was not a dream but a real and transpired event.

"Xiao Hua Daoist was right; it indeed was a big commotion."

"Can No Food Ghost Country actually move across the land, overlap with the real territory, and freeze the life in this place? Such domineering power, can it be that the Seeking Immortal County and Iron Buddha Mountain, including that Beautiful Corpse, have no opinion, letting the No Food Ghost Country Princess marry using this land?"

"How fierce must the master of No Food Country be, an Ultimate Happiness Realm, or Daoist Transformation Realm?"

These thoughts flashed by, and fascination filled Tao Qian's eyes.

Others might be unsettled by such a sight, but not Tao Qian. He was eager to witness many such phenomena in the Cultivation World.

After seeing this, his desire for seeking immortality and longing for longevity solidified even more.

"Hmm?"

Just as Tao Qian was processing this information, he suddenly sensed something.

As he looked up, a stiff body fell from nowhere, accompanied by a chilling voice penetrating his ears.

"The Princess has commanded; when the Prince Consort meets his demise, you three are to take care of him. This man harbors malicious intentions towards you; it's good to capture him and return the karma."

The ghastly voice gradually deepened until it disappeared.

Tao Qian could only gauge a rough direction based on the throbbing sensation, then turned around in astonishment to see a figure clearly still alive but crippled of any cultivation, now a mere invalid.

It was a young Daoist, disheveled and immersed in evil qi.

At first, Tao Qian found him somewhat familiar, but suddenly, a name he had heard in passing flashed through his mind.

"Hong Youhu!"

Tao Qian's brows knitted instantly. Back at Seeking Immortal Pier, the scenes orchestrated by this frenzied Daoist, including spouses consuming each other, children offered as meat, and fathers and sons killing each other, were horrifying.

But what did this man have to do with him, Sui, and Lian Jing'er?

As the question arose, Tao Qian didn't delay.

Others might need to interrogate him, but Tao Qian didn't.

He merely stepped forward, touched him, and immediately gained insight into his mind.

Perhaps because Hong Youhu had been so severely beaten by the ghost soldiers, despite his cultivation realm being much higher than Tao Qian's, many secrets about him were now triggered and revealed by Tao Qian.

His initial perusal of a few record notes was still manageable, but as more annotations emerged, Tao Qian's expression abruptly changed.

[Name: Hong Youhu.]

[Record Type: Cultivator.]

[Record: This person is a native of Seeking Immortal County in Southern Yue. In his youth, he witnessed his father consuming his mother, which led him to flee Seeking Immortal County in extreme fear. After his mother's death, she was deeply worried about him and her lingering spirit turned into a ghostly aberration attached to him, protecting him at life-and-death moments. Yet he was still so young and, to survive, he sold everything, be it his body or soul, eventually twisting his personality. Outwardly, he seemed a normal Daoist but had actually fallen into madness and demonhood. His last master was one of the worldly walking Saint Heirs of a mysterious organization, "Qin Wuxiang".]

[Annotation 1: Hong Youhu recognized Qin Wuxiang as his master and was given the Great Book "Red Blood Seven Killings Scripture". After resolving his "Heart Demon of Blood Vengeance", his cultivation soared to Foundation Establishment Realm, earning Qin Wuxiang's trust. He was appointed to control the assassin organization Seven Killings Pavilion's Southern Yue division and another organization, the "Changchun Society", in Southern Yue.]

[Annotation 2: Because he originated from Seeking Immortal County, Hong Youhu was tasked by Qin Wuxiang to control the atmosphere and order of the place. Once the plan between Qin Wuxiang and the Devil God Army launched and Southern Yue fell into chaos, Hong Youhu would activate the Changchun Society to constantly build momentum, singing the praises of the Governor of Southern Yue, Ji Xianxian, making him increasingly reputable. This would make millions of people look to him for salvation, thus aiding Ji Xianxian in cultivating that…??]

[Annotation 3: Recently, Hong Youhu had informed Qin Wuxiang about a battle at Iron Buddha Temple, prompting the latter to initiate the plan prematurely. The territories of Southern Yue would soon be in chaos... In an attempt to acquire resources for the Transcend Mortality Realm, and after his return, Hong Youhu intended to capture the Taisui Baby and offer it to Qin Wuxiang but was discovered by the No Food Country Princess, who commanded a ghost general to cripple him and imprison him.]

…