96: Chapter 96 Golden Dreams of the Past, Obsession with Immortality

The Grand Elder of the Azure Cloud Sect, Golden Light, or rather, Li Changqing from a thousand years ago, was standing by that familiar cliff of the Azure Cloud Sect.

The mountain wind whistled, blowing his cyan Daoist robe, which marked him as a Core Disciple.

The sunlight was just right, not too harsh, spilling warmly onto his face; even the faint scent of pine resin in the air felt so real it made him want to shed tears.

"Senior Brother Changqing, what are you daydreaming about?"

A soft, warm little hand waved in front of his eyes.

Li Changqing shuddered and turned his head abruptly.

Standing behind him was a young girl wearing a goose-yellow dress. Her eyebrows curved like crescents, and when she smiled, there were two shallow dimples on her cheeks.

Suxin.

The woman who had died tragically because he had been overly ambitious and reckless during an expedition, causing rescue to arrive too late.

She was the nightmare of his life.

"Suxin..."

Li Changqing’s voice was trembling. He reached out instinctively, wanting to touch that face, but was afraid it was just a soap bubble that would shatter at a touch.

"What’s wrong? You look silly." Suxin tilted her head and stuffed a Storage Pouch embroidered with cloud patterns into his hand. "This is the Spirit-Concentrating Grass you wanted; I begged Master for a long time to get it. On this expedition, you are not allowed to run off and leave me alone again."

The rough texture of the Storage Pouch came to his palm, along with the lingering warmth of the young girl’s fingertips.

It was real.

All of this was real.

Li Changqing’s eyes reddened as he pulled the young girl tightly into his embrace, with enough force to seemingly knead her into his own bones and blood.

"I won't run anymore. In this life, I will never run again."

The days that followed were as smooth as a carefully woven dream.

Relying on the memories and experience of his past life, he moved cautiously, avoiding all traps and dead ends.

The expedition that had caused Suxin’s tragic death was easily resolved by him.

They became Dao Companions and carved out an Immortal Cave in the back mountains of the Azure Cloud Sect.

They lived in perfect harmony, envying only the mandarin ducks and not the immortals.

However, the Heavenly Dao is fair, and also cruel.

Li Changqing had outstanding Aptitude, and with the experience of re-cultivating, his cultivation progressed by leaps and bounds. He achieved Core Formation at one hundred years old and Nascent Soul at three hundred, becoming the youngest Old Ancestor in the Sect.

But Suxin had mediocre Aptitude.

Even though Li Changqing searched the world for Spirit Pills, and even though he spared no cost to his own cultivation to cleanse her marrow and wash her tendons.

Her cultivation remained stuck at Foundation Establishment Perfection, unable to advance even an inch.

A Foundation Establishment Cultivator has a Lifespan of at most two hundred years.

The day of parting eventually came.

It was a late autumn evening.

The maple leaves outside the Immortal Cave were as red as blood.

Suxin lay in Li Changqing’s arms; her once-black hair had long since turned white as snow, and that once-pretty face was covered in the ravines of time.

Her fire of life was like a candle in the wind, ready to be extinguished at any moment.

"Changqing..."

Her murky eyes looked at the man who was still young and handsome, and her withered fingers lifted with great effort, trying to smooth out the creases between his brows.

"Don’t cry... Being able to marry you in this life... I am very content..."

"I'm not crying." Li Changqing held her hand, pouring the spiritual energy inside his body into her as if it cost nothing.

But it was useless.

That spiritual energy was like pouring into a leaking sieve; not a fraction could be retained.

"Don't waste your effort..." Suxin smiled, her voice as light as a falling leaf. "I am leaving... You must live well... Achieve the Dao... And with my share as well... watch the scenery of this world..."

Her hand dropped.

The light in those eyes was completely extinguished.

"Suxin? Suxin!"

Li Changqing held that gradually cooling corpse, his whole person like a puppet whose Soul had been drained away.

He was already a Nascent Soul True Lord.

He could turn his hands to call for clouds and rain, revered by thousands.

But he could not save the person he loved most.

"Ahhhhh!"

An extremely shrill roar shattered the red leaves filling the sky outside the Immortal Cave.

Why!

Why is it that cultivating immortality is for longevity, yet in the end, one can only watch helplessly as those around them leave one by one!

This damned Lifespan limit!

This damned Heavenly Dao rule!

The immense grief, at this moment, turned into the deepest obsession.

He only wanted to bring her back to life.

"Do you want to save her?"

A voice sounded abruptly in the depths of his mind.

That voice was ancient and vicissitudinous, carrying an irresistible magic.

"Who?" Li Changqing raised his head abruptly, his crimson eyes scanning the surroundings. "Get out here!"

"Who I am is not important." The voice laughed lowly. "What is important is that I have a way to bring her back. Or even... allow you to break the shackles of this world and obtain true eternal life."

"What did you say?" Li Changqing’s heart pounded wildly.

"Heaven and Earth are unkind, treating all things as straw dogs. If you want to defy the Heavens and change fate, you must learn to plunder."

"Plunder?"

A Cultivation Technique called "Heaven-Swallowing Creation Technique," along with that voice, was forcibly imprinted into his Sea of Consciousness.

Every word reeked of a nauseating stench of blood.

Feed on living beings, swallow flesh and blood, devour Divine Souls.

Kill one person, seize one part of creation.

Kill one hundred thousand people, and you can instantly achieve Soul Transformation, reversing Yin and Yang!

"This is a Demonic Technique..." Li Changqing muttered to himself.

"Demon? God? These are just definitions of the weak." The voice was full of temptation. "Look at the person in your arms, is she cold? Does she want to come back to life?"

Li Changqing lowered his head.

Suxin’s corpse was already stiff.

"As long as I can save her..."

The struggle in Li Changqing’s eyes was slowly replaced by a crazy determination.

"As long as I can have longevity..."

He stood up slowly and carefully placed Suxin’s corpse into a ten-thousand-year ice coffin.

"Wait for me."

He kissed the ice coffin gently.

He turned around and walked out of the Immortal Cave.

Outside, hundreds of Sect Disciples and Elders had already gathered.

They had sensed the Old Ancestor’s grief and had all rushed over to pay their respects.

Leading them was the current Sect Head, who was also the Junior Brother who used to follow behind him calling him Senior Brother.

"Senior Brother Changqing, your wife has passed, please restrain your grief..." The Sect Head, with a face full of sorrow, stepped forward to bow.

Li Changqing looked at this familiar face.

In his eyes, this was no longer a person.

"Junior Brother."

Li Changqing pulled his mouth into a stiff arc.

"Senior Brother is suffering in his heart and wants to borrow something from you to relieve the boredom."

"Please go ahead, Senior Brother, as long as I have it..."

"I want the blood from your heart."

Puchi—

A hand plunged into the Sect Head’s chest without warning.

The Sect Head’s eyes widened, looking in disbelief at this Senior Brother who was usually gentle and refined.

"Sen...ior... Bro...ther..."

Li Changqing was expressionless, the black light in his palm surging.

The "Heaven-Swallowing Creation Technique" was activated.

The Sect Head’s body shriveled at a speed visible to the naked eye, and his pure Nascent Soul cultivation, along with his life force, flowed continuously through the arm into Li Changqing’s body.

That feeling of fullness, that pleasure of power surging, made Li Changqing moan out loud.

"Refreshing..."

He casually discarded the dried corpse and licked the blood off his fingers.

The crowd exploded, screaming and fleeing in all directions.

"Can you run away?"

Li Changqing sneered and formed hand seals.

A blood-colored great formation shrouded the entire Azure Cloud Sect.

Slaughter.

This was a one-sided massacre.

Fresh blood dyed the bluestone slabs red, gathering into rivers that wound down along the mountain steps.

Wails, pleas for mercy, and curses rose and fell.

Li Changqing turned a deaf ear.

He was like a tireless reaping machine; every life that faded made his aura stronger by one point.

Three days and three nights.

The entire Azure Cloud Sect, not even a chicken or dog was left alive.

Li Changqing stood at the peak of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, covered in blood, like an Asura that had crawled out of Hell.

Boom—!

A crisp sound came from within his body.

That Soul Transformation Bottleneck that had plagued him for hundreds of years shattered.

A boundless, terrifying power that seemed capable of controlling the rules of Heaven and Earth filled his entire body.

"I succeeded..."

Li Changqing looked at his hands and laughed wildly.

"I succeeded! I am Soul Transformation! I am a God!"

He stumbled back to the Immortal Cave and threw himself in front of the ice coffin.

"Suxin! Look! I did it!"

"I have enough power! I can resurrect you!"

He mobilized the massive power of blood and baleful Qi within his body, pouring it frantically into Suxin’s body.

A miracle happened.

Suxin’s shriveled skin became full again, her white hair turned black again, and her stopped heart started beating once more.

She slowly opened her eyes.

"Suxin!" Li Changqing wept with joy and reached out to hug her.

However.

Just at the moment he touched Suxin.

Suxin’s face suddenly split open.

It was not a figure of speech.

It really split open.

It split from the corners of her mouth all the way to her ears, revealing densely packed, shark-like fangs inside.

The once-gentle eyes turned into two flickering ghost fires.

"Hee hee hee..."

"Suxin" let out a hair-raising, strange laugh.

"Changqing... your flesh... smells so good..."

She bit down on Li Changqing’s neck.

Excruciating pain followed.

Li Changqing wanted to push her away, but discovered that his Heaven-Defying Soul Transformation cultivation was actually like paper, and he couldn't muster even a fraction of strength.

"Why..."

He looked at the monster in front of him in despair.

"Because you are trash."

That ancient voice sounded again, filled with endless mockery.

"Power gained from eating people is hollow. You think you are a God? No, you are just a maggot that has eaten its fill."

The scene before his eyes began to shatter.

The monster, the ice coffin, the mountain of corpses and sea of blood, the Azure Cloud Sect...

All turned into bubbles.

"Puff—!"

Golden Light, who had been sitting with his eyes closed, suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

The blood was not red, but a grayish-defeat color permeated with Death Qi.

His whole person seemed to have aged dozens of years in an instant, his once-upright spine hunched over, and his aura withered to the extreme.

He opened his eyes; his murky old eyes were filled with terror and lingering madness.

Everything just now... was not a dream.

That was the darkest, most untouchable desire deep within his heart.

If there really were such a Cultivation Technique...

If one could really resurrect that person...

He knew.

He would do it.

He would really eat the entire Sect.

"Hehe... hehehe..."

Golden Light laughed miserably a few times, his laughter filled with a crying tone.

"Leader of the Righteous Path in the Northern Region? Grand Elder?"

"So... I am the true Devil Head through and through."