Cultivating Immortality in Two Realms

Chapter 230 The Death of Shiraki

"This Master Bai Mu is actually fighting me to the death, has he really gone mad?"

"A spiritual injury that also affects the mind?"

A moment later, the azure light dissipated.

Fang Qing's body shimmered with golden light, emitting the roar of a dragon and elephant, while the "Illuminating Ashes of Ignorance" burned fiercely. With a burst of strength from his hands, he tore apart a strange, azure-scaled monster. This monster resembled a mermaid, with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a fish. It emerged from the rain, intending to launch a sneak attack.

Unexpectedly, this man, known for his Vajra strength and astonishing physique, managed to grab the merman and tear him apart...

In an instant, the fine, blue-green rain stopped.

The rain curtain that had once blocked their view dissipated, revealing the figures of Sangji, Moonlight White, and Sky Sparrow.

However, the two Taras, Moonlight White and Sky Sparrow, appeared to be seriously injured, their auras weak.

Sangji clasped his hands together, silently retrieved the white bone relic, and recited the Rebirth Mantra.

"this……"

Fang Qing looked towards the lone tree forest and saw that the White Wood Immortal's vines and branches were broken, and he was leaning against a banyan tree, his body covered in hideous cracks from which streams of azure-green water gushed forth, his Purple Mansion Dharma Body still swelling continuously. "This Purple Mansion... is he about to perish?"

He was somewhat shocked.

Although I had witnessed the fall of several Purple Mansion Immortals before, seeing a Purple Mansion Immortal truly pass away before my very eyes still felt exceptionally different. "Why did the Immortal have to do this?"

Fang Qing sighed.

"I am already exhausted from the injuries inflicted by my supernatural powers... I suppressed my injuries and fought against several others, which truly pushed me to my limit. Now that my sect has abandoned me, where is there any way to survive?" Master Bai Mu's face was no longer calm, but instead bore a relieved smile: "After I die, this place will turn into a bitter spring. The spring water is slightly bitter; if a person touches it, they will drown, and if a beast drinks it, it will die... It is a pity that my precious land, which has been the home of the Bai family of Dongshui for three generations, will become a barren land today..."

He said no more, his expression gradually turning pained, and purple mist swirled around him, as if merging with heaven and earth.

Suddenly, his body gradually became transparent, like a thin mist and light smoke, with a faint radiance shining through. Bai Mu Zhenren's body trembled, and purple energy surged forth like a burst dam, scattering in all directions. His Purple Mansion Dharma Body melted like spring snow, droplets turning into glistening water droplets that fell to the ground. The droplets gathered, gradually forming a trickle, meandering and flowing. From its very beginning, the water was deep and dark, seemingly concealing endless suffering. Wherever it passed, grass and trees withered, insects and ants perished, as if tainted by the bitter water, unable to bear its torment. The bitter water overflowed, seeping into the spiritual springs of the Bai family in the East Water, polluting them completely and emitting a bitter and malevolent aura… “When a Purple Mansion Zhenren dies, he either becomes a treasure land or a wicked land… the rarest outcome is becoming a demonic entity.” Feeling the malevolent aura of the water rushing towards him, Fang Qing raised his hand and grabbed.

On the ground, a spring that was not yet completely polluted suddenly boiled, and a stream of essence emerged and fell into Fang Qing's hand. It was the Dao Foundation Spiritual Object that he had longed for when he had achieved Qi Refining Perfection—the "Heavenly Wind Spiritual Spring"! Unfortunately, at this moment, this Dao Foundation Spiritual Object was slightly tinged with bitter black energy, and it had already been polluted by more than half.

Before it is purified, if a cultivator who practices Qi cultivation consumes this spiritual substance to break through to the Dao Foundation stage, they will only face certain death...

"Our ancestor?!"

Bai Mulin walked through the desolate mountains and treacherous waters, his face showing an expression that was both crying and laughing as he kowtowed to the White Bone Dharma King: "The Bai family of Dongshui is now extinct..." With one kowtow, blood suddenly flowed from his seven orifices, and he committed suicide!

"We are willing to surrender!"

With the death of the Bai family patriarch and patriarch, the remaining Bai family cultivators had no intention of resisting and repeatedly kowtowed to surrender.

Sangji was quite shrewd; he ordered people to register and plunder the clan's treasury, and also ordered the monks to stay away from the area around the Bitter Spring.

This spring has now become a dangerous place; even cultivators who practice Qi cultivation will likely drown if they touch it.

Even for cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage, staying there for too long would be quite harmful.

"In any case... the Path of White Bones is now complete."

Fang Qing had a feeling that something was wrong. A Purple Mansion True Person was extremely noble. How could he have died so easily?

However, the appearance of transformation and the evil aura of water virtue cannot be deceived; it is indeed the treatment that only comes to those whose supernatural powers have perished.

"And Bai Mulin... a family head, willing to die for his entire clan? Is he really that resolute?"

He pressed Daoguang down and approached the surrendered Bai family members: "In the Bai family treasury, is there any [Ji Shui] Purple Mansion spiritual item? And also Purple Mansion cultivation techniques?" "Reporting to Vajra Power Master, my family treasury has no Purple Mansion spiritual items..."

A middle-aged man, all smiles, rummaged through Bai Mulin's corpse again, kneeling as he presented several jade slips: "As for the Purple Mansion Cultivation Manual? Only the Ancestor and the Clan Head possess the complete version..." Fang Qing took it, scanned it with his divine sense, and was immediately stunned: "Destroyed?"

The jade slip contained large areas of damage and blankness, which turned out to be Bai Mulin's desperate act before his death, destroying the Bai family's Purple Mansion inheritance!

Since this person is like this, it means that it is highly likely that no inheritance can be found on Master Bai Mu.

"Doesn't this mean... the 'Hidden Forest' supernatural power is gone?"

Fang Qing's face suddenly darkened.

"Mercy, Du Zi! Mercy, Du Zi! This is all Bai Mulin's fault... He still has direct descendants, we will kill him immediately!" Upon seeing this, the Bai family members knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly, begging for mercy.

"Fine... If you all die, will the 'Forest Creek Deer-Seeing Technique' just magically appear on its own?"

Fang Qing flicked his sleeve and returned to the White Bone Path camp.

late at night.

Fang Qing sat cross-legged, calculating the cause and effect.

"The Bai family's territory has been transformed into the Bitter Drowning Spring... it's completely ruined. However, this place, though extremely wicked, has given rise to pure spirits. Thirty-three years later, a Purple Mansion spiritual object, 'Cloud-Clearing Spiritual Ripples,' may be born..." Cloud-Clearing Spiritual Ripples signifies a long drought followed by a cloud-filled season, a clear spring that nourishes all things. It's a decent Purple Mansion spiritual object, but it cannot help cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage break through. It can only be used for alchemy or to refine some kind of [Ji Water] Purple Mansion treasure.

Sangji personally examined all the treasures on Bai Mu Zhenren's body and found no trace of the Purple Mansion Divine Power inheritance.

The only valuable item was the Purple Mansion Magic Treasure, the "Water Dividing Ring".

With a flick of his wrist, Fang Qing conjured a turquoise ring.

Since Sangji couldn't control this precious treasure of the Purple Mansion, he naturally offered it as a tribute to this venerable one.

"My darling."

After a brief refinement, Fang Qing discovered that this Purple Mansion Magic Treasure possessed three divine mysteries.

Its name is "Fen Shui" (分水), which we at Vaillant just saw today.

The second is the [Spring Guest], which can command a spirit of [Ji Water] called "Spring Guest", whose appearance is similar to a mermaid.

The third is a miraculous healing technique called [Healing Spring], which summons a hot spring for soaking and slowly heals injuries to the Purple Mansion Dharma Body, though the process is rather slow. "With such a miraculous healing technique, how come True Person Bai Mu is still seriously injured... just how severe were his previous injuries?"

Fang Qing felt that something was strange about this matter. It was as if he had missed something, but he couldn't remember where he had missed it.

He immediately activated the Plum Blossom Divination, and several plum blossoms fell, which was the "Humility Hexagram"!

"The hexagram of Humility? The superior man says, 'I examine myself three times a day…' Is there indeed something I've overlooked? Overlooked? Hidden in the woods?!"

Fang Qing gritted his teeth and secretly communicated with his cheat system.

"The Dao gives birth to the Pearl!"

As the Dao-Born Pearl spun rapidly, amidst the rising clouds and the circulation of both pure and turbid energy, Fang Qing felt as if some dust had been swept away from his vision, and his spiritual awareness suddenly opened up. He stood up, walked out of the tent, and came to the camp where the Bai family prisoners were being held.

He glanced around, his expression unchanged, then turned back towards the direction of the Bitter Drowning Spring.

He was cursing inwardly, "You damned Master Bai Mu..."

He had just seen "Master Shiraki" again!

This was certainly not a ghost, but rather the other party was using supernatural powers to possess a young man from the Bai family. Today, he surrendered to Fang Qing in front of him and was then imprisoned here... In Fang Qing's vision, the young man from the Bai family was in a daze, his face full of panic and fear, while the lower half of Bai Mu Zhenren's body turned into vines, wrapping around the young man's limbs and dantian. The person was hiding behind the young man, like some kind of spirit behind him!

The White Tara, seated cross-legged atop her majestic golden form, chanted scriptures. Upon seeing Fang Qing emerge, she glanced down without noticing anything amiss.

A living, breathing Purple Mansion Immortal lives right under our noses!

And he, Moonlight White, Empty Sparrow, and even Sangji Dharma King had all overlooked them!

"I'm cultivating immortality, not controlling ghosts..."

Fang Qing mentally complained, secretly calculating the cause and effect.

At this moment, it was as if the "leaf obscuring the view" had been shattered, clearing his mind considerably. Combining this with his existing deductions, he pieced together the situation quite well: "This must be the effect of that divine power—'Hidden Forest Edge'! This divine power, which controls the concealment of water, is truly remarkable!!"

"The greatest effect of this supernatural power is probably not for combat or concealment... but for concealing one's own heavenly secrets! To achieve the effect of avoiding death and prolonging life!" "Trees are hidden in the forest, water is hidden in the sea... The fundamental mystery of this supernatural power is probably that when True Man Bai Mu is about to die, his true spirit can use the 'Hidden Forest' supernatural power to hide within his own bloodline and live a second life! And because it is hidden among his own bloodline members, it avoids the flaw of a single tree not making a forest, so even though neither Sangji nor I noticed..."

"Of course, this kind of technique to avoid death and prolong life must have flaws. For example, Bai Mu Zhenren's 'Jiu Gan Lin' supernatural power has really been transformed into Tao... He has now regressed in his cultivation and become a Purple Mansion early stage cultivator with only one supernatural power... Fang Qing already knew the result, and when he reversed the process, it was truly incredibly smooth."

"In this way... Bai Mulin's death is a way of silencing him. After all, if I obtain the 'Forest Creek Deer-Seeing Technique,' Master Bai Mu's tricks will naturally fall apart... Furthermore, the fact that the Bai family gave 'Long-lasting Dew' instead of 'Hidden Forest' in the previous transaction is actually a bit suspicious... Why would the Zifu family's clan-protecting divine power be given away first? If it were me, I would definitely have traded first and then obtained 'Hidden Forest'... Unless there's some secret hidden within this divine power!"

"Brilliant... In this way, Master Bai Mu is truly 'dead,' and will no longer have to participate in the petty battles between the two Golden Core sects. He'll have a wide-open world... This 'Hidden Forest' technique is quite useful; I even have much to learn from it..."

Fang Qing's eyes lit up.

He originally specialized in the [Ji Shui] cultivation method and possessed extremely high attainments. After some calculation, he knew the weakness of this supernatural power: "A single tree cannot hide... Therefore, if one were to carry out this deceptive act, one must use bloodlines and clans as 'forests' to conceal it... In fact, the stronger the clan and the more bloodlines... the better the effect?"

"So it seems the Fang family is still somewhat useful?"

Once Fang Qing achieves the Purple Mansion realm, he can immediately apply Bai Mu Zhenren's feigned death escape strategy.

At that time, they could completely deceive the enemy with the help of a member of the Fang family and escape the most dangerous moment of the war.

"Unfortunately... I am not a Purple Mansion after all..."