Gateway of Immortality

"Greetings, Senior Uncle." Tan Yi’en entered and bowed in respect.

Qin Sang ordered him to rise. "I asked you to secretly investigate Mu Yifeng’s whereabouts. Did you find anything?"

Qin Sang had always remembered the kindness Mu Yifeng once showed him.

After returning to Small Cold Domain, Qin Sang had wanted to meet him, but Mu Yifeng had been cultivating diligently in Shaohua Mountain the entire time, leaving him no chance. Later, after Qin Sang openly fell out with Dongyang Bo, he had been even less able to visit openly, lest he implicate Mu Yifeng.

Tan Yi’en replied, "Reporting to Senior Uncle, I recruited some rogue cultivators as hidden agents and had them deliberately make contact with disciples of Shaohua Mountain. We found some news about Mu Yifeng. This man is an ascetic who rarely shows himself. He has been cultivating in seclusion inside a cave dwelling at the foot of Jingyue Peak. In recent years, he has not taken even a single step out of Jingyue Peak. Even among Shaohua Mountain’s disciples, very few know of him."

"Jingyue Peak?" Qin Sang’s gaze flickered.

If he remembered correctly, Jingyue Peak had once been Chenyan’s dojo!

When he had first joined Shaohua Mountain, Zhuang Yan had taken him around the sect and had especially introduced this peak. Back then, Jingyue Peak had been a forbidden area, and sect disciples were not allowed to approach it.

Chenyan had a great background. After that incident occurred, she had not completely fallen out with Dongyang Bo.

She also had a mysterious master trapped in Ziwei Palace, one who might return at some unknown time.

Shaohua Mountain was vast and did not lack cave dwellings at all. With Dongyang Bo’s shrewdness, he would never have allowed another disciple to cultivate on Jingyue Peak unless he had obtained Chenyan’s permission.

Did Dongyang Bo spare Mu Yifeng back then because Chenyan intervened to protect him? Qin Sang thought to himself.

Only those directly involved likely knew the true inside story.

After pondering for a moment, Qin Sang said, "Continue having people watch the major markets outside Shaohua Mountain and wait for Mu Yifeng to come out of seclusion. Apart from that, do nothing unnecessary, lest you arouse Shaohua Mountain’s suspicion."

Over the past ten years, Dongyang Bo had lived in seclusion and had made no moves against Qin Sang or Qingyang Temple.

Qin Sang had seized the Spiritual Infant Talisman Puppet and ruined Dongyang Bo’s plans, venting his anger. Later, after receiving guidance from his senior sister, the resentment in his heart had already faded.

Yet though the tree wished for stillness, the wind would not cease.

For this reason, after Bai came out of seclusion, Qin Sang had deliberately exposed a flaw to create an opportunity for Dongyang Bo.

If Dongyang Bo could remain this well behaved forever, then the two sides living in peace would also be acceptable.

"Yes!" Tan Yi’en did not ask for the reason and simply carried out the order.

After that, Qin Sang gave him instructions on several other matters, then dismissed him.

Three days later, Qin Sang left Wanye Mountain and returned to Abyssal Ruin. He would replace Canghong and guard the celestial gate of Sin God Palace for three years.

The spiritual qi here was rich and would not hinder cultivation. Moreover, Qin Sang happened to need several years to consolidate his artifact refinement techniques before beginning preparations to refine an astra that could subdue the Southern Sun Fire.

As soon as Qin Sang entered the sea of mist, Canghong sensed him.

Canghong flew over to meet him and gave a fist-and-palm salute. "Daoist Qin, I will have to trouble you with what comes next."

Qin Sang received the jade token used to control the spiritual array and asked, "Has there been any unusual movement from the gate in recent years?"

"None has been discovered. Old Devil Ye has remained silent all this time. As expected, he is also waiting for Ziwei Palace to emerge. Still, you must not let down your guard," Canghong said with a slight shake of his head, giving a reminder.

Qin Sang nodded thoughtfully, then remembered something else. "How are the fellow Daoists who took the Withered Origin Pill now?"

"Their essence, qi and psyche have all weakened. None were spared! Old Freak Feng and the others have tried every method they could, but they could only slow the rate of decline. What is even more frightening is that one Daoist vaguely sensed that his heavenly tribulation may descend early!" Canghong shook his head, still shaken by the thought. "If that is true, this kind of pill is best left sealed away!"

"An early heavenly tribulation?" Qin Sang was secretly alarmed.

This price was even more terrifying than the threefold decline of essence, qi and psyche. Old Devil Ye’s scheme had truly been vicious.

After seeing Canghong off, Qin Sang entered the Seven-Water Illusion Array and familiarized himself with every variation of the array. The other Daoists stationed here came out to welcome him one after another. After they became acquainted, each found a place to cultivate, leaving one another undisturbed.

Qin Sang arrived at the core of the Seven-Water Illusion Array.

If the celestial gate changed at all, he would detect it immediately. Cultivating here also spared him from worry about being spied on.

For safety, Qin Sang laid down a layer of isolating barriers, then summoned the Spiritual Infant Talisman Puppet.

The Spiritual Infant Talisman Puppet had already been subdued by Qin Sang and had recovered its former strength. Protected by the Jade Buddha, he did not fear backlash from the puppet and could control it freely. It was an excellent helper.

Of course, what Qin Sang valued most was still the soul shadows within the talisman puppet.

He skillfully merged his mind into the Spiritual Infant Talisman Puppet and experienced the soul shadows. The whole process consumed enormous mental energy. Once he felt even a trace of fatigue, Qin Sang put away the talisman puppet, cultivated, and contemplated what he had just gained.

Then he took out the devilish banners and refined the Devilish Flames of Nine Hells until his strength was exhausted.

After completing all this, he reviewed Xuling Sect’s scriptures and studied artifact refinement.

His schedule was packed with one task after another.

For ten years, Qin Sang had passed every day like this, never slackening in the slightest. The most obvious improvement had been in his artifact refinement. He had learned many precious secret techniques from Xuling Sect, and they had helped him enormously.

In the blink of an eye, another two years passed in Abyssal Ruin, yet Old Devil Ye still showed no movement.

On this day, Qin Sang summoned the Golden Sinking Sword. For a long time to come, the Golden Sinking Sword would replace the ebony sword as the spiritual sword he used to perform sword techniques.

According to Qin Sang’s plan, he would begin with the Golden Sinking Sword to verify his progress in artifact refinement, then refine the astra for subduing the Southern Sun Fire, and finally smelt the charred wood.

He also took out a few precious spiritual objects. They were all wood-elemental treasures. There were not many, only a sparse few.

That was because Qin Sang had used most of his battle merits to exchange for fire-elemental spiritual objects.

However, if he could smoothly re-refine these few spiritual objects together with the Golden Sinking Sword, it should be enough to upgrade the Golden Sinking Sword to a high-grade astra. For the time being, that would suffice.

As for a top-grade astra, it was not so easily refined. Setting aside the fact that he lacked enough spiritual objects, even if he gathered them now, Qin Sang still had no confidence in succeeding.

"Root-Transforming Stone, Sky Azure Silver..." Qin Sang’s gaze swept over the spiritual objects one by one. Then he formed a hand seal, closed his eyes slightly, and used a secret technique he had learned from Xuling Sect to analyze them.

After generations of accumulation, Xuling Sect alone had treasured dozens of secret techniques related to this step, each meant for spiritual objects with different traits.

How could a rogue cultivator groping alone in the dark create such methods unless he was a genius blessed by the heavens?

In the past, Qin Sang would have needed to expend tremendous effort at this step. Now, it was much easier.

After finishing this stage, Qin Sang used another new secret technique and summoned the Devilish Flames of Nine Hells.

With the power of the devilish flames, he refined the impurities out of each spiritual object one by one, while also melting the Golden Sinking Sword into a sword embryo.

Because he had no earth fire to assist him, Qin Sang could only endure the astonishing consumption caused by the devilish flames. Midway through, he repeatedly took out pills and swallowed them to recover his true essence.

Qin Sang completed every step of the refinement process with steady precision. Whenever he encountered difficulty, he stopped to think, then made improvements, gaining a great deal from the process.

In the end, he watched with his own eyes as the Golden Sinking Sword was reborn in his hands and completed its metamorphosis!

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