Gateway of Immortality
Chapter 516: A Fortuitous Opportunity for You

Chapter 516: A Fortuitous Opportunity for You

This corpse had remained sealed under a barrier all this time, its wounds still fresh—each cut carefully crafted by Qin Sang through meticulous planning and consideration.

He raised his hand and attached a Mustard Seed Pouch to the corpse's waist, then took out the Corpse Coffin and strapped it to the body’s back.

At the same time, he cautiously activated the Spirit Evasion Art, suppressing his own presence as much as possible.

Within the jade slip, Qin Sang had deliberately noted that the refined corpse could not be used for combat before its refinement was completed.

This was indeed the case. At this stage, the Golden Core rested within the Qihai and was only barely stabilized using corpse refinement barriers. If he stirred the Qihai recklessly and broke its balance, the Golden Core would immediately lash back.

With all the preparations completed, Qin Sang had already arrived near the gates of the Demonic Qingyang Sect. Concealing himself in the shadows, he looked out toward the sect.

Towering mountains loomed, lush and verdant.

At the fringes of the mountain range, white clouds drifted lazily while celestial cranes called out from the distance—a scene of transcendent beauty, making one doubt whether this could truly be the residence of a demonic sect.

The Demonic Qingyang Sect was divided into three zones: the outer, inner, and forbidden areas, each shielded by spiritual arrays.

The outer sect was where guests were received, and where the sect raised its spirit beasts, cultivated herb gardens, and conducted other auxiliary affairs.

What Qin Sang currently saw—the mountains—was the outer sect of the Demonic Qingyang Sect.

There were eight such peaks, arrayed in perfect order around the sect in eight directions. It was unknown whether some great cultivator had rearranged them using mountain-shifting abilities, but otherwise such symmetry would be impossible.

His gaze settled on the southernmost peak, where a white jade stairway rose straight up to the mountaintop, disappearing into the sea of clouds.

The entrance to the sect lay at the top of those jade stairs. Anyone seeking to enter had to pass through them.

Past the outer sect was the inner sect, the place where disciples cultivated.

And deep within the inner sect lay the forbidden grounds, enclosed by a massive array. It was the sect’s core domain, heavily fortified with layered barriers. Thankfully, Qin Sang had no need to intrude upon the forbidden grounds, for Divine Gale Peak, where Celestial Gale Qi descended from the heavens, was situated within the inner sect.

After a brief glance at the sect, Qin Sang headed for a desolate stretch of wild hills near the mountain gate. There, he found a hidden spot and buried all his treasures deep underground—his Mustard Seed Pouch, Corpse Puppet Pouch, Spirit Beast Pouch, and more—sealing them carefully with barriers.

Even then, he still felt uneasy. After all, everything he owned was hidden there. He double-checked everything meticulously before quietly slipping away.

By now, the dawn glow had begun to rise in the distant east, and the morning sun was about to break over the horizon.

Qin Sang picked up his pace, flying southwest through forests and hills.

He was already far from the direction of Qingyang Market, but the Endless Valley was still nearby. Qingyang Market was the largest cultivation marketplace in the area, so there was always a chance he might run into a wandering cultivator traveling through the wilderness. Thus, Qin Sang remained extremely cautious.

He crossed dozens of mountain ridges and rivers without encountering a single soul.

Eventually, he arrived at a secluded mountain hollow and suddenly came to a halt.

To the west of the Demonic Qingyang Sect lay a mortal kingdom. It was a vassal state under the sect's protection.

Traveling further southwest would bring him to the border towns of that mortal nation. One such town was Qing City, inhabited entirely by mortals.

Qing City sat right on the border, and to the east of it lay only wilderness and mountains, with no more mortal settlements. The area was close to the Endless Valley, where mostly immortal cultivators roamed.

The mountain hollow Qin Sang had arrived at happened to be along the only route connecting Qing City to the Demonic Qingyang Sect.

Suppressing his presence, he quietly landed in the hollow. After surveying his surroundings, he got to work. At the entrance of the hollow, he carefully laid down signs of battle—splattered bloodstains, chaotic footprints, disrupted spiritual energy, trampled grass and twisted branches...

Before long, the entire place had been transformed. The hollow now looked like the site where an injured cultivator had escaped from a deadly pursuit, struggled through a desperate battle, and finally collapsed here after exhausting all vitality.

At the end of the blood trail, Qin Sang placed the corpse, positioning it face down in the messy underbrush.

With the alterations he’d made to the body, the scene was so convincing that even Qin Sang would struggle to find any flaws if he had not staged it himself.

Still, out of caution, Qin Sang gave the setup another careful inspection. Then, flashing to the corpse’s side, he suddenly activated a wave of corpse qi from within himself.

In an instant, his appearance changed dramatically.

His face turned bluish-green, tusks jutted from his mouth, and his expression twisted into something terrifying—he now resembled a true refined corpse, with no trace left of his original features.

"Fortunately, as long as I suppress the corpse qi afterward, I’ll recover quickly. Otherwise, with this face... I’d probably struggle to take a single step in the cultivation world," Qin Sang murmured to himself, touching his cheek.

Disguising himself as a refined corpse meant he could no longer rely on barriers to conceal his appearance. He had to alter it using corpse qi instead.

The name Shadowless Sword was known far and wide throughout the Chaotic Island Waters. By now, Qin Sang had also made a small name for himself. There was always a risk someone might recognize him.

Next, he casually tossed the Corpse Coffin a short distance from the corpse, then slipped inside and quietly waited.

The person who would bring him into the Demonic Qingyang Sect hadn’t been chosen at random.

During the twenty-eight years he spent in Qingyang Market, Qin Sang had set aside the airs of a high-level cultivator and deliberately mingled with disciples of the Demonic Qingyang Sect. He had mentally compiled profiles for every cultivator he’d interacted with frequently.

Those with high cultivation were harder to approach and thus remained unfamiliar.

But for those below the Foundation Building Realm, and even a few at the early stage of the Foundation Building Realm, Qin Sang knew them quite well.

The man he had selected now was named Yu Batian, a cultivator at the early stage of the Foundation Building Realm.

This man possessed decent talent and had successfully reached the Foundation Building Realm, but he had been stuck just before the middle stage bottleneck for decades, unable to break through. This was somewhat like Yu Dayue in the past.

However, in temperament, Yu Batian was far inferior to Yu Dayue.

Yu Dayue had eventually succumbed to inner demons and attacked his fellow disciples, but that had only happened after he had exhausted every other option and been driven to madness.

Qin Sang had interacted with Yu Batian many times.

In their conversations, Yu Batian constantly voiced resentment and complaints. His favorite topic was how this or that person had received the favor of their sect elders, or had stumbled upon some great fortune or treasure in the outside world.

Especially when speaking of famous cultivators, he never failed to attribute their achievements to luck, even when referring to senior brothers he knew extremely well.

He would then launch into lamentations about his own poor luck, how he had never come across a single worthy opportunity, and how the Heavenly Dao had treated him unjustly, trapping him at his bottleneck for so long.

Yet if one looked at Yu Batian himself, he was far from a diligent cultivator. After only a few days of secluded cultivation, he would grow restless, leave his cave dwelling to drink and indulge, or join his fellow disciples on expeditions to the Endless Valley to hunt beasts—though he was always the first to return.

As for the Ancient Immortal Battlefield, he had never set foot there even once.

Moreover, he was deeply entangled in worldly pleasures, his lust growing worse with age.

He had gathered many stunning mortal women and kept them in Qing City. Every so often, under the pretense of training, he would head to Qing City for several days of indulgence.

Since Yu Batian longed so much for a fortuitous opportunity, Qin Sang decided to give him one.

According to his calculations, today was the day Yu Batian would return from Qing City, having just finished another round of pleasure-seeking.