The Forbidden Path to Immortality
Chapter 83

Up in the sky, the battle was finally drawing to a close. After a brutal, head-on clash with no room for evasion or redirection, even someone like Ren Qing Luan, whose dharma physique straddled the line between divine beast and demonic creature, whose cultivation was profound beyond measure, whose body was forged like unbreakable diamond, couldn’t hold out under the combined assault of the two Wanderers.

Let alone the earlier ambush, when Yin Wanderers landed a devastating strike to her back. That one blow alone had left her with a grievous injury.

Now, even her obsessive cleanliness couldn't save her from the filth of battle. Her left chest had been pierced clean through. A wound fatal for a human, and for her, not far off.

Blood had already soaked her once-immaculate blue robes. Her body was covered in dozens of wounds, each laced with intense negative energies from the two Wanderers’ demonic techniques, eating away at her strength bit by bit.

And yet, she stood tall amid the ruins below her feet, back straight, eyes sharp. Not a trace of defeat clung to her.

She drew in a slow breath and lifted her gaze to the two Wanderers. She was beneath them now, had to tilt her head just to meet their eyes. But the pride in her expression didn’t waver. She looked at them like she was looking down from the heavens, like they were nothing more than ants.

The two Wanderers exchanged a glance and smirked. In the blink of an eye, their bodies blurred and split, one appearing in front of her, the other behind, as they launched their next assault.

Qing Luan didn’t flinch. With a subtle shift of her body, she raised her crystal-clear hands to fend off both foes. Her fingers and palms slashed through the air with a sharpness that could rival divine weapons. But at this point, such techniques were useless against the two.

They moved like phantoms, weaving past her defenses as if they weren’t even there.

With a cold laugh, Blood Wanderer knocked aside her strike and threw a vicious punch straight at her chest; specifically, at an intimate spot no decent man would ever aim for.

Had it been anyone else, perhaps it wouldn’t have mattered. But Ren Qing Luan was famously fastidious to the extreme. A flash of green flared on her face as she forcibly withdrew her other arm—despite the pressure from Yin Wanderer—her sleeve swirling to block the indecent blow.

Blood Wanderer let out a loud laugh but did not press the attack. With a flick of his body, he dodged to the side.

Qing Luan shot him a frosty glare and began to turn, but Yin Wanderer had already moved. Her palm pressed lightly against Qing Luan’s back, and with a soft exhale of true breath, Qing Luan’s body froze, then crumpled.

That one strike had sent over a hundred strands of Icy Yin Qi directly into her. Her protective inner breath shattered after blocking only a fraction of it. The rest ran rampant through her, seizing her internal organs in a freezing grip.

But Yin Wanderer wasn’t finished. Her palm rose again, then fell; this time releasing the infamous Lotus Eight Secrets, a technique that made even seasoned cultivators of the Tongxuan Realm shudder in dread.

Of course Qing Luan knew what it was. With a furious roar, she endured her extremely severe injuries and summoned what little strength she had left for one final, desperate strike. But the countless itchy pinpricks blooming across her limbs and bones, along with the layers of qi that arose with it, had already locked many of her meridians, left her powerless. She couldn’t even exert  the slightest bit of strength.

Yin Wanderer caught her as she collapsed, but didn’t hold back. Her “embrace” was firm, groping at no fewer than three of Qing Luan’s most sensitive spots.

Qing Luan’s body trembled violently. But oddly, she didn’t respond the same way she had to Blood Wanderer. Her snowy pale cheeks even flushed with a faint pink.

Blood Wanderer didn’t notice. Yin Wanderer, however, saw everything. She smiled thoughtfully, then tapped a finger to Qing Luan’s forehead. Qing Luan’s body twitched again, her eyelids fluttered. And finally, she sank into unconsciousness.

Just like that, the one ranked third among the Seven Great Demonic Beasts of the realm, a figure who could go toe-to-toe with the most elite Grandmasters under the heavens, was left completely powerless.

The two Wanderers exchanged another glance. The same word crossed both their minds: luck. For such a victory, at such a low cost… they had every right to be proud.

But then they looked at the capital behind them, a smoldering ruin. More than half a million souls had already lost, and the number was still climbing. The land for hundreds of li around had been twisted beyond recognition. If their plan for the Primordial Embryo Dao Body failed to bear fruit, then the massacre they’d wrought today would come back to haunt them during the next Four-Nine Heavenly Tribulation.

Yin Wanderer swept her gaze around, her expression cold. Soon, she spotted Qin Wanru guarding the Shapeshifting Yin Pit (pool) not far away. She gave a small nod, called out to Blood Wanderer, and, carrying the unconscious Qingluan, began walking over.

Qin Wanru greeted them with a polite smile and a respectful bow, clearly congratulating them on their victory. Then she tactfully stepped aside, letting them see what was happening in the pool.

The Shapeshifting Yin Pit’s waters were infused with bone-deep chill. Li Xun had only been in for a short while, yet a thick layer of frost already coated him. The cold had turned his skin a terrifying shade of blue-purple.

Li Xun knew the two Wanderers were watching now, and dared not circulate his qi openly to protect his body. All he could do was shelter a flicker of warmth in his heart with his true breath, enduring the bone-deep cold in full.

His limbs had gone numb long ago. Cursing the two Wanderers to the eighteenth generation of their ancestors barely eased his hatred. He began daydreaming about the things he’d do to get back at them…. when everything was accomplished.

He was just getting to the fun part when Yin Wanderer suddenly let out a quiet “hmm,” making him nearly jump out of the pool. Thankfully, she was just remembering something else.

“This kid has quite a few treasures on him; we don’t want the pool to melt them down too. Wanru, take everything off him and hand them to your elder uncle for safekeeping.”

Playing the generous one here, Yin Wanderer didn’t wait for a reply. Blood Wanderer grinned. “Eh, trinkets like the Jade Bixiu and Phoenix Feather Needle don’t mean much to me. Let the girl keep them.”

Qin Wanru smiled sweetly and bowed her thanks. She fished Li Xun out, rifled through his robes, pulled out the jade, the needle, and even removed his sword, then dumped him back in.

Now, Li Xun was left with nothing but his Daoist robes. But he didn’t panic. The Heaven’s Nether Yin Pearl was still with Consort Qin. So, effectively, still his. One way or another, these two old monsters were going to pay dearly for underestimating him today.

Yin Wanderer placed Qing Luan at the edge of the pool, then turned to Blood Wanderer with a smile. “The ‘Broken Mark’ is complete. The Yin Qi’s begun to flow backward. All that’s left is to anchor the formation and refine the boy into Reversion Cinnabar Liquid. Well? Still got strength left?”

Blood Wanderer gave a nasty chuckle. “You’ve still got strength, beauty, so how could I not?”

As he spoke, his eyes flicked toward Qin Wanru, his meaning obvious.

Yin Wanderer caught the glance and laughed lightly. “Wanru, go stand guard in the distance. Unless we call you or there’s an emergency, don’t come near.”

Qin Wanru smiled again, bowed to both of them, and gracefully left.

She went as far as ten li away. Though Blood Wanderer didn't turn back, he continued to lock onto her with his spiritual sense. During this period, the qi between him and Yin Wanderer surged and receded, never never once paused.

It wasn't until Qin Wanru came to a stop that Blood Wanderer burst out laughing. “Don’t blame me, Beauty Yin. Caution’s no vice in matters like this. If this matter goes smoothly, our cultivations will soon catch up with that scoundrel Zhong Yin. A chance like that doesn’t come twice. As for that disciple of yours…”

“Don’t bring up your filthy excuses. You might not care about disciples, but I sure as hell do.” Yin Wanderer’s half-smile was beautiful, even charming. But beneath that surface, her words carried a weight that made Blood Wanderer think twice.

“I spent hundreds of years raising this disciple. And now you want to just toss her aside? How generous of you!”

Blood Wanderer didn’t feel the slightest bit embarrassed. He just laughed boisterously. “Fair enough! Your disciple is the work of centuries; my bargain-bin apprentice can’t compare. Since I’ve already offered him up, let’s not quibble over this. Best we finish this business sooner rather than later.”

Their gazes locked again. This time, in each other’s eyes, they both saw the same flickering spark quietly extinguish; it was the kind of unspoken agreement only seasoned schemers could share. They both smiled, then turned away from one another, walking to opposite ends of the Shapeshifting Yin Pit, each taking it as their dividing line.

Exactly fifty steps apart, they turned again. Facing each other, they sat cross-legged. Breaths synchronized, eyes closing in silent concentration, their internal qi began to circulate in harmony. Then, simultaneously, their eyes opened again.

And just then, down in the pool, Li Xun nearly screamed.

No warning, no signs. The water temperature in the pool surged sky-high in a heartbeat. For a second, he genuinely thought it was boiling. The abrupt change struck his already-frozen body with devastating force. In the blink of an eye, the ice crusting his body shattered. And so did a layer of his skin.

With a soft crack, one of his teeth splintered between clenched jaws. The sound was swallowed up by the cascade of ice breaking apart. The two Wanderers didn’t notice a thing. And outwardly, Li Xun’s expression didn’t change at all. Not that it mattered, any change would’ve gone unseen anyway.

His body, operating on sheer instinct, began to convulse from the agony. With his skin split open, his blood-red flesh was now exposed to the searing cold and heat. Muscles twitched, nerves flared, every inch of him spasmed with the backlash. The violent tremors masked any outward signs that might have given him away.

As the pain roared through him, Li Xun fought to keep his mind clear. He couldn’t afford to pass out. He had to sense the changes in the flow of qi outside his body.

According to what Consort Qin had told him, the first step of the two Wanderers’ ritual would be to use their core true breath to reverse the extreme cold of the pool, turning yin into yang and triggering a refining technique that would compress his essence, energy, and spirit into one. In doing so, they would revert him to a state of primal chaos. Blank, pure, and unaware.

It wouldn’t kill him. But it would erase every memory, every trace of who he was, returning him to a state of natural innocence and purity. In simple terms, he’d become an idiot. A clean slate.

Under normal circumstances, no one could resist such a process.

But Li Xun had bet everything on a unique and unconventional method that no sane person would take.

Ten li away, Consort Qin made a subtle motion with her hand. The Dustwind Pearl shot into the air, spinning up thousands of feet with a sharp flick of her finger. As it rose, its outer casing cracked open, revealing the true core inside: the Heaven’s Nether Yin Pearl.

A swarm of pale gray energy, like ten thousand writhing serpents, coiled and twisted around the pearl as it hovered directly over the Shapeshifting Yin Pit. The moment it reached its apex, all that qi mechanisms snapped inward, locking into complex interwoven patterns that hadn’t been activated in thousands of years.

A portal opened.

Li Xun felt his body suddenly lighten. A wave of disorienting dizziness hit harder than the searing pain from his skin tearing away. The world flipped, turned, and spun wildly.

It was a surreal sensation. In that single moment, he came to, but only to fall headfirst into a different kind of vertigo.

It was unlike any qi mechanism he had ever known. In this space, his six senses vanished entirely. Heaven and earth blurred into one shapeless gray haze. And from that haze emerged tens of thousands of unfamiliar qi mechanisms.

He could swear on everything he had, he had never felt these energies before. Yet each qi mechanism was so distinct, passing through his 'body.' And between the qi mechanisms, as well as between the qi mechanisms and his 'body', indescribable tremors were born.

Such a vague impression had no time to be carefully savored before an overwhelmingly immense suction force pulled him violently into another space.

Time and space twisted again, and just when the dizziness started to fade, he “opened his eyes,” and found the world had returned to normal.

Except… it hadn’t.

The colors of heaven and earth were fading, slowly washing out into monochrome gray. And the sounds flooding into his ears, once rich and layered, were now reduced to a singular, grating noise, like the wailing of starving ghosts.

Yet somehow, from that one note, Li Xun could perceive more information than ever before.

His heart quaked. If he could cry, he wouldn’t have held back. Because once again, his gamble had paid off.

Nether Transformation.

This was the ultimate use of Heaven's Nether Yin Pearl.

It was basically to use the pearl as the carrier, using the technique of the Nascent Soul leaving the body, to inject one's own essence, energy, and spirit into the item, thereby maximizing the use of the vast Nine Netherworld Earth Qi cultivation formula contained within the treasure pearl.

During this period of time, it could be said that Li Xun was the Heaven’s Nether Yin Pearl, and the Heaven’s Nether Yin Pearl was Li Xun. The powerful Nine Netherworld Earth Qi within it could all be used by him. However, due to the soul's limit in endurance, the duration of use was only a brief half an hour.

Moreover, Li Xun's cultivation had not yet reached the level where essence, energy, and spirit are united as one, nor had he achieved the corporeal form of the Transformation of Infant stage. He could only inject his soul.

That meant the risk wasn’t just doubled.

It was multiplied a hundredfold.