92 Severing the Lower Corpse

The instant he appeared, the ink-black darkness that had seemed eternal all around them receded at once, revealing the dim mist that had been there before.

This made Qin Chuan breathe a long sigh of relief. Strange though it was that even before the obstacle had been cut down, everything had returned to what it had been.

Coming to himself, Qin Chuan fixed his gaze on the plain-looking pear moon wood in his hand.

"So this is pear moon wood?" he murmured.

It was exactly as he had imagined. He had seen pear moon hairpins before, but those had ultimately been refined and tempered into magical implements.

This raw wood lacked the luster and delicacy of the hairpin, yet it exuded a unique fragrance of grass and trees that soothed the heart and lungs, as though one had stepped into a field freshly turned over. The grain of the wood, as thick as a baby's forearm, was as fine and close-packed as a maiden's skin.

"This is what you wanted, isn't it? Take it."

After saying that, Liu Fengshan paused, then added with a smile, "Consider it compensation for your jar of elixir wine."

"Then Qin Chuan will accept it without ceremony!"

Delighted, he stepped forward. Just as he was about to take the pear moon wood, his outstretched hand suddenly halted in midair.

Spiritual energy in his dantian surged at once, diving straight into the locust wood. With a single lift of his arm, he used it as a short club and smashed it toward Liu Fengshan's face.

The man before him was stunned. Clearly, he had not expected Qin Chuan to strike so suddenly. Caught off guard, he was struck squarely on the head and reeled backward several steps.

A gush of blood burst from his scalp. He toppled sideways to the ground, red droplets falling, yet when they touched the earth they did not soak in, but turned instead into wisps of smoke that vanished without a trace.

"How did you discover it?" he rasped through clenched teeth.

"I never told a soul that I needed pear moon wood!"

"What's even more bizarre is that this pear moon wood was exactly the same as what I had in mind. Not the slightest difference!"

When Qin Chuan finished speaking, he said no more. He sat down cross-legged once again, and the instant the half-breath passed, he looked once more toward the pear moon wood.

The sense of danger in his heart immediately vanished, and only then did he let out a long breath.

At that moment, the other four, seeing that he had seen through the trick, walked toward the surrounding darkness and in moments were completely swallowed by the blackness.

Only Tang Xinling remained.

With a ghostly smile, she fixed her eyes on the man sitting cross-legged before her.

It made Qin Chuan's hair stand on end. He suddenly remembered that the lower corpse governed lust and desire. Some images seemed to flicker through his mind, and he swallowed stiffly, unease rising at once in his heart.

Tang Xinling pressed her advantage. She was already stunningly beautiful.

Her pale yellow gauze robes swayed with her steps, the hem fluttering like clusters of yellow wild roses in the wind. Her smooth black hair hung over one shoulder, leaving half of it bare and white, somehow carrying a bewitching allure.

Her gaze trembled and roamed wantonly. The curve of her lips was just right, her unpainted mouth red as vermilion. At her brows and eyes there was a breadth in spring and narrowness in autumn.

It might be said, "A single crimson bloom, dewdrops fragrant; the cloud-rain of Mount Wu only wastes the heart in vain."

A mere glance from the corner of her eye was enough to set his face burning hot. Though he kept his eyes forward, his body began to tremble.

No—he did not dare glance aside. He did not dare turn back to look at her at all.

Her smile deepened as she began to dance.

Like a moonlit beauty, her youthful face lightly powdered, she let her fragrant robe sweep with the wind of her dance, brushed pearl drops from her gauze sleeves, and let her dark hair spill and scatter from her pale hands.

The thin, tender yellow silk of her robes was like a sheet of window paper, through which the graceful outline of her figure could be seen in vague suggestion.

As though the dance had worn her out, her face flushed with wine-like color. Breathing out a mouthful of orchid-scented breath, she exhaled it onto Qin Chuan's face.

"Ugh!"

Qin Chuan's face turned red, and a strange sound escaped his throat as he coughed.

Inside, he howled again and again: "I'm not lusting after her body. I'm not filthy!"

At his age, desire was at its height. Though he had undergone much, and these years had brought no thought of such matters, at this moment his mind was suddenly stirred.

If it had been at another time, Qin Chuan would not have been so helpless. In truth, it was Tang Xinling's teasing allure, together with the powdery fragrance drifting through the air that could sway the mind.

Just as his face was flushing to the limit under that inward roar, the profound breathing formula in him suddenly began to circulate. The red in his face quickly faded, leaving him even paler beneath the moonlight.

Tang Xinling could sway gracefully as she pleased, her waist as supple as a willow in the wind.

His body did not move at all, and his heart was hard as stone!

His gaze, too, remained as still as ancient waters.

Thus time passed.

At the horizon, a faint fish-belly white appeared. The first light of dawn unfolded, cutting the shadows of the treetops.

Qin Chuan looked at the pear moon wood. His expression had not changed all night, and Tang Xinling had continued to seduce him all night as well, seemingly without fatigue, her makeup as perfect as before.

As the light of dawn spread, five figures gradually appeared beneath the pear moon wood, all sitting cross-legged under the tree.

Liu Fengshan formed a hand seal and gave a low cry. The branches trembled wildly at once, shaking loose countless pear moon blossoms that gathered like snow in his palm.

"Congeal!"

After completing the final seal, he stopped his moving lips and shouted sharply.

At once, a pear moon wood as thick as a man's arm emerged. Smiling, he nodded and put it away in his storage pouch, then turned back toward Qin Chuan. Only then did he notice Tang Xinling's dazzling makeup.

"Hmm? Where did this demon woman come from?"

He took out the dark locust wood and gave it a light tap. Instantly, a streak of radiance shot out like lightning, striking Tang Xinling right between the brows by sheer coincidence.

She cried out in pain. The evil charm upon her vanished, revealing her aged and hideous face. She rolled on the ground, howling, then turned into smoke and scattered as ash.

"Junior Brother, are you all right?"

Liu Fengshan seemed not to have expected this wicked apparition. He stepped forward a few paces to help Qin Chuan up, only to find his gaze cold, and his own eyes filled with astonishment.

"I'm fine. It's you who are in trouble now," Qin Chuan said coldly.

Liu Fengshan froze. "What do you mean? I'm perfectly well."

Qin Chuan said no more. The locust wood in his hand came down just as before, smashing toward the other's face.

Bang.

With force refined to the utmost, this blow carried the power of eighteen parts, as though it weighed a thousand catties. Like a hammer striking a watermelon, it smashed the man's head clean apart.

At that instant, Qin Chuan's expression changed. His lower dantian suddenly shuddered, and even the membrane separating the lower and middle dantians trembled with it.

Crack.

A soundless fracture seemed to form.

"What is this..."

His eyes shone brilliantly. In that very instant, an indescribable profundity flooded into his heart.

It was as though he heard the ebb and flow of tides at the edge of heaven, the myriad sounds of the great Dao buzzing like mosquitoes and then exploding like thunder in his mind.

In that flash, it was as though he had drifted beyond the mysterious universe, hearing the wondrous voices of all beings, where a thousand years and ten thousand years passed in a single instant.

In the unseen, he raised a hand and slightly bent a finger. Eight lines of fire burst forth and fused in an instant, condensing into a fire phoenix so vivid that every hair's breadth was lifelike.

Even its gaze was full of spirit, as though it were truly alive.

It spread its wings and wheeled into the air. Heat surged outward at once, and then it dove headlong into the black miasma, tearing open a gap that allowed daylight to leak in for the first time in any true sense.

Turning to look, his eyes filled with understanding.

At that moment, the five had just finished their spellcasting. With a sweep of his hand, Liu Fengshan put away the pear moon wood.

The blossoms on the tree had already disappeared, not because they had withered, and the ground beneath was empty as well.

Qin Chuan's gaze sharpened. This seemed to be a technique of alchemy.

It could refine near-origin plants and trees into the thing one required, though the conditions were extremely strict.

The full tree of pear moon blossoms had merely been condensed once more into a single piece of pear moon wood as thick as a man's arm.

"This Jade Mat Mountain is rather interesting."

He was astonished. Had he not seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed such a wondrous art existed within this city.

But then he thought better of it.

The pear moon wood was exceedingly difficult to grow. It seemed to rely upon the mist that had shrouded this place for years, living in mutual dependence with it. For that reason, outside Jade Mat, it was very hard to survive.

Moreover, it grew slowly. If the timber were truly harvested from the trees, then in less than a few years pear moon wood would be on the brink of extinction.

This wood was exceptionally tough, a natural embryo for magical treasures, and full of spiritual nature. In the hands of an ordinary Qi Refinement cultivator it might not seem remarkable, but in the hands of those at the Foundation Establishment stage it would surely be different.

Jade Mat Mountain also made it its primary source of income, becoming a trading ground for cultivators that influenced half of the Azure Mountain Realm.

In just a hundred years, it had amassed a fortune. Even children of ordinary aptitude there possessed Qi Refinement level three cultivation at a tender age, clearly fed on pills all year round.

It was obviously a house with deep pockets.

Thinking of this, Qin Chuan suddenly had a bold idea. If...

Heh. As the thought deepened, he could not help but laugh inwardly.

"Junior Brother?"

Seeing Qin Chuan's expression go a little blank, Liu Fengshan thought something had happened.

Just as he was about to reach out to probe, Qin Chuan sidestepped and avoided him.

"It's good that Junior Brother is all right," he said, releasing a breath of relief.

"Why does Senior Brother say that?"

"Junior Brother is not from our Jade Mat Mountain, so there are things you do not know..."

Little by little, Qin Chuan came to understand.

It was a strange tale.

A thousand years ago, Jade Mat Mountain was merely an ordinary mountain range, with thin spiritual energy, barren soil, and many goblin-maned beasts lurking in the hills.

Only seven hundred years ago did heaven change. Thunder rolled across the sky, lightning flashed again and again, as though the world were ending. Not long after, someone saw two pearls fall from the heavens into the mortal world, and then all was silent.

Half a day later, two great booms suddenly came from within the mountains. Two columns of water then rose from Jade Mat Mountain like twin rainbows, surging skyward with such overwhelming force that all who saw it changed color.

A month later the waters began to subside. After a year, they could no longer be heard.

Those with curiosity and courage who wished to enter the mountain and discover the truth never managed to get inside, because the forest was deep and the mist thick, and the road impossible to find. Aside from one person who got lost and died of hunger after running out of food and water, the rest all came back empty-handed.

To common folk, Jade Mat Mountain was like a veiled maiden. Rumor said its ground was covered in gold and silver, and that immortals came and went there.

To the cultivators, however, the maiden had lifted her veil.

The spiritual energy, once thin, somehow grew rich, and Jade Mat Daoist was chosen to establish a blessed dwelling there.

He preached the path and took disciples, and gradually it grew into its present scale.

At first it had merely been a slightly larger monastery. Later, Jade Mat Daoist devised the secret method for promoting the growth of pear moon wood, allowing the mountain monastery to abandon plain gruel and also spreading its fame.

The more people the monastery had, the more pear moon wood it could gather.

At first many were envious and wanted to secretly cut down some pear moon wood, but not long after, they were driven off by the goblin spirits within the mist.

Jade Mat Mountain then devised another method, inscribing a formation within the mist. With a specific technique, these goblin spirits could be driven away, allowing Qi Refinement disciples to gather pear moon wood as well.

Qin Chuan had followed the team all night and still had not seen how this formation was activated, though it must be related to the locust wood.

Even so, he still did not know the precise route.