Chapter 16

Finally, Qin Yue picked up the smallest jade box that had no writing on it. He hesitated for a moment, thinking, "I hope this doesn't contain another foul-smelling thing." With this thought, he stretched his arm as far as he could, held his breath, and slowly opened the lid...

024 The Buddha Light Lotus Seed As soon as the lid of the jade box was opened a crack, a dazzling golden light flashed out from the gap. By the time it was fully opened, Qin Yue had already closed his eyes, blinded by the golden light emanating from the box. He quickly channeled True Qi into his eyes, barely managing to open them again. Then, he peered intently into the box.

He saw that the object emitting the golden light was about the size of a thumb, an oval-shaped golden bead. Its surface appeared smooth and round, and it was enveloped in a faint golden halo.

Qin Yue's first reaction was: a treasure! He was so excited that he forgot to hold his breath and reached out to pick it up for a closer look. As soon as he gently pinched the bead with two fingers, he felt a surge of pure spiritual energy seeping in from his fingertips. At the same time, a fragrant aroma entered his nostrils. Upon closer inspection, Qin Yue discovered a tiny crack on one end of the bead, revealing a hint of green within. The invigorating scent emanated from this crack. "Huh? This thing looks like a… Oh! This must be the 'Buddha Light Lotus Seed'! Ha! A Buddhist treasure!" Qin Yue exclaimed excitedly.

Qin Yue attempted to infuse True Qi into it. The moment the True Qi was injected, several rows of extremely small white runes seemed to appear within the Buddha Light Lotus Seed. When he strained his eyes to see, they disappeared. As he continued to input True Qi, the aroma from the crack grew stronger, but nothing else changed.

Just as Qin Yue was about to withdraw his True Qi, his divine sense suddenly detected something rapidly approaching him from his rear left. He quickly turned his head and saw a strange, vivid green snake lunging at him through the air. It was less than four feet away, and Qin Yue could already smell the foul stench emanating from its gaping maw, dripping with black saliva and revealing rows of sharp teeth!

Qin Yue was startled and instinctively rolled to the right, closing the lid of the jade box with his hand. *Chh!* Because his reaction was slightly delayed, although he avoided a fatal blow to the neck, the clothes on the outer side of his left arm were torn open, and his skin was gashed by the sharp fangs, drawing two lines of blood.

The strange snake, having missed its target, immediately swung its tail back and, flicking its blood-red tongue, slowly slithered closer to Qin Yue. Its pigeon-egg-sized eyes gleamed with greedy coldness, shifting back and forth between Qin Yue and the jade box in his hand.

After narrowly escaping, Qin Yue calmed himself. He leaned against a large tree, quickly released his Body Protection True Qi, and nervously watched the strange snake he had never seen before. The snake was about six feet long, as thick as an adult's arm, and covered in emerald green triangular scales. A crimson horn grew from its head. The red tongue, the red horn, and its maw full of saliva-dripping fangs, combined with its constantly wriggling green body, made Qin Yue's scalp tingle.

What surprised Qin Yue even more was that after he released his protective True Qi, the strange snake paused slightly. Then, a faint green energy shield actually appeared on its body. Qin Yue's heart suddenly sank, "This ghostly thing is actually a demon cultivator?!"

With almost zero experience in combat, Qin Yue didn't think to probe the other party's cultivation with his divine sense. He merely carefully estimated the thickness of the energy shield around the snake, inferring that his own cultivation was likely not inferior to the snake's, and possibly even slightly superior. This somewhat eased his mind. Seeing that the snake's gaze sometimes flickered to the jade box in his left hand, in addition to staring at him, Qin Yue guessed that the scent of the Buddha Light Lotus Seed must have attracted it. An idea struck him.

He pretended to be very frightened, his left hand trembling as he slowly extended it forward, as if offering the jade box. His right hand casually rested on his hip. The strange snake had already reached within five feet of Qin Yue. Upon seeing Qin Yue's movement, it seemed puzzled. Its disgusting body stopped sliding, and instead, its head retracted slightly, its entire body swelling up as if inflating.

After swelling to nearly twice its original size, it suddenly leaped into the air, lunging directly at the jade box in Qin Yue's hand! At this moment, a cunning smile of success curved Qin Yue's lips.

Just as the snake's head was less than a foot from the jade box, Qin Yue suddenly flicked open the lid with his thumb. A blinding golden light erupted! The snake's eyes squinted from the sudden golden light, and its momentum faltered slightly. Before it could react, Qin Yue swiftly withdrew his left hand and swung his right hand rapidly towards it! *Crack crack crack…!* A series of tearing sounds echoed through the air as scales were rent apart. The transparent and sharp Soul Dagger flashed with a cold light, leaving a bloody gash on the snake's body, over a foot long and about half an inch deep! Having struck, Qin Yue retreated rapidly amidst the splashing snake blood, taking cover under another large tree in a defensive stance.

Perhaps due to its severe injury, the strange snake did not pursue further. Instead, amid hissing sounds, it darted deep into the dense forest. Seeing it escape, Qin Yue did not hesitate. He quickly employed the Light Body Technique and fled in the opposite direction, not wanting the demon snake cultivator to return for revenge, especially if it brought reinforcements.

He ran for over ten miles before stopping. It wasn't that he couldn't run anymore, but he felt his left arm growing numb. He found a secluded spot to sit down and examine it. He hadn't noticed before due to the tension, and now he was shocked. The wound on his left arm from the snake's bite was continuously dripping black blood. A large area of skin around the wound had already turned green and was swelling. The swelling appeared to be slowly expanding. "Poisoned!" Having spent two years in a medical clinic, Qin Yue could naturally recognize what was happening. He quickly sealed the meridians and acupoints near his shoulder, doing his best to prevent the poison from spreading to vital areas of his body. However, this was only a temporary measure; without quick detoxification, he would eventually die. But Qin Yue didn't even know what kind of snake it was, let alone how to detoxify it. "Never mind, I'll try to expel the poison with True Qi first." He sat cross-legged and began circulating his Qi to detoxify himself. After about half an incense stick's worth of time, Qin Yue gave up. It was no use! It had no effect at all. Looking at the wound again, except for the area above his shoulder, which was swelling more slowly due to the blocked acupoints and the resistance of his True Qi, the toxic gas below his arm had already spread to his wrist. His entire left arm looked green and bloated, and the wound emitted a foul odor. What alarmed Qin Yue even more was that his True Qi was steadily depleting as he tried to stop the poison from spreading.

Qin Yue felt both disgusted and terrified. Suddenly, he remembered that he hadn't finished examining the contents of his Sumeru Ring. Perhaps there was some potent antidote inside. He took everything out of the ring and spread it on the ground. However, after searching through the pile, he found no miraculous pills, and his heart sank. "It can't be like this? I finally got my hands on a treasure, and before I even figure out what it's for, I'm going to die?" Qin Yue, his face pale, looked at the messy pile of items in front of him and muttered, "The Wang family of Shengyang died because of this Buddha Light Lotus Seed, the entire family! Now it's my turn. This thing is a menace! Damn it, it's more of a menace than I am!"

In his helplessness, Qin Yue's gaze fell again on the small jade box. After staring blankly for a while, he suddenly reached out, picked it up, and, gritting his teeth, said, "If I'm going to die, I'm going to eat you first, to prevent you from harming others!" With that, he took out the Buddha Light Lotus Seed and held it in his hand.

Just as Qin Yue was about to put the legendary Buddhist treasure into his mouth, something extraordinary happened!!

At that instant, the Buddha Light Lotus Seed blazed with golden light, and a warm current surged into his right palm, flowing upwards along his meridians. Simultaneously, a layer of golden light began to envelop Qin Yue's body, following the flow of this current. As the current rapidly reached his left shoulder, it easily reopened the sealed acupoints and poured directly into his left arm.

Instantly, Qin Yue's entire upper body was enveloped in a soft golden radiance. This golden light was not dazzling at all; instead, it felt gentle, warm, and sacred.

In stark contrast to this scene, Qin Yue was not smiling benevolently. Instead, his eyes were wide open, his mouth agape, looking like a complete fool. His gaze was fixed on his left arm. As the warm current entered, Qin Yue noticed that his arm was gradually de-swelling, and his skin was slowly returning to its normal color from green.

After about half an incense stick's time, the warm current and the golden light retreated back into the Buddha Light Lotus Seed. Qin Yue's arm had fully recovered, even the wound had scabbed over. He tentatively moved his arm; there were no problems whatsoever. He could hardly believe his eyes, as if the green, bloated arm from his recent memory were merely an illusion.

"Haha! It's miraculous!" Now, Qin Yue knew that the Buddha Light Lotus Seed was indeed a treasure. Although he didn't know its other uses, it could at least detoxify, which was very good. Qin Yue thought that if Daoist Master Xuanyang had had such a good thing earlier, he wouldn't have died.

"Damn it, looks like this young master has a tough life. I can't seem to die no matter what." After returning from the brink of death, Qin Yue couldn't help but feel excited. He then began to tidy up the items in front of him, putting the ones he had already examined back into the Sumeru Ring and continuing to look through the rest.

A sheathless magic sword and some talismans – these were likely the magic tools used by the Wang family. A string of Buddhist prayer beads, made from extremely rare white jade bodhi seeds. Apart from in Liu Yuancheng's collection of books, Qin Yue had never seen white jade bodhi seeds before. These prayer beads seemed to be a Buddhist magic artifact. Upon infusing True Qi, he could see each bodhi seed emitting a faint white light, but there was no further reaction.

There were also two jade slips. The text inscribed on them looked similar, but upon closer inspection, many parts were different. However, one thing Qin Yue was certain of was that he didn't recognize any of it.

Qin Yue stored these items in the Sumeru Ring and finally picked up a plaque about three inches long and four fingers wide. It was carved from white jade and shaped like a token placed on an official's desk in court.One side was inscribed with the four characters 'Seven Immortals Sect Token' (Seven Immortals Sect Token), and the other side bore only a large character 'Nine' (Nine). It seemed this was the Seven Immortals Token the Wang family had mentioned.

025 The Soul of the Ink Dragon Holding the token, Qin Yue fell into deep thought. Should he return to Lingfeng Monastery, or should he follow the Wang family's advice and seek refuge with the Seven Immortals Sect? For Qin Yue, there were two things he had to do: first, avenge Daoist Master Xuanyang; and second, deliver his ashes back to the Yuan family on Lihe Island, East Sea.

Since his cultivation was no match for the murderer's, his best hope for revenge lay in formations. Relying solely on himself would make it difficult even to identify the killer, and gathering the numerous five-element materials needed for cultivation was no easy task. Moreover, Lingfeng Monastery was likely not safe. After some consideration, Qin Yue decided to go to the Seven Immortals Sect.

With the status of a disciple from the second-largest sect in the Central Plains cultivation world, he believed that it would be much easier to handle matters outside. Furthermore, such a large sect would offer more resources, such as for gathering materials for formations.

The current animosity between the Seven Immortals Sect and the Crescent Moon Sect also worked in Qin Yue's favor. After becoming a disciple of the Seven Immortals Sect, Qin Yue would surely learn a lot about the Crescent Moon Sect and its related information. If the situation allowed, he might even be able to use the Seven Immortals Sect's power to avenge the Wang family and their entire household, thus fulfilling his responsibility as the current 'Shengyang Boss'.

Of course, Qin Yue also sensed from the Wang family's dying words that the 'Seven Immortals Token' was extraordinary. He believed that going with this token would ensure his acceptance into the sect, otherwise, the Wang family wouldn't have spoken with such certainty. Having made his decision, Qin Yue confirmed the direction and set off again towards the marketplace in Kongming Valley. He wouldn't dare to inquire about the Crescent Moon Sect in the marketplace, but asking about the location of Yunmeng Mountain, where the Seven Immortals Sect was located, should be fine.

Given the fame of the Seven Immortals Sect, its location on Yunmeng Mountain was something that only a novice cultivator like Qin Yue, who had never ventured outside, would not know. After arriving at the marketplace, he asked a random person and found out. The person even looked down on him when he heard that Qin Yue didn't know the location of Yunmeng Mountain.

In the marketplace, Qin Yue bought a beast tendon, threaded his Sumeru Ring onto it, and hung it around his neck, tucking it under his innermost layer of clothing. He dared not wear such a thing openly on his finger. Then, he sold the Wang family's Sumeru Bag to a small shop for five Grade Three spirit stones before leaving the marketplace and heading in the direction of Yunmeng Mountain.

That evening, he found shelter in a secluded mountain cave. After catching and roasting a wild chicken, he felt inspired and took out the Heaven Stealing Demonic Art - Divine Abilities Chapter to read by the campfire.

Although he knew it was a demonic cultivation technique, Qin Yue was still very interested. The divine abilities recorded in it, such as Illusionary Face Technique, Demonic Cloud Hand, Blood Condensing Technique, Demonic Spirit Flash, Blood Illusion Escape, and others, were extremely appealing to him. Unfortunately, most of these required a successful Foundation Establishment cultivation base to practice. Only one divine ability – Form Merging Technique – was something Qin Yue could currently practice.

Divine abilities, in essence, referred to spells, and to cultivate the Form Merging Technique, one had to first learn the Invisibility Technique, as this divine ability was a high-level spell derived from it. The Form Merging Technique was divided into five incantations: Qi Concealing, Shadow Concealing, Traceless, Spirit Assimilation, and Form Merging.

Qi Concealing Mantra: The cultivator must reach the Qi Refining Mid-Stage. Upon successful cultivation, they can evade the divine sense of all Qi Refining Stage cultivators. Shadow Concealing Mantra: The cultivator must reach the Golden Core Realm. Upon successful cultivation, they can evade the divine sense of all Golden Core Stage cultivators. Traceless Mantra: The cultivator must reach the Golden Core Mid-Stage. Upon successful cultivation, they can evade the divine sense of early Nascent Soul stage cultivators and can maintain invisibility while moving. Spirit Assimilation Mantra: The cultivator must reach the Nascent Soul Realm. Upon successful cultivation, they can evade the divine sense of mid-Nascent Soul stage cultivators. Form Merging Mantra: The cultivator must reach the mid-Nascent Soul Realm. Upon successful cultivation, they can evade the divine sense of cultivators two cultivation stages higher than the practitioner.

The Form Merging Technique stated that a physical body cannot disappear out of thin air. The best way to achieve invisibility is not through simple illusions to conceal the body, but by completely merging oneself with the surrounding environment. Man within nature, nature and man as one – this is the highest realm of invisibility!

Upon mastering this divine ability, not only could one evade the divine sense of high-level cultivators, but starting from the third incantation, the Traceless Mantra, invisibility would no longer be restricted by movement. This was what attracted Qin Yue the most. Unfortunately, he had no chance of reaching the Golden Core Mid-Stage required to cultivate the Traceless Mantra. However, he could still learn the first incantation, the Qi Concealing Mantra.

Having learned the Qi Concealing Mantra, Qin Yue thought about attempting to cultivate the second incantation, the Shadow Concealing Mantra. As expected, the attempt failed, as it was a divine ability that only Golden Core Stage cultivators could practice.

Perhaps due to the combat, the journey, and the injury, Qin Yue felt tired and unconsciously leaned against the cave wall, falling asleep.

After an unknown period, Qin Yue was awakened by a buzzing sound. He groggily opened his eyes and found that the campfire by his side had gone out. It was not yet dawn outside the cave entrance, and the buzzing sound was coming from deeper within the cave. Qin Yue stood up curiously, cautiously releasing his Body Protection True Qi before slowly walking into the cave.

After walking nearly a hundred steps inward, Qin Yue realized that even with his current eyesight, he still couldn't see the bottom of the cave, which made him even more perplexed. He remembered vaguely checking the cave when he entered and found it wasn't very deep. However, the buzzing sound was slightly clearer now, sounding like monks chanting scriptures, and seemingly a large group of monks chanting. Qin Yue took out his magic sword, nervously continued forward, but remained in darkness as far as he could see.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his foot. Qin Yue quickly looked down and saw the strange snake from earlier that day, its fangs firmly clamped onto his foot! "Ah!" Qin Yue cried out and sat up, finding that the campfire beside him was still burning. He realized he had just had a dream. He had woken up startled because he had accidentally stuck his foot into the campfire and burned it.

After exhaling a long sigh, he felt a pain in his left arm. When he had suddenly propped himself up upon waking, the scab on his left arm had reopened, and thin wisps of blood were oozing out. The tattered page of the Heaven Stealing Demonic Art - Divine Abilities Chapter he was holding had also scattered on the ground.

Qin Yue intended to find something to bandage it with when his gaze fell upon the blank beast skin attached to the last page. He casually picked it up and used it as a bandage. After bandaging his wound, Qin Yue felt like sleeping a little longer. He added a few more pieces of dry wood to the campfire and then slumped back down to sleep.

This time, he did not have another dream and did not burn his foot. However, not long after he fell asleep, the beast skin used to bandage his wound changed because it had come into contact with his vital blood. The entire skin slowly exuded wisps of dark, hazy black qi, which soon coalesced into a small black dragon, about a foot long. It coiled around Qin Yue once, baring its fangs and claws, before suddenly transforming into a puff of black smoke and drilling into his body through the wound.

After this, everything seemed to return to normal. Qin Yue, sleeping soundly, didn't even turn over during the entire process. The next morning, he woke up without noticing any abnormalities in his body. He found a mountain spring outside the cave, washed his face, and continued on his journey.It wasn't until several days later, when Qin Yue removed the beast skin used for bandaging, that he was surprised to discover that the side of the skin facing inward, where his vital blood had touched it, had revealed a set of incantations called the Dragon Subduing Mantra (Dragon Subduing Art), inscribed with the legend that this mantra could suppress dragon souls.

"Dragon soul? Is that true? My master said that dragons are the kings of ancient demonic beasts. There have been many legends about dragons in the cultivation world since ancient times, but very few people have actually seen one. Forget dragons; even other types of demonic beasts are extremely rare in the human world nowadays. What am I supposed to subdue with this Dragon Subduing Mantra? That ugly snake that bit me? Besides, suppressing and subduing don't sound like the same thing.