Chapter 185: Open the Heavenly Gate, the Immortal Form Takes Shape!

"With immortal qi as the guide, the form can take shape!"

Li Rui suddenly understood.

"No wonder I struggled for so long to comprehend the immortal form, unable to make progress—the Hongmeng could not be opened, because I lacked the key."

His immortal form could almost be called the first of its kind in the world.

There was no prior example to reference.

Since he began cultivating, he had always felt something was missing, yet could never pinpoint what it was.

Only after accidentally obtaining immortal qi did heaven and earth finally open, and the immortal court take form.

Within his dantian.

Immortal qi merged into the Xuanqing immortal form; the tranquil qi sea churned like mist and clouds, and within the veils of mist, a weathered, ancient gate adorned with dragon and phoenix carvings stood hidden amid the cloud sea.

A fierce wind swept through.

The stone-carved giant gate revealed its true form, seated at the southern end of the "Immortal Court."

"Southern Heavenly Gate!"

Li Rui felt his heart skipped a beat.

Xuanqing qi and immortal qi intermingled, gradually turning purple-gold, drifting above the Southern Heavenly Gate.

Ten thousand rays of golden light rolled with crimson rainbows; a thousand auspicious threads exhaled violet mist!

Golden light and violet mist wove together, breathtakingly magnificent.

The immortal form, complete!

Ancient legends say the Immortal Court had four gates—east, west, south, north—the Southern Heavenly Gate being the entrance from the mortal realm into the immortal realm.

In ancient times, cultivators who ascended crossed the Heavenly River and entered the Immortal Court through the Southern Heavenly Gate.

The Southern Heavenly Gate was the celestial gate for mortal cultivators!

Its significance was extraordinary.

All that is past; the Heavenly River has long vanished, let alone the Southern Heavenly Gate and the Immortal Court.

Merely an ancient legend.

Now, the immortal form was no longer its former chaotic state—a cloud sea rested atop the lower half of the earth, and within the clouds, a platform was faintly visible, with the Southern Heavenly Gate seated upon it.

This platform was the foundation of the Immortal Court.

Almost the instant the Immortal Court took shape, a pure stream violently poured into Li Rui's crown.

He instantly felt his spiritual platform clear and bright.

At his ears, he seemed to hear the mingling cries of dragon and phoenix, the playful calls of immortal birds, and a faint, ethereal chant:

"Catching the golden crystal secures the root of life; the sun's essence eastward, the moon's radiance westward.

Within it, the elixir of immortality is forged; ingest it, and you shall rival heaven and earth."

The next instant.

The room was windless, yet Li Rui's sleeves swelled and his hair and beard fluttered without cause.

A strand of purple qi slowly drifted from the top of his head.

This was "Purple Qi Coming from the East!"

A sign of the completion of the Li Muscle.

In a daze, Li Rui seemed to see a nine-heaven waterfall crashing down, a colossal gate standing beneath a ten-thousand-zhang cliff, and he himself was the fish swimming upstream against the torrent.

Strive to cross! Strive to cross!

Xuanqing qi—now properly called purple-gold qi—formed a circular disc that lifted Li Rui, ascending swiftly until it reached the Dragon Gate.

The torrential waterfall before Li Rui's eyes vanished; he felt suddenly enlightened.

"I've passed through the Dragon Gate."

Half-chanting, half-singing, filled with ancient sorrow, Li Rui entered a state of profound mystery.

But it lasted only an instant.

He blinked his eyes.

"What did I just see?"

"Gao Zhen?!"

Just now, his soul had seemingly detached from his body, soaring high into the nine heavens, overlooking the mortal world.

Then he saw more than a dozen glowing spots.

Two of them were within Anning Guard; the rest were scattered across the land.

The two in Anning Guard—one was in Gao Zhen's residence, the other in Jiang Lin's residence.

"It's other immortal qi!"

Li Rui narrowed his eyes slightly.

Clearly.

The immortal qi in Gao Zhen's residence still remained.

"Gao Zhen, four-armed demon ghost, immortal qi, Ghost Ming Sect."

Li Rui murmured softly, frowning slightly.

Was this coincidence?

He did not believe it.

Two individuals possessing immortal qi appearing simultaneously in Qinghe was far too improbable; he leaned toward another possibility.

That Gao Zhen was connected to the four-armed demon ghost.

A government official from the Lu Yang Gao clan was linked to a demon of the Ghost Ming Sect.

The answer was obvious.

Gao Zhen must be colluding with the Ghost Ming Sect—perhaps even worse, he had already joined it.

Otherwise, such a divine substance as immortal qi—even the Ghost Ming Sect could not possess much.

They would never give it lightly to an outsider.

"Clever move!"

Li Rui narrowed his eyes slightly.

The Ghost Ming Sect's infiltration into the imperial court seemed even deeper than he had imagined.

Immediately, he thought of another person.

County Magistrate Zhu Renhe of Qinghe.

Qu Chengfeng was tied to the Ghost Ming Sect; Gao Zhen was tied to the Ghost Ming Sect; and coincidentally, Zhu Renhe had actively befriended both.

Coincidence?

Li Rui suddenly felt a toothache.

He had walked straight into a den of thieves.

He wondered whether other regions of Yu State also harbored so many hidden agents of the Ghost Ming Sect—if so, Yu State was in grave danger.

"Or perhaps Qinghe possesses something that attracts the Ghost Ming Sect?"

Li Rui pondered.

Only then would a small place like Qinghe be worth the Ghost Ming Sect's great effort to plant its own people.

It was certain that hidden agents like Zhu Renhe and Gao Zhen—clean backgrounds, high positions—could not be numerous even within the Ghost Ming Sect.

Otherwise, the world would already be in chaos.

Yet now that he had passed through the Dragon Gate, Li Rui had gained some confidence to handle the coming upheaval.

Gao's residence, inner courtyard. CRASH!

Gao Zhen crushed a teacup in his hand, his face dark:

"He's quite good at hiding."

He had visited a Ghost Ming Sect covert contact point to inquire about the four-armed demon ghost Wu Yun.

But to his surprise, even the people at the contact point did not know where Wu Yun had gone.

As if he had vanished from the mortal world since that day.

Contact points were Ghost Ming Sect's hidden rendezvous locations across Yu State, often disguised as funeral shroud shops, carriage stables, and the like.

"Could it be he obtained immortal qi and is hiding from me out of fear of revenge?"

"Unlikely."

"The Twelve Blood Disciples must carry out the Ancestor's orders; otherwise, they will be hunted down by the entire Ghost Ming Sect. He cannot hide long—not enough to make the Ancestor believe he is deliberately evading."

"Then where could he have gone?"

"Damn it!"

=9+shu_ba

The more Gao Zhen thought, the angrier he became.

This operation only killed a few minor players; the key targets—Ning Zhongtian, Tan Hu, and Li Rui—still roamed the barracks every day, unharmed.

Not only did it strengthen Jiang Lin's and Cao Wei's vigilance, but now he himself had to find a way to kill them.

In fact, legend said there was one more name on the list—Jiang Lin.

But Jiang Lin was too powerful for the Twelve Blood Disciples to oppose.

So the Ancestor simply erased Jiang Lin's name.

"We'll have to plan carefully."

He had already acted twice; if he stirred up more trouble, he would surely draw Jiang Lin's and Cao Wei's attention, and if they traced it back to him, it would be a nightmare.

After all, the Ancestor never set a deadline—worst case, he could wait until the storm passed before seeking another opportunity.

What he was thinking about now was the immortal qi stolen by Qiu Ping and Wu Yun.

Compared to completing the mission, immortal qi was far more important.

Just thinking about it made his teeth itch with rage.

He wanted to dig Qiu Ping out of the ground and kill him again.

"Wu Yun is gone for now—I can only go to the place where Jiang Lin killed Qiu Ping and hope for luck."

He only hoped Jiang Lin hadn't discovered that Qiu Ping had hidden immortal qi; otherwise, most of it would be lost, and he might even invite major trouble.

"Master, why is your true qi different from before?"

Liang He stared at the purple-gold light glowing on Li Rui's palm, surprised.

If he remembered correctly,

your true qi used to be blue-green.

Li Rui smiled slightly: "I've made progress in my training—my true qi has changed."

"Oh."

Liang He didn't press further and simply nodded.

He trusted Li Rui completely, worshipping him without condition.

Today was the day to renew the qi.

Every month, Li Rui reclaimed the Xuanqing qi he had placed on Liang He and Liu Tiezhu, then re-injected it.

He did this

to prevent them from being led astray by his Xuanqing qi.

Teaching requires adapting to each student's nature.

Though he had passed on the Changchun Art to Liang He and Liu Tiezhu, he didn't want them to follow the exact path he did.

Changchun, Changchun—only when a hundred flowers bloom does it become interesting.

If only one flower opened, that would be dull.

Li Rui could also draw from his disciples' practice of the Changchun Art to refine and improve the technique—this was the way to lasting mastery.

He renewed the qi for Liang He.

Li Rui then did the same for Liu Tiezhu.

Both were deeply familiar with Li Rui's true qi, and they immediately sensed this time's qi was vastly different.

Ethereal and divine, a single thread seemed capable of commanding all life.

The feeling was faint, yet undeniably real.

Li Rui offered no explanation, only smiled warmly at the two: "By the way, this is your third junior brother—Xiao Zhao. You both know him, so I won't introduce him."

Liang He and Liu Tiezhu stared in surprise at Wang Zhao, standing awkwardly beside them.

They did know

that when Li Rui was still a slave, Wang Zhao had studied under him.

In fact, Wang Zhao was technically the eldest disciple.

But because his martial aptitude was abysmal, he gave up martial training and went to the Horse Stable to learn horse care—so Li Rui never formally took him as a disciple.

Why the sudden change?

Though puzzled, they didn't ask.

It would have insulted Li Rui and wounded Wang Zhao's pride.

"Junior brother."

"Junior brother."

Liang He and Liu Tiezhu grinned—they lived in the same courtyard; accepting Wang Zhao was no more than a thought.

Seeing his senior brothers still treated him as before,

Wang Zhao finally exhaled in relief.

Though none of the three came from wealth or nobility, his origins were the lowest—and not only that, he was a complete waste at martial arts.

Just a stinking horse groom.

Li Rui watched the three disciples get along harmoniously and smiled knowingly.

Wang Zhao now seemed only a horse groom, but that wouldn't last—he might even become a Grand Horse Master.

All because of the change in Xuanqing qi.

Ever since he used immortal qi as a catalyst to form the immortal shape, Xuanqing qi had quietly transformed.

The current Xuanqing qi had long since departed from the original vision of the White Ape Slash Blade founder—it had become something akin to immortal qi.

It would be more accurate to call it Immortal-Xuanqi.

And Immortal-Xuanqi inherited the potent properties of immortal qi: nourishing the body and reversing one's innate aptitude.

With a thread of Immortal-Xuanqi infused into him, Wang Zhao wouldn't just be able to train—he might even become a martial master.

Famous throughout the land!

(End of Chapter)