Chapter 311: Throughout History, Only These Three Have Succeeded! South Zhang Covers

A dim, hazy moon, neither bright nor dark; a slow wind, neither warm nor cold.

Deep within Yunshan, a single lamp flickered, reflecting the bright moon above and harmonizing with the mountain's clear breeze.

Inside the dilapidated temple nestled in the mountain hollow, the peachwood sword hanging above the altar suddenly split apart, lightning flared, and fire erupted in bursts.

Lightning and fire intertwined, casting the figure in even greater majesty and distinction.

He sat cross-legged upon the altar; at this moment, he was like a celestial immortal, like a divine being.

Boom… boom… boom…

Suddenly, a breath arose—like thunder, like a gale, like a tidal surge—the heavens and earth drew in as one, the mountains and rivers exhaled together; the surging lightning and fire vanished instantly, as if absorbed into that majestic form.

"Li Changgeng…"

At that moment, Yu Yu Xuanji walked in from afar, her delicate brows deeply furrowed, a look of concern on her beautiful face.

"You've fallen from the Zhai Shou realm?"

"The Dao has no boundaries; we artificially name them."

Li Li Changgeng sat upon the altar; though his realm had fallen, his aura grew deeper, unfathomable.

"The cultivation method I practice is too fierce and tyrannical—it has drawn Heaven's dread. If I do not sever myself, Heaven will kill me, Earth will punish me," Li Li Changgeng said gravely.

"Heaven and Earth seize fate!" Yu Yu Xuanji's eyes gleamed with unusual light.

"The Nine Inner Elixir Methods are truly terrifying."

Of all the trials of mortal red dust, these nine methods are the most perilous!!

Thinking of this, Yu Yu Xuanji looked at Li Li Changgeng, her beautiful eyes filled with worry.

She feared that one day, Li Li Changgeng would be consumed by Heaven and Earth's great calamity, reduced to ashes and dust.

"One who seizes Heaven and Earth's fate must enter the realm of eternal life and immortality," Li Li Changgeng murmured softly.

How could such an anti-law ever become divine or immortal without calamity?

"But…"

Before Yu Yu Xuanji could speak, Li Li Changgeng interrupted her.

"Over these years, as I cultivated Heaven and Earth's Seizing Fate, I gradually came to realize—there may be a way to truly perfect this method."

At these words, Yu Yu Xuanji's eyes lit up, and she blurted out: "What way?"

"Reversal is the movement of the Dao," Li Li Changgeng paused slightly, then continued.

"To see high, one must dwell low; to seek existence, one must first embrace non-existence… To seize fate, one must first confront calamity. In this vast Heaven and Earth, only one method exists—exhaustively unraveling the mysteries of calamity, revealing the evil faces of the mortal world…"

"If I can obtain this method, perhaps I can compare and contemplate the secrets of calamity and fate."

"You mean…" Yu Yu Xuanji's gaze trembled violently, revealing disbelief.

As a disciple of Mount Sanqing Mountain, how could she not know what Li Li Changgeng meant!?

"One of the Nine Methods—the Ten Thousand Evils Calamity Form!" Li Li Changgeng's gaze was deep.

Boom… boom… boom…

High above, the bright moon still shone; a bolt of lightning split the sky, as if concealing the madman's secret words.

Tap… tap…

At that moment, clapping echoed from the deep night.

The next instant, a young man stepped slowly forth, his handsome face revealed in the flickering firelight; he wore casual attire, a pair of black sunglasses hanging from his chest pocket.

"Heaven and Earth gave birth to Nine Methods; mastering even one is rare in all history."

"Li Dao-brother, you are truly the heir of Bai He Guan—you dare seek two methods? Your path to death is near," the handsome youth said with a smile.

"The path to death is the path to eternal life," Li Li Changgeng said calmly, looking at the newcomer.

At these words, the handsome youth fell silent.

"Jiangzhen Xiang Jiangzhen Xiang Tingshan, you play among mortals, indifferent to cultivation, yet your progress advances by leaps and bounds; among the bloodline descendants of the Ten Thousand Mountains' demon lords, you are already top-tier," Li Li Changgeng said softly.

The Dao has always been divided into two extremes: where one does not strive, the willow grows.

"Me?" Jiangzhen Xiang Jiangzhen Xiang Tingshan smiled.

Bai Jiangzhen Xiang Mountain is the sacred pinnacle of the Ten Thousand Mountains.

Because every generation of demon lords in the Ten Thousand Mountains has emerged from this lineage.

He is the prodigy among the younger generation of Bai Jiangzhen Xiang Mountain, yet he rarely stays in the mountains, wandering the mortal world, seemingly unattached to cultivation—yet his cultivation has already reached an utterly terrifying level.

"Humans truly do produce geniuses of extraordinary intellect…" Jiangzhen Xiang Jiangzhen Xiang Tingshan murmured solemnly.

"Let turmoil fade into the flow of time—where in this world can one find joy or sorrow?"

If one surrenders all worries to the flow of life, abandons wisdom, rejects sainthood, and discards all thoughts—what joy or sorrow remains in this world?

His realm would naturally arrive as water flows downhill.

Over these years, though he never stayed in the Ten Thousand Mountains, he gained much from Daoist scriptures, and thus met Li Li Changgeng.

"The incense of Bai Jiangzhen Xiang Mountain will reach its zenith through you," Li Li Changgeng murmured softly.

He held Jiangzhen Xiang Jiangzhen Xiang Tingshan in the highest regard, so he spared no effort to subdue the young elites of every demon cave in the Ten Thousand Mountains to aid him.

One day, this man might become the demon lord of the Ten Thousand Mountains.

"You overestimate me," Jiangzhen Xiang Jiangzhen Xiang Tingshan smiled lightly.

The current demon lord is at his peak; to ascend to that throne, he did not know how many years he must wait.

"When fate arrives, Heaven and Earth lend strength; when fate departs, even heroes are not free," Li Li Changgeng said gravely.

"No matter how high one's cultivation, it cannot resist the tide of Heaven and Earth—the old era is replaced by the new…"

"This is the tide of destiny!"

Li Li Changgeng sat upon the altar, his words calm yet powerful, each syllable sounding as if spoken by Heaven, Earth, or the gods themselves.

Jiangzhen Xiang Jiangzhen Xiang Tingshan remained silent, yet a strange light flickered in his eyes.

Yu Yu Xuanji saw it clearly—this disciple of Bai Jiangzhen Xiang Mountain had already boarded Li Li Changgeng's great ship.

Huh…

At that moment, a stench-laden wind swept in, stirring the flickering candles.

"Zhang Fan… I saw Zhang Fan…"

Huang Huang Sanlang rushed in, dusty and weary, fear still in his eyes.

"Hm!?"

Yu Yu Xuanji's brows lifted, her expression turning unusual.

"Jiangzhen Xiang Jiangzhen Xiang Tingshan!?"

Huang Huang Sanlang's gaze swept over and recognized a familiar face; he immediately showed wariness.

Among disciples of every demon cave in the Ten Thousand Mountains, Bai Jiangzhen Xiang Mountain inspired innate awe.

For generations, the spirits, demons, and ghosts of this land had lived under its rule.

"Huang Huang Sanlang, did you see a ghost?" Jiangzhen Xiang Jiangzhen Xiang Tingshan smiled lightly.

"He's worse than a ghost," Huang Huang Sanlang shook his head, instinctively glancing at Li Li Changgeng.

"Has he arrived?" Li Li Changgeng asked gravely.

"Zhang Fan…"

Huang Huang Sanlang gritted his teeth and recounted everything that had happened in Huangpi Cave.

He swallowed hundreds of yuanshen at once, plunged into utter darkness; when he was released, the three Zhang family experts were already dead, their cultivation and souls extinguished.

"Li Dao-brother's mortal enemy—he's surnamed Zhang?" Jiangzhen Xiang Jiangzhen Xiang Tingshan asked, startled.

"His cultivation is truly this terrifying?" Yu Yu Xuanji's mind conjured Zhang Fan's image.

It was sheer luck they escaped alive from Xu's courtyard that day.

"Three Corpses Refining the Soul… He cultivates the Divine Splitting Art, and has made significant progress in the Three Corpses Mirroring Fate," Li Li Changgeng said calmly.

Merely from Huang Huang Sanlang's account, he seemed to have witnessed it firsthand.

"Three Corpses Mirroring Fate? You mean he also cultivates Three Corpses Mirroring Fate?" Yu Yu Xuanji's face turned pale, she cried out.

At this moment, her worry deepened further.

"I regard him as my great enemy, yet he is so recklessly ignorant of death," Li Li Changgeng shook his head, showing regret.

"Why say that?" Yu Yu Xuanji could not help but ask.

"Three Corpses Mirroring Fate—the supreme method of all. This Elixir Art is not easily cultivated; throughout history, only three have ever succeeded."

"Who are they?"

At this moment, even Jiangzhen Xiang Jiangzhen Xiang Tingshan could not help but ask.

After all, Li Li Changgeng was the heir of Bai He Guan—he knew far more secrets than any of them, especially regarding the Nine Inner Elixir Methods.

Those were the secrets to becoming immortal.

"One of them is naturally the greatest master of a hundred years ago."

"San Shi Dao Ren!" Li Li Changgeng uttered that name.

In the hundred-year history of Daoism, that name was an unclimbable mountain; across Heaven and Earth, only one other mountain could rival it.

Under San Shi Dao Ren's leadership, Wu Wei Men reached its peak, nearly crushing all other Daoist sects beneath its weight.

Had Chu Chu Chaoran not emerged suddenly and shattered Wu Wei Men's fate in his final assault on temples and mountains…

The landscape of the world today would not be as it is.

"The other is the founding ancestor of Wu Wei Men."

At these words, all fell silent.

The founding ancestor of Wu Wei Men was extraordinarily mysterious in history—there was no written record, only scattered, fragmentary oral legends.

Yet it was he who founded the thousand-year legacy of the Wu Wei Sect, and thus ignited the generations-long life-or-death feud with the Daoist sects.

For this name, Yu Yu Xuanji and the others were not surprised.

After all, the first rule of the Wu Wei Sect's code is: whoever masters the Three Corpses Mirroring Fate shall become the sect's master.

The ancestral rule of the Wu Wei Sect was established because he himself had once cultivated this method.

"Then who is the other one?" Jiangzhen Xiang Jiangzhen Xiang Tingshan asked.

That the Three Corpses Daoist and the Wu Wei Sect's founder had mastered the Three Corpses Mirroring Fate was expected.

But beyond these two, no one else in history was ever said to have succeeded in this method.

"There is one more…"

Li Li Changgeng paused slightly, then said: "You've surely heard his name…"

"Yet few in this world know that this man also mastered the Three Corpses Mirroring Fate and was invincible under heaven!"

"Who?" Yu Yu Xuanji's heart skipped a beat.

Throughout history, those who claimed invincibility under heaven were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns—this pool was far too small.

Even so, she racked her brain but could not recall who it might be.

At this moment, Jiangzhen Xiang Jiangzhen Xiang Tingshan and Huang Huang Sanlang both leaned forward, eyes fixed on Li Li Changgeng with curiosity.

The mountain breeze drifted gently, swaying the dim candle flame and stretching Li Li Changgeng's shadow long across the ground.

"There is one more…"

"That is the progenitor of the Daoist sect, the founding ancestor of the Zhang family of Long Hu Mountain…"

Grand Master Zhang Zhang Daoling!!!

"What?"

At these words, everyone's expression changed instantly.

The Daoist sect has ancient roots, but its formal founding began when Zhang Zhang Daoling attained enlightenment on He Ming Mountain, receiving the teachings from the Supreme Elder.

Since then, the Daoist sect has flourished, revered by all under heaven.

The Ancestral Master Zhang Zhang Daoling was honored as the progenitor of the Daoist sect, establishing his school on Long Hu Mountain.

"The ancestor of the Zhang family…" Yu Yu Xuanji whispered softly.

"Three Corpses Mirroring Fate—peerless under heaven…"

"Throughout history, only these three have succeeded," Li Li Changgeng said coldly.

Of the Nine Internal Elixir Methods, apart from the ninth, which has never surfaced, the most difficult to cultivate is the Three Corpses Mirroring Fate.

Of the other seven Internal Elixir Methods, over the long centuries, many have succeeded—through the ebb and flow of time, over thousands of years, their number barely exceeds the fingers of two hands.

But the Three Corpses Mirroring Fate has been mastered by only three.

"Do you know why?" Li Li Changgeng asked lightly.

"To exhaust the secrets of the primordial spirit, to interfere with heaven's taboos," Yu Yu Xuanji said solemnly.

As a disciple of Mount Mount Sanqing, she had considerable understanding of the Three Corpses Mirroring Fate.

To cultivate this method, one must begin with the Great Soul-Splitting Technique.

This Great Soul-Splitting Technique is not the minor version—it splits the primordial spirit into three.

Know this: the primordial spirit is innate; adding or subtracting even a fraction brings imbalance, risking death and spiritual annihilation, let alone splitting it into three.

Merely this first step has barred countless prodigies.

"Then do you know why one must split the soul?" Li Li Changgeng suddenly asked.

At this, everyone froze, expressions puzzled.

"Indeed, splitting the soul is already an insurmountable barrier—but merging it is even harder… Even if one reaches this stage, it remains nine deaths and one survival," Li Li Changgeng shifted tone, yet gave no answer to their confusion.

Splitting and merging the soul are the two great trials of cultivating the Three Corpses Mirroring Fate, with countless other obstacles, dangers beyond imagination.

"If that were all, this elixir method would not be so impossibly difficult," Li Li Changgeng suddenly said.

"This isn't hard?" Yu Yu Xuanji said with a strange expression.

"The Three Corpses Mirroring Fate hides another great calamity—the moment success is achieved, the calamity arrives," Li Li Changgeng murmured gravely.

"He himself sought death by cultivating this method."

"What calamity?" Huang Huang Sanlang could not help asking.

Recalling Zhang Fan's terrifying might, he thought such a man would be better off dead before the calamity struck.

"This calamity cannot be overcome by personal strength alone," Li Li Changgeng did not clarify, withholding the most critical information, then shifted topic abruptly.

"Do you know why the Southern Zhang lineage fell?"

"Why?" Yu Yu Xuanji shook her head.

Eighty years ago, the Daoist sect suffered a great calamity; since then, the Zhang family of Long Hu Mountain split into Northern and Southern branches.

This is common knowledge, but the sudden collapse of the Southern Zhang remains an unsolved mystery within the Daoist sect.

"At that time, when the Zhang family split, the Three Treasures of Long Hu Mountain fell into the hands of the Southern Zhang," Li Li Changgeng continued.

The Three Treasures were the 【Sword, Seal, Talisman】 left by the Ancestral Master—meaning whoever inherited them was the legitimate heir of Long Hu Mountain.

"At that time, someone in the Southern Zhang proposed a mad idea."

"They intended to devote the entire clan's strength to forge one person who would master the Three Corpses Mirroring Fate and ascend to the throne of the Wu Wei Sect!"

At these words, everyone turned pale.

"Devote the entire clan's strength to cultivate the Three Corpses Mirroring Fate?" Yu Yu Xuanji whispered, trembling.

"Yes—if they succeeded, they could finally resolve the millennia-long feud between the Daoist sect and the Wu Wei Sect…"

"This would be a world-redefining event. If truly accomplished, the Southern Zhang lineage would become the undisputed number-one family under heaven; no matter how many millennia the Daoist teachings endured, none could displace them."

BOOM—

A bolt of lightning split the sky; dark clouds rolled across, obscuring the bright moon.

Li Li Changgeng's deep gaze swept over their faces.

"Could they have succeeded? Should they have succeeded?"

"So…" Yu Yu Xuanji's heart stirred—she seemed to guess.

The struggle for the lineage is a struggle for life or death.

"So… the Southern Zhang was destroyed."

"The Three Corpses Mirroring Fate is the curse of this lineage—anyone who touches it dies," Li Li Changgeng sighed softly.

"What a pity… Zhang Fan!"

(End of Chapter)