Chapter 975

By the shamanic master’s side, a withered old woman clutched something in her sleeves, hunched over, gnawing at it.

Her body was hunched, back bent, her bones already showing the withered curvature of age, yet she carried none of the decayed aura typical of elderly women; instead, she radiated a sinister vitality—an eerie persistence near death, feeding on the life force of others, making her ancient yet teeming with vigor.

The old woman lifted her head, gazing at the crow flying through the twilight sky.

Her face twisted slightly, taking on a sly, fox-like strangeness; white hairs flashed across her face, but only the hairs around her lips were stained red.

In her sleeves, those withered, curled hands held not peaches or persimmons, but a living human heart…

“Hehe… The Xuanzhen Sect isn’t so formidable after all! Its Four Dharma Kings do have some skill—though they’re one realm below us, not yet entered immortality, and human beings find immortality exceedingly difficult anyway, while we immortals are yin spirits. The Four Dharma Kings—Ku, Zhu, Nan, and Hai—could still match this old woman in strength. If they had killed my Huang clan descendants out of righteous cause, perhaps I’d have swallowed this insult.”

“But the previous Xuanzhen Sect Master went mad for some scripture and passed the sect leadership to a Li family boy barely in his twenties…”

“Now most within the sect resist him, forcing the boy to come to Zhigucheng, seize one of the Xuanzhen branch temples, and start issuing orders. Zhigucheng is a major hub, but the Nan Fa Wang long ago avoided it; now only a few clerks remain there. They’re useless—except for one person I hold in high regard: Wen Cai Xia of the Luomiao, the Wen Crow.”

She tilted her head, gazing at the crow and smiling: “Indeed, killing one of them brought that crow out in person.”

“Hehe… I’m quite curious about this Xuanjun scripture.”

The Huang matriarch’s eyes flashed with malice as she grinned: “Perhaps this time, I’ll borrow it for a look—just to satisfy my curiosity!”

The shamanic master’s expression was calm, his five-colored robe fluttering in the wind.

He murmured: “Huang Immortal, His Majesty summoned me from my homeland beyond the pass to deal with the many rebellious sects and traitors. Ever since His Majesty was swayed by the demon monk of the Great Snow Mountain to brew an elixir of immortality, our dynasty has suffered calamities and unrest. The immortals of Dao, Buddhism, and the other three teachings stir restlessly, while the foreigners harbor ill intent to undermine the Great Gan Empire.”

“I was originally tasked with guarding the dragon veins of our homeland beyond the pass—unwilling to move lightly—but with the crisis so dire, I had no choice but to obey the imperial decree and enter the pass, heading south.”

“You beasts cannot endure the tribulation of immortality. By our sect’s method, you abandon your beast bodies, and your yin spirits rely on the empire’s imperial edicts to evade the tribulation—though you enter immortality, you still lack one crucial step from true immortal sainthood. That step is a chasm, an unbridgeable abyss. Since you gained immortality through imperial edict, you must abide by our empire’s laws.”

“Even the beggars and prostitutes among our people—you may not harm a single one…”

“Had the man you killed not been a traitor of a heretical sect, my Wuwang Whip would have already fallen upon you!”

“Hehe…”

The Huang matriarch laughed: “Master, immortals and cultivators have always been interdependent. Since we’ve entered your Chumai Hall, the Five Great Clans—Huang, Hu, Liu, Hui, and Bai—will abide by your edicts and not harm mortals.”

“But we made our terms clear: if humans do not provoke us, we will not provoke them. But if humans dare to provoke us immortals, even if we destroy their families and kill every last one of them, you may not interfere.”

“This Xuanzhen Sect Master dares to kill one of our Huang clan on his very first day in Zhigucheng!”

“If he doesn’t learn the might of our immortals, I might as well never have come to this world…”

The shamanic master fell into brief thought, then nodded.

These beings held deep grudges, and now that he had entered the capital, he needed their aid in many matters; if he angered them, though he could forcibly command them, they’d inevitably slack off.

According to his calculations, in the worst-case scenario, he alone must face two immortal sages—he could not afford the slightest carelessness.

Moreover, the Xuanzhen Sect was ultimately a sacrilegious heresy, though it had not openly rebelled like the White Lotus Sect.

The White Lotus openly rebelled; the Xuanzhen, Tianli, Hongyang, Dala, and Wenxiang sects rebelled covertly; the Hongmen rebelled openly and secretly; the Gelaos didn’t know when they’d rebel; the Anqing hovered between rebellion and non-rebellion.

Thus, the life or death of a single Xuanzhen disciple meant nothing to the shamanic master.

“This time, passing through Zhigucheng, our first target is the White Lotus Holy Maiden. Her Nine-Eyed Fire Xia is extremely formidable. Fortunately, the White Lotus and Xuanzhen Sect are devouring each other, and now the young Xuanzhen Master has subdued her!”

“It seems this young master is no ordinary man—he may yet attain immortality. If he submits to the court, I have no objection to granting him a future.”

The shamanic master stood at the prow, arms crossed, his gaze seemingly piercing the mist over the river, seeing the charred Wanghai Tower in Zhigucheng…

The Nine-Eyed Fire Xia is an ancient demonic entity, equivalent to an immortal-level being. This time, the White Lotus Holy Maiden forged it using the great drought in Shandong and the Corpse King, nearly destabilizing the entire situation. Hearing that the Xuanzhen Sect subdued the Fire Xia, the shamanic master was not surprised.

For the Nine-Eyed Fire Xia to cross the Sancha River mouth was itself a great tribulation.

With that artifact from the Tianhou Palace present, it was no surprise someone seized the chance to subdue it…

The shamanic master believed himself well-prepared—he had dispatched a disciple, accompanied by an immortal, capable of easily subduing her. The White Lotus Holy Maiden’s move was a rush tactic, aiming to catch the court off guard.

Du Xiaoling emerged from the Weituo Temple; the Weituo statue’s demon-subduing mace had fallen behind its buttocks, and all the monks hid behind the statue, cautiously peering out at him.

It wasn’t Du Xiaoling’s fault—the Shaman Sect had crossed the sea from the northeast, traveled up the North Canal into the capital, and now planned to enter the Sancha River mouth via the Jinzhong River, then turn north to Tongzhou.

Along the Jinzhong River, the bridges, besides the final Jinzhong Bridge, included the second: the Embroidered Uniform Guard Bridge.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard Bridge connected directly to the Weituo Temple via the Dadi Dao.

Thus, the Weituo demon-subduing mace pointed straight at the Jinzhong River, to calm the floods.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard Bridge was thus stabilized by this demon-subduing mace.

But when Du Xiaoling walked onto the bridge, waiting for the Shaman Sect’s party, the Weituo Temple’s demon-subduing mace trembled violently, as if trying to suppress the embroidered skin-suit on Du Xiaoling’s body.

With no choice, Du Xiaoling entered the temple, removed his skin-suit to show it to Weituo—and immediately, the mace fell to the ground, all the temple statues collapsed, and even the monks couldn’t stay inside, fleeing in panic outside.

Finally, the Weituo statue’s face fell to the ground, too terrified to look further, and only then did Du Xiaoling stroll out calmly.

He wrapped himself tighter in the master’s imperial gift: The Secret Scroll of the Ten Thousand Ghosts, Moon Demon Embroidered Skin.

He sighed helplessly—he didn’t even know what lay beneath the skin-suit. Probably still Du Xiaoling, but what exactly was Du Xiaoling? Even ghosts wouldn’t know!

And that skin-suit?

Probably even more terrifying—it wrapped him, forcing the thing no ghost could name to become human; when the skin-suit was removed, the Three Lifetimes of Buddhas in the hall couldn’t bear to watch, and shattered themselves.

Du Xiaoling walked along Dadi Dao to the Embroidered Uniform Guard Bridge, gazing toward the source of the Jinzhong River.

A crow landed on the bridgehead, preening its feathers, and asked: “Memorized it?”

Du Xiaoling nodded obediently and recited: “First, ingest the Nine Ox Two Tiger Strength Pill, then one bottle of Heavenly King Subduing Tiger Pill, three bottles of Dragon Elephant Enhanced Strength Pills, then activate the Heavenly Demon Body-Shattering Great Art, hold the White Bone Demon Strength Spell, ingest the Nine Orifices Curved Dragon Blood Pill, burn the Blood-Consuming Soul-Scorching Secret Medicine… then sequentially take the Heavenly King Heart-Preserving Pill, Five Ghosts Devouring Heart Pill, the Heartless Pill, consume the Six Extreme Passion Worms… finally, burn the Five Directional Ghost Generals Possession Paper Dolls, and at the moment all pills, spells, secret medicines, and qi techniques explode, use the Ding character glyph to freeze yourself.”

The crow nodded: “Correct. You remembered it clearly.”

“The principle is this: your sect brothers contribute their life-risking secret medicines and techniques, all poured onto you at once, causing your magic power, body, and soul to explode to their utmost, allowing you to fight directly from the First Realm to the Fourth.”

“Though it only skips two realms, every pill and secret technique here has been carefully refined by me and the clerks—we guarantee that after executing all these explosive methods, you’ll survive for one breath, and all techniques will coexist without interference, perfectly integrated.”

“Others using this method would die instantly, but you have the Tai Shi Bu Dong Jin Zhong Shen Lu’s Ding character glyph, which can freeze your state in an instant. Combined with the Dong character glyph, you can maintain that frozen state and strike.”

“But your foundation is shallow—you’ve just entered the First Realm, while the Huang Immortal is already a seventh-rank immortal beast.”

“Even if it’s merely the weakest of the seventh rank, having attained immortality through the yin spirit edict system, you still cannot match it with pills and techniques alone.”

The crow nodded: “Therefore, there’s a second stage!”

“Take the pills first!”

Du Xiaoling retrieved the Dragon Tiger Strength Pill—a secret family medicine from a Xuanzhen Sect guardian, brewed from the blood of nine oxen and two tigers, granting the strength of nine oxen and two tigers.

It was a secret transmission of the Pi School among Zhigucheng’s Nine Streams.

The Pi School differed from medical sects like the Three Emperors Association.

Medical sects treat illness; the Pi School peddles medicine on the streets.

Medical sects rely on observation, listening, inquiry, and pulse-taking, diagnosing according to principle; the Pi School uses unorthodox remedies, selling eye drops, dog-skin plasters, golden wound pills, strength pills, cupping, and scraping—all considered Pi School practitioners.

The Pi School’s creed: sell one medicine to death, claim it cures everything.

If it works, fine; if not, deceive.

The Nine Ox Two Tiger Strength Pill was the pinnacle of street-strength pills—the ultimate strength pill.

The true Nine Ox Two Tiger Strength Pill used the blood of nine oxen and two tigers; ingesting it strengthened the body and blood, half-mystic, half-medicinal.

It required burning the essence-blood of ox and tiger in an instant, infusing their spirit into the body to subdue external evils.

Du Xiaoling swallowed the black pill—and instantly, his frail body swelled, muscles bulging, tightening.

His entire frame expanded from a slender five-foot frame to a seven-foot man…