The Forbidden Path to Immortality-Chapter 252

A thunderous thump exploded in Li Xun's ears. The shock of it snapped the fragile sense he'd been struggling to maintain. and a moment later a hard tremor shook right through his body.

He let out a choked grunt as he was thrown backward, hitting the ground hard enough to leave him dizzy and reeling.

What the hell was that?!

Li Xun didn’t even have time to be angry. He hauled his wits back together in the space of a heartbeat, reaching for that faint sense already slipping away from him. But it was gone. Bled out into the endless churn of dirt and stone around him, leaving nothing for him to find.

God… damn it!

Li Xun slammed a fist into the dirt and stone at his side, smashing it into a soggy mess. Only then did the anger finally catch up to him. He shot upright, storming forward, furious to see what had dared to block his path.

Wait… hold on...

He skidded to a stop, head tilting, ears straining.

In the deathly stillness, he thought he caught the faintest whisper of a sound.

If he wasn’t imagining it, it sounded like the far-off ocean, waves rising and falling in a steady, hypnotic rhythm.

His anger ebbed as quickly as a receding tide, leaving Li Xun completely clear-headed. My Five-Element Escape Technique is already at the point where I can use it however I want. Aside from some special restriction or barrier, what in the world could possibly stop me?

The instructions from the Underworld Flame Yama flashed through his thoughts. And his gut tightened. But this time it was because joy was swelling so fast it almost hurt.

Li Xun let out a bark of laughter and shot forward, arm snapping out in a wild sweep. And there it was. His fingertips struck something cold as a grave. That strange, unmistakable feel, that sudden wrenching pull as it whipped away from him... what else could it be, if not the Yin-Transforming Pool?

You’re not getting away this time...

In that instant, Li Xun forgot all his exhaustion. His body shot forward and, without the slightest pause, angled sharply upward. Dirt and stones around him split apart with a sharp clang, as if sliced by an invisible blade. He stretched his arm as far as he could, desperate to hold on to that fading touch at his fingertips.

Maybe it lasted ten breaths, maybe less. His fingers, his palm, then his whole arm brushed against the thing. A coldness seeped into him from every point of contact. But beneath that chill was something even more striking. A deep, bottomless presence, ancient and unfathomable.

It felt as though, just beyond a single barrier, lay the closest point in this world to the Nine Netherworlds Domain...

With a dull thud, Li Xun slammed against it and stuck fast, clinging tight no matter how it soared or shifted. There was no shaking him off.

Letting out a quiet laugh, he tapped it two more times. As the rustling echoes grew clearer, he finally exhaled, his whole body going limp with relief.

After taking a couple of deep breaths, Li Xun finally had the leisure to actually look at his target.

Using the faint glow sparking at his fingertips, he was surprised to see that this massive thing, moving deep underground for thousands of li, looked completely different from how it had appeared during the ancestral ceremony... just as the Underworld Flame Yama had warned.

He remembered that on the day of the ceremony, the Yin-Transforming Pool had risen to the surface, forming part of a tiny island beside the lake-palace. The island wasn’t large. Ten or so zhang across at most, and was bare of any grass or trees. All it held was a stone altar and a few stone statues standing on either side.

The Yin-Transforming Pool had been located just behind the altar, but back then only the elders were allowed onto the island. Ordinary disciples weren’t permitted to take a closer look, so Li Xun had never actually seen what the pool looked like.

Now, though, the difference was startling. Up close, it was hard to even describe its shape. It was roughly ten zhang across in every direction. About the same size as the little island that had risen to the surface, but it resembled a stone building more than anything else, its whole form built from blocks of pale gray stone.

Where his light reached, Li Xun saw a few clean, simple lines carved into its surface. Sigils that seemed to belong to some sect. Along the edges were marks of chiseling.

According to what Underworld Flame Yama had told him, the entrance carved by the Nine-Hells Patriarch lay directly above the pool. To this day, no one understood how the ancestor had managed to link this drifting, unpredictable giant to the lake-palace thousands of li away.

They said this wasn’t something a person of this world could create... but looking at it from the outside now, Li Xun felt he was starting to understand.

Never mind what the true Yin-Transforming Pool looked like on the inside, this rough, ancient-looking shell was probably part of the passage, right?

The real pool must have looked just as it had during the ancestral ceremony. But once it sank underground, this stone casing locked around it, and some sort of technique linked it to the lake-palace, allowing people to travel in and out freely.

And what Underworld Flame Yama had mentioned... the entrance being blocked by the Patriarch’s Curse-Spirit, basically meant the connection point on the stone shell had been sealed. The only solution left was to carve out an entirely new path right here on the shell.

The stone casing was made from an exceptionally rare material known as Spirit-locking Ashen Gold. Not only was it incredibly tough, it also had the power to seal away spiritual energy. Intricate locking talismans were carved all through its interior, ensuring that not a single wisp of that precious spiritual energy could escape.

Under normal circumstances, nothing should have gone wrong. But the Underworld Flame Yama had been gravely injured and slipped up during the process, disturbing the Patriarch’s Curse-Spirit. A fierce battle broke out in the Yin-Transforming Pool. He survived by sheer luck, but the clash left part of the seal damaged.

That tiny flaw was all the Nine Netherworld Earth Qi needed. Its powerful, creeping nature began to seep through, little by little.

There was no doubt that spiritual energy was leaking out, though the so-called “crack” was barely anything at all, so small even an ant could hardly squeeze through. Still, Li Xun had already learned a way to deal with it from the Underworld Flame Yama.

He wasn’t in any hurry. He simply released the Heaven's Nether Yin Pearl again, sticking it to the stone wall. Then, he slowly circled around, letting the pearl glide over as much of the wall as possible.

The pearl reacted violently, and from the other side of the stone wall he could faintly hear a low rumble.

Li Xun remained calm, Patiently, he circled around, making sure to steer clear of the top layer of the stone cover. He didn’t want to disturb the Patriarch’s Curse-Spirit sealed within.

By sheer luck, Li Xun found the spot where the spiritual energy was leaking. And, it was tucked in the farthest corner from the stone cover’s top.

He stopped and strained his eyes for a long while before he finally spotted a hairline crack so thin it made a strand of hair look thick. It was no longer than his thumb.

This is it...

Lucky damn break. The crack was almost as far from the entrance as you could get. That meant once he slipped inside, there was a good chance he could avoid the Patriarch’s Curse-Spirit’s senses. And save himself a world of trouble.

He reached out and pressed his palm against the crack. Almost instantly, the Bottomless Nether Ring inside him vibrated with a hum, reacting to the energy seeping from the gap.

Li Xun stirred the Yin Fire within him, naturally carving out a passageway into the Nine Netherworlds Domain. And a single drop of its pure Nine Netherworld Earth Qi trickled out.

It was as if a fire had been lit inside him, yet his mind was unusually clear. An incantation slowly flowed through him. He directed his qi, drawing every thread of true breath through his body. His movements were light and controlled, and his palm gradually sank downward.

The next moment, Li Xun felt like he’d plunged into deep water. His breath hit a natural pause.

As his inner and outer breaths swapped without thought, his body felt almost weightless. The long-missed tang of fresh air hit his nose and mouth, and for a heartbeat, he almost believed he was back on the surface again.

The truth was, Li Xun had already made his way to the Yin-Transforming Pool inside the stone cover. The first thing he saw was the stone altar. And the two stone statues standing on either side of it.

The angle was a little off, but it was enough for him to see that both the altar and the statues looked completely different from how they had on the surface. The colors were all wrong.

There were no lights inside the stone cover, yet the place wasn’t dark at all. The soft glow coming from the statues lit everything up. It was a faint bluish light, and it looked strangely soothing.

Li Xun didn’t dare stare for long. As a matter of fact, he was doing everything he could to keep his body curled up and hidden in the shadow cast by one of the statues.

High above his head, about thirty feet up, a swirling ball of mist rolled through the air. The bluish glow shining on it gave it an eerie, seductive look.

So this is the Patriarch’s Curse-Spirit?

According to the sect’s records, the Patriarch’s Curse-Spirit was actually the only remaining trace left in the world by their founding ancestor, the Nine-Hells Patriarch.

Back then, when the Patriarch attempted to transcend his final tribulation and ascend, he was held back by Net Throat Demon. His breakthrough failed, and just before he was reduced to ash, he made a solemn vow: Whoever can refine this demon spirit shall become the rightful master of the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect.

Stained by that world-shaking resentment, the last wisp of the Nine-Hells Patriarch’s primordial spirit soaked up the baleful qi around it and twisted into a curse oath-spirit. It hid beneath the lake-heart palace, guarding the sect’s most secret grounds while also, in its own strange and unfathomable way, overseeing the sect’s disciples through oaths.

Even though countless ages have passed and Net Throat Demon was still running wild with no one able to stop him, everyone in the sect agrees on one thing: the Patriarch’s Curse-Spirit lurking beneath the underground palace was basically a sword hanging over their heads.

Every disciple, before leaving the sect, must swear an oath in the name of that spirit. Over tens of thousands of years, the baleful qi bound by the oath from thousands upon thousands of disciples had been gradually poured into it, making it grow more ferocious and harder to control with every generation.

Li Xun carefully suppressed his aura and peeked out from behind the stone statue, watching the Yin-Transforming Pool just a few yards away.

It wasn’t far at all, but he had absolutely no intention of jumping in right away.

Above him, the Patriarch’s Curse-Spirit still drifted like a strange, harmless-looking mist, yet he didn’t dare relax for even a moment. The sect had a brutal punishment reserved for disciples guilty of unforgivable crimes: they were thrown before the Curse-Spirit, which would drain their blood essence and devour their soul until they died in agony.

Because of the terrifying power of the oath, any sect disciple was almost guaranteed to be caught the moment they faced that spirit. Much less hope to resist it.