Chen Shi and Patriarch Qiongyang each set down their Luoyang shovels, one standing to the east of the grave, the other to the west.

The two exchanged a glance, both looking somewhat grim.

Yu Lingzi couldn't help but run over, saying, "Patriarch, Uncle-Master, it's getting dark, we need to hurry... Huh, where's the corpse of Sect Master Jinghong?"

He stared at the Daoist robe in shock: "Did the old sect master rise from the dead?"

Patriarch Qiongyang said, "If Senior Brother Jinghong had undergone Corpse Liberation and cultivated into a Ghost Immortal, that would be a good thing. So why didn't he say anything, instead faking his death and leaving a cenotaph?"

Chen Shi put away his Luoyang shovel, storing it in his small temple, and said, "Patriarch, there are many demons hidden inside me..."

Patriarch Qiongyang chuckled, "Little Ten, just call me Grandma, we're close like family. I already know about the demons hidden in you. Back when I first saved you, that Cyan Ghost Hand killed you over and over again, and every time, a demon would take over your body. In the beginning, your grandfather was so frantic he was hopping mad."

Chen Shi's heart trembled. He knew he had died many times, but he never imagined he had already died so many times before he even had memories.

His grandfather had never told him about any of this.

He hesitated for a moment, then said, "Grandma Qiongyang, the demons inside me have been completely purged. I'm not as dangerous as before. My father said only a few Cataclysms are still hiding inside."

Patriarch Qiongyang's face turned grim, and she quietly took a step back.

When Chen Shi had first been rescued, the Cyan Ghost Hand had caused mischief, resulting in his repeated deaths, and each time a demon had appeared. But a Cataclysm had never appeared before!

A Cataclysm was ten or even dozens of times more dangerous than a demon!

If it were just a demon, she wouldn't be afraid, but a Cataclysm was extraordinarily perilous!

Chen Shi continued, "For some unknown reason, that Cataclysm taught my father and the others the Primordial Star Chart."

He explained the matter of the Primordial Star Chart, saying, "Granny Sha, Uncle Du, and the others speculated that with the Primordial Star Chart, we could calculate the positions of the obscured stars, allowing for correct Dao Unification with Heaven and Earth without falling to corruption. Without the correct star chart, Dao Unification would only lead to corruption. If Sect Master Jinghong underwent Corpse Liberation and attempted Dao Unification..."

Patriarch Qiongyang furrowed her brow, asking, "Are you certain that incorrect Dao Unification with Heaven and Earth leads to aberrant transformation?"

Chen Shi nodded lightly, "I've confirmed it personally."

He had followed the cultivation system of the True King's Era, and he had already begun to aberrantly transform at the Body Unification realm!

If not for Daoist Tianzhen's Yin-Yang Purgation and the white-clad fairy forcefully plucking that strange hair from him, his physical body would have already mutated by now.

Yu Lingzi's heart pounded with alarm. Since returning from Western Capital, aside from beating up a few senior brothers, he had spent most of his time confined in the Demon Sealing Cave. Having just been released, he was now hearing so many horrifying secrets!

Patriarch Qiongyang stared at the Daoist robe in the coffin, lost in thought.

Jinghong was still alive.

Jinghong might have aberrantly transformed.

If Jinghong had aberrantly transformed, just how dangerous would a Ghost Immortal be?

Would it be Cataclysm-level?

"If he has aberrantly transformed, where would he be hiding?" she murmured.

Chen Shi's eyes flickered. "Patriarch, this is Sect Master Jinghong's Daoist robe. I have a technique to locate his true body. If he's still alive, finding him shouldn't be too hard."

Patriarch Qiongyang's eyes lit up, and she smiled, "Good. Then let's find him first!"

Chen Shi tore off a corner of the robe, held it between two fingers, and chanted a divine language under his breath. He gently shook it, and the fabric rose into the air like a butterfly, drifting away.

Patriarch Qiongyang waved her hand, and Sect Master Jinghong's grave sealed shut.

The two of them, along with Black Pot, drifted away.

Yu Lingzi hesitated for a moment, then kowtowed to Sect Master Jinghong's grave a few times before leaping up and following them.

It was already dark.

The moon had appeared early in the sky, its silvery light spilling over the mountains. But the mountains had bright and dark patches, and in places the moonlight didn't reach, it looked like flowing darkness, stretching out claws, probing and testing its surroundings.

However, all across Tai Hua Mountain, powerful spirits and manifestations of extraordinary power emerged, guarding their domains and preventing evil spirits from advancing.

On Tai Hua Mountain, countless palaces and halls blazed with light, especially Blue Goat Palace, which was brightly lit.

Chen Shi, Yu Lingzi, and the dog followed the dancing cloth fragment. In the night, under the moonlight, the fabric fluttered slowly.

Patriarch Qiongyang gazed at the spirits and manifestations large and small hidden among the mountains. To ordinary eyes, the mountains were just mountains, nothing unusual. But to a great cultivator like her, the mountains concealed towering gods and deities.

Spirits were powerful lifeforms born from monsters that had long consumed the righteous energy of heaven and earth. Manifestations were divine images born from the condensation of extraordinary power through incense offerings.

"There are far fewer spirits and manifestations in the mountains now than when Sect Master Jinghong was alive," she suddenly said.

Chen Shi's heart jolted, and he blurted out, "Sect Master Jinghong is still on the mountain! He's aberrantly transformed and has been devouring these spirits and manifestations!"

His mind stirred. Jinghong was the former sect master of Tai Hua Qing Palace, and he would surely know many of its hidden secrets. He might even know the location of Daoist Tianzhen's burial site.

Daoist Tianzhen had used the Golden Bell Sealing Technique to seal himself, preventing himself from wreaking havoc in the underworld. Someone had used an immortal flame to burn away the central mechanism of the seal, releasing the immortal hall.

As sect master, Jinghong would naturally be very familiar with Tai Hua Qing Palace's cultivation techniques.

He was a Ghost Immortal, so he could use immortal flames.

So, could Jinghong be the one who tried to release Tianzhen, causing him to aberrantly transform?

If so, what was his goal?

Yu Lingzi said, "If Sect Master Jinghong is hiding in Tai Hua Qing Palace devouring spirits and manifestations, he must have a hiding place. Otherwise, he would have been discovered long ago."

Just as he finished speaking, he suddenly looked horrified as he saw the cloth fragment flying toward Wenxu Peak.

And judging by its direction, it was clearly heading for the Demon Sealing Cave!

"Is Sect Master Jinghong hiding in the Demon Sealing Cave?" His face turned ashen.

During the months since returning from Western Capital, he had been cultivating in the Demon Sealing Cave. If the aberrantly transformed Sect Master Jinghong had been hiding there, he could have died at Jinghong's hands at any moment!

"What kind of place is the Demon Sealing Cave?" Chen Shi asked.

Patriarch Qiongyang said grimly, "It's the place our Tai Hua Qing Palace uses to suppress demons. Back in the day, demons ran rampant here. These demons had physical bodies and extremely high cultivation, making them very difficult to kill. So the Eighteen Daoists destroyed their physical forms, collected their demonic souls, chose a pure-yang earth vein, set up layer upon layer of seals, trapped these demonic souls here, and suppressed them. They hoped to use the pure-yang earthly fire to refine them into nothing."

Chen Shi relaxed a little upon hearing this and smiled, "Sect Master Jinghong chose this place, probably to suppress his aberrant nature and demonic energy. It seems he still has his reason."

"Little Ten, Yu Lingzi, brace yourselves!"

Patriarch Qiongyang led the two of them flying into the Demon Sealing Cave. The cave was a massive stone grotto, with a vast internal space. Many Daoists sat on the stone walls, some having been there for so long that their eyebrows and beards had grown extremely long, hanging down from the rock faces.

This was a demon-suppressing ground, but it was also a pure-yang sacred site. Chen Shi immediately felt an incredibly dense pure-yang energy rising from the earth.

The pure-yang energy surged forth like thunder at the end of winter and beginning of spring, brimming with vitality and invigorating the spirit.

Yu Lingzi whispered, "The Daoists on the stone walls are usually here to sever the Three Corpses and refine a pure-yang body, so there are a lot of them."

Chen Shi noticed that some of the Daoists already had white hair and aged faces, appearing to be in their seventies or eighties. He asked doubtfully, "This Daoist is so old, why hasn't he been able to sever the Three Corpses? Are the Three Corpses Gods really that strong?"

Patriarch Qiongyang glanced at these old Daoists and said, "The Three Corpses Gods are naturally powerful. Having experienced romantic love, the Lower Corpses God becomes exceptionally strong, making Peng Qiao difficult to remove. With a craving for delicious food, Peng Zhi is hard to eliminate. With extravagant desires, Peng Ju is hard to dissolve. These Daoists either had romantic involvements in their youth, were once from wealthy families, or were gluttonous, which is why they find it difficult to refine a pure-yang body."

Chen Shi felt a chill of respect and said, "I must sever the Three Corpses before starting a family."

Patriarch Qiongyang chuckled, "If you sever the Three Corpses too early at your age, it will do more harm than good. You're young and don't know the taste of love. If you sever them, you'll never think about romance again, becoming detached and emotionless, which isn't beautiful. You need to start a family, know the taste of it, before you can sever the Three Corpses Gods. Then, love will still be there, but it won't interfere with you, and you won't become heartless."

Chen Shi heard this and turned to ask Yu Lingzi, "Yu Lingzi, do you understand?"

Yu Lingzi laughed, "Of course I understand. The Patriarch means you need to get a wife before you can sever the Three Corpses. Uncle-Master, don't you get it?"

Chen Shi laughed too. "Haha, naturally I understand. I was worried you didn't."

The two exchanged knowing smiles, both acting like they were in on it.

"Does Master Pot understand?" Yu Lingzi asked.

Black Pot also acted like he understood.

As they spoke, Patriarch Qiongyang led them through the blazing pure-yang righteous energy, flying deeper into the mountain. Soon, they came face to face with a massive stone door, covered in intricate talisman patterns and seal inscriptions, incredibly complex.

The cloth fragment had already arrived at the stone door.

Patriarch Qiongyang flew straight toward it, raised her hand, and pressed it forward, shouting, "Open!"

The talisman array on the stone door shifted and changed endlessly. By the time they flew up to it, the stone door rumbled open.

The cloth fragment flew through the stone door, and Patriarch Qiongyang led the two and the dog in hot pursuit, following it inside.

The stone door slammed shut behind them.

Inside the door was a sea of red light. The light seemed to emanate from every single point in space, making it impossible to see any shadows.

"It is said that a piece of a Sun Stone fell from the sky, crashed into the Western Ox New Continent, and created this pure-yang sacred site."

Patriarch Qiongyang said, "The founding patriarchs then chose this place to refine the demons, hoping to burn them to death."

Chen Shi asked doubtfully, "A Sun Stone? Which sun's stone?"

Patriarch Qiongyang replied, "Certainly not from the True God's eyes. I've read the notes left by the Three Saints, which say that there is a Sun Stone in the Demon Sealing Cave. It is a Sun Gold Crystal, not from the True God's eyes, but flew out from the True Yang and fell to the ground."

Chen Shi sensed that the pure-yang energy here was even more intense, but the demonic energy was also even more intense. The deeper they flew into the mountain, the higher the temperature became, and the stronger the pure-yang righteous energy and demonic energy!

The demonic energy here was so powerful that even Patriarch Qiongyang frowned, feeling a vague unease.

With demonic energy this thick, if the pure-yang energy weren't so dense, it would definitely affect her Dao Heart.

Her robes fluttered as she led Chen Shi and the others through the long mountain body, all the way to the deepest depths.

The red light was incredibly bright here, making everyone seem like tiny black specks.

Even Yu Lingzi, who had never been here before, felt his heart racing with fear.

Suddenly, below the brilliant red light, enormous black jars floated, each over two meters tall, suspended motionless in the air.

Patriarch Qiongyang led them past one huge jar after another, tracking the dancing cloth fragment.

Chen Shi roughly counted over a hundred black jars, thinking, "The demons suppressed in these jars must be the ones the past patriarchs sealed away. The patriarchs of Tai Hua Qing Palace are incredible—the demons they suppressed are about the same as the ones inside me."

Patriarch Qiongyang tracked the cloth fragment, but seeing that there were no more black jars ahead and the fragment was still flying forward, she frowned.

In the past, she and Chen Shi's grandfather, Chen Yindu, had come to the Demon Sealing Cave, trying to explore its secrets, but they had never ventured this deep.

What gave her some comfort, however, was that although Jinghong had become a Ghost Immortal, he had not lost his reason. If he had lost his mind and released the demons from these black jars, the consequences would be terrifying!

All the Daoists cultivating in the Demon Sealing Cave would surely be killed, parasitized by these demonic entities!

Suddenly, several enormous, blood-red tentacles came into view.

The front ends of these tentacles were attached to the stone walls of the Demon Sealing Cave, on all sides. The other ends grew thinner and thinner, eventually connecting to an old Daoist's back.

That old Daoist was suspended in the air by these blood-red tentacles, his head drooping, motionless.

The cloth fragment flew to the old Daoist's side and landed on him.

"Senior Brother Jinghong!"

Patriarch Qiongyang slowed down, raised her sleeve to shield Chen Shi and the others behind her, and walked forward, on guard. "I never expected you to become a Ghost Immortal. I underestimated you, Little Sister. Since you've already become a Ghost Immortal, why hide here? Senior Brother, return to Blue Goat Palace with Little Sister..."

Just as she was about to grab the old Daoist's hand, she froze. She hurried forward and firmly gripped his wrist.

The moment she squeezed it lightly, the wrist collapsed—nothing but skin, no flesh or blood beneath!

Patriarch Qiongyang immediately yanked hard. The blood-red tentacles all fell off the surrounding walls, and they too were just empty shells, with no flesh inside!

"Senior Brother Jinghong has cicada-shedded and ascended!" Her face changed drastically.

Chen Shi looked ahead and saw another old Daoist, identical to the first, with blood-red tentacles growing from his back, hanging on the walls.

He walked forward and saw a third Sect Master Jinghong, then a fourth, a fifth, a sixth...

"Jinghong has cicada-shedded multiple times!"

Patriarch Qiongyang walked forward, quickly reaching the end. There, a palace hall stood. It wasn't large, and the inside was very simple, with only a single bed. Someone must have lived here.

Chen Shi looked up at a mural inside the hall and said, "He was cultivating the Golden Cicada Shedding Immortal Diagram!"

The mural depicted the process of a golden cicada shedding its shell and ascending. But the golden cicada wasn't a cicada—it was a human figure, its skin splitting open from the back, and a bloody humanoid creature crawling out of the husk.

This kind of transformation required multiple cycles, each one more painful than the last, but the more times one transformed, the closer their strength approached that of an immortal.

Chen Shi's heart tightened. He found an irregularly shaped stone, about three feet in diameter, in the middle of the hall.

The stone was enshrined on an altar, and it was this stone that emitted the incredibly dense pure-yang righteous energy!

Around the stone were raging flames. It seemed that Sect Master Jinghong had been here, refining the immortal flame that burned away Daoist Tianzhen's seal!

"After Sect Master Jinghong cultivated into a Ghost Immortal, he must have lived here all along. He gathered Solar Essence here and refined the pure-yang immortal flame! That immortal flame that nearly blew us to pieces was refined right here!"

"But why did he do this? Why did he want Daoist Tianzhen to aberrantly transform?"

Just as he was thinking this, Yu Lingzi suddenly asked, "Sect Master Jinghong isn't here. Where did he go?"

Patriarch Qiongyang's face instantly changed, and she quickly walked outward, saying, "He's out hunting! Gathering power for his next transformation!"