Above the Great Dao

As soon as he said this, he suddenly showed a horrified expression, seeing that piece of cloth heading towards Wenxu Peak.

And judging by the direction of the cloth, it was clearly heading towards the Demon Suppressing Cave!

"Jing Hong, the Sect Leader, hiding in the Demon Suppressing Cave?" His face turned ashen.

In the months since returning from the Western Capital, he had been cultivating in the Demon Suppressing Cave. If the corrupted Jing Hong were hiding there, wouldn't he be at risk of losing his life to Jing Hong at any moment?

"What is the Demon Suppressing Cave?" Chen Shi inquired.

Qiongyang Ancestor's face was solemn as he said, "It is the place our Taihua Qing Palace uses to suppress demons. In the past, demons ran rampant here. These demons had physical bodies and were extremely powerful, making them difficult to kill. So eighteen Taoists executed their physical forms, gathered the Demon Souls, and chose a Pure Yang Earth Fire pit, setting multiple seals to trap these Demon Souls here, suppressing them. Hoping to refine the Demon Souls with the Pure Yang Earth Fire."

Upon hearing this, Chen Shi breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "Jing Hong Sect Leader chose this place, so it should be to suppress his evil nature and Evil Qi. It seems he still retains some rationality."

"Little Ten, Yu Lingzi, stand firm!"

Qiongyang Ancestor took the two of them into the Demon Suppressing Cave. It was a massive stone cave with an extremely vast interior space. Many Taoists were sitting on the stone walls, some having sat there for an unknown length of time, with long brows and beards hanging down from the stone wall.

Although this place was for demon suppression, it was also a Pure Yang Sacred Land. Chen Shi immediately felt an immensely rich Pure Yang Qi emanating from beneath the ground.

The Pure Yang Qi surged vigorously, like the thunder at the end of winter and the beginning of spring, revitalizing and invigorating one's spirit.

Yu Lingzi whispered, "The Taoists on the stone walls often come to cut the Three Corpses and cultivate the Pure Yang Body, hence the large numbers."

Chen Shi saw some Taoists, already with white hair, appearing to be in their seventies or eighties and wondered, "These Taoists are so old, why haven't they cut the Three Corpses? Are the Three Corpse Gods really that strong?"

Qiongyang Ancestor glanced at these old Taoists and said, "The Three Corpse Gods are naturally powerful. After experiencing romance, the Lower Corpse God becomes surprisingly fierce, difficult to remove Peng Jue. Having the desire for delicious food, Peng Zhi is hard to eliminate. Indulging in luxury, Peng Ju is difficult to resolve. These Taoists may have had romantic affairs early on, or came from wealthy families, or perhaps had a penchant for delicacies, making it difficult to cultivate a Pure Yang Body."

Chen Shi, feeling solemn, said, "I must cut the Three Corpses before starting a family."

Qiongyang Ancestor laughed, "If you cut the Three Corpses too early at your age, it would actually be disadvantageous. You're young, unaware of love, so if you cut the Three Corpses, you won't consider love at all, becoming detached and lacking in desires, which is not ideal. You need to start a family, understand the intricacies, and then you can cut the Three Corpse Gods. At that time, love will remain, won't interfere with yourself, and you'll retain your emotions."

Hearing this, Chen Shi asked Yu Lingzi, "Yu Lingzi, do you understand?"

Yu Lingzi smiled, "Of course, I understand. Ancestor means you have to marry to cut the Three Corpses. Uncle, don't you understand?"

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

The two exchanged knowing smiles, acting as if everyone understood.

"Does the Black Pot understand?" Yu Lingzi asked.

The Black Pot also assumed an expression of understanding.

As they spoke, Qiongyang Ancestor led them, facing the intense Pure Yang Righteous Qi, flying into the mountain interior, where they soon saw a massive stone door engraved with various talismanic patterns and seals, extremely complex.

The cloth had already arrived at the stone door.

Qiongyang Ancestor flew straight over, raised his hand and pressed forward, shouting, "Open—"

The talismans on the stone door constantly changed, and as they flew up close, the stone door opened with a roar.

The cloth flew into the stone door, and Qiongyang Ancestor, with the two and the dog, closely followed the cloth, entering through the door.

Behind them, the stone door shut heavily.

Inside the stone door was a red glow, the light seemingly emanating from every point in space, making no shadows visible.

"It is rumored that a Sun Stone fell from the sky and crashed into the West Bull New Continent, turning into this Pure Yang Sacred Land."

Qiongyang Ancestor said, "When the founding ancestors chose this place for Demon Refining, hoping to refine the demons to death."

Chen Shi, puzzled, asked, "Sun Stone? A stone from which sun?"

Qiongyang Ancestor said, "Certainly not from the True God's eyes. I've read notes left by the Three Saints which mentioned there was a Sun Stone in the Demon Suppressing Cave, actually a Sun Gold Crystal, not the True God's eyes, but flew from True Yang, causing its fall."

Chen Shi noticed the Pure Yang Qi here was even richer, and the Demon Qi was also more intense. The further they flew down into the mountain, the higher the temperature, and the more concentrated the Pure Yang Righteous Qi and Demon Qi became!

The Demon Qi here was so strong that it caused Qiongyang Ancestor to frown, slightly uneasy.

The Demon Qi is so heavy, if not for the intense Pure Yang Qi, it would definitely affect her Dao Heart.

Her clothes fluttered as she led Chen Shi and the others through the long mountain body, directly to the depths underground.

The red light here was extremely bright, making everyone seem like a small black dot.

Yu Lingzi had never been here before, and his heart was pounding with fear.

Suddenly, floating in the bright red light below were huge black urns, over two people tall, floating motionlessly.

Qiongyang Ancestor took them flying past each large urn, pursuing the fluttering hem of a garment.

Chen Shi roughly counted over a hundred black urns, thinking: "These black urns should be suppressing the Demons that the past ancestors of Taihua Qing Palace suppressed. The ancestors of Taihua Qing Palace are incredible, the Demons they suppress are similar to the one inside me."

Qiongyang Ancestor pursued the hem of the garment, but there were no more black urns ahead, and the garment hem was still flying forward, causing her to frown.

Previously, she and Chen Shi's grandfather, Chen Yindou, had come to the Demon Suppressing Cave, attempting to explore its mysteries but had never gone this far.

However, a slight comfort came from the fact that although Jing Hong had transformed into a Ghost Immortal, he had not lost his mind. If he had lost his mind and released the Demons from these urns, it would be too terrifying!

All the Daoists cultivating in the Demon Suppressing Cave would certainly meet an untimely death, parasitized by these Demons!

Suddenly, a series of incredibly large blood-red tentacles appeared in front of them.

The ends of these blood-red tentacles were attached to the stone walls of the Demon Suppressing Cave, reaching in all directions, with the other ends growing thinner and connecting to the back of an old Taoist.

The old Taoist was suspended in the air by the blood-red tentacles, with his head drooping, motionless.

The garment hem flew to the old Taoist's side and landed on him.

"Brother Jing Hong!"

Qiongyang Ancestor slowed her pace, raised her sleeve to protect Chen Shi and the others behind her, walked forward cautiously, and said, "I never thought you had become a Ghost Immortal, it's my mistake to underestimate you. Since you've already become a Ghost Immortal, why hide here? Brother, come back to Green Sheep Palace with me..."

She was about to grasp the old Taoist's hand, when suddenly she froze, rushed forward, and gripped the old Taoist's wrist firmly.

The wrist collapsed with just a light squeeze, becoming just a skin with no flesh or blood!

Qiongyang Ancestor hurriedly pulled it forcefully, and saw the blood-red tentacles falling from the walls, all empty shells with no flesh inside!

"Brother Jing Hong has shed his cicada skin!" Her face changed dramatically.

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

He walked forward and saw a third Jing Hong Sect Leader, then a fourth, a fifth, a sixth...

"Jing Hong has shed multiple times!"

Qiongyang Ancestor walked forward quickly and reached the end, where there was unexpectedly a palace. The palace was not large, and its interior was very simple, with only a bed, suggesting someone once lived here.

Chen Shi looked up at a mural inside the palace and said, "He cultivated the Golden Cicada Sheds Shell Heavenly Immortal Diagram!"

The mural depicted the process of a golden cicada shedding and transforming, but the golden cicada was not a cicada, but a human figure, with skin splitting open from the back and a bloody human-shaped creature emerging from the skin sack.

This transformation requires multiple cycles, each one more painful than the last, but the more transformations undertaken, the closer one's strength gets to that of an Immortal.

Chen Shi's heart sank, and he found an irregular stone more than 10 feet in diameter in the palace.

The stone was worshipped on an altar, emanating an extreme Pure Yang Qi!

Around the stone, intense flames were blazing, implying that Jing Hong Sect Leader refined his Immortal Fire here, burning away the Innocent Taoist's seal!

"After Jing Hong Sect Leader became a Ghost Immortal, he must have lived here all along. He collected Sun Essence Qi here to refine Pure Yang Immortal Fire! The Immortal Fire that almost blasted us to death was refined here!"

"But, why did he do this? Why did he want to corrupt the Innocent Taoist?"

He was just pondering this when Yu Lingzi suddenly said, "If Jing Hong Sect Leader is not here, where would he go?"

Qiongyang Ancestor's face drastically changed, and she rushed out, "He's out hunting! Accumulating power for the next transformation!"