Free Web NovelChapter 191: Chapter 184: Immortal Fate
Lin Qingfeng put away the illustrated record with satisfaction, his gaze turning to the sinister, stage-like altar.
’After beating the boss, if you don’t strip the area bare of every good thing, what’s the point of even playing?’
’In the spirit of plucking a feather from every passing goose and letting nothing go to waste, this altar—along with the impressive plot of land it stood on—had to be part of the loot from this dungeon run!’
With that thought, Lin Qingfeng no longer hesitated.
He took a deep breath, formed a hand seal, and pressed down hard on the ground!
"Kun Art: Earthen Shift!"
In an instant, the entire space began to tremble violently!
Su Ling’er, along with Wang Xiedi and the others who had just scrambled to their feet, watched in horror as the ground around the altar was forcibly carved from the earth by an immense, invisible force!
Earth and stone crumbled as array patterns flickered. That enormous plot of land, with the altar itself, was ripped straight from the ground by Lin Qingfeng’s immense Magical Power and began to rise slowly into the air!
"This... What is this?!"
Wang Xiedi was dumbfounded.
The scholar and the woman were even more shocked, rendered speechless. This kind of power, capable of moving mountains and filling seas, was completely beyond anything they could have imagined an "Immortal" could do!
’Senior Brother is going to pack up the entire altar and take it with him?!’
Su Ling’er’s pupils contracted, and a terrifying thought flooded her mind.
’He... Why is he collecting this altar, so full of resentment and malevolence?’
’Could it be... Could he be planning to move this thing back to the sect for some even more nefarious purpose?!’
’Like, building an even larger Blood Sacrifice Array?’
’Or using the resentful energy on it to cultivate some vicious evil art?!’
’That’s it! It must be!’
’Otherwise, who in their right mind would collect this kind of unholy junk!’
Lin Qingfeng paid no mind to what others were thinking. He gazed with satisfaction at the massive altar floating in the air, and with a wave of his sleeve, he stored it in his item space.
[Name]: Resentful Evil Altar
[Type]: Peculiar Object / Array Core
[Treasure Trait: Resentful Refining]
Built on yin wood, lacquered with blood,
No mortal drama, but souls it refines.
When the evil art’s day of success arrives,
Master becomes servant, devoured from inside.
[Origin]
This is one of the evil arts taught to Shen Gang by that mysterious Daoist.
In the beginning, to refine a cursed ghost servant, Shen Gang sought out hundred-year-old yin-sunken wood. He mixed it with the blood of a black cat and the soul of a young child as a catalyst to forge this altar.
The altar is inscribed with vicious array patterns designed to gather yin energy, lock souls, and incite resentment.
During the refining of Shen Jieye, this altar served as the "furnace." It continuously drew yin energy from the earth’s ley lines to stimulate the evil entity within her body, catalyzing her hatred to its absolute peak. This ultimately caused the evil art to spiral out of control and trigger a backlash.
...
Just as Lin Qingfeng clapped his hands in satisfaction, the sound of something tearing through the air came from nearby.
Su Ling’er’s heart tightened. She snapped her head up to see a black shadow plummeting from the sky, landing with a dull THUD.
A pitch-black coffin had smashed into the ground not far away, kicking up a ring of dust.
’A coffin again?!’
Su Ling’er’s eyelid twitched violently. The sight was becoming a trigger for her.
’In the Guixi Sect, nothing good ever comes from one of these things showing up!’
The coffin lid slid open with a CREAK, and ’Ji’ strolled out casually.
Su Ling’er stared at the coffin as an absolutely terrifying thought sprouted wildly in her mind.
’Could it be... Did they capture someone else to use as a sacrifice?!’
"First Senior Brother, I’ve cleared out my side. I brought back our two lost junior brothers while I was at it."
Junior brothers?!
Su Ling’er and Wang Xiedi froze at the same time.
With that, he casually pushed the coffin lid open a crack.
Through that crack, Su Ling’er, with her Cultivator’s eyesight, could clearly see two unconscious but still breathing faces.
It was none other than Dong Changsheng and Li Chunfeng, who had been trapped outside before!
’They’re still alive!’
The tension in Su Ling’er’s nerves instantly eased a little.
’Looks like it wasn’t just the two of us who made it out alive.’
’But...’
’They’re alive, yes... but why were they brought back in a coffin?!’
’What kind of "bringing them back" is this?!’
’Would any normal person use a coffin to "bring back" their fellow disciples?!’
A more terrifying question instantly filled her mind: What about the others?
’I only see these two... Where did the other ten go?!’
’Could it be... could they already be...’
A dejected look crossed Su Ling’er’s face.
’It’s all my fault for being too weak...’
’If only I had been stronger...’
"Good work,"
Lin Qingfeng’s voice sounded calmly,
"We’re about done here. The job is finished. Time to head back."
As Lin Qingfeng and Senior Brother ’Ji’ both clicked the [Complete Dungeon] option, an invisible force began to envelop the entire space.
Su Ling’er felt her body growing light and ethereal. She instinctively looked toward the mortals, a complicated thought flashing through her mind:
’What... will happen to them?’
’Are they just illusory copies, or are they real?’
’If they’re real, will their memories be erased and they’ll be sent back? Or... will they be disposed of like useless trash?’
Under her worried gaze, the bodies of the mother, son, and scholar also began to turn transparent.
"Im... Immortal Master! What’s happening to us...?"
The woman was the first to notice something was wrong. She looked at her own gradually disappearing arm, and then at the child in her arms who was also slowly turning transparent, her voice filled with panic.
But by then, Lin Qingfeng and the others had already vanished.
The scholar’s reaction, however, was completely different.
As he stared in astonishment at his changing body, several cards made of a strange material fluttered down from the air.
He instinctively reached out and caught them. They were the Three Kingdoms Kill cards they had played with the Immortals earlier!
[Volley], [Barbarian Invasion], [Sleight of Hand], [Attack], [Dodge]...
Zhou Ziang froze for a moment, then his face erupted in ecstatic joy!
"An immortal opportunity! This is an immortal opportunity! A supreme immortal opportunity bestowed by the Immortals!"
He held the "talisman cards" high, as if he were grasping the key to the Longevity Dao, and kowtowed desperately in the direction where Lin Qingfeng and the others had disappeared.
Amidst Zhou Ziang’s fervent kowtowing, his body also completely dissolved into motes of light and vanished.
...
「Meanwhile, in an attic bedroom in a small town in some other realm.」
GASP—!
The woman shot up in bed, her chest heaving as she gasped for air.
Still shaken, she looked around: the familiar bed curtains, the bright moonlight outside the window, and her child sleeping peacefully beside her...
Nothing was different from any other day.
"Was it... was it a dream?"
she murmured to herself, her face a mask of confusion.
She reached out and touched her own body and her child’s; both were warm and real.
’But... what about all those scenes in my mind?’
The horrific scene of the Immortal swinging his own disciple around like a club, the supreme Divine Technique that uprooted the entire altar as if moving mountains...
Everything felt so real, as if it had happened just a moment ago.
"No..."
She shook her head forcefully, her eyes becoming incredibly determined.
"When my husband gets back, I have to tell him... I have to tell him all about this dream..."
