Chapter 155: The Pill Cauldron

"Prince Changshui, Li Sansi?" Xiao Liu asked with a puzzled expression.

"He is the younger brother of the current aging emperor. After our dynasty was founded, the emperor bestowed generous rewards upon his ministers and established his fief in Changshui Commandery. This Prince Li, deeming the place too cold and barren, refused to go and instead spent his days idling away in Luodu. Back when the treasure of the First Emperor was opened, one of the six founding keys—the Departing Dragon Key—was sealed within his estate's treasury. That dragon-and-phoenix thumb ring is the vital mechanism to unlock his storehouse. I once went there with my master to verify it, which is why I remember it so clearly," Zhou Qian explained.

"Could this Prince Li also be a practitioner of the same path?"

"Unlikely. Li Sansi was obsessed with alchemy and the Dao of cinnabar, and he was fond of taking Five-Stone Powder, so his constitution had long since collapsed. Even if he had the aptitude, I doubt any sword immortal would have been willing to take him as a disciple. Furthermore, back when that fiend Luo Xu of the Fiendish Body Sect sacrificed the lives of an entire city's populace to refine the Crimson Yin Soul-Gathering Banner, Prince Li should have died long ago. How could he have attained cultivation in the ghostly arts?" Zhou Qian said uncertainly. Although the thumb ring belonged to Li Sansi, the person wearing it was not necessarily him. Yet, looking at it the other way around, if it were not him, why would someone with profound spiritual attainment wear such a worldly trinket? Isn't that a paradox?

"With the entire city littered with corpses and yin energy breeding, could it be that Prince Li's dead husk was nourished by the foul miasma, gaining sentience and becoming a ghost entity?"

"That still doesn't make sense. It has been barely two years since the city was sacrificed. The reason that millennium-old osmanthus tree became a spirit was because the Wood-element spiritual qi within its body was already abundant, and it was infected by yin and demonic auras, so the conditions were already met. But Li Sansi was merely a mortal; how could he transform into a ghostly entity with such profound cultivation?"

The two looked at each other, both filled with lingering confusion. "It seems we must enter his estate to investigate and get to the bottom of this," Zhou Qian said.

Xiao Liu agreed with this approach as well. Just as they were about to set off together, Pu Shanlin hesitated and said, "Um, two great heroes, once you go into that ghostly entity's lair, how is a frail scholar like me supposed to protect myself?"

"You're hiding right here, what is there to be afraid of!" Xiao Liu said with dissatisfaction.

"While that may be true, what if some evil specter wanders over here? Won't my little life be forfeit?!"

"Surely you don't want to come along?" Zhou Qian asked in return.

"That estate is no different from a tiger's den or a wolf's lair; this scholar had better stay right here," Pu Shanlin instantly shrank back.

"I'll teach you a method, it might just prove useful!" Xiao Liu's eyes rolled, and he muttered a few words into the scholar's ear.

"Isn't this rather inappropriate? No matter what, this scholar reads the books of the sages; wouldn't this action be somewhat improper?"

"Then there is nothing I can do." Xiao Liu shrugged and, along with Zhou Qian, stepped out of the coffin shop and hurried toward Prince Li's estate. This left Scholar Pu unsure whether to advance or retreat, feeling utterly conflicted. Finally, gritting his teeth, he took off his long robe, crawled straight into a white waxwood coffin, pulled the lid shut, and hid inside. This was the rotten idea Xiao Liu had come up with: since the corpses had already turned into walking dead, they surely wouldn't crawl into the bottom of a coffin by themselves. This place was undoubtedly the safest spot.

"Xiao Liu, which sect does this peculiar talisman of yours actually belong to?" On the way, Zhou Qian could not help asking. This talisman emitted a foul stench, yet it was remarkably effective against zombies and their ilk, sparking his deep curiosity.

"Hehe, Xiao Liu traded for this with a friend from a heterodox sect. That friend of mine is an outcast of Mount Mao, most skilled in the art of controlling corpses. This Concealing-Form Talisman can conceal a living person's aura while emitting eighteen different scents of the walking dead. When those zombies and ghosts encounter it, they will mistake you for one of their own, stripping away any intent to kill."

"Oh? Your friend is quite clever and resourceful. Why was he expelled from his sect, though? Mount Mao is one of the seven great sects under heaven, so entering it must surely involve rigorous trials, and his disposition shouldn't have been too terrible."

"I'm not entirely clear myself. Word has it he stole a supreme treasure from his sect. That person's name is Lin Sanhuan, a rather interesting fellow. Brother Zhou, if you ever cross paths with him, you ought to make his acquaintance."

Walking in silence, the two darted through streets and alleys, quickly arriving near Prince Li's estate. The further they went, the more walking corpses there were, and even rarer, more powerful ghostly entities such as hairy corpses, pacing corpses, and skin corpses could be seen. No wonder Zhou Qian had not noticed the slightest trace when he first entered the city—it turned out these ghosts and monsters only came out at midnight when the moonlight was at its brightest. The fur merchant's words had indeed been true.

Crouching atop a nearby rooftop, the two dared not make any rash moves. Although the Concealing-Form Talisman was effective against walking corpses, it might not work against more advanced ghostly entities. Moreover, within the estate, there might well be a demonic sect practitioner of profound cultivation and a Prince Li transformed into a fierce ghost.

"Brother Zhou, although our whereabouts haven't been discovered, that black-robed brute probably already knows of our existence and is bound to be on guard. How on earth can we sneak inside?"

Zhou Qian frowned in thought, then said heavily, "Xiao Liu, you possess the Phosphorous Fire Escape Technique; go draw out the enemy while I take the opportunity to slip into the estate and investigate. After all, Luodu is the resting place of my master Zhou Xun and my wife; I cannot allow these ghosts and monsters to wreak havoc here."

"But the defenses within this estate are bound to be heavily guarded. Brother Zhou, you..."

Before the words finished, a plume of green smoke suddenly rose from the estate in the distance. Seeing this, the nearby walking corpses and ghosts swarmed toward the main gates of the estate in droves. Zhou Qian's eyes lit up, and he urged urgently, "Xiao Liu, say no more, go! I will find a way to make my escape when the time comes!"

Left with no choice, Xiao Liu had to obey. Circling around a considerable distance from their original spot, his body transformed into a wisp of white Qi that soared into the night sky, fleeing toward the estate. With a wave of his hand, that mass of corpse-grievance Qi manifested. Muting an incantation of the Cavernous Yin Demonic Curse, he flicked his fingertips through the void, causing the yin energy to coalesce into shape. A small fraction of the corpse-grievance Qi separated, transforming into a grey-spotted giant snake that shook its head and wagged its tail as it lunged into the estate, with Xiao Liu following closely behind. Instantly, commotion erupted within the estate. Within less half a moment, billows of fierce flames rolled and crackled, intertwining and contrasting with golden light and white Qi. Soon enough, Xiao Liu fled outward, and that wave of fire re-gathered in pursuit. The two chased and fled, quickly disappearing from sight.

Simultaneously, Zhou Qian quietly leaped down, hunting down the back of a stray walking corpse. His willow-wood sword spun and fell into his grip. Wielding the mortal sword technique "Rampant Wind and Driving Rain," he exerted strength from his wrists and pivoted his body three times. In less than the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, that walking corpse had been hacked into seventy or eighty pieces, having never anticipated an ambush by a 'compatriot.' Hesitating for a moment, Zhou Qian took a deep breath, finally making up his mind. He picked up chunks of flesh, intestines, and lungs from the ground and smeared them all over his body. A foul stench of corpse-qi made him nearly retch; there was no fresh blood at all, replaced instead by green pus. When Zhou Qian emerged from behind the wall, he no longer looked human at all—he merely appeared as a wretched, stumbling walking corpse, blending seamlessly into the horde of the dead and walking openly right into the estate.

Once inside the front gates, the ringing of a bell sounded. Zhou Qian's mind grew faint for a moment, but as the supreme Qing immortal qi within his body completed a major circulation, he regained clarity. The surrounding walking corpses immediately seemed to know the way, weaving through pavilions and flower-filled courtyards, and he suddenly understood. The estate was quite large, and after walking for the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, he finally reached the main hall. A massive bronze cauldron, five zhang high and three zhang wide, stood in the center. The front and back iron doors were wide open, with two young Daoist acolytes holding silver bells and shaking them left and right, while the dead citizens of Luodu filed inside one by one.

Thoughts raced through Zhou Qian's mind, and just as he was about to think of a way to escape, a deep, booming voice echoed out: "All of you, tend to the alchemy with all your hearts. Once this monarch achieves immortality, I shall certainly bring the two of you along!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty," the two acolytes bowed in unison.

Glancing up, it truly was Li Sansi. He sat perched upon the primary seat, though his appearance was somewhat more ferocious, clad in dragon robes. A heavy, oppressive aura weighed down the entire hall. Zhou Qian inwardly cursed his bad luck; the prince exuded ghostly qi, and since his own magic power had not yet fully recovered, escaping would likely prove exceedingly difficult.

A flash of fire bolted into the estate from the outside, arriving within the hall in the span of a few breaths and transforming into a black-robed brute—the very same appearance Pu Shanlin had described. His icy gaze swept back and forth among the throng of corpses. Zhou Qian was forced to lower his head slightly, feeling a jolt of alarm. What situation had Xiao Liu run into? Why had this brute returned so quickly? With formidable enemies blocking both front and rear, Zhou Qian remained outwardly calm, yet inside he was burning with anxiety, utterly devoid of any countermeasure. Gritting his teeth, he slipped right into the giant alchemy cauldron...