Chapter 66: Inauspicious Energy Reappears, Burying an Old Friend

Chapter 66 – Inauspicious Energy Reappears, Burying an Old Friend

Casually rubbing his own bald head, the figure sat directly beside Yixiu.

“Little monk, it has merely been a few centuries since we last crossed paths. How did you end up in such a wretched state?”

At the sound of that familiar voice, a sharp gleam pierced the turbid depths of Yixiu’s eyes.

“Is it you? Have you finally returned?”

“Of course it is me. Who else would bother visiting a dying old monk like you?”

Confirming the visitor’s identity, Yixiu immediately extracted the eighteen silver needles embedded within his flesh.

His withered, aged flesh visibly revitalized, rapidly reverting to the prime of his youth.

“Chen Changsheng, you damned scoundrel, why haven’t you died yet!”

Watching Yixiu fly into a thundering rage, Chen Changsheng leisurely retrieved an orange and peeled it.

“How can a monk let such foul words soil his tongue?”

“You are, after all, a renowned and eminent monk of the Night Moon Country. Show a little grace, would you?”

Facing Chen Changsheng’s utterly stoic demeanor, Yixiu rolled his eyes in exasperation, then snatched at the fruit in the other man’s hand.

However, Chen Changsheng smoothly pulled his hand back, flatly denying the monk.

“Are you serious? I am about to die, and I cannot even have a taste of your orange?”

“Of course not. I am eating this to use the peel to mask the stench of a rotting corpse.”

“I am genuinely curious about how you reduced yourself to this state. Although the natural lifespan of a Nascent Soul cultivator is but eight hundred years,”

“consuming a few life-extending Pills could easily grant you another century or two.”

“Yet, if my memory serves, you have not even reached your eighth century.”

Hearing this, Yixiu curled his lips in a bitter, helpless smile. “Do you think I do not wish to live a few more centuries?”

“But the heavens did not permit it; what could I do? Do you recall when I was trapped in the forbidden land of the Night Moon Country?”

“I remember. What of it?”

“At that time, I was relentlessly hunted by the Wolf King. Driven to a dead end, I had no choice but to barricade myself within a fissure of the grand seal.”

“As the decades ground down, my very foundation was eroded by an Inauspicious Energy.”

“This power granted me immense strength, but it demanded a terrifying toll. To stop the corruption from deepening, I ruthlessly severed my own cultivation, dropping my realm back to the Nascent Soul stage.”

Chen Changsheng’s brow furrowed at the revelation. He extended his right hand, pressing two fingers firmly against Yixiu’s wrist.

After a careful diagnosis, Chen Changsheng spoke. “There is a tyrannical force within you, devouring your body, and your body is almost an empty shell.”

“The toll you mentioned… it could not be your very lifespan, could it?”

“It is, but to be exact, it is my absolute vitality.”

“Inauspicious Energy Energy devours its Host’s life essence, refining it into a malignant strength that it feeds back into the flesh. That is the grim truth of this power.”

“To spare my own essence, I had to butcher others, substituting their lives for my own to satiate the curse.”

“The higher my realm climbed, the grander the slaughter it demanded. The moment I fail to quench its thirst,”

“it will drain my soul to ash and slither out to seek the next Host.”

“Now you understand why I am sitting here, waiting for the end.”

His confession finished, Yixiu sat in silence, fixing his gaze upon Chen Changsheng.

Meeting the dying monk’s eyes, Chen Changsheng remained silent for a long moment before asking,

“Did you never attempt to eradicate it?”

“Naturally, I did. I exhausted countless methods, yet everything proved futile.”

“Unless my spirit is extinguished, it shall never fade.”

“Furthermore, I suspect that if I merely pass away naturally, this curse will inevitably leap from my corpse to possess a new Host.”

“That is exactly why I held onto my last breath, waiting for your return.”

“The intoxicating sensation of boundless power is too predatory. Few cultivators beneath the heavens possess the Dao Heart to resist such temptation.”

“I refuse to let this scourge plague the mortal realm.”

As he spoke, Yixiu retrieved a meticulously carved urn and thrust it into Chen Changsheng’s hands.

“The only method to purge this abomination is to burn my flesh to ash. I have readied the urn; the rest I leave to your ruthless hands.”

“Given the depth of my cultivation, a few Buddhist relics will naturally form from my bones. Keep them as the toll for your services.”

“I know your avaricious nature far too well. Forcing you to labor for free would be a fate worse than death.”

Weighing the urn in his grip, Chen Changsheng clicked his tongue and asked,

“Where shall I bury your ashes, then? Shall I deliver them to your disciples and grand-disciples?”

“Do not bother. The Heavenly Buddha Temple rots with each passing generation. Those little bald donkeys are entirely lacking in virtue.”

“Should my remains fall into their grasping hands, my ashes might very well be scattered to the unfeeling winds.”

“Choose a plot of earth yourself. Once the soul disperses, the dead have no say in the affairs of the living.”

With those final words, Yixiu settled back into a lotus posture, the last embers of his vitality flickering out forever.

The instant Yixiu achieved nirvana, countless glowing golden runes manifested across his skin, forming a massive, radiant net that viciously sealed his decaying corpse.

Staring at the deceased monk, Chen Changsheng slowly shook his head, offering a rare, heavy sigh.

“Little monk! Little monk!”

“You remained soft-hearted until the bitter end. Were it any other cultivator, they would have massacred millions to sustain their own Dao.”

As his voice faded, Chen Changsheng’s figure vanished like smoke, taking Yixiu’s remains with him from the quiet meditation chamber.

Yet, deeply carved into the stone wall of the room, three large, tyrannical characters remained.

“The Undertaker!”

……

Deep within the forbidden land of the Night Moon Country.

A woman of peerless beauty stood in deathly silence before three barren graves.

Without warning, a frivolous voice broke the desolate stillness.

“Xiao Bai, have the years treated you well?”

Boom!

Lacking a shred of hesitation, the stunning woman unleashed a fatal strike toward the source of the voice.

“Stay your hand!”

“It is me!”

Chen Changsheng sidestepped the vicious onslaught, rapidly revealing his identity.

However, rather than halting, the realization of Chen Changsheng’s identity caused the woman’s murderous intent to spike, her techniques growing ever more ruthless.

Seeing the woman fully intent on drawing blood, Chen Changsheng sighed in exasperation and immediately invoked his colossal Dharma Form.

Boom!

The crushing weight of a nameless fist technique slammed into the air, violently sending the woman tumbling backward.

Immediately following the impact, Chen Changsheng’s fingers blurred, tracing profound Formation patterns in the void that locked around her like chains.

With his opponent fully subdued, Chen Changsheng seamlessly deployed a temporary Formation to obscure the heavens and prevent any outsiders from prying.

“Wanyan Yue, we are old acquaintances. Was there a need for such venomous hostility?”

Glaring at the man before her, the absolute loathing in Wanyan Yue’s eyes did not waver, despite the arcane bindings suppressing her Qi.

“I strike because it is you. I do not just want to batter you; I intend to sever your soul!”

“If you possess the means, then imprison me for eternity! Otherwise, I swear upon my Dao, I will make you pay in blood!”

Meeting Wanyan Yue’s seething fury, Chen Changsheng clicked his tongue in mock disappointment.

“Can we converse with some civility? If you refuse to speak sensibly, I might be inclined to bless you with a very modern haircut.”

At those words, Wanyan Yue shuddered, an unbearable humiliation from the depths of her memories surging to the forefront of her mind.

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“What is there beneath the heavens I wouldn’t dare to do? I can demonstrate it to you right this instant.”

With a flick of his wrist, a coldly gleaming razor appeared in his grasp, and he took a slow, deliberate step toward her.

Staring at the terrifying steel edge, Wanyan Yue’s will finally broke.

“Do not take another step. I will stand down.”

“That is much better. We are old friends; there is no need for such murderous intent.”