Gateway of Immortality

A ghostly figure floated out of the boy's body, laughing eerily. Liang Yan snorted coldly as he flicked a banner from his palm. The banner flapped in the air, releasing streams of black qi, which swiftly surrounded the ghostly figure.

The spirit struggled violently within the black qi, but it could not escape and was eventually consumed by the dark energy.

After retrieving the banner, Liang Yan waved his hand, conjuring a burst of flame that reduced the corpse in the cave dwelling to ashes.

Nearby, the disciples in other cave dwellings who had been cultivating were startled. They opened their doors and witnessed the entire scene. After bowing respectfully to Liang Yan, they glanced indifferently at Qin Sang and the others, then returned to their cultivation as though this was a routine occurrence.

In the now-empty cave dwelling, only a pile of ash remained, swept up by a cold wind and scattered into the canyon. The last traces of the boy were the claw marks on the ground.

Liang Yan led them down another seven or eight flights of stairs to a row of unoccupied cave dwellings. "These caves have no owners. Choose one and begin your cultivation. Senior Uncle Yue will hold a monthly lecture at the end of each month. If you have any questions about your practice, make sure to ask him then."

The group remained silent, staring at the dark, empty cave dwellings with a mix of awe and unease. Had similar scenes unfolded inside these caves before?

Noticing their apprehension, Liang Yan smiled and said, "What’s wrong? Scared by such a small event? If you don’t want to end up like that, remember what I just told you: Use your spiritual consciousness to suppress King Yan and make sure it submits completely before entering the Yin Malevolent Abyss to absorb the malevolent yin qi. The Yan Luo Banner is a powerful tool, but you must curb your greed when absorbing Soul Pills. Never give King Yan a chance to break free, or even immortals won’t be able to save you. What happened to that junior brother just now is a warning! Never forget this!"

After speaking, Liang Yan mounted his flying artifact and left.

Qin Sang and the others exchanged glances, but none of them had much to say. Each selected a cave dwelling for themselves. Just as Qin Sang was about to enter his cave, he heard Tan Jie's voice through a transmission, "Brother Qin, what’s your opinion on the Yan Luo Banner?"

Qin Sang paused and turned to see Tan Jie standing at the entrance of the neighboring cave, looking worried.

Seeing Tan Jie’s expression, Qin Sang knew he had likely been shaken by what had just happened. Qin Sang himself had already witnessed the terrifying power of King Yan, and without the protection of his Jade Buddha, he too would have been devoured by King Yan.

However, aside from the risk of King Yan's rebound, Qin Sang had not encountered any other dangers with the Yan Luo Banner during his cultivation thus far.

Thinking this, Qin Sang transmitted a warning, "Senior Brother Tan, according to Brother Liang Yan, over a thousand disciples in the Kuiyin Sect use the Yan Luo Banner for cultivation, so its effectiveness has likely been well-proven. However, the danger of this secret art is significant. We should be very cautious going forward."

Tan Jie nodded, saying no more as he walked into his cave, clearly still troubled.

After closing the door to his cave dwelling, Qin Sang sat down on the stone bed and put on the Yang Warming Pearl. Without needing to activate any spiritual power, the warmth from the Yang Warming Pearl gradually dispelled the cold qi around him, though it couldn’t drive away the chill deep in his heart.

Reflecting on Liang Yan’s actions and the indifferent expressions of the other disciples as they watched the burning of the corpse, Qin Sang realized that, in the Kuiyin Sect, the lives of disciples seemed no more valuable than those of mortals in the outside world—like blades of grass.

Perhaps only after breaking through to the Foundation Building Realm could one gain any real status.

Qin Sang believed that with the protection of the Jade Buddha, he needn’t fear King Yan’s rebound. Standing out among his fellow disciples shouldn’t be too difficult. But what Qin Sang feared more was drawing unwanted attention.

Even though Senior Uncle Yue had forbidden internal killings, what if a Foundation Building Realm cultivator decided to murder someone for their treasures?

…

The cave dwelling was still as simple as ever.

Qin Sang, who had been sitting cross-legged on his meditation cushion, suddenly opened his eyes. He quietly pushed open the stone door of his cave dwelling and caught a glimpse of a slender figure disappearing into the fog of the Yin Malevolent Abyss. From the back, it was clear that the figure was Shi Hong, the senior sister who had entered the sect at the same time as him.

It had already been a month since Qin Sang joined the Kuiyin Sect. At the end of last month, Senior Uncle Yue held a lecture, during which Qin Sang asked him about the various doubts that had troubled him for years. He finally understood why his cultivation bottleneck appeared sporadically.

It turned out that for immortal cultivators, each breakthrough between realms was a critical checkpoint. If one's aptitude was insufficient, being stuck for ten or more years without breaking through was perfectly normal.

Moreover, during the third, sixth, and ninth stages of the Qi Refining Realm, both the physical body and spiritual consciousness underwent subtle transformations, making the bottlenecks at these stages even more solid and difficult to break through.

Each of these checkpoints was harder to overcome than the last. The Soul Pills not only accelerated cultivation speed but also helped with breakthroughs, which explained why Qin Sang had progressed so smoothly so far.

Of course, these smaller checkpoints couldn't compare in difficulty to the bottlenecks at the Foundation Building Realm or the Core Formation Realm.

Among Qi Refining Realm cultivators, fewer than one in ten successfully broke through to the Foundation Building Realm. And that was assuming they even reached the tenth stage of the Qi Refining Realm, since not everyone had the chance to obtain a Foundation Building Pill.

The Foundation Building Pill was a spiritual medicine that helped break through the bottleneck of the Foundation Building Realm, increasing the likelihood of success.

If someone had excellent innate talent, such as possessing a single spiritual root, they wouldn’t need the Foundation Building Pill. But for most cultivators, the small increase in success provided by the Foundation Building Pill was extremely precious.

However, the current immortal cultivation world was suffering from a scarcity of spiritual power and a shortage of spiritual medicine. Many of the ancient spiritual pills, which were once as effective as the Foundation Building Pill, could no longer be refined due to a lack of ingredients. Even the pill recipes had been lost.

As a result, even among the disciples of immortal sects, not everyone could obtain a Foundation Building Pill.

If breaking through to the Foundation Building Realm was already so difficult, the number of cultivators who successfully formed a Golden Core was even rarer. The entire Kuiyin Sect had only three Golden Core Realm cultivators.

Cultivation was truly like a narrow bridge, with countless people fighting to cross it.

After learning all this, Qin Sang was dispirited for several days. Even if he somehow managed to break through to the Foundation Building Realm, and even if he reached the peak of the Foundation Building Realm before the end of his lifespan, there would still be almost no hope of becoming a Golden Core Realm cultivator.

Thinking back on the bold claims he had made in front of the grand princess, it all seemed so laughable now.

But soon, Qin Sang pulled himself together. Only someone who had experienced death could truly understand the terror of it, and the beauty of being alive. He resolved to give his all, and even if he couldn’t escape death, at least he would die without regrets.

Over the past month, he had resisted entering the Yin Malevolent Abyss to absorb the malevolent yin qi, having already exhausted his remaining Soul Pills. Instead, he focused on refining incantations, waiting for the right moment. After waiting for an entire month, the first person to suppress King Yan and enter the Yin Malevolent Abyss was Shi Hong.

Shi Hong possessed dual spiritual roots of wood and metal, making her the most talented among the seven who had joined the sect at the same time. It wasn’t surprising that she was the first to suppress King Yan.

After waiting in his cave dwelling for a bit longer, Qin Sang took out his Malevolence-Avoiding Pouch, activated it with spiritual power, and covered himself with it before leaping into the Yin Malevolent Abyss.

The Malevolence-Avoiding Pouch also had the ability to assist in flying, and when combined with the Airborne Technique, Qin Sang’s body floated down like a falling leaf.

The deeper he went into the Yin Malevolent Abyss, the denser and colder the malevolent qi became, until it was completely dark below, like inky black clouds swirling endlessly in the abyss. Amid the howling winds, faint roars of ghostly creatures could be heard, as if countless evil spirits were trying to break into the mortal world and wreak havoc.