Gateway of Immortality

"Daoist Hong was not in his cave dwelling, and he didn’t leave any message for his friends. Daoist Liu and I had to force the door open, but inside, it’s been lifeless for a long time. Either Daoist Hong had an urgent matter and left in a hurry, or something happened to him while he was outside."

Two rogue cultivators who were close to Hong Shan returned to Peak Cloud Mountain in haste, their faces filled with exhaustion as they spoke.

Both of them were deeply worried. They had always shared a strong bond with Hong Shan. After their last encounter, they hadn’t seen him since and assumed he had gained some insight and was in secluded cultivation.

But now, having missed a gathering that he never failed to attend, they realized something was wrong.

Sun De furrowed his brows, glanced around, and asked, "Since the last gathering, has anyone spoken to Daoist Hong?"

Everyone shook their heads.

At that moment, Qin Sang arrived on his Sky Shuttle. As he descended, Sun De’s eyes lit up, and he stood eagerly, asking repeatedly, "Junior Brother Qin, when you last saw Daoist Hong in the Sunken Cave, did he mention where he was planning to go?"

As Qin Sang landed before the group, he noticed the peculiar looks everyone was giving him, and his brows furrowed slightly.

After listening to Sun De patiently, Qin Sang immediately understood the situation.

In truth, they had only drunk together once and shared little connection. And even if they had, in the world of immortal cultivation, incidents of killing for treasures were far too common.

Qin Sang had done nothing wrong, and his conscience was clear. He calmly responded to Sun De, "Daoist Hong mentioned that he wanted to use malevolent yin qi to temper his artifacts. I even sent a flying message to Senior Brother Sun to confirm it. After Senior Brother Sun confirmed it, I returned to my cave dwelling for cultivation. During subsequent visits to the Sunken Cave, I never saw Daoist Hong again. Has he gone missing?"

Sun De replied regretfully, "No one has seen Daoist Hong since then. Could it be…?"

…

A dozen streams of light descended upon the Sunken Cave. After Qin Sang pointed out several critical barriers, the group focused their search around the crevice Hong Shan had entered through.

Qin Sang frequently patrolled the uppermost stage, and as expected, there was no sign of Hong Shan. The other rogue cultivators, lacking strong cultivation, could not stay long in the malevolent yin qi. Only Qin Sang and Sun De ventured deep into the Sunken Cave.

Since this incident happened in his territory, Qin Sang couldn’t simply ignore it, so he joined in the search. Not long after, Sun De suddenly pointed at a crack and shouted, "Over here!"

Qin Sang darted over and, upon seeing the scene before him, sighed softly.

The crack was extremely hidden, with a narrow entrance that gradually widened inside. At its widest point, a smooth stone platform stretched out, on which several array flags had been planted, likely to fend off the erosion of the malevolent yin qi.

In the center of the array, Hong Shan sat motionless on the ground, his body rigid and his face darkened with a ghastly hue. There was not a trace of life left in him.

His hands rested on an artifact that resembled an ice blade, which still gleamed faintly with cold light. A wisp of malevolent yin qi lingered over it.

Sun De kicked aside the array flags and walked up to Hong Shan. After examining him, he shook his head and said, "The malevolent yin qi has entered his body, turning him into a block of ice. I had warned Daoist Hong before that using malevolent yin qi to refine artifacts was not a proper method. It’s incredibly dangerous and could easily harm the practitioner if mishandled. But he didn’t take it seriously, and now he’s met this tragic end… Junior Brother Qin, gather Daoist Hong’s belongings. I’ll take his body up and give him a proper burial."

Together, they carried Hong Shan’s corpse back up. Upon hearing what had transpired, the others fell silent.

Sun De handed Hong Shan’s ice saber artifact, array flags, and Mustard Seed Pouch to one of his close friends and said, "Daoist Bai, I remember Daoist Hong still has descendants. These are his belongings—give them to his family. Let me know when you plan to bury him, and I’ll definitely attend to pay my respects."

With the sorrowful news, the group lost all interest in their gathering and quietly dispersed in small groups.

As he watched the others leave, Qin Sang felt uncertain and turned to Sun De, asking, "Senior Brother Sun, should we report this matter to the sect?"

Sun De replied, "Junior Brother Qin, it’s up to you to decide. You could report it, or not—it doesn’t really matter. No one seems to care. The senior brother who guarded the Sunken Cave before you, Senior Brother Wang, also disappeared suddenly. His fate was even worse than Daoist Hong’s—his body was never found. It’s suspected he might have fallen into the depths of the Sunken Cave. The sect sent a senior uncle to investigate, but after a brief glance, he left it alone. Daoist Hong was just a rogue cultivator; who’s going to care?" RãɴȏᛒÈș

Qin Sang was surprised and asked, "Did the senior uncle not search deeper into the Sunken Cave?"

"How could he? There’s no way to find anything down there."

Sun De shook his head with a wry smile and explained, "Beneath the Sunken Cave lies an Earth Malevolent Yin Vein. The malevolent yin qi on the surface is only the tip of the iceberg—it’s formed from countless souls devoured by the Earth Demons, condensed into yin qi. Compared to Earth Malevolent Qi, it’s like the difference between clouds and mud. It’s said that even a Golden Core Realm ancestor from our sect once attempted to venture deeper, but didn’t dare go too far. Instead, they set up barriers on the outside to seal it. That senior uncle would never risk going in. The Earth Malevolent Yin Vein is full of unknown dangers, perhaps even supernatural entities. You must be careful, Junior Brother Qin."

After Sun De left, Qin Sang became lost in thought. No wonder the artifacts he carried couldn’t withstand the cold within the Sunken Cave. It was said that the Earth Malevolent Qi was among the most extreme malevolent qi in the world, and this Sunken Cave harbored an entire Earth Malevolent Yin Vein.

With this in mind, Qin Sang no longer dared to venture deep into the Sunken Cave. He stayed cautiously on the uppermost stage, where the malevolent yin qi was abundant enough for his cultivation needs.

He divided his time between patrolling the cave and cultivating. During rare moments of leisure, he returned to Shaohua Mountain to listen to the teachings of his senior uncle, or attended gatherings at Peak Cloud Mountain.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

This focused cultivation made Qin Sang recall his time at the Kuiyin Sect. He wondered about the fate of the Tan brothers and Senior Sister Shi Hong. Had they fled with the remaining members of the Kuiyin Sect, or had they fallen back into the ranks of rogue cultivators?

After everything he had been through, Qin Sang found it difficult to truly open up to others. Even with Sun De, despite attending so many gatherings together, Qin Sang still felt there was a barrier between them.

After confirming which sword control technique the Song Family Sword Art was derived from, he went to Treasure Tower Peak and exchanged for the authentic sword art. This sword control technique was called the Zhixuan Sword Art. It contained intricate methods for nurturing and controlling a sword, greatly enhancing combat power. Many disciples of Shaohua Mountain chose to practice this sword art.

The sword art had three stages. The first stage focused on nurturing and controlling the sword. Now that Qin Sang had grasped sword qi, he was in the second stage. Many disciples of Shaohua Mountain didn’t have high-quality spiritual swords capable of withstanding the power of sword qi, causing them to be stuck at this point. The third stage involved transforming sword qi into a rainbow light, allowing one to ride the sword in flight. This required reaching the Foundation Building Realm to use freely.

The Song Family Sword Art devised by the Song Family's ancestor had many unnecessary additions. After Qin Sang went through the original Zhixuan Sword Art from start to finish, filtering out the superfluous elements, he found that his connection with the ebony sword became even closer, bringing a faint smile to his face.

Once he broke through the tenth stage, he would no longer need to constantly rely on spirit stones to absorb spiritual qi. With just a thought, he could control his spiritual sword to slay enemies. Only then could he truly be called a sword cultivator!