Chapter 802: Soul-Illuminating Grotto-Heaven, Joining the Graveyard
Just as Zhang Yu was studying the Dao Seed Register in the Feather Book, continuously comprehending the profound mysteries of his Level 2 Immortal Descendant ability, he suddenly sensed an abrupt change within his Immortal Space.
A phantom-like figure slowly materialized from the ground of the Immortal Space.
Gazing at the blurry silhouette, Zhang Yu couldn’t make out its features, but from the intent radiating from it, he vaguely guessed its identity.
“Is that… Ling Feng?”
Having observed Ling Feng for so long within his memory dreamscape, Zhang Yu had grown familiar with his intent, allowing him to recognize the figure.
However, the Ling Feng currently inside the Immortal Space clearly couldn’t hear Zhang Yu’s thoughts, let alone his spoken words.
With a thought, Zhang Yu activated the power granted by his Level 2 Immortal Descendant and projected his consciousness into the space.
Beyond storing inanimate objects, the Level 2 Immortal Descendant ability could also house consciousness, naturally including that of its master.
In the next moment, Zhang Yu felt his consciousness drift like a fish swimming through the Immortal Space.
Ling Feng seemed to sense Zhang Yu’s presence, abruptly turning his head to ask, “Are you the successor Junior Brother Ying found?”
Zhang Yu asked, “Are you really Ling Feng?”
Ling Feng replied calmly, “I suppose so. Let’s skip the pleasantries. Now that you’ve inherited my Soul-Illuminating Grotto-Heaven, this True Spirit of mine won’t last much longer before it collapses.”
“Before that happens, there are some things I need to make clear to you.”
Zhang Yu was slightly startled, his mind racing as he processed Ling Feng’s words: Soul-Illuminating Grotto-Heaven… True Spirit collapsing…
“Soul-Illuminating Grotto-Heaven? Does he mean… the Inheritance Space mentioned in the Dao Seed Register, the one needed to upgrade the Immortal Descendant ability?”
“And the True Spirit collapsing…” he thought silently. “The True Spirit is the sole basis for reincarnation. If it collapses… doesn’t that mean his soul will be utterly scattered and his spirit extinguished? He won’t even have a chance to reincarnate?”
A thought struck Zhang Yu. “Could it be… to hide from the Reincarnation Immortal Emperor? Is that why he’s being so decisive? Using such a suicidal method?”
Sensing the turmoil in Zhang Yu’s consciousness, Ling Feng said calmly, “Once the True Spirit collapses, there is indeed no chance of reincarnation.”
His tone turned cold. “But I never sought to cling to life through reincarnation. The pursuit of immortality is what has ruined all the sects in this world.”
Hearing Ling Feng’s words, Zhang Yu suddenly recalled the story of Ling Feng and Qi Mengyun. If not for her pursuit of eternal life, Qi Mengyun might never have fallen to the Demonic Path.
Zhang Yu thought to himself, “Perhaps it was after experiencing that… that Ling Feng gradually developed a disdain for cultivators’ obsession with immortality?”
Ling Feng continued, “By entrusting my True Spirit to the Soul-Illuminating Grotto-Heaven and using my corpse to conceal its traces, I’ve finally made myself useful. This was my wish. The collapse of my True Spirit is a form of release, so you need not dwell on it.”
“Before I go, I only want you to remember… now that you’ve inherited the Soul-Illuminating Grotto-Heaven, you are my Righteous Path successor. From this day forward, the Righteous and Demonic Paths are irreconcilable.”
Ling Feng added, “But I am not asking you to slay an Immortal Emperor with your mortal body, nor to undertake tasks beyond your capabilities in the name of upholding justice and vanquishing evil.”
Ling Feng sighed. “That would be reckless folly, a waste of your entire foundation, a waste of the elders’ nurturing, and a betrayal of the hopes and heavy trust placed in you by future generations.”
“Only by preserving your useful body… can you truly step forward when the world needs you most.”
Listening to Ling Feng’s words, Zhang Yu sensed a profound regret within them. He could almost see Ling Feng, time and again during the Great Righteous-Demonic War, lamenting his own powerlessness, seething with resentment over the strength he had lost.
Ling Feng continued, “When that time comes… you must slay every Demonic Path practitioner who exploits the common people, devours the masses, grinds their bones to marrow, and rips out their souls — regardless of their origin or status.”
Gazing at the blurry, illusory figure, Zhang Yu felt an incredibly sharp gaze pierce through him, as if trying to see straight through his consciousness.
The next moment, the illusory figure of Ling Feng shot forward like a meteor streaking across the sky, crashing violently into Zhang Yu’s consciousness.
A deafening roar echoed through Zhang Yu’s Sea of Consciousness, shaking his awareness to its core.
As Ling Feng’s True Spirit completely disintegrated, his final words… were driven deep into Zhang Yu’s mind.
“If a friend falls to the Demonic Path, slay the friend. If kin fall to the Demonic Path, annihilate the kin. If the sect falls to the Demonic Path, eradicate the sect.”
After a long silence, a sigh seemed to echo through the Immortal Space.
Zhang Yu thought to himself, “The Righteous Path… Did Ying Xintian follow this principle? Is that why, even after becoming an Immortal, he ultimately chose to oppose the entire Kunxu?”
“Can I… truly do that?”
The next moment, with a flicker of his will, Zhang Yu’s consciousness returned to his body.
After this practical test of his abilities, Zhang Yu had a much deeper understanding of his now Level 2 Immortal Descendant trait.
“Preserve consciousness… With this function, besides hosting my own consciousness, could it also accommodate Soul Cultivators?”
“And beyond that… for special corpses like Ling Feng’s, with their residual True Spirits and consciousness, can I see a great deal of information and even have limited communication with them after bringing them into the Immortal Space?”
Zhang Yu thought to himself, “Does this mean… as long as I use the Immortal Space to contain a corpse, I can interpret its residual information?”
After a moment of contemplation, Zhang Yu concluded that this possibility was likely.
“But ordinary corpses aren’t as special as Ling Feng’s. They don’t retain their True Spirits or the dreamscapes formed from their memories.”
“The information I could extract would probably be minimal…”
After summarizing his findings, Zhang Yu identified another function of the Level 2 Immortal Descendant trait: corpse interpretation.
However, he suspected that only special corpses like Ling Feng’s would yield a wealth of information. Ordinary corpses would likely provide only fragmented data.
“The Dao Seed Register urged me to continue liberating ancestral corpses and merging Inheritance Spaces… Does this mean there are many more special cases like Ling Feng?”
As this thought crossed his mind, Ying Xintian’s name surfaced. “Did Ying Xintian hide these ancestral corpses along with the so-called Grotto-Heavens?”
Information about the Former Days Graveyard immediately appeared in Zhang Yu’s thoughts.
“In the Former Days Graveyard, a place where space was twisted during the Great Immortal War… did Ying Xintian hide some of the ancestral corpses and Grotto-Heavens there?”
Zhang Yu’s intuition told him this was highly likely, and the suspicion of a mutual attraction once again surfaced in his mind.
It was as if an unseen force was silently drawing him in, compelling him to continuously advance his Immortal Descendant level and uncover more about the Righteous-Demonic War and Kunxu’s Past.
“I wonder whose corpses Ying Xintian left behind.”
“Will I get to see the dreamscapes of more ancestral seniors?”
The thought of dreamscapes reminded Zhang Yu of Ling Feng’s dream, where memories were beautified and simplified.
“Memories are ultimately not true reality. They may not objectively reflect the past.”
“However…”
Zhang Yu suddenly thought of the Desolate Ox Great Sage.
Immortal Slayer’s voice echoed in his mind: “The Desolate Ox Great Sage was born from collective consciousness. Perhaps he is one of the few beings in this world whose memories are free from beautification or distortion — a purely objective record.”
Several days passed in the blink of an eye, and the day for Zhang Yu’s departure to the Former Days Graveyard arrived.
In his dormitory, Zhang Yu’s figure flickered as he used the Formless Martial Art to simulate and advance a fist art.
After days of cultivation, he had successfully pushed the Formless Martial Art to 12/12, unlocking the fourth-tier effect of this Chain Formation Diagram.
Infinite - Formless Martial Art (12/12): 6% chance to unleash the original martial art’s effect.
Zhang Yu thought to himself, “After some experimentation, it seems that with every move and stance, there’s a 6% chance to break through the simulation’s 50% power cap and reach 100% effectiveness.”
He stopped circulating his energy and glanced at his neatly packed dormitory. “Let’s go, Qianji,” he said to Yan Qianji, who stood beside him.
As Zhang Yu left the Edict Pavilion, no one from Martial Dao Group One or Group Three came to see him off. Clearly, they wanted to avoid associating with him, fearing repercussions from the Edict Pavilion’s upper echelons.
The next moment, with a flash of movement, Zhang Yu and Yan Qianji soared toward the center of Central Apex Heaven.
The Former Days Graveyard he was heading to was a Minor Realm, an independent space orbiting the outer edge of Central Apex Heaven, accessible only through spatial teleportation.
Zhang Yu’s current destination was the space station located at the center of the Eleventh Layer of Central Apex Heaven.
He knew this was a public area jointly owned by the Ten Great Sects, serving as a transportation hub. From here, one could use spatial teleportation to reach various regions and Minor Realms.
Upon arriving at the space station, Zhang Yu saw a city-sized area where a torrent of goods surged through the air, constantly teleporting from one location to another.
At the same time, cultivators of all kinds flashed through the sky, passing through the station’s gates to travel between the north and south, east and west, and various Minor Realms.
Within the space station, the Dharma Realm’s coverage no longer existed. Zhang Yu and Yan Qianji had re-equipped their Bionic Eyes, reconnecting to the Spirit Realm.
After purchasing teleportation tickets to the Former Days Graveyard, Zhang Yu followed the directions to a gate towering a hundred meters high.
Through the pitch-black gate, cultivators occasionally entered and exited, each one exuding a ghostly, chilling Yin Qi.
In addition, Zhang Yu and Yan Qianji saw large numbers of corpses being transported through the gate.
Zhang Yu knew that the entire environment of the Former Days Graveyard had been transformed into a nexus of Yin Qi, making it extremely suitable for Soul Cultivators and for preserving corpses. It had gradually become a hub for laboratories conducting related research, which was why countless bodies were shipped there daily.
Besides the corpses, Zhang Yu also saw many Living Corpses.
As he watched, rows of naked, living people were herded together like livestock awaiting slaughter and sent into the Former Days Graveyard.
These “Living Corpses” were still alive, but their deaths were already scheduled.
They needed to reach the Former Days Graveyard to be processed in a controlled environment according to a specific plan, transforming them into “qualified products.”
“This is what they mean when they say some people are still alive, but they are already dead,” Immortal Slayer explained. “These are likely ‘Prefabricated Human Materials’ produced by the Netherworld Palace. They have a strong presence in the Former Days Graveyard, so you should avoid provoking them.”
Zhang Yu understood Immortal Slayer’s meaning: before he became a cultivator powerful enough to truly change the world, he had to preserve himself, conserve his strength, and climb as high as he could.
But as he watched the rows of Material Humans, he thought to himself, “In the Former Days Graveyard… the Myriad Laws Sect has little influence. Instead, the Netherworld Palace, the Heavenly Demon Sect, and the White Bone Cult all have immense power. Is this a Minor Realm where the Demonic Path thrives?”
Just as this thought crossed his mind, a Spirit Realm notification appeared before him, reminding him and Yan Qianji that it was their turn to pass through the gate.
After a thorough inspection, Zhang Yu and Yan Qianji smoothly passed through the massive doors.
The world before them warped dramatically, and in an instant, Zhang Yu found himself in the Former Days Graveyard.
The first thing he felt upon arrival was a bone-chilling cold.
“Is this what they call a Yin Aura?” he wondered silently.
A pervasive Yin Qi assaulted his body, feeling as if it were trying to bore into him through his seven orifices and every pore, saturating every inch of his being. He felt a cold that seeped into his marrow and froze his very soul.
Zhang Yu immediately circulated his vital energy to resist the Yin Qi.
Pulling up the Spirit Realm’s weather report, he saw a Soul Cultivator delivering the broadcast.
“Today’s average temperature in the Former Days Graveyard has dropped to minus 60 degrees Celsius. It’s another beautiful overcast day. We recommend everyone take their corpses out for some exercise to prevent stiffening.”
“Yin Qi Quality Index: Excellent. Suitable for Divine Souls to leave their bodies. All types of Soul Bodies can move about freely…”
Reading the weather report, Zhang Yu realized the cold in the Former Days Graveyard wasn’t just a matter of temperature. It was a cold linked to consciousness and the soul, a cold born from Immortal Dao Technology.
Just then, a flash of light appeared before him, and a Spirit Realm notification materialized.
“Based on our unit’s real-time monitoring and records…”
“You have been detected continuously emitting large amounts of visible Yang Qi while circulating your cultivation technique. The concentration of these pollutants significantly exceeds the mandatory limits stipulated by the Pollution Prevention Law.”
“This act violates relevant statutes and poses a direct threat to the environmental quality and public health of the Former Days Graveyard.”
“In accordance with relevant regulations, we hereby issue you a formal warning and order the following…”
“A fine?” Zhang Yu sighed inwardly. He never expected that in the Former Days Graveyard, he’d be fined just for circulating a little vital energy to resist the Yin Qi.
Zhang Yu thought to himself, “No wonder the information I looked up earlier said that after arriving in the Former Days Graveyard, it’s best to operate with your Divine Soul separated from your body and temporarily store your physical body.”
But Zhang Yu knew he would be stationed in the Former Days Graveyard for an extended period, making it impractical to store his physical body outside this Minor Realm.
“I’ll just have to endure it for now. I’ll report in first, then find a place within the graveyard to store my body.”
Zhang Yu grabbed Yan Qianji, who was beside him, and leaped into the air, shooting toward the address indicated by the Spirit Realm.
Beneath them, eerie, ancient buildings blurred past. Through their Bionic Eyes, they could see countless Soul Cultivators swarming within.
In stark contrast to the cold, desolate city, their Bionic Eyes were constantly bombarded with colorful advertisements, revealing the fiery enthusiasm of the Soul Cultivator market and the bustling trade in corpse components.
“Buy ten, get one free! Top-tier Soul Cultivators of your choice! Starved Ghosts who died without shit to eat, Red-Robed Ghosts who died without a dual cultivation partner, Pauper Ghosts who died bankrupt from scams, Corporate Ghosts whose crypto investments crashed, and Ten-Generation Vengeful Souls — we have them all!”
Zhang Yu knew that this so-called “quality” referred to the manner of death. The more tragic the death, the stronger the resentment, and thus, the better the quality.
“Want the best bloodline Soul Cultivators in the entire Former Days Graveyard? We’re the designated supplier for the Heavenly Demon Sect’s Ten Thousand Souls Feast! Absorb with peace of mind, use with confidence. All processed on-site, no pre-made souls!”
Zhang Yu’s eyes flickered. A quick search in the Spirit Realm confirmed that this “Soul Cultivator bloodline” referred to the manufacturer and brand — in other words, the company or person who had killed the Soul Cultivator’s original self.
At that moment, though the temperature beneath Zhang Yu’s feet was minus thirty degrees and the Ghost City appeared dead silent to the naked eye, his Bionic Eyes and ears were filled with the cacophony of ghostly voices and endless transactions. It was a bustling market where human souls and corpses were traded like livestock.
To many in the Former Days Graveyard, Zhang Yu’s swift flight was conspicuous. The heat and Yang Qi radiating from his body stood out starkly against the pervasive Yin Aura.
“Polluting the environment like that? People from the Myriad Laws Sect have no damn manners.”
“So inconsiderate of public welfare.”
Zhang Yu, oblivious to the thoughts of others, flew across half the Ghost City with Yan Qianji until he finally reached the Myriad Laws Sect’s outpost in the Former Days Graveyard.
It was a solitary, small building situated on the city’s edge.
When Zhang Yu entered the small building, no one came to greet him, despite his new status as a Rank 4 Sect Staff and the new Deputy Minister of the Ethereal Communications Department.
Zhang Yu wasn’t bothered. He knew that within the Edict Pavilion, his promotion was seen as a clear case of being kicked upstairs, a form of suppression by the higher-ups. Being sent to the Former Days Graveyard was akin to being exiled to the Cold Palace, so naturally, no one would bother trying to curry favor with him.
Following the directions, Zhang Yu first headed to the Minister’s office.
However, a pale, ghostly Divine Soul blocked his path, saying apologetically, “Apologies, Deputy Minister Zhang. The Minister had to leave on an urgent business trip and is unable to receive you at the moment.”
“He asked me to tell you that you can start by familiarizing yourself with the work environment and the team…”
Meanwhile, in an office within the Ethereal Communications Department.
Minister Qin Chuan was speaking to someone through the Spirit Realm. “Yes, he’s arrived.”
“Rest assured. How long has he been in the Edict Pavilion? How long since he joined? With me here, I guarantee he’ll be stuck in this position. He won’t be able to move an inch.”
“Yes… I’ll notify you immediately if anything happens.”
After hanging up, a smile crept onto Qin Chuan’s face. He thought to himself, “I never expected such a rare opportunity to fall into my lap while stuck in this godforsaken place.”
“Zhang Yu…”
Qin Chuan’s gaze flickered as surveillance feeds appeared before his eyes, showing Zhang Yu being given a tour of the Ethereal Communications Department.
Meanwhile, a Soul Cultivator materialized before Qin Chuan and said, “Minister, I’ve already told him you’re away on business.”
Qin Chuan nodded, thinking to himself, “I’ll give you the cold shoulder for a month. That should teach you whose territory this is.”
Just then, the Soul Cultivator added, “Minister, that Immortal Shuttle is still parked in the city center.”
Qin Chuan tensed, immediately closing the surveillance feed on Zhang Yu. He sat up straight and asked sternly, “Have you found out whose Immortal Shuttle that is? What’s its origin?”
A few days ago, a shuttle bearing an Immortal License Plate had entered the Former Days Graveyard, immediately drawing attention from all factions.
But after extensive investigation, no one had been able to trace the shuttle’s origin, which only made Qin Chuan take it more seriously.
He understood that the harder it was to trace, the more extraordinary its background must be.
Compared to some nobody like Zhang Yu… this Immortal Shuttle and its master were far more important in his eyes.
Especially arriving at a time like this, it could potentially bring about changes that would affect the entire Former Days Graveyard.