Chapter 615: Aghast
“The County Lord said that I made a great contribution this time. After two more batches of Jadeblood Bamboo like this, he will recommend me to the prefecture. Even if I can’t become a student for an alchemist below the Ancient Pine Demon Monarch, I will still be able to join under someone else.”
“Just focus on studying alchemy and forget everything else.” Li Qiye said with a smile: “Those alchemists can’t teach you anything. I will be here for some time and will teach you pill refinement; try to learn as much as you can. If you want to go see a bigger world, then the prefecture government is not a bad choice. The Giant Bamboo Country is a country worth staying at.”
“Really?” s.h.i.+ Hao was taken aback by this suggestion. Although he didn’t know Li Qiye’s alchemy ranking, he understood that Li Qiye’s skill at pill refinement was incredible.
Although they were apprentice and master since Li Qiye taught him, there was no official t.i.tle. Li Qiye had never promised anything to s.h.i.+ Hao, but now, Li Qiye himself said that he would teach s.h.i.+ Hao pill refinement, so the situation had changed.
Li Qiye nonchalantly said: “Don’t worry, I will teach you one or two arts for pill refinement. Even if you can’t study all the different paths of alchemy, it would be enough for you to have a bright future at the Giant Bamboo Country. The only requirement is that you have to work hard; I will not teach someone who wishes to reap without sowing.”
s.h.i.+ Hao was ecstatic and quickly bowed to say: “Thank you, Brother Li, no, thank you, Master, for teaching me alchemy…”
Li Qiye stopped him and shook his head to say: “I am not a person who accepts disciples so easily. Today, I am teaching you pill refinement because of our fateful meeting. In the future, just call me brother and don’t worry about formalities.”
s.h.i.+ Hao scratched his head and pondered for a moment before deciding to listen to Li Qiye: “If Brother Li says so, then I’ll do just that.”
They returned to Jadeblood Mountain, and Li Qiye continued to teach s.h.i.+ Hao while cultivating. He had recovered completely and would have left if it wasn’t for s.h.i.+ Hao’s alchemy education.
At this time, Li Qiye sealed the room with the pentagate again as he sat in a meditative pose while channeling his merit law and surging Life Wheel. A pearl-like drop of Longevity Blood rolled on a jade plate while his True Fate was up high, turning into different dao foundations.
The thirteen palaces were roaring as he separated each of them. Some contained treasures, some were cultivating spirit medicines, and others were refining Life Treasures…
Inside the master palace, the destiny stone he obtained from the Divine Dragon Mountain back at the Prime Ominous Grave was hovering in the sky. This stone was indeed amazing; it didn’t need Li Qiye’s help since it could refine itself using the fire of life. This self-refining process allowed it to take the initial form of a huge seal; it was about to become a treasure seal!
Li Qiye didn’t interfere with this true fate treasure auto-refining itself and allowed it to do as it pleased.
Meanwhile, in the thirteenth palace, the stone egg took a spot all by itself. The truth was that Li Qiye still hadn’t really researched this stone egg he obtained from the Heavenly Corpse Burial Ground.
In fact, this stone egg was unbearably arrogant, even the destiny stone from the Divine Dragon Mountain was not a match for it. It was not until Li Qiye opened the thirteenth palace that the stone egg conceded the palace to the stone and took the thirteenth palace spot all by itself.
Li Qiye was helpless against this arrogant egg. This egg had considered the thirteenth palace as its home, and he couldn’t chase it away even if he wanted to.
“Hmzzz!” Li Qiye’s True Fate emitted a bright radiance as chapters of universal laws escaped from it. Another identical copy of his True Fate appeared with rotating laws; one could see three souls inside.
Death Soul — this was the thing Li Qiye wanted to cultivate from the Death Scripture taken from the Prime Ominous Grave.
As one of the nine Grand Heavenly Scriptures, it was extremely heaven-defying and terrifying. It had no techniques or merit laws and only allowed Li Qiye to refine his body. This peerless scripture had four different types of cultivation arts: Death Soul, Death Chapter, Death Seal, and Death Record.
The Death Soul was the first thing he chose to cultivate since it could be said that it was crucial to him.
He had completely grasped the mysteries of the Death Scripture, so it was not difficult for him to create the Death Soul.
The Death Soul, at the moment, was copying Li Qiye’s three souls inside his True Fate. A person had three souls, and a cultivator’s three souls were part of his True Fate.
After successfully creating a Death Soul, one could divide this into three sections, or three souls, then hide them away.
With these three hidden Death Souls, as long as they were not destroyed, the person would be unkillable.
Even if their body was destroyed along with their True Fate, the Death Souls allowed for one to remain alive to rebuild a new True Fate and body.
This was an impossible thing for cultivators. One could rebuild a body, but it was the ultimate end if the True Fate was destroyed as well.
However, the Death Scripture was just that magical. As long as the Death Souls were still there, there was a chance for rebirth even if one’s True Fate was destroyed.
Of course, this did not allow for eternal life since it only helped Li Qiye become unkillable.
Cultivators would live until their lifespan was used up; not even the Death Souls could save them from this rule. It only saved cultivators from unexpected death and not from the natural course of life.
Now, Li Qiye was thinking about where to hide his three Death Souls. It didn’t matter where he hid them or if he sealed them in different items. As long as those items remained indestructible, then Li Qiye would always have a chance of revival.
He needed to ponder about the locations and the items — three appropriate places or items for him to seal his souls. He must also separate them and do it with the utmost secrecy. This would allow for him to live on until his lifespan runs out.
Once this task was carried out, there would only be two ways for him to die. The first would be if someone managed to find his three Death Souls and destroyed all three, and the second would be to wait until he died from old age!
Thus, Li Qiye was faced with an extremely crucial matter — to find appropriate locations and items to avoid death in the future. This was no easy task. Only Li Qiye knew that, in the distant future, he would face a terrible situation beyond one’s imagination. Before that day comes, he must guarantee that his Death Souls remain untraceable!
Li Qiye was especially cautious about this matter because he understood what he would face in the future. The three locations must be places of utmost secrecy.
He continued to cultivate at Jadeblood Mountain while teaching s.h.i.+ Hao pill refinement. In the blink of an eye, three more months had pa.s.sed. Today, an uninvited guest came to Jadeblood Mountain.
“Grandpa Bai!” s.h.i.+ Hao was surprised to see this guest. In this remote area, an Alchemy Chief like Grandpa Bai was a big character, so his sudden arrival scared the soul out of s.h.i.+ Hao. He didn’t expect to see Grandpa Bai personally walking here since, with just one order, there would be disciples running the errand for him.
Grandpa Bai arrived and ignored s.h.i.+ Hao’s astonishment; he grabbed s.h.i.+ Hao’s hand and asked in a flurry: “Tell me quick, where is your friend?”
s.h.i.+ Hao was scared out of his wits after seeing Grandpa Bai’s tense expression and thought that Li Qiye had caused big trouble. He stuttered and asked: “Grandpa Bai, w-what did Brother Li do?”
Grandpa Bai quickly answered: “Nothing. Take me to him, I need to consult with him!”
s.h.i.+ Hao heaved a sigh of relief and said: “Brother Li is inside.”
s.h.i.+ Hao found it quite odd. Consultation? Grandpa Bai was a famous chief in this area, so why would a big shot like him need to ask Brother Li questions?
“Take me to see him!” Grandpa Bai hurried into the house. It was more accurate to say that he was dragging s.h.i.+ Hao along instead of being led by him inside. Grandpa Bai was itching to get on with it.
“What’s happening?” Coincidentally, Li Qiye stepped out the moment Grandpa Bai was dragging s.h.i.+ Hao inside and asked while slightly surprised.
“Brother Li… Grandpa Bai wants to see you.” s.h.i.+ Hao quickly responded then ran forward and whispered in his ear: “Grandpa Bai is a good person, so if there is anything, you can tell Grandpa Bai.”
s.h.i.+ Hao was scared by Grandpa Bai’s hasty appearance and thought that Li Qiye had done something wrong.
Grandpa Bai ignored s.h.i.+ Hao’s whispering and bowed towards Li Qiye: “Our last meeting was too abrupt and this old man had eyes but couldn’t see Mt. Tai. Please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Bai Weng, may I know Young n.o.ble’s name?”
“Li Qiye.” Li Qiye looked at the old man and responded leisurely.