Chapter 155 Traitor

The young woman was startled the moment she finished speaking. Only now did she realize that what stood before her was not an ordinary primordial spirit, but a Chaos Beast. It was about the size of a fist, with thick limbs, covered in sharp scales, possessing a robust body, a giant mouth with fangs, and a single, lightning-glinting eye on top of its head that radiated a bizarre power of destiny.

Filled with a boundless sense of panic, the young woman spun around, attempting to flee the sea of consciousness.

The little Chaos Beast opened its mouth and spat out a thread of lightning. With a flash, it bound the young woman's consciousness and, with a single pull, dragged her right before the beast.

The eye on the beast's head vanished, morphing into the lifelike, vivid visage of Ge Qian.

Ge Qian spoke, "What a formidable cultivation technique—Life and Death have their Dao, allowing one to undergo reincarnation and rebirth. However, it takes too great a toll on one's vitality. Relying on this art is how you managed to escape the pursuit of Yueying Qianqing, isn't it? Yet, it still possesses many flaws. First, it cannot transport the primordial spirit; it can only extract the consciousness. Second, it offers no rebirth for the physical body. Third, it consumes the origin of life itself; unless you break through to the next realm, your life force will gradually bleed away until true death claims you."

The young woman was utterly shocked. "What manner of existence are you, to know so much?" she asked. "How can you even discern that the origin of my life has suffered such severe damage?"

Ge Qian smiled faintly and said, "I can help you reshape your primordial spirit and find you a suitable vessel for seizing a body, rather than relying on a crude zombie-control technique. This will allow you to shed your past, resume your path of cultivation, and I will even grant you a Life-Prolonging Pill, adding another sixty years to your lifespan."

With a grave expression, the young woman asked, "What price must I pay?"

"Contribute your 'Life and Death have their Dao, Reincarnation and Rebirth' technique, along with your mortal-bound Dao arts, without reservation. Above all, you must hand over your true body—the Corpse King. What do you say? Consider it." Ge Qian had prepared this long in advance, laying out his terms one by one.

The young woman hastily replied, "I can agree to the first two conditions. But during my battle with Yueying Qianqing, I had to use a forbidden art to be reborn, and my physical body completely collapsed. I simply cannot produce it anymore!"

A stern look flashed in Ge Qian's eyes. "You are lying. When dealing with Yueying Qianqing, you had long prepared a fallback plan. Even in failure, you would have a way to escape with your life. To execute that forbidden art, you must have hidden your physical body beforehand. Since you are playing tricks with me and courting death, very well—I shall devour your consciousness. Perhaps I will find the location of your physical body that way."

With those words, the little Chaos Beast opened its massive mouth, revealing fangs as sharp as blades, and moved as if to tear the young woman to pieces.

The young woman was genuinely terrified. Her painstaking efforts had all been directed toward reclaiming her chance at cultivation and exacting vengeance upon Yueying Qianqing. If she died here and now, her resentment would know no bounds. Panicking, she cried out, "Please, do not kill me! I will agree to everything! But you must reshape my primordial spirit first, or I cannot trust you!"

Ge Qian's expression softened. "That is easily done. Once we find a secluded place, I will cast the spell for you! Let us leave this place first!"

With that, Ge Qian's true body moved his mind, causing the Six-Paths Melting Furnace to dissolve. Eighty-nine sword qi returned into his body, and with a wave of his hand, the Heaven-Burying Coffin—having lost its master—shrank to the size of a palm and fell into his grasp, where he stowed it away in his storage pouch.

Next, with a pointing gesture, the Sorrowful Bell spun and shrank into a stream of light, falling into Ge Qian's hand before being tossed into the storage pouch as well.

The Silver Corpse, now free, fixed its crimson eyes on Ge Qian. Terror was clearly etched across its expression, and it stepped into the air, preparing to flee.

Ge Qian smiled faintly. "Did I give you permission to leave? Get back here."

Naturally, the zombie had no intention of obeying Ge Qian. Although practitioners of the righteous path would pursue it no matter where it went, that was still far better than facing this harbinger of doom. It could no longer sense its master's aura, which meant the master was undoubtedly dead. Running for its life was clearly the wisest course of action.

Ge Qian formed hand seals and cast the "Stealing the Pillars and Changing the Beams" spell. The Silver Corpse believed its speed in the Imperial Tombs was second to none, yet suddenly, it found itself moving involuntarily, instantly appearing right before that fiend.

Without wasting words, Ge Qian's arm blazed with golden light. He thrust his hand directly into the Silver Corpse's dantian and pulled out a glittering silver corpse pill.

With a flick of his hand like a whirlwind, he sent the pill straight into his sea of consciousness, where it was swallowed by the little beast.

Quick-eyed and fast-handed, Hongmei slapped her Demonic Gourd, sucking the corpse of the Silver Corpse directly inside.

Yushan closed his eyes in fright, thinking to himself, *My dear mother! His hand is tougher than a magical treasure, piercing straight into the Silver Corpse's astonishingly defensive dantian! So he has been playing the pig to eat the tiger all along, just to seize my Red Dust Painting! Damn you, Ge Qian! If I escape this tribulation, when I make my comeback, I will grind your bones to dust and skin you alive!*

Just as these thoughts crossed his mind, he let out a miserable, agonizing shriek as the King of the Six Paths flung him to the ground like a sack of sand, transforming into a streak of lightning that vanished back into Ge Qian's body.

Ge Qian slowly descended to the ground and said, "Yushan, it is time to settle our grievances. I will send you to a wonderful place."

Yushan collapsed onto the ground, trembling as he asked, "What place?"

"Hell," Ge Qian replied expressionlessly.

Upon hearing this, Yushan immediately collapsed to his knees at Ge Qian's feet, kowtowing like a pestle pounding garlic. Weeping bitterly, he pleaded, "Grand Elder—no, no, Grandpa Ge! No, Patriarch Ge! I beg you, show mercy and spare me! I am willing to be your slave, a loyal and devoted dog! For the sake of us belonging to the same sect, please spare me! Right, I know a matter of life-and-death importance concerning the Heavenly Star Sect! As long as you spare me, I will tell you everything from beginning to end! It will win you a massive contribution before the Sect Master, which is far more profitable than killing a useless wretch like me!"

Ge Qian narrowed his eyes. "What matter of life and death? Speak. If it has value, I will spare your life."

"Thank you, Patriarch Lü—ah, Patriarch Ge!" Seeing a chance at survival, Yushan blurted out all of the Lü family's illicit dealings, even embellishing and exaggerating them to maximize his own contribution. "The Lü family has secretly defected to the Beast Taming Sect! They are conspiring to build some kind of teleportation array within the Lü family estate. When the time comes to attack the Heavenly Star Sect, the array will be used to transport mighty cultivators of the Infant Transformation realm directly into the Lü family, achieving an inside-and-outside pincer attack to thoroughly crush our sect!"

Ge Qian let out a stern shout, "Do not call me Patriarch; address me as Grand Elder! Audacious Yushan, how dare you fabricate accusations against the sect's Lü family merely to save your own skin? What evidence do you have for such claims?"

Shaking with fear, Yushan stammered, "Every word I speak is true! The Lü family has long harbored rebellious intentions. They reached an agreement with Liu Xixi of the Beast Taming Sect, and Liu Xixi is personally responsible for constructing the teleportation array. Furthermore, Liu Xixi specifically named you as a target to be captured alive! I was the one assigned to capture you. If I caught you and presented you to the Beast Taming Sect, I would be rewarded with a Core-Forming Pill to help me advance to the Core Formation stage! If the Grand Elder still does not believe me, I can confront Lü Chuan, the head of the Lü family, face-to-face!"

Ge Qian pondered for a moment before saying, "This matter is of grave importance. I must return to report to the High Priest before making a decision. For now, I will spare your life."

"Thank you for your mercy, Grand Elder!" Yushan prostrated himself on the ground.

Ge Qian turned to Hongmei and said, "Sister Mei, take him into the Demonic Gourd and suppress him temporarily, but do not take his life."

Hongmei flashed a sweet smile at Ge Qian. "No problem! Now that I have advanced to a tier-three vengeful spirit, I have even greater mastery over the Demonic Gourd, wielding it as smoothly as my own fingers. Watch me!"

With a point of her slender finger, Hongmei directed her spiritual power at the Demonic Gourd. The gourd trembled and swelled to a size of ten zhang, unleashing a suction force that instantly dragged the terrified Yushan inside. Within the gourd appeared a confined space just large enough for a single person, trapping Yushan firmly in the center while pitch-black, ink-like malevolent Qi churned endlessly all around him.