Returning Immortal

Chapter 33 : Phoenix Immortal Ganoderma

The corpse of the dead Ghost Medicine Hall Master was thrown back into the lake.

It was because if the corpse was left here, the demonic beasts that had crossed the lake would surely cause trouble.

"We have lost Ilgeom and the Ghost Medicine Hall Master, but we cannot retreat like this. Even if it's hard, let's persevere a little more, see how this place has evolved, and then go back."

"You are absolutely right. Although our strength has weakened with the loss of two people, we cannot give up here. Since a lot of time has been delayed, it would be best to start right away."

In a way that Ne Jinja agreed with the Grand Prince's words, the group immediately set off.

The wilderness was more barren than they had thought.

Even when looking around in all directions, there was only rough sand, lifeless old trees, and piles of dry grass.

The group, which had finished their meal late, set off on the road without resting at all.

In the meantime, the darkness grew deeper.

The Grand Prince, who was walking with a worried expression, asked Ne Jinja, who was behind him.

"Vice Director! Who do you think the woman who killed Ilgeom and the Ghost Medicine Hall Master is?"

"I've been thinking about it on the way... there's a high possibility that it's the Blood Scorpion Demoness, the master of the Hundred Poisons Sect."

"But doesn't she look too young for that?"

"There's a rumor that a secret medicine that maintains youth has been passed down in the Hundred Poisons Sect, and there's also a saying that she ate a youth-retaining fruit when she was young, but in reality, that demoness is an old woman over eighty. Considering her appearance and the fact that she uses a dagger and a whip and her martial arts are close to the extreme demonic realm..."

"Hearing that, it seems it's right that it's the Blood Scorpion Demoness. By the way, was the Earth Escape Technique also among her special skills?"

"That's not it. But considering her elusive movements so far, it's also true that it's suspicious."

"Well, since she has learned the Earth Escape Technique to that level, she has no choice but to be elusive... Since that demoness is lying in wait at the entrance of the gate, the way back won't be smooth either."

"Still, it's a blessing in disguise that the Divine Lord can examine the ground with his consciousness."

"That's true..."

The Grand Prince answered with a bitter voice.

It was because although he was a master of the late stage of the supreme realm like the Raging Fire Divine Lord, he could not yet use his consciousness.

But the Grand Prince did not despair.

'When I return, if I make a pill with the Three-Eyed Toad's inner core and consume it, it's a given that I will reach the extreme demonic realm. Then, the manifestation of consciousness will naturally occur, and I will be able to see much farther than the Raging Fire Divine Lord.'

The face of his grandfather, the Cult Leader of the Luminous Cult, flashed past the eyes of the Grand Prince, who was trying hard to console himself.

His grandfather had two sons under him.

The eldest son, the Heavenly Heavy Demonic Man, Jang Sedong, had three sons and two daughters, and his first son was the Grand Prince himself.

His name was Jang Taegeon.

It seemed he would monopolize the affection of his grandfather, the Cult Leader, but that was not the case.

His grandfather only favored his second younger brother, Jang Taeun.

The second child his grandfather favored was also not him.

The second grandchild he cherished was the young daughter of his second son, the Flying Heaven Demonic Man, Jang Sedok.

He was cherishing a girl who was not even twenty years old more than him.

'No matter how outstanding their aptitude is, if I just achieve the extreme demonic realm, my grandfather's interest will turn to me again. To do that, I must protect this treasure to the end.'

The Grand Prince tightly clenched the inner core pouch he had stored in his chest.

"For what reason do you think that demoness came here?"

While the Grand Prince was lost in other thoughts for a moment, Ne Jinja asked him.

"Do you have any guesses?"

"...Not yet. But to the extent that she entered our cult's forbidden area and is rampaging, there must be an unavoidable reason."

"Could it be that the information about the Heavenly Demon's Tomb has been exposed..."

"That's impossible. This matter is treated as a top secret even in our cult, and it's clear that the information has not been leaked yet. If it had been leaked, she would not have come alone."

"You're right. Even so, we can't just leave the demoness be, can we?"

"That's right. If she happens to discover the Heavenly Demon's Tomb by chance, it will cause a great disruption to our cult's great cause. We must do whatever it takes to prevent the demoness from escaping this absolute forbidden zone."

Thinking about the possibility that the Hundred Poisons Sect had made a secret pact with the Blood Cult, Ne Jinja's killing intent deepened even more.

But he could not track down and fight the Blood Scorpion Demoness right now.

The purpose for which they had come here.

It would not be too late to behead her after confirming the Heavenly Demon's Legacy.

After walking a little further, he could feel the surrounding environment changing on his skin.

Grass and trees were gradually increasing on the surface of the ground, which had been as dry as a desert.

A feeling of life sprouting from the dead land.

'Th-that is?'

A strange light momentarily flashed in the eyes of Gwi Seongjin, who was walking between the Raging Fire Divine Lord and the Grand Prince.

On a rock not far from them, a single flower in the shape of a bodhisattva sitting on a lotus flower and cultivating was hanging upside down.

It was the Purple Buddha Stone Flower, which was preciously used in manufacturing spiritual pills and could not be obtained even with a thousand gold.

"Huh!"

Gwi Seongjin, who was about to take a closer look again, blinked his two eyes as if he couldn't believe it.

It was because the spiritual herb that had been visible until just now had disappeared in an instant.

The same went for when he scanned with his spiritual sense.

The spiritual herb was not visible, and only the rock where it had been staying was left empty.

'Did I see it wrong?'

Gwi Seongjin, who had shaken his head, walked on the road with his spiritual sense deployed.

Then he discovered unexpected spiritual herbs.

'That is the Five-Colored Lantern Flower that people who cultivate the five elements' qi risk their lives to obtain... Hoho! Even the Phoenix Immortal Ganoderma, which is said to become a phoenix and fly in the sky during the day and turn into a grass on a moonlit night to absorb the yin cold qi of the moonlight...'

The spiritual herbs faintly showed their forms and then disappeared like a mirage.

As if they were an illusion...

But they were by no means an illusion.

It was clearly recorded in the 'General Essentials of Spiritual Beasts' that the real body existed within a radius of a thousand li of where the illusion appeared.

However, the spiritual herbs that had just revealed their forms were not something Gwi Seongjin could obtain just because he was greedy.

They had the capability to protect themselves.

That's why they were spiritual herbs.

Gwi Seongjin's face, who was trying hard to suppress his greed, hardened for a moment.

It was because there was no reason for the spiritual herbs to reveal their forms to him, even if it was an illusion.

The moment anxiety settled in Gwi Seongjin's mind.

Swish!

A single streak of cold yin wind brushed past him.

The sound of something being kicked and breaking was heard by the startled Gwi Seongjin's feet.

It was the skull of a beast.

'What's with the remains...?'

Gwi Seongjin, who was looking around, frowned deeply.

Skulls and bone fragments were rolling around here and there.

Swoosh.

As an eerie wind swept across the surface of the ground, bone powder scattered in the air.

A land of death where no life could be felt.

Between the remains of the beasts, blue will-o'-the-wisps were flying around in a disorderly manner.

Looking back, the place where the spiritual herbs had been discovered was also piled up with the corpses and bones of beasts like a mountain.

Huh!

Gwi Seongjin bent his waist and picked up a handful of sand.

And when he opened his palm, the bone fragments that had been eroded for a long time and had crumbled finely slipped through his fingers.

What he had thought was sand was the bone powder of beasts.

Squish!

As the sand he had stepped on went down, Gwi Seongjin moved his body to the side.

But the liquid that was slowly filling up, soaking his footprints...

Was surprisingly red blood.

Gwi Seongjin, who had raised his hand and rubbed his two eyes, bit his lip and let out a faint groan.

He had fallen into a barrier.

The dark sky had turned pitch black in an instant.

Heeheeheehee.

When even the sound of a ghost's cry was heard from afar, the group held their breath in fear.

Swish!

As an eerie wind brushed past his body, Gwi Seongjin even felt a chill.

"Vice Director! Wh-what is that?"

"Gasp!"

The group, which was carefully moving their steps between the bones of the dead beasts and the will-o'-the-wisps, raised their heads at the Raging Fire Divine Lord's words and then let out a scream of surprise.

On the dark sky, a large evil ghost was looking down at them with its arms crossed.

It was a hideous evil ghost with a large eye in the center of its face.

Gwi Seongjin, who had unconsciously looked up at the evil ghost, stopped moving.

The moment he saw the evil ghost's blood-red eye, he felt as if his soul was being sucked into it entirely.

The terrified Gwi Seongjin deployed a protective barrier with his spirit energy.

But the red radiance broke through Gwi Seongjin's spirit energy without hesitation and entered his spirit platform in an instant.

Although his primordial spirit resisted by deploying its legal power, this too was of no use.

As time passed, his mind became confused and his control over his body also began to weaken gradually.

He even felt as if his body was being dragged somewhere.

"N-no!"

Gwi Seongjin, who had realized that his legal power was still weak and he could not block the evil ghost's attack, let out a single scream.

Then, the moment he briefly came to his senses, he looked at the evil ghost with his spiritual sense.

Surprisingly, the evil ghost's cultivation level was the sixth stage of Qi Refinement.

Its realm was higher than his late father's.

What was even more surprising was the fact that the evil ghost had a real body.

However, the lower down its body, the closer it was to an illusion, and peculiarly, the lower part of the evil ghost's body was not in a human form.

It was in the shape of a fortress with several stone gates.

Thud, thud.

His group was now walking into the stone gates.

One person per gate.

They were all walking blankly as if they had no soul, and then disappeared without a trace into the stone gates that were emitting a white radiance.

Swish!

Although he couldn't believe it, Gwi Seongjin himself was now standing in front of the fortress.

The moment Gwi Seongjin was about to step back in surprise, his head spun and his spiritual sense suddenly blurred.

It was because the evil ghost, which had put all the group members into the stone gates, was now putting all its strength into Gwi Seongjin alone.

As his mind became confused again, Gwi Seongjin resisted the evil ghost with all his might.

At that, his spiritual sense was manifested again.

Huh!

Gwi Seongjin's expression changed.

It was because the evil ghost's cultivation level was not visible.

That too was only for a moment, and when the evil ghost raised its ghost qi, its realm was finally revealed.

It was the realm of the sixth stage of Qi Refinement.

'To be able to hide even its own cultivation level, it's by no means an ordinary evil ghost...'

Gwi Seongjin, who had raised his vigilance, resisted desperately, and a ferocious light flashed in the evil ghost's single eye.

"Open the gate and go inside!"

The evil ghost gave an order to Gwi Seongjin, putting strength into its voice.

As the irresistible voice shook his eardrums with a strange wave, Gwi Seongjin's face turned pale.

His gaze became cloudy again, and blood flowed from the corner of his mouth.

Stagger, stagger.

Gwi Seongjin, who had walked weakly to the fortress, pulled the handle of the stone gate with his lifeless eyes.

Creeeak.

Halt.

When Gwi Seongjin stopped while opening the gate, the evil ghost's voice was heard without delay.

"Hurry up and go inside!"

When the second voice was heard, Gwi Seongjin opened the gate and went inside as if possessed.

Boom!

When Gwi Seongjin went inside, the stone gate closed automatically.

Unlike the gates the others had entered, it was a stone gate as dark as pitch black.

When Gwi Seongjin entered the stone gate, which was his consciousness space, a sly smile appeared on the lips of the evil ghost, which had been watching anxiously.

It was because it had succeeded in driving its prey into a cage.

(End of Chapter)