The Forbidden Path to Immortality-Chapter 239

“What’s the big deal? If it collapses, we just find another one. Your Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect is huge and powerful... don’t tell me you can’t find another Yin vein?”

Yin Tuo’s expression darkened. Li Xun hurriedly shot Shui Die Lan a warning look to stop talking, then turned to Ming Li.

“Senior Brother, your status is above all of us. Please handle this matter. No one here would dare defy you.”

He swept his gaze over the disciples nearby, and they all nodded frantically in agreement.

Brawls like this had been happening all the time lately; no one could really stop them, and Li Xun figured Ming Li wouldn’t give out a harsh punishment. Sure enough, Ming Li only ordered them to gather some ore from the surrounding area and let it go at that. Hundred Ghosts and Yin Tuo accepted it without complaint.

Li Xun and Ming Li flew side by side, and Shui Die Lan was tagging along beside them, annoyed at how slow they were going.

As for Yin Tuo, he’d made some excuse halfway through and slipped off first.

Li Xun figured he’d gone to report to Lord Bishui, but compared to the mess right now, Li Xun couldn’t bring himself to care.

“Senior Brother Ming Li, when did the sect’s resources become so scarce?” asked Li Xun. “The disciples are resorting to stripping the land dry like this?”

Ming Li glanced at Shui Die Lan. Seeing that Li Xun didn’t react, he could only sigh and mutter, “The sect has had… a lot going on lately. Many of our usual resources have been… well, tightened. So disciples with weaker cultivation have to come out here and expand our territory.”

He put it politely, but Li Xun could tell that this was clearly the result of Lord Bishui and Madam Yan butting heads, each scrambling for resources and causing trouble.

It seemed that as the Underworld Flame Yama’s power waned, the rivalry between Madam Yan and Lord Bishui's factions had already reached a boiling point. Their fight for authority and resources was now burning white-hot within the sect.

For the moment, the Underworld Flame Yama was still alive. But the moment he could no longer hold on? The sect would likely fall back into chaos, repeating the same disaster as before.

Two thousand years ago, the sect had already split once because the Underworld Flame Yama and the Nether-Leaving Divine Lord fought over the position of sect master. The Ghoul-Devouring Sect broke away, and the sect’s strength never truly recovered. And now, two millennia later, was history about to repeat itself once more, right behind the Underworld Flame Yama’s back?

But there was one key difference. In those days, the Underworld Flame Yama, the Nether-Leaving Divine Lord, and even the later Ghost Master -- their talent and brilliance were legendary, shining across tens of thousands of years of Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect history. They were figures worthy of their era.

And compared to them? Madam Yan? Lord Bishui? Just look at how the Underworld Flame Yama has stayed firmly in control of the sect master’s seat all these years, even while gravely injured. It’s obvious... whatever ambition those two have, they’re nowhere near his level in ability or boldness. Not even close.

Li Xun frowned. Internal power struggles in the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect had never really been his concern, but if things were already getting this serious... that was a future he had no wish to see.

Besides, it probably wasn’t just internal issues at play anymore.

“The Underworld Monarch Sect joining the Five-Sect Alliance, has that affected us?”

Ming Li’s expression tightened. He hesitated a moment, then spoke anyway.

“The two medicinal mountains we seized the year before last? The Underworld Monarch Sect has already taken them back. The sect elders still haven’t come up with a response. Everyone’s been stewing over it.”

Li Xun’s eyes widened. He just stared, stunned.

Only now did he truly grasp how bad things had gotten. At this point, all he could do was pray that the Underworld Flame Yama would somehow pull off a miracle. Even if he couldn’t turn the tide, couldn’t he at least keep this half-dead situation from collapsing altogether?

Clinging to that last bit of hope, he asked, “What does the Sect Master say?”

Ming Li could only give a bitter smile. “The Patriarch’s Curse-Spirit has been raging nonstop lately. The Sect Master is in seclusion, trying to suppress it with everything he’s got. He doesn’t have time to talk to anyone.”

“The Patriarch’s curse-spirit? Isn’t it supposed to be guarding beneath the Yin-Transforming Pool? How could—”

He suddenly cut himself off. The Patriarch’s Curse-Spirit?

As a disciple of the sect, of course Li Xun knew exactly where that thing came from.

The so-called Patriarch’s Curse-Spirit was born when the founding master of the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect, Old Ancestor Jiuyou, failed his tribulation. With the last of his will, he refined a venomous curse-spirit. And the reason that curse-spirit existed in the first place... well, that had everything to do with one of the Great Seven Demons of the world -- Net Throat Demon.

Net Throat Demon… The thought hit Li Xun like a blow. His heart trembled, and he turned to Ming Li. “Do you know what caused it? Does it have anything to do with Net Throat Demon?”

Ming Li nearly jumped out of his skin. He immediately looked toward Shui Die Lan. She was staring back at him.

He grumbled to himself, This careful guy is usually so tight-lipped, why blurt out sect secrets right in front of her? Something like this shouldn’t be spoken so casually!

But he couldn’t scold him now. He could only hedge, “You’ll have to ask the Sect Master. He won’t be out of seclusion until the first of the twelfth month. Junior Brother, what are your plans until then?”

Shui Die Lan shot him a chilly glance and chuckled mockingly.

Li Xun shot her a smile and gave her a quick wink. I’ll explain later, his eyes said.

He never expected her to suddenly speak up, all cheerful: “Oh? That reminds me. Back then the whole cultivation world was buzzing about it. The mighty Nine-Hells Patriarch, brought low by… what was it? A scruffy black rat that sucked away half his essence blood. Honestly, it was hilarious.”

She didn’t even bother noticing Ming Li’s face turning an ugly shade. Lost in her memory, she went on, “Mmm, let me think… yes, it was in Helpless Heaven. At the time, Net Throat Demon was just a black-furred rat with more fur than brains. But thanks to your Patriarch’s... contribution, he actually managed to rise to prominence. Hmph!”

That final hmph was clearly because she hated sharing a reputation tier with someone like Net Throat Demon. But Ming Li heard it as open contempt for the Nine-Hells Patriarch. And by extension, the entire Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect. His face darkened to black.

Li Xun smiled bitterly and shot Ming Li another look.

Thankfully, Ming Li was a shrewd person. Seeing Li Xun signaling like that, he didn’t let his anger get the better of him and started thinking more carefully.

And then it hit him. This seemingly ordinary female cultivator… the way she’d just spoken was insane. She’d casually called one of the Great Seven Demons, Net Throat Demon, a “black rat,” and she sounded like she knew exactly what happened back then. Could it be that…

She was someone important?

The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. Then he glanced at Li Xun, who looked utterly helpless, and Ming Li felt even more convinced.

He quickly went through the names of every formidable female rogue cultivator in the Tongxuan Realm. He came up empty, but his entire attitude had already shifted.

Meanwhile, Li Xun was trying to smooth things over.

“It’s not as simple as you make it sound. Net Throat Demon is, after all, a rare species of heaven and earth. According to the sect’s records, it feeds on the thick death-qi that’s built up in Helpless Heaven over countless generations. It refines that energy inside its body, then cycles it back through its flesh and blood to cultivate itself.

“And its demon core is basically a condensed knot of pure Nine Netherworld Earth Qi. It’s faintly connected through space to the Nine Netherworlds Domain…”

Shui Die Lan cut him off, folding her arms with a grin. “That part isn’t wrong. black-skinned rats are famous for their endurance in battle. Even someone like Qixia, who’s known for being ‘unstoppable,’ would have to beat it in the first few moves. If the fight drags on, things get troublesome.”

She casually mentioned yet another Great Demon. Ming Li’s eyelids twitch nonstop. He even forgot to remind Li Xun to watch his mouth and keep the sect secrets under wraps.

So Li Xun just kept talking, as if everything he said was perfectly justified. “Sure, Net Throat Demon’s mind is muddled; that part’s true. But its instinct to devour essence and life force. And that beast-born cunning? You can’t underestimate that. Our ancestor only slipped once…

“Heh, even after it swallowed our ancestor’s blood essence and turned into what it is now, it still got beaten again and again by him. If it weren’t born so sly and treacherous, and if the ancestor hadn’t held back because he was preparing to ascend, that thing wouldn’t have survived this long.”

Ming Li looked a little better hearing that… but the next second, Shui Die Lan nearly made him explode with rage.

“Hah! Your ancestor waffled and tried to play both sides. And in the end, what did he get? Nothing! Tsk, out of thirty-two sect-founders, he’s the only one who got blasted into dust by Heavenly Tribulation. No wonder he’s holding such a huge grudge!”

What she said might’ve been true, but saying it right in front of two disciples of the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect was still way out of line.

Li Xun’s smile stiffened, and a cold gleam flashed in Ming Li’s eyes. Shui Die Lan didn’t seem to care at all. She clapped her hands together and said, “Oh right! I heard your sect’s founder got some big stroke of luck in Mysterious Umbral City and that’s how he started your sect. Is that true?”

Her quick, unpredictable way of talking made it impossible to guess what she was really thinking. Li Xun sighed, rubbing at the stiffness in his face. He finally decided it might be safer to keep some distance from Ming Li... for Ming Li’s own good.

With that thought, he shot Shui Die Lan a glare, then turned back to Ming Li and said, trying to steer the conversation away, “I’m not too sure about that... anyway, Senior Brother Ming Li, you didn’t come all this way to the borderlands just to pick me up, did you?”

Ming Li managed to swallow down his killing intent and forced a smile. “Junior Brother Hundred Ghosts is right. I’m out here on my master’s orders, patrolling the borderlands. Hah, things in the sect are rather unstable these days. Seems only us direct disciples of the Sect Master are still of any real use...

“Well, of course, if every disciple were as capable as you, Junior Brother Hundred Ghosts, I imagine there’d be far fewer headaches to deal with!”

Li Xun didn’t answer right away, but a slight smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

Ming Li suddenly understood and shot Shui Die Lan a glance. He cleared his throat “Oh, now that you mention it… there’s a lot going on at the border. Yin Tuo might not be able to handle everything on his own, and honestly, who knows how he’ll act…”

“Senior Brother, you’ve got plenty to take care of. No need to see us off. I can make my own way to Ghost Gate Lake,” he said calmly, ignoring Shui Die Lan’s cold sneer.

Ming Li hummed a few times, not bothering to argue further. He shot Shui Die Lan a fierce glare before taking his leave of Hundred Ghosts. Judging by his expression, he probably wasn’t heading back right away. More likely, he was off to Ghost Gate Lake to send word ahead.

Once Ming Li’s figure disappeared into the distance, Li Xun frowned. “Honestly, you act like you’re here to pick a fight. Trading barbs with Ming Li like that... aren’t you worried it makes you look petty?”

Shui Die Lan waved a hand carelessly. “Who has the time to bicker with juniors like him? Heh…”

The first half of her reply still carried the poise of a true expert. But the mischievous smile that followed gave her away completely.

Li Xun blinked. “You were playing me?”

Shui Die Lan clapped her hands and laughed. She normally couldn’t be bothered to argue with someone as useless as Ming Li, but if she could use the situation to make Li Xun a little uncomfortable? That was just perfect.

Finally, Li Xun understood what she was up to. For a moment, he found himself feeling both amused and exasperated. There was really nothing he could do about her mischievous streak. And…

It had been a long time since anyone had played a harmless little joke like this on him.