Gateway of Immortality

"Daoist Qin, you may be young, yet you're even more cautious than the old timers of the martial world. To make this act convincing, I went as far as to damage my own Qihai, sealing off my spiritual power, and yet it still didn’t escape your eyes. You’re much sharper than that fool."

Hermit Baiyun looked disdainfully at Wu Yuesheng lying in the pool of blood. Qin Sang glanced over, expression unchanged, and gave no comment on Hermit Baiyun's words.

The moment the anomaly had begun, Qin Sang had already withdrawn his Five-Elemental Breaking Sword.

Now, concealed within the multicolored sword qi, Qin Sang remarked with a hint of mystery, "Daoist Baiyun, you really know how to pick your moments. Aren't you worried that triggering a crisis now might result in us both dying here, trapped with the malevolent corpse?"

Hermit Baiyun chuckled lightly, his eyes filled with unabashed greed as he looked at Qin Sang and said, "Just a mere dead thing. This place is a rare, perfect spot to erase all traces... You and Wu Yuesheng come from reputable sects. With your treasures in my possession, what reason would I have to fear that brainless creature?"

Before he finished speaking, the gentle, kindly expression on Hermit Baiyun's face transformed into a vicious one. He raised his hand and pointed at Qin Sang, and with a whoosh, the Sky-Trapping Pouch shot forward. The wind array carried the malevolent corpse and shifted several zhang instantly, revealing the true power of the Sky-Trapping Pouch. The wind array was no longer as fragile and shaky as it had seemed before.

"Daoist Qin, why don’t you enjoy playing with the malevolent corpse for a while?"

With a cold laugh, Hermit Baiyun willed the Sky-Trapping Pouch, which quivered violently. A gap opened in the wind array, allowing the malevolent corpse to escape once more, while the mouth of the Sky-Trapping Pouch shifted to aim directly at Qin Sang.

Although the malevolent corpse possessed intelligence, it hadn't developed to a cunning level. As soon as it escaped confinement, it instinctively attacked the first target it spotted. This was precisely how Hermit Baiyun had maneuvered it to ambush Wu Yuesheng with such success.

In Hermit Baiyun's view, once Qin Sang was stuck with the malevolent corpse, he only needed to avoid drawing the corpse’s attention and use the Sky-Trapping Pouch to trip Qin Sang up a few times to easily secure his victory.

However, things didn’t unfold as he had expected.

Just as the Sky-Trapping Pouch moved, Qin Sang darted out from the Five-Elemental Breaking Sword's protection with startling speed, heading in a surprising direction—not aiming to counterattack Hermit Baiyun, but instead targeting the skeleton in the corner of the hall.

Qin Sang didn’t believe a word of Hermit Baiyun's lies. As a rogue cultivator who had survived to this point, advancing to the Foundation Building Realm and gaining a modest reputation among cultivators, Hermit Baiyun was undoubtedly a shrewd individual.

Unless assured of absolute success or enormous profit, he wouldn’t take such risks, let alone scheme against two Foundation Building cultivators from the reputable Shaohua Mountain.

Not knowing what treasures they carried, the temptation alone wouldn’t be enough to drive Hermit Baiyun to such desperate measures, especially since failure would lead to utter ruin.

Thus, the only object that stood out in the hall was the skeleton in the corner. The Heavenly Corpse Sect’s ancient silver token, black pouch, and cracked iron stake seemed unremarkable at first glance, but at least one of them had to be exceptional.

When they had first joined forces and assessed the situation, Hermit Baiyun had been the only one with knowledge about the Heavenly Corpse Sect. Now it was clear he had hidden a lot of information back then; the records on the Heavenly Corpse Sect in ancient texts wouldn’t have been as brief as he’d claimed.

Seeing Qin Sang's actions, Hermit Baiyun's face changed slightly. When he realized that Qin Sang had seen through his plan, he was surprised, but he didn’t panic and immediately activated the Sky-Trapping Pouch to intercept Qin Sang.

At the same time, he stopped hiding his intentions, activating his movement art and rushing toward the skeleton.

To avoid arousing Qin Sang and Wu Yuesheng’s suspicion, he had concealed his interest in the skeleton, though he had subtly inched closer over time. Now, he was much nearer to it than Qin Sang.

However, just then, something occurred that left Hermit Baiyun stunned.

After breaking free from the wind array, the malevolent corpse completely ignored Qin Sang in front of it. Instead, it abruptly turned around, its blood-red eyes locking onto Hermit Baiyun with a ferocious glare, before vanishing in place.

Hermit Baiyun’s heart clenched, his face contorting in shock. He didn’t understand why the malevolent corpse was acting so strangely, but time didn’t allow him to ponder further.

The malevolent corpse's evasion technique was strange, far faster than Hermit Baiyun's movement art.

Although Hermit Baiyun was confident in suppressing the malevolent corpse, he dared not let it get close. Aside from his Sky-Trapping Pouch, his other low-grade defensive artifacts were insufficient. With no other choice, Hermit Baiyun abandoned his attempt to intercept Qin Sang and hurriedly summoned the Sky-Trapping Pouch back to him.

Bang!

With a dull thud, the malevolent corpse instantly appeared, its ghostly figure materializing beside Hermit Baiyun.

The Sky-Trapping Pouch flew back just in time, barely managing to block the malevolent corpse's ambush.

Hermit Baiyun, however, couldn't avoid the impact. His body trembled violently, his speed drastically reduced. He quickly turned to look at Qin Sang, only to see that Qin Sang seemed entirely oblivious to the malevolent corpse's sudden actions, focused solely on charging toward the skeleton and was about to secure the treasures.

Seeing this, all traces of ease vanished from Hermit Baiyun’s heart. Feeling absolutely desperate and anxious, he hastily retrieved a wooden staff artifact and hurled it at Qin Sang’s back. Simultaneously, he summoned a hand of spiritual power to grasp the skeleton and the treasures, hoping to interfere with Qin Sang.

In his frantic struggle for the treasures, Hermit Baiyun failed to notice a faint shadow quietly materializing behind him—it was another Qin Sang!

Qin Sang was holding two items: the Essence-Devouring Spike and a Profound Yin Thunderbolt!

Having fought the malevolent corpse for so many rounds, Qin Sang had come to understand its nature thoroughly.

The malevolent corpse’s actions and targets weren’t determined by its vision but by its sensitivity to aura and an instinctual urge. The vitality of living beings was what most aroused its bloodthirsty impulse!

Under the cover of the Five-Elemental Breaking Sword, Qin Sang used his Falling Cloud Wings and Spirit Evasion Art to hide his presence. Though it was impossible to entirely evade the malevolent corpse’s senses, his intention was simply to make the malevolent corpse target someone else.

With Hermit Baiyun behind him as an obvious target, it was inevitable the malevolent corpse would choose him.

As for the other Qin Sang, it was merely a clone created with a Shapeshift spell.

Under normal circumstances, such a simple clone wouldn’t have fooled Hermit Baiyun. But with the sudden change in the situation, the malevolent corpse's ambush, and his mind fixated on the ancient treasure, he had no time for close scrutiny.

Bang!

The wooden staff artifact struck the clone in the back, shattering the illusion. Simultaneously, the spiritual power hand encountered no resistance as it seized the treasure.

Upon seeing this, Hermit Baiyun's face did not show the slightest joy. Instead, a look of utter horror and fear filled his eyes as he turned abruptly!

Boom!

The Essence-Devouring Spike exploded.

A dense blue light filled Hermit Baiyun's vision.

An overwhelming surge of water-elemental power surged like an unstoppable tidal wave, engulfing Hermit Baiyun entirely.