Slave Dao Divine Ability

A descendant of the Witch Clan. The Witch Clan! A flash of lightning bolted through Qin Sang's mind. So that was it! The Ghost Mother was highly likely an ancient powerhouse of the Witch Clan. A dignified Witch Clan powerhouse surviving to the present age, instead of sleeping on the Witch God Continent, had happened to arrive in a place devoid of any Witch Clan, only to be sealed by Master Tianyue upon awakening and nearly meet her end. Qin Sang truly did not know whether to call the Ghost Mother fortunate or ill-fated. No wonder Hundred Flowers Valley possessed a Witch Clan heritage. Such modifications—which even Qin Sang, who also cultivated natal insect gu, could not pull off—had originated from the hand of an ancient Witch Clan powerhouse! No wonder the founding ancestor of Hundred Flowers Valley came from the Ether Sea. The founding ancestor of Hundred Flowers Valley was probably a disciple the Ghost Mother had accepted back then. No, perhaps not even a disciple. It was more likely that when the Ghost Mother had just awakened and remained in a weakened state, she had casually directed a few individuals to do her bidding. Otherwise, she would never have stood idly by and watched her disciple stray onto the wrong path. A casual gesture had given rise to a renowned and prestigious sect that shook the Crescent Moon Realm. When seeking secret arts of insect-taming, Hundred Flowers Valley was unavoidable. Discovering the secret art in Hundred Flowers Valley and consequently coming to the Ether Sea to investigate was inevitable—merely a matter of sooner or later. If he had been a step slower, he would have missed Tan Hao. Conversely, had he arrived slightly earlier, he would have met the Ghost Mother. Qin Sang could not help but sigh at the fickle turns of fate. At his very side lay the Witch Clan descendant the Ghost Mother was looking for. He did not know what the Ghost Mother's objective was, but a Witch Clan descendant was bound to be of supreme importance to her. Without Qin Sang having to waste his breath, the Ghost Mother would have done everything in her power to awaken Yagu. Yet he had crossed paths with her and missed her entirely! "The legacy of the Heavenly Corpse Sect isn't entirely of the corpse dao. To swiftly bolster the sect's strength, Senior Ghost Mother combined the human corpse dao and simplified one of the Witch Clan's top-tier slave dao divine abilities to create the Heavenly Corpse Talisman, giving it such miraculous efficacy. If I could have found Senior a little earlier, there might have been a chance to save Tan Jie. Alas, it was too late. He had already sunk too far. Senior attempted it several times, but all ended in failure..." Tan Hao blamed only his own weak cultivation back then for squandering the precious opportunity. "So it was a slave dao divine ability." Qin Sang nodded; everything made sense now. This was the Ghost Mother's style: first modifying the natal insect gu, then adapting the slave dao so they were suitable for humans to cultivate. Right, there was also the Bone Curse, which closely resembled divine runes! Living corpses were not truly "corpses"—they were corpse slaves. No wonder the Heavenly Corpse Talisman was inscribed into the essence soul. Presumably, the complete slave dao divine ability possessed an extraordinary origin. Even low-ranking cultivators could execute the simplified Heavenly Corpse Talisman to forcibly control peers of the same realm. However, the Witch Clan of the Canglang Ocean seemed to know nothing of the slave dao, or else he would have noticed the signs long ago. Perhaps that part of the heritage had been lost to time. The slave dao, natal insect gu, divine runes... the legacies of the Witch Clan were, without exception, bizarre and sinister. Yes, very savage. No... rather, primitive, yet closer to nature. With impressions of the Witch Clan surfacing in his mind, Qin Sang asked, "Did Senior Ghost Mother ever mention her purpose in searching for a Witch Clan descendant?" Tan Hao recalled, "She seemed to mention in passing that Witch Clan bloodline would suffice to... aid her return." Return? What did that mean? Qin Sang's thoughts snapped to the Reception Platform, as well as Bai, his senior sister, and Old Demon Ye, who had departed. Even an ancient Witch Clan powerhouse was striving to cross. Did she require Witch Clan bloodline to obtain guidance from beyond this realm? If they truly found the Ghost Mother, would it be a blessing or a curse for Yagu? Various possibilities flashed through Qin Sang's mind. Now that the Ghost Mother had traveled far away, there was no way to verify any of them. Having missed this chance, seeking her out again would be exceedingly difficult. Zhongzhou. It did not sound like a simple place. It might even have members of the Witch Clan. Once the Ghost Mother achieved her aim, would she return to the North Sea, or would she make her return directly? If he were to head to Zhongzhou... Qin Sang was not optimistic. He was unwilling to stop here. Now that he knew of Zhongzhou and that the North Sea held a sea chart leading there, he would definitely make the journey to search for a way to break free from this cage and seek the truth of this world. Yet there was no telling how many hundreds of years he would have to wait. First, he had to secure the sea chart, and then he needed sufficient strength to preserve his life within the storm belt. Zhongzhou was bound to be immensely distant. Even traveling from the Beichen Realm to the North Sea had entailed grave risks for Qin Sang. He would not dare embark on such a journey until reaching at least the late Nascent Soul stage. If the distance proved far too immense and the sea chart offered no definitive shelters along the way, he might even have to wait until reaching the Deity Transformation stage. Deity Transformation. Qin Sang truly dared not entertain such extravagant hopes. Could Yagu hold out until then? He no longer had any Three Lights Jade Liquid left. If he failed to find a substitute spiritual medicine in time, even if Yagu's soul could be maintained under the nourishment of the Soul-Nurturing Wood, her physical body would lose its vitality and undergo a complete corpse transformation. "What method did Senior Ghost Mother employ when attempting to save Tan Jie?" Qin Sang pressed in haste. As he spoke, he summoned Yagu out. Tan Hao glanced at Yagu, then looked at Qin Sang, without prying into their relationship. Lowering his head, he scrutinized her for a moment before saying, "Senior once said that the Heavenly Corpse Talisman she created was imperfect. Easy to cast, but difficult to unravel. It requires casting a top-tier slave dao secret technique of the Witch Clan to dismantle it carefully. Otherwise, one might easily outsmart oneself and bring about an irreversible outcome. Senior also waited until she returned to the North Sea and restored her strength before daring to attempt it." Tan Hao's words weighed even heavier on Qin Sang's heart. The greater the origin of the Heavenly Corpse Talisman, the slimmer the likelihood that Yagu could wake on her own. "Huh?" Tan Hao sized up Yagu, a look of astonishment surfacing on his face. "How long has she been asleep?" Qin Sang replied, "Over two hundred and fifty years." "What?" Tan Hao gasped. "That isn't much later than Tan Jie! How did you keep her in such remarkable condition?" Three Lights Jade Liquid, Soul-Nurturing Wood, and an insect of unknown origin that had willingly bound itself to her. Qin Sang recited mentally, suddenly realizing that compared to Tan Jie, Yagu's fortune could be considered heaven-defying. With so many treasures bestowed upon her, there had to be some difference, right? Seeing Tan Hao's expression, Qin Sang hurriedly asked, "Did you notice something, Brother Tan?" Tan Hao recalled bleak memories, his tone turning somber. "Back then, after you left, Brother Qin, I kept Tan Jie by my side. Corpse qi soon tainted his flesh, and that crystal coffin could only stall for time. Fortunately, Tan Jie's essence soul had not perished. Though his consciousness grew hazy, it could still be sensed, which gave me a sliver of hope. But as time went by, I noticed bizarre changes occurring within his essence soul. It became... rigid and deathly still. His consciousness grew increasingly dim until it fell completely dormant. After meeting Senior Ghost Mother, she tried several methods to nurture his essence soul and recall a portion of his awareness, but it was beyond all remedy. Had I met you earlier, Brother Qin, the outcome might have been different." Qin Sang did not know how to console Tan Hao. He still had a few Soul-Nurturing Wood plaques on hand, and he would not mind parting with one. Yet a fat silkworm that took the initiative to recognize its master—serving as an anchor to the living world—was one of a kind. Qin Sang had an intuition that the primary reason Yagu remained in such fine condition was not the Soul-Nurturing Wood, but the fat silkworm! After a moment of silence, Tan Hao reached into his robes and retrieved a circular jade pendant. "This was crafted personally by Senior when she infiltrated the Xuantian Palace and given to me as a warning talisman. It contains a wisp of Senior's divine sense. If you ever chance upon Senior again, she should be able to sense it." "If there is ever a chance, you must awaken her!" "You must!" Tan Hao shifted his gaze from Tan Jie's tombstone to Qin Sang, solemnly handing the jade pendant to him.