Ten Thousand Years Ago

This... Xu Yuan stared unblinkingly at the woman's face with his crimson pupils, a flurry of jumbled thoughts flashing through his mind in an instant. The seemingly sleeping woman before him—or rather, female corpse—looked nearly identical to the cold, noble face "Luo Xiran" had worn when she first revealed herself. Yet upon closer inspection, Unlike the aberrant ghost Luo Xiran above, the features of the female corpse before him carried less harsh austerity and more gentle tenderness, fluid as water. Xu Yuan was certain that the woman before him had never appeared in *Cangyuan*. The "Luo Xiran" above had indeed used the aberrant ghosts' flesh editing ability to craft herself a near-perfect human shell, but when all was said and done, it was still a tumorous mass composed of flesh and blood. Whereas this female corpse seated upright before him... Though completely unclad, she exuded a gentle, fluid grace that made it impossible to harbor the slightest thought of profanity. A Saint's physical shell. With the flood of revelations far exceeding his control, Xu Yuan was not at all sure whether the appearance of this female corpse of Luo Xiran was a blessing or a curse. His expression hesitant, Xu Yuan reached out and pressed his hand lightly against the bare skin of her shoulder. *Gurgle, gurgle...* It felt cold and delicate to the touch. A cluster of bubbles welled up from where their flesh met, drifting toward the surface of the blood pool. Whorls of life origin flowed from his fingertips into the corpse, yet there was not the slightest reaction. Because it couldn't enter. Even when he tried to force it in, it wouldn't take. The surface of the female corpse seemed to strongly reject the aberrant ghost's life origin. *Not an aberrant ghost's body...* After a moment of thought, Xu Yuan decided to try using Source Qi. As a cultivator's strength grew and their physical body was continually nourished by Source Qi, even the remains of a Third-rank Grandmaster could remain uncorrupted for a century. For this female corpse of Luo Xiran to remain pristine after ten thousand years, she was clearly a Saint in life. Moreover, this female corpse was plainly entwined with the aberrant ghost queen above in countless ways. It was even possible that the aberrant ghost was a contingency she had set in place after death. The greater the risk, the greater the reward. If he could awaken her and befriend her, bringing a Saint back with him, would his old man just sit by and watch the next time Xu Changge tried to make a move on him? With that in mind, Xu Yuan immediately began circulating the Blood Yuan Heart Calamity Art to channel Source Qi, only to find that his body had completely transformed into an aberrant ghost. Aberrant ghost transformation didn't merely alter the physical body; it also altered how the body handled energy. Just like how in his past life, you couldn't plug a USB into a Type-C port. Naturally, aberrant ghosts did not use Source Qi when fighting. The battle against the Barbarian King earlier had caused the Source Qi in Xu Yuan's body to be entirely mutated into the life origin used by aberrant ghosts. Squeezing out even a single drop of Source Qi was exceedingly difficult. No matter, though. He had pills, and pills contained Source Qi. Refining them... Thinking this, Xu Yuan was about to smoothly splash the cash and draw out medicine, only to discover that the Sumeru ring on his finger was gone. *Tsk.* He had apparently handed his entire fortune over to Li Qingyan, that bossy housekeeper, to hold onto. Once he went back up, he had to make sure he got his fortune back first. Tens of millions of taels. Once he took the antidote and lost this Transcendent Realm cultivation, if that chest-bound princess decided to reassert her wifely discipline and confiscate his money, he wouldn't even have a shoulder to cry on. Amidst these thoughts, Xu Yuan had already circulated the Blood Yuan Heart Calamity Art to refine a few strands of stray Source Qi. A blood-red cultivation art truly lived up to its name. Weak as the Source Qi was within the blood pool, the Blood Yuan Heart Calamity Art still managed to squeeze out a fraction like a sponge and draw it into his body. Before this incoming Source Qi could automatically convert into life origin, Xu Yuan promptly channeled it into the female corpse before him. Unlike the aberrant ghost's life origin, This time, Xu Yuan's Source Qi entered the female corpse without any resistance. Time slipped quietly by as Xu Yuan steadily refined the thin, dispersed Source Qi in the surroundings and channeled it inside. As he probed deeper, a solemn look gradually crept onto Xu Yuan's face. Though he had never probed inside a Saint's body before, death—whether fallen in battle or dying of old age—would more or less leave some degree of damage inside the body. After the Source Qi circulated a full cycle, there was not a trace of battle damage inside this female corpse. It was so completely intact that it seemed as though her intent-soul had voluntarily left the body. At this thought, Xu Yuan realized something and snapped his head up toward the surface of the blood pool. Could that aberrant ghost named Luo Xiran be... *Tap.* His train of thought was abruptly severed. Without the slightest warning, Xu Yuan suddenly felt his wrist, still resting on the female corpse's shoulder, seized by a bone-chillingly cold hand. "..." Xu Yuan. *Fuck!* *Bang!* Stamping down with violent force, Xu Yuan vanished instantly from where he stood, reappearing several meters away. Looking back at the female corpse with grave eyes, he saw that she was still seated serenely on the floor of the blood pool, calm and tranquil, maintaining the posture that had remained unchanged for ten thousand years. It was as if everything just now had been nothing more than an illusion, and nothing had actually happened in reality... Naturally, Xu Yuan would never believe that. Though his worldly experience might not match that of true Transcendent Realm experts, his physical constitution was undeniable. He clearly sensed that just now had been no hallucination—and what was more, something new had appeared in his hand. "..." Licking the corner of his lips, Xu Yuan grinned. He realized these ancient relics all seemed fond of leaving marks on people. Yuchu, the incarnation of the Meishen cherry tree, had been like this, and so was this ten-thousand-year uncorrupted female corpse before him. Of course, there was a vast difference. Yuchu had been alive back then, after all; she had used her Meishen tree body to forcefully brand the Meishen mark directly into his flesh. Whereas this female corpse's method of leaving an imprint was more like a trigger-based technique left within her body before death, and it didn't act upon his body itself, but rather through the medium of the black death armor. Lowering his gaze, the black death armor that had completely merged into his body had surfaced once more in Xu Yuan's palm. It resembled a layer of calluses. And embedded squarely within this thin callus was a Blood God Stone jade pendant. It was the very one that had vanished earlier when opening the hexagonal frustum. As far as the eye could see, intricate, tangled lines spread out from the jade pendant embedded in his palm. Thinking, Xu Yuan sent out his intent-soul to sense the power held within these patterns. Yet the instant his intent-soul made contact with this newly renewed Blood God Stone, Xu Yuan's mind roared with a *boom* as a flood of jumbled information rushed in. Countless streams of data poured into his consciousness like water rushing through a canal! Sensing this torrent of information, Xu Yuan's heart sank instinctively. *Oh shit, did I push my luck too far? Am I about to get possessed again?* Although his physical constitution was at the Transcendent Realm and his intent-soul's strength had been greatly enhanced due to his aberrant ghost body, in essence he was still only a Soul Condensation expert. Without relying on Luo Xiran's Inter-Abyss, he couldn't even deploy the Dao domain manifested through synesthesia of Source Qi and intent-soul. For a time, Save for the earth-shattering tremors, the bottom of the blood pool was utterly devoid of sound. Xu Yuan stood rooted to the spot, bracing himself with rapt concentration to withstand the impending possession. "..." "..." Looking at the female corpse still sitting serenely several meters away, Xu Yuan suddenly realized he had made a fuss over nothing. This stream of information was not possession; rather, his intent-soul had activated the unsealed information stored within the Blood God Stone jade pendant. With the cultivation path having developed to this point, the world naturally had other mediums for carrying information besides paper. Inheritance jade plates, inheritance array markings, inheritance gems—in other words, the jade slips from the cultivation novels of Xu Yuan's past life. However, such things were eventually abandoned by the passage of time. Although jade slips possessed a litany of merits—direct reading via intent-soul, encryption via intent-soul wavelengths, compact size, long preservation, and self-destruction—none of these advantages could overcome their exorbitant cost, especially when cheap specially treated paper could largely serve the same purpose. His mind relaxing slightly, Xu Yuan closed his eyes and began browsing through the extra information in his head. The jade slip did not transmit memory projections directly, but carried text, as though a book had appeared in his mind that he could flip through at any time. Quickly reading the delicate, graceful handwriting in his mind, Xu Yuan's expression gradually grew strange. What was recorded in this jade slip didn't seem to be a cultivation art, but a... "research log"? [...I have always wondered why the lifespan of cultivators is so short. The mortal remains of a deceased Third-rank cultivator can remain uncorrupted for a hundred years, and a Saint's can last for a thousand. If that is true even in death, the lifespan of our human Saints should far exceed a mere two hundred-odd years. Perhaps an answer can be found from these aberrant ghosts. But the urgent task at hand is to research an antidote to reverse aberrant ghost transformation. These aberrant ghosts from the Great Desolation have breached the secret realm of the Jianan Sect; one-third of Zhongzhou has already fallen.] [...A month of zero progress, but I have already found a general direction...] [...The Dao domains of these aberrant ghosts seem capable of resonating with lower-ranked kin to expand their range. If we can harness this property, lower-ranked cultivators might be able to play a greater role on the battlefield...] [...That woman Qianwu seems to have discovered how to identify those among the leadership who have been transformed by aberrant ghosts. The Pavilion Master and the others intend to use them as bait to draw out high-ranking aberrant ghosts, and need to borrow my power.] [...The Pavilion Master is too formidable. She slew thirteen Saint-level aberrant ghosts in total; this should temporarily stabilize the situation...] [...Bai Fanchou and the others know they have been transformed. For the sake of humanity, they are willing to serve as test subjects. But is it truly fine to use Saint-level aberrant ghosts as test subjects...?] [...Why? Why did Brother defect? In such a crisis for humanity, he actually defected! The Pavilion Master wants to see me...] "..." Reading up to this point, Xu Yuan's expression became rather peculiar. Brother? Defected? Surnamed Luo? *Hiss...* It couldn't be that old bastard Old Man Luo, could it? [...The Pavilion Master did not blame me. But the message Brother left behind actually said that humanity's short lifespan is tied to the intent-soul, and that he was going to seek the path to immortality...] [...Tang Wan'er over at the Qianxun Sect has discovered a way to disrupt the resonance between aberrant ghosts within the Inter-Abyss, but the aberrant ghosts have already encroached into Daying Province. I must hurry as well...] [...Aberrant ghosts have appeared in the Wanxing Mountain Range. Guyuan borders the aberrant ghosts, and the mountainous forest terrain seems very suitable for the creep's growth. The demon race is finally willing to join the war...] [...Su Luochen of the Medicine God Palace has concocted a powder capable of corroding the black death creep. He truly lives up to his name as the Holy Son of the Medicine God Palace.] [...The Pavilion Master and the others are preparing for a counteroffensive...] [...There is progress on the antidote. Refining a medicinal powder with bone spirit fruit as the primary ingredient can suppress the repair of the body by the life origin inside an aberrant ghost.] [...] [...] [...] [...The aberrant ghosts have been driven off, but my antidote still isn't finished. The Pavilion Master reached a cooperation with the people from the Medicine God Palace to expand this crypt. I suppose this should be considered a good thing, though with our Overseeing Heaven Pavilion so weakened, they surprisingly have no plans to besiege us.] [...The crypt has begun its expansion, and many aberrant ghost specimens have been sent over. Tang Wan'er and Su Luochen even brought a primordial aberrant ghost, said to have been captured personally by the Pavilion Master after venturing into the Great Desolation. With their help, progress should be much faster this time.] [...Tang Wan'er and Su Luochen don't seem to be here to research the antidote; they are studying the body of that primordial aberrant ghost...] [...Tang Wan'er and Su Luochen are using living people in the crypt to conduct aberrant ghost transformation experiments. This is going too far. I wanted to put a stop to them, but was reprimanded harshly by the Pavilion Master...] [...Tang Wan'er made several modifications based on my Fate-Reversing Powder, and it can already noticeably suppress the remodeling of living bodies by life origin.] [...Tang Wan'er's approach seems to be correct; we need to start by blocking life origin from remodeling living beings.] [...Su Luochen came to comfort me. The two of them were right. If I hadn't been so hesitant, we wouldn't have wasted so much time, so many experts wouldn't have been executed due to aberrant ghost transformation, and so many common folk wouldn't have died to the aberrant ghosts.] [...Under my modifications, the Fate-Reversing Powder can now initially reverse the process of aberrant ghost transformation, though it is only effective on semi-aberrant ghosts.] [...Besides the antidote, the two of them are actually researching how to control aberrant ghosts. Still, if aberrant ghosts can be controlled, perhaps the world won't be devastated to such an extent during the next catastrophe. For such a goal, sacrificing a portion of people must be necessary.] [...The antidote's development is nearing completion. The two of them invited me to join their research into controlling aberrant ghosts, and I agreed...] [...Controlling the aberrant ghosts themselves seems unrealistic, but perhaps we can bypass their bodies and work through the properties of the creep within them...] [...With a clear direction, our progress has been very rapid. After all, Brother Su knows the properties of this black death creep like the back of his hand...] [...] [...] [...] [...The Fate-Reversing Liquid with added heart-corroding mushroom can now completely devour the life origin inside a semi-aberrant ghost, but it causes irreversible damage to their body, and if used on someone who has completely transformed into an aberrant ghost, they will die instantly. It still needs further improvement...] [...The Pavilion Master hasn't sent anyone to inquire about our progress for three months now, but fortunately medicinal herbs and various apparatuses continue to arrive without interruption.] [...I wanted to return to the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion to retrieve medicinal ingredients, but was stopped. Something is wrong.] [...The Fate-Reversing Liquid has been developed, but I cannot let them know.] [...The crystal to control aberrant ghosts through fungal armor is nearing completion.] [...I infected an Origin Realm expert with aberrant ghost transformation, and through the control crystal I learned the truth from him. The Overseeing Heaven Pavilion is indeed being besieged by those sects! They want to transform the Pavilion Master into an aberrant ghost to control her!] [...I have imprinted all the methods to counter the formation patterns and control mechanisms into the jade pendant.] [...I reached an agreement with the primordial aberrant ghost. Tang Wan'er and Su Luochen have already been infected and transformed...] [...I intend to take possession of that primordial aberrant ghost's body, and then use the jade pendant to manipulate the formation to kill us all together...]